I can never seem to get there

[Mercy]

I don't know how you guys do it... especially when I hear about those who take trips every year or more than once a year. I love DW but it costs so much to go there. It's not just the resorts, but the passes are such a hugh expense, not to mention spending money so we can just eat.

I spend a lot of time on these boards dreaming and planning but it seems like my plans are always dashed because of other expenses. Oh well... I'm sure we will get back there again, thanks for listening to me whine

 

[josierac]

You can purchase the tickets a little at a time instead of all together. Say if you are planning on going in 1 or 2 years. Buy your tickets every couple of months until your trip. One less expense at the time of the trip. Since the tickets never expire.

Get a room with a kitchen so that you can prepare some of your own meals (saves money). On property you can check into the Fort Wilderness Cabins or look into renting a private home (they are usually very inexpensive.

Check www.mousesavers.com for special rates. Don't go during peak season (check on the disney website for dates on this). Value season is the least expensive time to go.

 

[luv2nascar]

Oh I have got the same problems too.
I wanted to go early december & didn't get there either.
Booked for $49 rate for early feb at asmo & had to cancel that one too.
We decided to buy a house instead - it will be done in july/aug.
So disney for us probably for at least 2 years.
I come to the boards & keep dreaming.

 

[wdisneelvr]

I hear you there...I wish I could go more often too. Some people are sooooo lucky...hehehe Seems like I get to go about every 2 years...

 

[zippehsmom]

I understand how you feel. Dh and I first went in 1998 for honeymoon, and it seems like every year something has come up. First, I was 8 months pregnant, then we built a house, but this year he has promised that he'll get me to WDW if it kills him. He's tired of me talking about it.

I can't go during a lot of off peak times because of school. So I'm left with spring breaks, christmas breaks and summers. Also, Dh likes Vegas, so we try to get out there once or twice a year, but that trip is a lot cheaper.

Another thing that I just started doing to help make the cost seem not so bad is we are paying for hotels and airfare with income tax return. We are buying $75.00 worth of DD every two weeks. And we get paid every two weeks so twice a year we get 3 checks in a month. We look at those as free checks, and we're using those to buy passes, spending and food money. We also look for any deal to add more frequent flyer miles. We already have enough for one free ticket, now we're working on a second.

We also started saving our change, once we get enough we will redeem for DD.

These are the little things we're doing to help with the cost.

zippehsmom

 

[ZerasPride]

I can relate to how you feel Mercy! I responded to your post on the DVC board so you may want to check it out when you get a chance. For my family (or should I say for me) Disney vacations are a priority. But I admit I will throw a vacation on a credit card in a red hot minute which I know is not good. My resolution for 2002 is if I cannot afford to pay cash, then I may not really need the item or purchase so I'd probably better not charge it. That's where DVC has fit in so nicely. I can make a payment monthly so my accommodations are taken care of. I look for good sales on air fare (last year we caught a $129 roundtrip fare from Cleveland which I thought was awesome). Now that we own DVC we can eat some meals in our room and since DH is not a real big Disney fan, we can do lots of other stuff that doesn't cost as much as park tickets.

We'll probably still just do one or two trips a year split between our home resort at Hilton Head and Disneyworld but anyway you slice it Disney is not a cheap vacation unfortunately.

Take care!

Lisa

 

[tink44]

I really know how you feel Mercy, I had financial and health issues holding me back for several years. But Glory to God I'm going in three weeks.

One thing I did (besides praying mightily) was opened an account in which I had a small amout of my salary transferred into automatically. I started with ten dollars every two weeks then increased it to 15. Then when I received a raise I took part of it to increase my transfer to 50 every 2 weeks. I never go to that bank and I only glance at the statement to make sure it's correct. In 2 years I only touched it once (my car broke down a block from the bank ). But I replaced what I took out over time.

And now along with my physical healing I found I was able to afford to go to WDW!

And certainly the DISers were a great help! I found out about mousesavers, where I caught a code which enabled me to get BWI without an annual pass @ 174 (I could have gone with an All Star 49 rate but after my trial and tribulations I believe in treating myself and family well!).

Good Luck! It can happen for you too!

Tink

 

[cottontail]

Yes, I can relate to that too. It has been 6 years since our last trip to wdw. We have to battle that dreaded exchange rate at $1.60 on every American dollar we spend, so the $100.00 room is $160.00 etc. So we have to save about an extra $ 2,000 maybe more to offset that exchange rate. Plus our dear government has a %15 on everything from clothing to utility bills to cars. It sure makes it hard to save for anything.

