Saving for Disney

[Nebraska_Disney]

Lots of great ideas showing up on this thread, but..........When you are talking a Disney vacation, most are going to be several thousand dollars on the low end where most of the trips I have taken are on the $7-$9,000 range, most of these ideas are just a drop in the bucket. Don't get me wrong, everything will help, but I usually have to get my mind around how will I come up with several extra THOUSAND dollars over the next year or so to pay for a trip? $20 here, $100 there are great, but you have to really be committed to saving and adjusting your household budget to put away the $$$ needed to go. I never go to Disney w/out the trip being 100% paid for before I even leave my house. I would have a hard time enjoying myself knowing I was going pretty deep into a hole to be a Disney, but that is just how I am wired. I don't do debt.

 

[Marionnette]

Lots of great ideas showing up on this thread, but..........When you are talking a Disney vacation, most are going to be several thousand dollars on the low end where most of the trips I have taken are on the $7-$9,000 range, most of these ideas are just a drop in the bucket. Don't get me wrong, everything will help, but I usually have to get my mind around how will I come up with several extra THOUSAND dollars over the next year or so to pay for a trip? $20 here, $100 there are great, but you have to really be committed to saving and adjusting your household budget to put away the $$$ needed to go. I never go to Disney w/out the trip being 100% paid for before I even leave my house. I would have a hard time enjoying myself knowing I was going pretty deep into a hole to be a Disney, but that is just how I am wired. I don't do debt.

I don’t think anyone was implying that they vacation for *free* using a combination of rewards programs. But they can go a great distance toward reducing your overall OOP costs.

For instance, there are people who manage to accrue Rapid Rewards points and a Companion Pass by opening a personal and a business a Southwest Visa card. While not entirely free (there’s that 9/11 fee), it shaves a huge chunk off of the cost of getting to Disney.

People who travel frequently for business tend to be brand-loyal so that they attain elite status and accumulate points for a vacation stay at one of the chain’s vacation resorts.

People who own small businesses cash in on business rewards credit cards.

Setting a goal of $100/month across all rewards programs (iBotta, Shopkick, RetailMeNot, Swagbucks, etc) is not unrealistic if you’re dedicated to doing them every day. That’s $1200 in one year and that can go towards food and/or park passes.

Finally, it’s not always necessary to “adjust your household budget” in order to save for a Disney trip. For some of us, “vacation” is a line item in the existing budget.

 

[Carrie Ellis]

We used to stay onsite but the kids are all adults and we need room. My sister and I split a vacation rental. I took the first payment over 1 year ago and she is taking the 2nd payment this month. The third and final payment we will split in 1/2. If something happened and we could not go, we can get a refund. It is really awesome to get it all done and paid!

Then the plasma donations pay for my tickets (plus we bought them at the base and that saved about $100 per ticket)

My shopkicks and swagbucks will cover the sit down meals and MVMCP. I am making about $100/mo on Shopkicks and around $50/month on Swagbucks.

Last, I have been transferring $30 per week to an online savings. I don't even look at it. But, I did peak once and it really has added up! I figured $30/week would seem like nothing and it does! So, we should have enough to cover all the rest at the end.

So really...it is not so so bad for us to save for. We spend 1000s but a lot of it is earning in different ways. It can be done!

 

[Jason_V]

Lots of great ideas showing up on this thread, but..........When you are talking a Disney vacation, most are going to be several thousand dollars on the low end where most of the trips I have taken are on the $7-$9,000 range, most of these ideas are just a drop in the bucket. Don't get me wrong, everything will help, but I usually have to get my mind around how will I come up with several extra THOUSAND dollars over the next year or so to pay for a trip? $20 here, $100 there are great, but you have to really be committed to saving and adjusting your household budget to put away the $$$ needed to go. I never go to Disney w/out the trip being 100% paid for before I even leave my house. I would have a hard time enjoying myself knowing I was going pretty deep into a hole to be a Disney, but that is just how I am wired. I don't do debt.

Same...if I don't have the cash for a trip, I don't do it. It's fairly simple in my head, especially when I remember going on a trip (any trip) is a luxury and not a right.

Every little bit helps for me, though. Every $25 gift card I buy during the year can go toward a snack or meal or the *one* thing I collect when I go to a park. I'm considering a dual park AP as a Christmas present for myself this year ONLY if I have the cash for it above and beyond my emergency fund. If I don't, it won't happen. I'm thinking and planning for it early enough in the year so it likely won't be a problem come December.

 

[Hieraxx]

Question/comment aimed at the Disney Chase visa rewards system. I did not realize that it does not appear you can apply your points earned , directly onto your Disney Visa balance, which basically enforces that you spend more, at Disney down the road to leverage your Rewards earned.

Two things - duh. Second, I'm still not sad we got the card, since the primary reason was to use the 6mo No finance charges on a DVC purchase, which we paid off 1 month prior to the due date. So yay us , we made some cash back, and saved some interest for 6 months on the cash set aside.

So I guess I'm x-ferring to their Redemption card, and either applying it to our room charges, our Tables in Wonderland card, or our DVC fees coming in Jan...

Why am I not surprised that DisneyRewards can only be used to spend more $$ at Disney

 

[Cruising Engineer]

I purchase DGC when there is a deal to be made (8%-15% off face value). This money goes to pay for the DVC dues at the beginning of the year. Rakuten, RMN and TCB are used for cash rewards on items I need to buy online or in the store. I have made just over $800 this year. Only have 2 CCs: use AmEx for groceries at 6% cashback and everything else goes on the Barclay where the points are used for the airline tickets.

 

[Marionnette]

Question/comment aimed at the Disney Chase visa rewards system. I did not realize that it does not appear you can apply your points earned , directly onto your Disney Visa balance, which basically enforces that you spend more, at Disney down the road to leverage your Rewards earned.

