"I Was Just Shown The Bill..." side comment

[Ozymoe]

I had to laugh about going into the DIS mode. Does anyone else go into that mode as soon as someone says-"We're thinking about going to Disney sometime next year."?

My poor neighbor said that the other day, and I must have kept her talking for a hour. Plus sending her all my links, including this one, and our 2 dis guidebooks. She must think I'm nuts, I just got so excited for her I pratically had her daily schedule planned by the time I was finished.

Yup! Yup! Yup! Uh-huh!!!

...and if you think you're bad with friends, I once did this over breakfast at a resort with complete strangers!

...they do email me every once in a while to tell me how their May 2005 trip is shaping up (and to say "thanks again") so my advice was very much appreciated, though!

 

[Coach Rick]

I had to laugh about going into the DIS mode. Does anyone else go into that mode as soon as someone says-"We're thinking about going to Disney sometime next year."?

OMG...I thought I was alone at dominating conversation when in the presense of a Disney Rookie.

Last semester I took a Psychology course, and one class a class mate mentioned she just returned from WDW, and another mentioned she was planning a trip in June for the first time in her life. Well that was it for that class. I eneded up in front of the class doing question and answers. We spent an hour talking Disney, and the professor took over and actually talked Psych for 30 minutes.

My question was when will people understand us. But then...who cares

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

Last summer, we shared part of our trip with my DB and his family. He had my cell phone number programmed into his phone under the heading "Disney Expert".

For the most part, I restrain myself from going into DISmode when people mention that they're doing a WDW vacation. I usually ask where they are staying and when they are going. If I've been there during that time period or stayed at that particular resort in the past, I'll add a few comments but that's it. I find that way too often, someone who has never been there thinks that they know so much more than I do because they read "this" or "that" in a guidebook.

But if someone asks me how we can afford to go to WDW every year, in addition to other vacations, LOOK OUT! I go into hyper-DISmode and all that pent up WDW info comes spewing out. I'm sending them links and printing out info on ticket prices, room discounts and dining deals. It's probably very annoying to my non-Disney-obsessed friends and family.

 

[chipmunkfan]

Thank God for these boards!!! I booked a package in December because of such a low down payment Disney was offering. I was searching the fodor's forum and someone recommended this site. How lucky was I??? I immediately cancelled my package and booked a room applying the AAA discount...saving $300. I have learned so much from this site. Now, I'm addicted because I leave my DIS forum open all day long at work. When I need a break or need to get out of being in a bad mood, I just read some threads. Thank you everyone for saving me money and making me happy. I am constantly recommending this board to anyone who is considering a vacation...Disney or not...after they read this board I'm sure their vacation will be at Disney...

 

[mom23boys]

I agree the prices that they give you on DisneyWorld.com are daunting. I could not imagine paying those prices. We joined the DVC about three years ago. While I cannot take advantage of all of the discounts people on the Dis talk about, this site has been a great saving tool and the recommendations are awsome.

 

[leebee]

I love saving money, and have learned how to save ALOT right here. We spend about $1000/week when we go, and that includes airfare from Maine! I'm getting a rep around here for cheap vacation planning- just got an email titled "car rental queen"...but *my* codes (OK, the ones we all use all the time!) saved my friends about $400 in car rental for a trip to Atlanta in Oct.!

 

[mowsluver]

We will be driving from NM and it is a 30 hour drive, which we begin at night (I love to drive at night!) and that way the kids sleep for a good portion of the trip. It has a DVD player which will help during the day. We are renting the van for 2 weeks, for about $1000. including insurance. We will be staying at a condo booked through a military vacation club, which will be the cheapest thing for us....$264 for the week! The tickets will run us about $1300 and we are also doing the MNSSHP and the Princess breakfast.
We are hitting the dollar store beforte going to stock up on those lighted necklaces, etc.

I always try to have more money than needed because we just HAVE TO HAVE those Splash Mt, rollercoaster pics!!

My daughter will be leaving for Marine Corps boot camp about a month after we get home so I want to have a great trip, and not have to scrimp TOO much!! This will be our last family vacation for a very long time....

 

[crazymomof4]

I'm sending them links and printing out info on ticket prices, room discounts and dining deals. It's probably very annoying to my non-Disney-obsessed friends and family.

I do this too and I am always disappointed when the info isn't appreciated or worse! For ex. a friend told me when she and her family got back from their WDW trip, "While we were there I was thinking about how we were having just as much fun as you guys did and I didn't have to do all that planning that you did!" I wanted to say, "Ya, but we probably spent half as much to have the same amount of fun!"

 

[disneychrista]

Yup. So many people have the impression that WDW is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that takes years to save for...

While I agree that it can be done a lot less then the inflated WDW packages quoted on the website but for some it really will be a once-in-a-lifetime trip. As much as I would love to go back to WDW, I am not sure how we will make it over there again. It will take years to save for us to go again. Hopefully after I pay my car off (July 2006) I can put that money away for another trip. But then again we might decide we would rather go to Hawaii.

 

[LovePug]

I have to say that it makes me a bit sad to think of the many families who, excited to finally plan trip to WDW, go the official website, come up with a $$,$$$ package price and just say, well, we just can't afford it and never go.

This was the exact thought I had when I read the original post.

 

[DisneyAddict_M]

ITA! I'm a single mother making average income and getting a little child support. I saved up for a trip to WDW last year in less than 9 months and I'm planning on taking another trip this year. I love the DISboards!!!

ETA: I just read the rest of this thread. DIS mode! lol! I belong to a private message board. Every time someone on there is planning a trip to Disney, they email me asking for my advice. I give them such an earful with links, tips, advice, etc. I'm considered the Disney expert on the board.

