Disney Dinning Reservations for 2017

Our dinning reservations are done for 2017!

I struggle with these reservations every year because dinning at Disney is very expensive. Nevertheless, we have decided within our personal budgets that it is worth it and something we want to do. We have done most of these meals on every trip we have ever went on. We have pictures over the years showing kids hugging the Disney characters in all the various stages of growing up. We treasure those moments, and have decided to continue them into 2017.

Spirit of Aloha - This is very expensive and we rarely do it. However, our first trip was when my daughter was very young. And since she will be joining us for part of our Florida trip, we wanted to revisit those memories by taking her back again.

Chef Mickey - This is always a favorite and with a huge buffet, our picky eaters are sure to find something to eat. We get a late morning reservation so we get to enjoy breakfast and also some lunch items as they begin to transition to lunch.

'Ohana Breakfast - We love the 'Ohana breakfast - the sweet roles, juice, and breakfast spread. We don't like the long wait to get our table (why can't they get better at that?) but we love every other aspect.

'Ohana Dinner - Mom and Dad get a night out without the kids, right? This is our night. We fill ourselves on endless protein, and then walk along the lake and watch the fireworks. Sure, you can get better meals cheaper elsewhere, but we have so many great memories and look forward to a break from cheeseburgers and fries and where we get to be adults. I understand there have been changes made to the fireworks show - I hope that doesn't take away from our walk along the lake.

I have all the reservations made. I didn't get optimum dates nor times (getting a 6pm reservation is nearly impossible) but have made all the dates and times work well with our schedule.

Selecting the 2017 Disney Tickets

A huge Disney expense is the tickets, and they get more expensive every year!

Usually we get the annual pass, but last year we determined we could save a lot of money by just getting the 10 day pass. Our plan was to only go 12 times to Disney, and by simply dropping two days, we could save a ton of money.

We did something interesting during the 2014 and 2015 trip. We purchased an annual pass toward the middle of July 2014. We used the annual pass for all the rest of that summer, the winter 2014 trip, and had enough days left for the 2015 trip where we didn't need to renew the pass. We just used what we had remaining and it worked out great.

If we had purchased the annual pass in 2016, we could use the left over days in 2017 and be going to Disney as much as we could for free. But... we didn't buy the annual pass. We purchased a 10-day pass.

For 2017, we are challenged with whether to purchase a 10-day pass for our 2017 needs, or, purchase the annual pass to meet our 2017 needs and, possibly, our 2018 needs (if we are fortunate enough to be able to go next year). What is the better choice?

If we purchase the annual pass, we would have to limit our Disney trips to the last half of our trip so that we could have remaining days for the first half of our trip in 2018.

The annual pass comes with more benefits than just unlimited trips to Disney. There is free parking and discounts on food, mini-golf, and activities.

I created a spreadsheet to help figure all this out.

I take a look at the costs of the two kinds of tickets (annual versus 10-day), parking costs, souvineers, dinning, and events. I then include a certainty factor, which is: how certain are we that we will be going in 2018?

At 100% certainty of a 2018 trip, we could save $1200 by purchasing the annual pass. However, if the certainty drops to 50%, then the benefit drops to $388. Still, a savings and still telling us we should get the annual pass (if you don't understand calculating uncertainty into risk and cost/benefit analysis? Just skip this part).

It would appear we could save money with an annual pass. The challenge would be with loading Disney trips into the second half of our trip given everything else we are doing. Visiting Disney during the first half works better for us.... so.... we have some more thinking to do on this topic.

Protecting your feet

I have written about the Seven Tips to Avoid Sore Feet at Disney because you will likely walk ten miles per day.  You should consider whether or not you will need some new shoes for your Disney trip.

I see it every year: people go to Disney wearing flip flops, crocks, heals, or dress shoes. Those are terrible ideas! After walking for ten miles in unbearable heat, your feet will be screaming in pain!

(1) I have my 2017 Disney Sneakers. Sneakers are only designed to last about a year, so, if you have had your shoes longer than a year? It may be time to invest in a good pair of walking shoes.

