Tips on saving for your Disney vacation :D Share yours!!

[todzwife]

What do you do to save for your Disney trips?

I've upgraded our Disney Visa to Premier and plan to buy groceries and gas with it (5% back!) and then pay it off as soon as it posts.

I buy a $25 Disney gift card every month and put it in an envelope. (If there is a way to add to an existing card, please tell me because otherwise I'm going to have 18 $25 cards!)

I budget well, and if I end up with extra money from groceries, I put it in the "fund".

We have a "travel" savings account with ING that has an automatic deposit each month without me needing to think about it. Sometimes we use it for other stuff, but for the most part it's Disney money!!

I also participate in pinecone research. It's not much but each of those $3 checks adds up!

Share your ideas!

 

[DharmaLou]

I wrote a blog post about what we are doing to save but I got a warning when I posted it here once

I asked friends/family to give my daughter and I both Disney gift cards for birthday gifts this year instead of other items. We currently have $150 in those and we still have my daughter's bday to go.

I use our Wells Fargo Ways 2 Save account to transfer $2.50/day to a savings account. We also transfer $25/week to a higher interest savings account for the trip.

I use Swag Bucks and have earned a $50 Southwest gift car, plus I had one free frequent flyer trip.

We got retro rates at HoJo and I have saved up credit card gift cards for Hertz. I use MyPoints and save up Visa Gift Cards with my points. We currently have $200 in Visa Gift Cards.

That's the basics for us.

 

[Pesky]

I use our cc reward programs. I have the Disney rewards but really for the extra discounts and such. Anything else I get from that is gravy. The other one I use more for the rewards as it has been my primary cc for eons.

DH travels for work as do I so we consolidate with one preferred airline so we can try and redeem miles for at least one or two tickets.

Like you, I have a special savings account for vacations and put money in there. It is a lot easier to save when I look at something as "that could mean X extra dollars in the vacation fund" -- makes it easier to say no!

Otherwise it is still some budgeting like eating out less and watching sales to try to make sure we are getting the most bang for our buck.

 

[motherhoodandmickey]

We have made vacation and 'fun' spending money a priority above having a second car or a large house. This may not work for everyone, but it leaves us with plenty in savings every month, without having to worry about the cost of groceries or gas. I should also say that we rent (we live in a very high cost of living area), and are on one professional income. That said, since I stay home with a preschooler, and we live in a fairly walkable area, a second car isn't really necessary. The small house is also a result of ridiculously high rents - we could live somewhere larger, but it would probably require an extra car, and higher rent payments. We prefer vacations

 

[Midnightred]

I too use Disney Gift Cards, and you can reload them! Call the 800 number you see on the Disneyland wedsite you will find under the giftcard section. My tip is to call everytime I get paid and load money on there!

Midnightred

 

[DisneyMomma81]

What do you do to save for your Disney trips?



I buy a $25 Disney gift card every month and put it in an envelope. (If there is a way to add to an existing card, please tell me because otherwise I'm going to have 18 $25 cards!)

Share your ideas!

I too use Disney Gift Cards, and you can reload them! Call the 800 number you see on the Disneyland wedsite you will find under the giftcard section. My tip is to call everytime I get paid and load money on there!

Midnightred

I add $$ to my Disney Gift Cards by calling DelivEARS ~877-560-6477 *you give the CM your credit/debit card info and they mail you the receipt. Last time I did this *a couple months ago* the $$ was on the GC the next day.

 

[DBMC]

We have a "Disneyland jar". We put all of our change into. Doesn't sound like much, but halfway full is over $250. We have been saving since or last trip (April 2011) and we have the jar about 3/4 full. We are hoping to have it filled by our trip in September. It will be our extra spending money for souvenirs, snacks etc.

 

[pattyduke34]

I do couponing! Put change into a jar, only silver and the jar should hold over $1000.00 when full (2/3 the way there!!). Just upgraded my DV to get double the points...Already have this trip paid for but working on the next one!! There is always a next one in the planning!

