How do you save $ for your WDW trip?

[LoriMistress]

Just curious, that's all.


For our trip from November 9th to 15th 2003 we bought our hotel/tickets/airfair through Expedia and spent $1,877.16 (7 PH Water Park & More tickets/ASMu). On top of that we paid $56 for Mears and hand $750 to our name (food/suvineers/etc.) So total on the trip was ($1933.16 if you don't include food/suvineers); $2683.16, which wasn't bad...for a first time.


This time around:

* Our airfair will be free since my parents are paying for our roundtrip flight for a Christmas present.
* Two Adults 10 Day PH Tickets for $529
* Four PI tickets total $68; Two DQ tickets total $58.
* 11 night stay at Pop Century $65.60 per night; total $811.80
* Cirque Du Soleil® La NouBa two adult tickets total $152.
* MVMCP (total four adult tickets) $170.20.
* Sunray Transporation (RT total including tax etc.) $82
Total costs (not including food and suvineers): $1871!!!!

If I didn't spend the extra money on PI, DQ, MVMCP, or Cirque Du Soleil tickets...I know I would be saving more money...but I wouldn't be having as much fun.

[Mickey's Pal]

It may not be as fun as saving but we usually pay in full with our tax return. (I should say that we pay for the Disney portion up front - usually around $1800 and save for the airfare/spending money)

Our first trip as a family of 5 we felt like we got a bargain for a total of $3300... That included 6 nights at POR, 7 day Hoppers, round trip airfare from Dallas, rental car, food and LOTS of souvenirs.

I think that's an average cost for our family of five 'cause I can't seem to get it any lower since then... LOL! I have done the unthinkable- considering staying off-property, but I haven't been able to go through with it.

[thejens]

I have been thinking about a way to save for the next trip. I do use the Disney Visa and have been thinking about how many bills I could pay with it. I have also been thinking of little ideas like skipping dinner out on Saturday night and putting the money in a Disney jar. Or each time the kids want some dumb toy saying, let's put it in a Disney spending jar instead etc. Find a way to teach the kids about deferred gratification (and teach myself too!) It doesn't seem as bad to save if we know it's buying some magic. I'd love to hear others' ideas too!

[jokat]

Well, this is pretty specific to the trip we're planning for Sept. '08...but worth sharing I suppose. We used most of our tax refund to pay off the car loan. We had just done a refi on our home equity loan to lower that rate too, which saved us money on our monthly payments. I immediately set up a new savings account with an auto draft from my checking each month to move the money we were paying on these two loans into the savings. It's like we're paying the same bill we had been, but now every penny goes towards the magic. I am extremely motivated to spend entirely too much money on this very special '08 trip for our 10-year wedding anniversary as well as our DDs 3rd birthday! Some people buy TVs, new cars, fancy clothes or what-have-you. I'd rather go to Disney.

[merlinmagic4]

Wow, great job, Lori!

Here's what I did:

Airfare nonstop flight for 5: 1575.00 - put this on credit card and will pay off this summer (winters are tough around here!)

Resort Maint. Fee 750.00 - paid with tax refund

Disney Tickets - have them from 2005

1500.00 for food/souvenirs/rental car/parking/etc - from ebay and other savings

Total for our trip: 3825.00 for 5

Oh, and my kids all have their own money!! My daughter has saved 100.00, my oldest son has saved 50.00, and the baby even has 90.00!! This is all from my mother who gives them money for every holiday and birthdays! So, they are on their own

[baldburke]

Since getting married we've gone every three to four years.

The first thing we started doing was saving change in one of thouse big five gallon water containers. Any loose change we have at the end of the day we try to put ib the container. On average we've had anywhere between $400 to $500 that we use as spending money on vacation for snacks, treats and gifts.

And like thejens, we use our Disney Visa card to save. We use it for all our everyday spending and try to pay it off eery month. But for our last trip we had 1,800 point or dollars to apply to the trip. It was a big savings for us and allowed us to upgrade to a deluxe for the first time.

