I am a Disney Con Artist!

[Stephani]

I just came to this realization today and I feel so ashamed.

We had NO intention of a Disney visit until Fantasyland was complete.... but as luck would have it, in early June I receive a notice that Southwest is having a 2 day anniversary sale ....... so the con begins.
** Just to be clear, this con is not on others.... I am working the con on myself ! **

After seeing flights for about $200 each RT + my "free" ticket from a prior credit..... and then scoping out that there is a room only discount for a ASMo, I convince myself that I can do a family trip to Disney on the cheap .
*Value - CHECK! - Sure, not my favorite but the kids will like it
*Airfare - CHECK! - 4 people RT Cleveland to MCO for under $650!
*Disney Dining - UNCHECK! - Do we really need it? We have never gone without it but we are now 4 adults in the eyes of Disney so DDP is out = saving $$$
WOW.... Disney can be done at a reasonable cost! (I really had myself going at that point... it may not be my "perfect" trip but hey, I could be going to Disney in less than 2 months!! )

I share all my cost saving ideas with DH and con, I mean sell him on an unexpected August visit to Mickey's place! I have airfare and a room booked within the day!..... then off to DISBOARDS to fill my head with Disney goodness!

I look over the ASMo threads and think how it will be great fun..... but what is this?, POR has Tianna Royal Rooms???.... gee those sure are pretty! The headboards have FIREWORKS?? Oh wow, my girls would LOVE to stay there ( "I" would love to stay there ) ....but no, this is a value trip remember....

Within the week I had conned myself into a half stay at ASMo and then SURPRISE GIRLS, we are switching resorts to be guest of Tianna!

Ok that wasnt so bad right. Now I am good and no more changes! I am saving money because we will stay at ASMo over the higher cost weekend days and then move to POR on Sunday. I am such a saver

With everything set, I was going strong for about 2 weeks until I read one too many posts about bad bussing, starting remembering the bus ques at POP, under the HOT Aug sun with no shade and the craziness of the food court..... I began conning myself into another change.....

BWI is on sale right now and that is walking or boat transport to EPCOT and DHS ..... lots of food choices around ..... yep, Im doing it.... Half stay at POR for the Royal treatment and then other half at BWI for the Deluxe treatment !

So 33 days till we leave and I have turned a simple value visit into a Dream Trip! I did get some since the cast member made my changes and said she would not charge me the $50 change fee on the package portion of my reservation... and I didnt even ask .

It is then that I realized..... I will convince myself that I will be completely happy with one type of trip just to get the ball rolling and then slowly, I transform it into the actual trip I want. That is quite eye opening. Can't say I would have even thought about going if the only option was the one I actually wound up with ​

Please tell me I am not the only one???

 

[carrie1626]

I just came to this realization today and I feel so ashamed.

We had NO intention of a Disney visit until Fantasyland was complete.... but as luck would have it, in early June I receive a notice that Southwest is having a 2 day anniversary sale ....... so the con begins.
** Just to be clear, this con is not on others.... I am working the con on myself ! **

After seeing flights for about $200 each RT + my "free" ticket from a prior credit..... and then scoping out that there is a room only discount for a ASMo, I convince myself that I can do a family trip to Disney on the cheap .
*Value - CHECK! - Sure, not my favorite but the kids will like it
*Airfare - CHECK! - 4 people RT Cleveland to MCO for under $650!
*Disney Dining - UNCHECK! - Do we really need it? We have never gone without it but we are now 4 adults in the eyes of Disney so DDP is out = saving $$$
WOW.... Disney can be done at a reasonable cost! (I really had myself going at that point... it may not be my "perfect" trip but hey, I could be going to Disney in less than 2 months!! )

I share all my cost saving ideas with DH and con, I mean sell him on an unexpected August visit to Mickey's place! I have airfare and a room booked within the day!..... then off to DISBOARDS to fill my head with Disney goodness!

I look over the ASMo threads and think how it will be great fun..... but what is this?, POR has Tianna Royal Rooms???.... gee those sure are pretty! The headboards have FIREWORKS?? Oh wow, my girls would LOVE to stay there ( "I" would love to stay there ) ....but no, this is a value trip remember....

Within the week I had conned myself into a half stay at ASMo and then SURPRISE GIRLS, we are switching resorts to be guest of Tianna!

Ok that wasnt so bad right. Now I am good and no more changes! I am saving money because we will stay at ASMo over the higher cost weekend days and then move to POR on Sunday. I am such a saver

With everything set, I was going strong for about 2 weeks until I read one too many posts about bad bussing, starting remembering the bus ques at POP, under the HOT Aug sun with no shade and the craziness of the food court..... I began conning myself into another change.....

