Harry Potter World!

Since we were in Orlando, I really wanted to check out Harry Potter World.  We didn't have a car, so we had to figure out the most economical way to get to Universal Studios from our Disney World resort.  I found taking the MEARS transportation bus the easiest way for our family to get there.  It was actually a very convenient and comfortable way to travel there.  I called the night before we wanted to go, and scheduled a pick up time for the next morning.  There were a couple of stops at other Disney resorts, but we were soon on our way there.  We also had a scheduled return time from Universal Studios, but they gave us a phone number to call if we wanted an earlier or later pick up once we were there.

We found the cheapest way to buy tickets was to buy them online directly from the Universal website.  I printed them out and packed them with us.  The only problem was that we had to go because the tickets were already purchased.  This meant that the we had to go during a very rainy day!

But even the rain couldn't damper our fun at Harry Potter World.  It was like walking into the movie. 

As you can see it was packed with people, all in their rain ponchos.  Here is what we saw as we entered Hogsmeade. A short walk further, easier said then done in this crowd, we came upon the Hogwarts Castle.

The ride inside the castle is unlike any ride I've ever been on.  I'm not going to spoil it for anyone, but it was worth the very long wait!  If thrill rides aren't your thing, or if your kids aren't tall enough for the ride, you can go through a separate entrance and see all the magic inside the castle without waiting in the long line. There is also a baby swap area just before you enter the ride, so parents can take turns watching the kid(s) and going on the ride.

Of course, what would a trip to Harry Potter World be without a very expensive mug of Butter Beer! 

It was delicious!

Harry Potter World is full of treats from the books and movies.  Here is the Hogwarts Express.

We had a lot of fun at Universal Studios, especially at Harry Potter World.  My kids, DD 6 and DD 2.5 were still a little too young to fully appreciate the park.  We were also spoiled with the efficiency and cleanliness of Disney World, which I felt Universal Studios falls short in comparison.  The park was also extremely busy and you have to pay a lot of extra money for their version of a "Fast Pass" system, which is included at Disney.  That meant really long lines all over the park.

 "Please Respect the Spell Limits"

 I was nearly trampled trying to buy a t-shirt in one of the gift shops.  I'm sure we missed many aspects of HPW, because the crowds just made it too difficult to navigate.  The fact we had a stroller didn't help either.  The area is actually very narrow, in retrospect I'm sure it would have been better to make this area wider.   Overall it was well worth the visit.  All the British tourists really helped to add to the authenticity of the experience too ;o)

I hope to return when my kids are older and have read all the books and seen the movies so they can fully appreciate the splendor that is Harry Potter World!

Bibbity Bobbity Boutique!

If your little girl would like to be transformed into a princess, then a visit to the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique is a must!  The Boutique now has two locations, one at Downtown Disney and another at the base of the castle, conveniently located across from Cinderella's Royal Table restaurant.

We had a bit of a dilemma, because our youngest daughter was only 2.5 and you have to be a minimum of 3 years old for the boutique.  Although, if your daughter is close to 3 they will make an exception.  I was worried she would be upset and jealous if she didn't get to go too.  As it turned out, she would not have had the patience to sit there while they made her up as a princess, and she doesn't have nearly enough hair for it to have been worth it anyway.  We bought her a set of Minnie Princess Ears with her name embroidered on it instead and she was as happy as can be!

Now that we had DD2.5 taken care of, it was time for the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique!  We booked the appointment 6 months before our trip, with our dining reservations.  We coordinated the appointment to be before our dining reservations at Cinderella's Royal Table.  There are 3 different packages available at the Boutique:  Coach, Crown and Castle.  The Castle package is the most expensive, but your little princess can choose her princess dress and accessories as part of the package.  We chose the Crown package and brought our own Princess Belle Dress from home, this will save you about $130!

For more information and prices check out the:  Bibbity Bobbity Boutique

As part of the Crown package you get your hair, make up and nails done by your "Fairy Godmother in Training".

The even put a cute Mickey Pin on the back of her hair.  Let me tell you, that hair did not move for a couple of days!

The final product!

She was also given 2 bottles of nail polish and the make up they used on her to take home.  Now, most of the clientele at the BBB were young girls, as you can imagine, but there were also a few teenagers and even adults enjoying the fun!

What about boys?  Disney now has the equivalent Pirate makeover for boys at the Pirate League! Although my DD4 loves pirates and dressing up as a pirate too!  

You can check it out here:

The Pirate League


Luckily, with Halloween just around the corner, you don't have to be at Walt Disney World to dress up like your favourite Disney character!  My girls are all set with their Disney Costumes.  My oldest DD7 loves Kim Possible, luckily last year I managed to find her a KP costume on eBay:

 This year she's going as Kim Possible again, but as KP in her cheer-leading outfit. No bare midriffs though, it's pretty cold in Canada by Halloween!

