How to do disney multiple times a year

[HopperFan]

I know people that go several times a year, and im not sure how they afford it.......Can someone please tell me how to do this and what is the best route to do this.

I was answering the OP's original question with some of what we do to be able to afford to go so often. I've also learned some things from other responses to this question. I didn't take it that she was asking why but rather how to? While we go often we do not spend huge amounts of money. My six weeks added up may be less than some spend in a week. I was sharing our money saving tips directly related to the trip, not to say we don't save money at home in other ways.

I am probably one of the "excessive" visitors (that is not local) but it doesn't mean that it is the only place we visit nor that anything else was left by the wayside. We get to different beaches a couple times a year, usually spend the NYE week somewhere cool, we visit family in the midwest every few years, random trips like 10 days in N. California, Mardi Gras a few years, have done some cruises and have one planned ..... all these are also well planned with points, discounts and special deals. DH travels all over the world, has taken DS to Rome (using points for hotel and airfare) and yes, we are very very fortunate to do all of this. But am also proud that our house is paid off, our two children in college are graduating paid in full and debt free and still have enough in their college fund for masters or down payment on a house. They played sports all through school into college, participated in other activities that kept me volunteering way too much, but they also love Disney World. It's a place for any age and I can see it being our family go-to place for years to come (and the beach too). I can't wait to see a Grand's face the first time they go!

I think one reason vacations are so important to me is I lost my Dad when he was 41. Some of my best and strongest memories are from vacations we took as a family. I want to build all those memories with my kids!

 

[eliza61]

For true total cost of your vacation add the cost of your DVC points used at $11/point and the cost of the admissions you get for Christmas (i.e. partial ticket costs). After that it will probably be cheaper to go to the beach.

So funny, when I read this, my economist side of the brain screams - wake up, you are not counting half of your costs!!! And my marketing side screams - wow, these people at Disney are marketing geniuses, they got people's brains warped so they think it's cheaper to go to WDW!!! Sorry if I offended anyone

Lol, it always makes me wonder what beach are they going to. It must be on the south of France!!
I go to Ocean city Nj often, the thing that ticks me off is paying for beach tags but never have I paid 3000 bucks, which is what my Disney vacays generally cost.

Heck 2 years ago we went to Paris for about 600 bucks more than our Disney trips and the difference was all airfare. Room was cheaper, food was cheaper, attractions were cheaper.

 

[HopperFan]

. That's a difference in how people budget. Some people have grown kids, and they don't have to worry about buying a house in a good school district, and we do.

VERY valid point. We did buy a house in a top school district and between school, activities, obligations and the finances they required - we didn't take as many trips or vacations as we do now that our kids are college age and the house is paid off.

And in every day some of our expenses will greatly differ - I don't go to a job so I don't have to purchase those kind clothes or shoes, never had daycare costs, I get my hair cut inexpensively, color it myself and never had a manicure. I think I'm one of the only ones on the street who doesn't have a maid and most of them don't even cut their own lawns. We save by doing all our "house" stuff ourselves.

I think the word priorities is what is "upsetting" some people because they feel it makes it sound like they are choosing fun over kids etc. My kids always had everything they needed, kinda wanted and graduating debt free. I was able to do all of this by cutting my own grass, cleaning (or trying) my own house and living more simply than my neighbors.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I don't understand why you would want to make multiple Disney trip in a year. Once every few years is enough for me. There are many other fantastic places in the world to see!

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

In some ways it is parallel to families that stay the same week each year at a particular beach rental year after year. The family literally grows up there over a multi-year period.

 

[North of Mouse]

I just got back from my second trip to Disney. I know people that go several times a year, and im not sure how they afford it. I know for a fact that some have annual passes which i did the math that after ten days in the park would pay off for my family. I know some use rental points, and some have disney credit cards, but im not sure what is the best way to do this with out going into debt up to my eyes. Can someone please tell me how to do this and what is the best route to do this. Thanks have a great day.

