? for moms of 4 or more

[cinderella_bella]

I am a posting maniac lately. Ok my question is this. Since you all have an above average # of children how does that affect the times you are able to travel? Do you live close to Disney? I live FAR FAR away and it costs me about 800 to 1000 dollars Canadian per person to fly(it would take way too long to drive). Between that and the hotel, food and stuff to just buy for fun it is an expensive holiday. Are you lottery winners lol. I am planning on adding one more child(total of 4) to our family and the selfish side of me thinks I will never set foot in Disney again if I do. So I'm glad if you are still reading. Just wanted to get your ideas on the subject. Thanks.

Tania

 

[ducklite]

Girlfriend--you need to watch your fares a little more closely and get creative! one of my best freinds lives in Calgary, and we still manage to see each other regualry!

Keep an eye on fares out of SEA--a few hours drive can save you hundreds per ticket.

Also keep an eye for fares into TPA, they can often be quite a bit lower.

We've found her fares for as low as $360 r/t CAD YYC to MCO. We got her to EWR from YYC for $230 CAD r/t last summer!

Personally, I think there are too many people on this earth already, and bringing more into the world is just bringing a legacy of starvation and pollution for our children and their children to bear. Whiel I'm not a proponent of zero population growth, if every adult would only have one child (ie husband and wife have two) we could at least keep things as they are.

I'm not trying to bash you for your decision, just stating my personal feelings on the matter.

As far as adding another child, no one can make that decision but you. But you will have to live with your decision. Keep in mind that it also has bearing on your present family situation. No more trips for the kids already here. How will they feel about that?

I guess you have to weight your reasons for wanting another child against the benefits and downfalls of actually having one.

Anne

 

[house_of_princesses]

What if one drove the children down and the one with the limited vacation time flew down? My DH and I do that when he is particularly busy at work. That or watch the air fares and be prepared to jump on the next flight down! A good place to visit may be the Budget Forum. Those folks amaze me at their great money saving ideas!!

 

[4greatboys]

I'm a mom of 4 boys. We live in Texas and we usually fly. Of couse my rates arent near at steep as yours. We fly about $200 pp. Since I want to go to Disney atleast once a year we bought into DVC. So we dont have to pay for our room when we go except for our Universal stay. Disney does have some good discounts for Canadians so just be on the lookout for them. If you rent points from a DVC member you can get a good discount on the rooms and get one with a kitchen so you dont have to eat out every meal.
I also do an online rewards program called my points. So far I earned $50 worth of certs to Rainforest Cafe so that will be one free emal for us.
Try to pay for your trip stuff little be little so its not one big hit. There are ways to make your trip more reasonable.

Bye the way the decision to have another child is a very personal one and I wouldnt tell you to do it or not to do it.
Having 4 kids in our family works out wonderfully for us. I love having a large family. All 4 of my boys are close. Yes it can be tight on the budget, some things you may do without or just have to wait a little longer for it but I wouldnt have it any other way. Good Luck!!

 

[mrsmom]

I am also a mom of four two girls and two boys and we fly to disney everyother year but i too don't have to travel as far as you we fly out of indianapolis for around 200.00 each or cheaper I just try and save all i can and it works out..
As for having more kids are family of 6 works great with us , Since i come from a family of 15 kids.And my parents were very happy too. So you have to make the right decision for your family.But i wish you the best!!
Kim

 

[house_of_princesses]

4greatboys and mrsmom, we, too, are a family of 6. Thanks for addressing the issue of family size. I was left speechless from an earlier post.

 

[toolady1]

my husband and i have 4 girls and 1 boy and 1 granddaughter.the decision to have another is strictly up to you. yes big families mean limited budgets,less vacations,less of alot,but the rewards are endless.we try and go to disney at least 2 a year.i don't live as far and we drive(about 8 hrs.) we do all our driving at night ,the kids sleep. we start buying disney dollars when we come back from one trip (it is easier for us to save money this way)maybe $5-10 a week and just keep saving,bring lots of snacks. just have fun.
again be proud of having a big family we are 8 is enough and still going strong and loving every minute.some not so nice opionions should be kept to ourselves.

