Disney on a Dime

A few things that I want to remember for the future, and that you may want to know too:

1. We flew Spirit Air and had a great experience. The seats are cozy, we paid for our one shared carry on (no charge for laptop bag or a reasonable handbag), they don't serve free water, but for $175 a round trip ticket, it is a price that would be hard to beat.

2. We stayed at a Holiday Inn outside of the park. It actually was a mistake on our part...we thought we had booked at the Holiday Inn inside the park. Surprise. But later we heard that the rates at Disney's All Star Sports, All Star Movies and All Star Music resorts were incredibly low. Like $55 a night for two double beds! (That's what one man told me he was paying while riding on the train around magic kingdom.) These resorts seem like they may be a bit older than the others, charging a lower room rate. Good to know!

3. Because we were not at a Disney resort, after landing at the airport we had to walk right past all of the free coach buses going to Disney and instead got in a taxi that charged $60 for our drive to our hotel. Yikes. So now we know we could have stayed in the park for a reasonable rate and not paid for the taxi to and from the airport.

4. No matter what, Disney is expensive. The tickets to get in each park are pricey, the food and everything else add up fast. So just plan for that. This is why the free monorail rides to explore each resort felt like such a good value. It was like free Disney, right in the middle of the park.

5. The weather in January is spotty. Our first two days both hit upper seventies. Awesome. Our day at Epcot was freezing. The morning was 41 degrees and windy! (You may notice in that picture with Mary Poppins I was literally wearing every single shirt I had packed.) So plan a winter trip to Orlando with no expectations for the weather. When we booked our tickets I was excited about weather in the 60's because that would have been 80 degrees warmer than what we were living though in Minnesota. My bar was low, and I was so pleased when the forecast was for 70. And planned for the day with the forecast of 45.

6. A perk of the weather at Epcot was that we did not wait one minute for a ride. Every single ride was walk up and get on. Disney World was a little longer wait time, but we got a few fast passes and were glad for those.

7. Go without your kids sometime. It's different. But totally worth it. I felt a little smug when I saw other parents lifting big strollers up and down curbs and stairs. I've been there. I live that nearly every day. It was so nice to be nap-schedule free, not carry a bag of tricks everywhere we went and to have the only exhausted meltdown of the day be my own.

8. Read each ride description carefully. We ended up in a line for Belle's Storytime, assuming it was a ride. Ninety minutes later (the very longest we waited for anything, by far) we realized it was a photo shoot with Belle. We died. Died that we wasted so much of our day to see a princess. Died we didn't have any kids with us. Died laughing. Died when we realized two hours had passed that we could not get back. Ah!

a jolly holiday

I saw Mary Poppins from afar, then saw her line wasn't too long and told Rory we should get a picture. Strangely, he was more game to take the picture. So we waited in line and when it was our turn I stepped forward and said hi mary, can I get a picture with you? And then she started talking to me. I actually wasn't prepared for it. She was so convincing and I got caught up in the moment. She asked me if I was on a jolly holiday. I told her I was, and that my husband and I came without our kids. And she told me, "well that's the most jolly of holiday's, isn't it then?"

Yes! Mary Poppins! It is!

From here on out we are calling all marriage getaways Jolly Holidays.

the very best part of our trip

By far the very best moment from our trip was the time we spent in these rocking chairs on Tom Sawyer Island at the magic kingdom. We were aware the whole time we were in Florida how we likely will never experience Disney this way again. Like sitting in rocking chairs for an hour and watching the park pass by. Pretty sure no children would ever stand for this.

When we sat in these chairs we started talking about the porch we want to put on our own house. We started talking about projects we want to tackle this spring and summer. We rocked slowly and got excited about our own lives back home. It was unrushed and sweet.

the magic of disney

It's another cold one out there. So how about a day at Disney? I think I'll just keep posting pictures and stories all day long so we can take a little virtual trip together and escape this cold. And this way we'll pump these posts out in a day.

Not having our kids on this trip meant we really soaked up the details this time around. And Disney is in the details. Like how every railing is custom made to fit the feel of the ride. The cement has imprints to fit the ride and the music, smells, signage and architecture all work to make you feel like you've entered another world. It's really amazing.

     

We spent Monday night going from resort to resort by bus and by monorail. There is no cost for the transportation once you're inside the park. And even though we weren't staying at a resort in the park, we could still visit the resorts. 

They are amazing. Each one feels like a little theme park unto itself. Monday night we visited Port Orleans, The Grand Floridian, Polynesian and the Contemporary and Wednesday while at Epcot, we took a boat to The BoardWalk, The Beach Club, The Yacht Club and The Dolphin resorts. I can't recommend this enough. You can eat at the resort restaurants, visit the shops, walk all over each property and go sleep at your cheaper hotel each night. :)

And for the record: The Polynesian (hawaiian feel and sadly, no pictures) was my very favorite, the Grand Floridian felt way above our income bracket, the Contemporary was cool and very trendy/retro (they must update the lobby every year to keep it contemporary!) The BoardWalk, Beach Club and Yacht Club were beautiful and it was fun to walk on the boardwalk with cute shops and food carts. The Dolphin is enormous and full of funny memories when we stayed there when I was in middle school. (Dad had a pastor's conference there! It was our fanciest pastor's family vacation ever.)

time to play

My friend Linda is fighting stage four cancer. When I first talked to her about it she kept telling me how much fun she and her husband Brian have been having in this season of life, just as they discovered her cancer. She cared devotedly for her parents as they fought their own illnesses and now with an empty nest she said she and Brian were having so much fun together. They started taking long bike rides and found adventures. Linda was most bummed about the cancer because she's loving this season of playtime with her husband.

Rory and I play well. We dream even better, which I think is our form of play. Or more accurately, Rory dreams, I get excited and on board, Rory executes and I document. It's our best rhythm. But with little kids, life gets a little trickier. So when Linda was telling me about how much fun she's having with Brian I felt inspired to add some more playtime into my own marriage.

It was during the first polar vortex that we booked our plane tickets ($380 for both of us!) and planned this trip to Disney World without our kids. The plan was to play.

So that's what we did. We played and we people watched. And we ate and we talked. And to keep this blog totally real, we fought. But even that ended okay, because some fears were verbalized and then put to rest.

Rory is a way better (and very serious) Buzz Lightyear than I am (note that final score above), which made me glad to be his wife. In case we ever need to fight aliens by laser tag.