Upcoming Trip to Disney World

In just over 1 month, we will embark on our 8th trip to Disney with our kids.  My husband and I went twice before having kids, and have been back 8 times since with them.  Our first trip as a family is when our now 6 1/2 year old was only 5 months.  That was our first trip with a baby!!! 

We usually try to go twice in a calendar year, for 2 weeks at a time.  To keep costs down, we sometimes drive down to Montana (Great Falls) or Washington (Spokane) and then fly out of an airport there.  Airport parking is reasonable, especially if you stay at a hotel on site.  We have even flown into Tampa, and then driven to Orlando.  It is only about 1 1/2 hour drive.

We have rented a 6 bedroom villa to stay at while there.  We are travelling with another family that has 2 small children as well.  The villa comes equipped with a full kitchen, private pool and hottub, and room for everyone.  The total cost for the 2 weeks was only $2600 USD.  I do realize that we are not at the resort, but we rent a vehicle, and it is easy to drive in the Kissimmee area.  

Since we are travelling with another couple, and all have young children, we find it convenient to stay in a villa.  We can feed the kids breakfast in the morning--whatever they want at a fraction of the cost of eating out, we can put the kids to bed in separate rooms, and then still hang out as adults while keeping an eye on our children.  The pool is right out the back patio door, and the hot tub is always available. 

We have rented through Villa Direct (a management company) before, but have gone through VRBO (http://www.vrbo.com/) recently.  We found that VRBO prices are usually more reasonable, and also offer free use of baby equipment--strollers, playpens, fullsize cribs (sometimes), baby monitors (sometimes), etc. 

We like to stay in an area that is close to Disney (under 10 minutes away).  Some of these areas are Indian Creek, Emerald Island Point, Windsor Hills, Oak Island Cove.  You can take a back route to Disney which cuts out the traffice of 192.

I make my grocery list ahead of time, and then after we have arrived, we usually stop at a Super Centre Walmart or Target.  They seem to have the best prices on groceries!  Since we have multiple couples going, we all mark our reciepts, and throw them into the pot.  At the end of the week, we tally up who has paid what, and work it out from there.

Well, that should be good for one night--more to come soon!!!