The countdown has finally begun! On Tuesday my husband and I finally planned our trip to Disney World for our one year anniversary. The biggest debate we had when planning this trip was which resort to stay at. We always stay on site, so no decision there, but we always struggle with the idea of spending more money to stay at a Deluxe or Moderate resort and whether or not that is worth it to us when we spend so little time in the room.
When I started going to Disney World with my father around age 8 we always stayed at a Value resort because my father is very, very frugal, and he never thought it would be worth it to spend more money on a room that we only slept and showered in. Once I got a little older and started doing my own research on Disney World I came across the ever popular Disney Vacation planning DVD (cue angels singing). I actually never knew there were other places to stay except the All Star Resorts! From that time on I always somehow convinced my father to stay at Moderate Resorts (I'm a little spoiled-what can I say?). Fast forward to my own honeymoon when I was trying to convince my new husband to spend upwards of $300 on a Deluxe hotel for the first night of our vacation -more on that later.
This time around we knew the number one thing we wanted to do on this vacation was go to the Swan and Dolphin Food and Wine Classic, so we planned our trip around the dates of this year's event (October 30th and 31st). After doing some research on this event last year I knew that you got discounted tickets to the event by staying at either the Swan or the Dolphin, so I worked the angle of convincing my husband that we would actually be saving money by staying there! Fast forward again to my idea of staying there this year for our trip and you can only imagine the sticker shock on my face when I saw the cost. Nightly rates weren't even available for our dates, but the "ticket package" rates were almost enough to buy a new Ford Fiesta. Even though the idea of casually strolling out of our room and walking on the causeway to enjoy some amazing food sounded wonderful, and the idea of rolling back to our room after being stuffed with delicious food and decadent wine sounded great, so did being able to pay my bills back home.
Plan two consisted of maybe staying our first night at the Beach Club Resort and then switching to a Value resort for the remainder of the trip, thus being able to enjoy Stormalong Bay for the first day of our trip and spend it relaxing by the pool. Well cut to me checking priced for our dates only to find out that it was OVER $400 a night!!!! While I do love the idea of floating along the lazy river and relaxing by the pool, I certainly do not want to spend more than the cost of our tickets for the entire trip just to do that.
Overall I guess my attempt at frugality (or ability to face reality) won out and we have decided to stay in the Little Mermaid rooms at Art of Animation (my first time staying there!). While I would have loved to be able to spend part of my trip at one of the amazing Deluxe resorts, I always think what else we could be using that money for (margaritas at Hollywood Studios, dinner at California Grill, an extra day in the parks, etc).
Where do you like to stay on site? Do you think it's worth the extra price to stay at Deluxe, or are you more apt to save some money and stay at a Value Resort?
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Running To Disney
My recent attempts at running would only be possible if I had one ultimate goal in mind...running in Disney World. I have recently been hearing a lot about how amazing the Run Disney events are and really wish there was a 5k or 10 miler planned while we are going to be down there in October.
I recently started using the C25K app and I really love it. The interface is very basic, and almost "manly", but I like how it counts down each run or walk time in a simple way and doesn't spew inspirational phrases every ten seconds. Each workout is 30 minutes or so (they do get longer as the weeks go by), but they also have a built in warm up and cool down time, so the time you are actually running is manageable. It's a great way to get you to be able to run a 5k, and then once you master that you can go on to their other training apps for a 10k, half marathon, etc.
One of my bucket list items is to run a RunDisney event, so hopefully in 2016 I will be able to check it off my list!
I recently started using the C25K app and I really love it. The interface is very basic, and almost "manly", but I like how it counts down each run or walk time in a simple way and doesn't spew inspirational phrases every ten seconds. Each workout is 30 minutes or so (they do get longer as the weeks go by), but they also have a built in warm up and cool down time, so the time you are actually running is manageable. It's a great way to get you to be able to run a 5k, and then once you master that you can go on to their other training apps for a 10k, half marathon, etc.
One of my bucket list items is to run a RunDisney event, so hopefully in 2016 I will be able to check it off my list!
Friday, February 20, 2015
Mistakes Not to Make- Part 2
In my previous post I discussed two mistakes that we made on our honeymoon, and in this post I will discuss even more mistakes that we made!
