[mouseof4]

Maybe this type of thing is posted else were , I was curious how you justify what you spend on your trip and what people are willing to spend and maybe give up to make a trip???

I know some of you take many trips a year how do you pull it off ??
Maybe there are somethings you have done that are must haves.
I saw a post similar on another site and people got great ideas etc off it.

[Grumpy]

We only go every 4 years so that I can save a bunch of money and have everything paid for in advance. I love to buy everything Disney so I have to save a bunch for my shopping. We have the Disney Visa and use it for everything so by the time we go we will have around $800.00 in reward dollars. I also buy Disney Dollars with any "extra" money I get (birthday money, Christmas money, rebate checks, etc.) So between those two thing I usually have around $1300.00 for our spending money at the parks. Then I save around $3000.00 to cover the airfare, resort, park tickets, town car, trip insurance and dining plan. My goal is to have between $4000.00 and $4500.00 saved between all the above for each trip. I want to go and not have to worry how I am going to pay for it and I want to be able to splurge and shop as much as I want.

[Dana]

I go once a year. I only go once a year becasue on that one trip, I go all out. I am going for nine days this year. The total package which is room at POFQ, tickets and dining cost me :$2,500ish. My airfare was just under $500. I will need another almost $300 for car rental and then another $100 for Sea world tickets. I bring about $150-200 per day to play with....I like to buy and do whatever I want....another reason I can only do this once a year. My grand total for this trip is going to run me about : $5,200 give or take. I pay for everything in cash and it takes me almost 9 months to pay it off in full setting a little aside here and there and using my income tax refund for the bulk of it. How much would it take for me to cancel my trip? There is no amount of money right now. These trips are about time with my DD. I take hours upon hours to plan my trip.....and then some. If someone offered me twice the vlaue to cancel, I would only if I were able to rebook it for a very close future date. I am not going without my yearly WDW trip....I would go totally insane without it. For that one week a year, I can just have a good time.

[iluvwdw]

For us, the amount we spend on each trip varies from trip to trip!

We own timeshare and usually stay off site. We stock our villa with water, sodas and snacks so that's less we have to buy in the parks. We DO however go out to nice Table Service restaurants multiple times during the week we are there! When you buy the dining plan, you get SO much more bang for your buck!

This year, we are staying at POP. We are going for 8 days, including three 1 day MYW tickets, and FREE DINING, $840 including all taxes. I have tickets from a previous trip to use as well! We are driving our ECONOMY car down there, which should cost us $180 MAX ROUND TRIP for gas...and that will get us home with a full tank of gas as well! We don't buy many souveniers, either. For the kids, I stock up on little things throughout the year so I can have Mickey leave it for them when they go to sleep. When they wake up, they have a nice giftpack from Mickey! I include whatever Disney Store sale items I collect, as well as Dollar Tree and Target items as well. They LOVE this!!!!!

This trip is going to be SO CHEAP for us and I am LOVING that! And so is DH!!! That's the ONLY reason he agreed to go again this year!

[jo-jo]

Every trip is different in cost. Our 2 week at POP for two adults cost about 3,500. We got an AP discount on the room, bought AP (cheaper than tickets for 14 days), ate cheap (breakfast in room, shared CS, and had some lunches at TS using DDE), and got ding fares from SW. We don't buy many souveniers.

With those same AP's we took a second shorter trip. But still doing all of the above. I took a third trip to babysit my DGD, again the same old stuff. I think that last trip only cost for 7 days about 750. Three trips in one yr is a record. I don't think that will happen again.

During the rest of the year, we don't save just for a trip. We are just cheap in general. Hardly eat out. Get take out once or twice a month. Wear the same clothes for years. Stuff like that. Plus our kids are 24 and 27. We don't have the school, braces, car insurance type bills other people might have. Of course we did have them at one time, but that was in a galaxy far far away.

[DayDreamer]

I save save save and save some more! I have money directly deposited from my paycheck to a vacation savings account that I created. I started low and increased it slowly by $25 every few months, I'm up to $175 per check now. I also try to cut down on a lot of unnecessary things and save as much as I can as the trip approches. When planning I try to start early enough to look for the cheapest deals on flight, rental car, park tickets etc. There is nothing worse than waiting till the last minute and having to take what you can get.

Last year was my most expensive trip which cost roughly about $4,000. We stayed 12 days and I split my stay between a timeshare and the Contemporary resort.

