walt disney world

Tuesday Disney Tips: To Insure or Not to Insure?

Brenda Disney Vacation Planning, Tuesday Disney Tips , , , , 0 Comment

Choosing whether or not to buy trip insurance is one of the things to consider when planning your Walt Disney World vacation. Here at the Affordable Mouse it is paramount to us that we try to give our readers the best possible advice. We really want everyone to have the most magical experience possible when on your Disney vacation. We also try to heed our own advice when traveling ourselves. To me, affordable means the smartest use of, while requiring the least amount of, my Disney vacation money. So, it is not normally my practice to use money on any extras, like insurance, that would keep me from buying a momento for a family member or a gift for a friend while there. This year is a little different.

In all the years my family and I have been traveling to Walt Disney World, we have never purchased the vacation insurance with our reservation. Maybe we were tempting fate, but we all knew that it would have to be something fierce to keep us from making our annual trip to “The World.” We rested on the assurance of faith, combined with good planning and staying healthy. Plus, we have usually traveled at the end of November and we had been lucky in the past so what should change? Still, there is always a feeling in the pit of my stomach as we are driving from Texas to Florida that IF our van breaks down, we could arrive a day or two late, and the thought of that keeps tugging at me until we arrive there safe and sound.

For the first time, I will be purchasing trip insurance for my upcoming trip to WDW this September. For some travelers, this may seem like a waste of money, but I will spend that extra $59 gladly. What I am buying is peace of mind. I consider it to be a wise investment without any doubt for two simple reasons:

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Disney Fun From Around the World: Week of March 14, 2011

Nancy Disney Fun From Around the "World" , , , 0 Comment

Hi there Disney Friends and Happy Spring (well, almost….tomorrow it’s official, but let’s look forward…. 🙂  ) It’s time, once again, for our weekly round-up of my favorite Disney blog posts over the past week.

I wanted to start this week with some updates on our Disney friends in Japan. The Disney Blog has been providing a series of updates throughout the week, and it is still clearly a challenging situation. These two articles: Disney suspends all operations in Tokyo and When Should Tokyo Disneyland Reopen? offer news and an interesting perspective. With a slightly different point of view, Your Highway in the Sky shares some thoughts on those wonderful Disney castmembers….and I think all of us who love Disney will not be surprised by this: Disney Employees in Japan – Hidden Heroes

Our other Disney blog friends had, of course, a wonderful selection of interesting and helpful articles. Starting with the folks at Chip and Co who always share so much great information, I found Character Meals: A Disney Do or Don’t? to have some good tips for deciding if one is right for your family. And then in another in his series,Oldies But Goodies Ken discusses: World Showcase, More Than A Bunch Of Buildings Part 2

Destinations in Florida provided a very helpful list of Magic Kingdom Quick Service Dining locations, that you will want to refer to for your next trip!

The Flower and Garden Festival is currently in “full bloom” (sorry, couldn’t resist 🙂  ) and this photo from the Disney Parks Blog shows why this time of year is truly one of the most beautiful: Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip at Epcot

Always interesting and entertaining…and providing very useful information as well, the Disney Dispatch had some great organization and planning tips for your next trip that you may want to try: Happiest Tips on Earth

Disney Driven Life continues to be one of my favorite blogs for the wide variety of incredible articles that are posted. DISNEY DINING PLAN TIPS FOR SNACKS AT EPCOT offered more great tips for dining at Disney World. And this one, KEEP MOVING FORWARD shares some powerful advice with true “words to live by”.

“Our” Kelly shared her favorite Magical Attraction Memories on her blog, Disney Guru and then also helped with something that can be especially difficult whether you are young or old:  How to Buy Time Before Your Next Trip

This post from Chris at Everything Walt Disney World was, I felt, especially important, because it points out something that we don’t often discuss in the Disney blog world: Bad Advice Abounds. We don’t discuss it…but it’s out there: be careful who you are listening to!

