Disney Movie Night

I just decided to start having a Disney movie night every other week to get back in touch with some Disney clasics and the new movies. I was going to just do one a month but there are way too many movies for that even being 488 days out. 
I hope I can get all the movies from netflix. I picked out some of my favorites some that my husband has mentioned. Some I put on the list as they are so prevalent at the parks, like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, and just want to notice the details a little better.
I keep thinking of movies to add even as I type this so I might end up with a movie night each week.  
Check out this website with Top Disney Movies to help with your watch list.

What are you favorites?  What should be on my don't miss list?

Disney Animal Kingdom Map

I started to do a little research on maps and found some that were recommended as easy to use but they just were not exactly what I wanted so I edited an Animal Kingdom map to see if I liked what I could do better.

Front

Back

I think I do, I took out all the unnecessary info (like don't feed the animals, I understand basic rules).  I am looking for an 8.5 x 11 map (possibly to laminate if I decide that is a good idea).  So I ripped the Disney map I found, here, all apart in Photoshop and used a Disney Font to put all the restaurant and exhibit names directly on the map.  I left all the detail but put them on the backside of the image (page 2).   I narrowed down the legend to only the things I was interested in and plan to fill the white space with details I am interested in like must do lists or Advanced Dining Reservation Numbers or that Snack Credit I am planning to use for a Paw Print Brownie.

Disney Dining

Thinking through Disney Dining

I encourage you to really plan out your meals if you are uncertain if you would benefit from the Disney Dining Plan.  No one wants to be tied down to reservations all day long and I think the middle of the day is the time you need to be the most flexible.   I will be planing two meals a day (breakfast and dinner) and utilizing ADR for those times.  So pick your two meals and what you would eat (do it multiple ways if you were paying yourself and if you were on the basic dining plan or on the deluxe plan).  Then simply do the math and decide if the convenience is worth the price difference or if you find you would be paying less then it is an easy choice.

I have been working a little harder on this one as I have to convince my husband to pick out his meals for a trip that is almost 500 days away.  He does not like to decide what he is going to eat today.  So this is going to take some time.

Pros

• Convenience of prepaying for meals
• Encourages you to enjoy Disney Restaurants 
• Utilize Advanced Dining Reservations to aid in your trip planning

Cons

• Price is high
• Hard to find the right match for your family
• Disney Dining 2013- One Quick Service and One Table service and One Snack is not quite enough
• Deluxe Dining 2013 - 3 Table Service and 2 Snacks are more than enough
• Tip is not included any longer
• Too much food if you get the Deluxe Dining

Disney Binder

I am currently searching for the best blend of Disney Planing vs. Disney Enjoyment in a binder form.

So far I have determined that I need to have something small enough to take in the parks (and will fit in a waterproof bag (my husband an I use zip lock bags for our phones and cameras for trips with possible water rides).  I recently purchased a mini binder from staples (1" Avery® 5-1/2" x 8-1/2" Durable Mini View Binder with Round Rings, Periwinkle). My concern comes with collecting stuff to scrapbook in the park and having a place to store it where it will stay fairly flat for scrap booking it later.  I may end up with a two fold solution something slim but bigger to take in the park only for collecting items and then the smaller binder with all of the details.  There may be a better solution of a large binder for planning and saving (to stay in the room) with a mini binder with a simple day plan, dining confirmation numbers and maps.

However, it will have to get Disneyfied before we go.  Once I get it prepped I will ad a photo of the final product.

For now here is I list of what I plan to put in the binder:

• Driving Directions
• Contact Numbers 
• Hotel Confirmation info
• List of any credit cards and the customer service number to contact if they are lost or stolen
• WDW maps
• Park maps (I plan to special make some just for me)
• Dining Confirmation Info
• Menus 
• Schedule to include early magic hours and crowd level (however I am not worrying about the crowds as we intentionally are planning to go a low crowd times)
• Place to collect receipts
• Memory Collecting area (possibly a large plastic envelope)
• Christmas Gift List

Disney Clothing

Clothing to make for a Disney Trip

So, whether your crafty or not there are several ways to plan for Disney attire.

