How do YOU fund your Disney trips?

[NeverlandClub23]

I've gone to WDW every year for the past 7 years, but every 3 years before that (back when good 'ol Mom and Dad were financing the trips ) and generally stay 7-13 days. This is what I usually do:

Pay everything I possibly can with my Disney Visa (paying it off every month). I generally rack up $150-250 for the trip.

Figure out how much I need for the next trip and divide it by the amount of months I have. I save this in a high-interest savings account (well, I guess 3-5% interest is considered high) at my credit union (you can only make 2 withdrawals a year). I then take this all out and pay off my trip right before the due date so I can earn some money on it.

Do all of my online shopping (and some occasional surveys) through Sunshine Rewards. I usually make $100-150 a year doing this.

Purchase Disney gift cards from Kroger around Easter. For the past 2 years they've offered $5 off coupons around this time with the purchase of the gift cards so I buy a few packs.

I proofread articles for Textbroker. I used to write articles, but I don't have the time to really devote to the article writing and I'm a faster editor (please don't judge my posts on the DIS for grammar/spelling ). I make $400-600 a year doing this and cash out a month before the trip.

I also keep my eye out on Groupon, Living Social, and (now) Saveology. We need new shoes before this trip so I bought a Groupon for Shoebuy.com and I bought a couple gift cards for half price to Rainforest Cafe (we're eating at T-Rex during our trip in December) from Saveology. I also purchased two dolphin swim packages for Discovery Cove at $150 a piece from a deal Daily Getaways with American Express was having in April (which also gives us free admission to Sea World). I also go through many forums here on the DIS to see what people are discovering/talking about. Like by going through the Universal forum I found out about discount tickets at Costco and picked some up before the price increase.

I've probably saved hundreds of dollars on things (granted, expensive things to begin with) that I was going to purchase anyways. After the trip is paid for with the money I save every month, all of the extra (listed above) is park money (tips, souvies, gas/tolls, drinks/snacks, etc.).

 

[The 4 "Quay"balleros]

We pay our trip in a couple of ways. We have a Disney Visa and a Discover. They both offer different awards throughout the year and we maximize those. Disney Visa gives you 6 months 0% interest on the trip. It's paying only about 1% but that's more than my local banks and it's not tied up where we can't get it when we need it.

 

[Natalie's Mommy]

i save where i can during the year to add money into our savings account. once a good disney deal comes up (like the kids stay and play free which we are currently booked under for our upcoming trip) i will book it and pay as much as i can right then and there on my discover card (to get the cash back points) then i will keep adding money to our savings by not spending and putting away extra money (selling my girls used gymboree is a huge money maker for me) and pay off the balance a couple months before on my discover card (again to get the cash back) and pay that off at the end of the month.

all this is before i look at the budget and see if i can realisticly come up with these funds before i book the trip! but since we slowly save a little extra in our saving during the year there is always enough to make the down payment and pay for airfare

 

[luvmarypoppins]

We usually use the tax refund money.

Also our cc lets us get points which we can use for rooms and it also ties in to dh frequent flier miles.

I try to cut the cost as much as possible. AP, TIW.

For the southwest tickets we used a certificate that I won from a southwest contest and that was $100 savings. We also just got a $50 voucher for having to pick up a suitcase that they lost at the airport.

We go in May and December. For this december we are doing a 40% off bounceback. This past may we got 3 night at the GF and 3 nights at the BC for free by cashing in dh ff miles.

 

[Crazy4Disney06]

We use a combination of things.
- $200 deposit out of checking
- payments made here and there to chip away at the balance
- some money from tax refunds
- earnings from Sunshine rewards, saving change, credit card point, bottle returns etc.

 

[omghidanielle]

Our 2012 trip (date was set for September, now TBD due to a friend's wedding that still has no date) is being funded almost entirely by doing online surveys and other market research websites. Any left over amt will go on the Disney card and be paid off over a short period of time

 

[mom_of_3_mousketeers]

We save a certain amount every month in our budget for a yearly vacation. We went to Disney in 2009, NY in 2010, family summer home this year (we needed to replace our roof OOP) and next year back to Disney. I'd like to go every other year, but we like to see other places, too.

 

[Tamopher]

My husband and I have fallen in love with Disney and we have gone just about every 6 months for the past three years. But, I won't let the trips come out of our regular budget, nor will I put it on a credit card. I book early - then I work over time to pay for it all. I also recently became a Disney travel agent, and I've thrown all of my commissions into my Disney savings account.

I recently got a Disney Visa and put our upcoming trip on it, but was able to pay it in full because I had the money put back.

It's just the two of us (we are DINKS) and we usually stay 7-8 nights.

I forgot to mention: For our spending money in the parks, we have a box that I decorated for our "DISNEY FUND." We will always throw any left over money (paper only) in there. Buy something that costs $5, use a $20 and then put the change in the box. If I go to the ATM for $20, I'll get $40 and throw the extra $20 in there. We do this between trips and usually have $500-700 per trip.

