All you need is to believe....~Our Sizzling Summer Getaway! July 2012~~ TR started!:)

[mommytothreeboys]

All good news! Love it!

Looking forward to the next "saving" installment. We are not used to having to save for our trips as we use Jeff's bonus to pay for them....but...since he changed jobs, no bonus! Now we have to be sure to tuck money away a little at a time.

 

[dawnmichele]

Wow! Your movie night idea is fantastic! It makes me wish my kid was still little! (Don't worry, we'll do it anyway!)

 

[BrerMama]

Lastly, I read that Agent P will be opening in June!! I'm not sure if they have set an exact date yet but I am so happy that it will be there when we go in July. Noah is completely obsessed with Perry!

Up Next--Saving for Disney!

My son loves Perry as well. Of course, he's turning 18 so I think he's going to rule out the whole Agent P/Epcot thing. Excited to hear how you're saving for the trip!

 

[Angies1274]

Great news about BTMRR

The sandcastle looks awesome, I'll be looking forward to seeing that too.

So happy about BTMRR!!

I just read this morning that Phineas and Ferb will be included in the summer version of the castle show. Can't wait to see it!!

I didn't know about the new castle show so thanks for posting the info! Now I'm all excited for our "something new".

Yay for "something new"!! Apparently, they're going with the whole beach theme and adding additional characters as well. Sounds fun!!

All good news! Love it!

Looking forward to the next "saving" installment. We are not used to having to save for our trips as we use Jeff's bonus to pay for them....but...since he changed jobs, no bonus! Now we have to be sure to tuck money away a little at a time.

I'm so happy that we have so many new things to look forward to this summer!

I started writing up the savings update this morning so hopefully I can have it finished and posted by Monday at the latest.

 

[Angies1274]

Wow! Your movie night idea is fantastic! It makes me wish my kid was still little! (Don't worry, we'll do it anyway!)

Thanks!! They're a lot of fun to do!!

That's what I say! The boys are getting older especially Nick but I don't want to stop doing them...I enjoy them too much myself.

My son loves Perry as well. Of course, he's turning 18 so I think he's going to rule out the whole Agent P/Epcot thing. Excited to hear how you're saving for the trip!

I'm hoping to get my savings update posted soon!

 

[archdandy]

It looks like there's going to be quite a few new things for your family to see and do this summer! I can't remember why BTMR was closed down. Is it just refurbs or are they adding stuff to it?

 

[Angies1274]

It looks like there's going to be quite a few new things for your family to see and do this summer! I can't remember why BTMR was closed down. Is it just refurbs or are they adding stuff to it?

I'm so excited for all the new stuff!!

I think I remember reading that they are replacing the track and repainting. I'm not sure if they are going to update the queue like they have been doing to other rides around the park. I hope so...the queue is so boring for that ride!

 

[Angies1274]

Saving for Disney

I thought I would take a break from our plans and share some of the ways that we have been saving for Disney. I realized that by picking the month of July to visit it would limit any huge discounts such as Free Dining and unfortunately going in August/September didn’t work for us. So I knew that if we wanted to return that we would have to start putting money aside especially when we decided to add Sea World to the mix. Although many of these things are small they can add up really quickly.

We knew last year that we wanted to return to Disney this year (remember all the celebrations?) Plus we were going through some serious withdrawal. So, last summer after our trip to the lake which we loved but realized that there really is no place like Disney. I started trying to put away $100 month toward our trip. Some months it wasn’t so much but it was the goal I set and I have tried to stick to it. Anyways, between that amount and adding in some of our income tax return-- our room, tickets and dining should be almost paid for. Which only leaves airfare, and any extras such as Sea World tickets (they include all day dining), money to feed the dolphins, souvenirs plus our hotel and dinner for the night before the trip.

So, first I decided to tackle the airfare by booking it in January. I knew it would give us six months to save because I used Bill Me Later to pay where there is no payment or interest for six months. Since our airfare for the four of us flying Jetblue was $1200. (I know crazy…but it’s actually gone up almost $700 since we booked it.) That meant I now needed to put aside $200.00 a month. I knew we needed to be serious so we started cutting back on eating out and I started couponing again. I found a great site called Couponing to Disney and have learned so much. I started grocery shopping once every two weeks and started buying more in bulk. I also started using a grocery budget and figured out how much money we used to spend every week and added it together to get my two week total. I’ve found that by using coupons and shopping at more than one store has also helped keep the total down. I figured I’m saving about $100 a month shopping this way. Since we are not eating out as much that’s also helping with our goal.

Here is a list of all the other ways that we are using to help pay for all those Disney extras—

--Change Jar (we actually do this for every trip) Last trip we used it to pay for our Tusker House breakfast OOP since we had the QSDP.