Mistake #3- Not always getting to the parks at rope drop
One thing my husband and I both agree when it comes to our Disney trips is the importance of always getting to each park every morning at rope drop. It really is amazing how much you can get accomplished in the first 2 hours that the parks are open, before the rest of the families with early children arrive. You can literally do every single attraction in New Fantasyland in under an hour if you arrive first thing in the morning, instead of waiting in 90 minute lines later on in the day once all the kiddies are there. The issue with getting to the parks so early each morning is that we found ourselves waking up each morning before 7 a.m. so that we would have time to get ready and make it to the bus stop by 7:45 or so. And believe me, if there is one thing you want to do on your honeymoon, it is to sleep in! This also meant that each night we ended up going to bed around 10 or 11 just because we were so tired from getting up so early and we wanted to make sure to get enough sleep to get up at the crack of dawn the next day! This meant that we couldn't stay in the parks too late each night and enjoy the romantic ambiance of the twinkling lights and near empty parks. If I had to do it all over again I would not feel the need to rush to the parks super early every morning, and instead give ourselves some time at the end of each night to relax and enjoy some evening activities, like Jellyrolls or a late night cocktail at the Rix Lounge.
Mistake #4- Not planning our trip around The Swan and Dolphin Food and Wine Classic
I have heard nothing but amazing things about this event, and really wish we would have planned our trip around it last year! Luckily we got smarter this year and we will be attending in 2015!!! Another perk of this event is that if you book a room package at either the Swan or the Dolphin you can get free tickets to this event....yes, FREE!!! And really what's more romantic than free tickets to an unlimited assortment of amazing wine and mouthwatering food? I watched Lou Mongello's video about this event last year (http://www.wdwradio.com/2013/10/video-walt-disney-world-swan-dolphin-food-wine-classic-2013/), and I can't wait to go this year! It also gives you a chance to get outside of the parks for a night and really enjoy some of the great activities that don't involve theme park admission. I can't wait to go this year and report back!
Mistake #3- Not always getting to the parks at rope drop
One thing my husband and I both agree when it comes to our Disney trips is the importance of always getting to each park every morning at rope drop. It really is amazing how much you can get accomplished in the first 2 hours that the parks are open, before the rest of the families with early children arrive. You can literally do every single attraction in New Fantasyland in under an hour if you arrive first thing in the morning, instead of waiting in 90 minute lines later on in the day once all the kiddies are there. The issue with getting to the parks so early each morning is that we found ourselves waking up each morning before 7 a.m. so that we would have time to get ready and make it to the bus stop by 7:45 or so. And believe me, if there is one thing you want to do on your honeymoon, it is to sleep in! This also meant that each night we ended up going to bed around 10 or 11 just because we were so tired from getting up so early and we wanted to make sure to get enough sleep to get up at the crack of dawn the next day! This meant that we couldn't stay in the parks too late each night and enjoy the romantic ambiance of the twinkling lights and near empty parks. If I had to do it all over again I would not feel the need to rush to the parks super early every morning, and instead give ourselves some time at the end of each night to relax and enjoy some evening activities, like Jellyrolls or a late night cocktail at the Rix Lounge.
Mistake #4- Not planning our trip around The Swan and Dolphin Food and Wine Classic
I have heard nothing but amazing things about this event, and really wish we would have planned our trip around it last year! Luckily we got smarter this year and we will be attending in 2015!!! Another perk of this event is that if you book a room package at either the Swan or the Dolphin you can get free tickets to this event....yes, FREE!!! And really what's more romantic than free tickets to an unlimited assortment of amazing wine and mouthwatering food? I watched Lou Mongello's video about this event last year (http://www.wdwradio.com/2013/10/video-walt-disney-world-swan-dolphin-food-wine-classic-2013/), and I can't wait to go this year! It also gives you a chance to get outside of the parks for a night and really enjoy some of the great activities that don't involve theme park admission. I can't wait to go this year and report back!
Sunday, February 15, 2015
Mistakes Not to Make- Part 1
After lots of talk of where to go on our Honeymoon, my husband and I ultimately decided to go to Disney World for our honeymoon, and while we are so glad that we did, we do have a few suggestions of what not to do on your "Disneymoon."
I hope you can learn from our mistakes and have the best honeymoon possible!
