I just saved a bunch of money on my...VACATION!!

So, back a few years ago Scotty and I dreamed up this plan that we wanted to take our family to Walt Disney World one day. At that point we were hardly making enough money to eat much less take a vacation, so we decided that when Olivia turned 5(she was probably about a year old at the time) we would take her to WDW. As that time got closer the thought of going sometimes seemed like a pipe dream. We found out that Emma Claire was on the way, we moved to Northwest Arkansas, Scotty got a new job, Scotty went to graduate school, Scotty got another new job(with much better pay/benefits), we found out that Addison was on the way to join our family, we had Addison, Scotty got an EXCELLENT new job with the same company he'd been working with, and we moved back to Central Arkansas.
It was just past Olivia's fourth birthday when we decided to take a look at the disney website and order the free vacation planning DVD. We knew that if we took one of our kids for their fifth birthday we'd need to take them all on their fifth birthday, and we also wanted to spare no expense in the trip. We wanted to go and do everything we wanted and have money to spend on all things disney. At that point Disney was running that affordable vacations package where they said there was a trip on every budget. Once we looked at it we realized it would be tough, but we could do it. SO, one day in November we decided to book the trip for February 2009! The trip was a dream come true and we all had the time of our lives. Most people thought we were crazy for taking three under five, but we just pushed through and had the time of our lives.
There were several times on the trip when my eyes would fill with tears at the thought of what all we'd been through in the past several years that made up our life. There was so much hard work that went into us getting there. There was one point in the trip that I looked over at Scotty and we were both crying while we watched Olivia twirl and dance with the Disney princesses who all knew her name and that it was her birthday(thanks to a nifty pin they gave us to put on her when we got there). Seriously, I still get chills thinking about what a fantastic time we had while we were there. It was indeed a blessing from God. A perfect time spent with our family.
As Emma Claire's fifth birthday is fast approaching(I CAN NOT BELIEVE it's coming up!) we decided it was time, once again, to visit the disney planning site. We planned and booked our vacation a few weeks ago and are SO excited to get to go back with our, now much larger, family! Today I was looking back over the site and saw a new special offer of kids stay and play FREE! I called the Disney travel people and they quickly changed our reservation and saved us $719!!! What a huge blessing! We are so excited for Emma Claire's special trip! She's already decided on some special places she wants to go and things she wants to do!=)
SO, I wanted to share with all my 4 readers about the deal we got so that maybe YOUR Disney dream can come true!
Simply go to the Walt Disney World website. Scroll over to the tickets and pricing tab and select special offers from the drop-down menu. This will show you all the special offers that they have going on right now. Just click on the one that's best for you and go from there.
My tips for planning a trip for cheap:

•  Stay in a value resort(they have family rooms in the music resort)
• Always plan a trip in the off-season.
• Look at the dining plans and see if you think it is worth it for your family to get one. It was for ours.
• Plan to set a budget and stick with it as far as buying items while there and snacks and so forth.
• Plan ahead, book now, and pay it out. This allows us to use our "extra" cash each month to make payments on the trip and keeps the thought of paying a huge amount at one time much less scary!
• Do everything you want to do on the trip! Just make sure and look at all the possibilities and make sure you are doing it the cheapest way!

And now, a look at our crew the LAST time we were there.

Our family in front of Magic Kingdom

The girls and I on the shuttle bus on the way back to our hotel to rest.=) Yes, they are all asleep.

Look at tiny Addison! She looks like Isaiah!

Daddy and the girls. We took our double and another stroller so that we'd have enough space for everyone to sit. This time we are planning on taking a sling, a front/back pack, a double, and a single stroller. We won't have space for everyone all the time, but we'll have enough room for most of us.=)