How Do You Pay For Your DISNEY VACATION?

[brunette8706]

Hey All!

I would just like to get everyone's "saving" advice for paying for their Disney vacation. How do you budget for this, what corners do you cut if any? Do you do any Table or Counter Service meals or do you bring your lunch? Also, where do you go for cheap airline tickets (expedia?).

Love to hear the experts give us any advice.

As always thanks so much for your tips/suggestions, it's really appreciated.

Thank you!

Brunette

 

[Mrs. Charming]

We use our tax return (it works for us) and save, save, save. I have a set amount automatically transferred into our savings each pay period, and then I save our change and occasionally small bills. DH usually gets a "bonus" in the form of a Visa gift card, so there are our tips. We get the dining plan because it's already pre-paid for us (and we like it.) I download 'ding!' from Southwest and book when there's a good price-- and I watch those fares like a hawk!

 

[tinkmom2]

For this one in 2011 we will be 5 days/4 nights at POP and 4 days on the Dream. I put the deposit for the Dream down ($800) when we got our taxes back this year and have been paying $50.00/month towards that since then. (I use my Chase rewards card so I get points there) Then when next years taxes come I will pay off the rest of the ship and book my hotel and dining. (hopefully we will get free dining for October) Also I have to pay for MNSHP tickets when they come out next May plus put away for my shipboard account.
I forgot about airfare too! I will get that about 2 months out before we go again using tax money.

 

[LilMommyBug]

We use what is left of our tax return after being adults & doing responsible things with it - and then we save!

 

[sk!mom]

Vacations are very important to us so we have a line in our budget for vacation savings. We don't vacation at WDW every year, however, we like to see other places. Disney only comes around every few years.

We live fairly frugally in some areas but really becoming debt free is what freed up the funds for big vacations every year. Since we aren't maintaining debt we have more disposable income.

Once we are on vacation, we just enjoy ourselves. We do not pack lunches or carry snacks in. We've never done the Dining plan as out of pocket seems a better deal for us. DH loves Character meals and there are a few sit down places that we like and we just pay.

If DS is with us we do have some quick breakfast foods in the room (pop tarts, granola bars) but more because he's a deadhead in the morning and wants to sleep as long as possible and then grab something to eat on the bus. The rest of us like to get up and have a real breakfast.

 

[RachaelA]

Tax refund as well here. Then we usually have around $350 in disney rewards from our visa for tips and everything else.

 

[hffmnheidi]

-We always make the 200 deposit when booking the package. We find it's cheaper for us to get a package with room/dining plan/tickets when we go.
-We always get the standard dining package with 1 TS, 1 QS, 1 S per person
-We ship down a box with breakfast items/snacks/drinks to eat via UPS and eat breakfast in the room
-We usually do the QS for lunches and save the TS for dinners
-To figure out how long we're gonna have to pay for the vacation, we take the total, divide by 2. I pay for myself, my parents for themselves. We take each total and divide by how many months until vacation and take that amount out of the paycheck each month and pay disney each month. It usually takes us up until the 45 day marker to get it paid off, but it's a relief knowing everything is paid for when we arrive on vacation.
-As for airfare, I also budget that into the total vacation price. I budget high for airfare and search Airtran's website daily to find a good deal. I also include baggage fees in the price, to avoid any nasty surprises.
-Souvenir money is also included in the total price, again to avoid someone not having souvie money. Whatever isn't spent, is that person's to use as they want when we get home.

 

[pat fan]

Another tax refunder here. We also put EVERYTHING on our Disney Visa for the points. Between our last trip and this one, we have accumulated over 1,000 points so that was going to be the majority of our food budget and refillable mugs etc...We lucked into QS free dining, so now it's our TS meals and more souvineers As for airfare & spending $$, I save for that out of my check. We get a rental car as well, and that is paid for from our change jar. Believe it or not, we have enough in there for a mini-van for 10 days, and I did NOT get a good deal on it. Can't seem to find one. Anyone know of a good deal for a van?

 

[Arenita]

I keep track of any "found" money through the year. Last year, I was on jury duty for 6 weeks -> Disney fund. My income tax refund -> Disney fund. I charge everything (and pay off balance monthly) and get a rebate from my credit card company -> Disney fund. We get Healthy Habits rewards at work-$175 to complete a series of exercise and healthcare challenges -> Disney Fund. I take my young niece each year, so we cut back on our weekend excursions for a time - teaches her budgeting and delay of gratification - and increases our -> Disney fund. This year, our annual raises were delayed several months. Because I did not expect the raise, I am taking the increase I will earn from raise date until our trip -> Disney Fund. I also eat lunch out quite often and go on my Disney Diet of taking lunch for a period of time -> Disney Fund. I use coupons and track savings - not much but every little bit helps -> Disney Fund. I also take food - serious food - and eat about 1/2 of meals in the room. I cancelled my newspaper subscription -> Disney Fund. It seems my whole life revolves around my -> Disney Fund!!!

 

[raven69david]

We book 12 months or so in advance and make payments every 2 weeks. In a few short months the trip is paid and the remaining months I keep paying money into savings account. Before checking out we usually take advantage of bounceback offers cuz sometimes they're better than ap discounts.

