Planning a Trip in 2019? Let's Share Our Budgets!

[tantoria2]

Where: Israel
When March-April
Who-2 adults and 2 teens

We are planning a month long trip to Israel. Our oldest (of three daughters) is teaching there for the year so we are staying a little longer than normal to be able to spend time with her

Right now I have:
Air for 4 from Houston to Tel Aviv,hotel/Airbnb,car rental for 10 days, admission to national parks etc,taxi to and from airport along with sim cards. total is $7,800.
There will be additional costs but that is the bulk of everything.


We also were blessed with a trip to Disney World in Jan by my in laws! Its going to be a GREAT year!

 

[virge]

Budget changed again. We went back to 6 nights at POFQ, reducing our resort costs to $1770.

I’m going to wait to reduce the ticket budget until we purchase tickets, so I have a small buffer.

Updated budget goal is $5860

Added $250 (52 week savings challenge, Ibotta, Savings Catcher, Achievement, etc.) to my vacation savings account. I now have $3630 in the account & have paid the $200 room deposit. I need $2030 to reach my current goal of $5860. I’m crossing my fingers I get some Disney money for Christmas, since I will need to average saving $340 a month to make my goal.

Added $375 (checks from an accidental buildup of several years worth of wellness benefits from a supplemental policy my husband carries) to my vacation savings account. I now have $4005 in the account & have paid the $200 room deposit. I need $1655 to reach my current goal of $5860. Still crossing my fingers I get some Disney money for Christmas. I need to average saving $275 a month to make my goal.

 

[G-jamamama]

First comment and first trip. I’m in the beginning stages of planning.

Who: Me, hubs, dd14, dd11.

When: 11/19. We homeschool so dates are very flexible. We want to stay for 8 nights.

Where: Pop Century (we camp a lot in a pop up camper with no bathroom and the girls share a bed, so one room at Pop will be a luxury simply because we won’t have to walk across the campground to go to the bathroom).

Budget:

Tickets $450 x 4 for 6 day base ticket = $1800
Hotel $125 x 8 nights = $1000
Food $200 x 9 days = $1800
Tips $25 x 9 days = $225
Souvenirs = $200
Behind the seeds = $120
Caring for Giants = $120
Flights $0 (yay SW points!)
Total ~5500

Does this seem like a reasonable budget? Am I missing anything?

Thanks for any insight!

 

[Sadeesmom]

First comment and first trip. I’m in the beginning stages of planning.

Who: Me, hubs, dd14, dd11.

When: 11/19. We homeschool so dates are very flexible. We want to stay for 8 nights.

Where: Pop Century (we camp a lot in a pop up camper with no bathroom and the girls share a bed, so one room at Pop will be a luxury simply because we won’t have to walk across the campground to go to the bathroom).

Budget:

Tickets $450 x 4 for 6 day base ticket = $1800
Hotel $125 x 8 nights = $1000
Food $200 x 9 days = $1800
Tips $25 x 9 days = $225
Souvenirs = $200
Behind the seeds = $120
Caring for Giants = $120
Flights $0 (yay SW points!)
Total ~5500

Does this seem like a reasonable budget? Am I missing anything?

Thanks for any insight!

Have you looked at the menus/prices to factor into that food budget? If you aren’t doing many table service meals, it seems okay, but if you want a sit down meal every day, I might up the food budget a bit.
Only other thing I can think of might be parking at &/or transportation to/from your local airport?

 

[Alynw]

We go every year for 2 weeks at xmas. Been doin this for 10yr now. Here is my current budget for our upcoming 2018 xmas vacation.
Duration...15 days
Family...2 adults 1 teen
Airfare...$1,050 roundtrip from IN
Disney tickets 6 day base...$1,150
Vacation house offsite...$1,400
Rental car standard...$385
Parking...$120 @ $20 day
Grocery and eat out....$750
Total....$4855
I could do 1 week for $2,500

Not bad for a full 2 week vaction. Our vac house is 1700sqft 3 bed 2 bath with a heated private pool.

