Is a year and half long enough to plan ~ A Sept 2019 Pre-Trip Report

[vleeth]

Hello everyone, my name is Valerie and I'm a
Disney-trip-planning-holic. I'm starting this pre-trip report waaaay too far in advance and things will be changed sooooo many times, but I'm doing it anyway.

So here's me. I love all things Disney and I'm actually a part-time Travel Agent Specializing in Disney & Universal. I love planning Disney trips.



DH Dave and our DD Hope
Neither of them love Disney as much as I do, but the enjoy the trips and are excited when we get there. I'm blessed that they put up with my Disney talk. Because there is a lot of it.


I'm super excited about this trip because my Mom, Brother, Sister-in-law and 2 nephews will be joining us. This will be the boys first trip to Disney. Hope and I are super excited.

First I should say that Hope is homeschooled so she is with me a lot. We babysat the boys Monday-Friday while their parents were at work from when they were 6 weeks old until they moved to another city. So needless to say we are very close to them and miss them and want to go to Disney with them...badly

THE PLAN:

My current plan is to get free dining at Pop from Sept 21-28, 2019. That's a little over a year and a half from now.

We will start having Disney movie night once a month before long. Disney movie night consists of some food related to the Disney movie we are watching. At first is will be just the three of us and as we get closer we will have some movie nights with the boys.

Also, Hope wants to be surprised with our actual leaving date so I will need to come up with a scavenger hunt of some sort to reveal our trip.

When Hope was little I spent the months leading up to a trip purchasing small toys to give her each day at Disney. She got to unwrap a new toy each morning. This set up worked well for us as she really didn't ask to purchase much of anything in the parks. I plan to do this for my nephews and I have started a list. I want these to be low cost items. Here is my list so far.

bubbles
colorbook/crayons (little ones)
stickers
glow sticks/wands/bracelets
glow toys that spin
sunglasses
goggles
dive sticks
hot wheel size car

That's all I have for tonight.

 

[vleeth]

Oh, did I mention once we are there we will probably upgrade to annual passes?!? It will be our first time ever having them.

That means we will probably go back in early December 2019.

Then back sometime in the spring for the Flower and Garden Fest.


And one last trip in September 2020.

 

[vleeth]

So today my countdown says 1 year, 6 months. I'm not 100% sure of my check-in day at this point. Let's face it, I won't be 100% sure of check-in day until free dining comes out April 2019.

But today is the day I am celebrating only having a year and a half before we go back to Disney!

 

[vleeth]

So I went to Dollar General with my $5 off $25 purchase this morning. I purchased 6 12 packs of soda for $20 and then got to pick out $5 worth of free stuff.

I got my nephews each a play pack grab and go which has stickers, crayons and a coloring book. The zip lock bags are for our trip. We can use them for leftover snacks and to bring wet wipes and other small things to the parks.

 

[bellesBFF]

Joining in! I will be going in Feb 2020! Waiting sucks but it's something to look forward too, and work towards! I've also started buying things Can't wait to see how this trip plans out!

 

[vleeth]

Joining in! I will be going in Feb 2020! Waiting sucks but it's something to look forward too, and work towards! I've also started buying things Can't wait to see how this trip plans out!

We may be there in Feb 2020 with our AP!

 

[vleeth]

So the free dining 2018 rumors are swirling. April 24th is the rumor. Unexpectedly, the rumor so far is that All Stars Movies is included. I know that can change at any moment, but if it is included I may plan to stay there next year. My family loves Pop, but I think my nephews would love the Toy Story section. Decisions, decisions. Speaking of my nephews, my brother may not be completely on board with this trip. I mention it occasionally and he doesn't seem to have much to say. He says he needs a new car, yadda yadda. Which, I totally agree. But I think he can save and pull off this trip too since my mom is paying for the kids tickets.

I'll have to try to bring it up again. In the meantime, I'm keeping a watch on Free Dining 2018 and dreaming of Free Dining 2019.

 

[vleeth]

I have a new, super crazy plan. That just...might...work!

One of my bucket list items is to go to Discovery Cove. Since you get 14 day Sea World tickets with you DC pass, we would go for a couple weeks and stay in the camper. I have the money set aside for this trip and one of these years it will happen. So I was thinking that if they offer Free Dining 2019 bounce back this fall, we could go to Discovery Cove and then spend a night or two at Disney to book for next year.

I won't know if they are offering it until the beginning of August. So I won't know if we are actually doing this trip until then. We would go in September. This also hinges on how my dd13 is doing on her new online schooling. We start that mid-August and I need to see what the workload looks like and how she's handling it. She's a pretty smart cookie and we will be able to work ahead some. Plus we could always go to Sea World in the am and then go to the public library in the afternoons to do some school work.

If all of this happens I want to spend a night or two in our camper at Ft. Wilderness. This would be a great vacation and take the stress off of getting free dining booked for the following year.

Assuming my I can get my brother on board by September.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Following!!! It's never too soon to start planning, I've already got 3 future trips all the way into 2020 in my head started!

