HOW?!

[davale4]

We did 3 weeks once but it was too long...now we do 12-14 days every year. We own DVC, get APs (we get two vacations out of it), we eat most breakfast at the studio, we buy plane tickets and APs cash, so we plan accordingly, we get TIW and pay for our meals cash. We do not charge a penny and we do not get into debt. This didn't happen over night, it took planning and sacrifice to get to this point.

 

[StageTek]

Can some explain to me how you go to WDW for 2 or 3 weeks?? I would love to do this someday but I don't know how I could ever afford it...how do you do it?!

I'd be glad to explain;

I save money all year long. But a little aside from every paycheck, do extra jobs and put that entire paycheck in my WDW fund. I go without some things and put what I would have spent in my WDW fund. Never done 3 weeks but have done 2 - well 12 days.

 

[Belia]

I don't understand how you all have the TIME to go! Meaning how do you get so much dedicated time off work? Even if you get a few weeks of vacation, isn't some used up with taking care of sick kids, travelling to visit family at the holidays, child care over the summer, covering teacher institute days at your kids' school? DH gets a few weeks off each year, but it is impossible to use that time EXCLUSIVELY for vacation. So many days get frittered away here-and-there by.... you know, LIFE. Grown up things. Staying home to meet the plumber. Taking grandma to the dr.

Don't get me wrong.. I'm happy for everyone. I just couldn't fathom how to make it work in practical terms.

 

[PlutoTheDog89]

For one, those coming from Other countries or far away tend to go big then go home -literally. Often the people who go for 2 weeks don’t return for a while.

Back in the day we’d go for 10 days every 4-6 years.

The more you go or want to go, the more research you do. We wanted to try Easter and Halloween, on top of our Christmas vacation. We found that an annual pass would be more efficient, cost wise.

How do we afford It? We’re an older family. I’m 28, my sister is 33, my parents in their 60s. Neither of us are married, and both have decent jobs. We save. I just moved out, so it’s gonna be a big balancing act, but I’ll put away a few hundred each month and save.

 

[NYCgrrl]

I'm an American who started saving at a young age and the thought stuck.
I'm now of retirement age and the world is as close to my oyster as it will probably ever get, LOL.
I take members of the youngest family generation to DWD, stay at hotels I couldn't afford when I was younger unless I went into debt, and enjoy my time with them. Oh right and their parents are nevah invited since they should be working and planning for their own older age.

This would not have been possible if I consistently bought the latest of the greatest toys when I was younger. Had a convo with my youngest sister today (I'm taking her youngest DD on my next WDW trip) and she lamented how she hadn't had a vac since her oldest (of six) was 2 y/o. Side stepping the possibility that she might want to be invited too I felt like saying "That's because you spent money on stuff you forgot about 2-3 years later and left in whatevah place you were about to be evicted from".
BUT
I dinna thus giving me at least one more point out of the lower levels of Purgatory.

 

[Asellus]

The key with a long trip is to have downtime. You’re not hitting the parks commando style every day.

Our problem was also trying to balance family at the same time. We spent four days in Tampa first with my sister then had to go to a cousin's kid's birthday party an hour away halfway through Disney....plus contending with off site and my mother being a commando style person.....

This time it'll be just us and our kids, no parents....no telling family we're down there.

 

[Shellyb84]

We go multiple times a year, usually one week long trip and then several long weekends (2-5 nights) but we have a longer trip every summer. It's gotten longer every year and this year we're staying 14 nights. Vacation is important to us, so it's how we prioritize our money. We try to be pretty frugal in our every day life so we can splurge on vacations. We don't go into debt for vacations, we typically use our bonuses.

 

[Jennasis]

I don't understand how you all have the TIME to go! Meaning how do you get so much dedicated time off work? Even if you get a few weeks of vacation, isn't some used up with taking care of sick kids, travelling to visit family at the holidays, child care over the summer, covering teacher institute days at your kids' school? DH gets a few weeks off each year, but it is impossible to use that time EXCLUSIVELY for vacation. So many days get frittered away here-and-there by.... you know, LIFE. Grown up things. Staying home to meet the plumber. Taking grandma to the dr.

Don't get me wrong.. I'm happy for everyone. I just couldn't fathom how to make it work in practical terms.

Oh that's easy. Your life and life exeperience isn't the same as everyone else's life. We have no kids. No grandparents. No school stuff. And I am self-employed.

 

[Shellyb84]

I don't understand how you all have the TIME to go! Meaning how do you get so much dedicated time off work? Even if you get a few weeks of vacation, isn't some used up with taking care of sick kids, travelling to visit family at the holidays, child care over the summer, covering teacher institute days at your kids' school? DH gets a few weeks off each year, but it is impossible to use that time EXCLUSIVELY for vacation. So many days get frittered away here-and-there by.... you know, LIFE. Grown up things. Staying home to meet the plumber. Taking grandma to the dr.

