How I have made frequent trips to Disney affordable

 

It is no secret that I take trips to Disney relatively frequently. Since 2006 I have taken 10 trips to Disney World in Florida with 3 planned in the next 12 months. We are far from locals as we live on the east coast of Canada. We started out going every other year with one trip in 2006 and another in 2008. Then it developed to once a year with a trip in 2009, one in 2010 and another 2011. Then this is where trouble started lol. This was the trip that changed everything for us as we bought our DIsney Vacation Club membership! In 2012 we took 2 trips to WDW and 3 in 2013. People often wonder how I can afford to go so often because when people think of Disney they often think it's expensive. Disney can be expensive but there are also many ways to make even one trip there affordable. Now you will not find any good tips in this post for one off vacations. What works for us to save money only works if you are going at least once a year.

I still remember back in April 2012 when I was on a trip to Disney with my best friend Meghan staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge....This was our first girl's trip together and I was explaining our Disney Vacation Club membership to her and how we make our vacations work. Meghan said to me "Wow you have even managed to make trips to Disney affordable". I was thinking of that comment the other day and it is what gave me the idea for this post. 

The biggest thing that has made Disney so affordable, was the Disney Vacation Club. This truly was an investment for us and completely changed how we travel. In brief how the DVC works is, there is a cost for a certain amount of points. We get the same amount of points every year until 2060 (for us it is 160pts). We can then use these points as we please for the top Deluxe resorts at Disney (and at other Disney resorts around the world as well as RCI). All of the different rooms are a certain number of points per night. The option is also available to bank points to save them for the following year and borrow from the next year (we tend to borrow). This cost to the buy the points can be a fair amount (about $150/pt) but in the long run this is cheaper than the cost of a hotel room. I have calculated out what it would have cost since purchasing if we had paid for the rooms we have stayed in and it is more than the total cost of our DVC. We currently pay a monthly loan on our DVC which if you add up all of our monthly payments would be about the same as we would have paid for a resort room for say a week and a half every year at Disney. And then once the loan is paid off we have this until 2060 and our rooms are covered. Our payments are working into our monthly expenses so when we book the trips it doesn't even feel like we are paying for the room, since we would be paying the payments regardless. Then with our DVC we also receive special discounts at Disney World and Disneyland such as 10% off in all of the stores along with a lot of other special perks.

Park tickets can get expensive as well, especially if you are going all the time. If you were to buy a 7 day pass each trip that is roughly $400 per person just for Disney and Universal just increased their 1 day park to park pass to $140. So of course I came up with a great option to save money on our park tickets as well. We buy an annual pass (which we even get a discount on for being a DVC member) for about $480 for a Disney AP and $200 for a Universal AP. We get the Disney Premium AP for the same price as a regular AP, which includes all of the Disney Parks and water parks. Once we purchase these we plan so that say we go this October late in the month, then next year we plan our second trip so that it is just before the pass expires. This way we are only paying $480 each vs $800 each! Between 2 people that is a savings of $640 just on our Disney tickets. That's not even taking Universal into account (another $160 in savings) . he years that we have our AP we tend to throw in a 3rd trip in the middle since it is so cheap at that point and it feels like we are really getting the most out of our annual passes because we are then saving another $1000! 

If we were to fly from our own airport flights would be expensive! Roughly $600 per person. So we drive 5 hours to Portland, Maine and fly using Jetblue for about $250 round trip per person. Jetblue also has a great program called True Blue, where you receive points for your flights. And they actually do add up fast! They often have a bonus for taking 3 round trip flights or 6 one way flights you earn 5,000 points. The great thing about this is a one way flight counts as each connection. So say you fly from Portland to Florida with a stopover in NYC, that is 2 flights! Just from our trips last year and once we have completed our Sept trip we will have more than enough points to redeem for round trip flights for both of us in Dec! So this program is also another great money saver!

I am always finding other little ways to make our trips affordable and am constantly learning! I love to travel but I am also surprisingly frugal :) Like I mentioned, we also have other little things discounts that we receive for being Disney Vacation Club members. Some of these include 10% off at stores and some of the Disney restaurants. Disney has also recently released several other perks such as special member nights at their spas where we get some free add ons to our services along with our 10% discount on the services. We also receive a 15% discount off special tours and special event tickets such as Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (which we frequently attend) and Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. Just to name a few! 

So if you were ever wondering how we afford to go to Disney so often, these are just a few of the ways we make it happen! Along with some smart planned out budgeting :)

Why I love the movie Frozen!!

 

 I have to admit even as an adult I am completely in love with Disney’s movie frozen. I don’t think I have loved a movie released by Disney this much since The Lion King, not that I haven’t loved some of the releases in between! The success of this movie has even surpassed the expectations of Disney and has become the highest grossing animated film of all time. This is really no surprise with the winning formula used. It captures that classic Disney spirit of era from The Little Mermaid to The Lion King! 

