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

I don't guess I really make a budget.

I "plan" a trip on MDE online and see the price. If it's acceptable, then we go for it.

But for other incidentals, we save credit card points for gift cards for dining along the way or when needed. I hadn't thought about it, but I think we can also turn those points in for gas gift cards.

I like the change jar idea.

Also, DH pays off his car in December, so that will give us 3 full months of car payments towards our trip in March.
 
Another thing we've done in the past .... if my DD has a friend we know is planning to go to Disney the following year, we'll give them a Disney gift card so they'll have their "own" money to buy what they want. We've done that 2 times.

And DD's birthday is in September. I'll be sure to tell our family members to give her GCs.
 
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.

BUT...you would have a 2 BR/2 Bath condo for 4 people rather than a cramped value room, there would be no doubt in my mind which to book!:flower:
 
We are going for 8 night in December of 2019! I have 6 in my family and I assume both of my older boys will bring girlfriends...so....lots!

My sister's family is 4. My nieces will still be little.

We have to do a vacation rental. It is just too cramped and too expensive to stay on property. Even pulling an RV to Forth Wilderness is too high to justify it for all of us.

Vacation Rental is $2400 for 8 nights (my half, my sister has the other half..if girlfriends go I will pay more. The house is huge, wonderful and sleeps 22. 5 bathrooms)
MYW 8 days military for 6 is $2500
Candlelight Processional Dinner pkg for 6 (probably a must since crowds will be high) $240
MVMCP for 6 is $632
Hoop De Doo for 6 is $402
Photopass military is $98
Budget for Sci Fi is $200
Van Rental (13 passenger from GA and then to all the parks) is $800
Meals $1300

We are at $8500. Boy that is huge!

I paid the first 1/3 already down payment on vacation rental so I can get that out of the way. I am going to start buying the military tickets in January 2019 like 2 at a time. All the extras like the Hoop, MVMCP, etc.. I am working Swagbuck GC like crazy til we go. I am planning on using Disney Visa Rewards to take a chunk out of meals. I am planning on giving plasma again this month. Start saving for gas and the van rental cost.

The main reason is the fact we are all adults now. We used to pull the RV to the Fort and our stay was maybe $800 for the week. We would get the really good priced stars and stripes military tickets and that was 1/2 of what the 8 day will cost us. Disney has gone up but so has our family.
 


BUT...you would have a 2 BR/2 Bath condo for 4 people rather than a cramped value room, there would be no doubt in my mind which to book!:flower:

We are staying offsite. It is a no brainer for us too. BUT you will only get 30 day in advance fast passes. Last time we were linked to my parents staying on site so we were still able to get 60 days. I am not 100% sure if they will be able to go this time (they might not go). I don't think we would have been able to get on two of the most popular rides this last time if we were not 60 days out. My son's girlfriend decided to go last minute and we could not get her a FP on avatar at around 40 days out. This worries me since we are going when Star Wars opens.
 
I got my virtual Visa from SB and ordered a $25 physical GC from Disney. Redeemed for $25 PayPal from SB, which is still pending. Bought a $50 Disney GC from BB using the Visa GC and stupidly scanned a screenshot of an old SB QR code, so no rewards for it. So my new totals are:
$250 in Disney GCs (with $25 pending)
$87.36 in cash (with $25 PayPal pending)
$50 in Visa GCs​
I feel like progress has been extremely slow this summer. But I haven't cashed in any of my CC rewards yet, so I'm still hopeful that I will have this trip covered by April.
UPDATE:
My $25 Disney GC from disneygiftcard has shipped. I received my $25 PayPal from SB and redeemed for another $25 PayPal. My sister sent me $366 via Zelle to reimburse me for F&W tours and activities that I had paid for using Disney GCs. I cashed in for a $50 Amazon GC from Perk and I plan to use it to buy a Safeway GC when I have $100. I should be able to use the Safeway GC to purchase a Disney GC (fingers crossed!), if not then I have grocery money.
$300 in Disney GCs (with $25 pending)
$403.36 in cash (with $25 PayPal pending)
$160 in Amazon GCs
$215 in rebates
$710 DVC rental payment (pending)
ETA: Used the last $50 in Visa GCs to purchase a $50 Disney GC at Best Buy. This time I made sure that I scanned a brand new QR code. My $25 PayPal from SB arrived. I cashed out for $25 PayPal from EarnHoney. Amazon was offering a $10 bonus if I topped off my GC balance with $100 before Prime Day. So I took $100 of my cash and did the deal. I also submitted rebates for my dog's arthritis medicine and for the new washer that I had to buy lase week. Totals above have been updated.
 
