10 Night, 10th Anniversary Vacation Begins/Ends at Walt Disney World! PTR June 2017 - Updated 6/4

AH! I have gotten so far behind!!!!

Disney Springs Date Day
After looking over some of the things we enjoy doing, certain DVC discounts, and things we always think about trying, but never do...we are actually considering having a Disney Springs area Day Date! Maybe even on our Anniversary actually!

I think this sounds so fun!!! It's changed so much there, I can totally see doing a date day! The last time we were there, there were probably 4-5 different street performers out - it was so awesome!

Small Update! Leaving A Day Earlier!
We have a very small update! We are going to be heading down one day earlier to WDW. We have booked a one bedroom at a DVC Resort different from the two we are already planning on staying at! The reason we are heading down deserves a little story actually. At the present time we are saving up to purchase an RV. Jeremy works out of town a lot and instead of staying in hotels or rental houses, it would be really nice if he were able to have a place to call his own. The bonus for that is that we will be able to travel a lot more if we have our own RV to stay in since we will save money on hotels AND on top of all of that, we will be able to bring our dogs with us when we do travel. So we had planned on going to the RV Super Show in Tampa in January of 2018, and we will still probably do that. We just found out that there is a Summer RV Show at the same place in Tampa June 8-11. Since we are already going to be in Florida for that time, Jeremy decided to take one extra day off so we can still do everything we were planning and be able to go and look around at the RV show for a few hours on the 8th. We will still be able to make it back in time for our check-in at Beach Club, probably earlier than we were planning on getting there in the first place, which is awesome because that will give us more time hanging out at the pool there!! We are really excited for this other little baby side adventure and can't wait to show you guys where we are staying during the Trip Report! Hint: It is one of the top 5 resorts on our original list! Remember, we are already staying at Beach Club and Grand Floridian! So which one is it, less than a month to find out!!

Now that we are in the home stretch we are playing the waiting game, everything is pretty much budgeted, we are patiently awaiting our new style Magic Bands and are really excited that we have pretty much finalized our plans on what we are going to do while we are there. This is definitely going to be an unorthodox vacation at Disney World and other Florida area, we can't wait to go on it and share it with everyone when we get back! Maybe you guys will see something you have never done at Disney and try it on your next trip! Who knows, but we can't wait to go!!

An extra vacation day is never a bad thing! Enjoy the RV show - we go to the Boat, Sport and Travel show here every few years and we always have lots of fun looking at the RVs and campers!


Animal Kingdom is going to be a mad house I bet with Pandora opening, Rivers of Light etc. Hollywood is a big construction zone at the moment, and then with the new Happily Ever After at Magic Kingdom. We want to visit some of these places on a less busy time of year instead of in June with the heat and he crowds. We are about 18 days out! We keep counting down every day! I have also been checking the magic band tracking number and they finally arrived at our post office in town, so fingers crossed we should have those by the end of today, or at least Monday hopefully! I will keep you guys posted about that!

To me, this is one of the best things about your trip - still getting plenty of Disney, but not dealing with those crowds!!!!

Final Trip Budget! *Fingers Crossed*

So, we have made additions, and gotten rid of things, I have counted up mileage, and looked at restaurants. I have looked for discounts, read over menus to try and figure out what exactly we are planning on eating, calculated tolls, found activity prices, DVC discounts, hopefully this is the final budget, since I have added a few more table service/signature restaurants in the last couple of days. This budget is for 11 Night/12 Days. We are staying at 3 different DVC resorts with points. 2 different 1-bedroom villas, and a studio for 5 nights. 4 hotels on our Florida Key portion of the trip, the map is going to look pretty fun with all of the driving!! So, there are also two of us, and we are not planning on going to any of the 4 main parks at the moment. We are planning on visiting Typhoon Lagoon, and that extra cost is added in. This trip sure looks a WHOLE lot different than when we started planning it, but I sat down last night and crunched all the numbers and hopefully we will have saved up enough for this one! You guys will get to follow along on the TR to see how well we did and if we came in *hopefully* under budget! So, let the final budget begin!!

