Tonight, when I go to bed, I may actually be able to go straight to sleep for once! I just spent the last couple of hours making lists. I even budgeted so well, our credit card will get a decent payment (trying to get it as paid down as possible so we will have it in case of emergency on our trip.) I made our biweekly budget, complete with our list of bills and how much to send to which. I even budgeted so well, our credit card will get a decent payment (trying to get it as paid down as possible so we will have it in case of emergency on our trip.) I made our grocery list, with a list of dinners for the next 2 weeks(maybe Ill stick to it, ha. But I want us to stop eating out so much, so that we can save for the trip, we were eating out too much as is, so it should provide for good savings and healthier habits.) I then put together our trip budget with what I expect to spend on our trip package, gas and extra spending cash. I then put together our travel schedule. We are going to be leaving the night of April 6th when the kids are ready for bed, so they will sleep for as much of the drive as possible. I will drive first since I generally stay up so late as is. Stephen is an early riser so it should be easy to drive in shifts. I planned out where our rest stops will be, roughly every 4hours (16 1/2 hr drive altogether.) Then we will arrive in Tallahassee, in which I have booked an inexpensive hotel room. We will have the chance to get out and get good sleep and rest up. I dont want to arrive in Disney World completely worn out, I want to be rested and ready to play. So we will get a good night sleep the night before so we can check in and go play! We are set to check in there on the 8th.
I then planned out how Id like our days in each park to go. However, I need to get information on what parks have extra magic hours on what nights, so I can create a good accurate basic itinerary. I dont want a strict schedule of everyday though. I know people say to go with schedules but I dont like that idea at all. I know the parks like the back of my hand and I also know in Disney World it is important to allow for magical happenings. You never know who you will run into, or what show will surprise you. So Id like to go with a basic plan of how the day should go but allow the flow to happen on its own. We will be staying 4days and 5nights and are doing one park(no water parks) a day, so I think we will have plenty of time to really enjoy ourselves.
So, after putting together what I could of our schedule, I then made a list of everything we need to take on the trip with us. I did it in categories of what part of the trip we will need it(does it go in a suitcase until we are there or do we need it in the car for the trip, things like that.) I then made a list of which items we already have and what needed to be bought. I did the to buy list with added notes of where to buy, reasearched options on a few things(like a bag to hang on the back of the stroller since it doesnt have the basket underneath, we already have on very nice backpack that has special hooks for strapping to a stroller, it holds a lot so I think I will be purchasing a second one for the other side of the double stroller.That way if we need to park the stroller for a ride or fold it up for the monorail, we can each wear one and hold a child easily.)
http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Essentials-Diaper-Backpack-gray/dp/B003XSMIVK/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=2DQR0V6O8JEGR&coliid=I31B85OOG1XBVNNext, I made a chart to use when packing clothing. I put each of our names at the top, made columns for starting outfit, just in case change of clothes(for kids), dinner wear and pajamas for each of us, with rows for the day. It created boxes in which I will put Xs as I pack it. That way I know every day is covered. Of course, I made a note to bring extra bag for souvenirs.
For now, I am satisfied with my findings. Im hoping tomorrow I can find out information on the extra Magic hours and look into restaraunt choices. When I make our more solid intinerary, I will need both pieces of research.
I feel like I have lifted some stress. Its amazing how helpful making some lists can be. I cant imagine doing any of this without the use of the internet though. Obviously, people have been taking Disney vacations much longer than internet has been around. I have to tell you, I dont know how they were able to plan! Im guessing they would have called and planned with the help of someone there but with how much information you have to take in and go over, I cant imagine having that phone conversation and not getting completely confused or overwhelmed. I guess thats what travel agents were for. In typing this, I almost feel sorry for the travel agency world. I bet internet has been really hard on them. With just a google search, you can completely plan your own trips. Its weird because when I was young, I remember travel agent was a consideration for my future. I wish it could still be a plausible option. It seems like it would be kind of fun to send people off on their excursions. Too bad.
Anywasys, this has traveled off into ramblings, as my posts tend to do. Please see my previous posts about our coming trip, if you havent yet. That would probably make this post make a little more sense if you are just falling upon it when cruising by.
Here is the link to Part 1
http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8488891101189008465#editor/target=post;postID=4195919876342642838
and here is Part 2
http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8488891101189008465#editor/target=post;postID=1325485228599871170
Although, this is the first one to show such a step forward in the planning process. My husband gets paid in a couple of days and I plan to slowly work my way through the buy list from now until the trip, as we can, in addition to putting some cash into the savings for the trip. I will be posting about the progress as we go and fill you guys in on what I decide was worthy of the trip and ideas we come up with for entertaining toddlers on such a long trip. At least the part they are awake. I have a bin currently set up that I have put a couple of toys into and plan to add to until the trip. I want to fill it with fresh toys(new and havent seen in a while), bubbles, balloons to blow up and bounce around, a new hot wheel or two, colors and books, I plan to get 2 car seat safe lap desks for them to do little activities on. I will probably be purchasing 2 small pans and some fun magnets( I also considered adding magnets to a couple of their toys to make it fun.) We will also be loading up on some yummy snacks(good stuff but low sugar so they dont get overly sugared up while buckled into a seat, sounds like a disaster!) I will be purchasing the non spill snack cups, so Im not stuck handing back 2 crackers at a time for such a long period of time. There will also be a stop at a Half Price Bookstore(in my area, this is a chain of stores that buys and resales books, music, movies, games, etc.) for new picture books and a couple of new movies for our van dvd player(on one hand Im glad they arent glued to the show thats on kind of kids, on the other hand for this purpose I wish they had longer attention spans for it, would make the trip a little easier) I plan to play the preschool prep dvds part of the time, so they should even get a little education on the way!
These are recommend by so many mom friends and me! Warning they are pretty annoying to an adult but what makes them annoying to us, makes them great for a little. They are very repetitive with the material in order to help with learning it.
Alright, I am now completely sleepy and am going to bed. Thanks for reading such a long post(if you made it this far seriously, thank you!) Hopefully as our journey to the journey continues, I can be of help to others planning their own trip. As I've asked in the past, if you have a post about your own Disney vacation please link me! Or if you have good entertainment ideas for the car, let me know that too! We have a 2 year old and a 1 year old so it will be an interesting undertaking to say the least. All advice for a long road trip with them is completely welcome!
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