Click Here to Read the Transcript for This Episode
Is Disney truly the happiest place on Earth? or the most Expensive? Maybe a bit of both. We called Orlando, Florida home for a week while we vacationed at Disney World… and I can confirm that the Cinderella Castle is as magical as it gets. Join me in this solo episode as I dive into the nitty-gritty of trip planning, where we decided to treat ourselves, save money and the total cost of our trip. In the end, I reflect on if I think the money spent was worth it or if I regret it.
I also give you important book updates and why pre-orders are vital to a debut author’s success!
In this episode you’ll learn more about:
- What is worth your money at Disney and what you could avoid to save money
- The benefits of joining Disney groups and planning a Disney vacation through a Disney Planner
- A breakdown of exactly how much we spent on our week-long Disney vacation
- The importance of pre-orders, how a book gets on lists like the NYT, weighing opportunity cost + more
Episode 339: Disney World vs. Retiring Early- How Much Our Disney World Trip Cost + Book Updates Click To Tweet
Other Links Mentioned in episode:
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- Pre-order my new book, Your Journey to Financial Freedom and get access to FIRE STARTER Course for FREE
- Check out my personal website here.
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- What stage of the financial journey are you on? Are you working on financial stability or work flexibility? Find out with this free assessment and get a curated list of the 10 next best episodes for you to listen to depending on your stage. Check it out here!
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Jamila Souffrant 2:50
Hey, hey, Journeyers. Welcome to the journey to launch podcast. I'm your host, Jamila souffrant. I am going to be giving you a solo episode. This week, I want to share a bit about my recent trip to Disneyworld, how much it cost. If I regret anything, should we have invested that money instead? And just kind of give a recap of what we've been up to. But first, I do want to give a quick update on the book, my first book, your journey to financial freedom, a step by step guide to achieving wealth and happiness. I've been talking about this for a while now, so I know that you know it's coming. Hopefully, you know if not, it's coming. It's officially going to hit newsstands and bookstores, airports, hopefully, December fifth, that's when it will be released. But because I went the traditional publisher route, creating a book takes time, there are a lot of iterations, there are a lot of people looking at it going through it. And so while I'm recording this, I'm recording this in real time, meaning I'm recording this the day after my kid's first day of school. And the day after I basically submitted my final manuscript to my publisher made my last changes, I had 24 hours to look at the last round of the book. And then I had some time to review the back cover of all the endorsements, the amazing endorsements, from my peers and what that looked like. I basically had 24 hours to look at it and approve it. So this also coincided with my kids first day of school. So it was a very busy time. So we're in New York. and we start school early September. I know some of you guys your kids already started in August, but we start in September. And it's just fitting that my kids would be starting school so I'd have to be preparing for that. And as a parent, you guys know how kind of intentional that is and I have three of them, making sure all their stuff is together and they got all the supplies they need. Then with that, dealing with I have a quick turnaround to get any edits any final changes that I want to make any errors I can catch would have had to get caught within that same period. And I would submit my final manuscript to my publisher. And so it is an exciting time, I feel like I'm still on a little high from all of that. And I just can't wait for you guys to read what I wrote. And I truly believe that if you listen to this podcast, and you think that it's been helpful, I get messages that this podcast has changed your life or inspired you. If you think that about the podcast, I want you to know that the book, I believe, is just as good if not even better, because it puts everything together. You know, the podcast, the episodes, they range over a span of years. And so a lot of my methodology or frameworks and the way I think or the expertise I've garnered from other people, it's first out over a lot of information in the podcast episodes. And here you have this book that really brings it all together, like you can find it all in this book. So the book is available for preorder right now. Yourjourneytofinancialfreedom.com. It has its own website, shout out to Shirley T, who designed this beautiful website. For me, she's done all my websites over the past couple of years. But if you go look at this website, every time I look at it, I smile. It's so wonderful. And you can order your book. From there, you can go to yourjourneytofinancialfreedom.com and then see all