 

[mowsluver]

If this was something we really had thought about beforehand, I wouldn't have quit my job!

We go to DL every year and since we live closer, we don't have to rent the van for so long, and the drive is only half the drive to WDW. After we went last summer, we had some money left over and for stupid reason, decided to take an unplanned trip to Pensacola FL. Me, the 2-17 year olds and the 4 year old (husband stayed home). If I only knew that things were going to change, I would have taken that money and started our WDW fund.
When we found out in Dec that our daughter had her life planned and would be leaving us NEXT (this) Dec I said "road trip!!!" and thought WDW would be the ultimite last family vacation for us....
Anyway, I crunched some numbers last night and we have money for all the essentials , now we need money for food, etc while there, as well as those "souveniers you just can't live without"!!!!!

 

[poohj80]

I totally agree with everyone which is why I help so many friends and relatives book their WDW vacations to help spread some of the magic.

I would add though, the original $16K estimate was for a 2BR suite at the Beach Club (not a 2BR at BCV)and I don't know many folks who would typically consider those accommodations.

While I agree that it can be done a lot less then the inflated WDW packages quoted on the website but for some it really will be a once-in-a-lifetime trip.

I have to admit that even though we plan and try to find the best deals when going to WDW, we have the DL 50th anniversary package booked for May. We don't know as much about DL as WDW and we don't want to hope that discounts come out closer to time when this is more like a once in a decade trip (haven't been to DL since 96). We want to make sure we get to do everything and stay where we want so we just bit the bullet and booked a Disney package.

 

[Chicago526]

I have to say that it makes me a bit sad to think of the many families who, excited to finally plan trip to WDW, go the official website, come up with a $$,$$$ package price and just say, well, we just can't afford it and never go. I wish there was some way to link them straight to mousesavers or here so that others would realize that regular, middle-income families can and do afford WDW vacations...feel like so many are missing out on the magic, KWIM?

Karla B.

Well, I don't feel that bad for people who take no time to do any research. You research any other major purchase, right? You don't buy a car, house, boat, pick a college, plan a wedding, with out doing at least a little bit of reading up, right? Why would a big vacation be any differant? There's two shelves at Barnes and Noble devoted to WDW. Can't afford to buy a book, go to your library, there's a whole section devoted to travel, including WDW! There's hundreds of web sites, including this one, that come up on a Google search. The info is out there, people just have to be willing to read and plan a little. And if you don't have the time (or inclination, not everyone is good at this kind of thing) then go to a travel agent that specializes in Disney and get the benifit of their knowledge!

 

[The Sorrentino's]

Chicago526, I understand what you mean about researching out anything you do (especially when it has to do with thousands of dollars), but we didn't think we needed to research on "Disney World". I can't really explain what we were thinking (LOL--boy, were we mistaken) , but we had no idea Disney World was this huge, expensive place. Its cheaper to go on a Carribean cruise via Raddison than it is to go to Disney World. I never would have thought until we dropped in on Disboards to "plan". The biggest problem we have is fitting our family into Disney's accomodations (6 just doesn't fit in the majority of the hotel rooms). I think that's why our $16,000 price tag showed itself on the Disney site.

I want to thank everyone who is helping us publicly and behind the scenes.

Thank you,

Cadence

 

[AmyTags]

taximomfor4 - We are also driving down this year from NE Ohio. We have done it before but that was before we had a kid. I just don't know how my 2 1/2 year old will do. God help us!!!!

This board is great!!! I have learned so many things. My dh & I have been to WDW 11 times now and unfortunately spent a ton of money that could have been saved if I had discovered this website sooner.

We now have DVC and love it!!!

 

[Chicago526]

But you did research! When you saw that it was expensive, you and your husband took the time to see if you might be able to do a bit better. Instead of giving up and either booking or canceling, you took it to the next step and started poking around a bit. You went and bought a bunch of books and your husband seached online, and found the DIS. I'm glad you found us!

It's the people who don't bother that I don't feel sorry for.

 

[The Sorrentino's]

Woooo Hoooo Mark! Yep, he took it a little further.

 

[crazymomof4]

The biggest problem we have is fitting our family into Disney's accomodations (6 just doesn't fit in the majority of the hotel rooms).

We are also a family of 6 and have the frustration of not "fitting into" most hotel rooms. We would have to get 2 of just about every hotel room Disney offers. That adds up fast! So I would like to share with you our solution: we rent off site pool homes. There are literally thousands to chose from--everything from ultra luxurious to standard, from very close to WDW (2.4 miles) to farther away, from 2 bedrooms up to 7 or more! We usually pay ~ $525-$600 a week for a 3-4 bdrm/2 bth home with private screened in pool, laundry room, garage, etc. That is a whole house for less than getting 2 tiny rooms at the cheapest Disney offers (~$50/night)! Some will say that you cannot truly experience the Disney "magic" unless you stay on Disney property. Well, we've stayed onsite (when we were still a family of 4 or less) and we don't feel like we're missing any magic now that we don't. We enjoy the privacy of our own pool and the space of a 1,200-1,500 sq. ft. house.

 

[The Sorrentino's]

My children really want to go to Disney World (they talk about it all the time) and when they see the commercial they come to get me everytime to catch it. I want them to have the full experience. I want them to be within the Magic 24/7 while we're there. I want it to be something they will never forget.

Cadence

Mark here! As far as I can see, this trip is going to cost me a fortune. After we come back I'll be looking for websites for offsite pool homes, coupons and 5 for 1 deals. And I don't care what Cadence says. (Excuse me while I go run for my life).

Mark