Another Year of APs and a Surprise Cruise! Combo PTRs/TRs updated 6/16 Labor Day Parts 4&5, the end!

[MeghanEmily]

They probably will because we're the only ones with anything booked, so I'll be stressing like I was for the wedding

I know that feeling SO well! And I didn't do nearly as much full group planning as you did, either.

 

[pepperandchips]

That's so sweet of you to surprise the parents with such a nice gift! You guys are such troopers about traveling with extended family. Our family trips always result in at least one meltdown and that's just my immediate family! Looking forward to hearing about your cruise plans! I would love to try a DCL cruise but the only times we can travel are the highest priced cruise times since R is on the school year calendar. And since I didn't really enjoy our last cruise as much as I thought I would (it was a royal Caribbean cruise) I don't know if I could pony up all that $$$ not knowing whether I'd really love it. I'm sure I will be swayed to do it at some point though!!!

 

[amalone1013]

I would love to try a DCL cruise but the only times we can travel are the highest priced cruise times since R is on the school year calendar.

This plays into our cruise plans...

Zack's parents are very laid back, it's all the others who are difficult But I really can't imagine doing anything like this with my family any more

We really loved our honeymoon cruise! Originally we talked about just sending his parents on a cruise, but I think Zack was getting jealous I'm always looking at the GT rates for the 3-4 night cruises and I want to fly down for one last minute...

 

[chunkymonkey]

I think you made the right choice going with Mama Melrose for the Fatasmic package as that steak I had there was so good! I'm excited to eat there again in Sept too!
As for Ubering from DHS - I can't remember if that Uber pick up was somewhere in the parking lot...try that or the Minnie Van because you don't want to be late for DAH!! So excited you get to try this. I would totally do it too but it's not offered during that week. But if and when it's offered I would totally go. I was thinking of trying Early Morning Magic too but it's on days where I don't really feel like getting up so early (day after MNSSHP).

That's so awesome you are surprising your in laws with the cruise! That is the sweetest thing!

 

[amalone1013]

try that or the Minnie Van because you don't want to be late for DAH!!

Yes! I was just thinking today that we should do a Minnie Van so we get dropped off right up front at MK too. We've debated EMM but are night owls so this was more our style, plus I like that most things are open.

I definitely plan on getting that steak at MM, it looked delicious in your report! I'm also awaiting your review of the after fireworks Dessert party

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Mission: Space, Spaceship Earth, Test Track
(I always end up picking the same ones for Tier 2... and did they move Character Spot to Tier 1 recently, or has it always been Tier 1?)

They did just move it... to sure why, I guess there isn’t a lot of choices in tier 1 if you have little kids...

EPCOT really needs more rides! Guess they are working towards that....

 

[amalone1013]

OFFICIALish Plans​

Anniversary Trip - 32 days!
Cruise Trip - 315 days!​

​

A few weeks ago, Zack talked to his boss about getting a bit more vacation time. Right now I get 21 days plus the opportunity to earn 3 more, and he gets 10, so there's a bit of a discrepancy! BUT he spoke with his boss, who told him it was fine to take a some extra time off during the year, and not even to worry about the PTO because Zack is salary anyways and has days he works longer than 8 hours.

It's like deja vu to last September... oh Undercover Tourist has 2 day + 1 day free Universal tickets? Let's go a day earlier!

So we are now flying in Thursday night instead of Friday! Then with that change I had to switch around hotel plans... I already bored some people on another thread with that thought process, so I won't get in too deep here

OFFICIALish Plans

Flights:
Fly in late Thursday night, still landing around 11pm
Fly out the following Sunday night, around 7pm

Hotels:
Thurs: Cabana Bay
Fri - Sat: Royal Pacific
Sun: All Star Movies
Mon - Sat night: Dolphin

Basically here I was trying to stay budget friendly, and if you remember I had RPR for one night so we'd get two days of EP. But at the end of the day it was less to do another night at RPR than to do another night at Cabana Bay and buy EP for the day. To help the budget I either booked all hotels with my credit card points or through Hotels.com with gift cards I picked up on sale (Amazon has them $40 for $50 quite often), so our total hotel cost is around $300 And cheesy as it is, I'm excited to see Cabana Bay and All Star Movies for the first time, even though we won't spend much time at them overall.

