Seriously-how do you afford it?

[Mimi]

We don't have a lot of money so we choose to spend a little less on other fun things throughout the year. Disney takes priority. We don't go without food but sometimes stay in rather than go out for dinner, etc.

Also, the good old fashioned change jar can work wonders! Every day I put all my coins in my tall beer glass from the Rose and Crown (I think it helps to keep me motivated and deters 'borrowing'). It adds up fast. Usually this pays for all our food and spending cash.

 

[elle72688]

That's true with children, but not adults. In most standard rooms at WDW, any adult over the "double occupancy" (2) will be subject to a surcharge. At the deluxe hotels I think it's $30 per person per night. Ouch.

I agree here are the rates:

It is $10 for each addtional adult (over the double occupancy) at a Value resort, $15 for a moderate and $25 for a Deluxe, and $10 for Home Away From Home Resorts.

I try and go twice a year on an ap. I set aside about $40 a week into a trip fund and I also set aside any birthday, Chirstmas, or other moneys coming my way.

 

[dolbyman]

several times a year ? ..I wish

between m visits was a span of 13 years (1992-2005)

but now makin some serious money I will visit more often

 

[Nut4Disney]

We are able to go 2-4 times a year because my wife travels during the week for her job and is able to keep her sky miles, so that helps. In addition we really don't go anywhere else so we can afford to go to WDW.

 

[DisneyPhD]

I agree here are the rates:

It is $10 for each addtional adult (over the double occupancy) at a Value resort, $15 for a moderate and $25 for a Deluxe, and $10 for Home Away From Home Resorts.

I try and go twice a year on an ap. I set aside about $40 a week into a trip fund and I also set aside any birthday, Chirstmas, or other moneys coming my way.

I have never heard of the $10 for the home away from home resorts. If you are DVC or rent DVC points there is no charge.

As far as $900 a person for airfare, ouch. No wonder it cost that much. There is high volume of people going from Detroit to Orlando, so the flight are commom and normally not too high priced (just a 2 hour flight.)

 

[DisneyFreak529]

We get our plane tickets on line, we always end up with a layover (taking 2 plane trips down) cheeper that way. We get a good hotel off site (on line as well), great price. We did stay on property once (all star sports), it was nice but I don't mind staying in a near by hotel for cheeper.

Then we take our spending money & divided it by the number of days were going... like a buget.


We never spend $5000 dollars on a trip. Maybe $2000 at the most. Plus the extra vacation saving account we keep. When we have enough for a trip we deside if we want to go to Disney or some were else. We want to go to Minnisota this spring so no Disney this year.

 

[mitchk]

I'm able to go to the World about every nine months. My girlfriend, and I stay 7 days at All-star Sports, get the park hopper option, waterpark option, and dinning plan. With plane tickets (we look for the best deals) the trip totals about $2,150.00 which isn't bad at all. I just feel so bad for the people who have to spend an arm, and a leg to visit that magical place :king:

 

[JimboJones123]

wow - I like how you think!!

not getting lunch out at work has recently been saving me a few hundred a month! We got to take an extra disney trip this year just because of that alone.

 

[bsandersjr]

We have Annual Passes.
Catch Southwest rates for about $67 each way.
Either stay at Pop, or get AP holder room discount, or both.

Also, it helps that we do not eat for 3 months prior to the trip.:lol:

 

[Stellajack]

Return trips

I am truly wondering how you afford to go to Disney World several times a year.

:wave: Hi Shanandty, we keep a "Disney Fund" savings account. Nothing comes out unless it has to do with a Disney trip. Planning well in advance gives you a lot of time to shop for the best prices and plan, plan, plan. Multiple trips a year definitely involves annual passes. My DH and I are using our passes for the third time in June 2006 before they expire. We purchased two roundtrip airline tickets in early Jan for less than $320. We do not concentrate on three meals a day, just a light breakfast, larger afternoon lunch, evening snack. We are probably Disney's unfavorite type of guest. $5000 is TOO steep for just the two of you so definitely get in touch with Kingdom Konsultants. You also might try the "Unofficial Guide" for some suggestions.

 

[basas]

Thanks for all your responses! There is a lot to consider, but...

How I got 5k:
Airfare from Winnipeg ( Canada) was/is $900 PER PERSON - I have to travel in the summer- Im a teacher- and there is no way I could drive that distance.

Value Hotel w/ Hopper and food plan was about 2,000 US- thats about $2500 Canadian ( eating at the food courts for lunch and dinner was about $5-10 less a day than the plan so we opted for the food plan

Theres 4300 -add up the extras,- a souviner, a photo, a beverage,taxi to airport BOOM there's 5K!!
Being Canadian we can't get the Disney Visa ( I tried) or DVC, or a lot of the other special offers you can get.. but I haven't thought about the annual passes. I just don't know if it's actually worth it, because we would not be able go more than 1x per year.

