A Kid-Funded Disneyland Dream

Intro 0:03

Please stand clear of the doors. por favor manténgase alejado de las puertas. Please stand clear of the doors.

Alicea 0:23

Hello everyone. I'm Alicea

Nathan 0:25

I'm Nathan.

Kelly 0:26

I'm Kelly.

Tim 0:28

And I'm Tim.

Alicea 0:29

Welcome to episode 235 of Adventures and Mouse Capades. So this week, imagine being a kid setting a huge goal, saving your own money, and then using it to buy a ticket to Disneyland. Not because it was handed to you, not because it was a birthday gift, but because you earned it. That is the story we are talking about today.

Nathan 0:52

Yeah. Kelly and Tim are here to share what it was like watching their daughter save up, buy her own Disneyland ticket, or at least most of it, and then experience the parks knowing she paid her own way through the turnstiles. And honestly, that changes everything. So without further ado, let's get into it. Welcome, Kelly and Tim.

Tim 1:14

Thank you.

Nathan 1:16

Yeah.

Disney Backgrounds And Family Context

Nathan 1:17

So as is our custom on the show, we want to start off getting to know a little bit about y'all, uh, at least the important parts, of course. And by that I mean what's your Disney background? Were you Disney kids? Are you Disney adults?

Kelly 1:32

Um I grew up going to Disneyland, you know, pretty frequently with my family. My mom worked for an airline, and at the time, Disney offered some pretty nice discounts. And so I have a lot of memories as a kid going to Disneyland. And then I myself, when I was in my 20s, was working at Alaska Airlines and happened to manage the relationship with Disneyland. And so uh it was part of my job to go to Disneyland um as an adult pre-kids, and so um was just waiting to take my own kids someday.

Nathan 2:05

That sounds like a rough job. I have to go to Disneyland, hon. Sorry.

Kelly 2:09

Exactly. It was it was tough, but someone had to do it.

Nathan 2:12

Yeah. Tim, how about you?

Tim 2:14

Uh went to Disneyland a few times as a kid. Uh growing up in Honolulu, it's just a little bit further than uh Kelly's commute when she was a child, but we still got there uh once or twice, having a couple relatives in California. And then growing up watching those Disney classic movies. I think the first one I ever had was Dumbo. So that was one that, you know, we it was actually our first ride on this last trip. And that's something that I think just keeps the Disney nostalgia with me is thinking back to those movies as a kid and then starting to watch them with our kids and getting to experience them at the park. It's just that full cycle flywheel that they're hoping for. We're in it.

Nathan 2:52

It's it's the circle of life or something like that.

Alicea 2:55

Yeah, something like that. So you guys are a family of four, you have two kids. Uh, what are their ages?

Kelly 3:02

They are four and seven.

Alicea 3:04

Four and seven. Okay. Uh, before this recent trip, had you been to Disney with them before?

Kelly 3:12

We had we've been actually been three times before.

Alicea 3:14

Okay. So walk us through how this whole trip came to be.

Kelly 3:20

So

The $100 Goal And Saving Plan

Kelly 3:21

last summer, um, our oldest was six years old, and she had asked me how much a ticket to Disneyland cost because we had gone with her grandparents a couple of months before and she wanted to go back. And I didn't want to crush her dreams. And I told her it cost $100 for one ticket to Disneyland, um, which is a big number for a six-year-old. And she in that moment decided she was going to save $100. Um, and so she earned money doing chores, you know, saved just over the course of it was took like nine or 10 months for her. Um, she just worked so hard, made a ton of trade-off decisions. She would look at a stuffed animal in a store and say, I want to buy it. And I'd say, Okay, you have to use your money. And she's like, No, I'm going to Disneyland. Um, and so one day we she got that hundredth dollar and we kind of rang the bell and decided, all right, well, I guess we're going to Disneyland in a couple of weeks.

Alicea 4:21

So she was, she was serious about

Kelly 4:25

So serious

Alicea 4:25

very serious.

Tim 4:27

She was goal-oriented. I think the uh the determination that she had, especially like as a six-year-old, being able to weigh that trade-off cost of there is a stuffy in my hand and I want this stuffy. And then having to think about like, no, I I'm gonna trade it off for something that I'm still fifty dollars, forty dollars away from. And and she made that choice every time. So the the joy that she had when she hit that hundredth dollar was something I will remember forever.

Nathan 4:57

That's impressive. That's so impressive. More adults should be able to do that.

Kelly 5:04

Exactly. I know. I'm like, can I learn from her?

Nathan 5:07

Yeah, exactly. So it took about nine or so months, nine or ten months. And and what was she doing to to earn her money? I mean, I think you mentioned some some chores.

Kelly 5:19

We were paying well below market range for various chores around the house, uh, you know, loading or unloading the dishwasher, helping to clean up. She got pretty good at folding a load of laundry. Um

Tim 5:33

pulled some weeds.

Kelly 5:34

Pulling weeds, yep.

Nathan 5:36

Life skills. I love it. As a parent, how did it feel like like watching her, you know, set this goal for herself and then you know, really kind of accomplish it? Like, what was that like for y'all?

Kelly 5:50

I was so proud of her. I mean, besides the fact that I really wanted to go to Disneyland too, uh it was it was just awesome to see her set this goal and just stick with it and chip away, and she would ask if she could do chores, um, you know, just like wanting, she wanted to go to Disneyland and she was gonna get this family to Disneyland. And so I was so proud of her when she got to that hundred dollars.

