Should we go or cancel

[61292cna]

you are in our thoughts & prayers!!!

 

[Kim1964]

I'm sorry you're going through this.

FWIW, several years ago DH was downsized and I had a vacation planned. I didn't cancel it, but the whole time I was on the trip my stomach was in a knot and I really didn't enjoy myself because I felt like I was spending money that I shouldn't. We weren't in debt beyond our mortgage, but we didn't have a hefty savings account, either. I learned from that experience that I probably wouldn't do that again....I'd rather wait until income was restored and go on the trip without worrying about every dime.

 

[sparkyboy]

No advice but just want you to know that I'm thinking of you and your family. Hugs and best wishes.

 

[Tissa]

As others have said, it depends on your financial situation.

My friend's husband just lost his job as well but they are not only still going on their July trip but she planned a weekend SWW trip for her husband and son since he now had the time off. For them she was able to go full time at work, and they were financially secure with savings in the bank etc. and they live below their means. It's not a hardship to them. for me, yeah it would be, be but others plan ahead so a job loss isn't devastating.

 

[robinb]

I agree with the posters who suggest that you wait until the last minute (45 days?) to see if your DH has another job lined up. If he doesn't, then I would cancel no matter what your savings or finances. It just doesn't make sense to spend thousands of dollars on a vacation when that money may be needed for living expenses next year.

Disney will be there when you are in a better place financially. The company and the CMs make magic for guests every single day and they will still be making magic on your next trip .

 

[hsmamato2]

wow....I thought this was the BUDGET board folks....
Losing a job is losing a job- planning an expensive trip when you know you have no job is so short sighted...IMHO.
planning to rely on unemployment,extra hours scavenged,etc to me is not a sturdy plan. Now I completely understand WANTING to still go, I love this place too! But could OP really relax and enjoy,thinking about coming home to scramble for income to pay next months bills? B/c using emergency fund money will feel just like that,scrambling. It runs out,and unless OP knew DH had another job,she shouldn't go,for now.
I'd wait till the cut off date for all Disney plans,so you didn't get fees for canceling if you need to,and in the meanwhile research the job market to see what could happen there- U'd be very surprised if the airlines didn't work with you to change plans,for way less than $900.00-
If they don't and I had to use the plane tix,I'd fly down,and CAMP somewhere in FL (not FW<it's pricey) just to have some family/beach time that uses the tix we had. WDW will cost a lot over the plane fare,and we all know this......

 

[Va-bear]

Go - stay at POP, scale back your tickets to ONE park day. Use the rest of the days to visit other resorts, swim in the pool, and do "free" things. Take the monorail loop "inside" Epcot and such. The hotel is a little more but includes food for 4 people. Make all your ADR's at non-park restaurants. Since you have to pay tips, consider swapping to CS for some if it's an option.

This one gets my vote. Especially important to stick to the one day tickets - you still get the free food - but can same quite a bit that way. My kids LOVED the pool and Pop and always say "why didnt we use the pool more?" But, I would change my vote if you find out he wont have a job thru the end of the year (to 'dont go'). Also, I'm assuming you work (or I would again change my vote to 'dont go') - if not can you go ahead and start some eveing/part time work now, instead of waiting until he's completely out of work? Hope things look up quickly.

Good luck and enjoy!

 

[love2embellish]

I say go and have a good time especially since it is already paid for.

We considered changing/cancelling our plans too since my husband got laid off a few months ago and now has a new job (at a Delaership) but instead of loosing all $$$ we changed his tickets and bought my son and I plane tickets since he could not go with new job now. We leave in 3 weeks. I hate to go without him but I did not want to dissappoint my son and I have saved my vacation time to go. He iwll nto get vacation time for probably a year now.

 

[bethy]

I think I would wait until I absolutely had to decide to avoid any cancellation fees and if my DH didn't have a good job lined up by then I would cancel. No question about it in my mind unless we had maybe 1-2 years' worth of living expenses saved up already.

The $900 is totally irrelevant IMO since it's a sunk cost.

My husband is blessed right now with really good job security but because of the economy we still decided to postpone a trip we had originally scheduled for next April - just so we can insulate ourselves a little bit with that extra money.

 

[tlh0726]

First thing I would do is call the airline and see what there policy.
Second, I would not make any decisions until the last possible moment.

Right now you are the OMG what are we going to do mode. Do not make any rush decisions.

You said that you have funds already set aside to cover the trip. Therefore you do not need to come up with anything additional between now and then. You are staying at a value and the majority of your meals are covered

You have some time until things happen. Start cutting back on the things that you can really do without (eating out, stopping to buy coffee, extra cable channels, newspaper, etc) Making small changes now will not make it seem as drastic as when the time actually comes that you have no choice but to do so. See if you can add the additional hours to your job now so that you can put the additional money into your savings for later.
.


Personally if it was me (SAHM and my husband is self employed so there is no guarantee of his work) I would still take the trip. (we did so in March). We looked at it this way.

