Makin' Memories... A PTR for a 2022 Thanksgiving Trip. (hopefully)

[Steppesister]

Still reading along and am so happy you are continuing to make plans both at Disney and now Uni too!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Yay!! I think you are really going to love it there. I didn't expect to, as much as we did, especially because our previous stays have all been at Cabana Bay, which we adore! 1 night and 2 park days is perfect for your first time there. You will be able to pace yourselves and do the things you end up loving more than once. The express passes will allow you even more flexibility! I'm super excited for you

I just read that you are allowed to pool hop at Universal!?! And then I read that Cabana Bay has a lazy river? I don't know if we would actually do it, but we all LOVE a good lazy river!!!

Just catching up since I have essentially nothing to contribute about Universal.

That was and is still kind of is me! Universal will be all new and I am kind of excitied aobut a new expierence! I do think our heart will stay with Disney for sure.

I feel this so much! There was some chatter in late August that made 5-11 shots sound more like Dec-Jan (mid-winter was being tossed around) which *really* bummed me out.

I'm back to hoping for shots in arms some time in November, fully vaccinated before Christmas! Then, let the 2022 planning begin!!

I know!!! I just want to fast forward to that moment! I feel like I am holding my breathe with school. It feels so good for them to be back in school. But each time I get a notice about a COVID case, I hold my breathe opening the email... Oye. But Man were the girls EXHAUSTED after this week!!! How are your girls doing with school so far?

Still reading along and am so happy you are continuing to make plans both at Disney and now Uni too!

Thanks!!!

 

[missjackiemcg]

I just read that you are allowed to pool hop at Universal!?! And then I read that Cabana Bay has a lazy river? I don't know if we would actually do it, but we all LOVE a good lazy river!!!

Yes! You can definitely pool hop. @Steppesister is the one to talk to about that! We enjoyed the lazy river on previous visits, but there is literally no social distancing, and they allow people/kids to run amock through there without being lazy and just floating, which got to be annoying on some afternoons! I probably wouldn't hop over just for that, but it's definitely a fun pool area to lounge around for the most part!

Hard Rock has a slide at one end of the pool, and Sapphire Falls does, too. They're all really beautifully themed! Hard Rock's has been our fav so far!

 

[Steppesister]

I personally enjoyed the pools at Royal Pacific and Portofino much better. But I did 4 pools in one day and had a great time. I didn’t have any kids making a ruckus or splashing, but if you want to spend (a lot) more, I’d recommend Discovery Cove.

 

[becauseimnew]

Happy Wednesday!

Am I on a roll of posting or what!?!!

So, I was able to talk to Andy again about the April trip. And I think we have decided to do Hard Rock Hotel for 1 night and the parks for 2 days. We are thinking this will just allow us to see everything and not be TOO rushed. I am going to book the hotel tonight.
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Maybe we will even test out the pool!

I also think I am going to switch our last hotel to Beach or Yacht Club. Animal Kingdom is just so expensive! And Andy was talking about going to EPCOT on his birthday, which will be then, and that will just make it easier if we do that. I also think that the quiet pools have hot tubs? And I can't shake the idea of Andy getting to sit in the hot tub on night birthday with a squeeze bottle of moonshine. (which that cabin is still able to book, damn you Disney taunting me!) I am also hoping maybe club level will open up by our trip, and I can upgrade us for the last few nights to club level instead? We will see....
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It was also the first time Andy talked about the trips and talked like they were actually going to happen. He has been VERY hesitant about commiting. So, it felt nice to talk about the trips without putting an astericks on the conversation.

You are going to LOVE the HRH.
We've stayed at CB and loved the lazy river, but I much prefer the HRH pool, the slide is fun.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Yes! You can definitely pool hop. @Steppesister is the one to talk to about that! We enjoyed the lazy river on previous visits, but there is literally no social distancing, and they allow people/kids to run amock through there without being lazy and just floating, which got to be annoying on some afternoons! I probably wouldn't hop over just for that, but it's definitely a fun pool area to lounge around for the most part!

Good to know! I have a feeling we won't pool hop this trip. But it is good to know!

I personally enjoyed the pools at Royal Pacific and Portofino much better. But I did 4 pools in one day and had a great time. I didn’t have any kids making a ruckus or splashing, but if you want to spend (a lot) more, I’d recommend Discovery Cove.

I suggested Discovery Cove to Andy, but it is $$$$$!!!! He declined that option.

You are going to LOVE the HRH.
We've stayed at CB and loved the lazy river, but I much prefer the HRH pool, the slide is fun.

Thanks! I am slowly getting more and more excitied about the new expierences!

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

How are your girls doing with school so far?

My kids are loving it! I was worried that it'd be a tough transition since this is the first year they're in person for full school days, but they're doing great.

