Pre-trip Quadrilogy - planning 4 at once? No way! WAY! (9/22 - New Trip Report Link - Post 137)

[franandaj]

I am now really following your plans, prices and such because our airplane habits will be changing drastically as of now. I'm not sure if you've followed my cruise report lately but there's been big changes. The Panama Canal cruise was officially cancelled a couple weeks ago due to financial reasons. I booked a placeholder at SSR during the same time period, and just a couple days ago, Fran gave me the go ahead to lift the travel ban, and so we're committed to a fall trip. We leave MCO within 41 hours before you guys land.

Our problem is that American Airlines changed their mileage redemption policy. Two Business/First Class seats used to run about 100,000 miles (25K) each. Now they're running (45K) per seat per direction. That's just about doubled! We had planned to fly to Houston for labor day and bought tickets on Southwest for that, but ended up canceling and using that credit for a trip to Denver. Then we still has some left and used that for airfare to MCO yesterday. The thing is we have to buy three seats on SW and use their "person of size" policy. Supposedly we get the money back for the third seat, after travel is complete.

For us to first flight to MCO was $218 with a plane change in Houston. It was $179 when I first checked, but the price jumped $40 while I was on the phone with the agent trying to get our credit applied. The second was only $177 with a layover in Denver. That makes it $395 RT, which now I see makes the same price from Buffalo or Pittsburgh less than palatable.

So I was going to research this but since you fly SW so often perhaps I can ask you and be lazy. So when you use DME with SW, can you put the tags on the bags and Disney retrieves them and brings them to your room? Or do you have to get the bags first and then put the bags on the bus with you?

Going home can you check the bags at the resort before 1PM like with American?

Congratulations on you BWV points! I am envious of your trips, but if I really think about it, I have Denver in August, F&W in Oct-Nov. Vegas (when we actually finish the old place). A month of weekends at the VGC for DCA F&W April 2018. Then there's a cruise and WDW in Aug-Sept 2018, and F&G 2019. So for someone on a travel moratorium, I suppose I've been pretty busy!

 

[khertz]

I can't remember if I've told the story before - maybe even earlier in this thread, but our very first trip to Disney in 1997 we ate breakfast at Whispering Canyon Cafe and walked around WL and said "Wow imagine if someday we could stay here!", that's when we were staying off-site for $58 a night. I've wanted to stay here since we joined DVC, and now finally get to try it out!

I was similar about that same resort. On a trip with my parents when in high school, we ate at WCC and I was in awe of that lobby and thought we'd never get the chance to stay there. I was so excited we were able to spend a couple nights there in 2014! I'm glad for you to finally get to experience it, and in the DVC rooms to boot!

The nice part about this trip:
Airline Cost: $22 - all on points
Rental Car: $5 - free day
Hotel stay: DVC points - paid for in 2016. (December 2016 UY)
Park Passes: Universal & Disney - paid for in October 2017/December 2017 respectively.

So basically this trip isn't costing us anything out of pocket, except the food.

Can't beat a trip that is mostly free!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

I've done the 4 trips or more at once thing a few times (I guess I'm doing 8 right now - Universal Weekend this weekend, Labor Day Weekend, Italy in October, Wine & Dine in November, Marathon Weekend in January, Star Wars Light Side Disneyland in January, Princess Weekend in February and Star Wars Dark Side in April).

Glad you are making the most out of your DVC! Be careful with Add-Ons - it becomes addicting! We're at 408 points now and if the Yacht Club ever arises - we're in for at least 125 more!

 

[franandaj]

Be careful with Add-Ons - it becomes addicting! We're at 408 points now and if the Yacht Club ever arises - we're in for at least 125 more!

Tell me about it! We're nearing 1000 and looking for a BLT contract that might just put us in that club!