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Day One:

  • Breakfast @ Port City Java $10
  • Lunch @ The Pickled Palate $30
  • Dinner @ Outback Steakhouse $25 (We have a 15% Off Coupon and a $25 Gift Card)
  • Fuel $70 (2 Tanks at $35 each)
  • Territory Lounge $20
Day Two:
  • Breakfast @ Geyser Point Bar & Grill $30
  • RV Show @ Florida State Fairgrounds $14
  • Lunch $20 (No Idea Where)
  • Dinner @ Flying Fish $200
  • Fuel $35
Day Three:
  • Breakfast @ Boardwalk Bakery $10
  • Lunch @ Fish House, Key Largo $60
  • Dinner @ Snapper's Oceanfront $100
  • Fuel $35
Day Four:
  • Breakfast @ Harriette's $20
  • Snorkel Tour @ John Pennekamp Coral Ref State Park $56
  • Lunch @ Islamorada Shrimp $50
  • Hotel in Marathon, FL $225
  • Dinner @ Island Fish Company $100
Day Five:
  • Breakfast @ The Wooden Spoon $20
  • Lunch @ BO's Fish Wagon $50
  • Parking $15
  • Dinner @ Latitude's Sunset Key $150
  • Hotel in Key West, FL $200
  • Fuel $35
Day Six:
  • Fuel $35
  • Breakfast @ Blue Heaven $40
  • Road Snack @ Robert Is Here $15
  • Lunch @ Crema, Miami $30
  • Hotel in Hollywood, FL $160
  • Dinner @ Sugar Reef Grill $100
Day Seven:
  • Fuel $35
  • Breakfast @ Cafe Club by Les Artistes $30
  • Lunch @ Berry Fresh Cafe $30
  • Dinner @ Chef Art Smith's Homecomin' $100
Day Eight:
  • Breakfast @ Kona Cafe $45
  • Typhoon Lagoon $100
  • Lunch @ Quick Service $30
  • Dinner @ Artist Point $150
Day Nine:
  • Breakfast @ Quick Service $25
  • Disney World Miniature Golf Tournament! $100
  • After Tea @ Garden View Tea Room $100
  • Dinner @ Quick Service $50
Day Ten: Our 10th Anniversary!
  • Breakfast @ Starbucks $20
  • Aerophile Balloon Ride $20
  • Bowling @ Splitsville $25
  • Lunch @ Quick Service $30
  • Surrey Bikes @ Port Orleans $50?
  • Dinner @ The Boathouse $150
  • La Nouba $120
Day Eleven:
  • Breakfast $20
  • Canoeing @ Fort Wilderness $20
  • Lunch @ Quick Service $30
  • Dinner @ Frontera Cocina $50
Day Twelve:
  • Fuel $70 (2 Tanks at $35 each)
  • Breakfast $20
  • Lunch $20
  • Dinner $20
TOTAL $3500.00

If you have read one of my trip reports before, you will know that I tend to budget on the high side. I would much rather have too much set aside than not nearly enough, I don't want to have to be transferring more funds from savings to checking during the trip. We have a Sunpass on our car...I know we live in North Carolina, but that tells you how much we go to Florida...LOL! For the restaurants, we looked at every menu, some of them didn't have prices so I tried to make educated guesses on those. The good thing is that all of the Disney ones do! So we looked at appetizers, entrees, desserts, and drinks. Basically we figured out in each category what our options were, and from that, I budgeted the most expensive choice. So like at Flying Fish for example, there were 3 options for me of entrees that I would choose, so out of those three, I picked the most expensive and budgeted for that one. So the budgeted amount is basically the maximum amount we would spend at any of these locations. Hopefully, they will all be less than what I think, but if we decide to go all out and get an appetizer, the most expensive entrees from our choices, a dessert, and two drinks, plus tax, and tip, that is where the numbers came from! It definitely looks expensive from where I am looking...LOL, however, we have saved for this trip all year, setting aside money here and there, we wanted to be able to experience exactly what we wanted during our 10th Anniversary Trip! I think the average it comes out to is around $300 per day. That price is definitely inflated a little because of the 4 additional hotel rooms we are needing for the Keys portion of the trip, as well as all of the extra fuel we will be using driving down there, back and to Tampa, and back. normally those costs would have been a lot less. We would have only need about 5 tanks of gas instead of he 8 or so we are going to be getting.

