Personal Question- How do you do it?

[shelby_36]

How do you all do these vacations? We are going this summer to our first BIG vacation since i've gotten married (we celebrate 17 years this year) With 3 kids it is just too expensive to go anyhwere these days.

We are going on a 3 day cruise to the Bahamas and 2 days in Orlando. I have to say this trip will break the bank for us (and we both work full time)

I hope I'm not being too forward but I see so many of you that go to Disney..many by plane...for over a week in disney, staying at a resort... isn't that lik 3-4,000 dollars not to mention airfare and food?

i just wonder what we are doing wrong... its taken my husband 17 years to talk me into spending so much for this eeny weeny vacation we are taking... What are we doing wrong?//

 

[Pinnie]

3 words: Disney Vacation Club (DVC)

pinnie

 

[jmcross]

I spent the first 10 years of my marriage NEVER taking one vacation. I always was worried about the money and was frantically trying to save money for that rainy day.

Some people may think I'm crazy but I completely changed after September 11th hit. I was not personally affected but it made me realize that life is too short and can end at a moment's notice. I have planned 2-3 vacations since that day, mostly trips to WDW and Disney cruises. We have had a blast on each and every one of them.

Now I just don't worry about saving money quite as much and I'm giving my kids memories that will last them forever.

Joanne

 

[WDWguru]

1. Hard Work
2. DVC
3. Being Childfree

 

[shelby_36]

I agree that you have to live each day..but it isn't just that I am saving money..i just don't have the money to spend $4,000 on hotel and tickets and another $2,000 on airfare and then food and extras on top of that.... Some of you go every year??? What is DVC?

 

[DVCconvert]

i just wonder what we are doing wrong... its taken my husband 17 years to talk me into spending so much for this eeny weeny vacation we are taking... What are we doing wrong?//

You're proably not doing anything 'wrong', but perhaps you should.
With the advent of the newer ink jet printers, we scan and print off $50's like there's no tomorrow!

Seriously, Everyone is at a different place finacially. You have lot of expenses that others may not. Look towards the value resorts as a possible equalizer!

 

[heathriel]

My husband and I have no children, but are on a pretty tight budget (one income AND I'm putting him through school) but I make sure we take our Disney vacation every year because I grew up around families who never went anywhere and they always seemed so sad when their friends would go places. My family didn't go on vacation every year (at least, it didn't seem like it) but I do remember going places together often enough to not make it seem like we never went away.

So, anyway, I have a low-airfare-finder to Orlando for $125 or less on travelocity (hits multiple times a year), look for hotel rates at Disney when they fall under $60 a night, and buy Annual Passes - then we go every 13 and 11 months, buying 1 AP every 2 years for each of us. We then go for 4-6 days each year (usually 4) over a weekend so I miss the fewest days of work and he of school. We go during the food and wine festival, so we spend much less on food than we would on table or counter service meals, and we carry our own bottled water with us in the parks.

The passes are really the biggest expense, but even with a large family you can split that $3000-$4000 into 2 vacations in 2 years if you get Annual Passes.

 

[mking624]

My husband and I make it a point to take a vacation every year. It has helped us reconnected as a couple by doing things we enjoy...away from the stress of "reality." We do what it takes to make sure we get our time together. That could mean taking a second job (which I'm in the process of doing), cutting back on luxuries (yes, even the internet is a luxury), saving ALL loose change and cashing it in...every little bit helps.

