Discount Disney Tips

1st ever Wilkins Family Trip. Were dreams come true...DISNEY WORLD!

 I always wanted to do family vacations & now I get the opportunity to do so with my own little family. It was amazing! I may have had more fun than the kids. We went with Dom's family, totaling 13 people. I'm sure you think that must have been expensive & complete mayhem, but it wasn't. I'm going to share a few tips on why & how to make your Disney World Trip worth it. 

Fortunately, I'm one of those OCD people who over plans (I guess there are some who think Unfortunately lol). It probably bugs the crap out of those around me, but hey I feel like If I'm going to experience something might as well get the most out of it. First, I asked people at work & friends that I knew had been before. Gathering their tips & ideas really helped some of them are shared below. I did blog search a bit. I found a ton of tips on thedisneymoms.com. Now everyone is different, but hopefully you can use at least one of these tips to make your trip the best success for your family. 

1. Save on Food: Eat before you head to the park. For a smaller group take backpacks so that you are able to pack the things below. For a larger group take a ice chest. As inconvenient as this sounds it really isn't. Near every ride there are stroller areas to keep the chest while you ride rides.

Water bottles for summer freeze them overnight. I bought us each 34oz bottles $1 @ The Dollar Tree.

Sun block

Portable fan

Snacks: Pack things like crackers, granola bars, chips & peanuts. Bought from both Walmart & The Dollar Tree.  

If you are doing a more all inclusive vacation get the meal package with 2 snacks & 1 meal. The snacks are more like meals (i.e. burger & fries). The meals are like 3 course meals. 

2. Pre-Buy Souvenirs: We bought Disney t-shirts, lanyards & handheld fans from Walmart. One thing I didn't get to do that a friend mentioned was to buy pins to wear on the lanyards from Amazon. There are tons out there. I just waited to late. You can swap pins throughout the park with workers & characters.  

3. Keeping cool in the park: Visit the parks in the morning and evening and take breaks mid day. If you are staying on the resort consider going back during the high temp times & take a swim. We stayed off site, but had we been in the park I would have done this. You can also take a break in one of the Baby Care Centers throughout the park.You can get a free cup of ice water at any Quick Service restaurant

Here are a list of things to do that are cool spots inside the park: 

    Magic Kingdom: President’s Hall, Theater to meet Magician Mickey, Princess Fairy Tale Hall or any restaurant. 

    Animal Kingdom: Finding Nemo, The Musical

    EPCOT: Most attractions are inside and air conditioned. 

    Hollywood Studios:All of the attractions in the Animations Courtyard area are inside & air conditioned – Voyage of the Little Mermaid, The Magic of Disney Animation, Disney Junior Live on Stage, Walt Disney: One Man’s Dream

4. Shoes: Wear comfortable worn in shoes. Wear a different shoes each day.

5. Living: We chose to stay off site at a rental home that was more suitable for our large group,  but while looking & speaking with others choose a value or moderate hotel. They are just as great as the premium, but cheaper. The cool thing with staying on site is the hotels will have characters around. So if you don't make it inside the park you have the opportunity to see them there. Also, the Hotels will accept packages up to 2 weeks prior to arrival if you want to ship cheap Disney apparel or things instead of buying at the park or ship bigger items in case you are flying. 

Also tell the hotel at check-in or reservation your celebrating an anniversary,  birthday, 1st time, etc....they give you buttons & those come w/special perks. Like front of line, character interactions & free stuff.

6.Park Passes: Off top do not waste money on the park hopper passes. There is way too much to do in each park. We spent 2 days at Magic Kingdom & I still feel like we missed a lot. The parks have FastPasses. These allow you to skip the line on 3 attractions per day. Download the app "My Disney Experience" link everyone's park pass & you can schedule your group for FastPasses. 

7. Adulting: if your travel party allows you time without the kids you must enjoy time at EPCOT. The many countries are amazing, but not many young kids will be enthused. Not to mention there are adult drinks. Also, I heard downtown Disney was a good adult spot, but we didn't make it there. 

Last & best tip is go see Fantasmic @ Hollywood Studios. They play 2 times in the evening. I guarantee the family will love it! Hope that this is helpful. 

Her Birthday

Today is her birthday & she would have been 74 years old. I just want to honor her, remember & share her forever & forever. Happy Birthday to this beautiful soul that I was so lucky to call Grandma! Forever in my heart Nancy Louise Cross

Grandma's bday 2011: https://youtu.be/q6Myo9EUeLk

Long time coming.....

It's been awhile & yes life has been so busy. Buttt I wouldnt change it for anything!!!! I've got some good things to share so look for my upcoming stories this weekend. Gonna write it all out.

Let's go to the movies

I LOVE LOVE LOVE going to the movies....always have since the 1st time my dad took me to see The Lion King. It's regularly a part of my life.  Might be a little bit because I LOVE popcorn, but thats for another time. Last night we went to see American Sniper. It was AMAZING! There are many war movies & a lot of them are great, but this one was based on a true story. I'm drawn emotionally to true stories. This one I think represents the whirlwind of experiences & life together. Literally gave me the chills. Really makes you feel like your just not doing enough in a proud way. Bradley Cooper is awesome in it. If you don't know anything about the film don't google it before you see it, but it's a must see.

