South Dakota Family Vacation

South Dakota Family Vacation!

My family took a vacation to South Dakota when I was a kid and I've always had great memories of that trip.  I have been wanting to take my kids since they were little, but summers always seem to get away from us and we never made time for it.  I've been having some mini freak outs over the fact that counting this last summer, we only had three more summers until my son graduates from high school.  I decided I was going to make this trip happen.  I poured over our busy calendar and managed to squeeze in a four night trip the last weekend before school started.  In this blog, I'm including where we stayed and what places we visited.  We all wished that we'd had at least a couple more days to explore, but we had a really great trip!

Lodging

We only live about 5 hours away, so we pulled our camper and stayed at the Mount Rushmore KOA at Palmer Gulch.  They have options from tent camping sites, to cabins of all sizes, and even a Grand Executive Lodge.  We reserved a pull through RV site with 30 amp Electric and Water hookups.  They do have full hookups and higher amp sites available as well. The KOA staff was well organized, everyone was very friendly, and they had someone who escorted us right to our camp site after we checked in.

I would definitely recommend staying at this KOA.  They had "All You Can Eat" pancake breakfasts for $3.50, taco nights, activities throughout the day, restaurants, ice cream shops, wine tasting, a bar, horseback riding, laundry facilities, pools and hot tubs, mini golf, bike rentals, a playground, a fun zone, and a ton of other stuff.  We honestly could have spent a couple of days just hanging out and doing stuff around the campground. 

Mount Rushmore

I feel like if you are going to visit South Dakota, this is an obvious must.  Our campground was only 10 minutes away which made it really convenient. While planning our trip, I was surprised to find out that there is no entry fee to the park.  You just buy $10 parking pass (for a standard vehicle) and your pass is good for ONE YEAR!  One thing I have to recommend is taking the Presidential Trail.  This wasn't well marked and we couldn't find it when we were inside the memorial.  We ended up having to go back out through the Avenue of Flags and then it was down past the bus parking. This is typically a half mile loop trail, but when we were there the second half of the loop was closed for construction.  If you can handle 250ish stairs on the first half (all paved walking surfaces), then you should definitely do it.  You get to walk almost right up to the base of the mountain and it is incredible to see everything up close.  Also, we were there during Sturgis, so the Avenue of Flags and main viewing area were really busy.  There were only a handful of people on the trail part though, which made for some great photo opportunities.  

We also spent 15 minutes in the Sculptor's Studio (on the Presidential Trail path) listening to a park ranger talk about how the monument was made.  It was really interesting and I learned a lot of new things about the people involved and the process of creating the monument.

One thing I really wanted to do was go back to the monument at night and see it illuminated.  They do an lighting ceremony from late May through September 30th, but it is lit up each night.  We didn't go to the ceremony, but did go around 10:00 one night to check things out.  There were maybe five other people there, which was incredible after seeing it so busy earlier in the trip.  It was so quiet at night and was an absolutely gorgeous site to see.  Also, on the way to Mount Rushmore, there is a place to pull off the highway about 1/4 of a mile from the entrance where you can see Washington's profile.

Big Thunder Gold Mine in Keystone, SD

The kids wanted to do a little gold panning, and we found Big Thunder Gold Mine after a little internet search.  We went on the mine tour and then panned for gold afterwards.  You have to don a hard hat for the tour and you get to go quite a ways back into the mine.  We had a really nice tour guide and he picked our daughter to be his helper during the tour.  This was a nice way to spend a couple of hours and we all had fun there.

Needles Highway

We spent one afternoon driving on the Needles Highway.  If you enjoy scenic views, you'll find no shortage of them there.  So many breathtaking lookouts throughout our drive.  We stopped at the Needles Eye before driving through the tunnel and got out to look around.  We took pictures and my husband and daughter climbed on the rocks (giving me a panic attack when I saw how high up they were...story of my life with those two).  I'd read a lot about this area and thought it would be neat to see.  There are several spots you can pull over and get out to explore a bit or take a hike from one of the trail heads. The Cathedral Spires were gorgeous and if we had a little more time, we would have taken that trail and gone for a hike.

