How to do disney multiple times a year

[manicstreet]

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.

I understand what you are saying, but it wasn't really $28. You had to pay for your annual pass at some point as well as pay for your DVC. You just had to come up with $28 at that exact moment.

 

[hpsalb]

Others have hinted at this, but I wanted to add:

DH and I have talked about this. We live in GA, reasonable driving distance. While we have never been more than 1x in a year, we may possibly buy AP in the future when our current kid (and any future additions) is older.

I think the difference would be in how you view the trips versus one big trip. If we knew we would be going back soon, I think we would cut out some of the splurges or at least spread them out. For example, one special meal each trip versus several on an annual trip. And souvenirs wouldn't be as much of an issue.

 

[beck02]

move closer to Disney?

We go, at most, every other year, and when the daughter gets older we'll go less than that. It's a 22 hour drive for us, and we drive it, not fly. If we lived within 3 to 5 hours we'd go more, and buy a season pass. Even with lower costs hotels, even that would start to add up, and we don't get that much time off work anyway.

Besides, it would probably get boring if you go too much. Every so often = treat.

 

[wendyt_ca]

We live in Canada and go 2-3 times a year. The biggest reason we are able to do this was by purchasing our DVC or else we prob wouldn't be able to.

We buy An AP and go 2-3 times the 12 mths we have that. And get a DVC discount.

We have a decent income and no kids. So we only need to pay for the two of us. I will admit though we do have some credit card debt that I'm sure has some Disney in there. But we are currently paying those off. We get a bonus every Dec that we use towards our vacations that's usually a few thousand.

Our flights are only about $250 each round trip and we fly Jet Blue and save up our points. Every other year we can both fly free.

Often one of my Disney trips is just me and a friend of mine. We use my DVC points so since I don't charge her for the room she pays the other expenses that would normally be shared so I only have my cost for flight,food and spending. And I will already have my AP. Cheaper than paying for DH and I as well.

I budget a year in advance so I can calculate my costs and include them in my budget. I find ways to save money at home when I can.

We are also lucky enough that when we go 3 times one of those is in the spring and since we don't have enough DVC points we need to stay offsite but DH mother stays in Florida jan-may and usually pays for a week somewhere offsite and stays with us for part of the stay. And for Christmas she will give us money towards the trip. So often it costs us next to nothing.

 

[kkmcan]

We don't do WDW more than once every 3-4 years but we did DL multiple times a year for many years. Here's some of the things we do in order to vacation multiple times a year (whether it be Disney or not).

- Take $100 a month from our checks and put in our safe or Disney jar. That right there gives us $1200 year toward whatever vaca we are saving for.

- Use our Disney visa and Capital One cards for everything we possibly can.
That gives us 1-2 free airfares per year and about $500 in Disney Reward dollars.

- Try to stay in my inlaws timeshare whenever possible. It is free for us.

- Use whatever rebate checks, found money or tax returns towards our trips.
We have a supplemental insurance that pays you when you get any type of annual checkups or if you get hurt or need urgent care, hospital or ambulance. Its an Aflak type insurance sine my dh is a firefighter. I do my check ups and get $200 back a year, same for dh. Poor DS thought he broke his foot in May so we had an urgent care visit (he didn't break it) and he got $200 back for that visit. Saved that $400 towards our trips.

For example. Last year we did a one week trip to Orlando. We stayed in a 2 bedroom at Wyndham Bonnett Creek for free (inlaws timeshare), flew all four of us for a total of $300 (using Cap One miles), did 2 days at WDW using our Disney Reward Dollars, paid $1200 from our vaca savings for our Discovery cove/Sea World/Aquatica tickets. Food was additional and we did a grocery trip and ate in for breakfasts and dinners and brought snacks with us into the parks. That was our cheapest trip ever!

Then we did our yearly beach trip to San Diego that year too. Paid $600 for 4 nights on the beach at a resort and stayed 1 night at inlaws timeshare for free. Gas was about $175. A few meals and a trip to the Belmont park for some rides and games. Still $1000 but that's a great deal for a 5 night trip anywhere.

This year we did a week in Hawaii and Aulani for about $3000 for all 4 of us. total. Same type of scenario, used cap one miles, Disney reward dollars, and a few nights in the timeshare for free in Honolulu and 4 nights at Aulani with their 4th night free promo.

