Yes, yes it is. Or no, no, it isn't. This is probably the dumbest question ever.
My husband sent me a link to an article or blog post saying five things you should spend your money on that would be better spent then a Disney vacation. It was laughable. Well, sure! You should fund your child's college education before going to ride rides and laugh with Mickey. And yes, there are a lot of options for other vacations that could be cheaper perhaps.
This is the deal. The straight poop. You KNOW if you have enough to go to Disney. The tickets are the most expensive thing. A family of four, for five days will spend well over a thousand dollars for their tickets alone. Not the hotel, the food, the extras. There are hotel options there which run the gamut for pricing from OK to expensive. There are food options that run from pricey to whoppers! Oh, and if you need to pay for getting there (and everyone has to get there, unless you live there), well, that is the other thing that can potentially be more then the tickets. That they just raised the ticket prices last weekend is only further proof.
It is not a cheap vacation or a bargain vacation. What it is though, is so very swell. The Disney folks like to throw out the word 'magical'. I completely laughed at this marketing ploy when I first heard it.
It is a thoroughly immersive, completely fun, let go vacation. What Disney does, and does right, is layer the experience. Surroundings, small touches, over the top stuff, all of it. It is nice and it is fun.
We didn't vacation really, except for whatever we could do for under 500 dollars. I am a flight attendant folks, and I didn't vacation, unless I could do it cheap. My kids didn't do any beach, except for off season, and in Texas. Then my dad died.
It hit me that stuff was stuff, but memories made were forever. Sounds extremely cliched but think back to your childhood. I bet at least half of your memories are from family vacations, am I right?
Ok, back to original question. If you have outstanding bills, like credit card debt, wait and pay the things off first. Do it. No amount of magic is going to make seeing the bills multiply when you get back feel any better. Debt will keep you up at night, and let's face it, you need to be well rested for Disney!
If you have a vacation budget and are wondering where to go, please consider WDW. Some people have annual vacations such as ski every year (that is a vacation which has zippo appeal to me but that is what makes the world go round, right? Different opinions?) or head to the beach. The trip we took to Grand Canyon was a great one, and I am so happy we did it. The beach is always soothing, and that is a great thing. For goofy, crazy fun? WDW wins it for me, every time.
Yes, it is expensive. From merely dang expensive to crazy expensive, it is expensive. Some folks go for a long time (week to even more). We have done five days at WDW to three at DL, to three for me, and then one night for my son and I. Worth it? That is an operative term that only you can answer.
I am a huge fan of goofy, crazy fun. HUGE. And yes, I am ready to go back...
Main Mouse
Parade Magic!
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Friday, February 6, 2015
Ah, Friends.
Ok, so the new year is upon us and folks are planning various trips. Folks have just come back from various trips. I want to plan a trip! Ok, I sort of have already, but it is still in the seriously iffy stage, as not sure I can convince my dear husband that we need to go back quite this soon. But it is planned! I am an advance planner and then when I get to WDW, I take those plans and use them for framework, and let some stuff go. It is so very nice for me to not have to think on vacation about where to eat, or which ride to go, which has the shortest lines.
A friend is planning right now, her family's trip to Universal, with Disney tacked on the latter part of the trip. Her aversion to planning this particular trip really makes me want to just run with the trip and then present her with an itinerary but alas. I will refrain. It isn't her first rodeo with Orlando and all of it's offerings, and she will be swell (but get on it already!)
Two other friends just recently went, in the last two weeks. Two totally different experiences, same week to go. Both friends are crowd averse (though who isn't?).
Friend A, planned. She got with another good friend who showed her the basics (get the guide books! Read the websites! Create a touring plan!) and she ran with it. She took her three kids and her husband and they had a marvelous time.
NOTE: To have a touring plan, does NOT mean you have to follow the touring plan to the letter. Not even close. Just gives you a basic touring plan to roll with, with historical data to support which ride to ride and when. If you want to ride a certain ride over and over, do it!!! Basic plan. Custom plan (optimize!), either way, it is nice to have some knowledge of where to go and when, so you aren't roaming lost and end up at a favorite ride at the same time as 47 thousand of your friends and neighbors and have to wait in a super long line.
Friend B, didn't plan so much. She thought if you bought the tickets, the package, it was all good, right? Before the trip, she got with Friend A, and other planner friends, and they helped her out with obtaining fast passes for rides, and some advanced dinner reservations. She was resistant to the idea that she had to plan a vacation. She went and did not have as good of a time as friend B. She stressed while she was there about what to do and when. Not before, but during the trip. It didn't help that she got sick half way through the vacation (though she did have her parents there to assist, she stressed that they wouldn't know what to do).
The end result? Planning before, even a little, reduces or even eliminates the need for stress during the vacation.
Go to the beach? Just reserve some bikes ahead of time and maybe make a dinner reservation. Go skiing, you better bet that there is some pre-planning going on. WDW is no different. It is a big vacation, that needs a bit of vacation planning. Plan ahead of time and the actual trip is so very easy! Ok, well, stuff happens, like illness or sleep deprivation or ?, but the framework of a trip is set, you have room for the stuff that happens.
A friend is planning right now, her family's trip to Universal, with Disney tacked on the latter part of the trip. Her aversion to planning this particular trip really makes me want to just run with the trip and then present her with an itinerary but alas. I will refrain. It isn't her first rodeo with Orlando and all of it's offerings, and she will be swell (but get on it already!)
Two other friends just recently went, in the last two weeks. Two totally different experiences, same week to go. Both friends are crowd averse (though who isn't?).
Friend A, planned. She got with another good friend who showed her the basics (get the guide books! Read the websites! Create a touring plan!) and she ran with it. She took her three kids and her husband and they had a marvelous time.
NOTE: To have a touring plan, does NOT mean you have to follow the touring plan to the letter. Not even close. Just gives you a basic touring plan to roll with, with historical data to support which ride to ride and when. If you want to ride a certain ride over and over, do it!!! Basic plan. Custom plan (optimize!), either way, it is nice to have some knowledge of where to go and when, so you aren't roaming lost and end up at a favorite ride at the same time as 47 thousand of your friends and neighbors and have to wait in a super long line.
Friend B, didn't plan so much. She thought if you bought the tickets, the package, it was all good, right? Before the trip, she got with Friend A, and other planner friends, and they helped her out with obtaining fast passes for rides, and some advanced dinner reservations. She was resistant to the idea that she had to plan a vacation. She went and did not have as good of a time as friend B. She stressed while she was there about what to do and when. Not before, but during the trip. It didn't help that she got sick half way through the vacation (though she did have her parents there to assist, she stressed that they wouldn't know what to do).
The end result? Planning before, even a little, reduces or even eliminates the need for stress during the vacation.
Go to the beach? Just reserve some bikes ahead of time and maybe make a dinner reservation. Go skiing, you better bet that there is some pre-planning going on. WDW is no different. It is a big vacation, that needs a bit of vacation planning. Plan ahead of time and the actual trip is so very easy! Ok, well, stuff happens, like illness or sleep deprivation or ?, but the framework of a trip is set, you have room for the stuff that happens.
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