Frozen is the story of a girl (Elsa), who is born with the powers to create ice and snow. While she is a young child she accidentally injures her younger sister Anna and is forced to conceal her powers and is isolated in her room. When she grows up and becomes Queen of Arendelle during her coronation her powers are exposed and in fear she runs away from Arendelle and hides in the mountain. Her younger sister, Anna sets off determined to find her and bring her back meeting some interesting characters along the way. Basically, I will leave my summary at that so I do not spoil the movie for anyone who has not seen Frozen! 

I just love the characters from this movie, Elsa being my personal favorite! Olaf is the snowman who dreams of experiencing summer. He is very lovable and creates some great comedic relief during the movie. And it’s hard to not love the adorable reindeer Sven who is Kristoff’s best friend in the movie.
Frozen is Disney’s adaption of the “Snow Queen” by Hans Christian Andersen, and it is very loosely based on this story. Disney has been trying to make a film adaption of this story as far back as the 1940’s, when Walt himself had wanted to turn this into a movie. Several attempts since then were shelved because they could not find a way to make the Snow Queen Character work. Even when the studio started working on Frozen in 2011 they had a difficult time making the character work. 

In the original concept for Frozen Elsa was actually the villain for the movie. Once the writers for the song “Let It Go” Lopez and Anderson-Lopez turned in the song to the studio, Disney decided to rewrite the script where she was no longer the villain(I am really glad they made this change). I am completely in love with this song! It is and incredibly beautiful song and it is currently one of my favorite songs (the Idina Menzel version of course)! All of the songs in this movie are great and very catchy.  Another thing that I love about this movie is how they are frequently breaking into song during the movie! It really brings you back to the classic Disney movies we all love. It is no surprise that the soundtrack was written by a husband and wife team who have also written music for musicals. Disney has said that they plan to turn Frozen into a Broadway musical, which I look forward to seeing! 

If you have not seen this movie it is a must watch! I have not bought a Disney movie on release day since The Lion King, but this one was a must! I even installed the digital download on my Ipad (first time I have ever done this for any movie) to watch during our plane rides! This is no doubt an instant Disney classic! 

Disney trip planning basics

I figured some Disney trip planning basics would be a good place to start in my posts. There is so much information that it can't all be covered in one post so for now I am going to try to keep it simple and show where to start! 

Best time to visit:

I have been to Disney during the months of February, April, May, June, September, October, November and December. So I have had plenty of experience with different months. 

My all time favorite time to visit WDW is October. We generally go mid Oct. Why October? Well there are many reasons we consider this the best time to go. First weather is perfect! It's not boiling hot like in the summer months. It's a very comfortable temperature and there isn't that much rain. The crowds are a lot lower (except over Columbus day weekend). The cost for resorts is generally lower as this is not considered high season. And my biggest reason is Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom! If you ever visit in September or October I strongly recommend purchasing tickets to this event! Eventually I will post more information on this event, but it has Disney's best fireworks show Hallowishes in my opinion (and most Disney addicts). September is also a great time to go, although it is still a little hot compared to Oct. 

November and December are also decent times to go as Disney will have all of it's Christmas decorations up and Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. The castle is just STUNNING and a must see during the Christmas holiday season. Also in Hollywood Studios the Osborne Spectacle of dancing lights is amazing. Crowds are also low during this time. However it can get rather cold during these months even though it is Florida. During the Christmas and New Years weeks the crowds are at their highest and some days the parks even reach capacity. 

I enjoyed going in April and May. The crowds can be higher as well as the temperatures. I plan to go in March of next year. The great thing about March and April if you live in Canada, like I do these months help you escape winter! There isn't a whole lot going on for special events other than the Food and Wine festival at Epcot. May does have Star Wars weekend which is a great experience for Star Wars fans! I have attended this several times and loved it! 

I would avoid February because if you are traveling from anywhere in Canada or the northern United States there is a lot of travel delays and cancelled flights, which can make travel a complete nightmare. At this time of year Florida can also get pretty cold. It is the cheapest time to visit and the crowds are low. I also would avoid the summer months unless you like uncomfortably unbearable heat, high room rates and big crowds. 

Where to stay:

Florida has a lot of beautiful resorts and hotel accommodations to pick for your stay in Orlando. Where to stay really depends on the type of vacation you plan on taking. In general I will normally recommend staying on site at Disney but this really depends. 

If you are planning on visiting the parks frequently then you should stay on site. There is a huge convenience factor with staying onsite and with all of the options Disney has for resorts it can work out to being around the same as staying off site of only slightly more. If you stay on Disney will pick you up at the airport and take you back at the end of your stay (big savings). There is also buses to take you everywhere on the WDW resort for free. If you stay off site some hotels do offer a shuttle, but they generally are not as convenient or frequent as Disney's. Or you need to rent a car and pay for parking which is $17/day. So those costs can add up quickly. Disney also has many other benefits I will discuss in a later post. 

Disney also offers different levels to meet all needs and almost always has either a room discount or free dining. They have their base resorts called value. These are very family friendly, the most "Disney" themed buildings and pool areas and the most inexpensive option (generally around $90-$100/night). If you are looking for the cheapest option while still getting the Disney experience this is your best option. 

