sersee05
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2009
Well I am stuck in the back from vacation doldrums. Not to mention I am exhausted and need a week to recover!!
I am starting this off with a disclaimer. I love Disney. My kids love Disney. We had a great trip...however we did notice some things that took away the magic just a little. Basically this will not be an all unicorns and bunnies type of report. Our trip was magical but a little less magical this time around.
Soooooo let's get this started!! I have three kids . I have two daughters (18 and 13 ) and a 9 year old son. We are involved with sports most of the summer. So we always have to vacay in August. This year was a particularly trying year . Two of my kids had a medically rough go of it which was hard on my husband and me. They are doing well now. When it was time to figure out our vacation, we always have an issue. Some of us love the beach. Some of us do not. My son is afraid of so many things. He is a worrywart and won't fly or go on a boat. So bascially it comes down to, what is the easiest thing to do that everyone is happy with ...DISNEY!!
So since we had such a rough year, we all couldn't wait to just go. We needed this vacation. I am the planner in the family. These boards have been awesome . We were debating on whether to be onsite or off. We have been staying off and loving it. It gives us room and everyone has their own tvs.
We are not disney commandos. When we go on vacation, we don't necessarily want to get up at 6:30 to make an adr and hit rope drop. Adr's are tough for people like us because we tend to switch things up if what we are doing isn't working.
I ended up getting a good price for the Poly(my favorite!!). But at that time it didn't include food. I try to budget about a $1000 for food and parking. That sounds like a lot but it really isn't with the 5 of us. It was $65 per day for lunch!
The condo in Windsor hills that I have rented in the past was open and it would have saved us over $1000 to stay there plus we could stay one day longer. So we went with the condo. I was comfortable because we have stayed there before and I knew it was nice. I bought our tickets on Undercover Tourist.
Now I have always wanted a magic band. So I bought them. It was a splurge, but I just had too. I purchased them off the disney store(through ebates) .
We never used fast pass before. I know!! We are nuts! I never knew to much about it and I have been to Disney many times. I just thought it was much more hassle than it was worth. I came to this board and asked questions. I came to the conclusion that I should definitely make the fp ressie and enjoy getting on a ride. ...lol. We never rode toy story before because we never could get on!
In the meantime I was scanning the board for as much info as possible. My magic bands came! I got stuck with the green one...but I came across magic my band! So we all designed our own(except my dh). I have a little side job that I get paid through paypal. So I paid for the magicmyband myself. Woot Woot! I bought the full one(it worked fine in the parks btw). I made it purple with Stitch on it. They looked awesome.
I came across the budget board which taught me the ways of all the gift card websites and buying disney gc (using my target redacted). I saved around $150 doing this. Then I also applied for the Disney visa through another member. I put the condo payment on it and received a $200 gift card. I bought $1000 disney gc but didn't pay that much! Exciting!
I also came across the Landrys select club strategy. Since we always go to Trex..that worked out perfectly. So now I just had to wait for my fp window to come. I checked out recommended parks and was good to go. My window came and I got everything I wanted. We ended up switching things up on the fly..but more on that later. I made some adrs .
I had :
Monday 8/3- AK ( dinosaur, EE, kali) Trex for dinner
Tuesday 8/4-DHS ( Tot, Tsmm, Star tours) Mama Melrose dinner
Wed. 8/5- MK ( space mtn for 3, Buzz for 2, 7dmt, Wishes) Kona Cafe dinner
Thursday 8/6- Epcot (test track, mission space, spaceship earth) Eating around the world with a kona breakfast
Friday 8/7- open day but was going to make mk fps.( big thunder, space mts for 3 , buzz for 2 and I can't remember the third..) Miller ale house near the condo.
So because I am crazy, I laminated everything and put it in a binder. I even laminated a cute picture of stitch to put in the front. I bought a laminator just for this purpose..Ok ok..I really did always want one for different things. This was my excuse.
I got all my gift cards without any problems. We got up on Sunday 8/2 at 3:30am to drive on down to Fla. So exciting!!!...
** So I decided I also want to add some pictures in. **
These were the cute flip flops we got at kohls before the trips. I believe they were on sale for 6 buckeroos. My girls were in Disney heaven!!