Bear Country USA

We had several people tell us that this was a high point of their South Dakota vacation, so we decided to check it out.  You pay based on how many people are in your vehicle (it was $67 for the four of us) and then follow a path throughout the park.  There are elk, bighorn sheep, reindeer, mountain goats, wolves, mountain lions, and bears just roaming around in the different sections of the park.  You have to keep your windows up at all times because the animals are just roaming around.  We had bears that wandered up within a foot of our truck! You just sit there and wait for them to move continue along the driving path.  At the end of the drive, make sure to stop and go through the walking area of the park too.  It is easy to miss because, but worth the stop. There is a baby bear area and lots of other animals to see up close.  This was a great experience and we would all recommend it!

The Cosmos

This is the one thing I could have done without, but the rest of my family liked it.  It is one of those places where balls seem to roll up hill, you can't stand up straight, and gravity seems to be wonky.  For me, the tour seemed rushed and we didn't really have a lot of time to do the things our guide pointed out.  I am also not one to get car sick or anything like that, but being in the "Mystery House" made me feel like I was going to throw up.  It took me quite awhile after the tour to feel normal again.  My husband and kids were totally fine with it had a great time poking fun at me for not handling the experience well. :)

Evans Plunge

This stop was about 45 minutes out of our way on the way home, but it is a place that I have vivid memories of going to as a kid.  It was literally everything I remembered!  I think the only thing that had changed in the 30 years since I was there, was that they added an outdoor pool and slide.  Everything on the inside seemed exactly the same.  We stayed for a few hours, rode the slides, swung on the rings (except my angry daughter because she didn't meet the 5' height requirement), and just hung out in the water.  I had to beg my 15 year old son, who hates pools, to get out so that we could go home.  He loved trying to make it across the rings and shot baskets on the hoop that was in the water for so long.  One of the things I wondered about before we went, was if the bottom of the pool would still be loose river rock.  It was!  The place is not a big fancy water park, but I know that it will be something my kids always have memories of, just like I do from my childhood trip.

Our trip was quick, but we had a fantastic time. We all agreed that we'd love to go again and do some of the things we didn't have time for.

Disney Cruise - Without the Kids!

Disney Cruise - Without the Kids!

We are seasoned Disney Cruisers, but last fall we cruised a little differently.  We went without our kids!  I got a ton of questions from people before, and after our cruise, on why we'd choose a Disney Cruise if we weren't taking our kids with us.  The answer is simply that no one does it like Disney.  On our very first cruise, we chatted with a couple in their 70's as we waited to get off the ship on our final day.  They had sailed without any kids or grand kids and the woman said to me, "We've sailed every cruise line, and Disney is by far our favorite."  As if loving everything about our week on the Disney Magic wasn't enough, this woman's statement definitely sealed the deal for us.  We knew that we wanted nothing but Disney Cruise Line from here on out.

My husband and I were looking to take a little trip with just the two of us, and having fallen in love with cruises, decided to look at itineraries to see if anything caught our eye.  The service on Disney Cruise Line is absolutely top notch, so it is really hard to pass that up as an option just because we weren't traveling with our kids. It just so happened, that Disney had a brand new itinerary going from New York City (which had been on my travel bucket list for a long time) to Bermuda (which we'd never been to).  It was really appealing because the ship docked in Bermuda for two days, so we'd get some extra time to explore the island.  I immediately emailed my travel agent (find info on that here in Step #5) and booked our trip.

So, what is there for adults to do on a Disney ship?  So much!! We knew about some of these things when we went on prior cruises, but didn't get around to them.  We had so much fun checking out new things on the ship. 

1. Quiet Cove Pool

We've always loved hanging out on the pool decks on the ship, but hadn't ever ventured into the 18+ pool area.  We spent all our time there on our trip and it was amazing.  Pool, hot tubs, bar, Cove Cafe, comfortable chairs overlooking the water, and no children running around or splashing you.  An absolutely great way to soak up some sun and relax.  Take advantage of the Drink of the Day, which is a tropical themed drink, and is lower in price than others. Also, if you are a beer drinker, consider doing the mug program.  You pay around $20 for a 20oz glass mug (they'll give you a plastic mug while at the pool) and then each time you get it refilled, you only pay for a 16oz.  You don't have to carry it around with you everywhere, you turn it in with your poolside waiter or bartender and they'll exchange it for a chip that you'll just keep with you until you want another. At the end of the trip you can take the mug home. We have a nice collection of mugs at our house now. 

2. Nightclubs/Lounges

Each of the Disney ships is themed a little differently, but they all have a nightclub and lounges on board.  On each ship, you may register for wine/beer/liquor tastings, or take a Mixology class and learn how to make a variety of drinks.  They have cooking classes you can attend as well.