the other places you can order. So it's available for preorder from Amazon, bookshop, Barnes and Nobles, target, Walmart, everywhere. And I do have a special bonus going on right now. So if you order one hard copy of the your journey to financial freedom book, you get my new course immediately. So you don't have to wait until December to receive the book to start working on your financial independence journey, you can get a course right now once you order the hardcover book, where I walk you through how to define financial independence and financial freedom for yourself, what the components of the FYI formula are and why you need to work on them, how to calculate your FI number and more. So again, you go to your journey to financial freedom.com, you order the book, you go back to that site, and then you put in your order number and your email, and you'll get the course delivered to you. So I'm really excited. And from now until the end of the year, I'm going to be focusing on promotion, and getting the book into as many hands as possible. pre orders are really important. They're important, because anything that I sell from now until the book is released counts as a first week sale for the book. And that counts for a lot of reasons. One, anything that's happening now, it shows the publishers, it shows retailers that this book is something that people want to read. So if it was crickets and no one's ordering from now until the book comes out, they might not print enough copies, it doesn't look like this is something people want to read. So they might shelve it or put it in the back, & that doesn't get a lot of attention. But if people are pre ordering it, it sends a signal that, hey, this is a book people are excited about, they can't wait to get their hands on it, we need to give it more attention, we need to make sure there are enough copies printed, it could also help with media. So then people in the media may be more inclined to interview me or talk about the book. So it's a very big deal. And so pre ordering, that's one reason. The second reason is, because everything counts as a first week sale, even though we're so many months out, it helps with getting on potentially any list. So the New York Times is a you know moonshot goal for me, I talk about this in the book that financial independence is a moonshot goal. It's like a big goal that you're going to try to shoot for. If you're intentional about it, of course. But if you don't make it, you will end up in a better place. And I feel like getting on the New York Times list is a very moonshot goal. Because the New York Times is part numbers. So you need to sell enough books. But it's also very subjective. So there not just about how many books you sell, it's just people can't really figure it out. There's something else behind the scenes is editorial with people there like your book... And so it's not just about numbers, but it gives me a better chance if people are ordering it. And of course, all the other lists, like the Amazon bestseller list and Wall Street Journal, those are more numbers based, all the sales that are happening from now until then count towards those lists. So that's why I've been harassing you guys about pre ordering the book. And I will continue to do that until you preorder. So again, go to your journey to financial freedom.com You can pre order right now, you get a free course right now once you do that, and just stay tuned because I'll be doing a lot more things and promotions up until the book is out.
Now with that said, I want to talk about my family's recent trip to Disney World. I remember going to Disney World as a child, the one in Florida, It's always so warm. I have to figure out the differences between Disneyland and Disney World even though I've been to Disney World. I used to go quite a bit when I was a child. And that was because I had an aunt who lived in Orlando. So Disney World is in Orlando, Disneyland is in California. But I used to have an aunt that lived in Orlando. And not only she lived in Orlando, I don't remember if she worked at a Disney World Resort, or she knew someone. So what would happen is I would be able to go to Orlando stay at her house with my mom, and we'd get discounted tickets to go to Disney World. And we did that a few times. So I remember our core memories of going to Disney World with my mom as a child. And I knew that I wanted to have that experience with my kids. I have three of them. And they're just typical kids, they love rides, they love Disney, they love cartoons, they love magic. And while they are nine, seven, and five right now, when they were born, I started to think what to watch to bring them. Now I always knew I wanted three kids. And so I figured I would want to wait until I was finished having kids before I went. And because they're so close in age, and I didn't really want to be pregnant planning a trip or being at a park. Once I had my last child, Blake, it was about, okay, when's the best time to go. And I knew I wanted to wait until they were old enough, all three of them are going to be old enough to remember the experience. And to have