The Magic Bands Arrived!

I am extremely excited! The magic bands finally arrived! And now it officially feels real. We are 26 days away from our vacation when these arrived. And for those of you who are also planning a surprise for your loved ones or are simply curious, let me explain how they arrive. They arrive in a brown box. No disney labels at all. Nothing that says Disney. It doesn't even come with a Lake Buena Vista or an Orlando address. So that won't give it away. Then on the inside is where you get the beautiful very well known Incredibles white box. And once you open that box, you get your beautiful colorful magic bands. And the scent of brand new plastic fills the air! And let me just say, after years of viewing the bands on youtube and finally seeing them in person, it is so different. I personally think they look so much prettier and the colors so much vibrant. Now on the side you will see a tab, you lift that and underneath you will find an envelope that contains plastic luggage tags. These have different characters and the colors seem to correspond with the color of the respective magic bands.

I am so excited! We are now about 3 weeks away. Stay tunned, I will be uploading our adventure on my youtube channel: My Disney Dream Vlogs

Chef Mickey now costing 2 Table Service credits?!?!

This week's rumor has been that Disney will be increasing the price of a few od their character buffets.  And apparently, part of the rumor was also that instead of only requiring one table service credit, these buffet restauraunts would now require you to spend TWO dining credits. And one of these affected by the possible change would be the  very popular Chef Mickey. The rumors claim it would only be for the lunch and dinner hours. Which if this rumor is true,  would sadly affect me because our first reservation is in fact at chef mickey for dinner on our arrival day. And I, like many, have my dining planned 180 days in advanced.  Everything is set out as to where I am goin to eat on which day and how many credits would be required etc. So if Disney were to sprung this on us it will throw everything out of whack. Honestly,  based on the the reviews I have read,  I don't  think Chef Mickey's  is worth the 2 credits, at least not when it comes to food.  And I don't want to give up my 2 credit just to meet the characters. 
But I like to confirm things before I go changing my reservation, so I went straight to the source. And here is what I found:

As you can see, on the WDW site,  it is still listed as 1 TS credit.

I will definitely continue keeping an eye out on this and update the blog if something changes or if I am forced to change our reservation.

Disney World Free Dining Promo

Disney released FREE DINING PROMO!

As many of you all know by now, despite all the rumors, Disney once again released the free dining promo for the fall months. And let me just say how happy I am that they did. I manged to snag that deal for our vacation!!! I am beyond excited. I mean, not only is it our first vacation to disney world, managed to get all the dining reservations on our wish list, but on top of that i got FREE DINING! Because of all the rumors I was seriously expecting the worse. I was prepared for NOT being able to get the offer, either because of issues with the web page or not being enough rooms available for the offer etc. But honestly, it was much, much easier and faster than I expected. I was even preparing myself mentally to have to pay more because I already had a booked packaged prior the ticket price changes. So I thought that once I would modify my reservation,  my total price would increase. But I ended up saving a tiny bit of money...who would have thought!

So now our vacation is basically paid in full. Just need some souvenir and tip  money etc. And of course clothing and other items. But basically we are ready. Goodness I am so excited!

My RAW emotions after Reserving Our FIRST WDW Trip

Like I have mentioned befor, since I started to plan our vacation I wanted to capture as much as possible. So, I recorded my initial reactions right after I put down the deposit to reserve our trip. And here it is....

I Had problems with my Disney Vacation Savings Account. Did you?

Take a look at my first WDW Trip schedule

Want to share with you what were my very initial plans when I first started planning our trip.... Oh how thinvs have changed. Take a look.

Tips to get all you ADRs on your wishlist

As you know, not too long ago, I reached my 180 mark a couple weeks ago. And in my previous post I happily announced that I was able to book every single reservation on our wishlist without any problem. And I believe that the steps I followed truly helped the process go a lot smoother. So, since sharing is caring, I want to share with you the steps I took.

