A 28-year-old woman is donating plasma twice a week to fund Disney World trips every month in 2022
Just ask Liz Gramlich, a 28-year-old theme-park fan who lives in Pennsylvania. She’s visited the Orlando, Florida, destination approximately 15 times since the summer of 2020, and plans to return at least once each month throughout 2022.
She’s also discovered an unconventional way to fund her monthly vacations: donating plasma twice a week.
Speaking with Insider, Gramlich said she was always a fan of Disney movies and had visited Disney World once as a child.
Inspired by the low ticket prices and living close to the airport, Gramlich then came up with the idea to visit Disney World for a single day.
“We used to visit Hershey Park in Pennsylvania, which is about a two-hour drive,” she said. “We wouldn’t stay over — we’d drive back that night. So what’s the difference?”
It wasn’t until December 2021, however, that she considered visiting Disney World even more frequently.
She had intended to meet her sister at the theme park for a day trip that month, but she faced problems when her flight had to make an emergency landing. She called her sibling, who had already arrived at Disney World from Baltimore, and the two decided to stay for the weekend so that they could still enjoy the theme park together.
While their trip didn’t turn out the way they originally planned, it did spark an idea for Gramlich that would change the course of her 2022 travel plans.
“I was like, ‘We love doing this so much and we’re so into Disney now, so why don’t we make it our New Year’s resolution to do something fun and go to Disney once a month for the rest of the year?'” she said.
Gramlich is a Disney World annual passholder, so buying theme-park tickets wouldn’t be an issue. But she still knew that she would need to fund airfare, food, hotel stays, and other aspects of her future trips.
“I was already donating plasma on and off, but I didn’t realize how much money I was making from these donations,” she said. “I realized that it benefits us in a way where we can enjoy doing something we love, while also helping other people.”
Gramlich says she typically earns between $750 and $1,250 each month from donating plasma, which she does twice each week. That money, she told Insider, almost entirely covers her monthly Disney trips, excluding some souvenirs.
As Insider previously reported, plasma can be donated up to twice per week, as the human body replenishes the liquid within 48 hours. The procedure is safe as long as you’re in good health and don’t donate more often than you’re allowed, according to people who started donating plasma to earn extra money.
In addition to donating plasma, Gramlich said she’s found other ways to keep the cost of her Disney trips down. She plans to take short, two-day trips, stay at Disney World’s discount resorts, and split the cost of her hotel with her sister.
“Our plan has been to stay at All-Star or Pop Century resorts,” she said. “We stayed at the Coronado Springs Resort in December and loved it, but we figure if we’re only staying for the night, how much time are we really spending in that room?”
And even after spending so much time at the parks in recent months, Gramlich says she’s still finding new things to do each trip.
“When we first started this, we were all about the rides — we wanted to make sure we got on every one,” she said. “But now we’ve done them all, so it’s all about new experiences,” like Epcot’s Flower and Garden Festival, which Gramlich plans to visit in March.
But she also makes time for “little experiences” that you might overlook if only visiting Disney World on occasion.
“Some days we’ll just walk around, stroll, and look at the park,” she said. “One of our favorite things to do is sit in front of the castle and eat breakfast on the hub grass.”
“After a certain amount of visits, you just look at it as: what haven’t we done yet? Let’s try something new,” Gramlich said.
