Help me figure this out! **UPDATED AGAIN....SO EXCITED!**

[Skywise]

So, major change of plans! This morning I logged in bright and early to make Narcoossee's ADR and 1900 Park Fare ADR, only to be disappointed with lack of availability and limited times. Harumph. I had spent last night pouring over my plan, trying different scenarios, never really happy with the results.

And then it just hit me while I was staring at my screen, disgruntled with how things were turning out. Screw it. We're going to MVMCP!!

If you've got the money - do the dessert party during the MVMCP! It'll provide seating for your parents (and desserts!) - If they do it the way they did it last year it also included reserved viewing space for the parade!

 

[GPC0321]

If you've got the money - do the dessert party during the MVMCP! It'll provide seating for your parents (and desserts!) - If they do it the way they did it last year it also included reserved viewing space for the parade!

Believe me, I've considered it, but I'm still not ready to fork over that much money. I'll have a better idea closer to trip time, if it's not totally booked by then. Thanks for the reminder!

 

[vinotinto]

Sounds like a great plan! Short trips are sometimes the most fun. The only change I would make is to take a taxi or Uber on your return. The one and only time I used DME they picked us up 3 hours and 15 minutes before our flight. We only have carry-ons and had checked-in, etc., so we literally had to wait at the airport for a domestic flight for 2.5 hours (It was Delta and they require you to be a the gate at least 30 minutes prior to the flight). So, we had 2 hours to kill at the airport. You can easily gain 1 - 1.5 hours on your last day by simply taking a cab or an uber.

 

[GPC0321]

Sounds like a great plan! Short trips are sometimes the most fun. The only change I would make is to take a taxi or Uber on your return. The one and only time I used DME they picked us up 3 hours and 15 minutes before our flight. We only have carry-ons and had checked-in, etc., so we literally had to wait at the airport for a domestic flight for 2.5 hours (It was Delta and they require you to be a the gate at least 30 minutes prior to the flight). So, we had 2 hours to kill at the airport. You can easily gain 1 - 1.5 hours on your last day by simply taking a cab or an uber.

That's actually a really good idea!
I have some questions though!
1. We're renting DVC points and my fabulous owner just booked DME for our trip for us. Do I need to do anything regarding canceling it for the return to MCO, or is it okay to just not show up for the bus?

2. About what time should we arrange for a taxi or Uber if our flight is scheduled to leave at 1:55? We may have checked luggage, I'm not sure at this point, and I've got the Early Bird Check-In, so hopefully I can print boarding passes at the resort, but if not we'll have to do that at MCO.

Thanks for any advice! Greatly appreciated!

 

[KerryCM]

you can still check your luggage in at your resort even if you don't use ME. They will print your boarding passes for you too. You just need to check your luggage before heading over to the Magic Kingdom in the morning.

 

[Danimal]

I'll throw one curveball your way, if you want to possibly spend some extra time at the parks.

We too, are pretty limited in good flights to Orlando. I'm flying with 3 kids and the only flight I could get out on our departure day was at 6:30 AM. Ugh. I took it because it was our only option. After booking though, I was playing around and found out that if I flew out the previous afternoon, I was saving $80 per ticket vs what I paid for the flight the next day. With 5 of us going that was $400. I booked an extra night at our hotel for $100 (Caribbean Beach with 25% discount and $75 gift card) then switched my flight to the afternoon flight on the earlier day. I saved $300 and don't have to wake my kids up at 4 AM to go to the airport. Plus, it gives us an extra park day as the kids can get up in the morning and use the time at the park instead of traveling. Win for everybody!

So basically, look into whether or not a flight the previous day saves you enough money to stay an extra day (even if you have to stay somewhere other than GF for a night) and if it does, leave a day earlier and you'll have a full park day to use. Just my two cents!

 

[Minniekins]

So, major change of plans! This morning I logged in bright and early to make Narcoossee's ADR and 1900 Park Fare ADR, only to be disappointed with lack of availability and limited times. Harumph. I had spent last night pouring over my plan, trying different scenarios, never really happy with the results.