--Disney Visa Reward Card (we’ve accumulated almost $150 which we will put towards souvenirs.)

--My Points (I have enough points to cash out for a $25 Landry gift card which we will use toward our T-REX dinner.

-- I do some reward and survey sites. A couple of those are Quick Rewards, and Mindfield Research. I really enjoy Mindfield because you get to test products as well as do surveys. Quick Rewards can be frustrating because sometimes you can spend a good deal of time working on a survey and then they determine you’re not qualified to take it after all. But, if you can get a survey to credit than it can add up really fast. (Best to do them in the morning) It’s just taking the time to do them.

--Recently, I found out that you can earn Disney gift cards at Disney Movie Rewards. We have a ton of Disney movies and I don’t know why I never thought to join before. I have a $10 Disney gift card coming in the mail.

--Lastly, I plan to have a Yard Sale in June. I usually try to have one every year but for some reason I skipped last year so we have a ton of clothes the boys have outgrown.

--Oh, I almost forgot once I found one Couponing blog, I began to search out others and they are always having contests and I won a $25 gift card to Wal-Mart. (I used the gift card for our everyday needs and took the $25 I would have spent and put it in our Disney fund.)

So, that’s it! That’s how we are saving for Disney. As I said before every little bit helps and surprisingly even small things add up very quickly. Of course, these are not the only expenses. We can’t forget all the little extras that we need before Disney such as toiletries, clothing (we’re working on), shoes (also working on), a new park bag (that you have already seen) and any other extras that may pop up because I’m sure I’m forgetting something. My goal this week is to finally get my list of things to do and buy together so I can start checking it off. I also started working on my planning book this weekend so when it’s finished I’ll share.

Up Next—Our Hollywood Studios Day.

​

 

[BrerMama]

Sounds like a great plan. We got the Disney Visa offer this trip where we got $200 free dollars, then we bought our airfare, park tickets, and paid for our lodging using it (then paid it off with the money we saved). Souvenir money for DH and I!

 

[mickeystoontown]

It sounds like you've worked a great plan for saving money. If you keep up that plan, then you guys can go to Disney next year too. Hey, you know me, gotta have a trip in the works or I'll go into Disney depression.

 

[newtexan]

those are some great tips for saving
setting aside each month is one of our favorites that is difficult to be disciplined about though, one month we needed a new printer etc.
Couponing to Disney is a great site to follow

 

[Angies1274]

Sounds like a great plan. We got the Disney Visa offer this trip where we got $200 free dollars, then we bought our airfare, park tickets, and paid for our lodging using it (then paid it off with the money we saved). Souvenir money for DH and I!

Thanks!! for the $200 free dollars from your Disney Visa!

It sounds like you've worked a great plan for saving money. If you keep up that plan, then you guys can go to Disney next year too. Hey, you know me, gotta have a trip in the works or I'll go into Disney depression.

I know...I would love to go back again next year! But, I think the plan right now is to hold off and keep saving for a Disney Cruise in 2014. I can't wait to hear what you guys think of it!! Not too much longer for you now!!

those are some great tips for saving
setting aside each month is one of our favorites that is difficult to be disciplined about though, one month we needed a new printer etc.
Couponing to Disney is a great site to follow

Thanks!: I agree that setting aside money definitely takes discipline! Last month with Easter it took a big chunk of the money I would usually be able to set aside. Luckily, some of other things helped make up for that.

I'm so glad I found Couponing to Disney. It's really helping to pay for those extras that we want to have on the trip.

 

[Angies1274]

Day 5 Plans-Disney Hollywood Studios

It’s funny how a park that used to be your least favorite can redeem itself with just a few more visits. On our first visit I almost didn’t even add it in as the boys were really small and I didn’t know how well they would sit through the shows and I knew they had no interest in riding any of the thrill rides. But, on a whim I added an extra day to our tickets and we decided to visit on our arrival day. Big mistake…or at least it was for us. It was so hot when we arrived, not to mention the parade was about to begin so people were everywhere we looked. Looking at the map we somehow got turned around trying to find Pizza Planet and had to ask a CM for directions. Then once we got to Pizza Planet the line was crazy and it took us forever to get something to eat. Needless to say it wasn’t a very magical start to our vacation. The wait times were long, it was hot, crowded and we accomplished very little. We left shaking our heads wondering if this is what we were in for the whole week. Since then…thankfully, I found the DIS and realized showing up in the middle of the afternoon with no plan is probably something you shouldn’t do especially on our first visit. I’m happy to say that on our next visit we arrived at opening and knew to run straight over to TSMM and then hit all the shows and attractions that we wanted see. It was a successful trip and DHS didn’t look so bad after all. But, it was on our last trip when I was finally won over. We rode ToT, saw Beauty and the Beast and Fantasmic for the first time and loved them!! After that trip, I can definitely say our minds had been changed about this park and I’m so excited to go back!!