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BUT...you would have a 2 BR/2 Bath condo for 4 people rather than a cramped value room, there would be no doubt in my mind which to book!:flower:

I guess you didn't see my update - we're not going now for a very good reason. The person I was going with is pregnant! So my 2019 trip won't be until 2020 and if we're bringing the baby we will definitely stay off-site.
 


UPDATE:
My $25 Disney GC from disneygiftcard has shipped. I received my $25 PayPal from SB and redeemed for another $25 PayPal. My sister sent me $366 via Zelle to reimburse me for F&W tours and activities that I had paid for using Disney GCs. I cashed in for a $50 Amazon GC from Perk and I plan to use it to buy a Safeway GC when I have $100. I should be able to use the Safeway GC to purchase a Disney GC (fingers crossed!), if not then I have grocery money.
$300 in Disney GCs (with $25 pending)
$403.36 in cash (with $25 PayPal pending)
$160 in Amazon GCs
$215 in rebates
$710 DVC rental payment (pending)
ETA: Used the last $50 in Visa GCs to purchase a $50 Disney GC at Best Buy. This time I made sure that I scanned a brand new QR code. My $25 PayPal from SB arrived. I cashed out for $25 PayPal from EarnHoney. Amazon was offering a $10 bonus if I topped off my GC balance with $100 before Prime Day. So I took $100 of my cash and did the deal. I also submitted rebates for my dog's arthritis medicine and for the new washer that I had to buy lase week. Totals above have been updated.
My original goal was $925, of which only $85 needed to be in cash. I've more than covered the cash portion, so all cash coming in from this point on will go toward purchasing discounted Disney GCs.

My rental money came thru PayPal on Friday. The $25 Disney GC arrived in Saturday's mail. A rather large purchase was credited on SB today and I redeemed for another $25 PayPal. I used $100 in Amazon GCs to order a $100 Safeway GC which I will try to use to purchase a Disney GC when it arrives. If that doesn't work out, at least I have grocery money.

New totals:
$325 in Disney GCs
$1139.36 in cash (with $50 PayPal pending)
$60 Amazon GCs ($100 Safeway physical GC pending)
$215 in rebates (pending)
ETA - Got my $25 PayPal from EH. Redeemed for another $25 PayPal from SB. My Safeway GC is supposed to be delivered today, thanks to Amazon misdirecting it. And I got word that my rebates for my dog's arthritis medicine were approved. I also added a $30 off $300 BB purchases to my AmEx card and I plan to combine this with the SB bonuses.
 
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My original goal was $925, of which only $85 needed to be in cash. I've more than covered the cash portion, so all cash coming in from this point on will go toward purchasing discounted Disney GCs.

My rental money came thru PayPal on Friday. The $25 Disney GC arrived in Saturday's mail. A rather large purchase was credited on SB today and I redeemed for another $25 PayPal. I used $100 in Amazon GCs to order a $100 Safeway GC which I will try to use to purchase a Disney GC when it arrives. If that doesn't work out, at least I have grocery money.

New totals:
$325 in Disney GCs
$1139.36 in cash (with $50 PayPal pending)
$60 Amazon GCs ($100 Safeway physical GC pending)
$215 in rebates (pending)
ETA - Got my $25 PayPal from EH. Redeemed for another $25 PayPal from SB. My Safeway GC is supposed to be delivered today, thanks to Amazon misdirecting it. And I got word that my rebates for my dog's arthritis medicine were approved. I also added a $30 off $300 BB purchases to my AmEx card and I plan to combine this with the SB bonuses.
Updating -
I got my Safeway GC yesterday and converted it to a $100 Disney GC. I bought a $25 Disney GC at BBB using my AmEx to take advantage of the $5 off $25 offer. I had the "you used your offer" email by the time I was in my car. So $20 for a $25 GC. I ran to BB and bought a $50 DIsney GC using the same AmEx to take advantage of the SB bonus and to take advantage of the $30 off $300 offer ($250 in purchases to go). I should also get BB rewards points for the purchase. I took advantage of the Amazon Prime Day offer to purchase a $25 GC and get a $5 bonus credit. I got the GC but the credit is still pending.

