Planning a Trip in 2019? Let's Share Our Budgets!

[crazycatstacy]

How is the traffic leaving the parks when you stay off site? We are traveling in March 2019 with my mother and her husband and his family. They rented a house for everyone to stay off site. My husband and I are nervous about end of the night traffic- if you stay for the fireworks and park closing is it terrible getting out of the parking areas?

We are also going in December 2019- I'm hoping only Star Wars Land will be busy!

 

[pigletto]

Still owing $4315 usd and $500 cad for dog boarding
Or $6278 Canadian total

I’m hoping to earn at least $800 in gift cards from PC points toward food totals and enough money from shopping apps to cover the hotels on the drive down and back. I will be tracking those earnings here

Updated Totals:
Swagbucks $22.51
CO51 $18.80
Caddle $17.30
PC Points $7.92

 

[Marionnette]

Received my Safeway GC and a $90 rebate for my dog's arthritis medicine. Bought a $25 Disney GC at BB&B using my husband's AmEx and got a $5 statement credit. Bought a $50 Disney GC at BB and paid with my own AmEx (#2 of 6) for the $30 off $300 deal. Scanned my SB QR code for the 600 SBs. The $25 PayPal from SB arrived.
New totals -

$725 in Disney GCs (plus $150 pending)
$759.36 in cash
$35 in rebates (pending)
$180 Visa Gift Card
​

ETA - My second rebate for my dog's medicine arrived - $90 on a Visa GC. I received an email that the rebate for my washer/dryer has been approved and the check is in the mail. I used the Safeway GC to purchase 2 $50 Disney GCs. I also purchased a $50 Disney GC at BB and used the SB QR code for credit plus paid with my AmEx that has the $30 off $300 offer (3 more visits @$50 to go). I purchased a Sam's Club membership thru Groupon for $35. It came with a $10 Sam's GC for now and another $15 eGC later plus vouchers for a few goodies in-store. I used the $10 GC and then split the payment between two AmEx cards that had the $15 off $50 offer so that the final OOP cost is $103 for 3 $50 Disney GCs. Totals have been updated.

I received the Disney GCs from Sam's Club today. I stopped at BB and picked up another $50 GC using my AmEx (#4 of 6). I redeemed for $25 PayPal in SB and $25 Amazon on Perk. Got the Amazon GC already.

Updated totals:

$875 in Disney GCs
$709.36 in cash
$180 Visa Gift Card
$25 Amazon GC
​

ETA: I received my last rebate in the mail. A check got $25. The $25 PayPal from SB arrived. I bought another $50 Disney GC at BB using my SB QR code and Amex (#5 of 6). Totals have been updated.

 

[Marionnette]

Can I just say how impressed I am with y'alls budget planning.

My hubby and I will hopefully be taking a trip in September 2019 with just the two of us. Its to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary and since we honeymooned at Disney, I wanna go back with just the two of us. Our anniversary is actually May 28th but our last "baby" graduates high school in late May so we are planning to turn this trip into a combo anniversary trip and birthday trip for me.

I am still working on a budget because we have a lot going on between now and then. Our oldest son graduates college on December 15th of this year so of course we will celebrate with a small party so I am budgeting for that. He is also getting married in January 2019 so we have costs with that. My middle kiddo (our only daughter) will be transferring colleges next month with means we have added financial responsibilities there. My hubby teaches at the local community college so she started there and that meant she got a dependent scholarship and we had minimal out of pocket costs for her education. Now that she is transferring, we have more out of pocket costs, even with her transfer scholarship. As I said earlier, our final baby graduates high school in May so we have all those normal high school senior costs coming our way as well. Once I get all those things finished budgeted out, I will focus more on our DW trip.

I will say I am okay with us staying in a value resort to save money but because we should be able to get free dining, we may go ahead and upgrade to a moderate or deluxe resort. Just not sure. I do hope to fly this time instead of driving the 12 hours it takes us to get there, especially since I do the majority of the driving due to my proneness to get car sick. Because it will just be the teo of us and we would be able to fly southwest or one of the other small airlines, it is a definite possibility.

If it's only two of you, *free* dining may not be as good of a deal as a room-only discount and paying OOP for meals. Your Deluxe Resort would be more affordable that way. Just something to think about while you are making your plans.

 

[Bama Mom]

Thanks. I hadn't even considered that. My hubby is a foodie, I am not, so you are probably right. I'll look into that as well.

