Planning for 2019

[disney-inspired]

Hello! We are planning a trip for either January 13th - 19th or January 27th - February 2nd.
Our current plans are dependent on the Armed Forces Salute being renewed for 2019 and as of recent years that announcement hasn't come out until early fall. Talk about a nail-biter!
We will be making our dining reservations at 180 day mark to cover ourselves no matter what.

Our plan is to stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge Jambo house and our group will be myself (30), my sister, her husband and her two girls (4 yo & 22 month), and my cousin, his wife and their son & daughter (5 yo & 2 yo).
We are all so excited and had our first official meeting last Friday to over everything with my cousin & his wife because there is a lot to plan!!

 

[mdsouth]

Hello! We are planning a trip for either January 13th - 19th or January 27th - February 2nd.
Our current plans are dependent on the Armed Forces Salute being renewed for 2019 and as of recent years that announcement hasn't come out until early fall. Talk about a nail-biter!
We will be making our dining reservations at 180 day mark to cover ourselves no matter what.

Our plan is to stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge Jambo house and our group will be myself (30), my sister, her husband and her two girls (4 yo & 22 month), and my cousin, his wife and their son & daughter (5 yo & 2 yo).
We are all so excited and had our first official meeting last Friday to over everything with my cousin & his wife because there is a lot to plan!!

It sounds like a fun trip to plan. I have always dreamed about going with extended family for a fun trip but it is yet to become a reality. I know when you go with other people it takes a lot of planning and compromise. But I just see lots of big families having so much fun together I think all the stress of planning it would be worth it.

 

[Hamptonite]

Working out plans for February 27th-March 9th.

Looking like a split stay 5 nights at Wilderness Lodge and 5 at Beach Club.

Can't wait.

 

[mdsouth]

Working out plans for February 27th-March 9th.

Looking like a split stay 5 nights at Wilderness Lodge and 5 at Beach Club.

Can't wait.

Sounds like an ideal trip. Wilderness Lodge and Beach Club are two of the resorts that I most want to check out.

 

[Hamptonite]

Sounds like an ideal trip. Wilderness Lodge and Beach Club are two of the resorts that I most want to check out.

Yes, we are very excited - Have been to Orlando a couple times in the past 4 years; but always offsite - renting DVC points this time and have convinced the wife that we should do the all-out tour with our kids 8 + 9; and we can go smaller next time (NYE 2021 with her sister+family) knowing that once we do this trip there will be no smaller next time

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

Yes, we are very excited - Have been to Orlando a couple times in the past 4 years; but always offsite - renting DVC points this time and have convinced the wife that we should do the all-out tour with our kids 8 + 9; and we can go smaller next time (NYE 2021 with her sister+family) knowing that once we do this trip there will be no smaller next time

I like the way you think!

 

[naomiatx86]

Hello all!

I wish we could for for $3000!! LOL With a family of 4 our trips usually end up around $5000 minimum.

Soooo I really added up the numbers and umm it's going to be $4500. Lol. I was way off!!!

Yes, we are very excited - Have been to Orlando a couple times in the past 4 years; but always offsite - renting DVC points this time and have convinced the wife that we should do the all-out tour with our kids 8 + 9; and we can go smaller next time (NYE 2021 with her sister+family) knowing that once we do this trip there will be no smaller next time

Lol awesome plan!!! I think that is amazing that yall will get to stay at Beach Club, that resort looks like so much fun.

So I have told my family about the trip and they have an estimate on the cost. I'm going to plan a meeting for March so we can pick the dates, discuss lodging and general plans.

I actually started getting mixed feelings because I have been reading on the boards about how the FastPass program is affecting everything like it's hard to get FP when you are an offsite guest and the lines are insane so I even told my boyfriend maybe we should emphasize the water parks but I think this might be our once in a lifetime trip so I want us to go to each park. I brought up maybe we should go somewhere else but I know Disney is just going to get more expensive and plus his daughters really want to go.

 

[Hamptonite]

I actually started getting mixed feelings because I have been reading on the boards about how the FastPass program is affecting everything like it's hard to get FP when you are an offsite guest and the lines are insane so I even told my boyfriend maybe we should emphasize the water parks but I think this might be our once in a lifetime trip so I want us to go to each park. I brought up maybe we should go somewhere else but I know Disney is just going to get more expensive and plus his daughters really want to go.

The FP system is quite tilted in favor of onsite guests - however with perseverance and using your ABC's (Always be Checking) in your MDE app you can modify your FPs in those 30 days to better times, and even get the vaulted FP's (7DMT, FEA, FOP) that are usually not available 30 days out.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

We have done offsite trips last year and the year before and had no problems with fp+ and we were on limited time since we weren't in Orlando for an actual disney trip.

I'm following this thread with trepidation because I'm really hoping to squeeze a little 4 night trip iin Feb 2019 at Pop. We haven't stayed onsite for a while and I miss it!

 

[naomiatx86]

We have done offsite trips last year and the year before and had no problems with fp+ and we were on limited time since we weren't in Orlando for an actual disney trip.

I'm following this thread with trepidation because I'm really hoping to squeeze a little 4 night trip iin Feb 2019 at Pop. We haven't stayed onsite for a while and I miss it!

Thank you both, I am feeling better now knowing this.

 

[ashleyr409]

Hello all,

We have a trip planned for July 2019 off site. We can't wait. I have already started making plans.

 

[naomiatx86]

Hello all,

We have a trip planned for July 2019 off site. We can't wait. I have already started making plans.

Yea! Welcome aboard. What plans have you started working on?