 

[worm761]

We do a combination of things. Some comes out of our tax return if we have any left after doing the adult thing. I work at ChaCha for some extra money. And I do rewards programs and survey programs. Mypoints and Simplegpt are two of my faves. Mypoints has gift cards and Simple pays cash into my paypal. We also collect change and any 'found' money. Any Disney money gets put into my ING account to earn interest until I need it for the trip.

 

[darthspud]

I do yard sales and the start up money i take out (ones,fives,quarters) get put into my change jar at the end or rather a Disney Gift Card for the bills along with the money I made from the yard sale (i figure my start up money was already factored out of my checkbook anyways) I also have $25 a week transfered to a vacation fund saving account.. I sell pins I no longer want on Ebay and do survery sites (swagbucks, inbox dollars) I roll my change instead of taking it to a coinstar since I dont get charged you can buy coin rolls at the dollar tree and I find it rather therapeutic to sit on the floor on a sunday morning sorting and rolling coins while watching the vacation dvd or something else disney related.. (I love mickey mouse club house )

 

[rumrunnergirl]

.

 

[pat fan]

I roll my change instead of taking it to a coinstar since I dont get charged you can buy coin rolls at the dollar tree

I don't know about your bank, but you can get coin wrappers free at all the banks where I live.

 

[Mickey'sfriend]

We have a set amount deducted from our paycheck and deposited into our vacation fund each week. My husband also saves all of his change... he never spends any coins, just bills. This money goes in the vacation account, too. Also, when we have some extra $ I buy Disney gift cards. The kids get Disney gift cards in their Christmas stockings, Easter baskets, birthdays, too.

 

[DisneyRunner2009]

My family has been fortunate enough to go to Disney every year since 2005. Regarding airfare, I use Travelocity or www.farecast.com, now part of Bing, to monitor prices. When I find a price I'm comfortable with, I then go to that airlines website and purchase the tickets. The first few years we would rent a car. I would look for discount codes. Two years in a row I used Thrifty in conjunction with the Orlando Magic discount card, www.orlandoinfo.com/magiccard. Having a rental car allowed us to eat off property. Therefore, we could find cheap eats or we would share large portion meals at the parks and resorts. Last year, we were able to take advantage of free dining. We didn't need to rent a car, we took ME. However, we did rent a car for a few days. The car was picked up from the Dolphin and I received a discounted per day, weekend rate. As for accommodations, mostly value resorts. We are always on the move. Two of the years, we did stay at moderate resorts, using general public discount codes. And finally, my husband pays off the trip in small monthly payments. He even puts money on Disney giftcards. The gift cards are used at shops and CS locations.

 

[mousebymarriage]

we usually use our tax return but, on our last trip we didn't. On our last trip (Feb) we had saved ALL of our change and used that for gas and tolls(when we cashed it in it was over $350). I also had a bunch of old jewelry that I haven't worn in years, so I sold it(some things I forgot I even had). My DH was shocked when I handed him the money for vacation and never had to touch the savings account or a credit card. I could have sold more jewelry but, I saved some of it because it had some sentimental value. We also used DH's vacation paycheck for spend money and misc.

-we get the dining plan (1 counter, 1 table, 1 snack) we usually pay for breakfast out of pocket because it's the cheapest.
-when we fly I like the site sidestep.com for airline tickets
-when we drive we drive straight through from NJ(driving usually costs us the price of 1 maybe 2(if i get a super deal) airline tickets so it's cheaper for our family of four. )
-I pack lots of snacks and some sandwiches for the car(saves on buying expensive rest stop snacks)
-when driving I also pack a case or 2 of water (cheaper than paying $2.50 a bottle in the parks)
-I also pack snacks,muffins and cereal for breakfast in the room (we do this a couple of mornings, saves time and money)

 

[MsStinkerBelle]

I save for it automatically like my 401K and other savings. A set amount is put aside each month which includes the deposit for the package. We get the DDP (this year the DxDDP) and budget for that as well. Since we've been so many times, we don't purchase a lot of souveniers (plus you *can* contact WDW mail order *after* your trip to get things).

I get corporate discounts on car rentals and airport parking. As for airfare, I usually fly SouthWest (no baggage fees!) so I get very good airfare that way. Checking out farecast.com is a great predictor of when to buy.

I don't count on the income tax return as I have issues with the gov't holding my money 'interest free' for a year. It's so small I wind up using that as a deposit for DD10's summer camp.

 

[Disneybuckeye]

We own a non-Disney timeshare and a small number of DVC points. This pays for our accommodations at a set time each year and we budget for it. We also plan our trips a year or more in advance and I watch airfare daily at work. We went at Xmas 09 and found $144 round trip tickets direct flight. We buy 10 day non-expiring hoppers that last 3 trips each as we only go to parks every other day. We go commando on our park days and sleep in on our off days as it is vacation. We supplement with waterparks, Disney Quest, resort hopping, and other free activities. We save money on food because we eat some meals in the condo and the rest of our food is paid for with free money on our Disney Visa rewards card on which we never carry a balance.

 

[heatherleigh]

Tax refund. I opened up a completely separate acct for it this year, just to make it even less accessible. So far, I have the entire thing saved and ready to go. We will also continue to save and take $ out of my husband's paychecks from now until our trip to supplement that.

This year will be a bit tricky because I'm taking three of the kids on an Alaskan vacation in June, and haven't saved a dime for it yet.