Enjoying a Disney Trip and Saving Some Money

Yes, we made our first trip with the boys to Disney this September. While hubby grew up in Orlando and worked in the Magic Kingdom one summer, he was thoroughly excited to watch the boys enjoy all the sites. We did manage to find a deal on tickets... my parents sacrificed some time and got a great discount, so we could enjoy two days for about the price of one day. If I didn't say it enough to them at the time, here's another BIG THANK YOU!!!

Me and my Regus #2

Before leaving for Florida, I looked around for ways to save money in the park. While we did budget for food and a gift or two, we didn't want to go overboard or deal with screaming kids. Here a few tips that family and friends suggested, as well as a few I found online.

Bring a comfortable backpack. You'll need to store the hats, sunglasses, extra layers of clothes that the kids shed, and some other items listed here.

Bring your own ponchos. It's Florida, so there will most likely be an afternoon storm. Don't be caught in the park without one and have to pay a ridiculous amount of money for their rain gear. We found some kids' Disney ponchos at Target.

By the end of the day, they didn't want to take off their ponchos.

Pack some healthy, non-messy snacks. I realize the "non-messy" and "healthy snacks" don't always go hand-in-hand. I've found that squeezable applesauce is a great one. We don't normally buy prepackaged snacks, but this was a special day. Here's one of my favs, and here's another one. If you want, you can pack a slim insulated bag with a small cooler pack or a frozen water bottle and take some baby carrots and string cheese. The water bottle doubles as a cooler pack and a cool water later in the day. Get creative here! I even used my neoprene laptop bag (without the laptop, of course) as a cooler. This worked wonderfully!

 
Controlling Souvenir Costs. We went to Downtown Disney a few days before to give the boys a free, sneak peak of what Disney is like. We took them into the shops and let them pick out one toy. This ended up keeping them from begging for tons of toys in the parks. We also did say that we wouldn't be buying a lot in the parks, so they were ready for that.


Buy a Disney t-shirt before you go to the park. I have family that works for Disney, so I hope they don't hate me too much here. My mom bought inexpensive Mickey Mouse t-shirts when we got to Orlando. Believe me. They are everywhere! When we set out our clothes the night before, my Mom brought them in the t-shirts to set with the rest of their clothes. They were SUPER excited to get to wear them to Disney!

Me and my awesome family, as we first entered the Magic Kingdom!

Staying safe. After we parked, Hubby and I talked to the boys about our usual safety rules: (1) You must hold onto Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, or Papa... and let us know if you are going to someone else. (2) You can not run off. We knew they would be excited, so we just wanted to remind them of the normal rules. They really did great!

As a final note, I definitely recommend athletic shoes, as you will do lots of walking. We were able to get to all the rides that we wanted to show the boys and then make a second round to go again on their favorite rides: Buzz Light Year, The People Mover, and Peter Pan. Before going, I knew they would love the Buzz Light Year ride, but I was very surprised by their enjoyment for The People Mover and Peter Pan. The People Mover was a nice chance for them to take a break from the walking. Plus, it gave them a new vantage point of the Magic Kingdom. I will note that they didn't like the complete darkness, as we passed through Space Mountain. Thankfully, my Mom ("Grandma") and I kept them distracted enough to be OK with it.

Me and the boys with my beautiful Mom waving to you!

I'd love to hear your money-saving tips for weathering theme parks!

Paper chains: not just a craft project

In our house, the boys have been struggling to understand the concept of the calendar — the passage of time. More likely is that I haven't found the best way to teach the information. I'm not talking about the hours in a day or the day-night concept, I'm talking about next week or next month.

Let me back up. We do have a routine for certain things, and the boys sort of understand that Daddy is with us all day on the weekends. However, they just don't get that they have to wait 4 more weeks until they get to go to Grandma's house.

Here's what we've tried, with little success:

1. Mark off days on the calendar. This idea helps, if I can remember to do it every morning.
2. Sing songs. I've found some cute songs about teaching the days of the week. However, they just haven't really cared for them. <Insert deep sigh>
3. Not tell them at all, until the day before. This comes from the saying, "Ignorance is bliss." However, I usually end up with really cranky kids that have other ideas for the day's plans.

While the last option does stop the endless questions, I have the hardest time with this because I love preparing for a trip — all the lists, all the packing. Seriously, I start pre-packing plan a few weeks before a trip. The boys know this and get nosy about why I'm packing and carrying around a new 3-ring binder. That's one reason why options #3 is just not good for us.

My mom heard about an idea to make a paper chain for each day that you are waiting for something. Each day, you break off a chain to show that you are one day closer. That's it! This is just the activity I needed to teach them. It's very hands-on, which is perfect for my boys. Plus, I had several other ideas to add.

Here's how I've adapted the Countdown paper-chain idea:

1. Make a list of the days and dates until the trip/event.
Seriously, list out all the days. You need to know how many chains to make, right? It also helps to list the quantity of each day of the week... if you want to add in #2.

2. Find enough paper to make chains.
Use a different color for each day of the week (teaching patterns). I chose to use scrapbook paper (not that I scrapbook, but I LOVE all the cool papers. Plus, I buy them when they are super-uber cheap).

3. Fill in the normal activities that take place on those days.
For example, "Saturday: Daddy's home all day" or "Wednesday: Library day." These things don't change for us, so it's a safe activity to list. I added a few other tasks like "go to the post office to mail XX's gift." As a note, don't try to make the list the same day you want to make the chain <cough, cough>. Give yourself some time to come up with ideas and check your calendar for birthdays and activities.


Here's an example of some of my ideas:
Wednesday, May 4: Library Day!

Thursday, May 5: Make "Happy Anniversary" card for Grandma & Papa

Friday, May 6: Mail card
Thursday, May 19: Let's start our packing list!

4. Cut out the paper chains. I think 1.5" x 8" works best for me.

5. Print out two copies of the activities.
This helps for two reasons: (1) to cut out the strip for each day and activity for step #6 and (2) to have a list to remember what you've written.

6. Paste activity on the inside of each chain. This was a great job for little hands.

7. Loop and staple each chain, looping the next one around the previous day.
I decided to hang ours above the window, so they wouldn't randomly start cutting chains. It did prove to be a bit tricky in getting a new one cut each day. However, I was happy that the chain was not destroyed in the process.

How did it work for us?

Each morning, the boys got to look at the length of the chain then cut off today's link. It's like they were able to open a new present or surprise each day. Not only were we one day closer to Grandma's house, but they found out what we're doing today.

Whenever they asked about when we're going to Grandma's house, I just brought them back into the school room/dining room/office to look at the chain. "Oh yeah" was usually the response. We could then count all the remaining chains.

Plus, I was able to use my cute "days of the week" songs, and they actually enjoyed them this time. This activity was perfect for my boys because it was hands-on. Every child can learn with hands-on (kinesthetic) learning, and my boys learn best this way.

As another added benefit, it took the guess work out of trying to plan my days. The initial list planning took care of that for me. Hmm, sounds like I might actually get the hang of lesson planning.

I will say that some days I listed two options because I needed to build in some flexibility. Yes, I have to "plan" to be flexible. It just makes us happier to know that we have a couple of options, if our day just isn't turning out as planned.

We will definitely be using this idea again for our next big date. We're planning a weekend getaway soon, so I think this would be great to do again.

Do you like to include your kids in vacation planning? What works for you?