Disney on a Budget

Did I get your attention, Disney on a Budget really is a myth, but thought many may try to Google such a wish and low and behold - find this post - a testament to the Truth!!!  Disney is pricey, but I dare say - worth every penny!  It was a long awaited trip, but due to my health, just not possible until now and I am happy we waited.  Greta had an amazing time, I truly believe she enjoyed every single thing about her vacation.  A lot of firsts - First Plane Ride, First Royal encounter (surely Disney Princesses count as Royalty), First Hot Climate (Hot is underestimating just slightly - I think the Devil may live in Florida and was having a fairly pissed off week), First time having her own money to spend.... I am happy to say, all was a success, but I must do my duty to the blog followers and fill you in on what I found as a Newbie Disney Traveler.  While I expect those who frequent Disney would be certainly better advisers on planning a trip, here are my observations:

1)  Walt Disney World - Magical, exciting, the aroma of cotton candy and caramel apples seemed to fill the air, truly a stunning place and you actually feel like you are living in a dream-like fantasy world - but then you snap out of it and realize you are in the land of everyone fighting.  Yes folks, heat, walking, exhaustion makes people yell, fight, lose their temper.  While I am pleased to say Darren and I are not planning a divorce over this trip, I dare say many couples were brought to the breaking point and have to admit, Darren and I had words as well.  Go here, go there, mad because the maps don't quite make sense or standing in lines was not part of the jam packed day (and I must admit, we hardly had to encounter a line, so I can only speak to going at a slow period "September")  I can imagine the yelling around Spring Break would be worth a reality show- umm, I think I may approach NBC with this idea!!!!  And, then there was the kids, I was given a lot of advice as we were planning and tried to soak it all in, but one thing stuck in my head, "manage your expectations"...  So very true.  We did our best to go with the flow, to understand that the heat and fast pace of the day would be a lot on a little 4 year old, and she was truly remarkable and absolutely exceeding our expectations, I dare say she may have been able to keep going when we were at the point of passing out, but there were a few "stop acting or we are going back to the hotel" moments...But nothing compared to what we witnessed.  Parents everywhere were yelling, at each other, at kids, forcing them to eat at restaurants, just truly losing it.  I many times wanted to jump in and say - manage your expectations...the kid doesn't want that stupid chicken nugget so stop telling her you will be leaving (as for sure you know they would not be) ... while I felt bad each time I heard someone fighting or getting frustrated, I know it could have easily been me/us - but we took a step back and realized we had a full week, and if we missed things, we nor Greta would know the difference!

2)  It is an expensive place but there are ways to make your days a bit less expensive.  One thing I did was I took snacks, I will admit, I took way too many, but we did go through a smaller rubbermaid container of granola bars, rice krispie squares, gummies and gold fish crackers.  Each day, we traveled to the respective parks with goodies in our bags, we bought Frozen Strawberry Bars each day (delicious and cold), but when the hunger struck, it was wonderful to have snacks on hand and not have to pay an insane amount of money for a bar or chips or junk!  Water, I'm sure if $3 or $4 a bottle, but plan on buying a few each day.  While there are water fountains to replenish your bottle, if you are traveling when the temperatures are in the 40s, that cool water is well worth the money, we found the water fountains while great to quench the thirst was warm and just not refreshing.

3)  The meal plan was wonderful - but in our case was free as part of our package...we took full advantage of it and booked all of our table service meals as Character Meals.  It was a wonderful way to meet the characters, get autographs and pics without having to stand in line to meet them (granted lines were so slow when we visited, we saw characters multiple times - but if not on a meal plan, they would be extremely pricey...each meal (breakfast lunch and dinner) ranged from $85 to $150 -I can tell you, in a million years, we would never spend $150 on a breakfast, but you are paying for the experience to meet the characters...while all of our meals were quite good, here are my two suggestions - 1900 Park Fare in the Grand Floridian Hotel (first of all, an amazing resort) was the best character dinner and meal we had, dinner was with Cinderella, Prince Charming, the Step Mother and Step Sisters.  It was entertaining, fun, the food was delicious (we went for supper) and each of the "actors" spent time with each child, it was a great experience and certainly set our week off on a positive note.  If princesses are not your main objective, my next favorite experience was Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary hotel, we went for Breakfast (Breakfast are the cheaper of the meals), it was a wonderful buffet of fruits, pastries, various breakfast foods, including Mickey Waffles and the Fab 5 of Characters were there (Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald and Pluto). 

