Post Highlights :
- Disney Tickets : How to purchase.
2. Fly or Drive?
3. Hotel in Mobile Alabama: Where not to stay.
4. Car Sick Medicine: Don’t forget it.
5. Cool modern day gaming arcade in Mobile Alabama.
This summer we decided to go to Florida, basically to Disney World. We had gone about 4 summers back, and although I didn’t really want to do this trip again because well, for two reasons.
1. It had already been done by us,
and
2. It’s just an expensive trip.
However my 3 boys had been talking about going back ever since our first trip…and honestly folks,
Sometimes doing what your kids want to do is the best way to get quality time with them…
Believe me, every year as they get older, this gets harder. So the tickets got bought and the trip got planned.
Even though it was a “Disney” trip, I opted to share time between Disney and Universal Studios I have boys and they are older…and
we had never been to Universal Studios.
Their main goal was to ride the new Star Wars ride and build a new lightsaber. They also wanted to go to Animal Kingdom.
We had 3 days to be in the parks, so we needed to make some decisions.
How was I going to hit every goal and park that we wanted to?
Obviously I had to buy the most expensive ticket options, the park hopper tickets. Which again, although it jacked up the prices, it was definitely worth it.
I purchased the Disney one day park hopper and the two day park to park tickets for Universal. Grand total of ticket prices for 4 people…about $2,100.00 Yikes! I know, I could have done some things around the house for that, but can you put a price on family time and memories??? No, you really cannot (This was only the beginning of the trip expenses for me).
So in order to guarantee that you can get into the desired parks on the days of your trip then you need to purchase your tickets way in advance.
- First, you check the park’s availability for the days that you are going,
- Second you purchase your tickets, and then
- Third you make your park reservations right then. This reserves your spot in those parks on that day.
My mom made the Hotel Reservations, I had no part in that, and *Disclaimer* This is not really a tutorial on “planning a Disney Vacation”. We were staying for 5 nights and we chose Pop Century. My nephew is a Disney Cast member (yes, that’s right! He is in the shows, which makes him famous, which makes me feel, like I know a famous person) so we got a discount…not sure of how much though, I’m thinking 40% off…which I’m thankful for!
Okay anyway…
Here’s the meat of the trip.
We drove this trip.
I.LIKE.ROAD.TRIPS. PERIOD. Some people don’t…I don’t understand those people.
Trying to decide to fly or drive????
There are definitely times when a road trip just isn’t feasible, but this is not one of those times. We were driving from Dallas Texas to Orlando Florida, it’s about a 16 hour drive. That is doable in one day, but to me, that is not enjoyable.
And honestly it depends on what your goal is.
- Budget
- Available time away
- Distance
- Experience (what type of trip are you going for?
I was the leader of this trip and was driving two 19 year olds, a 13, and 11 year old. So, we didn’t share driving and we stopped.
Mobile Alabama is slightly more than half way so this is where we stopped for the night.
Hotels were pricey!
The best deal that I could find that I felt comfortable enough staying in was the La Quinta. The boys were not impressed, and honestly, neither was I, but it was decent. It was clean, there were no bugs and the location was fine. Those are the 3 things I look for in a hotel.
However the lighting in the room was dim…I did not appreciate that…I mean, If I’m in a hotel room then I want to be able to see everything!
Honestly, I think the reviews are pretty generous on trip advisor. Overall we didn’t have any issues, but out of 5 stars, I give it 3, but paid for a 4 (no way around it really.)
Okay, the place was ugh…but again. No apparant bugs, blood, and the bathroom was clean…
So in Mobile we stopped at Wendy’s, Walmart and KFC, no issues at any place.
Oh and the boys found this place : Engaging Gaming
Definitely check it out if you are in the area of Mobile and have older kids that enjoy gaming.
They thought it was very cool. We had stopped at this location because my 11 year old was CAR SICK! So, don’t forget the car sick medicine. Which he told me he took, and he did not actually take.
And yet we were so close to our first hotel…
Okay, so basically.
Day one road trip was in the books.
Next post will be about our time in the parks!
And how I save $300 off of my trip from the start.
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