Wishes And Pixie Dust

Follow the journey of a Wisconsin family of 4 who relocated to the Walt Disney World area in July 2011

Category Archives: Florida


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From AOL to Facebook

It is an accurate statement to say that social media has a significant impact on all of our lives.  We have the ability to connect with individuals who live in many different parts of the world–strangers who become friends.  We feel fortunate to have made so many friends on Facebook who share our dream of the love of Disney; even if you have no plans to relocate to Florida, we still have the common thread of Walt Disney.

You might say our relationship and subsequent marriage started on the Internet.  We met on AOL in a dating forum, and because Mark at the time worked for United Airlines at O’Hare Airport, he was able to fly up to Wisconsin for weekend visits.  Our relationship evolved, and after a short engagement, we were married fourteen years ago this September.   Since that time, we have met and made new friends through the use of Yahoo Groups and emails, and now with the advent of Facebook, the ability to connect with more friends has really increased.

We don’t believe that we would have the courage to make this move without the support of our friends on Facebook and the search engines of Google.  🙂   We wanted to take the time to say thanks for following us and encouraging us as we make this huge step of relocating from Wisconsin to Florida.    There are still lots of details to attend to and boxes to pack, but we really feel like Florida is our home now, mainly through the people we have met online.  So, thank you!

We started this blog mainly for our own purposes, as a fun way to document our adventure.  We didn’t expect that we’d make new friendships and learn new information along the way!    We’d love to hear feedback from you, if there is a particular aspect of moving you’d like us to blog about, or if you’d like to be a guest blogger, please feel free to contact us about that as well.  We’d like to think that this blog is yours as well. 🙂


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Great News!

If you follow us on Facebook, you already know our great news:  our apartment application was approved, and we will be living at The Gardens at Citrus Tower.  Doesn’t the name just sound like someplace you want to live?  Of course that’s not the reason we chose it!  We feel very blessed to have completed the process so quickly, and we are relieved that we have a permanent address to call home once we arrive in Clermont.  This will allow us to provide forwarding addresses before we leave, as well as set up the kids in school before school ends for the summer.  It’s hard to believe the end of the school year is fast approaching, though we certainly are looking forward to what the summer brings us!

Tonight we attended an awards ceremony at Catie’s school for high grade point average achievement, and realized this would possibly be the last time we would see the inside of her school.  At the elementary school where Ben attends, this will be our eighth (and final) year there.  It’s hard to walk away from an institution that you have been going to regularly for eight years!    We would have this feeling with or without the move, as Ben is in his last year, but it somehow seems amplified given the fact we are walking away from everything.

We’ve been experiencing a lot of “lasts”.  We have tossed around the idea of composing a list of the things we want to do before we leave Wisconsin, similar to the Top 100 List we published for our Florida to-dos, but it possibly will not happen. It may be too depressing to see the things we never got a chance to do, and given the rising price of gas, it is very likely our summer entertainment budget will be minimal.  Ben will have his camp trip at the end of May, and Catie will be going to Six Flags (Great America) before school ends, so the children will at least get a fun trip in each before our move.   And of course, there’s Walt Disney World on the horizon! It is just going to be so AWESOME to be able to go there whenever we want.

We are slowly paring down our furniture.  Our oldest son, Nick, will be staying in Wisconsin and renting an apartment, so he will be taking some pieces, but others we are putting on Craigslist and/or Freecycle.  Right now our goal is to do one box each in the younger kids’ rooms, and they are doing a great job of donating a lot of their personal belongings.  We are very proud.  We started the decluttering process with the idea of keeping only the things we absolutely wanted, motivated primarily by the cost of the move.  Now that we are locked into our price, we have found that our focus has not changed.  We are still going through every item and deciding whether to keep or toss.  We will get a small refund if we go under our estimated weight, but we really like the idea of being able to start over, and we want to do that with as little items as possible.  We will have 2 walk-in closets, as well as other closets, but we are losing approximately 600 square feet than what we currently live in.  It’s all good, we will be one less person with Nick staying in Wisconsin, so I don’t anticipate that we’ll feel crowded in.