Tim 6:12

I think even even as she was going through it, just the the micro moments of understanding what she was working for, and she had a little bit of excitement each time she folded that load of laundry and she's like, all right, that's that's a dollar. I'm and she would count. She has a little counter, she has the little piggy bank that does the counting for her, and so she could see it digitally on there, like a digital clock, and then like, all right, I'm at 55, I'm at 56, and like she'd get excited every time that she got to put more money in there.

Nathan 6:40

Yeah. So I I have to ask, like, you know, from as as the the financiers and and bankers of this institution, the the bank of parents, like, did the hundred dollars go to Disney? Did the hundred dollars uh make their way back into uh uh a fund at the parks? Like what what happened there? How'd that work how'd that play out?

Kelly 7:01

I believe the hundred dollars is sitting in a box next to Tim's bed right now, if I'm next to his side of the bed.

Tim 7:09

We had a currency transaction. She went physical to digital, and digital currency was spent at the park. Uh no doubt about that. But uh physical money, honestly, she might come up with another goal. She is incredibly driven, she loves doing things like this, so I could very easily see her coming to us with a I want to do this, or here's something a trip I want to take as a family, and we'll have to come up with another goal for her, and that's what the money is for.

Kelly 7:39

Well, she actually, while we were there, she uh she said, So if I get $200, we can go for two days. So the math is mathing for her.

Alicea 7:50

It's actually it's actually less if you the more days you do

Kelly 7:55

that's true. That's true. There is the like bundling discount.

Nathan 8:00

Yeah, I think arbitrage might be a little bit too advanced for a seven-year-old.

Kelly 8:04

We'll wait for third grade, I think.

Nathan 8:05

Right, exactly.

Alicea 8:07

So did did your youngest understand? Like, did you explain what what she was doing or anything? Did she understand that that her sister was saving up for this?

Kelly 8:18

A little bit. I mean, she was trying to do some chores too. Four-year-olds not as good at folding laundry, spoiler alert.

Nathan 8:26

I have a 14-year-old that's not good at that, so it's fine.

Kelly 8:30

But yeah, she she sort of understood what was happening, and then the seven-year-old made sure she understood by saying, You're welcome at Disneyland several times.

Alicea 8:42

Wow. That's older sister vibe for sure. Exactly.

Tim 8:45

Yeah, no, the four-year-old understood, she understood the big moments. She couldn't understand the like, I'm working towards this goal. Yeah, but she understood the I earned $100, so we all get to go the Disneyland piece and was very excited, probably for herself, but also for her sister.

Alicea 9:02

Uh did you guys stay on property or did you um stay off property?

Kelly 9:07

We stayed off property. We stayed at the Fairfield Inn, like right across the street. Yeah.

Nathan 9:13

Yeah. Well, $100 is only going to get you so far.

Kelly 9:16

Exactly. Exactly.

Tim 9:19

Proximity is super helpful though, especially on a trip that short where we really wanted to maximize the time in the park. It was how close can we literally be to that front gate?

Alicea 9:31

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, did you just do Disneyland or did you do uh Park Hopper to California Adventure?

Tim 9:38

We did park hop.

Alicea 9:39

Okay.

Tim 9:39

Um so we we started at Disneyland in the morning and then uh took a little midday break, then went back to California Adventure, and then uh popped back over to Disneyland after that. So we definitely took advantage of the park hopper.

Kelly 9:54

What he's leaving out is that the seven-year-old was having no had no business doing a the midday break. We got back to the hotel and she was like, Mom, my sister's sleeping. Let's go back. So she and I she and I snuck back together while uh the four-year-old was napping.

Alicea 10:11

Yep.

Nathan 10:12

Well played.

Alicea 10:13

We have done that too. Um yep. Take the younger one back to sleep, and yeah. We can't do rope drop to park close anymore. But there were there were days when we did that a while ago.

Nathan 10:26

Yes.

Tim 10:26

I think that part was super exciting for especially the older one. Like knowing that she had earned this trip and put in all of this work and the fact that we were there at open and we had no plans to stay to close.

Kelly 10:40

No, we did not.

Tim 10:43

When when it just kind of happened, and and then she kind of realized it as we're walking out, you know, she's half asleep at that point. It's uh it's a cool moment for her. Like, yeah, you you closed down Disneyland.

Nathan 10:55

That's

Cash To Digital And Park Strategy

Nathan 10:56

that those are fantastic feelings for sure. All right, so so take us back to the day. You you rope dropped. What was your your daughter's first reaction on getting into the park and you know realizing that goal achieved?

Kelly 11:10

Oh, she was over the moon. So we you know, we're there for rope drop. We're not like right at the front, but we're like close enough, close enough that the person with the you know, I made it to rope drop sign comes up and she's just like beaming, she got this buzz light year hat on, um, is saying you're welcome to us every 15 seconds. I mean, truly all day.

Alicea 11:32

She was the reason.

Kelly 11:33

She was. She was. Um, but no, it was she was so happy, and you could tell was just so proud of herself.

Nathan 11:41

That's awesome. What was the what was the first thing that that y'all did?

Tim 11:47

We went to Dumbo first. We uh we skipped everyone rushing to Peter Pan and standing in that line for the next hour to two uh and got into Dumbo. We were the first ones on Dumbo. Both girls got to pick their favorite color elephant to ride.

Alicea 12:05

Nice.

Tim 12:06

Um, and then we kind of stuck around there and were able to jump in a couple of quick lines getting over to Alice in Wonderland. Uh, the youngest one loves the carousel, so we rode the carousel around.

Kelly 12:18

Don't forget teacups, you refuse to go on those

Tim 12:20

because I'm not a teacup person, but I support everyone from afar on that one.

