A Website for Moms
We’ve been talking about a trip to Walt Disney World with our kids for a long time, and we’re excited to be planning our trip in 2012! I’d love to hear your ideas for saving money, finding deals, what to see and do while at Disney World and/or Orlando. I’ve been to Florida and Disney World many times, but never as a mom of three.
I'm Beth Gasser, also known as "Confessions of a Mom" and "ConfessionsMom". This is my playground for what I love; blogging, saving money, having fun, parenting, cooking up fun recipes, and writing about everything under the sun. My daytime fun is at Vivid Image, Inc. where I'm a Social Media Consultant and small business brand advocate for our clients.
We’re hoping to do Disney also in 2012 so I’m looking forward to what others can recommend!
As a mom who has been “doing Disney” (chuckle to myself) with 2 kids for the past 2 years and several times a year as well as with just 1 child the 3 years before that, here are my suggestions depending on the ages of your kids –
If you have young kids, skip the torture of most sit down meals. If you go to 1 character meal, you have essentially been to them all. Hit one with the classic characters (Chef Mickey’s) and 1 with some other fun characters (Pooh characters at The Crystal Palace or Princesses at Akershaus) AT MOST.
Do the Disney dining plan if you can (basic one).
Buy your souveniers at Walmart before you come – hide them in a suitcase, and distribute as you see fit
We do this every trip and the kids are none the wiser.
Write your phone number and your kids’ names on their arms with permanent marker (just in case).
Take advantage of Extra Magic Hours to get in those rides prone to long lines, such as Soarin’ at Epcot and Toy Story Mania at Hollywood Studios. If you can’t get there that early, make sure those rides are the first places you head to get fastpasses because they are distributed very quickly!
If you have not yet booked a hotel, consider “renting” points from a Disney Vacation Club member. You can get a studio or 1 bedroom at one of the deluxe villa hotel rooms for a fraction of the cost of a regular hotel room. Studios have kitchenettes and 1 bedrooms have full kitchens and washer/dryer. Get references or use Dave’s DVC rentals
One of my husband and I’s favorite things to do with the kids is watch the water parade from the beach at either the Contemporary or Wilderness Lodge. From the Contemporary’s beach, you can also see the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom. This is a huge plus if you have kids that hate the noise of fireworks like I do.
To get the best view of Tinkerbell flying from the castle at MK during the fireworks at night, stand over in between the ice cream parlor and Tomorrowland Terrace. She flies right to the top of that building.
I could go on for hours…LOL. Hope some of these help.
we took our 3 adopted children last yr. And I was pregnant Oy Vey! Saved for 5 yrs saving pop cans ( which ended up being the kids spending money ) and I am a couponer. Every penny saved with a coupon goes into a vacation fund. Say I saved $20 in coupons I then go and take $20 out of the bank ( because without the coupons that money would have been spent anyhow) and I have a credit card that you load so then I go and load that amount onto the card. we don’t buy on credit everything is paid in full when we leave for vacation. which is so nice to not worry about money while we are gone. We got 2 rooms at Pop Century Heaven sent. Adjoining rooms are the best way to go I think Kids in 1 mom and dad in the other then Dad can watch his TV before sleeping without worrying about waking the kids. The door between shut except for a crack until we wer ready to sleep then we opened the door all the way. When we go back we will most likely do that or try the New family suites opening in 2012 ( which they are booking now for) at the new resort Art and Animation. Looking forward to checking that one out. Take advantage of Magic hrs. we schedualed our day to be in the room during the heat of the day and took a nap then went back during magic hrs in the evenings. Worked great. Less crabby kids makes me one happy momma. : ) Have a Plan let your kids pick the must do rides they must do. and make sure you hit those first. Then no one is disappointed they did not get to do something. Just take your time enjoy your kids enjoying the magic. and go in knowing there is no way you can do it all which just gives you a excuse to make another trip. : )