Thanks for following along!  Please feel free to friend either one of us on Facebook if you have not already.  We will only keep our Wishes and Pixie Dust profile on Facebook through our move (and settling in period), though our website will stay up indefinitely.


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Taking Risks

We have been anticipating this move unofficially since 2007, where all of the planning details have taken place mentally, in our heads, and verbally, as we discuss the details with each other.  It has been, and continues to be, an unspoken truth that there is risk involved.

To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily.  To not dare is to lose oneself.  ~Soren Kierkegaard

We have great news on the apartment situation.  We were able to get in touch with the apartment manager regarding the 3 bedroom apartment that will be available in July, and we have submitted our application in.    The pieces all seem to be fitting into place:  there is a waiting list for this type of apartment, and it was offered to all current residents first, but all declined, and the apartment manager had only put the apartment listing online an hour or so before we saw it.   She said it’s not common for vacancies to be available, and for one to be available at just the time we need it, wow!  We are praising God for His mercies!

So we are moving forward with our dream, and hope to hear confirmation next week.  We are also very nervous.  We have an excellent reference from our landlord, and we more than meet their income requirements, but we do recognize the fact that we are out-of-state residents, and may be judged more critically than potential renters who live in Florida.   We will also lose $149 in application fees if not approved.  We have known for awhile that the application fees were a necessity, but it’s hard to send a check for $149, not knowing if it will bear fruit or just be money lost.  We refuse to think in the negative, however, and will assume the apartment is ours, and adjust our plans later if need be.

We also met with our Mayflower rep yesterday, who brought us some more cardboard boxes.  There was an issue with the original price he quoted us, and he was very nervous, but as it turns out, all is well, and our new price is $3 cheaper!

Thanks for following along~  We hope soon to have an update on the apartment situation.

Mark & Jen


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Random Thoughts…

As we continue with our packing and moving forward with our dream of relocating to Florida, we thought this would be a good time to update you on different things related to our move.

Packing :       The boxes are slowly being packed, and we continue making our weekly trips to Goodwill. We are up to 47 boxes packed.  🙂   We have all our holiday decorations and supplies in plastic totes, and we have decided to transfer them to moving boxes, for two reasons.  One, it helps us to cull what we have, and two, it prevents probable breakage and ensures our holiday belongings will not be rolling inside a Mayflower moving truck!  We have not yet decided if the totes will be moving with us, or if we will buy new ones in Florida.

We did not reach our goal of completely packing the downstairs by Easter, but we have made a considerable dent in it.  Our oak video cabinets, secretary, and wooden fish stand are on Craigslist, but we have not had much success in obtaining a buyer.  We will leave them on there for now, but will soon be reaching a point (because of space issues) where we will need to make the decision to donate the items and forego the cash we may have earned from the sale. Another option is a rummage sale, but we really do not feel it is worth our time and energies to pursue this, to possibly earn a few dollars.

Medical :        We are making sure that all our medical appointments are scheduled in before we leave.  We are really fond of the doctors that we are established with here locally, and it will be hard for us to make the adjustment to find new ones in Clermont, but we don’t want that to be a pressing issue at first.   Vision and dental appointments have been taken care of, and the children will be obtaining physicals this summer before we leave.  This is a requirement of the school district in Clermont.  We are just waiting to finalize our housing plans in May, and then we will be able to obtain the appropriate form needed.

Soccer :      Our daughter is gearing up to begin her soccer season:  she will be able to attend all practices and games except for the final tournament, which we believe will be held on the Saturday after we leave.  The schedule is not up yet, so we don’t know for sure. We will need to purchase new cleats and shin guards this year, but she loves soccer and plans to continue it in Clermont once we move, so it is a worthwhile expense.   Due to our move, Mark decided not to coach her team this year, a decision we feel is best for all concerned.

