I know I read about this but I wasn't expecting it

[bex7583]

15k holiday expensive !! but think of it as a 15k all in wedding and i think thats pretty good budget !!

why not set up a small direct debit to run along side the wedding repayments , we had loads of debt and have only just managed to get sorted but all the while we were repaying it i had a £30 a month dd set up its not much but over a couple of years you will have a nice start when in the position to save properly again

i think even staying onsite with free dining dining the amount you will save by not having the 2 bed okw will be huge

[married2mm]

Originally Posted by wayneg

Anyone looking for a late deal Thomsons have some going this weekend for 13 nights at £238pp (plus luggage)
http://flights.thomson.co.uk/thomson...one&destC=none

wow wayne, that's fantastic.
flights for the 4 of us, are practicely the same cost as we're paying for one next august!
sadly can't go though, dh does not have enough annual leave, dd not broken up from uni and ds still at school. if i could, i would!
how often do you spot these deals, is there a particular time of year?

[wayneg]

Originally Posted by married2mm

wow wayne, that's fantastic.
flights for the 4 of us, are practicely the same cost as we're paying for one next august!
sadly can't go though, dh does not have enough annual leave, dd not broken up from uni and ds still at school. if i could, i would!
how often do you spot these deals, is there a particular time of year?

Not been looking for a while but they are often available when kids are in school, older ones at Uni and Other half can't get time off work
Someone posted a few days ago saying there were only about 100 seats filled on their flight, low season they struggle to get people to go so they discount heavily, we then pay for this in school hols, its not that the airlines are profiteering, we have to subsidise low season or the go bankrupt.

[married2mm]

Originally Posted by wayneg

Not been looking for a while but they are often available when kids are in school, older ones at Uni and Other half can't get time off work
Someone posted a few days ago saying there were only about 100 seats filled on their flight, low season they struggle to get people to go so they discount heavily, we then pay for this in school hols, its not that the airlines are profiteering, we have to subsidise low season or the go bankrupt.

we'll just have to look forward to low season when kids educations are all finished, and we're happily retired!

[Portugal1000]

Theres definitely lots of ways to save and still have a great time. We go on 22nd July for 22 nights and this will be our 10th trip since 2005. We are flying indirect for first time £415 with Delta for 3 of us. We have stayed at lots of places including Saratoga Springs three times on free dining in a 1 bed villa. However we really don't like having to have someone sleep in the loving room so we need 2 bedroom which makes the price just too much even if free dining is included. So we stay our our favourite resort, Wyndham Bonnet Creek in a 2 bedroom which is far bigger than a 2 bedroom at Saratoga or OKW. This cost us about £90 a night in summer holidays but cheaper in December which is the other time we go. This is a huge saving but the resort is still fantastic. Its next door to Caribbean Beach and has 5 pools, 2 lazy rivers and lots going on. After our trip this year I realised that we probably wouldn't stay anywhere else from now on as I just loved it. I was actually feeling quite tearful when we left!
We had Universal tickets this year and stayed 1 night at Hard Rock which really bumped up the cost but I could easily live without that. We take $200 a day spending but came back with over $1000 so thats a $1000 less we have to save for next year. We don't really buy souvenirs and don't buy presents for people. My son does buy lots of lego though. The only thing I bought myself this year was 2 pairs of Converse but I could easily not even visit a single shop while there.
When we first went we stayed at a Homewood Suites which I think are great if you are hitting the parks every day. They are around $80 to $120 a night for a 1 bedroom suite but you get unlimited breakfast, managers reception 4 times a week, shuttles to the parks so I think they are a great choice of you are on a budget. If you don't mind being in one room then you can get some really great deals, however I would have a nervous breakdown sharing a room with my 12 year old son for even a couple of days
Next years trip is costing £7000 all in (Assuming we take $4600 spending) I know thats still a huge amount of money but I think its great value for 22 days where everything is included. I started paying for it as soon as we got back from last trip and I only have 2/3 of hotel left to pay. We don't use a credit card while there so never have anything to come back to so just start saving again.

[wayneg]

Originally Posted by Portugal1000

My son does buy lots of lego though.

Have you noticed how expensive Lego has got out there now? We haven't bought any for years but decided to get some for our Goddaughter for her Birthday last week. Priced it up at the Lego store DTD at $29.99 +tax = £20 incl tax.
Exactly same one in Argos or Amazon £12.48 http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produc...referrer=COJUN
I priced 3 different boxes, all were far cheaper in UK. Glad we waited.

