Saving money is not always worth it.

[4fordisney]

We had thought about getting a friend to house/pet sit for us. As the days go by I have already started to worry. Will he feed the dog on time, will he give him his joint maintenance, will he let him out often enough, will he remember to let him back in, etc.? So I decided it would be better to leave our dog at the kennel we normally use. It will cost us about $150, but there will be no worries for us. The kennel we use is very nice...like a luxury hotel to a dog. He will have his own indoor, heated/cooled pen with a doggie door to his own outdoor pen. Then he will be let out into the 1 acre yard for one hour each day....where the owner will play with him. The lady who owns and runs the kennel LOVES dogs and treats them like kings and queens.

So sometimes it isn't best to cut corners.

Are there some ways you could save money, but you choose not to for various reasons?

 

[minkydog]

I feel the same way. My dog is such a nice dog but he's too territorial to have someone entering my home to take care of him while we're gone; he'd probably eat their face off . So he happily goes to the kennel where he gets a long just fine. I figure the cost into the budget and cut corners elsewhere. For instance, we don't eat out at every meal, we split meals, we don't do dinner shows very often, we hardly ever do charactor meals(my kids don't like them. ) I know he is being cared for so I don't worry.

 

[bugsy]

Are there some ways you could save money, but you choose not to for various reasons?

we could go value or moderate, but, I have a 12+ hr workday, with more than plenty of stress involved, my vacations, and all that is involved, are precious to me! I want the best I can afford at the moment

 

[disneyjunkie]

Are there some ways you could save money, but you choose not to for various reasons?

During our first trip back in 2001, I bought 5 day park hopper plus passes for a 7 night trip. I had read that was a good way to save money. It may have saved money but we were not happy on our off days. After spending the at the water park, resort pool, or just taking it easy, we wanted to hit a major park.

I'll never do that again. Now I only buy park passes that will allow us to enter a major park each day of our trip.


Last year I took down a ton of snacks and breakfast food to help cut cost. Most of it went in the trash at the end of the trip. Who wants to eat boring snacks from home, when there are so many yummy things in the parks you can have? This time I'll take a few things for a late night snack in the room, but that's it.

 

[scorp111]

we could go value or moderate, but, I have a 12+ hr workday, with more than plenty of stress involved, my vacations, and all that is involved, are precious to me! I want the best I can afford at the moment

Even though we do go Moderate, and have went value, I can relate to this statement.

We could shorten our trip, we could stay off-site, we could have less spending money etc, but our WDW trips are meant to be an escape.

Being Americans living in Canada, we could also wait to buy items when we visit the US, but who wants to live life waiting? (most consumer products are cheaper than the US, and certainly taxed less!)

 

[Muushka]

Are there some ways you could save money, but you choose not to for various reasons?

Yes. Fun thread!

We buy butter. I hate margarine. We buy it 4 lbs at a time, to save!

We have sattelite. We went without TCM, Speed Channel, Discovery Channels and Fox News for a very long time and now we get all the TV stations we both love. And I appreciate it every single day. Sacrafice is not a bad thing!

We only eat Filet Mignon when we have steak. We buy the whole loin and slice them ourselves and pay a little less than $8 lb., to save!

We own DVC. Not sure where that fits in.

When we buy something major we do not cut corners. We get pretty much exactly what we want, but we shop for the best price or wait for a sale.

We have a cat, and she would pitch a fit if she had to go to a kennel!

 

[Ready to go in Ok]

I completely understand about the kennel. Once we worked out the logistics of when my DH and I could take vacation days at work, I then called the kennel to make sure that they had an opening for my babies (my DD hates for me to use that term ). Luckily they did, but if they had not, we would have changed our dates to accomodate the kennel.

We thought about driving to WDW instead of flying b/c it was considerable less to drive, and we have family who live about half way, and more family who live in Gainesville, with whom we could have spent the night on the eve of our arrival. However, the thought of 2 days in the car with anxious DD's (DD16, DD13, and DD11), and then 2 more days in the car on the return trip gave us pause. We can barely go to Blockbuster without them "cramping" each other. Also, they love to fly, so it is a bonus to the trip for them!!

 

[MermaidsMom]

During our first trip back in 2001, I bought 5 day park hopper plus passes for a 7 night trip. I had read that was a good way to save money. It may have saved money but we were not happy on our off days. After spending the at the water park, resort pool, or just taking it easy, we wanted to hit a major park.

