Life,  Parenting

Walt Disney World Planning… 150 Days to Go

November 6, 2014 /
Five months today we’ll be waking up in Florida and going for our first character breakfast. It’s pretty magical to think after my birthday in March, the next time I see my best friend will be in Cinderella’s Castle. I often have to pinch myself to remind me that this is FINALLY happening. Yes, a lot earlier than I ever imagined as a mother, but a lot later compared to the last time I was there. 
Anyway, since I love planning holidays and I love writing about travel, why not make a mini (or should I say, Minnie haha Disney humour) about what planning has been going on and what I still have to do. 150 days does seem like a lot at the moment, but with a holiday like this you really need to put the work in to get the best out of it. Although saying that, I plan all my holidays like this, not just Disney ones. 
I think I first started looking into planning around the 190 day mark as Bee and I wanted to make sure we got Disney Dining reservations in some of the most popular restaurants and you can book this at 180 days. After a very expensive phone call I managed to secure even the most in demand restaurant Be Our Guest for dinner. As LM and I are staying on site, I have practically a Disney Character Dining reservation every day. I know it probably seems a bit excess but as LM is tiny we’ll be missing out on a load of rides I would have loved to go on, so our main priority is character meet & greets. I know personally Disney dining is the best for this as you get more time with the characters and there aren’t any queues.
So where have we booked?
First morning is breakfast at Cinderella’s Royal Table where we’ll be greeted by Cinderella and LM will get to meet all her heroines while we eat. Magic Kingdom is my favourite park so obviously the one I wanted to visit first. A few of days later I booked 1500 Park Fare in the Grand Floridian for dinner just the two of us with Cinderella, Lady Tremaine and the step sisters. Cinderella is one of LM’s favourite movies so I’m sure she’ll enjoy seeing her more than once. The next morning it’s back to 1500 Park Fare for breakfast with Bee and her family where Alice and friends will be there. Alice is one of my favourite characters. The day we all visit Epcot we’ve booked Akershus in Norway for some Storybook Dining with the Princesses again (three young girls, we want our fair share of Princess time!) And then Be Our Guest for Sunday Dinner, I am SO psyched for this and I think we’re all in agreement we want to eat in the ballroom (and try the grey stuff of course!) I’ve booked another three character dining meals for just LM and I, one at Hollywood Studio, Hollywood & Vine as it’s Disney Junior. LM is still of the age where she LOVES Jake, Sofia and friends. She still talks about getting a kiss off Sofia while in DLP. I have booked the Chef Mickey’s for dinner on our final night and Crystal Palace for breakfast on our last morning (the joys of staying on site!) before we fly home. That covers Winnie the Pooh & Mickey and friends. I think on the whole that covers pretty much everyone Little Miss would want to meet, aside from Anna, Elsa and Peter Pan (he’s for me obvs).
I won’t lie when I say a few of these are purely for me, like the ones at 1500 Park Fare, especially the breakfast one as LM has no idea who Alice is and probably Cinderella’s Royal Table, because to be fair, I could have solely booked Arkershus as it’s practically the same Princesses but I have wanted to eat in the castle since I was a child but since we always holidayed with a boy (my Godparents son) we never did. But the rest, I know Little Miss would choose. 
I have also now got all the clothes we could possibly need which will make packing easy. I also got a hold all for LM. All I need now is some luggage straps to strap the buggy to the case to make navigating the airport easy (I’ve honestly thought of everything to make life easier). I also have suncream and aftersun (all factor 50+ haha). I cannot stress how glad I am to have picked up loads of summer bits when they were reduced over the last couple of months. I’m unsure how much will be available when I’m packing in March.
So far the hotel and flights are the only things booked and paid for along with my Disney pass I still have a lot more to book such as ground transport and airport hotels, insurance and I’ve decided my Christmas present to myself will be Disney Photopass so I can at least be in some photos!
That’s all I have to share so far, apart from WE ARE SO EXCITED! I love visiting my bestie as we talk about it a LOT and it makes me feel even more excited about it all. I won’t be doing this kind of post every day, or even every week, perhaps for the time being once a month will suffice as to not to bore you all. 
What are the first things you plan when getting ready for a holiday?

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