Y3W | Disney!

EEEKKK! I'm so excited to share this with you...

Bob and I are going to Disney World!!!!!!!

Yep, just us. No babies. By ourselves. For our 5 year wedding anniversary. And we are like giddy little kids just thinking about it!

While trying to decide what to do for our 5 year anniversary {which also happens to be our TEN YEAR dating anniversary AND 11.11.11... pretty cool huh?} a few ideas came up:

• St. Lucia- We stayed at Sandals Grande in St. Lucia for our honeymoon and just LOVED it. I can not say enough good things about this place. It was wonderful!
• Bahamas- Another all-inclusive and it's a new place that neither of us has ever been too. This would be very relaxing and has a somewhat short {direct!} flight, which St.Lucia does not have.
• Mediterranean Cruise- My God, would we love to do this.
• Disney World- Cause.... well, it's Disney World!

So, after researching all our options, it came down to two things: (1) the length of the trip and (2) budget {doesn't it always??} Because we're going to OBX in late August/early September with our family, this anniversary vacation is in addition to that. So it came down to cost. And Disney world, though still expensive, is the cheapest option for us. Also, and this is important because we're leaving both kids for the first time, I thought staying busy at Disney vs. sitting on a beach somewhere all day, would help us miss the kids a tiny bit less. A teeny tiny bit.

Once we settled on Disney World {and trust me when I say that we both feel kinda guilty about not taking the kids with us... but they're just too young and this is suppose to be a time to spend together, just us} I started researching the best Disney Park Resorts that aligned with our budget. Disney has great all-inclusive packages that, when purchased together, really saves you a lot of money. Here's what we {finally, as of yesterday} decided...

• Pop Century Resort- This is one of Disney's "value" resorts. It's in the park and has it's own shuttle service to all the different parks & shows that Disney has to offer. We weren't too keen on staying here, but after reading a ton of reviews {GREAT site!!} and recommendations {thank you Twitter and FB fans!} we decided that this was the best option for us. We plan to spend very little time at the hotel, and due to it's single designated shuttle service to the parks, it was rated the #1 value resort at Disney.
• Disney Dinning Plan- This was a no brainer... every single person I talked too, recommended that we add the dinning plan to our package. Basically, you pay for your food ahead of time and can use your room key to "pay" for all of your food and snacks in the parks. Bob and I are each able to have one "quick service" meal {likely breakfast at the highly-rated food court in our hotel} one snack {there are a ton of options, but can use it for a snack in any of the parks!} and one "table-service" meal {at over 100 restaurants in the parks, Downtown Disney & any of the hotels} for each day that we are there.
• 4-day Park Hopper Pass- Again, a no brainer, since we plan to spend as much time as we can at the parks.
• 1-day park-to-park pass to Universal Studios- Because I refuse to go to Disney World without seeing The Wizarding World of Harry Potter {EEEEEKKKKKK!!!!!} Not sure how the heck we're going to get to Universal without a car, but we'll figure it out {any suggestions Disney experts??}
• Direct flight from Philly to Orlando {which I found for $380 round trip for both of us!} at the earliest possible time that they will fly us out {a.k.a 7am ;}
• Total for the 5-night/6-day trip: $2200 {just $200 over our original budget!}

Lastly, {and this is the most exciting part if you ask me} we'll be there during Disney's Wine & Food Festival!!!! After looking through our work schedules, there were very few options as far as timing of this trip. As it turns out, the first week of October was the only time we were both able to go... we'll be there from Saturday October 1st - Thursday, October 6th. So even though our anniversary is a month later, it's still our anniversary trip. And we can not wait. =)

Next up... dinner reservations {which I can make 180 days in advance- it's April 4th... I counted ;} Any recommendations for anything we MUST do/see/eat???

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Have a great weekend everyone!

You know what would make my day? A vote from you!