Another Year of APs and a Surprise Cruise! Combo PTRs/TRs updated 6/16 Labor Day Parts 4&5, the end!

[amalone1013]

You’re in for a double treat! A dual PTR! Two trips at once!

Yes, I’m going to act as if I’m super fancy for that.


I sucked you all in with the promise of two PTRs at once... and have turned it into a multi PTR/TR!

Yup.

Apparently we haven't gotten enough of Disney World in September, hurricanes, and planning difficult family trips, so we're giving it another whirl!

So if you like boats, Mickey-shaped food, changing plans, difficult relatives, surprises, and Florida, come sail away with us!

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And you are now getting mini TRs for each trip vs a full blown TR, all here in this handy dandy thread.



In Addition, Please Stay Tuned For:

Waterparks
Flowers and Gardens
Food Booth Snacking
Last Minute Planning
Special Events
Snorkeling
Brunch





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[amalone1013]

Table of Contents:
Introductions

Let’s Do That Again!
An Anniversary Trip
Overview
Plans as of July 7th
ADRs as of July 11th
Fastpass Day!
Disney After Hours
OFFICIALish Plans


A Dreamy Surprise Trip!
A Surprise Disney Cruise Family Trip
Overview
Plans as of July 28th (coming soon)
Plans as of March 29th
Final Plans

A Mysterious Labor Day Trip?
Conquering the Water Parks
Overview
Hopeful Plans as of August 17th
Plans as of August 22nd and ADR options
Plans as of August 25th and ADRs
Final Plans
A Mini Trip Report!
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Bonus Waterpark Pictures & Review
Part Five

A Flower and Garden Extravaganza!
Overview​

 

[amalone1013]

In case you haven’t seen me around…

Hello! I’m Alyssa! Obsessive planner, Disney lover, spoiler of animals.

My partner in crime on my trips is my husband, Zack!

Zack’s family visited Disneyland a few times while he was young, but my first trip was when we went together in February 2015 (also when he became DF!) My wedding PJ has the proposal story here. Since then we went back to California in July 2016 and April 2018. We decided to get married down near Disney World in September 2017, so we went on a scouting trip that January… of course it made sense to buy APs then, right? So we did… and ended up going 4 times instead of twice! Hmmm, can’t imagine how that happened...​

 

[SuperNEMOfan]

Yippeeeeee!!!

 

[Raeven]

I was waiting for you to post this! Following along!

 

[amalone1013]

Yippeeeeee!!!

I was waiting for you to post this! Following along!

I've been inspired to get what we have for an itinerary in September up ASAP by reading yours last night

 

[Lesley Wake]

Following too!

 

[pooh'smate]

Joining in

 

[MeghanEmily]

I'm here!! I'll try my best to keep up!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Following!!

 

[kde175]

Me, too!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Following Along!!!!!

 

[amalone1013]

Wow! I'm surprised so many people want to listen to me ramble on about trip planning!


to you all!

I really appreciate it!​

 

[amalone1013]

Let’s Do That Again!
Trip Overview
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What are we doing again, you may be wondering… We plan on heading down to Disney World in September.​

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Wait, I’ve mentioned September somewhere else, right? Oh yes, it’s our anniversary!

I've got a TR going for that here.​

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We’re off to spend a week down in Orlando for our first anniversary. Too bad I couldn’t manage to turn this one into a 3 week extravaganza like the wedding/honeymoon trip. Turns out employers are more lenient for those versus anniversary trips…
​

After the wedding, we had some extra credit card points earned up and burning a hole in my virtual pocket. So waaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyy back in February, I used them to book 6 nights at the Dolphin, which is where we stayed for part of our honeymoon (and one night that December, and five nights in January 2018…). We hadn’t even talked about taking an anniversary trip yet, or what we’d be doing in general (blasphemy!), but I got wind of a change coming, the Dolphin was going to move up a hotel category which equals more points, and my points would have only been good for 5 nights instead of 6. So I went ahead and booked the week of our anniversary, just in case we decided to go.​

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And then… nothing happened.​

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Seriously, we didn’t make the call about going until the beginning of June!​

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I know, you’re all ashamed of me.​

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And to make matters worse, we didn’t try to book any ADRs until two weeks ago.
@kastoney would probably disagree about this being a bad thing ​

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Now you’re thinking, who are these people, the kind that go to Disney, buy a ticket at the gate, and complain that they waited in line all day and only rode two rides… and all they could find to eat were sad hamburgers!​

​

​

So we’ve been on a crash course of planning over the last couple weeks! But I bought tickets this week!

