What's the one area of your WDW budget...

[HunnyPots]

that you refuse to cut? Resorts? Meals? Shopping?
On the other hand, what can you most easily do without?

We are preparing for our first trip in June, so I am speculating here, but we have decided to cut back on our hotel budget and stay at an All Star and allow for a couple of nice sit-down meals and a few more souvenirs.

The area I refuse to cut, on any vacation, is food. We may not eat at 5 star restaurants, but I WILL NOT cook on vacation!

 

[jmkst58]

At the moment...(for this upcoming trip anyway)...I have chosen to cut souvenirs (maybe even entirely). I will enjoy the convenience of travel from the deluxes and some of the more expensive meals (trying to be as reasonable as possible). The souvenirs may be more important when my kids are older and start BEGGING for them.

 

[DiznEeyore]

This is a good question! I guess we try for moderation in all areas.

Resort: We bought DVC (after hemming and hawing over it for a couple of years) once we realized that we love to vacation at WDW and realized how much it would save us over rising resort costs.

Food: Since we have sensitive tummies, cooking in the villa is a luxury for us. We love having the convenience of a kitchen! We do at least one character breakfast each trip, at least one sit-down restaurant, and then a couple of counter-service meals. All the rest are in the villa.

Souvenirs: This is where I've gone completely overboard in the past. The last couple of trips were better. I have a set budget each time, but each trip it gets smaller and smaller.

What I'm trying to say is that we are a single-income family with a kiddo in private school, so I have to budget carefully. I try to get us the most bang for our buck within reason and without charging anything.

 

[mad4themouse]

We fly, non-stop, rather than drive or change planes. That's non-negotiable for DH. We would rather fly in the evening or early morning than take a flight to Charlotte NC or Atlanta GA. We once had a flight from Philly to Orlando that first took us by commuter airplane to BWI! Note to self: Never again allow a TA to book our flight as a part of a cruise package!

I will not stay off property. It's just not the same for me. I'd rather shorten my trip by a day or two rather than be off-site. For me, the magic begins when I check in. However, I will settle for an AllStar resort if the budget will not allow for a Contemporary Tower room.

I also try not to cook while on vacation. I can't get away with it when we go to the shore but I'll be darned if I'll do it in WDW! We do bring snacks and breakfast foods to eat in the room, more out of convenience than out of frugality.

I do put the brakes on when it comes to spending on souvenirs. There is so much that I want to buy but I limit myself to a strict budget and rarely go over. Last visit, the only thing I bought for myself was a refrigerator magnet because DD wanted an animation book. {{sigh}}

Extras I can do without:

Limited Edition "whatevers" that come with a package.
Character breakfasts (kids have gotten a little old for it, been there, done that and they are more costly)
Car rental (especially if I'm not going to That Other Park)
Souvenir photos from every ride
Another plush toy, I don't care how cute it is!

 

[TreeOfLife]

Here's another one REFUSING to cook on vacation. Unless we're camping, and then I cook a lot in foil, etc. I refuse to bring loads of dishes, pots and pans to the outdoors!

The resort is mainly a place for us to crash and bathe, so as long as it is safe and accessible, I am fine skimping on that area. The shopping... Yes, I can get out and buy fewer things.

Oh yeah, and if the flight isn't non-stop or there aren't ee mornings, we don't go!

 

[mom2of2]

I've scrimped and saved for a year to plan this first trip. I had a target budget for travel, lodging, spending and dining and the kids got Disney Dollars for x-mas and b-days so that's their spending money. I've gotten Q & C vouchers for lunches and dinners as well as a free char meal with my passes. So to answer your question....I'm not going to worry about spending while I'm there, I'm just gonna DO DO DO!!!

 

[abeyst]

free character meal with passes? Do tell!

We're DVC members as well, but I still DON'T COOK! It's more for my husband to store snacks and all his pop. The man eats enough for 2 men and only drinks soda. So I have to budget him for the vacation!

For airlines, we have to travel non-stop. Expedia.com will help lots in their "fare calendar". Certain flying days are cheaper than others, and they let you know which days to fly. Keep an eye on it, they go fast!

We pack food to eat breakfast and some lunches (my son is VERY picky). Bread, peanut butter, bagels, granola bars, cookies, microwave popcorn, anything that will be ok in a suitcase. We have one character breakfast, eat our sit-down meals at lunch time, and grab a pizza or something on our way back to the room. We're usually too tired to do any type of restaurant.

