Question for those who take multiple trips each year

[Arthur27]

Try looking into allegiant air. If they service your area they fly into Sanford airport which is north of Orlando. They are very cheap.

 

[las3888]

Living in the far north Chicago suburbs, we have the luxury of flying either Chicago O'Hare, Chicago midway or Milwaukee to Florida. We almost never pay more than $200 per person (there are 3 of us). It still is a lot of money, but definitely not $1600!!! We also have the Disney Visa which we use for almost everything, so by the time we go, we have maybe a hundo or two stored on it which helps defray the cost of food. Then of course, the DVC secret which helps us afford our room time after time after time....

We go approx 2 times a year...sometimes 3.

 

[BroganMc]

We drive from Baltimore with a stopover in Florence, SC. Use our Marriott points and our room is free. In fact, being MVCI owners with heaps of incentive and trade-in points we haven't paid for a hotel in years.

We usually travel down for a couple weeks in Spring and Fall. Short trips (under 7 days) we'll fly down via SWA. (I monitor for cheap flights.)

This year it works out that we're getting 4 trips out of our APs: 3 long ones and 1 short trip.

Sometimes if we're pressed for time or just not up to a 900 mile journey we'll take the Autotrain from Lorton, VA to Sanford, FL. It costs about $3-400 but it's still a lot cheaper than what it would cost us to rent a HA van for a couple weeks (figure $100-$150 per day for that).

As far as what we spend on food, we use the DDE and plan a restuarant meal at least every other day. Otherwise we do counterservice or eat lots of leftovers. (We don't have big stomachs so always have leftovers.) We will make a run to SuperWalmart or Publix our first day if we're staying for a couple weeks. But we just get the staples of milk, juice, cereal and some snacks. We pretty much never eat out at home so when we travel we treat ourselves. Of course, if we're bringing family down with kiddies, we buy more sandwich stuff. Kids eat a lot. Fortunately, PB&J are perennial favorites.

 

[MODisFan]

Just out of curiosity DVC Mike, Did you participate in the College Program the summer of 1999?

 

[PinkTink63]

We have to fly regardless of how many times we visit, due a huge amount was water between us and Florida!! Realistically we can manage about twice a year on Premium Economy flights for DH and I, at about $3200 a round trip, depending on time of year it can be a little more or a little less.

Claire

OMG! That is A LOT!

 

[JENR]

We usually go about 3 times per year and there are 5 of us. We always fly. We have an airline in New Jersey named Spirit. They are always cheap. I wait for a deal and then usually book around it. I never pay more than $120 rountrip per person. We have 10 day park hoppers plus 6 waterpark passes that don't expire. We don't always go to the parks so our passes last us forever. We have had them for 3 years now. This upcoming April trip we will only do a waterpark and then just hang by the pool and won't do any parks. So we usually just have to pay for airfare and food. We never rent a car we just use magical express.

 

[DVC Mike]

Just out of curiosity DVC Mike, Did you participate in the College Program the summer of 1999?

No, wasn't me!

 

[n2mm]

We always fly. We have Dulles airport less than an hour from us and they have 4 non-stop carriers (Ted/JB/SW/AT). We also always rent a car. We average about $160 rt airfare, sometimes cheaper, never much higher. For our trip next month we got our airfare for $109 rt. If airfare ever got higher than $200 rt, we would have to rethink our plans or just do longer stays (we already do 12 night visits). We will NEVER drive.

 

[Starr W.]

We have AP's and the luxury of flying out of Detroit(NWA, SWA, Airtran and Spirit). I have a week at Thanksgiving booked on Airtran for $204. I payed pretty close to that on NWA for Easter into West Palm.

It's nice to have a lot of direct flights and multiple airlines.

 

[Claire L]

OMG! That is A LOT!

All due to the Atlantic being in the way

We could get cheaper flights, about $1800 roundtrip for the 2 of us, but with DH being 6ft 4in tall and my medical condition sitting in economy for 8+ hours is not going to work anymore.