It’s Getting Closer!      We are getting more and more excited as our moving date draws closer.  We are thankful that we have had time to sort through all our “stuff” and weed out the unimportant things.  We feel that we are on a good time table– we are under three months but we have a lot accomplished.  No, we did not meet our downstairs packing goal, but we are not far off from it.   In the month of May we should be able to finalize our apartment choice, which is awesome!, and while June and July will be busy months, we will not be frantic and stressed out because there is so much to do.  Jen plans to do some scrapbooking in May and June, as the craft room/sunroom will be the last room packed. We have discovered that staying organized is the key to a successful move.    We have tried to anticipate all our potential expenses and needs, set up a time table and work a little bit every day doing something in preparation for the move.   A box packed, or a file folder of papers shredded is one less thing that needs to be done in July.  Every night we listen to one of Lou Mongello’s podcasts, which really inspires us to keep moving forward and realize our dream of living in warm, sunny Florida with Disney World just a short drive away.

Thanks for following along!



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100 days and counting…..

As we reach the 100-day milestone, we thought it would be fun to make a list of 100 things that we plan to do once we are settled in Florida.   (We consider buying annual passes to Disney as part of being “settled”; so you won’t see it on our list!)  🙂  These are in no particular order, and certainly not an exhaustive list,  just thoughts that popped into our head.

1.  Resort hop. We have only ever stayed at POR-Riverside as a family, and we really want to experience each resort on property.  So even though our current goal is to live 20 minutes away from Walt Disney World, we plan to do weekend stays at each resort, over the course of a year or two, and really take in the charm and uniqueness each resort has to offer.

2.  Enjoy a Dole Whip

3.  Attend Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party

4.  Attend Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party

5.  Go on a Disney Cruise!   Right now with living in Wisconsin, the price of getting to the cruise has been a huge obstacle for us.    We’re of the mindset that if we’re going to spend that much money, we’d rather spend it at WDW!    Cruises are really very reasonable as long as you don’t have to travel over a thousand miles to get to one.

6.  Explore Animal Kingdom Park. There are so many areas of AK that we have not discovered simply due to the intense Florida heat, or lack of time available to us.  We have done the basics, such as Expedition Everest, Kali River Rapids, Festival of the Lion King, Nemo & Friends and Kilimanjaro Safari, just to name a few.  (There are more).  But it seems that there is so much more to Animal Kingdom to take in, and we are looking forward to being able to do that in the cooler Florida months, when we have the time to dedicate to it.

7.    Go to Magic Kingdom in the evening just for the parades

8.    Have brunch at Chef Mickey’s

9.    Ride the monorails, just for the fun of it

10.  Start a new tradition of celebrating birthdays at Walt Disney World

11.  Ride Splash Mountain at night during Wishes

12.  Ride Big Thunder at night during Wishes

13.  Listen to Lou Mongello’s audio guides while on Main Street/Adventureland/Fantasyland/Liberty Square and take the time to absorb all the details

14.  Have lunch at Le Cellier

15.  Watch Illuminations on a winter’s night, enjoying the fact that it is warm & there is no snow on the ground

16.  Go to Universal

17.  Go to Sea World

18.  Explore the beaches of Florida–kids have never been to the ocean before.  We plan to go to both sides of Florida:  The Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean

19.  Dinner with FL friends

20.  Being able to meet Facebook friends who do not live in Florida but come to Walt Disney World on vacation.  Shelley Urick Jones , we look forward to meeting you!

21.  Lou Mongello’s WDW Radio Meets of the Month

22.  Exploring the city of Clermont and getting to know our new home city

23.  Spending time in the Parks with Stephen and Judy Demeritt

24.  Meeting Marilyn Johnson in person!

25.  Go to Gatorland

26.  Enjoy the Osborne lights at the Studios as many times as possible

27.  Enjoy making new friendships with all our Facebook friends who live in Florida

28.  Walking through the World Showcase at Epcot while our kids are in school.  We have not been able to explore all the countries because of the kids not wanting to spend time there.

29.  The various shopping opportunities, not only at Walt Disney World, but at the many outlet malls in Orlando and the surrounding areas.  Ikea!

30.  Just enjoying the whole adventure of relocating to a new state!

31.  Day trips to explore Florida:  cities in particular that pop into our heads for no particular reason are Tampa, Naples, St. Augustine, and Jacksonville.

