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

[kathy884]

I am planning to take my family of four (2 adults, 2 college kids 21 & 19) on a budget safari in South Africa. We chose South Africa after a ton of research because the self drive aspect makes it the most budget friendly safari destination. We are coming from the East Coast of the US. DS will be graduating from college and I really want to do this trip before he starts his full time career. I am shooting for early June or late July/early August of 2019. I would like to avoid the SA school holidays if possible. I am on a pretty tight budget, so luxury lodges are not on the agenda. However, I do want to have a varied safari experience - part self drive, part guided, part tent, part special lodging. Based on my research, here are my thoughts:

Budget : $10,000 US
Length: 12 days
Flights: This is half my budget! Fly into Johannesburg and drive rental car to the Hazyview area. May spend 1 night in Johannesburg on front end and back end, depends on flight schedules.
Lodging: 7 nights at self catering timeshare in the Hazyview area (I don't include this in my budget because we trade for it through RCI). We are considering Sanbonani, Kruger Park Lodge (both at the Phabeni gate) or Burchells Bush Lodge (at the Paul Kruger gate), 1 or 2 nights in Kruger Park at Tamboti Tent Camp (this is a SANParks public national park camp and must be booked 11 months in advance), 2 nights at either (first choice) Shindzela in Timbavati Reserve or nThambo in Klaserie Reserve or Umkumbe in Sabi Sands Reserve (all are private all inclusive safari camps), 1 or 2 nights in Johannesburg (to be determined by flight schedule).

Plan: Kruger Park - Guided Sunrise Game Drive and a Guided Sunset Game Drive on two different days from the closest Kruger gate mixed in with some self drives of the Southern Kruger area. We'd also have a rest day, play some golf, and take a day to do the Panoramic Route. At the end of the week, we'd self drive safari up to Tamboti Tent Camp for a night or 2 and take a morning Guided Bush Walk from Orpen, then self drive safari out of Kruger to the private all inclusive camp we choose for 2 nights of semi luxury. From here we'd drive back to Johannesburg and depending on flights, maybe spend a night there.

I've budgeted about $5000 for flights, $700 for rental car, $1500 for food and gas, $500 cushion for whatever (entertainment, golf, etc), $1900 for lodging (not including timeshare), $400 for guided drives and walks, $350 for Kruger park entry fees.

Now I just need to keep saving up the money, which I'm finding hard to do with two kids in college! My booking windows will be opening in a couple of months.

Sounds amazing. My parents did a similar trip which they absolutely loved. They stayed here: http://www.makutsi.com/

 

[lookame]

Our trip will be in January 2019!
So we will be there Jan 4th-11th, split stay first few days at Art of Animation and the rest will be at pop Century (fingers crossed for a discount!)

So here it goes
3 nights at Art of Animation- $534.39
Pop Century- $748.14
on site parking- $104
4 park day tickets (Disney)-$1502.61 (If I use my dads AAA discount) if we decide to do 5 days it'll be $1564.23
One day at Universal-$675 and $20 for parking
Memory maker- $169
car rental- $600
Gas and tolls- $500
Souveniers- $1000
Food-$1600

That is a grand total of $7453.14


Our savings SO FAR
Gift Cards $759.18
Cash- $4347
Disney Visa Rewards- $24.33
Change- $25.47
And Paid- $185.63 and $129.38 (per hotelroom)

That is a grand total of-$5470.99 saved. We need to save $1982.15 or $330.36 per month for the next 6 months. If we need to we will drop some of the more expensive ADRs we are planning (such as BOG dinner). I'd like to purchase a set of eaglecreek spectr compression cubes and an ebags flat packing toiletry kit. These will help make space availble in my backpack but if it cant be done that is ok. Hubby wants to fly but tickets for that time of yr are estimated about $1500 round trip.

The way we are getting extra money- I do swagbucks for extra, hubby donates plasma twice a week (he likes helping people and the little extra helps with gas from week to week, he usually takes $10-20 and gives me the rest). When bills are not extra heavy (our water bill is typically a doozy on us because we only get billed every 3 months and summer our electric is pretty high as well) then 50-$100 gets set aside. We hope to save enough for th base $7253.14 (or a tad more for 5 dis park days) but if not we can skim some from souveniers or drop ADRs as needed.

 

[Toolulu22]

2019 is shaping up like this so far. I'm a teacher, so travel is unfortunately during the peak travel times for us aka = most expensive.

