337 days to go: BUDGET

337 days to go: Still on the topic of budgeting. Don't forget to budget in other activities you'd like to visit. Gatorland is a fun inexpensive park. It has gator shows, a water play ground, petting zoo area, and you get to feed a tortoise, which my kids loved. Food and drink are at a really fair price. You can take a train around the park or walk the observation walk way over a swampy alligator sanctuary. They also have a display of snakes native to Florida and a few albino gators. Also keep an eye out for Chester and read about this notorious gator. And, also don't forget to stop in at the gift shop and get some gator sticks (like beef sticks, but not beef) they are amazing.

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Countdown Day 339: BUDGET

Ahhhh Day 339...Today we are still on the subject of BUDGETING and we will talk about a FOOD BUDGET! Orlando is filled with many different places to eat! As are the Disney Parks! If you are on a budget then there are many places to eat that offer some pretty fair prices! First of all, there are quite a few buffets in that area! Sizzler, Pondarosa, Golden Corral, just to name a few! There was also an all you can eat lobster buffet for $19.99 on Orlo Bronson Hwy. There were also a ton of places that have "kids eat free" offers where you get a FREE kids meal with a paying adult! That could save some good money! I was also told that if you go to a counter service restaurant at the Disney Parks and order a burger they have a condiments bar where you can use the condiments to build a salad! Meaning when you go to build your burger you can add some extra lettuce and tomatoes to your plate and make a salad! I did this once while I was there! I was also told that you can go to any counter service restaurant at the Disney Parks and ask for an ice water and you get that for FREE also! I was also told that you can order a double cheeseburger and ask for an extra bun and then you can make 2 burgers out that! Disney also allows you to bring in your own food and drinks in a SOFT SIDED cooler! So to save money you can pack some sandwiches and chips for lunch! Or bring along some fruit for a snack! Don't forget that most hotels offer FREE breakfast as well! Another thing to remember are those Hess gas stations at the Disney Parks! Remember they have quite a few food and drink choices there that are only $1.00 each! Our next trip we plan to take advantage of this deal for lunch each day we are there to save a ton of money! Well I hope these tips and tricks have helped!
Please remember to leave any comments at the bottom!

Have a great day!!

340 days to go: BUDGET

340 days to go: Lets keep the budgeting tips going for the week shall we? If you haven't discovered the Hess gas station I highly suggest them! They can save you so much money and they are located practically right outside the gates of the Disney Parks! Their gas is usually about 10 cents cheaper per gallon than other gas stations in the area! The best part is their food. It can save you a fortune to leave the park and go to a Hess filling station. Their hot dogs, sausages, pizza slices and a good portion of fries (bigger than a Mcdonalds large) are only $1 each. That right there can cut your food budget in half if you planned to eat in the Disney parks! When you compare the price you would pay at Hess for a meal to the $8.95 burger meals at the Parks, you can literally save 1/2 the price! So for the people at Hess filling station I salute you! You're doing a great job!  I hope you enjoyed the BUDGETING tip for today! Please feel free to visit me and maybe even like my page on  facebook @
 http://www.facebook.com/pages/my-348-day-disney-countdown/194401127267636

I want to add also that when I started this blog countdown I thought for sure it may seem to drag out the time we have to wait until our vacation,  but really this last week that I have been blogging seems to have gone by faster than I would have thought! I want to thank any and all of my readers here so far and I hope to get more "Followers" soon! I also want to say that I hope this blog has or will soon help some of you out when it comes to planning your trip! Disney World is a VERY MAGICAL place for any family and if you plan right you can take a wonderful trip on probably any budget! I hope you enjoyed this post and if you are new here then please take a look at the older posts and feel free to leave any comments at the bottom! Have a great day!!

341 days to go: Still on BUDGETING...