Tickets:
Disney: 7 day PHs, we'll upgrade at least one to an AP, maybe both
I was able to use my credit card points for these! Yup, I save all points/cashback/etc for our trips

Universal:​

• 2 day + 1 day free Park to Park tickets from Undercover Tourist
• HHN Rush of Fear Pass (it's about $8 each more than just buying Saturday night tickets...)
• HHN EP for Saturday night​

I've been slacking and haven't bought any of this yet. I guess the good news is I'm not so worried about getting Universal tickets in advance, but I'll probably start picking up the HHN stuff this next week. I think I'm more concerned about EP for HHN than anything else.​

Activities:
After Fireworks Dessert Party in MK on Monday
Disney After Hours! on Thursday​

​

I won't recap Food and Fastpass plans, but I'll link to them:​

ADRs​

FPs​

 

[amalone1013]

They did just move it... to sure why, I guess there isn’t a lot of choices in tier 1 if you have little kids...

I'm glad I'm not just crazy. I was thinking, I swear when we went in December I was looking the night before our Epcot day and I found a Character Spot FP open up and switched to it over either Mission Space or Spaceship Earth! Those are my go to FPs at Epcot.

 

[amalone1013]

A Mysterious Labor Day Trip?


Is there a traveler's anonymous group anywhere? Hi, I'm Alyssa and I'm constantly planning trips... to Disney and non-Disney! (Like Nashville in November... but that's a story for another post)

So Zack and I are waterpark fans. We have a pretty great one up here in Denver if you're ever up here! In the summer... obviously When we were originally planning our honeymoon, we thought we'd do a waterpark... but then we ended up with APs and a goal to eat at all of the F&W booths and spent all of our time in the parks - and still didn't do everything! We also kicked around going to Volcano Bay, but decided not to due to the price (when they first announced ticket prices, they were something crazy like $100+ a person!).

I'd still like to do the waterparks, but the problem we have is extracting ourselves from the parks We also have this problem when making dining plans - we want to try some of the resort/DS options, but hate the idea of giving up too much park time.

So a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away....

Wait...

That's not right...

Sometime back around the beginning of the year, I had the thought of...

What if there was a trip where we did waterparks and ate at Signature restaurants?


And it could be on a long weekend, so it would be busy, sure, but maybe waterparks would be slightly better than regular parks... I was really in to this idea. I even booked a room at Pop and snagged a Cali Grill Brunch reservation for Memorial Day weekend!

And then I remembered my cousin was getting married that Saturday, so I cancelled everything.

Then back in June I started toying with the idea of doing it Labor Day weekend. I booked flights with some SW points, so I would have them but could cancel and get the points back easily if we didn't go. I couldn't decide if it was excessive to go Labor Day weekend and then again a week later

I'm still debating! Just under 3 weeks out and I'm sitting on flights and a hotel reservation and an ADR for Jiko. I guess I can't decide if I say screw it and splurge because I know it'll cost a decent chunk still in waterpark tickets and food.

If it happens, trip would be something like:​

• Fly in late Friday (I was kicking around taking the earlier flight and a half day, but someone else beat me to requesting the day off so I can't leave early now)
• One waterpark each day - Typhoon Lagoon, Blizzard Beach, and Volcano Bay
• See what's left for ADRs - right now I have Jiko Sunday night at 8:15pm; I felt like that was a good amount of time to clean up after a waterpark, then get to AKL early and explore the resort/have bread service in the Sanaa lounge.
• Fly home either Monday night (the only part I don't like; typically there's a 7pm flight home on SW but this day they only have 5pm) OR maybe with Zack's new "some" extra vacation... Fly home Tuesday night (7pm flight ) and...
• Do MNSSHP on Monday night! though also more $$ with that
  • If I remember correctly, is this the one @chunkymonkey is going to?

Aaaaaaand I feel like I should tag @kastoney because I think she would be proud if my plan becomes reality, since we had chatted about an idea like this a while back.


