I haven’t read this entire thread but I’ve bounced in some to see what people are saying.
First, the thread title.
Perhaps it was my southern upbringing but that thread title made me gasp. Gee whiz, why not just ask ladies their weight & age?! Like WOW. But, reading the OPs first post I see where they’re coming from.
I grew up in a lower middle class blended family in Central Florida in the 80s. 5 kids in the house. We had 3-Season Salute passes that my parents were able to afford one year when their tax return was more than expected. Even then, we could only drink from water fountains. Occasionally a splurge for a Coke (only 1!) and a popcorn (only 1!) happened and all of us split them. Mostly we drove offsite to The Ponderosa buffet which was $.99 for kids.
When my brother & I were visiting our dad twice a year (he was in the Navy) he took us places like Disney, Six Flags, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, etc. Dad lived on the ship or in barracks and saved his money year-round to enjoy when he had us with him.
I married young. I had a lot of problems as a teenager....quit high school, got my GED, and went to college a year or so. My hubby has some college in his education but mostly his knowledge is from experience. We started out a couple kids with a beat-down old truck, each other, and a whole lot of dreams. We worked hard. Hubby got into a profession he was able to utilize his pipe fitting/construction knowledge & advance. Everything we have we worked for. Nothing came easy. If we wanted something we committed to that goal and made it happen.
The first trip we took our kids we stayed at Pop in the first month it was open. The room was pretty affordable. Hubby & I sold a lot of our things that had value. He sold off his fishing gear. I sold off my doll collection. We picked up extra hours and worked odd jobs. We made it happen. The first trip was so amazing we decided we wante to try to do that every year. Mostly that’s what we did. Pop for a couple years there I know we got for like $55/night. It was crazy! Then, 11 years ago hubby had an opportunity to make a big move in jobs. Overnight our income shot up. He was suddenly making his previous wage + my wage + a very large increase. That’s when we started staying deluxe. We still watched our spending all year and made our trips our priority.
As we’ve gotten older and our sons are grown we travel more without them than with. That certainly facilitates additional or more expensive trips. He also has worked so many years with the company he is with he gets a full 4 weeks of PTO a year + holidays off so that also makes the traveling much more doable.
Honestly, I think what it boils down to is where people place priority. There are some who spend big $$$ every year for hunting leases, ATVs, etc. That’s fine. It’s whats important to them. Some people live in big houses. Some people are season ticket holders to local professional sports teams. It’s all what people place priority on. We lived for that escape with our boys so we all worked towards it all year. Life has a way of evolving and circumstances can also add a boost.
I don’t think Disney is an entitlement or something that is required for happiness. No way. I figured it out a loooong time ago that the part I loved most about our trips was the uninterrupted, dedicated time with just us. It’s about the time with my little family. I forget where we were on one of our cruises, some island or port somewhere, we were driving along past homes that were little more than tin sheds. People were sitting outside together smiling, visibly enjoying one another. Those people had very little in the way of financial means or luxuries. I’m sure they probably had never been anywhere off their own island. Yet there they were smiling and happy. Looking back, when hubby & I first started out when we had so little other than each other and certainly couldn’t afford to go out to supper much less travel, we were perfectly happy, too. We look at that time in our lives, the simplicity of it, and know even without anything at all we were truly happy. Happiness is a state of mind. It’s one thing Disney can’t brand or shell out a billion dollars to buy.