Next, I am curious if any of you budget for your trips? If so, how do you do it? Do you go all out like me and figure out menu choices, and mileage and stuff? Or do you just pick a certain dollar amount and not go over that? The way we do it has worked for us quite a few times and pretty much every time I have come in under budget, which is great because the extra money can always go back into savings, plus it makes me feel better to know that I spent less than I thought I would, instead of the opposite which is more than I thought, and that is no fun for anyone when you come back from a vacation and realize you spent way too much money on it and now have to figure out where that extra is going to come from! So, that is about all for this one! We are like 17 days out now, so getting hyped! With our magic bands arrival yesterday, everything is getting closer!! If you guys have any questions about the budget or anything else, just let me know! Have a great day!

I must confess...I don't really budget. We do make plans and try to assess how irresponsible we want to be. LOL. For example, while planning our 10 year anniversary Hawaii trip (did I tell you we changed from Ireland to Hawaii???), we are doing AirBNB the whole trip. We were trying to decide on whether to get a super nice place for the last week or go cheap(er). We went cheaper and saved the 1K difference. But, had we decided it was worth it, we would have splurged. We kind of do that with meals. We are both relatively frugal most of the time, so we try to allow ourselves some relaxation in that area during vacation. So we don't start out planning a trip saying, we are going to only spend x.xx, we just make decisions along the way. However, we do a total at the end to see what we spent. Does that make any sense at all??? HAHA!

11 Days To Go!!

Less than two weeks away, we are finally starting our packing list and getting things together so we won't forget anything when we go. Yesterday we went and did some shopping for extra clothing, there are some Memorial Day sales going on at the moment so we figured we would take advantage of those. I needed a few new pairs of shorts and some shirts too for the summer. Recently we went thorough all of our clothing and weeded out a lot of stuff that we haven't worn in a long time, things that have been worn too much, and just some other stuff we found, may go in to a yard/garage sale but if not it will definitely go to charity. With maybe 50 things I got rid of, I ended up buying I think 3 pairs of shorts, a dress, a pair of jeans, and maybe 6 shirts. So not too bad, and this will help out a lot on the trip and at home too!

So, at the moment, I am looking through the itinerary and trying to figure out how many outfits I will need to bring with me so I don't overpack, we will also need some swimwear and a few nights of more dressed up attire for 3-4 restaurants we are going to. Also need to throw in casual travel day clothes and things like that. We decided on bringing two camera, our Nikon underwater camera for when we go snorkeling in the keys, and then my Canon t5i for regular photo taking. For video this time, I think we are just going to use Jeremy's iphone since he has so much room on it, and it takes pretty good video, well good enough for vlogging for ourselves anyway so we can make a recap video for my family and the friends that want to see the trip.

Other than that, sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen!! Over the past few weeks I have stocked up on all the sunscreen sales at Walgreens with the BOGOs and coupons and stuff so we should be set on sunscreen! Yesterday while we were out I also went to lenscrafters. It was time to order a new pair of glasses, so basically they were having a 40% lenses and frames sale if you purchased one pair, so I went ahead and ordered a new pair of sunglasses too. My current ones have seen better days, and since they are prescription sunglasses too, I definitely needed to update the lenses in the old ones, but it actually came out cheaper to buy a whole new pair instead of getting lenses put in the old ones.

I think that is about all for the moment, next weekend we will start packing. For now, we are going to hide in the house this Memorial Day weekend, we live in a vacation town and the tourists get pretty plentiful starting this weekend. Crowded streets and grocery stores and such, for our little town it swells from about 3000 people to about 25000, so we are really excited to go on vacation ourselves pretty soon!! Less than two weeks!!! So excited! Have a great day and weekend everyone!

