I have to ask...how do all these people afford...

[LilyU]

I have to ask!!

I keep seeing posts on these various boards about people making their 3rd and 4th trips THIS YEAR to DW. How in the world can they afford to do that? I know what our six night trip cost and I know we saved up for quite awhile for it (ok, YEARS!!).

So what's the secret? How do they do it?


Lily

 

[DbleTheFun]

I think alot of them are DVC members... which helps a lot! We are considering buying shares so that we can do the multiple trip thing every year with the kids... and DVC seems like the only way to do it! If you live closer, it helps too I think, since you can drive. For us, my DH works for the airlines, so if we do DVC and then fly standby, it will be pretty manageable!

But I agree.... I am jealous!!!! It's been almost 4 years since our last trip to WDW!

 

[ampc3]

I hear ya! We have been saving for over 2 years for our trip (first family trip)and still have alittle more to save mostly food costs now, as we won't be on the ddp...
We are only on one income and usually don't have anything left over to save.. I save bday money, xmas, ebay etc..
I don't know how people make yearly trips let alone like you said multiple trips!

I guess some people are much better at saving then others, and of course I am sure income level has alot to do with it also??

 

[islandbeachnut]

When we get annual passes, we make the most of them by going 4 times in that year . When the year is up we stay away for about 1 1/2 years & vacation elsewhere.
Annual passes give us the opportunity to get the DDE card for discounted dining. I am vigilant in getting a discount code for resort stays (we always stay deluxe - polynesian is our favorite ). We recently became DVC members & just returned from our first trip to the Boardwalk Villas. Our DVC membership will pay for itself in just 5-6 more stays .
So, the only real annoying expense is the airfare which seems to keep going up!

 

[poptoone]

Either they are putting it on a credit card or maybe live below their means so they have more disposable income than others may have! Our it could be DVC?

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

I have to ask!!

I keep seeing posts on these various boards about people making their 3rd and 4th trips THIS YEAR to DW. How in the world can they afford to do that? I know what our six night trip cost and I know we saved up for quite awhile for it (ok, YEARS!!).

So what's the secret? How do they do it?


Lily

maybe they CAN'T afford it. I only say this as I know my neighbor travels a lot and they charge it all and then she tells me how in debt they are and they can't afford it.

 

[BethR]

Either they are putting it on a credit card or maybe live below their means so they have more disposable income than others may have! Our it could be DVC?

I believe that it could be any of the 3 scenarios mentioned above.

DH and I have been married for 27 years. The income that we have now is far above what he started with 27 years ago. If I would have come here 27 years ago - or even 10 years ago, I would have asked the same thing.

Now we don't go to Disney several times a year. But in recent years, we have been going once a year. And it wasn't all THAT long ago that I considered going to Disney a "once in a lifetime" thing. It is just that we have been bitten BADLY by the Disney bug, and have decided that that is how we like to spend our vacations. So we make it our business to save up each year for Disney.

Truly, a Disney vacation can end up being not SO much more expensive than another vacation.

Spend some time on this board and you will see the different ways that people fit Disney into their budget on a regular basis.

 

[MOMTOMOOTOO]

Different people have different priorities. We take at least two nice vacations a year. Normally one them is to the Orlando area. We have stayed onsite many times, but lately we get more bang for the buck offisite. The vacation fund is built into our expenses. However, if something more important came up, the vacation would be the first to go. Yet we have friends, that do nothing but cruise. They cruise at least 4x a year. That is thier priority, they maintain their house but do not improve it, drive older cars and cut corners other ways. Different strokes yada yada yada

 

[safetymom]

I used to go several times a year before I moved here. I am a single parent. I didn't spend my money on other things during the year. I paid cash. As the kids entered their teen years they all worked and helped pay for the trip.

We didn't do a lot of restaurant dining but did some counter service. The best time we ever had was when we had a cooler in the room with breakfast foods, milk, lunch meat, etc. We said the Mouse wasn't going to get our money. We also might have only stayed for 3-4 days. We stayed at a moderate resort.

We did low budget WDW vacations and had a blast. But then not everyone wants to do it this way.

 

[Not so Dumbo]

I agree with those who said it's about priorities. For some it's about driving nice cars, other clothes, others WDW, ect. ect.

When we do go we watch for every discount possible. We stay offsite because it's so much cheaper. We eat mostly counter service ( once a day- just snacks the rest of the time ) and save one or two table service meals for special occasions (ie birthday, or last night ) We also search for the best airfare possible.... Spirit Air runs some fantastic deals if you can fly on their schedule.

 

[bettyann29]

We travel quite a bit every year.. We generally go a family vacation which sometimes is WDW or sometimes a cruise with the kids.. We do 1-2 adult trips a year.. usually cruises and then usually LaborDay weekend to WDW and sometimes one other trip to WDW..

