6 weeks to go, seems real now

[sjmac42]

Well I’ve finally been able to do my Fastpass+ selections so it all seems finally real! I’ve been having the feeling lately that nearly 2 years of planning (since September 2016) all came down to that 20 minutes on Saturday but it all worked out with fastpasses for everything we wanted including FOP, Slinky Dog and 7DMT and FEA . . . . . Phew . . . what a relief.
For anyone interested, we leave Newcastle on the evening of Sept 4th, stay at the airport in Sydney for our flight the next day so arrive in Orlando on Sept 5th. We have 2 nights in Port Canaveral to adjust before our 3 night Disney Cruise. If we are awake enough, we plan to visit Kennedy Space Centre on the 6th otherwise we will just relax at the hotel. After the cruise we pick up a car and drive to Key Largo, for 2 nights, driving down to Key West for a day trip. Not long but if we like it, we can always go back.
Then starts the theme park portion and we meet our friend there. We have 7 nights at Royal Pacific from the 12th and 9 nights at Animal Kingdom Villas in a Savannah View room from the 19th. We have HHN and MNSSHP tickets plus we have a day at Discovery Cove booked. We purchased the 14 day Explorer tickets for Universal from the American Airlines Australian site although they don’t seem to be doing these anymore. They were cheaper than 2 Park 3 day Park to Park Tickets. For the Disney Tickets, we got 14 day Ultimate Tickets from Orlando Attraction Tickets in the UK, again much cheaper than US sourced tickets by about $150 for more days and they include memory maker. We also rented DVC points for AKV which saved several thousand dollars.
As for ADR’s we have lunch at Beaches and Cream, 50’s Prime Time Cafe and Tusker House and dinner at California Grill during the fireworks, BOG! the Boathouse and Hoop De Doo plus the Wanyama Safari.
I was also suprised I could book fastpasses for the period before we check into AKV so was able to get some tough rides from the 15th.
So 42 days until we leave home to fly out and 57 days until we hit Universal, can’t wait!!!!
All the best.

 

[Franrose]

Excited for you!!

 

[BecBennett]

That sounds amazing! I can't wait to hear all about it.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

I was so sure I replied to this thread last week, but it appears that my post didn’t save.

Either way, your trip sounds wonderful and really well planned out. I’m very keen to hear how you enjoy your road trip to Key West. We nearly did something similar, but ran out of days to squeeze everything in.

Have a wonderful trip.

 

[heidispidi]

Your trip does sound amazing, and we will cross over with you at AKL - we arrive 20th Sept and depart 1st Oct. We have a standard view 2BR villa at Kidani Village - will you be at Kidani or Jambo House? We also have tickets to MNSSHP, on Sun 23rd Sept. All our costumes for the party have been delivered and we're so excited for that! I was considering a cruise after our WDW stay but the family opted to go home via LA for 4 nights, making it a VERY Disney trip as we're staying at GCH.

I agree with you, once our FPs were booked, this trip got real! We got everything we wanted, including 3 FoP FPs on 3 different days. If we don't end up going to AK all 3 days, we will cancel the FPs in advance and let someone else use those FPs instead. I can't wait!

** Edited to add that we also rented points for our villa at AKL and saved SO much money - around $7K or $8K. Wouldn't have been able to stay there otherwise.

 

[sjmac42]

Hey heidispidi,
We are at Jambo, so no pool but I figure that’s what waterparks are for
See you in the Kidani pool.
All the best.

 

[heidispidi]

Hey heidispidi,
We are at Jambo, so no pool but I figure that’s what waterparks are for
See you in the Kidani pool.
All the best.

Yeah, it's a shame for those staying at both resorts that the Jambo pool is down at that time. We'll be the ones enjoying cocktails by the pool - or the water parks, as you said!