How to do disney multiple times a year

[Dacky619]

Like the PP, we own DVC, get the discounted APs and have a Southwest card for the flights. The other thing we do to help is get around 4 trips on the AP and then don't go for a year or two. We find that is more than enough Disney for us and it significantly lowers the cost of the trips when you get 30 days out of an AP vs buying 3 or 4 different tickets.

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

We have APs
We live frugally at home.
We drive to WDW (7.5 hours for us......not all can do that)
We often stay off site.
Breakfast in the room.
Almost no fountain drinks throughout the year..........especially at WDW.
Only counter service meals.

When we first got our APs we told our daughter that in exchange for visiting WDW more often, we were going to cut some corners in other areas. She was ok with that.

PS: the signature only reflects our on site stays.

 

[willowsnn3]

Up until last year(we let our AP expire), we went at least 5 times a year. One trip would be about 6 days but the others would usually be maybe 4 days. A couple times we went for like 2 days. It is only about a 7 hour drive for us and depending on how many were going we may or may not rent a van. Usually if just 4 we would take my car which is very good on gas.
If just myself, dd & 2 grandkids, we split the bill in half so we are really utilizing 2 separate incomes. If my other dd & kids go, then we split 3 ways.
We mostly use the AP discount. Sometimes we do the dining plan (regular), sometimes not.
For myself, I was able to make $200 or $300 xtra a month by teaching a 6 hour classes on Saturdays. That pretty much paid for all my trips.

 

[willowsnn3]

double post

 

[ldo]

We live the Dc area (high cost of living, but we live in the burbs), I drive a 12 year old car. We rarely go out to movies.
Usually the multi times in a year are just me and the kids (DH has to work to pay for trip--lol). We usually have 10 day NE that we ration out (weeklong stay = 2 days in parks, 2 days WP&M and 2 days hanging out at pools, etc.), and stay at DVC in a studio or a timeshare/condo or value resort if we get a good rate. If we have a microwave/fridge, we eat a lot in the room (poptop spaghettios, cheese quesadillas, hotdogs, bagels, carrots, apples, etc.). We actually eat healthier than counter service.
This year we got AP, b/c our spring break will be 1 week earlier next year. I splurged and added a June trip b/c we have AP and no ticket costs.
My June trip--4 nights:
SWA flights for 3 $360,
one-way rental car for 1 week (we are driving to the beach to meet family later) $60 (special one-way Florida drive out rate, plus coupon)
4 nights DVC @ AKV 52 points (we have a small 50 points contract)
AP $500 with DVC discount (used at 2014 spring break, 2X this summer, and 2015 spring break)
misc counter service, etc.--under $100.

later this summer, 3rd trip of the year-
autotrain for 3 $370, flights for 2 $250 (arriving later)
AP-already have
timeshare stay for 1 week
misc $200
drive home-hotel/gas food for 11 hr drive

We will not eat any sit down meals, buy almost no souvenirs, eat breakfast, pack some lunches/counter service others, eat dinner in condo most nights.
I stick to a budget and find that a WDW trip can be very cost effective. I do allow my kids to get 1-2 snacks per day as treats--but they will eat a PBJ/cheese stick for lunch. We pin trade and that cuts down a lot on buying other junk, as they can just trade and get new pins.

 

[Jenny-momof3]

We buy annual passes and do 4 trips with each set of passes.

We usually rent DVC points. And if we can't rent points then we stay at a value resort.

We drive from ohio...15 hours straight through. We only stop for gas so no additional hotel cost. Round trip only runs us about $350 in gas. If I had to pay for flights for 6 people there's no way we would go as often!

We eat breakfast on the way to the bus. And eat mostly counter service . Any TS meals we use the tiw card.

We don't usually spend more than $100 in souvenirs each trip. We try and do one extra " experience" each trip such as a dinner show, lanouba, fireworks party etc. but that's about it.

 

[misskari]

My husband and I are working on doing more than one trip a year. Here's how we're going to do it/are doing it.

1) Own 200 DVC points

2) Use our Chase Disney Visa for all purchases at home all year, this will pay for our annual dues

3) We set aside $350 a month into our vacation fund. This will pay for flights (we're from Oregon so no driving), food, and park tickets

4) We have a big change jar, and all change over the year goes into this jar. This is our fun money (i.e. souvenirs, spa, special events, etc)

5) My husband is in the military so we get a great deal on 4 day park hopper passes

6) We will do TIW card to get 20% off all our dining (break even point is $500 so should be no problem.

When we're on vacation, we really like to "vacation" so we stay at deluxe resorts, eat out 80% of the time. I do realize this isn't for everyone, but to us the money is well spent! We're very responsible with our money and we plan far in advance, so those two things combined make it all possible.