4) Now the nitty gritty - here are my key suggestions:
- As mentioned above - manage your expectations when it comes to spouses, kids, and other patrons - people are going to get grumpy
- Buy and take the most comfortable pair of sneakers you can find - insane amount of walking.  I was shocked to see many weirdo's walking around in heals - seriously, it is a damn theme park, you really don't need to wear short leather shorts and 5 inch heals (true story and sighting)...fashion out the window, sneakers and comfy clothes go on!
- You will sweat in places you didn't think was possible.  After the 2nd day, I learned to put antiperspirant on my entire body, I actually think this would be a time to purchase spray deodorant (surely that is still on the market) - take it with you to the parks, it is something you shouldn't leave home without. 
- It rains - all the time (or so I was told and experienced) during the summer / fall months...could be just a freak shower, or could be off and on rains.  Out of 8 days, we saw one day (not including night time) that is did not rain between the hours of 9-5, every other day, it rained, and the skies would open up - while some rain was lovely, others were so hard you couldn't see across the road - so, head to the Dollar Store and take rain ponchos for the entire family.  They sell them at the parks and from the 1000s of people I saw wearing them, are making a fine penny off of them, sure they have the lovely theme park name on them, but spend your $15 on cold water, not a piece of plastic
- when you are at the Dollar store - pick up a spray bottle - they sell lovely spray bottles with fans on them for $18, again, weighs nothing in the suitcase, smaller in size then the giant ones they sell and you can fill the water spray bottle up at the fountains and have a lovely cool mist all day.  Greta at times would ask for the bottle to spray herself.
- a Comfy backpack - that hubby can carry!  Had to laugh, as there were not many women carrying a backpack!  Take a change of clothes (especially if you fancy the water rides) and there are a few areas that have wonderful splash pads for the kids - Greta was soaked and no amount of heat was going to dry her off, a towel and spare clothes came in very handy!
- the Memory Maker - is a photo service, throughout the park, there are photographers who will take your picture and give you a card that you can buy photos, individually they are very pricey, but the package if bought in advance is $150 and will allow you to all be in pics...I hate my picture taken, but very thankful to have nicer photos, with everyone in them...I was encouraged to purchase this product and very happy I did!
- a stroller - other excellent advice I received - despite Greta being 4 years old and probably hasn't been in a stroller since she was 2, we convinced her it was a resting spot...best thing ever!  I can't imagine little legs walking the parks, and didn't see many, I am sure our park visits would have been cut in half if she had to walk, or we would have ended up carrying her around.  You can rent them at Disney, or there are stroller rental companies, but for younger kids, if you have a stroller that folds up, take it...the plane will sky check in and you will be very thankful to hear less complaining from your kids!

So, those are a few tips and thoughts...Our favorite parks, Magic Kingdom, followed by Animal Kingdom, make sure you get a USA phone / internet service package - great news, all the parks have WIFI !!!  Can you imagine, couldn't even make this blog funny....we had a nice trip, exhausting, I could use a vacation to recoup, but alas, the bank account is drained, the credit cards are impaired and my 40 year old body may need a year or two to recoup.  One good thing - my medical issues for the most part presented no issues...although my legged puffed up like a 9 month pregnant lady retaining 20 lbs of fluid - no fear, a few days of my leg elevated and a trip to the Dr when I go home to confirm I didn't have a blood clot (I know, I was on Google again...) happy to say, I will survive - it was yet another age thing...heat, walking, flights - legs puffed up.  I did say, if I hear one more comment that starts off with "well, when you get past 40 ...."  GRRR, who ever said 40 is the new 30 isn't living in my body and are delusional.  Exhaustion is setting in, sorry for the boring post for those not traveling to Disney, but for those that are, hope this will prove helpful.  My other public service announcement, I munched on the new Cinnamon Bun Chips that are part of the Lays vote for the new flavour while typing this blog and while they strangely do taste like Cinnamon Buns, I would rather eat a pastry and gain weight then eat the chips.  Since I don't have Cinnamon Buns in the house, I must go grab a cookie! 

Too tired to check for grammar and spelling, so for all those that pay attention to such things - suck it up, there will no doubt be errors and poor sentence structure!  Main fact is, Disney truly is magical and I dare say, a four year old little girls dreams came true, which made the trip worth every single achy muscle, stress, worry and penny spent.  Total different experience to go with a child, I enjoyed Florida as an adult previously, but to see the park and characters and rides through a child's eye changes the experience...so I encourage you, head there with friends, or family, or a spouse ....and when and if the time comes that kids are part of your lives, go again!  My goal was to be there to see Greta's face before my illness made such a trip impossible, lovely to have been able to reach this goal and actually be able to enjoy the trip as well. Special thanks to our friends and family for your support (taking care of our furry kids, looking after our home and ensuring our vehicle was picked up and delivered back to the airport and to Mom for assisting with Greta's new found spending habit - that little gal can shop - can't imagine where she learned that skill from!)

Toodles