Thursday, December 30, 2010

Quantity Vs. Quality

There's no denying my addiction to Disney...

It's actually kind of embarrassing.

I'm sure most of you out there, could think of way better things to spend your money on, rather than a vacation.  For some reason, Ryan and I rank vacationing up there- like wayyyyy up there.  I would sacrifice just about any monetary object necessary to take a vacation.  And we do.

For those of you who didn't (don't) know, we had a MASSIVE garage sale this past summer.  At the end of the two days, I counted up the money ( I'm not going to speak of exact numbers) and one word flashed through my head... "DISNEY."

Yes friends, I used every penny of the garage sale money on a week long vacation to Disney World (coming up in March).  And I couldn't be happier :)


When we booked our Disney loveliness, the original plan was to do a really fancy shcmancy vacation- staying at the Fort Wilderness Lodge.    Up until yesterday we were set to stay for 4 nights/5 days, with a 4 day park hopper, food (dining plan) and transportation for {a relatively} good deal. 

I periodically hop on Disney.com to check out what deals or special offers they're running.  Last night I was playing around with the vacation planner tool- just crunching numbers, looking at different options.

Ryan was out watching football (or something) and I wandered out there...

I asked him, very seriously,  "Do you like quality over quantity?  Or quantity over quality?"  He mumbled something... I don't remember.  But it made me scratch my head and do some more number crunching.

What ended up happening was quite miraculous, (if you ask me...).  We decided to do a quick hotel switcheroo.  By downgrading to a "moderate" resort (instead of the luxury one) we were able to extend our Disney vacay for 3 more nights, add on 1 more day of park hopping and 3 whole days of meals, for $150 bucks CHEAPER!  YAY!!!!

So for the (upteenth???) year in a row, we chose quantity over quality.  No, no... we're not staying at the super luxurious Fort Wilderness Lodge for 4 nights.  We're now staying at the "moderate" resort, Coronado Springs for 7 nights! :)

We are so excited!  And for any of you Disney-nay sayers... well, I really don't want to hear it ;)  I'll save money and eat canned ravioli for a year, if that means we get to partY at DisneY! :)

Anyone else planning a magical Disney getaway?  Where are you staying? 
                                                                                                                                               

5 comments:

Angie B said...

sounds heavenly...u swim in money to go so often!! lol when i wasnt married and with my parents we went all the time ...haha

Manda said...

Good for you guys. There are some days when I would LOVE to take the kids (we've never been, came close one year and then I got pregnant with Charlotte) but with our family size we pretty much have to stay at a luxury resort and in a suite no less, I've played with the vacation planner so many times and I just CANT come up with a way to make it at all affordable. So on our behalf... ENJOY IT! :)

Libby said...

I am so jealous (and excited for you)! I want to learn your secrets for hosting such a fabulous garage sale that you can make a trip to Disney! No, really - I do. Amazing deal - I hope you guys have a wonderful time!

Kari said...

You're so lucky. We live in LA so we always go to Disneyland...I've heard Disney World is 1000 times better. We'll probably never go cuz we have the "land". Have fun for us! XOXO

Michelle Leigh said...

We brought our kids to Disney 2 years ago and it was awful. We did stay at an awesome hotel in Orlando though and had way more fun hanging out in the suite and floating in the lazy river. Maybe when my kids are a little older, they were very young and it was super busy. But, I am right there with you on Vacations. We save and plan each year for a family vacation and our kids have awesome memories of our vacations. And, my husband and I make it a point to go on a kid free trip each year as well. We value travel quite a bit and I think it offers a great experience for the kids. Good for you for funding your vacay with garage sale money. That's awesome. Enjoy and have fun!