Our Magical WDW Adventure ~ 23 Days of Fun, Food, Cocktails... London Trip 2/8

[ariel2007]

The One Where The Magic Really Begins...
...Way Before We Even Get To WDW​

To Make A Holiday Practically Perfect You Need To Have A Perfect Plan
A Little Bit Of Magic On The Side

Well since we have been planning on going back, and I have been a very busy girl planning everything to make this another wonderful holiday for us both, Nick has been doing his part and been wonderful in showering me with little Disney surprises and gifts

A few little surprises

And a few gifts from a trip to the Disney Store

The Tigger hot water bottle he brought me when we were out shopping elsewhere

Of course I love Disney presents at any time, but during the booking and planning process it makes it even more exciting. And even more determined to make this another amazing holiday with even more magical moments

 

[ariel2007]

The One Where The Magic Really Begins...
...Way Before We Even Get To WDW​

To Make A Holiday Practically Perfect You Need To Have A Perfect Plan
In Pursuit of the 'Perfect Plan'

So our exciting plans have been revealed, and for those who cant remember here they are:

Dates: April 26th - May 18th

Flying: Virgin Atlantic

Accommodation:

• 13 nights Port Orleans French Quarter
• 2 nights Royal Pacific Resort
• 7 nights Polynesian Resort

But believe me, this plan was not our original idea, or even our second or third idea. In fact our final plan was probably idea number 38. Ok that may be a bit of exaggeration, but there were quite a few plans before we finally, and very happily, settled on this one. So I thought I would enlighten you all with our journey in pursuit of the 'Perfect Plan'.

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Original plan:

• 12 nights POFQ
• 1 night Dolphin Resort
• 2 nights RPR
• 7 nights Polynesian - Castle View

Now we both absolutely loved this plan to pieces,I cannot tell you how much, it was a dream plan and we were so excited about it
We choose POFQ and RPR for reasons I have stated before. We initially thought if we went back we would spend one night in Tampa at the Hard Rock Hotel there. This way we wouldn't have to get up quite so early to get to Busch Garden's, we could experience a bit more of Florida and spend a day at the water park there. Well we quickly decided against this idea for various reasons, but had a 1 night gap in our plan. Of course we could have just added another night at POFQ but we wanted to try somewhere new. We first thought of the Gaylord Palms as whenever we pass it I really want to have a look inside, but then thought about the Dolphin. The main reason was we planned to eat in Shula's Steakhouse which is there, and staying there would make it easier, but we also loved the look of the pool and have heard good reports of the spa there, so this was going to become our relaxation day. The main part we were looking forward to though was the 7 nights at the Polynesian, with that amazing Magic Kingdom View. We talked about how amazing it was going to be to stay there, to have all the great restaurants right there, Magic Kingdom at our fingertips, to be able to walk along the beach at night, to swim in that wonderful pool and to be in amongst the beautiful tropical atmosphere for 7 whole nights. And most of all to be able to just sit on our balcony and watch Wishes, and watch all the beautiful boats sail across the glistening waters of Seven Sea's Lagoon with the gorgeous castle right in our view.

12 nights POFQ

1 night Dolphin Resort

2 night RPR

7 nights Polynesian

And this would be our amazing view

We had this as our plan for quite a while, we both loved it so there was no reason to change it. But when I thought about it properly it started to bug me a little. And what bugged me was the fact that 13 nights in POFQ was going to cost over £1000 less than just 7 at the Polynesian. Well I mentioned it to Nick, who up to this point had not thought about it, but as soon as I put that thought in his head the plan began to crumble. Yes we could afford it, but did we want to really spend £3000 on accommodation for 1 week? Well yes we did, after all we are talking about the Polynesian, but putting on our stupid sensible heads, and thinking about how that £1000 could be better spent, we let our heads, not our hearts rule against this plan, which led us, very unhappily, to plan number 2...

