I still want to know how y'all can afford to go all the time!!!

[tinkie]

I hope once my little guy is in school (this fall!) that I can be as industrious! You all really do give me hope! cool...cool...very cool...

Now, if only I could convince DH to love Disney like I do why, we would have something!

 

[FatCow]

My choice of places to go are:

1. Australia
2. New Zealand
3. UK
4. British Columbia
5. WDW

The cheapest one is... WDW.

 

[niks81]

Originally posted by tinkie
I still want to know how y'all can afford to go all the time!!!

Simple answer for you....we can't but we do it anyways

 

[vhoffman]

How can you afford not to go? If not to WDW, then somewhere you enjoy. We budget for mortgage, car, food, kids education, and other essentials. The key is to stop thinking of fun as something extra in our lives. When you make fun essential and budget for it as well, you'll find the money without undue strain. Just remember--you can't take it with you!

 

[skiwee1]

I can go 30 days a year because DH makes good money! We have lots of disposable income and I chose to throw mine away at WDW!

 

[TeresaNJ]

After converting my DH into a WDW nut like me, we decided to buy into DVC. We also buy AP's, but stagger them, so not paying all at once. Neither DH or I spend alot of money on clothes, make do with our furniture until we really need something, save ALL of our change, get free airfare occasionally with our frequent flyer miles. DH travels alot for work, and uses AmEx for most purchases, so we put those AmEx points toward our frequent flyer miles. We usually don't take any other vacations other than WDW, cause that's where we'd rather be, but are fortunate enough to live one hour from the ocean, so can take day trips there. I cut out buying coffee at work; I brew an extra pot in the morning and fill a large thermos to bring with me, and I almost always pack a lunch. Sometimes DH and I go without the kids, they're young adults now, so the cost is less then with less hungry mouths to feed. We also make a grocery stop on the way to the resort, since we have a kitchen in the DVC resorts, so breakfast, sometimes lunch and dinner, plus snacks are covered. Where there is a will, there's a way!

 

[Micca]

It's a priority for us too. We buy APs, and DD gets the CM discount. It still costs too much to fly from our city Also we seldom go anywhere else.

 

[crisi]

Originally posted by skiwee1
I can go 30 days a year because DH makes good money! We have lots of disposable income and I chose to throw mine away at WDW!

We only go for a week every other year (and just got off the cruise - and would like to do that again), own DVC, and, like skiwee1, make a pretty good living (my husband is well paid compared to me, and I have a job where most of my peers have stay at home wives who think their husbands are well paid). We don't go more often becase we have to fly, have additional vacation destination we enjoy, and don't have endless vacation time available to us. There was a "what's your household income" poll on the DVC board a year or so back, and - while we all describe ourselves as middle class, there are a lot of us pulling six figures a year.

While its easy to say "priorities, budgets, etc..." its a lot easier to have vacations as a priority when you make a decent income.

 

[MELSMICE]

Let's see -

--Bought into DVC

--Get AP's or PAP's

--Save all our change & am now starting to save singles instead of spending them for Disney $'s

--Have the Disney Visa, SW Visa & USAir Visa. Pay them off monthly so we accrue Disney Rewards and miles for free airfare.

--Have a "Disney Savings Account" which we make sure we put $ into on a regular basis.

There are many other things we could spend our money on, however, we have chosen to make our WDW vacations with our 3 DD's a priority.

Some people buy a summer home at the beach, buy a motor home & travel. We just choose to make sure we set aside money for our WDW vacations. I guess that's how we can afford to go more often than others.

 

[DisneyJules]

I was wondering the same thing too. We really get hit with the darn exchange, you lose SO much money converting CND to US dollars! The cheapest I would have been able to do this last holiday to WDW, would be $2000 CND, for 9 days-8 nights. And that was just paying for myself alone. We stayed a REALLY cheap hotel for the week but I found airfare to be rather expensive, then add on the park passes and food. But in the end it really is ALL worth it!
Someday I would LOVE to buy into DVC, a dream away!

 

[kathyseb]

My husband and I go 4 weeks a year. I start looking for a place to stay months before we go and I check the hotel rates for the area and try to find one that is a reasonable price.

We have stayed at Grovesnor Hotel which is at DowtownDisney. The breakfast at this hotel is a buffet which is fantastic and after eating it, it is a while before we are hungry.

We use the DowntownDisney tranportation during our stay, so we do not spend anything on gas or transportation.

Also, we get APs. If you stay 8 days anything after that is a savings. So we save quite a bit on the cost of entering the park.

The restaurants we eat at serve you enough that you have enough to make two meals out of one dinner. We take the leftovers back to the hotel, put in the fridg and heat them in the microwave the next night.

Now that we have recently bought into the DVC, not only with the AP be bought in advance, but the hotel will be prepaid for.
It takes us two days to drive down there. You have to set your priorities. And WDW is top priority for us!!