Things to do before the 180 day mark

1. Well in advanced, made a list of restaurants I wanted to dine in.

2. Made an itinerary of where we would be each day and plan accordingly to plan our dining for each day. (See picture example of my preliminary itinerary below)

3. Once my itinerary was made, I made a priority list. The priority list was not according to my priorities were, but rather, what restaurants are in higher demand, therefore higher risk of getting booked quicker. This way I would start booking those first. (See picture bellow) Nothing says you have to book in order of your stays. 😉

4. I made sure to store my credit card information on the disney website. When you book a dining reservation,  disney requires a credit card to confirm the reservation. By storing your credit card information ahead of time, you avoid the hassle and save the extra time of having to do it the morning of, therefore saving yourself  valuable time. ***You will not be charged when you book, only if you do not cancel within their specified times.

Things to do the morning of!!!

1. You can make your reservations startingat 6 am eastern time. So make sure you set your alarm accordingly. For example, I live in central time so it would be at 5 am my time. In order to give me enough time to prep, I set my alarm at 4:35 am. Why so early you ask? Keep reading....

2. Started up my computer 💻

3. Made coffee 😴👣🍵😩😨😀

4. The necessary morning visit to the restroom 🚻😁

5. Made sure I had my itinerary and priority list handy

6. Logged out of the my disney account THIS STEP IS CRUCIAL.  Then LOG BACK IN. 

7. Open a different window for each restaurant you wish to book a reservation for. Have them ready to go on the reservation page. This way,  when you are done booking one you simply close that window and move on to the next restaurant which will be ready to go.

8. Also, be prepared, each time you book a reservation, you will be asked to enter  your phone number so be quick!

Lastly,  if you happen to get the infamous " Sorry for the paws" message,  don't panic.  Simply hit refresh on your browser window and it should work fine. I got the message about 2 or three times and I did as I mentioned and it worked fine. 

Well I hope the steps that I followed and helped me will help you as well. And let me know what are the restaurants on your wishlist. Do we have any in common? Also, will we run in to each other at Disney?  Let me know when are you going??? Well guys, this is it for me for now, until next time, "Keep Disney Dreaming!"

Let me share with you my vacation package comparison brainstorm

Sharing My Personal Experience with the Disney Savings Account

Here is my initial reaction after having the dva open for about one month.

Practical Tips to save money for a Disney World Trip

I want to share with you what has helped me save money to surprise my family for our first ever Disney World trip. These are very practical, and won't have you clipping cupons or doing wierd things.

180 Day Mark! Ready, Set, Reserve! Advanced dining reservations.

An exciting, crucial moment of planning a disney world vacation has finally arived!  Today is the 180 day mark, which means today is the day in which I was able to start booking my advanced dining reservations. And let me tell you, I spent months preparing for this.  I watched youtube videos. I read forums. I researched different websites. Listened to podcasts.  All to get advice from the experts to better prepare myself.  And let me tell you,  I mostly ended up terrified and more confused. Mostly people were ranting and complaining about how difficult it was to get a reservation. And many complains about the site crashing And not working and not allowing people to make reservations for the whole trip. So you can understand why I was so anxious.  So let me tell you how it all went.

Since reservations open up at 6 a.m eastern time,  I got up at 4:40 a.m. This gave me enough time to go to wake up, bathroom, coffee, turn on my computer,  and have everything ready to go.  And then it was showtime! I had several windows open. Each window with the restaurant reservation page already ready to go.  Let me just say.... it went GREAT! I was able to get every single ADR on our wish list. I had no issues. There was a minor hiccup here and there,that resolved easily by simply trying again, and it didnt affect my choices at all. Also, although I initially did not get the time I wanted for a couple restraunts, later at night, when i tried to edit my reservation, I was surprised to find exactly what I initially wanted. So in the end everything came out perfect! So I am so glad it was nothing like what I read in all those forums. I dont know, maybe it was because Disney cracked down on all those sitesthat were booking them and then reselling. Maybe that is what was mak8ng it difficult.

In any case, I am so  glad I managed to book everything we wanted. I will share what the new itinerary looks like with the reservations.
Also, if you are interested, I can share with you some things that helped me book and that I think might also be helpful when booking your ADRs. Just comment below!

'Til next time,  keep Disney dreaming!

Preliminary Disney World Vacation Week

As promised in my previous post, here is what our week in disney world looks like.  Now, this is not set in stone because many things are still up in the air. I still am twoo weeks away from my 180 day mark. So I still don't have my ADR secured. Therefore,  the table service restaurants listed are what I am hoping for.  Also, as we all know, Disney is well known for changing their park hours,  so that might also change my decisions of what days  I  have planned. But for now, this is what have set up. In any case, I can easily  cut and paste and rearrange.