First of all I put time with family as a priority.. I budget, I work overtime, DH gets a small bonus each year, I usually get several small ones each year.. I watch my money in other areas and save, save, save.. Both me and DH work full time and he makes a very good salary which helps.. We dont live beyond our means.. we just bought our first home together 1 1/2 years ago and we chose one that we both really like but stayed just under 1500 square feet.. we didnt go for a large home.. I have to listen to my kids all the time about our choice in homes as they wanted a larger home.. I tell them first of all they arent paying for it and besides DH's kids are older and mine are almost 10, 14 and 16.. so it wont be that many more years and its just me and him, so we didnt want anything larger..

We also dont charge our vacations..

When we cruise, we typically stay in an inside cabin and generally cruise when we can get some pretty good deals.. only once have we had a balcony.. Id rather save that money by staying inside and getting to vacation at another time.. besides you arent in the cabin hardly..

When we go to WDW, we typically stay in Value resorts, we dont stay in the Deluxe resorts.. nothing wrong with deluxe, but Id rather take that trip and spend less so that we can do another trip at another time..

 

[Danemom]

A couple of thoughts -
By staying at a value resort and driving, we can take two trips for the same price as one trip at a moderate with airfare.
We still live in our "starter" home. It's a little crowded, but we manage. It also keeps us from buying too much stuff - there's nowhere to put it!
I think a WDW vacation can be very comparable pricewise with a lot of other places, especially when you realize all your entertainment is included.

 

[runwad]

We only go once a year, but I bought the 10 day no expiry tickets and use 2 park days and one water park day for a seven day vacation. On our off days we swim at our resort or go to DTD. So we'll get 5 trips out of those tickets. We also drive down stay offsite and eat in our condo. On the days we go to the parks we pack a lunch and just eat a CS for dinner. And usually we have a disney reward card from our disney visa that pays for our food in the parks. We can do a 7 day offsite vacation for under 1k driving from Ohio. It can be done on a budget.

 

[fakereadhed]

Truly, a Disney vacation can end up being not SO much more expensive than another vacation.

ITA! We stayed at a Great Wolf Lodge for two nights and drove there and with meals and souvenirs the grand total would have bought a lot of fun at WDW. Or what we spent for a family of 5 at the county fair.

I think you hit the nail on the head with the comment about a once in a lifetime trip. Those that go several times know they are going back and don't go deluxe all the way each and every time.

If you live near a city with lots of discount flights, don't mind staying at the Disney Housing Projects(values), watch for discount codes and call right away, plan ticket use wisely, and eat some of your meals in the room it can be pretty economical compared to other trips.

 

[Youarehere]

I just always figured they made alot of money. WDW is not an expensive destination to alot of people. It is to me, but I'm poor.

 

[nuttylawprofessor]

ITA! We stayed at a Great Wolf Lodge for two nights and drove there and with meals and souvenirs the grand total would have bought a lot of fun at WDW. Or what we spent for a family of 5 at the county fair.

And this is precisely why we took our last couple of "quickie trips" to WDW. Between sale e-fares from airlines, DVC points, AP, and DDE card, it was cheaper for us to fly to Mickey than to drive to the Wisconsin Dells for a long weekend.

Go figure.

 

[cmariew]

DVC, AP's, and Southwest and Magical Express.

 

[kellyg403]

We saved for a long time for our "Once in a Lifetime Trip" a few years ago. We had never really checked into the price of going to WDW, just knew it was a lot and saved up. We were quite impressed when we actually starting to check in to the cost how comparable the vacation was to other places we had gone to for about 7 days without having something for every one to do!

After that first time, well we have decided for now we like going to Orlando. We have still have so much to do! We go to WDW but we also would like to hit other Orlando attractions. And since we do go each year, we do drive, take advantage of DPP and do moderates or values since we need 2 rooms for our family. Would love to stay deluxe but that will have to wait until dh and I actually get free time to ourselves!

I think its just a matter of what type of vacation you want and what you are willing to do to budget yourself there. We do do without alot of extras...well dh and I do! But the kids save their bday money etc for spending money.

Kelly

 

[james'mommy]

We're DVC members and AP holders. Next week will be our 4th trip on our AP's. I'm also heading down for 3 days to visit family next month and will use my AP for one final time. We live close enough to drive. Since we visit often there really isn't a need for us to spend money on souvienears. This trip I might splurge on an antena topper. When ever someone asks what DS wants as a gift I tell them Disney Dollars. And when ever he gets a cash gift I buy disney dollars with the cash. He has over $100 for this trip. DVC is really what makes the trips affordable. I hoarde my points. Trying to make the most out of them by going in the off season. We are splurging and taking DH entire family (really only 7 other people) with us in 09.

 

[eliza61]

Depends on your situation. My dh and I are both professionals who make a decent salary. We love to travel so we don't have a mcmansion or fancy cars, we spend most of our disposable income on travel. We don't have cc debt but we do have a car loan and a mortgage and we're not Dave ramsey groupies so we're pretty content with carrying those debts. We purchased our dvc (paid 1/2 in cash and finance the other 1/2 in 3 years).

Even with all that Disney is still very expensive so it's a trade off.