 

[G-jamamama]

Have you looked at the menus/prices to factor into that food budget? If you aren’t doing many table service meals, it seems okay, but if you want a sit down meal every day, I might up the food budget a bit.
Only other thing I can think of might be parking at &/or transportation to/from your local airport?

I was thinking my food budget might be low. I based it off of a counter service dining plan. We don’t think we need a dining plan, it’s just the number I used to figure out our budget. Looking at menus is a good idea and will probably give me a better number.

Parking at the airport has me thinking of other pre and post expenses I might want to consider.

Thanks, very helpful!

 

[3 DD love princesses]

First comment and first trip. I’m in the beginning stages of planning.

Who: Me, hubs, dd14, dd11.

When: 11/19. We homeschool so dates are very flexible. We want to stay for 8 nights.

Where: Pop Century (we camp a lot in a pop up camper with no bathroom and the girls share a bed, so one room at Pop will be a luxury simply because we won’t have to walk across the campground to go to the bathroom).

Budget:

Tickets $450 x 4 for 6 day base ticket = $1800
Hotel $125 x 8 nights = $1000
Food $200 x 9 days = $1800
Tips $25 x 9 days = $225
Souvenirs = $200
Behind the seeds = $120
Caring for Giants = $120
Flights $0 (yay SW points!)
Total ~5500

Does this seem like a reasonable budget? Am I missing anything?

Thanks for any insight!

Food I would check out menus at a few places you are interested in. If doing TS you will need to budget more. If doing only QS then I would do $17 per person per meal as most meals are around $15-17

 

[jelo]

We have been 7x, but my dd's only twice.

We are planning on going the week of Oct 5th, and another family is joining us for the trip.

As far as budgeting,this is one trip that I don't really HAVE to budget. My FIL passed away last March and we have a little spending money. But that doesn't mean I won't be shopping around for the best deals, it's in my nature!

Both dd's have a birthday before our trip, so they will get lots of essentials as gifts...they are only allowed to choose 1 souvenier and we always get the refillable cups.

We have decided on POR, and this will be our first moderate on site stay. I'm looking forward to it, as it looks just beautiful. I'm in Canada, so we don't have a lot of other ways to save for Disney, but I budget where I can!

 

[lcc2]

Going in March and staying at CSR for 9 nights. It will be me, DD9 and DD6

Resort/6 day base tickets - $3200. $545.70 remaining.

Food-$800. Using gift card, $500 saved so far.

Transportation- $400. Driving and hotel if needed.

Souvenirs/Tips: $350

Misc- $89

Total budget: $4839

Planning on going in fall of next year too so considering upgrading to an AP. That would be an additional cost.

Update:
Trip is paid for with the exception of 1) Memory Maker and 2) Trip insurance
Time is flying!

 

[disneyduonj]

So I've had two nights/3 days of a trip to Orlando planned for almost a year already. Staying at Holiday Inn Vacation Resorts Orange Lake for two nights in January (Sunday/Monday). I just wasn't sure what to do for the rest of the week. We did DW two years ago so originally wanted to try something different (aka cheaper) but in the end decided 2 days at Disney was better than my other options - so just made all the other plans in the last week or two for January 20-25!!
Doing this mostly on points.

Who: Me and DD7

Airfare - booked jetblue with UR points one way - I have points all over the place- including SW but there was ZERO non-stop flights using points on SW, Delta, or AA early in the morning so I booked two one ways - was about 19,700 points - included all fees. Will pay for one checked bag using my BofA travel rewards (see hotel). Going into Tampa and my sister and her DD16 will pick us up at the airport. They are staying with us at Holiday Inn (that as always the original plan).
Going home booked a 1 stop flight on AA - paid less than $25 for fees - paid out of budget for November of (holidays/gifts) -I have a credit card with AA so will get priority boarding and one bag checked free!

other transportation - will need round trip transportation in NJ and to airport in MCO; when changing hotels; and miscellaneous to/from parks or other entertainment - planning on getting a $300 uber/lyft gift certificate and paying with Barclaycard Arrival+ points (have ove $700 points worth).