One year we paid $800 for all 4 of us on our DL Annual passes (after Disney reward dollars). Stayed in timeshare for free and $200 for gas to Anaheim. Then we did 3 additional trips to DL that year, stayed in timeshare for free plus gas. Those trips came out to under $500 each!

The cruises were relatively inexpensive. I can't find the prices we used to pay anymore. Our first cruise was a 4 night for $1600. Second one was a 3 night for $1500, the 2 night was $800 and the Mex Riv was 7 night kids sail free for $2100 and we drove to the port in LA. Those are totals for all 4 of us. Those kinds of prices are long gone.

I love doing vacation math! It's so much fun to see how low I can get it.

 

[Buzzsgramma]

DVC(purchased in 2000 BWV) paid cash...


AP's( discount from DVC)
or passes from UT...

TIW (discount from DVC)

SW buddy passes from D-in -Law or we sometimes drive just because..

from northern Il.....hubby worked construction i was a SAHM...we saved & were frugal...now retired we go to WDW about 2 or 3 x a year..usually alone or with family

 

[MissVeronica]

We live a little over an hour away and have Florida resident passes. For our big annual trip we rent points through Dave's Vacation Club. DH travels almost every week for work so he has tons of hotel points. We try to go once a month, but only for the weekend and we either cash in hotel points or look for a good deal.

 

[Maddies Mama]

We travel frequently and not always just to Disney. We enjoy weekend getaways and like to take cruises as well. We have no debt and put all expenses on credit cards that accumulate points and then pay the balance in full each month. My husband is in the military, so we are able to take advantage of the military discount tickets offered at Disney. They are 4-day park hoppers and they don't expire until September, so we've been able to use 2 days here and 2 days there. We are close enough to travel in for a long weekend, so we've gone 4 times in the past 8 months by doing 4 long weekends using 2 sets of the military discount tickets, combined with staying at Shades of Green or using the 30-40% military room discount. We could not afford to go to Disney so often without the military discounts offered and are very grateful for them.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

We don't go multiple times a year, but I've seen many on here say they spend $8-10,000 per trip. That amount (assuming we had the time) would certainly get us there 2, maybe 3 times.

 

[HopperFan]

Go approximately 6 weeks out of the year, usually one LONG trip (10 days), a few week trips and several shorter trips. Always myself and DS (who is disabled and lives for his trips to Disney), sometimes my DD or DS or both and maybe once a year DH. We stay about 50/50 onsite and off-site.

- 8 Hours away - always drive so have car. Sometimes DH meets us from trip so company pays flight. Sometimes a kid joins later or leaves early - one way flight. They usually pay for their plane ticket.

- Offsite, especially if all of us. We prefer suites such as Embassy Suites due to the free hot cook to order breakfast. After we eat, everyone grabs an apple and if they have snack bar to throw in backpack. We like that there is kitchenette because pack lunch for park. Dinner is eating out. We have stayed lots of offsite places but we always look for included breakfast, internet, free parking and space.
- DH travels A LOT and top pick is Hilton. We also have Hilton CC so all those points, and they are double/tripled because he is Diamond, will pay for our hotel stays with Hilton. If a short trip and rate is great, we pay.

- I always check SkyAuction for deals at Bonnet Creek. One Dec got a 1 bedroom on an Auction for a total of $320 for the week, cooked alot - bargain trip. I currently have a 2 bedroom I got on buy it now option for $616.00 the week before Christmas. DD is moving down in August for DCP so it's our week to hopefully celebrate with her.

- Onsite, never pay rack rate. Travel slower times with lowest hotel rates. Utilize bounceback, Free Dining, AP Discounts, General Public Discounts ... never pay full price. Adjust dates around higher weekend rates if I can as I don't like parks on weekends anyway. Such as we arrive Friday night late so I stay cheap offsite then move onsite Saturday so not two of the weekend rates.

- DS and I have AP tickets so we never have to worry about us. I have used AAA and Undercover Tourist for discounted tickets for others. DH also has Tickets at Work that often offer specials.

- AP allows Free Parking at parks when offsite.

- AP allows purchase of Tables in Wonderland, which we used for discounted dinners especially at when staying at values. Can use for 10 folks so when we meet family it's a huge help.