Two things - duh. Second, I'm still not sad we got the card, since the primary reason was to use the 6mo No finance charges on a DVC purchase, which we paid off 1 month prior to the due date. So yay us , we made some cash back, and saved some interest for 6 months on the cash set aside.

So I guess I'm x-ferring to their Redemption card, and either applying it to our room charges, our Tables in Wonderland card, or our DVC fees coming in Jan...

Why am I not surprised that DisneyRewards can only be used to spend more $$ at Disney

I think that you will find that most co-branded rewards credit cards offer very little in the way of flexibility. None of them offer statement credits or cash back.

For instance, a Southwest credit card rewards only in Rapid Rewards points. Those points can be used for some merchandise or gift card redemptions but the credit card itself only gives RR points.

My Choice Privileges Visa card only rewards in Choice points that are best used for hotel stays but can be transferred to a limited number of airline programs or redeemed for gift cards.

However, a Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card is not co-branded. It rewards in Ultimate Rewards points, which have the flexibility to be used for statement credits, cash back, travel booked thru the UR portal, transferred to a number of travel rewards programs, Amazon shopping points or gift cards.

Discover cards offer cash back on purchases which can be for a statement credit, cash deposited to your bank account or select gift cards.

The Disney Visa really is a horrible rewards card both in terms of flexibility and the value of those rewards points earned per $ spent. It’s best feature is the 0% 6-month financing, which is not a big benefit if you’re a DVC owner.

 

[bluezy]

Question/comment aimed at the Disney Chase visa rewards system. I did not realize that it does not appear you can apply your points earned , directly onto your Disney Visa balance, which basically enforces that you spend more, at Disney down the road to leverage your Rewards earned.

Two things - duh. Second, I'm still not sad we got the card, since the primary reason was to use the 6mo No finance charges on a DVC purchase, which we paid off 1 month prior to the due date. So yay us , we made some cash back, and saved some interest for 6 months on the cash set aside.

So I guess I'm x-ferring to their Redemption card, and either applying it to our room charges, our Tables in Wonderland card, or our DVC fees coming in Jan...

Why am I not surprised that DisneyRewards can only be used to spend more $$ at Disney

I think that's the point of branded credit cards...to encourage you to spend money at the partner's business. It's actually the reason we have a Disney Premier Visa -- it "encourages" us to take Disney vacations (you can also use the rewards for air fare -- though we don't fly so I'm not sure about the restrictions/options for that). We go to Disney every other year and usually manage to accumulate about $2,000 in rewards dollars for a trip. There are definitely better rewards cards out there, but with the Premier Disney Visa, we're earning 2% on gas, groceries, restaurants, and purchases at Disney locations (including the Disney Store). I think 90% of our charges are gas, groceries, and restaurants so earning 2% on those things is nice. If we used another card, we could probably earn more, but I think we'd be tempted to just take the statement credit and never put those "rewards" to use. We're close enough to NYC that we could take advantage of the Broadway shows as well.

We also have a Chase Freedom card which offers a 5% bonus category for rewards every quarter (typically gas or groceries. This quarter it's department stores and Paypal.). We use this card for whatever the bonus category is. This card is super flexible with rewards redemption. They have various gift cards, travel, statement credit, and cash back options. We usually accrue a few hundred dollars in rewards on this card over the 2 years between Disney trips. I use this card to buy gift cards for restaurants we will likely eat at on the drive to and from Disney or just take the cash back to use for gas and expenses during the drive.

 

[kathy884]

We have the SW Rapid Rewards credit card. Got a few sign up bonuses, and DH has a business so he can charge quite a bit in a month. So our airfare is always covered by this. To me it's even better than cash rewards because of the flexibility. If our flights go down after purchase, we can rebook and get the difference refunded as points to use anytime.

My favorite credit card for perks is the Southwest Rapid Rewards credit card too. Note that Southwest is the largest carrier out of our home airport, so that certainly makes a difference. I love it that I can book air for trips that we think we'll do with points and get all my points back if it ends up that someone can't go, even just the day before. This is great for a 20 something child who is looking for new job opportunities and may or may not be able to travel based on what comes thru, for a girlfriend/boyfriend of a 20 something child who they may or may not be dating as of the date of the trip, for older parents (I like to use points for booking air for my 82 year old dad who based on how he is feeling may or may not want to join us for travel). Even if I don't get as many points per dollar purchase, the point freebies are really great for me at this point in my life with uncertainty regarding whether my wonderful 20 something and 80 something family members can come along.

Our main vacation (typically just one main one annually) is almost always something other than Orlando/Disney, but with freebie airfare, relatives in Orlando, great offsite accommodation deals in Orlando, seems like although not planned we are adding in a little mini Orlando get-a-way almost annually too. We have extended family who go down to Orlando pretty often, and we will come down and join them for a few days (it's way cheaper for me, for example, to meet my brother who lives in Idaho Falls in Orlando than to fly out to Idaho Falls to see him). And OMG, bunking up in an offsite condo in Orlando is a really great accommodation deal for price/quality. The expensive part are theme park tickets, and on a three or four day trip, we typically just do maybe two parks (combine those with chilling out and family visiting time). Makes for a fun, relatively inexpensive mini vacation.

As for our regular main vacation and funds for that: It's part of my regular budget and I put aside monies every paycheck in a vacation fund, just like I put monies in a fund to pay taxes and insurance for our house (annual bills), fund monies for car stuff (replacement cars, car repairs, auto insurance), etc. The mini trip to Orlando is typically funded with savings on air from the main budget, extra discretionary spending, etc. if/when a little get-a-way suggestion from an extended family member comes up.