We'll be drinking lots of water this year! And refilling bottles whenever possible!

My son as Disney $, and I limit souveniers to one per person and it has to be cheap or on sale! I always ask myself before I say I'll buy it "will this end up in the bottom of the toy box and never seen again?" Then I give my answer.

 

[JetMom]

We drive rather than fly. Airfare for 5 is just too much.

We also stay at the least expensive place we can. It's just a place to sleep and shower. Though, ever since my first trip on-site in '97, I can't imagine staying off-site again.

We try to make room in the budget for all of the special meals we can manage.

Souveniers are negotiable. As long as I get a new t-shirt and a new Christmas ornament, I am satisfied.

I also save alot of money now that I have a digital camera. I have rechargeanle batteries and dump hy pics into the laptop every night. I save tons on film and processing.

 

[yesdisneyfool]

Originally posted by DiznEeyore
This is a good question! I guess we try for moderation in all areas.

Resort: We bought DVC (after hemming and hawing over it for a couple of years) once we realized that we love to vacation at WDW and realized how much it would save us over rising resort costs.

Food: Since we have sensitive tummies, cooking in the villa is a luxury for us. We love having the convenience of a kitchen! We do at least one character breakfast each trip, at least one sit-down restaurant, and then a couple of counter-service meals. All the rest are in the villa.

Souvenirs: This is where I've gone completely overboard in the past. The last couple of trips were better. I have a set budget each time, but each trip it gets smaller and smaller.

What I'm trying to say is that we are a single-income family with a kiddo in private school, so I have to budget carefully. I try to get us the most bang for our buck within reason and without charging anything.

DiznEeyore you just described me to the "T" - this is too freakie. I put away money just for our trips each pay and whatever is left over goes to the next trip.

 

[jessiesue]

We don't splurge on too much. DH , myself, & 3 DS's stay off site in 3bdrm for dirt cheap, which we love. Bring our food & snacks to parks. Occasionally, we will buy snacks and counter service just to have something different. DS's get a minium of 1 souvenir if we get that.
But the one thing we always do, is HAVE A GREAT TIME!
We have made 3 trips for one week each to Disney within the last 11 months. I am working on another 2 week trip next month. Can't wait!

 

[Lisa P.]

Travel & vacations are pretty important to us. So is staying within a budget without using credit or going into debt. We've known a lot of people who would rather stay home until they can afford the kind of trip they want, than settle for a shoestring budget trip. That's NOT us! LOL!

We will eliminate just about ANYthing we need to eliminate in order to afford to go places. We still have a great time on all our trips! We've flown and we've driven our van. We've enjoyed vacations at Disney Deluxe, Moderate and Value hotels and Fort Wilderness Campground, as well as a wide range of quality in offsite properties. We've eaten in the more expensive Disney sitdown restaurants and we've cooked in every day. We've spent every day, all day, at attractions and we've spent more than half a trip relaxing at a resort, saving money on admission media.

Truth be told, we have never had a vacation that we felt we should not have taken until later, when we could have spent more on it. For me, it's a matter of enjoying what we can afford and not focusing too much on what we can't.

DH just likes the chance to swim, sail and spend time with all of us. The kids mostly appreciate swimming and doing things they cannot on a regular basis - sightseeing, rides, even having cable TV in the evening! We live on DH's single income while I'm home schooling our three teens and I feel blessed to be able to afford travel to a variety of places every year.

 

[abeyst]

The vacation issue I agree with 100%! Way to go LisaP! I just wish I could get my husband to realize we vacation with what we have, not save for the perfect one (that we'll never attain)!

Enjoy that family!

 

[mickeysaver]

We save all year for vacation. We drive down, but it's a relatively short drive. I prefer to "go cheap" on the hotel by staying at the All Stars. Food for the 2 of us gets a $100/day budget.....we don't do fancy/exotic meals. We do however go for broke on collectables and stuff. If I want it, I buy it. I just hate to be cheap with my wants when I'm there. I do that 51 weeks a year. Also Disney collectables are a great way to remember the trip and one day, I might retire on them. lol Mickey

 

[HunnyPots]

I so agree about not saving for the "perfect vacation". Have a great vacation with what you've got. Life's too short!
Anybody else?

