Saving money is not always worth it.

[Forevryoung]

How much are cab rides? I am staying very close to the main gate offsite and I wont have a car for my first 12 hours . I dont want to be tied down to the hotel shuttle

 

[ladysoleil]

How much are cab rides? I am staying very close to the main gate offsite and I wont have a car for my first 12 hours . I dont want to be tied down to the hotel shuttle

I really don't know how much it will be, but this article on Mousesavers.com

http://www.mousesavers.com/taxi.html

suggests it's probably in the $15-20 range.

Anyone have a more exact figure?

 

[bugsy]

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!

I agree!! (especially the Filet part, I'm not a frequent beef-eater, but when I want a steak, only the filet will do-I hate gnawing on leather!)
when we are planning a major purchase, we keep our sites on zero financing options, this has worked for us several times over the years..cars, refrid.,
TV, computer, etc

 

[bugsy]

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!!

my dh and I call ours babies too! and our names to them are Mommy and Daddy, of course

 

[Carrie Ellis]

Ok...let me tell you my dog story!

Last September we left for WDW for 2 weeks. A neighbor who had recently moved 5 minutes away insisted to take care of Sheba (dalmation). Now not many people can take care of Sheba because she is territorial and has "strange" moods sometimes. She knows when someone is scared of her and plays up on it. Our neighbor has taken care of numerous times and sheba loves her.

A couple of weeks prior to our departure Sheba's foot had a hotspot that she kept licking. So we were treating it and wrapping it w/ vetwrap to break the habit of licking. We asked our neighbor if she was comfortable w/ wrapping it everyday and she said oh yes and we asked her to come over and watch us once and she said that she would be fine (she did not come over).

Well 4 days into our vacation our neighbor starts calling us telling us that Sheba will not let her take the wrap off and it had been on now for 4 days. It was cutting into her foot because she had pulled on it now. I called a friend and she came over and had it cut off within minutes but it was already became infected and a deep cut. The neighbor did take her to the vet the next day which the bill was about the same price we would have paid if we had kenneled her.

Lesson learned...we will kennel her for now on. For her safety and our peace of mind!! Well worth the money.

 

[minkydog]

We take our own snacks, but I bring out different snacks for different days so we don't get sick of it. Who wants to eat the same Fruit roll-ups for 6 days in a row? I also bring different kinds of breakfasty foods for different days, with one or two "food court" meals thrown in there. We need our Mickey waffles, after all.

 

[EsmeraldaX]

The same as you.

We will not leave our dogs with people we do not trust. First off, my family lives on the other side of the state. They LOVE my pups and have offered to puppysit them at their house while we're away. However, my mom overfeeds them to the point of illness and my dad is careless about leaving the gate and front door open.

My brother & SIL love them but my SIl is 8.5 months pregnant, and even if not, they live in a small apartment that does not permit dogs.

His family HATES dogs. So there you go.

Most of our friends live in the city and do not have cars. Therefore if they had to rush my dogs to the vet in an emergency, they'd be relying on public transportation.

We kennel the dogs at a place that charges approx. $200 for a week per dog for the bare bones treatment (only one outside playtime per day...we could choose more like we did when we just had the one dog, but we are not this time because with 2 it just gets to be too much).

But at least I know my dogs will be taken care of by people who know what they are doing, and that if something should go wrong while I'm away, they will take them to a vets. I would seriously not be able to relax and have fun on my trip otherwise. I'd worry.

We were going to have my SO's 17 year old neice (who is the only member of his family who loves dogs) come by a few times, but we decided to just stick with what we know and trust.

 

[Colinsmom]

We definitely did not go the budget route with our pets last trip (Dec 2004)! We have two dogs - a Lab and an elderly Golden - and a cat. Normally, we'd leave the cat at home and send the petsitter over once a day, the Golden would go stay with my mom (Golden has arthritis and can't do a hard kennel floor), and we would board the Lab (he loves the kennel). This time, we paid the pet sitter to come 3-4 times a day, so our pets were able to stay comfortable at home. The pet sitter runs a business and is someone that we've used for over 3 years now, so we were comfortable with her. Our bill was higher than for a normal 8 day trip, but our pets were so relaxed and comfy when we came home! Not all pets do well left alone for so long, but it really worked well for our lazy bones!

 

[HenDuck]

-we'll share a suite/vacation home instead of staying on Disney property, and we'll eat most of our meals at the "home", BUT

-------we spring for ice cream and churros in the parks.

-------we plan to send the guys to the Richard Petty Experience and the ladies to tea at the Grand Floridian

-------AND we'll pay for car service instead of driving from LAX when we visit DL because no one wants to drive in L.A. rush hour traffic after a 5+ hour flight.

I agree that sometimes, spending the extra $ is worth it. For us, that's why we try to be budget-conscious wherever we can. That way, we will have room in the budget to "splurge" where it matters most!