 

[skier_pete]

I am now really following your plans, prices and such because our airplane habits will be changing drastically as of now. I'm not sure if you've followed my cruise report lately but there's been big changes. The Panama Canal cruise was officially cancelled a couple weeks ago due to financial reasons. I booked a placeholder at SSR during the same time period, and just a couple days ago, Fran gave me the go ahead to lift the travel ban, and so we're committed to a fall trip. We leave MCO within 41 hours before you guys land.

Our problem is that American Airlines changed their mileage redemption policy. Two Business/First Class seats used to run about 100,000 miles (25K) each. Now they're running (45K) per seat per direction. That's just about doubled! We had planned to fly to Houston for labor day and bought tickets on Southwest for that, but ended up canceling and using that credit for a trip to Denver. Then we still has some left and used that for airfare to MCO yesterday. The thing is we have to buy three seats on SW and use their "person of size" policy. Supposedly we get the money back for the third seat, after travel is complete.

For us to first flight to MCO was $218 with a plane change in Houston. It was $179 when I first checked, but the price jumped $40 while I was on the phone with the agent trying to get our credit applied. The second was only $177 with a layover in Denver. That makes it $395 RT, which now I see makes the same price from Buffalo or Pittsburgh less than palatable.

So I was going to research this but since you fly SW so often perhaps I can ask you and be lazy. So when you use DME with SW, can you put the tags on the bags and Disney retrieves them and brings them to your room? Or do you have to get the bags first and then put the bags on the bus with you?

Going home can you check the bags at the resort before 1PM like with American?

Congratulations on you BWV points! I am envious of your trips, but if I really think about it, I have Denver in August, F&W in Oct-Nov. Vegas (when we actually finish the old place). A month of weekends at the VGC for DCA F&W April 2018. Then there's a cruise and WDW in Aug-Sept 2018, and F&G 2019. So for someone on a travel moratorium, I suppose I've been pretty busy!

I haven't been following that closely - I am so swamped lately. Too bad we miss each other by hours! Yeah, I don't think $395 for round trip from California is a bad price. I don't think we've ever paid much less than that, at least not in a long time. We used to get $250 to Phoenix, but now it's usually $350. $400 to Florida from here is TERRIBLE.

To answer your question - SWA works just like the other airlines. Use your yellow tags and they'll take it right to the room. Check the bags before 1 PM at the resort and you are good to go.

Your travel ban seems to have an awful lot of loopholes!

I was similar about that same resort. On a trip with my parents when in high school, we ate at WCC and I was in awe of that lobby and thought we'd never get the chance to stay there. I was so excited we were able to spend a couple nights there in 2014! I'm glad for you to finally get to experience it, and in the DVC rooms to boot!

Can't beat a trip that is mostly free!

Well - I do have to point out saying "All we have to pay for is food" probably means like $700-800 for the 5 days!

I've done the 4 trips or more at once thing a few times (I guess I'm doing 8 right now - Universal Weekend this weekend, Labor Day Weekend, Italy in October, Wine & Dine in November, Marathon Weekend in January, Star Wars Light Side Disneyland in January, Princess Weekend in February and Star Wars Dark Side in April).

Glad you are making the most out of your DVC! Be careful with Add-Ons - it becomes addicting! We're at 408 points now and if the Yacht Club ever arises - we're in for at least 125 more!

Well, the fact is I haven't yet paid off the FIRST puchasing, but i DID pay cash for THIS purchase. I could see us buying one more, I would love to get up to around 350-400 points, and currently sit at 235. For now though I think the 235 will be enough for us for a few years.

Tell me about it! We're nearing 1000 and looking for a BLT contract that might just put us in that club!

1000 point club! Why doesn't that surprise me! I don't think we'll ever get there!

 

[franandaj]

Your travel ban seems to have an awful lot of loopholes!

Well it's officially lifted since we only have 4-5 pieces of furniture left and some hitchhiking ghosts. The ghosts are on eBay as is one of the pieces of furniture. So she said we're close enough. Besides the Grand Californian doesn't count. So yeah I guess there are a lot of loopholes!