• Buy it
• Sew it
• Transfer it
• Paint it (stencil) 
• Dye it

I have collected a lot of ideas on my Pintrest Board so check those out.

Since I am about 500 days until my next trip, I plan on starting with the Sew it options since those will take a little longer. While watching for sales to Buy it, I have set up an amazon wishlist so that I can check one place and see if anything had gone on sale pretty easility also I can get some Disney stuff for christmas and my birthday from those who choose to shop off my list.  I will try the paint it and dye it next then make the transfer art on my computer but wait to print those until about 30 days out (hopefully I can judge the weather and my mode by then a little better).  However, I will have to try out the transfer paper before hand as I hear there is some trouble with transfers if you don't get it just right.

I never thought about making my own clothing but when I noticed pictures from my first trip and my daughter was always wearing coordinating clothing for the park we were in vs the last trip where my teenage daughter just wearing what she liked.  I really think it adds to the pictures and the scrapbooking of those pictures. I plan on purchasing the photopass cd before we go, and I got my husband to agree to the coordinating idea (I am hoping to do some prince vs princess stencil shirts, Mickey and Minie head applique, and since we are a horse loving couple trying to find some good horse shirt ideas).  Also I am thinking about something for night time shows like glow in the dark paint or material so I am looking into that now.

His and her Mickey (painted/stencil)

Applique

                                                  

Star Wars (painted/stencil)

Lady and the Tramp (painted/stencil)

Beauty and the Beast (panted/stencil)

Simba and Nala (painted/stencil)

Dye It

Tony's Town Square Restaurant Review

Tony's Town Square Restaurant

Dessert

I love Italian food so this was an obvious place to stop for dinner.  The food was very good here and the service was great (but it truly was at every table service restaurant we visited).  I always have a dining plan so I don't pay much attention to cost.  They have outdoor available so be aware to ask to avoid it on hot days.  When you sit outside you can see the roadway pretty easy, I wonder what it would be like to have dinner during a parade?  Anyone that has done that please comment below.

Check out the menu online before you stop that way your not surprised.  I personally plan on picking out all my meals before I leave so I don't let myself miss out on a favorite, thinking I can get it somewhere else then it ends up not being on the menu anywhere else.  For example my husband likes coconut shrimp and the only place I have seen it on a menu has been Rainforest Cafe so I will be pointing that out to him when we have dinner that night.

Cost vs. Value

Disney is a little pricey so lets look as some real costs

2001
One Adult
One 5 year old
4 Nights 5 Days
Park Hopper with Water Option
Dinning (2 full service meal credits per night)
Non Stop flight for 2 from Pittsburgh PA to Orlando FL

• About $2200 for the Package (Paid for 45 days in advance)
• Took $600 in spending money for souvenirs, stroller rental, additional food/snacks and gifts (Had $100 left and spend that to develop the 10 rolls of film I had taken)

2011
Group of 8 with two rooms

One Adult
One 15 year old

4 Nights 5 Days
Park Hopper with Water Option
Deluxe Dinning (3 Full service 2 snacks)

• About $300 Driving Trip (after split the cost 3 ways
• About $1600 for the package for two (Total package cost split 8 ways)
• Guessing about $250 but I really have no idea about spending money...  Did not keep good records (but I did not spend much as I was being conservative)
• Estimated $220 in tips, this was a big non-budgeted cost on this trip as each meal was $50-100 per person my average tip ended up being about $20 per meal to cover the 2 of our part of the meal

2013
Two Adults
9 days 8 nights
Park Hopper with Water Option
Deluxe Dinning (3 Full service 2 snacks)

• $750 Driving Trip ($250 Food (5 days of travel as we are with relatives on the way down and back), $180 Hotel (staying in FL the night before our package and the night after, $320 Gas) (I would fly if it was up to me but my husband would like to drive and I just want to go)
• $3100 package (This will go down if we can get free dining, which we should be as it is a common discount for the time we are going)
• $400 tips for dinning
• $500 Spending Money (plan to do our Christmas shopping at Disney)

