A Super Duper Two-fer! ~ An Oct/Dec 2017 PTR! [Update 10/11/17 - FP+!]

[vrajewski10513]

Hey DISers!! Welcome!! My name is Tori and I will be your host for this Pre-Trip report!

This is my second attempt at a PTR here on the Dis. I wrote one last year, but didn't quite get to follow through with my trip report as we had a little visitor named Hurricane Matthew during our trip that made for a fairly dull vacation recap.

I encourage some conversation around here between readers so feel free to mingle!

As the title suggests, we will be going on TWO vacations to Orlando this year. We normally take one longer vacation and try to fit everything in... but for the sake of my sanity when I have to return to work afterwards, we've decided to split our trip into two shorter stays. Lets dive right into trip numero UNO!

Where: Universal Studios Orlando
When: October 17th-October 21st
Plan: USF, IOA, VB, HHN, MNSSHP, (possibly) Epcot F&W

Now lets meet the crew for this trip!



This is my husband, Jeremy(28), and yours truly(also 28). This will be our 4th trip to Universal together. I'm one of the VERY lucky ladies whose spouse actually shares in my love for all things Disney and Harry Potter. We attended our very first Halloween Horror Nights last year and didn't think twice about planning to get down to Florida this year to go again. Our night at HHN was by far the highlight of our 2016 trip. We are also parents to two fur babies names Fiona and Freddy



Next up:



My sister Livi(26) and her boyfriend Josh(27). They joined us on our 2016 vacation and loved Universal and HHN so much that they absolutely had to join us again. They're the night owls of the group. Where Jeremy and I would rather be up and at the parks for early entry, these two would rather sleep in and shut down City Walk. Although we love eachother, this is the particular reason we decided to get separate rooms this trip lol\

And last, but certainly not least:



This is my husband's best friend Carlton (27). This will be his first trip to Universal. He's a little hesitant to the idea of going to Halloween Horror nights, but he's going to be a good sport and give it a go! When Jeremy and Carlton are together, there's no short on shenanigans. This should definitely make for an interesting trip!

So there you have it. The outline for 2017 trip #1. I'll be back soon with the outline for trip #2! ​

 

[vrajewski10513]

Alright, so lets move right along to trip numero dos!

I'll start off by saying, this trip wasn't even supposed to happen. We KNEW after last years trip that we would be down again for Halloween Horror Nights, but really didn't have any plans to get back to Disney right away. But, alas, we just can't stay away for too long.

When we first started planning we were trying to work out a longer trip where we could do Halloween at Universal, and stay long enough to experience Christmastime at Disney. We've always taken our Disney vacations in the early fall, so seeing Disney all decked out for Christmas has been on my bucket list. Anyway, we tried really hard to make it work, but like I said in the last post the amount of time we would need to do both would keep me out of work for just too long. Plus, my sister and Josh weren't really crazy about Disney on our last trip. Universal is definitely more their speed.

We sat on the idea for a while, until we came up with another idea...

A little backstory.. We recently signed up for the Southwest credit card and were able to get 40,000 bonus points in the first month we signed up, along with accumulating more points on our own. We already knew that we had enough points to cover our flights for October.. but what about another flight in December?

We started crunching numbers and realized that the main difference between doing one long trip or two shorter trips is the cost of having to pay for two flights. Which we now wouldn't have to do thanks to those bonus points. At the very most we would have to pay for ONE of our flights down in December. We decided the cost of one flight was totally worth it to us to get back down to Disney for Christmastime.

Of course, we love going on vacation with just each other, but it's always more fun with family! So, we brought the idea to my BiL, SiL, FiL and his wife (who along with my nephew all joined us on our trip last October) and they hopped right on board! My nephew will be 3 this trip so Disney is more his speed, as well as my FiL and his wife who aren't really into the thrill rides that Universal is known for.

We really enjoyed our vacation last year, but I couldn't help but feel that we were being pulled into two opposite directions trying to make everyone happy. My sister and Josh love thrill rides, tend to travel through the parks quickly and sleep in and stay out late. My in-laws definitely like the more relaxing attractions, especially with a toddler and they like to make rope drop and be back at the resort for Connors bed time. Jeremy and I can do either or, but obviously not at the same time.

So this is getting really long winded, I'm sorry. Lets get to specifics:

Where: Universal Studios Orlando & Walt Disney World
When: 12/1-12/9
Plan: USF, IOA, MK, AK, Ep, HS, MVMCP

Lets meet the group for this trip!



You've already met Jeremy and I!



Here is my BiL Mark (31), my SiL Amanda (27), and their son, Connor (2). They needed very little convincing to join us on our trip this year. Amanda has grown up going to Disney (her father is a huge Disney fan) and Mark married into it, so he's along for the ride Connor will be 3 when we get down there so he is at a great age to really start to enjoy a lot more Disney has to offer. At his last check-up he was at 37.5" so fingers crossed he can grow those last 2.5" in the next 7 months and be able to hit up some roller coasters! He's a little dare devil so I'm sure he will love them.



Next up is my FiL Wayne(59) and his wife Penny (53?). They both experienced Disney once in the past, but this last trip in 2016 was the first time they both REALLY experienced Disney (staying on site, park hoppers, dining etc..). I think the fact that they really LOVE being Nana and Papa while at Disney convinced them to join us again this year. Neither one of them were prepared for the full on Disney experience they got last year. But, they must have enjoyed themselves because here they are going again!

So there is the outline for trip #2. Stay tuned for the specifics of both trips to come!​

 

[MeghanEmily]

Wow, sounds like two fabulous trips! That worked out so well that you were able to kind of split up with the two groups based on touring styles and park preferences and everything! Looking forward to seeing how your plans shape up

 

[FantasiaMagic]

Hi Tori! I am back again for another one of your PTRs! Both trips sound like a lot of fun! I'm looking forward to hearing more details.

 

[vrajewski10513]

Wow, sounds like two fabulous trips! That worked out so well that you were able to kind of split up with the two groups based on touring styles and park preferences and everything! Looking forward to seeing how your plans shape up

Yay! Welcome!! I'm really hoping that splitting up the trips (and group) gives us a piece of mind that we're not being pulled into two different directions constantly. We're quickly approaching our 180 day mark so things should really start picking up around here! Stick around to find out our upcoming plans!

Hi Tori! I am back again for another one of your PTRs! Both trips sound like a lot of fun! I'm looking forward to hearing more details.

Hi Alison!! So glad to see you back on the boards again! I hope college is going well for you. I'm really hoping that this PTR will take off into an actual trip report this time lol Hurricane Matthew put a damper on my plans for the last TR. I see you have a ticker in your siggy, another trip coming up? I hope you have a great time! And thanks for joining in again!

 

[FantasiaMagic]

Hi Alison!! So glad to see you back on the boards again! I hope college is going well for you. I'm really hoping that this PTR will take off into an actual trip report this time lol Hurricane Matthew put a damper on my plans for the last TR. I see you have a ticker in your siggy, another trip coming up? I hope you have a great time! And thanks for joining in again!

College is going well, I'm almost done with my second year which is a great feeling! I am so ready for the summer to begin. Yes! I have another trip coming up soon, I am very excited!!!

 

[vrajewski10513]

Alright friends, lets start talking specifics. Specifically for our first trip of the year, Universal Studios.

Our flights are booked and we are set to visit Universal Studios from October 17th-October 21st. After much deliberation (none actually) we decided that there's no place else we would rather be than here:



We stayed at Cabana Bay Beach Resort on our 2016 trip and absolutely fell in love with the place. Where it has the disadvantage of not including express passes like some of the pricier hotels, you really can't beat the price onsite and we absolutely love the theme. The pools and lazy river are great. We can go bowling if we want to lol Anyway, everyone definitely agreed that we would be going back to Cabana Bay.

What is still up in the air is the type of room we're going to be staying in. Right now were booked in a standard room:



Last year we stayed in a family suite which has the addition of a kitchenette, living room, and a very useful toilet room that's separate from the shower area. The additional space looks like this:



Its not like we really need a suite, we have 3 in our room, and Livi and Josh have their own room. But, even if we don't NEED the space, those extra amenities of the suite were definitely useful on our last trip. We decided that we will stick with a standard room until we see what the cost looks like with an annual pass holder discount and then maybe we will consider upgrading.

Our first day we depart from Buffalo SUUUUUUUUPER early. Plane takes off at 5:45am. We will be in sunny Orlando at the still early hour of 8:20am. I just started pricing out car services, so I don't know quite yet how we will get from and to the airport yet. Stay tuned. We plan to drop our luggage at Cabana Bay and check-in. Chances are that our room wont be ready that early in the morning, so we will head to the parks for a little while to get our AP's and park tickets situated and hit up some of our favorite attractions for a few hours.

We don't have all day, because our very first night staying onsite at Universal will not be spent at Universal Instead it will be spent here:



Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party! We absolutely love this event and can't imagine being in Orlando in the fall and not stopping by for a visit. We will Uber to and from the party.

