I want to go baaaaaack!

[FlaGrl38]

Its been about 4 months since I returned from my last Disney adventure, and I am getting the itch to go back

Here's what I'm wondering...how do people manage to afford to go once a year?? I have contemplated making it the kids Christmas present, and using the money we would spend on Christmas to go towards the trip....but even then we would still have to come up with a ton of money. I don't get how people do it.

Anyone have any tips, are there any secrets I don't know about???

 

[disneypolybride2008]

hi. we have been doing disney every year, sometimes 2x a year since 2005 with a GEEZ 3 year hiatus to have our DD and be confident enough to take her for the first time.. this November. For us, Disney was one of the cheapest vacations and we loved everything about it. My mom kept asking why we keep going to disney each year instead of going to see something else in the world, but i told her it is one of the cheapest vacations so that is why... then we decided to look into it more, cruising that is, and did some disney ones.. which were more expensive than Disney, Oasis -5K total for an inside room/airfare/pre-hotel/tips/etc, and then we did the Carnival Breeze with DD1, which was about 4K total for an inside room. We are doing Disney in Nov, for a total of just over 3K total cost. If we do the MVMCP that will add $120 each night, we may do two nights. We did Sesame Place 1/2 week and the other 1/2 week staying in a hotel visiting her grandma and great grandma and that was $2400 total for that vacation. We could have gone to Disney for that amount!

As far as tips, going in the fall is cheaper than say in the spring. I priced out our current trip and compared it if we did the same trip in April and it was around $700 more. I love fall b/c the xmas decorations are gorgeous. We've done Oct for the halloween party a few times as well and took advantage of free dining and stayed at the value resorts.

This trip we could have lowered the cost by getting our free dining promotion, but we didnt want to give up the Little Mermaid room, DD's favorite.

Airfare to Orlando from where we live is always about 1/2 the cost of flying in MIA or FLL for say a cruise.. so that makes a Disney trip cheaper.

We lowered our price by leaving on Saturday rather than Sunday too. The flight was cheaper to go a day sooner and that saved the higher weekend rate of the hotel as well.

We also did not get the park hopper and waterpark option like we normally do, so that saved $172

Now that DD is here and old enough, we plan to go to disney ever year. I always save as much as I can during each month. If we have to use some of my savings I would, because every year is so precious and you cant get that time back. If we were really strapped though, i'd rather do a shorter trip than nothing. Once we did a long weekend and flew down for my birthday and it was fun even though it wasn't for a whole week.

I want to ideally do a cruise in the spring and disney in the fall, but i was realizing earlier that i would need to save about $500 a month to pay for it all. That is a lot for us, but i'll do my best to save. Cruising is hard to pick a boring old ship over the new fancy ships.. but the old ones have more port times so i may have to do that. The new NCL ship for an inside cabin is 3K and then i'd have airfare/tips/etc on top of that. Older ships would be 1800-2K for an inside room.

Good luck and save for Mickey! hope you are able to go back soon!

 

[SweetMissy]

We go on vacation every year, the last 3 years just happened to be Disneyworld. Some people can afford it and others can't. It depends on a lot of things....income, savings, number of family members, being able to take time off from work, etc etc. There's plenty of reasons. We go because we have decent jobs and can afford it. We could actually go twice/year but due to work vacations, once is enough. You also have to look at time of year, resorts and a bunch of other factors. My advice....stay value, we always have. They're great resorts! Could we stay at a mod? Sure! We just don't see the need to spend more money to sleep. Each resort has a pool, so that's all we're there for is to sleep, swim and the occasional meal. Try to go when free dining is offered. If not, bring a lot of your own drinks/snacks. Depending on where you live....consider driving. We've driven twice and we live in NY. Driving saved about $1000! See, there's so many issues to consider. Takes a long time to plan and figure everything out. Good luck! I hope you're able to make it a yearly trip.


Edit....I just noticed you're from FL. If that were me, I'd be going numerous times/year, lol. Oh also, another thing I thought of.....I don't 100% recommend this because I firmly believe staying on property is the way to go but consider staying offsite. But be careful, weigh the pros and cons to that because staying onsite has added bonuses that you don't get anywhere else.

