Saving for Disney

I save for vacation on Disney Gift Cards. Every month or so I go to the Disney Store (ours is kinda far away) and have them load my vacation savings onto it. I've found that this is the best way for me to save because I can't spend the money on anything but Disney, no matter what seems more important at the moment. I usually have one with my room costs, one for DDP, another for "spending" and it works out pretty well!

Dump all of our change in a bucket and then deposit it into our interest baring savings account for disney trips.

Do survey sites for cash, gift cards, etc, even if it's for another company gift card, that's more cash we have towards disney.

Pray.

My hubby and I have worked it into our monthly budget. Every month we put aside money for rent, groceries, savings, Disney World, etc. That way we know exactly how much we'll have to spend on the trip. Lol! We just can't live without that place! We also apply work bonuses and tax returns to the disney trip.

Thats what we have been doing. We would also work extra and strictly put that money into it as well.

Tell me more about this...can you use them anywhere for Disney? Do they ever expire?

Yes and No. You can use them anywhere that is Disney. Disney Stores that are around you and @ Disney Theme Parks. They don't expire at all. I know one thing a grocery store does around us is double fuel points on gift cards. Our grocery stores carry Disney Gift cards. So you could buy your Disney Gift Card and get double points towards cheaper fuel.

Like Jp and Mase said my husband and I have put away the specific amount we budgeted for food and souvineirs to about 100 per person per day were there and divided it up by the months we had left. Treat it like any other bill you have.

I really like the idea of this because it never fails, there will always be something that comes up where we need money.

Wow - these are some great tips! I never thought about it in such a structured way. The giftcard idea is especially cool, Kristen.

From DisneyStore.com Gift Cards are "available in $25 increments up to $150 plus denominations of $200, $250, $300 and $500" -- However I have (over the course of several loads) loaded them with up to $1500 on a single card at our local Disney Store. Not all cast members have known that you can reload your cards or add money to them but once they got a manager I've never had a problem.

They are "Redeemable at DisneyStore.com, Disney Store locations in the U.S., participating locations at Walt Disney World(r) Resort in Florida, Disneyland(r) Resort in California, Disney Cruise Line(r), ClubPenguin.com, and DisneyPhotoPass.com" -- There are some snack carts that don't have the machines to process the card, but other than that I've never had a problem. I've used them at Guest Services at the Parks, on the Cruise Line, to pay for my hotel room, in gift shops and restaurants all over property. I would think that there are probably third party places that the can't be used in DTD.

When you make a purchase the balance of your gift card is always printed on the bottom of your receipt, so that you can keep track of your spending. I always keep the last receipt with me and the card "just in case". I had one problem with a Grand Floridian Gift SHop computer that was being fickle last year. However you can check the balance of your card at any time at the Lobby Concierge desk at the Disney Resorts, and she confirmed that my transaction had gone through correctly.

I have not yet run into an expiration date, nor could I find information regarding expiration on the DisneyStore.com

I hope that was helpful!

Great tips. I'm saving my change and will cash it in before I go. I'm also holding on to all my cans and bottles and will take them to recycling place before I go. It won't be a ton of money but it will be a little extra.

These are great ideas!

For us, we're a little unconventional - we generally forgo Christmas and other holiday gifts for each other and put that towards our next Disney trip. I recognize that's not really a viable option for alot of people, especially with kids an larger extended families.

And Joe is a killer coupon clipper/deal finder with grocery shopping - what he saves us a year in food adds plenty to our Disney trip funds.

He also hides my credit cards for a month or 2 and bans me from Disney online and eBay - that saves alot right there

DH and I had a ten year stretch where we were like Carl and Ellie from Up. No matter how we saved, the money always went to something else. Then we bought DVC, and I finally got my trip to Paradise Falls, every year for the next 40+!

