DD's Ultimate 14-Day Summer Trip to Pandora

[BigredNole]

As of today, we are 45 days out. Plans have been dynamic and fluid for the entire planning time. The only thing that was solid is the rough day she finishes school and the days she starts back. DD will only have a 3.5 weeks of Summer break this school year. Then she is invited to tryout for a travel soccer team for the Summer which would pretty much end any chance for vacation. She decided it was not a good fit because it is not Club related, too many cliques among some of the others, a few clashing attitudes, and she (and we) did not want to spend almost every weekend hopping around to these tiny tournaments that really mean very little at the end of the day.

We wanted to spend 2 weeks at WBC. We got an incredible offer from a Wyndham owner who purchased a few recent contracts with quickly expiring points. We booked for 1-week in a 1BR unit for mid-June ($560). The owner was excellent and were trying to build up cash to convert their contracts to "Wyndham purchased" to get PlatVIP status. We tried getting the second week of the trip at WBC, but it fell through. No big deal though. We searched for another property and found an HICV Elite owner. He was able to book us a 2BR room at Orange Lake Resort for $759.

Because we are going to be there for 14 days, we do not have to be park commandos. We plan to be at rope drop each day, avoiding morning EMH parks. We typically head to the big, quicker rides first (no reason spending 30 minutes on IASW when you can do that later when its hot). Hammer out all of those rides, use FPs later in the morning and early afternoon. Head back to our resorts for afternoon relaxation, pools, and resort activities. Depending on the moods at night, we will decide to head to a park. Where we go will depend on which firework show we want to see.

New things we are going to accomplish this trip:
River of Lights (we have dinner package for it)
All of Pandora
Surf Lessons for DD...she is going to be extremely surprised and exhausted.
Star Wars port at DHS and Jawa trading
Space Mountain...DD has not done it and I have been avoiding it because it is too jerky for my neck
Visit and not just walk by each Epcot country. Plan is to do half the countries one day and the other half another day at Epcot.

 

[mdsouth]

Sounds like it will be a fun-filled 14 days. So what age is your daughter? I have a daughter that just turned 14 and a son that will turn 21 this summer. I am just in the beginning planning stages for our next trip. I am trying to figure out a time that will fit all our schedules, so I certainly can relate a bit to your situation. When you really start looking at the kids' school and activities schedules, it ends up with not a lot of days to pick from that work.

I am glad you figured out a time to go that works for you.

My last trip was in 2014 and for part of the trip, it was just my daughter and me. It was wonderful having that time together, and like you are planning we took a more leisurely pace. We ended up at AK for two solid back to back days just because it is my daughter's favorite part and that was before Pandora. So, I can only guess that we will have to add another day to AK on our next trip.

My daughter rode Space Mountain on that trip when she was 12 and did not care for it at all. She has already told me that she does not want to ride it again because it is too jerky. So, perhaps it might not be a must do for your DD or she might end up not caring for it too much so at least you might only have to endure it once for her sake. What us mothers will do for our kids, right?

 

[BigredNole]

My DD is 11 going on 21. She loves roller coasters but has avoided Space Mountain because it does bother my neck. Old jerky coasters do that. IMO, it is time for a MASSIVE updated to SM. If she wants to go on it more, she can go with her mom a second time. Our last trip was Summer 2015. We are in the AP phase now. We buy APs to use over the 12 month period and then take a year off. We try to get 3 weeks of trips on the APs to make them more palatable.

As far as schedules, things are getting more complicated. The great part is she will be in a school where she is on 9-weeks/off 3-weeks. It works out great for off-season vacations. Unfortunately, her soccer schedule will dictate much of what we can and can't do as well. We can miss a small number of practices, but games are a definite no. Therefore, we have to wait for those season and tournament schedules to come out before planning those off week trips. Hopefully we can find a time to finally get on a 4-day Disney cruise.