Good girl on the sunscreen and shopping deals! I am the queen of overpacking and not using half of what I take. I am hoping to be better and plan more thoroughly for Hawaii...we almost never check bags when we fly and we will have to this time, so I want to only check 1 big suitcase. We are also island hopping a little bit and staying in several different places, so I don't want a ton to pack and repack.

I am getting so excited for you!!!! I hope you do a TR!!! If you have any social media where you will be updating, feel free to share!!!
 
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I think this sounds so fun!!! It's changed so much there, I can totally see doing a date day! The last time we were there, there were probably 4-5 different street performers out - it was so awesome!

It has absolutely changed so much since we have been there last! Can't wait to check out all the new stores, all the new restaurants, see the street performers, we have watched a bunch of videos and a day might even not be enough to see everything...haha! It should be fun!!

An extra vacation day is never a bad thing! Enjoy the RV show - we go to the Boat, Sport and Travel show here every few years and we always have lots of fun looking at the RVs and campers!

We have only been to one RV show before and back then, we weren't even really looking to buy one, this time we have all of our wants/needs ready, so we are much more focused on looking and I can't wait to see everything there! This one should be relatively small but it is in the same location as the RV Super Show in January, which is the largest rv show in the country and we are hoping to go to that one next year!

To me, this is one of the best things about your trip - still getting plenty of Disney, but not dealing with those crowds!!!!

Yeah, I saw a post the other day about like a 250 minute wait or something at Flight of Passage and I was like, no thanks! I'm glad that we made the decision we did, when we do parks we like to have everything mapped out and fastpassed so we don't really have to wait at all, and this time around, that is going to be next to impossible with all of the new things going on and such. This is definitely going to be interesting for us, so I really hope it works out well, if it does, we know that we won't always be relegated to the parks and we can do other things on our trips down!

I must confess...I don't really budget. We do make plans and try to assess how irresponsible we want to be. LOL. For example, while planning our 10 year anniversary Hawaii trip (did I tell you we changed from Ireland to Hawaii???), we are doing AirBNB the whole trip. We were trying to decide on whether to get a super nice place for the last week or go cheap(er). We went cheaper and saved the 1K difference. But, had we decided it was worth it, we would have splurged. We kind of do that with meals. We are both relatively frugal most of the time, so we try to allow ourselves some relaxation in that area during vacation. So we don't start out planning a trip saying, we are going to only spend x.xx, we just make decisions along the way. However, we do a total at the end to see what we spent. Does that make any sense at all??? HAHA!

Ooh! Hawaii that should be fun! What made you guys change your mind, I'm just glad we aren't the only ones who always change our trips...haha! I totally get the assessing irresponsibility!! I feel like our budget is kind of like that, we pick everything we want to do first, then figure out how much all of that might cost, then if we skip something...not a big deal! We are like you at the same time, if we see something we want to do, we would absolutely splurge on it, whether we budgeted for it or not. I think our number just comes from us picking everything we want to do and then adding all of that up, instead of picking a number that we want to spend and fitting everything in to that..hahaha! I would love to hear about that trip, we always think about going to Hawaii, but have never made the leap. Oh yeah!! I started blogging our Iceland trip after you said something about it, so if you wanted to read about it here is the link! Iceland Trip Blog

Good girl on the sunscreen and shopping deals! I am the queen of overpacking and not using half of what I take. I am hoping to be better and plan more thoroughly for Hawaii...we almost never check bags when we fly and we will have to this time, so I want to only check 1 big suitcase. We are also island hopping a little bit and staying in several different places, so I don't want a ton to pack and repack.

