5/23 - 5/31 Last Minute Pre-Trip Report!

[mkg9]

Hi, everyone! We decided over the weekend to plan a getaway in May; life has been too busy lately (and will be right up to the trip!) and we need a break!

DH and I have both been working like crazy, and DS (6, 7 by the trip!) has been skiing and training in martial arts like crazy. When I mentioned a Disney trip to DH in passing on Friday (by email, because we were both at work!), he thought it was a great idea, so I started planning!

We've been to Disney several times, and stayed at: Polynesian, Caribbean Beach, Port Orleans Riverside, Wilderness Lodge, Boardwalk, Swan and off-property. We've spent time with friends at Animal Kingdom Villas and Saratoga.

WHERE TO STAY​

For this trip, I decided to rent DVC points for the first time ever. The process wasn't difficult, but only wound up saving us about $300, which may prove not to be worth it for not having maid service every day.

We originally attempted to rent Boardwalk Villa DVC points, because Boardwalk is our favorite resort (maybe matched only by Wilderness, for us). We couldn't be matched with points for Boardwalk Villas, and, in fact, the only availability was for SSR. We took a studio at SSR, which, for the 8 nights, was $1736. When I looked at this over the weekend, I believe the difference between this and booking through Disney was less than $300. I just checked again, though, and, unless I'm not using the site properly (which is a definite possibility), and it looks sold out, so at least we locked in a room!

Here's my question on this issue, though: DS LOVES to swim, and I want to be as close to the main pool as possible. Should I request to be in the "Springs" section when I get to 60 days out?

I'll start another post in a moment, moving on to other aspects of our trip, including tickets and ADRs!

 

[mkg9]

FUN WITH FRIENDS!​

I messaged a friend of mine who is a DVC member to let her know we would be going to Disney 5/23-5/31 and, happily, our trips will overlap! She, her DH and her DS (who my DS calls his "little brother") are staying at BCV, but they will arrive later in the week, in time for a Star Wars Weekend.

I hadn't paid attention to SWW, but she brought me up to speed.

TICKETS (Disney and Airfare!)
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Tickets were pretty straightforward for us. We wanted to beat any potential price increases, so I bought 9-day Park Hoppers for us, through Disney, which will cover our entire stay. With all of the options for Magic Bands, our entire little family chose to stick with plain gray ones!

We also wound up booking plane tickets last night as well. We'll be in Orlando around 9 AM on 5/23 and we don't have to get on a plane back home until 6 PM on 5/31! This was our way of stretching the trip as far as possible, even though we'll probably be a little (or a lot) tired the next day at work and school!

I'm thinking since we'll be kind of out-of-the-action at SSR, we should rent a car to get around more quickly. When we were with friends at SSR, our wait at DD for an SSR bus was over an hour. I know that was an anomaly, but it sticks in my mind...

 

[mkg9]

ADRs​

I knew getting ADRs would be really difficult this close to our trip, so I had to be flexible with them. I spent a large portion of yesterday working out the following plan, using crowd calculators and varying our plans based upon dining availability:

5/23: Via Napoli at Italy in Epcot for dinner. I booked this before I realized how early we'd be at DW, so I may add a lunch reservation. We LOVE the pizza at Via Napoli, so even though we'll be heading to MK for EMH, DH chose to kick off our week with pizza (when I gave him the choice between this and Tony's at MK).

5/24: Last July, we tried the Gospel Brunch at House of Blues in DD for the first time, and LOVED it! This was a must-do for us again, so we'll be there at 10:30 AM. We've never had dinner at Akershus, so we have a late reservation for the princess dinner in EPCOT there.

5/25: Because we booked so late, we can't get into SWW eating experiences during the weekend, so we'll do those on Monday. We'll do the Sci-Fi breakfast and Hollywood & Vine dinner this day.

5/26: Early breakfast at Tusker House (our favorite character breakfast). We usually don't spend an entire day at AK, so I chose this night for the Hoop Dee Doo Review (DS has never been, and we really liked it when we took our niece and nephew 10+ years ago, LOL).

5/27: At this point in the trip, we will have spent time at every park, so I booked some dining outside the parks: the Supercalifragilistic Breakfast at Grand Floridian (we've never been), and Whispering Canyon for dinner (DS LOVES this!).

5/28: A character breakfast at Cape May Cafe, then we'll meet up with our friends later in the day and have a group dinner at Tony's in MK.

5/29: Our friends have both breakfast and dinner with the Star Wars crew, so I booked us dining elsewhere in HS at the same times. This wound up being the Hollywood & Vine character breakfast (I'm afraid this will be too "baby" for DS, so I'll have to ask him whether he'll want to do this) and Mama Melrose for dinner (another of DH's favorites - turns out, he loves Italian food LOL).

5/30: Our only reservation this day is for Cinderella's Royal Table at fireworks time (we loved doing this with DS on a previous trip, and our friends will be there as well).

5/31: Only one reservation for our last day, Beaches & Cream at BC for lunch. We've never been, so this could be a nice treat, and a send-off until our next trip!

Any suggestions for modifications? Do you think a 7 year old boy will get much out of the Hollywood & Vine breakfast?