Disney Outside the Parks: I Need a Disney Break!

I don’t know about you, but this has been a crazy, hectic summer already!  With all the traveling, parties, car races, baseball games, and of course working full-time, how do you unwind with Disney?  I have 2 simple, free ideas and 1 more expensive way to de-stress and hopefully bring a smile to your face.

 Look at your pictures or videos from your past trips….

 Jump on a website or two and see what is happening in the parks.  My particular favorites are www.theaffordablemouse.com,  www.allears.net  and www.mouseowners.com.   What is unique about Mouseowners is that you can read other guests’ trip reports from their vacations, which is always a fun way to spend anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours.

 Now for the costlier solution which I think is the absolute best way to combat stress….start planning your next vacation!  I did that during a recent stressful week (thanks to The Affordable Mouse for the invite to join their trip).  Nothing brought a smile to my face more than figuring out the numbers to check DVC points (ask me if you want to know more) vs. paying cash for a room.  And no, I’m not an accountant or anyone who should think numbers are exciting stuff!  Then we had to decide where to stay– Deluxe, Moderate, or Value level but after doing the math, it was an easy decision to go Value.

 An extra bonus of planning a vacation is that I get to check out restaurants from the comfort of my couch (bonus way to daydream).  I absolutely love reading WDW menus!  It makes me excited to read the menus to see what restaurants I want to try on each trip and reminisce on some of our old favorites (Liberty Tree Tavern, Biergarten, and Coral Reef).  I am typically a picky eater, but I’ve started expanding my palate as I’ve gotten older.  So, planning meals turns into finding restaurants that serve food that is unique enough for my husband, but still mainstream with some diversity for me.  Within 48 hours of deciding to go on vacation, I had our ADRs (dining reservations) booked.  This meant that I had already figured out our park schedule since I use the dining reservations to dictate which park to go to on a given day.  

So while we have our room and ADRs booked, we didn’t quite get the resort we had hoped.  I now have a new obsession, checking the WDW online booking to see if anything has opened up.  With that, I’ll leave you until next month when I go more in depth with planning Disney related Halloween costumes, because I need to go see if Art of Animation has any standard rooms!   

Happy 4^th of July!!  Have a Magical Day!

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Adrienne is originally from the Chicago area but lives outside of Indianapolis with her husband, 2 dogs, and 2 cats.  She went to Disneyland when she was 7, which started her love of Disney.  She even named one of her dogs after her favorite princess, Aurora.  She and her husband celebrated their honeymoon at Walt Disney World in 2007 and have returned for every anniversary.  They have stayed at variety of resorts on property and traveled with friends and family.  Adrienne and her husband bought into DVC in May 2011 and rewarded themselves with their first fall trip for some of the special events.  Adrienne and her husband consider WDW their “second home” and have become the go-to people for any Disney related questions and advice from friends, families, and acquaintances.