some sense of mobility to be able to carry themselves around and not be too much pressure on me or my husband. So I knew that I wanted them to have a certain level of independence and maturity before I took them for the first time. Disney World is free for kids under three, which is amazing. But I realized even when my daughter was three, that means my middle would have been five and then my oldest would have been seven that that could have probably worked. But it wasn't worth it to me to deal with a toddler at that age even if she was free, I wanted to wait. And also quite honestly, it was overwhelming to think about what planning a Disney trip would look like for a family of five. I'm the natural planner of the family. I know a lot of women take on that role. And so with everything going on professionally with my life, sometimes it just took a backburner. We did other things. We went on other vacations. And I knew disney world was going to be on the list soon to go with everything happening this year. I figured it was a good time to make it. So let's see my daughter the youngest being five, and then my oldest being nine. I wanted him, my oldest to have the experience too before he kind of aged out, some especially boys as they get older, they kind of get too cool for school, even though my sons are so jovial and immature in a way, I just wanted to capture them in this moment while they could enjoy it, the oldest and then have my youngest understand what it meant and to be able to walk on her own if, when possible. So we decided that this would be the summer, I started to think about what would this look like planning it I know I didn't want to plan it by myself when I thought about it, it just overwhelmed me that's why I stopped doing it or didn't even attempt to years before. But I was in my local Facebook group. And I remember seeing people mention "I went to Disney World and this person helped me and this person is the best for help with planning for Disney. And so I reached out to her, her name is Penny, she was my Disney planner. And I didn't really understand the way Disney planners work, Disney planners in general, they help you plan the trip and you don't pay them but they get paid through a portion or percentage of whatever you book as your trip. And based on just the feedback from other people when they said that she had helped them. I said to myself, You know what? Why not have someone help me do this because I have no clue. I've been to Disney years ago. I went a few times. My husband woody went once I remember we did a road trip when we just started dating. I think that was right after our freshman year with my family. We drove and that was his first time He came with us. And that was his first time he went to Disney World and my sister at the time Shaina. She was a toddler. So that might have been her first time going. And it was also my husband's first time going. So going back now, I really did not remember anything about the disney world experience. I'm also not like a Disney head. I know when you go into the Disney groups, which I'll talk about in a bit. There are people who live for Disney. And so they know all the things and they go to Disney every year. And I just didn't know anything. So I was like I need someone who's an expert who can tell me what to do or guide me. So I reached out to Penny and she was like of course I'll help you plan. And so it came down to when do you want to go and where do you want to stay like the basic things. And I knew at the end of August would be a good time because by then my kids would be out of camp. We typically go to Atlanta in the summer now. And so I thought, why not tack on Disney after we go to Atlanta? So we set out to go to Disney the last weekend in August, we flew straight from Atlanta, because we were in Atlanta for a week before that. And yeah, we were off to the races in terms of planning. Alright, so we went over why we chose to wait so long to take our kids. I think still, it's a good time. And now I want to talk about selecting the hotel because one of the things that I was so afraid of when I started to think about Disney was how much it would cost. I'm thinking, wow, it's a family of five. I knew I want to stay at a Disney property. I know you can save money if you stay off of a Disney property, but it's so convenient. And I wanted the full Disney experience for them. So I figured all right, what hotel and we were choosing between two hotels, I think one was a contemporary, which is more of a modern hotel, and one was the Yacht Club, which feels like the yacht slash beach club and it feels more like a resort and the pool was very nice from pictures and what people said as review. So once I narrowed down those two resorts, I figured, okay, what's the vibe we want to feel and I was like, we live in the city, I don't want to feel like I'm in a city. I don't want to feel like it's a modern, I'm in a modern place. I want to feel like I'm at a beach. So we selected going and staying at the Disney Yacht Club, which is connected to the beach club, and they have a beautiful pool. So biggest thing too was