Don't get me wrong.. I'm happy for everyone. I just couldn't fathom how to make it work in practical terms.

DH and I both get 4 weeks PTO and sick days on top of that. I don't take sick days so sometimes I'll use those for vacation days too. We also tend to go to Disney over holidays off work so that saves a few days here and there (4th of July, Memorial Day, Labor Day). We work from home when DD is sick or has teacher workdays or we have people come to do maintenance. DH works for a bank so he's off work on all those random holidays that she's out of school that most companies aren't closed for. Family is close enough we don't take time off for holidays. Over the summer when we're not on vacation or DD isn't with her dad, she goes to summer camps. She'd rather go ride horses than sit at home with us anyway.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I don't understand how you all have the TIME to go! Meaning how do you get so much dedicated time off work? Even if you get a few weeks of vacation, isn't some used up with taking care of sick kids, travelling to visit family at the holidays, child care over the summer, covering teacher institute days at your kids' school? DH gets a few weeks off each year, but it is impossible to use that time EXCLUSIVELY for vacation. So many days get frittered away here-and-there by.... you know, LIFE. Grown up things. Staying home to meet the plumber. Taking grandma to the dr.

Don't get me wrong.. I'm happy for everyone. I just couldn't fathom how to make it work in practical terms.

I have been at my job for 14 years and get 6 weeks vacation time. My kids are in HS and MS so when they are sick or have a day off of school they can stay home alone. When they were younger they would go to grandma's house on days off from school, in the summer or when they were mildly sick so I didn't have to miss work. For doctor's appointments, I make them for late in the day or early morning so I only have to use a few hours of PTO instead of a whole day. My grandma's have a lot of kids who can take them to their appointments and things like that.

The longest Disney trip I've taken is 11 days. I could pull two weeks off from work at one time but that's about it. I work in healthcare and it would be too much on the person covering me to do more than two weeks.

 

[larry47591]

We have went once a year for the last three years 5-6 days at a time. We were hooked. This year we got annual passes and will be going 28 days this year. We spend our money on vacation. We don’t go without but I know how to stretch ever dollar. I get discounts on Disney gift cards and pay for everything that way. We drive, which is about 13-14 hours. I work for a nonprofit. I have been there almost 10 years. I am maxed out at 26 vacation days and 13 sick days a year. My wife is a special education teacher. We also have 2 kids. We are for sure middle class. It can be done. You just have to budget and stick with it. We don’t leave balances on our credit cards.

 

[KenHutch]

We've found that ironically the easiest way to afford a WDW vacation is to not have any kids.

Just the opposite for me when my daughter was born I was making $28K a year with a pool table for a dining room table. Kids make you think by the time I took her on her 1st trip at 5 I was making about 4X's as much money. Princesses require income and now I have to go to WDW every 3 years.

 

[BadPinkTink]

I don't understand how you all have the TIME to go! Meaning how do you get so much dedicated time off work? Even if you get a few weeks of vacation, isn't some used up with taking care of sick kids, travelling to visit family at the holidays, child care over the summer, covering teacher institute days at your kids' school? DH gets a few weeks off each year, but it is impossible to use that time EXCLUSIVELY for vacation. So many days get frittered away here-and-there by.... you know, LIFE. Grown up things. Staying home to meet the plumber. Taking grandma to the dr.

Don't get me wrong.. I'm happy for everyone. I just couldn't fathom how to make it work in practical terms.

In Europe most people get 24 days paid holidays every year, no matter what job or industry you are in. The minimum wage worker i McDonalds right up to CEO's of large companies, all get the same paid amount of holidays, plus unpaid sick days.

Most families take a 14 day vacation in the summer, alot of business close over Christmas. Parents do take the odd day here and there off for life as you describe BUT they make sure to leave enough days for a 14 day vacation. For example, leave work on Friday 9 March, have Saturday 10th March and Sunday 11 March as days off, Monday 12 March to Friday 16 March as holiday days, Saturday 17 March and Sunday 18 March as days off, Monday 19th March to Friday 23 March as holiday days, Saturday 24 March and Sunday 25 March as days off and back to work Monday March 26 = 10 holiday days. Your normal 2 days off are not counted. This is how European families go to WDW for 12 t0 14 days

 

[sponica]

I don't understand how you all have the TIME to go! Meaning how do you get so much dedicated time off work? Even if you get a few weeks of vacation, isn't some used up with taking care of sick kids, travelling to visit family at the holidays, child care over the summer, covering teacher institute days at your kids' school? DH gets a few weeks off each year, but it is impossible to use that time EXCLUSIVELY for vacation. So many days get frittered away here-and-there by.... you know, LIFE. Grown up things. Staying home to meet the plumber. Taking grandma to the dr.