Claire

 

[boymom2]

Yes, living here in Minnesota does subject one to the Northwest monopoly and thus ridiculously high airfares. I did just yesterday book MSP to MCO for October on Delta (one connection, one-hour each there and back through Atlanta) for $318/person which I thought was pretty good. It felt good to get out of the NWA choke.

 

[global_mom]

For those in a market with Spirit Airlines, they just released dates to MCO for $33 each way. Seems to be good from most major markets that they service. We fly out of Atlanta and it was available from there at normal times of the day. Hope that this helps someone!

 

[zulaya]

Being in MN sucks rocks when it comes to airfare. If I didn't have vouchers from NWA last year, I would not be flying them this year.

I SO wish Airtran would fly more nonstops (I hate their times from MSP and they change their frickin' schedule all the time) or that JetBlue or SWA or Spirit or SOMEONE would get themselves up here and fly some nonstops. I could really care less about frequent flyer miles for as "frequent" as I can even use them.

Ugh. This is a sore spot with me, for sure. Never any deals to be had up here with this monopoly.

 

[NJOGRE]

We are taken 3 trips this year,

we alreay went in Jan 08 (AKL) great experience
May 26th thru the 30th (BWV) 1 st
Dec 6th thru the 13th (SSR)

We budget our points and borrowed some points. Its easier said then done to budget, but we did.

We wouldn't be doing so many trips if it wasn;t for frequent flier miles. Got to love CONTINENTAL. Plus Newark to Orlando is only $280 highest its been in years we got $118 round trip for the Jan flight WOO HOO

And then I use the Disney Visa Rewards card for work so I racked up like $750 last year used it all for the Jan trip and I am back up to $450 DRD I'll get $750 before Dec. ANd then my family knows to give us Disney Dollars for Birthdays & other holidays.

Also we have AP's and the DDE card which usually pays for its self the 3rd tiem we use it, we like to DRINK

So we do are best to keep the cash down to a min

 

[Alexander]

We usually take 2-3 trips per year. However, last year and this year we are going 4 times. I always book flights waaayyy in advance. I can usually get something around $200/person even for President's Week or Easter if I book as soon as flights are released by the legacy carriers. The extra trips this year and last are partially due to Delta Dollars we received for taking a "bump" last Feb. We each got $400 DD and it bought us two r/t tickets each. We also have APs and for some of the trips limit our eating out.

The combination of people traveling is always different too:
February '08--DH, DS, DS, and Me--VWL (Free Flights)
April '08--DS and Me--DCL ($223 Flights)
July '08--DH and Me--AKV ($198 Flights)
December '08--DH, DS, DS, and Me--SSR ($179 Flights)

 

[Anal Annie]

We wait for the "low cost carriers" like SW, Jet Blue & Air Tran to release their flight schedules around 6 mo. out (all 3 usually come out close to the same time so there's good competition). Then I shop thru Kayak.com - that site ROCKS! The "experts" say to shop mid-week for the cheapest fares so I just try to play the game & book whichever one works out to have the best price for the times I'm looking for. I am also fortunate in that we live in the DC area so it's really an advantage in that we have 3 airports we can use that are all about the same distance from our home (BWI, Dulles or National). They all take approx. an hour to get to so we bounce around. Last Aug. we used SW out of BWI. In January we used Jet Blue out of Dulles and this July we're using Air Tran out of BWI!! Even after I book tho, I go back & watch the fares 'cuz they fluctuate a lot. I booked us on Air Tran RT for $199 pp the first week in January for our trip in July. 2 days later I looked 'cuz SW released their schedule which was actually higher (like $230 pp) but Air Tran had DROPPED the price on one of our legs so that the RT was only $154 now!! So I called them and they gave me a credit for the difference on my rewards account! The same fares have now gone up to $304 the past several times I checked on them! I think a lot of that increase might be fuel related!

 

[TDC Nala]

I'm only paying for one person and airfare is pretty reasonable out of DC.

 

[mesaguy]

We go 3 times a year, so I know what you mean. On average I pay $200 RT, but I tried yesterday to get some flight for april and the lowest I got was $260 each for the 3 of us, then I tried Hotwire, and I got almost the exact same flight that I was trying to book thru American for only $159 all taxes included.