pools. If you follow me on at Jamila souffrant. In the summertime, we love pools and I love the beach. I love relaxing. So I just wanted that vibe on vacation. So now that we knew where we're gonna stay, & the timing of it all, it was time to book and again, I gotta thank Penny, who I'll link her Facebook page, I asked her if she had a website if people wanted to reach out to her to help. And she has a Facebook page. So I'll link that in the show notes or if you have questions, or you want help with your Disney trip. And the other thing that's really important, apparently with Disney is planning ahead for food. And Disney has a bunch of restaurants at each park. So you know, the four main parks, Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood studios, they have quick service places where you can just go eat randomly, you're walking around, and then they have a lot of restaurants. But you have to book those restaurants in advance. And some of those restaurants they sell out, or they're not going to be available when you go there. So you have to really do it in advance. And that was one of the things that really overwhelmed me at first because Penny was like we need to for the days that you're going to be at that park, you need to have some restaurants that you want to maybe go to. So we had a bunch of restaurants that we selected. And when you do it that way, a lot of them aren't buffet style or prefixed. And this stuff is not cheap, okay, because the prefix prices for children for like breakfast was $39.49 for adults. And I'm like, my kids are going to eat like one bacon and one waffle. I'm not paying $39 for breakfast. But it was nice to understand how things worked in terms of you have to book in advance. So there's a whole Disney World and Disney language that you have to get. One of the things that I did, I joined on with Disney group, I'll probably link that in the show notes too. That was helpful. And just lurking a bit and understanding how other people were doing things and seeing the people who are definitely more organized than me, right? They were planning this Disney trip for months out and had things packed and knew everything they were going to do and all the rides they were going to ride and I was more like, I know the park we're gonna go to and what day we're going, but I'll figure out the rides and all that the day of. I'm more of a in time learning, in time doing kind of person, I have so much going on that it's like I don't want to inundate myself with too much information. So I wait until I need to know something or need to do something before I make it work. And so with that, I realized okay, we have our trip, it's booked. Let's go, let's fast forward. So because we flew from Atlanta to Disney, family of five like we did, we spent a lot on Ubers when we were in Atlanta in general because we didn't have a car and then also Lyft. And then also when we were at Disney we have to go from the airport to the hotel, and then even for food because one of the things that we did, well not that it necessarily saved money because Uber Eats always comes up to more than you expect. We did Uber Eats a lot to the hotel room instead of buying food at the hotel. So when it came to the parks, we set it up and we bought something where it was four parks and four days, and we bought tickets that way. And then we also bought tickets to the Halloween party at Magic Kingdom. So that was a separate fee, I'm gonna go over how much everything cost at the end. So you can tell me if you know if you've been to Disney before if that that's how much you paid or if you paid less. And why I think or not think that that was a bad idea that I did not spend that much or we spent that much. So we we were at Disneyworld from Sunday, to Saturday so almost a full week. And when we landed we were able to relax at the hotel which was great, which is one of the reasons why I enjoyed staying at our hotel because it was nice to be able to relax at the pool that day we got in. And then Monday we went to Epcot, Tuesday we went to Hollywood studios, Wednesday, we went to Magic Kingdom, Thursday, we went to animal kingdom, and then Friday, we had a relaxed state. And then later on, we went back to Magic Kingdom for the Halloween party. And then Saturday, we had a relaxed day at the hotel and pool because we left Saturday night. So we have a full week. And that was the other important thing is that I did not want this to be a rushed Disney Experience. I didn't want to be there for just three or four days and try to get all the things in. One tip is knowing your family or knowing yourself and what you like. And I just know, my husband doesn't like to really be rushed. My kids don't like to be rushed. And I knew that if we tried to put too much into a short period of time, it would not be enjoyable. So I wanted to space it out. And I want to have some downtime. And so it was important to us to have that week. And of course, because my husband is a teacher doing things in the summer even though it's more expensive. In some ways. It just works because we have the time flexibility and freedom to do that.