32.  Shelling at Sanibel Island

33.  Chuckling to ourselves in February when the temperature is 80 and sunny, knowing that back in Wisconsin it is probably blowing and snowing and bitterly cold.  Will we miss snow?  No we will not!

34.  Taking in Bob Jackson’s show at the Port Orleans Riverside resort!

35.  Staying at the Port Orleans Riverside resort for old times sake!

36.  Christmas shopping at Downtown Disney

37.  Riding down the Sassagoula River from Port Orleans Riverside to Downtown Disney (and vice versa)

38.  Exploring the cities of Lake County

39.  Visiting Celebration for leaf drop (to replace the Fall we will be missing in Wisconsin)

40.  Being there for opening day of the new Fantasyland

41.  Resort hopping at Christmas to see all the different Christmas decorations

42.  Counting garbage cans to make sure the Demeritts caught them all  😉

43.  Trying on every hat that is sold on Disney property

44.  Food and Wine Festival

45.  Enjoy a carrot cake cookie

46.  Visit Star Wars weekend

47.   Dinner, lunch and/or breakfast with Lou Mongello

48.   Movie at the Downtown Disney AMC theatre

49.  Trying all 500 flavors in the Coke Freestyle Dispenser

50.  DisneyQuest

51.  Enjoying the streetmosphere entertainment

52.  Festival of the Masters

53.  Going to the Night of Joy

54.  Flower and Garden Festival

55.  Holidays Around the World at Epcot

56.  Sounds Like Summer at Epcot

57.  The Candlelight Processional

58.  Finding a good Friday fish fry!

59.  Visiting the Kennedy Space Center

60.  Riding TTA during Wishes

61.  Sit at each of the Parks and take time to “people watch”

62.  MLB Spring Training

63.  Pick a fresh Florida orange from a tree

64.  Go swimming on a warm December day

65.  Enjoy a “work at home day” with Craig Petermann at Epcot

66.  Take a family Christmas picture at WDW

67.  Earn all the Gowalla WDW stamps and pins

68.  Be one of “those people” checking in all over Lake Buena Vista with Foursquare

69.  Move in to our new apartment in Clermont

70.  Find the best pizza places in the area

71.  Our first Saturday library visit to our new “home” library

72.  Stroll the Boardwalk

73.  Share a Kitchen Sink at Beaches & Cream with the family

74.  Wild Africa Trek at AK

75.  Pirates and Pals Fireworks

76.  Backstage Magic Tour

77.  Family Magic Tour

78.  Get a haircut at The Harmony Barbershop on Main Street USA

79.  The Pirates League with Ben

80.  Keys to the Kingdom Tour

81.  Walk through Fort Wilderness Campgrounds at Christmas to see the campers’ decorations

82.  See a University of Florida football game

83.  Stay in the Magic Kingdom until the wee hours of the morning to enjoy the peace

84.  Orange Bowl Parade on New Year’s Day

85.  Have a holiday sandwich at the Earl of Sandwich

86.  Have a diabetic friendly treat at Babycakes

87.  Go to Butterfly World

88.  Swim with the manatees

89.  Explore Florida’s state parks

90.  Visit the Everglades allligator farm  http://www.everglades.com/

91.  Hearing the word blizzard and knows it only refers to a waterpark or a DQ dessert!

92.  Go to Port Canaveral and watch the Disney ships leave port

93. Finding all of the local arts and crafts shows and fairs.

94.  Getting to see the White Sox play in Tampa Bay.

95.  Being able to get more exercise by taking walks and biking the trails of Lake County year-round.

96.  Enjoying the scenery of Florida, knowing that it will stay green year round, and not become brown and dead for six months out of the year.

97.  Enjoy a hot dog at Casey’s whenever we want one

98.  Sit at Cosmic Ray’s and enjoy an entire Sunny Eclipse show

99.  Take a yearly family picture in front of Cinderella Castle.

100. A family picture and mini-celebration immediately after we cross the Florida state line on our way to becoming Florida residents!