Kids Bucket List

My last post dealt with children's influence on our travel choices. So in keeping with that theme and my bucket list theme I decided to ask my four kids what their travel bucket lists are. The older two were a bit more thought out than the younger two but I have to say I was impressed with all of them.

Victoria will be 13 in mere days and this was her list: Paris, Hawaii, Ireland, London, Harry Potter World, New York City, The great wall of china, Belgium, Greece, Italy and Egypt. The only one that really surprises me on her list is Egypt but I suppose the pyramids is what draws all of us to wanting to go to Egypt. Ireland is important because it represents our heritage. Lough is an Irish last name meaning a body of water. My mother was an O'Reilly so we have Irish everywhere as well as French.

Elizabeth will be 12 in just over two weeks and this was her list: Hawaii, Niagara Falls, Miami, Belgium and Mexico. I guess we need to get some local travel in, in between or big vacation. I am surprised that her list is not longer but I think she thought of this as a chore when I asked. After all how dare I interrupt her summer vacation.

Katherine will be 10 in the Fall and this was her list: Jamaica, Disney World (again), Miami, Mexico, Ireland and a zoo. We have been to the Toronto zoo but she was young so she obviously does not remember it.

Daniel who is 9 has a short and sweet list: Ireland, Mexico and take the train somewhere like dad did (he just came back from a business trip to Toronto).

I think Miami and Mexico made the kids lists because of the fact that I went to Mexico last summer with my friend and then my cruise this spring was out of Miami. They like hearing and seeing where I get to go and want to experience it for themselves as well. Of course with the upcoming cruise for our family they will get Miami and we have two ports in Mexico.

I am definitely thinking our 2020 Family vacation will have to be Ireland. I think they will all be old enough to remember it as well as get the full benefit of everything they are seeing.

Ireland photo courtesy of Ireland.com

Take moment and share with us what your kids bucket lists are. I am sure there will be some surprises.

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Value Resorts at Disney

I will admit that in the five times I have been to Disney I have only ever stayed at a Value Resort. I have stayed at both the All Star Music and the All Star Movie's Resorts and I have no faults with them at all.
I have seen the other resorts I even went to the spa at the Grand Floridian for a day. For me Disney is expensive and I want to maximize my dollars and that means staying at a Value. Especially now that I have a family of six, We are planning to go in December 2018 but it is still a bit early to price out a vacation but I imagine we will do either two rooms at the All Star Movies as my parents will once again be joining us or we may check out a family suite at the Art of Animation. They have built 3 wings that specifically cater to families of five and six. They do have Little Mermaid rooms for the Family of four however the drawback is that they are at the back of the resort so further to walk than the family suites would be. When booking a value resort if you pay the little bit extra for the preferred room you will be closer to the lobby and the main pool. Trust me this will make a difference after spending 8 plus hours at the parks and coming home with tired children who have more than likely dozed on the bus ride and no longer want to make that walk back to the room because they are too tired. The value resorts have two pools and usually a small wader for the littlest ones. Whereas the moderates and deluxe pools will have slides and extra water features that the value's do not.
We like the pool for a quick dip to relax and cool down and really do not need the extra features and if we really did we could take the time to go to one of Disney's Waterparks. Blizzard Beach being less than five minutes from the All Star Resorts.
Beds at a value resort are either two doubles or a king whereas the moderate and deluxe resorts provide two queens. My husband an I are heavier so instead of sharing with each other. He shared with our son and I took our youngest daughter.
If money were not a worry than I would probably check out a few of the other resorts. My list in no particular order would be the Animal Kingdom Lodge, the Polynesian Resort, the Wilderness Lodge and the Beach Club.
All of the value resorts have food courts as opposed to a sit down restaurant. Again I like this when travelling with the kids. If one feels like pizza, the other hot dogs and I want the roast beef dinner then we can all be taken care of. Although most sit down restaurants do tend to have the regulars for kids: pizza, mac and cheese and chicken fingers. It just makes it quick and easy and breakfast can be taken care of the same with someone having a full breakfast and someone else eating a bagel. We all get taken care of quick and easy.