All tagged Planning
It has been over a month since our return from Disney, but I am finally getting to posting all about our fun trip! Brad does not entirely agree, but I must say that this was one of my least tiring trips to Disney World in quite some time. I did get to sleep in one day while he got up early to take Melody to Magic Kingdom (more on that soon), but the trip overall went so smooth.
Not much fun is involved on travel days to Disney World. Especially when you are driving 10-12 hours. We got up as early as we could and headed down. We had to make the trip in one day, and we needed to get down to Orlando early enough that we could go to Shades of Green to get our park tickets before the ticket office closed.
Months ago, we found out both our in laws (brother/sister/nieces) and best friends were both going to Disney World during Fall Break. While it sounded fun to plan and tag along, several things kept us from booking a trip: money, 50th anniversary, Brad’s travel, crowds, etc. We also didn’t want to invade on their vacations. Well about two weeks before fall break, we still were not sure if Brad would be home or not. So I started looking at several options for Melody and me, including Disney. A few days before fall break, Brad found out he would be home, and we started floating around the idea. We kept going back to not going due to money and just the exhaustion of driving and a short trip. Melody was clueless about our family and friends going. But that changed the Friday before fall break. Her best friend, Lydia, found out she was going, and Melody started asking to go to Disney too. After a lot of talking, negotiating, and even some arguing, we decided Saturday morning we would head to Disney on Sunday. THE NEXT DAY! Thankfully I am a seasoned Disney goer, so this wasn’t impossible.
Something new to Disney World since COVID is their park pass system. It was originally put in place to truly manage park capacity in the early days of reopening after COVID. You could not park hop, so this kept Disney World in complete control of where everyone would be. Then park hopping started. They still require that you book a park pass for your first park, then after 2 pm, you can park hop to any park with availability. It looks like the park pass system is here to stay until at least January 2023. So I wanted to do a post about booking said passes. Check it out below.
So we had a Disney trip planned with my parents back in August 2020, but then COVID happened and wrecked havoc on all of the plans. We postponed it many times, and we eventually stopped planning it. But we finally found a week that did work for everyone in May. The problem we encountered is that we literally decided about 3 weeks out. In the COVID world, it is ideal to wait until closer to your trip now just because you never know, but I am a planner. When we finally decided we would go, there was not any park passes available for the parks except EPCOT. And while that is our favorite park, with the late start every day, it just did not seem ideal. So we backed out. But then Disney fixed a glitch in their system and many passes were released, so we booked our trip!
This year I started using a daily Simplified planner for all of my day to day activities instead of The Happy Planner I have used in the past. Being a little over a week in, I have really liked the planner itself. I think it will become exceptionally helpful once Melody is in school. My big dilemma was now meal planning. There is a note section in the daily planner, but I found myself using it for other things and not having the room for meals. I thought about the weekly notepad I bought, but it still didn’t provide me quite enough space. One week while doing my grocery pickup, I was able to snag a weekly Simplified planner at Walmart. This is NOT a signature planner like the one I bought directly through Emily Ley. It was 1/5 of the price and not quite as nice as the other, but it provides me the space I was hoping for.
I remember a day when planning for Disney World trips were minimal. Today they take a lot of time and effort. I find it fun for the most part, but if you are not a planner, it can be really overwhelming. You have to know where you want to eat each day while on your Disney trip over 6 months in advance to get some of those coveted dining reservations. Then you have to know what rides you want to ride each day of your trip and approximately at what time 60+ days in advance! I really do not love this way of doing things, but it is what it is. So I wanted to share all about the later…planning for your rides 60+ days in advance and how to book them.
So this year, I had to make two stroller tags back to back. I guess I didn’t have to, but you never know the condition the stroller tag will be in when you get home, so I did two. One for the trip we took in February with Brad, and one for the trip in March with my mom. Check them both out below!
Mom and I make an annual trip to Disney World nearly every year for my birthday. We started this when I got out of college. It usually would just be a day or two at Disney and we would tack on a cruise. But since I had Melody, I haven’t wanted to do a cruise yet. So we just do Disney. This year, January was just not ideal. So we postponed until March.
Well we just got back from a trip to Disney World. Imagine that? Or at least I feel like that is what most people say, ha! I will say, this was our last family trip we have planned to Disney for awhile. Melody turns 3 in May, and she will have to pay after that. And we want to take a few bigger trips to other places. Now in a year, we will see if that statement holds true, ha. This trip is just the three of us. And it is the first trip we aren’t having to make time to visit with anyone else, so our break day was actually a break day at our resort. It was weird. Anyhow, check out all the planning that went into our trip below!
So my mom and I just got back from our annual Disney World trip. This year was going to be a little different because it would be my first time away from Melody. We decided to only go for 3 nights so that I could get home sooner to see Melody (oh and Brad!). I wanted to share all of the planning that I did for this trip!
Brad and I went to New York City back in November of 2015. I did a write up about my planning and our actual trip experience. There is still so much I want to do that we did not have the chance to do while there. Below are just a few of those things!
Brad and I have just returned from Disney World. This post is the first of many to come in regards to this trip. I have discussed how I plan a Disney World trip in a previous post, but this particular post will breakdown all of the planning and costs regarding this particular trip. I discuss all of the thoughts that I have when making each decision and how I come to my final one. Look for my trip report and restaurant reviews in the next few weeks!
It is wedding season so I thought I would do some research on potential honeymoon ideas and costs. Honeymoon costs can vary greatly. Today I research three different kinds of honeymoons. With all three my budget was $3,500. I used the honeymoon dates of 5/17/15 - 5/23/15. The prices that I am quoting below were researched mid-February 2015. There is a great chance that prices have changed slightly. But this may give you an idea of some honeymoon options at a reasonable cost.
Below are a few things that a lot of Disney-goers know about, but some may not. Brad helped me compile this list because we were trying to think of things that we didn't know before our first trip as adults. I hope there are a few things that you may learn about today!
I am a huge Disney World fan. Most people who know me know this. I have been to Disney World more times than I can count on both hands. I started going at such a young age that the only memories I have of my trips are from the pictures taken and the stories my parents tell me. Disney has changed a whole lot over the years. Technology has been a huge part of this change. Now with the Fastpass+ system, planning is a key part in having a stress free and fun trip at Disney World. As recent as my honeymoon in 2013, planning wasn’t super important. Yes, we decided restaurants and where we would be on what days, but now you have to decide when you want to ride a specific ride 60 days in advance (or 30 days if you are staying off-site). Prior to this, you could just go to a kiosk and get a fastpass for whichever rides were available. This made parkhopping easy to use. Not anymore. However, I have found some methods that help me plan with this new system. I have planned two trips with this method, and it has really seemed to make things easier.