1000 point club! Why doesn't that surprise me! I don't think we'll ever get there!

You never know....

 

[skier_pete]

Lots to update on two of the trips anyways, but have had little time this week.

Trip Purple (Nov 2017) The F&W Events opened up this week, with advanced reservations on July 18th. We listed out all the events that were available the days we were there, and then chose the ones we wanted to try.

In addition, we spent sometime restructuring our plans. We joked about trying to do 6 parks in one day (2 Universal and 4 Disney), but that seemed less like fun and more like work. But, we decided as we were planning out our strategy to try 6 parks in TWO days. (We've never done all 4 parks in one day, but will save that for another time.) Here's our strategy, and part of me thinks we are getting in over our head, but here we go anyways:

Saturday

8:55 AM – arrive at MCO, pick up rental car (carry-ons only)
10 AM – park at Universal Orlando

10:30 AM – Park #1 – IOA – Hulk, Spiderman, King Kong, Forbidden Journey, Dueling Dragons, Hogwarts Express. Not afraid to take advantage of single rider!

1:30 PM – Park #2 – Universal Studiios – Gringotts, Jimmy Fallon are the only two rides we really want to do here. Maybe more Single Rider!

3 PM – leave Universal, head to AKV to check in.
4 PM – check into room, relax a bit
5 PM – Park #3 – DAK – Key takeaways – Pandora, Flights of Passage, Rivers of Light, Dinner at Nomad Lounge (Tiffin’s).

7 PM – Park closing time? Is this real? Back to hotel for a quick swim and some sleep

Sunday

7:30 AM – Leave hotel with Rental car.
8 AM – Drop car at Car Care Center. Shuttle to TTC. TTC to DHS.
9 AM – Park #4 - It’s EMH morning, but not sure we’ll get here early enough to catch it. Ride TSMM and maybe Star Tours and ToT.

11:00 AM – Leave DHS for boat to Epcot.
12:00 PM – Park #5 . French Farm Lunch at Monsiuer Paul’s Four course meal with wine pairings, it looks AMAZING. It's $99 but it's listed as 3.5 hours on the schedule, and I think that with what you get it is probably well worth it. This is the first time we've ever done one of the specialty events and we are really looking forward to it.

3:30 PM – Ride something on our way out. Spaceship Earth? Imagination? Just to make 6 parks in 2 days official. Our last discussion said maybe we would single rider Test Track if the line isn't too long.
4:30 PM – Whew – Magic Kingdom - Park # 6! We were originally thinking we would do this a different day, but then thought we are only doing a short bit of park time in the AM, and then 3.5 hours sitting in a restaurant, so we should still be good to go if not too drunk. Target rides: Pirates, Tiki Birds, BTMRR (FP+), HM (FP+), Small World, 7DMT (FP+) and Happily Ever After!

9 PM – crawl home exhausted.

Monday
Epcot – NO PLANS today – I mean I’m sure we’ll book a FP of some sort, but today is more about just enjoy F&W.

We will likely book a few FP and will also head back to the hotel for a well-deserved nap.
6 PM Back for more F&W for dinner.
8:30 PM – head over to JellyRolls for a late night of partying

Tuesday
10 AM (ish) – AK – check out Pandora boat ride, maybe safari
Noon – Back to Epcot – more Food and Wine

2:30 PM -4 :30 PM – Festival Center for a Culinary demo and a Wine seminar. Do we head back to the hotel after this? Maybe for a bit. Or maybe we just stick around a little longer and head home early.

Wednesday
Take our time in the morning – check out.
10 AM FP for Soarin or Test Track then more F&W.
2:30 PM for our final Culinary Demo (LOBSTER!) then maybe back to hotel
Hang in Epcot until 4 or 5 PM, then back to hotel to catch ME to airport.

