Disney World Planning - Car Hire or Disney Transport??

This is such a tough question.  As we are flying into Orlando International (MCO) and are staying at a Disney resort, we have the option of Disney's Magical Express to take us to and from the airport and Disney transportation to take us between the resort and parks.



 

 

 

The obvious pro of Disney transport is that it is included in the price.  The hire car would be an additional cost.

I haven't used Magical Express but I have used the Disney Buses and apart from being very crowded at park closing, I've not had any problems with them.  I know other people have had problems, but I can only go on my experience.

 

The con is that it limits us to staying inside Disney property, and while that isn't a bad thing, we are quite keen to have the ability to visit supermarkets or shopping malls.  We might even want to eat outside Disney sometimes.

 

 

The pro of the car is mainly the flexibility it offers.  I can imagine an early breakfast reservation at a hotel being really tricky on Disney transport in a morning, whereas with a car, we can go directly to the other hotel, saving time and stress and still park for free.

There is the option of Uber but last time I found the prices to be quite unpredictable and struggled to get one with a child car seat.

 

If we do get a car, we can also use the Disney transport from hotel to parks if we want - hello Food and Wine - it isn't opting out of the Disney transport system. 

 

As well as the cost, the other negative of the car is the responsibility for driving in a foreign country but luckily I have hubby who is perfectly happy to do this.

 

I've been researching prices for hiring an SUV for 2 weeks and found that Alamo is the cheapest at around £400 for 2 weeks.  We have previously been caught out at the airport having booked a car that was too small for us and the luggage so this time I am going straight to an SUV, which I know will fit everything.

 

I also looked into renting through a US comparison site incase there was an extra fee for Brits (controversial, I know) but I found that there were similar or slightly higher and often expected you to have your own insurance through your regular provider.  Going through a UK company at least means that you can lock in a price in £ and not be so reliant on a good exchange rate at the time.

 

 
 

Exciting News - I'm off to Walt Disney World

 

 

 

After disappearing for quite some time (real life is too real sometimes) I'm back with very exciting news.  I'm off to Walt Disney World with my family.  I just can't wait, and even though it is a long way off yet, I'm hoping to keep track of my progress with plans and packing here.  I'm not an expert, so this is a planning journey not a guide.

 

I have been lucky enough to go to Walt Disney World a few times before but for various and sometimes bizarre reasons, never really planned a trip in advance before. 

 

 

We are staying at Disney's Art of Animation.  I've briefly visited this resort but never stayed so I'm really looking forward to it.  I've booked flights along with tickets and dining plan.  Dining Plan is a whole other conversation but after a lot of research and talking to our family we decided it was the right thing for us to do and we will more or less break even on it.  We really just want to not have to worry about it.

 

As we all know, I love a list - here are all the things I can think of that I need to sort out.  

 

• ESTA (I'm from the UK incase you didn't know - so this needs sorting ASAP)
• API - advance passenger information (I think) - again ASAP
• Car Hire or Disney Transport?
• Research closures and refurbishments
• Prepare for 180 day Dining Reservations - read my plans here  
• Think about 60 day Fastpass reservations
• Things to buy beforehand
• Things to make beforehand
• Travel Cash / Cards 

I'm going to turn list items to green when they are completed.  It's very satisfying!

Updates

• ESTA and API are done - ESTA approval was really quick this time, maybe because we have all been to USA before and behaved ourselves?!
• Transportation is sorted - see here for the decision making process

Blue Peter Badges

This is nothing to do with my usual Disney or Home Décor Posts but I wanted to write it and don't have anywhere else.  This is the information I wish I had known before my daughter asked me and I couldn't find anywhere.  This is only our experience and not in any way official guidelines.  I'm also not going to go into any detail about exactly what she made/did/wrote about to get the badges because I feel like that is cheating somehow.

