Life’s too short...to never sleep in a treehouse! 8/27 TR is up! Link in siggie

[eandesmom]

I missed the news!! Congratulations Cynthia!! So happy they offered you the job (but not surprised).

Thanks! I'll feel better once I actually see the offer but am very excited!

 

[winkers]

You can't just leave us hanging like that!!!

 

[eandesmom]

You can't just leave us hanging like that!!!

I can't?

 

[Charleston Princess]

Can't believe you left us hanging a second time!!!

Please don't wait too long for the airline roulette reveal. I need to know what color it landed on!

 

[Happydog]

You can't be this excited about spending more money unless you get to do something, so you have either added the extra day at a fun resort, changed your resort, or decided on something else entirely.

 

[eandesmom]

Can't believe you left us hanging a second time!!!

Please don't wait too long for the airline roulette reveal. I need to know what color it landed on!

There's only black and red, right?

You can't be this excited about spending more money unless you get to do something, so you have either added the extra day at a fun resort, changed your resort, or decided on something else entirely.

Did I say I was spending more money?

Some interesting theories you have there

 

[eandesmom]

Just to refresh….here is what we were looking at.

Option 1. $458
Original trip dates. Non-stop red eye on the 11th, flying back on the 22nd,. Non-stop, leaves at 6:25 pm, lands Seattle 9:33 pm. $229 each way. $458
Pro. Great flights and on our dates
Con. Cost!

Option 2. $208
Red eye on the 10th, flying back on the 23rd. 6:25 pm non-stop flight as in Option 1. $104 each way on Delta ($124 on Alaska, SAME flights).
Pro. $208 round trip!
Con. Would add 2 nights to the trip and run into HS tryouts.

Option 3. $208
Irrelevant. Sold out before I could snag it.

Option 4. $333
Red eye on the 10th, flying back on the 22nd. $104 outbound, $229 return ($124/$248 on Alaska)

Option 5. $208
Fly out on the 12th, leaving at 6am, via LA, arriving MCO at 6:30 pm. Flying back on the 6;25 flight on the 23rd. $104 each way.
Pro. Cost
Con. Give up the idea of the red eye, 12 hours to get there, lose the entire day of the 12th and ran into HS tryouts.

Option 6. $224
Fly out on the 12th, leaving at 6am, via LA, arriving MCO at 6:30 pm. Fly out on the 22nd via United, leaving at 11:30, 1 stop, arriving SEA at 11:30 pm. $112 each way.
Pro. Cost, kept our dates
Con. 2 FULL days of flying = 2 lost days of vacation.

We chatted.

We decided that spending twice as much to keep our dates and have the flights we wanted was silly.

We decided that getting the cheap rate but losing vacation days to travel was silly.
​

Jeff felt that IF we were going to spend more just to keep dates intact on the return date there might be a better use for those funds than that.

So.

We got creative.







We changed our trip. In a rather big way.








It was a 10 night trip. 7 nights at WDW and 3 at US.
It is now















a 12 night trip. 8 at WDW and 4 at US.

​

13 nights if you count the red eye

For most of us.

How’s that for FDM!

Welcome to Option 7
Four of us are on the Option #2 plan. Jeff and Kendall are on a variation of Option #4. Instead of the evening flight, they are taking a red eye back. So they will land at 7:15 am that Monday, the day tryouts start.

I think its Jeff’s way of following the “letter” of the law in terms of having her back….while maximizing that extra day of vacation (and not ditching Taylor for too long). Thankfully K does sleep on planes, without fail. Yeah…it’s a little passive aggressive of him. Us. Can’t say that I’m losing sleep over it.

With the combo plan we average $271 a ticket including all taxes (which were not included in the numbers above). And, we have the times we want, non-stop both ways, for everyone.

So where does that leave us?

1. We saved $548 by flipping the order of resorts.
2. We saved another $1074 by choosing this combination over our “ideal” flight days and times. I can’t honestly count that as a real number as we wouldn’t have spent that much on tickets, we’d have gone with crummy times or used miles or something.
3. We did save $371 by having 4 us fly home on the 23rd instead of all on the 22nd so I’m counting that.
​

We figured the combined flight and hotel switch savings of $919 more than paid for the extra nights and was a MUCH better use of the money. Basically we figured we’d be spending it one way or another to do the trip right and we liked this option a LOT more.

