Scrimp vs. Splurge

[LuluLovesDisney]

While we all try to save money, you can't cut way down on every area or you wouldn't have much of a vacation left! So . . . which areas of your trip are you most likely to scrimp on and which are your splurge areas?

Restaurants?
Souvenirs?
Resort?
Photographs?
Transportation?

etc.

We all have different budget and what is splurge to one might be scrimp to another, but thought it would be interesting to see the responses! Some people who stay concierge might eat the free food there all week. Some people who stay value might budget a trip to Victoria and Albert's, you catch my drift.

 

[8 Ears]

We are not big eaters and hey we are from Maine so do not care much about spices. We will eat mostly counter meals.
Souvies, as we just went in Dec. and going back in June we will do the T-shirt thing, oh I want more earrings. DH does not tend to get much but buys one big $$ item. The boys have a small list, one only wants the stress balls from China, the other could care less. I do not expect to spend much there.
Resort, going to stay at the CBR not big spending.

Photographs, last time not sure what I spent total last time but had nearly 1,000 pictures. That includes what the boys took, what we took and the ones we purchased.

Transportation, here we go. Youngest son has asked if we could non-stop , that is what our biggest expense will be
Then the extra's, we will take a tour, not 100% yet on which one and will get the family package for the boats. Both boys will be older enough to drive the water mice.

Last time we did AKL AND a cruise $$$$$$

 

[hercamore]

Our biggest expense (coming from MN) is transporation. We would go more if we could get cheap tickets.

Usually pay $250-300 a pop.

So far in Jan, airfare is $330 for our days. Hoping to get it for less.

herc.

 

[Bella2000]

While we all try to save money, you can't cut way down on every area or you wouldn't have much of a vacation left! So . . . which areas of your trip are you most likely to scrimp on and which are your splurge areas?

Restaurants?
Souvenirs?
Resort?
Photographs?
Transportation?

Hmm. I'd say scrimp on souvenirs and photos only because I have a digital SLR and I print my own. Splurge - hmmm well - we stay over the weekend using our DVC points Actually perhaps splurge would be transportation since we're not taking ME and since that is currently free for the next 18 months that's a splurge as our family is small.

 

[kfeuer]

Restaurants? We enjoy Disney's restaurants, so this is a splurge for us. We like to enjoy one sit-down meal a day, and keep it light/cheap the rest of the day.

Souvenirs? Not a huge temptation for us, although it's gotten trickier since the kids came along (not that they ask for stuff, but we like to get them special things).

Resort? We're willing to stay off-site to save money. We enjoy onsite, but it's not a big deal either way.

Photographs? I'll spend the money if they're really good, but that is rarely the case for my family.

Transportation? Definitely a scrimp area--we drive 7.5 hours to get there (which I know is nothing compared to alot of you).

 

[kpk89]

What a great topic! We definitely scrimp on most meals in order to splurge on one or two nice sit downs, splurge on resort (dvc members -- so actually in a way it's kindof a scrimp since down the road we'll be getting these fabulous resort for "free.") scrimp on souvenirs. The most we'll get is buying a couple of the photos from the rides, or a pin or two. Transportation is in the middle -- we only fly SWA when we get a rate under $190 per person round trip, which is cheap for airfare but probably still more expensive than driving. In that case it's more about time than money -- just want to GET there already!

 

[solgent]

We splurge on

*resort. We are in the process of joining DVC in order to be on-site and enjoy the larger accomodations.


We scrimp on most other things!

*restaurant meals-- as vegetarians, we have limited choices when dining out. We prefer our own simple, home cooking. Of course we're not going to eat all our meals in, but we'll eat quick and inexpensive meals at the parks. As another poster said, I'd rather be in the park than in a restaurant.

*souvenirs-- Just something to throw away later! That being said, one of the best souvenirs for our young children that we got at the parks (or can get ahead of time and bring) was books of the Disney movies. We read these while waiting for shows and parades (not rides so much because the line moves) and read them loads of times when we got back home.

*photographs-- I'm the family photographer and love taking photos and making scrapbooks. That's our souvenir.

*transportation-- we fly down (SWA) and don't rent a car. Rely on Disney transport.

This balance works for us.

 

[disneysteve]

Restaurants?
Souvenirs?
Resort?
Photographs?
Transportation?

We are fortunate in that we get to dine at fine restaurants fairly often so doing so on vacation isn't a high priority for us. We're happy with counter service and buffets.
I consider our accomodations a splurge because we get a spacious 2-bed, 2-bath condo with a full kitchen offsite. But it isn't a monetary splurge since it costs less than a Disney value resort.
We drive, so transportation is definitely a scrimp for us.
I guess that makes our splurge souvenirs. I have pretty seriously collected Disney memorabilia for about 30 years. I used to come home from WDW with tons of stuff. Now, we are more reserved but if we see a nice piece at Art of Disney we'll pick it up. I wouldn't hesitate to buy an item for $200-300 if we both liked it. And we'll always get some new shirts, maybe a tie or two for me and some other assorted stuff.

