Watch out Disney World, here we come...again!!
In November of 2013 Dave and I had the pleasure of taking Isabella, Abigail, Poppie, Mimi and Alisha (my youngest sister) to Disney World. To say it was "magical" is an understatement. Disney World is not just for kids, it truly is for everyone. I was blessed with the opportunity to go twice in high school (one of those trips I got to experience with Becky, my other sister) with our concert chorus. But, to have now witnessed it through the eyes of my own two littles is simply incredible!
The look of love and adoration in Bella and Abbi's eyes when they got to meet their most favorite princesses was so sweet. They were in their own little piece of heaven.
And then, to meet so many other princesses and characters, it left all of us floating through a land of fairy tales and happily ever afters.
We stayed on Disney property at The Art of Animation. They had a family suite large enough to sleep all 7 of us. The detail at this hotel was incredible. It featured three pools each with different themes. The main pool looked like it popped right out of Finding Nemo while the other two were picture perfect scenes of The Little Mermaid and Cars. The playground was a life size version of The Lion King.
We opted to invest in the Dining Plan, not to save money, but to make our trip simpler and less stressful. We had; 1 sit down meal, 1 take out meal, and 1 snack for each person every day...and it was SO much food. We never came close to eating it all and, at the end of our week, we were buying snacks with our entitlements to take on the plane ride home just to so that they didn't get wasted.
However, having the dining plan was wonderful because it gave us an opportunity to eat at extremely expensive character dining restaurants like; Chef Mickey's, Cinderella's Royal Table and Akershus Royal Banquet Hall. It was at these meals that we had some of the most memorable close up and personal encounters with princesses and other Mickey Mouse friends.
We also spent extra money on Park Hopper passes so that we were free to go between parks as we choose. Considering we spent most days in two different parks, I would say we got our money out of this added expense. However, we were exhausted from all the hopping back and forth, especially with two young girlies in tow.
Then, my amazing husband, had his own set of special surprises to celebrate my 30th birthday (which was in July, but I wanted to wait and celebrate in Disney) and our 9th wedding anniversary, which was going to be in a few short weeks.
He worked with our dear friend and travel agent to set up some breathtaking activities. While my parents kept the girls, Dave and I went on a Fireworks Cruise with a spectacular view of Magic Kingdom and our own personal show of the Electrical Water Pageant.
Then, he treated me to a Horse-Drawn Carriage Ride through Port Orleans Riverside and the banks of Sassagoula River. Yes, he truly is MY prince charming!
The vacation was wonderful and our memories will last us a life time.
However, when we decided that we wanted to take the girls back to Disney World this November, the search for a more financially reasonable trip began.
I started to research the "cheapest" way to stay on Disney property over a year ago and this past January we officially booked our November 2015 trip. First, I researched the best times to visit Disney World. Dave and I really love the weather (it's past hurricane season) in Florida during the month of November, and how low the crowds are in the parks during the 2nd and 3rd weeks. We will be pulling both kiddos out of school for a week (which will result in "unexcused" absences in the eyes of the school district) and visiting Disney in the middle of November. We are taking a direct flight from the Buffalo/Niagara Airport, as it is cheaper than flying out of Rochester, on a Thursday and returning the following Wednesday. If you want to save money on flights, avoid flying Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday and instead choose to travel on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. We will be flying with Southwest Airlines as they have the least expensive direct flight and it includes checked luggage.
We decided to splurge a bit on our accommodations and, instead of staying at a value resort, we picked the princesses themed rooms in the moderate resort of the Port Orleans - Riverside.
However, to cut costs in other areas, we decided against park hopper passes and just went with standard park admission. We also choose to spend our first and last days in Disney at the resort which saved us the price of 2 days in the parks.
While the sit down dining plan was great for our last trip, it just didn't make sense to pay upfront for it this time. So, to keep things cheap and simple, we opted to go with the basic Quick Service plan instead.
All said and done, Dave and I were happy with the end cost of this upcoming trip. All we had to do was just wait until November. That was, until we received a phone call from our travel agent who changed our trip significantly for the better...
It was the end of April when I got a phone call saying our Disney trip had been upgraded. You can imagine my joy when Disney announced their 2015 Magic Your Way plus Free Dining plan and we qualified for it! The only catch was, we had to change resorts. So, our wonderful friend and travel agent changed our reservations to the Caribbean Beach Resort. By doing this, our dining plan was upgraded to sit down meals and our park passes were converted to park hopper passes. We ended up with a better vacation and saved $500.00 off our original package!!
I have already made reservations at several character dining restaurants such as; The Crystal Palace, Tusker House, and Hollywood & Vine, which we have never experienced before and would not have been able to afford without the free dining.
