Disney Vacation Breakdown Part 6: Talkin’ Money!
I have been getting a lot of requests, asking for the monetary breakdown of our Disney Vacation- so I’ve pulled a very detailed report of what I paid for, and when. If you have ANY questions, please don’t hesitate to ask! There are always more ways to save, but I usually chose the route that’s going to benefit my family the best. My options might not work for you- but this gives you a general idea of what a Disney vacation can cost your family.
I made all payments in cash to my AAA office, so NO credit cards were involved. AT ALL!
We booked our Disney Vacation on January 22nd this year, at a AAA event that got us 2 adult Mickey backpacks and 2 Birnbaum’s Guide to Disney World books if we booked that day. I usually wait for these events to book, because I feel like I get a little something extra for a vacation I was already planning on taking. Plus, they have a Disney rep available to answer any questions.
The total cost for a 6 night, 7 day vacation at a Moderate Resort, basic Disney Resort Passes (no park hoppers, no expiration add on or water parks) and the Deluxe Dining Plan through AAA at that time was:
$2500.31
At the time of booking, you have to put down a minimum of $200, which goes towards your balance- so at that time, we owed:
$2300.31
On March 13th, I booked our flights on Air Tran (3 tickets both ways) for $607.20. Obviously, I paid in full on the spot when I booked. I do not add this amount to my “bottom line” but I thought I’d give you an idea of what I pay through AAA.
On April 9th- as an anniversary present to the both of us, we put down $350.31 which brought our total down to:
$1950.00
And then Basic Free Dining was released to the general public- so it was applied to our total (net savings of $377.46 after the upgrade), and then we added the upgrade to the Deluxe Dining Plan- so that brought us to a total owed of:
$1577.54
Then the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party tickets were released, costing us (2 adults and one child) $165.99. We chose the Will Call option, to save $5.
To cover the cost of the Halloween tickets, and then make a small dent in our balance, we paid $389.54 on May 7th which brought us down to:
$1188.00
Not bad right?
So the next payment was made on May 21st, of $400.00 and our total dropped to:
$788.00
And at that point, we could really see the end of the tunnel!!
The next payment was on June 4th- of $230.00
With our total being:
$558.00!!
We got lucky, and our “extra” paycheck hit this month, so we paid off our balance on June 18th:
$0!!
It was our first year of paying on a vacation with cash only, and to have it done in 6 months was a real accomplishment in my book. Granted, Disney helped out a bit by offering free dining for our stay, and I worked a little extra teaching- but it was worth it! I am so happy that this vacation is paid in full-in cash, and that our food is completely covered. All I have to do now is save for our tips (which I put together in advance in case you didn’t know), Photopass and spending money.
Looking for the Disney Vacation Breakdown parts 1-5? Click here for more!
Awesome, Katie!! Good breakdown and tips too!!
We hope to have our Disney Cruise paid for before we go next spring. We have a few months now but it will be here before we know it!!
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Domestic Debacle Reply:
June 23rd, 2010 at 4:15 pm
Thank you so much!! Start saving now girly! I like to have my vacation paid off before it’s due, and then continue saving the same amount each pay period for a huge chunk of spending money!
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Seriously I know I have told you before how much I love your Disney posts, but for real! I LOVE them. Well done again friend.
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Domestic Debacle Reply:
June 23rd, 2010 at 5:17 pm
Thanks friend
I want to be honest with my friends and readers!
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Hello I was wondering if you know anything about actually staying in Cinderella’s castle. Let me know! This is Tara (Brammer) Setty.
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Domestic Debacle Reply:
July 19th, 2010 at 2:12 pm
Hi Tara!
At this moment, it is not available to the public to stay in.
No word as to whether it will be or not.
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Katie, my husband signed up for Disney Visa CC several years ago. He gets 1 “Disney dollar” (not like the ones printed with Disney characters, it can be used in the park, at Disney stores and even to help pay for the cost of Disney vacations) for every $100 that he spends. We use it for gas, groceries, clothing & entertainment expenses. We also used it to pay for our upcoming Disney vacation. We pay the balance in full every month, so we never have service fees or interest to pay. The points do expire after 5 years, so we planned our trip accordingly as the initial points we earned start to expire next year. We have never used any of the points in the 5 years, so in 2 weeks, we will have approximately $750 to be used at souvenir shops and some restaurants throughout the park. We got the basic dining plan, so essentially the rest of our meals and all souvies will be FREE. I LOVE the Disney CC, though I am sad that we weren’t married (I didn’t get my card until we were married to avoid weird name business later) because I missed out on the Ariel card they had a few years ago.
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