 

[Deffenm]

Update: added 3.63 to change jar. Son has gotten in 2 minor fender bender type accidents so he is now responsible for paying for his portion of the car insurance. I have already budgeted for the full amount so going to put that money away for Disney. He paid 150 for July. Remaining balance for Disney is $2,799.43.

Completed 3 more surveys so have $9 to add to my savings. Only $2,790.43 left to go. I seem to be getting at least 1 survey a week and lately I have been getting free products to try along with $6 for completing before and after survey. Since it is usually free food the teens are loving it. I need to get back into trying to earn Disney Gift Cards from reward sites.

 

[lookame]

So here we are...
Total needed for the trip in Jan-$8040.98
Savings is at
$784.18-Gift Cards
$3804-Cash
$155.23- Paypal
$28.70-Disney Rewards
$30.70-Change
$185.63-Room Paid
$129.38-Room Paid
$887.84-Flights Paid
So now we have a total of $6005.66 which is exciting...we have over $6 grand!

But we still have $2035.32 left that we need. Hoping to to get this down to under $2 grand soon...

 

[Penmac]

How is the traffic leaving the parks when you stay off site? We are traveling in March 2019 with my mother and her husband and his family. They rented a house for everyone to stay off site. My husband and I are nervous about end of the night traffic- if you stay for the fireworks and park closing is it terrible getting out of the parking areas?

We are also going in December 2019- I'm hoping only Star Wars Land will be busy!

We also stay offsite and drive. It can be rough leaving Magic Kingdom. Last year, we took our time leaving. Strolled through the back part of the park during the mass exodus. Then we walked over to Main Street and bought the kids ice cream at 11pm. We sat down and watched the Kiss Goodnight, and people-watched as everyone left. We took some pics of the kids after midnight while Main Street was quiet and we had no crowds when leaving.

We planned to try this strategy again this year but the weather turned and it started to rain as the park closed. Our youngest had spiked a random fever so we had to get out of there. The line for the ferry was horrible. In actuality, it didn't really take that long, but at that hour of the night with those crowds and the exhaustion of the day- it felt like an eternity. I will always wait out the crowds from now on if the weather allows for it! It was one of our nicest memories from that trip- just sitting down after everyone else was clearing out and talking about the fun of the day.

 

[kaddjr]

DH and I are planning to go in late October 2019 for 7-10 days. This will be our first trip w/o DS and DD. DS should be in grad school and DD in her junior year of college then. We will be celebrating our 25th anniversary, which is actually in April, but we decided to put the trip off so we can hit F&W and a MNSSHP. We did tell the kids they could come for the weekend, however they had to pay for their flights and park tickets. They are saying they will be too poor! Those two are GREAT savers, sooo not ruling that out yet! We hope to stay at WBC, will rent a car, and are going to purchase APs. DH and I both do SB so that will be a help (been doing the BB thing and will until it stops). The kids work with DH and pay us for gas each week. We also take advantage of the Kroger fuel points and they get in on that too. We usually have at least one $1 discount each month (sometimes two) so depending on how much gas everyone needs, we will take take three or four vehicles in and max out the discount. We pay for the gas, then the kids pay us for their portion. I’ve bee saving all the gas money they give me and use it to buy more gc. We have a cc that earns points, but I also will be looking into the SW cards later next year. I would like to get a companion pass, hopefully for 2020 and 2021. We are planning to go back in October and possibly May of 2020 and that would be a big help! If that works out, we will renew our APs and hopefully take two trips in 2021.

Having said all of that, I will get on with my estimated budget:

Tickets- 2 APs @ $1810 After this weekend, I will have $1400 in disney gc. At the rate I’m buying them now, I should be able to purchase the vouchers by the end of October at the latest.

Flights- $600 give or take. As soon as we get exact dates, I will be looking for release dates and pricing. Will probably fly SW and could possibly pay for these with points.

Lodging- Looking at a one bedroom @ WBC, booking 60 days out, $750ish. If we stay 10 days, add in about $400 extra, so let’s go on the higher end and say $1200 total since I’m not sure where we would stay for the extra nights.

Car rental- $300 plan to pay for that with points. May have to add in a little more for uber/lyft rides for epcot and MK days.

Food- $750 maybe? Plan to do a grocery run for breakfast items and sandwich fixins. We plan to spend a day or two on the gulf coast and will pack picnic lunches for that. We may make a dinner adr? We will do some qs meals and whatever at F&W. Should have disney gcs for that. Otherwise, we will mostly eat offsite for dinner.