Hotel: 2 nights in IHG resort - paid for with annual fee - 2nd one posted before 1st one expired so get to use both at once - paid $49 per year so $98 - paid for for a while already.
Moving on to Park Inn Radisson near Disney for 3 nights - 15000 Radisson Rewards points each night. IT has @$16.50 night resort fee which includes free parking and transportation to the parks. I'll pay that with my BofA travel rewards card - I have a bout $85 in points on that card - so between the checked bag and this I'll have wiped out those rewards and will cancel the card.
Tips at both hotels ($5 a day - so $25 from FREE MONEY)

Tickets and Activities: Got 2 2 day MYW tickets. Undercover tourist tickets were more expensive than DW website for 2 day tickets so I discovered that I could get Disney gift cards with my remaining southwest points. I had the companion pass for 2017 and 2018 and got tremendous value out of it but I have not been able to find flights that worked for me anymore. Also as my daughter is now 7 we don't really qualify for family boarding anymore and I was a little nervous about getting seated separately from her. SO I decided to burn my 40,000 southwest points on Disney cards. I also had $60 of chase disney rewards and I received a $100 disney gift card as a gift. SO our tickets were about $417 which I paid for using these gift cards and I have $140 left on my gift card - which will be used for snacks and free spending in the parks (balloon/facepainging/portraits) etc.
So we are planning on doing quite a bit of non-park disney type stuff that I didn't do on our last trip since we didn't have alot of free and wanted to spend as much time in parks as possible.
Sunday night we are planning on doing the Chip n Dale sing along - will bring our own smores stuff as we have food issues - $5
Monday night a "share" of the Illuminations Fireworks Cruise - came to $74 for the two of us. Paid for out of my "holiday" budget already. Also $15-$20 for tip - (will use FREE MONEY - see below)
Tuesday night - will probably just have a nice dinner ($35 - FREE MONEY) watch fireworks from room/hotel, getting settled and go to bed early so we can be at the parks early.
Also want to ride the monorail and see the different resorts.
Might do movies/ disney springs/ disney 2nd hand shopping/arcade - budget $150 - paying for it out of checking account bonuses (AKA FREE MONEY) - I have $350 set aside in the bank now with another $200 coming right around the time of the trip.
Decided not to do memory maker - we did a share last time- as we are only there for two days and I don't want to spend too much time trying to get my monies worth out of it. I'll just ask them to take a pic with my phone and try the disney chase photo ops.

Food: We don't eat much at Disney but will go out to non-park restaurants and get groceries for the hotel - $200 for whole trip- will come from checking account bonuses (FREE MONEY).

Also have a $190 in cash gifts - not sure if I will use it here or get a badly needed haircut and winter boots - priorities you know!.

I'm too tired to figure out totals on anything - probably cause I am making it too complicated - trying to figure out "value" vs. what I actually paid - might come back later and do it.
But I am sooo excited.

 

[G-jamamama]

Food I would check out menus at a few places you are interested in. If doing TS you will need to budget more. If doing only QS then I would do $17 per person per meal as most meals are around $15-17

Yes, so maybe I’ll keep our food budget the same and add a line item for any TS meals we plan as we get closer. Plus, I will spend some time looking at menus. Thanks!

 

[kristenrice]

UPDATE...

TOTAL Cash Earned: $1376.29 (out of $1650 needed, 83.4%)
FREE Cash Earned: $289.25 (21%)
Gift Cards Earned: $628.94 (out of $1750 needed, 35.9% )

TOTAL Earned towards goal: $2005.23 / $3400.00 (58.9%)
Total of those funds that were FREE: $918.19
...45.8% of what I have earned towards my trip budget is FREE money
...27% of the TOTAL budget has been accumulated so far for FREE

I anticipate that I will have my entire cash budget acquired by the end of the year. I haven't been doing very good with my Swagbucks but I have earned a LOT of bonuses with my Best Buy Visa. I earned over $100 last month with bonus offers alone. Thanks to those here who turned me on to Dosh...I am now also earning 3-5% at Sam's Club and Exxon/Mobil. It's not a lot, but it's at least another $5 a month that I wasn't getting before.