Another piece of news that came out this week is that Disney offered DVC members a deal on the Platinum Plus AP, for the same price as the Gold AP. We had already bought the Gold APs last year, but because they allow you to upgrade at the gates, when we go in November, we can upgrade to Platinum Plus. The Platinum part doesn't do much for us, we won't be traveling during the blackout dates anyways, but the "Plus" is a bonus that includes the water parks. This will be perfect for Trip #3 in August! We may even try to work a water park in for the February Trip.

Speaking of which - Trip Blue (February 2018), it just so happens that the same day that the F&W events opened for booking was our 7-month window for this second trip. So on July 18th, we booked FOUR nights at Boardwalk garden view room, our new HOME resort, but using our AKV points (cheaper), I then cancelled our AKV Value room reservation - I sort of hated to give it up, as this cost us 20 more points, but we haven't stayed at the Boardwalk and are looking forward to the chance.

Then on July 19th, I re-booked for THREE nights (2/19 - 2/22) in a BOARDWALK view room, which was only available those 3 nights. But hey a boardwalk view!


I then cancelled the last 3 nights of the previous reservation, and kept the ONE night at garden view. I then put in a waitlist for a boardwalk view room on the 18th. However, with our flights now, we think we will end up canceling that night, and here's why

Saturday Feb 17th - Arrival in MCO at 5 PM. Book a local hotel to Universal. (Original plan was to stay at Universal hotel with "From of the line" privledges, but arriving so late not worth it.
Sunday Feb 18th - Check into our Universal Hotel and have day with EE and Front of the Line. Currently have that one night at Boardwalk tonight - gonna cancel.
Monday Feb 19th - Spend part of day at Universal. Move over to Boardwalk for 3 nights.
Thursday Feb 22nd - Transfer to Wilderness Lodge (Boulder Ridge DVC). Currently booked in for 3 nights.
Sunday Feb 25th - Original plan was to leave today, but the only flight we could got us into Pittsburgh at 11 PM, which would require an overnight stay. Instead, we moved flight to Monday AM for almost the same price. Why stay in Piitsburgh when we can stay at Disney. Need to book another room on Tuesday, hopefully extend our Wilderness Lodge stay by one night.
Monday Feb 26th - Fly Home

So, if you can follow all that, we actually likely won't even need the night of the 18th, which currently is in a different booking category from the other 3 nights. Next up on this one after getting that last night is starting to figure out Dining Reservations. We know we want to try Artists Point and WCC at WL, but not really sure of the rest. Thinking Via Napoli in Epcot, and maybe the Mexican place on the water we never seem to try.

That's it for now. I tried adding a few small pictures, not sure how they came out.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

I think you may end up having some issues with your timing at Universal doing all those things without express pass.

You also will be tipsy post French Family Meal so take that in consideration

 

[skier_pete]

I think you may end up having some issues with your timing at Universal doing all those things without express pass.

You also will be tipsy post French Family Meal so take that in consideration

Well, we're assuming single rider line. We are only looking at doing 5-6 rides over 5 hours. Maybe a little ambitious. We don't really have much of a "must do" here, since this was really a throw in with the APs we have. If we only ride 3-4 rides, that's OK too.

Good point on the tipsy...maybe Test Track isn't the best choice right afterwards!

 

[franandaj]

I think you had a typo in there with regard to trip blue, where you meat February not July.

I find that the French lunches are worth every penny, but the wine is very free flowing. If your glass is empty, they refill it, so if you want to make it to MK that night pace yourself. I thought it was funny that you "had" to get on a ride on the way out of Epcot to make visiting a park official. If I used that strategy, I would not have technically visited a park last March since all we did was visit the F&G kiosks and restaurants in Epcot.

I'm glad you kids are young enough to have such vigorous plans! I would be exhausted after one day and would barely be able to get out of bed with a schedule like that.

