I almost cringe when I tell people we are going to WDW *again*

[S. C.]

my dh is a trooper, he in fact is planning to attend a conference in Orlando in October for work... and I guess my dd and I will have to go to WDW when he is already there in Orlando!

Have fun.

 

[Dislifer]

WOW!!! Sounds like I could have written your post!!! I too am a single mom and my family asks: "How can you afford it?" and "What can you do there for that long?" (11 days)
Obviously they value different things throughout the year like have dinner parties and acting "showy" with friends and neighbors. I will be ultra frugal all year for 11 days at Disney!!! Life is short!
Yesterday is the day that I "broke" the news that we were going to Disney again (by the way..."again" is just once a year)...no one happy (except my children of course) just groans, and not very nice comments. It did bother me, it makes me think maybe I should be saving for my retirement, my kids college, etc. etc. but oh well!!!

They look at me with that quizical look. Some are even brazen enough to ask how I can afford it. Well, I'll tell you how.... I may be a single parent, but I still make an ok living. Do I have credit cards? Yep. Are there balances? Yep. Should I pay them off before having fun? Heck no. As long as *I* pay my own bills then it's really no one's biz what I do. I do have my own 'rules'...i.e. paying off the trip before we go... Heck, I don't even have to take time off work....I'm a nurse & I work 3 days a week. We self-schedule so I can work WDW around my schedule w/out much (if any) time off.

I also paid my car off last month (that's $300 more/month for Disney). I also am not a person that lots of clothing, makeup, etc. is important for. That saves ALOT of money. :grin:

Anyone else have this reaction from co-workers, aquaintences, etc?

 

[Mermaid02]

We took our first trip in October 2003 and are taking our 2nd trip in December 2005- believe it or not people are giving us a hard time about it. Or they just radiate an icy, disapproving silence when we talk about our trip. Whatever. We like it there. I'd go EVERY year if I could afford it. I'm thinking in 2007 maybe we'll take a Disney Cruise instead.... Think that will shut them up?

 

[jlcbshaw]

....As for the money, please always say how we can afford to go. We use our income tax money. Plus at least we take our kids on vacation. We have a few friends that go on vacation themselves and leave the kids with grandma. To each their own.

I agree.

We also use our tax return money to take the kids on vacation. Key word in that sentence is kids. Although I have taken a few trips with just my wife on our anniversary. At first my parents use to ask why we go so many times, but now they usually go with us. They have made the trip with us 3 times and are going with us in December. The only thing that I can really say is for those who say "again?", is either they have never been or they have allowed themselves to grow up. Just call me Peter!

 

[fanofdisney]

They look at me with that quizical look. Some are even brazen enough to ask how I can afford it. Well, I'll tell you how.... I may be a single parent, but I still make an ok living. Do I have credit cards? Yep. Are there balances? Yep. Should I pay them off before having fun? Heck no. As long as *I* pay my own bills then it's really no one's biz what I do. I do have my own 'rules'...i.e. paying off the trip before we go... Heck, I don't even have to take time off work....I'm a nurse & I work 3 days a week. We self-schedule so I can work WDW around my schedule w/out much (if any) time off.

I also paid my car off last month (that's $300 more/month for Disney). I also am not a person that lots of clothing, makeup, etc. is important for. That saves ALOT of money. :grin:

Anyone else have this reaction from co-workers, aquaintences, etc?

No, but we're going for the first time since 1999. We are planning on going more often, though. I'm in nursing school right now! I think it's great that you put your family first! And it's nobody's business how you can afford it! You owe no one an explanation.

 

[VWLMember]

We get the same reaction from members of my family. My wife's family are Disney addicts and are the reason why I became one!

We took my parents, who are in their 70s, last November to the world. Needless to say, they no longer ask why we go so often. They were thrilled and amazed with Disney. I now realize if you have never gone to WDW you cannot have any concept of what it is like. I pity them!

 

[oogieboogie]

Everyone here at work knows about my obssession. How could they not? My cubicle is Disneyfied and they already know that our goal is to move to FL in 2 years.

They just accept that I'm crazy and dysfunctional. It's kind of the same as a co-worker of mine who's just as obssessed with golf. She plans her life around golf. I just happen to plan my life around Disney.

They just roll their eyes and mutter to themselves!

 

[MinniMama]

Oh yeah we get it all the time this is my 5 year olds 7th trip and my 13 year olds 16th and people think I am nut we wear mickey clothes have mickey on our car and it is a great stress release for us! I for one don't want to go anywhere else besides they keep changing things so I have to go back right away!

 

[4greatboys]

Oh my yes!! For Christmas our inlaws gave dh and I money and money to bil/sil. When FIL gave us our check BIL looked at dh and I and said "Dont spend it at Disney". ***?? I thought it was our Christmas gift, not his. Just his way of letting us know he thinks we go to often. How it became his business Im not really sure.

 

[gigi1313]

i get a lot of "weren't you just there?" and i say "that was almost a year ago!" LOL! dh doesn't always get it either, but he has managed to learn to live with it! LOL!

 

[lauran cameron]

ME: "YAY WERE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD IN JULY!"

FRIEND: "AGAIN?!"

======or=====

FRIEND: "Oh the obsession.... "

 

[javaj]

OP -- I know exactly what you mean! We went June 04, Dec 04, and are going in May 05. I use the "we got APs and have to make the most out of it" excuse, but I really shouldn't need an excuse.

 

[elf]

Yes everyone is so used to it with my family and friends. We recently passed the year mark of our last WDW vacation (the longest we've ever not gone to WDW) and now they are asking when are you going? My kids and I are going through Disney withdrawels now.

