Our family is heading to Disney World!!!!!!
Not today, but soon! I've had several questions from friends on Facebook about how we've gone about planing our trip. I thought over the next few weeks, I'd share a bit of the details and maybe it'll make planning your trip a little less overwhelming!
We decided over a year ago that we wanted to take the girls to Disney World. Gretchen had been begging for about two years, and we just knew that it was time. Gretchen will be 7, Megan 3 1/2, and Adalyn 1 1/2 when we go. I think Gretchen and Megan are the perfect ages! Adalyn's a little young, but we thought she might as well tag along with us!
Once we made the decision that we wanted to go, we had to figure out WHEN we wanted to go! For our family, this was the most difficult part. We knew that we would not be able to go August-December due to football season. We also couldn't go in January because of recruiting, and since I only get 3 personal days per year with work, we couldn't go during the school year. The first of June is filled with high school football camps, so that time of year is out too. That left us with the last two weeks of June, the first two weeks of July, or over spring break. With the Florida heat, we decided that spring break would be the best time for our family to go! Now, I've heard that the weeks of spring break are really crowded, so if you can find a better time to go, then go! I really think October would be a fabulous time of year.
Once we decided on when we were going, we contacted a Disney planner that our friend had suggested. It is absolutely free to you if you use a Disney planner! They work for Disney and get incentives, but it doesn't cost you a dime! We used a planner out of Arkansas, and we live in Oklahoma, so you don't have to be close to use a certain planner. Again, we just went with someone that a friend recommended.
I called our planner and told her what we had decided already- the time of year we wanted to travel. I told her that we had three small girls, and we wanted our trip centered around the things that they would like. She sent us quotes and links to hotels that she would recommend.
We've been a little spoiled when we travel with the team for bowl games because we always get two hotel rooms. This allows the girls to go to sleep and have their space, and us to have our space if we decide to stay up late. I hate trying to get our girls to sleep in a hotel, when DJ and I aren't ready for bed. They want to stay up too!
For this reason, we decided to get a family suite at Art of Animation. For us, it gives us the space that we'll desire and the rooms are decked out in themes.
We originally chose the Finding Nemo family suite. It has a sofa that pulls out into a bed, a murphy bed, kitchenette, and separate bedroom. It sleeps 6 adults. However, a few months after we booked, our planner called and let us know that we could save $300.00 if we switched to a Lion King suite, so we did.
The rooms are crazy over the top, but this trip is for the girls, not really for us, so we are jumping in feet first with all of the craziness!
Art of Animation (AOA) also has great pools!
We booked with our planner 6 months out. The main reason for this was because we wanted to be able to book character meals, and Disney opens up reservations for those meals at 6 months out. Our planner recommended that we add a meal plan. I'm very glad that we did because it's not extra cash that we'll have to take with us! Once we made that decision, we talked to her about the characters that the girls would like to meet.
She suggested Chef Mickey's, Hollywood & Vine, and Cinderella's Royal Table. Those are the ones we went with. We absolutely knew that we wanted to do Cinderella's Royal Table. I honestly wasn't picky about the rest of them, except there is one meal with Winnie the Pooh, and I knew that that meal was not for us. I heard the food was great, but my girls don't know anything about those characters.
Once we made those immediate decisions we were able to take a break from planning! Next week, i'll share with y'all our fast pass selections!
Until then, XOXO!
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We did the Winne the Pooh meal at Crystal Palace & the food IS great. Ella was scared to death of the characters though, so it didn't work out as I'd planned. Oh well, it was nice to sit down & eat a REAL meal while at the park. Hope you have a great time! We just love Disney!
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