Wow, I haven't read any of the replies, but only 'you' know what you can afford and decide whether you can go to Disney 'x' amount of time annually!


Look at your financial situation and it will tell you whether you should go or not - plus, if you have the 'time'.

 

[ellochka]

VERY valid point. We did buy a house in a top school district and between school, activities, obligations and the finances they required - we didn't take as many trips or vacations as we do now that our kids are college age and the house is paid off.

And in every day some of our expenses will greatly differ - I don't go to a job so I don't have to purchase those kind clothes or shoes, never had daycare costs, I get my hair cut inexpensively, color it myself and never had a manicure. I think I'm one of the only ones on the street who doesn't have a maid and most of them don't even cut their own lawns. We save by doing all our "house" stuff ourselves.

I think the word priorities is what is "upsetting" some people because they feel it makes it sound like they are choosing fun over kids etc. My kids always had everything they needed, kinda wanted and graduating debt free. I was able to do all of this by cutting my own grass, cleaning (or trying) my own house and living more simply than my neighbors.

Haircuts/color, mani-pedi, cleaning lady - things I have started doing after 20% for the new house have been saved (and then some). Between that and having a toddler, I thought I can give myself a break, but those things are expensive and real luxuries. They will be the first ones to go if I lose my job (these days it is rather "when" because the company I work for is being purchased - but I have a really nice separation package waiting for me).

 

[NotUrsula]

Of course, the issue there is that 2 5-day trips is more expensive than 1 10-day trip since travel costs have to be paid twice.

Not in our case, unfortunately. If DH takes that many contiguous days off work for a domestic vacation, he won't still be employed. Now THAT is expensive!

Add in what he makes in a day's work, and the cost of the airfare isn't more expensive. The trade-off that we make is that those 3 trips seldom involve more than 4 days off work, because we try to roll at least one holiday into the mix.

We also travel to quite a lot of other places as well, but normally just do long weekends unless we go abroad. Going abroad requires splitting the family so that DH can come home early, and he only gets to do it in banner years and by cutting back on travel one year to tack a few days on for the following year. (His boss will allow this for overseas travel not more than once every 5 years, but not domestic.)

 

[quandrea]

I don't understand why you would want to make multiple Disney trip in a year. Once every few years is enough for me. There are many other fantastic places in the world to see!

We do see other places in the world. Trips overseas, to Hawaii, we've seen all of canada. I always equate disney to the cottage. It's a second home.

 

[pookadoo77]

i like to go every few years, that way it still has the magic....

 

[wendyt_ca]

I don't understand why you would want to make multiple Disney trip in a year. Once every few years is enough for me. There are many other fantastic places in the world to see!

For us Disney is like home. I would love to spend more time there but our life is where we live. When we leave we soon after miss Disney. If we didn't have DVC we wouldn't be going to Disney so often. Disney is actually cheaper for us than vacations elsewhere work out to because of our AP and DVC points.

With that being said we do vacation elsewhere. Our normal routine is 1-2 trips per year. 2 on the years we have an AP. Last year was an exception and we went 3 times. But last year we also went to Atlantis in the Bahamas.

This year we have 2 trips to Disney but we just went to California and Vegas in April. Next year we are doing one 3 week trip to Florida and a week back in California and Vegas (we currently get 4 weeks of vacation but next year start getting 5). And in 2016 we plan to go to Hawaii plus 1 trip to Disney.

In most cases we go to Disney plus somewhere new. We have been to Mexico, Cuba, Ontario, nova Scotia and Quebec(live in New Brunswick Canada), Bahamas, NYC (5 times), Las Vegas, California, Boston, Iceland, London and Paris.

 

[wendyt_ca]

Part of what keeps bringing us back is that there is often something new we experience or it just is new type of vacation. I have gone twice just my best friend and I on a "girl's trip", last year we took my 11 year old brother so he could experience it. We have gone down to visit DH's mother who is in Florida Jan-May. But there is so much there to see and do that I have what I call a Disney bucket list and each trip we cross off experiences from it. In Sept I am going then because I am anxious for the new HP section at Universal. And December we are going over Christmas and New Years.