So new totals -
$500 in Disney GCs
$1069.36 in cash (with $25 PayPal pending)
$100 Safeway GC pending from Amazon
$215 in rebates (pending)
ETA - First SB $25 PayPal arrived today. $25 still pending. Also received the email that the $5 credit was applied to my Amazon account. I checked and a Safeway GC is a "qualifying purchase". So, I used the $90 in Amazon GCs and credit + $10 from my cash to order another $100 Safeway physical GC.
 
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Ok.. so we have something official on the books. On the way home from our cross country camping adventure we got talking about how we’d like to go away during the winter since our winters are so brutal. That evolved into trying to find a week we could all go to Disney. Christmas break was out.. but we decided to go with my 14 year olds spring break. Crowds will be heavy but not as bad as Christmas break , and it’s his first year of high school so he can’t miss school. Dd has a different break in college but she will be on placement in an elementary school and will have it off.

So we picked a week.. then the prices almost killed us when we started looking. Peak season means peak pricing. Our exchange rate is awful right now (an additional 30% basically) so we have to be creative to pay for it. I got a great quote for 7 nights at Sheraton Vistana in a 2brdm, so that’s where we booked. We will be extending the invitation to my inlaws to join us, but they were looking to go away in May and I don’t think the crowds will appeal to them.

Without further adieu ...

7 nights in 2bdrm condo - $640 ($940- $300 deposit already paid)
One extra night - -$250. ( trying to get this 8th night at Vistana ., hoping for better rate )
Gas cost - $400
Hotels on way down and back -$250
4 tickets (5 day base ). -$1275 ( one ticket a gift , one earned with airmiles)
Food / spending - $1500 ( includes groceries and parking costs for 5 days)

Total $4615 usd or $6179 Canadian (yuck)

Still owing $4315usd 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 swagbucks to cover the hotels on the drive down and back.
 
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Updating -
I got my Safeway GC yesterday and converted it to a $100 Disney GC. I bought a $25 Disney GC at BBB using my AmEx to take advantage of the $5 off $25 offer. I had the "you used your offer" email by the time I was in my car. So $20 for a $25 GC. I ran to BB and bought a $50 DIsney GC using the same AmEx to take advantage of the SB bonus and to take advantage of the $30 off $300 offer ($250 in purchases to go). I should also get BB rewards points for the purchase. I took advantage of the Amazon Prime Day offer to purchase a $25 GC and get a $5 bonus credit. I got the GC but the credit is still pending.

So new totals -
$500 in Disney GCs
$1069.36 in cash (with $25 PayPal pending)
$100 Safeway GC pending from Amazon
$215 in rebates (pending)
ETA - First SB $25 PayPal arrived today. $25 still pending. Also received the email that the $5 credit was applied to my Amazon account. I checked and a Safeway GC is a "qualifying purchase". So, I used the $90 in Amazon GCs and credit + $10 from my cash to order another $100 Safeway physical GC.
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.
 
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We are planning on going 1/26-2/5 2019. Me, husband, son(12) & son(6).
Here is our budget breakdown:
Flight - $845
Room- $1004 - offsite 3bed/2bath vrbo
Tickets - $1600 4day +2 free undercover tourist
Car rental - $600 current rate for suv will probably be lower
Parking- $132 ($22 a day)

Total budget including food & gas $5000
 
Following.

We are planning our very first Disney trip June 2019. Party will be me, DH, DS15, DD12, DS6. We are so very excited.
So far we have dates plan.June 1-June 8. We are waiting for the packages to come out to see if we are staying at POR or Disney Spring B Resort.
We will be driving 12-13 hours there. Flying is way to expensive for us.
I know we will have base tickets since this is our first trip. We probably will not do the dining plan if we stay onsite.
I have budget $6000.00 total for this trip.
I have already saved $1000.00, plus i am doing the 52 week challenge and have $163.00(only on week 6. I am randomly drawing the amounts.) We also have a Disney Jar that we keep for change at the end of the week.
Thanks for starting this thread, cant wait to see all the budgets and ideas.
We also are planning on June 1 thru 8th! hopefully it will be a great time to visit!
 
