Making Disney World Possible!

I have been wanting to write the story of how we were able to plan a trip to Disney World for months now. So hoping to get this all down in one attempt!

We went to Florida 3 years ago. Craig had to attend a conference in Orlando for work and we thought it would be a perfect opportunity to tag along and finally full-fill one of my life long dreams of going to Disney World. Our house and car rental were paid for by his company. We paid for flights and Disney tickets. What I didn't bargain for was the insane heat. We ended up only having a few full days to explore the 4 main parks, 2 water parks and Disney Quest. After our 10 day stay we had hardly explored anything! I vowed we would find a way to go back in three years and "do it right" with a "real" vacation!

Fast forward 2 years and the full on planning for Operation Disney World began! I have never researched and put so much time into something before. I looked at airline tickets daily trying to find the lowest price possible. I tried to figure out how to get even more points out of our Amazon rewards card and saved them up until we had two full free flights! I started buying the kids gift cards in August to spread costs out. We had them earn other cards as part of our reward system at home so all of their spending money would be taken care of before we even left. I looked on Disney's web site daily waiting for a summer deal to pop up.....just hoping there would be one! I researched every resort on property and even looked at staying off property again. The dining research was a whole thing in itself....and then figuring that into our daily schedule once we were there...insane!!!! I had multiple books and subscribed to an awesome app where I was able to ask a ton of questions and get almost an immediate response from the very seasoned Disney World visitors. I was able to prepare for so many things that way and get more opinions on dining, resorts, what to bring, etc. Many times throughout my head was spinning from so much information!

The day I finally saw a deal for the time we were going was an awesome day!! I raced downstairs to joyfully share with Craig my findings...FREE DINING for all 6 of us for the entire length of our stay!!! Unbelievable! That would be a free sit down, quick service and snack per person, per night! The only catch was that the offer ended on June 2nd...the boys last day of school. But realizing that there would be no other offers during summer, and that we would literally be saving thousands of dollars AND that their last day was only going to be about 3 hours it wasn't hard to decide that we would be heading there on June 2nd!

Booking the airline tickets was very exciting but also stressful as well. I tried to research when they would be cheaper but tickets are so hard to predict. We had to book a layover flight since it was so much cheaper too. I would have loved a direct flight as stopping makes for a very long day of travel! Using our free ticket reward points was pretty easy and I was surprised to find that the $400 limit also covered tax and fees....so awesome! And since Alexis would still be under two years old, we ended up only paying for 3 tickets out of the SIX of us!=0) To pay for those 3 tickets I little by very little sold clothes and such on Ebay. When I went to pay for the tickets I had almost the exact amount saved up in my PayPal account which covered the costs of the remaining tickets completely! So neat!

So with all of our food, snacks and plane tickets covered that left lodging and park tickets. Craig worked very hard almost nightly for about 4 months on a side job. When the check came that almost exactly matched the rest of the costs! We were set! And when staying on Disney property, all transportation is included so there was no need for a car rental which saved us a ton!

Another great little freebie was signing up for a Disney Visa. I had been looking at the offers over the years and never signed up. Around the time I started planning I came across the best offer yet...a $100 Disney gift card just for signing up and putting any amount on the card. So Craig and I both signed up for one and received $200 in gift cards!! There was any extra spending money we would need while there! And having the card came in handy later when I found out Disney Visa cardholders could attend a special Meet and Greet with Mickey and friends and receive a FREE picture of our choice!! Double score!

One of the craziest parts of planning was figuring out where to eat for our sit down meals. With the free dining we had the amazing opportunity to eat at places we could never have afforded otherwise. At least that many of them!! Character meals alone would cost our family over $100 a pop! Crazy! and thankfully due to all the research I found that you had to make reservations for many of those places a full 180 days in advance...which in return requires a lot of planning on spreading out which park your in, which park your near if the restaurant is in a resort, etc. And trying to narrow down where to go with SO many great options was no easy task either! I had everything all lined up and called exactly 180 days in advance...and got everything I had planned for with almost the exact times I had written down! Very exciting!

We told the boys about our trip at Christmas. I wrapped a box with a paper that told them where we were going and how long we would be there! I added Disney shirts, a kids guide book, an autograph book etc. They were over the moon excited! As extra surprises I left Phineas and Ferb characters on the boys beds the night before we left and Alexis got a Minnie (which she absolutely adored and which started her Minnie Craze!) I had also ordered pins off of Ebay for the boys to trade once there. And I bought Disney Pez Dispensers for another surprise once there.

Up until the day we left I read and planned and read some more. Asked questions by the dozens and painstakingly packed our bags. After a full year of intense planning, the trip was set and we were on our way!!