Tourist for a Season

We usually pride ourselves on the fact that we aren't tourist. We try to avoid falling into the tourist attractions that are geared more towards attracting your wallet than giving you a life changing experience. If you follow our blog, then you know we love nature and we are more likely to venture deeper to find where the locals go to play and eat.

And now we'll talk about Disney--maybe the largest tourist attraction in the United States...maybe even the world.

But, here are a few reasons why we made an exception for Mickey.

First, we are Thousand Trails members and with this membership there are a plethora of parks circling the Kissimmee area. 

These parks are a great place to spend the winter months because of the warm climate, but also because you can find many families staying here as well. It is a perfect location to stay with friends, have an unlimited amount of things to do and then add on top that it is completely free with our membership, then it makes perfect sense. And for us, more savings equals more fun! I will talk about memberships more in a later blog and dive into the ones we use and why. Until then, feel free to ask us questions.

Second, Florida "residency" is another huge factor. Many RVers use Florida as their "home" state for many of its RVer friendly benefits. The Disney Florida "resident" annual passes for the weekdays are a fraction of the cost of regular annual passes. If you can show two forms of proof that you reside in Florida (at least some of the time), then you qualify for annual passes that cost under $300 per person. And they offer an amazing monthly interest free payment plan to make the deal even sweeter. To put it in perspective, with a down payment Disney cost less per month than most cable subscriptions for all five of us.

The flexibility of budgeting is one of our favorite things about this lifestyle. While traveling can cost alot when you hit up local tourist spots, our Disney experience has been like that of a local. With annual passes each trip to Disney takes the pressure off to see and do it all. 

For example, I took my youngest son, Jonathan, just for a couple of hours to Animal Kingdom to walk around and ride the Kilimanjaro Safari ride. And, then, with no pressure to do anything else, we were literally back home in 20 minutes.  Who needs a trip to the zoo? 

The other day Tom took Haley after dinner for a daddy/daughter date to Epcot to ride rides and watch the Illumination show. What a cool thing to be able to experience together and a whole new take on a night out.

Third, we travel for experiences. All experiences change us and give us perspective. Disney is magical. It calls to our inner child. Without the pressure of seeing it all on a week-long vacation at all four parks, we can really enjoy the moment and see it all one afternoon at a time over months of being here.

The parks are beautiful, each one unique and each one catering to every one of our family members in a different way. This is part of travel and we have to remind ourselves how lucky we are to live this life. We aren't on vacation every day, but some days it sure feels like it.