Vacation Package:
I get asked a lot how did we get such a great deal and who did we book our vacation through. I just went through Disney. Click this LINK. They had an unbelievable deal where we didn't pay anything for the kids except for their meal plan and there was an extra discount on our hotel. My parents also took advantage of their great Military deals. They got 40% off their hotel and amazing ticket prices.
Where to stay:
Chelsea told me about their experience at their "Value Resorts" and we knew that was the only option for us. We stayed at the All Star Movies Resort and loved it! Yes, the rooms are small...BUT it's all you need! We were hardly in the room at all and when we were we were all in bed! It was clean, quiet, and you can't beat it for the price! The larger than life characters were so fun for the kids! Two little tips: Bring your own coffee pot of coffee is important to you (see pic below)... also they have coin laundry but I just took a travel size detergent so if there was an emergency (remember Karoline, bus, and my dad) I just washed the shirt in the sink.
Benifits of staying on property:
There were so many things I loved about staying in Disney. First, we parked the car and didn't have to drive again until we left. That's NO gas used all week! It was great! But if you do use your car you never have to pay for parking. The bus was great. We never had to wait very long for a bus and it was very convenient. Secondly, if you don't stay on property you can't get the dining plan and I can't say enough about their dining plan! As I said before the character meals were probably the kids favorite part and there would have been NO WAY we could have afforded them if we paid individually for them. We ate like kings and queens all week! Here is how the dining plans work... LINK.
Small ways to save time:
Take advantage of their FastPass service. Use the app from touringplans.com to find out wait times so you don't walk all the way across the park only to find a wait time is 45 minutes. This was THE BEST! Another way is taking advantage of the character dining so you don't spend your day trying to meet characters but have more time for rides.
Small ways to save money:
Disney Outlet- I bought t-shirts and their Micky and Mini stuffed animal at the outlets for practically nothing ($2- $4 for shirts/ B1G1 stuffed animals/ Karoline's Belle dress clearance from $50 to $14.50!) compared to the shops at Disney. I also got little Disney things from the Dollar Store. They had a little surprise to open each day and they never begged to go in any gift shops!
Buy Pins on Ebay- Chelsea told me about the pin trading thing and I got a "lot" of 20 pins on ebay for $13. I got the kids lanyards for $5 each on ebay. Since the kids traded pins it didn't matter what I got. They can trade pins with people that work at Disney and it was a fun little thing to do. Since usually the pins cost between $6-$12 just for 1 pin, ebay was the way to go! By the time we left they had really fun pins.
Take your own snacks and water- I bought some snacks and water bottles since they DO allow you to take your own food into the parks. This was great... THEIR WATER TASTES NASTY!!
Here are some pictures from our resort...
Mom set up a nice coffee station :)
We stayed in The Love Bug
3 comments:
what a testament to good planning to save both time and money. Beth, you need to hire out as a personal assistant to some rich family when the kids are grown. What is the saying PPPPPP--Proper Prior Planning Pevents Poor Performance. Hugs & hugs
Prevents--not Pevents.
Great tips! Our girls haven't stopped talking about Disney since we left in February. We already want to go back, but I think we will probably wait until the Fantasy Land expansion is finished.
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