I am starting this off with a disclaimer. I love Disney. My kids love Disney. We had a great trip...however we did notice some things that took away the magic just a little. Basically this will not be an all unicorns and bunnies type of report. Our trip was magical but a little less magical this time around.
Soooooo let's get this started!! I have three kids . I have two daughters (18 and 13 ) and a 9 year old son. We are involved with sports most of the summer. So we always have to vacay in August. This year was a particularly trying year . Two of my kids had a medically rough go of it which was hard on my husband and me. They are doing well now. When it was time to figure out our vacation, we always have an issue. Some of us love the beach. Some of us do not. My son is afraid of so many things. He is a worrywart and won't fly or go on a boat. So bascially it comes down to, what is the easiest thing to do that everyone is happy with ...DISNEY!!
So since we had such a rough year, we all couldn't wait to just go. We needed this vacation. I am the planner in the family. These boards have been awesome . We were debating on whether to be onsite or off. We have been staying off and loving it. It gives us room and everyone has their own tvs.
We are not disney commandos. When we go on vacation, we don't necessarily want to get up at 6:30 to make an adr and hit rope drop. Adr's are tough for people like us because we tend to switch things up if what we are doing isn't working.
I ended up getting a good price for the Poly(my favorite!!). But at that time it didn't include food. I try to budget about a $1000 for food and parking. That sounds like a lot but it really isn't with the 5 of us. It was $65 per day for lunch!
The condo in Windsor hills that I have rented in the past was open and it would have saved us over $1000 to stay there plus we could stay one day longer. So we went with the condo. I was comfortable because we have stayed there before and I knew it was nice. I bought our tickets on Undercover Tourist.
Now I have always wanted a magic band. So I bought them. It was a splurge, but I just had too. I purchased them off the disney store(through ebates) .
We never used fast pass before. I know!! We are nuts! I never knew to much about it and I have been to Disney many times. I just thought it was much more hassle than it was worth. I came to this board and asked questions. I came to the conclusion that I should definitely make the fp ressie and enjoy getting on a ride. ...lol. We never rode toy story before because we never could get on!
In the meantime I was scanning the board for as much info as possible. My magic bands came! I got stuck with the green one...but I came across magic my band! So we all designed our own(except my dh). I have a little side job that I get paid through paypal. So I paid for the magicmyband myself. Woot Woot! I bought the full one(it worked fine in the parks btw). I made it purple with Stitch on it. They looked awesome.
I came across the budget board which taught me the ways of all the gift card websites and buying disney gc (using my target redacted). I saved around $150 doing this. Then I also applied for the Disney visa through another member. I put the condo payment on it and received a $200 gift card. I bought $1000 disney gc but didn't pay that much! Exciting!
I also came across the Landrys select club strategy. Since we always go to Trex..that worked out perfectly. So now I just had to wait for my fp window to come. I checked out recommended parks and was good to go. My window came and I got everything I wanted. We ended up switching things up on the fly..but more on that later. I made some adrs .
I had :
Monday 8/3- AK ( dinosaur, EE, kali) Trex for dinner
Tuesday 8/4-DHS ( Tot, Tsmm, Star tours) Mama Melrose dinner
Wed. 8/5- MK ( space mtn for 3, Buzz for 2, 7dmt, Wishes) Kona Cafe dinner
Thursday 8/6- Epcot (test track, mission space, spaceship earth) Eating around the world with a kona breakfast
Friday 8/7- open day but was going to make mk fps.( big thunder, space mts for 3 , buzz for 2 and I can't remember the third..) Miller ale house near the condo.
So because I am crazy, I laminated everything and put it in a binder. I even laminated a cute picture of stitch to put in the front. I bought a laminator just for this purpose..Ok ok..I really did always want one for different things. This was my excuse.
I got all my gift cards without any problems. We got up on Sunday 8/2 at 3:30am to drive on down to Fla. So exciting!!!...
** So I decided I also want to add some pictures in. **
These were the cute flip flops we got at kohls before the trips. I believe they were on sale for 6 buckeroos. My girls were in Disney heaven!!
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