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Jamila Souffrant 22:41
So we had a good amount of time at each park, we had one day per park. So this was this is what makes Disney more expensive. Depending on what you do. They're an options at Disney where you can do a lightning lane or go faster to the ride. So you don't have to wait as long as the general admission or the general wait times. And so we did that a couple of times for the parks, which ended up to be sometimes $20 per person and so maybe like $100 for us to be able to skip some lines and get to rides faster. That was worth it. To me when I think about time and money. I'd rather instead of spending one hour waiting for a ride, be able to get on in 10 minutes and spend the extra money for the five of us to do that. So we did that for a couple of parks which made things a little bit more expensive but was fine. The other thing I was really worried about other than the wait times and the kids patience, which they did really well with but they got kind of spoiled because at some parks one park we did not do the genie pass with a lightning lane, which means you can go faster to the rides and they were just like Can't you just do that? And I'm like, you know that cost money right there. Not a lot of people here we can wait. But the other thing I was afraid of other than the wait times was the heat. So you know Florida is hot. So Disneyworld is hot, typically. And I had a friend who went there about a couple weeks before I did and she was just like it was unbearable. Like they one day they just said you know, let's just go back to the hotel and relax. And I was like alright, I'm kind of scared. But we got there it wasn't too bad. And one of the reasons probably for that was you know, we actually went while hurricane was looming. So we got there on Sunday and a hurricane hit not Orlando but it hit Florida. And so we got some of that impact from the hurricane Dahlia on the Wednesday but it also made it so that it was rainy. So that helped a bit. Still muggy, still humid, but the rain in a way helped with the crowds. Because I was concerned at one point, My gosh, they're going to be really crowded and should or should we cancel and not go this day because it might be raining and I reached out to Penny. So that's the other good thing about having another person or being a part of groups is to ask questions and I said should we cancel and maybe go on another day. But you know what, it actually may work out better for you because it may be less people. And so it was true. A lot of people were asked to reschedule if they were flying in that day. And so the park wasn't as crowded. So the heat was also something where we were kind of worried about and also walking with the children. So my daughter, the first day that we got to a park was Epcot on the Monday. And I was a little afraid of this, because I know how she is, it was so hot the first day, and she was just like, I cannot walk, she literally like sat on the floor. So we ended up getting one of those double strollers and the kids took turns all being in it. And at some points, all three of them fit in it. And we did that for just two parks, where it was really hot. And they wanted just to be able to sit and it was easier to just pay to do that. versus having to deal with children breaking down crying and or being miserable because of the heat. So that's another tip I would give for parents who are traveling with small kids, even if they're not small, even because my oldest was nine and he still wanted to sit in it, it's having somewhere to put your stuff and then just having a place for your kids to rest because the parks are a lot and walking around is alot. I want to go back to food because well, that's one of the things about Disney I talked about is all the reservations and dining. And we had a lot of reservations planned, but I ended up canceling mostly all of them. Because I figured I didn't want to spend like three, $400 on lunch or dinner, when I know that my kids are super picky. And they eat three or four things where we can get that for much less at a quick service place, we did end up still keeping a reservation for something at Hollywood Studios called the Sci Fi diner, which was pretty cool. You sit in these cars, it mimics an outdoor movie theater or drive in movie theater with cars and your table is within a car. So that was pretty cool. We kept that one. So you know, overall, we tried to kind of save where we could but then also we just said eff it. And if it was convenience, convenience for walking. So getting a stroller in the park, or getting lightning Lane passes paying additional for that. So we didn't have to wait in line, we just did it. One of the things that I knew going into this ship was that it would cost money. And so I didn't want to go into everything thinking oh, we you know, like, let's not do anything at all. There was just some places that we knew we wanted to spend and that it would be okay spending on the other thing souvenirs. So I knew I wanted to do a picture of each park, which I actually did a real on this and Jamila souffrant I wanted a picture of all of us with Disney ears on at each Park. So we did that. But I didn't want to buy the Disney ears at Disney. I didn't want to buy any souvenirs at Disney. So we bought the DVD I bought the Disney ears in advance from Amazon. And I've saved a lot of money that way. And in general, I was able to ward off buying any souvenirs I'm so surprised. But we stuck to our guns in not buying any souvenirs from Disney. I think the next time we go we might get in a bit and get our kids something. But you know, that's the other way we save money because all that adds up. And