Do you ever have "buyer's remorse" before you even leave?

[ogreenlee]

I had originally planned a long weekend at Universal. My dates I had originally wanted were crazy high. So I chose the weekend before Christmas break ends for our school. Then my husband came home from work saying that a lady at his office was going in a few weeks b/c her daughter wants to be part of the Jedi Training thing at DHS. So he tells me to add a Disney day to our trip so our daughter, also a big Star Wars fan, could do this. Well.. that started this trip rolling.

That trip has now turned into a 8nt/9day trip! I kept pushing the date back a day for this and that. I had to go to my favorite, Epcot, if we're going to make the trip to Disney, and if we are going to be there two nights, we should just let Mickey Express pick us up. Then I said, "Why not fly in a day early and just goof off?" That put us coming in on 1/1/13. Then I told my husband.. "So weird coming to Disney on a Tuesday when you're off that entire weekend leading up to that Tuesday." So he said, "Why are we staying at home if I'm off work that whole time?" Which was just enough motivation for me to move the start date to 12/29/12 and add two more park days.

All good, no??? All except that I'm not used to going w/o some form of discount and there ain't no discount for prime time at Disney. Sure, we're staying at POP. Sure, it's being kept a secret so that it's a Christmas present for the kid. She will still want tactile gifts, though. So, I know with the added expense that my DH and I shouldn't buy gifts for one another. We certainly don't need anything.

I am just having a hard time justifying the extra money at peak times, not to mention the crowds. Don't get me wrong. We can afford it. We will not be going into debt because of this trip. If that were the case, this would be an easy thing to solve. We are going to Boston for a week the month before, and to Ireland 5 months later. I just have guilt about it.

I can't tell my husband the costs b/c he doesn't like to know. lol Any number scares him, so I could tell him that it's $1000 for the whole week and he'd be all.. "THOUSAND DOLLARS?!?!?!" No concept of time or money, that man...

Any advice or words of encouragement?


BTW, Not sure where I was to post this. I guess I posted it here b/c I've been scanning this forum for a possible discount to help w my buyer's remorse.

 

[tinkermommyof3]

I don't have buyer's remorse before I leave. I have had buyer's remorse once when I returned home from a vacation and did not stay at a resort I wanted to stay at to save money (even though we could have comfortably afforded the cost). I personally would have remorse if I was spending money that my husband did not want me to spend. That would ruin my vacation. You have to do what you feel is right and what makes you personally feel comfortable. I am sure you can (and should) have a magical vacation without having any emotional duress!

 

[ogreenlee]

I hope I wasn't misleading.

My husband likes to go and do, but doesn't like to know how much it costs to do it. It would ruin it for him. So, I don't share this info, and he's fine with that. It also means that I have no one to discuss this with b/c if I were to tell him, "Hey, it's going to be x amount for x many days, but if we were to do this instead, it'd be y amount." He'd think it was all over-priced, even though you and I would think it was a heckuva deal.

He knows that about himself, though. His only statement is "please don't let us run out of money."

This is all personal with myself. Overall, I've spent more on a week at Disney. It's just hard to swallow spending over $150/nite for Pop Century. But.. my daughter is getting older, and it's harder to miss school. My husband is also pretty stern on not wanting to pull her out of school for more than a day here or there. So the higher price is the consequence. I think I just now justified it to myself. Wow... thanks!!

 

[Sparrow624]

We usually get a "remorsefull" feeling prior to our trips. Thinking: "We could have fixed this, paid that off, or done this." Each time though, after the trip, we have been VERY glad that we took it.

 

[ogreenlee]

I promise to be good between Disney and Ireland, not go anywhere, and save up as much as possible. I'm starting to feel better.

Ya only live once, right?

 

[Sparrow624]

That's the way I look at it. I could constantly feel bad about spending money...or I could spend it and have the memories forvever.

 

[tinkermommyof3]

That's the way I look at it. I could constantly feel bad about spending money...or I could spend it and have the memories forvever.