Don't get me wrong.. I'm happy for everyone. I just couldn't fathom how to make it work in practical terms.

Everyone's employer is different.

My employer separates the time, I have 3 paid weeks of vacation (use it or lose it) and 11 days personal time is separate (for hourly employees). Salaried employees get 22 vacation days...

Now my FIL has been with his employer for 20ish years, and he has more paid time off than he knows what to do with...

 

[anneboleyn]

I don't understand how you all have the TIME to go! Meaning how do you get so much dedicated time off work? Even if you get a few weeks of vacation, isn't some used up with taking care of sick kids, travelling to visit family at the holidays, child care over the summer, covering teacher institute days at your kids' school? DH gets a few weeks off each year, but it is impossible to use that time EXCLUSIVELY for vacation. So many days get frittered away here-and-there by.... you know, LIFE. Grown up things. Staying home to meet the plumber. Taking grandma to the dr.

Don't get me wrong.. I'm happy for everyone. I just couldn't fathom how to make it work in practical terms.

I am off from mid May thru mid September every year so I am lucky enough that I can go during those months (this September we are going for 12 days). I also get vacation time (2 weeks) during the months I do work, so I also have that option if I wanted to go during that time.

 

[Disneylover99]

I don't understand how you all have the TIME to go!

I'm off for two months in the summer. My husband's work is flexible. If he doesn't work, he doesn't get paid, but he is still free to take as much or as little time off as he wants.

 

[fla4fun]

I don't understand how you all have the TIME to go! Meaning how do you get so much dedicated time off work? Even if you get a few weeks of vacation, isn't some used up with taking care of sick kids, travelling to visit family at the holidays, child care over the summer, covering teacher institute days at your kids' school? DH gets a few weeks off each year, but it is impossible to use that time EXCLUSIVELY for vacation. So many days get frittered away here-and-there by.... you know, LIFE. Grown up things. Staying home to meet the plumber. Taking grandma to the dr.

Don't get me wrong.. I'm happy for everyone. I just couldn't fathom how to make it work in practical terms.

I get six weeks PTO, and my days off every week are Wednesday through Friday. So I already have weekdays off to take care of scheduling things that have to be done. I don’t have kids. My sister is my only immediate family (also no kids) and she also works in the tourist industry, so sometimes we just reschedule the holidays as neither of us can take off PTO days around them (it’s the busiest time). So if we don’t get around to celebrating Christmas until MLK weekend, so be it.

As far as affording it, my Disney trips cost me less than my non Disney trips, mostly because I don’t have any travel expenses to get there. I wish I could go for two weeks at a time, but we are restricted to one week off at a time maximum due to others having to do our work in our absence (not able to just let it sit until I get back). So I do four ten day trips per year kind of spaced out through the year, and two non Disney trips.

 

[Bob Dolewhip]

To be honest our family would not be able to afford our yearly vacations without our middle class tax breaks. We pay for private school which is a must for us and don't have much disposable income. With that said come 2019 we may not be able to afford vacations again because for us our tuition comes first.

We are in a similar situation. We use our refund for child care expenses so that we can save during the year for vacation.
Our tax guy did have good news for us though... the child tax credit almost makes us even and you can use the 529 accounts pretax for private school. I am not a tax professional and this may not apply to your situation
We would really have to be very frugal to afford a long vacation.

 

[jenga1030]

We do 2 weeks at All Star Music on free dining every September. I book bounceback and pay all year for it so it’s completely paid off before we go!

 

[StageTek]

I don't understand how you all have the TIME to go! Meaning how do you get so much dedicated time off work? Even if you get a few weeks of vacation, isn't some used up with taking care of sick kids, travelling to visit family at the holidays, child care over the summer, covering teacher institute days at your kids' school? DH gets a few weeks off each year, but it is impossible to use that time EXCLUSIVELY for vacation. So many days get frittered away here-and-there by.... you know, LIFE. Grown up things. Staying home to meet the plumber. Taking grandma to the dr.

Don't get me wrong.. I'm happy for everyone. I just couldn't fathom how to make it work in practical terms.

Yep, it takes planning. For a decade I couldn't fathom how to make it work. Then about ten years ago I just made it work. Made some sacrifices - no family holiday visit that year for example - and arranged for pet care and someone to take grandma to the doctor. It's not easy, in fact it can be complicated to put so much on hold for 2 weeks, but I have found it fathomable now and worth it.