I gave up the idea of "having it all" when I was 35. I was single, never thought I would get married - let alone have a family one day. My career was going great, I was exercising and maintaining my perfect body, going out with my girlfriends, traveling the world and fixing up my house.

Flash forward to 2010 and I am married (5 years), have a 4 year old son and a successful career. My perfect body has long since left me, I still want to see the world, grow my career, enrich my relationship with my husband, raise my son to be a great man and make my home look and feel like Martha Stewart was just there. I spend a majority of my time "striving 2 B supermom" which means I am trying to find a way to juggle a career, marriage and family and maintain some level of sanity!

Is it really possible to "have it all"? Most days are full of laughs, stress, craziness and some fun, but it's overwhelming to try to fit everything in before bedtime. This is my world - my daily strive to become "supermom". It's a combination of my stress, happiness, shortcuts and planning that help me get through the week. This is for all you gals "striving 2 B supermom" too!

Creating Memorable Cheap Disney Magic

So we are planning our first Disney trip for this fall and I have been up to my eyeballs in trying to figure out the best way to plan this trip and not spend a fortune! I am not really sure this is possible, but in my true Striving 2B Supermom fashion, I am out to find the best tips and tricks to make this as cost effective as possible. I am a big planner so here I am in March trying to figure all of this out.

This Disney trip is really an add on to our 1 week at Atlantis in the Bahamas. Since we are already headed south and have to buy airline tickets, why not combine the trips together and save some money on another airline ticket a few months later? In my research, I found a great deal from Detroit to Orlando, Orlando to Nassau and Nassau back to Detroit all for $327 per person (including tax!). What a deal! On our past trips just to Nassau, we have spent $350-$450 per person so I jumped on these tickets right away.

Now it's time to choose a hotel. There are so many ways to do this and so many budget options, but I think we have decided to stay at a Disney property. We will only be in Orlando for 3 nights and we don't want to take a ton of time driving and shuttling around when we can be enjoying activities. After checking prices and hotel options, we choose the Disney All Star Sports Resort. My son is a sports addict and I think he will go nuts seeing that resort. While it is a budget hotel, it offers a great price of $78 per night in October (Disney is running a special!). It also offers a free round trip bus transfer from the airport. I think for our short stay, this will work out great! Normally we are condo people but for 3 days it's not worth the hassle.

Now for the fun part....getting creative. I want this trip to Disney to be as magical as possible for my son. At 4 years old he will go nuts over all the characters and activities. I want accomplish this magical experience without breaking the bank...time to think hard!

I decided to do some souvenir shopping here and bring some things with me instead of paying 5x as much in Disney. I figure I can easily wrap these little gifts in Disney wrapping paper and pack them in my suitcase for our trip. I can also put some of them in my son's backpack for the airline flight.

For a trip to Walmart and a trip to the adjacent Dollar Store I spent $62 for all of these fun Disney items:
-Buzz Light Year water bottle with clip (so I can clip it on my stroller)
-Small Disney princesses sticker/coloring book
-Small Cars sticker/coloring book
-Nice, hard cover Disney Story book - about 1 1/2 inch thick nice book!
-Tinkerbell kids flashlight (great for night time at Disney when my son doesn't like it dark)
-Cars sunglasses
-Mickey Mouse t-shirt
-Buzz Lightyear and Woody T-Shirt
-Toy Story Character 3 piece pajama set
-Mickey Mouse Pez Candy kit with refills
-Mickey Mouse puzzle
-Mickey Mouse paddle and ball set
-Disney princesses stamp kit
-Disney princess tic tac toe game
-Cars stamp/sticker set
-Disney character tamborine (fun for the parade)
-Disney character flash cards for words/spelling/letters (for the plane ride)
-Glow bracelets (pack of 8) for night time parade/fireworks
-Glow necklaces (pack of 8)

I know I have saved a ton of money just on all the stuff we won't have to buy there. The clothes are things I will need to pack anyway and some of the toys can be new things in his backpack for the flight down. This is going to be fun!
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