So we should probably get to making a decision here... at least on the bright side, it would be less planning than a normal park trip since there's no FPs, etc, so it's easier to make a last minute call...​

 

[kastoney]

I had no idea you had this thing going!!!!

We of course are not going to talk you out of a last minute weekend trip. More importantly why don't you just do it a weekend early and come see me We leave in 6 days and I have one - yes one - ADR booked thus far! Cali Grill for my birthday a week from tomorrow. I'm so freaking excited.

 

[Raeven]

A few weeks ago, Zack talked to his boss about getting a bit more vacation time. Right now I get 21 days plus the opportunity to earn 3 more, and he gets 10, so there's a bit of a discrepancy!

Same here only I get the 10, and Josh gets 21. Somehow I manage to use up almost all his days though

And cheesy as it is, I'm excited to see Cabana Bay and All Star Movies for the first time, even though we won't spend much time at them overall.

CBBR is really cool! I love the theming there.

I've been slacking and haven't bought any of this yet. I guess the good news is I'm not so worried about getting Universal tickets in advance, but I'll probably start picking up the HHN stuff this next week. I think I'm more concerned about EP for HHN than anything else.​

Yes you definitely want that EP!

We also kicked around going to Volcano Bay, but decided not to due to the price (when they first announced ticket prices, they were something crazy like $100+ a person!).

I know! It's even gone up from when they opened We had bought tickets back last Sep, but had to cancel them due to the hurricane, and I thought they were a bit pricy then, but I heard they increased them earlier this year.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I love the idea of the labor day weekend waterpark trip! I have talked to Andy about doing that sometime too. Well, maybe not labor day weekend but if we wanted to go in the summer, possibly doing something like that..

 

[amalone1013]

I had no idea you had this thing going!!!!

We of course are not going to talk you out of a last minute weekend trip. More importantly why don't you just do it a weekend early and come see me We leave in 6 days and I have one - yes one - ADR booked thus far! Cali Grill for my birthday a week from tomorrow. I'm so freaking excited.

an ADR???
After the last two weeks I've had, I think we should go this weekend too! And just never come back!

Hey, think of how easy it could be to have Dismeets if I already lived in Florida...

Same here only I get the 10, and Josh gets 21. Somehow I manage to use up almost all his days though

I approve

CBBR is really cool! I love the theming there.

I'm excited. I might book it for the night before we do VB if we do this waterpark trip...

Yes you definitely want that EP!

I'm getting it today! The first thing I'm buying I realized I could upgrade some UCT tickets to seasonal passes for basically $0, so that's what is holding me up. UCTs 2day plus 1 day free 2 park ticket could upgrade to a 2park seasonal pass, or the 3 day plus 2 days free 3 park promo ticket could upgrade to a 3park seasonal pass, which would be cheaper than buying a VB ticket separately.

I know! It's even gone up from when they opened We had bought tickets back last Sep, but had to cancel them due to the hurricane, and I thought they were a bit pricy then, but I heard they increased them earlier this year.

Yes! I remember they were crazy when they released them before VB opened, and I never looked again until you having to cancel came up. Weren't they closer to Disney water park prices then? Disney is $69 with tax, or $64 with tax with blockout dates - for some reason Labor Day weekend isn't blocked out VB is $90 with tax for Labor Day weekend. Our local water park is $45 with tax... and I think it's pretty impressive, especially as it's city run. It's on par size-wise with Disney's. It's even got a couple hybrid dark ride/water slides

I love the idea of the labor day weekend waterpark trip! I have talked to Andy about doing that sometime too. Well, maybe not labor day weekend but if we wanted to go in the summer, possibly doing something like that..

It would be a great summer trip, I think! I looked at holiday weekends mainly because of the difference we have in PTO.

 

[amalone1013]

A Mysterious Labor Day Weekend Trip
Hopeful Plans as of August 17th
Labor Day Trip - 14 days!
Anniversary Trip - 27 days!
Cruise Trip - 310 days!

We are hashing out this weekend if this is really happening. So on one hand, it's good that everything is still refundable just in case. On the other hand, since we are just narrowing it down now it would be better to rearrange hotel plans a bit, but that will be hard with availability now.


