WDW will be the kick-off to our month long 25th Anniversary Disney vacation. We honeymooned at
Disneyland in 1990 and stayed at a very old offsite motel. It was a luxury trip for us at the time, as we were just starting out. We have had several visits since then with our girls, but those were always budget-friendly trips, too. We live in Northern Canada and getting to Disney destinations is quite expensive for us. (either $1000/person return to fly to the international airport in Edmonton and then the costs of flights from there
, or a 11 hour drive to get to Edmonton
, we always drove
). We would rather have more time in Disney rather than spending the money on deluxe hotels and flights to Edmonton. With our girls, we don't spend much time at the hotels. It is a place mainly for sleeping after a long day in the parks.
Last year, DH and I started talking about taking a trip to celebrate our 25th. At first we talked about going to Europe and maybe doing a river cruise. After some research, we found it was beyond what we were willing to spend. We have been doing some renovations, and would like to eventually tear down our garage and build a new one. The cost of the Europe trip was nearly the amount we budgeted for our new garage! We would have had to pare it down to the cruise only and frankly between our drive to the airport, the flight to Europe, jet lag and the cost it made the trip feel really daunting.
I started looking at some Disney cruises as a possible alternative, and we found that a deluxe one month Disney vacation for 2 of us was less expensive than one of us going to Europe on a river cruise for 2 weeks!
So, I took all what I have learned from Disboards
and put it into action. We booked a 14-day Panama Canal cruise in May 2015 the day the schedule came out through DU. We got a cabin with a verandah for $5000!!!
plus we got a $200 onboard credit from DU. I managed to get business/first class airline tickets on points from Edmonton to Orlando and then Los Angeles to Edmonton. DH and I talked about hotels, and decided we were going to treat ourselves, as we have come pretty far since 1990. So, we booked the Beach Club resort from April 22 to 27
. Since we are not going to Europe, the short walk to Epcot will make up for it
We are spending 2 nights at the Royal Pacific near US - I want to show DH the Harry Potter stuff
. We have 2 nights in Miami before heading out on our cruise on May 1st. We then check into the Disney Hotel in Anaheim on May 15 to 21.
I visit Disboard several times a week to get tips. I have been keeping a list on my iPhone such as ordering a Sunken Treasure drink at BC, the secret exit to from BC to Epcot, etc.
It is still 205 days away, but I am enjoying the anticipation, planning and having plenty of time to stash those American $$ away.
We are looking forward to our celebration
without breaking the bank.
Will get tickets from UT soon and book our flight when Southwest releases the dates. 
I just booked 16-24. It will be my husband and I, our 3 boys (10, 8, 4), and possibly 1 or 2 of my good friends. I'm just so excited!
They are in Oregon and we are in Texas, so our visits are few and far between! I have it mostly planned with Touring Plans but have spent the past couple of weeks getting planning done for my bosses wife - their trip is in April and it is almost time to book their ADRs. So now that I have them squared away with instructions in hand, it's time to finish planning ours!
22 days until we can make ADRs!