I love food.

So I know this is right in the realm of "New Year Resolutions", but I don't really believe in them. I think you can change habits eveyday.  It's a choice. However for the last 7 months it's been real hard to stay motivated to eat clean like I had been. So as I'm slowly guiding my taste buds back I've tried some healthy eating recipes. I think its easier to find healthy main dish & appetizer receipes so I'm going to share one of my favorite cookie recipe turned "healthy".

Oh & Dom said it was the best cookie the original way. So if you don't care about the healthy substitutes try it out!

Crispy Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

2/3 cup Earth Balance (I used a medium banana)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar (I used honey)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons of water
1 2/3 cup flour (I used almond flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup chocolate chips (I used 1/2 cup dark chocolate & 1/2 cup of walnuts)

Preheat your oven to 350˚.  Put the Earth Balance, sugars and vanilla in a bowl.  Using a mixer, beat until light and creamy, about 2 minutes on medium speed.  Add the water and mix until blended.  In a separate bowl mix the flours, salt and baking powder.  Turn the speed of your mixer to the lowest setting and add the flour mixture.  Mix until the flour is incorporated.  Stir in the chocolate chips.  Place scoops of cookie dough on a cookie sheet and bake for 13 minutes.  Allow to cool a few minutes on the cookie sheet before removing to a cooling rack.

Hair! DIY OVERLOAD

I'm a huge fan of DIYs. And we'll some things turn out like a train crash where all the containers pile up. But.....There are some other projects that flow perfectly to the destination & turn out great! One of my biggest diy projects I have right now is my hair! I have taken the last few months to really repair & protect my locks. About 1 1/2 ago I was victim to a horrible hair dresser. Well at the time I left I had no idea how damaged my hair was. To give a little background. I have ALWAYS enjoyed artistically trying things on my hair. In junior high I was blonde, high school I cut it short & through college it was a major canvas.  I went pitch black, burgundy, red, half blond/half black & dark brown. I mean just putting on all these chemicals. I'm guessing the timing of this appointment was ALL THE WAY wrong. She left the color shine on too long & that combined with a particular time in my life where the texture might have been changing & super stress at work just killed my hair. I mean it would barely form curls. And I mean my hair has always had the best natural tightest curls ever! The day I realized how bad it was I cried. Lol It was the end of an era as I knew it. A few months past and it was just breaking off. It was horrible. I had a friend suggest getting sew in extentions to try and let it grow and break off more naturally instead of putting heat on it everyday. So I did for about a year. I loved that. It was really expensive, cause if I was going to wear fake hair & mines had always been so pretty I'm going to have the VERY BEST! The extensions were really low maintenance & still looked natural with my texture. The take down process was a massacare. I basically got to see the murder process of my hair. Every time I took it down and combed it out all of the dead hair would be lying in my sink & I'd just pout. So after the wedding I cleaned out all of my commercial hair products put the weave away & started a cleansing process. I only use organic hair shampoo & conditioner. I have a few brands I really like & I've also tried making my own. But the condition formulas I found have been the best. 

My maintenance process.
1) Try to not put heat on it. Find alternative hair styles.

2) Use organic products. This eliminates the bad chemicals/ingredients that dont heal the hair. ( recommended products below)

3) Wash & condition your hair twice a week. I do Sundays & Wednesdays.

4) One of those Conditions need to be a deep condition.  (Recepies below)

5) Grease/condition the scalp every other night. (Suggestions below)

6) Braid or roll the hair at night at least twice a week. This will hold the condition in tight with the hair.

7) Have a silk pillow cover. This allows the products to stay in the hair more & not be soaked by the cotton pilow case.

8) Get a trim every 6 weeks. This doesn't cost much. Most places cost $10. I'd recommend using this repair time to look for a hair stylist if you don't currently have one. Tell your story. Make sure they understand you are rebuilding not a test trial on cuts or color. If they are recommending these things they may not have your hairs best interest. 

Recommendations

SHAMPOO & CONDITIONERS
*Shea Moisture (available at Walmart now)
*Dr. Broner
*Avalon Organics
*Clarifying cleanser mix 1/4 cup of baking soda, 1/2 cup of water & 1/4 apple cider vinegar in a bottle
* Basic poo 1/3 cup of baby shampoo, 1/4 coconut oil & 1tsp vitamin e

DEEP CONDITIONERS
*Avocado deep conditioner, one avocado pitted & mashed mixed with 1/4 cup of olive oil & 1 egg yolk. Overnight mask leave out the egg.

*Yogurt mask conditioner
1/4 cup Plain Yogurt &  half a banana

*Protein mask
1/4 cup of mayo, 2 TBS olive oil & 1 TBS pure honey

*Oil overnight
Heat 2TBS olive oil & coconut  oil for 30 seconds.  (overnight place shower cap &towel over hair)

*Growth treatment
2TBS ginger juice & 2Tbs coconut oil. Apply to scalp.

DAILY PRODUCTS
*Shea Moisture
* Organic coconut oil
*Pure Olive oil