Too personal?

[kasar]

I have been wondering about this for a long time but hesistated to ask at the risk of seeming too "nosy". What I would like to know is how people manage to do so many Disney trips and cruises. I'm not jealous (nice jobs, nice house, fun vacations) or wishing that I could go more often, I'm mainly just curious. See, our last trip several years ago, we went all-out (for us!) - Wilderness Lodge (nice room but nothing "extra"), full passes, no skimping on meals or "goodies", etc. and it cost us almost $5,000 for 5 days. I DON'T regret going, as I don't regret the cruise we booked a year after our last cruise. But I'm ready to try something new after this year.

So, I figure that there are 3 types of Disney travellers:

1. Those that have enough money to do whatever they want - the work-hard/play-hard crowd. To them I say, go for it! Enjoy the fruits of your success.

2. The savers and scrimpers. Do you save up and do a once-in-a-lifetime trip, or maybe stay in a cheaper place and go more often?

3. The people who need their Disney fix, even when they probably shouldn't (No judgements here, I'm as guilty of this as anyone!)

Any others? Where do you fit in? I apologize if this is too personal, it's kind of like asking "How much money do you make". Hopefully no one will get flamed if they answer honestly.

Also, I'd love to hear from the people who stay in the high end suites, concierge guests, etc. We'd all love to live vicariously through you!

 

[DonnaS]

I guess we're a 1.5. We save money each pay period, we have only one car, and no kids.

I wouldn't say we could do whatever we want-- we do tend to stay in moderates at WDW and stay at really inexpensive pensions when we go to Europe.

 

[tkyes]

I wouldn't say we are in that list either.

We don't live from paycheck to paycheck, but we aren't swimming in it either.

We always stay in moderates, last time we camped. It's a treat for us. We do try and save some money every year for some sort of vacation, Disney or not.



Tamie

 

[Robinrs]

I save by scrimping on some things and splurging on others. I am hardly #1 or 2 but I do manage to get in this one pleasure and believe me, it's always worth it to me.

It also pays to have good contacts, also!

 

[ToyStory Fan]

Work hard, play HARD here. Basically, I try (like my parents did for me) to give my kids things I didn't have growing up. Not to the point of spoiling, but we look forward to vacations and occasionally treating ourselves to nice things.

 

[CamColt]

Id say Im part a 2 & part a 3.

We sometimes go a cheaper route, driving as opposed to flying, and staying at All Stars for the whole trip. We definitely dont like to do a LOT of sit down meals anyway, so we save a few bucks there. I dont scrimp and save every penny for my trips though. On the other hand, we need(ok, maybe enjoy is a better word) our Disney fix. I dont think that we shouldnt be going, but we choose to make the trips somewhat of a priority as opposed to lots of nice clothes, jewelry, fancy cars, etc... I guess we consider WDW a really big "extra" in our life.

And compared to a lot of people here, I dont think we really go that often. We have been in 95(honeymoon), 98(1kid), 00(2kids), 01, 02, and plan to get APS to make 3 more trips from 8/03-8/04. Now if I had a job, Im sure we would be going more often.

 

[Goofyposter]

Groosch!

...I write jokes for Homer Simpson.




LOL!
We're "off the scale" LOL!! (since we do the concierge thing)....

I know this really won't answer your question but we're really all 3 of your numbered choices.....(3 more in reference to the time rather than the cost issues).


To us WDW is the happiest place on Earth...and if I could live in the rainwater drain near the International Gateway...I would!

 

[Steve H.]

I guess we're an "other" -- since we've only been twice since '98.

 

[jfulcer]

Just one word for us:

DVC.

Prepaid luxury home away from home accomodations at moderate prices, until 2042.

I know if we didn't own DVC we wouldn't be going as often or as long. It makes trips a lot easier when you don't have to pay for your lodging...

 

[Serena]

We were the scrimper and savers. Then a few things came up at the last minute and took almost all the savings away. We went anyway and I'm probably still paying for it.

 

[626]

We are definately a 3. I know we can't afford to go to WDW, but we just have to! We do have a few tricks to saving money I wouldn't dare mention but for the most part we come back from our trips broke every time.

 

[FOJMO]

We became Disney Vacation Club members 10 years ago and have never regretted that decision!

We invested in the minimum amount of points at that time and paid monthly payments to pay off the DVC loan for 5 years.

During that time, though, we were able to reap the fruits of our investment, as we lived just outside of Orlando and could drive to WDW for weekends, holidays, vacations, etc. We also received free passes to all the parks while we were there (that ended in 1998, but that covered the time we were paying the loan, so after the loan was paid, we could use that money toward passes).

We've also used our points to go to Disneyland for a week and on three Disney Magic cruises.

Our investment money was equivalent to what most people are spending on about 2 WDW vacation trips!!!

And, while we are at the DVC condo, we get/bring groceries along and make a lot of our meals there and save money on eating out.