So many great posts at WDW Fan Zone, so little time! 🙂 Here are two favorites: Packing Tips and the mouth-watering Top 5 Desserts at Walt Disney World

Last……it would seem that I was all over the World Wide Web this week! First, Chip and Co ran an entire series on all of their writers: we all answered the same questions, and had a fun time providing a peek into “who we really are”. 🙂 If you want to find out a bit more about me, you can stop by here: The Magic Behind the ‘Company’: Getting to Know Nancy

I was also extremely honored to provide a Guest Blog post for Couponing to Disney this week: Dreaming of Walt Disney World: Putting the Pieces Together for an Affordable Disney Vacation

And finally, my monthly blog post on the Disney Dispatch shared some of my favorite ways to “get more out of your trip”: Nancy’s Monthly Magic.

That’s all for this week folks. Have a wonderful, safe, and truly magical start to your Spring!

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Thrifty Thursday: Walt Disney World Lost and Found

Brenda Disney Vacation Planning, Saving Money at Disney World, Thrifty Thursday , , , , 5 Comments

Our family always wears lanyards during extra magic hours. It is the easiest way for us to prove that we are guests of the Disney resorts without having to stop at each ride to show our key to the kingdom card. We normally take the type with press closures at the tops of the cardholders but the lanyards themselves are regular rope-type.

This year, we got some beautiful lanyards from a travel agent and so we decided to wear them instead. The tops of the cardholders were not closed on these. We didn’t think anything of it until we got off of Space Mountain and my DH was missing his key to the world and his driver’s license.

We were frantic and went back to Space Mountain and spoke to the cast member at the entrance. She told us that there was nothing they could do right then, but informed us that every evening after the park closes, they do a full sweep of the ride to find any lost articles.  If they found the lost items, they would turn them into the main Lost and Found at the Transportation and Ticket Center. She told us to wait until the next day and call the Lost and Found to find out if they had been found.

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Helping You Plan an Affordable Disney Vacation

Nancy Affordable Disney Vacations, Discounted Disney World Tickets, Disney Vacation Planning, Saving Money at Disney World, Saving Money on Accommodations, Saving Money on Food , , , , , , 0 Comment
Side View of Cinderella Castle Magic Kingdom Walt Disney World 2008photo via http://www.flickr.com/photos/kathika/3155260892/

It’s National Plan a Vacation Week….but for those of us who are, ahem, Disney obsessed, I have to say that every week is probably Plan a Vacation Week….Disney vacations that is. If we are not planning a Disney vacation, we dream of planning a Disney vacation, make plans to plan a Disney vacation, read about planning a Disney vacation…….and sometimes we even plan a Disney vacation for others.

That was, of course, the reason why I started The Affordable Mouse in the first place: to share with others what I have learned about planning Disney vacations, and help others to experience that Disney magic with their families.

For me and every other Disney blogger out there, every week is Disney vacation planning week….and we wouldn’t have it any other way. Walt Disney had this vision for what he wanted to create with his theme parks: a place where families could experience the magic of just being with each other….and those who have found the Disney experience to be as magical as Walt envisioned, feel compelled to help others do the same.

Ya kind of can’t really help it. 🙂

So this week is truly the perfect time for me to officially share some news that I mentioned briefly a few weeks ago, to those of you who are on my email newsletter list:

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Disney Fun From Around the World: Week of March 7, 2011

Nancy Disney Fun From Around the "World" , , , , , , 0 Comment

Greetings Disney friends. I hope this week finds all of you safe and well! We all have the people of Japan in our hearts and prayers this week, as we watch the result of the devastating earthquake and tsunami. Many have wondered about Tokyo Disneyland, so I am starting this week’s blog round-up with a report from The Disney Blog: Japan Earthquake strands tourists at Tokyo Disneyland, damage reports coming in. I continue to be amazed by the dedication of Disney castmembers everywhere, as we see those wonderful folks at Tokyo Disneyland working so hard to take care of their guests…even as they undoubtedly worry about their own family and friends. Please keep them all in your thoughts and prayers in the coming weeks.

While it seems trivial in comparison, there are some wonderful posts from Disney blogs this week, and I do hope you will enjoy them and find them helpful, interesting, and inspiring:

Chip and Co. provided a couple of articles that anyone planning a Disney vacation right now will want to read:To Stay On or Off Property – That is the Question and Character Meals: A Disney Do or Don’t?

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