I am also a nervous wreck! My friend, who kept her kids virtual last year, doesn't do indoor stuff with them, has them mask at playgrounds, etc had her 4th grader bring it home with him after only 3 days!! And he was wearing kids KF94s, not just a cloth mask!

It flew through her family of 5, including both vaccinated adults, and her younger son who got sick latest will have missed 3 full weeks of school before he can return. The 3rd-5th grade school has 60 kids out of 600 sick or quarantined, but my girls' school (K-2) hasn't been bad yet. I feel like it's just a matter of time, so I'm crossing my fingers and toes that the vaccine gets here before the K-2 school outbreak.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

My kids are loving it! I was worried that it'd be a tough transition since this is the first year they're in person for full school days, but they're doing great.

I think overall my girls are loving being "back to normal" But man alive are they EXHAUSTED!!!!

I am also a nervous wreck! My friend, who kept her kids virtual last year, doesn't do indoor stuff with them, has them mask at playgrounds, etc had her 4th grader bring it home with him after only 3 days!! And he was wearing kids KF94s, not just a cloth mask!

It flew through her family of 5, including both vaccinated adults, and her younger son who got sick latest will have missed 3 full weeks of school before he can return. The 3rd-5th grade school has 60 kids out of 600 sick or quarantined, but my girls' school (K-2) hasn't been bad yet. I feel like it's just a matter of time, so I'm crossing my fingers and toes that the vaccine gets here before the K-2 school outbreak.

Well, they are saying days till submitting... I am Dyeing! Just submit already!!! Our school is doing "ok" so far. It does seem like the middle school fares better than the grammar schools. I guess the teens can keep there germs to themselves better? They inter-mingle so much more, and totally thought that would be better. But i guess at least half the school is elligible to be vaccinated, maybe that is what is helping as well.

 

[snikki]

I feel your pain. The prix fixe menus are on my nerves too. We have done BOG before but I don’t see us doing Space. Maybe we can squeeze into the lounge. As for CG, that one has me a bit down. I’ve done it before but as a date night without the kids and thoroughly enjoyed it. We aren’t going until late next year so I’m hoping it’s back to normal by then but if it isn’t we will most likely skip it too. I was really looking forward to going there and taking my DD16 (mom/daughter trip). My daughter would enjoy the food and the view but it’s too much food. We don’t each get apps or dessert when we eat out. Heck even when we go out as a family of 4 we only get one app and share a dessert. It doesn’t look like CG will be having a lounge menu. I haven’t seen one yet.

As for universal, I would definitely do one night at HRH and two park days. If you guys are ok with moving doing it mid week is cool and I think it’s be fun.

 

[kastoney]

Don't know how I keep falling so far behind on this so bear with me and my copious comments

So, I was talking with Andy today, and mentioned flights for April. And we got talking. He really wants to try Universal! Now the girls haven't been SUPER intrested in going, mostly because they aren't Harry Potter fans. But this would be a good time to give it a try.

Great minds think alike. We've been talking about now being about the right time to try Universal too. I've been twice but that was 20 years ago so pretty sure that doesn't count. We haven't made plans for any trips beyond December but presuming a summer trip will be in our cards that will probably be when we do it. But Casey is all in on Harry Potter so figure the time is finally the right time.

Update on the April trip... I booked airfare! I checked out options for Southwest since they opened up the flights! And I took a look and compared it to American. And Southwest was almost half the cost! So, I talked with Andy about it And I went ahead and booked the flights! We can always move the flight if we need to. But as of now, we have an afternoon flight on Friday and a early-ish flight on Sunday.

Woohoo!!!!! I've been loving me some Southwest lately. We have to drive to the airport further from our house to use them but the cost savings make it worth it. And I'm sure you know this but if they lower the price they will give you a credit for the difference. Wish every airline was as flexible as they are

AND this morning on the news they were talking about the Pizer vaccine for 5-11 year olds! It's coming... And fingerscrossed they should come with plenty of time for our February trip.

❤ ❤ ❤ This cannot come soon enough. It's sounding like they could be getting the shots by Halloween.What a relief that will be

You are!!!! I am going to need lots of advice from you!!! (also as a complete side note, I ordered and got my vaccinated button for Gwen in the mail today! I am prepared!)

Fire away! I'll answer anything I can. And yay for the button! Now, just have to get the policy moving!

I'm going to soak up all of this back and forth so I can bask in the glow of all your planning and advice. Going to Universal might as well be the moon its so foreign

And Gwen is signing up to try out for a part and Morgan is signing up to do tech crew. They are both VERY excited about it.

Oh how fun for them both! What play do they get to do?

The girls are both "Disney Adults" now, and these pre-fix menus are technically for 9 and under for kids. Other than Kari's wonderful child Casey... What 11 year old is eating tuna tartar?

