So... You are going to Disney... Where should you stay??

So…… you are going to Disney World, where should you stay?
The big debate when planning your Disney vacation is should you stay ON property or OFF property? We have weighed these in our minds over and over and on property has always won for us, but I do understand why those who are more budget minded would opt for the off property locations. In this Disney planning installment I will discuss ON property and the next I will discuss OFF property.
The PRO’S for staying on property are:
-If you are flying free Disney Magical Express bus service to and from the airport to your Disney resort.
-Location Location Location, you are RIGHT on property so you don’t have to fight traffic, you simply get on your Disney convenient transportation bus at your resort and at the park and are at your destination in no time.
-The other LOCATION perk is being able to hop on a Disney bus (or boat depending on the resort) and go back to your resort easily and quickly for afternoon pool breaks or naps (this has been HUGE for us over the years).
-You will have the option to use the Disney Dining Plan
-You will have a “Key to the World Card” which serves as your room key, if you are on the dining plan your “dining key”, your park tickets (if you book a package that includes tickets), and you can use it for room charges.
-Any purchases you make at the parks or Downtown Disney can be sent back to your room at no charge so you don’t have to lug them around with you.
-The theming – you are on Disney property so the theming of these hotels are great.
-The customer service, when you stay on Disney property you are surrounded by Disney cast members, I have not seen customer service like this in any other hotel we have stayed in, Disney just knows how to do it right.
-You can make your dining reservations 180 days in advance PLUS 10 days, so all of your reservations can be made in one phone call for your entire trip when staying on property.
I’m sure I am leaving some perks out, but these are the biggies.
Now, if you decide you will be staying on Disney property for your vacation then you need to determine where you would like to stay. Disney has several levels of hotels: The Disney Campground, Value Resorts, Moderate Resorts, Deluxe Resorts, and Vacation Villas.
Before I go into the resorts I want to tell you to check out www.mousesavers.com GREAT site that is always updating the current deals on Disney including the discount codes, this is where I found my first discount code years ago for only $124 a night at Wilderness Lodge and we were hooked on deluxe resorts and NEVER looked back.
MY FAVORITE Disney website is www.disboards.com if you are planning a trip to Disney you MUST visit this website, look around and post questions, they answer you quickly, GREAT forum!
O.K, onward to the on property resorts:
The Disney value resorts range from 82.00-130.00 per night depending on the time of year you travel, type of room you request (you can request a preferred room that is closer to the food court and bus stops, I do NOT recommend doing this, I recommend saving your money and putting a specific location request on your reservation instead). These are the RACK rates for this room and often throughout the year Disney will give public discounts that really knocks the price down per night.
Value resorts are the smallest room size, come with two double beds and have outside access to your rooms so if it is raining and you get off of the bus and you have a hike to your room you WILL get wet. We stayed in a value our first year and we had a great stay and the kids LOVED it!
If you decide on a value resort our FAVORITE is the POP Century Resort.

It is the newest of the Value’s, has great larger than life icons, a nice main pool and pool bar with pools in each “era”. You can stay in the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, or 90’s locations. Each decade has it’s own theme, icons, and music to go with the theme, just LOVE that about this resort, and it’s own POOL! Pop has a nice big food court, doesn’t share buses with any other resort (which is a huge plus for us), and a nice arcade which our kids loved. Value resorts are the smallest room size, come with two double beds and have outside access to your rooms so if it is raining and you get off of the bus and you have a hike to your room you WILL get wet.
The next step up are Disney’s Moderate resorts. The average price for moderate resorts are $149-$249 per night (again these are the RACK rates, often they come out with discounts). You still have the exterior access to your room, but the rooms are a tad bit bigger, beds are bigger (queen sized), and the pools have slides and hot tubs. Our favorite moderate resort is Port Orleans French Quarter.

The theming here is great, kids love the pool with the huge serpent slide, and they have a boat that takes you to Downtown Disney. The other reason we love this moderate is it is BY FAR the smallest Disney moderate resort so your walk to the food court and bus stops is minimal, the other moderate resorts are SO spread out. We also love Port Orleans French Quarter because it does share transportation with Port Orleans Riverside but French Quarter is picked up first and dropped off first so we have always gotten a seat to ride on (I don’t like standing and riding on Disney buses). The food court here is good, and the arcade was nice as well, we really enjoyed our stay at this resort.
Also included in the Moderate category for the same rates listed above are the Fort Wilderness Cabins. This is a great option for larger families and it includes a full kitchen as well. We have not stayed at these but have heard wonderful things about them.

The NEXT step up are Disney’s Deluxe Resorts. There are two big differences in prices of the deluxe resorts. If you stay on the monorail you will pay a LOT more. Our favorite deluxe resorts that are not on the monorail so are in the lower tier of pricing are Wilderness Lodge:


or the Animal Kingdom Lodge:



These resorts are VERY similar (the all under one roof concept and so you have covered walkways from the bus into the nicely air conditioned lobby – this is GREAT in the summer). They have sit down restaraunts as well as food courts at the deluxe resorts, they have the pool slides, etc. The difference between Animal Kingdom Lodge and Wilderness lodge is the theming, obviously there are Animals at the Animal Kingdom lodge and that is just AWESOME! Both resorts are incredibly beautiful and have wonderful pools with pool slides. Wilderness Lodge is VERY close to the Magic Kingdom and offers a boat to and from the Magic Kingdom which is a GREAT perk. These two resorts range in price from $240-400 per night (depending on room size, view, etc). Both of these resorts do offer a bunk bed option so you can have 2 queens in your room or a queen and a bunk bed which is great for families with kids. All deluxe resorts also offer a balcony which we loved because when the kids were falling asleep we could step outside from some privacy.
So those are the Disney ON property locations in a nutshell (that was hard to summarize and it was STILL wordy) . Next Disney blog I do will be on OFF property perks and locations, then I will do one on our favorite tips and tricks to getting around the parks and avoiding crowds.