I'll never do that again. Now I only buy park passes that will allow us to enter a major park each day of our trip.


Last year I took down a ton of snacks and breakfast food to help cut cost. Most of it went in the trash at the end of the trip. Who wants to eat boring snacks from home, when there are so many yummy things in the parks you can have? This time I'll take a few things for a late night snack in the room, but that's it.

We have had the same experience with taking food from home!! With all of the fun foods at WDW no one wants to eat a granola bar. Not when they can have a sundae from Beaches and Cream or a pizza slice from the Spoodles window. Or a pastry from the patisserie in France.... I could go on and on! We did the same thing with tickets during our first trip and from then on have had AP's. Never again will we scimp on park passes! We are going in 17 days and it's all I can think about!
We also kennel our dog during our trips, it's worth the peace of mind.

 

[Tissa]

Last year I took down a ton of snacks and breakfast food to help cut cost. Most of it went in the trash at the end of the trip. Who wants to eat boring snacks from home, when there are so many yummy things in the parks you can have? This time I'll take a few things for a late night snack in the room, but that's it.

This is soooo true. After the 2nd day no one including me wanted to eat what we had brought. Also brought a case of water but only used a few. Who wants a warm bottle of water at the parks? The only thing that got used were the diet cokes.I got the dining plan this trip.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

We try to save money wherever possible, but staying onsite is something we won't compromise about, even if it means we have less space or amenities.

I also bought a new car because even though the old one was paid for, it wasn't worth the safety risk and headaches of keeping it. I figured with it's mechanical problems I'd be spending the money one way or the other and with my late night commute to work it wasn't worth it to be broken down in the middle of the city or on the highway on my way to work.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

This is soooo true. After the 2nd day no one including me wanted to eat what we had brought. Also brought a case of water but only used a few. Who wants a warm bottle of water at the parks? The only thing that got used were the diet cokes.I got the dining plan this trip.

LOL, know what you mean. We pick up one of those cheap styrofoam coolers ($3) to cool the drinks in the room (DH drinks tons of bottled water). We also bring some of those "lunchbag" style coolers to keep in our bag for the day -they hold two drinks and even without ice packs they keep the waters cold for several hours. Hey, every bit counts, right?

 

[MrsPete]

I think this answer would vary from trip to trip for me. Last year we stayed at Wilderness Lodge (with an excellent code and a free upgrade); this year we're scrimping and are staying off-site for the first time. Why? Because last year Disney was our only vacation. This year it's a quick stop as we pass through on the way elsewhere.

We always look at food as a scrimp-to-splurge thing. We have breakfast in the room so that we can afford to eat somewhere really cool for dinner. No one complains.

I'd say where I scrimp and where I splurge really varies from trip to trip.

 

[HappyLawyer]

i feel there are so many ways to save money, without the correct planning you could visibly spend a lot more on a disney vacation. I do not have any pets, but i know what you mean by saving money is not always worth it, we had a 2 day wait until we could chcek into our villa, so i found a great rate for a suite only 39 bucks, and while it was roomy and spacious it was jsut as horrible, sometime you just cannot be cheap when it comes to certain things-this was the lesson i learned especially without having some type of verification. I would suggest if your dog's care is that important to you-and it sounds like it is, maybe shorten your trip by 1 day, or skip a park on a day, just drive around or have a relazed day and the amount of tickets for that day would cover the dog's care. I hope it all works out-take care

 

[CheapMom]

I think you are smart to get a kennel- what kind of vacation would you have if you were stressed and worried. It isn't the price of things so much as the value of them.

 

[Taja]

Definitely agree with everyone about the kennel or other known caretaker for beloved pets! I was lucky when I had my dogs that family and friends begged to take them home with them when I traveled! They were spoiled rotten when I returned!

I've stayed at WDW deluxe resorts (concierge), moderate resorts and value resorts. Enjoyed all of them for different reasons. If a value resort is the final piece of the equation that makes the trip feasible, it works for me! I definitely agree about researching offsite lodging even for one night! Too many places just don't live up to their advertising!

I'm accustomed to sacrificing in some areas to enjoy other things. I have basic extended cable, use dial-up internet service, carry my lunch and bottled water (healthier and less expensive). Small things in themselves, but it saves about $1,000 per year for other things. If I really want to have lunch out, I do, but I prefer my own cooking most of the time!

