How has your spending changed? About This Page:

[disney777]

My spending hasn't really been affected by the economy, but my resort choice has leaned toward Pop Century because more friends have started travelling with me. We make choices that fit everyone. My preference is POFQ, and I like to dabble in Deluxes.
I don't spend as much at WDW lately because my "home" park is DLR, and now Disney is selling the same items everywhere, with possibly the only difference being the name stamped on the shirt or item. Several years ago, I would spend a lot more on merchandise at WDW because it was unique. Now it's basically the same old stuff, except for Park specific items. Plus, DLRs merchandise discount for Premium APs has historically been better than WDW. (WDW just recently started giving a discount inside the parks and resorts as a special promotion that I hope sticks. DLR has done this for more years than I can remember.)
I've purchased APs at both parks since 2005. Only change on that front is that now I have saved money by buying a Premier Passport.
I did the dining plan for the first time in Sept 2009 during the Free Dining promotion. While I enjoy it, I could also do without. Again, it's more a matter of who I am travelling with, and not economics as to whether I will do this or not. I purchased regular dining for my Jan 2010 trip. I upgraded to regular dining for my Sept 2010 Pop Free QSDP reservation.
In the last 3 years, I've always shopped for deals. I have never paid "rack rate" on a resort, unless it came with some other bonus. But I've always been a bargain hunter.

[jandsdennis]

We wemt both April 2008 and April 2010. Our first trip was for 8nts 9days at AKL savannah view with basic dining plan with only a AAA discount paying for dining plan. We did the keys to the kingdom tour and flights were close to 800. We probably spent 200.00 on souviners. All together we spent 5000.00. This trip in 2010 we were able to get a 40% off Yacht Club and stayed 7nt8days no dining plan no extra tours only 40.00 on souvies. Total cost with everything under 3000.
Got excellent prices for airline 199. ea from California!

[Kaileemb]

In 2008 dbf and I spent 8 nights at POFQ, we did the basic dining plan. We spent about 800 dollars spending money on souvies, tips, drinks, and so on. In 2009 we stayed at the all star movies 7 nights, we also did the basic dining plan however went during free dining. I think this time we spent around the same maybe a little less on spending money. However our overall cost of the trip was much less. This year we are going to be staying at the pop for 7 nights. We got a pin code for the QSDP so we will use that. As far as spending money goes I am not sure, I know that we hope to not spend as much as we are not tipping at table service meals this time. However we do usually go there with a good chunck of money as we usaully plan each trip a year out and save for it so we can spoil ourselves while we are on vacation

[chezp]

Neat project!

We've been very lucky to date (touch wood) and our jobs haven't been affected by the recession, so we haven't had to cut back our spending at all.

In 2008, we went to WDW for six days, as part of a multi-leg trip around the States that took 17 days. We visited New York, WDW, Chicago, Disneyland and Las Vegas.

Last year, I went on my own for the Decade of Dreams trip in May, as DH couldn't get the time off work. I paid for it all out of my own money and put things on the credit card and then paid them off bit by bit.

We went back to WDW in December, as part of a three week trip. We started in WDW for four nights, then did a road trip to Key West, then flew back to WDW for six more nights, then went to stay with our friends in Pennsylvania for almost a week.

This year, no trips to WDW, but that's because we're saving up for two huge trips next year - a two and a half week stay in Florida, also including (hopefully) a cruise on the Dream, and then the Alaskan cruise with Disney in the fall.

How do we do all of this? Firstly, we're DVC members, so never have to worry about paying for accommodations at Disney resorts. Secondly, we put aside enough money every month into a holiday account to ensure that we can enjoy at least one very nice holiday to the States every year, as we love to go to WDW each year.

Hope that helps.

[MichaelF]

since we live in michigan and work in the automotive industry we have been impacted by the economic problems of the last couple years. We have cut back on a lot of things but have tried to keep our vacation budget about the same. It has helped that we are DVC members so the rooms don't cost us much and we have been able to find cheaper airline tickets. We have cut back on souveniers and the cost of meals. We eat breakfast in the room with things like pop tarts we packed in the suitcase. The biggest expense of WDW vacation is the park tickets. I get a discount through work but they are still expensive.

[Stephie1551]

I went in 2008 ... eachof my 2 girls were given 60$ to shop with... this year we are going and each will have between 100-150$ to shop with. This is there money that they saved...in 2008 i bought NOTHING for myselph and we stayed off property and only did 2 TS meals.. this year we are staying on property AKL, with 40% discount and have Dining Plan... ( it is costing about the same for lodging)..Dining plan is an added expense... I plan to spend about 200$ on souvies for myselph and hubby...hope this helps

[srsatkowiak]

We have had 4 Disney trips in since 2006. I will try my best to capture the cost as I remember. If you have any specifics send me a PM and I can look up receipts and such when I get home from work.

