How to do disney multiple times a year

[Firsttimer5901]

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.

 

[JanaDee]

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.

We can afford it because my DH makes a good income and the only debt we have is our mortgage.

The obvious answer is if you can't afford it now, you need to bring in more money, or don't go as often.

 

[cinderellasSong]

I don't do several times a year. I am happy some can do that. But we go about once a year. What helps us is - Hilton american express which we use for practically everything when we are at home . That helps us pay our hotel with the points reward. We also have a Southwest credit card that helps with flying, if you can sign up and get the 50,000 bonus points. I am assuming most people must do AP if they go several times a year, it would pay for itself. But I am looking forward to see what others say!

 

[Princess_Nikki]

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.

I think knowing your home location would help us all with a more accurate response, for one. Can you drive? Would you have to fly?

I live in Northwest Florida on the Gulf of Mexico. WDW is about a 6-7 hour drive for us. We are Florida Resident Passholders, which also gives us access to the FL AP room discounts. We also only go mostly during the value season.

All that makes it most possible for us to go at least 4 times a year.

 

[MeanestMomEver]

For the first time ever, I'll be visiting multiple times this year. The only reason we can is because my husband will be speaking at or chairing sessions at conferences. So, his airfare and the room is (mostly) covered. For the first trip, we purchased tickets at a discount through the conference.

My advice for anyone wanting extra vacation cash would be to actually WRITE up a savings plan and open a vacation only account. Then make it a game/challenge/priority to add to that account whenever possible. That's how I've covered the bulk of our vacation expenses.

 

[MinnieGirl33]

DVC
AP's
TiW
Stalking airlines & rental car rates every day!

 

[ellochka]

We are able to afford multiple vacations a year. I believe, most of it would apply for people going to Disney multiple times.

1. High income. Graduate degree in a hot field does it. If not available, you will have to both work and live frugally.
2. Low cost of living area. While you get paid more in NYC and SF Bay area, it's only 10-30% more, and your costs are at least 50% more.
3. Not buying a big house. Many families at our income level live in $500K houses. We decided to spend half as much for a condo.
4. Not carrying any debt outside of mortgage. Yes, you have to save for a car, but you are less likely to splurge for a car when the money is coming out of your pocket.
5. Have a vacation savings account
6. Staying in cramped accommodations while on site or staying off site. I am absolutely floored by the number of people willing to spend a week, 4 people in one tiny room. That's my personal idea of vacation hell , but it does save you some major $.
7. Driving to WDW. We are ~15 hours away, and I personally would not consider driving. Yet, many people do it twice a year to save money.
8. Going at low season times. The accommodations and flights are going to be cheaper.
9. Not doing much in terms of table service or character meals. That one I totally understand - if you are going to WDW twice a year, you can do one character meal at time, and it's going to be enough.

So for a family of 4 (2 kids), 7 days at slow time at a value resort will be $800 with tax, plus $1,300 for dining, plus $1,300 for park tickets, plus $200 for gas, plus $300 for incidentals, $3,900 total. For that, you need to deposit $300 every two weeks into your vacation account.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

This is the first year ever that we've had APs and we'll get 4 one week trips out of them. They cost us $2,475 because we upgraded some old 2 day tickets that we'd purchased from a previous package.

We always drive from Chicago (about 20-22 hours) and stay offsite at Windsor Hills with a full kitchen and washer & dryer. We always have breakfast at the condo, usually have a CS lunch at the parks and go offsite for dinner or have dinner in the condo. Our 4 trips in a 12 month period will be about $10,000 total for 5 people, or $2,500 a trip.

After our APs expire, we're going to take a long break from WDW and concentrate on traveling to other places, maybe even South America.

 

[Marionnette]

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.

I think it would be naive to that everyone who goes to Disney multiple times in a year is doing it without going into debt. There are a lot of us who have a considerable amount of disposable income, no kids (or grown kids), and the ability to stalk the deals. But there are also people who just say YOLO and they put the trip on a credit card, to be paid off over time.

How do I afford it? Pretty much like a lot of others on this board:

• DVC and PAPs
• Airline Miles
• Credit Card Rewards
• Target 5%-off on Disney GCs with REDCard
• Comfortable income with no debts - not even a mortgage or car payment!

 

[sunshinecruise]

We go several times a year. We live in South Fl, about 3 hours from Disney World. We get the Fl resident weekday passes, we can't go on Sat or Sun, but we can usually get time off during the week. We (I) check Mousesavers.com to find the best Fl resident rates at the hotels. We usually stay at Pop Century. We usually stay 2 or 3 nights at a time and usually 3 or 4 times a year. We mostly eat at counter service restaurants, we bring cereal to eat for breakfast in the room and usually eat one big meal and one snack at the parks.

 

[WDWCP96]

For us, we have DVC and can get a discount on AP's.
We drive because airfare for 5 of us is insane(we live 900 miles away)
Our last trip we stayed at Fort Wilderness in our camper so we could save money on eating in our camper and not in the parks.
Our trip next week is at Fort Wilderness as well so we don't have to stay in a larger (more expensive room).
For spending money I use my Target red card to purchase Disney GC's with my 5% off.

For each person it is different as you can see we all have our own ideas of how to get our Disney fix in.