We have NEVER paid more than $1700 for a trip to WDW. And that price was for our first trip together (our honeymoon) when we didn't know the ins and outs of spedning less to go to WDW. Now we know a lot more. In 2001, after our $1700 honeymoon trip, we wound up going for 2 more days (for a total of 8 days) more than we did for our honeymoon and paid LESS (we wound up paying $1500) and stayed at a moderate. Our trip this year will cost us less than $1000. It helps that I now work for The Disney Store (since 9/03) where I get comp tickets....so aside from food, we're only paying for hotel and airfare. We used Ding fares from SWA and paid $80 R/T per person. We'll be staying at a value resort which will save us more money. Most of our stays have been at a moderate, but we learn how we can cut back on other things to be able to do a moderate. A couple of years ago, we drove since we could get a great deal on airfare. We limit our spending on souvies (we only have a few must haves, and they are small items). The key here is to learn the "secrets" and BUDGET BUDGET BUDGET those vacations. You'd be amazed at how much money you can save for trips. That may mean not eating out *at all* for a time...but instead saving up that money. It may mean not buying that bag of chips when you're grocery shopping. It may mean serious coupon clipping time. You really have to evaluate every single dollar (yes EVERY dollar) and you'll be quite surprised at how you can be saving that money to take vacations more often. Also, joining things like AAA will save you money as well from hotels to tickets. It's important to save a little bit every month along the way. Trying to pay it all at oncec can be quite costly, but when you're paying/savings for things over a period of time, it helps a great deal.

 

[lbgraves]

I am a SAHM and we take a 7 day DCL cruise each year. DH works long hours & travels alot. I super coupon shop & stockpile, hunt bargains, and am as frugal as I can be. We don't eat out alot during the year and we don't have new cars. We choose to take this time because it is the only way we have found for DH to get totally away from the office & we recharge as a family. It has been a stressful year and we are now going for a few days next month. Amtrak is definitely a value for travel & we wont have to worry about doing the long drive ourselves. We don't pay $4000 on the cruise alone. If it cost that much alot of people wouldn't be going. Read the boards a little more & you will see the tips that everyone shares to help you save alot of money. There are alot of discounts available if you know where to look.

DVC is the Disney Vacation Club...like a time share. You can also rent points from DVC members that lets you stay at the really nice resorts for a fraction of the cost if you pay rack rate.

 

[wright1baby]

Not sure of your family, kids and so forth. We are a family of 5 (2 adults, 3 kids, 9 and under) With the Magic your way plus dining its costing us less than $3000 for 9 days and we are driving. That's ALMOST all inclusive, other than 1 meal a day. We can swing that for less than $50 bucks a day. Not sure if it's more ecomonical for you to drive or not, but it might be something to look in to. I don't fly anywhere, but Your airfare seems really high. Can any flyers out there confirm?
Maybe I should see how my new printer works on those $50's... that might help!

 

[shellybaxter]

For DH and I its a matter of hard work (we both work in high stress management jobs) no children, and a making the choice to live a simple life. We only have one car payment and its not very much. We purchase a two bedroom home in the woods, instead of a big expensive house like our friends. We don't have any credit card debt While we do buy what we want (books, CDs, etc) we don't really seem to want for much. So vacation is important to us, and we do it often. Since we come from California it would be crazy to stay only a few days, so the shortest trip we've been on is eight days. We've been four times since November 2003 and are planning on going again in December 2005. We really LOVE vacation.

 

[kilee]

We didn't take vacations for the first 8 yrs of my childs life. Now we are fortunate enough to go several times a year (to various places), usually twice a year to Disney. I can tell you that ebay has definetly helped curb the costs for several trips as well as school clothes and even some monthly bills. I actually went part-time because I was making more off ebay.

Anyhow, for my family of 3 we try to keep it in the $1500-$2000 range-- and that's usually for about a 5 day trip. We don't always stay onsite (thats a treat when we do). We fly cheap airlines (Jetblue or Southwest). We don't eat all our meals onsite. Wetry to do at least 1/4 of our meals offsite Taco Bell and Denny's are much cheaper. We don't pack meals for the parks either. So we have a comfortable vacation but we don't go overboard. Since we go so often we don't usually buy too much.

So we go on a budget we're comfortable with, but don't stay conceirge at the Poly--we'd only be able to go every couple years then.

 

[DisneyHoneyMoon]

DVC is Disney Vacation Club...

Shelby, I'm with you though. Some people travel every year, some people buy new cars every year, and some people live in huge houses. The bottom line is that some of these people are also swimming in debt, some people just make a lot of money and can afford it, and some people make financial sacrifices because they have a high demand for Disney/Family vacation time.