Airport parking- $90 economy for 10 days.

Pug boarding- $150

Souvies- $750 max. Will want to purchase F&W items for ds, a couple of pick a pearls for dd ( hoping to be able to to get a pair of earrings - not sure on this yet), some stocking stuffers for Christmas. This may be high, depends on what I find.

So grand total estimate: $5650 have $1400 in disney gcs & $300 in points, so just need $3950. There’s still plenty of time to earn gcs and cc points. I will update as time goes on.

 

[pigletto]

Still owing $4315 usd and $500 cad for dog boarding
Or $6278 Canadian total

I’m hoping to earn at least $800 in gift cards from PC points toward food totals and enough money from shopping apps to cover the hotels on the drive down and back. I will be tracking those earnings here

Updated Totals:
Swagbucks $0.90
CO51 $19.05
Caddle $17.50
PC Points $14.30
PayPal $25.70 ($25 pending)

 

[dvc at last !]

saving to read later

 

[lookame]

I’m doing the happy dance as we have 5 months left and FINALLY got under $2,000 needed to save left!!

$784.18-gift cards
$3854-cash
$153.73 PayPal (with a pending $25 from swagbucks)
$28.70- visa rewards
$30.10- change
$185.63- room paid
$129.38- room paid
$887.84- flights paid

Grand total- 6053.56 (6078.56 with the pending $25)
Needed to be saved- 1987.42 (after $25 PayPal $1962.42)

 

[MomToOne]

Just figured out the dates and budget for our Hawaii (Oahu North Shore) trip next June. Travelers are DD (19 by then) and myself. Trip will be 12 days/11 nights, and come in just over $5000, maybe a tiny bit cheaper if some discounts come in.

Flights $665 - thanks to some cheap seats and the Alaska Airlines credit card companion pass
Luggage $0 - thanks again to Alaska Airlines credit card
Condo - $2465
Rental Car - $500 as of right now, but I'm hoping that will go down by about $100 a few months out
Gas for Rental Car - $100
Cat boarding - $325
Airport parking - $120, might be able to get a coupon as we get closer to bring it down a few dollars
Groceries - $350
Meals Out - $300
Misc. Activities - $150, we go to every other year so we've done all the big expensive things already, this time we'll be doing mainly hikes, a few museums, etc.
Souvenirs - $100

It's about $1K over what I had originally budgeted, but I had room to increase the budget and figured for once it was OK to indulge myself! When I have extra money in the budget it usually seems to make it's way into things for DD - I guess that's just part of being a Mom. But it's my turn this time LOL While DD appreciates any vacation she gets to be a part of, Hawaii isn't a favorite of hers - she's just not a beach girl, and the bugs drive her batty. I, on the other hand, couldn't be happier than when I am bobbing around in the ocean or just sitting on my balcony watching the waves. So this is definitely a "me" trip!

To indulge DD, I am also considering a quickie Disneyland trip over Memorial Day weekend. Hotel would be covered by points, and we'd drive, so tickets and food are the main expenses. I'm thinking I can do that for around $750.

 

[pigletto]

Still owing $4315 usd and $500 cad for dog boarding
Or $6278 Canadian total
Update:
I’m hoping to earn at least $700 in gift cards from PC points toward food totals and $250 from shopping apps/ Swagbucks to cover the hotels on the drive down and back. I will be tracking those earnings here.

Updated Totals:
Swagbucks $7.68
CO51 $19.05
Caddle $17.50
PC Points $24.78
PayPal $25.70

 

[virge]

Added $350 from credit card cash back to my vacation savings account. I now have $2350 in the account and still need $3350 to reach my current goal of $5700 (hopefully, this amount will go down next year when we start making reservations).

Added $225 (52 week savings challenge, Ibotta, eBay, Walmart gift cards I earned, etc.) to my vacation savings account. I now have $2576 in the account and still need $3124 to reach my current goal of $5700.

 

[arminnie]

For the past few years we have gone to WDW for Flower and Garden, wine and Food and early December Christmas. We are now not going until December 2019 at the earliest- just a little over a year away. But that cancels 3 trips.

