I'm just saying...

[JulieC]

To me, it's airfare that really makes trips (to anywhere) expensive. We can typically find decent deals with hotels and food and whatnot. But airfare is horrible these days (at least from Omaha.)

It's the same here. Our airfare cost more than our Disney tickets.

[off2neverland]

What a shame!!
I'll Have Another scratched. No Triple Crown. Boo.
I really liked that jockey and wanted him to be a Winner!

http://therail.blogs.nytimes.com/201...-crown-bid/?hp

[Merida]

I gotta get this off my chest (what I'm thinking as I read everything here on this forum)..

I really hope that when I'm a husband and father within the next handful of years, I really hope I'm not doomed to a life full of value resorts whenever we go to WDW as a family....

*I'm just saying...*

I'm normally a lurker (who is trying to get the courage to post) but thought I'd chime in. We just got back from our first trip this past April, and I, too, was scared at the idea of staying value. I kept changing our resort reservation around between various moderates, but eventually settled on All Star Movies because the kids expressed the most interest in it. It was the best decision ever and the smile on my kids' faces when they got to play in Andy's room every day, is one that I'll never forget. And now I'm actually sad that we won't have many more opportunities to stay at All Star Movies, since we're a family of 5 and once our youngest turns 3, we'll be "doomed" because we can't stay at the place that makes my kids the happiest they've ever been :)

[jandeeah]

Welcome Merida!

[AmeliaPond]

Welcome, Merida. I wonder if your kids would enjoy the suites at Art of Animation. I think they look pretty cute and I think most kids would love it.

[JulieC]

Jill Marie, her objection to the AoA suites would probably be the same as mine ... they cost about 2.5 times what a single value room does. They are cute, I'm sure my kids would love them, but yikes with the cost! That puts them into/really close to the deluxe cost range. Some of the deluxe rooms can take 5. So can the Alligator Bayou rooms at POR, which ring in much less than an AoA suite.

[Merida]

Thank you for the welcome :) I'm absolutely in love with AoA based on what I've seen, and I'm somewhat thinking about squeezing in another trip and booking a room in the Little Mermaid section before my youngest turns 3 (tight fight, I know). It will be hard though to talk my current 3-year old DS out of ASMo because he lives and breathes all things Toy Story and he considers Buzz Lightyear to be his best friend. He loves Ariel though, so I'm sure he'd survive ;) Yeah, and from there on out we'd probably stay at POR, so that we could sleep 5 in the AB secion. The French quarter was what I had initially booked, and was MY first choice, just not my kids' ;) I'll be sad though when values won't be our best option - they were so much better than I ever thought possible in more ways than one :)

[nolarookie]

Jill Marie, her objection to the AoA suites would probably be the same as mine ... they cost about 2.5 times what a single value room does. They are cute, I'm sure my kids would love them, but yikes with the cost!

I know right? and the only standard rooms are LIttle Mermaid. What's up with that? I'm not going to be able to sell my sons on that!

[AmeliaPond]

I hadn't looked at the prices so I didn't realize they were just as much as expensive resorts. That's too bad. They are so cute.

I do like the newly renovated Alligator Bayou rooms at POR a lot. Of course, I liked the old rooms too. But the 5th sleeping area seems a lot better now.

[BeckyW]

My kid is nuts. DD5 has a whole full-size bed to herself, yet at nedtime tonight, she chose to sleep on the floor?! She put her pillows down, laid on top w/ a pillow-pet, and proclaimed it "even more comfy than my bed!" Remember when sleeping on the floor was a cool experience, and not a neck-kinking, awful night's sleep? Ugh, I'm old. :'(

[AmeliaPond]

My kid is nuts. DD5 has a whole full-size bed to herself, yet at nedtime tonight, she chose to sleep on the floor?! She put her pillows down, laid on top w/ a pillow-pet, and proclaimed it "even more comfy than my bed!" Remember when sleeping on the floor was a cool experience, and not a neck-kinking, awful night's sleep? Ugh, I'm old. :'(

Yep. I'm old too. I remember building a "fort" with blankets in my room and then sleeping in a sleeping bag inside. You couldn't pay me to sleep on the floor now. I get sore if I'm on anything other than my Tempurpedic.

