Friday, September 27, 2013

Vacation on the Cheap-Orlando 2013-Itinerary & Menu



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

 Please don't think that everything went this way, because of course, it did not! LOL I love to plan everything out completely, but am pretty flexible in the moment.

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!




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