And it is cheaper to have 4 in a room, cause then you can split the cost 4 ways. ( If you make your kids help pay!!:animwink: But if you look, the hotel isn't really cheaper if you have 1 adult or 4 adults in there. A family of 4 pays pretty close to the same that I would with me and my son.

We went this summer with my entire family, and split the cost so I didn't have to solely pay for my son- which was very nice of them- and it wasn't 5 grand.It was closer to 3500 ( Canadian). We also used airmiles to fly out of Minneapolis. But If I went alone with him, I think its gonna be close.
It really helps to have more adults in a room to share the cost.

This forum rocks!! Its great to see so many opinions discussed. You have no idea how many people you guys truly help!!

Are you from Winnipeg too? Wow! I know what you mean about the airfare- it's insane! We usually spend about $800 US /person on airfare...and there are 7 of us! Needless to say, a trip usually ends up costing us about $10,000...pretty darn expensive. Do you fly Northwest through Minneapolis? I just really hate connecting through Toronto on Air Canada or Westjet (airfare is no cheaper either).

Also, another option (we've done this a few times) is to consider driving down to Minneapolis and flying from MSP (on NWA). We usually find airfare from the Twin Cities to be sometimes HALF the cost from Winnipeg. Sure you have to pay for gas and parking (and it's an 8 hour drive), but when you're saving $300-$400 per person, per ticket- it really makes up for it!

 

[Lee]

I solved it the cost-of-travel problem the most efficient way...I moved to Florida.
You see...you have to set your priorities....for me WDW out-ranked job, family, house...pretty much everything.:wave:

 

[basas]

^Well it ain't so easy when you're up here in Canada:lol:

 

[Lee]

^Well it ain't so easy when you're up here in Canada:lol:

Not that hard. You sell the house, quit the job, bid the family farewell...worked for us.

 

[kathyjacks]

We go every 1.5 years, but could probably go once a year. We are a family of four and for a week it is about $1500. We always go through AAA and drive.

Just to get a general concenus, do ya'll find that AAA has the best rates or is there someone considerably better?

Is that including your food? We are going in april and its costing us $3500.00.
thats staying in a value resort for 9 nights , park tickets for 10 days , dining plan , park hopping , water park and more visits.we are taking 1500 bucks with us because we are planing on going some other places before coming home.

 

[JenLUVSmickey]

that seems pretty expensive. I live in New York and I go to Disney 2 or 3 times a year. I am young and not making a heck of alot of money. I pretty much only fly JetBlue airways. I am not sure where you are from or have jetBlue. But I have gotten flights as low as $59 one way. Cheap. Staying at a value resort helps costs and possibly getting an Annual Pass would help. You would have your park ticket and you save up 40% on the room. But $5000 is to much! Good Luck. :animwink:

 

[CaptainMichael]

Is that including your food? We are going in april and its costing us $3500.00.
thats staying in a value resort for 9 nights , park tickets for 10 days , dining plan , park hopping , water park and more visits.we are taking 1500 bucks with us because we are planing on going some other places before coming home.

That was with a dining plan. I could be wrong about the price. We only stayed in a Moderate 4 nights.

 

[elle72688]

I have never heard of the $10 for the home away from home resorts. If you are DVC or rent DVC points there is no charge.

I believe it is if you are acutally paying rack (not using or renting points) on a studio accomodation or something I believe I saw it on WDW info (under the rates section) last year and wrote it down. Maybe it has changed or maybe it is never enforced?!?!

 

[Pippa]

I have a separate part-time job to fund the annual WDW trip!

I also budget very tightly, I don't but a lot of clothes, cd/dvd's, go out much etc but boy is it worth it!

This years trip is costing about £2700 for the two of us:
2 Premium Economy flights with Virgin
13 nights with ultimate park hopper ticket
travel insurance
1 night at Hilton Hotel at gatwick airport the night before we leave

 

[MickeyMad]

I don't think you guys are tkaing in to account the fact that some people aren't in a position to go 2-3 times a year. The reason they scrimp and save for so long is to make that one trip unforgettable. It's such a bonus to come away with all the souvenirs, as daft as they all are, but the last thing I'd want is to be penny-pinching as I go round the parks depriving myself, or my family, of things just to budget!

You never quite know what's round the corner so why not make the most of you're time there...after all, you can't take it with you!

Totally agree with you. We went as a family in 2002 and stayed off-site but this time we are staying on-site on March 2007 but to be honest it has taken us 18 months to save for it because the holiday alone is costing £4,000. Like you said you don't want to have to be telling the kids no you can't have that all the time. Also as this is the last time we will proabably be going then it's got to be extra special.:sohappy: