Happy Monday everyone! I am looking forward to this week. My husband has Thursday and Friday off for the holiday so we are headed up to San Antonio to visit family and play for the long weekend. I am hoping to get a visit to Sea World in (we have season passes so we might due an afternoon/evening since the temps have been so hot) and maybe a dinner on the Riverwalk. Sounds fun right?
O.K. last night I woke up thinking of all the things I hadn't told you guys yet.
I have been suffering from a bout of insomnia the past few weeks. I'm able to go to bed fine, but then I wake up about 3 a.m. wide awake. Takes me about another hour to get back to bed then I am exhausted all the next day.
I hope that whatever is waking me up in the middle of the night stops soon. I'm kinda grouchy when I don't have enough sleep.
O.K. back to the trip.... So I knew we would have to fly this year since we are going so close to Christmas and I wanted to avoid the kids missing a ton of school. Plus WDW is one place my DH prefers to fly to. So I started tracking airfare in and out of our city back in March. I had been really concentrating on Southwest since they will allow you to switch to a cheaper airfare if it comes out without penalty and you can use those funds for the next year. We are planning a trip to Virginia Beach next summer so I figured any savings could be used towards that trip.
First, I analyzed their schedule. I hated that I could fly out at 6 in the morning and not get to MCO until noon or later. Since we live in a smaller city, we have to catch a flight out of here that takes and hour, land and switch plans with a layover and then take a non-stop flight from there. So I had contemplated driving to my parents house the night before and spending the night there to cut some of the travel time on our first day. I don't want to get there so late we can't do anything our first day. So I was talking to DH about it and he suggested adding a night on and flying out late so we are there first thing in the morning.
Gosh, I love him!!
So I called Disney to add a room only reservation on to the front of our stay, but the more I got to thinking about it the more I decided to just add on to our package. Since we could use the dining entitlements anytime during our stay I went with it. So now we have a pkg reservation staying at POR arriving on Dec. 16th and leaving Dec. 26th.
When Southwest announced they would be releasing their schedule for December on June 23rd I was very nervous. I was hoping to catch a good deal, $99 each way would have been great, for our trip. But I was worried that our trip was too close to Christmas for those fares. Continental and Delta had been running close to $400 per person roundtrip for our dates. We had budgeted $2000 so I figured I would book anything less than that. And if the fares dropped we could use them for our trip next summer.
So I was up at the crack of dawn on that Tuesday. When the fares were finally released they weren't as good as I had hoped, but they weren't as bad as I had feared so I booked them. $149 each way per person. Ends up being about $340 or so per person roundtrip. So I came in a little over $300 under budget. I'll take that as a good thing.
The thing I was most upset about was they canceled their afternoon flight back on Sat. so instead of flying out late afternoon we would have to fly back late morning instead. I am bummed since that means we won't have time to do anything on that last day and trying to be on the bus at 8 a.m. is going to be fun. But at least we have our tickets, right!!
We are going for sure!! No, backing out now!!
So, we fly out of here on Dec. 16th around 6ish and arrive in Orlando at 11:25. Yikes that is going to make for a late night. I also hate that we have to get our own luggage since we are flying in after 10, but I guess that is better than getting it at 2 am. Oh Well... small sacrifice. The cool thing is our flight connects with my parents. So we fly out of here arrive, switch planes, and my parents are booked on that flight. Yippee!!
On the 26th, we fly out at 11ish. Means Magical Express will be picking us up at 8ish. That one is going to come very very early!
Afterall, it was our honeymoon. I'm all about getting more for my money as opposed to just saving it. You should really go during free dining, then you can at least justify the upgrade with the cost being the same. As far as Disneyland goes, I'm down to help with any questions whenever you need, just let me know. I consider myself a pro on that topic... now if I could only spend enough time at WDW to be the same, just gotta convince the DH... 
We are trying to get the house cleaned up since we are headed out to the beach this afternoon/evening. And I am sure that dis-ing doesn't count as cleaning up in his mind. 
A 2 bedroom Savanna View!!! How exciting. I'm not sure I would ever leave my room. 
But I'm trying to do it for her. 
