The Disney part of our Orlando vacation was the most memorable. While we enjoyed Sea World, it can’t beat Disney. Tom and I may not be extreme Disney fanatics, but we do love ourselves a good Disney vacation. We even went for our babymoon while I was pregnant with Robert.
I have to admit that I was really nervous since this was our first time visiting Disney with kids. To be honest the last time we visited I noticed how miserable most of the parents looked. My pregnant senses picked up every tantrum and scarred me for life. I wasn’t sure I could handle the happiest place on Earth with kids after that visit! Luckily it all worked out and we had a blast without spending a ton of money (check out this huge list of money saving tips for Disney).
We saved the most money by only going for one day and staying outside the park. I’m sure we will do longer trips to Disney in the future, but with two small kids one day was more than enough. It left us wanting more without exhausting us.
I also saved money by getting 2 free public relations passes through blogging. If you work in media of any kind, you should check it out here. Since Tom and I got in for free we decided to go before Robert turned 3 so we wouldn’t have to pay for either kid. This is just another reason I love blogging!
Another way we saved money was by bringing as many snacks and goodies as possible. I stocked up on things I thought Robert would want before we left.
My hope was that we wouldn’t have to buy him anything. Then Tom walked out of meeting Mickey with this huge stuffed animal.
So much for not spending any money of the boys. As much as I wanted to be mad at Tom, I really couldn’t. We don’t buy Robert much. This one splurge isn’t going to hurt us. Plus we saved money later that night by using our Dollar Tree glow sticks at Fantasmic instead of buying Robert a $30 wand. Not kidding, the light sabers and glow wands were $30 at the park!
Since we brought our own water bottles and snacks, we splurged on our meals. Well, we didn’t splurge that much. It’s not like we went to the fanciest sit down restaurants, but we did sit down and eat lunch and dinner. After a busy morning of meeting characters and walking around Magic Kingdom, it was really nice to sit down at Casey’s Corner and enjoy our hot dogs and get some rest.
I love myself a good chili cheese dog.
For dinner we ate at The SciFi Drive In. It’s one of my favorites at Disney. If you’ve never eaten there, you have to go! I tried to make a reservation months ago, but they were “booked”. Luckily I knew from prior visits that they always have a little extra wiggle room. We were seated after a 15 minute wait.
This was our best and cheapest meal of the visit. We got a kids meal, an entree salad for Tom, and an appetizer portion of wings for me. The server even brought out 2 extra servings of Goldfish to keep the kids entertained while we waited. Our total was only $30. We couldn’t have eaten for any cheaper at a sit down restaurant in the park.
If you didn’t already know, I’m a huge foodie. I love nothing more than sitting down to eat, and I’m always impressed with the food at Disney. Check out this guest post I did for The All Day Mom about the Disney Dining Plan.
We drove to Magic Kingdom and then to Hollywood Studios. Had we not driven we could have saved another $20 on parking. However, with the stroller and two kids it was really nice to have our own transportation and not worry about getting back to a bus at a certain time. Still, it was nice to know that our hotel, Buena Vista Suites, had free transportation. When the kids are older we will probably take advantage of it.
Overall, it was a great day at Disney. We spent just the right amount of money to feel like we enjoyed ourselves on vacation without breaking the bank.
Are you a Disney lover too?
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