Nathan 12:27

Yeah, that that's my take with uh the Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind out in Epcot in Florida, is I will support the rest of my family and their desire to go on that as much as I can. Uh I I've been on there twice and I have now been that twice.

Kelly 12:45

Two too many.

Nathan 12:47

It was yeah, my my uh my innards don't really like that one.

Alicea 12:52

Your inner ear, your balance or whatever, it just says nope. No, yeah, it's not now with with the teacups though, you can not spin it, right?

Tim 13:01

I mean, you could, but

Alicea 13:03

I'm guessing the kids want to.

Tim 13:05

Very similar to a lot of things in life that the kids are driving. Other than the real car, the kids are driving, then uh that means we're we're spinning around if I'm in there.

Nathan 13:15

Right. I mean, Alicea, Tim's daughter paid for them to be at Disneyland. She's gonna drive the teacup.

Alicea 13:21

That's true. That's true. Did she experience the park any differently because she earned it?

Kelly 13:30

I think that she was so determined to go on as many rides as possible. And and she she is my daughter, so she is like that. She's been like that in previous trips, but it was even more so on this. Like, and I think you know, we were only there for one day, but I think she was like, This is my trip. I'm getting every ounce. So, you know, I said we came back early from the midday break. And then at one point in the evening, I mean, her legs were tired. We she were and she was saying, like, mom, my legs are tired. And I was like, we can go back. We don't have, you know, we don't have to stay till it closes. We can go whenever you want. She's like, they're the kind of tired that I want to keep going. And I was like, okay. I was like, but you call the shots. I'm not forcing anybody to stay here.

Nathan 14:17

Yeah.

Kelly 14:17

And so I just I think that she was like digging deep for herself on this one. Yeah.

Nathan 14:22

Did y'all do lightning lanes or is it all standby?

Tim 14:26

Yeah, we did lightning lanes, and this is something that uh Kelly can teach a class on how to maximize your lightning lanes, but also optimize your standby lines so you're not wasting your lightning lanes. And this is probably why her legs were tired, is because that means you're moving all over the park. Um, but what we can, I think we counted up 27.

Kelly 14:49

Yeah, we did 27 Rides.

Nathan 14:51

Wow,

Alicea 14:51

oh my goodness. That is amazing.

Kelly 14:54

I will say, you know, the kids are pretty young, so they're not we're not going on you know the rides that people that get the super long lines.

Alicea 15:02

Yeah.

Kelly 15:03

But I mean, we're going for volume and we get volume with.

Nathan 15:08

That's a lot.

Alicea 15:09

That is a lot of rides, yeah. That was a lot. What's um what's her favorite attraction?

Tim 15:16

I think uh if if we're park dependent, California Adventure is the Spider-Man ride.

Alicea 15:23

Okay.

Tim 15:23

Yeah.

Kelly 15:24

Would you say that, or would you say Radiator Springs?

Tim 15:28

That's tough.

Kelly 15:29

Those are both really good rides. Yeah.

Tim 15:31

She's able to go on Spider-Man more again. So the comments on the rides and the lightning lanes.

Alicea 15:35

Yeah.

Tim 15:36

Um, but Radiator Springs is good. I think it's I think it's

Kelly 15:40

I think it's Radiator Springs. We'll ask her when she wakes up.

Tim 15:42

We'll agree to disagree until uh she wakes up in the morning.

Alicea 15:46

What about uh uh Disneyland?

Kelly 15:48

I think she I think it's is it Winnie the Pooh or is it Buzz Lightyear or Buzz Lightyear?

Tim 15:52

I think it's Buzz Lightyear.

Nathan 15:54

Uh that's such a good one.

Tim 15:56

But I guess also California Adventure, similar to the Buzz Ride, the was it Jesse's Roundup?

Kelly 16:02

No, no, the Toy Story one. Oh, the Toy Story ones.

Alicea 16:04

Oh, Midway Mania.

Tim 16:06

Midway Mania, yeah. Those those game ones, very interested in in those.

Nathan 16:12

Yep. What surprised you the most about how your daughter experienced the parks on this day, having purchased her way in?

Kelly 16:24

I mean, I really I was surprised her her perseverance and sticking it, sticking with it throughout the day. Yeah, she is usually one who will be like, I'm tired, we're and has no qualms being like, We're going home. Um, so that was that was surprising to me. And we had to get like a 9 p.m. milkshake so that mom could continue going.

Alicea 16:44

That sounds important, honestly.

Kelly 16:46

Exactly.

Tim 16:48

I'd say the perseverance is definitely the biggest one. I think also just her her flexibility still when she was tired. I think not unlike us adults. When we get a little tired, we get a little cranky. Um, and even when that happens, there would be the the ride where it's like, hey, I think this line's gonna be too long. If you want to do more rides, we probably need to skip this one. And as a you know, seven-year-old, that's a tough message to hear. And she'd be like, okay, yeah, like let's go do this other one, even though it's 9 p.m. and let's face it, we're all a little cranky and tired at that point. And she's still like, yeah, let's let's go switch, let's do the other one. That'll be fun too.

Nathan 17:29

That's impressive. I mean, you've got a daughter who's seven who's able to save up and make that, you know, long delayed uh uh uh what what's it called in psychiatric?

Kelly 17:41

Delayed gratification.

Nathan 17:42

That's it, yes. And also in the moment, able to compromise and say, well, I could wait for this like amazing e-ticket ride, or I could go do a D and a C in the same time frame and make that choice to go for volume. That's impressive.