Deb.

 

[NancyIL]

Those theme park tickets are expensive. Good thing you are already an expert at getting good hotel deals through Priceline!

 

[loganbear]

mercy-- i know exactly how you feel. last year was the first year that i didnt have to stay of f site or at all stars.dont know if you hit the tips board yet but there are lots of ways to save money on food. we always used to bring powdered drink mixes to put in empty water bottlesthen we filled them at the water fountains. we are also big on making sandwiches in the hotel room to bring to the park. a jar of peanut butter and jelly goes a long way and sticks to your ribs. we also like the milk that comes in boxes. it has a shelf life of about 6 monthsand can be chilled in an ice bucket the night before so there is cereal for breakfast. also considerbooking off site hotels. we love holiday inn kidsuites.its minutes from the gate and has tons of stuff to keep the kiddies happy. it hasfree huge buffet breakfast every morning. and kids eat free at dinner with a paying adult. to me it was better to go and be careful about spending than not to go at all. have you ever considered giving you kids annual passes as part of their chrstmas( or hannukah or whatevr) or birthday present ? my mom gives them to each of us for christmas.the pass gives you very good dis counts on hotels as wellas some other discounts . hope this helps you out. see you at the house of mouse!

 

[Pig Pen]

We give up other stuff to go to Disney. This year it was our Christmas gifts. It also helps to have relatives that live an hour away from Orlando so we use them as our "base of operations." The last two trips we stayed with them a couple of nights and in Orlando a couple of nights. Makes the dollar stretch and gives the relatives a break.

I definitely give the old credit card a good workout when I go. However, I find if I begin planning early and "pay as I go" it doesn't hurt as much.

This past trip we managed to get great airfares after Sept 11 which we put on our charge card and paid off by the time we left for WDW in December. We also "pre-paid" for our Disney hotel (half in advance and half upon check-in) after finding a special $59 rate.

We also drag a cooler with us to the room. We usually eat one meal at around 2:00 in the park and eat out of the cooler the rest of the time. We are not used to the heat so we tend to eat less when we are there anyway.

I think you can order admission tickets in advance too, but I haven't ever done it.

 

[jmarie]

Mercy-It's best not to put on a credit card, so save a little bit each week. Go in the off season-last Feb the weather was 80+ degrees. Do you have a Disney store near you? Get some Disney dollars every week and put aside-that way you can't spend on anything else. Maybe someone else can answer this--can you use Disney dollars for their hotels??-that could be a great gift idea for those who shop for you. A Disney vaca does not need to be elaborate; since the passes are so expensive, don't eat at the expensive places there-any "unofficial guide"-(Selinger's is the best) will tell you what is a good value. We were the opposite-my husband likes a good meal, so the $ I brought down was for restaurants, not souvenirs. Good luck...

 

[Gagebre]

Well, I always start out with the dream of staying at a Deluxe resort, make my reservation and then cancel after thinking about it. I would love to stay onsite (especially at a deluxe), but I just can't justify the price. For our trip in January (and our trip last May) I got my hotel using Priceline and both times got a great resort. With Priceline I'm forced to pay for my hotel in advance which is great because it's hard for me to save any money. I'm also luckily a Florida resident so I get seasonal passes and use them at least a couple of times a year. I usually get my passes at the Disney store one at a time which is much easier than buying them all at once. We can also drive since we live in Florida. By this time even if my husband starts whining about how we shouldn't go because we don't have enough money it's to late! The hotel and tickets are already paid for. When we go on our trip all I have to worry about money wise is gas, food and misc. I also don't put anything on a credit card.

 

[tink2dw]

I average a DisneyWorld trip About every 11 years[2 trips so far]!! I had two DisneyLand trips in acouple of years after the first WDW trip. But the the finances went to h--- in a hand basket!! for 5 yrs!!

We are still struggling! It will probably be 11 yrs till we can go again.Boo Hoo....

But dreaming and planning kept me sane till I was able to go to WDW!!

 

[Mercy]

Thanks for all the responses... and Happy New Year everyone!

It is nice to know that I am not alone and there are others who can't go as often as they would like. Sometimes it feels like everyone here can go all the time. The last time we went I did try buying DD's as sort of a savings account, mainly because I can't use them for anything else. If I start an account with real money, I'll just end up using it for something else. I really wanted to go this coming summer again (that is really the only time I can go because of my son being in high school, which is also the reason money is so tight... that tuition you know) but my DH wants to go back to the beach. We went last year and had a good time plus it was much more economical.