Mistake #1: Not splurging on a Deluxe hotel for at least a night
We stayed at the Coronado Springs Resort for the duration of our stay, and while that is a beautiful resort, I really feel that we should have spent at least one night at a Deluxe resort like we originally planned. We kept saying that our honeymoon would be the one Disney trip that we would pull out all of the stops for, but once we started planning we started thinking about how much money we were spending for just a short trip. That lead us to decide against our original plan of spending the first day and night at the Beach or Yacht Club Resort. Our plan was to be able to check in early in the morning and then spend the afternoon swimming in the pool, floating along the lazy river, and drinking frozen concoctions poolside. In reality we arrived at the Coronado Springs Resort, immediately checked in, and went right to Epcot. That brings me to mistake number 2.....
Mistake #2: Spending less time in the parks
One of the ways I convinced my husband to go to Disney on our honeymoon was promising him that we wouldn't be spending all of our days getting to the park at rope drop and spending all day everyday at the parks. While that was my original intention, once we got there the Disney bug got the best of me and all I wanted to do was go to bed early every night so I could be at the bus stop every morning by 8:00 sharp, so we could arrive at our designated park at least 20 minutes before it opened. While this would be a great touring strategy for any other Disney vacation, it wasn't exactly ideal for a relaxing honeymoon. If I had to do it all over again I would have spent at least one day out of the parks, exploring the different resorts, the Boardwalk area, or just relaxing at our hotel pool with a frozen margarita in hand.
I hope you can learn from our mistakes and have the best honeymoon possible!
Mistake #1: Not splurging on a Deluxe hotel for at least a night
We stayed at the Coronado Springs Resort for the duration of our stay, and while that is a beautiful resort, I really feel that we should have spent at least one night at a Deluxe resort like we originally planned. We kept saying that our honeymoon would be the one Disney trip that we would pull out all of the stops for, but once we started planning we started thinking about how much money we were spending for just a short trip. That lead us to decide against our original plan of spending the first day and night at the Beach or Yacht Club Resort. Our plan was to be able to check in early in the morning and then spend the afternoon swimming in the pool, floating along the lazy river, and drinking frozen concoctions poolside. In reality we arrived at the Coronado Springs Resort, immediately checked in, and went right to Epcot. That brings me to mistake number 2.....
Mistake #2: Spending less time in the parks
One of the ways I convinced my husband to go to Disney on our honeymoon was promising him that we wouldn't be spending all of our days getting to the park at rope drop and spending all day everyday at the parks. While that was my original intention, once we got there the Disney bug got the best of me and all I wanted to do was go to bed early every night so I could be at the bus stop every morning by 8:00 sharp, so we could arrive at our designated park at least 20 minutes before it opened. While this would be a great touring strategy for any other Disney vacation, it wasn't exactly ideal for a relaxing honeymoon. If I had to do it all over again I would have spent at least one day out of the parks, exploring the different resorts, the Boardwalk area, or just relaxing at our hotel pool with a frozen margarita in hand.
To all who come to this happy place, welcome!
Hello and welcome to my very first blog post, on my very first blog site!
First off let me take a moment to introduce myself. I'm Michelle. A recently married (hence the blog name) lady who works retail by day and browses Disney blogs by night. After reading so many amazing Disney blogs online I found that almost all of them centered around things to do with children, what places are great to eat at with children, and how to choose a hotel based on the ability to go back and take an afternoon nap. As much as I love reading about all of that, I found that there really weren't very many blogs dedicated to doing Disney without (gasp!) children, so that's what I plan to do here!
I'll start off the blog with some posts about my recent Disney Honeymoon (or Disneymoon as they say), as well as advice to travelers looking to go to the World without little ones.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my little blog, and please feel free to leave any comments you may have!
First off let me take a moment to introduce myself. I'm Michelle. A recently married (hence the blog name) lady who works retail by day and browses Disney blogs by night. After reading so many amazing Disney blogs online I found that almost all of them centered around things to do with children, what places are great to eat at with children, and how to choose a hotel based on the ability to go back and take an afternoon nap. As much as I love reading about all of that, I found that there really weren't very many blogs dedicated to doing Disney without (gasp!) children, so that's what I plan to do here!
I'll start off the blog with some posts about my recent Disney Honeymoon (or Disneymoon as they say), as well as advice to travelers looking to go to the World without little ones.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my little blog, and please feel free to leave any comments you may have!
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