Our Disney Adventure: Picking a Hotel

Before I jump into this week's Walt Disney Wednesday blog post, I do want to share a little bit of exciting, Disney-related news.  Bryan and I were at breakfast over the weekend, and we were talking about our trip (meaning I was talking while he just smiled and nodded).  I asked Bryan if he was excited we were going, as he's been somewhat indifferent and downplaying any excitement he might be feeling.  He said he was definitely more excited than when we first booked our trip.  I'll take that as a win!  At this rate, he'll be excited to go by the time we get on the plane, and if he isn't, then it's a little too late.

To the normal person, picking a hotel is easy: you figure out where you want to go, figure out your budget, then find a hotel.  Pretty simple, right?  As always, it's not quite that simple when it comes to planning a Disney vacation.

The first decision you have to make when picking a hotel is if you want to stay on property or off property.  I've been to Disney World three times in the past, and I've never once stayed on property.  In my mind, I always thought that it was far more expensive.  In a way, this is partially true.  Some of the hotels, such as the Grand Floridian, are horrendously expensive and would easily double or triple our entire budget for the trip.  Other hotels, such as Pop Century, Art of Animation and All-Star Movies, Music & Sports, are significantly cheaper.  There's even a campground you can stay at if you want.  Disney, of course, wants you to stay on property (more money for them), so they provide some incentives, such as free pick-up from the airport, extra hours in the park and a service that will take anything you buy in the park and put it in your room for you so you don't have to carry it around, not to mention free transportation to all the parks.  So, we crunched some numbers and figured out that if we stayed off property, we would either have to rent a car (adding a few hundred dollars to our budget at a minimum) or Uber to the parks everywhere from a slightly significant distance.  Keeping that in mind, it was cheaper to stay on property.

If we had the money, I absolutely would have pushed to stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.  I've been collecting giraffes for 20 years now, and they've my favorite animal.  What could be more magical than waking up every morning to a safari right outside your hotel window?  Unfortunately, our wallets couldn't make that work, so I didn't even bring it up as an option.  Besides, we'd barely be at the hotel, so it didn't make sense to put that much money into somewhere we'll hardly be seeing.  Also, you can visit any of the Disney resorts during your trip, even if you aren't staying there, so we could still visit Animal Kingdom Lodge.

My top hotel choice within our budget was Art of Animation.  The rooms are designed to look like you're immersed in various Disney movies, such as The Little Mermaid and The Lion King.  The hotel itself looks like an absolute blast with larger than life models of various Disney characters and a Finding Nemo swimming pool.

Photo courtesy of https://touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/hotels/disneys-art-of-animation-resort

I mean, how adorable is that swimming pool?  Art of Animation even has free drawing classes you can take where you learn how to draw a Disney character.  I know we probably wouldn't have time for it, but it still sounded amazing.

Unfortunately, we couldn't book Art of Animation.  Rooms were available, but we had to bump our vacation back a week, and the price of the hotel jumped a few hundred dollars.  It really upset me, but we couldn't stay at Art of Animation.

We eventually had to settle on Pop Century for our hotel.  I know there aren't any bad hotels, they all have their perks, but it really wasn't the hotel I wanted to stay at during our trip.  Pop Century is a throwback to all things "retro" and for kids.  It has giant barrels of Play Dough, barrels of monkeys, yo-yos, etc.  It looks like a child's toy box tipped over all around the hotel.

Photo courtesy of https://www.parksavers.com/pop-century-hotel/

Deep down inside, I know it doesn't really matter where we stay, because we'll be at the hotel only at night, and we can visit any hotel we want (some people even build a resort hopping day into their Disney vacation).  I also know that I'm going to be so excited when we get there that it won't matter what hotel we stay at.  Also, we'll be seeing plenty of giraffes (hopefully) on Kilimanjaro Safaris.

Overall, I'm super excited to be staying on Disney property, a definite first for me.  It's definitely going to add to the immersive experience and get me even more excited for our trip.

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How to Prepare Yourself for a Disney World Scrapbook

I'm going to be honest, I wasn't entirely sure where to put this post; I almost did a "Work in Progress Wednesday" instead (it would have been my last one until after my Disney World trip in February).  I decided to do this post now so the rest of my Disney posts can be related to the parks.  That doesn't mean this will be my only Disney World scrapbooking post, but it'll probably be my only one for quite some time.

Now, I know what you're thinking: "Christina, your trip isn't for three months, why are you getting scrapbooking materials ready now?"  Well, the answer is quite simple: why not?  In my mind, it's better to start sooner rather than later, especially when you know you're going to have a huge monstrosity of a project to tackle.  It has also given me the opportunity to start collecting supplies at a slightly cheaper rate as I see them appear (but more about that later).

Right now, I'm in the pre-planning stage of my scrapbook, because I have no photos to actual scrapbook from my trip.  I'm simply collecting ideas and some supplies (okay, a lot of supplies) based on the rides and activities I know Bryan and I are going to do at Disney World (which is definitely something I'll be talking a lot about later).