Kelly 18:02

I'm gonna say our kids are like on their best behavior at Disneyland, they don't have meltdowns. They like I think they just get injected with the Disney magic or whatever it is. Yeah. And we don't we don't have to deal with any of the like toddler things that, or you know, young kid things that can happen. Um, they're just so happy to be there. Even the four-year-old. I mean, I think the only time that she kind of had a little bit of a come apart was when she woke up from her nap and mom and sister were not there. Oh yeah.

Tim 18:33

I'll say there's a little Disney magic. There's also some liberal snacks and traits that happen at Disneyland. Obviously. We all want.

Alicea 18:43

Yes.

Nathan 18:43

Yes, exactly. It's not just the kids. Nope. We all need churros.

Alicea 18:48

Exactly. 100%. Yeah. Yes. Were there any rides that you weren't able to do that you wanted to? Both like, because I know since they're a little younger, there may have been some that they just can't go on.

Kelly 19:03

I'm always a little bummed to not go on pirates. I love pirates, but we we did take the kids on it. I think we made a a rookie mistake by taking the kids on it the first time. They w went to Disneyland, and at the time our oldest was just a couple months shy of being five, and our youngest was two and a half, and they were like, What is happening right now? And so we're gonna have to try again in a couple of years. Yeah.

Tim 19:29

I think for me personally, Peter Pan is one that we went to as kids, and I'm disappointed to not go on it, but also I'm not willing to make that trade-off when that line is you know, 45 minutes long, 45 minimum, and then you're sacrificing how many other like all the other rides are great too. It's just that's the one that I think we we tend to miss on on trips like this where you're you're a little short on time.

Nathan 19:54

Well, and it's I mean, it's 45 if you're in Florida instead of California, would be like of course we're waiting 45 minutes because that'll get up to like two plus hours in Florida. I don't it is that ride is not worth that much.

Kelly 20:08

No, it's a great ride, but it's in line, you're in line for 45 minutes and has happened to me before. You're like eighth from loading and it breaks down. Yeah, yeah.

Alicea 20:18

That is inevitable.

Nathan 20:19

Yes, yes, it needs a revamp for sure. Okay, so I don't know if we've covered this. I know we've kind of talked, like, what was on the day favorite ride for your kiddos?

Tim 20:34

Oh I think for the eldest, it's probably buzz. Okay. The fact that we got lucky in terms of lines to where we got off and were able to walk right back on the skin. So I think that part of it was really cool because it it wasn't just the one ride, it was we're gonna circle back again. And especially at Disneyland, like that doesn't happen. Um, so I I think that was pretty cool for her. And then Kelly might have a different answer for the youngest because I got to drive with her, but we did uh Utopia for the first time with her, where she got to drive herself. Yeah, I'm I'm pushing the pedal for her, but I let her do all the steering and she was so excited about that. Did you get a driver's license? We did not get a driver's license because then they were off on to the next one. Oh, that's true.

Nathan 21:28

Go, go, go. Yes. Sorry, that was a silly question on my part.

Alicea 21:33

Were there any small moments that ended up being way bigger than expected?

Parade Surprise And Snack Highlights

Alicea 21:39

Oh, yeah. Tim, you should tell the parade one.

Tim 21:42

Oh, yeah. So we we were gonna sneak out before the crowds. We were gonna leave Disneyland at like 10 30 or something. We just hit up uh Winnie the Pooh. Um for again, we got in line again because no one.

Kelly 22:00

Was there so it's just three times in a row?

Tim 22:02

Oh my goodness. Oh my god.

Kelly 22:03

Which like the kids were just like again, again.

Tim 22:06

Fantastic ending to the night for the kids for us. We're like, this is great. Like, we can't really top being able to just get back in line for a ride three times in a row. Like, let's end on this super high note.

Alicea 22:17

Yeah.

Tim 22:17

And then as we're walking out, we're almost to the front gates. Uh they were starting to line up for the parade.

Nathan 22:24

Uh-huh.

Tim 22:25

And there just happened to be this seat right in front. No one was there. I actually had to ask someone, like, hey, are we allowed to sit there? Because I assumed you're not allowed to. It's it's prime seating for the parade. And they're like, oh yeah, go ahead. So like I feel like this is a sign. We can't we can't pass up, like, this should be reserved seating, and it's just open for anyone. So we ended up staying for the parade, and it was fantastic. It was the night version, so it was all the lights.

Alicea 22:55

Yeah.

Tim 22:56

It started on that end of the park, too, so we got to see it all from the start. The kids are front row, no one's blocking their view. They get to sit by themselves, and they're just wide smiles, looking at all the characters coming by. Since they're up in front, it feels like everyone is waving directly at them when they're going through the parade and the smiles that they have. Like, I didn't think we could end the night better than walking straight onto a ride a couple times in a row, but we somehow did. Awesome.

Alicea 23:26

Yeah, that's the paint the night parade, right?

Kelly 23:28

Yes, it was so good. And yeah, it was just like we didn't expect it, we weren't planning on it, and people had been sitting on the curb for a long time waiting for seats as good as what we had gotten.

Alicea 23:39

So that was over was that over by Winnie the Pooh, or was that um?

Kelly 23:45

No, we were like honestly about to exit. It was like right in front of the train station. Oh, okay. Um at the front entrance, we're like about to leave. And I was like, I believe the parade is starting.

Nathan 23:55

And so oh yeah, because that the at late night they'll run it. They run it backwards, yeah.

Kelly 24:04

Because they had just run it a couple hours before starting by Small World. So yeah, it worked out.

