Are you a splurger or saver at Disney?

[TinkSassy]

I'm both.
I save on hotel - usually stay value (might upgrade to moderate if there is a sale) but I refuse to spend more than about $200 per night for a room I hardly ever see. I don't shop much - one ornament per trip.

I do splurge on various meals (if I'm going to do a lot of that the DDP is usually a good purchase). Parties and Events are where I tend to drop the big splurge dollars - but I'm backing off on those as I've done many of them and the value has been going down and the prices up (so I'm a lot pickier on what I will go to)

 

[gdrj]

What is this word "saver" you use? It is foreign to me and especially to my Wife while visiting WDW.

 

[tinkerbelletreasure]

I keep a spreadsheet. Before the trip is has all the estimated costs, and I even figure in the approximate cost of each meal including tip. I’ve done this for 3 years and have always figured within $30 of what we actually spent. I try to buy some souvineers ahead of time. We have a Disney outlet a couple hours away, and then I figure out an overall spending money budget. Last trip, our eating plans changed and we ended up spending a lot less than planned the first couple days and hadn’t spent nearly as much of the spending money I’d planned, so we added a last minute table service meal. I collect the receipts and it takes about 5 minutes to do a quick check of where we are at daily. Sometimes I’m able to do it on the monorail or bus back to the hotel. I never feel like we are penny pinching. I just make sure we keep the fixed costs (hotel, food, transportation) stays in line and we don’t go crazy if we go over our spending budget. And I’m also totally ok with getting something expensive on day 1 and being out of spending money mid trip as long as all the fixed expenses are taken care of.

 

[skippytx]

It's strange. Disney is the one place I don't really think about money. I enjoy my time in the "bubble" too much and I'll deal with the credit card bill when I get home. I tend to be very value minded when it comes to most purchases, but that doesn't really work at WDW. Right now I'm trying to decide if the Villains after hours event is worth it or not. I'm looking at 115 a ticket with the DVC discount, and I'm on the fence.

 

[jennyq87]

We're vacation splurgers, but we also make choices in our day-to-day life to allow us to do that. We don't need a giant house or luxury cars or the nicest things -- we'd rather have extra money to save for experiences -- we love to travel and we love our annual Disney trips! I'm very structured about where our money goes in "real life", so not having to worry about that when we travel is part of the vacation for us. I want to stay in a nice place, eat good food, and really just have the freedom to do whatever I want without worrying about what I'm spending. We usually stay Deluxe. We can't miss Cali Grill Brunch. And we like to use the Minnie Vans. But other than that, it's not that we "splurge" by intentionally picking the most expensive things, we "splurge" by just letting ourselves do exactly what we want in the moment and not worry about the money.

 

[YawningDodo]

I keep a spreadsheet. Before the trip is has all the estimated costs, and I even figure in the approximate cost of each meal including tip. I’ve done this for 3 years and have always figured within $30 of what we actually spent. I try to buy some souvineers ahead of time. We have a Disney outlet a couple hours away, and then I figure out an overall spending money budget. Last trip, our eating plans changed and we ended up spending a lot less than planned the first couple days and hadn’t spent nearly as much of the spending money I’d planned, so we added a last minute table service meal. I collect the receipts and it takes about 5 minutes to do a quick check of where we are at daily. Sometimes I’m able to do it on the monorail or bus back to the hotel. I never feel like we are penny pinching. I just make sure we keep the fixed costs (hotel, food, transportation) stays in line and we don’t go crazy if we go over our spending budget. And I’m also totally ok with getting something expensive on day 1 and being out of spending money mid trip as long as all the fixed expenses are taken care of.

Your method for budgeting sounds similar to mine--I do up a spreadsheet beforehand to make sure all my bases are covered, then track my receipts at the end of each day on the trip to see whether I'm over or under so I can adjust accordingly. I do a couple things differently, though. I don't budget per meal; I just make an estimate of how much the types of things I'll want to eat will cost per day on average, then throw in a bit of extra money to give myself wiggle room. I make a budget tracker in Word and print it out to bring with me--it has a small table for each day with the amount of money I have available in each category that day (e.g. food, souvenirs, transportation), and whatever I don't spend one day carries over to the next. If I know I have a big expense coming up I don't have that money listed as being available until I need it. But all my souvenir money is available from the start, and I just know that once I spend it all I'm done.

