New Adventure!!!

    For the first time ever, I am going on a Disney Cruise!!!!  We are celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary, and its a Merrytime Cruise! (apparently "Christmas" is not allowed) 

    I am so very excited and I fully intend to blog about it!  In the photo is the booklet that they sent me along with our luggage tags.  Its great to have but I wish it had a little more information about dress code. 

  We are sailing out of Galveston, TX on November 23rd, it will be the best Black Friday ever.

Tip of the Day #3 Disneyland and the Good Neighbor Hotels.

  When you go to WDW Resort in Florida, by all means stay at a Disney resort. I've stayed at four of them and they are all amazing.  I love being immersed in the Disney magic of the Resort.

  When you are at Disneyland, however, its not quite the same.   Even though their hotels are fabulous (and they are)  because you are surrounded by Anaheim, there isn't the feeling of total immersion that you sense in Florida.  Don't let this get you down!  Here is the good news!  There are several Good Neighbor hotels all around Disneyland that are nice, and reasonably priced.  Many of them are within walking distance, which means that you save on parking or shuttles.  In fact, several of them are even closer to the Main Entrance than the Disneyland Hotel or the Paradise Pier Hotel.  

  You can save time and money by doing this.  My family and I have stayed at several of these hotels in the past few years, ranging from the Super 8 on Katella to the Castle Inn and Suites on Harbor.
My favorite?  The Alamo Inn on Katella.  They have reasonably priced family suites and we like all the greenery around the hotel. We have stayed here twice, and we like it.  

  So, read all the reviews and look at the map to see the distances.  You might save a bundle.  Also, look into Getaway Today vacations.  They always have good deals for the Good Neighbor Hotels.  I've used them several times and they have always been exceedingly helpful.

Disney Bounding

For those like me who were clueless, Disney-bounding is when you wear an outfit that is inspired by a Disney character.   On our last trip DD22 went as........Anna!  It was hot and she had to wear those boots, but she looked great.   

There are so many ideas for Disney-bounding on Pinterest.  Its great for those who would wear a costume if they could.  I just love it!

Our very first time

 This is my youngest Disney fan.   A few months ago we had the chance to visit the Happiest Place on Earth for a few days.  When we do more than one day at a time, we do things we don't normally do, like ride the Mark Twain. Since we were going to ride, I wanted to ride in the Wheel House.  I asked a Cast Member, and they said that they didn't take requests.  I thanked her.  A few moments later a Cast Member that heard our conversation invited me an my family to the Wheel House!

 We had a great view of the park and learned some interesting trivia.  The Cast Member was just thrilled with his job.  We were very thankful for the experience.

You learn something new everyday......

I was watching some Disney-related youtube videos and I found this one.  I heard, for the first time, about Electric Park in Kansas City, and its influence on Disney.

I knew that he had researched parks all over the US and Europe, and that he especially liked Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, but this was the first I ever heard about Electric Park.

Very interesting!

Getting my Disney Fix

We moved to Texas!  And not just Texas, the Rio Grande Valley, way down in southern Texas.  Unfortunately, this moves me 13 hours further away from my happy place.  It also moves me a bit closer to WDW, so that is a plus.  Also, Disney Cruise line sails out of Galveston, Tx, so that is interesting as well.

  So, my Disney fix is going to have to come from all of Disney that I love, and not just the parks.  When I am far away, I like to keep the feeling going with Disney music.  Thank goodness for youtube! 

Mad as a hatter

Dear Daughter is at Disneyland today.  Looks like she is having a great time.  

What is keeping you from your dream vacation?

My guess is Money.  Am I right?  It doesn't seem that way when I go to a Disney park.  It seems that everyone there is spending a ton of money.  There are two very real possibilities.  One, those blessed folk just have more than I do, and that is great.  Two, some of those folks are up to their eyeballs in debt, and have no idea how or when they will eventually have to pay for that vacation.  I believe both of these scenarios are true.

 If you are deeply in debt, kudos to you for not racking up more debt by going on a fancy vacation!  If it were me though, I would make my dream vacation a goal for when I am finally debt-free.  Don't go deeper in debt for a vacation!  And I am not just talking about Disney, I am talking about cruises and Hawaii, and you-name-it fabulous destination.  Instead, use that goal as an incentive to do what you have to do to get out of debt.

  If you are new to the budgeting and get-out-of-debt world, I recommend Dave Ramsey.  Also because there are so many websites and blog posts about that kind of stuff all over Pinterest, I am not going to bore you with redundant information.

 My only advice in order to get out of debt and save is this: have a "why".   If you don't have a really good reason, or reasons, you won't have the strength or discipline that it is going to take.  I love going on vacation.  Its a special time for me and my family.  I want to go on a cruise.  We want to go to Hawaii.  But the truth is that there are other more important things that need my financial interest, like retirement.  Its all about priorities, folks. 

Arias Trip of a Lifetime 2018 Day 2

 Pandora was as beautiful as described and the wait for Avatar was immense. I've never seen anything like it, and I was there for the opening weekend of Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye.  Thankfully we had fastpasses for this amazing ride. 

We actually never tire of the Safari.  We rode it 3 times.

 Being a mom, I also never get tired of Nemo.  I guess all parents can relate to wanting to protect your kids and also wanting them to be able to swim out alone.

My two dearest daughters.  I also have a fantastic son, but he is very camera-shy.

Our day at the Animal Kingdom was long but fantastic.  We tried to get into Avatar early, but even arriving before the supposed park opening, we found that the line was 3 hours long.   Instead we enjoyed a practically empty park in the morning.  We had lunch at Flame Tree BBQ as usual, and it was really good.  I ordered the onion rings even though I wasn't expecting them to be good.  They were incredibly good.  They must have changed their onion-ring-making in the past 3 years.

  Avatar was an amazing ride.  Now, the expectation for rides is going to be so high. People are going to expect total immersion in the story.  I really liked Avatar even though it made me a little queasy.


  There is so much to do and see at the Animal Kingdom.  I wish we had another day to take every little trail and hollow, just to see what I might see and learn. 

Trip of a Lifetime 2018, day one

 My strategy for success starts early in the day.  This is dawn from our villa. Gorgeous.

 Disney's Hollywood Studios!  What a fun day!

 I absolutely love the SciFi dine-in, even if I can't see what I am eating.

Tour Guide Rhonda's Tip of the Day #1

Plan your vacation budget first!

I can't stress this enough.  Figure out how much you're going to need to do what you want to do.  Do you want to go in full-frugal mode?  Do you want to save a little more and splurge a little?  How about saving for a year or two and make it a real humdinger!  You won't know until you sit down and figure out how much you need. 

Another Trip of a Lifetime.

This one started at Disney's Vero Beach resort.  What an wonderful place!    We live in land-locked Arizona, and even though we were here for less than 24 hours, we had a great time!