Nathan 24:09

That's very neat. Very neat. I want to circle back just for a second uh about favorites for for the kiddos. How about like a meal or a snack? What was what was tops on the day?

Kelly 24:19

Oh, they love a churro. So that I would say the churro was number one snack. Meal. We so we always love the lamplight lounge. Every time we go, we like, and you know, we had planned this trip over the course of like 10 days, and I lucked into a like 5:30 reservation at the lamplight lounge. It was amazing. Wow. Um, and so yeah, that that was a favorite all around. Um, Tim and I each had a drink that was a very unnatural color of blue, um, but it was delicious.

Nathan 24:53

There's something about Disney bartenders and blue drinks that I will never understand.

Kelly 24:58

But it was like it was like one of those icy slushies from a movie theater, but there was alcohol in it. Um and then the kit, like, I don't know if you have dined on their fine mac and cheese there, but you know, there are like tiers of mac and cheese in Disneyland, right? Like you go to sort of a more basic restaurant and it's like Stoffer's mac and cheese, which is very good. I enjoy. But then you go to the like the nicer the restaurant, the fancier the mac and cheese. And so this was like you know, corkscrew pasta, like real butter in the sauce kind of mac and cheese. And uh that was a hit.

Alicea 25:35

Lamplight has some good stuff. We spent a couple hours there last time.

Kelly 25:40

It's nice, it's a great view. I love that place.

Tim 25:43

Lovely. I'd say on this trip, normally I'd say the churros on this trip, that 9 p.m. milkshake hits a little bit differently than any other stack.

Kelly 25:52

That was a good and don't forget the corndog we got with that too.

Tim 25:56

You gotta balance your salty and sweet. Right.

Kelly 25:58

Yeah, there's there was actually this moment and because we were we'd closed down California Adventures and we're sitting at the smoke jumper or whatever, and we had picked up a corn dog somewhere else, and we're sitting in a circle, and our youngest goes, we have to pass along. So we had the someone had the milkshake, someone had the corn dog. Uh you know, you take a sip and you pass around. And so we just had this like rotation of milkshake and corn dog. It was pretty delightful.

Nathan 26:25

Just practicing for college. It's it'll be fun.

Money Lessons And Parenting Takeaways

Nathan 26:31

What do you think your your your oldest daughter learned out of this whole experience?

Kelly 26:39

Unfortunately, I think she learned that a ticket to Disneyland costs $100. It did at some point.

Alicea 26:46

Yeah, exactly. It used to be a lot less. You will you will need to teach her about inflation um at some point too.

Tim 26:52

Always a harsh lesson. Yes. That part has definitely stuck with her. And fortunately, unfortunately, school is going well, so she has learned the whole multiplication. If I get two of these, that means twice as long. And uh honestly, I think that's her biggest takeaway.

Kelly 27:09

No, I but I mean I do think she has seen that you know, if she works hard and if she saves, you know, she can she can buy things. And that has been a real that's been a good lesson. I actually think it has sort of taught her a little bit the value of money, even if it's you know, a little bit benchmarked in a in a different place than than reality. But right.

Nathan 27:34

How about how about you two? Anything you learned as parents out of out of this whole thing?

Kelly 27:39

I mean, I I think I learned that it the delayed gratification is okay, that you know, not to underestimate how you know kids can work hard and set these really long-term goals because you think you know kids have short attention spans and whatnot. And I think that was something that I was like, oh, we can do this for other things. It doesn't always have to be a Disneyland trip. Um, but yeah, I I I it had never really occurred to me that she would actually stick with it and earn what once she got to like $45, I was like, oh, we're going to Disneyland, okay. But in the beginning, I I didn't think that we were actually gonna get there.

Nathan 28:22

Yeah, it doesn't always have to be a Disneyland trip. It could be a Disney World trip or a Disney cruise.

Kelly 28:27

Disney cruise, exactly.

Nathan 28:29

A little more for the cruise, though. Yeah, it's like a cruise is like $125.

Kelly 28:34

Exactly, exactly.

Alicea 28:35

And yeah, the kid, I mean tickets are the kids' tickets are fair, whatever you're calling.

Nathan 28:42

So ignore the fact that you're paying $2,500 each for the parents, then when you get the $350 bill for the kids, it's not that bad.

Kelly 28:50

No, I mean it's basically free at that point.

Tim 28:52

Right, exactly. I think I think similar to Kelly, like not underestimating the kids on what they can do, whether it be the deferred gratification or just the the perseverance when they retired in the park, or yeah, you can walk a little further or whatnot because you really want this. I I think uh kind of pros and cons of they're they're getting a little older and they can do a little bit more maybe than we think, and they're growing up, then they want to do these things, which is fantastic to see, but also they're they're still our babies. Yeah.

Nathan 29:27

And they always will be. Yeah. But the good news is is they're getting into like the real sweet age uh for Disney. Yeah, you get into that seven, eight through like maybe 10 or 11. The magic is real, and they can do all of the things, and there's not height restrictions, and they're not afraid of the pirates, and you know, all the rest of that stuff. Uh it's those are those are really magical trips.

Kelly 29:58

Yeah, yeah. I mean, for us, this was magical just because it was our first time without a stroller at Disneyland. And I was like, you know, see the people with the stroller parking were like, suck us, not us.

Alicea 30:08

Oh, especially in fantasy land.

Nathan 30:11

How did the little one do first time walking?

Tim 30:14

Well, that's an interesting question that you have there.

Nathan 30:17

Um how is your arm? Has it recovered yet?

Tim 30:20

Is the yeah, no, I put her on my shoulders because that's faster. Um, but when you do 30,000 steps, most of them with your your toddler on your shoulders.

