Day 576: The Disney Bucket List

We're all familiar with Bucket Lists. I think that, aside from my lifetime one, I've had more bucket lists than I can count, although sometimes they're more of just to-do lists than anything else. But it helps me get stuff done, and keeps me motivated for the next project. Plus, Bucket Lists are fun. You just get to sit and imagine all the different things you could do and then say "alright, I'm going to do them."

You can have bucket lists for just about anything, although the general point is to have one with things you want to do before the end of your life. However, there are bucket lists for every season, for when you're in college, and most certainly for when you go to Walt Disney World.

Lately, the Disney Pinterest has had these Bucket Lists appearing, and while I've been to Disney so many times that I no longer need to know the things I "have" to do before I leave the parks, it IS fun to go through each list and see what I personally have and haven't done. It's a pretty good mix, and it just goes to show that even the most seasoned Disney veteran still hasn't done absolutely everything.

So I sort of knocked it out of the park on this Disney Dining Bucket List. I got 5 out of 5, which isn't surprising at all. I'm always dining in the different Disney restaurants, and I always try to pick one or two more off the list of places I haven't dined before, such as a fairly recent trip to the Rose and Crown, where I hadn't eaten previous to July 2013. 

But when it comes to Resorts, there are a lot of different places I haven't stayed, and on this one I only got 3/5. That's not bad at all, especially considering these resorts are all the super pricey ones and some people don't get to stay on Disney property period. However, I do hope that I'll check off new resorts soon, and I know for a fact that I'll be staying at Saratoga Springs for the first time this coming January. Just another thing to cross off the ultimate Disney Bucket List. 

I mean, seriously, my Disney bucket list has things like "See all the fireworks shows in the same night" and "stay at all the resorts." Not "Stay at one resort and call it good." I'm a bit more ambitious than that. 

Have a magical day! 

(Note: This blog post was written on August 25).

Day 535: $10000

Generic Blog Post Topic Ideas are easy to come by. The hard part is still associating them to Disney in a way that both makes sense and is something I haven't yet really talked about. Some of these topics lend themselves rather well, while others simply just don't even make it onto the list of possible ideas. This, however, is one of the ideas that made it straight onto the list of blog post topics: What would you do with $10,000.

Actually, the original prompt had $1000, but considering the fact that I just calculated how much money it would take to eat everything in Epcot and that adds up to over $8,000, I upped it a little bit, making for a longer stay and a more realistic vacation.

Base Rules: Let's say I already have an annual pass, just to get that out of the way. Let's also say I'm paying for my hotel room, not using DVC points. I can use any of the money, but cannot go over $10,000. I'm also not including airline fees since that just takes time to figure out and calculate.

Let's start from the basics: Hotel.

As much as I'd love to stay at the Grand Floridian, I picked the Contemporary Resort instead, with a Theme Park View. I figured why not, if I had $10,000 to spend of course I'd go for that option. I also picked some random dates: November 9 - November 17, 2015, for 4 adults. For the hotel room it was $5,604.78, meaning I have $4,395.22 left.

Why not take out $500 for shopping right away, huh? $3,895.22.

Let's add in some prospective meals. I have approximately 8 meals that I would have to plan in for reservations, or at least that I'd want to plan in for reservations. After much deliberation I chose the following 8 restaurants:

1. Brown Derby (Hollywood Studios)
2. Chefs de France (Epcot)
3. Be Our Guest (Magic Kingdom)
4. California Grill (Contemporary)
5. Yak & Yeti (Animal Kingdom)
6. Paradiso 37 (Downtown Disney)
7. Todd English's bluezoo (Dolphin)
8. Liberty Tree Tavern (Magic Kingdom)

I went through and picked out dishes from each restaurant for myself. I figure that those traveling with me can pay for their own food, right? With those emails I estimated about $300 for everything I would eat. Of course, this is probably a low-ball number, so let's up it to $350, just to be safe. Then let's add in approximately $15 for the other 9-10 meals I would eat without reservations: $150, with snacks, let's say $200. Total for food? $550 for the trip. Remaining cash: $3,345.22.

Other than that, I'm not really sure what I'd need to buy. Even if you did add on food for other people, totaling it at the same as me, it brings it down to $1,695.22. Plenty leftover.

Now, we're still not including anything like airfare, and if we flew down there's a significant possibility that we'd have a rental car. Unless we drove, then some of that money would go towards gas and the possible night in Nashville on the way down.

But could I do it? Yes. Yes I could. Anyone have $10,000?

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on October 30).

Day 371: ADRs

Believe it or not, I will actually go back and write Day 370. It's just that I've been working for a good portion of the last few hours and really wish to get to bed, but decided that I should write at least one blog post so I'm not totally behind in the next few days. I want to start college with a clean slate, meaning that I'm all caught up and don't have to spend hours trying to play catch up when I get back to SNC, although the internet there is faster.

This is beside the point though. Today makes a grand occasion, as I have, for the first time ever, made my own actual, REAL, Advanced Dining Reservation for Walt Disney World. Great, I know. Where to, you ask? Beaches and Cream. And why? Well, that involves a little bit of a story.

As you already know, my High School Band is headed to Walt Disney World this June. It's a very exciting thing, and I have family coming down to see us in the parade. Specifically my godfather. Now, he doesn't come with us very often, and since he lives in Chicago, a four hour drive from here, it's not exactly always easy for us to see him. So it means a lot to me that he's coming to Disney to see us march in the parade. But we only have three days in the Disney Parks, and I have a lot on my shoulders when it comes to this trip. It's not like I'm going to have spare time all over the place in which I can just go see my family. No, when I'm in the parks I will be running around getting video or spending time on attractions that I feel my closest friends have to see.

But there is one thing that I can do that my family that's coming and my friends can all enjoy! Dining of course! So back last week, my mom made dining reservations for our group at a couple of places that I know my friends will enjoy, but also so I can see my family for at least a little while on this trip. But it wouldn't be fair if just my closest friends got to go to restaurants like that. So I'm working with my band director to open it up to the entire band.

We all know that Dining Reservations aren't hard, but you still might need help if you're doing it the first time. So tonight I set out to learn the system in full. It honestly wasn't too difficult, especially for someone who has been to Disney as many times as I have, and I was able to type up instructions for the rest of the group to use to set up their own reservations if they want.

And in order to learn the system in full I had to, of course, make a reservation! So since I already knew that I wanted to go over to Beaches and Cream in March, and I know they accept reservations now, I figured why not! So I set it up and now, in March, guess where I'm going!?! BEACHES AND CREAM!

That, basically, is the story of the very first Disney Reservation I have ever made all by myself. Then again, it's probably not good that I know how to actually do this now. But it is at the same time, because now I can help the band set up their own reservations if they want and answer any questions they may have. And that's what's really important here. I want them to have the best trip possible, after all, and I think all of us who have been to WDW can agree that food is an important part of that.

Here's the DFOTD: An estimated 1.65 million pairs of eyeglasses have made their way to Disney World's lost-and-found bins since 1971. Every year, the park finds an average of about 6,000 cellphones, 3,500 digital cameras and 18,000 hats.

Have a magical day!