My DD Doesn't Want To Talk About The Trip Anymore. Links to trip report attached

[sand2270]

I'm here subbing to your TR! I love reading about mom/daughter trips! I am a single parent, so me & DD travel by ourselves. Wouldn't have it any other way!

It does make things easier especially since we both like the same things.

I'm in!

Funny -- your obsession sounds eeerily familiar to me -- Maybe we should start a support group!!!!!

I don't know if I need separate ADR, rental car, hotel support groups or just one big one!

Thanks for reading! I'll try to post an update tonight.

 

[sand2270]

If you have been reading along you have seen how I have carefully planned the details of this trip. Sounds great right? Well forget about them!! Like watching Newhart and realizing it was all a dream. Forget about everything you just read. Why you ask? Let me explain.

As I said earlier, I wanted us to go during Food & Wine and MNSHHP. My DD gets a Fall break which is perfect! So I plan and I book, I plan and I book, rinse, repeat:

Airline tickets - Booked and paid for
2 Hotels - Booked and deposits paid
MNSSHP tickets - Purchased
Rental car - Booked
Phoenix Park and Stay hotel - Booked
ADR's - Scheduled

I held off booking one important thing…Discovery Cove. Earlier in the ticket post I explained I was waiting to see if we could get a discount. Less than 3 months to go and I find a discount and book Discovery Cove. The final step in the booking madness…except for me messing with ADR's we are good to go.

Then 2 days later it happened.

My DD is in drama club at her school. Last year we got to participate in a trip to Disneyland where her drama club was taking drama workshops offered by Disney. I knew if they offered it again we weren't going since my DD decided she didn't want to drama this year.

Her drama teacher sent an email to the parents to determine interest in drama club and a Disneyland trip this year. No problem…nope not this year. Until something catches my eye, "They changed the dates of the break...".

Wait a second…what?? No. Seriously?? It must be a mistake. Because I have spent the last few months painstakingly planning this trip and not two days ago I put the finishing touches on it and you are moving fall break up a week??!!

Ok…please do not judge my initial response to the school, I was upset, stressed out and annoyed that they changed the dates (charter school and I think they run their own calendar, so apparently they can change dates and do not have to follow the district calendar…but don't quote me on that since I am not 100% sure). I have also had issues with them changing dates on the calendar in the past after booking things so I am losing my patience with them doing this.

I emailed the school to confirm the dates changed and told them tough poop, even if the dates have changed it doesn't matter I have already booked and paid for this trip and we are going!!

Well I said it nicer than that, I promise. Now the reality is I did not want my DD to miss over a week of school (she was going to miss 2 days under the original plan anyway). But because I had paid for things like Discovery Cove and airline tickets, I didn't even know if it would be possible to rebook and I wasn't going to lose all that money.

So what did I decide to do?? I am going to break these up in to two posts since it is kind of long...so I'm leaving you with a brief cliffhanger...back with the rest in a bit.

Farewell Plan A...Welcome Plan B

 

[sand2270]

As I looked at rebooking Discovery Cove, Hard Rock hotel and Southwest flights something became clear. I was going to save some money on Disc Cove and HRH. If we left a day earlier I would also save a little money on our flights. Combined I would save enough money to add an extra day.

Really? If I rebook my entire trip I am going to end up saving enough money to add a day?! That never happens to me…the end result of something like this is more money. The plan was to leave my WDW/POFQ part of the trip alone and move the Universal/HRH part to the beginning of the trip and add one more day to POFQ at the start of that reservation. Ok let's start making phone calls and see if I can do this.

So first I called Discovery Cove. If I couldn't change those tickets than I wasn't changing anything. I found out you are allowed to make a 1 time date change with no fee. I ended up getting a refund for the difference. Ok…that makes this sting a little less. What's next?