Kelly 30:33

Uh to be fair, she didn't get it up on your shoulders until like late in the afternoon. She she walked most of the show.

Tim 30:40

She did the morning by herself. Yeah, she was she did, yeah.

Alicea 30:43

She she kept up. That's a trooper right there. Wow.

Tim 30:46

She did she did great. And uh Advil did its job too. And the blue drink from the blue drink.

Alicea 30:55

Yeah. How soon after reaching her goal did you guys go?

Kelly 31:00

Well, I so we had been like, okay, if she reaches her goal, we had told her it's you know, trips take a while to plan, so it we might not be able to go till this summer or something like it's not gonna be immediate.

Alicea 31:14

Yeah.

Kelly 31:14

And then so we tell Tim he's working out in the yard when she gets the hundred dollar and she opens the door, daddy, daddy, I have my hundred dollars, we did it, we did it. And he's like, Should we go next weekend?

Nathan 31:27

So this is Tim didn't need much convincing.

Kelly 31:32

Yeah, yeah, it was like, oh, so does that delayed gratification?

Tim 31:38

Okay, from like a practical standpoint, it was either we have to do it right away, or it was gonna take us until the summer. Just look at like what the calendar looks like schedule-wise, and like she's already deferred gratification a hundred dollars worth for a you know, six to seven-year-old. Let's let's make this happen now. Yeah, yeah.

Kelly 32:00

So we did. We pulled it together. I was like, you know, refreshing that Disney app to get those last minute cancellations, you know, and we got it, we got it done. Nice. That's awesome.

Alicea 32:12

How were the crowds there?

Kelly 32:13

Was it a super busy day or so it was like it was spring break, and I had been seeing on Instagram horror stories of what it looked like. I did not feel like the crowds were crazy. I have I felt like it was more crowded the last time we went, which was in February of 2025. Um and so, you know, it was crowded. I'm not gonna say it was an empty park, but it I did not feel like the crowds were crazy.

Tim 32:42

I did not feel like it was spring break. It felt like it was school for California and spring break for everyone else, kind of thing. Because to Kelly's point, like Disneyland's never empty. Yeah. But kind of by comparison, you're like, this is not this is not what I thought we were in for here for a spring break trip.

Nathan 33:02

Do you remember what the date was? Because we were down there around the same time, at least for our spring break.

Alicea 33:08

Yeah, it was March 28th. Yeah, it was like it was it was before ours.

Nathan 33:12

Yeah. So the busiest that I saw on the crowd calendar was like the the week after Easter.

Alicea 33:23

Oh, okay.

Nathan 33:24

It was it was slammed. Like it was like nines out of ten on most days. So yeah, you you dodged a bullet for sure.

Alicea 33:34

Yeah. It wasn't too bad when we were down there either. And that was like April 20. When was that?

Nathan 33:41

Uh 14th, 15th. 14th, 15th. Summer. Yeah.

Kelly 33:45

Yeah. And it also helps that we're like happy to go on Winnie the Pooh and my kids don't care about Rise of the Resistance, right?

Alicea 33:50

Like that does make a difference. Yeah. Big difference. Serious difference.

Advice For Families Trying This

Nathan 33:56

For parents who might be listening, thinking about trying to do something similar with their kiddos, what advice would you give?

Kelly 34:05

Consistent tracking. Um so for us, like we we do not have one dollar bills all over our house. So we actually we set up a whiteboard in the kitchen. So every time she would do one of the qualifying chores, we would just kind of put a tally. Um and that helped us keep track. But being really diligent about keeping track made it feel real to her. So instead of being like, Oh, we forgot how many how many chores did you do last week? Like she could see progress as she was doing the chores, and I think that helped because we've done probably as with other parents, chore charts and you know, star charts just for like everyday stuff. And if you're not doing that every single time, it just doesn't work. And so that would be my my biggest advice. That's a good one.

Tim 34:54

Along a similar line of the consistency, but kind of sticking to your word, um, in terms of if we say it's gonna be a hundred dollars for a one-day ticket at Disneyland, not then expanding it into something else, because then they think, oh, well, it doesn't really matter that I earned this hundred dollars to get this this one day. I'll go for as long as I want next time. Um she's she's now very anchored on the like, no, I earned the one day and I had to do all this work, and to Kelly's point, the consistency of tracking it through so she could see the progress and not kind of lose lose sight of what that goal was. Um I think that's very helpful for her.

Nathan 35:34

I like that you kind of addressed both sides of it because it's both ensure that the reward is tracked, it becomes real, but also don't dilute it either on the other side of that. Well done. Good job, y'all.

Kelly 35:49

Did we earn a trip to Disneyland for great years?

Nathan 35:52

Five more dollars.

Alicea 35:56

So if your daughter was talking to another kid thinking about saving for a trip, what would she say?

Kelly 36:03

I think she would say, well, she would give them wrong information about the cost of a ticket, as we have discussed. Um but yeah, I mean, I think she would just say, like, if you keep on going, you if you keep on working, you can do this. Because we were also, you know, the kids would get $20 for Christmas from a relative. And we actually we would let her put like five dollars towards Disney, but we weren't we actually would not let money from grandparents, money from aunts and uncles count towards us, like it had to be a goal that she worked toward. And so I think that has stuck with her, and so I think if she were to tell a friend, it would be like, you gotta work hard. And I I don't know if you know the law, but the law is that gift money doesn't count.

Alicea 36:50

Like I think she would also though, yeah.