 

[Malibustyle23]

We live in Maryland and typically go to WDW 4 - 6 times each year. We purchased DVC early on (our resorts are Old Key West and Vero Beach). We get discounted annual passes because we are DVC members. We have a Southwest Visa card that we use for all expenses and pay it in full each month. DH travels for work and only books his travel on Southwest. Due to Husband's travel, we earned a Companion pass on Southwest again this year, so I fly free any time he flies...even if he flies for free on frequent flyer miles.

We just decided last Saturday to fly down to WDW for the day. We caught the first flight of the morning, (around 6:55am) and arrived in Florida at 8:30. The rental car was $23, tickets to the park were taken care of with our annual passes, so we did a trip to WDW for $28 ($23 rental car plus the $5 in taxes that I need to pay on my companion pass) plus the cost of food.

We have never gone down for the day before, but we frequently do one full week to 10 days and several long weekends. It can be done. It is cheaper for us to go to WDW than it is for us to go to Ocean City, MD even though that is much closer.

OP, sorry I have no idea because I can not afford at this time nor am willing to afford to go multiple times per year. But I did want to say hi to Parkhopper! I am in MD as well but on the other side of the bay (closer to OC). It's funny how alot of our friends and family will complain about how expensive WDW is when we mention our plans. Although none have ever been that complain. Every time I try to price out a vacation to Ocean City it comes out to the price to go to Disney if not more! It is ridiculous! Thankfully since we can get there an hourish or so we will take day trips to the beach or visit in the of season.

 

[SWofDisorder]

What has already been said. Dave Ramsey! We don't have any debt at all other than our mortgage. We use our credit card for points and pay it immediately when the charges post. WE have a savings, emergency fund and are well invested in diverse funds.

Only after all the important things are done do we feel we can take holiday.

So hard work, discipline and setting goals. Clear the debt, then go to Disney or wherever your hearts desire.

We own DVC points, use credit card points, Buy AP's and find the cheapest flights.

 

[DawnM]

we used to go multiple times per year. We now go once and stay 10-14 days instead.

Right now our savings include:

Going when DH's work sends him. They cover the gas costs plus enough for parking.

Stay off-site in a SkyAuction.com townhouse. Last year we paid $250/wk for a 4 bedroom place including all taxes and fees.

Eating breakfast in the room, carrying lunch with us.

Disney YES tickets (although it is less of a savings these days!)

Use as many coupons as we can to eat in restaurants. Use rewards $$ for meals as well.

Our two week stay usually costs us $2,000 out of pocket for a family of 5.

 

[JandJ]

I don't think the average family can go on multiple vacations a year, Disney or anywhere, without going into debt. The average family is not like those who frequent the DIS budget board. If they were, the economy wouldn't be where it is today. That said, you've gotten great info from PP's on how to save.

 

[HM]

Shorter trips?
Instead of a week, we might do two trips of five nights. (We drive, so airfare isn't an issue).

 

[Praying Colonel]

DS is in the CP this year so we've gone down 3 times. We got APs and we get a good deal on offsite condos through Armed Forces Vacation Club. That keeps the lodging price down and also helps with food cost because we eat about half our meals at the condo. When we eat TS in the parks we use TiW.

 

[kkmcan]

We just decided last Saturday to fly down to WDW for the day. We caught the first flight of the morning, (around 6:55am) and arrived in Florida at 8:30. The rental car was $23, tickets to the park were taken care of with our annual passes, so we did a trip to WDW for $28 ($23 rental car plus the $5 in taxes that I need to pay on my companion pass) plus the cost of food.

We have never gone down for the day before, but we frequently do one full week to 10 days and several long weekends. It can be done. It is cheaper for us to go to WDW than it is for us to go to Ocean City, MD even though that is much closer.

That would be amazing! How fun would that be to decide to go down for the day!

 

[disney212]

Hope this makes sense. I always put a little back for travel. When kids were young we paid daycare and kept putting $$ into travel budget, once kids were in school the daycare $$ we used to spend went to collage savings including all raises we received. Once in college we used $$ saved towards tuition and kept socking away $$. Now that they are out college all the former college $$ we were spending gets combined with vacation savings. During the daycare & college years we went to Disney every few years and the non-Disney years were lower cost trips. Now DH and I go on several vacations a year. We also have no cc debt and only owe a few more years on our home. We are mid 40's and DH works on a factory line (non union and not a supervisor) and I have a 'pink collar' job. I have also put the max into my 401k since I started working. My point is that I never missed the money out of my budget since it was never in our budget.
We spent 29 days in the parks in 2013 utilizing our PAP & DVC, with CC points we flew for only taxes and used our Disney Visa reward dollars to eat. We charge Everything and pay it off each month.

