Saving for a trip -- what do you have paid for so far?

[Shelle&Dave]

Don't worry Melinda, you aren't the only one. We leave in September and don't have much paid for yet either. Luckily, our bills are not much and it won't take long to save the money for our trip. Good luck with those plane tickets. We are driving.

 

[mckeonfive]

This is also my first time having most everything paid in advance, but at Disney you can't wing it like we usually do on vacation. This is our first trip to Disney as a family, me(never been to WDW, disneyland when I was a kid) , dh (has been, but years ago), dd 8, dd2, ds 9 mos.

So We have paid:

-Room (5 nights CSR)
-WDW Tix
-10 Q & C Vouchers

-Saved Spending money minus $200.00 to put in with DH's next paycheck.

-We are driving so gas money will come out of the spending money I set aside.

-Misc. (ponchos, sunscreen, new swimsuits, trading pins for DD 8)
all paid for.

Still need to get (closer to time for trip)
-Water
-Juice boxes
-Snacks
-Breakfast Quick foods (pop tarts and cereal bars, etc.)

I hope I thought of everything.
I still need to make my packing list , ugh.

 

[nana2tots]

We leave Dec. 11th,




Vouchers paid for
Sea World, Islands of Adventure, Universal, MVMCP, and4-dAY Park Hopper Plus,all that is left to pay for is part on the room, half of that is paid for, our bal.700.00, Yippee!!!!!!!nana2tots

 

[EsmeraldaX]

So far we've paid our $200 deposit on PC w/ the basic dreammaker package (Normally we don't like packages but decided for sake of keeping everything easy this time, and because we want to do Leave a Legacy, we would). I have also only just started looking seriously at flights.

Our balance is due in October and we are going Dec 1st.

 

[EsmeraldaX]

So far we've paid our $200 deposit on PC w/ the basic dreammaker package (Normally we don't like packages but decided for sake of keeping everything easy this time, and because we want to do Leave a Legacy, we would). I have also only just started looking seriously at flights.

Our balance is due in October and we are going Dec 1st.

 

[Lizzydoll73]

I know we have a long time to go but we are saving now so we won't have to worry about anything when we finally do get there. We have:

1 night paid at POFQ (but are hoping for codes before we go)
$50 gift card to be used towards PHP tix
$67 in Disney dollars (DD has $55 and DS has $41)
$30 in McDonalds gift certificates for drive down
$20 in holiday club at bank (just opened-automatically takes money every month)
Unknown in change jar
Getting $75 in Rainforest Gift certificates

 

[djm99]

For my Aug 5-16 Trip - I've pre-paid for as much as I can!!!!

$1630 - Rental house - PREPAID via paypal!
$900 in Travelers Cheques via AAA
$250 Disney Dollars
$100 Walmart gift Card (for Groceries, and misc. stuff)
13 Q & C Meal Vouchers (HWSC)
6 Vacation Kingdom Lunch Vouchers (HWSC)
3 DisneyQuest Tickets (ebay from MapleLeaf - Great Company!!)
3- 3 day Disney Plus Vouchers (from Alamo)
$25 Landrys Meal Vouchers (from Rainforestcafe.com)
$85 Visa Gift Card - for 2 ($36 a night Days Inn near DTD) via Bank of America
$85 Visa Gift Card - for 2 ($36 a night Comfort Inn in Atlanta, GA) - our over night stays driving down to ORL and back home.
$50 Don Pablos Meal Voucher (directly from website)
$35 Dennys Gift Certificates (walked-in to get them)
$50 Hard Rock Cafe Gift Cards
$50 Motown Cafe Gift Cards
$40 Golden Corral Gift Card/Certificates (walked in to get them!!!)
3 2-day US/IOA tickets

I went to Walmart in mid May and put almost everything needed for the trip. Their layaway is 60 days (so is Kmarts). Since I took advantage of the after Thanksgiving Sale and bought a portable DVD player - I put a lot of DVDs in layaway - for DD to keep her busy for our 14 hour drive (Disney of course). I put all underwear, t-shirts, shoes, toys, batteries, 800 speed APS film, a memory card for digital camera, camara/camcorder backpack, handheld games for DH, self, and DD, mess free crayola paper with markers, Toilet seat covers (for those rest stop/gas stop/ and disney bathrooms), several pair of earphones, and anything else they let me put in the layaway went in!! Even the 2 gallon storage bags made it!!! It was over $300 in STUFF!!! Its due out on July 15. I owe little less than $100. I plan to charge the gas - but thats it!!!! Almost a debt free vacation!!!!