My DD4 still loves Minnie Mouse.  She was Minnie Mouse 2 years ago, and insisted on going out as Minnie again this year.  Unfortunately, I couldn't squeeze her into her old costume - despite my best effort!  So we ordered pretty much the same outfit as she had a couple of years ago from the Disney Store, although this year's version is a little more sparkly. Here is the original, we haven't taken the tags off the new one yet ;o)

And of course what Halloween is complete without a Mickey pumpkin!

 HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Pin Collecting For Beginners

I had a friend tell me how much fun her children had collecting and trading pins on their last Disney vacation.  I decided to look into it for my DD6.  What I discovered is that there is a whole world out there of some serious Disney Pin Collectors!  There are even pin conventions all over North America where collectors can meet and trade pins.

Since we were just beginning and were doing this for fun only, I decided to look into the best and cheapest way to get started.  I found that you could buy "lots" of authentic Disney pins from Ebay in batches of 20 or more.  The only catch is you have no idea what pins you will get, they only guarantee no duplicates.  I also purchased my daughter a Disney Princess lanyard on Ebay.  When the lot of pins arrived we were really excited to see all of the different pins.  You can also buy starter sets at The Disney Store or throughout WDW.

My daughter made up two different piles, "keepers" and "traders".  Once we arrived at Disney World, she placed some of the pins she wanted to trade on her lanyard and off we went.  She was a little shy at first asking Cast Members to trade pins with her, but by the end of her trip she was quite the pin expert and confident enough to ask by herself for a trade.

Here she is after making her very first pin trade:

A word of warning, the Mickey Mouse backings on the pins are not very secure.  This happy face soon turned to tears when a short while later we noticed the Tinkerbell pin had fallen off her lanyard and was lost!  I ended up putting all her "good" pins in my purse while she kept a couple of trading pins on her lanyard.

Fortunately, a few weeks after our vacation Mickey and Minnie came across my daughter's lost pin when they were on a walk in Fantasyland.  They mailed it my daughter, who was overjoyed at having her pin back!  (Hint:  Ebay is a pin trader's best friend.)

There are a few locations around WDW, including Downtown Disney and Epcot where they have trading walls.  Basically you wait in line and you can trade up to 2 pins each turn.  If you see a pin you like on the big trading wall, you take it, and then take one of yours and put it on the wall as an exchange.

Of course you can also buy individual pins throughout Disney World.  We bought a 2011 Commemorative Pin, the pins are all colour coded and correspond with a different price value.  They begin at about $6.95 per pin and go up from there.  You can also purchase, mystery bags that contain a couple of pins, but you won't know what they are until you open the bag!

The question is what to do with all these pins when you get home?  We decided to display her favourite pins on a cork board along with some other special pictures to remember the trip.

In preparation for our next trip, we purchased a pin trading bag for her birthday last year.  It's a great way to organize pins and keep them safe until you're ready to trade them.  Since my daughter has become such an avid pin collector now, everyone has gotten in on the action and brought her pins, including: Santa Claus, The Easter Bunny and even the Tooth Fairy!  She's all set for pin trading on our next trip this summer!

 The cork board and pin trading bag are a great way to relive your Disney memories between trips!

Character Dining & Autographs

In order to have my daughters (2.5 & 6) meet their favourite characters without having to endure a long wait for each character in the hot Florida sun, we made reservations at a number of restaurants with character dining.  This way the characters come to you while your are enjoying your meal in the comfort of an air conditioned restaurant!

There are a number of Character Dining locations, in order to maximize our character meet and greets, we went to the Crystal Palace at WDW with Winnie The Pooh & Friends:

Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary Resort:

Akershus Royal Banquet at Epcot.  It is located at the Norway Pavilion.  This breakfast was a combination of a family style, where food is brought to the table and a small buffet with pastries, bagels, fruit, etc.  This is a great spot to meet most of the Princesses.  You also get a portrait taken with a princess when you arrive, which is developed and delivered to your table while you dine.  Here is a picture of my DD6 getting her autograph book signed by Sleeping Beauty.

The autograph book is a great keepsake from your vacation.  Characters sign on one side and later you can put their picture next to the autograph.

As I mentioned in my previous post, my 2.5 year old did not enjoy the characters much.  Understandable, they are quite large for a toddler.  Despite this, we thought for sure she'd enjoy her favourite Disney Junior characters, like Special Agent Oso, Little Einsteins, and Handy Manny at Play N' Dine at Disney Studios.

As you can see she is less than thrilled, and I have to be in more pictures than I would have liked!

Cinderella's Royal Table at WDW is considered a Signature Dining Experience, which means it will cost you 2 Table Service credits if you are on the Dining Plan.  It is more expensive than the other character dining restaurants, however, unlike the other restaurants, this one is not a buffet style.  You also get a family portrait with Cinderella that comes with a beautiful photo of the castle as well.  It is also very cool to eat inside the castle!  There are no guarantees for which princesses will be present, but we were not disappointed.  All the main princesses were there including, Ariel, Belle, Aurora, Snow White and Cinderella of course.