 

[aLLpInK]

Me too! I am always wanting to go back, along with everyone in our household.
For most trips we have used our income tax refund. Once we sold a car that we didn't need or use, and paid with that money. This last trip I was able to save out of my own income as I just went back to work in December, after being a SAHM for years!
We don't live lavishly, but comfortably. We don't buy things we cannot afford and try to cut corners (or worse cut Disney!!!) to pay for it. I drive a 2010 used car and live in a 1500 sq ft house (that we happen to love) A big part of our lives is Disney so it has to fit in somehow!

 

[sunkissed4]

Do you live in Florida? It's only so affordable for my family because we live a hour away! We used to live in NY and could only visit once a year, but now with fl resident APs it's very inexpensive to make multiple trips a month.

We're in blackout dates right now so I'm very anxious to go back soon! Lots of couponing and saving money the past year for our BC trip next month!

 

[RedHeadedFairy]

Do you live in Florida? It's only so affordable for my family because we live a hour away! We used to live in NY and could only visit once a year, but now with fl resident APs it's very inexpensive to make multiple trips a month.

We're in blackout dates right now so I'm very anxious to go back soon! Lots of couponing and saving money the past year for our BC trip next month!

Yes, this! We live 3 hours away and while we don't go EVERY year, we buy AP's when we do and go often. We make a lot of sacrifices in our budget, coupons, skipping dining out & fast food, etc. We also build our Disney visa card rewards dollars between trips and over time, they can really add up. This time we waited a little over 4 years (which is longer than normal for us) and the rewards $ alone paid for all 3 of our AP's and part of our 6 day stay at Pop.

DD and I are dying for the blackout dates to end right now.... We're planning for a 4 day weekend over labor day.

 

[honeybunches]

We didn't intend to go every year. When I heard people say that they went every year, I secretly thought they were kind of crazy. Now I understand. We used to go other places like the beach, cabins in the mountains, etc. but my kids ASK to go to Disney. It's always their first choice. DH and I figure that we have the rest of our lives to do other trips. For now if they want to do Disney, that's where we'll go. It's so important for us to have special memories while they're young, and some of our Disney memories are the best. Neither DH nor I were able to take family vacations as children, so we feel very lucky that we can take our family now. We pay a little at a time (airfare one month, deposit & payment one month, start paying the trip off, then save for tips and other expenses.)

As for affording it.... we use coupons, cashback sites, and are pretty frugal most of the year. DH and I have good jobs but also some debt, so we try to live within our means. I laughingly told DH today that while I am slow on paying off our debt, I'm quite motivated when it's a Disney trip to pay. LOL While our trips are comfortable and we definitely splurge on things like the dining plan, we could budget much more to make it cheaper if needed. We had company visit this summer and spent over $1000 on food for just that one week to feed everyone!! So spending $4000 on a Disney vacation for our family of 4 is pretty reasonable to me.

 

[jennyjinx3]

For us going once a year, and this year twice this is how we have done it:

- we are a one car family which cuts down on gas, insurance etc.
- I coupon. I am not a crazy couponer, it is hard to be one in Canada, too many rules.
- DH and I rarely buy new clothes and only shop sales for the girls and ourselves.
- we rarely eat out, birthdays and special occasions only
- I am a stay at home mom who works part time, so no day care costs
- we both work locally, so no commuting costs
- we fly out of U.S. airports so it is MUCH cheaper for our family of 5

Hope that helps, I realize not every family is able to do what we do. We are lucky in many ways. It is a sacrifice but our trips to WDW have become part of our lives and we just budget for them.

 

[MissHippy]

I wish we could go every year, but it's the airfare from Australia that prevents that from happening, so far we go every second year..This year will be DL. I'm begging DH to let us go to the Flower and Garden Festival next year, but not liking my chances...I also want to go on a Disney Eurpean Cruise...I beg, beg, beg..He's a good sport, though my DD 15 is a bit 'over' Disney. I tell her she has the option to stay with her Aunty and Uncle and her dad and I will go on our own and she quickly changes her tune

 

[kkmcan]

Although we usually visit Disneyland, we have made a lot of Disney trips over the years including DCL and we are a one-income family living on a firefighters salary. Here's how we've done it.