 

[yecats]

Hi tinkie,

I haven't read every response but have read a few so sorry if I covering something someone already covered. I am working my way up to yearly trips and have taken everytype of trip to date both onsite and offsite. Onsite will almost always cost you 1/3 to 1/2 more than you will have paid staying offsite. Not to mention that staying onsite generally will always cost you more food wise than offsite.

If you want to do more trips per year then your best bet is to by an AP and stay offsite. There are plenty of people who never stay offsite on these boards and would deter you from doing so. I have done both and will admit that it is great to have a trip onsite but you will pay more to do it and honestly, I have not had one bad trip staying offsite yet. If it is your intent to go more than once a year then offsite is your best option.

I say buy an AP as it pays itself off at around the 8 day mark. Point is to go as many times in a year as you can. As for offsite, Priceline (look at a site called biddingfortravel.com before bidding on priceline), Skyauction and HotelKingdom are ways to look into making a trip extend itself without being overly expensive. Now, honestly, plenty of people will tell you to wait and get AP discounts and stay at the AS or Pop Century. These are really nice Disney hotels but you are staying in one small room and a week even with the discount will cost you $400 plus. You can rent a 2 bedroom condo from Skyauction from $300-$400 for the same week. You will then have a full kitchen, washer/dryer, living room/dining room area and two bedrooms. Not to mention that it is easier to fix your own full breakfast in the a.m., bring sandwiches in for lunch and snacks and then are only left with having to purchase dinner in or outside of the parks. This also saves you on packing as you will only have to pack for 3 days and wash clothes every 3rd day. Staying in one room at the AS/PC allows you to do these things but everyone is crammed into one room, your limited as to what you can eat for breakfast in the room (or having to refill icechest on a daily basis) and you will have to pay to clean your clothes in the laundry room. However, you will have Disney theming and Disney transportation. P.S. Having an AP means that whether your staying on grounds or off grounds, parking is FREE.

I have yet to experience an offsite stay that has taken me longer than 15/20 minutes to reach Disney property and I never sit in traffic on I-4 unless I am visiting US.

My current way of saving for my next trip is I am bringing in my lunch to work and saving the usual $5 I would've spent plus whatever change I have saved at the end of the week. Most weeks to date I have managed to save $20. So as I will be saving almost a year by the time I go, I will have saved about $900. This will certainly pay for my room and ticket, then it is only food and souvenir money that I have to come up with.

Look into all your options and create a budget. You may be surprised at what you'll discover.

 

[vhoffman]

Like everyone else here, I'm always looking for ways to save for our Disney trips. Here's a little savings I'd like to pass on. We recently applied for a BP Amoco gas card. Essentially, its a no fee credit card which is only good at their gas stations. However, if you use their card you get a substantial discount on gas. There's only one of their stations near us (but we only need one!) and the price of gas there is about 15 cents a gallon less than other area gas stations. I figure we could save $40-$60 per month by using this card. To get it, go to their website www.bpamoco.com.

Whenever we realize a savings, such as this , we try to pocket the money. We plan to make a regular deposit of $50 a month to our Disney account. If we don't, that money just stays in our checking account and goes for other things. Savings isn't savings unless you put it aside somehow. If not, it just becomes money spent on something else.

 

[jodifla]

As so many posters have pointed out here, DVC makes going to Disney a lot easier to pull off. Particularly once it's paid off, it's gives you high-class accommodations that are prepaid. Top it off with a pass of some sort, and you're getting a terrific value. (As Florida residents, we get the seasonal pass, so it's less than $200 for the whole year except Summer, Easter, and Christmas, times I wouldn't go anyway because of the crowds.)

Having a kitchen also saves beacoup bucks. One trip, the only thing on our bill was a 35 cent phone call charge.

For the five years we were paying off DVC, we cost-shifted. That is, we took all the money we spend on vacations elsewhere, and put all that money toward DVC. Since it was money we were spending anyway, we didn't feel the pinch. (We also went to Disney's Vero Beach Resort for some variety!)

 

[arminnie]

Originally posted by Zippa D Doodah
My Zippa D Doodah tip for this day is to never ever charge more on your credit ard than you can pay off at the end of the month.

I second that. I worked for Visa for many years. I would NEVER pay interest - especially 18-23%. It will eat you alive.

I also get an AP - that can cut expenses greatly if used for more than one trip. Last December I stayed at the Maingate Clarion for $25 (12.50 a person) a night from Priceline. I was perfectly happy with it. A friend got us a car rental that ended up being $44 each for a week. I often buy kids meals, eat breakfast in the room and don't spend huge amounts on food. I don't criticize those who stay in deluxe hotels and spend more on food - sometimes I do that too- but it's just not that important to me if I don't.

I always drive a car at least 10 years - kept one for 17 years. I didn't spend a lot on lunches when I was working and never paid retail for clothes. My biggest "extravagance" is that I give quite a bit of money to my church, charities and educational institutions.