12/16/2018The Maitland family has one goal in mind: to be the first family to visit every U.S. National Park and be inducted into the Guinness Book of World Records.
They may just reach their goal by the end of the year.
The Maitland family, which includes parents Jim and Cheri, their 16-year-old daughter Jamison and 14-year-old son Gerald, were inspired to go on this quest after watching the documentary, America’s Best Idea.


They have visited 417 national parks and units in the last eight years, homeschooling the children to make it possible.
“It’s amazing what this has done for our family,” Jim Maitland told USA Today. “A lot of people don’t think that our history is important. But it’s interesting. It shows us who we are.”
The family began their national park adventure in Florida and have logged more than 300,000 miles on their camper van. They’ve even brought two foreign exchange students along for the ride during 10 months of this last year.
“We thought Alaska was going to be hard,” Cheri said. “Every trip we learn something.”
Of the 417 parks the family has visited, some are smaller units like battlefield sites, national memorials, or scenic trails.
“The smaller units, the reason we fell in love with them is they’re all about this country, how the USA was created, the good, the bad, the ugly,” Jim said.
The Maitland family hasn’t found one park that has captured their hearts above all others.
“We love every single one,” Cheri said. “Your favorite is the one that day. If you have children, you love them all.”
At 14 years old, the Maitland’s son, Gerald, would also be the youngest person to visit all of the U.S. parks.
Gerald told USA Today, “You get a different experience at every single park. We went to the Manhattan Project, internment camps. I love war and that kind of history. I could recommend all the parks."
When it comes to traveling, Cheri offered some advice she’s learned over the eight years: “Know before you go. That’s the most important thing. Map where you’re going to go.”
Regardless of how much they planned, the Maitland family faced mishaps here and there.
“It’s a wild ride for sure,” Jim said. “You never know when something is going to happen—busted tire or a broken spring. We always found a way to fix it. There was always a plan B. We’ve gotten down to plan D.”
The family is close to reaching their goal. They’re currently visiting the 10 parks of Hawaii, Samoa and Guam, and have plans to travel to the newest national park in Lexington, Kentucky.

Source: Agentstudio

Disney Castaway Cay Visit November 2018

For anyone who has been on a Disney Cruise that stops in Castaway Cay has experienced their amazing island and I am sure was just as satisfied as we were. There is just something surreal about it. Adding to the already amazing vibe of the island, we got to visit while it was decorated for Christmas.
When you disembark, you get to take a picture from the stern of the ship. 
You never know who you are going to run into on the Island.

Overall this stop in itself makes the Disney Cruise worth it. Although the clouds rolled in at times, we still consider this stop to be a perfect 10.
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June first of this year I was sitting and taking with my 3 year old son Riley when he started talking about Disney and how he couldn’t wait to go back, and all I could think was how that wasn’t going to happen for a LONG time. 



7 months prior to that conversation I had been laid off from my job and we went from a 2-income household to 1-income.  We made cuts and could get by on 1-income but it meant no extras and definitely no vacations for a long time! That conversation started to make me really sad and I kept thinking there has to be a way we can take vacations while our kids are little. I started doing research and looking at money making apps. It’s important to add that I used to be an extreme couponer, not so extreme that I had 300 boxes of cereal but I haven’t couponed in almost 4 years and I JUST started having to buy toilet paper and laundry detergent, and I still have a good supply of paper towels and cleaning supplies! The point of telling you that is that I know how to save money and how to not waste my time doing it! I’m going to list a bunch of things I have started using since June 1st of this year to start making extra money and I’ll include the sign up link, most of them give you a bonus when you first sign up! If you would like more information on any of these please visit Castle  for more information!!



·         The first one is Swagbucks, although this is the most time consuming it has also made me the most money. In the 4.5 months I have been using Swagbucks I have made $652.91!!!!! Yes, you read that correctly. Swagbucks offers lots of different ways to earn money, there are surveys which can pay a tiny amount or a large amount, some of those surveys that you qualify for you can even get items to try, so far I was given FREE diapers to try and give my option on and then I was paid $5 for giving my opinion, we also bought a $4 fast food meal and were paid $20 to rate our experience. Trust me- trying surveys PAYS OFF! You can also do deals like sign up for this pay $10 and get $20 back, it adds up after a while and your spouse can have an account so that’s double the money. 