(2) When you get the shoes, wear them around the house or on a treadmill and break them in. Make sure they are going to be comfortable for the entire trip.

(3) You may want to consider a good pair of insoles for your shoes. The insoles that comes with sneakers are barely adequate. I have been fitted for Superfeet. They are expensive, but it feels like I am walking on a cloud. I went to a runner's store to get fitted for the insoles. 

(4) I wear a pair of Dri-Power 360 socks. These athletic socks help keep feet dry.

(5) As always, keep toe nails trimmed well and maintained

(6) No matter what you do, it is likely you will get a blister. You'll want to deal with blisters as soon as you can. I usually take moleskin into the park with me.

I hope these 2017 suggestions, along with suggestions from previous years, you can have a fun trip without experience the 'pain of de-feet'.

2017 "must do" rides

There is nothing worse than finishing a Disney vacation and someone is disappointed because they didn't get to do something they were really looking forward to doing. Sometimes in all the excitement and running around, individuals get lost and forget about that one special thing until it is too late.

We developed a strategy to avoid that disappointment. At dinner time we take one park and review the rides each person wants to do. This gives everyone a chance to talk about what they like and do not like.

This is our 2017 "must do" rides:

Magic Kingdom	Epcot	Hollywood	Animal
Railroad	Spaceship Earth	Great movie ride	Lion King
Aladdin	Test Track	India Jones	Tough to be a bug
Jungle Cruise	The Seas with Nemo & Friends	Star Tours	Kilimanjaro Safaris
Pirates of Caribbean	Imagination	Muppet Vision 3D	Finding Nemo
Haunted Mansion	Mexico	Anything Star Wars	Avatar
It’s a small world	Norway	Toy Story Midway Mania
Peter Pan’s Flight	Captain EO (if available)	Voyage of Little Mermaid
Philhar Magic		Beauty and Beast
Carrousel		Street Performers
Winnie Pooh
Dumbo
Mad Tea Party
Snow White
Indy Speedway
Tomorrow land Transit Authority
Buzz Lightyear
Monsters Inc Laugh Floor
Carousel of Progress
Shooting Range
Tom Sawyer Boat
Pirate Map Tour
Mystery Card Game

2017 Grocery List

It happens every year: we arrive to the Florida villa after several long days of driving and there are a million things to do. We are exhausted and want to relax. The last thing we want to do is go to the crazy Walmart on Rt. 27. To make the grocery trip quick and efficient (and to make sure we don't have to return in a day or two to get something we forgot) the family meets to create our grocery list. We look at what we purchased in the previous years, what we did and did not use, what we plan to bring with us, and what changes we would like to make.

I am proud to announce the 2017 Grocery list is finished! I share this with you so that you can benefit from our efforts by considering a similar activity for your trip.

====DAIRY====	====CANDY====	====BEVERAGE====	====PRODUCE====
Bologna	Werthers x2	Soda 2l x3	Angle food cake
Butter	.	TeaPalmer	berries
cinnamon rolls x2	====BAKING====	Water case x5	Apple Slices?
Cheese Slice	Coffee sugar	Water Gallon x3 and Distilled	Bananas
Coffee Creamer	PAM spray	Crystal Light Indv	Fruit Bowl
Cookie Dough	Taco Seasoning	FG Juice Boxes	Salad x2
Dip x2		diet Coke 6p	====MEAT====
Eggs	====BAKERY====	Gatorade 32oz x4	Hamburger
Hotdogs turkey	Bread	Lemonade	====MISC====
Milk	Donuts x4	.	DVD R
Pepperoni	HamBuns x2	====PAPER====	Shampoo
Shrd chz Fietsax2	Swiss Rolls	Coffee Filter
Shrd Chz Mozzx2	BrownieWalmrt	Napkins	====GROCERY====
Sour Cream light	Brownie Bites	Paper Towels	Coffee
Tortillas/wraps		Tissues big&small	Apple Sauce
Turkey Bacon	====BREAKFAST====	Toilet Paper	Cranberry Juice
whip cream	Cereal	Coffee Cup & lids	Crancherry
Yogurtx10	Maple syrup	Ziplocks Giant	Fortune Cookie
.	Pancake Mix	Kitch Trash Bags	Hershey syrup
====FROZEN====	Poptarts x5		Mac&Cheese Cups x3
Break Sand x2	====CHIPS====	====SOAP====	Mini Rav x2
Chicken Patties	Corn Chips x2	Finish	Pizza sauce x2
Frozen Pizza	potato chips x2	Tide	Pudding x6
ice cream	Pretzels	Bathroom Spray?
ice cream Sand	Salsa	bathroom cleaner	====CONDIMENTS====
Popsicles	====CRACKERS====	Bounce	Ketchup
smiles x2	Cheezits	Palmolive	Mustard
Waffles	Cookies	Shout Color Catch	Salad Dressing
Sundae cones	Teddy Grams		.