 

[IceSkatingPrincess]

I am lucky enough to live within driving distance now, so multiple trips are easier.

Still though, I try to save money for Disney on a daily basis. I don't shop a lot, buy basically everything on sale, I don't have fancy cars or a big house, I am a full time student and my DH is active duty so we aren't exactly rolling in it over here haha. If I want to go to Disney a lot I have to cut back in other areas. This is worth it to me, I have no idea when I was last at a mall.


now if doing a budget trip (coming from the FL/GA border):
- Annual Pass
- drive up in my smartcar instead of my bigger one to save on gas (3 hours)
- stay in value hotels with best discount I can get OR offsite
- Eat on the cheap. Eat breakfast in the room, CS in parks
- bring a water bottle and a mio or some flavoring
- Try not to buy a ton of souvenirs.

before (coming from chicago with my family, they did this):
- fly as cheaply as humanly possible. Usually this was southwest. No discount? Driving.
- Offsite. Always. Used family timeshare.
- Eat breakfast in room, CS lunch, dinner cooked at resort or CS
- bring a water bottle and a mio or some flavoring
- Try not to buy a ton of souvenirs. I could have 1 item, and if I wasn't happy with that I'd have better saved up my allowance to buy anything else.

 

[crisi]

Live close

Make lots of money

Have lots of assets

Have minimal expenses

Usually some combination of the four

The fifth - which is doing trips on the cheap, really isn't nearly as useful as having at least one and probably more than one of the first four.

 

[ellochka]

Live close

Make lots of money

Have lots of assets

Have minimal expenses

Usually some combination of the four

The fifth - which is doing trips on the cheap, really isn't nearly as useful as having at least one and probably more than one of the first four.

No matter how cheap you go, it's hard to spend less than 3K a week.

 

[eliza61]

Also, remember not all Disney vacations are 10 days. When we first started going, we did one big 10 day trip annually. Now we don't have a need to stay that long. 4 days usually is fine for us now.

 

[msmama]

We've never done multiple times a year, but about once a year since my son was born.

I rack up points on my Disney Visa - it doesn't have the best rewards, but they can ONLY be used for Disney which works for me now (though I can see it won't work for me much longer probably). This is usually enough to pay for food for my son and I.

I rack up points on my SW visa so I don't pay for flights.

Any "stuff" I buy usually comes from buying Disney GC's with my Target card (5% savings).

I go at slow (i.e. cheaper) times.

We vary length of trips. The longest we've ever gone is 9 days, the shortest 3 (and we were watching a shuttle launch one of those days).

We usually stay at values.

A lot is going to depend on how many of you there are, how you like to travel, what's important, etc. There are only 2 of us so I'm never going to spend as much on tickets as you do.

Also, a lot of people who go regularly often take "no park" trips and just hang around at resorts.

I don't go into debt with my vacations. I have a separate "vacation fund" because traveling is something that is important to me. I could put more into my savings, but I chose memories now (that said, I do put what I feel is an appropriate amount into my savings, too).

 

[nikkij]

I would say most of what other people have said...I think the FD offers comes into account too, yes I know it's not truly free since you pay full price for the room but it still helps.

This year we are blessed to be able to go twice.

I have used my coaching stipends and I am doing additional curriculum work this summer help pay for our trip. I so do like to ever factor in that as annual income because lord only knows when budget cuts will not allow for it, so we really treat it as a bonus and use it for fun stuff and to get ahead with finances or home improvement. My husband is also pulling in some OT to help us for a possible trip next year

 

[Disneylover99]

We went 3 times last year between Aug. - Dec.

For us the most important aspect is getting cheap flights. It's pretty easy to find deals on resorts, so flights are key.

 

[Bete]

I think it depends on how bad you really want to go more than once to Disney World in the same year.

First, you need to save back home. Don't be going out back home all the time and save that money into a savings account. Skip the movies out, restaurants and so forth. Do bag lunches for work. It's only for one year and you can return to whatever later on. Buy cheaper food from the grocery store like generics. Combine your car trips to save gasoline costs. Cut down on utilities like keeping it cooler in winter and warmer in the summer. Get a cheaper cell phone plan. You get the idea and can expand upon these frugal habits.

If you can get over the fastpass plus perk and extra magic hours onsite I think off site saves money especially if you are willing to cook. Condos are a bargain. Eat a good breakfast away from the park enough to last the whole day and then eat outside of the park when your day is done. You have to stay away from the extras in the parks. Don't buy snacks and stay away from souvenirs. Bring in your own snacks or drinks. If you want to stay at a resort keep checking rates for the best deal. We often lock in on a price and cancel if a sale/promo comes along and make a new reservation. Cancellation policy is pretty nice with all the chains. I look religiously and I always save.

If you are hooked on onsite the free dining promos are worthwhile especially the bigger the family to the room. Maximize the free dining by ordering the more expensive menu items. By all means stay at the values. Make your days worthwhile in the parks and stay for longer days in the parks and stay for fewer days overall on vacation. We have even used an air mattress in the room to save on the cost of another room. Not everyone is willing to share a bed. Our time in the room is to clean up or sleep and we could care less on the ambiance of it all.

 

[Parkhopper]

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.