Hi, I am Amanda, Kristin asked me if I would to do a series of posts about how we plan, save and enjoy our Disney vacations, I am super excited and love the idea of sharing what works for us with you.
It happens without fail every year…. We go on our Disney vacation and on the way home we are still experiencing the Disney glow and talk about our “next” trip the entire way home. ( 12 hour of Disney talk). But when we get home and get back to our daily routine the idea fades away…for a little while. After a few weeks we talk about going back in 2 years. That lasts for about a month and then we discuss it again and change our minds and book the room for the same week in early January.
Why January? If you have the opportunity to go to WDW in early January do not pass it up. The weather is mostly beautiful…( Mid 60’s – 70’s during the day and 50’s at night) the holiday crowds have died down tremendously and you haven’t hit the marathon crowd yet. ( last year we were able to stay on the carousel 4 times in a row and the teacups twice). – I can’t forget the best part, they usually ( its always happened since we’ve been going to WDW) have a 30% room discount which helps us save a ton)
So what now?
STEP 1:
When we decide we’re going back to Disney the first thing we do is decide where we are going to stay. For this trip we are doing 3 nights at the Boardwalk and 2 nights at the Contemporary Club Level.
When we decide we’re going back to Disney the first thing we do is decide where we are going to stay. For this trip we are doing 3 nights at the Boardwalk and 2 nights at the Contemporary Club Level.
The second thing we do is make our saving / planning binder:
STEP 2
After we make our binder the next thing we calculate where we want to eat and how much it costs. We then figure out what’s more cost effective the dining plans vs. out of pocket. With this being the first time we have to pay for our twins we are doing the dining plan for the very first time. We call this step “controlled chaos”.
STEP 3:
Our next step is to make our cost sheet breakdown:
STEP 4:
This is when it gets a little tricky or as some call is OCD….
We setup each “chapter” (Room costs, Disney Dining Plan, Tickets, Memory Maker.
As you can see in these two photos’ each section contains a plastic slider that holds the cash envelope with that specific “cost” and behind that is a gift card holder sheet.
⦁ What we like to do and what works best for is it to break down the cost of everything and save toward that one thing and mark it off- instead of just saying $6,000 its more motivating to us to assign the money and check things off. Also, included in these sections is a sheet that keeps track of the “payments” for each item.
We setup each “chapter” (Room costs, Disney Dining Plan, Tickets, Memory Maker.
As you can see in these two photos’ each section contains a plastic slider that holds the cash envelope with that specific “cost” and behind that is a gift card holder sheet.
⦁ What we like to do and what works best for is it to break down the cost of everything and save toward that one thing and mark it off- instead of just saying $6,000 its more motivating to us to assign the money and check things off. Also, included in these sections is a sheet that keeps track of the “payments” for each item.
STEP 5
Our last step is creating a “payment tally sheet” what this sheet does is keep track of what we’ve “spent” and where that money has come from.
So, this is how we plan for our trip, hopefully you found some tips and tricks to help plan your Disney trip or techniques to help motivate you and keep track of your savings.-
Part 2 is coming up and that is all about how we save for our trips.
Join The Conversation:
0 Comments
