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!

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!