 

[ariel2007]

The One Where The Magic Really Begins...
...Way Before We Even Get To WDW​

To Make A Holiday Practically Perfect You Need To Have A Perfect Plan
In Pursuit of the 'Perfect Plan' ... Pt.2


So that brings us to Plan 2

Plan 2:

* 12 nights POFQ
* 1 night Dolphin Resort
* 2 nights RPR
* 7 nights at either Yacht or Beach Club, The Boardwalk or Animal Kingdom Lodge


So we left off with Nick and I deciding that maybe our initial plan wasn't the most sensible, and begrudgingly decided to think of new ideas. We believed the first part of the plan was still what we wanted, so we planned to keep that, we just needed to rethink the final part. First of all we considered staying in the Polynesian, without the amazing Castle View. Now, I admit I can be pretty stubborn, and this really came into play here with me saying that I wasn't going to stay in the Polynesian if I didn't get my stupid castle view. I know, I know, you may be thinking how can anyone really moan about staying in the Polynesian, but I think I was just feeling extra sorry for myself that the plan we thought we were going to do for quite some time, the plan we were both so happy with, was not going to happen. And it was my stupid fault for even thinking about the money thing . Well lesson learned for next time, 'When planning a Disney holiday in future do not even consider money, it can only lead to bad things'.
So after I got over myself we decided we would just pick another deluxe resort, and in the process save ourselves £800-£1000 (in head calculates that would get a Coach bag and something pretty from Tiffany's ). There were a few different Deluxe resorts we liked for various reasons:

The Yacht Club or Beach Club:
We stayed in the Yacht Club last time for a night and loved the resort and the pool. We love the area with the Boardwalk, having all the restaurants right there, and also being able to just walk to Epcot and MGM.

---------------

The Boardwalk:
I really wanted to try a new resort, as I plan to stay in them all, and I love the look and feel of the Boardwalk. Like the Y&B Club I love the thought of having all those great restaurants right there, and being able to walk to Epcot and MGM. I have also seen lots of reports and pictures of the Boardwalk and really want to stay there soon.

---------------

Animal Kingdom Lodge:
We stayed here a few years ago and we loved this resort. It is just so beautiful and so unique. And the thought of being able to sit on the balcony eating breakfast whilst watching all the animals graze below, and sitting round the firepit drinking hot chocolate (yes I know its hardly cold there but its what it makes me think of), made me really want to stay there again.

---------------

We hadn't completely decided which resort we were going to choose, just one of the 4. And then we did it again, we thought about the money . You would think we would have learn't our lesson after what happened last time we did it, but no, the sensible head was on again. I looked at how much it would be if we stayed at a Moderate instead of a Deluxe and figured that if we went for a Moderate we could pay the holiday outright meaning we could spend the next few months concentrating on park passes, tours and the all important food and spending money. So we discussed it, and actually pretty easily decided against this plan. But what were we going to do now... Well that brings us to Plan 3...

 

[disneydusted]

Ariel!!! I am finally clued in that you are starting this report! I am still back in Paris with you guys!
I am very curious what plan 3 will be. I am sure you will think of something great! It has to be! You'll be at Disney!!!

 

[ariel2007]

Ariel!!! I am finally clued in that you are starting this report! I am still back in Paris with you guys!
I am very curious what plan 3 will be. I am sure you will think of something great! It has to be! You'll be at Disney!!!

Glad you joined me here too

Well Plan 3 was good, but it wasn't as good as plan 1 or 2, or 4 or 5 for that matter

 

[retiredkid]

NO FAIR !! FOUL !!! RED CARD !!!!

You just can't leave us hanging! We need to know just how you got to your final plan !!!!

BTW I love your logic....money saved = Coach bag & Tiffany treasure.

 

[ariel2007]

NO FAIR !! FOUL !!! RED CARD !!!!

You just can't leave us hanging! We need to know just how you got to your final plan !!!!

BTW I love your logic....money saved = Coach bag & Tiffany treasure.