Next year we will definetly go back to Paris my kids can't wait to check out Paris Disneyland, this way we try something else and get our Disney fix.

 

[Grants Mom]

Heck I am only planning our 2nd vacation for 2007 and I know for a fact that my family will look at me like I am crazy. They too will think the same thing. "How can they afford it?" Just like they do with every other purchase we make. So we do not live in a fancy house (even though we would like to) and my kids closet (nor my own) is not full of Tommy H. clothes but we do not care. I want to go for one reason and one reason only. To see my sons face for the first time when he sees one of the characters in person. We got the DVD planning deal in the mail last week and that made our minds up for us. He watched that with me and all he could say the entire time was "MOUSE MOMMY! MOUSE!" That right there is priceless. So what I won't be moving into a new house any time soon, or even having surgery to have another baby right now(not really ready for that anyway) but I do not care. I want to go with my son and have a blast. Sounds like I am making my argument to you all and you all are on my side. I guess I am getting defenive already but I am preparing my self for the worst. THanks for letting my ramble!

 

[jjsmom]

I hear you! I'm seriously thinking of not telling anyone in my family ever again that I'm going to WDW! I get all kinds of responses: "AGAIN?!", "don't you get sick of it?" "you're too old for rides". "Your house really needs some work; you shouldn't blow your $$$ at WDW"

This is my all time favorite response generously offered by an acquantance: "we went 3 years ago and spent $7000. I swore I'd never go again. You must be millionaires to able to afford to go so much!"

Oh the nerve of some people .

Ok. First of all, it's my money. My house is clean and in decent shape. I don't care about fancy furniture or decoration. My clothes are functional and "classic", not fancy. I color my own hair. We eat quite well, shopping the "specials" and bulk buying. We eat out regularly, but avoid the everyday trips through the drive-thru.
We are NOT millionaires and I have never spent anywhere close to $7000 in a week at WDW. With good planning, our family of 3 can go, stay and eat on property, for about $1700-$2000. I know families who've done it for a lot less!

Most of all, WDW is my escape from the real world. No problems, no worries. Just fun. Being a kid again. Taking in sights (for instance WS in EPCOT) that I would probably never get to see anywhere else. As my co-worker and fellow Disney freak once said, "Disney World, either you get it or you don't".

 

[tinkerbee]

I get this all the time. How can you afford it? Well like you said I don't spend alot of money on cloths and silly things that I just don't need. We don't go out to eat alot and rent movies instead of going to the theater. We use our tax returns and bounus checks from work which isn't alot but it gives us what we need to go. We own DVC so that helps alot too. I think Disney is the perfect place for a vacation and I love it. I don't fly so it's hard to "get out" and see the world so Disney does me just fine. I think most people just don't understand Disney. They think it is just rides for little ones. Boy are they wrong.

 

[jsmla]

DH story. Scott is sorta embarassed by the number of Disney trips I bully him into. (I'm not supposed to broadcast it about that he's leaving soon for his third trip in less than a year .) His friends give him no end of trouble about it. You see, real men don't like Disneyworld. Scott owns a retail business frequented by horsie people. A cowboy's dream vacation is supposed to be spending a week driving cattle and sleeping on the ground (btw, you have to pay big bucks to do this) in Where The Heck, WY. John Wayne would do Disney once for the kids, but that's it. At least that's what I've been told. Well, the other day one of Scott's ultra-macho-cowboy-guy customers paid for his purchases using his Visa, his DISNEY Visa. Of course Scott notices and cowboy guy is really embarassed. Poor guy. Outed by his Visa card.

Jennifer

Edit: Scott reminded me that he's been four times in less than a year. I forgot the October trip, oops.

 

[DisneyMim]

We get this all the time, mostly from people who don't know us well. People who do have stopped asking us since we've been going for years (our first trip was in the 70's!). I usually just smile and tell them that soon we will be moving into the castle, just as soon as our decorating is done. This usually shuts them up and I assume they walk away muttering to themselves saying that I'm too much of a Disney nut, but these are the same people who go to their tired old vacations to the beach or mountains every year and go nowhere else. I think some people are just plain old envious especially since our children who are now older STILL enjoy being with us at Disney. I agree, either you get it or you don't. I thank my lucky stars that my whole family "gets" it!!

 

[Lizzybee]

I've been 3 times...since 1976, ok so two have been in the past couple of yrs (Nov 03 and last week), but my parents have taken us. I'm a single mom too and it would be tough for me to save up for a trip. I feel almost apologetic. People do have that inital look of shock when I have said we're going to Disney and I have prefaced it pretty quickly that my parents were taking the kids and I to Disney. I guess they just don't know or maybe they don't appreciated the magic if they have been. I'm not sure if it's addiction or a lifestyle. I'm thinking now of ways that I can save up and take my kids in a couple of years. My son just soaked up Epcot like a sponge. The delight on their faces and mine, and even my grumpy ole dad's face is enough to make me want to go back when I can afford to. I think some people are just naturally more open to magic and wonder, and thank GOD I'm one of em! People spend money on lots of silly things, or at least things I'd consider silly so ...so what if they think a Disney trip is a "silly" expense.

 

[MinnieM21]

No that doesn't happen to me when it comes to WDW because I've only been to the World once. But I'm GOING AGAIN!

I did tell my best friend that I was going to WDW in October and she had this surprised look and said "you're going again?" I was the confused one since I had only been once so far.

But when it comes to Disneyland(I've been going there forever), I get the question, "Why don't you go somewhere else?" It annoys me because I have been to other places but Disneyland is my favorite.

I can't wait to tell people that I'm going to Paris.....Disneyland Paris. I am going to take a day trip into Paris though which will be fun.