Help convincing parents to go to DW

[disney is my life]

In almost exactly a year it will be my sweet 16 My dream has always been to go to Disney World for my sweet 16. I have tried everyway I can possibly think of to convince my parents. I've offered to pay for $1000 of the trip. I've brought my grades up. Last year was my first year in high school and i didn't do too well. I had mostly 60's and70's. This year I thought if i tryed as hard as possible in school that I could get my marks up and convince my parents that I really want this. My marks have gone up to an 80 average. I thought I had my parents convinced with that but then I heard my mom talking to my dad and she said that she thought my marks were going up because I was getting used to high school. But that is definatly not the case.
I know I'm going on and on but I guess what I'm asking is
have you ever been in a situation like this? what did you do?
and if your a parent what would you say would be something over the top that your kids could do to show you that they truely wanted something?
(my parents think I'm going to change my mind by next year but this is what I've wanted for as long as I remember)
TIA

 

[IWasBornToLoveDisney]

I completely understand what you are after!

I am turning 19 in January and I joked that I should be able to spend my birthday in Disney World (my sister and mom have both done it).

We have a very large family trip (around 16 of us are going) planned for January of 2014 and my mom, aunt, cousin and I were just there in October of 2011 to take mine and my cousin's senior pictures. So that is not a very bad gap.

But about a month and a half ago I had a really bad case of missing Disney. I was constantly seeing reminders of it all over the place. So I told my mom, let's go! She said it wasn't her that I needed to convince (she is always up for more Disney!) it was my dad. I began researching package deals and checking into the dates we could go when I am not in school (that is one of my dad's biggest factors: not missing school), but now that I'm in college I have a lot longer Christmas break. I looked into flights and began pricing the cheapest options. I presented them to my mom who again said it's not me you need to convince. She said that with a trip in 2014 planned it probably wasn't going to happen. So as a joke I began pricing a solo trip for myself (I realize that with you being 15/16 this would NOT be a possibility...) but it became obvious to me that if I really wanted to go, I would be able to.

I told my mom to talk to my dad about it. My dad is the type of person that says no to everything right off the bat. But he only says that so he can have time to think. If it is possible, he will change his mind; but if it's not, his answer stays. She said she would talk to him and I told her there were ways I could help save the money / that I would be willing to pay my portion of it. (I mentioned things like not upgrading to a smart phone so that we don't have to pay for a new phone and a data pack... Selling old video games we don't play, books, movies, clothes, etc...)

It didn't look good. My dad thought that I was trying to go because my grades were bad or something. I assured them they were not. He thought I hadn't applied for a position I wanted because I thought I would be in Disney World; I told them I didn't apply because I didn't want to be working on my birthday.

On Halloween my parents were Skyping with me and told me that I would be able to go with my mom for my birthday!

Did I do anything crazy? No. I just presented my case and let them think it through... If it wouldn't have gone my way, I would have just had to accept it and move one: that shows A LOT more maturity and will help them see you can handle rejection and may consider it again, or at least the next time.

Good luck!

 

[disney is my life]

I know what you mean by how you keep seeing disney everywhere. Every time I go to search something anywhere an add for disney world comes up! and I guess I see what your saying by letting them think it over. But for some reason I don't think my parents would. My parents forget things really easily. I thought about staying quite and seeing what happens but I actually think they would completely forget about it, or they would think I don't wanna go any more. I guess what really bugs me is that as soon as I bring it up they say no without any thought at all. My dad was slightly interested when I mentioned that my birthday was during the value season and that they usually offer packages with free dining around those times. Thanks for your help. I feel a bit better knowing that I'm not the only one who's felt like this ( none of my friends understand why I would even want to go to Disney)

 

[disney is my life]

Thought I would bump this up to see if anyone else has ever been in this situation

 

[Agent7]

I wanted to go to Disneyland for my 16th (DL and I share a birthday) so I planned the trip and presented it to my parents. Begged a little. I was lucky that my birthday was at the same time as summer vacation. And I managed to convince them (the trip was awesome btw), the fact that I planned the trip out my self (so they didn't have to do it) really helped. Make a deal to keep your grades up, etc. if you think it would help.

 

[disney is my life]

Thanks agent7 I have been looking on the Disney World website looking for the cheapest option. I really wish that I could see the special offers that will be available then that would help. I think I have actually made some progress because when I brought it up to my mom a couple of days ago she didn't say no like she has been. She said that if everything is going well up till then (everyone is healthy and life is going on as normal then there is a good chance we will go. I have also started saving and I think that I should be able to get close to what I would need to get to pay for it.

 

[disney is my life]

I think my parents are actually starting to think about it . As soon as I told my dad they almost always have a special offer in November and that this year it was free dinning he actually started talking about going!