Ideal Plans

Friday:
Fly in, late as always - around 11pm. Uber or DME to a resort. Right now I have All Star Sports and Wyndham Garden Lake Buena Vista Disney Springs booked. AsSp is $600 and Wyndham is $380. I do see I can switch to AsMu for $520, but I'm still not sure the difference is worth it for the water parks. I know Ubers to and from the resort won't cost $140.

BREAKING:

I INTERRUPT THIS UPDATE WITH AN UPDATE

Best interruption meme I could find


So as I'm typing this update, I'm lamenting to Zack about how the latest direct flight back with Southwest on the Monday of Labor Day is at 5:00pm. Usually it's 7:30pm or so. Yes, we are spoiled and the 2.5hrs was just upsetting me so much. I like to squeeze every possible minute out of vacation, okay? Last night Zack said he didn't think he should ask for Tuesday off, even though he has 'some' more vacation. He didn't want to push it.

So I'm trying to figure out the best way to make the water parks work. On one hand, it makes sense to do VB on Monday, because it opens an hour earlier than Disney's parks and we're closer to MCO... but on the other hand, it's open until 8pm all weekend so if you want the option of staying later, you should do it Saturday or Sunday, plus it's the most expensive park... but then you're doing a Disney park on Monday that doesn't open until 10am, and think of how early you have to leave to get to MCO for a 5:00pm flight.

Zack: Hence the Tues off idea? Is there a Tues morning flight?

Me: Welll..... that and there is MNSSHP on Monday night.....

Earliest Southwest flight Tues morning lands at 10:30am and isn't non-stop, so it's 6.5hrs of travel time I was hoping to stick with them because we have points. After some looking, I did find a Frontier flight that lands at 9am for $85pp, or Southwest has a direct flight that lands at noon, so Zack could do a half day at work.

Then he goes:

I requested off.
The whole day.


See how I had to twist his arm?






Friday:
Fly in, late as always - around 11pm. Uber or DME to a resort. I'm leaning towards Cabana Bay because it would be easy to get to VB and store our luggage at CBBR for the day, and then we could change out of our suits before Ubering down to Disney.

Saturday:
Volcano Bay. Uber after to Disney. Not sure about food - probably something at CBBR or SF for breakfast, have looked a little at VB menus but it will probably be spontaneous. Then leave Saturday night kind of open so we can be flexible in how long we stay at VB... I imagine we'd eat around Disney though.

I'm also thinking I should stick with a Disney report so we could use magic band charging at the waterparks.

Sunday:
Resort breakfast.
Typhoon Lagoon?
I have that Jiko ADR for late, but maybe I'll just switch that to Sanaa completely...

Monday:
Resort breakfast.
Blizzard Beach?
MNSSHP!

Tuesday:
Resort breakfast.
???
Flight home is at 7:15pm (ahhh, familiarity...)

Hmm... just realized we could actually do a waterpark Tues and have most of the day, maybe take Mon off... early signature dinner before MNSSHP? I'm debating when we should upgrade to APs. If we nail down food this weekend, then I can figure out if it makes sense to upgrade this weekend and then do TIW again.


Fingers crossed this could work out!



Resort breakfast options I'm thinking of are Boma, Trail's End, Kona, or Captain Cook's. We really haven't done much of these as we usually grab something in the park. Anything else we should consider? It just seems like such a good opportunity to do them! ​

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I INTERRUPT THIS UPDATE WITH AN UPDATE

Best interruption meme I could find

Ha! That is hilariously true!!!!

Then he goes:

I requested off.
The whole day.


See how I had to twist his arm?

I think we have just broken them down so much that they just know...

Resort breakfast options I'm thinking of are Boma, Trail's End, Kona, or Captain Cook's. We really haven't done much of these as we usually grab something in the park. Anything else we should consider? It just seems like such a good opportunity to do them!

All of those sound like great breakfast options... But what about California Grill Breakfast? It sounds amazing!

 

[amalone1013]

I think we have just broken them down so much that they just know...

Normally I have to be the voice of reason for Zack. At least I know he will always be up for my Disney schemes!

