4 Singaporeans In WDW for the Vacation of our Life!

longing4disney

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Oct 19, 2007
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After reading all the trip reports in this board for the past 9 months, I have decided to write my own! My pre-trip report for our trip to Orlando from 28 Nov to 13 Dec 2007.

The cast:

DH41 ::MickeyMo : the jaded traveller who flies around regularly for his work, and is doing this trip for me and the boys. DH is out of town regularly, going to places in South East Asia, China, Japan and Europe. He has even been to Brazil, but I doubt he sees much of these places except the airport, the hotel and the office, well, that's what he says! He doesn't plan anything and when he is home, other then getting the boys to do their homework (they never listens to me, only their dad, the disciplinarian), he is in front of the Tv :happytv: or has the newspapers in front of him. He doesn't understand why I am surfing the net daily reading the DIS Boards! :sad1:

Me37 ::MinnieMo : a working mother with 3 kids who sometimes feels like a single parent because DH is away at least 1 week a month. I am a complusive planner who has been longing to visit WDW for the last 11 years after our honeymoon to CA in 1996 when we visited Disneyland. I had a great time in Disneyland 11 years ago and really is hoping to re-live it with my boys this time round. Work has been really stressful lately, and the only thing that is sustaining me is this coming trip!

DS10 :stitch: : A stitch fan who watches Lilo and Stitch, the Series on Disney Channel everymorning once he wakes up. If only he is so attentive with his school work. After our vacation to Gold Coast, Australia last year, where we visited Movie World, Seaworld, and Dreamworld, he is hooked on team parks! So DS10 is really looking forward to his first trip to a Disney park. He doesn't know what to expect, but I can't wait to see the surprise and joy on his face when he gets to WDW! Only worry for me is the 18 hours flight to Newark from Singapore. DS10 gets sick on the plane, so I am getting ready the airsick meds and hope that he'll have a pleasant flight.

DS8 :stitch: : Another Stitch fan! He has been asking to go to Hongkong Disneyland after his friends from school rave about their trip their last year. He was really disappointed when I told him that we are not going to Hong Kong Disneyland, but are going to WDW!:confused3 I have been telling him that WDW is thousand times better than HK Disney, and he is finally convinced! He is now counting down the days before we depart. Actually DS8 is only 7 and will only be eight on Christmas Eve. I am still deciding if we should celebrate his birthday 2 weeks earlier when we are in WDW.

The missing Cast :
DD1 :tink: : Unfortunately, DD1 will not be coming with us on this trip :sad2: . We are worried that she may not take the long journey well, and my mum has kindly offerred to baby sit her for the 2 1/2 weeks that we are away. Bless her! :hug:

Last year was a great year for me at work and I received a good bonus in February. Also, the birth of DD1 last year allowed me to sell my company's shares which I had purchased under the company's Discounted Share Purchase Plan, before the end of the moratorium period for the shares. The birth of a 3rd child is a special release event for the shares. I was able to sell my shares at a good price just a few months after I purchased them! :dance3:. These 2 "win fall" really meant that my dream vacation to WDW is finally possible!:cheer2:

We set a budget of about $15K for this trip and hope to get as much out of it as possible. Frankly, a trip to WDW is a very costly affair for us. We won't be able to go back again anytime soon after this trip. So frankly, I am feeling very guilty towards DD1 because I don't know if we can afford to bring to to WDW when she is older. But we really don't want to wait for her to be older before we make the trip because DS10 and DS8 are at the age where they will enjoy themselves best. To wait for DD1 to get older, the boys will be in their late teens and we know that they will no longer be as innocent or spontanous as they are now. This trip is also really for DH and I to spend more time with the boys. Since DD1 was born last year, we have had less time to spend with the boys and I miss that too.

The first thing we know we had to get was air tickets. We checked around and found out that the cheapest tickets from Singapore to MCO was on Northwest and that will cost us a total of around $3,400 including taxes. But taking Northwest will mean that we need to take 2 stops along the way, one in Japan and one in the US before we get to MCO. Total flying time was close to 24 hours (excluding the transit time in the airports). We weren't sure if our boys could take the long journey.