-When going to DL we always drive, its only 8 hours.
-Stay in the in-laws timeshare for free whenever possible.
-Use our Disney Visa for all purchases and really rack up the Disney Dollars.
We've used those for park tickets, hotel stays on property, and DCL.
-Have an ongoing vacation jar fund that I add too every month in some way. Birthday $$, rebate $$, reimbursements from dh's work, etc.
- Have a Capital One Miles Credit Card that we save the miles for our trips to WDW.
- I sell on ebay and that money usually goes towards whatever vaca we are saving for at the moment.

So for instance we just went in early June to WDW. Here was our budget:

$300 in airfare total for the 4 of us after booking super airfare deal and using $900 worth of miles.

Stayed a week for free at Wyndham Bonnett Creek (inlaws timeshare)

Purchased our 2 day Disney tickets with our saved Disney Visa Rewards $$

Paid for our $1200 Discovery Cove package/tickets with ebay earnings.

Took $300 from the vacation jar $$ for some meals and snacks.
Had $15 extra on Disney Rewards card left towards one Disney meal.
Had a $15 Disney gift card someone gave me towards another Disney meal.

Bought $100 worth of groceries for the week using what we would have spend anyways at home that week for groceries.

Rental car for week was $94 (deal!).

Since we used all of our airline miles we won't be flying across the country again for a few years.

We have a non-Disney trip planned to the beach in San Diego for October. And possibly a Disneyland trip next Spring or early summer. But we will drive there, of course and hopefully stay in the timeshare. Just need gas, meals and tickets. Currently are building our Disney reward dollars again towards our tickets purchase.

 

[momfeez]

Its been about 4 months since I returned from my last Disney adventure, and I am getting the itch to go back

Here's what I'm wondering...how do people manage to afford to go once a year?? I have contemplated making it the kids Christmas present, and using the money we would spend on Christmas to go towards the trip....but even then we would still have to come up with a ton of money. I don't get how people do it.

Anyone have any tips, are there any secrets I don't know about???

We live 2 1/2 hrs away and go quite a bit - most 3 day weekends, Christmas and a week in the summer. DD is at UCF, so it gives us a reason to see her and spend time with her at the parks.

How do afford to go so often?
*We have AP's and since we are FL residents, we take advantage of the monthly payment program...so nice not to shell out over $2,000 at one time.
*We stay off property.
*We bring our own snacks and water bottles into the park.
* We eat breakfast at the hotel - we try to get one that has a kitchen - most days we eat dinner outside the parks.
*Eat only TS meals for lunch and limit them to 1 or 2 per trip.
*Disney trips are the only trips we take. It gives us time to spend together as a family.
*We are pretty frugal the rest of the time. Don't eat out a lot - birthdays and special occasions.
*Limit birthday and Christmas spending.
*I don't buy clothing unless it's on sale - clearance is even better.

It's all about priorities. Disney trips are a priority for us, so we do what we have to do to be able to go as often as we do.

 

[GadgetTheInventor]

Great money savers for my family:

No one in my family smokes.
No one in my family orders a drink other than free water...with the exception of the 99 cent iced tea on occasion in the summer.
We go to the movie theater only once every 2 to 3 years.
No speeding tickets or other violations...insurance is kept low as a result.
We don't pay interest on credit cards...we only buy what we can pay off that month.
We eat meals mostly from scratch, including grinding our own grain and having a vegetable and herb garden. We also can.
We use coupons or buy in bulk for items like toilet paper and tissues.
No makeup and most of us have our hair cut at home.

I wouldn't expect kids to forgo a birthday party, but as an adult I prefer to eat my birthday meal at the GG than have something fancier at home and not be able to afford the GG during my trip. The BOG meal last year happened to fall on my parents' wedding anniversary so there really wasn't an extra cost versus celebrating outside of the park. If someone in my family really wants to do an activity or meal at WDW, they have the option of helping figure out how it will be paid for and what they can sacrifice to cover the cost.

As other posters have mentioned, finding the money for a vacation is often about priorities.

 

[Darcy03231]

For us vacation savings is a line item in our budget. To do that means we give up other things.

I can't tell you when the last time was that I saw a movie in a theater. We wait until they come to redbox.

We rarely eat out and if we do, we usually get takeout. If we eat in a restaurant everyone drinks water and we don't order appetizers or dessert.

Nothing is bought unless we need it. We don't drive new expensive cars, or have the latest and greatest in electronics. When we need something we buy a lot of things second hand.

