Question About Teresa's $2500 Challenge

[mjaclyn]

Hi Teresa! After reading the posts I realized I missed the podcast where you changed the trip from a Florida resident discount to the free dining. For some reason I thought you were still getting the Florida resident discount on the entire booking...not just the La Nouba tickets. I think going with free dining is an excellent idea because it's available to everyone no matter where you live and it's a really good deal. As for letting the kids take their own money, I would definitely let them if it were me. When we were young and my parents took us to WDW our grandparents gave us some spending money of our own and that had nothing to do with the family budget. Something else you could do that would be special is the Wishes Dessert Party. I believe you said you had about $800 left and that would only be about $100 (I think) for your family. What you have planned so far sounds great and I can't wait to hear the trip report!

 

[Quacktatty]

Teresa - since you are already Annual Passholders, will you just be saving the tickets you buy for when your APs come up for renewal? Seems like it would be a waste of everybody's money to have you use tickets when you already have them. I understand the buying them part since that's part of the challenge.

 

[dansyr2514]

Just my take on a couple of things..

On the Fl resident discount... I know she is not using it but I think she should be allowed to use whatever discounts pertain to her. Especially, since alot of us got pin code discounts this year. Those discounts were only for certain people also. So if this is to demonstrate how to plan a trip on a budget. Someone could've researched and found that by saving trips on disneyworld.com you usually get sent a pin. They could budget their trip around that.

As far as the extra money.....I say let the girls bring their own to purchase items they want....but maybe surprise them on the last day and let them pick out something they want and buy it for them with extra money.
Oh and BTW, why not treat you and your hubby. You deserve a treat also. Maybe a nice dinner or a couples massage...something just for the two of you!

 

[PHILCT]

Hi Teresa

I think your doing a great job at planning for your budgeted vacation.

I agree with QUACKTATTY that you should consider saving your vacation park tickets and use your annual passes for this vacation, but just stick to the rules of whatever park tickets you purchased for this vacation, so if they are not pop hoppers, don't hop. And you can use the new vacation park tickets however you feel they would benefit you or anyone else in the future.

I also agree your kids should be allowed to bring their own spending money, and not be limited to how much they spend, and not limited to just the budget spending. Perhaps in the budget you can declare a personal spending amount per child, but then allow them to spend beyond that with personal money. But it would be interesting to note after your vacation how much money they actually spent OUTSIDE of your budget on personal spending. If I were a kid I would want about fifty dollars minimum to spend on my vacation.

Also if you can get a Florida discount on something besides the package like La Nouba, etc, you should go ahead and do so, just note for the purposes of the actual budget how much you saved as a Florida resident so that the final trip report has what you would have paid if you were not from Florida. It makes no sense for you to spend more money when you don't have to, and just to report the actual cost value of the trip if you were NOT a Florida resident in the PODCAST.

And don't give any money that is left back to your "sponsors", and spend every penny left at Downtown Disney or put it on a Disney Gift Card.
And don't give them back the unused New Park Tickets if you use your Annual Passes. Your doing all the work, they are just giving you a nice bonus vacation you deserve.

It will be interesting to see how everything adds up in the end with added tips to the Dining Plan, and extras. You will be very busy organizing how much you spend, so you will need to save a lot of receipts and remember to ask your kids to save each receipt and label each one that is for personal spending.

And you should be allowed to bring your own amount of snacks outside the budget, but just a normal amount that might fit in a suitcase typically. Everyone does that anyway. Heck I freeze juice packs and use them as ice blocks, and place them next to my favorite cream cheese spreads and my favorite bakery bagels and bring them in checked in luggage inside zip lock bags. It leaves a nice amount of space for souvenirs on the way home.

Looking forward to your future trip report, ENJOY your planning and vacation Teresa !

Now it will be interesting to see if next year they ask a Family of Four from the North East to try the same budget with travel and transportation costs this time and with like 3000 dollars? They won't have any trouble finding volunteers for that assignment.