He he that made me laugh so much

 

[ariel2007]

The One Where The Magic Really Begins...
...Way Before We Even Get To WDW​

To Make A Holiday Practically Perfect You Need To Have A Perfect Plan
In Pursuit of the 'Perfect Plan' ... Pt.3

So that brings us to Plan 3

Plan 3:

* 7 nights CBR
* 2 nights RPR
* 2 nights Polynesian Resort - Castle View
* 11 nights POFQ


So we left off with Nick and I deciding that maybe our second plan wasn't the most sensible, again, and begrudgingly decided to think of new ideas, again . But this time we kind of had a rethink of the whole thing, not just the last 7 days. First off I told Nick, under no uncertain circumstances, that if we were dropping down to a Moderate, then we would have to spend a few nights in the Polynesian, with my beloved Castle View. Nick agreed, and we decided that we would drop the night at the Dolphin and have 2 nights at the Polynesian. We decided this as we absolutely loved our night there last time, but it just wasn't enough. Since we can't check in till 3pm and then have to leave again at 11am, it doesn't give us much opportunity to take full advantage of the resort and its amazing location, so 2 nights it was. So now we had to find somewhere for the other 7 nights.

Well we had decided on a Moderate so that gave us a choice of 4 resorts. The easiest decision would have been to just do 18 nights at POFQ meaning less moving. However this didn't work for us for 2 reasons. Firstly we wanted to try a new resort, they all look so amazing and we want to visit them all so staying here the whole time wouldn't help us achieve this. Secondly last time we went we stayed in a villa for the first week, RPR for 2 nights and then CSR for 2 weeks, which was all great but it meant that Seaworld and Busch Gardens was all done in the first week and then the Universal parks and then Disney, by which time we couldn't wait to get there. I didn't find this ideal, I was just itching to get to Disney, it was so close but we didn't have passes, and then we did Seaworld and it was all over with, and I missed that. I much prefer to have a more mixed plan where I don't have to wait forever to get to Disney, or have done Seaworld in the first few days. So that is why we decided 2 resorts.
So we decided on staying in 2 resorts, both moderate, the first was to be POFQ but where for the 2nd? This choice was kind of easy as we have previously stayed at both POR and CSR. We loved both but found both to be very big and expansive, involving a lot of walking and a lot of people. Plus when we stayed at POR in 2006 our other choice at the time was CBR. Then when we stayed at CSR this year our first thought again was CBR, this was actually our plan until the last minute. So we decided CBR it would be. I was still slightly worried about CBR though, being such a big resort I knew that if we got a room far out then we would have a lot of walking, and that is was also likely to be pretty busy. So for this reason we decided to put CBR first so if we didn't enjoy it as much as POFQ it wouldn't put a downer on the end of our holiday. And since we seem to accumulate a lot of stuff during a holiday (maybe a little bit of an understatement), it seemed sensible to put the longest stay last.

So Plan 3

7 nights Caribbean Beach Resort

2 night RPR

2 nights Polynesian

With this would be our amazing view

11 nights POFQ

---------------

Now we had another pretty good plan in place. It wasn't quite as good as Plan 1 or Plan 2, but we were pretty happy with it. But then I did another silly thing. Of course it wasn't as silly as bringing up the whole 'saving money if we don't get the amazing castle view' thing, but it was still pretty silly. We had a good plan in place, and yet I continued to research into the resorts, and it was this research that culminated in Plan 4...

 

[lmillercrew]

Umm... Where's plan 4? You can't write all of this and then leave us hangin! I had no idea that you went through so much changing of the minds.

 

[retiredkid]

sheeeeeeeeesh!!! another cliffhanger..... sigh

 

[disneydusted]

Ok, now you are really cracking me up! You have a plan 4.... this is good! Plans are good! I am thinking that this is very fun.... coming up with different plans and seeing what works. So what is plan 4??

 

[ariel2007]

Umm... Where's plan 4? You can't write all of this and then leave us hangin! I had no idea that you went through so much changing of the minds.

sheeeeeeeeesh!!! another cliffhanger..... sigh

Ok, now you are really cracking me up! You have a plan 4.... this is good! Plans are good! I am thinking that this is very fun.... coming up with different plans and seeing what works. So what is plan 4??