 

[DVCjj]

I tend to splurge on resorts (deluxe), tickets (park hopper only), and flights (direct, whichever flight I want).

But for the rest of the trip I work to be as frugal as I can while at Disney (i.e. no hard-ticket events, rarely do signature dining, limited merchandise).

I figure the things I do splurge on provide a framework through which I can enjoy a full trip.

The only thing I have to fight myself on is using lyft as opposed to inter-resort transit. Its so tempting, but really adds up!

Totally agree except we do use Uber/Lyft Inter resort. I consider it paying for less stress and worth it. Among other things, that air conditioning on the busses is a killer.

 

[apartment j]

Although I truly think my boyfriend is just a deluxe snob since all we've stayed in are the value resorts.

I'm not understanding this sentence.

 

[Eeyore daily]

I'm not understanding this sentence.

Whenever my boyfriend and I have gone to Disney we've stayed at the value resorts, so now whenever I try to plan our next trip he refuses to stay at any value hotel or at any of the moderate hotels. He only wants to stay in the deluxe hotels. So he's turned in a deluxe snob without ever staying at that level.

 

[KMarston]

When our kids were young we budgeted like crazy to go. We stayed off site at a place with free breakfast, brought snacks, and ate dinner off site. We did splurge on one character meal during the trip and at that time LTT was a favorite for lunch one day of the trip. After a few years we were able to add more meals budgeted in. It was a strict budget. My easy way of doing it was I had a set number for each meal, a pad with a line down the middle. I’d write the total of the meal on one side and the + or - amount on the other side. That told me how much room I had to buy an extra snack or a kid another souvenir.

We always brought a souvenir box from home as a surprise for the kids And I’d set it up while my husband would take them to explore the resort. It had Tees, ears, stuffies, PJs etc... (my son called me from his senior trip to tell me Mickey forgot to leave him a box of goodies on the bed!)

As they got older we no longer had to budget, we ate where and when we liked. They still never wanted to spend much on souvenirs.

Now that we take DGS each year, we fly direct, we stay on monorail hotels, have character breakfast every morning, add EMM and dessert parties. We’re still not big souvenir people. I occasionally buy a coffee mug and we will try to get DGS to pick out a toy.

Typically when we vacation anywhere now we look for value, don’t mind paying for really nice hotels, nice meals and experiences IF they’re worth it. Sometimes I think Disney is pushing our limits on this compared to value we get at other places. BUT DGS is on the spectrum and something about being immersed in the constant sensory overload that is Disney, pushes his little brain so much that we make enormous strides upon coming home. ENORMOUS! He was nonverbal for years, no pointing clapping etc... pointed for the first time on SSE, first words on a following trip despite years of multiple therapists! Last year the day after we returned him from his parents he was outside scribbling with side walk chalk, when mom walked out, Blippi, Mickey and his name were written across the back porch! He had never written a letter. So Disney has us over a barrel at the moment!!

 

[indoshakespeare]

I splurge on experience but save on merchandise

 

[DrunkJam]

I will try and get the best value I can when I book. But when I am there, I want to not think about the cost of things to much, so, I have a cash budget, which I can spend in full if I like without thinking about costs.
This time I have learnt to buy USEFUL souvenirs, and will buy which ever ones I like, within reason (I have inbuilt frugality) but I do know I have to bring home a LOAD of H20+ sea marine (it smells like dinner and holidays to us) and a bunch of rice krispie treats.

 

[shocker]

I'm half & half, I have no problem eating a pb&j I carried into the park for lunch & having dinner at Cali grill. I've stayed at every level of resort & off site, definite balance. I could blow the budget in one trip or take 5 moderate trips.