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341 days to go: Ahh so many days left of waiting...LOL! Well this week we are on the subject of BUDGETING so tonight I will talk about shopping! We all know that shopping at the Parks of Disney can get pretty expensive! Especially if you are a shop-a-holic! Some don't even know they are shop-a-holics until they get to Disney World lol! There are so many shops in the Parks and also outside of the Parks that it's very hard to NOT want to stop and shop! Last year when we went we ended up stopping at probably every gift shop in the Orlando/Kissimmee area and spent a pretty good amount of money! This next year when we go we are taking a different approach! We think a good idea this time would be to buy Disney themed gifts elsewhere and save them up for when we get there and then disperse them from there! Here is the idea...We search for all things "Disney" on Ebay, Craigslist, department stores, etc while we're still in our home area and buy things that are cheap here but would otherwise probably cost double the price in Florida! Then we save them all up and hide them from the kids of course! We will wrap them up and take them along with us on our trip! Once we get there we will give the kids each a gift every day that we are there! They will love it and this will save us a ton of money because since they would have already gotten a gift for the day then we can go cheap while at the Parks and save money that way! Ebay is a great place to shop for Disney items! We got Mickey Shaped balloons like the ones sold at the Parks for a whopping $4/4 from Ebay! They are around $11 each at the Parks so we already saved a ton of money there! We pretty much paid $1 each so that saved $10 for each balloon and we have 3 kids so thats a quick $30 savings! We will probably buy a cheap helium tank and fill them up ourselves! These are probably the biggest shopping tips I can give! I hope you enjoyed and if you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave them below!!  

342 Days to go! Topic this week is "Working with a BUDGET!

342 days to go: Yes, I said it... BUDGET! I would say the most important thing about planning a Disney vacation would probably be the BUDGET! You have to find ways to shave the prices from one area of your trip to put towards the other parts of your trip. For instance, evaluate how important a Disney Resort Hotel is to you. Or will a Best Western, Comfort Inn, or a Baymont Suite work from you? Right there will save you hundreds! On top of that, if you book a package deal (Disney hotel and Disney tickets) through Disney you seem to pay about $200 more than what you would pay if you booked your tickets and hotel separately!  My personal opinion... you are on vacation! Go do something! Don't hang around the hotel. I'm fine staying at an "economy" hotel as long as they have a pool and I don't have to worry about bugs crawling on me while I sleep and house keeping stealing my belongings. We spent maybe only an hour and a half in our room with our eyes open (not sleeping)! An expensive hotel isn't important to me. This is a good way to shave costs from lodging to add to amusement park tickets, souvenirs, food, and other activities. I'm sure there are some good packages out there but most that I seen seem to cost more than when I book my hotel and tickets separately!  To break it down, if you book separately you could potentially save "hundreds" of dollars on your  BUDGET to put towards FUN activities for your family! By the way, that handsome little fella in the photo above is my son! If you are new to this blog be sure to start from the beginning and look around! If you have any questions or comments please feel free to shoot them my way! Hope you are enjoying the blog so far!
 

344 days to go: BUDGET

344 days to go: The free thing to do for today is what I'm gonna call blind sight seeing. That means shut your gps off and put the maps under the car seat. Drive around and look for something to do with an open mind. You can discover all kinds of activities. If you enjoy an evening walk walking from gift shop to gift shop in irlo bronson memorial hwy (192) is quite fun and relaxing. most the gift shops carry the same merchandise, but its still fun. You can also drive down 192 and check out the flea markets there are a few right outside Kissimmee. The flea markets have a pretty wide selection on goods and they aren't as ran down as most flea markets. They also have the cheapest beer you'll find in the area being only $1 (you'll pay $7.50 for the same beer at any disney establishment) for domestic bottles.

345 days to go: BUDGET

345 days to go: The topic is still free stuff do to in the Orlando and kissimmee area. There are all kinds of beaches within an hour or so of driving. We went to cocoa beach the last time we visited. It was an easy driving and pretty shot from kissimmee. They have loads of gift shops including the famous Ron kind surf shop. It's not to far from cape canaveral, plus the to get to cocoa beach you cross a pretty nice size bridge and almost all kids love bridges. The beach itself it pretty clean. The shore is remotely shallow, going about 100 yards out in the water it was about 4 feet deep and some waves going over my head and im 5' 9". It was perfect for body surfing. Closer to the shore the waves have broke and are really mild which are perfect for the younger kids. Last but not least it was not over crowded and we were there over spring break. So that's a huge plus. It was very kid friendly for being a Florida beach over spring break.