Phil

 

[dansyr2514]

Now it will be interesting to see if next year they ask a Family of Four from the North East to try the same budget with travel and transportation costs this time and with like 3000 dollars? They won't have any trouble finding volunteers for that assignment.

Phil

Heck we can't seem to be under 3000 for 2 people from the NE

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

Heck we can't seem to be under 3000 for 2 people from the NE

Yup, we're two people from the Northeast... last trip cost us more than 6k.

 

[dansyr2514]

Yup, we're two people from the Northeast... last trip cost us more than 6k.

ok....you win. I haven't done that yet....lol DBF would kill me. He doesn't even know what this trip is costing.

 

[PHILCT]

Well I kind of agree that my FANTASY North East Budget of 3000 might be too low.

I was thinking if Teresa has a base budget of around 1850 so far without any extra TIPS and such, staying at the Values, with Free Dining, and an Upgrade to the Basic Dining, that perhaps someone from the North East could add on Flights for about 1150 for four people. But perhaps I am thinking really crazy. Even Driving would probably end up costing more than 500 dollars rountrip with tolls, stops, motels (can't drive non stop).

Again this FANTASY North East Budget is meant for the economy only accommodations. What do you think would be a more appropriate ECONOMY BUDGET amount for two adults, two children (over 3), so not to consider free flying for under 3? Maybe 3600 dollars ?

Teresa, what do you think the minimum budget could be for a FANTASY North East Budget to do your same trip?

The odd thing, I hear this subject almost every week from relatives aching to go back to Disney, but looking for a cheap way to do it, and still have those extra luxuries.

I know, I got beyond the main subject of this thread.

Hugs, Phil

 

[kehouse]

teresa, i love hearing your updates and can't wait to hear a trip report! i agree with your kids taking their own money and giving them some out of the pot.
ot....wow, dan i went ot your you tube link and what a great voice you have. you should be famous.

 

[MelissaFromRI]

In the beginning there was a lot of discussion as to what I could do and not do. In the end this is what the bosses decided. I do have annual passes, but, was not allowed to use them. And up until this point I don't believe I have done anything as a Florida Resident. My trip so far is based on Free dining, which is available to everyone. The La Nouba tickets we are talking about getting have not been purchased yet. Maybe to be fair, I shouldn't wait for the discounts.... What does everyone else think?

You are a Florida resident , so I don't see anything wrong with you using a Florida resident discount

Just remember , the Disney Dining Plan DOESN'T include tips for your server at the table service resteraunts. You will have to deduct tip money out of your leftover cash stash

 

[kaligal]

I don't care if she uses her Florida Resident thing.

But once she starts using Florida Resident pricing and bringing snacks from home, it differs from the kind of trip I could take and is no longer a trip that relates to me.

I don't get Florida Resident pricing. I can't fit snacks in luggage...heck, I can barely keep it within the guidelines as it is, much less add snacks.

She might as well use the AP, too. Heck, she might as well drive home and sleep in her own bed at night and save the cost of the hotel.

I'm happy for Teresa and her family and hope they have a great time, as I'm sure they will.

It just doesn't relate to my planning of my vacation. But not EVERYTHING is about me, lol. (Most things, but not all.)

 

[mjaclyn]

I agree wholeheartedly that Teresa should go and have a wonderful trip regardless of the kinds of discounts she uses. My problem with the Florida resident discount is that it's not available to everyone...unlike pin codes (even though they are given out at random, anyone in the country can receive one) and Annual Passes (not everyone has them but they are available to everyone). If the task she was given was to simply plan a trip on $2500 or less, by all means use the Florida resident discount. However, I remember Pete specifically saying this challenge was for Teresa to book a trip on a budget using discounts available to everyone and that is why he even said she couldn't use her annual pass. Personally, I think the annual pass makes more sense to use than the Florida resident discount because more Disney guests have an AP than live in Florida and again, an Annual Pass is available to everyone to purchase.

 

[Halbleib1]

I don't care if she uses her Florida Resident thing.