Before we went to Iceland, we sat down and watched a bunch of videos on packing efficiently, and after that, we have only ever taken backpacks on trips. Even when we went to Iceland for those 11 days, we each took a backpack and a personal item! We bought Osprey 46 Backpacks, and girl, these things hold a TON of stuff!! We have used them so much in the past two years and they still look brand new!! For this 12 day trip, we sat down and figured out how many nice dinner outfits, casual, dinner casual, swimwear, and all of the other clothing we needed for each day, and everything like that, went through and chose stuff and then I put everything in my backpack and still had room! We are driving and have plenty of room to take large suitcases, but we didn't even need them! Super easy to keep organized and very easy to pick up and go when you need to! May be worth a watch since you guys are big on carry on, it could help you out! It definitely helped us out, before we always lugged huge suitcases along even on like a 7 day cruise, we feel so free now when we travel, and I still get to take like 8 bottles of sunscreen and hair products and everything, you know me, I curl my hair all the time..hahah!!!

I am getting so excited for you!!!! I hope you do a TR!!! If you have any social media where you will be updating, feel free to share!!!

I haven't done social media in a while, but if I make one, I will absolutely let you know before we leave! How long do you guys have until Hawaii?? I want to know so much about your trip now...haha! Island hopping and AirBnB!
 
Ooh! Hawaii that should be fun! What made you guys change your mind

The more I researched going to Europe, the more it seemed like work. We really ended up feeling like Ireland, while it will be amazing when we do get to go, isn't exactly 10 year anniversary celebration material. It's our first time in Europe, we will be constantly going and getting our bearings, and we weren't convinced that is the first place we want to see in Europe anyway. So we thought - where should we go that is relaxing, yet still plenty of amazing exploring opportunities? Hawaii!!! Our phones will work, no currency trading and we have a friend that lives there that can help us with logistics. We thought about going bigger - Tahiti or Bora Bora, but we want to save that for later down the road. Those kind of seem like the epitome of tropical travel, LOL.

I started blogging our Iceland trip after you said something about it, so if you wanted to read about it here is the link! Iceland Trip Blog

YAY!!!!!!!!! New reading material!!! I can't wait to binge read!!!!!!

Before we went to Iceland, we sat down and watched a bunch of videos on packing efficiently, and after that, we have only ever taken backpacks on trips. Even when we went to Iceland for those 11 days, we each took a backpack and a personal item! We bought Osprey 46 Backpacks, and girl, these things hold a TON of stuff!! We have used them so much in the past two years and they still look brand new!! For this 12 day trip, we sat down and figured out how many nice dinner outfits, casual, dinner casual, swimwear, and all of the other clothing we needed for each day, and everything like that, went through and chose stuff and then I put everything in my backpack and still had room! We are driving and have plenty of room to take large suitcases, but we didn't even need them! Super easy to keep organized and very easy to pick up and go when you need to! May be worth a watch since you guys are big on carry on, it could help you out! It definitely helped us out, before we always lugged huge suitcases along even on like a 7 day cruise, we feel so free now when we travel, and I still get to take like 8 bottles of sunscreen and hair products and everything, you know me, I curl my hair all the time..hahah!!!

I haven't done social media in a while, but if I make one, I will absolutely let you know before we leave! How long do you guys have until Hawaii?? I want to know so much about your trip now...haha! Island hopping and AirBnB!

Thank you so much - I will definitely be checking those bags out!!! I travel for work, so it would be nice to have something better for that, as well!!!

We don't go to Hawaii until Sept 19th and we will be gone for 2 weeks! We are planning on Oahu, Maui, Lanai and Molokai!

Ok, so now I am inspired!!!! I need to get our Smithville blog going so we can share our trip!!!! I will undoubtedly be Instagramming, of course, but that isn't enough! I recently bought a G7 X camera (good for vlogging) and have been shooting video for the first time. Do you recommend a video editing software?
 
The more I researched going to Europe, the more it seemed like work. We really ended up feeling like Ireland, while it will be amazing when we do get to go, isn't exactly 10 year anniversary celebration material. It's our first time in Europe, we will be constantly going and getting our bearings, and we weren't convinced that is the first place we want to see in Europe anyway. So we thought - where should we go that is relaxing, yet still plenty of amazing exploring opportunities? Hawaii!!! Our phones will work, no currency trading and we have a friend that lives there that can help us with logistics. We thought about going bigger - Tahiti or Bora Bora, but we want to save that for later down the road. Those kind of seem like the epitome of tropical travel, LOL.