Casey may eat the tuna tartar but her Mama ain't paying those prices for a kid. Unless we can do the lounge Space 220 is a hard pass for us

I also signed up for Touring Plans again. I think having a second app to reference for waits. But I started to set our dates and looking at what they were putting the days at for crowd levels.

Loe me some touring plans. I find their line app to be pretty accurate and love their blog too. For like $10 a year money well worth it to me

And I can't shake the idea of Andy getting to sit in the hot tub on night birthday with a squeeze bottle of moonshine. (which that cabin is still able to book, damn you Disney taunting me!)

Wherever you are I know he will appreciate all that your doing to make this birthday so special

 

[missjackiemcg]

I'm going to soak up all of this back and forth so I can bask in the glow of all your planning and advice. Going to Universal might as well be the moon its so foreign

The first time we went was a surprise for Jimmy's birthday. Besides looking at the park maps our awesome TA had sent us ahead of time, I really had zero clue what we were doing either!! We have really enjoyed our trips there though, and will definitely be back

 

[vamassey1]

You have been very busy. I'm totally lost when it comes to Universal. I shall be paying attention to what you find out.

Every time I hear news about the vaccine for 5-11 I think of you. Fingers crossed it gets approved soon. I'm waiting for the approval for the booster for me age bracket.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Good Morning Everyone!!!

Who watched the live stream of Harmonious? I didn't. I want to keep most of it a suprise/new for our trip. All I want to know is if we will like it. I mean, we are fairly easy to please. I'm not overly critical as some folks can be. I am excited that it started! I am hoping the Star Wars Fireworks and Fantasmic come back soon as well. I would love to be able to see both of those again.

So, how many of you use Touring Plans? And how many of you base your park days on there crowd levels? I am looking at what they have for our February trip. And it is intresting what they have for some of the parks and days!

Animal Kingdom never goes lower than 5 our trip. And that is ONLY 1 day! The rest are 6's and higher! Is that because there isn't as much to do there? So the waits will be higher?

Right now, I have our first park day back as Saturday being Magic Kingdom. I just feel like we have to go on our first day back! BUT MK is the highest that day. It's listed as a 7 along with HS being a 7. But EPCOT is a 4. That is a big crowd difference! I would love to try and take advantage fo the best days to go. But I also want our first part to be MK!

Also, they have predicted park hours. Granted they don't REALLY know... But for Sunday, I have us going to Hollywood Studios and they are predicting park hours being 7:00 AM - 8:00 AM. And early entry for hotel guest to be 6:30 - 7:00 AM!!!! What?!?! Is Disney trying to get NO ONE to come to early hours? Although I will say, if that is the case, I will be dragging our sorry butts up to do that. As I have to think it will be fairly low crowds for the morning!

I am intrested to hear how these early access days work out. And Lighting Lane! Speaking of which, I was listening to Touring Plans podcast the other day, Len speculated that the single skip the line cost might be as high as $50!!! if that is the case, there is NO way we will do that. It would be better to do the $15 a day option, save time on all the other rides, and just suck it up and wait in that line or 2 that is really long!

Well, off to work!

 

[disneydreamer1980]

We’ll be there in February as well (1/26-1/29 at universals Royal Pacific and 1/29-2/10 at BW). We LOVE universal, to the point where we go there each trip to Disney. And we LOVE express pass, which you’ll have staying at HRH and which is why we stay at LRP (plus it’s a beautiful resort). I can’t wait for Genie and snd all the other 50th things to start so I can see what it’s really like and plan around it. 4 more months to go!

 

[missjackiemcg]

I had to work last night, so I missed it, but my Mom kept sending me screenshots and telling me she was crying during the fireworks. I can't wait to see it in person!

I don't use Touring Plans, but I do follow another page and use their crowd calendar--I don't always change my days based on what he says either, but it's good to know what you're heading into! I'm really wondering what park hours will be like for our Christmas trip this year, and I know we're going to miss having EMH like we're used to from our previous trips because that's where we did most of our attractions without long waits. I'm just not sure 30 minutes in the a.m. will allow for much, and we don't stay Deluxe, so the evening hours are out for us. Guess we'll just have to wait and see!

 

[SEAGULL59]

Are the lightening lanes to start Oct 1? I don’t think I’ve seen anything official yet. My girls trip with my daughter is the weekend before Thanksgiving and I’m wondering how crazy busy it will be as well. Guess we’ll see!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Are the lightening lanes to start Oct 1?

They haven't said when they are starting it yet. Clearly they wanted to get past the 50th before rolling that out. But it has to be soon.

We LOVE universal, to the point where we go there each trip to Disney. And we LOVE express pass,

I am very intrested to see how we like it.

I don't use Touring Plans, but I do follow another page and use their crowd calendar--I don't always change my days based on what he says either, but it's good to know what you're heading into!

