A Year of Fun at the Happiest Place on Earth

Yes, you heard right. I caved.

I turned my back on all my frugal, crunchy-granola, classical-educating ways.

I bought Disneyland annual passes.

I have lots of excuses, don't you worry. And yes, I do feel the need to justify my purchase. After all, spending that kind of money on entertainment goes against just about every principle I hold dear. You might remember this post, in which I explained exactly why I did not want annual passes to the happiest place on earth. But then...

1. The Amazing Husband really wanted some. And it was his birthday. His 30th birthday. And people do crazy things for love, kids.

2. You only live once. And we're only getting these passes once. One year of Disneyana and then it's back to real life. I realized when we left Vegas that we never really know the plans God has for us. I'd hate to end up leaving here after a few years of thinking we'd be here forever and regret not going.

3. They didn't end up costing as much as I thought. I mean, they did cost a lot. I nearly hyperventilated when I hit "Buy Tickets". BUT. Annual passes including parking ended up costing us less than we would have spent to come for a long weekend. (We bought the cheap ones.) So this year, instead of a family vacation, we're doing Disney.

3a. We were able to pay cash. I note this because everyone I talked to around here about it said, "Hey, don't worry about the cost because you can make payments!" Now I really like these folks, but no way am I buying Disney passes on credit. We happen to believe that if you don't have the money for something, you can't afford it. If you can afford the payment you should save that money until you have it all. The only exceptions to the cash only rule are houses and medical bills. And maybe cars but there would have to be some extenuating circumstances to that one. Which is why we still drive our old blue van.

Anyway. We bought our passes last weekend and spent the whole day Monday, then we went after school on Thursday. And it has been a real blast. It's nice to go not worrying about getting it all done. It's relaxing. The kids love it. And next time we go we'll have paid for the passes.

So that's my confession for the week.