- Dine with menu costs in consideration and wait for the more expensive ones for when on Free Dining Plan.

- Onsite we eat breakfast in room as different ones are showering. Yogurt, Fresh Fruit, Muffins, Bagel with Cream Cheese etc. Driving allows us to bring. We bring bottled water and bottled coke. Coke for room, water for parks.

- We don't do much shopping but when we do I use AP discounts and we shop at the Premium Outlet Store.

- We take bottled water in park and ask for ice water with our meals. We do not snack much. We are Disney's nightmare as we can be in a park all day and spend nothing.

Offsite I can stay in free hotel with free hot breakfast, park free with AP, enter park with AP, pack lunch to eat, pack bottled water, eat no snacks, buy no goodies, get back in car and drive off site to Chickfila or grab pizza on way to hotel. Disney hates me those trips.

 

[quandrea]

This is a great thread. We spend five weeks per year. Usually spread over three trips. We are a family of five and we always say that Disney is the most affordable place for us to go. This is in large part to dvc. I just did the math and I figure each trip costs about $2500 for the five of us. We charge everything and earn points, which saves on one round of airfare per year. We pay roughly five thousand a year in dues. We get groceries on every trip and have breakfast in the villa, pack snacks and I cook at least one meal a day. We eat out, either counter service or table service , depending on our mood. As time goes by, Disney dining holds less mystique. We seem to favour the cheaper restaurants (the plaza, Splitsville, beaches and cream). I scour the rental car sites for good deals.

I tend not to want to count the grocery bills as I'd incur that expense at home anyway.

How do we afford it? Dh makes a good income, we have no debt, don't eat lunches or coffees out, I don't go to te spa or for my hair. We don't have a cleaning lady. Everything is bought on sale. I don't see us as overly frugal, but we aren't all about having what every one else has. My kids aren't in a lot of activities, they don't have a lot of toys.

The biggest thing is dvc though. Whenever I price out other holidays, I am shocked. Travelling with five or more is not cheap.

 

[FairestOfThemAll37]

I'm a bit green about anybody who gets to spend 5-6 weeks a year vacationing anywhere!!!

I wish I got that much vacation time for work!!

 

[ellochka]

I'm a bit green about anybody who gets to spend 5-6 weeks a year vacationing anywhere!!!

I wish I got that much vacation time for work!!

That's my thoughts exactly. I get a pretty good deal at work now that I have been with the company for over 5 years - 3 weeks paid vacation plus 4 personal days (plus Fri after Thanksgiving is a day off), but it's nowhere near 5-6 weeks.

Oh, wait, one of the posters is a Canadian Paid healthcare and a nice vacation. Man, I chose the wrong country (well, no, I still like it here )...

 

[quandrea]

That's my thoughts exactly. I get a pretty good deal at work now that I have been with the company for over 5 years - 3 weeks paid vacation plus 4 personal days (plus Fri after Thanksgiving is a day off), but it's nowhere near 5-6 weeks.

Oh, wait, one of the posters is a Canadian Paid healthcare and a nice vacation. Man, I chose the wrong country (well, no, I still like it here )...

Canadian or not there is no free health care ride for us. Dh is self employed and we have no drug or dental or supplementary health insurance. We pay all that out of pocket. Runs about ten grand a year for all five of us. Oh, and no paid vacation or sick days or personal days. If dh doesn't work, he makes no money.

Hubby usually works a few hours a day while on holiday. Not complaining though. We love the freedom of self employment and homeschooling. We go where we want, when we want. We are very lucky. Some people may not want to check in with work on holiday, but dh doesn't mind. He enjoys the change of pace and staying in touch makes work not so crazy when he gets home.

We are also like the people who buy nothing in the parks. We bring snacks, I bake while away due to Dd's peanut allergy, never buy a drink, cook our own meals often and buy few souvenirs. We have discounted annual passes.

 

[HopperFan]

I'm a bit green about anybody who gets to spend 5-6 weeks a year vacationing anywhere!!!

I wish I got that much vacation time for work!!

That's my thoughts exactly. I get a pretty good deal at work now that I have been with the company for over 5 years - 3 weeks paid vacation plus 4 personal days (plus Fri after Thanksgiving is a day off), but it's nowhere near 5-6 weeks.

