February 21, 2013 - On the Go in MCO

So a while back I did a post on my own site at the suggestion of our fearless leader, Shelley. To this day that post, The Butts of the Kilimanjaro Safaris, remains the most popular on my blog. While at LEGOLAND Florida a few weeks ago, I laughed when I noticed the backsides of some of the Lego statues around the park. I thought it would be entertaining to go around the park and take see what I could see as far as the backsides of LEGOLAND.

The culprit that inspired this redux of the previous blog post was the snowman above in Fun Town. Next I noticed the painter at the entrance to Miniland USA. On the way to lunch we passed the otters and deer. We caught the back of the shark and Captain Brickbeard during the waterskiing show in Pirates’ Cove.

By far, the most were spotted on the Safari Trek in the Land of Adventure. Here we saw elephants, zebras, giraffes, lions, meerkats, ostriches, parrots and the monkey. I found this to be appropriate due to the inspiration.

Back on the way towards the front of the park, we found the Bird Lady in Fun Town, Tourist and the Plumber in The Beginning. This is also where we encountered the Climbers in the Market Restaurant. As we exited, we stumbled upon the last few above the entrance sign in the Adventurer, the Construction worker, the guy with Overalls and the Racer.

Have you been to LEGOLAND to see any of these backsides? Would you like to see more in this tongue in cheek 😉 series?

If you are like my family, you have a runner doing multiple RunDisney events in one year so it is necessary to have a RunDisney Savings Plan.

Here are some things to consider if you are running in the RunDisney Wine & Dine Half Marathon.

First let’s look at the costs of entering the Wine & Dine Half Marathon

$175 by June 18, 2013
$190 between June 19 and August 13, 2013
$205 on or after August 14, 2013

So it’s easy to see that if you know that you are planning on running in a RunDisney event it is best to register as soon as possible!

The next big expense to consider is booking a room!

Keeping in mind that we are using the RunDisney Wine & Dine Half Marathon, you can find onsite pricing from Disney directly for value resorts is $121 per night for a 2 night stay,
this price does not include park admission. You may find cheaper pricing by contacting a Travel agent, booking your flight and travel together via travel websites or your airline website, or by taking advantage of any special offer that may come your way.

Another option is renting points from a Disney Vacation Club member. We don’t have an article on this yet (we promise it is coming soon) so we recommend you search the web on Disney Vacation Club point rental.

Renting Disney Vacation Club points can save you money on a room for the race! For example For the Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon cost of the Disney’s Beach Club resort is $389 per person for a 2 night stay. For 2 people your cost would be $778 depending on the Disney Vacation Club point cost: a Studio at Beach Club would run you between $310 and $410.

So far Costs are:
Race: $175 or $190 or $205
Hotel: $121 or $778 or $310-$410
Flights: For this example we are assuming $250 round trip for 1 person so $500 for 2 people

Which then brings us to the cost of tickets. You’ll find that a 3 day ticket from Disney Direct (without the Run Disney discount) is $636.88 includes tax, note this includes Park hopping. A 3 day ticket without park hopping is $515.46. Please note this is the current price of tickets, like any other product, prices can change; we recommend you call Disney or search the internet to confirm current pricing.

So now it’s down to the nitty gritty! Time to calculate all of our costs: $205 + $410 + $500 = $1115.00, if you need tickets that cost increases to $1630.46. Food costs differ based upon needs, so add in your own food costs.

How can I save: Starting now you could put away $408 a month and have enough time to save $1630.46 by June 18th. If you already have tickets you could save $279 a month. You will need to add in extra savings for your food costs but this should give you a good guide of how you can plan to save to race.

Day: February 21, 2013

The Backside (s) of LEGOLAND Florida

RunDisney Savings Plan