One thing that's important to know about me is my unhealthy addiction to Pinterest.  I seriously love it and can't get enough of it.  It's actually a bit of a problem because I don't see it as social media (even though it technically is), so I'm on it all the time without realizing just how much time I've wasted.  With that being said, of course I created a Pinterest board.  At first, everything was dumped together as I jumped from board to board that other people created, pinning every single idea or cute clipart that I came across.  Within two days, I had over a thousand pins to my board, and there was no rhyme or reason to how they were pinned.  I needed a better system.  Thankfully, Pinterest realized this a while back and created sections, which is a part of the platform I've come to love and use extensively.  I set aside a huge chunk of time and created sections for every little thing I pinned.  I created sections for characters, parks, rides, movies, locations and even one for our hotel.  It didn't take long for me to have over 90 sections on my Scrapbooking Disney board.

A quick glimpse at just a small portion of my Scrapbooking Disney Pinterest board.

What's in each section varies based on the section.  As you can see from the picture of my board above, there's only one lonely pin in my 101 Dalmatians section, which is because those characters (ie: Cruella de Vil) really only comes out for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, but I saw that journaling card, thought it was cute and pinned it, just in case.  There's nothing wrong with pinning something; it's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

The Lilo and Stitch section of my Scrapbooking Disney Pinterest board.

A lot of my sections have a wide range of different types of pins.  I found some websites that sell adorable Disney scrapbooking materials (mostly paper), so I pinned different paper pads or open stock paper to see if I want them later on down the line when we get back from our trip.  You can see that in the above screenshot from my Lilo and Stitch section of my Pinterest board (the first two pins).  I also pinned any layouts that I like relating to that section.  Now, this doesn't mean I'm going to use every single layout that I've pinned; I just like having options.  I might take bits and pieces from different pinned layouts, or I might create something entirely different.  I have no idea, it will depend on what I want represented on that particular page.

The Minnie Mouse section of my Scrapbooking Disney Pinterest board.

You'll notice on my pages that there are a lot of blank notecards.  I very rarely used to journal on my scrapbooking pages; I often just put the pictures and some embellishments down and called it a day.  Now, however, I've gotten more into journaling to capture the emotions, information and memories associated with the particular photos.  Obviously I won't use all of the journaling cards I've pinned (the Minnie Mouse one alone has four different journaling cards).  Like I said before, I just want options.  Once I have my Minnie Mouse pictures and know the colors I'm going to use for that layout, I'll be able to better select a journaling card that will work with the page.

Feel free to check out my Scrapbooking Disney Pinterest board in all its glory by clicking here.

Pinterest isn't the only way I've started preparing for my Disney scrapbook.  I've started buying some supplies.  Almost all of my supplies have come from a secondhand scrapbooking group I'm a part of on Facebook.  It's a great group and a wonderful place to get embellishments and supplies for amazing discounts.  Of course, it doesn't work if you just want to buy one or two things, since you also have to pay for shipping, but if you want to buy a lot and build up your stash, it's a great place to start.

Some of my generic Disney World scrapbook embellishments.

Some of the embellishments I've bought so far are fairly generic, like the ones above (how cute are those little Mickey Mouse buttons!?).  I know quite a few people stay away from licensed and event-specific things such as these, but my mentality is: I'm only going to make one Disney World scrapbook, I might as well make it the most Disney-est thing I've ever created.

Some of my Disney Princess scrapbook embellishments.

Now, there are some risks with buying things for a vacation that's three months away.  The most obvious is the fact that I don't know exactly what I'll need.  For example, I won't know if we're going to see Aurora, Cinderella or Snow White, but I still have stickers for all three of these princesses.  It's a dangerous game to play, but they were also incredibly cheap (much cheaper than if I had bought them in the store), so to me it was well worth the risk.

Paper I've started putting aside for my Disney scrapbook.

Now, the paper is a significantly smaller risk.  Some of the paper I already owned.  Take the purple with the blurred lights on it.  I bought that ages ago because I thought it was gorgeous, but I didn't know what I would use it for.  While flipping through my stash looking for something else, I saw that paper and realized it would be perfect for the Tangled lanterns at Magic Kingdom (more about that in a later post), so I pulled that paper out and put it to the side.  The paper with the hotel keys came from a paper pad and seemed great for our hotel, so I put that to the side too.  I'm not going to pretend that I didn't buy some paper too.  How could I pass up the paper with the little frogs on it?  It's so perfect for Tiana, I simply had to have it!  This is all the paper I have right now, which is fine with me.  I don't need to have everything set aside, this is simply paper that I have an idea for for when I get back from my trip.  I know that I'm going to need so much more, but I'll worry about that later.