And then it just hit me while I was staring at my screen, disgruntled with how things were turning out. Screw it. We're going to MVMCP!!

And so that's what we're doing on arrival night. We should get to the resort around 4pm, but I don't care when we get there as long as we can get to the party in time to see the fireworks, parade, and castle show and get my Mom a meet and greet with Santa Goofy! LOL!

And for our extra day of park tickets, we'll just rope drop MK on our departure day, and...I don't know...walk down Main St. look at the castle one last time, and then take the boat back to the resort in time to catch DME.

I'm not even worried about the money aspect. Que sera sera! I've been fortunate enough that most of the money spent on this trip was "found" money anyway.

So the current plan is:
Arrival Day:
1. Arrive at GF, check in, grab a quick bite at Beaches or Gasparilla's
2. Head to MK for MVMCP

Day Two:
1. Sleep in
2. 11:00am brunch at 1900 Park Fare
3. Epcot for the afternoon
4. Back to resort for a break
5. Head to MK to watch Happily Ever After fireworks

Day Three:
1. No rush in the morning, and head to MK whenever we get around to it
2. Back to resort for a break
3. Epcot in the evening for dinner (at Rose & Crown hopefully), Candlelight Processional, and IllumiNations

Departure Day:
1. Up early to bid farewell to MK and get final PhotoPass pics (we have Memory Maker)
2. Leave MK by 10am for our last boat ride across to the Grand
3. Catch DME and head home

Wow, love your new plans! I think it all looks great and think you're gonna have a wonderful, magical time! Look forward to hearing about your trip after you all get back. Have a wonderful time celebrating the magic with your Mom and Dad, and hope she has a birthday full of pixie dust!

 

[Minniekins]

I'll throw one curveball your way, if you want to possibly spend some extra time at the parks....

So basically, look into whether or not a flight the previous day saves you enough money to stay an extra day (even if you have to stay somewhere other than GF for a night) and if it does, leave a day earlier and you'll have a full park day to use. Just my two cents!

That's some great and creative thinking there! Love how you got an extra day and it cost you less! Gotta remember to look around a bit if we are in a similar situation!

 

[Mickeymouseisking]

I'll throw one curveball your way, if you want to possibly spend some extra time at the parks.

We too, are pretty limited in good flights to Orlando. I'm flying with 3 kids and the only flight I could get out on our departure day was at 6:30 AM. Ugh. I took it because it was our only option. After booking though, I was playing around and found out that if I flew out the previous afternoon, I was saving $80 per ticket vs what I paid for the flight the next day. With 5 of us going that was $400. I booked an extra night at our hotel for $100 (Caribbean Beach with 25% discount and $75 gift card) then switched my flight to the afternoon flight on the earlier day. I saved $300 and don't have to wake my kids up at 4 AM to go to the airport. Plus, it gives us an extra park day as the kids can get up in the morning and use the time at the park instead of traveling. Win for everybody!

So basically, look into whether or not a flight the previous day saves you enough money to stay an extra day (even if you have to stay somewhere other than GF for a night) and if it does, leave a day earlier and you'll have a full park day to use. Just my two cents!

The same thing happened to us with our Disney cruise out of Barcelona! We'd planned on flying in the day before the cruise, but when I checked the flights it turned out the flight two days before the cruise was SO much cheaper that we ended up getting a full extra day in Barcelona for less than what we would have spent without it! Always good to play with the flights if your time allows it.

 

[hodad]

luckily, Southwest flights are easy to alter. Keep watching the prices, which could change. And consider flying out of nearby airports. I've gotten great deals on direct flights out of Tampa, which is only an hour farther than MCO. I'd also consider renting a car, if you can drive.

Enjoy what looks to be a great weekend! There's a bench at the TTC loading site where your parents can sit and watch the fireworks, right next to the CM stand.

