Disney-Arrival day and the Figures.

The house we stayed in. We had paid for early check-in(11am) but when we arrive it was not unlocked. We ended up waiting outside for about 30 minutes but the house was awesome. It was 6 bedrooms. Haley and Andrea shared a room downstairs. Amanda had a room to herself with the window facing out. Kendall also had a room to herself. Lily and Izzy shared a room "like high school roommates". Zach ended up in our huge closet. He slept very well.

My goal over the next week is to post as many pictures and writings as I can think of about our Disney Vacation. The reason I am sure you know is to record and in the future print and pass on to the kids. First I am going to start with the major failure of the trip- the budget.

I am sharing this part of our trip to help others if they want to plan a trip and need to stay on a tight strict budget. If you don't care just skip and enjoy the picture of our van at the bottom.

Overall, I am placing us at around $400 over-budget. I can easily pinpoint several of the reasons that this occurred. The first reason was gas. We ended up spending $400 on gas, which is a full one hundred over what I budgeted. The second budget buster was our meal at "Hollywood and Vine" with the characters. I have to say I would do this meal again, if my kids were the same ages. They LOVED the character interaction and the food was the best on property we ate. However the final cost was $190. This included gratuity that was around $30. Gratuity was also added at the Bip boppity boutique that I had not planned on. The final budget buster for us was the desire and ability to stay later at the parks than I expect. We ended up eating one meal a day out which was not planned for 3 of the days.

Here is the van we traveled in along with the signs that Matt placed that say "Mouse Bound". I was not a fan at first but we needed them because you would be amazed at how many large vans are in each parking section.