Things you do to afford a Disney trip...

[Happyinwonerland]

We don't do much scrimping or sacrificing to afford our trip. I am very fortunate to have a good paying job that allows me to work as many hours as I want. So when we have a trip planned, I can work a few overtime shifts and cover the cost.

That said, we are also fairly cheap vacationers. We drive, usually stay off site, eat breakfast in room and bring lunches into park, and don't really buy souvenirs. I don't have much need for "stuff", and if I'm going to spend $200 on a meal, I'd rather be at the best restaurant in town than sub-par park food.

We live our lives for experiences, not stuff, so we spend a lot on trips and concerts and sports, etc, and very little on electronics, don't have cable, hubby drives and beater car.

 

[AlohaNow]

I sell my kids

Wow, that is pretty hard core.

 

[ChrisJG]

I buy Disney gift cards every month at Target for the red card discount. I also do a few of the survey sites, ebates, Perk TV, etc for gift cards.

I also have 2 part time jobs - one I figure into our household budget, one is for Disney money. My husband is a scrapper for fun, and what he makes in metal goes towards Disney as well.

If you buy your Disney Cards at Target see this thread: Disney Gift Card Deals (on this sight.) Save a lot more than 5%

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I go solo so it's less money to have to save for things like food/souveniers but since I like to stay onsite it doesn't change the resort costs.

I have been ebaying, selling stuff on Craig's List and couponing. Couponing hasn't been doing so great but selling on Craig's List and Ebay has been going well. We've got an attic and basement full of things that I can sell - it's scary how much money was spent on this stuff that is no longer being used when I think about it.

If it's a family trip, we put away so much per month for those for vacations so that's how we pay for those. We won't be having any more family Disney Trips - no one but me is interested in returning to Disney World. My DD15 said she would go do Disneyland again though.

 

[milwaukeemommy]

If you buy your Disney Cards at Target see this thread: Disney Gift Card Deals (on this sight.) Save a lot more than 5%

So .... I want to buy Disney cards at Target too! Can you use them at restaurants in Disney, or just for merchandise?

 

[eliza61]

For us, it's more of a balancing act. I don't want to be miserable for 360 days a year in order to spend 5 days in bliss. So, we still splurge throughout the year, just not every day.

LOL so timely Gumbo. My company is going through upheaval and one of my coworkers said to me "it's a shame I'm miserable 50 weeks of the year for 2 weeks of vacation". That made me sooo sad.

My eye opener... my sons and I were in grief counseling and the boys had to write down some of their favorite 'good times" with their dad. NONE OF THEM WERE OF DISNEY!!! lol, you mean I've blown all this money and it didn't get an honorable mention.

most of them were from ordinary things.
men's night a pizza hut, Phillies baseball games, the day they went to pick up our dog as a puppy.

Go figure.

anyway op,
I use my chase credit card and my American express card for every thing. I prefer this because I get more options than just target gift cards.
So right now I have enough point on my amex to pay for my rental car for our Disney vacation. on my chase I've got enough points for 500 dollars worth of gift cards. I'll use that for about 200 dollars target to Disney gift cards but I'll also use the rest for a cheesecake factory gc and a Bahama breeze gc. since we love going offsite for meals.

 

[eliza61]

We don't have cable and don't miss it.

I cannot wait for next January MBD, my two year cable contract is up and I'm am so cancelling that sucka. it's a 250 buck a month money pit. I've got to find an alternative to internet access though. I have a triple play package right now

 

[DawnM]

I cannot wait for next January MBD, my two year cable contract is up and I'm am so cancelling that sucka. it's a 250 buck a month money pit. I've got to find an alternative to internet access though. I have a triple play package right now

I thought only Satellite TV had contracts. Our local cable company has no contracts.

We just got cable again after 4 years without. We pay an additional $40/mo. for cable TV. I have my own Tivo boxes so I don't need the DVR offered by the cable company.

 

[DawnM]

As a family of 5 that has become Disney obsessed (well not my DH, but he tolerates our obsession & we're still trying to convert him!) we have done what some would consider 'crazy' things to go to WDW - ie driving the 23 hours to Orlando to afford our March break trip. We make a fairly good living, but are by no means rich & as a teacher we can only go during peak times.

I'm pretty budget obsessed as well & a large chunk of our salaries goes to pension & education investments for the kiddos. So, when I told my DH that we wanted to go to Disney over Christmas this year I had to find the money in our existing budget. We'd already used up our vacation dollars for 2015. I scored us FD at CBR, we're driving again (ack!), but I still needed $5600 CAD.

So I let our house cleaner go. $5200/year is pretty much a vacation for us. I felt bad doing it because she's a very nice person. However she'd also bailed on us 4 of the last 8 weeks phoning me late on Sunday night when I could have cleaned myself Sat or Sun instead of having to do it Mon after school.

So I 'earned' $100 yesterday & have added an extra $5000 to our annual vacation budget. For me totally worth it. Making memories with my family trumps not having to clean my house any day!

Am I crazy? I'm pretty sure some friends think I'm nuts!

Was your house cleaner was $5,200/year?

 

[Madame]

Was your house cleaner was $5,200/year?