 

[GPC0321]

Thanks for everyone's replies, advice, and suggestions. I think we're pretty set now, and I'm happy with the way things have turned out. Because we're only hitting MK and Epcot for this trip, we'll have plenty of time in both of those parks for our short visit. I feel like I've been very blessed to have everything fall into place as well as it has, so I won't tempt fate with flights. We're using points, and thankfully I booked before they jacked the prices/points up. At this point, I'd be about 20,000 points shy of covering the flights instead of having them completely covered like they are now.

I hate that we can't spend more time in MK on our departure morning, but some time is better than no time.

I may have missed it in the comments, but does anyone know a ballpark time that we should leave the resort by taxi to make MCO in time for our 1:55pm flights? Would noon be early enough?

 

[GPC0321]

Well! Tonight I made a big decision and changed our departure flight from Sunday to Saturday! It actually saved me points that were refunded to my RR account, and we'll be arriving at MCO at 5:50pm Saturday evening and I have booked us a room right there at the Hyatt Regency in MCO for that night. The next morning, we'll get up and head to the Magical Express and be off to the Grand Floridian! We'll have the day to do as we please, then that night we have MVMCP.

I'm SO excited! We had already booked a hotel at our home airport for a "park-sleep-fly" package that Saturday night when we were anticipating an earlier Sunday flight time. When the flight wound up later, we kept the park-sleep-fly since it would still save us getting up ultra early Sunday and driving 2.5 hours to the airport. MVMCP would have been a bear after a long day of traveling.

So the plan:

Leave home about 11am to reach RDU in plenty of time to catch our 4:05pm flight to Orlando (anticipating the need to get a bite to eat, any traffic issues, bathroom stops, etc)
Land at MCO at 5:50pm.
Check in at the Hyatt there in the airport. Relax, have dinner, get a good night's sleep.
Get up, get ready, and head to DME to catch the bus to the Grand Floridian!
Arrive at Grand Floridian...drop our bags (check in if the room is ready), and head to a park (TBD)
Return to Grand Floridian to rest up a bit before heading to MK for MVMCP that night.
Party hard with Mickey and the Gang!
Crash that night and sleep in and be lazy the next morning before our 11am 1900 Park Fare reservation
Epcot Monday afternoon, and Magic Kingdom that night for Happily Ever After
Tuesday will be spent hopping around between MK, Epcot (Candlelight lunch at Rose and Crown and Processional performance at 5:00pm), and maybe Hollywood Studios.
Wednesday morning we'll relax around the Grand and have breakfast before catching DME at around 10:55am to head back to MCO and home.

*Sigh* It's so much better now.

 

[kathy884]

I like your new plan. Sounds like tons of fun to me. Maybe I'm jaded because I've just been to Disney, so many times, but less is more to me at the parks -- less time there per day, but fun doing favorites / looking around and time to enjoy the resort at a leisurely pace, especially given the lovely resort you are staying at. I also love the mini trip to Orlando -- prefer that to a whole week. I usually, though, go for four nights/three days -- a little longer than you are doing.

Just a thought too as a fun future alternative with wonderful active 70s/older parents for a future Orlando trip: If you haven't gone before, you might sometime on a future trip take them to SeaWorld. This has always with the beautiful landscaping, show based entertainment, been the favorite park for my active senior citizen relatives and a hit with everyone in the extended family group. // For your current trip though with staying at GF, no car, park hoppers, and party ticket, I think what you have planned sounds absolutely fabulous. Can I come?

I'm doing a mini trip in November FYI. DH is staying home, but me and my 22 year old son, will be joining my parents -- active seniors ages 80 and 81 for four nights/three days. My parents will actually be in Orlando for two weeks (offsite condo) plus a cruise on week three from Cape Canaveral. They have relatives and friends in the area (a grandson, a nephew, and my god parents) and other family members flying in to join then (another grandson and his fiancé) coming in for about a week and a half. And my god parents will be doing the cruise with them too. I hope to be having as much fun as they have in Orlando when I'm in my 80s. lol