 

[welovedis]

Great thread!

We try to save on airfare as much as possible, but also try to get NS flights whenever possible. I love getting on the plane and getting off at MCO!

For the other form of transportation, we do usually get a rental car, but if we really need to budget, I'd try ME & just get use wegoshop or some other service if we needed groceries.

Restaurants--hmm, sometime a little of both. DS & I have shared plenty of meals at WDW, simply because we don't eat alot at each sitting. We've splurged alot too and always enjoyed our meals and time together to sit & relax too.

Souveniers is the one part that I am determined to spend less on each time & rarely do. We usually come home to find that we've spent hundreds on shirts, etc.... last time it was Marathon merchandise and I have to say, I've worn those shirts, jackets, etc... over & over again and it really reminds me of my 1/2 marathon accomplishment. However, I can do without the Imagineering books and other dust collectors we've gotten. I also have bought the Mickey head towels over the last few trips and use those alot! I'm hoping to keep it to a minimum in 2006!

We don't buy the photos anymore since we have a great digital camera and just print off what we want. DH is quite the photo buff so he takes some pretty good shots and gets some neat pictures as souveniers too!

We've done the gamut of resorts and really enjoy the experience of the DVC but have only rented points, not bought in, so that's my idea of saving, hehe!!!!!

 

[tinaluis]

Great thread!
We scrimp by not staying onsite so we can spend more days in Orlando. We will be staying for 14 days in November at Cypress Point Grand Villas for $520 total. We also drive if we cannot find cheap airfare (there are 5 of us). Luckily we were able to get RT airfare for all of us from Chicago for $577. Add in a rental car from Thrifty for $244 for two weeks (all taxes included) and we're good to go. However, in the past, we have driven when we just couldn't get cheap airfare or car rental was too much $$$. As far as meals go, we have 3 little ones so we don't usually do sit downs anywhere, but we never miss Pepper Market or Cafe Marrakesh. We're also not big souvenier people, usually 1-2 well-matched items for the whole family, but we have been known to splure if we find something it is "just perfect".

 

[The Sorrentino's]

Airfare! I watch prices like a hawk now (must get good airfare rate). If I had to scrimp somewhere else it would be on the Restaurants.

Cadence

 

[calie_j]

Restaurants?
Souvenirs?
Resort?
Photographs?
Transportation?

This is a once in a lifetime trip for us so it's all a splurge, if we get lucky enough to go again I'd be more willing to scrimp on alot of things. So for us here's the list in order of which ones we're splurging less then others

Souvenirs: We've learned thru prior vacations the novelty wears off quickly once you get home so we've cut way back. Keychains to commemorate the trip are mandatory. A shirt & each child can pick one souveneir pending parental approval. Our last trip (nondisney) we spent $159 for a family of 5 and that included extras of a few refridgerator magnets and a pair of binoculars we used on the trip (I didn't find a shirt but DS got an extra sweatshirt cause he doesn't have any that fit).

Photographs: I only put this 2nd because on most trips we wouldn't buy any pics just take our own (digital). At Disney I'll probably buy a few nice family shots especially after seeing the special effects available like them adding tink to the photo.

Resorts: We're not really scrimping but it falls on the list here because I decided a week at a deluxe was too much so we compromised and are staying 3 nights mod/4 nites deluxe to save around $500.

Transportation: Airfare is a major splurge because driving costs 4 days of vacation time cutting down our 11 day trip (2 half days for travel time on each end) to only 7, time vs money and time is more valuable to us. Since we don't need transportation from the airport because we're visiting family who will pick us up I'm splurging for a limo to the airport so it evens our cost-wise if we needed roundtrip (bad example since we could use ME for free, LOL)

Restaurants: I blame this splurge on the DIS restaurant boards I want the total Disney experience with character meals, themes, world showcase. This is our #1 splurge because I know it easily could be done alot cheaper and is our biggest expense after transportation & resorts but going cheaper on those 2 still wouldn't save as much as cutting this one back and eating more counter service.

good question, Calie

 

[cobbler]

Restaurants - half and half. We do a couple character meals. We also do one sit down a day and the rest are counter service. We usually do eat bfast in the room.

Souvenirs - Usually we scrimp on. We don't need a lot of things, I don't like to much clutter and knick knacks in my home. Just more junk to throw out later and clean. However with the 50th there will be a few items that I will want but not to overboard.

Resort - again depends. Last year I really wanted to go for a longer vacation so that meant staying value. If it were a shorter or standard week long vacation I would go up a notch. I will splurge on resorts some day as I have a quirk and want to try every resort on property.

Photographs - I splurge on them. I take a lot of pics with my digital camera. I also buy their 5x7 photos. To me that is capturing a moment in time that I can look back on and remember and also see my family change and grow. I am sentimental-ish that way I think those are the best souvenirs there are you will always remember. Where with a knick knack you probably won't.

