***Official March 2021 Thread***

[skeettafic]

If it is the self parking lot I am thinkingof, it is across the street from Fantasia Mini Golf. Near the Swan lobby. There is an hourly/day rate on the swan website. It’s used for conventions so you can just drive in.

I have seen a few posts about this now. Can you tell me more about it? Where do you park, cost, etc... I have never heard of this until just recently.

yes - the self parking. It’s 27.95 a day I think? We will park around 7:30 and walk to HS to hopefully be there andready to get into the park once they start letting people in!

 

[Thomasboys]

There are reports of bus times being back in the app!!!!!!!! YES. These have been so helpful in past trips in timing when to leave our room!

 

[Nycraig79]

yes - the self parking. It’s 27.95 a day I think? We will park around 7:30 and walk to HS to hopefully be there andready to get into the park once they start letting people in!

What time does everyone think is the best time to leave from Swan/Dolphin & Boardwalk area if walking? We want to try hard to be at the front of the pack and beat cars/skyway. Was thinking of walking over around 7:40am (getting to Studios by 8am) from Dolphin for a 9am park opening. Think that’s too late?

 

[skeettafic]

What time does everyone think is the best time to leave from Swan/Dolphin & Boardwalk area if walking? We want to try hard to be at the front of the pack and beat cars/skyway. Was thinking of walking over around 7:40am (getting to Studios by 8am) from Dolphin for a 9am park opening. Think that’s too late?

That’s pretty much when we’re planning. I want to be parked around 7:30 so we can get out of the car, get situated, and not have to power walk the entire way. . Google maps says is about a 22 minute walk from the Swan to the HS entrance.

 

[HokieRaven5]

They start operating the Skyliner at the CBR station around 7:40-7:50am so walking over to get there by 8am is plenty enough time to get there among that crowd of people.

Friendly reminder for those going through security with bags, remove anything obscure that could have metal (water bottles, portable batteries, umbrellas) and hold them out straight in front of you as you go through. We got held up in November when we left an umbrella in our bag.

 

[dez1978]

So is anyone purchasing photopass? I'm trying to decide if I want to. With all the mask rules I'm trying to decide if it's worth it, especially if we wont get ride photos if a stranger in the picture has their mask on wrong. I am considering it just because who knows when we will take a girls trip like this again. Just trying to weigh the cost and see if it's worth it.

I’ve seen quite a few posts on fb about memory maker share groups. Idk if that’s allowed here

 

[Kmedders]

WE bought at AKV also !! We wanted to get in on the "Blue card" benefits before they upped the buy in requirement. Since we only bought 100+ 25 we have already almost broken even. We got 2018 and 2019 points and used our "welcome HOme" for a stay at sold out Beach Club villas for 2 studios during food and wine in 2019. Next, we stayed at Copper Creek, then the Polynesian, and Boardwalk villas. We also bought 6 Gold Annual Passes. We paid $176/pt but have stayed a total of 25 nights (studios) and if you figure $400/night average for those then that is $10000 and since we usually have Platinum AP at $1200 the $700x6 is a savings of $4200 AND we bought Tables in Wonderland and probably save $300 over the cost of the card. I did not add back in the MFees-but if I did that then my "Disney" math would not look as great.

Our trip in March is the first time we are staying at AKV using our points.

Gotta love Disney math!! It took me five years to finally buy in. When I did, I bought in at $112 per point. When I looked at the price to rent points or stay on cash, this made the most financial sense, FINALLY! now we can go to Disney for around 15 days for the same price that we used to pay for 8 days. I’m SO excited!

 

[DisneyFanJenn]

Been practicing getting a ROTR boarding pass at both 7am and 1pm. Been pretty successful at getting the "wait a minute" message. Feeling hopeful we can get it for real next week on our HS day!

 

[Bama Mom]

The photographers are going above and beyond with us right now!
We are getting like 20 photos from each one.

This one was AMAZING and did a whole photoshoot of our girl with her new Droid - look at her LAYING ON THE GROUND to get shots

That's great to hear. I think I'll bite the bullet and purchase it. If nothing else we will have some photos with all of us in them that isn't a selfie.

 

[Justrose]

Yeah, those pics pretty much sealed the deal for me - precious!

 

[Jessrobian]

So far we are looking at Univ. of Central Florida and Univ. of Tampa. I plan to rent somewhere in Kissimmee and then buy a house. We are moving from Pa. What college did you attend in Lakeland? I want to add another one to our list.

I went to Southeastern University, but Florida Southern is also in Lakeland. It's a great proximity to Disney - just 45 minutes - and the downtown is sooo cute. If you aren't sold on Kissimmee (which is also great), Lakeland could be a good place to look into renting/buying.

