Is It Too Early to Be Planning Our Next Trip??
Our ADR's for our January 2017 have been completed for awhile now, but we're still a ways out from selecting our FP+, so there's not a lot to be done. Flights have been booked for months, hotels are booked...so naturally I've been thinking about our next trip. When we left WDW in January 2016, the plan was to return in 2018 - this 2017 trip was not in the original plans. In 2018, Luke is aiming to run his first ever full marathon, so we know we'll be going in January again. The actual dates for Marathon Weekend have not been released, and I don't plan on seeing them for awhile yet, but I can make assumptions. Marathon Weekend always seems to fall the full weekend before Martin Luther King Day, which is January 15th, 2018 - so I'd guess Marathon Weekend will be January 4th-7th (4th - 5km, 5th - 10km, 6th - half, 7th - full). If we plan on running the 5km again, we will need to make it to the Race Expo on the 3rd, meaning we would more than likely need to fly in on the 2nd. If we decide the only race will be Luke's full marathon, then we would not need to be there until the 5th (but based on every flight I've ever priced out to Orlando, prices are significantly cheaper on Thursday opposed to Friday, so we would more than likely fly in on the 4th). Confused yet? In 2018, I have a milestone birthday - I will turn 30 on January 13th. I spent my 28th birthday at Universal Studios earlier this year, and it was a terrible day that saw me yelling at guest services through tears at one point. It wasn't good at all. In 2017, we fly back to Canada the day before my birthday, so I will turn 29 at home with my all of my fur-babies (it's a Friday in 2017, but Luke and I both took the day off to deal with jet-lag and unpack from our Disney trip). I am basically a giant child, and refuse to turn 30 anywhere but Disney - so our trip needs to extend to at least January 14th in 2018. I know that weekend will be insane in the parks, with it being a long-weekend in the US, but I don't even care. Again, Sunday flights are always more expensive than weekdays, so we might extend to the 15th or 16th.
(I would love to be on this WestJet plane at some point, but I'm pretty sure it runs on the Toronto-Orlando route, and I avoid the Toronto airport on International trips at all costs)
Basically, that long-winded rambling means that 2018 could possibly be our longest trip yet - January 4th-15th at the shortest, January 2nd-16th at the longest. Two full weeks! Then I started thinking... What if we did the
Castaway Cay Challenge? You have to run any distance during Marathon Weekend, and then on the Monday (which would be January 8th, 2018) you jump on a cruise ship for a 4 night cruise, with a stop at Castaway Cay - where you run a 5km on the island! Luke is going to be sore after a full marathon, and extensive park touring would be limited for the next few days following anyways, so why not relax on a cruise (before running another 5km of course haha). Neither one of us have ever been on a cruise before, but it's something we've talked about...
So that would mean our itinerary would look something like this:
January 2nd - fly to Orlando
January 3rd - Race Expo, park day
January 4th - 5km race, park day
January 5th - park day
January 6th - park day
January 7th - Marathon, hotel relaxing day
January 8th - cruise
January 9th - cruise
January 10th - cruise
January 11th - cruise
January 12th - back to WDW, relaxing day
January 13th - my birthday, park day
January 14th - park day
January 15th - park day
January 16th - fly home
We would have a split stay at two resorts - the first one for 6 nights. My dream would be to stay at the Boardwalk for this stretch - it would be so convenient for Luke's marathon. Then 4 nights on a cruise ship, then back to Orlando for another 4 night birthday stay - which I would love to be at Animal Kingdom.
Can we afford this trip? I have no idea. But a girl can always dream! I'm off to start pricing out how much this dream trip would cost us...