u/TimeLadyJ

She was so so excited because she thought that Mickey and Minnie would be there and so so upset when it ended and they weren't there. The fire truck with a flag on it is not as exciting. #DisneyKidProbs

Before kids, we would do a 5 diamond in Puerto Vallarta. Now toddlers are here and we are spending $40k on back to back Disney trips. We are looking for other options to propose to our dad. 8 adults and 2 toddlers during February so nothing too cold.

The biggest thing is we don’t want a lazy trip. Disney is great because we are busy busy and the toddlers are distracted and less chaotic. A beach would be chaos with sand and running. Seems like most places I’ve seen recommended have activities starting around age 5. Anywhere especially good for 2-3 year olds? Maybe something in a big city instead of super remote?

We have tickets for October. What are the odds we'll be refunded because the show closes early?

We were so excited to see it because it was randomly showing on the Monday we will be there.

My company is starting a Traditional Simple IRA and all employees receive 2%, no match required. My initial thought is that I should not contribute to this myself, but rather continue investing in my Roth. I am currently doing 5% to my Roth.

Am I thinking along the right lines? We are slowly ramping up our savings strategies and will be opening a Roth for my husband soon as well as an investment account.

I am on the parish council of our church. A friend of the parish wants to purchase a undeveloped corner lot adjacent to our building and donate it to us. This has been discussed for years about it being the goal to someday acquire the property, so the fact that this person is willing to buy it on our behalf is fantastic.

What do we need to do? I understand most of this will be between the donor and his tax professional. Other than sending a thank you note after the donation occurs, are there any forms we will need to fill out? Does the realtor and then the bank take care of the title transfer?

I generally will choose a physical or e-book over an audiobook, but this year, I've started falling in love with the right sort of audiobooks. They have to be special - more than just someone reading. Bonus points if they're on Spotify since one of my goals this year is to use all of my free hours!

Examples that I've loved:

• Project Hail Mary & the musical voice of Rocky. Perfect
• Twice - hearing the New York accent of the cop made the whole experience
• I Who Have Never Known Men- the lack of dialogue made this work so well. It felt like I was listening to a person reading me their diary.
• Lonesome Dove - the narrator was perfect and by the end, I knew each character by their voice. I had such an emotional reaction to this book
• Dungeon Crawler Carl - how does one person make you think he's 5000 people? Obsessed.

Any other suggestions? Please let me know why you think it's extra special.

Hello! We are coming in October, Monday - Thursday.

So far, we are planning to see a show each night, leaving us Tuesday and Wednesday to explore.

Our current plan is one of those days, to do Central Park & The Frick and then the second day, my husband wants to do the 9/11 Memorial and Museum.

What else should we do on that second day? I've done New York before but my husband has not. Our original plan was the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, but we both feel that that is sounding less fun as we get closer to wanting to book a ticket to something. We are staying near Times Square, so we don't mind heading more towards midtown after the museum first thing in the morning. We just want to minimize transit time and maximize enjoyment of the city time.

Our family went to Disney World in early February. We had 7 adults - three couples, a single adult, and then two under 3.

Full disclosure this was a grandparent funded trip and they're picky about hotels and all of that, so it was a deluxe trip. Cost was not a factor for them. We are already booked to retunr next year. If you're looking for cost saving measures, this isn't the breakdown for you. If you know you want a deluxe resort with room for everyone to spread out, then maybe it is the breakdown for you.

Our total trip cost was $35,545 and it includes everything I can remember.

Flights from DFW to MCO: $2,590

• We flew direct at a "prime" time. We bought one of the babies their own seat and the other was a lap child.

Baggage: $0

• My dad has a card that gives us free baggage, so we didn't have to pay anything. We also gate-checked two strollers. My stroller somehow didn't leave Dallas so we had to rent one. AA found and delivered our stroller on our second park day but by then we had rented for a full week for $85.60. AA refunded the full amount for the rental.

Airport Transportation: $270

• We paid for a round trip private shuttle with two car seats included. Our only criteria was that we all wanted to be in one vehicle. We went with Away We Go. They are also the ones that secured us a stroller rental at the last minute.

Airport parking: $570

• We had three vehicles all parked in terminal parking for the duration of the trip.

Hotel, Park, and Dining: $28,370

• We stayed at Boulder Ridge Villas at Wilderness Lodge. One of our biggest desires was that everyone has personal space and did not have to share rooms with those that they weren't partnered with. We ended up with a 2 Bedroom Villa + two Deluxe Studios.
• This included the Dining Plan and 4-Day Tickets (non park hopper.) It also included Memory Maker.

Lightning Lanes: $750

• We bought these for all adults for all four parks. We also bought specific fast passes for Tron and Flight of Passage. We ended up being refunded for those because weather shut Flight down and my sister was sick and couldn't do Tron.

Food: $1,655

• This number represents food and drink that were not covered by the dining plan and our dining plan gratuities, which were also not covered. There are quite a bit of snacks that aren't covered that we wanted. It was actually difficult to use all of the snack credits because we would buy what we actually wanted and then not be hungry for a snack credit later.
• About $150 is groceries that we had delivered to the hotel, mostly of things for the babies. Diapers, pouches, a case of waters, etc.

Souvenirs: $1,440

• We got caught in that freak freeze and were severly unprepared. I bought an expensive winter jacket from Norway + head coverings. Funnily enough, a few days later it was warm and my dad needed to buy shorts! Other than that, normal souviners for 8 people. A shirt a piece, some cute things for the kids. My daughter had her first haircut. Mickey Ears, Magic Bands.

As I said, this was a deluxe trip and we had some desires that we could have passed on to save a lot of money. We could have crammed into 1-2 rooms and saved a lot on the room fees. I think the 2 bedroom villa technically could have slept all of us. Same with the food - we didn't HAVE to buy non-dining plan foods. We could have parked off site at the airport. I'm posting this to show what a deluxe trip might cost if you don't choose cost-cutting measures.

If there are any questions, happy to answer! I know people can get a bit touchy when more expensive trips are shared, so let's keep it positive and remember that everyone's situation is a different.