[blyday]

My kid is nuts. DD5 has a whole full-size bed to herself, yet at nedtime tonight, she chose to sleep on the floor?! She put her pillows down, laid on top w/ a pillow-pet, and proclaimed it "even more comfy than my bed!" Remember when sleeping on the floor was a cool experience, and not a neck-kinking, awful night's sleep? Ugh, I'm old. :'(

I do remember when sleeping in a sleeping bag in the backyard was equal to a mini-camping trip and a fun adventure, sleeping on the floor was like a mini-camping trip and a fun adventure, sleeping on the living room floor with friends was a mini-camping trip and great adventure........and now....any of the above is pure torture!!! Ahhh to be a kid again!!!

[Pampered Mom]

The couch cushion and blanket fort was in the living room. Backyard camping was at a neighbor's. Anything without a mattress and a good pillow now is torture, plus the mosquitos would get me outside. I have pictures of DD when she was about 3 stretched out asleep on the stairs. She had probably gone to bed and snuck down, though we knew she was there, to try and watch TV and fell asleep.

img_2048.jpg

[Janine]

That's a riot!

[pfalcioni]

That is so funny!

Somewhere, my mom has a pic of my brother sleeping on the brick hearth in front of our fireplace, he's half on/half off the thing, and his face is comfortably cradled on the edge of the brick. I'm sure he had some really weird creases in his face when he finally woke up.

It is really amazing where kids can fall asleep. I can actually remember the exact moment where I realized that I was too old to comfortably sleep on the floor. It was around 1992, we "borrowed the floor" at a friends house after a race. I think I slept maybe 15 minutes that night, I was so completely uncomfortable. That 15 minutes of sleep was interrupted by their dog licking my face. After that, we always got a hotel room or took the camper or motorhome. No more floors for this girl!

[jillyb]

Becca that picture is hilarious!!

I never camped out in the backyard when I was a kid, but I did sneak out my window a lot when I was 14! Do parents let their kids camp out in the backyard anymore? These days I think I'd be too worried about somebody coming and dragging them off.

[LizD]

Oh my word, Becca! LOL!

[blyday]

Love that pic Becca!!!!

I never camped out in the backyard when I was a kid, but I did sneak out my window a lot when I was 14! Do parents let their kids camp out in the backyard anymore? These days I think I'd be too worried about somebody coming and dragging them off.

I think that it probably depends on where you live. I personally would feel comfortable letting my nieces and nephews sleep outside here in our little, very quiet town (after all......we feel very comfortable not locking the doors here!!) but I doubt that I'd feel the same way at 3 of my 5 sisters' houses. (One is in Happy Valley and it would be questionable and the other one actually has cameras on her backyard so I'd be okay there.) Of course.....we are not talking really young kids here....they would have to be at least 8 years old if not closer to 10.

[Pampered Mom]

I don't think I would let my kids sleep outside unattended. I would be thinking of Elizabeth Smart too much, and she was inside her home. Maybe if I left our big dog outside with the kids. I was even worried last year during DD's sleepover party b/c they were all sleeping in the basement which has an outside access door. I told the 10 girls (yes, a big mistake, way too many girls!!!) that the door had to stay locked. I used to think my sister-in-law was nuts for worrying about her girls going for sleepovers at friends' houses b/c she was worried the girls would get molested.

There is always the possibility that DD will have a similar picture taken of her while in college, but it will be b/c she passed out drunk on the stairs. I hope not. Her father and his friends used to do stair diving, even after college. One guy would let girls ride on his back as he surfed down the stairs.

I don't sleep well my first night anywhere. Gotta pull the sheets up at the end of the bed b/c housekeeping tucks them in too tight and I can't move my feet. I usually don't remember this until after the first night. Grr, we're going to my dad's in 2 weeks and it's a hideous old bed (I mean an antique rope bed) that's not really big enough for DH and I and the mattress sags to the middle. I never sleep well there.