 

[Kitty & Covs Covs]

So far we are looking at Univ. of Central Florida and Univ. of Tampa. I plan to rent somewhere in Kissimmee and then buy a house. We are moving from Pa. What college did you attend in Lakeland? I want to add another one to our list.

My nephew is starting University of Tampa this fall, coming from RI. Several others he knows from RI are there or are going there too--seems to be very popular. My sister and he just got back from a final visit to confirm his decision and he absolutely loved it. They looked at basically every college in Florida over the past two years, and it ended up his favorite.

 

[Kitty & Covs Covs]

With 10 days left I'm getting too excited not to run through our trip a little bit with you guys! I don't have the patience for a PTR but hopefully it's interesting--I'd love to hear more about everyone else (even if you ran through it a month ago now that we are all there or almost there!)

I am traveling with my husband and 7 year old (soon to be 8 on the 19th!) and meeting my brother, his wife and his two girls there (18 and 14). My brother and I haven't been to a Disney park together in 30 years but wow did we love it back then! I cried when I watched the 50th anniversary video that said "I'm here with my brother."

We arrive Friday 3/12, way too late! Our flight gets in at 11:44pm. I am so nervous something will happen and with no other departing flights we won't make it. Trying to have positive thoughts here!

Head to CBR on ME to get in bed as quickly as possible--we are doing MK Saturday with a 9am open, so really have to be there by 8am. We're planning to mobile order QS from Contemporary at 7ish and Uber there to pick it up/eat breakfast and then walk to MK. (Any of you think this is a bad plan?)

We have park hoppers, but also have 8:55pm BOG reservations so I'm not sure if we'll go somewhere else at 2pm and then back or not. I guess it'll depend on the lines!

Sunday we have reservations for HS so we'll get up early to be in the front of the Skyliner line and everyone with MDE adult accounts will try for BGs. Our ADRs that day are 5:55pm Oga's and 8:40pm Chefs de France. I'm really excited about the 11pm Epcot close!

Monday we'll head to AK most of the day, but have ADRs for San Angel Inn at 8:30pm. We'll RD AK but for whatever reason I feel less stressed about that morning. Another late Epcot night!

Tuesday we were supposed to be leaving at night, but Frontier changed our flight to a 9:30am departure. We'll probably take an Uber so we don't have to leave three hours early on ME. What a last day bummer!

It's weird to plan with FPs, honestly, because I have no idea what our days will look like outside of those plans! My older niece put together a pdf with all of the snacks we need order in each park, a description of what they are, and where they are located in the park so we'll probably spend some time strategizing food, ha!

We've thankfully all been many times before (except for my husband who has been once and really couldn't care less, blargh) so I don't think we have any "must dos" except Galaxy's Edge and Everest for my daughter (we went in 2019 before it opened and we skipped AK that year). I'm hoping we can live and let live and take it easy once we are in the parks early and knock out those top headliners as much as we can.

What a weird trip to plan compared to other years! I'd be shuffling around FPs like crazy right now!

I also feel like packing is strange--we usually carry water bottles, but since you can't walk and drink that seems less pressing? If you can get a cup at QS it won't save any money, but maybe some hassle.

Anyway, I'm rambling! Other people post what their plans are, especially transportation to the parks and their schedules if they are RDing and what their plans for closing down the parks are! I love organizing morning opens and nighttime close plans more than anything!

 

[skeettafic]

With 10 days left I'm getting too excited not to run through our trip a little bit with you guys! I don't have the patience for a PTR but hopefully it's interesting--I'd love to hear more about everyone else (even if you ran through it a month ago now that we are all there or almost there!)

I am traveling with my husband and 7 year old (soon to be 8 on the 19th!) and meeting my brother, his wife and his two girls there (18 and 14). My brother and I haven't been to a Disney park together in 30 years but wow did we love it back then! I cried when I watched the 50th anniversary video that said "I'm here with my brother."

We arrive Friday 3/12, way too late! Our flight gets in at 11:44pm. I am so nervous something will happen and with no other departing flights we won't make it. Trying to have positive thoughts here!

Head to CBR on ME to get in bed as quickly as possible--we are doing MK Saturday with a 9am open, so really have to be there by 8am. We're planning to mobile order QS from Contemporary at 7ish and Uber there to pick it up/eat breakfast and then walk to MK. (Any of you think this is a bad plan?)

We have park hoppers, but also have 8:55pm BOG reservations so I'm not sure if we'll go somewhere else at 2pm and then back or not. I guess it'll depend on the lines!

Sunday we have reservations for HS so we'll get up early to be in the front of the Skyliner line and everyone with MDE adult accounts will try for BGs. Our ADRs that day are 5:55pm Oga's and 8:40pm Chefs de France. I'm really excited about the 11pm Epcot close!

Monday we'll head to AK most of the day, but have ADRs for San Angel Inn at 8:30pm. We'll RD AK but for whatever reason I feel less stressed about that morning. Another late Epcot night!