Last night I went home and counted change I had in a container - $8.94, Son gave me $20 he borrowed, and I cashed in $36 I earned doing surveys. So now I only need $2,953.06. I am so excited for this thread, it is going to be fun to see the savings add up.

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.
 
Update ..

7 nights in 2bdrm condo - $640 ($940- $300 deposit already paid)
One extra night - -$250. ( trying to get this 8th night at Vistana , hoping for better rate )
Gas cost - $400
Hotels on way down and back -$250
4 tickets (5 day base ). -$1275 ( one ticket a gift)
Food / spending - $1500 ( includes groceries and parking costs for 5 days)


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.

Update :
Extra money totals
Swag bucks $19.00
CO51 $18.80
Caddle $17.30
PC Points $7.92
 
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Updating

So our savings is at
$784.18 Gift Cards
$3796 Cash
130.23 Paypal (theres $25 pending from Swagbucks)
$25.65 Visa Rewards
$28.15 Change
185.63 Room Paid
129.38 Room Paid
887.84 Flights Paid

We need to save $8040.98 and have $5967.02 saved (not including the pending paypal). We still need $2073.96 to go by Jan 4th. Right now everything is paid for aside from the 1600 for food and $1000 for souvniers I'd like to have. We may need to shave down what we can do which may mean not renting a car and maybe utilizing lyft/uber or *sigh* Disney busses and just hope we dont spend an hour or more on a packed bus. I'll be so excited once we don't have more than 2 grand to save
 
Planning to go this holiday season. My budget is around 5k, but not sure who is going yet. I save throughout the year and will just work some more overtime beforehand to not come home with credit card debt.

Plan #1
Myself, 3 DD's at CBR.
Total package already booked for the week of Christmas with "free dining" and it's coming out to around $4800.

Plan #2
Myself, 3 DD's, DS, and my parents for a total of 7.
My dad has never been and I feel with his health and declining mobility that I probably need to take him sooner rather than waiting. He's incredibly humble and may even refuse to go (he hates people spending money on him).

2 or 3 bedroom at WBC Christmas week ~ $1600, this is an estimate I'm seeing for now. Dad will not go to the parks everyday and will need somewhere comfortable to rest while we are at the parks.
or Rental home ~ $700/week
Tickets ~ $2400 (Older 2 children will chip in some for theirs)
ECV for dad ~ $200
MVMCP $600 for 5 tickets, I think dad will enjoy the party and slighter lower crowds
Meal at Boma for 7 ~ $400
Counter Service/snacks in parks ~ maybe $80/day x 4 days
Offsite meal ~ $80
Groceries/Snacks ~ $100
Memory Maker ~ $169


I can make the 5k budget work on Plan#2 if I rent a home instead of WBC. WBC is just closer and the chance of possibly getting a room to view fireworks for dad each night is a plus as well.
Besides parking, anything else I'm missing from Plan #2. I didn't add it because I think it's the same now no matter where I stay.
 
As of July 1, I am *OFFICIALLY* saving for my October 2019 trip....since I now have enough saved up for my October 2018 trip:banana:.

So...here are my starting numbers...

Starting FREE Cash: $85.14
Starting Vacation Savings Balance: $0 (*This will change when I get back from our 2018 trip. I just need to leave it blank for now because I am leaving a "cushion" in case of emergency or if we decide to splurge)
Starting GIFT CARD Balance: $55.00

UPDATE

FREE Cash: $105.27
Vacation Savings Balance: $0
GIFT CARD Balance: $70.00

**EDITED: I'm going to change a number... I realized that I have a check from eBates for $10.66 coming on 8/15. I had it listed in my budget for my 2018 trip, but I don't need it for that trip so since it is "free" money, I am going to move it to my vacation account and list it under my "FREE Cash" earnings for my 2019 trip.
 
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Yes! Me!!! 2019!!! We used to go yearly, but haven't been since 2013. We are a family of 5, so we will be off-site. It will be a change, but we need the space and the prices can't be beat. Thinks Regal Oaks. Anyone stay there?

I have been saving for this trip all summer and will continue to, as I plan to pay for it on my own. Still working it all out, but I am excited!!

I started face painting last fall. I am loving it and it is super flexible with my homeschool and small farm life. That is how I am financing it! :)
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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.
 

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