Flights…I called Southwest to rebook my flights. (This is gonna get complicated you may want to get a drink and settle in) I needed help since the return flights were booked with an RR ticket. Here is what we had to do. She had to cancel my RR flights so those credits were available to me to book the new flight. While she did this I had to cancel the flights I paid for and than apply those funds to the new flights. It took a little while and even involved a call back from them. But she was very nice and helpful.

Originally I used my RR ticket for the original outgoing flights and added EB. The return flights were more expensive and therefore not eligible for RR. I really only cared about EB on the outgoing flights. However, this time the outgoing flights were more expensive than the return flights and I couldn't use my RR ticket for the outgoing flights. I am getting a headache typing this…let's see if I can finish it up so it makes sense.

You can't refund EB, so because I had EB on my outgoing flight which was now switched to my return flight, I had it on my return flight. My RR ticket was changed from the return flight to the outgoing and I had to purchase EB for those flights. So long story to get to the end which is I now have EB on both flights. Wow that was painful to explain even rereading it makes my head hurt. I was able to book the same flight schedule, so our arrival and departure hours didn't change.

I rebooked HRH under the new lower rate. I also added an additional night at POFQ and my bounceback offer I originally booked under was honored.

MNSSHP tickets didn't change. I was able to rebook any ADR's I needed to. Most of them fell during the POFQ part of our trip and didn't require any changes. The only adjustments I had to make were the first and last day of our WDW part of the trip.

The park and stay hotel rate went up when I rebooked online. I emailed park and stay and they contacted the hotel. The hotel honored my original rate which was really great of them. I have a feeling I have found my "home" when I fly out of Phoenix and stay the night. I have been impressed with their customer service so far and I haven't even stayed there yet!

I breathed a sigh of relief…it had been a long, stressful afternoon. But I was completely rebooked and ended up saving some money. Not only that I was able to add a day to our trip! So there you have it…Plan B.

Plan B

 

[DisneyFirefly]

That's awesome that you guys not only saved money, but have a longer trip It's also great that the other hotel honored your rate!

 

[sand2270]

That's awesome that you guys not only saved money, but have a longer trip It's also great that the other hotel honored your rate!

It was pretty great how it worked out and we get to leave a week earlier!

 

[sand2270]

Now that I have meticulously planned, booked and rebooked my trip and added a day, what does the new plan look like? It really involved flip flopping the plans and putting the Universal days first and the WDW days last. Basically a cut and paste in my excel spreadsheet (come on you know you have one too ).

With the additional day we were now able to fit in a beach day. I love being near water...oceans, lakes...puddles (j/k). Must be something about growing up in the desert but I really hate dirt and cactus. So whenever I am near a coastline I try to fit in at least a day if I can work it out.

There were also some other minor changes. So here is what our new plan looks like:

Day 1
Arrive in the late afternoon, pick up rental car, drive (really fast) to HRH - Why do we have to drive really fast? Because now that the trip is happening earlier in the month, two of my best DIS buddies will be spending their last WDW night in Epcot with two of my other bestest DIS buddies who now live in Orlando. Epcot closes at 9pm that night. We are going to race over, try to hit Test Track and get some Food & Wine in and see my friends.

After Epcot update DD's ticket at DTD guest services counter and make a grocery stop before we get back to HRH.

Day 2
US or IOA
Lunch at Mythos
Swim break
US or IOA
Recent Add: Haunted Carriage ride with my DIS friend Matterhorn and her DD's, then MK.

Day 3
Discovery Cove
Evening - maybe dinner at The Kitchen. Take it easy at the hotel.

Day 4
US or IOA
Swim break
US or IOA
Dinner at TuTu Tango and trip to Outlets

Day 5
SeaWorld
Evening - Hang around hotel or DTD and minigolf. We have a dinner ADR booked for HOB.

