How early do you start saving for your trip? I am going to try using the DVA I was hesitant at first but from what I have been reading, you can get all your money back if you need to. Is that correct? I am terrible at saving money, I have a savings account that is just about empty due to me never being able to use it. I'm hoping that with this DVA I can just forget about it. But I have never actually done a family vacation on my own before, it's always been either my parents or my husbands parents doing the planning and the most I've had to do was pay for tickets. How far in advance do you plan the trip? Or better question how far in advance do you get better prices on hotel cost? Or is that not a thing? I'm thinking like plane tickets, does the price of hotel rooms go up if I want to buy a hotel room months in advance vs next month?
Do not do the DVA!
Ask yourself why it is that your savings account is nearly empty.
- Are you unable to find the extra cash to put towards savings? That won't change just because you've changed where the money is kept.
- Are you raiding the account for unexpected bills? Then you need an emergency fund, not a vacation account.
- Are you withdrawing money because having a pile of money makes you want to spend it? Then you need to learn impulse control.
Funding a DVA may sound like a good way to save for Disney but it's not a savings account. There is no interest being earned on what you put into it. You only get a little extra back once you spend the money on qualifying purchases. And even then, it's in the form of a Disney gift card.
If you need that money for an emergency or decide not to vacation at Disney, you will wait a while to get it back. If you funded the account with Disney gift cards, the money goes back on Disney gift cards. If you funded it with a credit card, the money goes back on your credit card. If you made small deposits from your checking account, it may be returned to your account in small credits over a period of time.
My advice is to find an online banking service that does not have a branch office near you. Open a savings account and have regular deposits made to it from your household checking account. The money remains yours -as cash- and can generally be transferred back to your checking account in about 3 business days if you need it for an emergency. You can always open a DVA, fund it with $10 and then leave it open until you're ready to book your trip. Then, just transfer the amount needed to pay Disney to the DVA. You'll still earn the $20 bonus for every $1000 spent as long as the account has been open at least 120 days and assuming that Disney will continue the bonus program past 12/31/2017.
I'm always planning and saving for Disney. We own DVC, so we go often. However, for most people, the planning and saving can take a few years. It's not true that if you book now and an offer comes out, you can "apply it to your reservation ". Your dates, resort and room category all have to be available under the offer in order for your reservation to be amended to the new terms. The offers usually come out 3-6 months ahead of time and vary from season to season and also from year to year, depending on Disney's need to fill hotel rooms. Once a room category gets sold out, it's unusual for Disney to add more rooms to the offer.
Go to the Disney website and plan your dream trip for whatever time of the year you expect to go, even if your plans are not for 3 years from now. Use the rack rates and not any of the special offers. Get a price for what it would cost to go on those days this year. That's your starting point. Divide that number by the number of months between now and the days when you actually plan to go. That's going to be your monthly savings goal. When room and package rates are announced for the year of your actual trip, go back and recalculate the price. Adjust your savings plan accordingly.
There's no big secret to saving for a Disney trip. It just takes determination and a budget that has enough wiggle room to permit it.