·         The next one I earn the most on is Ibotta. If you haven’t already been using Ibotta you are missing out!!! Ibotta gives you money back on groceries, yes groceries. Last week I earned .75 for buying Gas for my car that I have to buy every week anyways I also earned $5 back for buying Formula and let me tell you any money back for buying something we buy a ton of anyways is AMAZING! You just need to upload your receipt with your qualifying items and bam, money back! 



·         Ebates is an online shopping link that gives you money back for shopping it’s a super easy, and they also show you coupons available for those sites! Last night I bought Halloween Costumes for my family and got $7.50 back! 



·         Checkout 51 is an app and it is just like Ibotta you upload a receipt with qualifying items and get money back for groceries. 



·         Fetch Rewards is probably the simplest. It is an app and all you do is take a picture of your grocery receipt and you earn points based on what you bought, then you cash out those points for gift cards. Literally, you go grocery shopping, buy whatever you needed and then take a picture of your receipt and then earn points towards a gift card, do yourself a favor and sign up for that here.

·      Shopkick is an app that you can use in the grocery and scan or buy those products to earn Kicks. After a while the kicks add up and you cash out for Gift Cards!!! 



·         Another money saving app that doesn’t have a link is Cartwheel. Cartwheel is a Target app that gives you savings on items you buy in their store, they also offer coupons like spend $30 on groceries and get $5 off. I have been using cartwheel for years and have saves over $1,200! Search for the target app in the app store and save some extra money.



The last thing I used to save some money towards Disney may not be for everyone but it was definitely a bonus for us it’s the Disney Chase Visa credit card. When you sign up with the link I’ll post below you will get $200 back after spending $500 in the first 3 months of opening the card and let me explain what we did to make it an easy money maker for us. I signed up for the card used it for our utilities for 1 month, I put our Electric Bill, Gas Bill, Water Bill and Cellphone bill on it and that was over $300, I then put $200 worth of Disney gift cards on the card from BestBuy using links from Swagbucks. So we paid off the $300 worth of utilities (because we pay those anyway), got a $200 statement credit from Chase that covered the gift cards and got back $30 from Swagbucks for using their links. Then I referred my husband and he got a card so I got $100 for referring him then we did the exact same process on his card the next month and we ended up getting $560 in Disney money and spent nothing because we used the cards to buys something we already pay for!!! If this sounds like something you would like to do use this link sign up (don’t go to chase directly because they only offer a $100 statement credit after spending $500) here: Earn a $200 Statement Credit with Disney® Visa® Card. No annual fee. 



These are the things I do every day to earn extra money so we can take Disney vacations. Disney may not be your thing and that’s ok but you could use these money saving tips for anything, bills, vacations, or just to have a little extra once in a while!



If you have any questions about any of these tips or booking a vacation message me for a free no obligation quote!




Find me at: Castle Vacations by Chelsea  

Like and Follow my page for Disney savings ideas, tips and tricks and more! 

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Disney is expensive. Between park tickets and lodging, you can spend a fortune before you even pass through the magical gates. Once inside, that’s when the temptation starts. Mickey ice cream. Sweet beverages. T-shirts. Toys. It doesn’t end. 

Walt Disney World is known for being one of the most magical places on earth filled with adventure, thrills, magic and family fun. However, some only think Disney World is a vacation destination made for families and children. Disney World has something for all ages from special excursions, events, recreations, restaurants, nightclubs, attractions and live shows. 

A favorite “Adult’s Only” adventure of mine includes riding one of the most world renowned transportation systems at one of the most famous destination in Florida, if not the country. Well, the Monorail loop and the three resorts that are connected to it feature world class restaurants and bars at which signature drinks and food can be found.