Here is a picture of the beef tenderloin dinner:

All in all, if your kids want to meet the characters, then Character Dining is a convenient way to meet all of your family's favourites!

Travelling With A Toddler...

I've heard a lot of people say that they will travel to Disney when "the children are older".  This makes sense for a number of reasons, you want your child to remember the vacation, and it helps not having to worry about a fussy toddler.  Let's face it, a trip to the grocery store with a Toddler can be difficult, never mind a trip to Disney!  Fill their backpack with small toys, colouring/sticker books, and snacks to make the time in the car/plane bearable.  I also like to travel with a portable pharmacy, in case of illness!  I'm a walking drugstore on vacation.  Paranoid or prepared? That's a matter of opinion ;o)

While I agree travelling with a 2.5 year old to Disney has its challenges, and we experienced a number of them, it was also well worth it!  As far as cost saving tips, if your child is under 2, air travel is free.  If your child is 3 years and under they stay at Disney World as "A Guest of Mickey".  This means that they are free for your hotel stay and park admissions.  If you are on the Disney Dining Plan (more on the Dining Plan later), they can share food off of an adult's place.  This works out better at buffet restaurants.  The cost of taking a toddler to Disney is quite economical, so you don't have to stress that they won't remember all the fun they're having!

We asked for bed rails from Mousekeeping, when we stayed at the Disney resort.  This helped ensure our toddler would not fall out of the bed at night.

As you can imagine, Disney is very child friendly and they've truly thought of everything to help parents travelling with small children.  The Child Care Centres at the parks are clean, air conditioned and the perfect place to rest when you need a break.  They have a changing section, feeding area, microwave, private nursing area, and supplies to purchase if you forgot anything.

We also found the First Aid Centre very useful after a bad fall, where my toddler hit her head hard after tripping at Animal Kingdom.  My daughter was seen by a wonderful Registered Nurse, that checked her eyes and cleaned up her scrapes.  She also gave me advice and a handout to watch for signs of a concussion, an ice pack and some polysporin to take with us.

As long as you pace yourself and take lots of breaks, travelling with a toddler can be really fun and enjoyable.  There is so much for them to do and see.  Toddlers can go on a number of rides at Disney World, from Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, to the iconic Dumbo and It's a Small World rides.

It's also nice that kids of different ages can ride the same rides together.  Here we are at Animal Kingdom:

Another fantastic feature that Disney offers is the "Baby Swap".  Essentially if your older child wants to go on a ride that the younger one can not go on, then they can go on with one parent, and then swap parents and get to go on again with the other parent!  So your child can ride twice, once with each parent!  We took advantage of this with popular rides like Soarin' at Epcot.

Go back to the hotel during the hot afternoons to cool off in the pool or take a nap.  You can always return to the park refreshed and recharged later in the afternoon.

While you may think that no Disney vacation is complete without a picture of your child and Mickey Mouse or their favourite character...think again!  Avoid the characters if your toddler finds them frightening... unless you're like me, then keep trying for that perfect picture!  Poor Piglet!

Bottom line:  Disney is really magical for a toddler!

Planning Ahead Pays Off

People think I'm crazy when I tell them how far in advance we booked our Disney Cruise.  We booked our Cruise nearly 2 years before our sail date!  In order to get the best price for your cruise, you should book as soon as possible because the prices will just continue to go up as the date nears.  Also, the cheaper inside staterooms tend to sell out first, leaving the more expensive rooms available for those that book later.

The same principle applies for flights.  The closest airport to our home is the Pearson Toronto International Airport.  However, if you want to save hundreds of dollars in your flight, then it's much cheaper to fly out of Buffalo, NY.  It's so much cheaper, in fact, that since we had a really early flight, we spent the night in a hotel across from the airport.  Even with this additional cost, we saved at least $1000.  The hotel also charged us a nominal fee for keeping our car there for 2 weeks.  To secure the cheapest flights, book as soon as your date becomes available.  We booked our flight 10 months before our departure.

We booked our hotel room on Disney property, 1 year before our trip.  If your room goes on sale after you have booked, Disney will return the difference to you.

If you want to secure Dining at the most popular restaurants, especially character dining, or some of the nicer restaurants on property, you will need to make reservations 6 months before your trip.

When it comes to travelling to Disney, planning ahead really pays off.

Welcome!

This is my very first blog post.  This past summer my family travelled to Disney World followed by a Disney Cruise.  The trip was a culmination of nearly 2 years of planning!  To be honest, planning the trip was half the fun for us.  I learned so much through our vacation planning and trip that I wanted to record what I learned for next time and in the process maybe help out others planning their very own trip.

I love helping my friends, acquaintances, and even strangers with their Disney plans.  It's fun to live vicariously through their trip plans.

There are some serious Disney experts out there, I'm not one of them.  I have learned a lot through my experiences and research, and I can share my experiences of an average family going on a fantastic trip to Disney!  You can see what worked for us, what did not and what we would do differently next time to help you plan your own magical trip to Disney.