I have to admit. Jeff really surprised me with the additional nights, I assumed that was a non-starter to be honest. Expecting him to go cheap and we’d all be stuck on a plane all day, both ways since it was a long trip already but the tickets were cheap. I loved his FDM. Loved his logic. LOVED it.

It was a PITA to book, I did it as 3 separate bookings to ensure that we were sitting together on the outbound. But it’s done. And paid for! Look at my ticker you can see what we decided to do about that first night. For the last night I added one night, on one room at Hard Rock which actually brought the per night room cost down another $13 a night. Well actually I’ve told my TA to add that night and am aware of what it should cost. I don’t have the confirmation on that one yet and won’t till tomorrow or Saturday. That wigs me out a little but I’m trying to let it go. Looks like plenty of availability online so I’m going to have faith. Apparently she ran into major issues with the first night and getting our PIN to work but 4 calls later...we had a confirmation code.

So…for an extra $369.50 in hotel costs we have TWO more vacation days & nights and $550 left to spend on those days. Yes, I’m back at my original grand trip total. But it’s 2 days longer. And since that first day is a clock re-set anyway, which will involve nappage and laziness, I really like how it’s all worked out! We are making it a sleep/pool/ DTD day. Right now I have ressies at Raglan Road but there are a couple of other options on the table.

And, not that this has anything to do with anything really…I’m very glad this all went down this week so that once I see the offer and the vacation package I know what I’m dealing with and am not trying to scramble for the extra 2 days.

Funny isn’t it how a “you want to go to Disney again?” trip has turned into an almost 2 week extravanagnza. I LOVE having that much time with K&T.

It is long enough for us to feel

AWAY

and

TOGETHER

Which, in a blended family, is easier said than done at times and makes vacation just that much more important.

 

[DisMomAmy]

Congratulations!! Gotta love two extra days!!



I know this guy makes you happy!! And I'm happy you didn't leave us hanging any longer!

 

[All7OfUs]

Whoa!! That is some serious, serious tweaking! You guys are so creative and think so far out of the boxes it makes my head spin.

So, what I just just got out of that last post is:

You saved a boatload of money!

You added some days- which is THE coolest things E.V.E.R!!!!

 

[eandesmom]

Congratulations!! Gotta love two extra days!!



I know this guy makes you happy!! And I'm happy you didn't leave us hanging any longer!

He does make me happy, that dancer dude!

It really wasn't my intent to leave anyone hanging but I wanted to know where we were staying that first night before updating. I'll feel better when the last one is adjusted but am sure it will be fine.

Whoa!! That is some serious, serious tweaking! You guys are so creative and think so far out of the boxes it makes my head spin.

So, what I just just got out of that last post is:

You saved a boatload of money!

You added some days- which is THE coolest things E.V.E.R!!!!

Well....at the end of the day we will not have actually "saved" all that much, not really. I'm almost back at my original total trip cost. The flight money we saved just got spent on the 2 extra hotel nights (and a probable upgrade from 2 day tickets to 3 at US). The remainder, from the HRH/YC swap will get spent on food for those 2 days. It does leave enough though that if we did decide to do a water park for some or all of the gang...we'd probably still be at that original number.

Basically we will have re-allocated in a way that got us 2 full extra days without spending any extra. A much better use of the money than buying the pricier flights in our opinion! Not to mention a true lazy first day of just the 6 of us to acclimate to the time change and not jump into grand gathering entertain in-law mode.

 

[All7OfUs]

Well....at the end of the day we will not have actually "saved" all that much, not really. I'm almost back at my original total trip cost. The flight money we saved just got spent on the 2 extra hotel nights (and a probable upgrade from 2 day tickets to 3 at US). The remainder, from the HRH/YC swap will get spent on food for those 2 days. It does leave enough though that if we did decide to do a water park for some or all of the gang...we'd probably still be at that original number.

Basically we will have re-allocated in a way that got us 2 full extra days without spending any extra. A much better use of the money than buying the pricier flights in our opinion! Not to mention a true lazy first day of just the 6 of us to acclimate to the time change and not jump into grand gathering entertain in-law mode.

In my Disney Math Manual, extra days = extra cash.... no matter how you look at it. Like you say, a far better way of utilizing the available dough. Smart move you guys!

 

[eandesmom]

In my Disney Math Manual, extra days = extra cash.... no matter how you look at it. Like you say, a far better way of utilizing the available dough. Smart move you guys!