We would have lost the airfare money if we cancelled.
So we could either spend the additional $1500.00 it was going to cost to go ahead and go to Disney as planned or we could have waited and spent $1500 to drive somewhere (beach), get a hotel, purchase meals, etc..
We went to Disney and had a great time.

Did I worry about spending the money while I was there no. I packed snacks and took drink mixes for water each day. I pre-purchased little things to give to the kids so that they would not want everything they saw. They were allow to purchase one small souvenir at the end of the week.
We used the $200 gift card towards meals and shared as much as possible. When we made the decision to go, we also said that we would not be taking another vacation (only day trips, free things, etc) until next year.

We have cut back, (put things down on paper for one month, it is a real eye opener as to where you can actually save money), we also switched to the disney visa that all of our monthly bills get automatically charged to so that we can earn as many rewards as we can.

It was my husband that told me to start planning another trip. (taking our camper next time) He said that he works his butt off all year (sometimes 7 days a week for weeks on end), we deserve one week a year to just have fun.
It is all our 3 and 4 year old talk about since our return. Even the weeks that I have to adjust to cover a bill I do not regret still using the money to go. (we have money in savings that I refuse to touch until I have no choice) I look for deals on everything, if it is not on sale we do not get it. We may eat out once a month if that. Mothers day, fathers day, my and DH birthdays, etc. We opted to not receive gifts but to put that money in our vacation fund. The 4 year old found 2 pennies on a parking lot the other day, she said Look I found some money, I cannot wait to get home and put in our Disney Jar.

Good luck on your decision. It is a personal one that only you and your husband can answer.

 

[SandrA9810]

I did a trip a few years ago to Ft wilderness without being able to get into the parks. We were supposed to spend one day in the waterpark and saved it for our last day... which happened to pour down rain. so we took a rain check to go back a few months later.

With the free dining. I would look into dining at the resorts. And there's plenty character dining outside the parks. And I wouldn't try to bring "extra snacks". Just share the meals, especially for breakfast. There's plenty of huge platter meals, and you get two drinks, so you can get a oj and milk or something. Plus buy at least one cup for sodas in the middle of the day (and you can use it at any resort).
We usually end up doing a lot of character dining on the TS, and end up with like 2 or 3 CS credits at the end of our trip.

There's tons of things to do at ft wilderness resort too. They have the campfire sing a long with chip and dale. A different movie every night. You can watch Wishes from one of the resorts, part of illuminations from the bridge by boardwalk.
And if you wanted to, go to one of the Halloween parties. You can get into the park at 4pm and get plenty of things done at the MK. So you can use your other 1 day ticket some place else. taking advantage of and EMH night.

You can go and definatly make it a lot cheaper than what you were planning on doing. The disney magic is every where. You don't have to be inside the park to have a bit of it.

 

[sk!mom]

I work 1/2 time and can pick up as many hours as needed and make decent money.

Have you considered going ahead and increasing your job to full-time now? I would do that immediatly to really build that savings before DH lost the job. That way if he has to take a lesser job or is out of work for an extended period, you'll be more prepared. If he is able to find some type of job quickly, the extra savings might ease your mind about vacationing.

 

[rewok]

With the additional info you provided, I would go. You are already doing a cheap trip by WDW standard (you might cut on park days to 1-2 only and plan fun by the pool like others said), you have savings in the banks, someone in the house who still has a lob and can increase to more hours if need be. I mean, this is not worse than many families with only one income, the difference is that you'll become the main provider in the house. You are not losing your only family income, which makes a big difference for me.

We had a related situation here: we are DINKs, and usually travel 2-3 times a year. A few months ago, while I wanted to book our all-inclusive beach vacation for the spring, my boyfriend was not so easy about that: his company is not going real well (proven right, they cut 7 out of 15 employees 3 weeks after that discussion), so we decided not to take that vacation. However, I really wanted our WDW trip this fall, so we had a sit-down and looked at the numbers. Our emergency fund is pretty large (enough to live 4 months with NO income at all), we live way below our means, and have little debt: a small mortgage and our one car will be payed off in 3 months. We can live on one salary no problem by cutting extras like vacation, restaurants, ... And that was not including unemployment. So we felt there was no reason to spend our saved vacation money of this pretty cheap trip. If something happens before that, I know we'll cut the rental car, days at Seaworld, ..., and will enjoy ourselves, knowing we can still pay all bills regardless.

As for the plane tickets, unless you booked with Southwest, you'll only get a credit for the ticket cost minus the change fee (up to 150$ each ticket). On Southwest, you'll get the full value as a credit, to be used within 1 year of original booking. They don't really care if you lose your job or something...

 

[KimDis]

I can't believe I'm typing this but self indulgent little 'ol me thinks you shouldn't do it. Now I'd wait until the last moment I could to cancel, but I think you should take the partial loss in the value of the airline tickets if he doesn't have a new job by then.