I think that Disney vacations are a tremendous value.  You can get all your tickets, hotel, and dinning in one predetermined price and pay it before you leave (45 days) then have time to replenish your saving before you actually go it encourages you to plan ahead.  Rather than spending money all week somewhere only to have to check out and pay the big hotel bill as you head home leaving you a little discouraged as you head home.  Paying ahead let you know you already could afford your trip so you can enjoy it and only think about the money you are spending on souvenirs.  I have taken my daughter to the beach (shared a room with my sister and her two boys) and ended up with $300 in gas, $300 in hotel, $400 in food, and $300 in spending money and admission tickets for 3 days at the beach and 2 travel days.  So when I look at $1300 for 3 days of fun or $2800 for 5 days of fun it may be a bit more expensive but the enjoyment level is much higher.  So, in my opinion, Disney is not the place to vacation every year but if you only vacation every 3-5 years due to schedules or having pets at home than it does give you a very big bang for your buck.

In short everyone should visit Disney World once in their life (twice if you have kids once with them and once without them).  Just plan for it and realize it is ok if you have to start saving along time in advance, but when you go make sure you don't go in the summer it is way too busy and hot!

Disney with my 15 year old

Disney with my 15 year old

This is a bit of a harder time to take your child (I think 7-12 is probably a great time).  Our biggest issue came due to the time we went (heat/crowds) not the amount of stuff to do.

We ended up trying to go to a water park at 3pm in the afternoon it took an hour to get to the park on the bus so by the time we changed and found the park of the park we were headed to it was 4:15 and the park closed at 5pm.  It was a big adventure with little benefit.  This is not a part of your trip you want to impulse do it takes a little more planning.

Teenagers are not generally morning people and getting up early is the best was to get the most out of your trip.  She definitely was ready to enjoy more of the older items like Epcot world showcase, hall of presidents, and other things that needed a little more patience.  Be aware that the roller coasters are not really that extreme (Big thunder mountain, Space mountain), some of the others may be more extreme.

This is also the age when they don't want to be seen as a little kid, so even though I love dinning with the characters and think it is great to see how everyone signs their name (I will be taking an autograph book when my husband and I go), she did not "act" like it was a bunch of fun.

Disney World with a 5 year old

Disney with my 5 year old

This is a great time to take your child.  My daughter (now 16) remembers only some of the trip so if you really want them to remember it you might wait a little longer.  However, while at the park she enjoyed every moment.

We were able to fill all of our time with the rides we rode (with plenty of left overs for future trips).  We got up early everyday (beat the heat and the crowds).  We had character breakfast pretty much everyday which she loved, lots of autographs and photos.  She is an animal lover so we rode the Kilimanjaro Safari probably about 3 times (different days different times).  Every time I asked her what she wanted to do (no matter what park we were in) she would say Honey I shrunk the kids play ground.  I also think it is difficult for kids to grasp the multiple park idea so you may take some time ahead of time to repeat that often.

I personally prefer to start early (get to the park before it opens) and stay at the park until about 1 or 2.  Head back to the hotel take a break, maybe change clothes or swim then head back out to the park about 3-5.  We never stayed for fireworks at any park but we beat the crowds to the bus and she usually ended up falling asleep on the bus.  I would use caution talking about the fireworks too much so if your young child is not lasting the whole day you have not set expectations up already.

We spent some time at Blizzard beach but I caution you if you are by yourself it might be a little hard to manage.  We spend probably about an hour at the park and I am sure she would have been just as happy at the hotel pool.  Not sure how to put this but the water park addition to your ticket is about $60 dollars so if your trying to save you can leave it out but in the whole realm of the cost of a Disney trip you might just leave it in and enjoy a hour or two at the awesome themed water park.  I caution you plan on a long bus trip, if I have a car I will be driving to the water park if I got to the park again.  (I will discuss this a little more in another post.)

I have said it before but I took 100 photos (35 mm) and only 1 photo did not have a big smile on it.

