4 WAYS WE ARE PAYING FOR OUR Disney TRIP

My little family would rather go to Disney World for vacation than anywhere else. Every year, my husband and I talk about taking the kids to see mountains or Yellowstone or the desert or something educational, but for now Disney World is it. We love that there is plenty to do, see, and experience all in one place and that the majority of the vacation is paid for before you ever make it to your room. If we can swing it, we are going to try to make it happen.

The cost is the thing that holds most people back from a Disney trip. Disney Vacation shoppers get their first estimate and immediately experience sticker shock. I get that! Really, I do, but there are ways to save. When we decide on possible vacation dates, I start looking for deals! Disney runs specials from time to time and I always check out MouseSavers and Undercover Tourist to see what they have to offer. ( both of these are highly reputable sites by the way ) Once I get things lined up to a price we are comfortable with, we start paying it down! Let me share how we are doing it this year.

We booked early enough through Disney that we only paid the $200 deposit up front and the rest is due 30 days before we arrive. In the mean time, here are 4 ways we are paying for our trip this year and how you can too!

1. Rewards - Check your credit card rewards if you have them, and get that money converted to cash or prepaid Visa/Master Card. You may even have rewards programs at work that you never thought to use to pay for Disney because it didn't specifically offer Disney gift cards. For example, my husbands job had a sales program going on that let him convert points to dollars and redeem those dollars with a prepaid VISA card. We then used those VISA card dollars for #3. Don't skip to #3 yet! Also, if you use Ibotta , (and you should, you get money pack on things you are already buying), then get your money back by PayPal or several store gift cards. (if you want to try it you can get $10 by signing up through my link here) Just explore your rewards options.
2. Loose Change - The washer, the dryer, the car seats, cup holders, nooks, crannies and pockets are all up for grabs at our house. We are that family! The one with the empty water jug in the corner that collects coins. The day we get back from vacation, we start saving change for the next one. When it comes time to pay, we convert the coins to cash and cash to #3. DON'T LOOK AT #3 !!! This might sound basic, but I just made a $300 payment on our vacation that didn't come out of our bank or budget. ***UPDATE- The loose change contribution is up to $518. I got lazy and sent in a bag instead of rolling it***. Ok now you can go to #3.
3. Gift Cards - Ba-ba-da-daa! You aren't excited are you! I can feel you rolling your eyes. You have read all the posts about buying discount target cards on Raise.com and then buying Disney gift cards at target for 5% off using your Target card? You tried and decided it was complicated and not worth the hassle. I'm always up for a deal and I'm ok with putting in a little effort but I understand. I read those posts too and I have even bought a few cards here and there for 5% off using my Target card but I never successfully managed more than 5% off. . For this trip though, we took those rewards dollars and coins converted to cash ( #1 and #2 above) and bought the $150 packs of Disney gift cards for $142.98 from Samsclub.com since we are Sam's Club members. You can purchase 5 packs at a time for this price and have them shipped to you...which I did....a few times. It's a lot of cards but don't lose heart! You want to save as much as possible right?!?! So now we take those Disney Gift cards and do #4, something I had never heard about till last year!
4. Disney Vacation Account - Did you know about this? I had no idea until recently and I'm so glad I found it. It's absolutely free! The Disney Vacation Account is a real savings account, in the Disney family, that lets you estimate your budget, plan your contributions and watch your progress. You can pay for your Disney vacation directly from this account and if you get in a bind and need the cash you can withdraw at any time. Remember all those Disney Gift cards we've been talking about? Guess what? You can deposit them right into your account. With each gift card you enter you can watch your balance rise, knowing you actually spent less than what's showing! It made me real happy! You know what else is great about this savings account? For every $1000 you pay toward your Disney Vacation from your Disney Vacation Account, you get a free $20 Disney gift card! Yep, you read that correctly. FREE $20 Disney gift card for every $1000 you pay from the account! You do need to request the cards in time for them to ship them to you before you leave and that means you may need to pay off your trip a bit earlier than the 30 days, but it's free money! You can read all the details of the DVA account by clicking on the link here.

So, are you excited?!?!? I'm pumped! Just in case you, like me, need to work it out visually, there is an example below. Now, get you some dates, check out the rates, then start searching for ways to make it work! Do you have any money saving tips for Disney? Share in the Comments!