 

Background

 

My daughter started watching Blue Peter when she was about 5 and I wanted her to start watching slightly 'older' shows.  I felt like she was too old for the likes of Mr Tumble but not really old enough for the topics covered on some shows aimed at older children.  I deemed Blue Peter to be safe viewing.

 

Almost as soon as she started watching, she wanted the badge.  I remember Blue Peter badges from when I was a child but I never had one and didn't know anyone that did, I always thought you had to be on the show to get one.  It seems things have changed, I looked on the cbbc website and found that you can apply for one with an interesting letter, poem, make, etc so I told my daughter and she decided she wanted to make something. 

 

Applying for the Badge

 

As it happened, there was a village show coming up and she could make and enter something into that too.  With this focus and a lot of creativity she set about making her project.  It won her a prize at the show and with this added enthusiasm and pride she wrote a letter to Blue Peter telling them how much she likes watching them make things and that she had made something and won a prize. 

 

After some help with spellings (I figured the people at Blue Peter would need to be able to read/understand it) and after some convincing that a photo of said project would be better than trying to post something very large, off to the post we went.

 

I had no idea how long it takes to get a reply, or if there is any guarantee of a reply so we waited.  I did a lot of searching, the official guidelines say that it can take 8 weeks to receive a badge but it doesn't confirm or deny the guarantee of a reply or badge. 

 

I have heard from another mum who had one child write off a poem or something and got a badge, while her other child has sent in several items and not heard back at all.

 

I made a mental note of the date we had posted the letter and thought it best to forget about it for a couple of months, but within 2 weeks there was a letter addressed to her on the doormat.  You have never seen more excited adults watching a confused child open a letter.  Even with the bulge in the envelope she didn't seem to work out what it was before she opened it.  She was so excited, it came with a lovely personalised letter, which talked about her letter and make.

 

The best thing about this for a parent's perspective is that the badge comes with an ID card  (which arrives separately usually a few weeks later).  This ID card gets the child free entry into lots of attractions, we have used it for zoos, historic houses and plan to visit many more.

It's also a great focus for an activity on a rainy day or a quiet half term day.

 

There's more than one?!? 

 

A few weeks later Blue Peter launched the Sports Badge (there are lots of Blue Peter badges now) and again, daughter really wanted to have a go.  This time, there was a form to download and complete and the task was to introduce a friend to a sport.  Luckily, she had just started a new sport and invited a friend along.  She completed the form (again, with help - I'm sure they have a lot to do and no time to decipher 6 year old writing but they were all her own words - just spelt correctly and legible) and sent it off. 

 

Again, there was a reply on the doormat within 2 weeks, this one might have been even quicker and the excitement was there all over again.

 

Isn't 2 enough??

 

After a break from badges, she wanted to try for another and chose the Silver Badge (this seems to be a part 2 to the standard Blue badge).  She wrote a letter off with photos on a different topic and off to the post we went again.  I was now pretty confident that these badges were a given and waited for the letter to arrive.  I shouldn't have been so confident.  After 6 weeks I gave up hoping and when she asked me about it, I told her that it had either got lost in the post or she could try again with something different.  Her enthusiasm for trying again straight away wasn't there and it's not something I want to push, so we left it and I didn't mention it again.  After 8 weeks, the envelope did arrive and she got her badge.  I turns out it was a good lesson is patience!!

 

Next project is the super sparkly limited edition Diamond Badge, again, this is a download and complete activity with questions and a colouring to do.  She spent some time over the school holidays completing it and seemed to really enjoy it.  We took it to the post and now we wait.......

 

 

The available badges are....

Blue - the standard badge - for appearing on the show or an interesting letter/make/idea/etc

Silver - same as blue but you already have a blue

Sport - available for a limited time each year - sport related

Orange - competition winner or runner up

Green - doing something for the environment

Purple - download a form and review an episode of the show

Diamond - limited edition in 2018 for the show's 60th birthday - download and complete

 

Gold - not really possible - this is reserved for super high achieving celebrities or people who have done something really amazing like save a life.

 

*Images are not my own, copyright unknown