The alternative was to take Singapore Airlines ("SQ") which has a direct flight from Singapore to Newark which takes slightly less than 18 hours. Then its less then 3 hours from Newark to MCO. This is definitely a more costly route but definitely more comfortable because of the extensive inflight entertainment on SQ (100 channels of on demand movie, TV, music and nitendo games meaning that we do not need to entertain the boys :dance3: ) The cost for 4 is $5,200 (including taxes) to Newark, then its another $500 from Newark to MCO on Continental. Fortunately, DH has miles with SQ but it was still insufficient to redeem 4 free tickets. We had sufficient miles for 3 tickets only. We knew that we had to make our redemption early because the Singapore Newark sector is one of the most popular flights and are frequently fully booked. We put in our redemption requests in March to fly on Nov 28 and return of Dec 13. We manged to redeem 2 confirm tickets only. The return leg of the 3rd ticket was on waitlist. We were advised that the likelihood of getting a confirmed seat on the waitlisted ticket was close to nil because mid Nov to end Dec is the school holidays in Singapore. So we decided to bite the bullet and bought 2 tickets. The total cost of the 2 tickets that we bought, the taxes for the 4 of us, added to around $2,750. Including the tickets for the continental flight from Newark to MCO, our total airfare came up to $3,100 which is close to the amount we would have paid if we bought 4 tickets on Northwest.

Balance to spend : $11,900.
 
WOW...what a ways you have to travel but so worth it. You will have a blast...

We will be there part of the time you are...you are coming at a great time..not to hot...all decorated for the holidays and really pretty.

Got a good deal on the tickets...cannot wait to hear more about your planning.
 
Avivasmom :Thanks for confirming that we are making the right decision regarding the season. Really, this trip is the one and only chance for as for a long time to come.

Now. that we got the air tickets, I concentrated my plan on picking the right hotel.. As I said, DHG travels frequently and since its for work, he gets to say in nice hotels. I know he is not going to be satisfied with anything less. It has just became a habit.

Since this is our only chance to go to WDW in a long time to come, I knew I wanted to stay onsite. The last time we were in Disneyland, we stayed offsite. My cousin who is staying in San Francisco also encouraged us to stay on site for the convenience and the experience.

BTW, I forgot to mention earlier that we are staying one night in Newark before cathing our flight to MCO. Reason? (1) We think the boys will need a rest after 18 hours on the plan, and will be unlikely to be able to catach another 3 hour flight straight after that. (2) Cost. If we were to catach a flight to MCO directly after we land in Newark, we will arrive in MCO around midnight. Besides being dead tired, we will have to pay a high price for for the hotel (since we had decided to stay onsite), and not be able to enjoy the hotel and the day there. So we decided to book a one night stay at the Marriott at Newark airport to recuperate and catch the first flight the next morning to MCO. Because of the time difference between US and Singapore, we leave Singapore at 12 noon on 28 Nov and after 18 hours, will arrive in Newark at 6pm the same day!!:woohoo:

Cost for hotel in Newark : $227(including tax)
Balance to spend : $11,673
 
You made a very good choice to stay the night at Newark. I used to fly out of EWR when I lived in NJ and trust me, those flights are NEVER on time! So you might not have even gotten into Orlando by midnight. One time we were delayed at the gate for 1 hour 15 minutes and then we were something like 17th in line for departure. I'm pretty sure I arrived in Fort Lauderdale about 2 hours later than scheduled.

Can't wait to read about the rest of your planning.
 

IloveDMB, Thanks for reading my post. The stay in Newark was one of DH's rare ideas.

Back to our accomodation plans. Like I said earlier, we have decided to stay onsite. We wanted something convenient. That was our top priority. So we decided on the Contemporary. I figured that if we stay there, we might as well stay in the Tower Room with MK View. But it was really difficult to decide how many days to stay there. We will be in Orlando for 2 weeks, but for cost considerations, we know that it is out of the question to stay there for the whole 2 weeks. In the end we just thought 6 days seems good, and so 6 days it is! After reading all the discussions on DIS about Disney Dining and character meals, I knew we had to get the DDP since we are staying onsite. The 6 nights Contemporary Tower Room with MK View, plus 9 days MYW package with diniing came out to $4,425. We decided to get 9 days pass so that we have the flexibility to visit our favouraite parks again and the cost difference between the 7 or 8 or 9 days is negligible. Now that I think about it again, I should have just gone for the 10 days pass!

We have 8 more nights of accomodation to plan. There were several offsite hotels that I was considering, Holiday Inn Sunspree, Holiday Inn Express and Marriott Village. The Kidssuite at Holiday Inn Sunspree won me over. The boys will definitely like having their own private corner. Furthermore with a kitchenette and fridge, I figured that it will be easier to prepare our own in-room breakfast and snacks. Cost for a kidsuite is $108 per nite.

We are planning to visit Universal as well. I read on DIS and the Unofficial Guide that Univeral hotel guests receives complimentary Univeral Express Pass. After working out the numbers, the cost of staying at Holiday Inn Sunspree and paying for the Univeral Express Passes come out to be pretty close. In fact, if we were to purchase Univeral Express for the 4 days that we have set aside for the Universal Parks, it will probably cost us more then if we stay onsite at Universal.