Don't worry, I did NOT ignore the other part of the survey results that said many of you still want to hear about my family, I am NOT abandoning that either, more updates on our family will be continuing on this blog as well. Thanks for reading!
Lesley

Votes are In!

So, the votes are in (thanks for those who voted) and Disney Planning won with 74% of the votes cast, I didn’t get a single comment telling me what you want me to discuss in Disney planning, so I will just start blindly but PLEASE if you have anything Disney Planning related you would like me to discuss from Hotels, itinerary planning, budgets, Disney dining (including meal planning, our favorite places to eat, making reservations), favorite tips, etc. PLEASE post a comment.
I’m off to work on my first installment “So you are going to Disney, where should you stay?”, stay tuned!
-Lesley

Cast Your Vote!!!

I have added a poll to the blog, (it is located to the left of this post). Please take a moment to vote, this will be open the next few weeks. I am curious to see what you would like me most to blog about. So far Disney planning is winning, I do have a LOT to share in that arena so I look forward to blogging about that, if there is something SPECIFIC about Disney planning or the other topic you vote for please post that as a comment in response to this poll.
Thanks!
Lesley

What are you doing this Mother's Day??

This Mother's Day I am REALLY hoping my family will take me to see the movie "BABIES" that comes out. Have you seen the previews for this movie? I CAN'T WAIT to see it, looks AMAZING! (and makes me miss the precious moments when my kids were babies)
BEFORE YOU VIEW THIS YOU WILL WANT TO STOP THE SONG PLAYING ON MY PLAYLIST, BE SURE TO HIT THE PAUSE BUTTON ON THE MUSIC:
When you click on this it will take you to a publicity page, click on the "play trailer" :


So............ what do YOU think??

-Lesley

Holly

I have an aunt named Holly, Holly happens to have Down syndrome. Holly has always been a big part of our lives. She is my mother's younger sister and when I was little she lived with my grandmother and grandfather in Indiana and then they made the move to Florida. My grandfather was an amazing man and planned for the days when he and my grandmother wouldn't be around to take care of Holly anymore. He put a lot of money aside to make sure that Holly's every need would be taken care of. Now that my grandparents are gone my mother has to make sure that all of Holly's needs are taken care of. I don't think that people realize that when you have a child with special needs the siblings of that child will eventually need to take up the reigns and take on the role of parent in that relationship.
Of course Holly is a part of our family and we all love her very much. Holly is around for most major holidays (Thanksgiving, 4th of July, Christmas time,etc.), weekend visits, goes on family vacations with us throughout the years, and for frequent visits- typically long weekends. Holly was a bridesmaid in my wedding, it was important for me to have her be a part of it.
Holly shaped me at a young age and I believe I am in the field of special education as a result of my relationship with her.
I have enjoyed watching Luke and Lauren with her as they have grown up. It is great to see how much they enjoy being around Holly, and how Holly makes them laugh and brings out the inner child in her:

Tim has really bonded with Holly over the years as well, in fact I think he is her new favorite. She always bypasses us to get a hug from "her Tim" first, it is funny to watch them giggle together.
Holly has taught all of us patience, acceptance and unconditional love. I am happy to have Holly as an aunt and an important part of our family unit.

The blessings of Grandparents

My kids enjoyed some quality grand parent moments lately. Every time that I think of moving south towards Florida (which beileve me crosses my mind a LOT) I think of all my kids would miss out on not being surrounded by family.
We had a family getaway to Clifty Falls Indiana for my mom's birthday, it was a WONDERFUL getaway with our family, my mom and dad and my brother, his wife and their new baby.
I was happy the kids spent some quality time with their grandparents:

We took a walk in the woods and this snapshot of my dad walking with Lauren flashed me back to when I was a kid, walking hand in hand with my dad when I was her age, so glad she has these memories now too:

My mom and Luke have this incredible bond, and it is so fun to watch them goof around together:


The getaway was wonderful family bonding time at it's best!

Then this week Tim's mom came into Luke and Lauren's school and did a wonderful demonstration about their Ukranian heritage, her great grandfather's journey to America as an immigrant from the Ukraine, and all of his successes when he arrived in America. Here she was talking to the kids:

She did an amazing job teaching the Ukranian heritage to the kids and really holding their attention. Then she demonstrated how to make Ukranian Easter Eggs. The kids were happy to have their grandmother come to school and speak:





Funny that BOTH my mom AND Tim's mom are named Georgia, that is why we chose it for Lauren's middle name.
I would be remiss not to mention Tim's dad here as well. He is a wonderful grandfather to my children, comes up with fun and creative games with the kids which they BEG to play. Here is Luke playing his favorite "left right" game at our recent family night. Tom (Tim's dad) yells out "left foot, right foot, right arm" etc. and the kids have to do it quickly and when they get it wrong they are squirted with water, HUGE hit with the grandkids.

Today I am thankful for loving grand parents, my children are blessed to have two very loving sets of grandparents and for that I am TRULY thankful!

My Bologna ........

So, I am going to try and due this "inside joke" a little justice.
To understand this you must understand two things:
1). I am ALWAYS going around singing "my balogna has a first name, it's O-S-C-A-R" at the top of my lungs goofing around the house with the kids, just something I've ALWAYS done.
2). My middle name is Marie
So........ I had a stressful day at work today and Tim knew I needed a smile so he bought me some beautiful flowers and this AWESOME card:


Does it GET any better than that???
Isn't it great when someone you love does something special that puts a HUGE smile on your face and let's the worries of the day just melt away instantly.
That card will go down in emphamy, LOVE it!