knowing my kids and knowing how they are with their things. I'm just like you're not going to take care of this long enough for me to spend X amount of money on it right now. The park is your souvenir being here is your gift. So that was another thing that we did. One experience that we did do an audition for my daughter was I always get this wrong, but let me try to say it the Bibbity boppity boutique at Magic Kingdom. And at first I didn't know if I wanted to do it because essentially it's part of the princess experience where your son or daughter can go in and they get almost like a makeover a Disney makeover. And they can pick a dress from the boutique, they get their hair done, they get their nails done makeup, you know the whole thing in a lovely little chair. It's so cute. But when I was looking at the packages, that's another thing my Disney planner, gave me a tip on. And I was like, wow, a package. It ranged from 99 to like 199. And I think they had some for more. And she was like you can choose the lowest package and just bring your own dress. You don't have to buy a dress from them because it's more money and I think that's smart. And so I ended up buying a dress in advance for my daughter from Amazon. It was about $30 and it came with all the things and brought it with me to Disney. And so that was a nice surprise and they don't want you doing that. So we chose the lowest package $99 So she's still got the experience. She still got a pretty dress, and she got her nails done and her hair done. And even though I was concerned also about her hair because her hair is braided what can you do to it? She still made the best of it. She got a flower crown and a pink little ponytail that connected to her hair and she loved that ponytail and wore it a couple days after. So I would say something like that for a child if they are into that is, I thought it was totally worth it to do and an extra experience that we splurged on for her. All right, let's get to the cost now, let's get to breaking down how much we actually spent. I downloaded our credit card transactions and tallied everything up. So all together for our Disney trip for a family of five, we spent $7,947. I'm gonna round that up to 8000 Just because I know I forgot something, or maybe something's missing from here. And that included everything that well I did not include, the flight. So you got to add a couple 100 for that. But that includes, the bags, the Uber and lifts to and from the airport, getting food to our hotel.
Basically everything well, I'ma break that down for you right now. So we spent 2700 on park tickets. So it was 2100. I'm just rounding right now 2100 Just for the Disney tickets for five people. And then the Disney Halloween party at Magic Kingdom is a separate price and ticket that actually came to $600. So altogether our tickets just to like get into the park was $2,700. Our hotel was also about $2,700. And that was staying from the Sunday to Saturday. And then everything else. So I did not break down between what was like food versus transportation versus, lightning Lane passes and but everything else all incidentals came up to about 2500. So rounding all that up. Our Disney trip cost us $8,000 I wasn't preparing for this. I text my husband, I said you know how much we spent for Disney, 8000. And he said, That's a hefty amount.
And it is you know, but I I realized that that was going to be how much we were going to spend. When I started to loosely think about Disney years ago, I think I did say okay, how much is a staying at a hotel how much is getting the tickets. And I was like, wow, it's about to be eight to $10 for a family of five. And that's based on it doing it our way. One of the things I talk about in the book, your journey to financial freedom is guac levels, I'll do another episode about this and guacamole levels. And it's meant to basically allow yourself to understand the type of lifestyle that you want to live in and the levels to spending on luxury. I know that there are people, families of five who spend a lot less when they go to Disney, or able to cut costs, whether they get discounts or they time it so things are cheaper. But based on convenience for us, and the way we wanted to experience Disney our trip cost$8000. Now I'm sure there are ways in which we could have saved more money. You know, I don't think that Disney will be a reoccurring every year trip for us, like some people do. For me, I feel like it could be something we do in another two or three years. But this was worth it to us now. And for fun, I did put in how much I did a calculation because I just can't help myself. If we did not spend $1,000 on Disney, if we put it in an investment account and left it there, how much it would grow to and what I did the calculation putting $8,000 in, let's just say any retirement account or investment account, if it has 8% return in 10 years, that money would have grown to about $17,700 in 10 years, and in 20 years that $8,000 could grow to $39,000. And that's an 8% growth rate. So if we did not theoretically, if we did not spend the $8000 to do Disney and we invested that instead, we could have had in 20 years $39,000 Now, honestly, one that number doesn't make me regret one thing about spending the money that we did now because money especially when you are able to use it responsibly and you're secure and those decisions you make with your money are not keeping or holding you back from a life that is secure and a life that you love, this is the purpose of money. This is why I work. This is for me money well spent. Now of course you know when I think about that could have been a down payment for a car or something else sure it could have been used in other places. There