I totally agree with you there. Whenever we were planning our European Disney cruise, we were seeing how much before and after there was and also when we were looking up the ports and what we could do there we realized that we would much rather just go to Iceland...haha! Hopefully eventually, we will decide to make the trek out to Hawaii, I am just not fond of long flights, but I am sure we will do it sometime. We always talked about going to Bora Bora for our honeymoon or anniversaries and we never decide on doing it. It looks gorgeous, but as I research more, I see all of these amazing places that I want to go too! It definitely is one of those tropical travel destinations that are at the top of the top!

YAY!!!!!!!!! New reading material!!! I can't wait to binge read!!!!!!

Yeah, I started looking through the photos, found the trip journal, and was like, ok I gotta do this, it is so much fun reading over that stuff, I can't believe it has already been two years since we were there, so it is great being able to look back on the memories!!

Thank you so much - I will definitely be checking those bags out!!! I travel for work, so it would be nice to have something better for that, as well!!!

We don't go to Hawaii until Sept 19th and we will be gone for 2 weeks! We are planning on Oahu, Maui, Lanai and Molokai!

Ok, so now I am inspired!!!! I need to get our Smithville blog going so we can share our trip!!!! I will undoubtedly be Instagramming, of course, but that isn't enough! I recently bought a G7 X camera (good for vlogging) and have been shooting video for the first time. Do you recommend a video editing software?

I think you guys are going to have a great trip! I was reading around the trip reports and I saw that MarbleBob and his family went to Hawaii and stayed at Aulani for a few days of the entire time they were there, and everything they did looked amazing!! September is not too far away!!

Video is fun, I love watching our trip videos, maybe when we finally get our RV and start driving around the country I will do a vlog, that would be fun I think! So for video editing software I use my Mac, so I use Final Cut Pro, back when I edited on my PC I always used either Adobe or Sony Vegas, I know there are a lot of new editing programs/suites our there now, I have been so accustomed to FCPX now that I have not even looked around at the newer options, I do know that there are really great video editors for iPhones now! But those are the ones I am familiarized with!
 


:banana:3 Days To Go!:banana:

It is time to start getting packed and ready to go! Yesterday we did our pre-trip car wash! We always clean the car from front to back, inside and out before we go on a trip. We got it nice and vacuumed out, got rid of any stray trash in there, cleaned all of the dash and windows, then we went up to the car wash got half way soaping and brushing it up and the car wash stopped working, so we had to drive it home half soapy! Luckily, it is only like a block away from our house so we were able to get it home and get it rinsed. We didn't have any car wash at the house, so we had to do the remaining with dish soap which is not the best at all, but it worked until we can get some more. King Candy is all ready to pack up starting today!

We are going to start getting stuff in there this afternoon I think, no clothing or anything yet, just stuff like our snorkel gear for the keys, sun hat since I can't put it in a suitcase, and maybe other things that won't be in the suitcases like the trip journal, budget notebook, chargers, camera equipment and that sort of thing. We aren't planning on putting in the clothing/toiletry bags until the evening before. We want to put them in there early so the dogs won't get upset. They get sort of hyper and crazy when they know we are packing to go somewhere. I just want them to be calm when we leave, so we aren't going to leave that morning taking stuff out to the car because then they will know we are going on a trip. My Mom is going to be driving down as usual to take care of them and the house for the majority of the time, my Dad will be here the rest of the time that she isn't.