I don't like to be restricted when I'm on vacation so I save a large sum of money so we can eat where ever we want, buy souvenirs and do the extras like rent boats etc.

[Dana]

Originally Posted by DayDreamer

I don't like to be restricted when I'm on vacation so I save a large sum of money so we can eat where ever we want, buy souvenirs and do the extras like rent boats etc.

I am the same way. With only one big trip a year, I like to really have some fun and not worry about money. My DD and I don't do any day trips and many other things just to do this. I save spare change, by the bo-bo brand on many things etc...you get the idea. I always have a trip planned, so I am always saving for a trip..lol It's never ending with me.

[mouseof4]

Its kind intersting to see how others go about getting to WDW and how they cut here and there and pull it off.

I plan to use Tax return and stash 20.00 a week away should have close to
1000$ in spending money once I pay for the major things. I though of opening a account at another bank and putting some in there as well . I would do another bank only because I would not be as tempted to go to the account when I do my regular banking . I tend to go well its only 20$ but over time that only 20$ can add up to alot. I LOVE to shop ;)

[Goofballorama]

When we go, we get specialdy travel agent discounts, so we don't have to spend that much on necessities, so we just don't worry about it. You're on vacation, so why worry?

[Dopey]

Well, we don't go as often as most of the buzzers here do. It has been 3 years for us.
We booked 10 days at POR with food, park hopper/water fun tickets comes to exactly $ 4323.00
Our flights are another $1200.00 at least
plus the town-car around $120.00

I have a small clientele for whom I bake, and that makes up for about 3/4 of the cost this year (I love a challenge)
I also am unscrupulous about collecting pocket change and bedroom-floor-change I keep every red cent of what I find if I do the laundry and make beds You have no idea how that adds up

[mouseof4]

I usually can find it in the wash as well. My dh best friend owns a restuarant so he helps him out and throws all the change into the piggy bank on our kitchen counter. its not the most attractive thing but it makes us remember to put it in there.

I have 1 parent pay me cash and I take one of teh 20$ bills right away and put it in the bank. Nobody knows or they may feel the need to grab it!

[woohoo]

we go every other year- we used to go every 4 but were missing out on the kids growing up there.
I spend about $1500 per person and that is for everything- including food and spending $$ and air fare. That is my goal at least- Ill chip away here and there with my own money making ways and travel credits via AAA. I also will pay off the rest with the tax return as soon as we get back as we always go the first week of Feb.

As for must haves - we must do the cruise and four days at parks- anything more is bonus and any less is a waste of planning for me. But we have to fly six of us out there now so it is a lot to get there. When there we must eat and drink through Epcot and we must get a teeshirt for all our special occasions. That is about it!

[Jen]

Our most recent trip, which was 8 days at the Pop with the DP and 3 days off site for our family of 6 (5 adults, one child) was about $7000 including our cost of driving down and spending $$$.

It may seem like a lot, but we were on vacation for 16 days, so it really only equates to about $75 per day per person. We were able to save that in less than 4 months by cutting out alot of extras like eating out, going to the movies and casual shopping trips. It's amazing how much you can save if you avoid Walmart for a month :) Both Stu and I also put some extra hours in at work too.

[mouseof4]

Originally Posted by woohoo

we go every other year- we used to go every 4 but were missing out on the kids growing up there.
I spend about $1500 per person and that is for everything- including food and spending $$ and air fare. That is my goal at least- Ill chip away here and there with my own money making ways and travel credits via AAA. I also will pay off the rest with the tax return as soon as we get back as we always go the first week of Feb.

As for must haves - we must do the cruise and four days at parks- anything more is bonus and any less is a waste of planning for me. But we have to fly six of us out there now so it is a lot to get there. When there we must eat and drink through Epcot and we must get a teeshirt for all our special occasions. That is about it!

I had considered one of the cruises to see fireworks but was kind of not sure what to do really,. I did not know if it was worth the $$$

[DayDreamer]

One thing you have to keep in mind is that most people if not all on this board go all out for their Disney vacations. There are very inexpensive ways to take a nice Disney vacation like staying offsite at some of the motels that offer great low rates, if you have a room with a kitchen making your own meals, only getting tickets that allow one park per day entry or not going to some parks at all.

Disney can be a pricey vacation but it doesn't have to be. It all depends on what you want to experience during your Disney vacation.