Tim 36:54

Yeah, she'd probably lay out the whole playbook. Like, well, you have to load the dishwasher and you have to fold the clothes and you have to pull the weeds. Like she would give this is your checklist of how you do it.

Nathan 37:05

Yeah. Losing teeth doesn't count.

unknown 37:08

Yeah.

Kelly 37:09

You know, she is she sadly didn't lose a tooth the entire time. She she went through this phase where it felt like every tooth was falling out of her face, but the whole time she was saving, no, no teeth were lost.

Alicea 37:21

What is uh what does the tooth fairy run in your house?

Kelly 37:26

Oh um, except for the one time she lost a tooth on Christmas Eve and there were no singles in the house, and so it was five dollars. And we explained it to her that the tooth fairy got a ride with Santa and passed along the cost of gas.

Nathan 37:43

I like it.

Alicea 37:46

So do we have another Disney adult in training?

Kelly 37:49

I almost certainly. Probably two, probably otherwise. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. You know, the the little one was along for the ride, but she was paying attention.

Nathan 38:01

Yeah, yeah. So

Next Trips And Disney Math

Nathan 38:03

what's the next trip, do you think, for you guys? I mean, maybe you make the kids save up for it, maybe not. What what's what's next on your radar?

Kelly 38:12

Disney or otherwise?

Nathan 38:13

Yeah, Disney.

Kelly 38:14

Disney, Disney. We haven't even talked about that yet. Now we're sort of like, well, now we know the kids will save up for it.

Nathan 38:23

Have they have y'all done a cruise yet?

Kelly 38:26

We have not. We've done Instagram really feels like I should because I get a lot of Disney cruise content.

Alicea 38:35

They're pretty awesome, honestly. I've heard that.

Kelly 38:37

Tim Tim's mom really wants to do one.

Tim 38:39

I'll say we've done we've now done Disney just the four of us. We've done Disney with uh my parents and sisters. Um kind of a whole family affair there, but uh they have also been the only quote unquote kids on all of these trips. Um so if there's ever uh we can line it up with friends, cousins, someone else, I think that would be a cool experience for them. Obviously hard to do uh at times since none of us kind of live right there, but um, I think that would be a fun one for to your point, kind of that age sweet spot that they're entering for for Disney and love.

Kelly 39:22

My dream next trip though would be to go to Alani. I you know, you get the beach, you get some Disney tips from Honolulu, it's fine, it's all the same. Yeah, well, so we we actually did like a day at Alani a few years ago, and it was before the kids had ever even gone to Disneyland, but they called that Disneyland Hawaii, and I'm like, yeah, I would love to go to Disneyland Hawaii.

Nathan 39:48

Same. Yeah, hey Alicia, we should go back to Alani. Let's do that this December.

Alicea 39:52

Okay, let's do that. Sold. Amazing.

Nathan 39:55

I might I it might cost a little more than $100. I was gonna say, who's earning the hundred dollars?

Kelly 39:59

Exactly.

Nathan 40:00

Oh, see, we use our Disney vacation points, so uh we've already spent the hundred dollars. It's free. So it's free, exactly.

Kelly 40:07

If you're obligated to use them, it would be irresponsible if you use it or lose it.

Tim 40:12

We have to go to Hawaii. I'm sorry. That's the Disney math, girl math kind of thing.

Alicea 40:17

100%.

Tim 40:18

Disney. Yep. Yep, yep, yep, yep.

Alicea 40:22

Is there anything we missed? Anything we didn't talk about regarding saving up and doing this trip.

Tim 40:29

I don't know if we didn't cover it, but more the reiterating. Like, I would do this again with the kids in terms of letting them kind of share in the not just the responsibility, but also the the kind of joy and excitement of we have earned this trip or we have earned this experience. Disney or not, but Disney is especially fun for them in terms of like the the amount of excitement that our eldest had because she knew that she earned this for not just herself, but also the rest of us get to go too. Like that was really cool, and and I think that's different than us getting to tell them, like, hey, we're going to Disneyland. Like, that is one level of excitement, but her level of excitement getting to say, like, I earn this hundred dollars, so we get to go to Disneyland, like that was a fun, really fun experience for her, and and honestly for us. And I would I would do that again. Yeah.

Kelly 41:21

Yeah, we're gonna be in trouble once you know the four-year-old asks to start her own savings plan, and then they're pooling their money, and this is that. And then one day you somehow you find us in the Grand Californian, and for three days.

Nathan 41:38

There are worse places to be for three years.

Kelly 41:40

Yeah, there are far worse places to be.

Disney Favorites Speed Round

Nathan 41:45

All right, well, this has been fun, but unfortunately, I have to pull the emergency brake on this train, and uh it's time for something a little less fun. It's time for Alicia's patented Disney torture test. So uh good luck with that.

Alicea 42:01

Um, I will note it is not patented and it is not torture. Debatable, debatable. This is basically your Disney favorites from anything under Mickey's umbrella. So, like Disney, Pixar, Star Wars, Marvel, all that good stuff. Your favorite character.

Kelly 42:19

I love Joy from Inside Out.

Tim 42:21

Nice. I love Dumbo. I think I mean from my my earliest childhood movie.

Alicea 42:28

Yeah. Classics. Yes. On that note. Favorite movie. Well, I will also say Inside Out. Okay.

Kelly 42:36

I still I I I still cry. The kids know exactly when I cry.

Alicea 42:39

It's a Pixar movie, of course.

Tim 42:41

Oh my gosh, but um I think it's Moana and partially growing up in Hawaii, but also when our eldest was younger for Halloween one year, she decided she wanted to be Moana, but she also wanted to be a doctor. So she was Dr. Moana. That's amazing. And I think that is always gonna stick with me. That's awesome.