We went to several Trivia events in the lounges and had a lot of fun with that.  They give away little prizes and it is an entertaining way to spend some time during the day.  You can check your Navigator each day for a list of available events.

Later at night, you can find Variety Shows, Comedians, Piano Tunes, or DJ's in the nightclubs or lounges.  We enjoyed comedians, costume contests, and variety shows while we were onboard.

We enjoyed just hanging out in the lounges.  Most of the time we'd just grab a drink and sit and visit with each other.  We were able to catch a Denver Broncos game on the ship one day too!

We also love to catch some Bingo while onboard.  This is an additional cost, but it is fun to play!  My husband's name got selected on our trip and he had to go up on stage to help out for a bit.  He got some fun prizes for being a good sport!

 3. Adult Dining Options

On the Disney Wonder and Disney Magic, you can book a reservation at Palo (find more info in #9 of my post here), and on the Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy, you can book reservations at Palo and Remy.  We have always enjoyed getting dressed up and going to Palo. These restaurants are for adults only, require a reservation, are an additional cost, and have a dress code.  

4. Art of the Theme Tour

This was actually one of our favorite parts of the trip.  I'd never noticed it on previous cruises, but will definitely do the tour on each ship we go on in the future.  It is only for 18+ adults and it was such a cool experience.  We started the tour in Palo, which is one of the Adult Dining Restaurants on the ships. Our tour guide took us all over the ship while explaining the thought and planning behind all of the decorations, themes, and all of the little details on the ships.  Disney goes all out when it comes to planning and it was pretty incredible to have the ship details pointed out to us and have them explain the design process.  We've been on three of the ships, and never knew about this until our second trip on the Disney Magic.  The tour lasted about an hour and I'd highly recommend it.

5. Animation Classes

These aren't adults only classes, but we had never done them before.  We went to a couple of the animation classes onboard and had the best time.  We learned how to draw Pluto, Stitch, Jack Skellington, and Sally.  It was fun to have a little friendly competition between the two of us and see who could draw each character the best.  Next time we sail, I'll definitely have the kids join us for one of these classes!

6. Relax and Enjoy!

It definitely was a different experience with just the two of us than it is when we've taken the kids.  Both are amazing, but there is a lot to be said for being able to enjoy a vacation "kid free".  We didn't really have a plan going in to each day, we could just wing it.  We lounged around by the pool, grabbed a snack or a drink when we needed to, went to whatever activity we wanted to do that day, and just had an incredible vacation.   

DIY Disney Glitter Ornaments

DIY Disney Glitter Ornaments

I am a Disney Cruise addict, and with that comes my addiction to Fish Extender programs while onboard.  My husband and I are sailing again next week (with no kids!) and while I didn't want to do a full Fish Extender group, I couldn't resist some sort of exchange.  I joined a Magnet Exchange and an Ornament Exchange.  I made glitter ornaments for one of our other cruises, and wanted to make them again this time around.  I have had several people ask how to do them, so I am putting a DIY tutorial together.  They really are easy to do, and they are so pretty.  If you make your own, I'd love to see how they turn out!

Materials Needed

-Disc shaped plastic ornaments

I prefer the disc shaped plastic ornaments.  I don't have to worry about them breaking, and the flat front is much easier to lay a vinyl design on.

- Clear Polycryclic 

I used this and found it at WalMart. You should be able to get it at any hardware store as well.

- Extra Fine Glitter

Make sure you get Extra Fine Glitter because regular won't work well.  I've used brands from WalMart and Hobby Lobby and both have worked great.

-Small funnel (optional)

-Ribbon 

-Oracle 651 Vinyl and a Silhoutte or Cricut type cutting machine

You can also purchase premade designs from Etsy if you don't want to make them yourself.

Step One

Remove the cap from the ornament and pour some of the Polycrylic inside.  Swirl it around until all areas are coated and then allow all excess to drip out (I just pour it back into the can).  I also dab the outside edge with a paper towel to keep glitter from sticking to the top.

Step Two

Using a small funnel, pour glitter into the ornament.  I then swirl the ornament around until I've fully covered everything, lightly tap the sides of the ornament, and then I dump the excess glitter back into the bottle. I leave the ornament cap off and let them dry overnight.