! This is why when I am tempted to stay at POR (family of 5) or a Value FS to save a few $, I do not. We still have wonderful memories from our POR trip and always will. But, as far as spending money, we should have spent the money on the Poly and had an even better trip. We just prefer Deluxe. We have not made the same mistake twice.

 

[ogreenlee]

I'm sure if I ever went Deluxe, I wouldn't look back. It's probably why I don't choose it. So far, I'm fine w/ values and moderates. But, we always tend to go in the winter, so the pool isn't that big of a deal. I'm in Georgia, and the pool heated to 82 doesn't mean a flip to me if it's 55 degrees outside the pool. Still too cold.

I always said that longer trips would be better spent at a deluxe b/c you'd spend more time at the resort. It'd cost more, but it's more practical. If you're only going to be there 4-5 days, then it makes more sense to pay less for the room b/c you'll only be sleeping there.

Oddly enough, when we travel elsewhere... I only stay in 4* or above. Disney is pretty much the only place where I seek value.

 

[ctl]

I made the awful mistake of being at WDW during the actual Christmas/New years week once before (and never will again). if you are concerned about the extra money, I would cut the trip at the beginning of the week when it's still high season. It will be packed and your kids won't get to enjoy their Xmas gifts, they will be tramping around getting pushed and shoved and irritated. When I asked my DD about going to WDW over the Xmas/New Year week she said "no way" and she loooooves WDW. That's just my perspective. Good luck with your trip.

 

[ogreenlee]

I've considered cutting the beginning of the week, but I think instead I'm going to cut some of our park days, having the few fall after New Years. Those days leading up to New Years are kind of just kickin' about the world kind of days. We always slam ourselves full of park days that I always end up sad b/c I never get to spend any time outside the parks. This way we definitely would, and holiday decorations would still be up. We could visit all the big hotels and spend more time in Downtown Disney. I've seen the tree at AKL and Beach Club, but have not seen the inside of GF, CR or WL at Christmas. I assume all the gingerbread houses will still be up, and they'll be having some holiday things go on. I hope anyway. lol

 

[snowcupid]

What I like to do is do a quote for the trip we are taking - right before we leave. Without the pin code and the cost of last minute airfare makes our trip seem really cheap!

 

[NHKristy76]

I'm having a bit of remorse but I'm hoping I'll get over it... Fast.

We bought annual passes this year because we went in August (BC - CL... first time at the BC and first time CL) and had our extended family trip booked for the end of January.

Yesterday I finally convinced my husband that he and I should go down for our anniversary. We booked POP 11/25-11/28 for this trip and all I can think about it how I want to stay at WL instead. I mean, I'm SO over the moon excited but can't stop thinking that we'd really get to recreate our honeymoon if we stayed at WL.

I'm beginning to think I've really lost my marbles...

 

[MentalVacation]

LOL I don't have any advice, except ENJOY it!!!! I've been at Christmas time and while it is crowded, it is also SO cool to see it decorated that time of year. (Will still be up at NYs, I think )

I just had to tell you that we may be married to long lost twins, at least 'financially'. Mine does not want to know the cost of *anything*. He would stroke out and not go if he knew. He is inherently....er....frugal. But like yours, he knows this about himself and just says as long as we can afford it.... So, I am our trip planner. He gets to vote on resorts and excursions (when we cruise) and so on, but he never wants to know how much something is if he can avoid it. He doesn't even like to eat out at restaurants in our (not large) city b/c he hates "wasting" that money when we could "just as easily cook at home for a lot less"....All logical, but not for vacation!!!! I contrast this with his free spirited "STEAK EVERY NIGHT" plan when we did DxDDP on our last trip. (Where we incidentally stayed deluxe -- for what it's worth, we are still coming back to a value/moderate this time I like to mix it up and I am a teensy frugal myself at times!)

ANyway, go and enjoy. It will be fun!