 

[TRAPPED-PARENT]

One area that I won't budge on is staying on site ... true, we camp, but there are cheaper campgrounds in the area. It HAS to be Ft Wilderness.

The family is past the souvenier stage -- usually a T-shirt or one special item that might catch our eye, but many times I've come home with only my pictures/memories.

If our budget is tight, we cut down on food expenditures (I don't go to WDW for the food!!). I don't mind "cooking" on vacation ... my idea of cooking on vacation is making sandwiches, however. Sit-down is usually limited to 2-3 times for our 9 day stay.

We spend a good part of our vacation at the resort pool or one of the water parks ... just 2-3 days in the main parks.

We will "splurge" on things like an airboat ride (Old Fashion Airboats in Christmas, FL) or a trip to the Kennedy Space Center.

All in all, we can afford to take 2-3 trips per year (only one at WDW) because we don't go overboard and change our usual spending habits while away from home.

 

[doindisneyagain]

I so agree about not saving for the "perfect vacation". Have a great vacation with what you've got. Life's too short!

I Agree!

I have a number of family and friends who never go on vacation with their kids - "too expensive". My DH and I say the kids are only young once and we want to experience many vacations with them while we can - you never know what tomorrow brings!

We have made a goal of seeing all 50 states by the time the girls graduate high school (currently they are 2 and 4). We take two 1 week vacations a year (one in the winter and one in the summer). We aren't rich by any means, but we do what we have to to have our vacations - even if we have to take out a small personal loan.

I'm 28 years old and my first trip to Disney was last year. I always thought that a Disney vacation would cost $5000 - $10000. It was always considered a vacation for the rich to me. But now that I've gone - I've realized that it can be as expensive or as cheap as you want to make it.

Now the only problem is that I'm hooked on Disney and Florida as a winter destination, that our plan of 50 states is suffering. I have to move on and plan other places - but i don't want to!

ONLY 9 more days till FW

 

[goofy4tink]

We only fly non-stop. That is non-negotiable. I'm toying with the idea of splitting my resort stay between a moderate and a deluxe but I'm not sure I really want to spend the extra money. We eat 1 sit-down meal a day, usually a late lunch. As far as souvies go, we allow dd (9) to stop by the resort shop and get one thing each night, for about $5. We do get the attraction pictures. I have a wall of these at home. But that is about it for shopping. Character meals are waning due to dd's age. Chef Mickeys is about it. So our food budget will be a lot less this year!!!

 

[snowmouse]

In the past, we have had the good fortune of doing pretty much whatever we wanted without regard to budget, this year is a very different story! I had to really consider this issue and figure out what was most important to us.

Will not cut: staying on site, at least one nice sit down a day, boat rentals, will not cook or do laundry.

What we have done to cut: Staying at a moderate, getting fridge in room and eating breakfast from it, 2 'out of park' down days, kids get a limited amount of Disney Dollars (from their money) and pretty much eliminate souvenirs for hubby and I, and I have become a master at volunteering to take bumps on flights to get free tickets (got 15 in one trip about a year and a half ago!)

 

[disneydeb]

i cut out souvineers since iive been to wdw so many tiimes i only get them for the very small kids, i will NOT cut my budget on the resort room, i have a teenage daughter so the one sink does not do it for us , we also always overpack because i refuse to do laundry when on vacation, i will not cook so i need money to eat in the best restaurants at least for lunch when the meals are cheaper and the food is the same as at nite, i have also learned to use those little shopping carts at he airport for all my luggage, and i enjjoy a rental car from the airport because its just so much more convienent than waiting for the bus, i will only book nonstop flights, and i never book with usair because they always change plane and change your flight times, i stick with delta, i will go at ttimes of the year when i can go to mvmcp and mnsshp because you can have a lot of fun do a lot of rides and have very little crowds,

 

[photobob]

The one thing that is a must is staying onsite. We try to stay as cheaply as possible. Our last two trips have been at All Star, but we are staying at a moderate this year. We try to watch our food budget because that is one of the few variables. You can't change the resort cost though you try to get this best deal available and you can't change how much your tickets cost. We take a bunch of soft drinks and breakfast snacks and try to only eat sitdown restaurants at lunch.

Bob