Do you wanna build a Snowman? {Sept 2014 PTR}

[Azza1987]

Hello All!

So here we are, my first post for my PTR for our Sept/Oct 2014 trip

Firstly this trip wasn't supposed to happen until 2015, but I sneaked in and booked our holiday for me and OH for this year. He wanted a beach holiday but being fair skinned and having a need to 'do' things, a beach holiday just isn't for me.

Instead I've compromised to include some WDW time and some Beach time (cruise!) so here's the details for this holiday!

When: Sunday 28th Sept until Friday 10th Oct! (12 wonderful nights!)
Where: 7 nights at the Beach Club, Club Level with a garden view (hoping for a firework view room!) I chose this resort because I wanted to be within walking distance of epcot for the F&W festival, and it looked a bit more relaxed to its sister hotel the YC.

Just look at this! I cannot wait to be so close to Epcot and walking distance to DHS!


{Picture from WDW.com}

Followed by a 4 night cruise, on the disney dream in a cat 5E, oversized Veranda stateroom! We're on deck 10 so hopefully we'll get some lovely high views from the veranda! This should cure the OH need to relax on the beach and just relax away from all the busy days at the parks. We're doing the Bahama's 4 night cruise, stopping at Nassau and Castaway Cay.

Then one final night at Animal Kingdom Lodge, in a Savannah View room! Choosen for our love of animals, and I thought it would be a perfect end to the whole trip.


{Pic courtesy of WDW.com)

I feel so lucky that we get to go back this year, even though it'll be nearly 18 months since our last trip, it can't come soon enough!

Arrianne x

 

[Azza1987]

So let me introduce the cast for this trip

Dave & Arrianne! Here we are at Disney last year meeting Chip & Dale at Frontier land, MK!



That was our 2nd day in WDW last year and my first trip to MK!

Arrianne, 26 (will be 27 when we go!) - I love all things Disney, but I didn't realise how much I loved Disney until we went to WDW for the first time last year! My favourite park is definitely MK, closely followed by Epcot. Outside of Disney I loved Universal IOA. My current favourite film is definitely Frozen hence the title of this PTR, but my all time favourite film would have to be The Little Mermaid. We missed meeting Ariel last time so its top of my list this time.

Dave, 31 - My lovely finance! Isn't too bothered about Disney but loves Animal Kingdom and all the rides. He loves animals more then me, so Im hoping to find a way to surprise him someway when we are out there. Maybe the Wild Africa Trek or an Excursion whilst on the cruise.

This is our last holiday probably until our honeymoon (fingers crossed for a Disneymoon if Im lucky!) but we dont get married until June 2016 so theres a long wait until our next WDW trip after this one whilst we save for the wedding! So I plan to enjoy this as much as possible!

 

[Sam1]

It's coming around fast, it's not long since you booked it. First just a sneaky week, then 'I think I'll just add a cruise'!

We're just behind you, staying at the Beach Club as well for the same reasons. I'd love to try Animal Kingdom, but having a three year old that's scared of every animal, no matter how small, means it'll be a couple of years before we get to try anything like that. It looks absolute heaven though!

 

[Azza1987]

It's coming around fast, it's not long since you booked it. First just a sneaky week, then 'I think I'll just add a cruise'!

We're just behind you, staying at the Beach Club as well for the same reasons. I'd love to try Animal Kingdom, but having a three year old that's scared of every animal, no matter how small, means it'll be a couple of years before we get to try anything like that. It looks absolute heaven though!

Oh I no, so sneaky but I couldn't resist!

Next year I'll only get to go to WDW if I go with friends or my mum, OH is definitely pushing Boston next year. Although I really want to go to Boston, so I don't mind. Im sure I'll find a way to get my Disney fix somehow!

When do you go to BC? This is my first F&W time so Im really excited to stuff my face with all the goodies! Any tips for us to get the most from F&W?

 

[Sam1]

We check in on the 13 of October, I can't wait!

I loved The Food and Wine festival. We love tasting different foods, so the portion sizes were perfect for us. I know some people say they're small, but not all of them are. We had to leave one or two because there was too much for a taster. Instead of getting one each, we just shared so we could try more things.

We went a couple of times and got food almost instantly, but sometimes there was a wait. Don't let that put you off, even those massive weekend queues go down in about five or ten minutes. I don't know whether that's the same for the alcohol, but the food booth queues are very fast moving. I usually found a nice spot to sit while my husband queued. It was heaven!

This time I don't know whether we'll fit much food in because we're going to attempt to 'eat around the world' at the all permanent places within Epcot, although we're going to attempt to have a drink at each booth this time!

Don't forget the eat to the beat concerts, they're good just for the atmosphere.

 

[ankersandrew]

We also fly out for the first time on the 28th September. Looking forward to it

 

[Azza1987]

We also fly out for the first time on the 28th September. Looking forward to it

Oh same day as us! Are we flight twins? We're flying the Man VA 11am Not flown with VA yet so trying to keep an open mind! Hear some good & some not so good stories!

