Cast: Julee, 27 (AKA Happy) 1st trip to WDW. John, 29 (AKA Grumpy) 1st trip to WDW.
It wasnâÂÂt until earlier this year that I had the desire to go to Walt Disney World. When I was little my grandparents took my sister and I to Disneyland every year for our summer vacation. To me, that was where the real magic was. I guess I always thought of Disney World as a cheap imitation. I didnâÂÂt even really know much about it other than it was in Florida- a state I had no desire to visit (IâÂÂm not a summer or heat type person).
2 years ago I brought John to Disneyland for his first Disney trip and my first trip in 12 years. I LOVED every minute of it. It was like reliving my childhood! Unfortunately John didnâÂÂt feel the same way. He had fun, but it was definitely his less than ideal vacation. I guess after 4 days in Disneyland he got a little bored. He is definitely not the Disney freak that I am.
I wanted to take a vacation again this year and I knew that the chances were slim to none to get John to agree to go to Disneyland again. But I had that Disney bug, so I decided to swallow my pride and plan a trip to Disney World. Well, it took all of 10 minutes of reading about it to get me completely hooked. I had no idea how vast the WDW Resort is. It was Disneyland on steroids! Sure it may not hold the same childhood memories for me, but I could create new ones, right?
I began planning in late May and I decided I wanted to stay on property. I wanted to splurge a bit and make our vacation really special. I knew it was going to cost me, but I told John I would flip the bill for the trip. He just needed to bring some spending money. I worked out a budget and figured out how much I needed to save each month to have enough money for our November trip. I specifically picked November because if there are 2 things John and I hate itâÂÂs heat and crowds and November seemed to be the best time to avoid both of these evils.
John loves New Orleans so I chose to stay at Port Orleans and booked the room for 9 days, 8 nights. There was so much to do and I wanted to be sure we had enough time to do it all because I had no idea when I would go back. I didnâÂÂt tell John we would be going for that long until it came time to request the time off work. He didnâÂÂt seem to notice how many days it was. I never said to him âÂÂ9 daysâÂÂ. I only said "Nov. 12-20th" and I donâÂÂt think he bothered to count.
I became planning obsessed. Every day I read every discussion board I could in addition to the 4 books I bought. At first I was driving John nuts with Disney this and Disney that. He expressed no interest in going let alone planning. I knew I had better let up before he decided not to go at all. I sat quietly and planned, planned, and re-planned for months.
Well, this is where things start going downhill. The budget I planned wasnâÂÂt going so well and after 2 monthâÂÂs had passed I didnâÂÂt have even $1 saved for our vacation. I started to worry, so I began spending HOURSâ¦I mean HOURSâ¦a day on various rewards web sites trying to earn some cash. I figured at least IâÂÂd have something saved (In the end I ended up with $225, $10 Disney Dollars, a Rainforest Café gift certificate, and a Cheesecake Factory gift certificate that didnâÂÂt arrive in time).
So as I mentioned, things werenâÂÂt going well. Rather than to get into this all in detail, let me just outline what happened in the few months before my vacation:
September
Money saved $0.00
Grandmother develops AlzheimerâÂÂs disease and is going downhill fast
Quit my job
John agrees to go, but is expressing no interest
October
Money saved $0.00
Started new job
John looses job (I live with him so this puts a damper on the savings even more)
John still has no interest in going and tries to talk me out of it due to his above-mentioned lack of job
November
Money saved $150
John still has no job
John canâÂÂt wait for November to be over so IâÂÂll shut up about Disney
Week of trip
REALLY bad time to leave workâ¦very busy
Have no one to watch cats
After being together for almost 8 years John and I break up 2 days before we are supposed to leave. IâÂÂll leave out the nasty details. We decided to go anyway since we are still friends.
Up until the day before I didnâÂÂt know if I was still going. But I managed to pull it off thanks to a little help from mom and a few debts that went unpaid for a month (hope the creditors arenâÂÂt reading this).
And that brings us to the day before our departure. If youâÂÂve made it this far I congratulate you.
Stay tuned!