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my 348 day countdown until my 5th anniversary at Walt Disney World!

A man should never neglect his family for business
~*Walt Disney*~

For the next 348 days i'm going to attempt to do a countdown until my Fifth Anniversary that we will be spending at Walt Disney World.

But first things first:
About me...  Hi, I'm Brandon White. I'm 25 years old soon to be 26 on the 30th of April. I often think my wife is controlling, but I'm grateful because i can be a bit impulsive. I have three children (all boys) ages 2,5,and 9. They can be a real handful. My oldest son (9) is into extreme sports like bmx biking and skateboarding, he is very coordinated on wheels but not so much on his feet though. My middle son (5) is very into music everywhere from Justin Bieber to Motley Crue. He loves to sing. That leaves me with the baby (2).
He is just coming out of his shell and loves everything his brothers do, plus Barney the dinosaur.

What's the Happiest moment in my life?
Seeing as how I have three children I honestly can't pick one birth over another, because thats not right. I also can't pick my wedding day over my kids' births either, because that wouldn't be right either. The happiest day of my life would have to be watching my family's faces light up their first time at Walt Disney World. I absolutely loved everything about it.

Who are my biggest role models?
I'd  have to say my Grandpa and Walt Disney; both have been through alot in there life.
"Don't spend all your life trying to grow up, because once you're my age you wish your were younger"      ~*Grandpa Joe*~

"All the adversity I've had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me... You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you" ~*Walt Disney*~

348 days to go: I decided to start this blog to hype myself up practically a year before the trip, but also so maybe you can give me tips, ask me questions, suggest topics and whatever else comes of it. I recently read a Walt Disney biography and my mind was blown to read exactly how great of a person he was. As a family man, animator, and business man. There was a point in time that he choose to take a pay cut himself in order to keep his silly symphony animation going under, making himself and Roy Disney the lowest paid salaries in the studio. Now that takes greatness! Can you think of a boss that would voluntarily take a lower salary to keep all his employees? I know I can't think of one. Makes me wonder if maybe we had more bosses like Disney, would our economy be so bad? To have more companies ran by a high moral instead of greed. Disney was a selfless man that created a legacy for parents to share with their children for generations. So you can look at your child and see what your parents seen watching you as a child at a Disney park or watching your favorite Disney movie. I love it because you can relate to their every smile and emotion, while you stand there smiling to yourself thinking "wow" (and where can I get my next smoked turkey leg) lol. Also my goal is to get 100 subscribers in this 348 count down, please help me out if you can! Thank you all!

347 days to go: This weeks topic is going to be fun free stuff to do in the Orlando and Kissimmee area. So for this topic today I choose Downtown Disney! This place is great for children and parents with plenty to offer both. They have events, games, and contests being held as you walk down the boardwalk. This place is most eventful  in the evenings hours. Granted its only free if you enjoy taking a stroll and can enter a gift shop without buying something but there is no admission or parking fee which is a plus, in comparison to Universal Studios Island of Adventures boardwalk that charges a parking fee to access the boardwalk. For the kids at Downtown Disney they have a lego shop (almost like a mini Lego Land) where they can build with legos and race cars that they can do a race against each other with after it's built. They also have the T-rex Cafe and gift shops where they have a play dig site to dig for dino bones. They also have a pretty big animatronic t-rex that the kids love. They also often hold games on the walk like a hula hoop contest, simon says, and other games along that nature. Now, for you parents looking to have a good time as well, they have all kinds of fun. Throughout the boardwalk in the Pleasure Island section, they offer alcoholic beverages, they have a Harley Davison shop, a Sosa's Cigar Shop, Planet Hollywood, House of Blues, Cirque Du Soleil,and endless gift shops! Here is a link for a map http://www.exploreorlandoflorida.com/images/DisneyMaps/disney-world-downtown-disne.jpg. I hope this was a helpful tip that some of you may use on your next Orlando vacation! Thanks for reading! Hope to see you back tomorrow!

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