Final Decision? 4 nites at Holiday Inn Sunspree ($486 inc tax) and 4 nites at Hard Rock Hotel ($1,257 - inc 4 unlimited 7 days pass to Universal and free Universal Express for 5 days)

6 nites at Contemporary, 9 days pass, DDP for 6 days : $4,425
4 nites at Holiday Inn Sunspree : $486
4 nites at HRH, Unlimited 7 days Universal Pass and 5 days Universal Express : $1,257
Balance to Spend : $5,505

I sure hope we don't burst our budget!!:scared:
 
By the time we confirmed our accomdation plans, it was already early May. My 180days window for making ADRS was coming up soon and I spend all my time trying to decide on where we should have our meals for the first 6 to 7 days of our vacation. Every once in a while, I'll check with DH on his preference but feedback from him is so limited!!:mad:

I knew we had to have Character Breakfasts, and breakfast at Ohana is a must. they boys loves Stitch and I'm sure they'll be so thrilled to meet Stitch. To get the best bang from our buck, I decided that we should do the Fantasmic Package and the Candlelight Processional Package! My final ADRs are as follows:

Day 1 : Dinner - Rose & Crown at 8.10pm to watch illuminations (DDP)
Day 2 : Dinner - CP Package - Teppan Edo (DDP)
Day 3 : Breakfast - Crystal Palace at 8.05am before MK opens (OOP)
Day 4 : Dinner - Fantasmic Package - Mama Melrose. (DDP) I just received a call for Disney a few weeks ago to inform me that Fantasmic has been moved forward to 6.30 pm instead of the original 7pm. Therefore, they are giving us the Passes for both shows in case we miss the first one! :banana:
Day 5 : Dinner - Kona (DDP) This is a recent inclusion because I read so many positive dining reviews on this Board. I had wanted to book Ohana but as I only called a few weeks ago, the earliest available ADR for Ohana on this day is after 9 and that'll be too late for the boys. So Kona it is!
Day 6 : Dinner - Liberty Tree Tavern (DDP). This is our MVMCP :santa: nite and we have ADR for 5.05pm.
Day 7 : Breakfast - Chef Mickey (OOP), Dinner - Boma (DDP)
Day 8 : Lunch - Sci-Fi (OOP) The boys will love eating in cars! :cool1:
Day 9 : Breakfast - Ohana (OOP)

Anyone has any comments? I sure hope I'm making the right choices.

MVMCP : $167.02
Balance to speand : $5,338

Just hope the OOP meals won't come up to too much.
 
I have gotten some long pants, long sleeve T-shirts and a windbreake each for the boys. I read in the Unofficial guide that the weather at WDW in Dec can be unpredictable. Singapore is hot and humid the whole year round. I just want to be prepared because if the boys catch a chill, it'll definitely ruin our holiday.

I have even insisted that everyone in the family get a pair of crocs. I have read some discussion on crocs and it seems a good idea. No worried even if they get wet. But I know definitely that crocs for the whole day and everyday may not work. So we'll be bringing along our sport shoes as well. The boys have decorated their crocs with Pirate of the Carribean buttons and its really cute. I have decorated my crocs with flowers, bees, labybug and butterfly. DH? Well, he's the boring one. No buttons for him. I'm pretty tempted to get a pair of tiney Disney crocs for DD1 too. But common sense won and I didn't get it. Actually DH who is normally very indulgent with me was giving me funny faces and shaking his head. DD1 is his little princess and he thinks that letting her wear crocs now is not a good idea cos it may damage her feet which are still developing. He is concern that she may end up walking funny. So no crocs for DD1 for now until she's older.
 
We decided to get 9 days pass so that we have the flexibility to visit our favouraite parks again and the cost difference between the 7 or 8 or 9 days is negligible. Now that I think about it again, I should have just gone for the 10 days pass!

If you decide that you need 1 more day, you can change your passes to 10 ones when you are at the parks. They will only charge you the difference between 9 and 10 day passes


6 nites at Contemporary, 9 days pass, DDP for 6 days : $4,425
4 nites at Holiday Inn Sunspree : $486
4 nites at HRH, Unlimited 7 days Universal Pass and 5 days Universal Express : $1,257
Balance to Spend : $5,505

Is this the order that you will be staying at the hotels? You won't get your MYW pass until you check into the Contemporary. So you want to make sure that that is the first hotel when you start your Disney portion.
 
Donald is #1, thanks for the tip about upgrading the 9 day pass to 10 days. Now I can be more relax about what to do on the various days!:goodvibes

We are staying at the Contemporary first. This is sheer good luck! I didn't know that we will only get our MYW passes at Contemporary. Haha...so we are real lucky! :yay:
 
I still cannot decide if I should plan a trip to Kennedy Space Center or Seaworld.