are opportunity costs with everything that you do when it comes to your time and energy and money. But for us this was one of the best ways we could have spent this 8000 because our kids and us we had such an amazing time. Disney is a very magical place and it's very smart place because they know how to take your money and know how to market to us, I mean, you can do a whole episode on just like the business of Disney World, okay, I believe that it's just an experience I wanted for my kids to have. And, again, I don't know how many times we're gonna go back to Disney. But I know that they are going to remember it, my five year old, seven and nine year old, this is something that's going to be a core memory for them. And so when you're thinking about this for yourself, you know, whether it's Disney or spending money on another vacation or trip or something in your life, that maybe is going to cost a few $1,000 Or a lot of money. I want you want to make sure that you're in a financial place that you can do that, where it does not deter you or hold you back further. So I talked about guacamole levels and lifestyle levels. And yes, we could have spent less. So there's a way to scale back and spend less in certain areas if there's something you want to do. But also the journey or level, which is another thing I talk about a lot in the book too, is where you are on your journey or stage. And so being in an earlier stage in your financial independence journey, may require that you hold off on doing certain things to the fullest extent, to the fullest, luxury extent that you want. And if you do choose to do it, that's fine. It's your life, it's your world, your money, you just understand the trade off for that it may keep you in debt longer, it may keep you working at that job you don't like longer, right. And if it's worth it to you to take that trip, then do it. But understand that there is a trade off. And there's also a way in which you can forward plan and think about the things you want to do in your life. And so if Disney is a trip you want to take or another type of trip or buying that car or house, I want you start thinking ahead to how that can work in the future for yourself, how to start saving up for that. And so it's really important, as you think about what your life looks like what your journey looks like, I'm not one for delaying all fun, delaying all experiences until the perfect time. I mean, there's a smart time for me, the smart time was to go when my kids were at the age where I felt like they could remember it. But the perfect time there is really no perfect time. I was in a very busy season with the book. Right before we went on our and left for Atlanta, I was in the middle of revisions before the last revisions I had to send in, were due. Right. And so I could have easily said You know, it's not a good time, the book is coming out I need to focus on marketing and planning. But my kids will only be at this age once. And I try to balance what we do with them, and how it relates to our goals and giving them experiences not to our detriment where we can't pay our bills, or it's causing friction between our lifestyle and goals, and then our financial independence goals. But how can we compromise so yes, we can go to Disney, and we can enjoy it in this way. But we're not going to do every single thing. We're not going to go to every single restaurant, you know, we're not going to buy that souvenir. And so there are things that we say no to but there are things that we full heartedly say yes to because we want them to have that experience. And so if you are whether a parent or nonparent, and you're thinking about how to look forward and plan for big experiences in your life, or things that are going to cost money, you know, some tips that I have for you is one - take your time. While yes, time is fleeting, time also is here. And you want to make sure that you're doing your research. So I'm so grateful to Penny who helped plan, or at least point me in the right direction when it came to what to do with Disney. And so join those Facebook groups, you know, there are a million of them that talk about the thing you want to do or do that research. You know, I did a bunch of Google searches when I had the time on the hotels, like what's the vibe of this hotel? Which pool was better to get me to understand what I want to do? Should we stay at a off site, hotel versus on site hotel for Disney? Those are the kinds of things I thought about. And ultimately you're going to be the only one who makes a decision and is impacted you and your family your immediate circle with the money decisions you make. And the life decisions you make. Right? So you want to make sure that you are thinking them through and being financially responsible but also remembering that this is the reason for money it is to enjoy your life once you've set yourself up financially. So that was my Disney recap. I'm gonna hopefully by the time this episode comes out, maybe like a little real, showcasing some of our fun moments. But other than that if you want to follow me, I'm on Instagram at journey to launch and then at Jamila souffrant. The new book your journey to financial freedom comes out December 5, but you can order right now get a really cool bonus by doing that right now by going to your journey to financial freedom.com And yeah, let me know if this episode resonated with you. If you are a Disney head you go to Disney every year and how you save money. Maybe I need to do bring an expert on to talk to us about how to save money on Disney. Let me know tag me if you're listening. And until next week, keep on journeying journeyers.
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