As of today, we are officially 69 days away from leaving


So here we go on a crash course of planning! Basic itinerary coming up next!
​

 

[Raeven]

Wait, I’ve mentioned September somewhere else, right? Oh yes, it’s our anniversary!

Yay! Our anniversary is actually in Sep too

Turns out employers are more lenient for those versus anniversary trips…

Booo

And to make matters worse, we didn’t try to book any ADRs until two weeks ago.
@kastoney would probably disagree about this being a bad thing ​

Eh, I don't think when you book adrs matters for a lot of restaurants. Oftentimes I switch a lot of things around with less than a month to go.

As of today, we are officially 69 days away from leaving

AH us too!

 

[amalone1013]

Anniversary Trip - 69 days!
Cruise Trip - 351 days!
(stealing this idea from @Raeven)

Plans as of July 7th

So we started with our 6 nights at the Dolphin, and at some point I booked the three nights before that at Pop with a room-only discount. But when we started discussing, Zack brought up Universal. I hadn't done that much in-depth planning beyond making sure we had a place to sleep

So we decided on two days at Universal, and decided to stick them on the front of the trip. One, so we don't bounce back and forth, and Two, because I can't change my nights at the Dolphin without it costing extra points.




9/14:
Currently flying in late this night, landing around 11pm. I've been trying to convince Zack we should take the earlier direct light, which leaves at noon and lands at 6pm, but that hasn't worked so far. He doesn't have as much vacation time as I do, and this trip plus the cruise trip will pretty much blow it all. (He knows this yet last night asks about doing a Christmas trip again...) Noon is maybe a bit early for him to call that a work from home day. The best we can do with stops is leave at 2pm and get in at 10pm, and they cost more, so that doesn't feel worth it to me.

I knew Zack would forever be spoiled by Express Pass after we stayed at Royal Pacific last year, but because I'm cheap I struggle with paying that amount for Friday night when it doesn't do anything for us, and since we don't have wedding luggage to haul around this time... we're hotel hopping! I booked this night at Cabana Bay. The price was $179, vs $336 for RPR, and I just couldn't do it Plus this is a great excuse to at least see Cabana Bay, even though it seems everything will be closed down by the time we get there.

9/15:
Move our luggage over to RPR, as it sounds like Universal doesn't really do this for you...? Maybe take a little to walk around CB in the daylight just to see it

Head to the parks! No other plans than that. USO hours are 8am-5pm, and IOA is 9am-8pm this weekend. It's also opening weekend of Halloween Horror Nights, and we are considering doing that this night. That will definitely make for a long day if we do! But we felt it made more sense to do it this night vs the next night, as we'll be moving hotels again and I would prefer not to do that at like 2am.

9/16:
Universal parks again, to make use of the included Express Pass at RPR! We come out way ahead this way vs buying them. One night at RPR is $336, so $157 more than CB. Express passes for the two days would cost us around $460. Even staying at RPR both nights we'd save around $150, but hotel hopping will save us $300.

Anyways, the most exciting part of this day (to me ) is brunch at Homecomin' with @Raeven and Josh!

Then this night we will head to Disney after the parks close. I needed just one hotel night, and I currently have a night at All Star Movies, but am debating switching to Pop. We're sentimental about Pop since it was our first Disney hotel It's a little effort to switch though and involves a phone call (due to my deal seeking, this is not normal ) so I'm debating how much I care about Pop emotionally plus dedicated buses when it's only one morning, vs ASMv and shared buses and seeing another value hotel.

9/17:
Right now we are planning on Magic Kingdom all day, even though I'm sure it will be busy as it's a non-MNSSHP night. I booked the After Fireworks Dessert Party because it sounds like a better deal with us, as I'm happy to spend my time while the park clears out munching

Check into the Dolphin this evening. I might call them up and see if I can use some of my leftover points to upgrade us to a fireworks view room...

9/18:
Planning to start the day at Animal Kingdom, and then in the afternoon move over to Epcot for some Food and Wine fun plus PM EMH.

9/19:
Anniversary!
We actually don't have any terribly special plans yet this day, other than Epcot and a nice dinner. We'll make sure to watch Illuminations (though I suspect we'll watch it the evening before too!