 

[Azza1987]

We check in on the 13 of October, I can't wait! I loved The Food and Wine festival. We love tasting different foods, so the portion sizes were perfect for us. I know some people say they're small, but not all of them are. We had to leave one or two because there was too much for a taster. Instead of getting one each, we just shared so we could try more things. We went a couple of times and got food almost instantly, but sometimes there was a wait. Don't let that put you off, even those massive weekend queues go down in about five or ten minutes. I don't know whether that's the same for the alcohol, but the food booth queues are very fast moving. I usually found a nice spot to sit while my husband queued. It was heaven! This time I don't know whether we'll fit much food in because we're going to attempt to 'eat around the world' at the all permanent places within Epcot, although we're going to attempt to have a drink at each booth this time! Don't forget the eat to the beat concerts, they're good just for the atmosphere.

That's a good idea to get a spot whilst one queues!

We didn't charge anything to our room last time but this time I'll definitely be setting it up for F&W. Will hopefully make it much easier to sample everything.

What was the weather like when you went last year? We went in early May last year and it was hot but not ridiculous apart from one overly hot day!

 

[Sam1]

What was the weather like when you went last year? We went in early May last year and it was hot but not ridiculous apart from one overly hot day!

It was absolutely perfect! It was hot, but not too hot. We went the last week of October, the first week of November, so I'm assuming it'll be a bit hotter when you go. We had one cooler day when it rained in the morning, but it was still very warm after. I'm hoping for similar temperatures when we go again this year because it was so perfect. I'm not really a fan of intense heat. We've lived in the South of France for the last ten years and I still haven't got used to it.

 

[ankersandrew]

Oh same day as us! Are we flight twins? We're flying the Man VA 11am Not flown with VA yet so trying to keep an open mind! Hear some good & some not so good stories!

Hiya, Yes out of Manchester on the Sunday 28th 11am - Virgin. We have flown to Vegas with Virgin and you couldnt fault the service, comfort, drinks and entertainment. food is airline food as normal. We will be eating at our hotel the morning of the flight so not so fussed about the food.

 

[Azza1987]

It was absolutely perfect! It was hot, but not too hot. We went the last week of October, the first week of November, so I'm assuming it'll be a bit hotter when you go. We had one cooler day when it rained in the morning, but it was still very warm after. I'm hoping for similar temperatures when we go again this year because it was so perfect. I'm not really a fan of intense heat. We've lived in the South of France for the last ten years and I still haven't got used to it.

Oh lovely! I'm hoping for it to be hot enough without being uncomfortable!

We are officially 25 weeks away today! It's getting ever closer, I think I might try to do an update on the PTR every Sunday now so I can countdown the weeks!

So today's update I think I will recap our last WDW holiday so I can reminisce!

We were last in Orlando 1st-8th May 2013, we stayed 8 nights at SSR with the dining plan. I loved SSR, and would definitely go back but I'd equally like to try OKW as well to compare.

On our last visit we enjoyed all 4 Disney parks (MK twice!), Discovery Cove, Seaworld, Universal IOA & the vinelands outlet mall!

It was most definitely a jam packed 8 nights, and I walked a lot so was very grateful for my Dr Scholl trainers!

Highlights from the last trip;

Harry potter Hogsmead at Universal IOA - I loved everything about it, the theming was absolutely perfect & it really could have been hogsmead if Orlando just wasn't so sunny!

Jiko the cooking place - great server & excellent food! Sadly we are not returning this year as we are going to try Cali grill & Yatchsman instead!

Animal Kingdom on a rainy day - this might not sound fun but loads of the animals were out & quite entertaining to watch given it was a cooler day! We also rode expedition Everest several times with no wait!

Space Mountain - my favourite ride at Disney!

Lowlights;

Missing out on not meeting Snow White! I mean she's the original 1st princess & we missed her!

Having too many ADRs, we felt rushed some days so we've only booked 3 for this trip, CRT, Cali G & Yatchsman.

Mouse keeping - I know SSR is a DVC resort but we weren't staying as DVC and mouse keeping missed two whole days until we called reception! Not a huge inconvenience just nice when you've had a busy day to come back to a clean villa!

Other then that our last trip was amazing, 8 nights definitely wasn't enough so hopefully this trip will see us focus on Disney a bit more & of course trying out the cruise!!!

 

[Azza1987]

Well we hit 164 days today...!

Its getting ever closer!

Today I decided on our excursion for when we dock at Nassua for the day, I'm hopefully planning to book the Sealion Encounter at the Blue Lagoon island!

We did discovery cove last year, so don't want to do Dolphins again so Sealions looks like such a good thing to do. They always seem pretty playful when you see the sealion shows at Knowsley Safari park etc!

My window for booking activies opens on 22/07/14 so I've put a date in my calendar to remind me, they dont have many openings so fingers crossed we can book it!

