This Mom's MagicBands have ARRIVED!

Finally - I hold in my hand tangible evidence that our Disney World Vacation in close!  Our MagicBands arrived in the mail this weekend and you would have thought it was Christmas morning for This Mom who LOVES Disney!! I was extra excited to see that each of our bands had our name labeled on the inside of each band!

I have already registered us for FastPass+ and linked all our resort and dining reservations on the MyDisneyExperience and that was pretty easy to do! Click on these links to see how! Admittedly I keep running through each day's itinerary in my head and have switched our FastPass+ reservations around several times already!!

MagicBands are giving out to all Disney Resort Guests now and are used as the keys to their rooms, tickets to the park, and holders of all FastPass+ and dining reservations.  This is your new "Key to the World" plus more!

This Mom's "My Disney Experience" - Linking Disney Reservations

Disney MagicBands are HERE! So let's get ready for our trip and link up any Disney reservations we have already made to our MagicBands through the "My Disney Experience" part of Disney's website! I hope this walk through helps to make your day more magical!

This Mom's Disney Fastpass+ Reservation Walk-Thru

Disney's Fastpass+ Reservations can now be made up to 60 days in advance!! Don't be late in making your Disney Fastpass+ reservations for your next Disney World Vacation! Hopefully this video will help you know just what to do when making your first reservation and linking it with your MagicBands!! Have a Magical Day!!

This Mom's List of What NOT to do in Disney World!

There are so many To-Do lists out there for Disney World... But here is a list of what NOT to do... That is, assuming you want to make the most of your long awaited trip to the most magical place on earth!

#1- DO NOT SLEEP IN.
 
 The early bird gets the worm, and that could not be more true when speaking about Disney World!  This is not the vacation to just kick back, relax and sleep in each morning. Set your alarm and ready to jump on the day when you are planning on going to any Disney Park!

#2- DO NOT TRY TO DO EVERYTHING

It's not going to happen. Unless you are planning a 12 -15 day trip, you are just not going to get to see and do everything in Disney.  So before you go, look at a list of all the shows and rides and have a PLAN! This way ou can make sure that you do see and experience everything that is most important to your family.

#3- DO NOT SKIP THE BREAKS / DOWN TIME

Even the most enthusiastic and energy-filled family will be completely exhausted and flat out if you just go, go, go from morning til night, day after day! This has the potential to suck all magic from your trip, so please, plan for some down time!!

#4- DO NOT GO TO THE PARKS EMPTY HANDED

Do your research and pack a small book bag to carry with you each day in the parks. There are lots of key items that can be extremely helpful to you to have on hand while touring around. A bottle of water, band aids, sunscreen, small umbrella, hand sanitizer, and maybe most importantly will be a camera and a smart phone with an app to check accurate live wait times for rides all over the park! What a time saver!!!

#5- DO NOT FLY BY THE SEAT OF YOUR PANTS

I cannot say this enough! Have a plan! You can go to www.touringplans.com and create a touring plan perfectly suited for your family's needs! If you do this, the amount of time it will save from standing in line is tremendous! And who wants to go down to Disney and wait in lines for longer???

Hope this list of DO NOTS will help you have a more magical trip!!

This Mom's Steps to Planning Your Disney Vacation!!!

Ok - So you have made the happy decision to plan a Disney World vacation!  Well, who doesn't want to have the most magical time at Disney as possible??  Here are the first 4 steps to planning your dream vacation!

With each step - please DO YOUR RESEARCH!! 

Step 1 - CHOOSE YOUR DATES CAREFULLY!

First look at a predicted crowd calendar for the year you are going and choose your week wisely.  For example, HERE is the 2014 Crowd calender from www.yourfirstvisit.com. 

If you have school age children you will have to decide whether to pull them out of school only look at weeks when they are out of school already.  Obviously the most crowded times of the year are also peek season in prices so you are spending more money to wait in lines longer (and I am talking about hours of waiting) than the low season times. 

Step 2-  CHOOSE YOUR RESORT THOUGHTFULLY!

In Choosing a Disney resort, there is much to consider - Price, location, accommodations...  This will be a large chunk of your budget, and granted you will spend most of your time at Disney World away from your resort, but you should make your resort selection with much research.  First you will need to narrow down your search by deciding if you are headed for a Value, Moderate, or Deluxe resort based on their prices and level of accommodations for the number of people in your traveling party.  

To get a good idea of what you will be paying, run some different scenarios on Disney's website, (This is why it is good to have your date already decided because you will need to enter that in to get accurate pricing for the resort during your vacation time).
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts/

Once you have your eye on 2 or 3 resort options that fit your needs, go out there to the WWW and start looking them up.  It's not enough to just read what Disney says about their own resorts, read what others have said too. 


Step 3- CHOOSE YOUR HOW MANY DAYS FOR YOUR TICKETS & ADD ANY OPTIONS!
 
OK - Once the dates and resort finalized - this is when the real fun begins! Choosing tickets!! WOO HOO! 
-You can choose to have a base ticket (which gets you into one park, one day)
-or add the Park Hopper option (which allows you to go from park to park on the same day, as many times as you wish)
-or add the Water Park Fun & More option (which allows you the same number of visits to Disney Water parks and Disney putt-putts as the number of days you are staying...  for example - 5 Day tickets with the Water park Fun & more option allows your 5 visits to water parks and putt putts)
-or you can go for the whole sha-bang and get the Park Hopper and Water Park Fun and More All together.
Obviously, each time you add an "option" to your base ticket, the price per day increases.  But, it is good to know that the more days you buy tickets for, the less they are per day. 
-One more option to throw in there is the Non-expiring option.  This is attractive to those who are paying for tickets that may not all get used this trip, in which case, you can always use them your next trip. 