UPDATE...

TOTAL Cash Earned: $1650 (...with $183.47 EXTRA!!) **I MADE IT!!**
FREE Cash Earned: $392.66 (23.8%)
Gift Cards Earned: $768.94 (out of $1750 needed...43.9%)

As the year is coming to a close, I am happy to see that I have ALL of my cash budget in the bank. I am going to continue adding to my "FREE" cash earnings (Ebates, Dosh, etc) which will increase the percentage of my trip that is covered with reward money. I am also happy to see that I am almost halfway to my goal of $1750 in FREE gift cards. That is CRAZY!! I have only been saving/earning since October...2 months!....and I still have 10 more months to go before our trip!

At the end of November, DH retired after 28 years as a police officer. He was not planning on coming on this trip with us since he is not a big fan of WDW. He didn't enjoy himself the last time we all went because all of the "go-go-go" and itineraries and such was too much for him. He preferred to sit in the room and nap with a beer, much to the chagrin of the rest of the family. When we got back, he made it clear that he was NOT going to do that again. Well, here we are, planning our next trip, excluding him as he requested...but now that he is retired...he's starting to have second thoughts. Now that he is "on vacation" every day, I think he is starting to view this vacation in a different light. I would love to have him join us, but the hit to my budget would be HUGE. I would have to get him a ticket (7-day PH would be at least $550), airfare ($400), a MNSSHP ticket ($100) and then feed him (at least another $800). Then, we'd also have to board our dogs for 10 days which would run us another $600. So to add DH to our trip, I'm looking at about another $2500 addition to my budget. I can do it...but it will be a whole new challenge!

I *was* hoping to earn $3500 EXTRA by the time we leave in October and have that in the bank for our April 2020 trip to HHI. I would love to come home from one trip and not have to worry about immediately earning for a trip just 6 months away, especially with Christmas expenses looming. If DH comes along in October, that will significantly impact my ability to have that $3500 in the bank. I'm sure I could earn enough for DH to join us, but it will mean that I will have some serious saving/earning to do once we get back. Time will tell...

 

[stoneman]

This thread has been super helpful. The last few times I have gone to Disney with the family for a week, we have easily spent over $5k. I think this time we are going to drive to Florida to save the $$. I also have not been a very good budgeter in the past and then come home with a mound of credit card debt that I hadn't planned for....I know....not good. Thanks for the tips here. I'm cracking open Google Sheets now and creating me a budget.

 

[Traveling on cc points]

Ok I'm in. We just got back from Disney last weekend and we (2 adults) are going again in March, September & next December again before or annual passes expire.

March 12-17 staying at Polly for 5 nights on rented DVC points. $1,722 (123 points @ 14 a point)

Park tickets- $0 we upgraded to annual passes last trip

Food & more importantly cocktails $700. We are not huge eaters. I will purchase gift cards at 8% off. $644.00

Airport Parking $100

Flight $0 for flight, $22 for taxes (if I remember that correctly)

Dog sitter $200

Souvenirs $150

Soda, beer, & snacks delivered from prime now $40

Random tips for baggage people, maids, grocery delivery $50

Misc- $100

Total budget $3,028. Wow, that added up to more than I thought it would be.
I convinced my boyfriend last year that if we did annual passes, our first trip (the 1 from last week) would be expensive but the rest would be fairly reasonable. I was apparently mistaken.

 

[rideswithchrist]

First comment and first trip. I’m in the beginning stages of planning.

Who: Me, hubs, dd14, dd11.

When: 11/19. We homeschool so dates are very flexible. We want to stay for 8 nights.

Where: Pop Century (we camp a lot in a pop up camper with no bathroom and the girls share a bed, so one room at Pop will be a luxury simply because we won’t have to walk across the campground to go to the bathroom).