We have been watching the weather for our trip and at the moment, it isn't looking too great, here are some examples...haha!
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Everything I keep hearing is that Florida is in a drought, well it looks like that isn't going to hold up while we are there. The other cities of the keys, and Miami look the same way currently. Of course we know Florida weather, so this could probably not even remotely be like this at all, but we are going to prepare some additional indoor activities just in case we can't do anything that we have planned already. What is funny though is that when we went to Alaska for our 5th Anniversary, on the actual day of our Anniversary, it was the only day of the entire trip that rained and cancelled our plans, then when we went to Iceland, our Anniversary day was the most foggy where we couldn't really see any of the sights as we were driving around, so we will see how this turns out, we have been to Disney quite a few times in June before, almost every year for 8 years or so, and it never rained quite like it looks like it might, but we shall see, luckily we are waiting until arrival to purchase water park tickets, and stuff like that just in case we aren't able to go there, we won't waste the money!

I think that is what is going on at the moment, we are getting pretty excited to get going on this one, so many great restaurants to try and fun new activities (weather permitting) to try as well! If I don't get a chance to post again before we leave, thank you guys for reading along on the pre-trip report! I hope to have the trip report started when we get back!
 
Really enjoyed reading about all your plans! I hope you have an amazing trip. :)
 


Yeah, I started looking through the photos, found the trip journal, and was like, ok I gotta do this, it is so much fun reading over that stuff, I can't believe it has already been two years since we were there, so it is great being able to look back on the memories!!

I think you guys are going to have a great trip! I was reading around the trip reports and I saw that MarbleBob and his family went to Hawaii and stayed at Aulani for a few days of the entire time they were there, and everything they did looked amazing!! September is not too far away!!

Video is fun, I love watching our trip videos, maybe when we finally get our RV and start driving around the country I will do a vlog, that would be fun I think! So for video editing software I use my Mac, so I use Final Cut Pro, back when I edited on my PC I always used either Adobe or Sony Vegas, I know there are a lot of new editing programs/suites our there now, I have been so accustomed to FCPX now that I have not even looked around at the newer options, I do know that there are really great video editors for iPhones now! But those are the ones I am familiarized with!

So glad you decided to start a blog! I read most of it over the weekend - need to go back and comment! :) Can't WAIT to read about the Puffin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We batted around going to Aulani for a few days, but we were trying to not move around a ton. Definitely want to do that someday, though!

Thank you so much for the recommendations!! Will be checking those out soon!

:banana:3 Days To Go!:banana:

It is time to start getting packed and ready to go! Yesterday we did our pre-trip car wash! We always clean the car from front to back, inside and out before we go on a trip. We got it nice and vacuumed out, got rid of any stray trash in there, cleaned all of the dash and windows, then we went up to the car wash got half way soaping and brushing it up and the car wash stopped working, so we had to drive it home half soapy! Luckily, it is only like a block away from our house so we were able to get it home and get it rinsed. We didn't have any car wash at the house, so we had to do the remaining with dish soap which is not the best at all, but it worked until we can get some more. King Candy is all ready to pack up starting today!

We are going to start getting stuff in there this afternoon I think, no clothing or anything yet, just stuff like our snorkel gear for the keys, sun hat since I can't put it in a suitcase, and maybe other things that won't be in the suitcases like the trip journal, budget notebook, chargers, camera equipment and that sort of thing. We aren't planning on putting in the clothing/toiletry bags until the evening before. We want to put them in there early so the dogs won't get upset. They get sort of hyper and crazy when they know we are packing to go somewhere. I just want them to be calm when we leave, so we aren't going to leave that morning taking stuff out to the car because then they will know we are going on a trip. My Mom is going to be driving down as usual to take care of them and the house for the majority of the time, my Dad will be here the rest of the time that she isn't.

We have been watching the weather for our trip and at the moment, it isn't looking too great, here are some examples...haha!
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Everything I keep hearing is that Florida is in a drought, well it looks like that isn't going to hold up while we are there. The other cities of the keys, and Miami look the same way currently. Of course we know Florida weather, so this could probably not even remotely be like this at all, but we are going to prepare some additional indoor activities just in case we can't do anything that we have planned already. What is funny though is that when we went to Alaska for our 5th Anniversary, on the actual day of our Anniversary, it was the only day of the entire trip that rained and cancelled our plans, then when we went to Iceland, our Anniversary day was the most foggy where we couldn't really see any of the sights as we were driving around, so we will see how this turns out, we have been to Disney quite a few times in June before, almost every year for 8 years or so, and it never rained quite like it looks like it might, but we shall see, luckily we are waiting until arrival to purchase water park tickets, and stuff like that just in case we aren't able to go there, we won't waste the money!