Transportation - Scrimp. At least until we get richer We drive from MI to FL everytime we travel. It only costs us about 500 round trip with gas and hotel and such where as flying it would cost us 1350. Hay that is more money I can spend on photos at Disney.

 

[Nik's Mom]

I scrimp on airfare by watching for the cheapest fares. The same goes for car rentals. I also scrimp on food by minimizing ps's and eating at more counter service places. We splurge by staying at deluxe resorts. And, I'd say we splurge on souvenirs for the kids. If they want something, we buy it. Luckily, they don't take advantage of that.

 

[sk!mom]

We always save on Souvineers. It doesn't seem like scrimping to us. DH and I just don't like a lot of "stuff" cluttering up our house and lives. We went to Disney in June 2004 and this past April and we didn't buy ourselves anything. We just came back from 2 weeks in Europe and again we didn't buy anything for ourselves. We view our vacations as experiences therefore we max the budget on activities and take lots of pictures. To me pictures are the best souvineer. DH does like ball caps so sometimes he will buy one on a trip.

We buy our kids souvineers if they see something they want and would use. Maybe $50 each on a typical trip.

Transportation- we fly and wouldn't consider Florida if we had to drive.

Restaurants- we don't like fast food but we aren't gourmets either so moderate rest.

 

[skiwee1]

We splurge on everything. There isn't anything on your list that I'd want to scrimp on. We don't budget in real life and don't do it on vacation either. Though we do take our own pictures. If a CM takes one that we like then we buy it.

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

We scrimp on pretty much everything that we possibly can so we can splurge on experiences, for example we might eat counter service the entire trip so we would have some extra cash to go to Disney Quest or something else that we would like to try.

 

[Julia M]

While we all try to save money, you can't cut way down on every area or you wouldn't have much of a vacation left! So . . . which areas of your trip are you most likely to scrimp on and which are your splurge areas?

Restaurants?
Souvenirs?
Resort?
Photographs?
Transportation?

etc.

We all have different budget and what is splurge to one might be scrimp to another, but thought it would be interesting to see the responses! Some people who stay concierge might eat the free food there all week. Some people who stay value might budget a trip to Victoria and Albert's, you catch my drift.

Restaurants? This varies. We don't eat at V & A's, or California Grill, but it's not all counter service either. We've eaten at Boma, Sci Fi, Biergarten, 1900 Park Fare, for example. This upcoming trip we'll be on the meal plan. WHile I plan to be smart about it (ie...trying foods I normally wouldn't order), I don't plan to get the best deal at every meal, but rather, eat where we want to.

Souvenirs? The kids buy something, using their own money (saved from birthdays, jobs, etc,) DH almost always gets Disney dollars for his birthday from my mom (she knows he loves Disney), which he saves for our trips. I generally buy no souvenirs, so our budget for this is basically 0. I'm not opposed to souvenirs per se, especially for others; I just don't want more **stuff** in our house.

Resort? In past trips, we've stayed off site, exchanging our timeshare, so I guess that's VERY budget, although the accomodations are great. For our December trip, it's 9 nights at Poly concierge, so I guess that's a BIG splurge!!

Photographs? We use a digital camera and camcorder. We buy maybe one or two pictures from Disney itself

Transportation? I don't have alot of options here.....coming from CA we HAVE to fly, so I can't debate the merits of flying vs. driving like others can. I do try and get the best deal, which for us, is about $225 per person.

Julia

 

[Princess Glenda]

Restaurants?

We splurge in this area. DH and I really enjoy EATING so eating at Disney is part of our overall enjoyment. In past trips we have used Vouchers to help cut in the costs for food. Luckily in September we won't have to worry about the $ this costs because we have the FREE dining. In general we do one nice sit down each day and save by eating breakfast in the room or just snacking the rest of the day.

Souvenirs?

We will skimp in this area on our September trip. This is a weakness and I wish that I had the willpower of some of you who have already posted. I love buying all the cute things, but agree that these things add to my clutter and are things that will probably be sold at yard sales in the future. Since we just went in May and are going back in September we won't be buying very many souvenirs this trip. The experience and our pictures will be our souvenirs.

Resort?

It depends. In May we stayed by renting DVC points. This really saved a lot of money but we got to stay at the Wilderness Lodge Villas and the Boardwalk Villas. We stayed a total of 12 nights and even switched to All Star Movies to save money on the weekend between our 10 nights of DVC. This September we are staying 6 nights at All Star Movies and since it was an unplanned tirp we took advantage of the FREE dining and are staying Value.

Photographs?

We skimp in this area. We did buy 2-5x7s from our May trip, but since we were staying DVC they had a 1/2 price promotion for the Photopass pictures and we got a deal! So far we haven't bought any ride photos, but mainly because they haven't been good of all of us.

Transportation?

We skimp in this area. We drive from VA which is a 12 hour drive. Airfare would cost us much more so we haven't gone that route yet. We are getting a little more curious as far as airfare goes so this may be a splurge in the near future!