Planning Time Line for Our Trip

Our Disney preparation: Now - heavy into making and saving money to make sure we have enough to go! Craigslist/ebay/etsy/card making are all a top priority! We are setting up our couponing binder and getting that organized! Whew! What a job! The focus now is getting this all organized so I have a plan in place as we proceed through the months. I am also going to start some of the survey companies! Another big part is meal planning for home right now. This helps us save tons of money by being prepared. When I stay on top of our meals, everything runs much smoother but this incorporating time for couponing has geared me off my meal plans for awhile! Also, we are starting to work our curriculum around WDW. Meaning, we are learning about safari animals, countries we will see in Epcot, ocean animals (Nemo), etc. It really is quite fun! At 7 months out, we start conditioning and will continue until the day we leave. My kids will have to walk, I can't push a double stroller. At 7 months out, we will also plan our itinerary. The unofficial guide is a lot of help! I bought park hopper tickets, but I'm not sure I will keep that option. I really think one park a day is enough, but we'll see how the itinerary is shaping up. 6 months prior to vacation, 6/6/12, make dining reservations! Since we are doing Deluxe Dining (we do this since I am the only adult and my kids are still little. It gives us a rest time during the day. We did it the last time we went and it was worth every dollar! Our best memories are from the dining experiences! Prince Charming kissed my 3yo's hand. Oh, my. Chip and Pluto got into an argument at our table. Princess Aurora made my daughter feel like she was the princess of WDW!) At 6 months out, we will also start watching Disney movies. We watch a movie as a family every Sunday night, termed Popcorn/Pizza/Movie party. My kids live for Sundays! So, we will turn to Disney on Sunday nights. we will also order another set of maps from Disney so we can mark all places we intend to go. At 6 months out, we will start our paper chain. We will use our Cricut to cut Mickey Mouse heads. A large red head will be for every 10th chain, a smaller white head will be for every 2nd chain to count by 2's. The colors will be red, black, and white, giving each child a color to remove. (and I don't have to remember which child took down a link the day before.) At 5 months out, we will start making clothing and pajamas. I have a Disney embroidery machine, so we will embellish t'shirts as well as make some shorts, shirts, and skirts. We will also make t'shirts with appliques. (This will be in the summer months while our school will be slower and I will have more time.) At 3 months out, we will start to pack. Yes, pack. Since we will have an alternate wardrobe for the trip, we can pack it safely away. At 2 months out, we will make our cards for the characters. Super fun! We will also make our "special" autograph book, for those signatures we want to have in a separate book. Last time, my oldest daughter had the princesses sign two books, her regular book and her special book. The special book held only princess signatures. We will also order a special book from Kristina's Disney Designs from facebook. It will be an Epcot passport book. At 1 month out I will host a special card making class of cards I design around WDW themes. This class is for my stampin' friends and is a lot of fun! they enjoyed it last time. At 2 weeks out, my kids and I will host a small party with family and friends with a WDW theme. They really look forward to sharing the enthusiasm. And, who doesn't enjoy a little party for no reason at all but to have fun? At 1 week out my kids will pack their bags they will take on the plane as an under the seat bag. We will check batteries for leapsters, camera, etc. We will make sure we will have some disposable cameras for each child to use to take their own pictures at dinners, etc. We will also make sure that my husband and oldest son have plenty of food for while we are gone, etc.