Part of why I didn't blog about our trip was because there are SO MANY pictures. I'm going to try to keep it brief, but no promises. If you don't want to read about all things Disney, check back in a few weeks. 😂
We started out 2017 with Michael declaring, "We need to make Disney happen this year!" Olivia was approaching the point where she wouldn't believe the characters were "real", and her love of all things princess was waning. I started researching the best dates, deals, budget friendly ideas, and information. Our plan was to keep it as budget friendly as possible while still making it magical. We will likely go back, but we didn't know when, and the kids will surely not be in this stage. So we kind of treated it like a "once in a lifetime" vacation.
We chose NOT to tell the kids before hand. Mostly because we didn't want to hear about it 38302089 times. We surprised them the DAY OF. We always decorate our table special occasions--birthdays, Valentine's Day, etc. So I thought decorating for a fun breakfast would be the perfect way to surprise them.
It was a mix of cheap little things I bought, and things we already had on hand. This kind of stuff is so fun for me.
Our flight was mid morning, but we still had to wake them to ensure we had enough time. They were happy and surprised, but not over the top, because they really had no idea what Disney World was. Olivia told me later that she thought it was like the rides at the mall. LOL! We had mickey waffles, raspberries, and some mickey yogurt pouch I found. They were most excited about their backpacks that had fun things in them for the flight.
Our original plan, to keep it budget friendly, was to drive. We were going to break it up into 2 days driving there and 2 days driving back. Michael's mom graciously offered to pay for us to fly!
It was the first flight for both of the kids and they loved it.
They enjoyed their bags full of fun, but we could have easily just stuck to kindles.
We rented a car and arrived at the resort late afternoon.
A sweet, sweet friend offered us a free 5 night stay at her time share. This was before we knew we were flying, so we were just going to tack on 1 night stay at a local hotel at the beginning or end of the trip. Once it was decided that we were flying, that left us with some extra days. I did a little research and found out that it would be just as cheap to stay at one of the value resorts on site. So that's what we did for the first 3 nights. It gave us some benefits like free magic bands, free parking, and early reservations for fast passes.
We had a late dinner planned, so we stopped off for a snack on our way to the resort. I ordered food from Instacart (which is a grocery delivery service). It was delivered to our resort within 15 minutes of our arrival. We also rented a double stroller from a local company. Both our food and our stroller were waiting for us at the concierge, so Michael went down to get them. The kids relaxed with some Disney cartoons.
After getting all settled, we drove over to the Contemporary resort. We had dinner reservations at Chef Mickey. We were a little early, so we walked around and took in the sights. Since we were there at Christmas, they had special decorations up. This is a real gingerbread house--Cinderella's castle.
After a long travel day, we wanted to start our trip out with a bang!
Chef Mickey was one of the most expensive meals we did, but it was worth it. We got to see 5 characters, and it kind of showed our kids what they were in for. They still really had no idea.
Y'all. That smile.
I got a character encyclopedia off of Amazon. We used that as our autograph book. This was BY FAR one of the best things I did in my planning. Each character signed their page. And most of them are familiar with these books, so they knew exactly what page they were on. Olivia read the book from cover to cover multiple times during our trip, so it served as line entertainment too. We got so many compliments on it.
Michael was taking video off to the side, so some of our pictures were a little confusing. But you get the idea.
5 fun characters + yummy buffet + endless refills of sugary drinks + dessert buffet = Best Night!
Yummy!
I should have taken a picture of Michael's dessert plate, because his choices were the exact opposite of mine. LOL!!!
We headed back to our hotel and went straight to bed. We had an early morning ahead!
Some other budgeting tips:
*I knew we would need a lot of new things for the trip, so I made a giant list and divided it out between the 10 months we had. Each month I bought a little more for our trip. We didn't even have any luggage. Ours had been ruined and we generally just drive and use 31 bags. I watched for clearance and deals and bought things along the way.
*If you use your red card, you can buy Disney gift cards at Target and save the 5%. 5% isn't much, but when you are talking about a vacation that costs in the thousands, it adds up. (Sam's Club also offers a comparable discount, but I am not a member there.)
*I brought "Tinkerbell" gifts for each day. Our kids aren't really ones to say "I want..." or "Can I have...", so I wasn't really worried about us spending an enormous amount on souvenirs. That's why most people do "Tinkerbell" gifts. I just thought it would be fun and add to the magic. Each morning they woke with a note (and some fairy dust) from Tinkerbell, along with a gift. These are things I bought throughout the year. They also mostly served double duty. For example, they got (dollar spot) glow sticks and Target party section Mickey ears. These thing would have cost a fortune in the park. I am so glad I went with the ears that I did, too, because my kids didn't even wear them half a day.
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