A Disney-mad woman whose new year's resolution was to visit the theme park once a month in 2022 has revealed how she funds her obsession.
Liz Gramlich, 28, from Philadelphia in the US, first started making regular trips to Disney World Florida in 2020, when flight prices had plummeted due to the pandemic.
Fox News reported Liz and her sister began booking up two-hour flights from Philadelphia to Orlando, sometimes doing the entire round trip in just one day to visit the theme park.
After their first visit to Disney World in the summer of 2020, which had been their first since Liz was three years old, the pair say the fun day out helped them bond.
At the time, the flight price was just £19 ($25) and the pair realised it was cheaper to fly to Disney World than it was to fill up their cars with petrol.
Taking advantage of the cheap tickets the sisters made regular trips to Orlando, but as life began to go back to normal, flight prices slowly went up.
Nonetheless, the sisters footed the bill for slightly more expensive tickets, with Liz saying the trips were “a little extra thing to bring some magic and fun to our lives with everything going on in the world right now.”
As they rang in the new year in 2022, Liz and her sister made a pact to make a monthly visit to Disney World in Florida. But with the pandemic beginning to subside, the cost of their flight began to rise even further.
Soon, they were looking at £114 ($150) for the return trip - an astronomical price rise compared to what they'd initially paid.
But undeterred, Disney-mad Liz has found ways to make it work - and her method is a little unorthodox.
"We’ve had to adjust to make sure we could cover those costs,” she explained.
Now, Liz and her sister adjust their flight times to make sure they're visiting at the cheapest time of each month.
In a slightly more extreme measure, Liz has also started donating blood plasma twice a week to make ends meet - and it brings in an extra £380 every month on average.
She explained the clinic she visits pays her for her time rather than her donation, and she pays them a visit eight times a month for about half an hour each time.
Blood plasma is the liquid in your blood that carries platelets, red blood cells and white blood cells around the body.
In the UK, medicines made from blood plasma can save the lives of up to 17,000 people every year, according to the NHS.
Liz said: “When it came down to it, I was like, ‘Oh, I can help somebody by donating plasma instead of doing something else’.”
As well as her slightly more extreme fundraising effort, Liz has found other ways to make her trips more affordable.
For example, taking day trips rather than staying overnight has saved her a fortune on hotels, and buying an annual pass to the park has proven a little cheaper too.
Next year, Liz admits she might wind down her trips, but for now she's enjoying her regular visits to Disney World.
She said: "In one Disney trip, I never feel like we experience everything that we want to experience, so it always keeps you coming back."
