nt

[eeyoregon]

All I can say is it's just money. You can not take it with you so why spend your life saving, saving and saving and then dying with a fat bank account that you never enjoyed using??

I, like some previous posters, am a single Mom. My two sons, 12 and 15, take our yearly trip cross country to WDW and it is by far the best time in our lives! You just can't put a price a family bonding and priceless memories.

We travel on a budget everytime. We stay at the Values that typically run $80 a night...cheaper than hotels on our own coast. And staying on property gives you free transportation from the airport and to/from the parks. Plus the extra late magic hours in the park are priceless to my family.

We participate in free fridge swaps at our value resort and order food/drinks from gardengrocer.com which saves hundreds of dollars vs. buying drinks/snacks in the parks for 8 days x 3 people.

Last August was our first time using the FREE Dining and it was AWESOME and soooooo afordable! My kids and I had so much appreciation for the fancy places that we got to eat because we had only ever done counterservice. Six months later we are still talking about some of the places that we ate.

Vacationing at Disney really can be affordable if you do your homework and plan ahead. And to those financially secure folks that can stay at the Poly or Grand Floridian in a premium room and eat at the very best venues, good for you...it's your money!

Life is so extremely short...live it with no regrets.

 

[perdidobay]

I don't think anyone is mad at her - just trying to show her how some people do it. I think the most objectionable part of her OP was the part about laughing at people who think they got a "deal" w/the 40% off code.


I'm sorry, but I'm even shaking my head at myself because people will tell me that I got a "great" rate with my 40 percent off code if I pay 90 (POR) or 111 (ASM suite), because to me this is expensive and the most I have would have paid for a hotel room.

So, they can get mad at me if they want, but I just shake my head that the 40 percent off gets us what the orginal price SHOULD be without a discount!!!

Christine

Then don't go... I don't buy something that costs more than my percieved
value of that item..

You are doing the very thing you are knocking others for.

Truely, if you feel people throw money away when they pay too much
(in your opinion) on a hotel room, sending the world to you know where in a you know what, then do what you preach and stay at home and take that money to Ethiopia to save more souls. I'm assuming that's what you mean by mission trips.


You may be the nicest person in the whole universe, but you're coming across a little holier than thou to me right now.

 

[MomofCKJ]

I always find these threads, and the variety of opinions, very interesting. It is all in what you put value in I think, and what is important to you. To some staying offsite and packing a lunch is fine. To me being in the magic is more important and therefore staying onsite is a must. It is just all in what is important to you and that is different for everyone.

I do think that with the Values you can stay at much less than the $400-$500 rack rate the OP is talking about. When we went in Dec 2006 and stayed at Pop it was during Value Season and we ended paying somethign like $79 per night. Extremely reasonable, I think, for an onsite hotel.

Once we got back from that trip I knew I wanted to go again. That trip was paid by our tax refund and gifts from MIL and my parents in lieu of Christmas gifts that year. DH is not a huge Disney fan and was in no hurry to go back. I told him I would go with the kids myself and figure out a way to pay for it. *gulp*

I temped in the winter and the $1000 I made bought our plane tickets. I discovered ExpoTV.com and they paid for ALL but $500 of my trip (tickets, hotel, dining plan for me and the 3 kids). MIL gave me $500 for Christmas and that went to the trip as well.

So there you go, how an average, real Mom paid off her trip without at all affecting the household budget. It can be done! As they say, where there is a will, there's a way.

Allyson

And we are completely average. I work p/t, DH is an administrator at a boarding school. We do not make over 6 figures combined.

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

Remember that the written word is so much harder to interpret than the spoken word. Please don't take offense where none is intended. There seem to be some hurt feelings on this thread and I don't think that it has been anyone's intention to belittle anyone else. I would appreciate it if everyone would take a moment to reread what they've typed before they hit the <submit> button. Let's try to keep the discussion friendly while we present our opinions!