 

[ashleyr409]

Yea! Welcome aboard. What plans have you started working on?

Dates: July 14th-July 19th
Transportation: Driving (13-14 hours)
Stay: Staying offsite (VBRO)
Budget: I need around 5K to make this happen for the family.

That's pretty much it. I am not sure what else I can do because my trip is so far away.

 

[MamaMaleficent2016]

I’ve got a notebook and starting to list pros/cons and guesstimate pricing so we can think about cost for our 2020 trip.

We will decide our definite travel dates by January 2019.

Here’s what we know for sure, so far.

We will start our trip at Universal Studios. 3 night stay. We will stay at Portofino Bay. 2 nights in a regular room and 1 night in Minions suite.
Then we will transition to Disney for 10 to 12 nights, split stay between a Magic Kingdom area resort and EPCOT area resort.

We have three options for when we may travel in 2020.

Option #1 : Jan/Feb 2020- all of our previous trips have been this time frame in the last 20 years. We’ve always taken our kids out of school with no problem and arranged for school work to be made up. We love the low crowds and lower price. BUT... we never get to really do water parks (weather or closed for refurbishment) and we’d really like to experience a different season at Disney.

Option #2: Late May/early June 2020- SUMMER! I love it hot and relish the idea of more pool and water park time. Also, without the worries of missing school we might even add more days to the trip.

Option #3: Dec 2020/Jan2021- I dream of being at Disney for the holidays! Kids would only miss one week of school or less. But the costs and the crowds! If we did this- I’d need to convince family to stay in the Ft Wilderness cabins to stretch our vacation money a little further. They really love the hotels... but I’m hoping the trade off of Disney Holiday magic might convince them.

I’ve also started wish lists of food,rides, souvenirs for each as we see things as we read blogs and watch YouTube videos. Doesn’t every family watch Disney YouTube videos every night? No? Just us? Okay.... LOL.

ANYWAYS, THATS WHAT I’VE GOT SO FAR.... back to list making.....

 

[musicalgirl2010]

January 2019 here! I’m hoping to start my Pree Trip Report this weekend

 

[ashleyr409]

April or July Which one would you choose and why?

I think April would be less hot, but I just didn't really want to take the kids out of school.

July probably hot, but not missing any school days.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

April or July Which one would you choose and why?

I think April would be less hot, but I just didn't really want to take the kids out of school.

July probably hot, but not missing any school days.

How old are your kids? In elementary I had no problem taking my kids out of school for a few days. They are good students and were able to easily make up the work. It's a little bit tougher with Middle School and up.

 

[ashleyr409]

How old are your kids? In elementary I had no problem taking my kids out of school for a few days. They are good students and were able to easily make up the work. It's a little bit tougher with Middle School and up.

9th grade, 7th grade, Kindergarten.
If we were to go in April I would try to take them around Easter so we can use Good Friday and that would not count as an absent day. But also I think crowd will be very high since it is a holiday.

 

[ashleyr409]

It is so hard to plan so far out. I keep going back and forth trying to figure out simple dates for this trip.

This will be our first Disney Vacation and I am trying to go the less crowded if possible, but still warm enough for my kids to enjoy pool.

 

[naomiatx86]

Dates: July 14th-July 19th
Transportation: Driving (13-14 hours)
Stay: Staying offsite (VBRO)
Budget: I need around 5K to make this happen for the family.

That's pretty much it. I am not sure what else I can do because my trip is so far away.

Our dates will also be in July. There is no option to pull the kids out of school for us plus I love waterparks!

We will also be driving. It's about an 18 drive, we are in debates as I want to do an overnight stay but my boyfriend and Grams think we can drive straight through.

Yep that's our budget too.

I’ve got a notebook and starting to list pros/cons and guesstimate pricing so we can think about cost for our 2020 trip.

We will decide our definite travel dates by January 2019.

Here’s what we know for sure, so far.

We will start our trip at Universal Studios. 3 night stay. We will stay at Portofino Bay. 2 nights in a regular room and 1 night in Minions suite.
Then we will transition to Disney for 10 to 12 nights, split stay between a Magic Kingdom area resort and EPCOT area resort.

We have three options for when we may travel in 2020.

Option #1 : Jan/Feb 2020- all of our previous trips have been this time frame in the last 20 years. We’ve always taken our kids out of school with no problem and arranged for school work to be made up. We love the low crowds and lower price. BUT... we never get to really do water parks (weather or closed for refurbishment) and we’d really like to experience a different season at Disney.

Option #2: Late May/early June 2020- SUMMER! I love it hot and relish the idea of more pool and water park time. Also, without the worries of missing school we might even add more days to the trip.

Option #3: Dec 2020/Jan2021- I dream of being at Disney for the holidays! Kids would only miss one week of school or less. But the costs and the crowds! If we did this- I’d need to convince family to stay in the Ft Wilderness cabins to stretch our vacation money a little further. They really love the hotels... but I’m hoping the trade off of Disney Holiday magic might convince them.

I’ve also started wish lists of food,rides, souvenirs for each as we see things as we read blogs and watch YouTube videos. Doesn’t every family watch Disney YouTube videos every night? No? Just us? Okay.... LOL.

ANYWAYS, THATS WHAT I’VE GOT SO FAR.... back to list making.....

Wow! Sounds awesome. I recently checked out Universal's Waterpark and I'm kinda intrigued.

January 2019 here! I’m hoping to start my Pree Trip Report this weekend

Yeaaaa! A pre-trip report. I'll definitely check it out when it's ready.