I'm back and with a Disney Discount!

Well, the Disney trip went off with a MASSIVE success - something I will never forget in my lifetime - the first trip with my miracle boy. And we were able to do it cheaply and not feeling like we left out a thing. But that's for another post. Which I will get to soon - promise.

And I'm sorry that I haven't written anything but work has been INSANE since that time and I'm still trying to catch up.

But in the interim, I wanted to announce one discount you don't often see - a freebie from DISNEY!!!!

Yes, for those of you who still admit to having birthdays . . . Disney will give you a free day in the park on your actual day. Or, if you are one of the few who are lucky enough to have an annual pass to disney or are already paying for a package which includes tickets for your entire stay, they will give you a gift card to use ONLY on your birthday, in the amount of a one day ticket (adult price if you are an adult, kid price if you are a kid) to spend on merchandise - but there are restrictions.

Here is the link to give you the details.

My Disney Creations, Thanks to the Disboards, Part 1.

These are the family "outfits" I made, a t-shirt for Mr. Bean, one for me and a onesie for Lil' Bean. One of the family outfits we're going to wear for pictures at Chef Mickey's and the other is to wear for the Magic Kingdom, I haven't decided which - any suggestions? If you want to see a picture close up, just click on it.

Disney Creations I made thanks to the Disboards! Part 2

These are the onesies I made for Lil' Bean. The light blue ones are for the trip to Disney at the airport and say "I'm on my way to Disney and it's my first time!". The red one is for the trip home and says "I'm skating my way home from Disney!" because it has a hockey mickey on it (the sport Mr. Bean wants Lil' Bean to play). The orange one is actually for Halloween for Lil' Bean to wear during the day before he changes into his costume.

My Disney Creations thanks to the Disboard! Part 3

Here are my bibs and pillowcases! I made the light blue pillowcase.

Other Ways to Save a Buck, Disney Style

So, as I said in a previous post, Mr. Bean, lil' Bean and I are doin' it Disney style this weekend. I'm SOOO excited because it is Lil' Bean's first trip and I never in a million years thought this day would come. As my original readers know, Mr. Bean and I are Disney fanatics, having gone twice while dating, on our honeymoon and almost every year since. But, with all of our fertility issues, on my part, we never thought we would get to share the joy with our very own child.

So, now that this day is finally here, we can't wait! In true discounting style, we are going now because we get free dining. That's right folks, all of our food is FOR FREE! This is actually our fourth year doing this. It makes life much easier not having to worry about paying for meals. We get one table service restaurant meal (which includes entree, drink and dessert), one counter service meal (sandwich/salad, drink, dessert) and one snack, which we usually use for breakfast (what is it about vacations that make you hungry for all three meals?). It's more food than you could possibly ever need, and still free!

Second, a couple of other discount things I have done this trip:

1. I need water for Lil' Bean for his formula and for us to not dehydrate. Florida water is YUCKY; but I don't want to pay $2.50 per bottle at Disney world. So what did I do? I ordered 24 1/2-liter bottles from Costco and had it delivered to my resort Wilderness Lodge for the low price of $7.80, including shipping!

2. I'm packing his formula, diapers, wipes and food in the suitcase so I don't have to buy it there.

3. I joined a group who pitched in together for the Disney Photopass CD so we could have the special Disney photographers take a zillion photos of us as a family in front of Cinderella's castle and more. So instead of paying $100, I only paid $16.99. And I can print as many or as little photos as I want. Even better, I was able to get in on a special photo session at the Disney Resort we are staying which is 30 minutes with a photographer with our family and only had to pay $25 instead of the normal $75 they charge because we bought the photopass CD early.

4. And my most fun project of saving items: I made some of our clothes and other items! You see, for Lil' Bean's first trip, I wanted to make some special disney t-shirts, onesies, bibs, and pillow cases to commemorate the event. So I had some great help from my friends at the Disboard create awesome designs so we could have "family" outfits for pictures at Disney I talked about in paragraph 3.

I then bought (1) 6 onesies for Lil' Bean for $2 each at Wal-Mart; (2) a light blue pillowcase for $2.50 from Wal-Mart (for characters to autograph at the Liberty Tree Tavern, Chef Mickey and Crystal Palace character restaurants); (3) 4 t-shirts for Mr. Bean and I for only $2 each at A.C. Moore when they had them on sale; and (4) I bought transfer paper from A.C.Moore, five sheets for $5.98, reg. $10.98. I bought 3 packets, in case of mistakes as this was my first time. I also cheated and had some designs given to Cafe Press who made me two bibs for $8 each and one really nice pillow for $15. The rest I made myself, using a regular printer and a cheap iron. It was surprisingly easy to do in spite of my initial fear in making them and ruining a shirt or something.

So, see how they turn out in the next post!