Im not making any plans for Castaway Cay and instead plan to just relax, and head down to the quiet beach section on the other side of the island for the day with a good book.

We've never cruised before, so I plan do to lots of research in the next coming weeks.

 

[Sam1]

I've just read you've had to cancel the cruise! That's a shame. Are your still staying at AKL, or has that had to be cancelled as well?

 

[Azza1987]

Wow, haven't added an update for ages here!

So our plans have taken a huge change the past few weeks, we recently had to cancel the 4 night cruise we had planned due to a friends wedding being mid week now and we had to shift our annual leave about!

So we we're just going to go for the week at BC that we had booked, but recently i've managed to juggle about our Xmas leave, and hopefully we'll now be flying out Saturday 27th - Tuesday 7th!

I cancelled our original virgin flights and Im now back to stalking flight prices again, but looks like we might book with thomas cook, as for our dates they are £507 each direct to MCO.

I've moved our AKL lodge to the first night 27th September, and then Im looking to add 2 nights on at POFQ before we fly home! I wanted to book this resort last year, and really want to try it out so it seems perfect to add on to the end of our stay.

So quite a bit of resort hopping, which I hope we wont find too stressful!

Our new Itinerary is therefore;

Saturday 27th - Fly Man - MCO, stay at AKL Savannah view.
Sunday 28th - Transfer to BC CL Garden View for 7 nights
Sunday 5th - Transfer to POFQ Garden View for 2 nights
Tuesday 7th - Fly MCO -MAN back home arriving Wednesday 8th!

Back to work on the 9th! That day I epect I will be very sleepy.

Im now very excited to get there, Although a still disapointed to not go on the cruise and lose £200 in amendment fees! But never mind - thats life.

Coutndown is back on 129 days to go!

 

[Azza1987]

I've just read you've had to cancel the cruise! That's a shame. Are your still staying at AKL, or has that had to be cancelled as well?

You beat me to my update

Still staying AKL for one night just moved it to the beginning of our trip instead of the end. So still really looking forward to that!

I've not hopped resots before so hopefully it'll be nice and straight foward!

We work Mon-Fri like most people do, and we've already used up significant AL time for NYC & Crete this year, so we only just had enough remaining for the 2 weeks we needed for Florida and Xmas. Now we had a mid week wedding to go to we've had to pull 2 days from somewhere so the cruise had to go and hence why we need to go back to work on the Thursday instead of the following Monday.

Its a shame, and Im hoping we can get a cruise booked for next year instead which would be nice.

 

[Sam1]

At least you've still managed to save AKL. I'd love to stay there!

Are you planning any of the eat to the beat concerts? You've probably already looked, but while you're at the Beach Club this is who's playing:-

Sept. 28-29 – Hanson
Sept. 30-Oct. 2 – Air Supply
Oct. 3-5 – STARSHIP starring Mickey Thomas

You're probably a bit too young to remember those bands, so they might be of no interest.

 

[Azza1987]

Oh I didn't know Hanson were playing when we were there, I hadn't looked! Thanks, I don't know the other too but I definitely remember Hanson from my very young days mmmmmm bop! We'll definitely be going to that

Yeah I'm very excited to see AKL, can't wait for the savannah view.

I'm still trying to find a way to get a cruise in, we've figured out we can do it if we reduce our Xmas leave but I'm not sure how much I want to go into the office between Xmas & NYE!

Sam when do u go back to WDW? X

 

[Sam1]

We Mmm Bopped to Hanson last year!

We get there on the 13th of October this year and stay for two weeks, then we're staying at the Hard Rock at Universal for our last two nights.

I see you've got a new signature with a cruise on it!

 

[Azza1987]

We Mmm Bopped to Hanson last year! We get there on the 13th of October this year and stay for two weeks, then we're staying at the Hard Rock at Universal for our last two nights. I see you've got a new signature with a cruise on it!

Yes I do! Deposit paid on the med cruise next August out of Barcelona for 7 nights! If all goes to plan we will definitely be on that cruise, no Disney world next year OH wants a break so this way I get a Disney fix and he gets to see new places.

Ah just after us, will you be there over Halloween then or flying back just before? Are u going to MNSSHP? X

 

[Sam1]

Yes I do! Deposit paid on the med cruise next August out of Barcelona for 7 nights! If all goes to plan we will definitely be on that cruise, no Disney world next year OH wants a break so this way I get a Disney fix and he gets to see new places.

Ah just after us, will you be there over Halloween then or flying back just before? Are u going to MNSSHP? X

How exciting! I considered one of the Disney cruises for next year, but I haven't made my mind up yet. It's something my son wants to do, so with it being his 16th next year I want to surprise him with something different.

We leave on the 29th, then travel back to France on Halloween (my son's birthday), so we could make one of the parties. I know they're not scarey, but I think my three year old daughter would still be terrified so we're going to give it a miss this time.