If you are looking to make a trip to Disney, my suggestion is to touch base with a travel agent. I happen to know the BEST one, and would be happy to send you her information.
Disney is expensive and exhausting, but we absolutely plan to make the most out of our time, and money, this trip.
The best part (for me anyway) is making new memories with my awesome family!! 169 days and counting down...
The look of love and adoration in Bella and Abbi's eyes when they got to meet their most favorite princesses was so sweet. They were in their own little piece of heaven.
And then, to meet so many other princesses and characters, it left all of us floating through a land of fairy tales and happily ever afters.
We stayed on Disney property at The Art of Animation. They had a family suite large enough to sleep all 7 of us. The detail at this hotel was incredible. It featured three pools each with different themes. The main pool looked like it popped right out of Finding Nemo while the other two were picture perfect scenes of The Little Mermaid and Cars. The playground was a life size version of The Lion King.
However, having the dining plan was wonderful because it gave us an opportunity to eat at extremely expensive character dining restaurants like; Chef Mickey's, Cinderella's Royal Table and Akershus Royal Banquet Hall. It was at these meals that we had some of the most memorable close up and personal encounters with princesses and other Mickey Mouse friends.
We also spent extra money on Park Hopper passes so that we were free to go between parks as we choose. Considering we spent most days in two different parks, I would say we got our money out of this added expense. However, we were exhausted from all the hopping back and forth, especially with two young girlies in tow.
Then, my amazing husband, had his own set of special surprises to celebrate my 30th birthday (which was in July, but I wanted to wait and celebrate in Disney) and our 9th wedding anniversary, which was going to be in a few short weeks.
He worked with our dear friend and travel agent to set up some breathtaking activities. While my parents kept the girls, Dave and I went on a Fireworks Cruise with a spectacular view of Magic Kingdom and our own personal show of the Electrical Water Pageant.
Then, he treated me to a Horse-Drawn Carriage Ride through Port Orleans Riverside and the banks of Sassagoula River. Yes, he truly is MY prince charming!
The vacation was wonderful and our memories will last us a life time.
However, when we decided that we wanted to take the girls back to Disney World this November, the search for a more financially reasonable trip began.
I started to research the "cheapest" way to stay on Disney property over a year ago and this past January we officially booked our November 2015 trip. First, I researched the best times to visit Disney World. Dave and I really love the weather (it's past hurricane season) in Florida during the month of November, and how low the crowds are in the parks during the 2nd and 3rd weeks. We will be pulling both kiddos out of school for a week (which will result in "unexcused" absences in the eyes of the school district) and visiting Disney in the middle of November. We are taking a direct flight from the Buffalo/Niagara Airport, as it is cheaper than flying out of Rochester, on a Thursday and returning the following Wednesday. If you want to save money on flights, avoid flying Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday and instead choose to travel on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. We will be flying with Southwest Airlines as they have the least expensive direct flight and it includes checked luggage.
We decided to splurge a bit on our accommodations and, instead of staying at a value resort, we picked the princesses themed rooms in the moderate resort of the Port Orleans - Riverside.
However, to cut costs in other areas, we decided against park hopper passes and just went with standard park admission. We also choose to spend our first and last days in Disney at the resort which saved us the price of 2 days in the parks.
While the sit down dining plan was great for our last trip, it just didn't make sense to pay upfront for it this time. So, to keep things cheap and simple, we opted to go with the basic Quick Service plan instead.
All said and done, Dave and I were happy with the end cost of this upcoming trip. All we had to do was just wait until November. That was, until we received a phone call from our travel agent who changed our trip significantly for the better...
It was the end of April when I got a phone call saying our Disney trip had been upgraded. You can imagine my joy when Disney announced their 2015 Magic Your Way plus Free Dining plan and we qualified for it! The only catch was, we had to change resorts. So, our wonderful friend and travel agent changed our reservations to the Caribbean Beach Resort. By doing this, our dining plan was upgraded to sit down meals and our park passes were converted to park hopper passes. We ended up with a better vacation and saved $500.00 off our original package!!
I have already made reservations at several character dining restaurants such as; The Crystal Palace, Tusker House, and Hollywood & Vine, which we have never experienced before and would not have been able to afford without the free dining.
If you are looking to make a trip to Disney, my suggestion is to touch base with a travel agent. I happen to know the BEST one, and would be happy to send you her information.
Disney is expensive and exhausting, but we absolutely plan to make the most out of our time, and money, this trip.
The best part (for me anyway) is making new memories with my awesome family!! 169 days and counting down...
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