I have 3 DVC contracts which have have now rented out so I am ahead financially. We also have DVC AP vouchers and about 300,000 Marriott points so will be okay. We drive to Orlando so do not have to deal with airfare. I lived in the San Francisco area for decades so I really appreciate that. My best friends who gave me my dog also keep him for free so I don’t have to deal with $50 a day kennel fees. I

 

[Sadeesmom]

Estimates for past school trips show it should be about $2000, so goal is $2000 cash for that.

too, I’m thinking about a Sunday-Thursday Disney trip for my mom, daughter, and me in December 2019.
Plan: $2,260 for MYW package. This is the hotel, tickets, & dining plan, but I will likely just put the dining plan costs on a gift card instead of actually getting the dining plan. We really prefer 2 sit down meals per day and one snack. Since there isn’t a dining plan that matches that, this seems easier. I’ve gone over menus online and calculated costs and it comes out to about the cost of the DDP (mine is just a bit lower), so I’m just using these numbers.
$560 for flights from STL to MCO for 3 and airport parking.
$250 for tips/gratuities.
$300 for souvenirs ($100 each), but I don’t really think we’ll spend it all.

Comes to $2560 is Disney gift cards and $810 cash.

Bonus is I’m using rewards programs hoping for extras ($252 for dessert party and/or $300 for Christmas party), but I am NOT counting these in my goals-these are just possible bonuses to make our trip extra special.

So far, I have $1050 in Disney gift cards, and $500 cash, but the Disney trip will be on hold until the school trip is paid in full, so mentally transferring the $500 gets me 25% of the way to goal one! ($500 of the $2000) and 31% of the way to goal two ($1050 of the $3370).

My lack of willpower yielded under the pressure of summer boredom, and we spent all $500 in the cash fund plus June’s $300 contribution and went on a road trip to Niagara Falls and Chicago....

So starting over, as of today, I have $0 in the cash vacation fund and $1100 in Disney gift cards...

Okay, so to summarize:

School trip - goal $2000 cash ($300 - on target!)

Possible Disney trip - goal $810 cash (currently $0, and that's okay)
- Goal $2560 in Disney gift cards ($1200 - on target!)

 

[Marionnette]

I received the Disney GCs from Sam's Club today. I stopped at BB and picked up another $50 GC using my AmEx (#4 of 6). I redeemed for $25 PayPal in SB and $25 Amazon on Perk. Got the Amazon GC already.

Updated totals:

$875 in Disney GCs
$709.36 in cash
$180 Visa Gift Card
$25 Amazon GC
​

ETA: I received my last rebate in the mail. A check got $25. The $25 PayPal from SB arrived. I bought another $50 Disney GC at BB using my SB QR code and Amex (#5 of 6). Totals have been updated.

Since my last update, I received an unexpected $50 refund check, ordered and received $25 PayPal from SB, ordered and received a $25 virtual Visa GC from SB which I used to purchase a $25 Disney GC from disneygiftcard .com. I also purchased the last of 6 $50 Disney GCs using my AmEx and SB QR code. I already got the email to let me know that I received a $30 statement credit from AmEx. And I redeemed for another $25 PayPal from SB.
Updated totals:

$950 in Disney GCs
$809.36 in cash
$180 Visa Gift Cards
$50 Amazon GC
​

8/13/18 ETA: Today I received the $25 Disney GC that I ordered from Disneystore. I also got my $25 Amazon GC from Perk and the $25 PayPal from SB. I also redeemed for another $25 PayPal from SB.

8/17/18 ETA: I received the $25 PayPal from SB. Going to be busy during the coming week because our daughter is getting married and it's wedding week!

​

 

[lookame]

I decided to go ahead and purchase early bird check in for my son and husband. So...savings goals have changed slightly. :/

Anyway our goal now is 8100.98

Savings updates
$809.18 Gift cards
$4002 Cash
$77.10 PayPal
$28.70 Disney rewards
$31.46 Change
$185.63 Room paid
$129.38 Room paid
$947.84 Flights paid

Total saved $6211.29
Total left to be saved $1889.69 (hoping to get this under $1800 soon)

 

[pigletto]

Updated trip totals ( I changed some plans)

Still owing $3915 usd and $500 cad for dog boarding
Or $5719 Canadian total
Update:
I’m hoping to earn at least $500 in gift cards from PC points toward food totals and $250 from shopping apps/ Swagbucks to cover the hotels on the drive down and back. I will be tracking those earnings here.

Updated “Extra” Earning Totals:
Swagbucks $16.01
CO51 $19.15
Caddle $19.70
PC Points $29.28
PayPal $25.70