I think that is what is going on at the moment, we are getting pretty excited to get going on this one, so many great restaurants to try and fun new activities (weather permitting) to try as well! If I don't get a chance to post again before we leave, thank you guys for reading along on the pre-trip report! I hope to have the trip report started when we get back!

That weather!!!!! You are right tho - it is Florida and it will likely change - it is the same for us here in Indiana!

We do the same thing with our doggie. If i am in the closet too long, she starts to get nervous! We usually have something to distract her when we pack - a bone or something to occupy her in another room. She gets so upset!!!! Poor babies!!!

I hope you guys have a fantastic trip and get to do all the amazing things you have been planning!!!!!!!!! Relax and enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
So glad you decided to start a blog! I read most of it over the weekend - need to go back and comment! :) Can't WAIT to read about the Puffin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my gosh! The puffin were so amazing, definitely a place that is worth a bucket list type of visit. It was probably my favorite and most memorable thing we did the entire trip!

We batted around going to Aulani for a few days, but we were trying to not move around a ton. Definitely want to do that someday, though!

We have made DVC reservations at Aulani one time, and I don't remember what happened that we canceled it...hmm. We would love to go to Hawaii, especially after a lot of trip reports and stuff we have seen about it. One day I am sure we will get there, I know you guys are going to have a fantastic time at all the Air B&Bs!

Thank you so much for the recommendations!! Will be checking those out soon!

I hope one of them helps you out, but I wish I knew more about the newer ones!

That weather!!!!! You are right tho - it is Florida and it will likely change - it is the same for us here in Indiana!

Now since we are leaving tomorrow we have been checking the apps with radar, and it looks like we are in for a wet trip! The funny thing is, the weather is really nice here at home...haha! We are leaving the best weather we have had in like 4 years of living here to go to that...haha!!

We do the same thing with our doggie. If i am in the closet too long, she starts to get nervous! We usually have something to distract her when we pack - a bone or something to occupy her in another room. She gets so upset!!!! Poor babies!!!

You know exactly what it is like, we both love our doggies and would do anything to make them happy! We are being very discreet with the packing today, I will go and put a few things in a bag, and then leave it and go do something else. I think we are going to secretly put the bags in the car too, that way when we leave they won't necessarily know we are going somewhere for a trip, my Mom and Dad take great care of them though, so I know they will be having fun while we are gone too!

I hope you guys have a fantastic trip and get to do all the amazing things you have been planning!!!!!!!!! Relax and enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As of yesterday, a portion of it has changed already...with the radar and forecast the way it is if it were storming, a lot of our keys activities like snorkeling at the coral reef park, and that sort of thing we wouldn't be able to do. We also thought about it for a while and driving a whole lot in stormy weather wouldn't really be a fun vacation at all, however, we do know how to navigate Disney in rain and storms...so...you know what that means...maybe parks after all???
 
Now since we are leaving tomorrow we have been checking the apps with radar, and it looks like we are in for a wet trip! The funny thing is, the weather is really nice here at home...haha! We are leaving the best weather we have had in like 4 years of living here to go to that...haha!!

As of yesterday, a portion of it has changed already...with the radar and forecast the way it is if it were storming, a lot of our keys activities like snorkeling at the coral reef park, and that sort of thing we wouldn't be able to do. We also thought about it for a while and driving a whole lot in stormy weather wouldn't really be a fun vacation at all, however, we do know how to navigate Disney in rain and storms...so...you know what that means...maybe parks after all???

Crossing my fingers for you!!! But if you end up at the parks, well that isn't too bad either!!!
 

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