Welcome!Firstly, I will admit I have started a trip report in the past (though not a pre-trip) and it didn't get far, but this one will be different! So, please follow along if you'd like.
So, now that that's out of the way, let's get to it.
Who:
Well, myself of course. And who am I? I'm Bryan, and I'm a 28 year old Disney fanatic from beautiful Vancouver, BC. I currently work for one of Canada's telecommunications companies and am also studying full-time, hoping to complete my BBA very soon.
I've not been to Disney as many times as some people on the boards but I've been a fair amount. My very first trip took place when I was 9 and was to Disneyland with my family. I was a little young, but I remember a great trip. My second trip was in May 2011, and was my first to WDW. This was the trip that opened my eyes to the magic. So much so that I applied for and got accepted to participate in the International College program in the Summer of 2012. I worked Outdoor Food and Beverage at the Animal Kingdom. I have since been to WDW again, Disneyland twice and Disneyland Paris once. Its been a busy couple of years. But that's about enough of me.
Who else?!?
I will have the pleasure of having my lovely girlfriend, Kelly, travelling with me.
Kelly works full-time and she is completing her university studies in Marketing as well. Kelly is no stranger to Disney, having visited Disneyland more than a dozen times throughout her life, as well as two times last year with myself, once in February (where this photo was taken), and again for the D23 Expo. However, this trip will be special. It will be her first visit to where I consider my home, Walt Disney World. YES, Her FIRST trip! Very exciting times ahead.
When:
So, as the little says, this was a bit of an impulse trip... We are planning to go to WDW in September of 2017 with four of our friends. However, when we were talking just a few days ago, we were thinking about how it would be nice to go sooner like this Spring would be great... And within 24 hours I had a hotel booked.
So, there you have it, in less than 24 hours, it was decided we were going to WDW in almost exactly three months. The dates are April 23rd to April 29th. Yup, right in the middle of Flower & Garden Festival, which will be a nice little bonus for Kelly's first trip.
Hotel:
So, the original plan was to stay offsite to save a few bucks as this was a last minute (unscheduled and unanticipated) trip, so we wanted to keep it budget. So, I booked Ramada hotel just to the south of Animal Kingdom, which was around $350CDN (From now on CDN = Canadian dollars) for 5 nights, which is around $245USD. So you can see the appeal, but then I started add up the other costs involved. We would need to shuttle or rent a car to get from the airport to the hotel, and then drive to the parks everyday, and also park, and then gas, and etc etc. So once I added everything up, the offsite hotel was actually going to cost around $700CAD ($490USD).
I decided to check out what the going rate was for a value Disney resort for this time. The answer... $780CDN ($545USD). For only $80CDN more, I could stay onsite with the all the conveniences that staying at a Disney resort include. So the decision was made:
Five nights at Disney's Pop Century. A resort I'm not stranger to. Quite frankly I love this resort, it's a great value for your money, and what a perfect way for Kelly to experience her first visit, onsite at a Disney resort, rather than offsite.
Travel Plans:
As is tradition for those of us who live in the Pacific Northwest who travel to Florida, we're in for some longer travel days. We will be travelling Air Canada and have a morning flight on April 23rd out of Vancouver International Airport at around 8am, heading east for Toronto. After a delay in Toronto, we'll be heading due south, expecting to land at MCO around 7:30pm.
Now, we don't check into our Disney hotel until the next day, Sunday April 24th. Which leaves us with approximately 12 hours to kill, so we're booking a
nights stay at the Comfort Suites Orlando Airport.
We're booking this hotel because it's pretty close to the airport and the cheapest of the decent/near by hotels at $130CAD ($90USD) for the night. This hotel also includes free shuttle (key to this operation) and free breakfast (nice bonus). I was considering just staying at the airport until the earliest Magic Express shuttle was leaving for Pop Century, but I was informed this was not happening, and I do agree, as a night's sleep would be nice. We will then catch the first shuttle heading towards Pop in the morning.
The Plan:
So we've got the hotels booked and the flights, what's left? OH! Right! The Disney in the Disney trip. I had originally booked a room-only reservation, but changed it (after several attempts at calling the reservation line, all long distance) to a Vacation Package which includes the Disney Dining Plan. We figured it would be nice to just go to restaurants we wanted to instead of looking at menu prices. It's also nice to have everything paid ahead of time for the most part. We also added a 5-day base ticket each to the reservation. All together, for both of us, the package (hotel, tickets, dining) came in at $2600CAD ($1800USD). We've already covered that we're staying at the Comfort Inn when we land, and are going to catch a Magical Express shuttle the next morning, so now it's just what we're doing after that!
Day 1:
So, after we get to the hotel and check in, I assume our room won't be ready. OH NO! Actually, not a big deal. We'll leave our luggage will Bell Services, take our Magic Bands and head for the only place anyone should ever head when they get to WDW... The Magic Kingdom! Obviously, it's too early to have FP booked yet, so we'll have to update later there.
Day 2:
Animal Kingdom
ADR: Whispering Canyon
Disney Springs
Day 3:
Epcot
ADR: Biergarten
Day 4: Magic Kingdom
ADR1: O'hana Breakfast
ADR2: Tony's Town Square
Day 5: Hollywood Studios
ADR: 50's Prime Time
That's it for now folks, we'll talk again real soon
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