All tagged Trip Planning
Leading up to our Disney World trip in March 2023, we had tons of countdowns going. I love getting everyone excited, and sometimes I even overdo it. One countdown I made was a coloring sheet. I also did this for Brad’s parents as a easy way for them to participated 3 hours away!
When we went to Disney World in March 2023, we decided to drive. We had the time, and it would actually be dramatically cheaper AND we could add two nights to our trip. With this we knew we would be asked a million times “are we there yet?” or “how much longer”. So I decided to make a map. I made two copies, one for the drive down and one for the drive home. Once we left and we knew the direction we would be going, I placed 10 stars along with the name of cities along our drive. Whenever we came to a city, I would let Melody know. This gave her a good way to track, and we only got asked those questions a hundred times ;)
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.
We went to the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge/Sevierville area for our family vacation with my parents this year. Brad has never been to the area, and I haven’t been in over 15-20 years. We thought it was also be a fun change of pace. We did throw in some Dollywood, but we tried to not make the entire trip about the theme park. Instead of staying in a hotel, we opted to find a cabin. I didn’t know much about the area when it comes to looking for a cabin. I have friends on Facebook who have visited often, so I used one of the websites they recommend, Fireside Chalets. We had somewhat specific requests. We wanted a 2 bedroom, 3 bathroom cabin. My brother was considering going, but wasn’t 100% committed. So we wanted the extra bathroom in case, and he was willing to sleep in the loft area if he decided to go.
Back in April, my mom and I took a cruise to the Bahamas. It has been about 7 years since I have taken a cruise. This is mainly due to being pregnant with Melody, then not wanting to leave Melody. Well with COVID, prices have dramatically decreased for cruises. With Melody in elementary school, I felt this was a great time to go again. With that I had to pack my things!
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!
So with all of our vacations being cancelled for the near future to Disney World, we now have much longer countdowns to make. This is a really easy countdown and can be adjusted for any length of time really. However, the shorter the better when it comes to coming up with ideas to put on each stick.
Every Disney trip we try and do some sort of countdown. I do try and come up with some original ones, but one we go back to often is the paper chains. It is easy and cute. And you and you can really make it more involved if you want too!
One of the best (and worst) rides at Disney World is the Magical (or sometimes “Tragical”) Express. The Magical Express is a free airport shuttle provided by Disney World to Disney resort guests. They can transfer you to and/or from the airport/Disney resort. We have used this service countless times. It is a great perk if you are staying onsite. Read all about it below!
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 I know we have been back from our Disney trip in February for nearly three months, but I have finally finished blogging about everything from our trip! Check out all of my posts here!
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 I am not going to make this post quite like my Disney World planning post from the past. This trip was completely different than all of my previous trips. We traveled with my mom on a business trip, so we didn’t do as much planning ahead of time. So instead of going through our dining reservations (we only made one or two prior) or our Fastpasses (we made very few of these too), I am going to go through some of the other things we had to plan and pack.
It is that time of year again when mom and I go on our annual girls' trip. We bought a Disney World Annual Pass last year, so it only made sense to do Disney again. All of the cold weather at home almost makes me wish we did a cruise, but it really didn't make much sense. Plus, I am not sure I can be away from Melody quite that long yet. Below is all of the planning that went into this year's trip!
On our February 2017 trip to Disney World, I wanted a cute countdown that wasn't too involved. I had just returned from a trip to Disney World with my mom. Therefore, the countdown would need to be fairly short. Since Melody was so young, she really wouldn't be involved in this countdown. So I came up with just an easy countdown that begin 12 days out from our trip. I used the monorail as inspiration and Pinterest too! See below.
