We leave for Florida on Monday. We are all so excited!! We started saving for this trip 14 months ago, it seem like it was forever ago. We decided last year that we wanted to go visit my parents who are living in Florida right now. So we started to plan and realized that we could go to Disney while we were there and stay for free (my parents own a timeshare near Orlando). So we thought why not save our spare change in a jar and see how much we can save in a years time. We ended up with approximately $1,000!! I will say that the grandparents helped out by sending money about every week usually only a $1 or so per kid, and we had a garage sale which added about $200. So that $1,000 dollars covered our airfare and car rental!
So after we figured out how we were going to pay for this trip it was time to start planning how we were going to spend our time when we were there. First we decided that with our kids being so little (ages 5 and 2) we should only plan on going to two parks. We decided on Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. Next we had to decide when we were going to go to which park and for how long, since the 2 year old still takes naps and the 5 year old still need to rest. So we figured out that since Animal Kingdom is only open until 5 pm that we would go there the first day. We arrive late in the evening on Monday so we decided that being able to sleep in the next day and not rush to get to the park would be a good idea. So that left our second day in Florida to go to Magic Kingdom. That way we would have a good rest in us before tackling the "big" park.
Once we decided on which days to go where, I really wanted to plan a Character lunch. We have always done that when we go to Disney World and I know my kids will love to eat with and meet the characters. So I planned that and made the reservation before we left so that we wouldn't have to do that when we got there.
After going to the parks we decided that with the half a day we had before heading to see my parents we would hit Downtown Disney. Downtown Disney has a ton of specialty shops and things to do. We are most looking forward to the Lego Store, they have TONS of Legos out to play with and work on. My boys are going to go crazy!! They also have the Rainforest Cafe, which my husband and I are really looking forward to. We ate there 10 years ago on our Honeymoon, so this will be a nice reminiscent time for us. The boys have never eaten at a Rainforest Cafe, so I look forward to seeing their reaction to it! After Downtown Disney we plan to head to see my parents, they live further south in Florida. We are planning on going to the beach, which is something that the boys have never gotten to do. We just hope that the weather cooperates for us.
I know this will be a wonderful vacation for all of us. After 14 months of planning and preparing, I think we are ready! I never realized how much preparation went into planning such vacations. My mother would pack for 5, and plan all the stops on the way, plus the time that we were there. I give my mother a lot of credit because we were never bored or wondering what was going to happen next on our vacations, she always had it planned out. That is something that I am taking responsibility for in my own family. I love to plan and make sure that everything runs smoothly. My husband says that I have the gift of administration, but sometimes I think I am just too lazy to follow through!
I will report back, on the outcome of our Florida vacation! It should be a wonderful time for the whole family. At first I wondered if my 2 year old would be bored or not interested, but I have heard that they are so amazed at this age that they really enjoy it.