 

[aliceindisneyland]

We go to Disneyland, not WDW, but we go multiple times a year. The last two years we spent enough days at DL that our APs worked out to $10 (2012) and $15 (2013 - prices went up a lot!) per person per day in the Parks.

Thanks to YNAB we'll be renewing our APs in a couple weeks, even though we now live 383 miles from DL instead of 201 miles away. We did not go into debt before, but we had upgraded other spending categories so it was getting tight. Now we're back to basics and back to Disneyland! Also, our living expenses in Phoenix are exactly half what we paid in CA, so we have lots more room in the budget. So if you love Disney, you can always move!

I won't be able to take super cheap day trips with the kids anymore due to the distance, but on our family trips we stay 3-5 times a year for 1-3 nights in a budget walking distance hotel ($100-$150/night). Once or twice a year we stay on site for 5-7 days - usually with Dapper Days or similar rate so it's under $300/night after tax/parking.

I feel like we are an average family, but maybe we're not. I feel like we're more frugal than most people even though we spend a lot for Disney trips.

Usually when someone I know says she wishes they [her family] could go to Disneyland, she's calling me from her new iPhone while she waits for her car to be detailed or for her nails to dry, drinking a $6 Starbucks and meeting her family at a restaurant that evening. My priority is travel, and I cut corners everywhere else to afford that.

$5 drink + $1 tip at Sbux 5x a week = $1560 a year. That pays for Deluxe APs for 3 out of 4 of us!

$100 for dinner once a month at a chain restaurant like Olive Garden or Friday's a month = $1200 - that's 4 nights at DLH!

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

Like many of the others -

- we drive (6 hours)
- we get FL resident or military deals at the on-site resorts and stay in a Value or Mod
- we get FL resident or military tickets
- we eat breakfast in our room, don't eat a ton of TS and when we do, we choose the less-expensive places

At home, we do eat out regularly, but we don't drink alcohol (don't even drink it at home). We don't have season tickets to anything, our kids don't do expensive extra-curricular activities, we rarely go to the movies. My husband has a good civil service job, and is also an Army Reserve officer, so gets extra income from that. I only work very part-time (in busy times, I work 40 hrs/MONTH, in less-busy times, I work about 12 hrs/MONTH) so my income doesn't really count towards household expenses.

I have friends who have season tickets to the closest university home games and I know they start at about $400 per person plus the expenses of getting there for 5 games. For that money, we can have seasonal APs. I have other friends whose kids play high school sports -- up to $750 per season (and there are 3 seasons per year). Our kids don't. We keep stuff a long time. We've had our HD TV for about 6 years - my hubby drools over the bigger, better ones at Sam's or Best Buy, but ours still works. (And before we bought that one, we had a hand-me-down from my sister that quit working.) We buy used cars and drive them a long time.

I hope to get back down for a long weekend in the Fall. Kids are begging to go like tomorrow, but our passes are blacked-out right now.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

I feel like we are an average family, but maybe we're not. I feel like we're more frugal than most people even though we spend a lot for Disney trips.

Usually when someone I know says she wishes they [her family] could go to Disneyland, she's calling me from her new iPhone while she waits for her car to be detailed or for her nails to dry, drinking a $6 Starbucks and meeting her family at a restaurant that evening. My priority is travel, and I cut corners everywhere else to afford that.

$5 drink + $1 tip at Sbux 5x a week = $1560 a year. That pays for Deluxe APs for 3 out of 4 of us!

$100 for dinner once a month at a chain restaurant like Olive Garden or Friday's a month = $1200 - that's 4 nights at DLH!

I like the way you think!

 

[team weasel]

Usually when someone I know says she wishes they [her family] could go to Disneyland, she's calling me from her new iPhone while she waits for her car to be detailed or for her nails to dry, drinking a $6 Starbucks and meeting her family at a restaurant that evening. My priority is travel, and I cut corners everywhere else to afford that.

$5 drink + $1 tip at Sbux 5x a week = $1560 a year. That pays for Deluxe APs for 3 out of 4 of us!

$100 for dinner once a month at a chain restaurant like Olive Garden or Friday's a month = $1200 - that's 4 nights at DLH!

THIS!

 

[MaleficentRN]

Of course it all depends on how you budget your money. We live in a relatively small house, have one car. Our friends and family have huge homes (and mortgages) and two cars, pay for all kinds of teams and classes for the kids, deck them out in designer goods and put TVs and video games in their rooms.
Then they wonder where we get the money to go to WDW and go on cruises.
We'd rather spend money on travel. But a HUGE help is renting DVC points, my Disney credit card and airline miles.