KSC seems to be for a more mature audience. Somwhow my boys are not the intellectual type. They love animals, land or marine, especially DS8. DS8 wants to be a zoologist when he grows up, Haha! He'll probably like Seaworld better. But how different is Seaworld in Orlando compared to Seaworld in San Diego? I have been to the one at San Diego and did enjoy a couple of things there. Anyone has a take on this?

We have rented a car from the day we check-out of Contemporary to the day we leave, so we'll have no problem with transport to either KSC or Seaworld.

After numerous checks on the internet and tips and codes from Mousesavers, I managed to get a mid-size car for $130 for 8 days from Alamo! :cheer2: This is substantially lower than the first quote we get from Alamo and the various quotes I get from Hertz and Budget. We have used Hertz and Budget previously, but it's our first time using Alamo. I figured it must be OK cos many DISers seem to be using them. Keeping my fingers cross.

I'm not sure if we'll need to get the insurances with the car rental. We've checked our travel insurance policy and it only covers the excess, so we'll probably need to get them from Alamo. BUt wow, is it costly! $At least $22 per day! Its going to cost as much, if not more than the actual car rental.

Car Rental 8 days : $130
Insurance 8 days : $176
Seaworld Pass : ?
Kennedy Space Center : ?

Balance to spend : $5,032.

Funds slowly creeping away.............:headache:
 
DS8 will only turn 8 on 24th December. Yap,on Christimas eve. :santa: I have not decided if we should celebrate this birthday 2 weeks earlier while we are at Disney. I've looked through the thread on cakes at Disney and have not found a cake design that I think he'll like. I am hoping to get a cake with a picture of Stitch on it. He'll probably be thrilled. I'll probably have to call Disney to check if they can make a cake of that design. Don't really dare to call know since it seems a little too early.

Also, where should we celebrate the ocassion? At dinner at Kona or breakfast at Ohana? Or perhaps at Dinner at Boma? So many possibilities and so many decisions to make. I am getting a little overwhelmed! DH is not helping much and work at the office has been pretty stressful. I can't wait to be at Disney. Nowadays, it is the only thing that is sustaining me!

Do you think celebrating a birthday 2 weeks in advance is too early? Hopefully I can get him a Birthday button while we are there. Is it cheating if we get it for him? Wonder if the CM will still let us have it if we tell them honestly that DS8's birthday is not until Christmas Eve. I sure don't wanna lie just to get DS8 the button. Wrong example to set for the kids.

There is still so much to be done and DH is going to be away in Japan next week. The week after that, he'll be in Taipei. After that he'll be around for a week before he's off to somewhere again I think. Not sure where. He has told me, but I just can't remember now :guilty: . He'll only be back for less than 5 days and we'll be off to Disney! Now you know why I'm overwhelmed? I have to do all the packing for everyone, make final plans and do last minute shopping for the trip. I just hope I still have time and energy left to plan this little surprise for DS8 at Disney!
 
I've decided! I am going to get a cake with a picture of Jack Sparrow for DS8.:cake: He loves Pirates of the Carribean. He has 4 Pirates of the Carribean buttons on this crocs. I've just gone through the thread on cakes and got a great idea from there. I'll request for 2 cupcakes to be added to form a hidden mickey with the main cake! Yeah!!:banana: That'll be so meaningful! He gets Jack Sparrow and Mickey all at the same time. I've decided to have the cake at Chef Mickey. It'll be a surprise for DS8. DS8 use to complain that he gets one present only for birthday and christmas roll into one. This year, his going to have a surprise birthday celebration at Disney!! :bday:

I'll wait for a few more weeks before calling Disney to order the cake. Afraid that they lose my order if I call too early!

Next, I'm going to plan for some dinner shows outside Disney.
 
I have planned several things to do at nite:
1. MVMCP :santa:
2. Candlelight Processional
3. Fantasmic Dinner Package
4. Dinner at Rose and Crown to watch Illuminations
5. One night is set aside to watch the fireworks at MK

Other possibilities could be Chip and Dale's Campfire Sing-a-long at FW. The boys have not had much experience with campfire sing-a-longs. The weather in Singapore is very warm and humid year round (30 degrees celsius and 90% humidity) Outdoor campfire sing-a-longs in such weather condition is a real torture. This should be fun. The best part is, its FREE!:)

Since the kids love pirates, I am also considering to bring them for the Pirate pirate: Dinner show (outside WDW) and perhaps the Medieval Dinner Show as well. We have not the opportunities to experience such shows where we come from so this could be fun too. These dinner shows will easily cost us up to $250 if we go for both shows.

I am just concern that with so much activities planned, we could be too tired after a few days to enjoy anything after that.

2 Dinner Shows: $250?
Balance to Spend : 4,782?
 















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