Wednesday will be our first "real" park day at Universal. We will have our AP's and everyone else will have 3 park tickets, so we will definitely be bouncing back and forth between IOA and USF. Mainly focusing on Harry Potter that first day. We're all big fans and the WWoHP has always been a highlight for us at Universal. We will probably head back to the hotel in the late afternoon to relax a little bit because we will have a late night here:



This will be our first night of this trip at Halloween Horror Nights! I'm chomping at the bit to find out what houses are going to be included this year. So far they've only announced the American Horror Story house, which everyone's known about since last year anyway.. LETS GO UNIVERSAL!! This event goes until 2am. Livi and Josh will be there until the end, the rest of us will be there until we're ready to fall over lol

Thursday is a very exciting day indeed! This will be the VERY FIRST time all of us will experience...



VOLCANO BAY!!!!!!!!!!!! We are all so excited to check this place out. We could see all of the construction from our room last year at Cabana Bay. The fact that we can pretty much walk there from our hotel is a definite plus too. We decided to go all out on this day and purchase one of their single cabanas. It was a bit pricey, but we plan to spend all day and night there so we will have plenty of time to take advantage of it. The perks are definitely worth the price.

Friday will be another park day, followed by our SECOND night at Halloween Horror Nights. I feel like we made good time last year and got everything we wanted to do done in one night, but it was definitely rushed. This time around we will be able to enjoy the events at our leisure which will be great!

Our last day Saturday will be one more park day at Universal. It will be a rather full day too because our returning flight doesn't leave MCO until 7:40pm. Again, I have no idea how were getting to the airport yet lol

I didn't mention any meal plans yet because... I DONT NEED TO- THATS THE BEAUTY OF A UNIVERSAL VACATION!! No getting up at the hoo haa of dawn to make dining reservations for places you may want to eat 6 months from now (I'm not hating on Disney. I actually enjoy the planning for Disney. It's just nice once in a while to take a vacation that doesn't need uber planning ahead of time)

Now, in my original outline post I mentioned Epcot's International Food & Wine Festival... This is something that may get added on later depending how flight costs look to switch our flight out to Monday October 16th instead of the 17th. We loved the event last year and would love to be able to spend another day to enjoy it this year, but it all comes down to dollars and cents. For now, its still up in the air.

So there you have it folks, our Universal vacation in a nutshell. I'd love your feedback! Tips, likes, dislikes.. lay it on me!!​

 

[vrajewski10513]

College is going well, I'm almost done with my second year which is a great feeling! I am so ready for the summer to begin. !!!

I remember that feeling all too well. Now I wish I could go back! lol

 

[MeghanEmily]

We stayed at Cabana Bay Beach Resort on our 2016 trip and absolutely fell in love with the place. Where it has the disadvantage of not including express passes like some of the pricier hotels, you really can't beat the price onsite and we absolutely love the theme. The pools and lazy river are great.

I'm really interested in staying at CBBR someday! We did RPR last time for the express pass, and I liked it just fine, but CBBR looks so bright and fun! If we went a slower time of the year and didn't feel like there was any reason for express (now that Nathan's already been there once) I'd totally like to stay here.

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party! We absolutely love this event and can't imagine being in Orlando in the fall and not stopping by for a visit. We will Uber to and from the party.

We're so excited to get to do this for the first time in August! Glad you won't be missing it

We're all big fans and the WWoHP has always been a highlight for us at Universal.

Agree. Any HP fan should absolutely take their time there, even on return trips.

Thursday is a very exciting day indeed! This will be the VERY FIRST time all of us will experience...



VOLCANO BAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm so interested to hear your review of this! I'm not a big water park person, but Nathan totally is, and this place looks awesome.

I didn't mention any meal plans yet because... I DONT NEED TO- THATS THE BEAUTY OF A UNIVERSAL VACATION!! No getting up at the hoo haa of dawn to make dining reservations for places you may want to eat 6 months from now (I'm not hating on Disney. I actually enjoy the planning for Disney. It's just nice once in a while to take a vacation that doesn't need uber planning ahead of time)

I loved this about being at Universal! I also love Disney planning, but sometimes it's a really nice change of pace not to have to know exactly where you'll be and what you'll eat every day 6 months in advance. We only had one dinner reservation pre-booked for our 3 nights at Universal and we did just fine.

 

[vrajewski10513]

I'm really interested in staying at CBBR someday! We did RPR last time for the express pass, and I liked it just fine, but CBBR looks so bright and fun! If we went a slower time of the year and didn't feel like there was any reason for express (now that Nathan's already been there once) I'd totally like to stay here.