I bought a new car in 2003 after totaling my beloved little 1986 Mazda in 2001 (had about 42,000 miles on it) and driving a back up vehicle with no air conditioning for two years. The old vehicle needed about $2,000 to $3,000 work (including the A/C), so I used that plus my settlement money for a down payment on the new car (another compact). I'll have monthly payments for another year, but maintenance should be minimal for two or three more years. Dependable transportation is a necessity where I live!

In general, I won't compromise on basic daily living comfort (home in a decent area, utilities (reasonable indoor temperature, water use, etc.) and dependable transportation. Everything else is open for negotiation!

 

[SnowWhite]

Here are the totals

Leaving Peterborough Oct 28, getting to Orlando on Oct 29 staying at The Pop Century 1 night 110.40 tax included. Going to OKW staying 5 nights starting Oct 30 renting points (assuming I can get $10/pt) costing 400.00

Total cost of accomadations= 6 nts for $510.40 tax inc.(from stay at Pop)

Original plan to stay only 5 nights splitting stays 2 nts at Pop and 3 nts at CSR
with a total cost of $772.74 tax incl.

Total savings of $262.34

Not too shabby!!!!! Now I can get those mickey ears I've been wanting!!!

 

[mickeyluv'r]

During our first trip back in 2001, I bought 5 day park hopper plus passes for a 7 night trip. I had read that was a good way to save money. It may have saved money but we were not happy on our off days. After spending the at the water park, resort pool, or just taking it easy, we wanted to hit a major park.

I'll never do that again. Now I only buy park passes that will allow us to enter a major park each day of our trip.


Last year I took down a ton of snacks and breakfast food to help cut cost. Most of it went in the trash at the end of the trip. Who wants to eat boring snacks from home, when there are so many yummy things in the parks you can have? This time I'll take a few things for a late night snack in the room, but that's it.

Oh, i agree so much. We always try to have a "relax" day in the middle of our trip, and somehow it is just so hard to sit still when there are four parks nearby. Last year, we even had one marathon day when we arrived for early entry (before 8 am) at Epcot, I think, then we went to MGM for a bit, returned to Epcot for Illuminations, then we all said, "Hey, MK's open for another three hours!" So we went over there. One of the best parts of the trip was racing into MK at 9:30, when hoards of people were leaving. It was like that MC commercial - priceless.

I also agree who wants to eat something that's been in your fanny pack getting warm all day...We once saw a little girl eating those fruit-roll up typre gummy bears out os her fanny pack on the bus. She was offering them to her sister, "Try these, they're nice and warm." Ewww! But we do bring water with us.

For the dogs, we do the dogsitter thing. She takes very good care of the dogs and feeds the fish. Plus , we know someone is checking the house several times a day. When we tried the kennel, our dogs all got kennel cough - it cost quite a bit to treat all three dogs at the vet. (and it isn't cost effective to get the dogs vaccinated ahead of time either)
Once we let a friend watch them - we found out from the neighbors that the police had to come because the dogs were found wandering outside, and the door was left open! Not only that, but we found a few surprises around our house - like glitter all over the floor, and lots of hair in our bathtub...(and more, but it gets even more grose) it was a bit creepy. Won't do that again.

 

[crisi]

Oh, lots of things.

We will haul snacks in the park - including frozen water (DVC, so fridge) and have breakfast most days in our rooms. But that is as more about time as money - we never seem to be by the pastry store in France when we are hungry, we are standing in a 20 minute FastPass return line for Jungle Cruise. (And I like warm gooey fruit snacks).

But I wouldn't stay offsite or value. I wouldn't buy tickets for less than all the days in my trip. I wouldn't skip eating sit down once a day (did that...never again!) or having the occational adult beverage with my meal. I wouldn't stress over being late for something using the Disney transportation system when I can take a cab (we love the buses when we have time).

 

[mshrm]

saw alot of great suggestions...

I was going to take alot of snack for the room and now Im rethinking that idea.

Was thinking of upgrading the tickets to the plus but wasnt sure if it was worth it with all the park stuff to do. Rethinking that idea as well.

Great thread! Thanks.

 

[ladysoleil]

We're staying offsite, mostly because we're not there solely to do the parks, we're visiting friends as well, and I think we'd feel deprived to stay onsite for 4 days when we know we only have 2 days at MK. I love my friends, but I might be a bit sad looking at all the stuff we can't do.

That said, we're definitely going to use cabs instead of waiting on park shuttles. It's expensive, yes, but I'd rather have a private, comfortable car ride when I want it that takes me where I want it to, than deal with running around after buses and standing on lines.