 

[crazymomof4]

Your question was directed toward moms of 4 or more and since I actually do fit that description I wanted to reply.
I've re-read your OP and I didn't see anywhere your asking for anyone's "personal feelings" on whether or not you should have another child so I will not give mine. I would, however, like to tell you about my own experience as a mom of 4. We are, like the previous posters, very very happy to have our 4 children. We would not have it any other way. We all have so much fun together and our kids are never bored ( they have live-in best friends!). I didn't have the chance to think it over (DD was a surprise) like you are doing, but while pregnant w/ her my "selfish side" (read: hormones) also thought about what we wouldn't be able to do as a large family. (My other worry was that people would frown upon me and see me as some kind of irresponsible, out of control woman who procreates like a rabbit. I can see that this was not a totally irrational worry.) But it's funny, DD is 2.5 now and I can't think of anything that we are missing out on because of her arrival. Rather, she has brought us immeasuralble joy that we could never place a dollar value on. Anyway, I too really thought seeing WDW ever again was out of the question but here we are, going in Sept.!! I just found more creative ways of saving/earning trip money. (These boards were a big help) Sure, it takes a bit longer to save for things like this, but when we get them we all tend to appreciate them that much more. In general, our kids are growing up learning to value things rather than taking them for granted.
So my suggestions for affording a WDW vacation with a family of four would be: Visit the budget board regularly and use the suggestions posted there. My favorites are: selling on e-bay, saving change, clipping coupons/rebates, staying in a rental home(much cheaper than 2 hotel rooms and not so cramped), eating breakfast at home before going to the parks, packing water/snacks, buying souvenirs at home for much less and taking them along.........Oh, there are too many to list.
As far as the overpopulation issue, my brother and his wife have decided not to have any children, so we had the "2" his wife and he would have had.

 

[Angel717]

The last trip we took to Disney, we were a family of 6. (As a matter of fact, I found out I was pregnant with #5 the day after we got home! ) It was an expensive trip for us and we had to cut back on a lot of things while there. We stopped and bought a few groceries like milk, cereal, lunchmeat, etc. and ate a lot of meals in our room. We spent very little money on souvenirs and watched every penny. I am now trying to plan our next trip for 2005. I've got the kids helping with a coin jar and I'm putting a little money aside when I can for the trip. I know that we can't go as often as we'd like, but we will get there whenever we can. It makes the trips more special when we can't go as often.

Personally, and I know you didn't ask for my opinion , I think that your decision on the size of your family is you and your spouse's decision to make. I hope you all can make it back to Disney soon!

 

[crazymomof4]

4greatboys ~ Looks like our trips will overlap by about 2-3 days. (we're going 9/28-10/11- Disney days will be spaced out over that time period) I'll also be wearing a lime green ribbon so watch out for me too!
I always chuckle when I read your, "the two little ones smell pretty good". Same for me! But my two oldest (11 & 14) can sure stink up a room after an afternoon of basketball! I'm forever saying, "Get in the shower!" Adolesence!

 

[4greatboys]

Where are you guys staying?? We are staying at OKW and moving to HRH 10/11. We are doing MNSSHP on 10/10. I didnt want a Friday night but it looked like the only time we would be able to hit it. I always put Lime green ribbons on our stollers and will have one on my backpack.
I got that tag from a post about teenage boys not caring to shower, lol. My 2 oldest are 15 and 13 and played football so they were not always to fresh smelling, lol.

 

[crazymomof4]

We rented a poolhome in the Hampton Lakes community. We like to do this bc we're in Orlando for 2 weeks and do some other things besides WDW.

I'm a petite brunette and usually wear my long hair "up" in a ponytail, etc. My husband is a 6'1" dirty blonde. My DS's are 6.5, 11.5 and 14. My DD will be in a stroller at 2.5 yo.

 

[funhouse8]

We also have four children. Two boys, 20, 12 & two girls, 17 & 13 Although two might not be considered children anymore they still want to vacation with us. We have stayed on site in the wildernss homes once (very expense, but we saved alot by having our own kitchen.) We can not afford to come every year but was there 2001. On that trip we stayed at the HIFS. (they were running a deal. Every night you stayed you got one night free ) That was a really nice hotel and the kids eat free and now for a limited time grown ups eat free too. The trip we have planned for december is going to be a camping one. we are driving down(first time.) and camping in fort wilderness. The first three nights are 75.00 because it is NYE week. then the rates drop down to 34.00 a night. Not a bad deal if you don't mind camping. I have read on these boards people who fly then camp so it has been done. Whatever you decide I'm sure you will have a great vacation. Enjoy your kids always they will bring you so much joy. Gina

 

[laceemouse]