[DizneyRox]

I use work bonuses, etc to help pay. They really add up pretty quick, and it's found money so to speak so we never miss it.

And then ther'es DVC which has helped tremendously for those times when we really shouldn't have gone, but since we had the hotel anyway.

We have a Disney Visa as well, and it did help a bit last time.

[ISLE39]

every paycheck every 2 weeks i put money aside into a vacation account. and i just booked a trip last weekend and coincidentally this week since i work in retail i got offered overtime so i spent the entire week of 7 days killing myself and made enough money in one check to pay off my airfare and hotel. and i already had the savings money for food and souveniers had my tickets already from 2 years ago.

[vamaggie]

We don't go every year (last trip was 04) so I really want to "do it up" when we do. We are going in Nov and here is some of the ways we are paying for it:
Airfare: free--we have a credit card that lets us use any airline. We have been using this card for most bills, church collections etc. so we had enough miles for 4 tkts. DH uses this card for work expenses too (that get reimbursed) so they added up pretty fast
Disney Visa--as soon as we get the "itch" to go to WDW we start using this as much as possible (that we can pay off) for stuff we have to get anyway (gas, food, bills etc) We hope to have about $500 in rewards when we go. We also booked our package with the Visa so have 6 mos to pay it off
Found Money: any money we get for bdays, holidays, refund checks etc go to the "fund". Kids also have their own found money from bdays, holidays etc. It makes it easier for them since they know what their limit is and they budget pretty well (even the 4 yr old!)
Coin Jar: It's amazing how fast it adds up!

[RockChalkKimball]

My change jar is a popcorn tub from WDW. Makes the saving that much more fun!

[January-2007]

Originally Posted by RockChalkKimball

My change jar is a popcorn tub from WDW. Makes the saving that much more fun!

We save in a popcorn tub from Walt Disney World too! Way more inspirational for us

[bratmaster]

wow. why is our trip costing us so much??? I am figuring about $6000!!! I thought it would be cheaper to drive down (from ill.) but with the price of gas, and the extra hotel stays and food, i guess we are not coming out ahead. We have 5 people. It cost us about $1,000 for 7 day tickets (no hoppers or add-ons) plus $1000 for our off-site hotel (9 nights) plus added in 4 extra hotel stays for traveling, plus food (and not even figuring breakfast since ours comes with the hotel), and the cost of gas. Then we also have a day at seaworld (about $250) . We will be gone 2 weeks; Just the cost of having to eat out for 3 meals a day for the 5 of us is a big expense. I don't know how you guys are doing it so cheaply. I have tried to get the cheapest off-site hotel and we are still spendind way more! But anyways, using our tax return is the only way we can ever go anywhere. we are very paycheck to paycheck. And for 12 years we never DID go anywhere, until finally i had enough. Now i feel it is as important to my mental health as paying the bills, and i want my kids to grow up with some happy memories and not just remembering that we had electricity.

[LoriMistress]

It all depends on where you purchase your hotel/tickets/airfare/etc. I went through another site for PI, DQ, and Cirque. I got our 10 PH tickets through another site as well. For the hotel, we used AAA, plus use any codes or discounts that may come up. I would suggest reading {web-site removed per terms of service} to get the up to date codes that will give you discounts for room, possible dining package, etc. As for transportation, I'm going to be using Sunray Transporation because of rave reviews I've read from other members, and by using a code, for RT will cost total $82 (not including tip.)

Take some time and go to other sites...you'll find many ways to save $$$$.

If you want the websites that I used, and the codes--please PM me.

[merlinmagic4]

Originally Posted by bratmaster

wow. why is our trip costing us so much??? I am figuring about $6000!!! I thought it would be cheaper to drive down (from ill.) but with the price of gas, and the extra hotel stays and food, i guess we are not coming out ahead.

