We went to Orlando on vacation at the beginning of the month. It was a totally different kind of vacation for us for a couple of reasons. The biggest reason is that we shouldn't really have gone because we're kind of broke right now. It seems to be a familiar state for us, but we are working on it. The biggest factor right now has been power bills of $400+ dollars every.single.month for several months now. Running the AC is killing us, but I can't live with the heat & humidity.
Despite our current economic situation, the fact of the matter was that we had already paid for the hotel (a great deal through a vacation club) back around March, and our tickets for Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure were paid for last year.
Back story: Way back in 2011 we started planning for a super special 10 day trip to Walt Disney World & Universal Studios for Christmas 2012. We pre-bought all the theme park tickets. Then the hubs got word that they were closing the facility that he worked at & we were going to be relocating just after Christmas 2012. To Florida! Yay, happy circumstance! On our first trip to WDW we traded those tickets in for annual passes which left us with a very small monthly payment.
Sadly, we can't use our WDW passes right now because we skipped a couple of those monthly payments in lieu of keeping our power on. It's cooling off a bit (like 5 whole degrees), so our bill should go back down to a slightly more reasonable bill.
Because of this, I had to get a bit creative when it came to stuff to do. This leads to the next reason why this vacation is different. Usually we go, go, go on vacation. We love to hit the theme parks early and stay late. Yes, we are usually exhausted & need a vacation from our vacation! LOL After this vacation, I'm glad we didn't do that & thankful that we didn't take that super Christmas vacation because we never would have made good use of all the tickets.
After some internet searching I found some great FREE things to do at Walt Disney World that don't involve stepping foot into one the four theme parks! Here is the itinerary I came up with:
Vacation Itinerary - September 2013
Day
|
Morning
|
Afternoon
|
Evening
|
Saturday
8/31
Breakfast:
At Home
Lunch:
Packed
Dinner:
At Hotel
|
Drive to Orlando
|
Grocery Shopping
Check-in to Hotel (after 4 pm)
Swimming/Preparing food for the week
|
Disney’s Boardwalk
|
Sunday
9/1
Breakfast:
Cereal At Hotel
Lunch:
Packed
Dinner:
Packed
|
Islands of Adventure (opens at 9 am, leave by 8 am,
latest!)
|
Islands of Adventure
|
Cinematic Spectacular –best viewing at Central Park at the
lagoon curve (be there 30 min. early)
|
Monday
9/2
Breakfast:
At Hotel
Lunch:
Packed
Dinner:
Packed
|
Swimming
|
Explore the Contemporary (visit the butterfly garden &
see the view from the rooftop) & the Grand Floridian resorts (Wedding
Pavilion)
Hula Lessons at the Polynesian at 330 pm (BE EARLY!)
|
Eat a Dole Whip
Walk through the torch-lit gardens at the Polynesian.
Watch the Electrical Water Pageant & Wishes fireworks
from the Poly beach.
|
Tuesday
9/3
Breakfast:
At Hotel
Lunch: At
Hotel
Dinner:
Packed
|
Swimming
|
Wide World of Sports
Free Lego Build at Lego Store Downtown Disney (5 pm – BE
EARLY!)
|
Animal Kingdom Lodge night vision goggle animal watching
& African storytelling
|
Wednesday
9/4
Breakfast:
Cereal At Hotel
Lunch:
Packed
Dinner:
Packed
|
Universal Studios (opens at 9 am, leave by 8 am, latest!)
|
Universal Studios
|
Cinematic Spectacular –best viewing at Central Park at the
lagoon curve (be there 30 min. early)
|
Thursday
9/5
Breakfast:
At Hotel
Lunch: At
Hotel
Dinner:
Packed
|
Swimming
|
Art of Animation & All-Star Movie Resorts
Downtown Disney
Ride the boat from DD to Port Orleans
|
Eat beignets
Yeehaa Bob! (begins at 830 pm BE SUPER EARLY!!!)
|
Friday
9/6
Breakfast:
At Hotel
Lunch:
Packed
Dinner:
Packed
|
Wilderness Lodge – follow the river from the lodge to the
beach & watch the geyser erupt
|
Fort Wilderness – Butterfly Garden, Petting zoo &
Tri-Circle D Ranch
|
Chip & Dale’s Campfire Sing-Along & Marshmallow
Roast followed by an outdoor movie.
|
Saturday
9/7
Breakfast:
At Hotel
Lunch:
Packed
Dinner:
Packed
|
Pack up & check-out of hotel by 10 am
|
Anywhere
on Disney property that we didn’t get to explore, or want to go back to!