But once she starts using Florida Resident pricing and bringing snacks from home, it differs from the kind of trip I could take and is no longer a trip that relates to me.

I don't get Florida Resident pricing. I can't fit snacks in luggage...heck, I can barely keep it within the guidelines as it is, much less add snacks.

She might as well use the AP, too. Heck, she might as well drive home and sleep in her own bed at night and save the cost of the hotel.

I'm happy for Teresa and her family and hope they have a great time, as I'm sure they will.

It just doesn't relate to my planning of my vacation. But not EVERYTHING is about me, lol. (Most things, but not all.)

We fly and have taken snacks with us on all of our trips. We took the most on our first trip as we had to be prepared for my son. We did not know what he would and would not be able to eat at disney with his disorder. What we could we carried on and what could not be carried on such as pb and jelly we checked.

Many others on these boards do this as well. Some also ship their snacks down or have them delivered from a grocery service.

 

[WaltD4Me]

I don't care if she uses her Florida Resident thing.

But once she starts using Florida Resident pricing and bringing snacks from home, it differs from the kind of trip I could take and is no longer a trip that relates to me.

I don't get Florida Resident pricing. I can't fit snacks in luggage...heck, I can barely keep it within the guidelines as it is, much less add snacks.

She might as well use the AP, too. Heck, she might as well drive home and sleep in her own bed at night and save the cost of the hotel.

I'm happy for Teresa and her family and hope they have a great time, as I'm sure they will.

It just doesn't relate to my planning of my vacation. But not EVERYTHING is about me, lol. (Most things, but not all.)

Teresa can't take the same trip all of us would take. All of our trips differ. She isn't including the airfare or gas it would cost me to get to Disney, but I didn't write her trip off as being unrelatable to me. I've loved following her learning experience on this challenge and truly believe she has discovered what it is like for most of us generally to plan a trip. If she uses a Florida resident discount for one thing, to get La Nouba tickets, I don't have a problem with that at all. Mainly because I really want her to take Stella! I think she would love it!

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

I don't think it's unrelatable, but if you don't live a few minutes from the parks, you need to tack on a few hundred or maybe a thousand dollars for travel expenses.

Also, I think most people would upgrade to the highest resort they could afford. Theresa is choosing to stay at POP because she's never been there.

 

[mommyceratops]

This is the only money I am taking. Everything must come out of the budget. Right now I will have over 800.00 to spend on whatever..... Less if we get the La Noube tickets.

I have a question for everyone: IN the past when we have gone on a trip, my girls usually have alittle money that they take to spend. I am wondering if I should alot them some of the budget money or let them take their own to spend. In "real life" they would use their own money for a special something I wouldn't buy. Talk amongst yourselves.........

My 2DS are 7 and 9 and we give them a spending allowance. They do not make that much allowance to pay for stuff down there. We use their allowance on video games and such toys I don't want to pay for.

We include their spending in our budget. Usually they get what we have extra and I divide that by two and split it.

My 9 year old comes home with money every year. My 7 year old comes home less money and seems to get more along the way.

 

[Ginamarie]

I don't think that using the FL resident discount on La Nouba is a problem. Msot of us are able to find a discount on things one way or another, be it with AP rates, AAA discounts or other reward programs. I think the average person going to WDW is going to find some discounts here and there.

DH is a cast member, so we luck out on discounts. We do NOT luck out when it comes to travel expenses, and it usually costs me around $200-$300 each person in airfare when we go to WDW (and that's trying to get the lowest possible fares). So the $3000 average budget gets eaten very quickly in my situation

I don't expect to be able to relate Teresa's trip to one that I would take, but I look foward to hearing about her experience anyway.

Honestly, I have no idea how the "average" WDW buget is only $3000 for a family of 4-5, especially since most of us have to spend a significant deal in either gas/tolls or airfare. It makes a lot more sense if that budget is based on your WDW spending (or central FL spending) alone. We are lucky enough to have silver passes which allow us free admission to the parks and a CM discount that's usually 50% off of room rates, but otherwise we'd never be able to afford an annual trip to WDW.