You are going or went but: Can you afford your Disney vacation?

[bubba73]

I am a huge Disney nut. Most of the people that I work with and come in contact with on a daily basis really wish that I would shut up about Mickey. We are saving up right now for what will be my 25th different trip to Disney. On my salary and what my wife makes, we really probably shouldn't be going to WDW for our 6th family trip but we are. It is a sacrifice but somethings are worth the sacrifice.

 

[bigbabyblues]

I voted for the "Moderate" resort, but we've stayed mod and value...mod twice, that's why I picked it.

We don't go if we can't afford it, plain and simple. We save $ in a separate savings acct so we don't spend it, and then when I call WDW to pay the balance due, I write the check the same day and sent it to the CC. Whatever is left in the acct is what we can spend while on vacation, and I figure how much we have to spend per day, and write that check when we get home if anything gets charged to the cc. We don't carry a lot of cash with us.

We aren't going this year because our cc balance got out of hand while DH was unemployed, so our vacation $ is going to pay that off. This year's vacation will be a few days on the Outer Banks, depending on what we can afford.

 

[pooksma]

I voted "yes" and that we stayed at values because that's what we've done the last 2 years. Trip #2 wasn't supposed to be but DH won a $500 Delta travel voucher and we decided to go again. Trip #3 (in the planning stages) is over a year away. We'd like to try a moderate this time so are taking longer to save up. I like to charge as little as possible or at least know I have the cash in the bank to pay the Visa when we get home.

Great poll!!!!

 

[rt2dz]

Travel is important to us and it goes into the budget just like groceries and insuriance bills. I'd never go into debt for something I couldn't show for it. A house is OK, restraurant bills not so much. I often put things on credit cards, but the bill is paid at the end of the month or sooner.

 

[Cinders Mum]

Not sure how to vote on this, we save like crazy every year, and we are lucky that we are able to go to Disney every year and we stay for 3 weeks. we tend to do 2 or 3 years at a value resort (either Music or Movies) and then 3rd or 4th year at the Polynesian depending on when we can afford it.

Now this is where I have to explain I get TA rates on rooms and I get staff discount on the flights (usually around 10% off) we don't have a car as we live in a town where a car is not essential to get around, and we don't go out every weekend.

So we choose to spoil ourselves with our holiday. we have one trip a year, all our other vacation time is spent at home with trips to the cinema, the park, the local swimming pool etc so we do make sacrifices but ask my guys if they'd rather do Disney every year or do more stuff at the weekends and have a car then Disney wins every time. And as long as they love the magic and believe in it, I will continue to do so, this time in my daughter's life is so short and soon it will be gone, I want to give her as many wonderous memories as I can, and then when she's a mommy (hopefully) she will recall her trips and the cycle will begin again with her giving them the gift of magic ....

Just my outlook

Val
xx

 

[michygoomy]

This trip---the budget is there sitting in the bank, and the trip will be paid for in advance. We're staying at a moderate and for 10 days for the first time.

Last trip was CC. It wasn't planned--I got an e-mail for a FABULOUS airfare, and they were doing the package deal (7 nights for the price of 4 or something like that--I forget the name). It was too sweet a deal to pass up, but it was pretty cheap, too (stayed at value) and paid off quickly.

We can only afford a big vacation every three years. Our previous trips were even more affordable, because we either stayed with family (FIL used to like to rent a house and invite anyone who wanted to come) or made it part of a business trip. It's nice to have a fully-funded moderate vacation this year!

 

[Magic2000]

I voted other, because although we do pay it in advance, sometimes we stay value, moderate, or deluxe. Just depends on the budget. This year, we're staying 8 nights at Pop and 3 nights at Boardwalk. My youngest has been wanting to swim in the "clown" pool!! (Sometimes we do a split stay, so that we can do both - like one year we stayed at Pop and WL; last summer, we stayed at Pop and POFQ - my mom loved POFQ!)

We also have been taking a "long weekend" trip in Dec the last few years, and we stay value on those trips.

It takes a lot of saving, but its so worth it!!!!

 

[new_mouser]

I saved enough money to stay in a deluxe resort, but DD wants to stay with Buzz and Woody. Go figure. At least I'm about $4K under budget

 

[hsmamato2]

family member has dvc ownership, invites us to stay with them, we do- but we would NEVER go if we couldn't afford it

 

[Kath2003]

I voted for "Yes, but we stay off-site". Staying onsite is too expensive. I'm staying with my friend, we're both just 21 and I'll have just graduated, she'll be heading back to Uni for another two years when we return.

We're paying under $55 a night for a Best Western on I-Drive this August and that is the TOP END of our budget. We have $40 per person per day for food, drinks, transport, gifts etc.

I'm a student and have worked more than full time (48-54 hours a week) every vacation (UK vacations for University students are 22 weeks of the year in total) for three years to afford this trip.