Best of all, the DVC membership will be something our DD (17) can use as she grows older and she has the right of survivorship, should we pass on. It's all good until 2047, and we'll be gone by then and our DD will be 61!

And that's how WE do it!!!!

 

[shep]

I don't know where we fit in either...
We save every week a little at a time for our trip..

Like Tamie, we don't live paycheck to paycheck, but then we're not swimming in it either...Have to go while the girls are still young..

 

[Kissimmee JP]

FOJMO - Wife and I are considering DVC. Just out of curiosity, what are the monthly pmts. on min. points for 5 years?

 

[tc]

Another DVCer here. We refinanced our house, and had a ton of equity, so rolled in the price of DVC into the refinance. It's been two years, and there are no regrets here. We save to purchase plane tickets and passes. We try to take two trips per annual pass (we'll have three trips on these passes). So one trip, all we have to purchase is food and airline tickets. Hope someday to get a bump on the airplane, and then all we have to buy is food. We don't eat at nice restaurants very often, usually counter service or Tubbies at the Dolphin. Neither one of us enjoy eating big meals, lots of small meals through the day is our style. We save from each paycheck and I do some Internet stuff for my spending money. I usually can have about $50 - $100 per trip depending on how long it was since we last went. Since I go every year, I don't buy a ton of souvenirs.

 

[WDWLVR]

We are a little bit of all three. We are DINK (dual income no kids) and we own our home (just a nice modest one story ranch).

We came into some money when my mom died. Most of that went into savings and stocks, but we took some of it and bought DVC. Best decision we ever made!

We have been known to throw some unexpected vacations in the mix (like a trip to Disneyland two weeks after a cruise two years ago, our mini-trip last December, and even the SS Member Cruise). I can tell you though that I have wonderful memories from each of those and don't regret them.

We are homebodies. We don't eat out very much, don't drink, and neither one of us is crazy about clothes (meaning we don't have to have every new thing). If we have vices it is DVD's (for DH), scrapbooking (for me), and our Disney vacations (for both of us).

 

[patsal]

I guess I don't know where I fit in either. Let's see...DVC, a little out of every paycheck into a special Disney account and when I stopped having to pay for full time daycare I put the difference in the bank every month as if it were a payment. $3000 per year really adds up, I can't wait for the kiddies to no longer need any daycare--then I'll have $6000 painlessly saved dollars per year! We don't live paycheck to paycheck but we are not rolling in cash either. Pre-paid accomadations with DVC makes all the difference for us!

 

[FOJMO]

Originally posted by Kissimmee JP
FOJMO - Wife and I are considering DVC. Just out of curiosity, what are the monthly pmts. on min. points for 5 years?

Oh, gosh! I wouldn't know what it is now -- that was 10 years ago for us. At that time, we invested in 230 points (minimum) and it cost somewhere around $13,000 total. This is calculated on the price per point. It was at $51/pt when we invested. I think it may be up to around $90+/pt now. Our payments were $255/month for 5 years.

You also pay a monthly maintenance fee, which pays for things like landscaping, utilities, real estate taxes, etc. Currently, we pay $65/mo for that. Each year it varies by a few dollars. You keep paying that monthly fee even after you've paid off your loan.

But, if you have the DVC loan, you can deduct the interest as you would your mortgage interest in your home and also the real estate tax portion of the maintenance fees for your Income Tax Return.

I encourage you to look into it. If you love Disney, it's well worth it. (You can also use your points through DVC to book non-Disney resort stays throughout the continental US, Hawaii, Mexico, Canada, Europe and the Caribbean).

Good luck!

 

[Kissimmee JP]

fojmo - thanks for the info. We will definately look into it.

 

[ead79]

Boy, this is a tough one for me. I don't fit well into any category because I'm in a very unique situation. I have been to WDW 6 times in 3 years (one of those trips was just a day trip while we were visiting relatives in FL), and on 2 of those trips I have stayed concierge for at least part of the trip.

I am a recent college grad (class of May '02), and I am still living at home in order to save for my wedding and save in general so I can buy furniture, etc. when I'm a newlywed. Of course, this enables me to save far more than I could if I had a mortgage payment; however, I put this extra money into wedding savings for the most part. Total, I save 40% of my take-home pay for either the wedding or WDW trips. I look at both as fixed expenses so I'm not tempted to dip into the money for other stuff.

I also scrimp on other stuff. I rarely buy new clothes, I don't eat at expensive restaurants, I don't drink alcohol (which can really add up), and I rarely do other expensive things like concerts/plays/etc. (I have been lucky enough to get Lion King tickets for Christmas from my parents though.) WDW is such an important thing to me that I really sacrifice other stuff to be able to go there once a year at least.

Of course another big factor when it comes to cost is only having to pay for myself (though I have paid a large part of a friend's trip before) instead of a family. That really helps cut down the cost.

When I'm married, my fiance and I plan to continue to save every month regularly for WDW trips, since he knows how much they mean to me. I also imagine that we will use at least part of our tax refunds to help pay for the trip.