I think we save a LOT on food by staying at a timeshare. We eat many meals there. Have you ever looked into a timeshare rental instead of a hotel? I guess a lot of people don't want to "cook and clean" during vacation but it sure works for us! When are you going?

[JustCallMeSquishy]

Originally Posted by LoriMistress

* Two Adults 10 Day PH Tickets for $529
* Four PI tickets total $68; Two DQ tickets total $58.
* Sunray Transporation (RT total including tax etc.) $82
wouldn't be having as much fun.

Where did you buy your tickets? It's $588 total for 10 PH with the Waterparks and more option which includes PI and DQ for 6 uses through the Disney website. If you can cancel that you would save yourself close to 50 bucks if not more if the above doesn't include tax.
You could also just use DME and save another $82.

Just trying to be helpful.

[LoriMistress]

Thanks, but the information you have is actually incorrect.

The Disney website doesn't have ALL the packages listed on their site. If you contact them directly here's their pricing:

10 Day Water Park & More non expired $447.95 per person. (including tax)

10 Day Water Park & More expired $282.95 per person (including tax.)

10 Day PH total $277.95 per person (including tax)

10 Day PH non expired total $442.95 per person (including tax.)

So actually, we're saving money. DH and I don't plan to go to any of the water parks and we're only going to PI twice and DQ once. And we've used MEARS (now Disney transportation) and it may be cheaper, but it took us over two hours JUST to get to our hotel. We waited a half hour for the bus to be loaded up and for a total of 10 people on the bus, plus stopping at every single resort until they finally reached our resort. So we're actually saving money and time by using a another form of transportation (that's also more reliable.) Using Sunray Transportation it's including a 1/2 grocery stop so we can pick up any last minute supplies and any other snacks that we want to bring with us to the parks.

But thanks for trying to assist me.

[JustCallMeSquishy]

10 Day Water Park & More non expired $447.95 per person. (including tax)

Through Disney this one is $270.51 (including tax)

10 Day Water Park & More expired $282.95 per person (including tax.)

This is 440.92, I think you had this one and the above mixed up.

10 Day PH total $277.95 per person (including tax)

270.51 (including tax), just a little bit cheaper, but hey!

10 Day PH non expired total $442.95 per person (including tax.)

435.59 (including tax)

[Jeri Lynn]

First of all I have Melissa at Magical Journey's book our room, and I know she will get me the best deal possible.

Second, I use my disney visa for many of our larger purchases, (and pay it off right away), right now I have about $250 rewards dollars to use on our next vacation.

The actual vacation gets paid for out of my husbands bonus checks.

I also have this big old piggy bank, that was my Pepere's, it is old and scratched and kind of homely, but I remember it being next to my Pep's chair in his living room...my mother was going to throw it away, I climbed into the dumpster to get him!! Anyways, I save all my change in my "Pepere Pig" and any spare bills I get go in there too. He is getting very heavy, and I'm so tempted to empty him out and count all the money, but I am waiting until the end of summer!!

That is pretty much the extent of how I save!!

[allie_to_you]

For us, we have several ways to save up money for our trip.

1. We collect all our change in a money bank that digitally counts it as we go. We just started saving and we already have enough for almost 2 days of parking (we use a rental car all week)

2. We use our tax refund towards our trip

3. Each week, I take between $10 - $20 out of each of our paychecks and put it in a Disney Savings envelope. It adds up quickly and usually we don't miss this money. It just means one less meal out each week, but if it means going to Disney, it's okay.

4. I sell plasma twice a week and I get $50 a week for doing that which goes straight into our savings for Disney. If it all gets saved all year, it's $2,600 per year

[Sarabeth1600]

We are going for our honeymoon in November...I'm so excited!!!! Our airfare is a gift to us from my future BIL and SIL. My fiancee and I have a 2-liter bottle that I decorated with stickers for change. We have been collecting for a few months, and I was quite surprised when I brought it to the bank last week to find out that we had saved over $150 in one 2-liter bottle!!! The change adds up!