A few years back(10?) we put an offer in on a big house, 5 bed, 1/2 acre land with orchard, double garage, stables etc. we offered £115k, they wouldn't drop below £120k, problem was it wanted another £40 on renovations. It would have meant our mortgage rising from £40k to £120k and no holidays for many years. We have since had many fantastic holidays and still in the same house for 22 years.
The house we almost bought came back on the market a couple of years ago, sold for £500k. Financially we probably made the wrong choice but holidays mean so much more to our family than a big house.
Hiya, I have skipped a few posts so appologise if I am repeating.
I actually disagree with the posters who say dont do DLP.
My first experiences with Disney parks other than tv were at DLP and although I agree WDW is much better, after WDW EVERYTHING is never good enough.
I won't do DLP until prices there come down, BUT as an introduction and incentive there is little to better it. As far as the actual parks are concerned, the castle is much better at DLP and Pirates of the Carribean in WDW is very poor by DLP standards to name two, I could go on, but then again, many wil come bak with the negatives too.
I didnt visit WDW until I was 38, but made it back to Orlando at 40 and will be back at WDW at 41.
That first Orlando trip in 2009 was done on the cheap and a fortnight out there cost me a little more than a week in Bennidorm all inclusive (Orlando was room only) the point being it can be cheaper than you think.
Holidays are never cheap things, but sometimes the value is not about how much money it costs, but how much you get out of it. My family can be instantly be taken back to that first Orlando trip with a picture, smell, sound or even taste and that is priceless.
Times are difficult for most of us and we all cut our cloth according to what our needs are. That first trip will take what seems like forever to scrape the money together for, but don't give up.
ITA. I'm a lawyer and work my butt off2
Here's a story...
Before our kids came along we visited twice, the first time was at the age of 28 and the first time I had had a holiday in 13 years! always staying in cheap locations, took us ages to save.
Then my daughter came along and we scrimped and saved to go again.
Then my son came along and he became very sick and still is suffering to this day. We lost very penny we had ever saved or inherited looking after him. If we had known this was going to happen, we would never have gone to Florida - but we were not clairvoyants!
We were under severe stress and luckily a friend at the HRH gave us a severely discounted rate twice and a family member paid for flights for us.
I started to raise funding for specialist treatment abroad for my son and sadly - someone on this site (I think i know who - when my solicitor gets the IP address from the newspaper in question, the person will be sued - a little warning ) , posted a terrible message on a newspaper website running our story claiming I had spent £10,000 a time on holidays and had been for 10 years in a row ! - a complete lie. This stopped someone who wanted to help my son helping him...
We have no chance of going again at this point.
So my point is, people should not judge, as we have seen, many of us have given up a great deal to have a family holiday.
I don't think I would be type to be Florida mad and go loads as there are to many other places around the world to visit, as long as I've gone once I would be happy
drinking (less) wine
Have a Disneyworld fund (an account which is just for Disneyworld), Put money into it each month, have carboots, sell stuff on ebay. Put in some money that you get from birthdays, dont go on holidays for a while and save what you would normally spend on a holiday in your account. Have a tin which you put loose change in and put that in your account, spend less on family at christmas/birthdays, spend a little less on shopping each week. The amount soon counts up. You can do it if you really try. Thats what i am doing so we can do it together Also keep close eye out for deals and spend lots of time searching for them.
Would love to know more about how this works and maybe see an example if you wouldn't mind - obviously without your figures!I know what i need to save each month between now and next october (£165 a month minimum, preferably nearer £200) to enable us to go. I've gone full geek planner and set up a disney fund tracker on my planning sheet, with multi coloured month traffic lights for bad, average and good savings. It also tracks what i have in physical cash on hand from cash jobs that i put to one side, so i know where the money is and how much is there at any given time.
We managed to save £1000 a month so we could go this August. Simple things like halving the shopping bill, walking to work, drinking (less) wine - saved us £100 a week, we also are careful in what we spend.
Often it can be surprising how much disposable income you flitter away coffees, buying chips and ice cream at our beach - all adds up. I now have an account that manages our food and bills then one for day to day spends - anything left gets paid straight into the holiday fund/balance. We are content knowing we have food, our bills are paid and you do live to your means.
I have a WDW savings account, which I put a set amount of money in every month whether we have a trip planned or not. If I or DH work any overtime or get extra money for being on call that also goes into the WDW fund. We also have a change jar that we put any extra money into. We also don't really drink. we don't smoke and prefer to save our money for our WDW trips!
Me too Though only 4 years qualified!