Budget:

Tickets $450 x 4 for 6 day base ticket = $1800
Hotel $125 x 8 nights = $1000
Food $200 x 9 days = $1800
Tips $25 x 9 days = $225
Souvenirs = $200
Behind the seeds = $120
Caring for Giants = $120
Flights $0 (yay SW points!)
Total ~5500

Does this seem like a reasonable budget? Am I missing anything?

Thanks for any insight!

Your budget looks great!
We are also homeschoolers and we outgrew Pop so we are staying in our Popup Camper at the Fort

 

[rideswithchrist]

WHEN- March 3-10
2 Adults + 4 Kids: one is adult pricing and one is free
Tickets: 7day, 3 adult 2 children-
DISNEY 3/3-3/10
Fort Wilderness Popup site $839.26
Gas $400.00
Restaurants $701.00
Costco/Delivery for Lunch & Breakfast $120.00
Misc $200.00
7 Day Tickets for 3 adults and 2 kids: 7 Day $2,021.00
Hotels there and back $240.00
Total $4,521.26

The kids are responsible for their own spending money, so they have been collecting cans and selling things. So far, they have $70 between themselves.

 

[justlook3]

LOL I wasn't going to go in 2019, DH mentioned Jan or Feb 2021 as our next trip as we were coming back from this year's trip. However, I saw some info on a couple of different blogs about Priceline Express Deals especially for Aug and Sept. Now I could not find the deals that were mentioned but I found what I strongly suspected was AKL for $161 a night in September. So I booked two nights, it turned out to be a Studio Villa at Jambo House which is just fine. So this will be a long weekendish trip just on weekdays. DH said, well if you can find money to pay for it, we could do it. So I really don't have any plans right now other than paying off the room which came to 395.96 with the taxes and whatnot. I've already widdled that one down to $259.98 out of my Disney fund (started saving up as soon as we returned). Probably won't buy any tickets outside of a MNSSHP unless they're offering an After Hours for our dates or I save up enough money for a one or two day ticket. Thinking of prolonging our visit by staying first and last nights at the Hyatt at the airport but we'll see. More as the situation unfolds! (I figure AKL is a perfect place for a low key mini getaway anyway! )

 

[ChiCat]

We leave in two weeks. Some of these will be estimated because I don't remember the prices:

6 nights at Coronado Springs, with four day park tickets - $1,886.86 (for two people)
Flights (half we used points, half we paid out of pocket) $275
Star Wars Dessert Party $300 (for four people)
DestiNations tour $400 (for four people)
Memory Maker $169
Universal tickets, park to park, 1 day $360 (for two people)
Taxi to and from Universal $75? I have no idea
Souvenirs $200
Food $800
Garden Grocer $120
Parking at airport $100
Dog boarding $150

And I have $250 in gift cards to use. Typing all that out..... Disney is expensive

 

[Traveling on cc points]

We leave in two weeks. Some of these will be estimated because I don't remember the prices:

6 nights at Coronado Springs, with four day park tickets - $1,886.86 (for two people)
Flights (half we used points, half we paid out of pocket) $275
Star Wars Dessert Party $300 (for four people)
DestiNations tour $400 (for four people)
Memory Maker $169
Universal tickets, park to park, 1 day $360 (for two people)
Taxi to and from Universal $75? I have no idea
Souvenirs $200
Food $800
Garden Grocer $120
Parking at airport $100
Dog boarding $150

And I have $250 in gift cards to use. Typing all that out..... Disney is expensive

Haha. I feel your pain. I didn't realize our budget until I typed it out too.

Use uber or lyft instead of a taxi, it will be half the price. If you have amazon prime, use prime now for groceries, that will be half the price too. Garden grocer & taxis are way over priced.

 

[ChiCat]

Haha. I feel your pain. I didn't realize our budget until I typed it out too.

Use uber or lyft instead of a taxi, it will be half the price. If you have amazon prime, use prime now for groceries, that will be half the price too. Garden grocer & taxis are way over priced.

Thanks for the tips! Can you buy alcohol with amazon though?