 

[BigredNole]

5 weeks and a day before we start our drive. Plan is to get down to J'ville or St. Augustine for the night. That will put us about 2-2.5 hours out for the next morning. We should be at WBC by 9AM. Maybe a room will be ready or they can at least grant us a room in a building we like (Tower 4). Once the room is ready, I will probably head out to do the grocery shopping for the week. If I can get the other 2 to go with me, we will hit DS first for lunch and to get our AP cards. Breakfast foods, snacks, drinks, adult beverages, dinners, and general supplies from Wally World. Those grills at WBC save a TON vs Disney pricing. I can feed the family for half of what one adult meal is on Disney property. Nothing like grilling out good steak, chicken, shrimp, and burgers yourself.

We have all 7-days of FPs complete with the APs. I never noticed that they now limit AP holders to only 7 days in a 30-day period of FPs. I think that is completely ridiculous but it does cut down on the locals that "rent" out their FP MBs to people willing to pay it. At least we have all of our key rides on FP. We will see what we can get for the other days later. No big deal. We will do 100% of the rides and attractions we want with this whole trip. We will also do a lot of the resort activities too. The plan will be to see each fireworks show at least 2x and RoL once. We may even do Fantasmic. For me it is a long time sink because you have to get in line so early, go in so far in advance, wait for it, then 30 minutes. It is almost 2+ hours for this show.

I think I am getting more excited about the resorts than I am with Disney. Its almost as if I could go on vacation to the resorts and not do Disney at all.

 

[BigredNole]

Things have finally solidified. I had a semi-urgent scare for our second week staying at OLR. The person I rented through was threatened with cancellation of all reservations and a hold on his timeshare points. He was confirmed that existing reservations within 60-days, regardless of status of the situation, will not be affected. It was almost at the point of me cancelling with him and booking some WBC units that popped up on eBay. I even called the Rep that was pushing him and was assured nothing will happen to my reservation.

I spent the last several weeks trying to find a place to stop for the night down. It was painful finding an I95 hotel for less than $100/nt. I don't like spending a ton for a room I will be in for 8-hours or less. I got Jville airport for $70 through Priceline. Thought it was a hotel, turns out to be a motel but it is right at the exit and has great reviews. No big deal. We will be getting there about 6:30PM. We just go have a nice sit down meal at one of the dozen nice places right there. Get back to the place about 8PM, watch a movie, and crash around 10PM. I know my plan never jives with the rest. I wake up at the crack of stupid. If I am up way too early, I will just watch movies or login to work. If I sleep til 4AM, great. I can load up the car quietly, hit the Dunkin Donuts, and get them up at 5AM and on the road by 5:30AM. I just can't see sitting in a room waiting and watching them sleep when I have Disney calling my name. We have no plans for a park on arrival morning. All plans are booked for later that afternoon.

We arrive at WBC on June 17. Plenty of activities and resort amenities to explore and enjoy for the day. When our room is ready, I will head out to Wally World for my Olympic trials in Vacation Shopping. If you have never been to that WalMart on Vineland, it is a treat. I would call it more controlled chaos than anything else. It has to be the busiest WalMart in the world. Somehow, I always do well there though. From resort and back it takes me about 90 minutes. I can always put the trip off until the next morning as well. When I wake up at 3AM, no one will be there but the stocking crew. Only bad thing is that I can't get adult beverages. I can fix that by bringing it with us or just getting it at the gas station by BWV. Always better getting the 16oz alumibottles at $1 each vs $5+ at the resort.

 

[BigredNole]

OK, we are 16 days out. Nervousness is setting in. With the Wyndham site changes, reservations going missing, overbookings occurring, I have been worried about losing our reservation. However, Guest Services at WBC has confirmed that our reservation is in the system and cannot be overbooked. When it was booked, there was inventory. Those that would be affected by overbooking would be reservations made after the Wyndham site change.

This leaves final preps at home to get done prior to heading out. All of the stuff that everyone has to do before heading on vacation. I think we are pretty good on all of that. We have bought almost everything we need to. We will have the grocery shopping to do when we get there.