I was amused by your comment about never having been to LA Hacienda. We considered dinner there (we made a dinner reservation with another couple during out trip) but ended up at San Angel Inn yet again. The only time we have eaten at La Hacienda is for the Tequila Lunches. We did one in 2013, and I've booked one for us this year as well.

 

[skier_pete]

I think you had a typo in there with regard to trip blue, where you meat February not July.

I find that the French lunches are worth every penny, but the wine is very free flowing. If your glass is empty, they refill it, so if you want to make it to MK that night pace yourself. I thought it was funny that you "had" to get on a ride on the way out of Epcot to make visiting a park official. If I used that strategy, I would not have technically visited a park last March since all we did was visit the F&G kiosks and restaurants in Epcot.

I'm glad you kids are young enough to have such vigorous plans! I would be exhausted after one day and would barely be able to get out of bed with a schedule like that.

I was amused by your comment about never having been to LA Hacienda. We considered dinner there (we made a dinner reservation with another couple during out trip) but ended up at San Angel Inn yet again. The only time we have eaten at La Hacienda is for the Tequila Lunches. We did one in 2013, and I've booked one for us this year as well.

Thanks for the catch - I fixed it I think.

Who knows, we may end up changing the plan as the day goes on...too much wine may send us back to our room early!

I debated about the "ride in each park" rule. A meal should probably be enough to count. Just walking through a park though wouldn't be. We'll see how things go, we may be overly ambitious, but as I said, we are only doing 1-2 rides at DHS before heading for lunch, so it doesn't feel like to me we will be ready to crash, but we'll have to see. Saturday could be a long day too! We are perfectly OK with downgrading our expectations.

We considered the Tequila Lunch, but DW is not sure if she's ever tasted Tequila. She's not a hard liquor drinker trypically, so we decided against it for now. Maybe we need to stop for a flight at La Cava sometime. I like San Angel Inn quite a bit, but I do also like to try new places, and there aren't many new places left at Disney for us, so I feel like we should try it out. DD might do better there, because she didn't really like the food on the San Angel menu.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

My mother is doing the Mexican Tequila Lunch with me in September - I think we're going to end up back in the room for a nap afterwards!

I love La Hacienda! You should give it a shot!

 

[franandaj]

We considered the Tequila Lunch, but DW is not sure if she's ever tasted Tequila.

My mother is doing the Mexican Tequila Lunch with me in September - I think we're going to end up back in the room for a nap afterwards!

Fran loves Tequila! It's one of the few alcohols that she does really like. Tequila is a total upper for us, we want to go out and party after drinking it. I'm considering using the Express Bus to the MK that afternoon and then going over to Trader Sam's at opening. Then we would certainly be ready for bed that night.

The first time I did a French Lunch they were regional (for the wines) and it was all Champagne. We took a nap and then went to MNSSHP that night. Last year I drank so much that I went back to the room and slept until about 8PM. We just had grilled cheese and tomato soup in the villa. I'm hoping for a happy medium this year. Maybe a nap, a tub and then we'll head to Disney Springs and check out one of the new QS dining places.

 

[skier_pete]

Thought I would share this quickly. Here's our reservations for the two upcoming trips. We added the last night to Boulder Ridge succesfully, so now we have FOUR reservations for an 8-night stay! Now, I think the first one is going to end up being cancelled, and the 3rd and the 4th will hopefully combine to a single room, but still it's kind of crazy. I was thinking that before that trip happens, I will have trips 3 and 4 booked, so I'll actually have at least 7 separate reservations showing up in MDE.

 

[khertz]

10:30 AM – Park #1 – IOA – Hulk, Spiderman, King Kong, Forbidden Journey, Dueling Dragons, Hogwarts Express. Not afraid to take advantage of single rider!

I'm sure you've seen the news that Dueling Dragons will be off your list. I was so looking forward to doing it in September only to see the queue because I haven't done this ride since before it changed to Dragon Challenge. That's what I get for waiting so long!!!

