If you're insane then I don't know what that makes me. I've been plotting and planning a surprise WDW trip for my family since Feb 2002 for an Aug 2004 trip. The advantage of all this pre-planning is that I have tons of time to save the $$$ I'll need to pull this off.
You're right, prices have gone up and probably will go up again before your trip. There's not much you can do about most of the price increases but if you purchase your passes ahead of time, it can help tremendously.
You can buy AP vouchers anytime in advance from your local
Disney Store or thru the Disney website. If you're a Disney Club member, you can get a discount on the passes. Order your vouchers before your membership expires, if that is the case. The vouchers have no expiration date and they are not activated until you bring them to WDW.
Because you're a family of 5, you will either need to stay in a deluxe resort or get 2 AllStar rooms for all of you. Either way, an AP for at least one family member (even a child) could save you significant money and may make it affordable to stay onsite for at least part of your stay. You might even want to get them for the whole family if you plan to visit the parks at least 8 days, or if you intend to go back less than one year from your next trip.
Meanwhile, if you do not carry some sort of rewards credit card, get one. Disney will be offering a credit card in March with Disney rewards and perks. Details are sketchy right now but it will not have an annual fee, so it may be worth getting just for any perks and discounts it may offer.
Right now, I have 2 rewards cards. One I use for almost every purchase I make. I pay it off each month and I get 1% cashback, monthly, in the form of Webcertificates. The other rewards card is an airline frequent flier card. It has an annual fee and offers 1 airmile for every $ charged. I use it for major purchases and also pay it off immediately. If the Disney card looks good, I may drop this one or find another frequent flier card --too many restrictions on this one.
My DH is self-employed and all overhead is paid for using a business rewards card. The one he uses is good for a lot of rewards, including Marriott GC's, frequent flier points, car rentals and restaurant GC's. He doesn't know it, but we're going to be using those points to rent a car while in Orlando.
Other suggestions:
Buy Disney Dollars to be used to pay for souvenirs and snacks in the parks. If you just put $20 aside every month, you'll have $240 in one year's time. That's a lot of Mickey ice cream bars!
Start a Disney Fund. Throw all your loose change into it. I collected over $500 this past year alone and I still have 18 months to go until my planned trip!
Hold a garage sale and put the proceeds into your savings for Disney. You may be able to net a couple hundred $$ this way.
Sell some of your unwanted stuff on eBay. They say that one man's junk is another man's treasure. You can also sell old videos and cd's at Half.com for a nice little profit. Since I'm converting all my Disney titles over to DVD as they become available, the VHS tapes are becoming obsolete. Here's a way to get something for them and free up space at the same time!
Subscribe to MouseSavers' newsletter to get the latest discount codes and special ticket offers. The December newsletter offered discount tickets for Disney Quest. They beat any price I could find on the internet elsewhere. I snapped up 4 passes for my family.
Reserve your room(s) as soon as you know your exact dates. You can always change the ressie if new codes come out or you can apply an AP discount to it.
Make your PSs for Hoop de Doo or the Polynesian Luau now. They can be made 2 years in advance.
Order the vacation planning video (it's free) and watch it when you need a Disney fix.
Make a chart to show your progress. Take it out when you get discouraged and see how far you've gotten towards your vacation!
Come to this board often. Update us on your progress and check out any new ideas that members have to offer.
, and the fact that we saved over 800 on our budget, he couldn't say no.
