Ready, Set, Disney!!!

We've decided we can go in 2013!!! SO EXCITED!!! Hopefully booking next week. =]

Disney Dining Deals

It's incredible how much you can save if you're looking for deals. For Erik and I to eat at Disney, it'll cost around $1000, not including drinks or snacks. With the free dining they have going on right now, we could upgrade from the free quick service to the plus dining plan for under $300 and then only have around $200 worth of food left to pay for. The plan includes 1 quick service, 1 table service, and one snack per day. All of the meals come with a drink and you also get a refillable travel mug! That will cut our dining budget in half. I just have to monitor when it becomes available for the time that we want to travel so that when the time comes to book, I can!

Delaying

Well. Erik has suggested that we postpone our trip. For like, another year. SO we will not be going until September 2014. Probably won't do much planning or posting for a while since it is so far away.

DIY Disney!

I've been making some stuff for the trip. I figure if I spend a little bit here and there it will be a lot easier than spending a bunch right before we leave. I know it's still far away, but I want to be ready!! One thing that I made though is definitely useful now.

 

A Disney Dollar jar! I had a couple of buttons in the house that I used to make Mickey. The little Mickeys are just fabric paint. Then I threw all of the change I found laying around inside of the jar! Any change I find between now and when we leave is going in that jar! Although, it looks like I might need another...

 

Next I took 2 containers from mini M&M's and decorated them with colored paper and ribbon. Erik and I both like pressed pennies, and it's a cheap way to get a souvenir. The Pressed Penny Money container is full of sets of 2 quarters with a penny on top of each set for easy access. (I got this idea from The Disney Diva http://www.tipsfromthedisneydiva.com/2012/05/pressed-penny-souvenirs.html)

 

This way a really cheap white board I got from Target ($1, seriously). I covered the edges with ribbon to make it look nicer and covered the marker body in colored paper. This will be great for playing games on the plane. Tic Tac Toe, Hangman, and Pictionary!!

I won a deck of cards a few years ago at Warped Tour, and re-purposed them as Disney cards for Pictionary and Hangman. I tried to put labels on the cards to cover the pictures, but they didn't fir in the box! I was going to use Disney paint chips like the blogger I got this idea from (http://acreativeprincess.blogspot.com/2012/05/draw-somethingdisney.html), but my local Home Depot didn't have any! And then I realized I would probably take a deck of cards anyways. This way we can use the cards for other card games. (Including Old Maid, since one of the Jokers is Lady Tremaine!!)

Now I have to start collecting stuff that we'll actually NEED instead of just fun stuff. It's obvious my priorities are in great order =].

Preliminary Planning

I've begun serious pre-trip planning with my down time. I'm thinking which parks, which days, which rides. This is a little difficult considering how far out the trip is. I've been researching through blogs and podcasts to see where my best tools are. 

Which parks?
Well obviously all of the major WDW parks, and also the Universal's Island of Adventure park to visit The Wizarding World of Harry Potter!!

Which days?
This one is a little more difficult. Since we're going to stay in a Disney Resort hotel, we have access to Disney Extra Magic Hours. This allows us to enter some parks early, and stay at some late. Only on certain days though. So which parks have AM or PM Extra Magic Hours (EMH), what parades are happening, and what or how many attractions we are interested in contribute to the decision for which parks on which days. I'm thinking 2 days at Magic Kingdom (MK), 2 days at EPCOT, 1 day at Disney Animal Kingdom (DAK), 1 day at Disney Hollywood Studios (DHS), and 1 day at Universal's Islands of Adventure (UIA). But not necessarily in that order. Originally I was thinking the very end of September in order to participate in the International Food and Wine Festival in addition to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. However, in an effort to save money, I think we might pass on these special events which might also help us avoid some crowds. Because of this change in thought, I have to reevaluate which order we will be visiting the parks.

Which rides? 
This is easier than for families with kids or even large groups because both Erik and I are rather predictable as to what we are interested in. Erik does not like water rides or roller coasters. I love water rides, like roller coasters, and hate spinning rides. This would be an issue at any park but a Disney park. It is also part of why we're going to Florida instead of the California park. So I've started making a list of all the rides and rating them from must ride, to skip please. I'm also including information about location and whether or not a Fastpass should be acquired. 

Dining?
Advanced dining reservations (ADR) at WDW can be made 180 days from check in date. And many places NEED to be reserved 180 days out to get a reservation at your desired time. So I have begun researching which restaurants I would like to eat while we are at each park. I know which restaurants to correspond with which park for the most part, but since I will be rearranging the park order most likely, that will have to be reassessed also. 

Plans I'm sure of?
So it kind of seems like all of my planning actually hasn't done anything. However! There are a couple of things that I am sure of for our trip. We will be staying at a Disney Value Resort. I am currently really leaning towards Disney All Star Movies Resort. We will be staying for 8 nights in September 2013 to celebrate our 6 year anniversary. We will be getting 6 days of single park tickets for WDW in addition to a 1 day single park ticket for UIA. We will also be participating in the Disney Deluxe Dining Plan. This will allow us to prepay our meals for the trip inside the World. We will have 3 meals (quick service OR table service) and 2 snacks each per night of our stay at our resort. We will also be flying (obviously since we live in CA) and therefor using the FREE Disney Magical Express to get us and our luggage to and from the hotel and airport. We will not be renting a car, so we will be using Disney Transportation and also need to find a way to get to and from the UIA.

I have all of this in a fancy Mickey color themed document with tables and maps and spread sheets. =]   

Decision

Erik and I recently decided as a way to motivate ourselves to do more chores, we would award ourselves stars. Whoever earns the most stars during any given month would earn a certain amount of money to use towards their own goal. My goal is a trip to Walt Disney World in Florida! 

So far, I am in the lead with stars for our first month, however since I am currently on a week of "rest" for my wrists (which basically means I cant do anything) I don't know how much longer I will be in the lead =[.

I have been trying to do what planning I can so that I can see how much money I will have to save and make our trip as smooth and fun as possible when it finally arrives. My first step in making our trip successful was getting a Disney Rewards credit card through Chase. As a card member I not only get discounts on select Disney hotels and merchandise, but I also get 1% cash back in "Disney Dollars". We will also get other perks such as a photo opp with characters just for card members.

I have already begun researching which hotels to stay at and which shows and attractions we might be interested in doing while at the parks. This is especially important with Erik seeing as he does not really have any interest in amusement parks or rides, mostly thrill rides. Obviously this trip is primarily because I'm obsessed, but I want him to have fun too!

I'm hoping to have enough money saved for an 8 night trip in September 2013.