Orlando prep #3 | How To Save

Can we just agree that the most tedious part of traveling is the part about saving for that particular trip? Good, we agree! I assume... But even though it's not my favorite part of planning a vacation, I'd still like to share how we do it here at home, following from my last Orlando Prep-post about planning.

First, we make some sort of folder allocated to all of our files for planning (again, based on the previous blog post). I prefer to use Google Drive since I can access it from multiple devices and it is always easy to find a number or something like that if you need it or get an idea. 

Google Drive is basically a free version of the Microsoft Office pack. You can have Docs (Word), Sheets (Excel) and even make their version of a PowerPoint - you know, in case you need to hold a presentation for your husband as to why you naturally should spend 400$ on lightsabers! 

We then make a Sheet to have tables over our expected expenses for hotels, flights, tickets, spending money, ESTA, etc. After that we calculate how much money is needed in total, divide it by the months left to save (remember the month your traveling - it still counts since you'll be spending less money "at home" as you will be traveling). And then for us, we look at the monthly needed amount and divide it between us and find out how much money I need to put aside and how much Jacob needs to put aside (we have a very different looking paycheck so it differs between us). 

Then to make savings easier, we have a specified joint savings account. This just brings so much overview, being able to see the total amount of money saved so far and not just your own portion. 

A good tip is to always save a little more than you need. Especially when starting early; prices might change and it is good to be prepared for that. Plus it gives you some more wiggle room, regarding vacation activities. 

I might make a savings template that you can use on your own trip budget and savings overview. For now, I'll leave it at this. Happy Tuesday! 

Orlando prep #2 | Planning a trip

When it comes to traveling, there's a lot of factors to consider. It can be easy but there's also room for delays or problems to be solved. So I thought I would share my process for planning a trip that can hopefully help provide an overview for others - as it has done for me! Let's take it point by point:
Where do you want to go?  It's hard going on vacation without a sense of direction. In our household, we always land on either Disneyland Paris or Orlando - not much of a spoiler there! But sometimes it can be tricky to narrow the final destination down, even from two options. That's where we start asking ourselves other questions...
What do you want to do?  Is there something special museum you want to visit? A specific theme park perhaps? *hint hint* And then we found out that yes, we actually want to visit Disney (seriously - 100% of the times!). Then it's a matter of economics for us: can we afford to travel to the US or do we have a more simple vacation to Disneyland Paris? If we were to travel now, we'd probably choose DLP but since we've chosen September of next year, there's plenty of room for saving!  Then it's time to figure out what you want to do. We've decided that we want to visit all the Disney parks and all of Universal Studios parks this time around. We've previously been out in the swamp, visited Legoland Florida and Seaworld but they're not on our list this time. 
For more specific experiences, we would love to try some Disney events such as Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (more on that later in the year), and the Keys to the Kingdom tour in the Magic Kingdom. And these events are not included in your ticket price so beware and make sure to save for this too (if that's what you want to!). 
There's plenty of dining opportunities so these should be a factor too. Do some research on the theme parks' websites and see if something appeals to you. A lot of these have prices too so it's easy to incorporate dining into a savings budget! 
Where do you want to stay?  Is it important for you that you stay on property with either Disney or Universal Studios? Or would you be okay with staying off-site and either renting a car/uber-ing or use the transportation the hotels (usually) provide?  We've stayed off-site on all three trips to Orlando, staying on International Drive. The last two times we rented a car - which I highly recommend - but it's an added cost with the rental, gas, and parking at the parks. But staying on International Drive, we've always been within walking distance of Universal Studios so there's a little saving there. 
When do you want to go?  Are you seeking out special seasonal experiences like Halloween or Christmas, or something third? Or are you more of a weather-dependent person who wants nothing but sunshine? Or maybe a bit cooler weather?  When it comes to Walt Disney World, we've only ever gone in September, purely because we read (when prepping for our first trip), that this is where the crowd levels are lowest since everybody is going back to school and work after summer.  We haven't tried other times - obviously - but the crowds are very low in September. The only downside is the weather; there's sunny and warm - perhaps too warm actually and it is humid like crazy! So if that bothers you, maybe the first half of the year works best for you. But we deal with it for the sake of the low crowds and the Halloween experience!  The best tool for this, I've found is crowd calendars. There's plenty out there but I prefer Undercover Tourist (who also sells tickets). 
How much time do you need?  This is both considering how much time you need to save up those Disney bucks but also for how long of a vacation you want/can afford. For us, we've found that three weeks is the sweet spot for visiting all those theme parks, shopping, etc.  Two weeks is too short of an amount and made us tired to the point we became sick, and a little over three weeks made us homesick and tired. Three weeks gives us - roughly - two weeks of Disney and one week of Universal, with malls and outlets tossed in on random days. 
Other points to remember...  I'll just mention them in list form because I'll be writing more about some of these things later!
- ESTA (US visa) - Booking flights - Booking hotels - Buying tickets for the parks, etc. - Car rental, foreign driver's license - Health insurance

I hope this gave a quick overview of our planning process and perhaps provide you some help!

Orlando prep #1 | Announcement

You know that feeling when you've been away from Disney for too long? I am going to assume you're nodding your head like crazy while looking lovingly at some Disney merch right now. Oh, just me? Sorry then! 

Nevertheless this does have something to do with today's post title because Mr. MouseSpouse and I have decided that we want to go to Disney World in September 2021. And I know what you might think "That's far away!" and it is. 500 days to be exact (but who's counting!?). And I know that those 500 days are going to feel like forever but let me explain why we are planning a trip so far out in the future.

First off, it gives us more time to save. Easy as that. This will hopefully translate to either more different events or experiences, trying new restaurants and let's face it: more souvenirs! 