I cook almost everything from scratch. It's much less expensive (and better for you) than buying a lot of prepackaged foods. I plan our meals each week by looking at the flyers, taking stock of what's in the pantry and freezer and going from there. I stock up on meat when it's on sale. This week I bought boneless skinless chicken for $1.77 lb. I bought about 40 lbs. That will take us through until its on sale again. We eat fresh fruits and vegetables that are in season. Any money I save on the grocery budget goes into vacation savings.

Any extra money (e-bay, refunds, rebates, etc.) all goes into vacation savings.

 

[Marionnette]

Its been about 4 months since I returned from my last Disney adventure, and I am getting the itch to go back

Here's what I'm wondering...how do people manage to afford to go once a year?? I have contemplated making it the kids Christmas present, and using the money we would spend on Christmas to go towards the trip....but even then we would still have to come up with a ton of money. I don't get how people do it.

Anyone have any tips, are there any secrets I don't know about???

It seems as if I always had a Disney vacation in the works from the time that the children were small. As soon as we were on the plane to head back home, I was planning how to get there again. The "kids" are now 23, 21, and 20!

Here's how we managed to take a Disney vacation every 12-15 months:

• No-expiry 10-day tickets. They last us for 2-3 trips, depending on how many park days we use.
• Convention room rates. We would travel to Orlando for business conventions or for sporting competitions that the children participated in.
• FF miles for the airfare. We have a business credit card and all overhead goes on it. We get 20K+ points per month and they can be used for a lot of things, including airfare.
• A savings account dedicated solely to vacations. This is the most important part of paying for the vacation. I can accrue lots of Disney Rewards Dollars and FF miles on credit cards, but they don't pay for the entire trip. I have to put money aside on a regular basis in order to be able to vacation. There's just no way around it. My account is with Capital One and since there are no branch offices near me and no ATM card, I'm not likely to pull money out of my vacation fund unless it's a dire emergency.

 

[mm1971]

We have gone every year for the last 7 and are heading back down soon. We actually budget vacations to make sure we have what we need, but we are able to afford this and at least one other vacation each year. Not everyone is in that position (believe me we are thankful). If you can't swing it, set up a budget and see what works best. Maybe it would be every other year or every third year. It is not something we just decided to do, it was planned out. Here are some tips:

1) I have a set amount of $$ taken from my check each pay period and deposited into a vacation account. I also have a set amount into an emergency/college fund for the kids. That way we never see it and don't have the temptation to spend it!

2) Go during the fall, January/February when the prices are offseason and they are offering the better deals. Airfare is usually lower as less families vacation at those times.

3) Stay at a value resort or off property. You can stay off property and have breakfast and/or other meals back at your condo or suite. This reduces food costs and can be less expensive for lodging.

4) Drive instead of booking airfare. This may or may not save a significant amount depending on where you live.

5) Instead of booking a room, rent DVC points. This can sometimes be a lot less $$ and you get a suite vs. just a room.

Those are some of the ways. It really depends on when you go and what discounts are being offered.

Good luck.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

Tickets: We are also FL residents and have been able to use the special FL resident tickets offered usually in the Spring, or the Military Salute tickets (my husband is a Reservist). Both are significant savings over regular tickets. Sometimes we get the Seasonal Passes if we have a vacation planned where we intend to be in the parks 5 or more days, and then we'll sometimes sneak in another trip before they expire.

Rooms: We've been able to use the military discounts on the resorts for the last several years, and we usually go in the off-season, so it makes it even more reasonable. FL resident room rates are pretty good, too.

Transportation: It's a 6-hr drive for us, one tank of gas each way, $140-ish total. We usually use the Disney buses, so no extra gas needed.

Food: We used to get a dining plan, but since our oldest became a "Disney adult" it's not as good a deal for us. We're eating OOP on our next trip and have quite a few TS meals planned, plus HDDR. We usually eat breakfast in our room, though.

Stuff: We don't buy a lot of souvenirs since we go often. We always get a couple of items, but we don't go crazy. We probably spend $100 or less, total.

I can't really say how we afford it. We just do. When my husband does extra Reserve days, I'll bank that money (he also works Civil Service and they give him X number of paid military-service days, so his regular paycheck isn't affected when he's gone). I have a Disney Visa, but don't use it a whole lot, so it doesn't accrue a lot of Disney dollars, but whatever it has, we use. We just find it to be something we want to do, so we find the money.