February (President's week). Once SW flights open and later when baseball schedule is out, the order will firm up. For now, something like this- fly on points into MCO, rent car ($$) and book two nights at Disney. We've been wanting to stay at AKL, but it all depends on cost whether we stay there or somewhere less expensive. This is also a perfect trip to check out off-site.

Saturday: check in, if at AK dinner at one of the restaurants there.
Sunday: AK, dinner at Rainforest- DH's fav
Monday morning: Palm or Magnolia Golf
Monday afternoon- Wednesday morning: visit FIL and wife in Ocala
Wednesday afternoon-Friday morning: visit MIL in Spring Hill
Friday afternoon/night: Hardrock casino in Tampa
Saturday: Spring training game
Sunday: home- if time before flight- DS.

We have an 8 night vacation, but only have to pay for 4 hotel nights, which cuts costs considerably. Also, my MIL and FIL love to take us out to eat, so when we stay with them we are really lucky and don't have a lot of expenses.

Summer 2019 East coast baseball stadiums tour. We are going to drive down from NY to visit a few major and minor league stadiums. Definitely going to see the Nationals, haven't been there yet and depending on the schedules we'll head to either Philly or Baltimore, hopefully to see the Orioles. We loved visiting the Inner Harbor and would like to go again. There are a few Atlantic League teams we will try to fit in- the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs is one we haven't been to.

We'd also like to get down to the Myrtle Beach area, but don't know if it'll happen this trip or this year.

We get passes and go to the Northern Trust golf Tournament at the end of summer.

 

[chinarider]

Not sure what are plans are for 2019- we have a couple of options... It is myself and my DD 23. We are cruising in Dec and our 2019 plans hinge around how much my daughter enjoys the cruise. We have been on many in the past but, this is the first time that she is over the age where she is in a "group" so she is afraid that she might be bored...
We currently have reservations for the July 2019 - Southern Caribbean 11 night cruise- if we do that, we probably wont do WDW just because of time ( always need to leave an extra day for traveling )
We also have a 7 night Eastern Caribbean cruise booked for May 2019- if we do this, we might do a 7 day WDW stay ( probably at Riverside ) or if we do no cruise- We will do a 12 night stay probably at Yacht and Beach with deluxe dining.
I'm going to put these things on hold so I have the price locked in incase of an increase but, will not be sure which direction we will be going until after Dec.
Realized though that our ADRS window for May will open up when we are gone in Dec ( unless I book the WDW trip prior to cruise)....
I'm anxious for next week to compare prices etc...

 

[Pookles]

My sister and I have just started planning an early 2019 trip. We will bring our husbands and children, and our parents may join us. We will all stay at the same hotel but will have our own rooms and we'll all pay for our own trips. My group is husband and our son who will be 7,and myself.

Hoping to stay for around $150 a night or less. We took a trip in 2016 and stayed at All Star movies, AKL through David's, and Art of Animation. I don't need that much hotel hopping, it just worked out that way. This time my husband would really love to splurge for a night at the Polynesian, but he also wants to do the gulf for a day and we can't really add both. Either way, we are considering that as a separate expense from a different fund so I won't add that yet. That being said, I'd love to try rooms at other hotels but unless I'm really getting something special like boat or *sigh* monorail access, it doesn't make sense for us to do it. We had a great time staying at the All Star Movies the last time and if we end up there again I will be happy.

Air: $700 this is hopefully a high estimate, lat time we paid around $220 a ticket, per person. I'm seeing prices near that now.

Hotel: $1500 for 10 nights

Food: $1,000 which is 100 a day for the 3 of us. This seems high from what I remember and we realized we'd like more of our own snacks as we were surprised how hungry we were all the time there.

Drinks: $60, I'm including this separately because we don't buy drinks in the park unless we feel like splurging, which would be included with the food budget above, but this is for the mugs at the hotel. This is a waste that I hate to pay but I'll do it for the convenience. It was so great to get the coffee in the morning and not have to worry about making it, so yep, coffee wins again. And I'll get one for my son just because, it's fun to use and makes a good souvenir.

Souvenirs: $500 Most days we didn't buy anything and so when we did we could get something we really wanted. Which ended up being light sabers, a few odds and ends and an absolute ton of Japanese candy.

ECV Rental: $250

Tickets: $1255 which is for 8 days at the park for the 3 of us.