DH and I went on our first trip together in 2006. I did not pay attention to discounts or special deals (shame on us). Our budget was $2000 for Disney then $500 for food and spending. We went in Feb during the off-peak time and booked the cheapest direct flight out of Detroit. We stayed 7-nights (Wed-Wed), 7 day park hopper plus passes and stayed at AS Sports. We did not add the dining plan because we were unsure if we would spend that much food (our mistake). Total cost of trip: $2500. $700 of that was just on food and souvies (lowers head in shame)…So I came in at budget, but could have been way under.

In 2008 I got a little smarter and purchased my first passporter. We kept the same budget as 2006 because that is what we could afford we knew we could achieve it (or even lower) given the discounts and how we educated ourselves from our lessons learned in 2006. We chose to go in September and celebrate our Anniversary this was value season. Also due to budget and work constraints we could only stay for 5 nights (Wed-Mon). Disney was offering room only discounts. This prompted us to book a mod at the same cost as a value and we also added the DDP. We had 5 day park hopper plus passes. Total booking cost with flights was $1700. We still spent cash on tips, drinks and souvies (this included the photopass CD). Total cost of trip $2100.

In 2009 we did two Disney trips. One to WDW another was a DCL. We will start with the cruise because it was booked first. Total budget was $3000 then $500 spending; we chose this budget based on research of cruise vacations. We booked a cruise 4-night cruise over Thanksgiving and then a night before and after the cruise with stops at MVMCP and Universal (Tue-Mon). Total cost with flights and Car and theme part tickets: $2700, cruise was only $1900ish. However, I went heavy on spending on and off the boat and blew that spending budget out of the water. Thank gosh for DH, he knew that I would do that and saved extra for that reason…that is why I married him. Total cost $3800.

The 2009 WDW was a 4-night all girls trip over Labor day weekend (Fri-Tue). This was a last minute booking. This included free dining. I was asked to keep the cost around $500/person due to budget concerns of the other people going and I knew I had a cruise to worry about. Knowing this I booked POP w/Free dining in a non preferred room. We also got 4-day base tickets and went to MNSSHP. I played around with days to get the cheapest flight. Doing this I booked the trip for just under $1500. Flights were less than $100 a piece so Disney was only $1200. My budget for spending was only $200 due to having the tip cost split between three of us and I got an $80 GC for going on my b-day. I ended up only spending $100 (plus the $80). This made me happy.

Now in 2010 we are thinking of going again in December for a short trip. We cut our budget to $1500 due to some other spending we have going on this year and events we are trying to save for. I have begun to look into other options to avoid staying at a value (we don't enjoy staying there) like renting points, room only discounts, staying at dolphin/swan etc… We are also very flexible with dates so this can help with flights. As far as tickets go we will stick with base to save on cash and maybe only do quick service dining given it is a short trip. So far I have found with renting points, basic dining and 5-day base will get me $300-$400 under budget. Flights will bring me right to $1500. Budget for spending has been cut to $300 because we feel that is all we need for the trip.

So in a nutshell how we plan (given the economy or any situation) is set a budget we know we can afford and already have the cash on hand. We will play with those numbers in every scenario until we get what we want and are happy with it. If we know that we want to do multiple trips in a year we evaluate that situation also. overall the economy has taught me too look deeper for discounts and to research. I may spend the same amount, but I will get MORE for my money.

[srsatkowiak]

Originally Posted by lshuttleworth1

Thanks everyone for all your help. That way I have several different scenarios. On a side note, overall other than hotel/package costs. Does anyone have ball park figures what they would have spent on souvenirs in 2007/2008 compared to now. Obviously most ppl have decreased spending. Has anyone increased souvenir/extra spending during a time when they offered free dining or a room discount?

To directly answer your question, my decrease or increase in spending cash would not come from a discount because we always have a set amount on what we spend. It is about $50/day/person. If we chose to increase/decrease this budget it would be do to the cash we have on had and are willing or not willing to spend. Now the decrease in my case would be more due to the items I intended to purchase. I have decided that in future trips focus my spending on photos. I fell this way because those are more precious to me than a t-shirt or a pin. This will cost me at least $99 for the CD (pre purchase) up to $150.

At WDW in 2006 we spent about $350 or more on souvies. This was due to a couple things...first neither of us had been to WDW in over 10 years. We were due for new souvies. Next the weather dropped below what we were prepared for so we ended up buying some sweatshirts, hats and scarves to keep warm. This was about $100 in expenses. We also had to buy an extra duffle to get our souvies home since we bought some bigger things, $25. It was cheaper to buy the bag than ship the items....back then it was free to check a 2nd bag.

In 2008 We spent maybe $175ish and I had a $25 gift card from a friend. The decrease was due to the types of souvies that I purchased. I felt I didn't need any big items because I already had them. Most of our cash on that trip was spent on drinks and tips (DDP).