One of my previous posts asked people what they did for a living for people that visited Disney every year. I figured most of them would be doctors or lawyers. I was way off. Some were 2 income families, but a lot of people are just willing to sacrifice for Disney.

We're going again this year (we went last year as well). Our only debt is student loans, but we don't spend money on anything except for food and rent throughout the year, so this is our "treat". My wife drives to work, and I have a car, but I take public transportation in order to save money.

 

[oogieboogie]

We're a family of four. DH is a stay at home dad but he does some work over the internet. Any money he makes goes straight to a vacation fund. My salary goes to house, car, bills, utilities - day to day living basically. We only have one car which helps keep costs down.

We have annual passes, so that saves us money because we go during low season, use room descounts that we get from the APs. DH does some rewards sites and makes some money that way too. Any way that we can get a discount, we go for it.

 

[wright1baby]

I guess I could eloborate on our family a little more. We are a couple married 6 years (on our WDW trip!) 3 children (5,7,9). I used to work full time until a year ago, now I am cleaning houses (about 3-4 a week) it only takes about 3-4 hours a day I am home to put kids on the bus and home when they get home. My husband works at an automotive factory. We have a healthy 401K for retirement and have apropriately planned for our future as well as our children's. We are not wealthy and we do not sacrifice. As a matter of fact, until last year we had not taken a vaction since my DH or I were in High School. Now that the kids are a little older and it's easier on all of us to travel we are taking advantage of it. We usually claim 0 dependents and let the tax return check pay for our vacation! I know we could make better rates--or any--if we put it some other investments, but what fun would that be?

 

[caitycaity]

we're dinks.

 

[paigevz]

Tax refund..............we claim no dependents and then get a bigger return in Jan/Feb..............every other year we use this for Disney..........in the other years, we use most for bills or big ticket items, and then take a smaller trip (Texas coast, San Antonio, New Orleans).

This is our "off-disney" year, and I don't know where I want to go! I want the ocean, but my brother just moved to Nawlins, so that'd be fun staying with him, and we keep wanting to go to Silver Dollar City in Missouri, and my other brother lives outside Denver...........................decisions, decisions

 

[stardust]

We are by no means well off, but vacations with our kids are important to us. This year, we took a bonus that my DH got and just earmarked it for Disney. Then once we knew we were going, we put $20 a week in an envelope for the tickets. You will never miss the twenty if you do this.

I read some of the threads about people staying at Concierge all the time and cannot for the life of me understand how THEY do it! But I know that people look at my family and wonder how we manage it...we've been to WDW four times since 2000. You just really have to decide if this is a priority for you. It's fine if it isn't. And of course you have to pay your mortgage and buy food before you even think about WDW But if you decide that you do want to do things like this, then make it work. Never say never!

 

[DVC Jen]

For us it is as simple as priorities. I am not going to fib and say our trips are financially hard for us..they aren't. We have been very very blessed in that department. My DH is an engineering manager and works very hard and makes a good income. I am a preschool teacher working part time and I make a pathetic income (but do for the sheer joy it gives me) .

We could easily afford a larger, fancier house but we choose to go to Disney instead. We buy most of our clothing on sale and or at wal-mart. We do drive newer cars but they are Saturns not something fancy or really expensive. We just make our long family vacations to Disney a priority. DVC also really helps. I am not sure how it is going to be however when we have a daughter in college. We may not be able to go for as long as we do now. But at that time..her collage tuition will be more of a priority than a long vacation.

 

[Mom to Will and Finn]

Well, everyone has different salary levels. An engineer husband and pediatrician wife would most likely be able to afford some nice big Disney trips, while a teacher and his stay at home wife might struggle to afford one every few years.

I know it's much easier for us to go now than it was just a couple few years ago. We still have to save a little. We've decided (a few years ago) to do a Disney vacation on odd numbered years and go somewhere else on even numbered years. I'm very thankful we're able to do even that much. I know there are many people who aren't able to afford even one trip to Disney.