In January of 2008 I left my job. It took me months to find another. I have friends who left their jobs shortly after who are STILL looking for employment. The market is saturated with VERY qualified applicants.

I had savings and a very decent sized tax refund as well as the most generous and loving support one could imagine from my family. But the following Saturday I went out with some friends, spent less than $15 for dinner and a movie and I had NEVER in life been so painfully conscious of my spending. It was horrible. I'd hate for you to be in the happiest place on earth and stressed over every nickel and dime. It's just draining, trust me.

That said, be encouraged - I was blessed with an AMAZING job four months later. You WILL get through this! Stay strong! Best wishes and my prayers are with you and your family.

 

[Ears]

I just emailed NWA, so we'll see where that gets us. If they are going to charge us $150 to make the changes. It won't be worth it, we only paid $159 total. From reading everyone posts it seems to be 50/50. For what we are paying to stay at POP with FD and park tickets. I don't think we'll save anything staying off site and paying for a car, food, hotel, and some sort of entertainment.
I have already picked up hours and we'll just have to save, save, save. We have also cancelled our gym memberships and cable.
we are going to wait things out, I think we have until Aug to cancel and we'll see where we are at with everything.
There is also talk about GM reversing their decision about this one dealership. But I think that's a long shot. We can always hope though.

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

If I were you and in the shape you have said you are in, I would go ahead and take the trip. You may need it by then. I am figidety right now, as we leave tomorrow night, I NEED this vacation. It seems getting away from home can help make things better and gives you time away from life to refocus, or at least it does for me.

If you had a ton of debt and no way out, I would say no way, but you seem to be all set and with a plan, go relax and don't worry. Worrying makes your life shorter

Suzanne

 

[Chicago526]

I just emailed NWA, so we'll see where that gets us. If they are going to charge us $150 to make the changes. It won't be worth it, we only paid $159 total. From reading everyone posts it seems to be 50/50. For what we are paying to stay at POP with FD and park tickets. I don't think we'll save anything staying off site and paying for a car, food, hotel, and some sort of entertainment.
I have already picked up hours and we'll just have to save, save, save. We have also cancelled our gym memberships and cable.
we are going to wait things out, I think we have until Aug to cancel and we'll see where we are at with everything.
There is also talk about GM reversing their decision about this one dealership. But I think that's a long shot. We can always hope though.

I'm a TA, Northwest (soon to be Delta) will charge you the $150 per person. Now, what they do is subtract it from the value of your current tickets and the balance can then be applied to a future Northwest/Delta ticket within 12 months from the date you purchased the tickets. In your case, if they only cost $159, then really they are worth only $9 towards a future trip, hardly worth the effort. I've never heard of an airline waiving those fees for anything other than the death of a traveler.

In you case, I'd wait until the last possible minute to cancel without further penalties, something may turn around for you by then. If by then your DH doesn't have a job lined up and the dealership is still scheduled to be closed, I'd cancel the trip. There is just no way of knowing how long it will take to find another job. With luck, you'll be able to make it without spending your vacation fund and then once a new job is found, you can re-book immediately, since the vacation money will still be there.

 

[mzlee]

Only you know your financial situation. If it was me I would probably go and scale back as much as possible because I would hate to throw $900 out the window. And since you said money has already been put aside for it go and have a great time.

 

[vicb]

From one gm family to another.... you have my sympathy!

We have been living under this threatening cloud for 6 months or more now. We cancelled our big one week vacation to Arizona this past winter. It was a hard call but we felt better once we did (we had been putting off buying the airfare so we lost no money). We saved like crazy and got our cash fund built up, I got a part time job, paid off debt and over easter we took a last minute quicky trip (four days)to the space coast in Florida. We had found inexpensive airfare, used hotel reward points, sat on the beach and ate inexpensively. The only splurge was our tickets to the Kennedy Space Center, well worth it.

My point is you've got to continue to live your family life, a vacation was important to us but we took one we felt we could afford. If you feel you can afford it then do it, if you aren't sure then don't.

I do feel for you, the whole gm situation is painful !! Best wishes!!

 

[Ears]

Here's the latest.
NWA is a no go, they will not refund our tickets.
DH job-- GM did not reconsider closing the dealership. They are looking at starting with another brand like toyota ect.. He's still looking for something else.
And the worst part is- My father-in-law passed away last week, unexpectantly. I said to DH we are going on this trip. It's been a horrible couple of years as far as losing loved ones. You never know, life is short and our kids will only be young once. My father-in-law loved to travel and if anything good has come out of his death he has allowed us to be able to do this trip with our kids. And not have to worry about spending our last dollar. Oh and he also left us with Buddy his dog, now I'm still not sure if that is good thing yet or not. The kids seem to think so. I really think he was ok with going, he was only 62 and we lost his wife last year and now they are together forever. He is happy once again.
Thanks again for all your suggestions and input, we are going and will make it all work out in the end.