Step Three

Choose what design you'd like for the ornament.  I've created my own in Silhouette Studio, but this time I purchased the SVG files from Etsy and then edited them and cut them with my Silhouette. They are usually $3 or less and it is so nice to not spend forever creating an image. Just search whatever type of image you are looking for and include SVG in the search text. For this project I purchased one pack that had a ton of Disney Cruise options and then bought the Mickey bats from another seller. You can choose how large you'd like the design to be, but there is a slight curve on the disc shaped ornament which can make laying it flat a little difficult.  I sized down the ship for these (around 1"x1.5") and then added the Mickey bats to fill the space.  You can play around with things and see how it works best for you.  Oracle 651 is your best option because it is a permanent vinyl.  

Step Four

Add ribbon to hang the ornament with and you are done!  

Check out my other blog entries for more Disney Cruise DIYs and planning tips! 

How to Start Planning Your Disney Cruise

How to Start Planning Your Disney Cruise

 

Our family has been on three Disney Cruises so far, and we've sailed on three of the four Disney ships.  I am pretty vocal about my love for Disney Cruises, and also about my obsession with research and planning. As a result, I get a lot of questions from friends when they are ready to start planning their trips. In fact, I have had four people message me this week, so I thought I'd do a new blog post with some basic tips on where to start the planning process.  I also have a handful of posts with planning tips here, here, here, here, and here. 

Step #1

The first thing that you need to do is decide when you want to sail.  I now try to select times when our kids won't have to miss a lot of school, but when they were younger, I had no problem pulling them out for a week. Now that my son is in 8th grade, it is harder for him to miss, so I minimize days off as much as I can.  One thing to know, is that sailing during common vacation times, also means higher prices. I've seen the same cruise itinerary vary by $4,000+ depending on the dates.  You'll definitely pay a premium at spring break, summer, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. 

Step #2

How many nights do you want to sail?  We've done a six night, and two seven night cruises.  I would never personally choose anything less (unless dates/itinerary were very appealing), but that's just my preference.  We don't live near any of the ports, so for us to make the trip worth while, we will always pick a longer itinerary.  Plus, we have yet to be able to do everything we'd want to do, even on a six or seven night cruise, so I know I'd feel like I didn't have enough time to enjoy everything on a shorter trip.  Knowing how long you want to sail, will also narrow down what ships you can choose from.  Typically, the Dream only does three or four night itineraries which is why the Dream is the only ship we haven't been on so far.  The Magic, Wonder, and Fantasy typically do 5-7+ night itineraries. The Magic and the Wonder are the smaller ships, and the Dream and Fantasy are the larger ships.  We've been on the Magic, Wonder, and Fantasy and I loved each of them.  I do love the smaller ships, and really love the Magic.  They are all incredible though!

Step #3

 Decide where you want to go and what port you'd like to leave out of.  We've sailed out of Port Canaveral (which is probably the most common) twice, and it is definitely my favorite port.  We sailed out of Galveston once, and it got the job done, but wasn't my favorite.  There are a handful of regular destinations, and then Disney will offer some special spots throughout the year too.  We've done the Western and Eastern Caribbean itineraries.  I absolutely loved the Eastern, and that was where were supposed to go again last month, but the hurricane destroyed a lot of those ports.  Once they are rebuilt, I'd highly recommend an Eastern Caribbean trip. 

Step #4

 You'll also need to decide what type of stateroom you'd like to have.  There are Inside, Oceanview, Verandah, and Concierge.  There is a small variety of categories within those, with Inside being the least expensive and Concierge being the most.  We've sailed in Inside staterooms twice, and have no problem doing that again.  We don't spend much time in our room anyway, so the extra cost for a window or a verandah isn't worth it to us.  I did find a great deal on a Navigators Verandah (means it could be smaller, partially obstructed, or have a white wall rail instead of clear) on the Disney Fantasy that I'd book again in a heartbeat.  Those rooms are typically less expensive than a regular Verandah room, and for our most recent trip, we loved our little verandah.  The kids could have totally done without, but my husband and I enjoyed having it. 

