He said yes...now where do I start?

I don't know about you, but my husband is the type to change his mind or second guess himself a lot,  so I knew I had to act fast.  But for once, I did know one thing now that I'd never known before, and that was a definite date. As fast as I could I went to the Disney website and booked a trip for 4 nights at the Art of Animation Value Resort, along with the Dining Plus Plan and tickets without park hopper or water park options. I'll share how or why I made those choices at a later time. 

Although, I found the Disney website very informative and user friendly the system did go down frequently.  And when it came down to making my payment for the trip,  guess what, it went down. Oh no! I needed to solidify this trip before Rudy changed his mind again, so I immediately picked up the phone and called Disney. Little did I know this would be a blessing in disguise! The rep had to rebook my trip and her total was @ $400 cheaper,  WOOHOO!!! But there was just one problem,  my debit credit card would not go through, it had a max daily limit on it.  Bummer...I was going to have to call my bank to get my limit raised to pay for my trip. 

Although,  I started to feel like maybe it was not meant for me to take the trip,  I realized that this was just a normal part of a big transaction,  especially if you have to pay in one lump sum.  So the next morning, I called my bank got my limit increased for a few days to pay for my trip and the airfare.  After calling Disney and there being a long wait time, I decided to book online.  I finally booked the trip in desperation for $400 more than the rep's quote.  I also booked my flight on Southwest Airlines website and was able to catch a special that was about to end.  (The airfare special was the motivating factor that helped my husband to decide to go to WDW in the first place). I later called and talked to the rep about the lower price I'd been quoted, and BAM, she lowered it $536 and offered me the Photo Pass Plus  for $169, which was a Godsend at Disney!

This was a major step forward for us, it was also a little intimidating as we had never taken a trip like this before and my family had never flown before. We are just some small town Texans happy to take a little road trip here or there. But ready or not, we were on our way!

Allow me to introduce myself first!

Ok...so I was so excited to hit the ground running with my blog, that I totally failed to introduce myself.  Im Loretta from Texas married to my high school crush, Rudy (he was way too handsome for me, I'm still not sure how I won him over) and we have 4 kids. My two teens, Tyra and Rudy and my two little ones, Luke and Macy make up my crazy but wonderful little world!  We are a middle class family counting every penny and making sure to stretch our dollars so that "once in a while" we can indulge on what we consider the finer things in life, whether it be a small weekend getaway to San Antonio, a small shopping spree or saving for our first ever trip to Disney for a party of six! 
I cant wait to share every aspect of my experience,  but for the sake of time and to prevent from writing a full blown novel;  I intend on sharing a little bit at a time. Like I always tell my daughter who stresses over big projects or tasks, How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!

We Can Go? What???

So after 16 years of marriage its always been, "One day we'll go to Disney World." Imagine my surprise when my husband finally said book the trip.  Omgoodness, I couldn't get on the website fast enough.  Then it set in... my husband's vacation was set for three weeks from the day he decided to go.  Panic mode totally set in. 

I'd been on the website and fantasized about my dream vacay, this is how I semi had an idea of how much our trip would cost.  I'd explored websites with tips for Disney and seen the time frame needed to book a dining reservation.  I was saddened to know that a dinner at Cinderella's Castle was likley out of the question, but that was no reason to postpone my date with Mickey. So it was time to put my game face on...we were going to Disney!

So, I will be sharing all the ins, outs, anxieties, worries,  thoughts,  and all things in between about my first trip to Disney with my hubby and four kids in tow!