stephielela
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2009
- Messages
- 2,534
Hello everyone! So I was in the midst of (obsessivly) planning my family's upcoming December trip to the world when I started to play with the numbers. 
See, we are going Dec. 16-22nd as our Family Christmas trip, which I am super stoked about (PTR link below- I think)http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2389146
So I was looking at what the cheapest ticket options were... should I add the "no expiration option" and get a 10 day park hopper? Well, it turns out that even cheaper than that would be the basic Annual Pass. Once that realization hit me, the flood gates opened! AP?? That last's a year! My son won't turn 3 till April 2011, so that is a loooooong time that we could enjoy the parks before I have to pay for him to go!
This coupled with the fact that my BFF and I take a trip every fall with my DS, and our plans to go to Southern California were starting to get too pricey led me to the only obvious conclusion... scratch California and spend 4 days at Disney with the AP that I would need anyways, see the MNSSHP I've been dying to check out, and the way it looks right now, a free dining offer is on the horizon. Not to mention the prices are dramatically lower than for our December trip, so this is just common sense!
So it's settled, we are heading to Pop Century for 3 nights, 9/28-10/1!
Since I have reason to believe the free QSDP is going to be offered, (not to mention I will be back 2 months later with the whole family, and 2.5 weeks after that by myself), this is going to be my first "relaxed" trip to the world... ever... 
Usually when we go, I get all caught up in the planning frenzy, and every detail needs to be thought of. If you don't believe me, look at the Dec PTR starting date
This time, all i care about doing is MNSSHP, since halloween is my FAVEORITE holiday and always has been. I am just so excited about the decorations and souvenirs and the party itself, I barely care about riding anything! Ok, that might be a bit extreme, but still, I am determined to have a "new" Disney experience, one that doesn't require 4 ADR's per day and being present at each and every rope drop ceremony. I'm not even sure we will make it to all 4 parks! But I do know it will be fun!
See, we are going Dec. 16-22nd as our Family Christmas trip, which I am super stoked about (PTR link below- I think)http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2389146So I was looking at what the cheapest ticket options were... should I add the "no expiration option" and get a 10 day park hopper? Well, it turns out that even cheaper than that would be the basic Annual Pass. Once that realization hit me, the flood gates opened! AP?? That last's a year! My son won't turn 3 till April 2011, so that is a loooooong time that we could enjoy the parks before I have to pay for him to go!
This coupled with the fact that my BFF and I take a trip every fall with my DS, and our plans to go to Southern California were starting to get too pricey led me to the only obvious conclusion... scratch California and spend 4 days at Disney with the AP that I would need anyways, see the MNSSHP I've been dying to check out, and the way it looks right now, a free dining offer is on the horizon. Not to mention the prices are dramatically lower than for our December trip, so this is just common sense!So it's settled, we are heading to Pop Century for 3 nights, 9/28-10/1!
Since I have reason to believe the free QSDP is going to be offered, (not to mention I will be back 2 months later with the whole family, and 2.5 weeks after that by myself), this is going to be my first "relaxed" trip to the world... ever... Usually when we go, I get all caught up in the planning frenzy, and every detail needs to be thought of. If you don't believe me, look at the Dec PTR starting date
This time, all i care about doing is MNSSHP, since halloween is my FAVEORITE holiday and always has been. I am just so excited about the decorations and souvenirs and the party itself, I barely care about riding anything! Ok, that might be a bit extreme, but still, I am determined to have a "new" Disney experience, one that doesn't require 4 ADR's per day and being present at each and every rope drop ceremony. I'm not even sure we will make it to all 4 parks! But I do know it will be fun!
If I had the money, I'd so be taking a quick weekend trip around September or October because that's one of my favorite times to be down there, but I just can't afford it.
I've had so many "relaxing" days at WDW, and I've only been to ONE table service restaurant in all the time I worked there, mainly because I was usually alone, so it'll be nice to have people to run around and eat at TS places with 
We'd never have the money to eat at all the places we've got planned if we paid OOP; probably only one, maybe two, and definitely not Narcoossee's or CRT. If I do decide to take a quick weekend trip in the fall, I'm just doing QSDP, though, because I'll likely be by myself.
I couldn't believe it! It was now going to cost me $303 PER PERSON!! I started looking into alternative airlines. I discovered I'd be able to fly other airlines for about $220 per person, and since I am not needing to check bags for such a short trip, the extra fees wouldn't be an issue. I still didn't book (waiting to get paid) and then today I checked Southwest again (daily ritual) 
I do remember that the price went down last year after we booked, so we got a lot of credits, but I don't recall them starting so high... but I won't be picky I got good times in and out at a decent price, so I am happy today! 
) I went through ALL of DS's old clothes and pulled out at least half of them, and a bunch of "baby toys" and got it all ready to go. I also sold some of my shoes and old shirts and maternity clothes, as well as a dog kennel (which my dog basically never used) so I figured while I wouldn't make thousands, I would probably clear $100 at least, since all of Ds's clothes were in great shape and mostly name brands like Gymboree and Children's Place and Old Navy. Friday came and went and I made $42. 
Are you kidding me??? That puts my total income at $70 for the 2 days. I can't believe that's all I made! I am a little upset, but at least it's the beginning of the summer, so there will be plenty of sales, and I think my neighborhood will probably do one next month and since all my stuff is already priced and sorted, all I have to do is put it outside. And I still have 4 months to save, so it will be alright, I'm just a bit disappointed, but I am cheering myself up with the knowledge that after I get off work, me and my parents and sister and DS are going to spend a few hours at a new waterpark they built this year before heading to a friends BBQ. It's going to be 88 degrees today and sunny, and DS loves the water, so it should be fun, and I got the tix through work at over 50% off 
It should be the start to a nice "weekend" (I am off Sundays and Mondays) and then Tuesday afternoon I will head to the 