[Portugal1000]

Originally Posted by wayneg

Have you noticed how expensive Lego has got out there now? We haven't bought any for years but decided to get some for our Goddaughter for her Birthday last week. Priced it up at the Lego store DTD at $29.99 +tax = £20 incl tax.
Exactly same one in Argos or Amazon £12.48 http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produc...referrer=COJUN
I priced 3 different boxes, all were far cheaper in UK. Glad we waited.

I know, it use to be great when we first went, especially when the dollar crept up to 2 for 1. My son is a real collector, especially Star Wars. He has over 70 of the sets and they are all still built and in one piece. He has now started on Lord of the Rings! He just loves going to the shop in DTD. Thats the first place we go after checking into hotel. We do find that its just as cheap here now and you can get deals in places like Argos where sets are 3 for 2. We tend to just get the smaller sets in Orlando now. He has Jabbas Palace for Xmas which was only £65 here, reduced from £120.

[joolz1910]

I feel your pain.
I wish I was back there every day. I haven't been on the Dis lately because of my 'blues'. We have started saving for our next big trip and I know that it won't be until 2015 at the earliest.

[Rach78]

Same here!
We came back end of October from our 1st dream holiday which we planned for 2 years, and it's so depressing not having it to look forward to. Obviously would love to go again but we would need a couple of years at least to save up and our problem is that our eldest will be sitting her standard grades then so there is no way we could go in October and her miss a week of school so I don't know when we could go as I feel that the summer would be too hot and busy (especially after the perfection of October) and as we are in scotland our schools go back middle of August so can't even try for end of August which some have recommended. Ideally we would go next October again before she starts her 4th year but there is no way we could afford it that soon. What I do know though is that our 'once in a lifetime holiday' is hopefully not going to be that!
Chin up to those in the same boat!
Rach xx

[wayneg]

Those flights for this weekend have dropped to £198 now. A bargain for anyome that can go.
http://flights.thomson.co.uk/thomson...one&destC=none

[2Tiggies]

Originally Posted by Rach78

Same here!
We came back end of October from our 1st dream holiday which we planned for 2 years, and it's so depressing not having it to look forward to. Obviously would love to go again but we would need a couple of years at least to save up and our problem is that our eldest will be sitting her standard grades then so there is no way we could go in October and her miss a week of school so I don't know when we could go as I feel that the summer would be too hot and busy (especially after the perfection of October) and as we are in scotland our schools go back middle of August so can't even try for end of August which some have recommended. Ideally we would go next October again before she starts her 4th year but there is no way we could afford it that soon. What I do know though is that our 'once in a lifetime holiday' is hopefully not going to be that!
Chin up to those in the same boat!
Rach xx

Same boat in respect of holidays - with secondary school starting next year that's the end of term time breaks for us. I wish they would chop a week off the ridiculously long 'summer' (and I use that word loosely ) holidays and give the kids a 2 week break on October so that parents can do something constructive with that time!

[luke]

Originally Posted by 2Tiggies

Same boat in respect of holidays - with secondary school starting next year that's the end of term time breaks for us. I wish they would chop a week off the ridiculously long 'summer' (and I use that word loosely ) holidays and give the kids a 2 week break on October so that parents can do something constructive with that time!

Shortening the summer break and lengthening half terms has been mentioned on occasion. Personally I hope not though, I love that looooooong summer holiday

[Disneynutinlondon]

Originally Posted by luke

Shortening the summer break and lengthening half terms has been mentioned on occasion. Personally I hope not though, I love that looooooong summer holiday

We're lucky that the boys go to a Jewish faith school so they get 9 - 10 days off during September or October depending on when the "High Holidays" fall. That means we get to take holiday out of the main peak school holiday times and as such the prices are lower

[dixonsontour]

Yes DD luckily gets 2 weeks in October hence our preference to go then.

Wish I could go on Sunday - thats a great price for flights and a lovely time to go. Sadly no chance - no annual leave available until May

[2Tiggies]

Originally Posted by luke

Shortening the summer break and lengthening half terms has been mentioned on occasion. Personally I hope not though, I love that looooooong summer holiday

Luke, as a teacher, you hopefully will not have problems with childcare (and the cost!) during school holidays I don't get any leave during the summer although that has been renegotiated from when DD goes to secondary school next year. My daughter hates summer holidays, which is sad. But the reality is that she has to get up just as early every single day through the summer as I need to drop her off for the day and go to work so I would welcome a shift of that one week. It would still be a long holiday