Memory Maker: $169 My sister would definitely pay to us this as well, but if my parents come I know they will want to cover it. I'm adding it because we loved having it the last time. For the number of people and the number of days we get to use it, the cost makes sense for us.

More food: $100 This is for grocery delivery. Breakfast stuff, lunch stuff, some snacks, diet coke and lacroix so we can bring drinks into the park.

So the total is right around $5,550. I believe the actual trip will be much less and have tried to overestimate most things so I'm not surprised in the end.

 

[MEM]

Beach Club Villas One Bedroom May 2019 - 9 days
Three adults - 72, 59, 24 (at that time)
We own at BCV so no OOP (dues are part of our monthly budget)
Southwest from PVD to MCO - using points and companion pass - minimal fees
DVC annual passes - $627.29 x 3 Each adult buys his/her own - $1,881.87
Food - $1200 - $100 per month set aside from our food budget. With a one BR we have 1-2 meals per day in the Villa. One nice TS and eating at the Flower and Garden Festival food kitchens
Airport parking at T.F. Green - $180?

Total $3,261.87 + airport fees (bare bones budget)

 

[samsonjs]

I'm nervous about our second WDW trip. On our last trip, my daughter was 2 and free. We used CC points to pay for Coronado Springs and our flights. We also had $550 from Disney Visa card sign up bonus.

Now we are going and have to pay for my daughter, and won't have the Visa sign up bonus, definitely don't have enough points to pay for hotel and flights. I'm hoping I have enough points to use for flights. I'm trying to just think about how nice it was to not have to pay for so much last time.


We didn't plan to want to go back so soon. We just had so much fun that we want to do it again. My husband is going to have sticker shock, that's for sure!

 

[pigletto]

Well.. much has changed since my last post. This isn't surprising. I've chosen to erase the new Disney budget I had worked up. I'm not sure we will go, and I think we are more likely to put it off at this time.
We have a few other ideas on the table (Caribbean, Quebec and Eastern Canada, the UK), so I will update this post after we get back from our 2018 trip out west with an all new budget for whatever we decide !

 

[Marionnette]

So after receiving $25 PayPal from EarnHoney and redeeming a $50 Target GC from Perk, I now have the following toward the extras I want for this trip:

• $100 in Disney GCs
• $50 cash

Small victories but every little bit counts!

$925 - $150 = $775 still needed in "free" money to cover the trip! I have the cash, I just want to see how close I can get to not having to pay anything OOP for this.

I added $50 PayPal from Swagbucks last week and again this morning. I'm sitting on a $50 Target GC from Perk and another $25 one from Swagbucks. I'll be converting them to Disney GCs later this week.

No, I won't since Target did away with GC-> GC conversions on Sunday) So, new plan...use the Target GCs to purchase necessities and then move the money I would have paid for those things (minus the 5% I would have saved with the REDCard) into my savings. I spent all but $11.07 of my $75 in Target GCs, so I transferred $60.74 into my savings. I got a $5 Target GC for buying toilet tissue, so I still have $16.07 to spend down there before I can add $15.27 to my cash.​

$100 in Disney GCs
$210.74 cash​

$775 - $175 (cash and GCs added in) = $600 still needed in "free" money to cover the trip with 9 months left to get it.

 

[clambert1273]

Planning on Aug 13-22, 2019!! I am not really a “budgeter” except for saving up for it lol since I am doing this over a year in advance, I can budget more and put more away. I would be surprised if I come in under $8500

We previously went in 2015 and had a blast. We live in SoCal so have had AP’s to DLand until this last year. We have a love for all things nerdy so have been going to San Diego Comic Con last year and this year. THAT is expensive!! Told my DH, that next year i wanted Disney lol


Who: Me (45), DH (42), DD (12), and DD (25). We will be paying for the trip except my oldest has to get herself there.

Where: Most likely Poly through TA deal so I am guessing around $4,000 for resort and tickets.
Tickets: Included in our package
Food: We like to eat and eat well, plus my youngest loves the characters so I am easily going to hit $2500 there lol
Transportation: Figuring $750-1000 for flights for 3 of us. Oldest is going to drive or fly from VA.
Other: Universal tickets about $750
Souvenirs: Not much we will get here since we have a lot from dland and daughters already have wands ‍ Maybe $400-500 to be safe.

Total: $8750

However, will use target red debit to buy gift cards with 5% off so that will save a little.