9/20:
Hollywood Studios day! Plan to check out Toy Story Land, and hopefully a Slink Dog FP. I'd probably be okay with a half or 3/4ths of a day here... but Zack really wants to go to Fantasmic. I'd be down for one of these:

None of the other parks are open much later anyways. I think I'd like to get down to WDW sometime when the parks are open to 11pm/midnight, vs when they're always closing at 8pm/9pm, just because we are night owls. This may make a good Disney Springs night, though we always decided that spur of the moment.

9/21:
Planning to start out at Epcot this day, and move over to Animal Kingdom in the afternoon and see Rivers of Light. This would also make a good Disney Springs night.

9/22:
The most ambitious of days. Start at Hollywood Studios, end at Animal Kingdom to enjoy some nighttime ambiance around the park... with a possible stop at Magic Kingdom somewhere in the middle. That could drop out though. Zack wants to hit DHS at rope drop again to try our luck at TSL rides... then perhaps with a spin on RnR and dropping in at TOT we'd head out.

9/23:
A last bit of Magic Kingdom and Epcot time before we leave. We have Magic Kingdom in the morning and Epcot in the afternoon, but looking again I think that should swap... It's a MNSSHP night in Magic Kingdom and they have the Morning Magic package, so maybe we'll hit Epcot first and then move to MK.

Head back to pick up our luggage at the Dolphin and uber back to the airport for our 7:30pm flight

I got my hair cut yesterday so it's not that crazy long anymore!

Next up will be what we've chosen for ADRs!​

 

[amalone1013]

Yay! Our anniversary is actually in Sep too

It's a good month! Zack's parents' anniversary and my grandpa's birthday are the 18th

Eh, I don't think when you book adrs matters for a lot of restaurants. Oftentimes I switch a lot of things around with less than a month to go.

Very true. The only one's giving me much trouble were trying to find Ohana and a Tiffin's ROL package... it kept saying to call in.

AH us too!

 

[Raeven]

I knew Zack would forever be spoiled by Express Pass after we stayed at Royal Pacific last year

Josh has been spoiled by EP too

I booked this night at Cabana Bay. The price was $179, vs $336 for RPR, and I just couldn't do it

I think that's a good idea. I've almost done that a couple times, but at the last minute we usually end up finding an AP deal and canceling it.

Move our luggage over to RPR, as it sounds like Universal doesn't really do this for you...?

Now that I think about it I'm not sure. We've never moved hotels there, I kind of don't think they do.

It's also opening weekend of Halloween Horror Nights, and we are considering doing that this night. That will definitely make for a long day if we do! But we felt it made more sense to do it this night vs the next night, as we'll be moving hotels again and I would prefer not to do that at like 2am.

That is a long day, but the tickets you buy for HHN when you already have day tickets are like half the price. I really hope you do it so we can hang out! Are you planning to get EP for HHN?

Anyways, the most exciting part of this day (to me ) is brunch at Homecomin' with @Raeven and Josh!

We're sentimental about Pop since it was our first Disney hotel

Ours too!

so I'm debating how much I care about Pop emotionally plus dedicated buses when it's only one morning, vs ASMv and shared buses and seeing another value hotel.

They're refurbing parts of ASMv and it looks really good so I think either one would be a good choice.

I think I'd like to get down to WDW sometime when the parks are open to 11pm/midnight, vs when they're always closing at 8pm/9pm, just because we are night owls.

Same here! Although usually they extend some of the hours for Sep, just not for every park/every day.

Very true. The only one's giving me much trouble were trying to find Ohana and a Tiffin's ROL package... it kept saying to call in.

Oh yeah, those would be troublesome. Although I don't know why it would want you to call in was it to alter them or book them in general?

 

[kastoney]

Hey Alyssa! I'm here. Sounds like you all have some great plans thus far. Sad we're gonna miss you by just a few weeks. Can't wait to hear what ADR's you have made. You'll be shocked to know we have exactly 2 made for our trip in August so far

 

[MeghanEmily]

Wait, I’ve mentioned September somewhere else, right? Oh yes, it’s our anniversary!

Yay!! Anniversary trips are the best ideas! I'm really looking forward to ours next month.

Now you’re thinking, who are these people, the kind that go to Disney, buy a ticket at the gate, and complain that they waited in line all day and only rode two rides… and all they could find to eat were sad hamburgers!​

Haha I think you're far from that kind of people.

We're sentimental about Pop since it was our first Disney hotel

Nathan is too for the same reason! It's a great spot though

I'd probably be okay with a half or 3/4ths of a day here... but Zack really wants to go to Fantasmic.

I'm with Zack. I'm intent on making sure we see Fantasmic, too.

Sounds like great plans so far!!