If you look at how I planned my days, you will see that I tried my best to plan so that our dining will be either at the same park or in the vicinity, so to avoid excess time loss in transportation etc.

You will notice there are areas in which I have question marks. These basically mean that I am not quite sure what we are doing and that is open to do whatever we feel like doing at that moment.

The Surprise Is RUINED!!!!! (Kind of)

Like you read from the the blog title, the suprise is over. But let me not get ahead of myself and explain myself. Its is over in the sense that my husband has found out about my secret disney vacation plans. Yes, you read right! But don't worry, my daughter still remains completely unaware.  But let me explain the what,  and why  etc..

So it all started one afternoon when my husband was seriously planning and talking about bringing his patents for a visit over from Mexico. Which I thought was a great idea since it was something he has been wanting to do for quite a while. That is until he mentioned WHEN he was planning to bring them over.  The dates he mentioned were right around the times I had planned for our Disney vacation.  So when I saw how serious he was, I felt I needed to act, fast, before he did anything.  So in a way I was forced to'fess up my plans.  By the way,  I did record the whole moment, and I uploaded to my youtube channel. But since I don't want any chances of the surprise being ruined, I have those vlogs private until after I have reveled the surprise to my daughter.

But basically, here is a rundown: he was in disbelief, shock, and surprise.  And it wasn't until I was editing the video, that i realized how hard he was trying to disguise a smile!

In a way, I am releived that he now knows because keeping quiet was driving me crazy!  Now I have my partner in crime with whom I can get excited with.  Also,  it was getting a bit too stressful planning everything.

So yes,  my husband now knows. And we are now planning together, well,  somewhat together.  I am still the one mostly doing the planning. Speaking of which. .... guess who almost has the itinerary complete? ?? That's right!  I do! In my next blog post,  I will share my preliminary agenda.  Which includes which parks we will be going to on which days. Where we will be dining and all the fun stuff! So stay tuned!

The first LARGE down payment for our vacation.

I am now a few days away from reaching  my 2k milestone of savings. And, do you know what that means??? Well, that means that I will put down my first significant payment on our vacation!!! I am so nervous and excited at the same time.... not sure why. I guess because once I do this, it will become more real. And what makes me nervous is what if something were to happen, an emergency or something that would force me to change our plans. Or if we were to need emergency money... I dont know. But I am also very very excited because this  means I am that much closer to my Disney dream!!! I currently have a balance on my vacation of around $2,947. So after my deposit payment on Wednesday, I will still have a balance of $1,947! And it does seeem like alot but I think that the experiences we will have at Disney World will definitely be worth every penny....or at least I hope so.
Oh! And another thing that has  me on edge is that my husband had a minor accident about one week ago. He dislocated his left shoulder. And sincehe works in the construction industry, he has been off from work. Which of course it is one less income in our household. And this also means that he will be using his vacation days to supplement the income he missed due to his accident. So this worries me because my plans were for him to use his vacation pto for when we go on our vacation. But if I am not mistaken,  every November he gets a "refill" on his pto bank. So hopefully he does get more pto and now I just have to hope he doesnt use up the new pto hours. And hopefully he gets better soon and is able to return to work. But other than that, nothing else to report. So until next time, topic, or occasion... keep Disney Dreaming!

Found Extra Cash!!!!

Well hello there fellow Disney dreamers!!!!

It has been a bit since I last came and updated you. But I have great news!!!! I have extra unexpected money that fell into my lap! No, no one died and and left me their money.  My gas company gave me the money! Yep, you read correct. But I think I should explain from the beginning. Where I live, we get to experience extreme cold or hot weather. Therefore, it makes sense to have the home gas bill on a budget plan. Basically they average out your yearly cost into each month and that is what you pay on a monthly basis. And once a year they evaluate your actual costs and usage. And it so happens that we used much less than the year before and I had been over paying for the past year. Well they sent a letter telling me that I had a credt of almost $800!!!!!

They gave me the option of either applying that credit towards my account or they could give me a full refund. Well, what do you think I picked??? "SHOW ME THE MONEY!!!!" That's right, I requested a full refund.