Comic Con is about $6000 per trip and that is with being “local” and not flying so this doesn’t seem far fetched to me lol

 

[lookame]

We ae now planning to fly so our trip costs have raised I think $350 ish...

 

[kkmcan]

January 2-8th. This is primarily for a family reunion but we will be staying at Bonnett Creek and we are traveling a very long ways so we want to do a couple of park days but still keep it cheap. We have other travel plans that we want to be able to do next year as well as this trip. There will be 3 of us going. DD doesn't live at home anymore and she and her boyfriend has opted out.

Bonnett Creek (in-laws timeshare)= free for us
2 Disney park days for 3 adults non hopppers= $627
Airfare for 3 approx= $1050
Rental car for week $125
Food outside of timeshare at parks etc approx 6 meals= $240
Food from grocery store= $100
No souvies
Total= 2142

Have saved:
Capital One Miles equiv to 1 free airfare -350
Disney reward dollars from visa- already saved $300 + will have another $300 by Jan= $600

Cost to us $1192

We will do a visit to Boardwalk one day, a visit to Disney Springs, and a monorail loop.
Also have our family reunion dinner one night.
Mostly we will relax and chill at the resort, hot tub etc.
We are considering a trip to Gatorland which would add $100 for tickets and $40 for lunch.

 

[mjantz]

So I got a wild hair the other day to visit a friend in London over my Spring Break. She has said I can sleep on her couch, which makes the trip much less expensive. I'm working on a budget & so far I have:

-Flight: $850 (hoping I can get cheaper & i'm tracking but this is right now)
-Chunnel ticket for day trip to Paris: $100
-Food: $250
-Tube card: $50
-Louvre admission: $20
-West End Tickets: $100 (I'd like to see a couple of shows so it depends on whats available & how much it is)

If I can do it for less than $2000 I'll be thrilled.

 

[phewms]

This is a rough estimate and I am trying to find ways to cut costs so I shouldn't go over this budget for a family of 4 - 2 adults, DS (11) and DD (6):

One Way Flight from HOU to MCO = Free using SWA miles + estimated Taxes and Fees of $50
4 nights at POR-FQ, 3 day non hopper tickets, plus Memory Maker = $2,545
OOP Meals and Tours at WDW = $500 (will probably get discounted GCs from Target and SAMS) Hoping for FD
One Way Flight from MCO to SJU = Free using SWA miles + estimated Taxes and Fees of $50
7 night cruise on RCCL Freedom of the Seas in a Jr. Suite = $5,806
Excursions = $500
One Way Flight from SJU to HOU = Free using SWA miles + estimated Taxes and Fees of $50

Not sure if we will do the cruise first or WDW first at this time. We may stay at AOA instead of FQ to save $180 and use that to stay at a hotel in Houston prior to our trip.

So in total: $9,501. Budget is $10K but I am hoping to get this even lower.

 

[lookame]

Alright...updating

PAID
887.84- round trip flights on Southwest Airlines for 4 people
$185.63- holder fee for AOA room
$129.38- holder fee for Pop
-we have room only reservations currently but we may switch things around if one room gets a discount or whatever

$759.18-gift cards
$3459-cash
$146.80- PayPal
$25.65- visa rewards
$26.56- change
Grand total saved/paid- $5620.04



And budget changed due to flying
AOA 3 nights-$534.39
Pop for 5 nights-$748.14
Four Disney park days-$1502.61
Memory maker-$169
Universal Park day-$676
Universal parking-$20
Parking at resorts-$104
Car rental-$600 (hopefully not this much is needed)
Gas/tolls-$200
Southwest flights-$887.84
Food-$1600
Souvieniers-$1000

Total-$8040.98
Total left to save-$2420.94

 

[DisneyMandC]

Holy how do you get that many points? What's your secret?

Sorry I never responded! I haven't checked in here in a while and just saw this. Yes, I'm active on the I Love Credit Cards thread and have been accumulating Chase points for about 9 months now, which can be used to pay for WDW, among other things. I charge literally every bill I can to my credit card to accumulate points.

 

[Marionnette]

I added $50 PayPal from Swagbucks last week and again this morning. I'm sitting on a $50 Target GC from Perk and another $25 one from Swagbucks. I'll be converting them to Disney GCs later this week.