BWI is on sale right now and that is walking or boat transport to EPCOT and DHS ..... lots of food choices around ..... yep, Im doing it.... Half stay at POR for the Royal treatment and then other half at BWI for the Deluxe treatment !

So 33 days till we leave and I have turned a simple value visit into a Dream Trip! I did get some since the cast member made my changes and said she would not charge me the $50 change fee on the package portion of my reservation... and I didnt even ask .

It is then that I realized..... I will convince myself that I will be completely happy with one type of trip just to get the ball rolling and then slowly, I transform it into the actual trip I want. That is quite eye opening. Can't say I would have even thought about going if the only option was the one I actually wound up with ​

Please tell me I am not the only one???

No, you not.
I've been lurking around waiting for those fall discounts to come out. And they have.........
I can easily turn common sense into Disney frenzy.
I don't see a problem with that

 

[kerplop]

I swore our last trip was the last one for at least 5 years, but here I am again! I wish I could get cheap flights. Even during SWA's sales our flights are the same price. Sigh.

 

[pigletto]

I can relate to this so much

If it gets me there I can convince myself that we'd be perfectly happy with the least expensive option and slowly but surely I change this and that until it's ridiculous.
What is working out for us is that we finally sat down and worked out exactly what we are willing to spend to vacation in a year. All trip expenses must come out of that earmarked money. The catch there is that if I can keep costs down a second trip in a year (anywhere..not just Disney) becomes realistic. If I blow it all in one trip then I have to wait another year.
Having that number that I can't go over without borrowing from our next trip keeps me in check.

 

[DisGirl819]

Haha, that is so me!
I always start out pricing values and somehow we end up staying deluxe or villa...DH knows better by now and he just puts up with my craziness.

 

[Couchy]

I did that just recently. When we got back in April I started pricing out a 4 day return trip at the end of June since we already had APs . Booked Swan and had free SW flights and teacher discount onSwan .

Well I got a pin and next thing you know we are staying 7 nights at BC . Cheap trip turns into not so cheap

Had a blast

 

[justcantwait]

My husband, who is so cheap he avoids buying new socks when the old ones are falling apart, has NO problem spending money at Disney. He is now so spoiled he will only stay deluxe. I think our only hope of a "cheap" trip to WDW is to keep showing him pictures of the new AoA resort. He seems interested so far. Maybe I can convince him to do a budget trip without the kids one of these days. At least it'll get us there quicker!

Kathy

 

[moepanz]

I plan on executing my "con" ummm, I mean suggestion for a quick/cheap Sept. or Oct. trip. See we (my DH and I) agreed there was to be no trip in 2012, money being tight and all. (he took a pretty BIG salary hit when he changed jobs) DH told me to batten down and plan 2013 maybe even for 10+ days since we have so long to save. I was completely on board! That was until his salary was recently adjusted back to what it was (Thankfully) So now I see no reason not to go in 2012, after all I love the MNSSHP and so do the kids. The kids, that's it the kids, see my kids love it too I'm sure my 9yr old and two 6yr olds will need a break a few weeks into the school year poor little things..... LOL!!!

The air fare is going to be the hardest "sell" of this and I am not sure if I can pull it off but, darn it I am going to try. .

This is why I love the Dis. We are all enablers here, and we can give each other "con" tips. or "vacation planning advise" sure that's what you call it LOL!!!

Enjoy your trip!!!!

 

[gtpoohbear]

Haha, this so reminds me of my mini-trip last March! DH had to go on a business trip for a week, so I thought it would be a good time to go to Florida to visit my sister, who had just had a baby, and see my parents because it had been several months. (Sis lives in Port St. Lucie, parents in Naples)

I discovered that, as usual, it was cheaper to fly into Orlando than any where else down there, plus I could get a direct flight, so I booked it and rented a car. Told my sister I was going to stop by Downtown Disney for a couple of hours on the way - the kids would enjoy it and I was needing a "Disney fix" something fierce!

But I couldn't stop worrying that our plane would be late, or there would be bad traffic, and we'd end up not having time, since I didn't want to be too late getting to her place, a couple of hours away. Maybe we could stay near DD for the night, and not be rushed. Looked into a few of the off-site hotels near there, nothing really excited me though. Finally gave in and "just looked" to see what a Value would cost, and convinced myself it was worth it. Thought I better invite my parents and sister too though, and we decided to book two rooms at ASMo. This way I wouldn't even need the rental car, we could just take ME and meet my parents at the hotel!