***PLEASE NOTE****  In my opinion, you should plan for your number of days conservatively, because you can always just pay the difference to add on another day or two to your tickets ONCE YOU GET TO DISNEY!  So why not save on the front end and if you get down there and decide you'd like another day in the parks, just pay the extra $$ per person.  In the same way, you can always ADD THE NON-EXPIRING option once you get down there.  If someone from your party is sick or for whatever reason, all your paid for tickets are not used, simply take them to the resort front desk and they can add on the non-expiration option for any of the days not used.


Step 4- DECIDE ON DINING AND MAKE RESERVATIONS!

First things first, you will need to decide if the Disney Dining Plan is for you and which one to get! (I go into more detail about my opinion of why the Disney dining plan is awesome HERE if you are interested in reading)

Here are the different levels of Disney Dining Plan

Quick Service Dining plan includes:
Two Quick Service Meals, per night of your resort stay
One Snack, per night of your resort stay
One refillable mug
Plus Dining Plan includes:
1 table service entitlement, per night of your resort stay. The table service meal will include an entrée, dessert and non-alcoholic beverage per guest.
1 counter service entitlement, per night of your resort stay. The counter service meal includes the same things outlined for the  quick service dining plan.
1 snack, per night of your resort stay
1 refillable mug, per guest

Deluxe Dining Plan includes:
3 meals, per night of your resort stay
2 snacks, per night of your resort stay
1 refillable mug

Once you have decided about your dining options,  you will need to be prepared to make any reservations up to 180 days before your trip!  Definitely consider Character Dining if you have young kids with you!  (Read more about my opinion of the different character dining options HERE)

You can look through all the dining options here:
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/

Hope this has been helpful!  Let the magic begin!!

This Mom's Opinion of Disney's Coronado Springs Resort

After we suffered through sleeping on double beds at the Pop Century resort the last time we were at Disney World, we decided we had no choice but to upgrade to a moderate resort just to have the option of sleeping on Queen beds.  After going through all the options, we finally decided on Coronado Springs.  This is a sprawling moderate resort built around a beautiful lake in a southwestern theme.

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts/coronado-springs-resort/

I was a little disappointed this time that we were staying in a resort that was themed more for the adults than the kids - it was a sharp contrast to the value resorts.  But don't get me wrong, this resort was extremely nice and clean!  When we first arrived there was the towel in the shape of a Mickey Head on the bed, and lots of pool options - so my kids were happy (it doesn't take much, really!)

The food court had lots of yummy things for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  They had lots to offer in the Tex-Mex flavor to go along with the theme of the resort.

The Pool area was the best part of this resort!!  There was a huge ancient pyramid that water
flowed down and an awesome water slide into the big pool! The staff played games everyday with the kids in the pool (I am pretty sure they do this at all the Disney Resorts) 

The only main complaint we had about the Coronado Springs resort was that the resort was SO SPREAD OUT!  You practically had to get in your car and drive to other places in the resort like the pool or the food court or the bus pick up.  That was a major bummer, because after walking all day long at the Disney Parks, the last thing you want to do is half to walk a country mile to go somewhere around the resort.

 

This Mom's Opinion of Disney's Pop Century Resort

The first year my husband and I went to Disney World after we were married, we stayed at a Holiday Inn just outside of Disney.  The room was nice, and it was just what we needed, plus it was super cheap.  But the next time we went to Disney, we had 2 small kids and thought staying on Disney Property would be a better option.  We went straight to the list of Value resorts and immediately settled on Pop Century.  The choice was a good one!

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts/pop-century-resort/

First I would just like to express what a difference it made staying on Disney property! Disney does everything over the top, and their resorts are no exception!  Pop Century was definitely geared towards kids and they loved every second! The decor was amazing and the pools were awesome! We stayed in the Lady and the Tramp section of the resort which was close to the pools and semi close to the main building where the food court is and gift shop, as well as where the buses pick up to take you to the parks.

The food was pretty good.  Nothing in particular stands out in my mind as  I type this 3 years later, but we had no complaints.  There was an arcade, but we didn't spend any time there - as my children adore a swimming pool!

The resort was very clean, the staff was overly helpful in every way and I would highly recommend Pop Century to anyone interested in a Value Resort - except for ONE DRAWBACK...

The rooms only offer 2 double beds...  My husband is not a tiny guy and we had slept on a King bed for 10 years straight at that time...  so going from a king to a double was TERRIBLE!  I cannot tell you how miserable we were at night!!  Here we had spent ALL day at a Disney Park, and were completely exhausted, only to cram ourselves into this bed and lay awake at night.  I will tell you, however, that the gift shop sells Nyquil and that is what we drank each night to sleep!  Only offering double beds was a deal-breaker for us so sadly, we won't be going back to the Pop Century Resort.

So - if you have a limited budget, are looking for a value resort geared towards the kids, and are not bothered by sleeping in a double bed, then Pop Century should be a consideration!!

See our Pictures from the Pop Century Resort in spring of 2010: