Iam going to ask a dumb question...

[disny4fun]

It seems, like me , that most you you eat, live, and breath to go back to WDW. My question is how can you afford it. I do rewards and even camp on site instead of staying at the hotels and still it take us 1-2 years to save for it. How do you do it?:confused

 

[worm761]

i am a stay-at-home mom. so i went out and got a very part-time job. i only work 7hours on sundays. and if they need help i work then too. also, we dont spend change. i have saved $110 in change since july. and any money that i decide is extra gets put aside too. i dont only save for disney. this is also my going home fund. i moved 600 miles last year and i want to go home often. i shop sales and save where i can. i call it being cheap, most say that it is being frugal. i refuse to pay full price for anything that i dont have to. like i said i am cheap! we stopped eating out and ordering pizza. instead my son and i make pizza. he thinks that it is great. ooh and i buy in bulk when it makes sense to. hope this helps!
angela

 

[ilovemydog]

I find that as my kids get older (now 16 & 12) we go more often. They help by saving some money now for the trips. Older DD has a job and pays for alot of her own things now. They both save and pay for the dogs (someone stays in our home), all there own spending money. And for our upcoming trip have even come to us with a envelope marked Tiffney towncar with $80.00 and $20.00 (I was told for the tip). WOW!! I almost cried at how great they are. My younger DD works for dad (has his own co.) and makes some money. OUR vacations are FAMILY vacations. We give them everything we could and as they get older and mature, we are really seeing what great young ladies they are. Back to the subject LOL!!
I never believed in doing vacations on credit so.... we also save change, do rewards, buy disney dollars, plan, save and save. Some vacations are deluxe some aren't. One final comment: They grow so fast, where there is a will there is a way.

 

[dmslush]

This is our first trip that we are planning, and without the rewards, there is just no way that we would be able to afford to go. Hopefully, after I get my degree next year, we will have enough $$$ to be able to plan a trip every 2 or 3 years.

 

[disny4fun]

Our total out of pocket costs for Nov 2000 were $1153.00. This included everything for three people, DH, DD and myself. The money I earned off of Freeride I converted to Disney Dollars and gave them to DD for her spending money. Of course we camped at FW which saved us big bucks on a hotel room and while there we did cook all of our breakfasts and some dinners which also helped.

I know that saving is always trying...it seems everytime we save a few dollars something happens and the extra money is needed for emergencies. We are planning our second trip for 2002. Presently I am trying some rewards, but nothing is accumlitaing as fast as it did before.

 

[fio006]

Tips from this board, codes from mouse savers and loans from the bank !! Got to have it !!!

 

[welovedis]

I don't think it is a dumb question at all! When I 1st visited these boards last fall I was planning our 1st trip to WDW ever & there was no return trip in our future. Now all you have to do is look at my signature line to see I am heading back next month & again next year. I have found many ways to help save for these trips.

1. DH can, fortunately, work overtime when we wants, so he does this occasionally. We determine the amount he was paid for that overtime & keep it in a separate bank account.

2. I set aside a certain amount each month or week to purchase D$, this year we did $50 per month. I can save up the $50 in lots of ways--can & bottle return from soda, set aside $$ saved from using coupons & other grocery store cards, don't go out to eat as often as before--we got out about 1X per week instead of 2-3 like before.

3. Save change in a big container & watch it grow! Also, I rarely use change to pay for items, I would rather break a bill & then put the change in the jar---it makes a difference

4. Rewards programs can help, even though they seem slower than ever before. We have accumulated $175 in RFC GCs, over $350 in D$, phone cards, GCs to give to neighbors who are taking care of our house, etc..... They have really helped to pay off some of the cost.

5. Book your vacation yourself...check out mousesavers.com for some great deals on resorts..we are staying on property (@ the ASMo) for $55/night inc. tax. Can't beat that price for the Disney **magic**! We also purchased the Disney Club card for the discounts on DStore merchandise, park hoppers and annual passes. Sometimes you can get discounted rates with this membership too. If you drive, there are also benefits the card offers for rental vehicles. Plus you get discounts in some restaurants/attractions in our homtown, so this is definitely worth it! Check out travel sites like Orbitz, travelocity or expedia for very low airfares.

