My Disney Wisdom

    I am writing this post from Palm Coast, Florida.  We are on to the next leg of our adventure.  We loved Disney, but it was a lot.  Apparently there really is too much of a good thing.  We ended our stay at Epcot, and the kids kept asking when we could go back to the hotel.  They just wanted to play in the pool.  It re-affirms that we are not a go- go family.  We are quite slow paced and the kids were longing for this, who knew?
    I am going to now share my disney wisdom....

  #1  Don't wait until you think you can afford to go to Disney.  For years the kids have begged to go to Disney, and we would tell them "When we win the lottery" followed by ha ha ha.  Then a friend of ours went and told me what it cost for her family of five to go, I could not believe it.  For our family of 6 to stay at the resort for 4 nights, have park tickets for 5 days, and have dinner, lunch/ breakfast and a snack for 4 days, unlimited pop at the resort it cost us $3100.00.  You can book it a year in advance, and make payments all year.  You can lay away for your vacation! 

#2  Stay at the Disney Resort.  No it is not as cheap as staying off site.  The convenience is invaluable.  The attention to detail at the resort is amazing.  Every morning the housekeeper would arrrange the kids toys in a fun way, or make a Mickey Mouse with towels. It was all of the little touches. One morning Elly had a sore eye and was crying, one of the employees ran up with a balloon for her.  In other words they cater to children.  That is a rare thing.  Every day there are tons of activities at the resort for the kids.  In the evenings they showed movies at the pool.  There was no shortage of activities for them to do.
    The other plus is that Disney has it's own transportation system.  There are bus stops in front of the hotel that go to every park, as well as Downtown Disney.  The buses leave every twenty minutes.  You just park your car, and they take care of everything else!

 #3 Purchase the dining plan.  Sure you could save money and bring in your meals, but why would you pack lunches, when for a fraction more you can eat your meals there and not have to cook or clean?  It cost us $300.00 for our dining plan for 6 of us.  That includes one quick serve, and one sit down dining, plus one snack each day.  The sit down meals are the Character meals or nice restaurants.  We found that with the sit down dining, places were reserved, and because of that the restaurant was not as busy as the quick serve places.  Our first sit down meal was at The Crystal Palace.  It was a buffet charater meal.  Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore,and Piglette walked around the restaurant.  At one point there was a parade around the restaurant and the kids were invited to join in.  My kids sooooo loved it.  The buffet line had grown up height and kids size so that the food was at a child's height allowing them to select their own meals.  At the end of the meal they brought us a bill, the total, $200.00.  Our dining plan in one day had paid for it's self.

  #4 Book ahead!  I thought that they were being overly dramatic when they told me that you should reserve 6 months ahead for dining and experiences, they were not.  Rowan had really wanted to take part in the pirate experience, but we could not fit him in.  Elly decided that she would really like to have a tea party with one of the princesses, I called three weeks before we left... completely booked solid.   I booked our sit down dining in November, it was really smart of me.  I booked the other hotels I knew we were going to stay at, and consiequently saved us a lot of money.  I discovered that in Orlando their rates change daily.  I booked our hotel stay at the Four Point Sheridan for the first Sunday of our vacation, I booked it two months ago for $100.00.  That same room cost $150.00 for the Friday of the same week when we inquired Sunday.

   #5  Plan Plan Plan!!!!  We booked our trip last October.  I have been compiling a trip bible that has been invaluable.  I put mapquest directions, important phone numbers, confirmation numbers.  It has been invaluable.

    I really enjoyed Disney and I did not think that I would.  The crowds were terrible, and yet the experience was great.  It is not a cheap vacation, but it was worth every single penny.  I was amazed at every single detail that they look after.  Everyone is super friendly.  The staff all call the little girls "Princess" and the boys "Prince".  There is not a speck of garbage to be seen anywhere.  They have crews out cleaning all the time.  The bathrooms have sinks at little children's heights.  Everything is geared toward children.  It truly is magical.  I have already started planning our vacation back to Disney in two years.  I asked the staff, and they say come in February, not as busy.  I think I will!

Day One of Disney - The Magic Kingdom

    All of the months of scrimping and saving and planning and counting down were here.  Day one of our Disney vacaction was here at last.  We arrived Monday night to our hotel at the Disney All Star Music Resort.  Let me just say that Disney is like it's own city.  I have never seen anything quite like it.  They have their own transportation system for heaven's sake!  This place is HUGE!!!!!  Of course we got lost several times and asked for directions from at least three park staff before we found our hotel.
    The resort is amazing.  Our room is like a little apartment.  The kids were so excited.  There were all kinds of neat little touches.  The kid's let out a squeal when they saw the Mickey head made from towels on the bed.
    We began our day on Tueday morning by heading to the food court.  I felt pretty spoiled just telling someone what I would like for breakfast.  I had nothing to do.  No cooking, no cleaning, just ordering.

    We boarded our bus outside the resort and headed for the Magic Kingdom.  The crowds were horrendous.  Who knew when we booked our vacation all of those months ago that we were booking at the time when many of the states have their spring break.  I had that sinking feeling of deja vu, were we going to have a repeat of the day before?  We had spent so much money, and now we would be unable to enjoy any of this.  I got more and more irritated as the day went on.  It was two hour waits t o go on the rides.  You had to push to make your way everywhere.  I was hot, my feet hurt, I was not happy.  I decided then and there to just endure it, and pretend that I did not want to take a flame thrower to everyone that got in my way.
    We decided to find a spot early and watch the Main Street Parade.  At least I could find somewhere to sit and rest my feet.  It took forever for the parade to get to us.  How much more of this could I take?  Then the parade started.  A funny thing happened when the parade started, my heart got ten times larger.  I felt like the Grinch when he discovered Christmas.  I looked at my kids.  Their little faces were alive with pure joy.  I looked over and saw Gracie, she had her hand out to shake hands wit hthe characters as they passed her.  She is entering that age soon where she will be too cool to embrace joy.  I looked at little Elly perched on her daddy shoulders waving her little hand off to everyone who passed.  Riley and Rowan's face's showed that wonder.  How could I have been so selfish?  So what if it was crowded, this was the Magic Kingdom.  I think that it might truly be magic.

 
    After the parade I left my bad attitude on Main Street.  I enjoyed myself.  I saw the world through my children's eyes, and then cried a little.  In the end they are only little for the blink of an eye.  They will remember this vacation for the rest of their lives.  Every single penny we had to save away for this vacation was worth it.