 

[Crazy4Disney06]

My husband and I have fallen in love with Disney and we have gone just about every 6 months for the past three years. But, I won't let the trips come out of our regular budget, nor will I put it on a credit card. I book early - then I work over time to pay for it all. I also recently became a Disney travel agent, and I've thrown all of my commissions into my Disney savings account.

I recently got a Disney Visa and put our upcoming trip on it, but was able to pay it in full because I had the money put back.

It's just the two of us (we are DINKS) and we usually stay 7-8 nights.

I forgot to mention: For our spending money in the parks, we have a box that I decorated for our "DISNEY FUND." We will always throw any left over money (paper only) in there. Buy something that costs $5, use a $20 and then put the change in the box. If I go to the ATM for $20, I'll get $40 and throw the extra $20 in there. We do this between trips and usually have $500-700 per trip.

Can you please elaborate on how you become a Disney Travel agent? I know I could rock that job!

 

[DisneyFairytale]

We renew our annual passes every year, because we typically go twice a year for 1-2 weeks, so its worth the expense. I will usually spend a pay cheque one month on the passes so its done and out of the way, then a couple months before the trip, I start putting the pay cheques aside from work all into my credit card for the trip.

 

[padawans]

I put 500 a paycheck so 1000 or more a month into a vacation savings account. We normally take 1 3 week vacation a year.

 

[canopynut66]

Just curious to see how most people fund their disney trips. Think about everything you spend for or on your trip- Travel, clothes, tickets, hotel, food, spending money, etc....

Edit to ask: Also, how often do you go to Disney? How many days do you usually stay?

Used to be when we had coupons the grocery gave us the cash and I would save that in account for trips then when they went to just taking if off the total I just write myself a check and put into savings and save it that way if I get a itch and need to go to WDW for say a three or four day hit i charge it and pay it off soon as I can

 

[Becc1]

We use a portion of my DH's quarterly bonus to pay for our trip. We go about once every other year (unless I am able to convince DH otherwise) and we stay usually 10 days Our next trip in 2013 we are adding in the Universal parks and Seaworld so I'm pushing for a full 2 weeks if DH is able to swing it with work!

 

[kristenrice]

Here's my savings plan (*these are the actual numbers for my upcoming Oct 2011 trip*)

American Express Blue Sky Travel Rewards: $200 (paid for my entire airfare)
Disney Visa Rewards: $174
E-Bates: $47
Sunshine Rewards: $393...and growing until August 31

TOTAL earned in FREEBIES: $814
Total budget for my trip: $975
*My vacation is 83% paid for in freebies!*

Now, we do have DVC (direct deposit pays the loan/dues) so that accounts for the room. My dad gave me $300 towards an AP since he spent $300 on 6-day PH for everyone for our trip next June. Since I can use the AP for that trip, I took the cash equivalent of the ticket.

I do have $50 per paycheck deposited into an online bank account that we use for vacation costs. In April 2011, we took an 8-day trip over spring break to HHI....NEVER TOUCHED THE ACCOUNT! I acquired over $1700 in freebies!!

Here's how I earned our "free" trip...

...MyPoints covered $150 in Marriott gift cards which we used for 2 nights in Gatlinburg, TN...
...American Express Rewards of $600 covered $500 in resort expenses at HHI and $100 for the Residence Inn on the way home...
...$148 in Disney Visa Rewards covered some activities and snacks at the resort...$700 in Sunshine Rewards paid for the gas and food on the road and groceries on the island...I also redeemed various rewards points for $50 in TGI Friday's GC (used for dinner in Gatlinburg), a $40 Visa GC from a purchase rebate, $20 in Discover card rewards and a $10 Wal-Mart GC from ???....

What a fantastic feeling it is to take a vacation knowing that it was entirely paid for with reward earnings. FWIW, all of the earnings for the April trip were acquired over the course of a year. I'd cashed out all of my rewards in February of 2010 for our trip that year. We weren't planning a trip in 2011, but the freebies kept piling up and we had some DVC points to use up.

 

[Tamopher]

Can you please elaborate on how you become a Disney Travel agent? I know I could rock that job!

I actually lucked into it. A friend of mine was hired by a company as a planner and we are two kindred spirits when it comes to Disney. Her boss was looking to expand his agents and she recommended me and he hired me. I've been doing it for about a year now - the money is really minimal, but anything extra to throw into the fund is great. Plus, it helps with my Disney addiciton. If I can't plan my own trip, I can work on someone else's. It's a stress relief.

 

[Scambone]

I work two jobs and I put what little money that doesn't go in to bills or my college fund into a Mr Potatoe head jar (kinda like the ones from disney where you shove all the parts in him) and when I have actually dollars I bury them under the change so I dont see it and want to spend it.

I've went three times and each time i went with family. the first two times was for 2 weeks and the last time was for one week. Hopefully I can go for a week next november and also hit universal but I gotta find someone to go with me so it's not so expensive.