Planning my next trip

Some of the things I have realize will make a better trip

Castle view from Crystal Palace

• Extra batteries for all devices
• Multiple ways to charge batteries
• Get up early the first couple of days (at least)
• Buy the Photopass CD before you leave (it saves you about $40 cost $119)
• Or Buy Photopass+ (has more stuff on it $169)
• Get 2 maps for each park to scrapbook with before you leave the hotel (or order Disney Maps after you get back and use the custom maps to remember what your rode/visited)
• If you get Deluxe dining make sure you plan to use a couple for 2 credit dining (you wont be able to use them all anyway so don't horde them)
• Make or purchase Disney Theme clothing for better pictures
• Plan ahead about what to choose at each restaurant (other wise you may end up not selecting something or eating the same thing twice)
• Make or purchase an autograph book (I will scrapbook my signatures so they need to be easy to remove from the book)
• Plan for Character meals as they allow for great photo ops without standing in line (take pictures of everyone and pose with them)
• Don't go when it is the busy/hot season (it is a waste of money and time)
• Look at the coupon packet you get when you check in
• Understand what you have paid for already and use the services (Disney Quest is included in the Water Park Plus tickets)
• Purchase a "lot" of pins from ebay or amazon before you leave to pin trade with (make sure you order them early enough that you get them well before you leave)
• Create an amazon wishlist for things you would like to purchase for your trip so you don't forget about something and so you can space your purchases out
• Think about anything you might like to scrapbook so you are sure to get the photos (I plan to take a picture of all of my meals as the dining is such a fun part of the experience). Take more than just 1 photo for special things, like character dining.
• Do your homework (your going to spend a lot of money make sure you get the most out of your trip even if that means planning a day that you don't go to the parks but just take the day off)
• Disney is a little pricey but when you look at it closely you wont spend that much more than a trip to the beach in the summer but get so much more out of it
• Talk about your must do list ahead of time and then make sure you help the guests in your party get to do them

Cons of my second Disney Trip

Cons of my second Disney Trip (June 2011)

So the cons of my second Disney Trip

• We drove 16 hours with 7 people in a 7 person van
• Visited with a large group (Eight people total)
• Trying to navigate the crowds with a large group
• Trying to keep everyone together (trying to please everyone)
• Too many people in the parks
• Got to the parks too late each day
• Too hot
• My parents are older so they rented Electric Wheelchairs from an off site vendor.  It took a long time to get from park to park.  
• We decided not to make our dinner reservations as an eight party group  because of the mandatory 18% tips (we ended up always tipping 18% or more as the service was always great) so we should have all just sat together.
• All my techie devices had terrible battery life

Snack Credits

Snack Credits I plan to use (have to plan out the best value for 32 credits, well only half of them are mine)

1. Paw Print Brownie - listed as a snack credit 
2. Mickey Ice Cream Bar
3. Mickey shaped pretzel
4. Dole Whip (float)
5. Butterfinger cupcake 

I have been studying snack credit lists at the following sites

disboards.com - great list of what is a snack credit

Magical Dream Tours - good printable list of snack credits

Disney Food Blog - great article about what to use your credits on

What are your favorite Snack credits?  

Pros of my second Disney Trip

Pros of my second Disney Trip (June 2011)

So the pros of my second Disney Trip

• Visited with my family (Eight people total)
• Road Splash Mountain
• Road Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
• Road Space Mountain
• Saw Fantasmic
• Got to be part of the Backstage Show (I think that is what it was the movie making thing)
• Great Disney Dining (We had the Deluxe Plan)
• Great Techie devices apps for wait times, digital camera

Cons of my first Disney Trip

Cons of my first Disney Trip (May 2001)

So the cons of my first Disney Trip

• It was only 4 nights an 5 days long
• It was only me and my 5 year old daughter so I was limited to only doing things she could do with me, which was really plenty
• I never made it into the castle (because I didn't know how to get there)
• I only made it into about 5 of our 100 pictures due to the fact that I took all the pictures
• It was the end of the dry season and there were wildfires near enough that we could see and smell them on the way in from the airport
• There was a small fire near Epcot parking area while we were down there (did not affect us)
• I bought most of my stuff at the end of my trip so I did not get to take advantage of them sending packages to the hotel

Pros of my first Disney Trip

Pros of my first Disney Trip (May 2001)