When the kids were little I was all about 'the fake' (I.e. cheaper), grandma handmade princess dresses, I bought the same pin for the hair all the BBB girls had & I did their hair up & sprayed with glitter I brought. We went to afternoon tea at GF but not the $$$$$ princess tea. They also had to share snacks when paying out of pocket. I think Disney can be done on 'most' budgets.

I'm not much on souvenirs but if I look at it and say 'I can buy that at Walmart', I DO & I've been known to bring along souvenirs for the kids to receive during the trip, purchased cheaper off site. I save in park purchases for park specific items. I've even been known to see items in Epcot not specific to WDW & just got on my phone & ordered, so $27 item was waiting at my house when I got home for $9, I didn't mind waiting a few days to have it.

 

[indoshakespeare]

I'm a saver on hotels but a splurger on everything else.

 

[Bushando64]

I am notoriously a penny-pincher when it comes to most things in general, unless there's a specific experience or a bit of merchandise that seriously catches my eye.

On the other hand, "spoiling" my wife is one of my favorite things to do so she doesn't have to twist my arm too much to turn me around; for example she loves Halloween so while we weren't originally going to go to Mickey's NSS on our honeymoon I re-budgeted everything and made it work, haha

I think it's important to strike as much of a medium as possible, as my dad always says, "You can't take it with you," but I always say, "Plan for the worst; hope for the best." lmao

 

[Magical Courtney]

I tend to save when I go solo vs when I am with family and friends. Food/dining and parties are the two things I always splurge on no matter if I am traveling solo or not! When I am with others I definitely tend to spend more on hotel accommodations.

 

[nursejackie]

We have already splurged on Disney hotels and our flights (from England) before we even arrive. Luckily we don't drink alcohol, aren't big eaters and only spend around $50 each for a few souvenirs (for me it's a mug, pad and pen, fridge magnet) so we kind of save but without meaning to.

 

[Alicefan]

My jaw is on the ground at what some people spend to get to Disney! I'd never be able to go. lol I'm definitely a saver but it doesn't really feel that way to me. I could never bring my own food into the parks because to me, the food is half the fun so I plan for most of my money to go to that. I typically do two sit down meals a day and budget about $100 a day for food but I almost always chose to stay off property because I drive down and HATE WDW busses. So I usually get a room around the $100 a day mark that is twice as nice as any room I've stayed in on property and I've tried Deluxe, Mod and Value and clearly you're just paying for the brand. Back when I was an AP holder in the good old days you could get a room at AKL for about $135 and POR for $75 night...THAT'S the only time I've stayed deluxe and moderate. I'm sorry but this new $240 a night for a mod is stupid IMO. Not when I can stay at the Rosen Center for $99 and have a plush bed. Sooo...I feel like I'm splurging, but I spend less than $1000 each trip for sure. Oh and back when they used to sell non expiration tickets...I'd buy a couple of 10 day tix and use those for short trips here and there and saved a bunch. I used those for years! Now Disney has priced me out and I don't go. We just got back a couple of weeks ago from Orlando and we went to Universal and Sea World and skipped Disney for the first time ever. Sea World was $40 and Disney wanted $125. Also, I found that I can go to Disneyland Paris for MUCH cheaper than DRIVING to WDW for the weekend! Sooo...For the last 2 years, we have gone to Paris and London for about $900 for 9 days, flight AND hotel! The train drops you off at the gates of Disney and we do a day trip while we're there.

 

[Lyndarella]

I am definitely a sandwich carrier. And my breakfast needs are minimal. I am more inclined to spend the $ on a Disney experience, including a Park Hopper. I do enjoy eating both TS and CS there as well as character meals. I try to save on lodging to make my trips longer and more often. Unfortuanately, airfare is very expensive from here.

 

[DrunkJam]

Turns out, whatever I may have said or thought, I am a splurger! I seem to have added lounges, tours and after hours things to my trip, and I am super excited about it! (and coming from UK, I've never gone without a hopper, which makes everything easier!)