Plan 4 will be up in a minute

 

[ariel2007]

The One Where The Magic Really Begins...
...Way Before We Even Get To WDW​

To Make A Holiday Practically Perfect You Need To Have A Perfect Plan
In Pursuit of the 'Perfect Plan' ... Pt.4

So that brings us to Plan 4

Plan 4:

* 7 nights POFQ
* 2 nights RPR
* 2 nights Polynesian Resort - Castle View
* 11 nights CBR


So we left off with Nick and I having a plan that we were pretty happy with but, for some reason, I decided to keep looking into things. Partly because whenever we stay in a new resort I like to look into it, and partly because I think I wasn't 100% sure we were making the right decision. And I wanted us to be 100% sure before we booked anything. So I started looking into the Caribbean Beach Resort, looking at lots of information, photos and reviews on it. And the more I read about it, the more I like the sound of it. I loved the sound of the tropical atmosphere that echoed throughout the resort. I loved the pastel coloured buildings reminiscent of different Caribbean islands. I loved its proximity to Epcot and the fact you could see the globe from the resort. I loved the look of the Caribbean pool and all the decor. I loved the beaches with hammocks that we could swing on overlooking the sparkling water at the end of a long day. It all looked so tropical and so enticing.
So I spoke to Nick, told him all about the resort and mentioned maybe swapping the 2 resorts around so we would do the first 7 nights at POFQ and then have 11 nights for CBR, more time to spend around the resort. He thought that this would be a good idea too, and so Plan 4 was born.

Now this was only a small change, but this small change made a big difference to me and suddenly I was so much more excited about our plans.

So we will be spending 11 tropical nights here:

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Now we had another pretty good plan in place. A plan we were both very happy with. A plan that made me excited every time I thought about it. But then it happened...Again. I heard about a little deal Disney were doing and couldn't help but look. And then this was the beginning of Plan 5...

 

[ariel2007]

The One Where The Magic Really Begins...
...Way Before We Even Get To WDW​

To Make A Holiday Practically Perfect You Need To Have A Perfect Plan
In Pursuit of the 'Perfect Plan' ... Pt.5

So that brings us to Plan 5

Plan 5:

So we left off with me daring to take a look at a little deal that Disney were doing, a deal that would yet again change our plans. But this time for good.

So I hesitantly had a little look on Disney's site to see a little more about this deal I was hearing so much about. The deal being offered was pay for 4 nights and get 3 for free. The deal sounded really good. I checked and the dates coincided with our stay, excellent, and so I looked a little further but then found it said it was for either Value or Vacation Club Resorts. I priced up a vacation club resort but even with the saving it would cost more than our plan, so it was a no go

A few days later I had read about people who had done the deal saying what a great saving it was and how they were able to upgrade their resort with the saving. And so I checked again, for the resorts we had already planned. The deal worked but again the price we got wasn't great. We wouldn't be able to do it for the 11 night stay as the deal was only for up to 10 nights. And for the 7 nights it would only really make much difference if the exchange rate goes right back up again, something we weren't really willing to chance. So we decided to leave it as we had planned, still happy with our choices.

But then I decided to try again, just once more before we went ahead and booked Plan 4, which we were practically about to do. I decided just for the hell of it to price up the Polynesian. Of course the price I got back was pretty steep, I had put the Castle View on of course . So I decided to try it without the Castle View . And then it happened... a really great price popped up. I was so excited, I showed Nick straight away blabbering on about how it seemed to be really good. I then priced it up with the other 11 nights, cut out the 2 nights at the Polynesian which would save us nearly £700 and added an extra 2 at a moderate, calculated it at the various exchange rates that we might get, and even at a really low exchange rate found that it would basically be the same as Plan 4 ~ squealing sounds of sheer excitement and anticipation could be heard at this point~ Again I showed Nick, In a rather high pitched, squeaky, excited tone and his reply... Lets do it!

