We’re Going to Disney World!
No, I didn’t just win the Super Bowl (though it was a good year for the pro teams I root for as both my football and hockey favs won their respective championships) but we are planning our first trip as a family to Disney World this fall. Honestly, I’m not sure who is more excited about it – my wife and I or the kids!
Now, one entity that is not quite as ecstatic about the trip is our bank account (he’s greedy). Disney vacations are expensive! But we have our vacation fund setup with money from bonuses and such and we transfer more in each month so we have enough saved up to do the trip without going into debt. Besides, as I’ve said before, life needs to be lived. You need to have some fun every now and again. That’s not an excuse to spend extravagantly and recklessly, rather, that’s a challenge to be diligent about responsibly providing these opportunities for building memories with your family while also providing for your family.
And how is this post related to personal finances?
Well, like I said, Disney vacations are expensive. At the same time, Disney World is just a fun place to be. I was there about a year ago on business. Though I didn’t go into any parks, I did go to Downtown Disney a couple times and it has a really great vibe there. So, you want to do a fun vacation but you don’t want to go into debt to do it…I hope, in this post and probably a few more, to help out with some tips and tricks and things I’ve learned so you can create an awesome and affordable vacation.
Don’t get overwhelmed
It is unbelievable how many resources there are out there surrounding trips to Disney. I’m not an expert at this, but here are some tips I’ve picked up from others and some suggestions for you if you are also considering or actively planning a trip to Disney. BTW, we are going to Disney World in Florida, so all of this information is geared towards that park.
1. Start on-line for planning and money-saving tips
Disney has a fully featured site (http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/) with a wealth of information on everything Disney World. I have also found some other independent sites that are even more useful for learning about the parks, the resorts, and discounts for everything. The two that I have been frequently lately are MouseSavers.com and AllEars.net. These free sites have an unbelievable amount of information and somehow always seem to be up-to-date with the latest news and discount opportunities. Mouse Savers also offers a monthly email newsletter and intermittent “hot deals” emails to help you be aware of the latest discounts. If you are thinking of doing a Disney vacation I would recommend visiting Disney’s site to get excited and then starting at these other two sites to get into the details.
2. Consider when you will go
The biggest factor on the overall cost of your vacation is when you choose to go. Going during the value season will be much, much (much) less expensive than going around Christmas time. Click on any of the resorts listed on this page to see the room rate differences at the various times of the year: http://www.mousesavers.com/roomrates2009.html
3. Check out the current deals
Due to the sluggish economy, Disney has had some really good deals lately. For the past few years, they have been offering free dining packages during the late summer (that’s what we signed up for). Very recently they released a similar offer for later in the fall. The best place to check this out is the Disney site itself. From the home page, click on the dog-ear on the upper-right of the splash page to see the latest deals. From there you can click the “Get Started” button to price out an example vacation. Of course, taking advantage of one of the Disney packages requires you to stay at a Disney property which is typically the most expensive way to do the vacation. See #4…
4. Consider where you will stay
Staying at a Disney resort provides the most convenience for you and also some great “theming” as each resort has a different look and feel. Of course, it is probably the most expensive way to stay though there is quite a range of prices available at the various Disney resorts. Staying off of the Disney property can provide for a much less expensive vacation. Check out this list of things to consider when making this decision: http://allears.net/acc/onoff.htm
5. Consider getting professional help
You might feel like you need professional help after spending mucho dinero to walk around in the hot Florida summer all day stalking a dude dressed up as a mouse, but that’s not the kind of help I’m talking about here. We decided to book our vacation through a travel agent (that’s what I mean by professional help). It did not cost us anything extra (or less than what I could have found on the Disney site) but now I have a resource who is much more knowledgeable than I as we prepare for a great vacation. We chose Small World Vacations as they specialize in Disney vacations. They were recommended by the Mouse Savers site and our agent, Caylie, has been very helpful in giving us information and making reservations, etc.
This is only scratching the surface of the myriad resources available for planning a Disney vacation. There are books, ebooks, discussion forums, many other sites, friends and family and so on and so forth. In fact, it is quite overwhelming.
For our vacation, we have chosen to stay at one of the moderate Disney properties and are getting the free Disney dining plan as part of the our vacation package. We have three young kids so we have decided the convenience of staying on the Disney property is what is most important to us. As I mentioned, this is our first trip as family so if you have any tips for resources or things to do or ways to do them, please leave a comment below.
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We’re Going to Disney World!…
Now, one entity that is not quite as ecstatic about the trip is our bank account (he’s greedy). Disney vacations are expensive! But we have our vacation fund setup with money from bonuses and such and we transfer more in each month so we have enough …
Hi, cool post. I have been wondering about this topic,so thanks for writing.