In addition to collecting supplies, I've also been watching the "A Most Magical Scrapbook" class by Shimelle Laine.  It is something you have to pay for it ($25), but it's over 40 videos, and you have complete access to them, which means you can watch them as many times as you want.  If paying for scrapbooking videos isn't something you want to do, which I totally get, Shimelle also has a YouTube channel that includes a Disney scrapbooking playlist.  It's only a few videos, and it doesn't include any of the videos in her "A Most Magical Scrapbook" class, but they're just as wonderful and informative.  She breaks down how to select pictures, paper and embellishments and make a large scrapbook flow together.

Even though my trip is three months away, I've already started the tentative planning for my scrapbook.  I know this scrapbook is going to be a huge undertaking, so there will be plenty of posts about it in the weeks after my trip.

Tune in next week to learn about the decision making process Bryan and I went through while picking our hotel and the bumps we had along the way.

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It's Double Digits Day!

I feel like football players after they've won the Super Bowl.  I'm going to Disney World!  Double digits day is the magical day when you are down to double digits for your countdown.  That's right, I'm 99 days away from leaving to go to the Happiest Place on Earth.

To be completely honest, I still can't believe I'm going.  I spent nearly a year begging Bryan, pleading with him, saying how much fun it would be for us to go to Disney World together (it'll be an adventure).  He always rolled his eyes and said no.  On Mother's Day this past year, however, we were at my aunt's, and my cousin kept talking about how much he loves going to Disney World.  After some prodding and showing Bryan that adults can go to Disney without children and still have fun, he very reluctantly agreed.  I couldn't believe it!  I knew I had to jump on this as soon as humanly possible or else he'd find a way to back out.  By the end of the day, we had dates picked and a travel agent selected (it helps that my friend's mom is a Disney travel agent).

This picture came from https://www.shopdisney.com/parks/walt-disney-world/

Unfortunately, even the best laid plans need to be changed up just a little.  I started at a new school, and my new principal was a little hesitant to give me an entire week off school in February to go on vacation.  I completely understood why, she didn't know me and my work ethic, so she feared this would be a week of lost instructional time with my students.  I met with her over the summer, and we came to a compromise.  She gave me four days off, and the fifth day is President's Day.  This meant bumping the trip back a week and one less day in Disney, but that was fine with us.  Now, we're leaving for Disney World after work on Valentine's Day.  I really wanted to spend Valentine's Day at the parks (it seemed so romantic to me) and was upset over the notion of spending the holiday in an airport.  Bryan pointed out that it doesn't matter where we are for Valentine's Day, as long as we're together.  It was so sweet and romantic, and, of course, he's right.  We're celebrating a day later with a nice sit down dinner, but I'll get more into food in another post.

So, we had our dates finalized, now it was time to pick a hotel.  I don't want to get too much into details about our hotel, as I have an entire post planned out to talk about that, but I will say that we are staying at Pop Century, and that wasn't my first choice for a hotel.  I'm a little bummed about that, but I also know that we'll spend so little time in our hotel room that it won't make too much of a difference.  I'm also just excited to stay on Disney property.  I've been to Disney World three other times, and I never stayed on property, so this is a huge treat for me.

This photo came from: https://www.dadsguidetowdw.com/pop-century.html

We have a completely booked schedule in Disney World.  People keep asking us if we're going to Harry Potter World, Universal Studios (I know, Harry Potter world is a part of Universal), etc., and the answer is no.  I want to spend time properly at Disney and not rush through anything.  If we're going to do this trip, I want to do it right.  I don't want to get too much into our itinerary yet, I'll have a separate post about that later, but I will say that we have two days at each park.  We might not need two whole days at each park, which is fine, but I wanted to play it on the safe side.  That way, we don't have to rush through the parks, and if we finish early, we can head back to the hotel for a nap, head to Disney Springs or explore some other hotels.  It seemed like the perfect solution to me.  We can also go back and ride some rides again if we want to.

As if planning an entire trip to Disney World wasn't stressful enough as it is (because it totally is), I've also been having weird dreams about Disney and not being prepared.  I've had two in the past two or so weeks, and I'm hoping this doesn't become a weekly thing, because that will get really old really quick.  In the first dream, I dreamt we got to Disney World, and I didn't make the t-shirts I'm planning on making for us to wear (don't worry, I'll go into more detail about that in a much later post).  This is a huge deal, because I'm working so hard to coordinate our t-shirts and make sure they're perfect for each day at the park.  In my second dream, I dreamt I didn't get us FastPasses for any ride.  This is equally upsetting, as it would mean that I really dropped the ball.  We would still be able to get on the rides, but it would take much longer as we would have to wait in the standby line.  If anything, both of these dreams have gotten me back into my Disney planning phase and encouraged me to stay on top of everything.

My goal is to have a Disney-related post most Wednesdays between now and when we leave in February (I'll switch off between "WIP Wednesday" and "Walt Disney Wednesday", but most Wednesdays will be for Disney related posts for the next few weeks).  Each time, I'll post something about my planning for the trip and how I'm using that to make sure we maximize our vacation and have the most amazing time.  So, if you're planning a trip to Disney World, make sure to keep coming back for more information.

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