[This message was edited by JuleeM13 on 11-29-00 at 01:52 PM.]
It wasnâÂÂt until earlier this year that I had the desire to go to Walt Disney World. When I was little my grandparents took my sister and I to Disneyland every year for our summer vacation. To me, that was where the real magic was. I guess I always thought of Disney World as a cheap imitation. I didnâÂÂt even really know much about it other than it was in Florida- a state I had no desire to visit (IâÂÂm not a summer or heat type person).
2 years ago I brought John to Disneyland for his first Disney trip and my first trip in 12 years. I LOVED every minute of it. It was like reliving my childhood! Unfortunately John didnâÂÂt feel the same way. He had fun, but it was definitely his less than ideal vacation. I guess after 4 days in Disneyland he got a little bored. He is definitely not the Disney freak that I am.
I wanted to take a vacation again this year and I knew that the chances were slim to none to get John to agree to go to Disneyland again. But I had that Disney bug, so I decided to swallow my pride and plan a trip to Disney World. Well, it took all of 10 minutes of reading about it to get me completely hooked. I had no idea how vast the WDW Resort is. It was Disneyland on steroids! Sure it may not hold the same childhood memories for me, but I could create new ones, right?
I began planning in late May and I decided I wanted to stay on property. I wanted to splurge a bit and make our vacation really special. I knew it was going to cost me, but I told John I would flip the bill for the trip. He just needed to bring some spending money. I worked out a budget and figured out how much I needed to save each month to have enough money for our November trip. I specifically picked November because if there are 2 things John and I hate itâÂÂs heat and crowds and November seemed to be the best time to avoid both of these evils.
John loves New Orleans so I chose to stay at Port Orleans and booked the room for 9 days, 8 nights. There was so much to do and I wanted to be sure we had enough time to do it all because I had no idea when I would go back. I didnâÂÂt tell John we would be going for that long until it came time to request the time off work. He didnâÂÂt seem to notice how many days it was. I never said to him âÂÂ9 daysâÂÂ. I only said "Nov. 12-20th" and I donâÂÂt think he bothered to count.
I became planning obsessed. Every day I read every discussion board I could in addition to the 4 books I bought. At first I was driving John nuts with Disney this and Disney that. He expressed no interest in going let alone planning. I knew I had better let up before he decided not to go at all. I sat quietly and planned, planned, and re-planned for months.
Well, this is where things start going downhill. The budget I planned wasnâÂÂt going so well and after 2 monthâÂÂs had passed I didnâÂÂt have even $1 saved for our vacation. I started to worry, so I began spending HOURSâ¦I mean HOURSâ¦a day on various rewards web sites trying to earn some cash. I figured at least IâÂÂd have something saved (In the end I ended up with $225, $10 Disney Dollars, a Rainforest Café gift certificate, and a Cheesecake Factory gift certificate that didnâÂÂt arrive in time).
So as I mentioned, things werenâÂÂt going well. Rather than to get into this all in detail, let me just outline what happened in the few months before my vacation:
September
Money saved $0.00
Grandmother develops AlzheimerâÂÂs disease and is going downhill fast
Quit my job
John agrees to go, but is expressing no interest
October
Money saved $0.00
Started new job
John looses job (I live with him so this puts a damper on the savings even more)
John still has no interest in going and tries to talk me out of it due to his above-mentioned lack of job
November
Money saved $150
John still has no job
John canâÂÂt wait for November to be over so IâÂÂll shut up about Disney
Week of trip
REALLY bad time to leave workâ¦very busy
Have no one to watch cats
After being together for almost 8 years John and I break up 2 days before we are supposed to leave. IâÂÂll leave out the nasty details. We decided to go anyway since we are still friends.
Up until the day before I didnâÂÂt know if I was still going. But I managed to pull it off thanks to a little help from mom and a few debts that went unpaid for a month (hope the creditors arenâÂÂt reading this).
And that brings us to the day before our departure. If youâÂÂve made it this far I congratulate you.
Stay tuned!
[This message was edited by JuleeM13 on 11-29-00 at 01:52 PM.]