All of those sound like great breakfast options... But what about California Grill Breakfast? It sounds amazing!

I thought about that too! Haven't seen an ADR come up though.

 

[MnkyGirl]

Kona for breakfast is always a good idea... I know everyone says Tonga Toast is the best, but the Macadamia Nut Pancakes are divine.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I thought about that too! Haven't seen an ADR come up though.

Well for what it is worth, I think I am going to book Kona Cafe for us for Breakfast on our resort day. I saw that there was a a mimosa flight that is calling my name!

Mimosa Flight
Your choice of Three Tropical Juices - Orange, Pineapple, Cranberry, Pink Grapefruit, or Liliko'i

And if you are into Bloody Mary's they have a Bloody Mary Flight... I always want to like Bloody Mary's but I just don't.

 

[Raeven]

Yes! I remember they were crazy when they released them before VB opened, and I never looked again until you having to cancel came up. Weren't they closer to Disney water park prices then? Disney is $69 with tax, or $64 with tax with blockout dates - for some reason Labor Day weekend isn't blocked out VB is $90 with tax for Labor Day weekend. Our local water park is $45 with tax... and I think it's pretty impressive, especially as it's city run. It's on par size-wise with Disney's. It's even got a couple hybrid dark ride/water slides

Yeah, they were like $60 something a ticket and now I think they've gone up. Plus they had the EP, loungers, etc upgrades.

Best interruption meme I could find

I love it

 

[amalone1013]

A Mysterious Labor Day Weekend Trip
Plans as of August 22nd and ADR options
Labor Day Trip - 9 days!
Anniversary Trip - 22 days!
Cruise Trip - 305 days!​

I can't believe we're down to single digits before we head back to Disney! I'm still in a bit of shock that this is happening!

I think we'll end up upgrading to Platinum Plus APs. We have our 7 day PHs for later in the month, want Memory Maker, and will also definitely be doing at least 1 day Epcot tickets next June. It's only $70 more to upgrade one to a Platinum pass and we should make up for that with discounts, and that's less than buying a regular one and buying waterpark tickets. I know we really only need one AP for discounts, but how do you choose? Honestly I could make this decision easier than Zack It makes more sense for me most likely, but I would be more okay with it being him due to $$ than he will be with me getting it and him having regular tickets It's another $240 to get a second Plat Plus AP... but if next June ends up being a 2 day ticket, or we go again another time (twist our arms!) we would come out ahead then.


Here's where we've landed for plans so far:


Friday:
Fly in, late as always - around 11pm. DME to All Star Movies

Saturday:
Move our things to All Star Music for the rest of the trip (will probably do ourselves because we're hoping to just have backpacks).
Resort breakfast
Disney Waterpark


Sunday:
Resort breakfast
Volcano Bay
I suggested just the food court this morning, but Zack is unconcerned with rope dropping VB. I won't argue for more breakfast #priorities We would just take our swim stuff and grab an Uber straight from breakfast.

Monday:
Resort breakfast
Disney Waterpark
MNSSHP!
I booked two FPs before the party starts, Jungle Cruise and Peter Pan
We could attempt a few F&W booths for 'dinner' before the party? I've also debated maybe we eat at Trader Sam's/Captain Cook's before the party this day? I know TS fills up so the outside seating is fine. Then if we get hungry later we could split MK QS... ya know or just eat all the party treats

Tuesday:
Resort breakfast.
MK/Epcot?
Flight home is at 7:15pm (ahhh, familiarity...)

Just need to narrow down those pesky meals... Dinner is much harder than breakfast!​

Breakfast Options
Boma (if we do this it will be the Blizzard Beach day)
Trail's End
Kona or Captain Cook's
I wrote off Cali Grill Brunch, Ohana, and Trattoria al Forno since I don't expect reservations to open up for those)

Dinner Options
(italics are my preferences)
Edison
Sanaa
Jiko
Morimoto Asia
Il Mulino
Yachtsman Steakhouse
Hoop Dee Doo
Bongos Cuban Cafe
Maria & Enzo's
Homecomin' (it can't not make the list...)
Jock Lindsay's Hangar Bar


Any other suggestions?​