In 2009, my cash was limited for the trip due to the cruise and also I felt I didn't need anything. I stuck to my basics: Scrapbooking items and pins. I also bought a t-shirt and some stuff for DH. I spent $200 total that trip, but $80 of that was in GC's.

[HeatherD]

Here's our WDW stuff, in a nutshell (help, help! I'm trapped in a nut!):
- Dec 2007, 7 nights, stayed at AKL, combined with a DCL 3 night. DH was looking at a promotion (wasn't definite, but he was told the day before we left) and we had money from the sale of our house, so we splurged. We bought many souvenirs. I don't know if I could even give you a number on that trip (not that it was outrageous, but we didn't "budget"). We did the dining plan, but discovered it was a lot of food. This was when tip was still included.

- Feb 09, 7 nights at Pop Century. We didn't plan on going until Disney announced the Buy 4 get 3 free deal, including a birthday fun card for DS ($63) and a gift card for booking before Spring Break. We got the entire trip, including airfare for 4, for around $2400. This included hoppers and food budget. The gift card from Disney that covered some meals and the Birthday Fun Card for DS' 5th bday bought them souvenirs. So, even though we went there because of a discount, we didn't increase our extra spending. Without the discount, we wouldn't have gone in the first place. We did not do the dining plan, because figures show us it would cost us more, because we don't usually eat all that food. We ordered Garden Grocer for breakfasts, had about 4 TS and the rest were CS.

- Aug '10, 7 nights at Pop, Free QSDP, with hoppers. This trip is costing a bit more than the last one, but not too much. However finances have gotten tighter as well. Since we go to DLR every year and we've increased our visits to WDW, we do not feel the need to buy lots of souvenirs. We may buy a shirt for each of us, but that will be about it. We do not plan on upgrading to the Basic plan, although I am planning on a few TS. So, we'll pay OOP for the 3 or so we end up with and on those days, we'll eat a CS breakfast (if the OOP isn't breakfast).

These 3 trips are the first we've taken to WDW since 1998 (our honeymoon), so we've actually added these trips in during the recession when prior to 2007, we didn't take large vacations (usually just long weekends somewhere driving distance).

[lshuttleworth1]

You guys are awesome. I will def post by grade when I get it....... "Let's hope for an "A", I just completed my paper...... 18 pages with financials, spreadsheets, and testimonies. I hope he enjoys it and thanks for all of your imput. It was a nice little project, and didn't seem near as bad as I'm sure some of the people in my class' was..... Construction, Automobiles, Banking, Real Estate...... Nothing compares to Disney!

[mcc0313]

Best of luck on your paper.

[Mom of three 1971]

Letitia,
Talk about having fun at school! LOL
I love this project.
I will address the souvys/ extras question:
On the last trip in Nov/Dec 2009:
Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique: two girls, two castel pkgs, too cute....just under $500
My Disney Girls Perfectly Princess Tea Party: me and 1 little girl plus Grandma -$335
The Pirate cruise was cancelled due to weather but that would have been $35..A bargain!
MVMCP tickets.....about $275 for the 5 of us
I felt we got quite a bargain on our limo transport as well. $300 for all trips-pickup at airport to POR then pickup at POR to GF then pick up at GF to airport. Plus a $60 cash tip.
We did quite a bit of Christmas shopping when we were down there and tallying up my receipts shows I spent roughly $1500 on gifts and ornaments and such...we did buy for our kids as well as other family members.
Tipping was a big expense...I do MISS the days when Gratuities were included with the plans! I would estimate a minimum of $100 a day for tips...more on some days when we hit V & A's and some of the other signatures.
All in all next year, I will not change our package at all...we will still do platinum but I will def spend less on souvys and the girls have decided to go to the Wonderland tea party instead of My Disney Girls........ it's lovely but they were satisfied to go once. Remy is getting to old for it and Gelsey...well, she's kinda funny about things...she said she'd rather do the pirate cruise. So, that's a savings of $300 right there!

Don't know if your still looking for $$$$ for packages as room/tickets etc but PM me if your are and I can give you our POR/GF platinum trips for 2009 and 2010.

[Jelly77]

Hi Letitia,

We live in the UK and came over in 2008 and are coming again in 2010. For us, re: package booking, the cost hasn't changed a great deal and is consistant. In 2008 we spent about £1500 in two week with 2 adults and 2 children. This time I wouldn't expect us to spend very much more, maybe we'll watch it and spend less until nearer the end to ensure we have enough to last.
Obviously for us, with the £ to$ conversion we won't get as many $ and therefore won't have enough in that respect for spending.

[mommadjones]

Oh good luck! I can't wait to hear the grade.

[MMMD]

Good luck on your paper. I'm sure you'll get a good grade.