CBBR really is an awesome hotel. The lobby with the sky-high ceilings and floor to ceiling windows is so bright and welcoming! The fact that they have TWO pools and an awesome lazy river really sold us for our down time. The pool bars are nice too, we spent some time there on our last trip. We went during a slower time last year (end of Sept into the first week of October) and felt the express passes were unnecessary. I really don't recall waiting longer than 30 minutes for anything that trip.

We're so excited to get to do this for the first time in August! Glad you won't be missing it

Yes! That's awesome, I know a lot of people really excited for those earlier parties. I've seen some grumblings from people think its *too* early to start Halloween festivities.. but I think if it gives people the chance to enjoy the event that cant normally get away from school/work in the fall then so be it!

I'm so interested to hear your review of this! I'm not a big water park person, but Nathan totally is, and this place looks awesome.

I've been reading every news release on Volcano Bay.. all the slides, the food, the technology, etc.. It really does look amazing! We enjoyed ourselves last year at Blizzard Beach and this looks above and beyond either one of Disney's waterpark. I cant wait!

I loved this about being at Universal! I also love Disney planning, but sometimes it's a really nice change of pace not to have to know exactly where you'll be and what you'll eat every day 6 months in advance. We only had one dinner reservation pre-booked for our 3 nights at Universal and we did just fine.

The only restaurants that have been requested for this upcoming trip are Bubba Gump and The Cowfish, which both are walk-up to make reservations so I don't need to worry about ANY!

 

[vrajewski10513]

Alright friends, lets talk DISNEY!
​

Well, a little Universal first.. THEN Disney!!

This trip will take place December 1st-9th and cross both Universal and Disney.

We haven’t booked flights yet. We plan on using more of our Southwest points and they are always the last to release flights… May 18th to be exact. I also don’t have our transportation figured out yet, so that’ll be a topic for a later update.
​

SO for our SECOND trip of the year, we will be spending 3 nights here, again in a standard room:



It’s the cheapest on-site option (hopefully an even better deal with our AP discount), we love the hotel, and this part of the trip was essentially an after thought.


We figured since we’re going to have annual passes from our October trip we should take advantage of them and check out all the fun Christmas festivities Universal has to offer.


Our excitement went from about a 7 to 1 trillion when we heard the announcement for…




The HARRY POTTER CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION!!!!


With Christmas décor scattered through Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley, special food offerings, live entertainment and a special nighttime show at Hogwarts Castle we are literally over-the-moon excited for this short visit to Universal.


Along with the HP Christmas Celebration we will also be able to enjoy the Grinchmas festivities and the Macy’s Holiday Parade which will also be fun.


Since my husband is a weirdo, and didn’t want to miss out on the "Disney Experience" we will be taking a cab back to MCO on Monday morning, December 4th and meeting the rest of our family at the Airport so we can take the Magical Express to our next home for the week…



Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort & Villas!!! This will be our first stay in a deluxe resort.

We were able to secure rental points to stay in a Deluxe DVC Studio Villa.



This saved us a TON on the cost of the room if we were to book directly through Disney. We are paying around the same price we would have paid to stay at a moderate resort.


I’m still working on our "official" itinerary for Disney because they haven’t released park hours yet for December. Heck, they haven’t even released AK’s extended hours for Rivers of Light yet for September. It really irks me that its almost mandatory to plan your whole Disney vacation 6 months in advance but they can’t release hours in time for you to adequately do so… But, I digress…


I will, however, share with you that we are planning on getting the Deluxe Dining Plan this year. I know, I know.. it’s a ridiculous amount of food. BUT, I heard a lot of complaining on our last trip about how people wished we had gotten the dining plan instead of paying out of pocket.. So, here we are.. you want a dining plan, you’ll get THE king of all dining plans. Anyway, here is our tentative list of ADRs I’ll have the joy of seeking out on June 7th.


Breakfasts:
Trail’s End
Kona Café
Whispering Canyon


Lunches:
San Angel Inn
50’s Prime Time Diner
Via Napoli
Tony’s Town Square


Dinners:
Coral Reef (Candlelight Processional Package)
'Ohana
Tusker House (Rivers of Light Package)


Desserts:
Beaches & Cream


I really wanted to pull in the reigns on the amount of sit down meals we were having on this trip since it’s shorter than most of our normal trips. But, as you can see, that didn’t happen. At all.


One of the fun events we will be partaking in since we will be visiting in the Christmas season is..



Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party! The only ones who have been to the party before are Mark and Amanda so it’ll be a new experience for most of us.


So that's all I’ve got for now. We will be diving more into specifics as they arise in the future!
​

 

[vrajewski10513]

double post

 

[FantasiaMagic]

I'm looking forward to hearing your review on Cabana Bay. It looks like a nice value resort at Universal!

