Helpful hints, reviews, and such from Disney

So, I did all of this reading in planning for our vacation and blogged a bit about it.  Now to blog how it all went.

1.  We did not do the Park Hopper this time, since we really never used it before.  However, if you choose the dining plan, it is best to do the park hopper.  This way you can hop over to Epcot for incredible eats every evening if you want.

2.  If you stay at a property near the Boardwalk, you can walk over to Epcot for evening dinner and fireworks.  I forgot that the Swan and the Dolphin both offer incredible teacher rates.  Might have to look into that for next time.

3.  Loved the Caribbean Beach Resort.  The pools are amazing, the beaches plentiful,  the food at the quick service is good and the restaurant Shutters has amazing food, too! There are lots of activities to do at the resort.

4.  If you have a young child, bring or rent a stroller.  Even if they are 7.  You never know when their little feet get tired.  If you rent a stroller, don't rent from Disney.  Rent from Baby Wheels.
         *They deliver the stroller to your hotel and pick it up when you are done.
         *It costs less than Disney Strollers
         *Disney strollers are hard plastic....Baby Wheels are nice jogger strollers
         *You get for FREE cup holders, a small cooler, and a rain cover for the stroller

5. DO THE DINING PLAN!  You save about 20% from not doing it and you don't have to pay attention to prices when you eat. Sometimes they run specials for a free dining plan with certain packages.  Be sure to look into this. **read ahead of time what qualifies as a SNACK credit.  You can eat breakfast with a snack credit if you are creative!

6.  Make dining reservations ahead of time, especially for character dining.

7.  Take breaks....especially if you have young ones.  Go back to resort in late afternoon for a rest or to relax then go back to the parks in the evenings

8.  Pay attention to the park hours.  There are special extended hours, called Extra Magic Hours, for Disney resort guests.  You can stay later or go earlier to a different park every day.

9.  If you are there for a week, schedule a few relaxation days at the resort...don't park it every day, unless you are there for a few days.

10.  Use Fast Pass.  Pick the most popular ride and head there first upon arrival and get your fast pass...

11.  You will receive a packet in the mail after you book your vacation.  Be sure to look at the coupon in the back and USE them.  We had 2 free tickets to mini golf, free tokens for the arcade, and other small stuff.

12.  Download Disney app to your phone.  But do not rely on it for the map.  In the daylight, it is too hard to read the map on the phone.  Better to have the paper map.

13.  If you have little ones, buy from the dollar store glow sticks and wands before you go to Disney.  Give them a different one every night so they don't ask for the expensive ones sold at Disney.

14.  Do Fairy gifts for little ones.  I bought small Disney toys before we went to Disney at local stores (paid $3-5 each)  Every day when we left for the parks, I secretly placed one on Bella's pillow.  When we returned from the parks, she was excited to see a gift from Tinkerbell.  This decreased the amount of "I wants" in the parks.

15.  Buy before hand and bring with you into the park: rain ponchos, bandaids, mole skin, runners chafing balm, hand sanitizier, one towel, change of clothes for little ones.

I may think of more....if I do, I will update....

Disney Family Vacation 2013

Greetings from Disney World!!!  I have decided to start blogging now so I do not forget anything.  For starters, we are having a fabulous vacation.  I am really enjoying the combo of chaotic and calm all in one vacation, something we do not typically do.

So, our vacation started on Friday, August 2 with taking Ringo to his "vacation."  We dropped him off at The Country Kennels in Mt. Airy.  It was so hard leaving him.  I think he thought we were deserting him for good.  The external part of his kennel faced the parking lot so he could see us as we exited.  I had to return inside and ask them to close off his external part of his kennel until we left.  It broke my heart to leave him.  I cried :(  I have called almost every day so far and it seems he has settled right in and it sounds like the staff are really enjoying him.  He is such a good boy.