 

[puffkin]

For true total cost of your vacation add the cost of your DVC points used at $11/point and the cost of the admissions you get for Christmas (i.e. partial ticket costs). After that it will probably be cheaper to go to the beach.

So funny, when I read this, my economist side of the brain screams - wake up, you are not counting half of your costs!!! And my marketing side screams - wow, these people at Disney are marketing geniuses, they got people's brains warped so they think it's cheaper to go to WDW!!! Sorry if I offended anyone

See I don't count the cost of the DVC because its paid for already, long ago. There is a valid arguement to include the annual dues as part of my "per trip cost" (for simplicity $5/point) but that is a sunk cost. I am paying that whether I go on the trip, give my points away, don't use my points, etc. When I sit down and figure out my "vacation" budget versus my regular expenses budget....DVC points go in the regular expense bucket since I pay them regardless. Its not brainwashing or funky economics or anything like that....its just the cost of commiting to vacation to Disney a LOT.

Yes there is a valid arguement to include a portion of the AP cost into our total trip cost. Since I don't pay it I don't....but if I did it would add about $500-$600/trip (assuming we go 3x an AP year). Fair assumption, but in my case since they are a gift (which I clearly explained we are fortunate to get) I don't personally include it in *my* budget.

Perfect case in point for my family....3 summers ago we decided to do a last minute long weekend trip with DS (right before school started in August). We were about 3 weeks out. Priced out 4 nights at the Jersey Shore in a dive motel ($175/night) plus boardwalk activities/games, beach tags, gas, tolls, etc. We were pushing about a $1,000 for a long weekend. That day I got an email for airfare sale of $49 (back in the good old days). I paid $300 for airfare, $50 parking, $100 rental, $50 gas. We used DVC points and had AP's. So basically I had $500 to play with for food, we only ended up spending about $300. So yes, Disney was definitely cheaper and in my opinion a much better quality trip than the beach would have been.

But again, we make a commitment to visit Disney a lot, so its still not cheap. Our little weekend trip above wouldn't have been possible without that commitment. We are very forthcoming about that when people ask us how we afford it. We do go other places (and always try to do different things in Florida in conjunction with our Disney trips). But at this point in our lives, Disney is easy, affordable for the quality we get, and something we all enjoy. Plus it is so easy to take kids there....not a lot of other destinations are as easy.

 

[MOM POPPINS]

We have large family, DVC works for us. We need a 2 bedroom villa on every trip. Annual passes for all of us are expensive but we take 3 trips on each pass. For us DVC and annual passes make it work for us.

 

[Colleen27]

I agree with those who have said it is all about priorities. We drive older cars, we live in a paid-for fixer upper, and we don't have our kids in expensive activities. They don't lack for activities - sports, scouts, 4H - but none play travel ball or take dance/gymnastics or do anything else where very high costs are all but unavoidable. They each have college accounts but won't be getting a blank check for their higher education; if they choose a public, in-state school they can graduate without debt but if they want a private university or grad school they'll have to cover some costs themselves. And because we make it a priority we are able to travel as much as time permits (which, with a high schooler who plays football and a self-employed husband sometimes isn't as much as I'd like!).

Disney was our go-to destination while the kids were small because I can't think of any other place I've taken a toddler or preschooler that is quite as child-friendly and worry-free, but now that the youngest is school-aged we're shifting the focus to other places and other experiences. For a while DD5 thought planes only went to Mickey's House... At the airport on the way to DC last year I had a very hard time getting her to believe we really weren't going to WDW! But I don't want it to be the only place we go and as our schedules get less flexible I'm less interested in going anyway (four off-season trips in a year was fun; two when you have only early July and Christmas break available doesn't sound so hot). So right now the larger priority of travel remains even though we're not directing our time or money into Disney trips for a while.