Mommydaddyjana
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2014
We are 33 days to Our Florida adventure and the prioritizing, contingency planning and packing has begun!
We are a crazy busy professional Canadian couple with two active girls, J (8) and M (5). I am a self proclaimed Disney addict and would live at Disney if I could. My girls love travel and adventure, love Disney, and love family time.
DH? Well... Disney has grown on him but he was clear he wanted “more nature” this trip. He also prefers offsite accommodation with at least one bedroom, a kitchen and laundry. He says he dislikes the “music and noises Disney constantly pipes at you”. He does love EPCOT, and Dole Whip, and was fairly impressed last year that Disney could produce decent and relaxing meals - for the first time I set out to show him Disney dining could be awesome, with reservations at places like California Grille, Saana, and Tratoria al Forno. He is coming for the full 11 day trip this year (he usually only joins the girls and I for 4-6 days), but to achieve this I had to re-brand the trip a “Florida vacation with a few Disney days”.
DH is also a non-spender so Disney prices kill him. We negotiated a total spending budget roughly equivalent to the cost of Disney’s dining plan - $3000 usd. I get to be in charge of how it is spent. Disney tickets, hotel, car rental, air and parking (both at Disney and Park-and-fly) do not have to be included - they have all been prepaid or separately budgeted for. The girls have also been saving Christmas, birthday money and allowance for souvenirs, and they have about $125usd each to spend.
The catch? That $3000 has to cover ALL other expenses - including nature and non-Disney excursions - in addition to food, alcohol, gas and tips. (Have you guessed that negotiation and contracts are a big part of both our professions?)
Staying 11 nights at Bryans’ Spanish Cove in a 2-bedroom suite with rental car cost us about $1800 USD. We have park hopper tickets (we all have a different number of days, from 5-10, for reason I won’t get into), memory maker, and J and I pre-purchased tickets for Villains Take Back the Night on the 18th.
My youngest, who is an early riser like me, and I have Ohana reservations for a special breakfast with Stich on our first day at 7:30am (we have been watching the series and movies together - LOVING Disney +!) and plan to hit Fanraseyland for a couple of hours after while DH & J sleep in. We also have reservations for Storybook Dining, the Cinderella dinner at 1900 Park Fare, and the new character breakfast at Topolinos Terracr.
We have a “princess day” planned that starts with a pre-opening breakfast at Plaza Inn, followed by Bibbity Bobbity Boutique reservations, family photos, princess meets and lunch at Be Our Guest, then a princess tour of world showcase that will end with an Anna and Elsa meet (and hopefully a ride on Frozen).
We have a Toy Story Evening planned with back-to-back fast passes for Slinky, Toy Story Mania and Alien Swirling Saucers.
DH and J have also committed to one 6am wake-up to ensure we get to Hollywood Studios first thing to secure a Boarding Pass for Rise of the Resistance.
I have groupons for Aerophile, and we plan to combine that with a stop at Jock Lindsay’s for the hubby.
As for the nature part of the trip: our hotel is on a lake across from a nature preserve with free boats you can take out; swimming and kayaking at Wekiwa; a day at Weeki Wachi including their 4-hour downstream kayak adventure (yes, we are big kayakers - our kids spend their summers in the paddling program at our local lake), citrus-picking at Showcase of Citris; and a day at the Clearwater Aquarium, their dolphin cruise, combined with a visit to Clearwater Beach.
Blizzard Beach, Legoland, Chip and Dale Campfire, and a full day at Animal Kingdom are also priorities.
Can we do it all? Will there be enough Disney? Enough nature? Enough sleep? Good enough food with only a handful of ADRs? Will we stay on budget?
No idea but we are going to give it our best go, and have the most magical family time no matter what. I’m going to try to post contemporaneously if I am not too exhausted! I’ll also post pics of our “magical packing” that starts this weekend. Wish me luck!
We are a crazy busy professional Canadian couple with two active girls, J (8) and M (5). I am a self proclaimed Disney addict and would live at Disney if I could. My girls love travel and adventure, love Disney, and love family time.
DH? Well... Disney has grown on him but he was clear he wanted “more nature” this trip. He also prefers offsite accommodation with at least one bedroom, a kitchen and laundry. He says he dislikes the “music and noises Disney constantly pipes at you”. He does love EPCOT, and Dole Whip, and was fairly impressed last year that Disney could produce decent and relaxing meals - for the first time I set out to show him Disney dining could be awesome, with reservations at places like California Grille, Saana, and Tratoria al Forno. He is coming for the full 11 day trip this year (he usually only joins the girls and I for 4-6 days), but to achieve this I had to re-brand the trip a “Florida vacation with a few Disney days”.
DH is also a non-spender so Disney prices kill him. We negotiated a total spending budget roughly equivalent to the cost of Disney’s dining plan - $3000 usd. I get to be in charge of how it is spent. Disney tickets, hotel, car rental, air and parking (both at Disney and Park-and-fly) do not have to be included - they have all been prepaid or separately budgeted for. The girls have also been saving Christmas, birthday money and allowance for souvenirs, and they have about $125usd each to spend.
The catch? That $3000 has to cover ALL other expenses - including nature and non-Disney excursions - in addition to food, alcohol, gas and tips. (Have you guessed that negotiation and contracts are a big part of both our professions?)
Staying 11 nights at Bryans’ Spanish Cove in a 2-bedroom suite with rental car cost us about $1800 USD. We have park hopper tickets (we all have a different number of days, from 5-10, for reason I won’t get into), memory maker, and J and I pre-purchased tickets for Villains Take Back the Night on the 18th.
My youngest, who is an early riser like me, and I have Ohana reservations for a special breakfast with Stich on our first day at 7:30am (we have been watching the series and movies together - LOVING Disney +!) and plan to hit Fanraseyland for a couple of hours after while DH & J sleep in. We also have reservations for Storybook Dining, the Cinderella dinner at 1900 Park Fare, and the new character breakfast at Topolinos Terracr.
We have a “princess day” planned that starts with a pre-opening breakfast at Plaza Inn, followed by Bibbity Bobbity Boutique reservations, family photos, princess meets and lunch at Be Our Guest, then a princess tour of world showcase that will end with an Anna and Elsa meet (and hopefully a ride on Frozen).
We have a Toy Story Evening planned with back-to-back fast passes for Slinky, Toy Story Mania and Alien Swirling Saucers.
DH and J have also committed to one 6am wake-up to ensure we get to Hollywood Studios first thing to secure a Boarding Pass for Rise of the Resistance.
I have groupons for Aerophile, and we plan to combine that with a stop at Jock Lindsay’s for the hubby.
As for the nature part of the trip: our hotel is on a lake across from a nature preserve with free boats you can take out; swimming and kayaking at Wekiwa; a day at Weeki Wachi including their 4-hour downstream kayak adventure (yes, we are big kayakers - our kids spend their summers in the paddling program at our local lake), citrus-picking at Showcase of Citris; and a day at the Clearwater Aquarium, their dolphin cruise, combined with a visit to Clearwater Beach.
Blizzard Beach, Legoland, Chip and Dale Campfire, and a full day at Animal Kingdom are also priorities.
Can we do it all? Will there be enough Disney? Enough nature? Enough sleep? Good enough food with only a handful of ADRs? Will we stay on budget?
No idea but we are going to give it our best go, and have the most magical family time no matter what. I’m going to try to post contemporaneously if I am not too exhausted! I’ll also post pics of our “magical packing” that starts this weekend. Wish me luck!