Day 1: (Friday) Driving from MD to South Carolina.  We drive from 10am-8pm, with several stops.  We stayed at a Microtel, which got good reviews.  We must have either stayed at the wrong one or the hotel went to crap.  A roach.....ewwwwwwwww.  My first roach in a hotel....better be the last.  Good riddens to that hotel!

We had lots of "are we there yet" or "you are driving the wrong way to Disney." All in all, it was an ok forst day of driving. Bella was so excited by the hotel, despite our not liking it....she was excited by the mini bottles of shampoo and little soaps....she had to take a bath! Morgan was unphased by the whole hotel experience.

Day 2: (Saturday) On the road by 9 and in Orlando by 3pm.  We checked into the Holiday Inn in Disney property.  What an amazing hotel and beautiful room.  We stayed on the 14th floor, the very top. We checked in and went to Downtown Disney.  We walked around, ate dinner, and shopped.  Bella danced in a kids dance party, too.   When we returned to the room, Bella was excited to try the tub and use the bottle of soap and shampoo supplied by the hotel.  Too cute!

Day 3: (Sunday) The official start of our Disney Vacation.  We got up early and checked in at the Caribbean Beach resort, with the expectation that we would leave our bags at the lobby and head over to one of the parks until check in at 3pm.  To our surprise, our room was ready...and to top it off, we were upgraded for free to a premium location!!!   Our room is 2452 Martinique.....pool view next to lake!  And a few buildings over to the main building, Old Port Royal.  We checked in at 8:30am!!!!!!!!  

The room is small and the beds are small but the room is very nice and clean and the property is beautiful. 5 pools and a bunch of beaches...lots of activities.  Lots of fun!  After unloading the car, we headed to MAGIC KINGDOM!!  It turns out that Bella is afraid of most rides.  She enjoys most of the shows and loves the character meet and greets.  On her first day, she met Chip and Dale and Princess Tiana.  We saw several shows and parades and fireworks.  It rained one time.....during which time I lost my Rx sunglasses.  Sigh.  Hopefully someone will turn them in to lost and found.  For the big rides, Morgan and Greg separated from us since Bella had no interest in those.  A fund day had by all!

Day 4: (Monday) We were supposed to go to Hollywood studios this day but we were all exhausted so decided to stay and hang on property.  A great property to do this, too.  We spent alot of time outside at the pool.  The main pool is a big pool with slides and pirate ships.  Great fun and relaxing day.  We also went to a HUGE outlet mall.  We mainly went for discounted Disney Sourvenirs but wound up shopping for gregs anniversary present.....a new pair of Oakley sunglasses. We then ate a late dinner at Shutter Restaurant, here on property.  Yummy.

Day 5: (Tuesday) Morgan and Greg headed to Hollywood studios while Bella and I went back to Magic Kingdom.  We used our park hopper comps from 2007 so we could hop over to Hollywood studios and catch up with Greg and Morgan.  This was a great opportunity for Morgan to have some 1:1 time and Bella to be able to do the things she likes.  While I don't like to be separated, it was a great plan as it allowed for individual time for both of the kids, which has been desperately needed! Bella loved the Circus section of the park and even got to tour Beasts Castle and meet Belle.  She still is afraid of the unknown at the parks, but seems to enjoy the low key stuff.  She met Minnie Mouse and Daisy at the circus!  while at Hollywood Studios, Morgan and Greg rode lots of fun rides, including the infamous Tower of Terror that Morgan rode when she was six years old!   no special dining on this day....park quick service was the way to go.  although I did enjoy a great chicken and avocado salad....yum!