6. Talk about it with your family & see what they are willing to do to help make the Disney dream a reality. For us, it was changing a little in the restaurant area, eating out a little less, & having DH work a little bit of OT. Also, we give DS his "allowance" in D$ . Now we respond when asked what gifts we would like (from relatives/close friends who are buying b-day/anniv. gifts for us)--that we would just like D$ & everyone is more than happy to do so--they think it is very cool.

Sorry to be so long & HTH!

 

[lisalynn]

We took our first trip in December 2000. Our next trip is planned for probably 2003. We can't afford to go more often than that, either. By the time I discovered rewards programs it was too late for our last trip, so I feel I'm getting a GREAT jump on our next trip with 2+ years to earn! We stayed at All Star Sports on our trip--we felt a value resort was fine as we didn't plan to spend much time in the room & we were just so thrilled to be staying on Disney property. We enjoyed Sports a lot & plan to stay at a value resort for our next trip, too. We too save spare change, try to put away a little money from each check, and we someone asks what we want for birthdays or Christmas for us or our DDs we ask for Disney dollars. It all adds up!


Can't wait to go back!!!

 

[GailT]

Can you say Visa or Master Card, that's how I do it.

What is the rewards program?

 

[jdads2]

This is our first trip. We figure that it will cost us about $6,000.00 Not cheap by any stretch. That cost includes AP's (about $1800.00). Since we are going to buy the AP's we feel that we need to take full use of them so we are planning on going 1 more time with the kids(maybe a week) and 1 time without(4 or 5 days).

This is our first trip(THE BIG $$$ TRIP) cost breakdown:
AP's- $1800.00
flights- $800.00
Poly for 7 nights- $1200.00
Character/dinner show meals- $800.00
other meals- $800.00
souvineers- $600.00

We are also bringing about $300.0 Disney Dollars with us that the kids earned through this year.

Now for the cheap trips:
Park tix: already have AP's
Flights for DW and I- $200
hotel(cheapest in park)- $400.00
Meals for 4 days- $400.00
TOTAL:$1000.00 to $1200.00

2nd trip with the kids:
already have AP's
flights- $600.00
hotel- $1100.00(on-site) $500.00(off-site) depends on cash we save up
Meals- THE BIG UNKNOWN again if we don't have alot of cash we will bring some food in with us or eat outside of park. We also have $300.00 in gift certificates we are going to save for this trip.
TOTAL: $2000.00 to $3000.00

I am basing the future flight costs on this yrs lows... the ones I can remember anyway. Jackie and I are both in the position where we can go on vacation just about anytime as long as it is during off-peak times of the year....that is when we see all the great discounts at hotels and airlines!!!!

Before deciding to go to WDW we would take a couple of short vacations a year. Now we just save for Disney.

 

[Heidi]

I save change in a jar also. Except pennies. I keep them in my wallet and put however many pennies I need with my dollars to get back all silver, then it goes into a jar.

Another tip I read on this board and now do works just as well if not better. Every time I write a check I record it in my checkbook, of course. But when I balance it I round the figure to the next highest dollar. This has REALY beed adding up!!!!

Alot of people on these boards do garage sales. I have in the past also. It realy is amazing how much you can make doing that. (its just hard work, for me anyway)

And although I haved yet to take my own advice on this...Im TRYING..... If you smoke, quit. Put that away in savings. I figured out one day between the DH and myself if we quit we could easily afford a WDW vacation every year on that money alone!!!!

Heidi

 

[dizmomof2]

Here's a tip from my aunt.

If you have extra money, walk to the bank. If your car knows you put it in there it will break!

 

[Pink Flamingo]

I don't buy new clothes! I shop at thrift stores & consignment stores for clothes for myself, my 2 kids, and even my DH. I have learned to find very nice quality clothing that is in style at great prices. I also found brand new rain ponchos for 50 cents each for our next trip! I have realized that this saves a ton of money.

Both my husband & I work for the school system so the money in flow is not much. We have been to Disney twice (1998, 2000) & are planning our next trip for June 2002, so as you can see we don't go every year. We save a little money out of each paycheck (about $200 each month) specifically for the trip.

We never keep a balance on our credit cards & only use credit cards that offer an incentive (such as a cash back bonus).

We don't buy many souveniers on any of our trips. I have found that my kids have gotten more use and pleasure out of looking through our Disney photo albums than any souvenier they have bought & my youngest son's favorite video is our family home video of our disney trips. He calls it the Disney Video & asks to watch it almost every day!

We also do most all of the suggested tips people have listed here.

Happy Saving!