Our Non-Disney, Disney Weekend for only $210!!!

[myasma]

It all started with one boy's wish...... My nephew's birthday was coming up and he told his Mom all he wanted for his birthday was to go swimming at a hotel. Well, it didn't seem like his wish would come true as my sister has five children and two on the way and planning a spur of the moment trip just did not fit into the budget. Until, his fairy godmother stepped in (That's where I come in) and made his dreams come true.

Cast:



The star of this trip report is my nephew. We shall call him I. I loves everything to do with pirates and his favorite park is Animal Kingdom. I is ADHD, gets easily distracted, and is always on the go but he enjoys Disney and loves every minute of it.

Next up is my Mom. She has come to be my Disney travel person and is usually my partner in crime when planning new Disney trips. Her favorite character is Tinkerbelle and her favorite park is Magic Kingdom.

Lastly is Me! I am 27 and love to travel to Disney. I try to visit every year but haven't been able to for the past couple of years. My favorite characters are tinkerbelle and Mickey Mouse and my favorite park is Magic Kingdom.

The Plot Thickens...

We were planning to have a party for my nephew instead of the hotel trip but I had remembered that I had $100 left in my Groupon account from an old refunded purchase. I was going to book an hotel for Myrtle Beach but then a thought started to form in my head. I called up my Mom and asked. "Why don't we just book in Florida and spend the weekend there?" She agreed and we booked an hotel in Florida and now had an weekend planned for the Disney Area. We decided not to tell I about it and started to plan. Although we decided not to go to any parks, our weekend was still jam packed with lots of Disney magic!!

 

[myasma]

The plan for today was to hit the road as soon as my Mom's cable got installed at 10:00 am. Well, her installation did not finish till 11:27 am, my dryer stopped working and I needed to make a run to the laundromat to finish, and a friend stopped by in the last 15 minutes before we left and decided she wanted to do my hair. We finally left my house at 1:15 pm but we made three more stops before we really hit the road. One for gas, second because my nephew just needed some ice cream, and third because by this time we needed lunch. My nephew was still oblivious to where we were going and thought we were taking him to his great grandmother's house.




The car ride seemed to take forever. After we passed into SC, there was a road that we needed to stay on for 383 miles. It seemed like it wou;ld never be over!! When we passed into Ga, I started to become suspicious. He asked what state we were in and we answered "Oh, the state that takes us to Grandma's house." He soon fell back to sleep and we decided to finally tell him when we reached the Florida welcome center. His face lit up when I told him, "We're in Florida!!"





We still had a two hour ride before we arrived at our hotel. It was past 12 am when we finally checked in. The hotel was okay but it definitely wasn't a Disney property hotel. We ate a late dinner of pizza and passed out.

 

[myasma]

Normally on a trip, I am waking everyone else up ready to get our vacation started but after our long day yesterday, my Mom had to wake me up this morning. We went down to breakfast which the hotel provided. It really was not very good and no real effort was put into it. We were not happy with it but the hotel was free so I couldn't really complain too much. After breakfast my nephew wanted to go swimming so we got changed and went down to the pool.








I put one toe in and upon discovering that the pool was not heated and felt like icicles, pulled his toe out and decided to go back to the hotel room. We relaxed until 12:15 pm when we left to eat lunch at Steak N' Shakes before our 1:20 movie time. I had coupons for Steak N' Shakes so we only spent 13 dollars there. After lunch, we headed to downtown Disney where me and I were going to see the new Hunger Games movie. After the movie was over, we headed over to the Lego store where I enjoyed building, buying a couple of birthday presents for himself, and meeting a couple of Lego characters.

 

[myasma]

Proud of his purchases, we left Disney Property for CiCi's pizza Buffet. Dinner was 12 dollars. We then headed back to property to Fort Wilderness Campgrounds for the campfire smore's and sing along. We stayed for the beginning of Mary Poppins and then headed to the Great Floridian to watch Wishes. On the way we stopped at The Contemporary so we could walk around and catch the monorail. I was very nervous about the height and monorail ride. He was quickly on the way to shut down town but my Mom talked him back into his calm. We got him on the monorail and his verdict was that he loved it!!













When we reached the GF, we saw the famous life size gingerbread house and were astounded by the enormous tree. We made it to the pier of Narcoosies just in time to see the end of the electrical parade. We had a perfect viewing spot for holiday Wishes. After Wishes was over we headed back to the hotel and fell into a blissful sleep.

 

[myasma]

Today was our departure day. We left at check out and hit the road. We arrived back home around 7:30. We all had a great time and agreed that even though we did not visit any parks, we still had experienced the Disney magic. We can't wait to take my nieces in march for their birthday trip!!! This time however there will be visits to the parks and so much more!!

 

[auntmeme7577]

Sounds like a fun mini vacation. You are an awesome Auntie and I know your nephew will always remember this trip!
Great value for $210

 

[myasma]

Sounds like a fun mini vacation. You are an awesome Auntie and I know your nephew will always remember this trip!
Great value for $210

Thank You! I hope he does remember these trips as he gets older.

 

[Marsheliz]

awww.. what a wonderful aunt you are!!! Sounds like a great weekend and I'm sure one, he won't soon forget!