Thanks!

I have to say, I'm pleased as punch with the whole situation!

 

[All7OfUs]

You know what? You have amazing ticker changing abilities! And change them a few times you certainly have!!! You are so fast about it!

I need to change mine too- have for sometime, as you know. But am DREADING IT big time!! Everytime I touch anything there, I end up spending the better part of a day figuring out which code to use, how to manipulate it so it's a picture and not some gobbley gook stuff. Anyway- love the new "popping in for a day" thing.

 

[glennbo123]

Wow, that's great Cynthia....saving money and adding days. You can't beat that!

Looks like all of the number crunching (I'm picturing the wadded up papers you posted a day or so ago) paid off.

 

[eandesmom]

You know what? You have amazing ticker changing abilities! And change them a few times you certainly have!!! You are so fast about it!

I need to change mine too- have for sometime, as you know. But am DREADING IT big time!! Everytime I touch anything there, I end up spending the better part of a day figuring out which code to use, how to manipulate it so it's a picture and not some gobbley gook stuff. Anyway- love the new "popping in for a day" thing.

Well I really should change mine more than I did. I didn't update them with the YC/HRH swap so the dates are backwards on those two and I don't love my HRH one at all but have to be super careful on the images so I don't get spanked.

But I don't want to make Belle go back to the beginning of the ticker! Still, I am going to do it as it's bugging me.

I am happy with the new one though! Thanks!

Wow, that's great Cynthia....saving money and adding days. You can't beat that!

Looks like all of the number crunching (I'm picturing the wadded up papers you posted a day or so ago) paid off.

It sure did! In very unexpected ways.

 

[Sleepingbooty]

Wow! Your FDM abilities boggle the mind! Congrats on adding the extra two days - that is fantastic! I hope Kendall will sleep on the plane and be at her best for tryouts. She's not worried about making the team, right?

 

[eandesmom]

Wow! Your FDM abilities boggle the mind! Congrats on adding the extra two days - that is fantastic! I hope Kendall will sleep on the plane and be at her best for tryouts. She's not worried about making the team, right?

Well I think Jeff gets a lot of credit for this one. I get credit for finding the $208 rate but he gets credit for making it work!

It made sense to me but I wasn't even going to suggest it...just kind of mentioned the 10th as an option but really expected him to toss it out immediately as I didn't think he'd make the connection that those dates saved as much, actually more than we'd pay to stay two more nights.

Once we talked through how much the 2 nights would/could cost he was all over it! It works out well though. Thanks to my PIN code and the fact that the last night we only need one room not 2 it was kind of a no-brainer!

I think it really helped that this is exactly what we did in '04 when we stayed at ASMusic for one night before moving to the house. We didn't see the resort at all that first day but it was great to get us on schedule. I am loving the concept of one day with just the 6 of us to get on FL time. I am loving the idea of checking out POP after hearing so much about it from everyone (Rosie, Cherie, Jordan and Mary Ellen)!

That food court is going to be perfect for breakfast when we arrive after our red eye...no Perkins for us this time. And this time, since we won't have our park tickets till the next day, we will see the resort (or the pool...which pool is the question) and can have a really nice DTD afternoon or evening.

And we will definitely hit Petals before bed.

We did go for a preferred room (though I'm not really sure what that means lol) and supposedly have "guaranteed" connecting (which I didn't think they could guarantee but my TA says they have) so that will be wonderful if it's true!

 

[Angies1274]

Congrats on adding the extra 2 days!!!! and you were able to save money doing it....even better!!!

 

[MEK]

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!! This trip report is better than any soap opera, first run movie, or reality TV show that's out there now (even my fav - American Idol LOL)! I am glad I didn't read last night. I wouldn't have been able to go to sleep until I knew what happened.

I love the way it all worked out for you. It made me lose any animosity I was feeling over K's overbearing and highly unrealistic mother. I swear - sometimes I just want to reach through the computer and shake her. I will admit, having K take the red eye may be a little passive aggressive , but really only a little. You gotta do what you gotta do. I think the only other option would be to have K's mom pay for the flight!!!!!

So 2 extra days - can't wait to hear how this is all going to figure into the plans. You seriously make me want to take an extra trip down there just to observe a little slice of this mega vacation. what are those dates again?????

 

[winkers]

I think that after spinning the wheel, you gave up and switched to slot machines.

Extra days and saving money....It doesn't get any better than that!