Day 6: (Wednesday) EPCOT and dining with the princesses!  So much fun.  We really enjoyed Epcot.....Lot's to do, especially for Bella. We started at Ashkerhus, a restaurant in Norway.  We ate breakfast with the princesses!  We met Cinderella, Snow White, Ariel, Aurora, and Bella!  There is so much to do at Epcot,from aquariums to rides.  The kids really seemed to enjoy Epcot.  Morgan liked the countries, although we did not get to spend as much time there as we had wished to.  We met Mulan in China...she is so pretty.  We also met Duffy Bear, who I honestly had no idea who he was until Morgan told me.  For dinner, we ate at Tutto Italia.  Talk about yummy dinner!!!!!!!  Salmon, polenta, meatballs.....yum!  Bella and I left early from Epcot, leaving Greg and Morgan to hang out at Epcot and stay for the fireworks.  Bella and I returned to the resort and saw for a bit then went to bed.  Greg and Morgan rode a few rides and watched awesome fireworks.

Day 7: (Thursday) On the seventh day, He rested and so did we.  No parks for the day.  Greg and Morgan ventured to downtown Disney to Disney Quest to play some games. (Not as awesome as it is made out to be :(). But some great father daughter time.  While Greg and Morgan were away, Bella and I hung at the resort.  We visited 2 of the beaches here and played in 3 of the pools.  In the evening, we played some Miniature Golf at Winter Summerland Golf.  We don't do that enough.  It really was a lot of fun!  Aft golf, we headed to the Boardwalk.  So cool.  A bit of home...boards, acts on the boards, and we even saw Lucy!  For dinner, we ate at Kouzinna by Cat Cora...great Mediterranean/Greek food! We had hoped to catch some fireworks from Epcot, but didn't see any.  But we did see a great magician act on the boards.

Day 8: (Friday) The long awaited Animal Kingdom Park.  We spent the entire day at the park...a bit much for Bella with no break.  We met Pocahontas, King Louis, Pluto.  We ate lunch at the Tusker House where we met Donald Duck, Mickey, Daisy, and Goofy.  Morgan and I rode Expedition Everest. We saw a few shows....A Bugs Life, Lion King, and Finding Nemo.  Nemo, we think was Bella's favorite of all the attractions.  We ended the evening at the Rainforest Cafe.  It was mediocre at best.  Best to stick with resort/Disney restaurants.  But now we can say we were at the biggest Rainforest Cafe in the world.   Morgan and I went over to Downtown Disney to spend money, I mean hang out.  Much needed mommy daughter time.  We walked around, shopped, and Morgan got her main souvenir...a characiture.  

Day 9: (Saturday). This is the hear and now.  I sit journaling about our vacation while sitting outside at the resort, sipping coffee, enjoying the sounds of the lake.....Today our plan is to head over to Magic Kingdom and tie up loose ends.  Hopefully, we will get the Tiki room and some of the shows we missed.  More later!

As I sit here blogging, a cute little duck keeps walking by me.  Too cute.  I am saddened hearing several families walking by me, talking, obviously beginning their vacation while ours is coming to an end :(. Usually I am very anxious to get back home after a vacation, but I have to say that I wish this vacation could continue just for a few more days....not even at the parks.  I wouldn't mind a few mo days at the resort.

Saturday, cont'd: Our plan was to spend the day at Magic Kingdom followed by a nice dinner and some fireworks.  Bella was parked out!  Her and I managed to stay at the parks until about 4pm.  While we were at the parks, I rode Space Mountain with Morgan and did the Stitch Ride, too.  We went to the Tiki Room and rode the people mover.  Then Bella had it....I took her back to the resort while Greg and Morgan stayed to ride more rides, eat dinner, and watch the fireworks.  Bella and I ate dinner at Shutters, the best meal I had on property!  Then we swam int he pool and crashed.  Morgan and Greg enjoyed some fun riding time and fireworks!

Day 10: (Sunday)  I woke up first.  Grabbed some coffee, cleaned out the car, and returned the stroller.  When everyone else woke up we packed and got on the road by 10:30am.  We drove straight through!!  Thanks to Greg :)  I sat in the back with Bella and Morgan sat up front.  This eliminated arguing and fighting.  All in all, it was an uneventful ride home...we were home by 12:30am. Now to relax, unpack, and get back to reality.