It didn't take much convincing...A New Year 2019 Pre-Trip Report

[tyandskyesmom]

Well, we did not think we'd get back to Disney until 2020 at the earliest. Skyler and I were loosely planning for Christmas/New Years of 2020 - 2021 and then changed that to Summer 2020. But nothing was definite or real yet, obviously.

In 2015 we took a wonderful 16 day trip to cover Christmas and New Years. We drove from Illinois. We stayed at Caribbean Beach and had Annual Passes. We also had Deluxe Dining. Me and the kids had been MANY times before that trip but this trip was Cary's first time. We all loved it.

Then we went back in June of 2016 for 10 days. We flew. We had out annual passes still. We stayed at Pop Century. It was HOT but we had a great time.

At that time we thought we'd not get back for a while but Skyler's dance team decided to do Universal and a Carnival Cruise in June/July 2017. How could we be so close and NOT go see Mickey??? So we flew down and added 5 nights at All-Star Movies prior to going to three nights at Portofino Bay, three nights on the cruise, and then four nights back at Port Orleans French Quarter. We started out leery of Universal but for this trip at least, we enjoyed it more than the Disney portion! Not that any of it was bad, but we got a new found love of Universal. Skye took a class and danced at Universal, she took a class and danced on the cruise, and she took a class at Disney...back stage at Epcot! Three girls only with a dancer in the Beauty and the Beast Show at Hollywood Studios. We saw Cinderella not dressed in her gown!!! SSSHHHHH...not supposed to see that!

So when that was all done we were left with the rising costs of Disney EVERYTHING and needing a new car and needing to buy a home. Plus, this is a travel year for dance and she was talking about New York...which for a 14 year old who wants to put herself through Med School dancing on Broadway is a definite MUST!!! So 2020 it is. Or it isn't.

Well, dance started and we get info on the competitions and conventions and this year's travel...WHAT??? New York is in August...DISNEY AND UNIVERSAL ARE IN DECEMBER/JANAURY??? What? We can't afford that...or can we???

We LOVED Disney at Christmastime! Yes, it was crowded but we were prepared and actually left thinking it wasn't bad. But it's expensive. So her coaches prices for the Disney portion were high...and the planner in me knows she will not get the info out on the package soon enough to effectively plan a Disney trip at Christmastime. Universal, however, she always gets a great deal on! So, ya, we could do the Universal portion. But how can we swing some Disney too. So I did some fuzzy Disney math and decided we could drive down and spend 2 nights near Disney and just hang at Disney Springs and the hotels and that would be enough. Right?

So I am looking at Disney Springs hotels, good neighbors. And they are not that much cheaper than a value on property for the days we want...which I kinda expected. So I priced All - Star Movies and it was more but not that much more and for the benefit of getting more Disney and busses and all the knows of all our trips to Disney, it was worth it, so I contacted my online travel agent but she does not book room only for less than three days. So I sat on it a bit. Thinking. And around that time we were offered overtime at work...I work at home...on a computer all day...and I can work AS MUCH AS I WANT TO as long as I am productive...BINGO!

So I think about it more and the time frame made it easier to leave on a Friday morning (Cary works Monday through Thursday till 2am) and it would not cost him more time off. I have more time off than I need. So I looked at it...and booked four nights at All-Star Movies.

Then I thought since we will be there four nights, maybe we can just enjoy eating, maybe a whichever waterpark is open at that time, shopping. So I jumped online because we are already within our 180 days and I am able to get ALMOST everything I want...until I start pricing out what we would eat. And realize for the cost of all that dining, we could do 4 day base passes and actually do the parks!

So I contact my online travel agent (because she does for four night packages) and have her take over my reservation and add the four day base passes! YAY!!!

So then I had to weed out food.

Ok...well, I'm getting a little ahead of myself here...maybe we need some basics before we head into more details...

 

[tyandskyesmom]

The Details...

WHEN : We leave cold, possible snowy Illinois at about 2:30am on Friday, December 28, 2018. We plan to arrive in The World on December 29, 2018 by 10:00am. We are in Disney December 29, 2018 through January 2, 2019. We are then in Universal from January 2, 2019 through January 5, 2019. Then we are back in Disney for January 5, 2019 through January 6, 2019. And we are hanging in Chattanooga on January 7, 2019.

WHERE : On the way down, we are spending the night at a LaQuinta Inn & Suites in Ocala, FL. Then we are at All-Star Movies, then Hard Rock Hotel, then All-Star Music. On the way home we are spending the night at The Hampton Inn Chattanooga West/Lookout Mountain.