Step #5

 Book your Disney Cruise!  I've mentioned this before here, but I'll say it again because I believe so strongly in it. Book through an Authorized Disney Travel Agent.  It is FREE, and it gives me great peace of mind knowing that I have someone to answer my questions and to look out for me.  These trips aren't cheap, and I like to know that I am doing everything I need to do.  I have used Carrie Johnson with Small World Vacations for four of our Disney trips (3 cruises and 1 Disney World Trip), and I can't say enough good things about her.  She is an absolute delight to work with. She has extensive knowledge about rooms, ships, itineraries, etc.  To book a cruise, the deposit is typically 20% of the final cost.  They do run deposit promotions occasionally, but this is the standard that I always assume I'll be paying.  Once you book, they'll give you a Paid in Full (PIF) date, that average between 75-120 days before your sailing date.  This varies depending on the type of cruise you're taking, and you can cancel and receive your deposit back before that PIF date. 

Step #6

 Make your travel arrangements.  You can book flights and ground transfers through Disney Cruise Line, but I have never found this to be a good option for our family.  I've always been able to book flights and shuttles/rental cars much cheaper on my own.  One really important thing to note, is that you really should always fly in the day before the cruise.  I know people who fly in the morning of, but there is no way my anxiety could handle that.  If you have any flight delays, etc. you risk the ship leaving without you.  We always fly in a day or so prior, stay at a hotel, and then go to the port the morning of the cruise.  We've done transportation to the port a couple of ways.  We have done a package deal with a hotel that includes transfer from the airport, the hotel stay, and transfer to the port.  We've also rented a car one way, returned it at the port, rented a car one way afterwards and returned it at the airport.  You can take shuttles, book a Disney Magical Express transfer, or a private car, but they are all pretty pricey (upwards of $70/person each way).  On our last trip we rented a car at the airport and at the port and it was a fraction of what the shuttles would have cost us.  I'm a bargain hunter, so I keep an eye out for good deals on flights and car rental for a long time, and continue to check prices after I've booked so I can switch if I need to.

Step #7 

Once you are all booked, head over to my other blog posts to help you get ready for your amazing vacation!!  We love these trips so much, and we'll sail Disney till the end of time. :)

*These tips are all based on my opinions.  I do not receive any compensation for recommendations, etc.

How I Saved Money on Our Disney Vacation

My family has done two Disney Cruises and next month we are going to Disney World for the first time.  I've blogged several times about my obsessive planning (find Disney Cruise posts here, and the Disney World post here), and I've worked hard to make our trips really fun for my family.  I really love to plan, but more than that, I love to save money.  I swear, no matter how much money we ever have, I know I will always be on the hunt for a bargain.  I hate to pay full price for anything and Disney is no different.  Disney does not have any reason to discount things, so I had to do a little research and find out the best way to save money without actually changing our trip and leaving out things that we wanted to do.  The ideas that I'm going to share with you aren't going to get you huge savings, but I look at as anything I save can be used towards something else fun later on.  Disney is definitely not cheap, but being the frugal person I am, I'll take any savings I can get.

*Disney has recently done away with the Disney Vacation Account program.

Ok, here's first task at hand..Open a Disney Vacation Account (DVA) at least 120 days prior to your payment due date for your cruise or trip to the parks.  This is a free service, and acts like a savings account.  You set your goal amount that you need to save, add the goal date, and then can either set up recurring contributions or do one time contributions anytime you'd like.  You can make your final payment directly from your DVA.  So, why use this and not your regular bank account?  For every $1000 you pay out of your DVA, Disney will send you a $20 Disney Gift Card.  When we did our cruise, I just took those cards with me on the ship and had them add it to our on board account for any extras we did while sailing.  Our Disney World trip is costing just over $4000, so I'll get $80 in gift cards for us to use (because I know the kids are going to want souvenirs and that sort of thing) while we are in the parks.  $80 for adding money to an account? Totally worth it to me.

The next way that I saved can be done a handful of ways, but I'll only go into detail on the one that is tried and true for me.  I pay for our entire trip with Disney Gift Cards.  Say what??  One of the fun things about the DVA is that you can add funds from Gift Cards instead of from your bank or credit card.  I know you're thinking, "Why would she want to do that?"  Don't worry, I'll tell you.  Do you have a Sam's Club near you or a Sam's membership to shop online?  If so, you can buy Disney Gift Cards there at a discount.  They sell $150 in cards (three $50 cards per pack) for $142.98.  That means for every $150 in cards you buy, you save $7.02.  For our vacation, I bought 29 packs of cards which equaled a $203.58 savings on our trip.  I added all 87 of those cards to my DVA and then called my final payment in to Disney.  If you don't have a Sam's near you, I know there is another way to buy gift cards and save, but since I've not tried it I can't speak much about it, and it also seems like a lot more work.  There is a website called raise.com where people sell gift cards they no longer want at a discount.  You can purchase Target gift cards there at a varying discount (some even use their Target RED Card for additional savings), and then they go to a Target store and purchase Disney cards there.  I did the math when I was researching all of this for our cruise and it was easier for me to just go to Sam's and buy my gift cards there.  It was a small amount of effort on my part, but totally worth it to save over $200, plus get the $80 in bonus gift cards I will receive from my DVA account.  