We have 4 kids 12, 10, 8, and 5. We own another t/s which we trade around and just bought a few points from DVC. It is hard to stay in hotel rooms with so many people and we feel we save money with timeshares because we can fix so many of our own meals. We go to Disney every year or 2 and we usually drive, though we are not quite as far away as you are. You rarely see larger families at Disney. We know a few other families with 4, 5, or more kids and I have to say most of them never go ANYWHERE!!! You do have to make sacrifices to have a larger family unless you are loaded LOL. My DH makes good money but we are not rich by any standards. We will do without some other things so we can go on vacations. We buy cheaper clothes and I am the master at cheap grocery shopping. We plan on driving our current cars until they fall apart! We obviously have computers but we don't buy video games and stuff like that. Only you can decide what you can afford, but I do not think you are being selfish to consider whether you can afford vacations are not with 4 kids. You also need to consider if your other kids would be willing to give up things for another sibling. People are more important than stuff, but we all need some stuff!!!

 

[BevS97]

I don't have 4 kids, but I thought I would jump in on the flight prices you mentioned - I am not in Canada but in the UK which is even further away, and we don't pay anywhere near the kind of figures you are talking about. The best I have found is £185 which is around $250 each, and I have paid upto £300 ($500) but that is the exception rather than the rule. I would definitely shop around for the flights.

Also, look at staying in a condo just off-site, we are staying at the Windsor Palms which is just off-property near the Animal Kingdom entrance, I bet it's not much further away than the All Stars. Depending on the season you can get a 2 bedroom apartment there for $59/night, or they have 3 bedroom ones' too.

Since the airfare is such a huge component of our trip, we travel for a longer stay - usually 14 nights, and combine days at WDW, Seaworld, sometimes Universal (my dd doesn't like it, but older kids love it), with some quieter days just around the condo. I figure if it's costing me a fortune to get here, then I might as well stay 14 nights as 5 nights, the flights are the same regardless!

Although I am only expecting number 2 at the moment, we are having many of the same thoughts - we have enjoyed a couple of wonderful disney vacations, and I don't want that to stop because I have to pay for more kids, but regardless of if you are going from 1 to 2, or 3 to 4, it means more expense and it is something you have to consider.

Bev

 

[scrappinMickey]

We have a lot in common!! I live close to you AND I also have four boys!! (11 1/2, 9, 6 & 5)

cinderalla_bella
We usually drive to Disney (approx 18 hrs), cause it saves us money and we try to go every other year!! Because there are six of us we like to stay in FW Cabins when we can (onsite and cheaper then the villas) But we really enjoyed the HIFS last summer where we all ate free bkfst and dinner was only about $10.00 at the buffet (the kids were free and we paid the extra $10 a night on our room and they gave us a coupon to eat at the buffet each night) It was open late every night!! The rooms were fun (although not Disney)

We love having 4 boys!! And if I could, I would have another to try to have a little girl!!! So, don't let anything stop you if you want another one!! It's your choice!! There are ways to budget and go to Disney!!

 

[4greatboys]

Welcome scrappinMickey to the Dis!
My boys are 15 (16 in Sept), 13, 3 and 1. You are going to love the Dis boards. There is so much great info on here.

 

[crazymomof4]

WELCOME SCRAPPINMICKEY! I agree, having boys is great. Mine are: just turned 14, 11.5 and 6.5. I love my daughter to pieces but I was a mom to only my little guys for so long that I'll always have a special spot in my heart for boys. I just did my youngest DS's bedroom in a race car theme, all primary colors, I had a ball doing it.
Enjoy the boards and if you have time browse around the other forums. I just love the budget board.

 

[scrappinMickey]

Thanks for the welcome!! I get so busy reading all
the posts I forget to post myself!LOL This MB is great,
I've been enjoying all the helpful information that is to
be found here!!

 

[jjjbennett]

I'm a mom of 4 ages 15,11,7,1 and I am trying to talk DH into one last one since there is such an age difference between #3 and #4. Believe me the thought of not going to Disney would never keep me from having another child. To me a disney vacation is icing on the cake of life but the kids are the real meat and potatoes of what makes us a family. We have almost alway taken a nice vacation and the addition of that 4th child did not change a thing about vacationing. I bargain hunt like crazy and while I'm a SAHM I look for opportunities to creatively supplement our income. When I sit around my table and listen to all 4 of my kids talking at once I feel both overwhelmed LOL and incredibly wealthy.