Tuesday we were supposed to be leaving at night, but Frontier changed our flight to a 9:30am departure. We'll probably take an Uber so we don't have to leave three hours early on ME. What a last day bummer!

It's weird to plan with FPs, honestly, because I have no idea what our days will look like outside of those plans! My older niece put together a pdf with all of the snacks we need order in each park, a description of what they are, and where they are located in the park so we'll probably spend some time strategizing food, ha!

We've thankfully all been many times before (except for my husband who has been once and really couldn't care less, blargh) so I don't think we have any "must dos" except Galaxy's Edge and Everest for my daughter (we went in 2019 before it opened and we skipped AK that year). I'm hoping we can live and let live and take it easy once we are in the parks early and knock out those top headliners as much as we can.

What a weird trip to plan compared to other years! I'd be shuffling around FPs like crazy right now!

I also feel like packing is strange--we usually carry water bottles, but since you can't walk and drink that seems less pressing? If you can get a cup at QS it won't save any money, but maybe some hassle.

Anyway, I'm rambling! Other people post what their plans are, especially transportation to the parks and their schedules if they are RDing and what their plans for closing down the parks are! I love organizing morning opens and nighttime close plans more than anything!

It's definitely going to be a weird trip in comparison to past ones! We're coming in the day you're leaving.

I just wanted to comment on your plan to grab the mobile order at The Contemporary. I have been following along regarding that plan as a possibility for our MK rope drop and word is in the last couple of weeks that unless you have an actual ADR, odds are likely that you are going to be turned away. If you read the "here now" thread, it seems to be the norm now. We currently have a reservation at the Wave for our MK morning but it's not going to be early enough for the 8am open so we have to rethink that day.

 

[Kitty & Covs Covs]

It's definitely going to be a weird trip in comparison to past ones! We're coming in the day you're leaving.

I just wanted to comment on your plan to grab the mobile order at The Contemporary. I have been following along regarding that plan as a possibility for our MK rope drop and word is in the last couple of weeks that unless you have an actual ADR, odds are likely that you are going to be turned away. If you read the "here now" thread, it seems to be the norm now. We currently have a reservation at the Wave for our MK morning but it's not going to be early enough for the 8am open so we have to rethink that day.

Thank you for this update! I’ve been trying to follow along as well and asked this question a couple times but the information keeps changing! I feel like the only guarantee to be there at the front of the pack right now is to be on the first bus from CBR to MK, since they hold Ubers with cars. I haven’t decided on a time to be at the bus stop to make that happen, but I’m guessing it means no Mickey waffles beforehand.

 

[skeettafic]

Thank you for this update! I’ve been trying to follow along as well and asked this question a couple times but the information keeps changing! I feel like the only guarantee to be there at the front of the pack right now is to be on the first bus from CBR to MK, since they hold Ubers with cars. I haven’t decided on a time to be at the bus stop to make that happen, but I’m guessing it means no Mickey waffles beforehand.

Yep, we're in the same boat. I wouldn't want you to get all the way there and then turned away. I'm thinking we will have to be at the bus stop by 6:30?

Or, I've seriously considered keeping our Wave reservation and eating the fee.... Which is horrible and I won't go through with it but it's tempting for sure...

 

[Kitty & Covs Covs]

Yep, we're in the same boat. I wouldn't want you to get all the way there and then turned away. I'm thinking we will have to be at the bus stop by 6:30?

Or, I've seriously considered keeping our Wave reservation and eating the fee.... Which is horrible and I won't go through with it but it's tempting for sure...

Are you saying 6:30a for a 8am advertised (so maybe 7:30) open, or a 9am advertised open (so really 8:15/8:30)?

 

[Jessrobian]

We're planning to mobile order QS from Contemporary at 7ish and Uber there to pick it up/eat breakfast and then walk to MK. (Any of you think this is a bad plan?)


My older niece put together a pdf with all of the snacks we need order in each park, a description of what they are, and where they are located in the park so we'll probably spend some time strategizing food, ha!

I was going to make the same comment as @Skeetaffic - from the "Here Now & Just Back" it seems they're getting sooo strick. Really disappointing because we wanted to QS @WL!

Would your niece be opposed to sharing the PDF with your March DisBoard friends?!? At least for MK?

 

[skeettafic]

Are you saying 6:30a for a 8am advertised (so maybe 7:30) open, or a 9am advertised open (so really 8:15/8:30)?

I was thinking to be waiting for the bus at 6:30 for an 8am opening. Assuming we won't necessarily get on a bus immediately, hopefully that will put us at MK and moving through security by 7:15 or so.

 

[Kitty & Covs Covs]

Here you go! There are a couple inside family jokes, but you can ignore those. It’s not comprehensive, just things we’ve all liked over the years!