So the pros of my first Disney Trip

Easy Access to the buses from my room

• I made it to Disney
• I flew nonstop
• Easy Access to the buses from my room (note the image above)
• I set my own schedule (it was only me and my 5 year old daughter - check out the post for 7/11/2012)
• I got up early everyday so lines were shorter
• I went in may at so the crowds were manageable
• I had the dining plan so I enjoyed eating 
• I had the dining plan so everything was paid for before I got to the park
• The dining plan still include the tip
• Souvenirs were not as expensive as I thought they would be
• My daughter was so happy to be there we only had 1 photo out of 100 that had a grumpy face

Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater

Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater - Great Food

So this is one of my favorite places to eat.  My sister actually ate here several times her last trip (Dec 2011) as she did not plan ahead and make Dining Reservations.  That being said it is easy to get into if you did not plan ahead but the food is great and the atmosphere is really fun as well.

I think I was most entertained when I went with my dad and mom as they remembered watching all the movies at the drive in.  They sat behind us and laughed the whole time.  So if your 60s you may enjoy this place even more.

The onion rings were the best and I got a Reuben which was so big I only was able to eat half of it.  My sister was flying in and she got there as we were finishing up so I just took it to go and she had her lunch.

Note that if you can it is better to pair up as you really can't talk between the seats.

My first day at Disney World

My first day at Disney World May 2001

My first trip to Disney World was myself and my five year old daughter.  We will discuss the pre-planning a little later on this blog.  We flew from Pittsburgh, PA to Orlando, FL.  This was the first time one a plane for both of us.  I packed a fun bag for the plane and worried the flight would be turbulent...  because what would I have to get her back on the plane to come home if she had a bad experience?  Get on that plane or you have to stay here the rest of your life?  That is not going to work.  Thankfully the flight down was excellent and my daughter had a pleasant experience.

Once we got to the airport we got our bags and rode the Disney Bus to the All Star Movies resort.  Our trip was for 4 nights and 5 days.  We had the Disney Dinning Plan it was a little different back then as our plan was 2 full service meals per night (in my opinion the perfect number of meals more on the dining plan later). We ended up with a great location in the hotel (and I have yet to find another in a similar set up on the maps anyway).  We were in room 0834 in the Toy Story area it was near the bucket of soldiers stairway and we could get to the bus area in relatively no time and could avoid all the pool and food court traffic.  A five year old can get easily distracted by all the sites so it was really helpful to allow us to get to the parks really quickly in the morning.   I have looked at other hotels hoping to find that same type of quick access to the buses and have not as of yet but feel free to comment if you have found others.

Disney All Start Movie Room Location

Biggest note: Get to the parks early you will get more accomplished in the first hour than you will in the next three.

As a first time visitor I did not know to check the park hours ahead of time.  It is so important I planned to have dinner the first day I was there at Rain Forest Cafe at 5pm then go to Animal Kingdom ("AK").  For those of you who don't know AK closes around 5 most days in May anyway.  So I had to cancel a dinner reservation and make a new one first thing when I got there, which could have been a little frustrating but everything at Disney is easy so it worked out.  Also when I got to my room the room safe still had the previous guest envelopes full of money and passports, so make sure you do't forget that kind of stuff in your room.  I immediately called the front desk they came up and got it and held it at the front desk.  A little later the owners came by the room and I directed them to the front desk, so all was well.

So we started our Disney World Trip at Magic Kingdom and had dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern.

Welcome

Welcome

So I have been doing a lot of internet research and found out that most of the stuff I enjoy reading is stuff that has been written by people that simply plan and go on a family Disney trip.  I have been collecting ideas via pintrest (My Boards) and starting to add RSS feeds to my Google Reader but thought this might be a good way to gather everything in one place but figured it would be nice to share it with others and possibly save someone one some time.

I have been to Disney twice already and am planning my third trip (but with a count down of 514 days so I have lots of time on my hands).  I plan on talking about each past trip in detail and discussing the pros and cons of the dates, groups, hotels, dining plans, and of course the food.

I have been building a tremendous list of things to get before the trip and will put something together for that as well.

Anyway hope you enjoy this...