Yeah I'm ready - what ya think!!!!!!

 

[BelleBeautyandtheBeast]

Just paid off the plane tickets $900
Bought our Park Hoppers $440
Have about $500 of the $700 for food & souvies
Paid off the hotel (Pop Century) back in February $330

Still need money for the rental van $350 and gas/tolls $75 (we are driving to a wedding about 2 1/2 hours away from Disney) and the hotel room at the wedding $60.

I have most of our misc. stuff bought and packed (glow sticks, fans, sunscreen, fun toys for the plane trip, etc.).

I'm trying to convince DH we need to go again in December (he can't come on this trip). If he says yes I get to start saving all over again!

 

[Julia M]

Here's Our Budget:

What's Been Paid For
Park Passes: 3 adult and 2 kids 5 + 4 hopper plus passes were paid for summer 2003

Hotel: we exchanged our timeshare last summer, and paid the associated fees, so we're set for this summer

Plane Tickets: 5 tickets via SWA were purchased in March

Misc: We don't need lots of misc. items. I have already started buying extra film, videotapes and videocards. I ordered glow bracelets on ebay a couple of months ago (some for Baton Nationals this summer-dd's team, some for 4th of July party and some for WDW) I have three of those mini fans that can hang from your neck.


What We Still Need to Pay: ($1514)
Car Rental: $232 for full sized from National
Parking: $32
Gas: maybe $25?
Food Budget: $1000???
Condo Expenses (breakfast, a few snacks) $50
Food in Airport: $75
Souvenirs: $50-$100

Money We Have ($1975)
$425 Disney Bucks
$1550 Travelers Checks

I am thinking of purchasing some vouchers.......2 for Cindy's breakfast with dd, a couple VKL for Sci Fi Lunch, and some Q & C vouchers for lunch. I would pay for them out of my regular monthly budget, which would lessen our food budget.

Normally we spend virtually NOTHING in airports, as I consider the food to be of pretty poor quality and way overpriced. However, it's a long flying day for us, coming from CA, and I have money in the budget, in case I don't feel like being organized and packing a small cooler for SWA.

We also have a very small souvenir budget, but that's because I'm just not "into" souvenirs, and will probably buy very little. My kids will each have about $50, and I don't usually buy them anything else. But, I always allow a little in the budget (you never know?????) Last trip (2001) I bought a cute photo album kind of book, and some scrapbooking stickers. But that's it.

I'd love to bring my food budget down, not because we can't technically afford it (we can) but because I tend to be frugal by nature and don't like to waste. I also love "getting a deal"

Julia

 

[robertsmom]

Originally posted by mad4themouse
We leave in less than a month!!!!

I'm starting to get a little excited1 Is it time to start packing yet?

You mean people pack before the last day?? LOL

 

[DisneyMomx7]

Well we leave in four weeks so here's what we'ver paid so far:

`Annual Passes (2 adults, 3 children)
Most of our room - only have a $200 balance - which I will pay next week
Universal tickets - 5 day for all 5 of us (got a great Mastercard deal all 5 tickets for 5 of us only $400!)
Betweem ourselves and the kids have about $600 Disney dollars


We still need to pay off our Universal room and of course we'll use a lot more spending money - but I feel good that we have so much paid off.

Now the funny part is we already have another trip booked for July, 2005. I figure we're ahead of the game there because we will already have our annual passes and have paid the one night deposit on the room. We're also debating about whether to use our DIsney Reward dollars (about $105 now, or keep them accumulating for next year).

 

[liznboys]

Our trip begins late Feb. 2005. So far we've just paid for one night of the room that's required for the ressie. I want to start buying Disney Dollars now and then. We also have a good amount of Disney Reward Dollars on our Disney Visa, so those will come in handy!!

 

[summersfam4]

We have less than 90 days to go and saddly haven't prepaid much but here goes....

Paid:
Resort for 7 days
Change jar for Souvenirs over $100 so far to split between 2 DD's DH & I will just appreciate the experience although if we see something that we must have we will have the $$ to buy it but this doesn't happen often, I am budget friendly, DH doesn't want for anything.