Orlando is the second of seven cities we're visiting, the whole trip costs the entirety of my savings and we're flying for free on my Dad's airmiles - we'd never have been able to afford it had we had to pay for our flights. We're also staying for four nights with my friend's realtives. It's the trip of a lifetime, though

 

[Magalex]

I voted other because the answer is yes and no to affording a WDW trip. Last April 2005 it was our DS's first WDW trip(4 1/2 yrs old) at the time. I had a WDW vacation acct as soon as he was born. So we did save. We stayed at POP. It was great. We also drove down from PA. I had alot of snacks/breakfast foods which helped. We like to start visiting more often now that he is older. My DH would love to go in June for SW weekends. But it will have to be based on codes and what kind of airfare we can get. We did use CC for a some things but paid off the vacation. I have the savings going again and for sure next yr we will be there. I am not sure if we will ever be able to stay at a deluxe. Next resort of choice will be CBR. We will continue to stay on-site and we enjoy the values too.

 

[WDWFAN9]

I voted other. The last few years we've usually split our 8 night stay between value and deluxe, depending on what AP rates are available. Put the entire vacation on the credit card and pay it off in full when the bill comes.

 

[lauritagoddess]

I voted other. I put the trip on the credit card but I'll be getting the bill any day and will pay it off in full. And we're staying at a deluxe resort. But having said that, while I do have the money for the trip, it's still a really big deal. The fact that I knew I would be getting my tax refund that would be fattening up my bank account right around the time I'd be paying this office was a factor. I like to spend and enjoy but I doubt I could enjoy myself if I knew I had huge bills hanging over my head.

 

[helenm29]

We love Disneyworld but what with two kids in Junior high school, one in a local college, me working nights and hubby working days we don't get a lot of time to do that type of thing. So...we save up for a couple of years and stay in a Delux resort plus we try and do everything there is to do because we figure we won't get back for a few more years. This time we are staying Delux for 12 days which is wayyyyyy longer then we've ever been able to stay. I cannot wait!

 

[pamdaniels]

I am saving up for my trip in April 2007. It will be our first time on-site.We are only able to go every other year, as I am a single parent. My DD is helping with the savings. We will be staying for 8 days.

 

[sweetiepapeetie]

I voted No, but we saved until we could afford a dream vacation!

I have saved money for 7 years in order to go on our vacation. I started saving as soon as I had my first DD, not really knowing when we would go, then had a 2nd DD and decided to wait until she was at least 4 before we went. I even have a "Disney Account" set-up at a different bank so that DH could not get to the money, he didn't even know it exsisted until about a year ago!

My girls will be 7 and 4 when we go this fall. We have never taken a family vacation, with the exception of a day trip to the zoo, waterpark, or amusement park. I'm so excited to go!!! We will be flying to FL, staying at the Poly for 7 nights, we are doing the DDP, and some extra things while we're there. We could have gone sooner and done it cheaper, but like I said I wanted to wait until the littlest was older......now if we decide that we want to go back, we will be doing a value resort or something cheaper!!!

 

[DisneyPhD]

I think affording things like WDW trips are more of an issue of saving money from other things we don't get and putting it towards something we all want (WDW trips). It isn't that we are maga rich, we just perfer to spend our $ there so we will save other luxery things and do WDW (and DVC) instead.

Also sometimes the more often you go, the cheaper each trip is (with AP, and the DVC $100 off AP.) When you go often you learn a lot of tricks to save $ and you don't feel the need to go all out and make everything extra specail because this is the one and only time you will be going.

We don't do anything we don't have the money for, at least in savings.

 

[helenm29]

very true DisneyPhD...you do tend to hold off on other luxuries so that you can have more fun at DW. We haven't done anything for quite a while and haven't bought much either so that we could do everything while we are at DW. It can be a little hard when there's something your REALLY want but know how much more fun you will have when you go on your vacation.

 

[MomofKatie]

I voted "other"- we have taken some really cheap-o WDW vacations- drive down, stay with friends, and only go to the parks for a day or two (when we couldn't even afford them) and some nicer ones (when we could). Our last trip was for 7 nights at Pop- we were able to take advantage of the Free Dining promotion, so we used the extra $$ we had saved for food to buy 10 day Ultimate tickets with no expire. So our next trip will be longer and at a nicer resort than we could usually afford, because we won't have to purchase tickets.

We decided to try renting DVC points for our next trip- we will try OKW for 8 nights with the DDP. I save for the trips by totaling up the trip costs and dividing the total by the number of paydays there are until the trip. Then, I know how much $$ I need to set aside each pay period.

 

[jenr812]

We took our first trip last year, funded by our income tax return, a yard sale, mystery shopping money...you get the idea We'll be taking our second trip in about 15 months (after I graduate from nursing school in May 2007). We're using our tax return again, as well as whatever found money we manage to save. We've just started Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University last month, and travel (esp. the WDW ) is a big priority for us. We should/could have used last year's taxes to pay off some debt (it's hard to pay down with me being a student and DH the only breadwinner) but going to WDW is the best decision we made. I don't regret it at all. Because with the mindset we had, if we'd have paid off the CCs with that money, we likely would have just run them up again. What a waste. Now with the principals we are learning from FPU, we will know how to manage our money once I graduate and essentially double our income It's a great feeling. Again, we could use next year's taxes to pay the rest of our debt snowball and work on fully funding our emergency fund to 6 months of expenses. But it's so much easier to stick to my TIGHT budget right now having WDW as a payoff to look forward to! And knowing the paycheck I have to look forward to soon after our trip helps a lot too hehe You gotta make room for fun!

Gosh that was long winded...time to get some sleep!