 

[NEVERENOUGHWDW]

Pardon me I didn't read all the posts but just wanted to add my opinion. Disney is a priority for us. My DH works and I am a SAHM. We were staying moderate on the weekends and invested in DVC a few years ago. That being said, we now like to try delux in between our DVC stays but we plan for it. We go 2 -3 times per year ...again our budget is planned out each yr for the disney trips. To the 3 of us its the one thing that isn't a "compromise" we all love WDW to the extreme and feel if we are spending that much $$$ we might as well go "full tilt"

Do you vacation anywhere else?

 

[tinker&belle]

Do you vacation anywhere else?

What does that have to do with it?

 

[NEVERENOUGHWDW]

What does that have to do with it?

Curious......I would hate to think people just limit themselves to WDW.

 

[madge]

So I look at all these people and think....who is paying this much money to stay there???? Are there houses paid off, kids colleges saved for, etc. The money could go to a much better use!!!! That said, I am thinking we are going to stay at the All-Music Suites but at 111 it is more than I usually pay to stay anywhere. I guess it just worries me that "real" people are mortgaging their futures for a trip.

When I'm on vacation, I don't really spend much time thinking about how other people spend their money. I'm on vacation to spend time with my own family. What other people do is their business.

We stay at the Swan & Dolphin, which at face value are pricey resorts. But, we don't pay those prices, we stay free (at least part of the time) using our SPG points. No one, other than the front desk clerk and people in the billing department, has any idea how much we paid for our room. Several years ago, we stayed at the Polynesian on a Shades of Green overflow rate of $159/night. Another pricey resort where no one knew what we paid except for us.

I guess I don't understand why it matters what choices someone else makes.

 

[NewmanFam6]

We are a family of 6 and my DH makes well into the 6 figures a year. We never stayed anywhere other than the Values until we joined DVC. We just could not justify the rates I say that everyone should stay where they are comfortable. My DH works 7 days/wk and I view our time at Disney as very special It makes us happy and the children as everyone else has said will never be little again.

 

[madge]

Sorry guys if I offended you with the "real" people sentence. We have been incredibly blessed and I thought it seemed like a lot to spend on a vacation, but am willing to do it because we have more disposable income than let us say two school teachers do.

you're not really making it sound much better ...

The PE teacher at my DD's elementary school owns DVC with his wife, who is also a teacher. They travel to WDW twice a year.

It just seems like Disney is geared toward being very expensive and I wish it were cheaper so that more people could enjoy it...does that make sense? I did not mean to come across the wrong way. Like I said, on the codes and rates people have been getting so excited about getting 40 percent off the deluxe accomodations and that just makes me shake my head. I guess I'm not sure what it says about our society that people are willing to throw away 300 dollars or more on a hotel room.

what people want to do with the money they use on vacation is their priority, not anyone elses.

 

[JoanneNC]

To each their own...

Who cares???

 

[perdidobay]

Curious......I would hate to think people just limit themselves to WDW.

Then, don't think about it!

So many people are being judgemental about other's vacations and how they spend money

Are they praying for our pathetic low class souls for wanting to go where we can have fun...with OUR money?

Hey all, let's go grunting back into our cave to plan our next waste of brain cells WDW vacation

 

[madge]

Curious......I would hate to think people just limit themselves to WDW.

Why does it matter where many, many people (posting on this thread) that you don't know take their vacations?

 

[raysnkaysmom]

Wow... these posts...
lol...like I said on page 8... My vacation time with my kids is PRICELESS...regardless of any sacrifices made on my part.... They are my own doing, and obviously worth it (to me)

Saw this in an email I just got and instantly thought of this thread, so wanted to throw it in there....


Let everyone enjoy their own happiness... whether its paying off a car, not using credit cards, or being in debt just to vacation
(whether its Disney or Brazil!!!!)



We convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby, then another. Then we are frustrated that the kids aren't old enough and we'll be more content when they are. After that, we're frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. We will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage. We tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse gets his or her act together, when we get a nicer car, when we are able to go on a nice vacation or when we retire.
The truth is there's no better time to be happy than right now. If not now, when? Your life will always be filled with challenges. It's best to admit this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway. Happiness is the way. So, treasure every moment that you have and treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time with ... and remember that time waits for no one.
So, stop waiting ... Until your car or home is paid off. Until you get a new car or home. Until your kids leave the house. Until you go back to school. Until you finish school. Until you lose 5 lbs. Until you gain 5 lbs. Until you get married. Until you get a divorce. Until you have kids. Until you retire. Until summer. Until spring. Until winter. Until fall. Until you die. There is no better time than right now to be happy.

 

[donnabc]

Well, I too am a "real person" who loves Disney. We have been 2 times now since I am grown with kids.
The first time we went for 4 days, second time was for 5 days and to save money, 3 years ago we bought 10 day tickets with extra days, and no experation date. We still have 4 extra magic days and 2 park days left...plenty for our NEXT trip to disney.
So, when we go our tickets are paid for and we wait for a deal to stay onsight (once we stayed at Shades of Green and the other time we stayed at the new budget hotel onsite for about $70 a night).
DS has food allergies so we are very picky about where we eat. With that said, we always eat BF in the room and bring lunch into the parks. If we eat dinner, we go at the very end of lunch time (to save money, and so I can ask all my food prep questions, ie. what kind of oil do you fry in, do you cook any kind of sea food in the same fryer as the fries, etc...etc...etc)
To pay for gas, I do MyPoints and stock up points to trade in for gas cards. I also do Sunshine Rewards, ExpoTV, and a few other places to save money for our trip:0). Honestly, if I did not save for at least 1/2 a year, there is no way we could afford to go:0)

 

[HappyLawyer]

Why does it matter where many, many people (posting on this thread) that you don't know take their vacations?

Perhaps the person means limiting to
Disney in FL, for example, we go to Florida and the first few times we only did Disney, now we take in all of Florida and many different things. I would not call it limiting or not limiting, people like to vacation and they do what they like, someone on here said who cares? I agree why does it matter.

AS far as real people affording it, i say, use skyauction, ticketmania, codes for rentals, and a FLorida vacation can be quite affordable, oh yes, don't forget the ding.

 

[problemchild718]

These real people work 2 jobs so we can take our vacations and still contribute to our savings and education funds. We are debt free (except used car and house) we sacrifce all year so we can take a nice trip each year.

As an aside, for those who have entered the great debate on spending and saving-think about who pays for the uninsured, those who go bankrupt due to reckless spending, the millions of people receiving public aid and don't work, those who are in forclosure because they bought homes they couldnt afford, the illegal aliens that aren't working that we insure, feed and house and lets not forget to mention the relief package our great nation is borrowing that money-we will pay on that for years. Someone pays for all of it-maybe not directly, but we all pay.

 

[mickeyfan2]

Doesn't it seem like the same thing is hashed out over and over and over again?

How can so many people afford Disney?

What can I do to spend less for Disney?

I feel like I *could* just post the same response daily to at least one post.

Dawn

Just add them to your signature and when the thread is started just post a smilie and you will be done.

 

[mickeyfan2]

Curious......I would hate to think people just limit themselves to WDW.

Who cares if they do?

 

[brittsmum1998]

Do you vacation anywhere else?

Yup, while WDW is our favorite (hence the many times a year) we also travel every year to the ocean (New Hampshire) for a week along w/ weekend trips and a cruise every couple years or so but the brunt of our "spendable income" is for Disney. Its what we like to do and find the cost is well worth it. Now...don't put me at the Cape, I hate that place and wouldn't spend $50 a night....not my cup of tea. Diff strokes for diff folks.

ETA...I was one of the people who took advantage of the 40% deal to do a cash weekend night at OKW before the points kick in and feel I was getting a great!! deal.