I will have $3600 planned for vacation in the bank after buying 5 day 4 plus hoppers $760 through mousesavers ticketmania 2 adults 1 child (second DD is free) that $3600 will be broken down:
*$1200 food $$ for 10 days we enjoy sit down dinners & adult beverages but this should more than cover what we need.
*$400 resort in Treasure Island 2 nights (it's expensive to stay in a little room on the beach )
*$200 gas Home-Treasure Island-Disney-Home and anything in between
*The rest $1800 will be left open and most will stay in the bank to be transfered back to the ING account and other misc saving avenues when we return I just want to have it in the account easily accessible if the need does arrive. I will probably hit the end of summer Old Navy sales to pick up some new clothes for the girls, and Ross or TJMAXX for DH and I before leaving. All family members will also get new tennis shoes, the girls will get sandals, DH and I already have more than enough sandals ect. Also a couple new Disney video's and some gamecube games for in the car (yep DH installed the gamecube in the car even though we have a game boy ) keeps everyone entertained during the day but we'll drive at night so the DDs can sleep

Kelly
who's vacation planner needs some fine tuning but it will be tuned again and again in the next 89 days and the calculator keys will be smooth from so much punching

 

[StephMK]

We've paid for our MNSSHP tickets & the timeshare fees from SIL. I'm looking for park tickets and will buy those next month. We have over $100 in our change jar - thanks to the kids' grandma! - and should have over $100 in DD & $100 in AmEx dollars.

Need to book hotels for ride up & back & start buying DD. I've been buying trip supplies a little at a time in the regular grocery budget - light sticks, car activities, etc.

Funny though - I de-cluttered our basement & found tons of good car stuff for the kids that we already own! Put it away so they can't get into it before we go.

 

[PatriciaH]

Paid:
RT Air
MNSSHP tickets
Universal/IOA 1 day ticket for me
Segway tour
$200 7 for 4 Dream Maker package deposit
$400 Disney cruise deposit

Our balances for the package and the cruise are due the end of August. Our rental car and Comfort Suites room for our day in Nassau are due when we get there.

We have:
$100 in Disney Dollars at check in
$112 in rewards dollars from Disney Visa (may have more by October)
$45+ in rolled change
$75 in ING (if we need it for this trip)
Garage sale money (should have one in July)
towards our food

We need to get:
DH's Universal/IOA ticket
Halloween Horror Night tickets

The balances will be paid off after we charge them so we pay no finance charges but still get cash or Dream Rewards back!

 

[barb45]

This year we traded our DVC points for Hawaii. I usually save $500/month towards our vacations and those nasty unexpected expenses (like new roofs, washer/dryer etc..). So I thought when we booked the rest of the trip I would have plenty of time to save. Well we booked 3 more days in a hotel, 11 days rental car, airfares etc. and the deposit was like 90% of the total - boy did I scramble pulling that together. The good news is that I managed to do it and the final payment in 3 months is only $450.00. That means the $500/month that I have been setting aside ever since can go to December 2005 trip to Disney. I find the best way to save is to run a preauthorized chequing plan into an "open" money market fund. That way it comes out of the bank automatically each month and you don't really miss it. This gives me $6000 per year to cover large expenses (like vacations and the fact that I had 2 daughters get married within 6 months of each other). Love having that cushion!

 

[frstimer128]

I just made on site reservations for Pop Century with park hoppers for me and my daughter. I got the 5 + 2 deal. All I had to do was pay a $200 deposit. Now, whenever I have extra money, I just call and make a payment with my debit card. This way I don't dip into the funds. This is perfect for me since I am not the best saver.

 

[tigger334]

We are going the second week in November and I booked a basic dream maker package (before I found this site) not sure I will do again, could probably save money separately but it is easier to have everything done. Anyway, we have the whole package paid for. I also have booked HDDR which I have money set aside for, my mousekeeping envelopes are filled, we have $100 in Disney Dollars and $250 saved. Putting away $150/month and I get a bonus check in July that will go in there also. I think we should be all set!

Now if the time would just go faster!

 

[frstimer128]

Are there special Mousekeeper envelopes?
What do you usually leave for housekeeping?

 

[Lizzydoll73]

Here is the link to Mousekeeping envelopes. We usually leave $2-$3 a day.
http://www.themouseforless.com/mousekeeping.shtml