Day 6
Beach Day
Drive to POFQ
Epcot in the evening
Dinner at Via Napoli or Food & Wine

Day 7
Breakfast at Kona (if we feel like it, I have an ADR for out last day also)
I kind of left this day open in case we want more Universal or Sea World time. Otherwise maybe MK or AK.
Lunch at Yak & Yeti if we are there (added this week…see I can't stop!)
Swim some part of the day
Evening - boat to DTD. HOB if we didn't go on Day 5.

Day 8
Breakfast at 1900 Park Fare
Morning at Epcot - Food & Wine
Afternoon swim break
Epcot in the evening - Food & Wine
DTD or minigolf (if we haven't gone yet) afterwards if we are up for it (probably not though have a feeling we'll be wiped out by now).

Day 9
Morning at AK
Lunch at Yak & Yeti if we didn't go Day 8 (added this week)
Afternoon swim break
Afternoon tea at GF with my DIS buddy Matterhorn and her girls
Evening at MK including Dessert Party

Day 10
Morning at HS
Lunch at Sci-Fi Diner
Afternoon swim break
Open time - resort, Epcot, MK…whatever we feel like doing

Day 11
Spend the morning and most of the afternoon at the resort. Breakfast at WPE in DTD. Pool time, may try cane pole fishing, sleep in. Also work on getting the room ready for our departure the next day.
Dinner at Kona
MNSSHP

Day 12
Breakfast at Kona if we didn't go Day 8, otherwise pastries on Boardwalk
Wander around Epcot resort area - I would like to check out the Swan & Dolphin hotels plus see "home", the BC.
Maybe fit in some park time.
Drive to airport and head home.

I should note the plan is always being adjusted

Adventures in ADR's - What Didn't Make The Cut?

 

[sand2270]

If you recall I have cursed Disney Dining for putting ADR's online.

In reality I love how easy it is…I prefer making them online rather than calling. I wish they could get everything up there…GF Tea, Dessert Party, etc. Though I have to say the CM's are always so pleasant when I call.

At the same time it means I am always online messing with my ADR's. Which helps explain my daughter tuning me out. Every once in awhile she will cuddle on the couch with me while we peruse Disney dining menus, but for the most part she could care less.

The ease of making ADR's online along with the trip changes and some other reasons caused me to add some additional ADR's. Before I get into that I will talk about what didn't make the cut and why.

Biergarten - I really enjoy this restaurant. I have been there twice. The first time was with my DD and we loved the band and had a fun time dancing. I loved the pretzel bread, rote gruetze with vanilla sauce and beer sampler . The sauer braten holds a special place in my heart since it tastes just likes my grandma's pot roast . Whenever I walk into Biergarten the smells take me back to her kitchen.

So why didn't it make the cut? My DD was not as fond of it as I was. In addition, she now qualifies as an adult and I couldn't really justify paying an adult price for her if she wasn't going to eat much. We are only spending half of our time at WDW this trip and there are some other restaurants we want to try. Food & Wine is also going on and I know we will eat at that a lot when we are in Epcot. It just didn't make sense this trip.

Jiko is another one of my favorites. However, I couldn't really fit it in and it is another one that my DD wasn't that motivated to eat at again.

I also considered Citrico's and California Grill. Citrico's because I had an amazing meal there at a DIS meet last year. However again, I think the experience will be lost on my DD and I couldn't really fit it in. I have eaten at CA Grill and while I enjoyed it, my main motivation really was the view of the fireworks. I thought my daughter would love that. But fireworks alone do not justify a pricey meal that I am not just that into so it got nixed (Plus I checked and there were no openings…I know better).

So where does that leave us? I will update in the next post.

 

[sand2270]

well I completely lost track of this pre-trip report and it has now been 4+ months since our trip. Sorry if I left anyone hanging. I am thinking of doing a trip report since I have most of the trip documented now. Thanks to anyone who was following along. If I start a trip report I will add a link to this report.

 

[sand2270]

I forgot to post this, if you were following the pre-trip report I am almost done with the actual trip reports. Links are below in my signature. Thanks for following along in the pre-trip report .