how often do you save up and do Disney?

[Ellen aka Snow White]

do you go yearly? is it your major family vacation?

we've gone twice since I had kids, 2 yrs apart in May both times. It was so great this past May and I'm toying with saving to go again in Feb (too old to take kids out of school anymore). But going once a year feels extravagant to me, kwim? At the same time, I don't want them to get so old they won't want to go with me, they are 13 and 11.

sigh, I think I'll wait another year and try to save that money instead. The college thread sure got me thinking, lol

I haven't read through all the post yet but my girls are 18 and 21 and still want to go with us!!! We were just there for 10 days in June. We have basically gone every other year.
Ellen

 

[DisMN]

We try to go once per year and yes, this is our big vacation. We don't golf, we don't go bowling, we don't do a lot of other things so our WDW trip is *It*. The only extras we do regularly is go to movies, but even then we look for 2 for 1 coupons and almost always go to matinees.

It's not easy saving for it but we manage to put aside ALL gift monies, birthday, anniversary and Christmas monies as well as all *found* money. I hold many rummage sales through the year and add that money to our fund. With airline prices getting so high we may not be able to go once per year anymore....but we'll keep trying. LOL

 

[Pakey]

We go twice a year but it is not our big vacation; our big one is somewhere new and outside of the US; my husband and I take turns picking the destination.

 

[LaDonna]

We try to go once per year and yes, this is our big vacation. We don't golf, we don't go bowling, we don't do a lot of other things so our WDW trip is *It*. The only extras we do regularly is go to movies, but even then we look for 2 for 1 coupons and almost always go to matinees.

That's a good point , sounds silly but I really didn't even think about it like that, but we rarely do extra activities thru the year........we can't afford it.....I guess because we do a family vacation every year instead......

 

[Mom2boys2]

This will be only our 2nd time as a family, and will be almost 5 years apart. We try to plan a big trip every 2 years, and have gone to Mexico, Hyannis, Chicago....just to experience other places.

Our trip in June 2011 is a surprise for our 2 boys, they know nothing, and even when they ask, I tell them that its just really expensive, and not sure we have the money. I just can't wait to wake them up, and see their faces when I tell them to get dresses, cuz we're going to see Mickey!

 

[disneydreamersx4]

We go when we can afford it too. Usually use our income tax refund. Our first family trip was just for one day in January 2001 then we went again in 2007 for 6 nights
We're hoping to go again in 2011. AFter that, we'll probably travel out west before we go back to Disney.

 

[lisaross]

WE have done Disney 2x - August 06 and August 09 - In 09 we did Disney and Universal. I like to save and do a bit longer then a week. Our pattern seems be save for about 2 years or so..

do you go yearly? is it your major family vacation?

we've gone twice since I had kids, 2 yrs apart in May both times. It was so great this past May and I'm toying with saving to go again in Feb (too old to take kids out of school anymore). But going once a year feels extravagant to me, kwim? At the same time, I don't want them to get so old they won't want to go with me, they are 13 and 11.

sigh, I think I'll wait another year and try to save that money instead. The college thread sure got me thinking, lol

 

[smcabee]

We go every year sometimes twice a year in the fall and spring. I am a RN and work 3 12 hour shifts a week. In the summertime when everyone else is wanting vacation, I work 5 12 hour shifts for about a month and change my w4 to read 4 deductions so there is less tax taken out. All the extra OT money goes into the vacation fund. I then switch my w4 to 0 deductions for a month or so to even out the tax difference for the year. Works for us.

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

We've gone every fall for the past 5 years. This is our 6th year. One year we took an additional trip over the memorial day weekend. We do a lot of other traveling, as well; see family, run in half marathons, watch the red sox play. We spend a couple of weeks on a lake each summer, too. Working in the airline industry makes it easier and much less expensive to travel than it would be otherwise.

 

[Melmac]

We try and go every year. We didn't have another large vacation this year so we are going for 18 days. Usually, we have one longer trip somewhere and then a 5-7 day trip to Disney. We don't have kids and can travel during cheap season so it works out well.

 

[heartsy77]

This will be our 4 trip in 5 years; would luv to go every year but we live in NY so that is just not feasible. When I graduate from nursing school and kids graduate from HS we are thinking of relocating south. I would give me eye teeth to be a nurse for WDW!

 

[abmitch01]

me, too!

 

[Mom2apirate&princess]

Our last time was in 2003. We've been living overseas for several years and just moved back in Feb. This trip kinda fell in our lap with the discounted military tickets, discounted resort rooms with the discounted ddp and really cheap air fare.

I would love to go every year but for now we just have our trip next week. I would like to go back at Christmas time at some point. My family loves Disney but we also love Hawaii and have a big trip planned in May. There are several other vacations that I want to do before ds goes to college.

Years ago we were stationed in Phoenix and were able to go to DL several times a year.

A lot of our issues are with dh's ability to get leave. In Phx we could go for the weekend and not worry about him needing leave.

 

[starann]

We went in Sept 06 with my dad, his wife, their 6mo old twins, my 19yo bro, my 10yo neice and my then best friend, Oct 08 was with is paretns and my neice and will be going Sept 10, just the 4 of us.

Dh says this will be THE last one for a long time.....we will see!!! LOL! He wants to start gonig other places in the US....I know, CRAZY!

We have been going, on the off years, to OBX and stay with friends who live there year round. So 11 that is where we will be....not sure about 2012?!?!? Maybe I'll let him plan everything so he has an idea of how much work I do when I plan our vacations

 

[gillenkl]

We go when we have the money - I will not go unless the trip is paid for. I do not want to come home to any bills. This means every 1-2 years for now.

 

[Colleen27]

It is our big family trip roughly every other year, but once in a great while it works its way into the minor/long weekend trip category if I get a PIN or other great discount. With limited funds and even more limited time, we have to balance Disney with the other places we want to take the kids and that sometimes means going longer than I personally would like beween Disney trips.

We aren't going this year, but we were just there in Dec '09 and are planning on going back for Flower & Garden in April '11 since we couldn't pull a spring trip together for this year. That'll just be a couple days with my mom & my girls, mostly for the festival attractions. Our next big, whole family Disney trip will be land & sea in 2012.

 

[Cjmuma]

My DH and I went to Disney for our Honeymoon and are trying to make it back every year for our anniversary. We made it for our first (09) and won't make it back this year A new roof for our house was more important! We could have done 2 weeks for the cost of that darn roof! But anyhow.. As many previous posters stated, we use our income tax return for Disney. (to which I say... Is it time to file the income tax return yet?:

Cj

 

[DawnM]

We go between 1 and 5 weeks per year, depending.

But we do Disney in 5 weeks for the cost many spend for 1, so I don't feel that we are extravagant by any means.

 

[neatokimmo]

I hope to continue our big Disney trip thing every three years. That freshens the experience for me. Our next trip is planned for Sept 15, 2012!

Next year we have 5 big trips planned and 3 little ones planned. So its not that we can't afford it (free dining makes Disney cheap!) its that I need variety in my escapes from real life.

 

[Disney2NJ]

We starting going every year because my daughter had food allergies and Disney World was amazing in accommodating those issues. Every year when she would go to be tested again for the allergies and fail--we would say, "Well, at least we get to go to Disney again!"

Last year, my daughter PASSED her food challenges! So, now we don't have an excuse...but the bug has bitten us and we continue to go--sometimes even more than once a per. Last year, we purchased annual passes and somehow managed to go 3 times! YIKES!