Do I? Don't I? PTR

[Tash87]

Yes, this will probably happen to us.

I think I am more stressed out about FP cause you have to consider times of adr's etc and tie it all in.​

 

[Jon84]

Yeah it gets a bit messy with ADRs in too.

Generally, I put my FPs one after another over 3 hours in between ADRs. So in theory you could arrive part way into hour 1, do two rides over the end of hour one and beginning of hour two, then do a standby ride or get a snack or something until hour 3 starts.

Kinda trying to condense up the time taken with FPs so that you're not hanging around for ages, booking rides in a specific order helps too. For example AK doing Safari, then Rapids, then Everest, or in MK Splash and Big Thunder first as they are close, then going over to Seven Dwarfs as the third one

 

[Tash87]

That's good advice, thank you. We have two Young children that wake early so we will be at rope drop or EMH most days with a Lunch adr so I plan to make our FP after lunch/early afternoon. Though some days we have a lazy morning due to late fireworks so I hope to make evening/night FP.

I've just read on the November 2016 thread that HM is down the last week of November. I haven't seen anything official yet though.​

 

[Jon84]

Yeah, that would work well for you, no queuing in the busy part of the day!

We did MK EMH till 3am a couple of times, the park is soooo quiet, doesnt work with kids though!

I saw that about HM (replied in the other thread too). In 2014 they finished early, so fingers crossed!

 

[Tash87]

Tommorow is our FP day .

Also we can do online check in so that should be interesting, upper/lower floor, preferred building etc.

I organised which FP we would like and timings and was so stressed out! The tiering in Epcot and HS is just stupid. We had only planned 1 day at each of those parks but with FEA and Test Track an absolute must we now have to squeeze a quick trip to Epcot on one of our lazy mornings so that we can hopefully do both. I am also doubtful whether to make a FP for Fantasmic as we have a adr for Minnie's Holiday dine at 5 and don't know if we will make it. Any advice?

Once I have made our FP I will post with our itinerary. Fingers crossed

​

 

[Tash87]

Our FP selection was very successful It took a lot longer than I thought it would, trying to think about rides we could possibly do at RD with little/no queue. Soo confusing and I kinda feel like a waste of time as it can all change on the day.

Let the countdown commence! ​

 

[Jon84]

At least you've got something in, should be pretty quiet in the parks anyway

I just got my email from VH saying I can sign up for MDE now

 

[Tash87]

Do you think it will be quiet? I have mixed thoughts, my first week is meant to be the quieter week and then it's thanksgiving week. I saw a couple of weeks ago that someone posted that the crowd calendars have upped the expected attendance but I also read that this fall is meant to be quieter than usual

What is it with VH? Lol. I suppose some people might not be aware about MDE

​

 

[Jon84]

Virgin Holidays - As usual, they are late with info, just always rubbish!! lol

I think you come back just before the mad part the Thursday (24th) through Sunday (our first 4 days!) will be busiest.. Remember that the guys in the US don't get so much annual leave, so they seem to use the public holidays more than taking time off work. I don't believe the Touring Plans calendars anymore, they are always wrong now!

Year to date, the whole of Orlando has been quieter than usual, so I reckon it't wont be as bad as it has been previous years.

 

[Tash87]

Virgin Holidays - As usual, they are late with info, just always rubbish!! lol

I think you come back just before the mad part the Thursday (24th) through Sunday (our first 4 days!) will be busiest.. Remember that the guys in the US don't get so much annual leave, so they seem to use the public holidays more than taking time off work. I don't believe the Touring Plans calendars anymore, they are always wrong now!

Year to date, the whole of Orlando has been quieter than usual, so I reckon it't wont be as bad as it has been previous years.

We extended our holiday by a few days so we fly home on the 25th.

Since my final stage of planning I haven't looked at/used touring plans or any other crowd calendars Dunno if I've done the right thing? Oh well, too late now!

Fingers crossed for a quieter Orlando ! ​

 

[Jon84]

We extended our holiday by a few days so we fly home on the 25th.

Since my final stage of planning I haven't looked at/used touring plans or any other crowd calendars Dunno if I've done the right thing? Oh well, too late now!

Fingers crossed for a quieter Orlando ! ​

It'll be fine

Your last two days will be busy but you won't care by then lol

 

[Tash87]

Our last few days are offsite and we don't plan on doing any parks, maybe a water park on 24th if the weather isn't too bad and a lot of shopping ​

 

[Jon84]

Our last few days are offsite and we don't plan on doing any parks, maybe a water park on 24th if the weather isn't too bad and a lot of shopping ​

Yeah black friday should be fun!

 

[Tash87]

I had an email last night and the sender was flight.changes@VH

I instantly went into panic mode as this is the second time Virgin have changed our return departure time! Luckily it was only earlier by 10 minutes

I have looked at the seat map of the plane and it looks relatively empty! Now I'm thinking DAMN we could've saved £200 for pre-booking our seats Is this the norm now they charge for pre-booking? Does everyone risk it and not book their seats?

​

 

[Jon84]

We extended our last trip while we were out there, and the plane was pretty much empty except Upper, Prem, Exit Rows and Legroom Seats.

We left it, then suddenly at check in, everyone went on an did their seat selection. So yeah, it looks like everyone in Eco just leaves it and hopes for the best!

 

[Tash87]

7 weeks today

The weeks seem to be flying by! I'm also thinking it might be time to pack the summer stuff away into our cases. I don't think we will have shorts and sandal weather in the UK again this year.....or will I be proven wrong? ​

 

[Tash87]

Now our holiday is around the corner and our plans are set in stone ( for now ) I thought I would post what they are. We are all soooooo excited .

I also plan on doing a TR when we get back, so hopefully I won't be too tired each day to keep a diary of what we've been up to. ​

 

[Tash87]

Day 1 - Travel Day 12/11

We will be staying at Hilton Gatwick so we can have a ' lazy ' morning, I will probably be wide awake at 4 with excitement but I really hope I manage to sleep in till 7 ish due to the long day ahead.

Breakfast is included with our room, we paid £130 for a deluxe family room with breakfast. I didn't think that was too bad.

We will then have to take our overnight bags back to our car which is booked in at the long stay at Gatwick airport. We always park there.

We plan on doing twilight check-in the night before so we don't have to carry too much luggage around.

We fly at 1pm with Virgin Atlantic and will hopefully arrive in Orlando at 5:35pm ( fingers crossed for no delay! )

We have a hire car and upgraded to a intermediate suv.

We hope to arrive at the Grand Floridian at 9ish. We plan on going to Walmart to pick up some bits but I think that is highly unlikely once we get there. ​

 

[Tash87]

Day 2 - Universal

First full day.

Wake early and go for breakfast at I-hop or Gasparillas ( in GF )

Get to Universal for opening and ride Minion Mahem first! Leave around lunch time.

I have a reservation booked for Crystal Place in MK at 9:20am in hope the kids change their mind

I have also booked some FP in MK as we will only be a monorail or boat ride away for the afternoon,

3:10 Seven Dwarfs
4:15 Jungle Cruise
5:30 Space Mountain

We may not make it to MK but I thought I may as well book FP in case we do! All of this depends on how the kids are feeling. ​

 

[Tash87]

Day 3 - Magic Kingdom EMH

Get to MK for EMH opening and before lunch go back to GF, not sure where to have lunch yet.

FP...

3:00 Tomorrowland Speedway
4:00 Goofy's Barnstormer
5:00 Buzz Lightyear

ADR...

6:15 Be our Guest ​