Disney, Here we come (in July!)

BIG NEWS in the B home… We are going to Walt Disney World!!! The trip is all set. All we need to do is pack and get on the plane… in July! We are lucky that my mom is able to get the time off from work and wants to come with us on this journey. The kids are so excited to see and meet Mickey Mouse!

Here is what we have planned so far:
Day 1: Fly to FL and check-in at our resort. We are staying at the Disney Wilderness Lodge Resort. Then dinner at Chef Mickey’s so the kids will get to see Mickey on the FIRST day in FL.
Day 2: Magic Kingdom. Plus T and I are going to see a show that night.
Day 3: Magic Kingdom in the morning and Epcot in the afternoon and evening.
Day 4: Rest and relax at the resort! This resort has a beach (not to swim in though), 2 pools, a huge playground, and trails to walk on. Plus at night they have campfires with Chip and Dale along with an outdoor movie (Disney of course) under the stars!
Day 5: Animal Kingdom.
Day 6: Animal Kingdom in the morning. Hollywood Studios in the afternoon. We have lunch scheduled with Goliath (JoJo’s Circus), Leo, June (Little Einsteins), Handy Manny, and Special Agent Oso! Then dinner at ‘Ohana to end the night.
Day 7: Fly back to MN and drive back home.

We have been doing a ton of research and found out a lot of things online to help our vacation go a little smoother.

Strollers: We can travel with strollers on the airplane at NO CHARGE! At first we were just thinking about bringing wheels for O and N but then after doing research found that many parents suggest bringing strollers for kids even as old as 8! So we will be taking our double, single, and umbrella strollers. We were also debating if we should bring O’s infant carrier. We thought it may be too hot but then read a review that stated it was nice to have because if your infant falls asleep and you go to a sit-down restaurant then you can just bring in their seat and not have to wake-up your child (strollers are not permitted in restaurants, which makes sense).

Dinner reservations: If you want to eat at a sit-down restaurant you have to make reservations, which can be made up to 180 days in advance! We did not think it would be necessary to do so but we were just checking and there were quite a few restaurants that were already full for days that we are going to be there from 4pm to 8pm. After finding this out we decided to plan each day where we were going and what restaurants we would want to eat at while we were there. For example, one restaurant sounded good and had meals that we would have liked but then we read some reviews and several people commented that they were at said restaurant in February of this year and got FOOD POISONING! Hmm, no thanks. Next.

Dining Plan: We went back and forth about getting a meal plan while we are there and ultimately decided that the meal plan would be the best for us. We will each get 1-Quick service meal, 1-Sit-down meal, and 1-snack per day. By figuring out our restaurants ahead of time we were able to get the “biggest bang for our buck”. We chose sit-down restaurants that adult entrees were around $30-35. I will not go into specifics but this is going to be a great deal and hopefully save us a lot of money in the long run (I will have to let you know after our trip!). We could have got an extra meal per day but decided that we would save the money and just eat breakfast in our ‘home’.

Lodging: Since we have so many guests that will be on this trip it was hard to find proper accommodations. We could have stayed in a deluxe room but they did not honor a military discount for these rooms. We could have stayed in two hotel rooms but there was no guarantee that they would be adjoining or even on the same wing or floor. Or we could stay in a ‘home away from home’. We were able to get an apartment basically. It has a full kitchen (with a dishwasher), two bedrooms, living/sitting room (with a DVD player), full sized washer and dryer, and concierge service (which will get groceries for us if needed). We were able to get a military discount on this ‘home’ and saved substantially.

This will be the perfect way to end our summer before T goes back to Medical school and before J starts Kindergarten!