 

[BigredNole]

After having my car in the shop for a few days, was called to pick it up. Expecting a huge bill, they handed my keys, and told me to bring it back if there were more problems. This may sound very generous, but it was the 2nd time in the shop for the same problem that was fixed 3 weeks ago. Hopefully, the problem is what they suspect and it being due to a bad batch of gas. I'll know more in a week or so.

After everyone stressing at work (another need for this vacation), we were informed we would be receiving year end bonuses. Although not the greatest bonuses, it is something. Arguing with DW to have a $200-$300 dinner locally, I finally convinced her it would be more fun to spend that much on another dinner at WDW. Her only criteria was it needed to be a show and buffet/family style. We went looking for options last night and found openings for Mickey's Backyard BBQ, Hoop-Dee-Doo, Cape May Cafe, and a couple other places. After looking at pictures, reading reviews, she decided she wanted to go to Mickey's Backyard BBQ. We are not telling DD, it will be a huge surprise for her. I have not been to FW other than the HDD since the 70s. People that went back then will remember the restaurant that had the video-type games and the giant Big Al vibrating chair. I don't know what still exists from way back when. This will be a fun treat for the whole family.

We are 2 weeks away from leaving and the wait is almost agonizing now.

 

[BigredNole]

I am not even up on my current vacation and I find an onsite deal for the time of our next trip. I am in the process of trying to verify the DVC owner to be sure we are not getting scammed. It is always a concern when renting a timeshare from someone. I had hoped I could put this off. However, seeing that DVC rental and the recent good news, everything is saying go for it. I have to see if I can verify the owner and I will book trip 2 before trip 1 has started.

 

[BigredNole]

I now have Trip #2 fully booked, paid for, and ready to go. I have not even had Trip #1 yet. I booked OKW at $100/nt for 7-nights in Dec. Flights were much cheaper which allowed us to fly this time. Flying in the night before saved more than the price of an MCO hotel. It also allows us to enjoy the entire first day. The other flight was $75 more per person and did not land until 7PM.

We did not want to spend any time planning our Dec trip until our June trip was done. Good news on Thursday with a bonus from work, no bill for the car repair, OKW falling into our lap, we had to go for it. We were going for WBC. It would have saved us about $200 for the room. I would also save ~$300 driving instead of flying. Since the Summer trip is all offsite, staying onsite in Dec will be fine. It will be our first time onsite since 2014.

OKW Studio: ($700) 12/03 - 12/10
SWA Flights: $500 (3 RT)
Ramada Inn MCO: $60 (I hoped for better, but PL gave me this. It is fine for the 8-hours we will be in the room. Hooters is within walking distance unless we Uber that night to get groceries)

 

[BigredNole]

DD asked me this morning if we were going to do the pressed penny machines. Ugh!!! I had not though about it and was not prepared. I searched this morning for our collection and could not find it from our move. I know I have it, but not sure where. The big issue is that when we started it, we agreed we would only do the machines on 1971 coins. Yes, it gets expensive tracking down 1971 coins, but it is a cheap hobby comparatively. The problem is all of my available 1971 coins are with that box somewhere. I am now seeking places on eBay for 1971 pennies, dimes, and quarters. I expect it to cost me about $50 for the coins and maybe another $150-$200 at WDW to press them all. Not bad seeing that it will occupy several hours going after them. It will also make us go resort hopping!!!

 

[BigredNole]

MBs arrived yesterday. I put the vinyl stickers on my DW and DD's. Neither one will stay on for long. They are already peeling off. I went to the first craft store to get acrylic spray, base coat, and top coat polish. Running a test on an old MB with other stickers. If it works out well, I will redo their bands. If not, I will have to try some other options. Otherwise, just plain old bands.

 

[BigredNole]

Every single time we go to Disney, something comes up to interfere with it a bit. No, the trip is not in jeopardy. However, stuff is happening at work which is going to make it a little stressful. Not being there and getting all the in house information is never a good thing. I do not think anything would happen to me, but it is always something that will be in the back of my head. I already know I will be required to have a conference call with my manager now. Going in I knew I would have to work a little. It should not interfere too much. We will be back at WBC or Orange Lake in the afternoons. I can just schedule it during one of those afternoons.