My 17 yr old daughter is homeschooled as well so I totally get how spending so much time together makes for a close relationship! I homeschooled my boys too but they are in college now.

Looking forward to seeing your plans, we loved FD when we were able to go in September! I have a PTR going for Feb 2019 too!

 

[vleeth]

Following!!! It's never too soon to start planning, I've already got 3 future trips all the way into 2020 in my head started!

My 17 yr old daughter is homeschooled as well so I totally get how spending so much time together makes for a close relationship! I homeschooled my boys too but they are in college now.

Looking forward to seeing your plans, we loved FD when we were able to go in September! I have a PTR going for Feb 2019 too!

I'm heading over to check out your PRT right now.

 

[vleeth]

My brother is on board!!! We are officially going to Disney next year with my nephews/godsons. There has been quite a bit of happy dancing going on at my house.

I guess it's time to really get my planning on.

For now, I'm working on a list of movies for monthly movie nights.

Jungle Book (staying at Pop)
Lady and the Tramp
Toy Story
Little Mermaid
Finding Nemo
Frozen
Beauty and the Beast
Star Wars (maybe Clone Wars)
Monsters Inc
Winnie the Pooh
Snow White

I'll have to check with Hope and see if there are any others she wants to add to the list.

 

[vleeth]

Well I'm pretty sure the Discovery Cove trip is off the table for this September. I didn't realize that past bounce back offers didn't include all of the eventual Free Dining Dates. The last two years it only offered the first week of September. We plan to go the last week.

Oh well, maybe we'll do DC in the spring.

 

[vleeth]

I checked the prices/dates for Discovery Cove in the Spring and week after Easter is pretty low. I was quite surprised since we have that week off, but then I realized that lots of places have Spring Break dates that have nothing to do with Easter. So I'm thinking about booking!

 

[Bama Mom]

Hello! I too plan to be at Disney in September 2019 if things work out. My husband and I honeymooned at DW and will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary next year so I told him he had to take me back just the two of us to celebrate. I am hoping it all works out though because the next year is going to be a busy one for us. Our oldest graduates from college in December of this year and is getting married in January 2019. our middle is already talking about marriage with her boyfriend so who knows i that will happen next year and then our "baby" graduated high school in May. Our anniversary is the end of May but I told hubby we could do the trip during free dining (plus he teaches at a college so he can't take off through the summer) and if things work out we will be there my birthday week. Thinking of going 9/16-9/21.

 

[kclark9830]

Enjoying reading all about your plans!

 

[vleeth]

Hello! I too plan to be at Disney in September 2019 if things work out. My husband and I honeymooned at DW and will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary next year so I told him he had to take me back just the two of us to celebrate. I am hoping it all works out though because the next year is going to be a busy one for us. Our oldest graduates from college in December of this year and is getting married in January 2019. our middle is already talking about marriage with her boyfriend so who knows i that will happen next year and then our "baby" graduated high school in May. Our anniversary is the end of May but I told hubby we could do the trip during free dining (plus he teaches at a college so he can't take off through the summer) and if things work out we will be there my birthday week. Thinking of going 9/16-9/21.

How exciting. I hope all of your plans work out. Have you booked your trip yet? I'm itching to do mine, but we don't have the date's 100% figured out.

Thanks for following along. Do you have a pre-trip report?

 

[vleeth]

Enjoying reading all about your plans!

I see you have a pre-trip report and you are going THIS year. I'm heading over there now!

Oh, and thanks for following along.

 

[Bama Mom]

How exciting. I hope all of your plans work out. Have you booked your trip yet? I'm itching to do mine, but we don't have the date's 100% figured out.

Thanks for following along. Do you have a pre-trip report?

I haven't officially booked yet. We are still playing with dates and I keep wavering on if I want to splurge and go deluxe or save a lot of money and do value. Hopefully I can get a great room only discount because someone suggested using a room only discount over free dining since it's just the two of us. I don't have a pre-trip report yet but am considering doing one. I am just one of those that would probably be talking to myself, which really isn't much different than everyday life now that I think about it. So maybe once I will bite the bullet and start one soon.

 

[vleeth]

I haven't officially booked yet. We are still playing with dates and I keep wavering on if I want to splurge and go deluxe or save a lot of money and do value. Hopefully I can get a great room only discount because someone suggested using a room only discount over free dining since it's just the two of us. I don't have a pre-trip report yet but am considering doing one. I am just one of those that would probably be talking to myself, which really isn't much different than everyday life now that I think about it. So maybe once I will bite the bullet and start one soon.

Let me know when you start your report and I'll be sure and talk to you. I love talking Disney. Did you compare the numbers for free dining verses a room only? I think for deluxe room only would save more and for value free dining would. If you need a really good travel agent, I know one!

 

[Deb286]

Following along. I'll be there October 2019 - it seems a very long time away right now, but I do enjoy the planning stage. I really love your idea of a monthly Disney movie night. I think I'll have to come up with a list of my own. Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your plans.