|
Drive home
|
Based on the above itinerary I devised the following menu plan:
Vacation Menu - September 2013
Day
|
Breakfast
|
Lunch
|
Dinner
|
Saturday 8/31
Breakfast:Home
Lunch:
Packed
Dinner:
At Hotel
|
Waffles or Pancakes
(Mix maple syrup into mix for extra ones for snack)
Prep: Make the hummus
-Bake the orange cake
|
Leftovers or Sandwiches
Veggies
|
Grilled Steaks
Grilled Corn on the Cob, Sweet Potatoes, and any other
veggies that we find that would be good to grill
Prep: grill steak kebabs & pineapple (separately &
assemble later) for Monday
-Grill steak for Black & Blue salad for tomorrow
-Make Tortellini Salad
-Boil eggs (18)
-Frost the orange cake
|
Snacks
|
Leftover waffles or pancakes
|
Orange Cake
|
|
Sunday 9/1
Breakfast:
Hotel
Lunch:
Packed
Dinner:
Packed
|
Cereal
Fruit
|
Tortellini Salad
Carrots, celery & cucumbers or leftover grilled
veggies
Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans (jelly beans)
|
Black & Blue Salad with avocado & hard-boiled eggs
Strawberries with Nutella
Prep: mix eggs & spinach together for breakfast (to
turn eggs green)
-Put chicken in crockpot on low
|
Snacks
|
Muffins & Dinosaur (hard-boiled) eggs
Butter Beer @ Harry Potter!
|
Hummus & Crackers
|
Orange Cake
|
Monday 9/2
Breakfast:
Hotel
Lunch:
Packed
Dinner:
Packed
|
Green (Scrambled) Eggs & Ham
Toast w/ butter
Fruit
Prep: Make Hawaiian Rice Pudding
-Make Yakitori Noodles
-Shred chicken
|
(Teriyaki?) Steak & Pineapple Kebabs
Salad
Hawaiian Rice Pudding
|
Yakitori Noodles with Chicken
Sweet Potatoes
Fruit Salad
|
Snacks
|
Tropical Trail Mix
|
Dole Whips @ Poly!
Orange Cake
|
|
Tuesday 9/3
Breakfast:
Hotel
Lunch:
Hotel
Dinner:
Packed
|
Oatmeal (with fruit?)
Prep: Make lemon bars
-Boil rice for tomorrow
|
Hamburgers & Hot dogs
Grilled Veggies
Lemon Bars
Baked beans
Prep: Grill Chicken & Veggies for kebabs
|
Tortellini Salad
Fresh veggies
Fruit
Banana Pudding (?)
|
Snacks
|
Hummus & Crackers
|
Animal cookies
|
|
Wednesday 9/4
Breakfast:
Hotel
Lunch:
Packed
Dinner:
Packed
|
Cereal
Bananas with Minion faces drawn on! J
|
Chicken & Veggie Kebabs
Rice
|
Ham & Cream Cheese Bagel Sandwiches
Veggies
Prep: Freeze lemonade for Friday
|
Snacks
|
Muffins & cheese sticks/wedges
|
Fruit & Yogurt Parfaits
|
Lemon Bars
|
Thursday 9/5
Breakfast:Hotel
Lunch:Hotel
Dinner:
Packed
|
Breakfast Burritos (with bacon)
Fruit
Prep: Make Pasta Salad
-Boil eggs (8)
-Bake extra bacon for BLT’s
-Make brown rice crispy bars
|
Nachos with guacamole
Prep: Make corn dog muffins
|
Pasta Salad with Ham
Veggies
Fruit Salad
|
Snacks
|
Brown rice crispy bars
|
Beignets @ POR! Drinks @ Yeehaa Bob!
|
|
Friday 9/6
Breakfast:Hotel
Lunch:
Packed
Dinner:
Packed
|
Oatmeal with fruit
Prep: Pop popcorn in individual brown bags for movie
tonight
-Boil rice
|
BLT’s
Fruit & Yogurt Parfaits
|
Corn Dog Muffins
Coleslaw
Frozen lemonade
|
Snacks
|
Muffins & cheese sticks/wedges
|
Trail Mix
|
S’mores & popcorn!
|
Saturday 9/7
Breakfast:Hotel
Lunch:
Packed
Dinner:
Packed
|
Cereal
Fruit
|
Pasta Salad with Ham
Veggies
|
Tuna Salad with Relish & Crackers
Veggies
Fruit
|
Snacks
|
Brown rice crispy bars
|
Whatever is left!
|
*Use
little umbrellas on Monday when we go to the Polynesian
*Make
“minion” bags out of yellow paper bags for Wednesday when we go to Universal
Studios
*Use
decorated brown lunch bags & bandanas for napkins on Friday when we go to
Ft. Wilderness
This too did not go according to plan, but that's okay! I spent about $200 on groceries for the trip which is more than I usually spend for a week's worth of food, but way less than we would have spent eating out! I also did not get many pictures of the actual food because it was consumed so quickly or I forgot, but I think I got a few. I'm still going through the pics.
Check back for more details of our "Vacation on the Cheap"! Feel free to ask any questions & let me know your ideas for Vacationing on the Cheap!