Selecting the 2017 Villa

The purpose of our long stays in Florida is to get a feel for what it might be like to live there some day. We visit various towns and neighborhoods to understand where we might like to live.

People who have made the move complain about tourists and traffic. I have to admit that getting behind a slow moving car, someone who doesn't know where they are going, or standing in incredibly long lines does get frustrating after a while. The suggestion most people make is to live a further away from Disney. Live far enough away where the tourists won't be a problem, but don't live so far away that going to Disney becomes a major adventure.

We decided to embrace this advice as part of our research into relocating to Disney. We selected two locations that are further away from Disney than we have ever stayed before.

Our first villa is a house near Champion's Gate in Davenport at a place called Solana. The community is a 15 mile drive that, traffic depending, will take 30 minutes to get onto Disney.

The second villa is a condo near Melbourne Beach. This 81 mile drive could take 90 minutes to get to Disney. The benefit of this second location would be a combination of beach life and Disney life.

Join us on this adventure as we continue to explore relocating to Disney.

2017 Trip to Disney: The To Do list

I haven't posted anything about our 2017 Disney trip because life has been CRAZY busy. I don't know how we cram 25 hours into a day, but it happens and there still isn't time to blog.

This is going to be our longest trip ever at 7.5 weeks. We have done 4 weeks and 5 weeks but never 7.5 weeks.

Planning for such an activity started back in January.  How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. There are many things that have to get done before we leave, so, I list everything out and assign different tasks to get completed every week. Somethings are for the Disney trip, somethings are just activities we have to get done.

The great thing about this list is that it is reusable year after year. There are a few things that change from one year to the next, but, for the most part - it is all the same!

Here is a short list of activities to perform before a Disney trip

- Research villas

-Rent a villa

- Plan the drive

- Buy Trading Pins online

- Plan our day trip to see friends in Florida

- Plan a day at Universal Studios

- Plan a day trip to go to a beach

- Plan what groceries we will be buying

- What rides do we want to ride: Magic Kingdom

Get Travel insurance

- Disney Restaurant Reservations

Make final villa payment

- Get the park schedules (open, close, parades, etc)

- What rides do we want to ride: Epcot

- Clothes shop for trip

- Plan a day-by-day, park-by-park plan for the Family Vacation Trip Guide Book

- What rides do we want to ride: Hollywood Studios

-Submit time off at work

- Water shoes: clean up or buy new?

- What rides do we want to ride: Animal Kingdom

- Buy video games for the drive

- Check our Disney card reward points

- Print the packing list

- Decide what DVDs we will take with us

- Pick a book for the trip

Final numbers to Caterer

-Prepare laptop to take

- Get a TripTik from AAA

- Decide what towns we would like to visit.

- Plan the morning checklist for the Family Vacation Trip Guide Book

- Hair cuts for everyone

- Refill all prescriptions

- Van oil change and checkup

- Check the weather for July

- new windshield wipers for van

- Buy snacks for the drive down

- Tell credit cards about our travel dates

- Reserve Hotels for drive down and back

- Pack, pack, and more packing!

- Backup and empty all of the cameras

- Kids clean out the van

- Grocery shop for the groceries we want to take to Florida

-Pay bills and/or take wth us. Take extra checks

- Charge all batteries (camera, laptops, games, rechargers)