Disney Hollywood Studios (7/14)

So, this morning will probably be like all the others. It’s another EMH morning so we’ll probably grab something quick in the food court and then head to the bus stop to catch the bus for Hollywood Studios.

And we’ll follow the people in front of us because everyone will be running to the same place…..

Yes! You guessed it! Toy Story Midway Mania!

I think we will probably just ride TSMM. I’m not sure we will get a FP for later especially since you have to use it within the window. But, if we decide to then we will probably ride first and then FP as I heard this is a good strategy.
Oh and I can’t miss out on these shots!

Oh and of course we are going to want to do this! THIS is the year that I am finally going to beat Nick….I can feel it!

After Toy Story, the plan is to head over to Sunset Blvd to ride this for the first time--- (Noah and I)

I have a confession. I am so nervous about this ride!!! I love roller coasters but I’m not sure how Noah is going to do. He’s never rode anything with inversions before. I’ve also heard the take-off is pretty intense… but it’s still something we would both like to try. Well as long as we don’t chicken out.
After we conquer RNRC for the first time (Hopefully) we will be heading over here—

No fear here…we love this one!!

Since Noah and I are the only ones that want to ride these two rides, DH and Nick will be heading here—

On our last trip, Noah did not like this ride because it made him feel sick. DH and Nick said they would check out the new version and hopefully we can convince Noah to ride later on. I’d love to see it!!

After all this I’m sure the park will be open and our plan is to head over to meet Phineas and Ferb. Noah is so excited to do this! I’ve read that they come out about 9:30am. I hope this is still the case when we go in July as the last thing I want to do is stand in line later in the day when it’s even hotter!

Then it will really depend on how long it takes at the meet and greet but ideally we would like to visit here….

Or here….

We’d really like to try the Animation class this time and of course meet Sorcerer Mickey (DH favorite)

Then it’s time for a little lunch—(what we don’t fit in before lunch the plan is to catch them after.)

But, of course we will have to save room for later so I can pick up this from Starring Rolls.

After lunch we hope to be able to visit here—

And here….

And here….

And maybe here….. (I’m sure the boys would like it) but we’ll see.

Then the plan is to head back to the resort for a little rest and some dinner although I’m not so sure how hungry will be after our big lunch. Hmm….maybe we can make room for this—

Fantasmic is scheduled for 9:00pm on this evening and since it is DH favorite night time show, the plan is to head out around 7:00pm and head straight there when we arrive— We’ll probably pack the boys 3DS so they have something to do while we wait.

Love this part!!

Yay Mickey!!

Then it’s back to the resort and off to bed to get ready for our “take time to smell the roses” Magic Kingdom day!!


​

 

[newtexan]

Your DHS plans look good.

We have never seen B&B show, or Fantasmic! and I don't think they are on the list for this year either...mistake?

 

[mickeystoontown]

I love all of your plans for your Hollywood Studios day. When we first went to WDW, we didn't really love Epcot. But, like you, I did more research and then realized that we were "doing it all wrong" and now we love it. I am sure that you are glad that you guys gave Hollywood Studios another chance.

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Love your DHS day! That's my favorite park! Probably because I've always wanted to be in the shows!

 

[mommytothreeboys]

I love all the saving for Disney ideas! It is my goal to begin putting away about $100 a month...but little things like broken elbows and surgery may take a bite out of our monthly budget for a while! We put the money we budgeted but did not spend on our spring Virginia vacation back into savings for the Disney trip, so we have a bit of a headstart.

Like you, I am a big fan of EMH. I know it gets mixed reviews here on the DIS, but it really works well for our family.

The DHS plans look great! The take-off on RnRR is intense, but short. Noah should be fine. Isaiah was nervous about it on our last trip, but ended up loving it!

 

[andapanda]

Ok, this is the first I'm hearing of Disney Animation classes. I'm going to have to look into it more.

I'll admit it, I have a slight fear of fast-paced coasters...but I LOVED Rock n Rollercoaster. The start of the ride is intense, but it's such a fun ride. I love Tower of Terror though. My first trip, TSMM was not there and I'm looking forward to it! Your plan looks awesome to me

 

[BrerMama]

Sounds like a great day planned!

 

[ellajeansmom]

Great saving/budgeting ideas Angie It's amazing how much you can save by just doing a few little things differently!

DHS plans sound fun, it's so great you are able to take advantage of morning EMH, you see so much without any crowds - I'm thinking that will be especially true for you in July. Unfortunately that strategy doesn't work for my family as my girls are not early risers...which I'm usually thankful for except when we're at Disney