Yes $100/wk CAD. $20 cash/hr is the normal going rate here. When I look at it weekly it doesn't seem so bad, but adding it up over a year made me realize how expensive it really was!

 

[DawnM]

Yes $100/wk CAD. $20 cash/hr is the normal going rate here. When I look at it weekly it doesn't seem so bad, but adding it up over a year made me realize how expensive it really was!

I guess I don't know what CAD means????

Cash at delivery?

 

[DawnM]

We afford Disney in one of three ways:

Saving monthly (I put $150/mo into an ING account)
Bonus money. We typically go to Disney in November, and DH gets a bonus in October. We never know how much it will be, it isn't big, but it ranges from $2,000-$5,000 annually.
DH has a client on the side he gets between $2,800-$4,000 from depending on what services he needs in a given year.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I guess I don't know what CAD means????

Cash at delivery?

I think it's "Canadian".

 

[worm761]

I guess I don't know what CAD means????

Cash at delivery?

The OP is Canadian. CAD=Canadian

 

[Madame]

I guess I don't know what CAD means????

Cash at delivery?

It's Canadian, so with the exchange rate as of now I was paying about $78 USD per week.

 

[Greeny T]

As a family of 5 that has become Disney obsessed (well not my DH, but he tolerates our obsession & we're still trying to convert him!) we have done what some would consider 'crazy' things to go to WDW - ie driving the 23 hours to Orlando to afford our March break trip. We make a fairly good living, but are by no means rich & as a teacher we can only go during peak times.

I'm pretty budget obsessed as well & a large chunk of our salaries goes to pension & education investments for the kiddos. So, when I told my DH that we wanted to go to Disney over Christmas this year I had to find the money in our existing budget. We'd already used up our vacation dollars for 2015. I scored us FD at CBR, we're driving again (ack!), but I still needed $5600 CAD.

So I let our house cleaner go. $5200/year is pretty much a vacation for us. I felt bad doing it because she's a very nice person. However she'd also bailed on us 4 of the last 8 weeks phoning me late on Sunday night when I could have cleaned myself Sat or Sun instead of having to do it Mon after school.

So I 'earned' $100 yesterday & have added an extra $5000 to our annual vacation budget. For me totally worth it. Making memories with my family trumps not having to clean my house any day!

Am I crazy? I'm pretty sure some friends think I'm nuts!

Aside from working my butt off and making a decent living, basically all of my extra money goes into planning our Disney Vacations haha. I work CRAZY HOURS, but when I think of what it's for, I don't mind. Because of that I'm able to splurge on other things throughout the year without being miserable until I get to Disney. But still, mostly all of my hard earned extra cash, goes to our favorite place in the world! We go at least 3 or 4 times a year, and we are lucky enough to be DVC Members. So once or twice a year, we save that way. I know @IndianaRRT mentioned this in an earlier post, but www.disneyvacationaccount.com has been AMAZING! It was such a great tool for them to come out with. All of us have been budgeting and saving for many years for the Mouse, but it was great that Disney themselves came out with a simple and easy way for us to link it to our vacations. I have it set up to take $200 out of my account every 2 weeks. I was even able to book our vacation for November with the money I'd already had saved in the account without having to pay for the whole thing just yet. So even though I emptied the account, the account just kept going like usual taking money out when I wanted. A great thing to look into. And you're not crazy at all! We'd all do many crazy things to make sure we get to Disney . Hope this was informative and helpful!

 

[ChrisJG]

So .... I want to buy Disney cards at Target too! Can you use them at restaurants in Disney, or just for merchandise?

Yes, they are able to be used for food as well. I pay for my room, food, souvenirs. That thread on this sight is pretty awesome.

 

[Judique]

There is a promo with Virgin Mobile that you can get a $15 Starbucks credit for $10. We collected quite a few of these for our last trip and the bonus cash took the sting out of the exchange rate. So if you don't have a Virgin Mobile plan ask around and see if your friends aren't going to use their codes. My dd collected one every few weeks for me before the trip

Great deal!

But checked it out and it's only available in Canada.....

 

[disnat]

I don't do these specifically to save for Disney, but because I'm from a frugal family and I've grown accustomed to this lifestyle. Every little bit helps, though!

- No manicures/pedicures. I'm low maintenance.
- Cut hair at home. Haven't been to a salon in years and the last time I cut my hair I got a ton of compliments!
- No cable, just a Netflix account
- Buy clothes at places like Ann Taylor Loft but only at 50%+ off or shop at Ross
- Don't buy movies or music. Netflix and Pandora work just fine.
- Read mostly free books on the Kindle

 

[dalayney]

We go to Disney world about once every 3 years. Hubby and i are going next year in November for our 20th wedding anniversary. .. Our first adults only trip to the mouse!
So, from the beginning of this year, if family asked us what we wanted. .. we would ask for disney gift cards for any birthdays, holidays, and christmas. So far we have over $350 in gift cards and we still have 16 months before leaving.
I am also going for an interview for a cashier job part time weekends only. I have my own business, but may through August is pretty slow. I am hoping to get this job as the pay is really well for a cashier job and the company is really good at working around your schedule.
Hoping I get it! Send me some pixie dust!