But I hate 1-night stays! You don't have time to settle in, and it feels like you are checking out just hours after you checked in. So I talked myself into doing two nights, then we would have a whole day to spend at DD and not be rushed.

Well if we were going to have that much time, I might as well see if I could get DD(8) into the BBB at DD at the last minute. She's done it several times in the castle and loved it. Sure enough, they had an opening that morning! And heck, we might as well try to do a character meal too - but wait, here's where DH started getting antsy. He detests DtD, so no green-eyed-monster there, and he refuses to stay in a value, so we were good there, but he was adamant that DS(1) was not going to meet Mickey for the first time without him!

But he decided the princesses were okay, since DS was unlikely to care much for them anyway. So I got us dinner at 1900 Park Fare! The time wasn't ideal, but thanks to my stalking over the next couple of weeks, I was able to bump it up to something almost perfect

And gosh, we were still going to be eating and awful lot of meals in the ASMo food court, but my mom is so picky that most TS dinners are out. Breakfast should be okay though, and hey, look at that, AKL isn't that far from ASMo! loved Boma for dinner, let's try it for breakfast!

About a week before the trip I almost talked myself into upgrading to a Mod, but was able to hold back. And DH remained steadfast that we were NOT to go to a single park without him, not even waterparks! But DD was fun, and we even got a "bonus night" at the Boardwalk area, which I had never been to, and was the stimulus to get us to change our minds about Contemporary for next year and go with YC.

But our two-hour stop by DtD turned into a full mini-vacation complete with a resort stay and ADRs, lol! So yes, I understand completely.

 

[greeneggs1082]

I've kind of done this, too, lol, but without having booked anything yet. I started off convincing DH that we could go for a trip if we stayed at a moderate (he hates hates hates Value after our trip to one last year). So I had it all set up to get a room at POR for around $800. We have AP's, so no ticket cost (and my Mom, who is going with us, has an AP also). Then, DH let me know he wasn't really excited because we weren't getting at least a one bedroom villa. Sooooo, I started pricing those, trying to find the LEAST expensive one. But, there really wasn't one, lol. So I asked him if it was a villa or nothing at all and he said no, so I had hope of a "budget" vacation. Then I basically said f-it, and am now planning on booking a one bedroom at SSR with DxDP (which was chosen because of the restaurants we want to eat at, and because we aren't going to be going hot and heavy at the parks since we can go pretty much anytime since we live in Orlando). I had wanted to stay at a resort we'd never stayed at, but when we were at SSR last year (Disney moved us there from ASMuFS because of many issues), I really didn't get to see a lot of the resort because we did mostly parks because DH's sister from Germany was with us. This time, we want to spend more time at the resort, so I figured the really good AP discount gives me a reason to stay there again.

 

[BuzzLiteyear]

My husband, who is so cheap he avoids buying new socks when the old ones are falling apart, has NO problem spending money at Disney. He is now so spoiled he will only stay deluxe. I think our only hope of a "cheap" trip to WDW is to keep showing him pictures of the new AoA resort. He seems interested so far. Maybe I can convince him to do a budget trip without the kids one of these days. At least it'll get us there quicker!

Kathy

- For a minute, I thought that my wife was writing this

 

[jenifferf00]

I'll raise my hand. We had a trip planned to New Hampshire, which is driving distance from our house, nice, close, 4 day family trip. I realized we could book a value resort with free dining and flights for only a few hundred more, so we switched to a Disney trip.

Realized 5 nights was too short, changed it to 6. Realized we wanted DDP, not quick serve. Realized we wanted CSR not All Star Sport. Realized we wanted to stay 7 nights, not 6... this is what I'm working on now. My DH has realized he would like Poly over CSR, but I have put my foot down. I think.

 

[alex9179]

I have done something similar and I blame SWA!!!!

If they hadn't had the sale I wouldn't have changed anything but with that low airfare we decided to fly instead of drive. That meant we had more days we could add to our vacation, which meant adjusting the room reservation.

We started out as 5 days at the Poly, changed to 6 days at Club level, now we've added two nights at POR at the beginning with a switch to Poly Cl for 6 nights. Man, this is gonna be fun!

Our tickets were already purchased and we're getting the TIW for TS and a couple of CS. All of my ADRs have been in place for a while and nothing needs changing, although I'll have an extra night for either Kona or Be Our Guest (if they've opened it).