HALAYULA....​

~ this was me at this point

I could not believe it, I was so excited. And what was even more exciting was that Nick said "Come on lets book it now". So after I had finished dancing round the room and jumping up and down shouting "Were staying at the Poly, were staying at the Poly" we both composed ourselves for 5 short minutes and booked ~ 7 nights at the Polynesian, complete with 8 day Magic Your Way Passes and the Disney Dining Plan. As I write this I still cannot quite believe its true, that we will actually be spending 7 whole nights at the most beautiful resort. That we will be able to just walk a few steps from our room to Ohana and Kona, to those gorgeous cocktails, to jump on the monorail for MK and Epcot, and to see wishes

Ok so we have booked the elusive Polynesian Resort, and guess what, I am so happy I don't even care about my beloved Castle View. Look at that I can be happy about staying in the Polynesian without the view . So after some screaming, and some dancing, and some more screaming and some more dancing we got back on the computer to work out where we were going to stay for the other 13 nights. Now we hoped we would be able to still stay at CBR and just switch the dates. We had booked the Poly for the last 7 days of our holiday so we had this to look forward to, so our dates had now changed. Unfortunately for the new dates CBR would be more expensive than POFQ. And were not talking by a few pounds here either, we are talking about £500, a very big difference. A difference that would be 2/3rds of the way to get us that Castle View (ok I wasn't completely over it). The only difference between POFQ and CBR is that at CBR we would have a King bedded room. £500 for a flipping King bed, No thank you Disney, you can keep your king bed . So the choice was pretty much made for us, back to POFQ it was. And with that, POFQ was booked too, along with a 14 night Ultimate pass and the Disney Dining Plan . And here we have it:

13 nights at Port Orleans French Quarter ~ enjoying the New Orleans charm

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2 nights Royal Pacific ~ soaking up the tropical atmosphere

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7 nights Polynesian Resort ~ enjoying everything this amazing tropical resort has to offer

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So there we have it, now you see some of what we went through, and some of the journey we took to get together our 'Perfect Plan'. Of course there were a few more ideas and diversions along the way. With me planning a holiday is never as easy as only 5 changing plans, which is why I initially said this was probably plan number 38. Nick would probably say it was more likely to be plan number 138 but most of those plans were abruptly put to an end as soon as the words came out of my mouth. See he does occasionally put his foot down

As you can guess getting to this point took quite a lot of planning. However this is nothing compared to what there is to come. After all choosing the accommodation is supposed to be the easy part. Now I have a plan to plan... a daily plan that will be so good, and so fun, and so magical that it will be the best holiday EVER

So you can see I have no small task ahead of me, good job I love to plan. So bring it on, let the planning commence

 

[retiredkid]

Whew!! I've already been on a trip, following you up to and through Plan 5 !!!

Congrats!! You now have a fabulous plan !

 

[ariel2007]

Whew!! I've already been on a trip, following you up to and through Plan 5 !!!

Congrats!! You now have a fabulous plan !

Thanks

 

[lmillercrew]

Whew! I need a drink after all of that. Wow, I'm tired and I didn't even have to do all of the planning. Your plan sounds great and wonderful!!!

 

[disneydusted]

7 Nights at the Poly!! That is so awesome! I know you are super excited! Now if you really need that castle view, just run over to Kona and get something great to sip on and then go lounge in the hammock and take in the sights... sounds wonderful!!

 

[ariel2007]

Whew! I need a drink after all of that. Wow, I'm tired and I didn't even have to do all of the planning. Your plan sounds great and wonderful!!!

Thanks, and here you go

7 Nights at the Poly!! That is so awesome! I know you are super excited! Now if you really need that castle view, just run over to Kona and get something great to sip on and then go lounge in the hammock and take in the sights... sounds wonderful!!

I am super, super excited

And your idea of the Castle View sounds pretty good to me... one pomegranate margarita coming up

 

[manntra]

Wow!!!! I am so super excited for you (and exhausted!! ) I can't wait to see what the all important dining ADR's will be!! (not that I have booked any of mine yet for January! )

You have been so many great places to eat but you should also try some new things....this past August I had for the first time a dole whip float! Sooooo yummy, a new tradition for sure! This time I want a Grand Marnier Orange slush thing from France....looks yummy! I don't normally drink in front of my younger nieces/nephews...don't know why, it's just something I don't do but this next trip I am taking my older niece whom is 19 so we'll see! I just don't know where to take her to eat, my other niece (her younger sister) will eat anything that is not nailed down, seriously!! She likes chicken and some breakfast foods ....well at least when I go in October I can make up for the lack of food this trip because that is also during the food and wine festival! Well, take care and we are all looking forward to your next installment!!