Wednesday, April 08, 2015

Disney World Preparations

Almost two weeks ago we won a trip to Disney World!  We will be leaving next week so things have been moving quite quickly.


 Although the trip we won was for a family of four, we were able to buy Nya a plane ticket and she will be joining us!  She won't be three until May so she is able to sleep in a crib in our fancy resort and enter Disney World for free.  The cost, if she had been over the age of three, would have been over $2000.00 just for an additional room (and then the cost of the park entrance on top of it!).  Thankful for AWESOME timing.

  Two giraffes graze in the morning sun at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge
{Image taken from here which is where we are staying; Animal Kingdom Lodge.}

What are we doing to prepare (other than Gary learning all the princess names)?

1. Watching YouTube videos of the top 10 rides at Disney World.  There's a lot of Top 10 ride videos.





{Koen is hoping to sit beside me on almost every ride.  When he is unable to hold my hand, this is his face.  Oh Koey.}

2.  Watching Disney movies like; The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, and Finding Nemo.  Thank you to friends that have lent them to us!


{The boys think that Ed the hyena from `The Lion King' is hilarious and they want his autograph.  I don't think that will happen. }

3.  Buying summer clothes.  I was 18 lbs heavier last summer so I had to buy new shorts and tank tops.  Thankfully I found some at Target on sale!  Gary also bought a bathing suit there.  I bought the kids a few Disney items from Value Village and found Kai some good Columbia walking sandals from Once Upon a Child.


4.  I made a list of our `must see/do' at each park. There are six parks (two are water parks) and we have just four days to see it all!  I printed up these `cheat sheets' that show what to book a fast pass for and the order of rides to do so that you have the shortest wait times and least amount of walking.  I'm a bit nervous about the condition of my kids as we are arriving in Florida at 11:30 pm.  Usually guests receive three fast passes per day (they get you onto a ride at a set time) but we have eight each per day!


{Koen is just 47" but he is allowed to do every ride that he would like to.  Phew! The biggest rides are 48" but I don't think I want him, or Kai, to be doing them anyway.  Plunge 12 stories on the Summit Plummet?  No thanks! }




{The chart above shows the average temperatures & precipitation over the years,  how busy it will be based on the dates  (5/10),  what parks to visit (green), parade times, etc}

5.  I found out the best counter service restaurants to eat at in each park.  Loved this website.  We have $600 USD to spend at Disney World so we are using that for all of our meals.  The last thing I want to be doing is sweating with three tired and hungry kids trying to figure out where to eat. I can see us sitting down for a nice meal at our hotel though.  African inspired specialties?  Ndiyo, tafadahli! (yes, please!).  As for a character meal, I'm not sure.  It's Nya who is most into the characters and so far I haven't been able to find a spot available to dine with princesses.  I think that just meeting them will be enough for her.


We still don't have our final itinerary and I'm pretty sure that we will be on Breakfast Television live from Florida so we are just awaiting that information.  We were able to figure out Gary's work (combination of personal days and him paying for a sub) and the total cost of everything should be close to $1500.00 with the majority of that being Nya's plane ticket. 


What am I looking forward to the most?  Seeing the boys on the rides and watching Nya's face when she gets to meet the princesses and Minnie Mouse.  Oh ya, and I'm looking forward to snorkeling in the Shark Reef.  

Thank you so much for following along.  I can't wait to share what we experience!

Love, 
Louise

PS If you've been to Disney World, please let me know what we `have to' do!

11 comments:

  1. So excited for you guys! This will be an amazing experience for you all! I have been to DW three times, one thing to be aware of is travel time between parks. If you are going to multiple parks per day, you need to add in travel time. We never did the water parks, but all of the theme parks are amazing! We loved all the shows, especially in AK, we saw lion king and finding nemo and they were spectacular.
    I can't wait to see your pictures and hear of your adventures, I'm also super jealous hat your staying in such a swanky resort. Have a great trip!
    Stephanie

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    1. Stephanie, thank you! So cool you've been three times! My thought is that we will do one park per day and do a waterpark on the Hollywood Studios day, you think that would work? We're hoping to do the Animal Kingdom the first day as it will be nice and close to us so that's good to know about the shows! I'm hoping we get a lot of great pictures, a little dependent on how the three kids are doing :)

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  2. One nice thing about staying in the park is that you can go back to your hotel room for a rest, if needed, and then head back after dinner (or some of you could) Should be a fantastic holiday - I am not usually one for crowds, but I love Disney World!

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  3. i think Hollywood studios and a water park would be totally doable in the same day. Hollywood studios has some bigger thrill rides which it sounds like your going to pass on anyways. The main ride yo hit there is toy story. Beauty and the beast is cool as is Indiana Jones. F it were me, I would skip "the great movie ride" it would be scary for Nya and it's kinda boring in my opinion.
    Animal kingdom is amazing! Kilimanjaro Safari is a MUST see! And we loved the dinosaur ride, though it is scary. You must see the festival of the lion king and seriously the finding nemo show is amazing too.
    Stephanie

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    1. So excited about Animal Kingdom :)

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  4. Yay!! I'm so glad it all worked out for you to add Nya to the trip. Perfect timing just before her 3rd birthday. I'm so excited for you guys!

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  5. You are probably already aware, but Disney World allows you to book your Fast Passes several weeks before you arrive (Fast Pass Plus). When my in-laws went over Spring break, they said many of the Fast Passes they wanted were already booked a few weeks before they arrived (crazy!). This is not available in California, So it is kind of neat it is available in Florida! So glad everything is working out for you. 😄

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    1. Yes, so cool!! I am unable to book my fast pass rides right now because we don't actually have our ticket numbers (and won't get them until we get there) BUT we have an extra special fast pass experience in that we don't need to prebook, we get to just scan our magic bands and go right in the fast pass line for 5 rides or experiences/day. You're right though, it's crazy how quickly things book up!! That's why I coudn't get Nya into a princess breakfast.

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  6. wowzers. This has become your full time job - sounds tiring! :) But will be great once you are there, I'm sure. How's Nya's health?

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    1. It should be good once we're there! Nya is sick again :( Hoping she'll be better by the time we leave...if not, we have a prescription for antibiotics if it turns into another chest infection. Thanks for asking :)

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