WHY : Well, I already kind of covered this but DANCING of course...it's why we seen to do everything these days! They are doing a class at Disney but I don't know that Skye will. She is not part of the package but she could do it but I am afraid with the days we are there if she has to leave in the middle of the day she may have issues...and Disney has age rules and it seems a lot of the team that are going are very young so I don't even know if they will be doing the clinic there. They will be dancing at Universal again and taking a class. The rest is just because we deserve it!

HOW : We are driving down. No one is a fan of that option but airfare is too much at that time of the year plus with weather changes and how quick they are to cancel flights these days, I really don't want to take that chance. We are not getting hoppers, which I am finding is hard! We always have hoppers but with only most of four days and four parks to see, hoppers just did not seem worth it. We do not have a dining plan, which again is HARD! But with only four days, at such a busy time, we don't want to be dining rather than doing. We have 4 day park to park at Universal plus early entry and front of the line access passes from staying at Hard Rock so that should be a breeze. The last day at Disney is room only to get some shopping in.

And we'll do the WHO in separate posts.

 

[tyandskyesmom]

Sherry … Me … Mom … Planner. I don't seem to be able to find any pictures of JUST me so you are going to get ones of me and other people.

I love everything about vacation...especially the planning! I work for a large hospital corporation with a recent work from home status. I love it. My commute is 3 seconds. Works for me. I am almost 48 years old and have two kids. My favorite Disney/Pixar movie is Bugs Life with Emperor's New Groove closely behind. I could not really tell you which park I love the most because a trip does not seem complete without all of them. My favorite hotel we have stayed in is Animal Kingdom Lodge and my favorite "gonna stay in someday" hotel is The Contemporary in a Magic Kingdom view room. My favorite restaurant California Grill or Narcoossee. I am in the camp that I think Disney is nickeling and diming us and soon we, my family, will be proced out of vacationing at Disney the way we want/have become accustomed to. We may not stop going all together but I can see up really changing the way we vacation there.

I am usually found at my desk at home (since at this point I am trying to pull 14-15 hour days seven days a week) or driving Skyler to dance or Nutcracker.

 

[tyandskyesmom]

Cary … my Significant Other of almost six years …

Cary is a supervisor at a pallet warehouse. He works a cruddy shift but it works for him. His trip with us at Christmastime in 2015 was his first trip...anywhere. He didn't get it before going. Sometimes I wonder if he still fully gets it. But he has fun when were there. I can pretty much watch his eyes gloss over when I start talking plans...he wants me to tell him when to be where...and just go. He will turn 44 on the day we leave for vacation. He is more a thrill ride seeker than we are but enjpys the whole of Michey's House too. He likes a lot of the Disney brand movies but I don't know what he would say is his favorite. His favorite character is Darth Vader though. So far, of the hotels he has stayed in his favorite it Caribbean Beach...and he'd love to stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge.

These days he does a lot of the driving Skyler where she needs to go so I can sit at my desk longer. He loves being a part of our crazy so does not have any problem doing it.

 

[tyandskyesmom]

Tyler … Tyler … Tyler … son … brother … all around pain in the @#%!!! He was such a sweet, smart, happy. involved child then he discovered VIDEO GAMES...and well, so did the rest of us!

Tyler will turn 20 the first day we arrive at Disney. He is in his second year of Junior College and even though he was in all honors and AP classes in high school, he is struggling. He has been doing better but I do not think high school (or any school that came before it) really prepared him for the time when it wasn't all just easy and they wanted to make you pass in any way they could. The school system failed Tyler...but the past three semesters have been all him. He is doing better but still needs to be pushed. He says he wants to be a Mechanical Engineer (don't really know where that came from because it was NEVER something on his radar prior to the last couple of years of high school) but he does not really like going to school anymore (which is odd because he likes school???) and that is a lot more schooling. I heep trying to tell him he may need to sit down and really reconsider but so far...nope. He is an assistant manager at a Little Caesars in the area somewhere between part and full time. And other than that, he's in his basement playing video games. You know how usually people say their kids are 10 going on 18 or something like that? Well, Tyler is 19 going on 10. He is a really fun guy when he wants to be but other times he just checks out. He is me to a T...all the parts I would go back and change if I could do it again...which is probably why he drives me crazy! He loves Supernatural and Dr. Who and will binge watch The Office ot Stranger Things or Big Mouth or whatever he feels like that day. I suppose things could be worse...he goes to school, he works and he's not out all night god knows where, so there is that!