I don't think I am changing any of our days, but it is good to know. I really hope that they are wrong on how busy it will be. But we will see. I am thinking that there is a lot of folks in the same boat as us that will plan on a trip once there kids are vaccinated.

I know we're going to miss having EMH like we're used to from our previous trips because that's where we did most of our attractions without long waits. I'm just not sure 30 minutes in the a.m. will allow for much, and we don't stay Deluxe, so the evening hours are out for us. Guess we'll just have to wait and see!

There is so much up in the air these days... I just want them to start rolling this stuff out so we can plan! And you are right... 30 minutes is NOT a lot of time. All that does is five you a head start on one major ride.

 

[kastoney]

ll I want to know is if we will like it. I mean, we are fairly easy to please. I'm not overly critical as some folks can be.

You mean like me? Critical is my middle name

So, how many of you use Touring Plans? And how many of you base your park days on there crowd levels? I am looking at what they have for our February trip. And it is intresting what they have for some of the parks and days!

I use it but mainly for room requests and the ADR finder (and their blog, really like it) I don't base anything we do on their park #'s but did use the lines app for the first time in June and found it to be really accurate

Right now, I have our first park day back as Saturday being Magic Kingdom. I just feel like we have to go on our first day back! BUT MK is the highest that day. It's listed as a 7 along with HS being a 7. But EPCOT is a 4. That is a big crowd difference! I would love to try and take advantage fo the best days to go. But I also want our first part to be MK!

I'm with you in needing to be in MK on the first day, even if its crowded. I don't usually love a Saturday in MK, but for that matter no park is great on a Saturday.

 

[suse66]

It turns out we did! I was able to book our flight for flights down using just points. So, our flight is going to cost us $44 total!!! Woo Hoo!!!

Wow!! Having those points makes such a difference! Currently our flights for March Break are $1326 for 2 of us! Canadian airlines are the worst....

So, I was talking with Andy today, and mentioned flights for April. And we got talking. He really wants to try Universal! Now the girls haven't been SUPER intrested in going, mostly because they aren't Harry Potter fans. But this would be a good time to give it a try.

Bill was saying the same thing. All 5 of us have always loved HP.

I also signed up for Touring Plans again. I think having a second app to reference for waits. But I started to set our dates and looking at what they were putting the days at for crowd levels. And oddly our February week and our April week are about the same crowd level wise. Granted Touring plans is guessing but they are pretty accurate. I mean it is what it is, it's the weeks we are going. So, we will make the most of it. But I was suprised that early February was predicted to be as busy as Spring Break!

I think Spring Break season is almost two months long. Plus aren't there some American holiday weekends in February?

I also think I am going to switch our last hotel to Beach or Yacht Club. Animal Kingdom is just so expensive! And Andy was talking about going to EPCOT on his birthday, which will be then, and that will just make it easier if we do that. I also think that the quiet pools have hot tubs? And I can't shake the idea of Andy getting to sit in the hot tub on night birthday with a squeeze bottle of moonshine. (which that cabin is still able to book, damn you Disney taunting me!) I am also hoping maybe club level will open up by our trip, and I can upgrade us for the last few nights to club level instead? We will see....

I am surprised AKL would be more expensive than YC or BC! Whatever you pick, I am sure the trip will be awesome.

❤ ❤ ❤ This cannot come soon enough. It's sounding like they could be getting the shots by Halloween.What a relief that will be

I can't even imagine the joy you will feel knowing she is protected. Those shots can't come soon enough.

 

[vamassey1]

Who watched the live stream of Harmonious? I didn't. I want to keep most of it a suprise/new for our trip. All I want to know is if we will like it. I mean, we are fairly easy to please. I'm not overly critical as some folks can be. I am excited that it started! I am hoping the Star Wars Fireworks and Fantasmic come back soon as well. I would love to be able to see both of those again.

I watched Harmonious but had something else to do so didn't see Enchantment yet. Danielle saw it live but they were in a crowded area so she didn't get a good view and was disappointed. She was able to watch it from a better location the other night and liked it better but still salty about Epcot Forever ending.

So, how many of you use Touring Plans? And how many of you base your park days on there crowd levels? I am looking at what they have for our February trip. And it is intresting what they have for some of the parks and days!

I use Touring Plans for information but still do the days I want based on what meets our plans better.

I am intrested to hear how these early access days work out. And Lighting Lane! Speaking of which, I was listening to Touring Plans podcast the other day, Len speculated that the single skip the line cost might be as high as $50!!! if that is the case, there is NO way we will do that. It would be better to do the $15 a day option, save time on all the other rides, and just suck it up and wait in that line or 2 that is really long!

I'm not planning on paying for the single skip line but will use the $15 per day charge for a few days.