[clanmcculloch]

Do parents let their kids camp out in the backyard anymore? These days I think I'd be too worried about somebody coming and dragging them off.

While I don't worry in my area about them being dragged off, I do worry about wild animals. In the past few months there have been several reports of I think it's coyote and fox attacks and we also have fisher cats roaming the area. One of the animals was cought a month ago and it did test as rabid.

When looking a the prices at AoA, you do have to look at the suites as something other than typical value resort. you're getting a one bedroom suite with the floorspace of more than 2 regular value rooms, plus you get all that theming that's just so far beyond any of the other resort. It really is kind of a category of it's own. The closest category is value from the perspective of how they define the categories (pool, dining, etc), but it really is so much more. If you look at the prices of the Little Mermaid rooms, it's surprising to me that they are so close in price to the rest of the value resorts' rooms considering the additional level of ammenities over the other values. The target market for these suites are not necessarily those looking for the cheapest accomodations period. The target market is those who want the cheapest suite accomodations. There's a big difference between the these.

[mousehelper]

This conversation about being 'doomed to the Values' made me think of some survey that went out to wealthy people in NYC. Who thought themselves poor. Because after all, those private nursery schools and nannies and memberships here and there, they all add up. Unless you can buy a politician-- you're not wealthy by their standards.

I think the stat is if you were lucky enough to be born in America, you're already in the top 1% wealthiest in the World.

I'm not judging-- I relate to the Value conversation. I'm just musing.
: )

[pfalcioni]

"Poor" is definitely relative. I think in America it relates more to your surroundings and the affluence of the people you associate with rather than if you have enough money to put food on the table. I know it makes us look shallow and unworthy of any global respect, but when we as a nation chose to create a safety net for everyone who lives here, we moved the definition of poverty from "the real potential of starving to death" to "eating cheap processed cr*p, getting diabetes or hypertension, and dying young".

[George]

Greg and I love shopping the thrift stores for vintage stuff for our 50s WI house. Every so often, I'll come across some vintage Disneyana. Greg found this today, unused and still in the original gift box:



And I know it's vintage because of this (on the back):

[AmeliaPond]

Becca that picture is hilarious!!

I never camped out in the backyard when I was a kid, but I did sneak out my window a lot when I was 14! Do parents let their kids camp out in the backyard anymore? These days I think I'd be too worried about somebody coming and dragging them off.

I know people in our neighborhood probably let their kids do it. And I can't say for sure, but I'd probably let mine. But maybe I'd make them take out an old baby monitor or something...haha. No neighborhood is 100% safe but ours is decent. And we also have a 6 foot privacy fence (that's locked from the inside.) So that's good at least.

My sister has slept in a tent in her backyard (different city/state than me) with her young daughters. They were way too young to be out alone so they made a little mother/daughter camping trip out of it. Roasted marshmallows and everything.

While I don't worry in my area about them being dragged off, I do worry about wild animals. In the past few months there have been several reports of I think it's coyote and fox attacks and we also have fisher cats roaming the area. One of the animals was cought a month ago and it did test as rabid.

When looking a the prices at AoA, you do have to look at the suites as something other than typical value resort. you're getting a one bedroom suite with the floorspace of more than 2 regular value rooms, plus you get all that theming that's just so far beyond any of the other resort. It really is kind of a category of it's own. The closest category is value from the perspective of how they define the categories (pool, dining, etc), but it really is so much more. If you look at the prices of the Little Mermaid rooms, it's surprising to me that they are so close in price to the rest of the value resorts' rooms considering the additional level of ammenities over the other values. The target market for these suites are not necessarily those looking for the cheapest accomodations period. The target market is those who want the cheapest suite accomodations. There's a big difference between the these.

I agree. I think for the money...it seems great. I really like the idea of two bathrooms a lot. That would especially be nice with a couple adults and a couple kids.

[mousehelper]

George!!! What a grab!
He's a good man, that Greg.