Secondly, we are excited about Walt Disney World celebrating their 50th anniversary in 2021 so it was a no-brainer for us to wait until that time. 

Thirdly, we've only been in the month of September previously, so we're probably incredibly biased, but we love Disney World during Halloween and in 2018 we went to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party which makes a September trip worth it just by that experience. 

Since we'll have plenty of time to plan, I have decided to write about all of our planning as it goes on, meaning at least one blog post a week regarding our Orlando 2021 trip and all of the tips and tricks I can think of. 

This is not an idea I can take credit for at all as I've seen this done by the ever-so-lovely Georgia from The Disney Way. She has been doing this on her blog and I have loved reading everyone of her posts and it has inspired me tremendously and I highly recommend giving it a read. 

I think that's all for now since there's not too much planned yet but I hope you'll come along for the process, whether it's for perhaps learning something new or because you might have some tips and knowledge that I can benefit from. All that's left to do is to start the countdown and prepare for another amazing trip to the most magical place on earth!

What I collect

Have you ever had to rotate between what kind of mugs you have in your cupboard? Have you ever tried (and probably failed) to convince someone that everything you buy is with purpose and has a special spot in your home? Have you ever had more items than you could display in your home and had to keep some of it in storage? Well, my friend, if so - you have come to the right place! Because I can say yes to all of the above. If not, then let me introduce you to the wonderful world of collecting merchandise!

As I wrote in my introduction post yesterday, I am a collector of a lot of different merch - some might even use the word "hoarder" (they're just being overly dramatic by the way). To get this blog going, I thought I would begin by making a (never-ending) list of what we collect here in our house, so that you know what you have to look forward to in future posts! 

First off, I would like to introduce and explain my tendency to collect things. It began when I was little (so little that I wasn't even the one collecting things yet); I was overloaded with plushes and dolls in all shapes and sizes - my mother still keeps a lot of them to this day! Then later on, I got into stationery, journals, notebooks and stuff like that. I could not see a pretty calendar without wanting it. I still get that feeling sometimes and have to tell myself that I do not need a fifth calendar to find out what week we're in!

Then fast forward a few years and I got into nail polish to the point where I was sitting with a collection of 400+ of them and thinking: "this is insane!" and I sold almost all of them. But then my makeup collection grew - which I have downsized a lot since then - but it still counts more items than the average collection.

But on a Disneyland Paris trip in 2011 I found a new love: mugs. And our collection quickly grew with each trip, vacation or whenever IKEA came out with a new collection. I don't have count on how many mugs we have. But it's 50+. Some people think we're crazy but we love having a collection of unique and different mugs that tells a story. It makes for great conversation starters when we're having guests over. 

Then on our WDW trip in September 2018 we got the brilliant idea to try pin trading. So we bought a lanyard and some mystery bags and just like that: we were hooked. Damn you, mystery bags! And it has only gotten "worse" since. We buy new pins to display, some for trade, and we run around the parks like maniacs to find some good pins to trade for. 

But besides the amount of money this quickly can cost you, I highly recommend pins if you want to start collecting something. Trading pins forces you to talk to so many different kinds of people: both castmembers but also random people in a queue who also have a lanyard around their neck. It is a social game and you get a lot of fun facts and memories from pin trading - it's so underrated here in Europe. 

It was also on the same trip that I bought my first pair of Minnie/Mickey ears - along with seven other pairs. And trust me, it was planned weeks before going and I packed outfits to match each pair of ear headbands. Since then I've bought three pairs and made some myself. And I have deemed it a tradition that I have to buy (at least) one pair of ears on each Disney trip - since I don't have enough to collect!

I also bought a wand in the Wizarding World in Universal Studios but one wand hardly makes a collection.. right?

After that we began collecting Lego mini figures which you can trade in Legoland shops (there's a theme here!). But once we filled a custom-made Lego frame with minifigures, we lost interest and now it's solely for decoration purpose. I'll show you some day!

The latest items we started collecting are Funko Pops. To what I suppose will be no surprise, our collection contains mostly of Disney at this point but we do have some in the "Television", "Movies", "Harry Potter" and other miscellaneous categories as well. We even got a special display for the Disney ones the other day, from a dear friend. 

Like I told you, it's never-ending and we love it!

To all that come to this happy place.. Welcome!

I feel like a proper hello is in place since this is my first blog post on MousewifeCo.com! So hi, my name is Carina and I am crazy about Disney and Universal Studios theme parks, the brands themselves and especially their merchandise (I'm looking at you, pins and mugs!). So I guess, some would say that I've never grown up - just like Peter Pan told me not to.  This led me down the road to having a (mostly) Disney themed Instagram, with a sprinkle of general lifestyle and Harry Potter magic too, and that sparked my interest in having a blog: an Instagram caption can be too confining because let's face it; "over there" people doesn't read the lengthy stories. 

So here we are! I took a leap of faith - yes, I am also a bit dramatic - and made a blog. If you don't already follow my instagram, as mentioned above, you should! Because these two medias will not replace each other - they will compliment each other. This blog will be were I post my in-depth opinions on something I might've posted on Instagram but there will also be some new things that might not show up in other places. I plan on going with the flow!

Although there's one thing you can count on: the subject. My life is greatly filled with Disney and Universal Studios magic which will hopefully translate to this blog. It can be both in what I have at home but also through trips - mainly to Orlando and Paris, even though Disneyland California and the Asian parks are high up on my bucket list. 

Well, that's all for now as a somewhat short introduction to what Mousewife Co. is about at the moment and what you can expect. I hope you stay around, and remember; never be afraid to reach out - you've got a friend in me!