NancyIL... yeah I can use priceline and love it, except that on the last trip I won the MOWC and the Dolphin, and while we loved the MOWC and really enjoyed our stay there, once we moved over to the Dolphin we were really WOWed!! It's that whole staying on site thing! I hate to admit it but it really did make a difference, so now it's like since we don't go that often, I'm determined that next time we will stay on site the whole time. And as you know the S/D rarely come up any more.

Anyway, I love you guys and will continue to read the boards and Disney Dream!!

 

[juicefruit00]

Hi


I didn't read all the posts so i can't say this is for all of you.
I have read that you have either built a house or bought one, it sounds to me you are on the right track. I have only been to disney once before and i am the same. There were always things standing in our way, money, home, car. I am going this year and i am so excited. I am going to do everything i missed the first time. I too paid for the timeshare we rented from my cousin, paid for air, got such a good deal on that so the money we did put away for air we are not staying at POR for 3 nights. Now all i have to save before march 27, 2002 is my spending money
$2000 and park tickets $750. I don't think i will need that much spending money, but i want to be safe and i don't know the next time i will be in Disney again. So i want to have as much fun as i can. We live in RI and we do go to NH about 3 times a year, to go to the lake or just go up and ski. But that is usually only for 3 nights and it cost about $1000 for such a short time. But instead of just putting the money away we would be content in doing that. Now i want a real long vacation and i did my homework and got a second job and i am so tired let me tell you. LOL. But we are going. I can take my son to my second job so that helps and i am spending time with him. Good luck.

 

[MosMom]

I think we usually get lucky. Part of my husbands salary is paid in a bonus sent out quarterly. This pays for most of our trip if we decide to go. If we didn't get that bonus money in chunks throughout the year we probably wouldn't go that often either because I'm the pits at saving. Sometimes we do it on tax return money (which we are doing this year). We've been going as a family for about 2 years & we have tried trips in January, September, March, & May. I really think we are only cut out for the January / Early February trips so we will probably start going only once a year. We have not enjoyed any trip as much as our trip in January. We do want to try maybe a late October trip sometime though.

I'm also an ebay addict & I have paid for an entire trip with ebay $$ before. Instead of having a garage sale I put all my junk up on ebay & made probably triple or more what I would have made at a garage sale. In fact, we had a garage sale when we moved this summer & nobody would buy this doggie door we had. Only wanted $10 for it brand new in box & nobody was interested...someone tried to talk me down to $5 but I wouldn't budge. I ended up putting it up on ebay and made $150 on it! I'm running out of stuff to put up on ebay though LOL =)

 

[juicefruit00]

I also sell stuff on ebay. I enjoy doing crafts and i put them on ebay. I also can't believe how much money you make. I can buy a piece of wood for 6 dollars and make over 100 dollars on it. I know you need the talent. But if you went to stores like the Christmas tree shop ( I don't know if you have one around your homes), or a craft store you could probably buy this stuff cheaper and pick out your own colors. But hey if i am making money i am happy. Good luck

 

[ppony]

We ourselves are just so n debt it's beyond bad. After I had to take a $10,000 pay cut (yes, that's 4 zeros and believe me...I wasn't making much anyway) to be closer to my hubby and 20 month old and not spend 3 hours a day on the road in just commuting...that caused us a huge hardship and I had to use all the money we had saved for our Dec. 2002 trip. It was going to be the first trip since '99 and the first with a child. We werw SO looking forward to seeing WDW through him. Not to mention, we were going to bring my mom as she has NEVER been on a vacation where she flew anywhere and has NEVER been to WDW. BUT...those hopes were dashed. We were also going to get to see the stone we bought in the path. I just hope we get back before 10 years are up as that's the only length of time they gaurntee it to be there.

I find it depressing to hear about people being able to go yearly. it just reminds me about how bad off we are. Great for them but it's sad for me.

Chin up! We'll get back?!?!?!

 

[Mercy]

ppony, aaahhh... I feel your pain. I'm sorry you had to cancel your trip, but being near your family is really worth your sacrifice, you can't put a price on that. Your son is still young enough that I'm sure you will be able to get to DW in time to enjoy seeing it through his eyes. The first time we took our boys, they were 7 and 10 and they thoroughly enjoyed it. My youngest was so excited when he saw his favorite character Goofy...it made me cry.

I really shouldn't complain, we have been to DW 3 times, some people never get to go. So, chin up, love your family, pay down those bills, and maybe tuck a little away on the side for that special trip.