Kelly 43:12

Your favorite ride. I love Alice in Wonderland.

Tim 43:18

I think my favorite ride growing up was Roger Rabbit. Um yeah, but I forgot about that. Answering now, I think Winnie the Pooh with the kids.

Kelly 43:29

I knew you were gonna say that.

Tim 43:31

Like they just they love it, they kind of snuggle up to you.

Kelly 43:34

Well, that was also like our first trip to Disneyland. I think that was like one of the first rides we went on with them because we got there middle of the day and all the waits were long, and so that has been yeah.

Alicea 43:44

That's awesome. Which park is your favorite?

Kelly 43:48

I mean, Disneyland has just the nostalgia.

Alicea 43:51

Yeah.

Kelly 43:52

But I I will say I think the California Adventure like rides and food are better.

Tim 43:58

Yeah, same. I think Disneyland as a park just has more nostalgia. It'll be interesting for the kids as they grow up with probably different Disney nostalgia than we have.

Alicea 44:11

Yep.

Tim 44:11

If uh we start to find ourselves at California Adventure more if that's where they learn. I mean, they love Toy Story. Um, so those rides being over there and Spider-Man and cars. So we'll we'll see. Check back in a couple years. Yeah.

Nathan 44:27

Yep. Well, and you're gonna have Coco over there.

Kelly 44:29

You're gonna have all sorts of things. Forgot about that. What a great movie. Yeah. Yes.

Alicea 44:35

Do you have a favorite restaurant?

Kelly 44:39

I love the lamp light.

Tim 44:40

Yeah. Yeah. It's hard to beat that from just the ambiance setting, getting to look over into the rest of the park, and the food is fantastic.

Kelly 44:51

And don't forget the blue drink.

Tim 44:54

I might do without the blue drink next time. I might I might change it.

Kelly 44:57

I'll drink yours. Don't worry, honey. I'm here for you.

Alicea 45:00

I think I had the scream canister when I was there. That sounds dangerous. Delicious. That sounds dangerous.

Kelly 45:07

I like it.

Alicea 45:09

And lastly, your favorite Disney snack.

Kelly 45:14

A turkey leg. I love a turkey leg. I have a turkey leg hat.

Nathan 45:21

I sure hope our friend Rachel isn't listening.

Tim 45:26

I think it's just like classic popcorn. It's got a ton of salt, heavy butter. Um that's Yeah, you do like that popcorn. I do like that popcorn. And at least on this last trip, as the youngest one is kind of up on my shoulders, she's holding the popcorn and she's just eating it, and I can feel kernels and stuff dropping down on my head. And like that's just a fun memory for her.

Nathan 45:52

Well, I'm sorry. The correct answer was churro, so we'll have to try again later.

Kelly 45:58

I mean, a turkey leg is like a savory churro, you know? Savory churro.

Nathan 46:04

Oh, that one is going to Rachel for sure. Our friend Rachel. She used to make the turkey legs. Oh. And she was in uh Disney College program in Florida. She got roped into big turkey leg and uh is uh has we'll just say she has memories.

Kelly 46:21

Does she have like turkey turkey leg trauma?

Alicea 46:23

I guess. Yes.

Nathan 46:24

She has turkey trauma.

Alicea 46:26

If you ever go to Epcot, you could become pit master if you have the very first turkey leg of the day over in American Adventure. Well, I feel the certificate and everything. Yeah. Goals.

Kelly 46:39

Amazing.

Tim 46:40

Yeah. I mean, the other goal that we had, we just missed this when uh when we went with my parents on that trip, is we were second in line for storybook. And uh that's my father's favorite ride. Uh and the people in front of us got to sign the book to start the day. Like, all right, we're gonna have to come back sometime. We're gonna get in line first for that, so he can sign the book. That's cool. That's amazing.

Nathan 47:04

All these things. I'm learning so much today. Well, congratulations, y'all actually survived, even though you had the wrong snack. Everything else was tip top. Well done.

Alicea 47:15

Churro's not my favorite snack, so it's okay. Well, what is yours? Dollip.

Kelly 47:20

Oh, it's a that's a real strong, strong choice.

Nathan 47:26

It's okay. Well, thank you so much, Kelly and Tim. Uh it was such a pleasure having you on and getting a chat. And uh quite frankly, your your uh your daughter's pretty inspirational uh for for us. And uh uh we we'll have to start saving up for you know our next Disney trip, even though it's already booked and paid for, and the one after that, and the one after that, and the one after that. But anyhow, $100. I can do that. $100. Yes.

Tim 47:54

All right, thank you so much. Thanks for having us. Thank you both. This was fun.

Wrap Up And Listener Callouts

Sterling 48:01

As we wrap up, a reminder that we are not affiliated with Disney or any of its subsidiaries. Everything you hear on this show is based on personal experience, opinions, and questionable snack choices. We are, however, proudly affiliated with fun. If you are planning a Disney vacation, we always recommend working with a travel advisor or reaching out to Disney directly to help make the magic happen. And if you enjoyed today's episode, please take a second to rate and review the show. It really helps other Disney fans find us. If you have a question, a topic suggestion, or a Disney story you'd love to share, please send us an email at podcast at our mousecapades.com. You can also find us on Instagram, Facebook, and threads at OurMouseCapades. And on YouTube at OurMouseCapades Pod. And don't forget to share us with your friends, your family, and Disney fans of all ages. Thank you so much for listening. We'll be in your ears next week. Bye bye. Thank you for flying Star Tours. Bye bye.