Maybe you need a little more background too. For us, travel is our thing. We don't snow or water ski or have another hobby the involves expensive equipment. Our kids don't play competition or travel league sports. We don't own dirt bikes or ATVs, a cabin or a timeshare. We don't even have a fancy home entertainment system or iPads. None of those things are bad in any way. Whatever is your family's passion, follow it. But life is about choices and we choose Disney vacations over all of those things. Also, there are only four of us in our family. We all fit in a passenger car and in a single hotel or state room. That alone saves us more money over larger families that have to rent minivans and multiple hotel rooms.
But if you do have other passions and a bigger family, one or more of these tricks may still help you get on a Disney vacation. And if you aren't into Disney, they might help you get on a another grand vacation instead. Some of these fall under the category of saving for your vacation rather than on it, but that works too, right?
Travel Off Season: This is probably a no-brainer, but you can save some serious cash this way. Last year, I priced out how much it would have been to take the same vacation in July that we did in January (a week at Walt Disney World followed by a seven day Eastern Caribbean Cruise) and the difference was close to $8000. That's enough for another vacation right there. And it was one of the reasons I was OK with year round school. Now that we have a junior high student on a traditional schedule, who struggles to stay caught up even when he's in school, it seriously restricts our ability to take advantage of this savings. So when is off season for Disney? Pretty much any time children will be in school. I'm not saying Disneyland won't be crowded on school days (because there is no such thing as a slow time at Disneyland. Just days that are a little less crowded than others). But you can generally get better deals on hotel rooms and packages during these non-peak times. I'll talk more about when to go in an upcoming post too.
Your Children's Age Matters: I've heard lots of people say they were waiting for their children to be the perfect age for a Disney vacation. Here's the truth: there is no "perfect age." AJ had just barely started walking the first time I took him to Disneyland. And it was just as magical as the last time we went when he was twelve. Sure, he remembers the last trip and not that first one. But it also cost me A LOT less to take him then than it does now. Children under three are free at Disneyland. Children over nine are considered adults at Disneyland. Now the difference between a child's ticket and an adult ticket is only $6-$16 depending on the type of ticket you buy. However, a 10 year old pays adult prices for fixed-priced meals. Dream of eating breakfast with the princesses? If you child is 10, it will cost you $18 more than if they were still nine. So by all means, wait until they are the "perfect age" but if you want to save some money, go before they turn 10.
Priorities: I mentioned this above, but it bares repeating: if you want to go on a vacation, sometimes you have to give up something to do it. For us, we cut way back on the amount of restaurant meals we ate and impulse purchases we made. When my kids were begging for pizza, I'd ask them "would you rather have pizza or go on a cruise?" And if I saw something in a store that I might have otherwise just purchased, I'd ask myself if I wanted it more than I wanted to go to Disneyland? It worked for them and for me.
The $5 Bill Trick: Trick sounds like you are doing something bad. You're not. You're simply tricking yourself into saving money. The idea is that every time a $5 bill comes into your possession, you put it in an envelope and save it for your vacation. If you have a little more financial resources, you could even change it to a $20 bill trick. I have a direct sales business and some of my customers pay me in cash. In a really good year, I was able to make this a $50 and $100 bill trick. (But don't go that high if you need that money to pay your bills. It only worked for me because it was truly my best sales year and I had the money to cover my business expenses without it.)
Target Gift Cards = Disney $$ Target frequently offers $5-10 store gift cards as rewards for purchases. Often, these are for common household and personal care items you would buy anyway. I noticed this week they have a bunch of offers on everything from laundry detergent to vitamins and pet food. So check the ad weekly and stock up on what you need when it's part of this offer. Then you can stockpile the gift cards until you have enough to buy a $50 Disney Gift Card in store. Or you can combine them with your Target Gift Cards you bought at the grocery store using last week's trick and buy Disney cards online.
Frequent Traveler Programs: If you've gottem, usem. Obvious, right? We spent years stockpiling Hilton Honors points and finally cashed them all in last year for random nights on our trips. I'm a little sad not to have them to spend again, but we wouldn't have been able to do it all if we hadn't had them. And I believe our total cost for four of us to fly to Florida was $100, including baggage thanks to SkyMiles. If you or your spouse travels for business frequently, be extra sure to take advantage of these programs.
Reward Credit Cards: We are one of those that puts everything on a credit card and then pays it off each month. It works well for us. I know it doesn't for everyone. For years, we just used our credit union card that gave us cash back. In 2014, we opened a Disney Visa when they had a good bonus going (I believe it was $200 Disney Gift Card after your first $1000 in purchases in your first three months. It might have been $2000. I don't exactly remember). And then we used the rewards when we traveled to Disneyland and Disney World. The Disney Visa also offers discounts at select locations throughout the parks but you do actually have to use your Visa or a Disney Rewards Card (the "gift card" you get that has your reward dollars on it) to be eligible for the discount. (We would save the Rewards Card for eligible purchases and use the gift cards we bought for everything else). Also those with the card also can usually book promotional deals a day or two before the general public. But it doesn't have to be a Disney Visa either. There are lots of other rewards programs out there and some are better than others. Our dining companions on our first Disney Cruise were in construction and had a Southwest Airlines Rewards Credit Card for their business expenses and used the rewards to do their Disney traveling. There is no one right way to take advantage of these cards. It's just something to consider if you aren't doing it already.
No Debt for Vacation: This is a very personal thing and I hesitated to even bring it up. I'm not saying don't go on vacation if you HAVE debt. If you can pay your debts each month and have enough extra left over, by all means, enjoy a vacation! But I am saying maybe you shouldn't go into debt to PAY for your vacation. Paying interest on your vacation bill does add to the overall cost of your trip. Now that being said, the Disney Visa does offer zero interest on "Disney Travel" for six months. This does not include purchase made in the park, but it does include the cost of packages, cruises, etc. I don't recommend this method either though unless you know the money is going to be there within those six months. And if you use it, pay very close attention to those dates. Otherwise you end up paying all the back interest too. And that significantly increases the over all cost of your vacation.
Road trip: Driving from Utah to Florida in the middle of winter is probably not the best idea. So we flew instead. However, driving to Anaheim from the Salt Lake area is not too terrible and even for one person, it's cheaper than flying. And I love a good road trip. We have family in St. George at about the half way mark so it's easy for us. I know several people who would never think to drive to Disneyland, even from the San Francisco Bay Area. But it can save you some money, especially now that gas is cheaper than it's been in years. For us, we take two things into consideration when we decide if we are going to fly or drive: weather and how long it takes to get there. James' job comes with a generous amount of paid vacation so we don't lose much by him taking an extra day off to drive somewhere. But if you don't have paid leave or it's very limited, take that into consideration when deciding whether to fly or drive.
Some of these may seem very basic, but maybe something struck a cord with you. I have more posts on this subject coming soon. I have a rough idea of what I want to address, but I would love to hear from you if you have other suggestions or topics you want me to cover. If I don't know the answer, I'll find it! Just leave a comment below.
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