 

[AndreaDM]

I did the SAME thing! I found super cheap flights from Youngstown, but then realized we could fly out of CAK (less than 10 min. from our house) for $30 more pp. We were going to go ONLY for MNSSHP and ONE DAY at Epcot for F&W for my birthday and staying offsite. That has now changed to 4 day hoppers staying at AoA. NOT getting the dining plan though, but if we can get a rental car cheap we'll do that and stock up on snacks and drinks. It's amazing how a super budget mini trip can snowball...

 

[*Fantasia*]

So how much more are you paying now vs stay at the ASMovies? Yes, it is definitely a real trip! You would probably would have saved much more if you would have kept the ASMovies. Maybe by the time you guys actually get there, you'll be staying at CL! Enjoy!

 

[Stephani]

I LOVE reading all the similar "cons" that we put ourselves through to get to that Glorious WDW Gate! ​

I am not the best at tagging / quoting lines but GTPOOHBEAR, I think we share the same brain!

Alex9179.... SWA is the true con artist here! Getting there is our major challenge and if they have a good sale, I am in big trouble Bad SWA!

Jenniferf00.... I think you worked the most miles out of your 'con'..... from New Hampshire all the way to Disney...impressive!

*Fantasia*..... My first ASMo reservation was about $1100 w/one day passes... then first change added about $250-300 when I split the time with POR. Then expanding on those two reservations, I moved POR to the beginning of the trip and put BWI at the end it added about $300 to one first and $350 to the second..... SEE, I am doing it again... it is so much easier to type $300 here or there vs the $1000 it truly cost me.

What makes me feel OK about all this is I know DH is happy we are not actually staying at ASMo. We did a "Value" trip to Dallas this past spring break and booked a LaQuinta in Plano for an amazing $55/night (and it was a really nice hotel!).... we stopped by the THE GAYLORD for lunch and he was seriously ready to go pick up our bags and check us in there for the rest of our trip! "I" had to talk him down from the ledge and explain to him that it just was not gonna happen... he wanted the $350 a night room

KEEP SHARING YOUR CONS!!! Love ALL the replies so far!!!!

 

[Tink415]

I just came to this realization today and I feel so ashamed.

Snip

Please tell me I am not the only one???

Yes, you are. And quite a good one at that.

I've been guilty of the same.

How did you find 'BWI is on sale right now' ?

 

[summerw]

You are sooooo not the only one. We had a weeklong trip planned to stay in FIL's timeshare in Hilton Head which changed to a timeshare near WDW. Then I used a fancy spreadsheet to convince everyone the numbers really weren't so different, from a room in Pop that is. Now we're staying in a suite in AoA. Fortunately, Disney's pics sold the family on that for me. Oh, and it was upgraded to 10 days because, we've never been and don't you NEED that much time to see the parks if you live in CA and won't get back again for a while? Well, then Free Dining came out and we had to add 2 days at the beginning to get there in time for FD dates. So 7-night trip in free timeshare in Hilton Head to 12-night package at AoA. Total con, and everyone's happy.

 

[texasgirl73]

It's easy to do. You pay for one option and then after a while its just the difference you have to pay, so it's easier to swallow. I remember extending one of my trips by saying "it's just $600 dollars more, what's $600 in the grand scheme of things?"

 

[tinkerbellybutton]

OP,
We are so much alike. LOL.

First of all my mother and I had a "cheap/short" trip booked to take my kids to disney in late July while DH is away in Germany. We started out with 6 nights at a moderate resort. Of course I wanted to arrive a night early so we had a full first day, and I always surprise my kids with an extra night at the end of our trips at a new resort. A DVC friend of mine had some points to spare so our "little getaway" turned into one night in a one bedroom at AKL Kidani, 3 nights at CBR, 3 nights at YC, and a surprise night at BWV. So much for a cheap/short trip.

Then comes the con part. LOL. Just today my friend called me to ask about Mardi Gras in WDW. She is taking her girls next year and is thinking about going over Mardi Gras. My brother and his wife have been talking about maybe going for Mardi Gras, and my brother in law keeps saying he isn't going back till Thanksgiving 2013, but he knows once Mardi Gras comes around he'll want to go back. It doesn't help that my son's birthday is the day before Mardi Gras next year, and my kids are off of school. I sent BIL a text saying I was getting the itch for Mardi Gras. His response "I dare you! All we need is an excuse. LOL!" I told him all I need is to have all our family, and DS's cousins in WDW for his bday to convence DH we need to go! LOL!