The next level up would be Disney's moderate resorts. This is in the middle and offers a little bit more lavish grounds and less "Disney" themed grounds and pools. My favorite of the Moderates is Coronado Springs! Adults will really appreciate these resorts. If you aren't looking for the cheapest option but want a beautiful resort but still at an affordable price, I suggest a moderate (generally around $150-$200/night). 

The top level would be the deluxe resort category (deluxe villas for DVC members). These resorts are for those who want some luxury. They have lavish lobbies and all the rooms are accessed from indoor corridors as opposed to outdoors. My favorite is definitely Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge! This resort is just stunning from the moment you enter the lobby. Many of the rooms overlook a Savanna with animals such as Zebras and Giraffes. There really is nothing like it. If price is not a concern and you want a truly amazing stay, I recommend a deluxe(about $350-$500/night)! I do warn you though once you stay at one of these resorts, it is very difficult to stay anywhere else!

Now on the flip side if you are just looking for a vacation to relax at a resort and only visit the parks once or twice staying off site may be a better option for you. The Disney resorts are still great choices for this option as well! But if you are going to be renting a car either way and just visiting the parks once or twice staying offsite is probably going to be a cheaper more practical option for you. There are many resorts or house rentals available in the Orlando area at great prices. Also if you are traveling with a lot of people this will be cheaper as well.    

Planning your days:

Don't expect to see and do everything in one trip. The Disney World Resort is huge (the size of San Francisco). You will never see everything the first time around so planning is key. I suggest making a list of priority rides and attractions and once you have seen those go from there. Make sure to take advantage of Disney's Fast Pass+ program. This allows you to book times in advance for high demand attractions and skip the lines. The late night shows like the fireworks at Magic Kingdom and Fantasmic at Hollywood Studios are must sees, so make sure to stick around for those and find a spot early. 

Dining:

There is plenty of options for dining at WDW. I am not going to get into details on specific food places yet. But there are some very affordable options at Disney's quick service locations in the parks. There is also some great restaurants to enjoy some delicious meals. I often find myself craving certain Disney food and getting excited for my next trip for the food! There is some great choices for some character buffets, this can be a little pricey but are very worth it and if you can afford to splurge for at least one I suggest it especially with children. Obviously dining off site or staying in places with kitchens and making your own meals is the cheapest option available. 

Characters:

Contrary to what  you see in pictures and on tv, you will not often see characters just walking around the park. Characters are found in parades, stage shows and character breakfasts, otherwise to meet them you need to wait in line. Characters are basically an attraction on their own at WDW, some with very long waits. Keep an eye out throughout the day for the wait times as sometimes they will drop. Set a priority for who you want to meet. If you are planning to meet Anna and Elsa from frozen I STRONGLY recommend using Fast Pass+ to reserve a time as currently the wait time for them can be as high as 4 hours! I wouldn't waste this on any of the other characters though because usually they aren't too bad. If you want to meet the princesses without the long waits I would recommend breakfast reservations at Akershus in Epcot where they come around to your table. Character buffets like this is a great alternative to avoid the long lines if it is within your budget. If you are looking to meet Mickey Mouse I would recommend either Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary Resort or Donald's Safari Breakfast at Animal Kingdom. 

Hopefully these basic tips are helpful, this is really only scratching the surface but I don't want to give information overload in just one post :) 

Once upon a time... The beginning of my blog

My name is Wendy and I am a lover of all things Disney (borderline obsessed...well maybe I have crossed that border :P) so I have decided I would start this Disney blog to share my wealth of knowledge. I work in insurance but my dream job would definitely be doing something for Disney, this is not an option so this blog is the next best thing and will be something fun for me to do!

My husband and I travel a lot and to say that we love visiting Walt Disney World would be an understatement! To date I have been taken 10 vacations to the Disney World Resort in Orlando (with 2 more planned this year), have been to Disneyland in California with an upcoming trip this month and to Disneyland Paris once. Basically as often as I can get there I do! Because we love to travel to WDW so much we decided back in 2011 that it would be a worthwhile investment for us to purchase into the Disney Vacation Club. We have no regrets and constantly say this is one of the best purchases we have ever made. It saves us money and allows us to stay in the Deluxe resorts we love (although now I manage to go even more often than before :P). Because of this I have learned many ways to save money on Disney vacations and know a lot about the parks. I plan to share these on this blog with some tips and tricks.

I have loved Disney movies ever since I was a child which has carried over to my adult years. I remember growing up dreaming of going to WDW and it certainly did not disappoint and I believe everyone should visit at least once in their life. There is so much to see and do, so planning is key! I love experiencing Disney through the eyes of others, which our DVC has allowed me to do, by taking vacations with some of our family and friends. One of my best vacations was when I was able to take my little brother last year who is 11 years old and see a child experience WDW for the first time. We do not have any children of our own yet, but the great thing about Disney is that all ages can enjoy and appreciate it in different ways!

So here is my first of many blog entries! Expect Universal Studios to also make it's way into my blog from time to time as well :)