No, I won't since Target did away with GC-> GC conversions on Sunday) So, new plan...use the Target GCs to purchase necessities and then move the money I would have paid for those things (minus the 5% I would have saved with the REDCard) into my savings. I spent all but $11.07 of my $75 in Target GCs, so I transferred $60.74 into my savings. I got a $5 Target GC for buying toilet tissue, so I still have $16.07 to spend down there before I can add $15.27 to my cash.​

$100 in Disney GCs
$210.74 cash​

$775 - $175 (cash and GCs added in) = $600 still needed in "free" money to cover the trip with 9 months left to get it.

UPDATING -
I received a $25 Amazon GC from Perk. Used it to make a purchase and reimbursed myself $23.75 (I would normally get 5% back with my Amazon Visa).

Received $25 PayPal cash from Swagbucks.

That brought the cash level to $259.49.

Went to Safeway and used a coupon to buy 2 $100 Visa GCs for $196.90. Used one of the Visa GCs at Best Buy to purchase a $50 Disney GC. Scanned the SB QR code and got my 500 SB bonus plus have 100 SB pending for the purchase. Will get $10 cash back from my Discover IT card plus another $10 match on my anniversary with the card and 62 Best Buy Rewards points (worth about $1.24).

So now my new totals are:

$150 in Disney GCs
$62.59 in cash
$150 in Visa GCs​

So in reality, I only shifted the deck chairs on the Titanic, so to speak. However, there is value in the rewards and cash back that I will eventually get. I just haven't included them in my totals yet.

 

[winnieofpooh]

Updating our budget! Still haven't booked as we still aren't 100% we're going to Disney, but we got a generous offer from our aunt to pay for our hotel so that frees up a lot of money for us.

Hotel - 7 days/6 nights at GF - FREE from aunt contribution
Flights - $400, hopefully lower if I can use some of my limited miles
Tickets - $900ish. Haven't decided if we want 4 or 5 day hoppers yet
Food - $1,200. Ridiculous that two people can spend that much on food for a week, but hey when in Rome> Also just realized this is $500 more than our original budget. HA!
Souvenirs/Extras - $500. Hopefully getting a couples massage at the GF

Brings our new anticipated cost to $3,000!

 

[Darcy03231]

I'm planning a trip for the spring of 2019 - 3 adults, 1 child.

I haven't decided yet whether to stay off-site or on. In running the numbers (and there's no discounts out yet for Spring 2019), they're coming out pretty even. Offsite gets us a 2 bedroom/2 bath condo and on-site would be at one of the value resorts.

If we stay on-site it would be 7 nights, value resort, DDP (we're going heavy on the character meals and I've done the math and I come out slightly ahead), 7 day base tickets, Memory Maker and Bippity Bobbity Boo. Total comes in about $4,000. I have points for the flights.

If we stay off-site in a condo it would again be 7 nights. Condo is $800, tickets with Memory Maker $1475, BBB $200, Car $250, gas $50, parking $240, groceries(breakfast/snacks) $100 = $3,115. We'll do a CS meal and a character meal in the parks each day which will take us close to, if not over, what it will cost to stay on-site.

 

[virge]

Who & When: Hoping to coordinate a June 2019 trip with my family (4 Disney adults), my sister’s family, & my parents. Coordinating my family’s schedule with my sister’s family is going to be tricky so we probably won’t be able to book until January or February. Right now I’m just dreaming and saving. Each family is paying for their own portion of the trip so my budget amounts only reflect my family’s amount.

Where: We will likely stay on property for 6 nights/7days. Using current rates, I’ve priced everything from Pop to AKL. For budgeting purposes, I’m going with $1800 (room & parking).

Tickets: In the past, we’ve done base tickets, but I think we’d like to try Park Hoppers for our next trip. 5 day Park hopper tickets $2000.

Food/Souvenirs/Memory Maker: $1700 (This is much higher than we spent on our last few trips, but it will be the 1st trip for my sister’s family and I don’t know if we’ll have more sit down meals.)

Transportation: $200 (driving)

Looks like my current goal is $5700. That is more than we’ve ever spent at Disney and looking at it takes my breath away but I prefer to over estimate my budget.

In addition to squirreling away money from various sources (Ibotta, selling things on eBay, etc.), I’m also doing the 52 week money challenge. I currently have $1600 in my vacation savings account. Looks like I need to put a lot more away in the next year!

Between this month’s contributions for the 52 week money challenge and other extra money I earned through Ibotta, Achievement, & a yard sale, I currently have $1975 in my vacation savings account. I have about 11 months to save up an additional $3725.