D-I-S-N-E-Y W-O-R-L-D P-L-A-N-S

I've read the tour books, blogs & researched the best times to visit the parks, places to eat, etc. I've made the reservations, created lists of what to pack, and even went as far as to create a Disney Vacation binder complete with printed menu's from restaurants we are going to eat at, maps, etc. The countdown is officially ON!

The Davis Family is headed to the most magical place on Earth! At least, that's what they say!

We are traveling on a budget so we are only going to go to one character meal. After much thought and research we have decided on the Chef Mickey character breakfast. It is the most reasonably priced character meal available and the 'fab 5' will be there (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy & Pluto). How much money will that nice breakfast set us back-care to take a guess? Almost $75, yes you read right, $75 for two adults and 1 child all you can eat (believe me, we will be going back for 2nds!).

Allie will be turning 5 while we are at Walt Disney World, so for her birthday celebration we are going to eat dinner out the day of her birthday. We are going to a Cinderella themed dinner buffett at the Grand Floridian called 1900 Park Fare. Luckily, Hunter and Alexis are free and are allowed to share a meal with any paying adult.

The last meal we are going to be eating out is Tony's Town Square, a very popular Italian family friendly restaurant. We plan to eat the other meals at our hotel in our hotel room. We will have a mini fridge & microwave so we are going to be taking full advantage of that. We are going to eat breakfast in our room as well before we head out the door in the mornings for the theme parks. On days that we are not going to a theme park we will take advantage of the free breakfast offered at our hotel. Disney allows food and drink to be brought into the park now (this is a new change to their policy) and we are looking forward to saving both time and money by bringing a packed cooler for our lunches. This will help us to bypass the long lines to purchase a counter service meal and allow us to eat a late lunch so that we can hopefully take in the rides while most people are eating at the restaurants.

We are still not sure when we are going to tell the kids we are going to Disney World. I have read in blogs ideas of how to tell your children the news...one family waited until the morning they were leaving and told the kids once they were in the car at 5 am! We will probably tell them a few days before we go. The drive is about 12 hours and we are planning to drive straight to Orlando, leaving our house by 5 am and hopefully arriving in Orlando by dinner time.

Less than 100 days until the big trip!