 

[sam93]

We have a "Disneyland jar". We put all of our change into. Doesn't sound like much, but halfway full is over $250. We have been saving since or last trip (April 2011) and we have the jar about 3/4 full. We are hoping to have it filled by our trip in September. It will be our extra spending money for souvenirs, snacks etc.

That's actually a very good idea, very simple. Hope you don't mind but I'm going to steal your idea and use it myself

 

[specialks]

We go on a big eBay and Craigslist selling purge. Last year we made over $500 selling extra furniture and old electronics. Covered the cost of upgrading to the GCH!

 

[MICKEYFIL]

Getting the right credit cards and using them to your advantage can be one of the easiest ways to save.

For example, Amex offers a starwood card that can be free for the first year and provide 10,000 points. You will need about 20,000 points for three free nights at the sheraton hotels near disneyland.

Each year I get a new amex card with different bonus point benefits and cancel my existing card, avoiding the annual membership fee. Most of the cards these days offer the first year free of membership fees and many of the cards have cash back options.

MBNA offers a card with no membership fees that provides 2% cash back on all purchases. These savings can add up quickly.

 

[DBMC]

That's actually a very good idea, very simple. Hope you don't mind but I'm going to steal your idea and use it myself

 

[arthur06]

We usually do a few different methods...

We signed up for the SW Visa for the 50,000 FF miles. That will be enough for our family of 5 to get to DL and back for no charge. SW also has no checked bag fee so that cost is eliminated as well.

We are using DVC points to stay at the VGC, so that will have no charge. (I know that there is a cost to DVC, but I won't count it here).

So to save, and we don't have a couple of the larger costs this trip, here is what we do.

#1. We throw our change into a jar and cash it in before we go. We don't use cash a lot, so if we have $100, it's a lot for us.

#2. We live in a state that has can recycling, so we take the money from cans and save that.

#3. We use our discover card and try to max out the things that are 5% for the quarter. We stay away from things we don't need. We can usually earn $10-$30 per month with purchases.

#4. DW and I get paid on alternate Fridays. We have an ING account that we take $25 per week and put away.

#5. I am paid salary, so my check never changes. But when DW gets paid, if she has extra days of OT, I will take $20-$80 and stash it away for our trip.

#6. I get monthly bonuses (most of the time). So I will take a small amount of those $20-$80 depending on the month and stash that away as well.

 

[sonjaandsue]

We use our Flex Account for child care as a sort of savings account. I get a certain amount taken from my check pre-tax for the child care flex plan. I then "save up" my child care receipts and submit them for reimbursement for one lump sum and use that for our Disney trip.

 

[EmmersIsTheMommy]

We decorated a Disney Jar too. Each kid (and mom and dad) each picked a character and put it on a large plastic container (I think it held those cheese puff thingies?) We have 250 in there and we'll be using it for gas this time.

 

[kkmcan]

We actually do several things to save for Disney

1)We use the Disney Visa for just about everything (bills too) and earn about $25 a month.

2) I always put my birthday money in the Disney jar

3) Rebates we get back go in the Disney jar

4) I sell on ebay and we consider that our vacation $$ so none of our vacations ever come from dh's paychecks.

5)When we get back from a trip we empty our wallets and put the remaining money back in the Disney jar so we almost always have a start on our next trip.

Right now we've got:

$200 in Disney reward dollars
$300 in the jar
$150 from my birthday money (in Feb)
$35 rebate to cash from cell phone purchase
$28 in jury duty reimbursements

 

[digiMom]

1)SW Visa - got the 50,000 to start as well.
2)E-Rewards: Online marketing surveys gives SW Rewards
3)Disney Jar for change
4)Disney Visa-all charges, pay off every month
5)$100/mo in savings account (but would pull from account if emergency comes up)
6)Misc. sales through Craigslist
7)Kids have started asking for $ rather than presents. They use from that stash if they want souvenirs

...it's still a real expense...