Oh yes! That's a great idea Jeff! My hubby and I are trying it for the first time this year. Our disney trip will be our Birthday, Christmas, and Anniversary gift to each other. So far I haven't missed the other presents knowing what a great time we'll have on the trip. I think I may keep doing it every year! It really saves a lot of moolah.

It never fails for us: We save up $100, and something pops up that absolutely needs $110. Tires, a blown water heater, dead air conditioner (in Austin, that's darned near reason to call 911)... I swear, the only thing that hasn't happened to soak up our savings is a meteorite landing on the Subaru.

I shouldn't have said that, should I?

I think you may have just jinxed yourself.

Gonna start saving up for next time once last time is payed off! Waiting... When will it come?

I *hate* having a bill to pay off after vacation!!
I just want to think about saving for the next one.

I love all your creative ideas for saving. Disney is our year round vacation, along with most of our monthly entertainment budget. We have the annual passes that we pay for every month. There is no way we could come up with the $2000+ for the annual passes (5 adults). We are SO thankful for the pay by the month option as it's the only way we can afford passes. We don't really go on vacation, don't have to with Disney an hour away. We definitely get our money's worth as we go several times month.

I noticed that Target had Disney Gift Cards yesterday as well! I love that.

We have a "Way to Save" Account through our bank. Basically every time we use our debit card we get $1.00 automatically put into a savings account..we use this as the majority of our "trip fund". I also have a fun little work at home job that I do a few hours a week that puts some extra money in the Disney funds jar

Oh I love that! I wish I could do that at my bank, I would save a lot that way!

Oh! I love that as well! I wonder if we could have that setup as well!

Since Disney lets you make payments, I NEVER take money from my savings. I then figure out how much I need to pay
until the due date and that last payment feels GOOD! Since we book our resort, dining plan and park hoppers with the
castmember the only thing left is play money. That is taken care of by visiting the Disney Store every week and buying a
$25.00 gift card. It really adds up over the months. By doing this I don't have to worry about where I can find the $$ to buy that item that I fell in love with at the World of Disney or Main Street Emporium or at our resort gift shop. If it is something I cannot decide if I want or not, I hold the item up with the UPC showing and my hubby takes a picture of it with the digital camera. That way I can always zoom in on the UPC at home and call WDW Merchandising to order from home. This has worked for several years and I never have to rearrange my bills to have a great vacation. You can use the Disney Gift Cards for dining, merchandise and even if you have a desire to go to Disney Quest or Typhoon Lagoon because you didn't purchase the Parks and More option on your park tickets. They also do not expire.

The government puts Disney money in my bank account every month. The only thing I do is pick out what month I'm going to use it.
Works for me.
Joe

I just live close by Seriously, I'm not sure there is any way I could achieve the trips that some of you do, with staying on property for long stretches, dining plans, etc. DH just isn't that much into it. So it's a huge help that I live close by, and that most of the time, my mom, oldest child, and I have passes. Even going once a month justifies the cost. We miss out on some of the really awesome experiences (like the fanciest restaurants and staying on property) but the trade off is access. If I need to go over and walk around my Happy Place for a couple of hours because I'm having a bad week, it works.

So my tip: move to Central FL

I'm trying, I'm trying! We have a two year plan, and bring my hubby down last week helped to cement his approval of the move. I would LOVE to live close enough that we could just pop on over to Epcot for dinner any time we wanted to!

I've got to ask..other than Disney World..is Central Florida a nice place to live? We vacationed in Cocoa and just loved it. It's the one place I think I could probably move without much complaining.

I've heard that Bank of America does something similar called "Keep the Change". If your total is say, $9.30, it would round it up to 10.00 and put the 70 extra cents in your bank account.

This is us too. I joined up with Quick Rewards, one of the better survey sites, on 9/7/11. Every night while watching tv, I go through and do surveys. As of today, I just cashed out my first $100 in the form of a Disney gift card (you can cash ouanytime). I plan to fund MVMCP this way....and then also my sons first character meal on his 6th birthday in January. We could normally never afford those.