Count Down to The Happiest Place on Earth Starts today!!

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Today we officially have only eight days until our first BIG family vacation.  We are headed off to Disney World for eight wonderfully blissful days. 

 So excited!!!

We have been saving and planning for this trip since January and the kids have actually been doing their own little countdown since then.  

This defiantly has not been a very frugal trip to plan, but we knew that.  We knew it was going to be very, very pricey, but we have been able to get some good discounts on a few things that normally would have cost us a lot more for.  For example because my hubby is a firefighter we did get a 20% discount on our trip package.  saving us hundreds.  And because we grouped everything from the tickets to the Hotel room we also saved.  One thing we decided to do was stay at the Cabins at Fort Wilderness Disney Resort.  The cabins are great because it comes fully loaded with a kitchen so that you can bring your own food and save a lot of money.  Any theme park you go to the food is always off the charts expensive.  At Disney World you are also allowed to bring in your own water.

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  Staying at a Disney Resort also has a lot of its own perks like staying in the park after hours, complementary transportation either by bus, boat, or train, and the kids will be able to meet up with Chip and Dale and have s'mores around the campfire at night. Among other fun free activities.  

How fun!!  

We have decided that it would be much cheaper to drive the 1,138 miles than to load all eight of us on a plane.  We do have plans to stop halfway to sleep and play on the beach in Panama then head out the next morning.

While we're in Florida we also have plans to go down to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium to visit Winter the dolphin who's story inspired the movie "Dolphin Tale"  one of my kids' favorites.

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 So as you can probably see we are very excited for our end of summer vacation.  

and cant even wait one more second (as my youngest put it)

What vacations are you planning, or have already gone on??  Did anyone make it to Disney and can share some tips with me?? One blog that I have found helpful for anyone planning a trip to Disney World is Affording the Mouse.  She has tons of tips on saving money at Disney.