Oh, wait, one of the posters is a Canadian Paid healthcare and a nice vacation. Man, I chose the wrong country (well, no, I still like it here )...

Since I am right above these posts I will answer. Grass not necessarily greener. I am basically a SAHM who does some work online. I am because I am guardian and caretaker of my adult DS who is handicapped - on call 24/7. He lives for his Disney trips so we make them happen to see the smile on his face. DH has about 5 weeks of vacation but only spends a week of that at most at WDW - has fun but not necessarily his happy place. His other weeks we do a couple other things like the beach and then he does a couple on his own hunting & fishing - not my happy place. I wish I had a career but DS has defined me the last 30 years and we just keep moving forward.

 

[quandrea]

Since I am right above these posts I will answer. Grass not necessarily greener. I am basically a SAHM who does some work online. I am because I am guardian and caretaker of my adult DS who is handicapped - on call 24/7. He lives for his Disney trips so we make them happen to see the smile on his face. DH has about 5 weeks of vacation but only spends a week of that at most at WDW - has fun but not necessarily his happy place. His other weeks we do a couple other things like the beach and then he does a couple on his own hunting & fishing - not my happy place. I wish I had a career but DS has defined me the last 30 years and we just keep moving forward.

So true. Grass is not always greener. I never make apologies for our vacation time. Our family has known a lot of suffering and I don't know anyone who works harder than dh, so vacation time is well earned and valued in this family. Sounds the same for you.

 

[kmb584]

We go twice a year for 10 days because I can afford to do so. Disney resorts are quite expensive (for what I'm accustomed to which are 1- or 2-bedroom villas) so I usually opt for an off-site timeshare resort (Sheraton Vistana and WBC being my favorites) and that alone saves me thousands. Once a year, or once every other year, I opt to rent points for a DVC villa as I love AKV and VWL and like to splurge on those resorts. We (DD and I) have had AP for years and because of air miles all I really ever pay are the taxes. It's definitely a doable situation but before diving into a 2x/year vacation plan a person really needs to sit down and look at their income vs. debt ratio and decide if it's something that they can do.

 

[ellochka]

So true. Grass is not always greener. I never make apologies for our vacation time. Our family has known a lot of suffering and I don't know anyone who works harder than dh, so vacation time is well earned and valued in this family. Sounds the same for you.

It was a bit tongue in cheek on my part, actually. I am pretty happy with my life as is.

 

[jennyjinx3]

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.
s.

This is pretty much us too. Our main priority is not clothes,,cars, or a bigger house. It is traveling with the kids, be it to Disney or somewhere else.

 

[NotUrsula]

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

And the trick with that is not going for a week. 5 days is our average. (Total of about 9 days' vacation total; DH's job is stingy.)

We visit an average of 3X per year, and go to either WDW or USIOA, or sometimes both. We have season passes at USIOA and always stay one night onsite to do 2 days in the parks with FOTL access; it's a very satisfying 2 day sweep that way.

At WDW we either stay at S/D on points, or do a moderate with a good code, and ALWAYS take advantage of EMH hours to maximize the value of each park day. We buy about $20 worth of groceries for breakfast eats, then eat frugally in the parks, since eating light is better for a day full of heat and exercise in any case. We spurge one good dinner per trip, but don't take the kids; they are usually happier eating nuggets at the kids' club anyway.

We don't tend to include the cost of tickets in the budget for each trip, because we buy our tickets on rotation, one at a time, and we always buy the largest ticket possible (10Day + WP, for a total of 20 park days, with no expiration. Not cheap up front (more than an AP), but the cost of each day works out to under $25, and each pass normally lasts at least 3 years.

One thing we do not buy is souvenirs; ever. We don't snack or buy alcohol, either, and we carry refillable water bottles in the parks. We tried the dining plan a few times, but found that we actually didn't like eating that much, and we felt that we had to eat it b/c we had paid for it.

Most of our trips come out at a little under $2K for 5 days, counting airfare (some of that is on points, but usually not all), but not counting park passes.

We budget for travel the same way that we budget for food or utilities; and we work points programs for maximum value to make the money go further.

I should perhaps also mention that we have no debt except a few payments left on DH's car; the house is paid for, and so is my car. We use credit cards all the time for the points, but we pay them off each month; no interest.