Disney World Planning in Progress

I have planned and gone on two Disney Cruises (find all of my cruise posts here) with my family now, so I feel a little like a pro when it comes to that aspect of Disney.  We'd planned on booking another cruise while onboard the Disney Wonder in January, but decided at the last minute that we'd like to try our hands at Disney World for our next family vacation.  Once I had nailed down dates, I did what I do best and started obsessing over trip planning.  I thought there was a lot to learn to plan a cruise, but holy heck, Disney World planning is nuts!

The first thing I did was talk to our Disney travel agent and get some advice from her on places to stay, the amount of time to stay, and get information on package options.  If you are going to plan any type of Disney trip, I highly recommend using a Disney authorized travel agent.  They are free to use and it has been such a tremendous asset in planning our vacations.  I can't say enough good things about Carrie Johnson at Small World Vacations.  If you need an agent, she's been an amazing help for all our trips.  She recommended 5-7 days in the parks for a first visit, and with our schedules we are able to do the full week.  I looked through the different resort options, did a little research, and based a lot of my decision making on price.  In the end I chose Port Orleans Riverside and when I asked our travel agent, she said liked that resort very much.  We also decided to do the Disney dining plan.  I've read reviews for pros and cons of the plan, and I really do think it will be the best option for my family.  We shall find out in October!

As soon as I had nailed down dates, resort, park tickets, and dining details I pretty much just started adding every bit of Disney World info I could find to my Pinterest board.  I have boards for Disney World and for Disney Cruises that you are welcome to follow to save yourself the time of searching through everything.  I am an obsessive planner, what can I say?

Aside from using our travel agent and Pinterest, I picked up a book called The Unofficial Guide to Walt Dinsey World 2016 from the library (recommended by my travel agent) that has more information than you can even imagine.  When I had no plan at all, this book was overwhelming.  Once I had mapped out a few things it became incredibly helpful and I just keep renewing it from my library instead of returning it.  I have used it a lot and definitely recommend it.

So far, the only other big planning thing I've had to do was make our dining reservations.  This was a really overwhelming task for me and I am not sure what I would have done if I hadn't been able to chat with my travel agent about it.  I'd read some different blogs and posts on Pinterest about how to best use the dining plan and recommended restaurants, but there are so many to choose from that I didn't even know where to begin.  My husband thinks I'm nuts, but I sat down and made an Excel spreadsheet to keep everything organized.  I had to first decide the order we wanted to do the parks in, and how many times we plan to go to each park because I opted out of Park Hopper tickets.  I just didn't see my family going from one park to another in the same day, so the cost didn't seem worth it to me.  I broke each day down into breakfast/lunch/dinner and kept a running total of what dining credits we'd be using for each meal.  I told my travel agent that we'd like to do some character meals, but didn't want them all that way, and she gave me an amazing list of her restaurant recommendations for each park.  I looked through the menus and reviews for each of those restaurants and then made my list of where we wanted to eat each day.  You may begin making dining reservations at 6am EST 180 days out from your vacation date.  There were a few restaurants that we really, really wanted to go to and I'd read that you have to be on right away to make reservations.  To add to the list of things I do that make my family think I'm crazy, I got up before 4am (because we are MST) to make our dining reservations.  I was able to reserve everything I wanted to, so to me it was worth it.  I lucked out and it was on a weekend, so I just took a nap later that morning to make up for it.

My next big planning task will be to figure out FastPass+ reservations.  Luckily I have a few friends who live in Florida that frequent Disney World and they've offered to give me some advice with this part of my planning.  I still need to figure out flights and a handful of other little things for the trip, but I feel like I've got the big things covered so far.  I love a good project, which is what this trip planning is.  I'm excited to share more of what I learn with everyone and we can't wait to experience the magic of Disney again!