And now I have extra money!!!!! YEEEEESSSSSS! Cheer with me!!!! :)

Well what am I planning to do with this extra money??? Well it is perfect for oh, I don't know, airfare, or a new vlog camera!!!!!

But I am too far away for that so what to do, what to do??? Well I opened a secret savings account where I can safely store my money ready for when the time comes.

So that is it for now. As of the time this blog was typed we have around 340 days left!!!

Til' next time guys, keep Disney Dreaming!!!!

Show Me the Money!!!

Remember how in my last post I mentioned that my parents couldn't afford to take me to Disney World??? Well, history repeats itself.  Only this time I refuse letting any more time go by and my daughter grow up without visiting "The happiest place o  earth". But lets be honest, all that happiness comes with a price. And its a pretty hefty price. And even though my husband and I both work full time, life happens and for one reason or another we haven't been able to save enough money. I bevame fed up that all the bills, insurance, mortgage and more kept getting in the way of us going to our happy place. So I set out to figure out a way to save. So one day as I was living  my Disney dream through other people on youtube,  I discovered something called the Disney Vacation Account (DVA). It's basically a site owned by Disney, designed to help you save money to put towards a Disney vacation.

In brief, this is how it wotks: you sign up, fill out the budget estimator and by when you wish to take your vacation, and the site tells you how often and how much money you need to set aside to save money for your vacation. And if you wish, you can start an automatic withdrawal and start saving.

So that is precisely what i did. Now before I go any further let me say that I decided to surprise my family with our first Disney World vacation. So my goal is to have enough money saved up for us to take our trip on September 2016. I know, I know, it's a bit far away, but since I am saving on my own,  I need quite a bit of time to save.

So the fact that I am planning  this trip as a surprise, makes it even more exciting, and to be honest,  nerve wrecking.

In brief here are my saving goals: Save $4,400 by July 2016 to pay off and take our trip on September 2016. I planned this month in hopes that the free dining plan is offered. And if so, I plan to reserve a moderate resort, that way we would be  getting the regular dining plan. If for some reason they do not offer free dining, I will be forced to downgrade to a value resort.  The reason being that I want to have everything paid for in advanced. And to be honest, I would not be able to afford a moderate resort, dining, airfare, and park entrance. So if all goes well, I am planning on an 8 day 7 night long trip at a moderate resort, 7 day park tickets, park hopper (now required to qualify for free dining), and memory maker. And lets not forget air fare.

But that is it for today! Til next time.... keep disney dreaming!

Introduction

Hello fellow Disney Dreamers!
If you are reading this I asume you are a Disney fan just like me.  Welcome to this Dinsey filled blog! Here you will come along with me on my journey as I plan my family's very first vacation. But this isn't just any vacation. I am planning our very first Disney World vacation!!! I will be sharing everything that involves planning a Disney World vacation, the budget, the reservation, the itenirary, the dining, EVERYTHING. I will share pictures, screenshots and even video.
And did you notice how I keep saying "I am planning" and not "we are planning"??? Well, that is because I am going to surprise my family with our Disney Dream Vacation! That's right, they have no idea I am doing this. So you can expect a huge reveal vlog to come in the end.

So let me tell you a bit about myself and my little family.
My name is Maritza. I am in my 30s. I was born in California, and my parents are from Mexico. In my lifetime, i have been to Disneyland only a handful amount of times. My dream has always been to go to Disney World, but my parents could never afford to take us. That is why I have  made it my personal mission to take myself and my family to Disney World. But who is "my family"?

My family consists of my husband, which we will refer to him as E, and my daughter which we will call her D. E is in his late 30s. He was born in Mexico, but spent most his youth in California. He has only been to Disneyland two times, but like me, has never been to Disney World. As a matter of fact, he has never taken a real vacation.
And my daughter D, is 10 and was also born in California. She was fortunate enough to go to Disneyland at least once. We took her in late 2011when we visited family in California. As you might of guessed, we no longer live in California. We now live dead center in the middle of nowhere, aka the midwest, no offense. But there really isn't much to do here. And we have never had a family vacation. Until now that is!
XSo I hope you join us in this new adventure!