Oooh! How exciting you're staying in a Poly DVC room! The Poly is amazing...

Love all the dining plans so far. I have only been to WCC for dinner, but I am interested to hear your review on the breakfast.

 

[vrajewski10513]

I'm looking forward to hearing your review on Cabana Bay. It looks like a nice value resort at Universal!

We fell in love with Cabana Bay on our trip last year. I can honestly say that if we had the option to stay there for our whole trip last year instead of having to switch over to POFQ we definitely would have! That's saying a lot because I LOVE POFQ.

Oooh! How exciting you're staying in a Poly DVC room! The Poly is amazing...

I'm really excited! I'm always so envious of the people staying there when we pop over for ADRs. It'll be our first deluxe stay, period, so that adds to the excitement!

Love all the dining plans so far. I have only been to WCC for dinner, but I am interested to hear your review on the breakfast.

I think I'm more excited about seeing Wilderness Lodge at Christmas time than I am about this ADR haha I've never been in there, so the added bonus of the Christmas decorations makes it a must-do this time!

 

[vrajewski10513]

So there's been some developments!!

In particular to our October Universal Studios trip.

I've been researching the Universal On-site hotels recently, particularly, Preferred and Premier hotels. We LOVE Cabana Bay, but it does kind of stink that the Express passes aren't included here (I know, you get what you pay for).

In my research I found out that at the Premier Hotels you get Express passes from the day you check in THROUGH the day you check out..

So, hold on a minute...

You're sayin' if we check in, stay one night and check out the next morning we would still get TWO whole days of Express passes??

Yes-sir-ee-Bob!

SOLD!!



Well not quite.. I did some number crunching first. For the amount it will cost us for two rooms for the night at Cabana Bay, it will cost about DOUBLE that for this one particular room at Hard Rock Hotel.. BUT, when you factor in that there are 5 of us, it comes out to be roughly $50/person more total. So, when you compare that to the price of $89.99 PER DAY PER PERSON the Express pass would normally cost, its actually a really good deal!

So with all of that said, this will be our home for our last night in Orlando!



The Hard Rock Hotel at Universal Orlando!! We will be staying in a Deluxe Double Queen Room. It comes with two queen beds and a pull out sofa. While it would be a squeeze if we were to all stay together for the whole trip. I think we will be able to manage for one night. Here she is..




Our plan is to check out of Cabana Bay first thing in the morning on Friday, October 20 and head over to Hard Rock Hotel. We're going to check-in and drop off our luggage with bell service. I'm assuming our room won't be ready at such an early hour, but we will be able to get our express passes and head into the park!

That's all the updates I have for Universal today! ​

 

[Raeven]

I found your PTR!

We KNEW after last years trip that we would be down again for Halloween Horror Nights, but really didn't have any plans to get back to Disney right away. But, alas, we just can't stay away for too long.

Isn't that how it works?

Our excitement went from about a 7 to 1 trillion when we heard the announcement for…




The HARRY POTTER CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION!!!!

Mine too! Since we're only going down for a weekend I'm thinking of skipping MVMCP now.

You're sayin' if we check in, stay one night and check out the next morning we would still get TWO whole days of Express passes??

 

[FantasiaMagic]

LOVE the idea of staying at Hard Rock! That place sounds so nice! What a smart idea to stay there to gain the perk of the Express pass.

 

[vrajewski10513]

Isn't that how it works?

ALWAYS! I think every year we say "This is going to be the last trip for a while.." then as soon as we get home we start planning again

Mine too! Since we're only going down for a weekend I'm thinking of skipping MVMCP now.

We hadn't even planned to go to Universal in December. It was supposed to be Universal in October, Disney in December. But since we're getting the APs anyway, we just couldn't pass up the opportunity to see WWoHP all Christmas-fied!

LOVE the idea of staying at Hard Rock! That place sounds so nice! What a smart idea to stay there to gain the perk of the Express pass.

I'm really excited. My sister is a foodie so she is most excited about the restaurants at HRH.. the rest of us are all for the Express Passes lol

 

[MeghanEmily]

Oooh good super sleuthing! That sounds like a great deal if you know you want EP anyway, and how nice to get a taste of Hard Rock! I stayed there on a girls' trip with my mom for a couple of nights and we liked it pretty well. The pool is nice with the underwater music, and I've heard people complain about rowdier crowds here than other resorts but we had no issues at all. Sounds like fun!

 

[vrajewski10513]

I've heard people complain about rowdier crowds here than other resorts but we had no issues at all.

Meh, we're a group of 20-something's so rowdy definitely won't effect us haha Especially because the night we're staying there we're going to be at HHN which goes until 2am!