Thought I would share this quickly. Here's our reservations for the two upcoming trips. We added the last night to Boulder Ridge succesfully, so now we have FOUR reservations for an 8-night stay! Now, I think the first one is going to end up being cancelled, and the 3rd and the 4th will hopefully combine to a single room, but still it's kind of crazy. I was thinking that before that trip happens, I will have trips 3 and 4 booked, so I'll actually have at least 7 separate reservations showing up in MDE.

That's nuts!!! But kind of exciting at the same time I'm sure.

 

[skier_pete]

My mother is doing the Mexican Tequila Lunch with me in September - I think we're going to end up back in the room for a nap afterwards!

I love La Hacienda! You should give it a shot!

I looked at the menu and I am worried DD won't like anything on it, but we do want to try it someday. Her Mexican food is limited to quesadillas.

Fran loves Tequila! It's one of the few alcohols that she does really like. Tequila is a total upper for us, we want to go out and party after drinking it. I'm considering using the Express Bus to the MK that afternoon and then going over to Trader Sam's at opening. Then we would certainly be ready for bed that night.

The first time I did a French Lunch they were regional (for the wines) and it was all Champagne. We took a nap and then went to MNSSHP that night. Last year I drank so much that I went back to the room and slept until about 8PM. We just had grilled cheese and tomato soup in the villa. I'm hoping for a happy medium this year. Maybe a nap, a tub and then we'll head to Disney Springs and check out one of the new QS dining places.

We were talking about your (and others) experience the other day, and I said "Should we change our plans". We decided we would stick with the current plan, but possibly return to the room for a nap before heading to MK. DW said "It might be fun to be drunk wandering around MK!" So there you go. We'll probably just pass out riding the TTA. As we snore away, people will be wondering how could a couple of "boozed up" people (our daughters term) ended up in MK.

I'm sure you've seen the news that Dueling Dragons will be off your list. I was so looking forward to doing it in September only to see the queue because I haven't done this ride since before it changed to Dragon Challenge. That's what I get for waiting so long!!!.

I only rode it once in 2000 - and remember thinking it was OK but liking Hulk much better. I didn't even bother riding it in February when we went, which is why I was thinking of giving it a go - a little disappointed but not that much. Maybe I will substitute in the Hulk or RRR. (or both). The nice thing about having no family that likes thrill rides is that single rider doesn't matter.

I feel personally we got pretty lucky with the closures - GMR, Ellen, and Dueling Dragon's are not particular family favorites (though DD really likes Ellen for some reason - I think it's the comedy). I don't mind any of them leaving and think I will prefer the new things. (But holy cow is DHS a "few hour" park now.)

That's nuts!!! But kind of exciting at the same time I'm sure.

It is kind of exciting. I remember when we went in 2009-2010 and went 3 times in 12 months and we thought to ourselves at the time "What if this is just too much Disney?" I think that was the point when we decided there was no such thing!

 

[skier_pete]

Feb 2018 trip update - ADR week.

So, because of the aforementioned 4 room reservations, we could not book all our dining reservations in single shot, so I had to go on line 3 times to book what we wanted. Here's what we got:

Monday February 19th, 7 PM: Via Napoli

We first ate here in August 2015 during our first family DVC trip, but DD wanted to stay in the room. She's loves Pizza though. Plus
this is our first night arrival after Universal, so we are going to be checking into Boardwalk that afternoon and it should be an easy walk to dinner.



Tuesday February 20th, 1:30 PM: Beaches and Cream

We again ate there on the August 15th trip for the first time. We are going to be between Epcot and DHS this day, so we figured this was a good day to eat lunch here.


Wednesday, February 21st 7 PM: Chefs De France

We wanted to do another restaurant in Epcot, and it has been AGES since we been there to eat. In fact, it was 8 years ago, 2009, and Remy was still there at the time. We also went in 2007, so this will be our third visit.



Thursday, February 22nd, 6 PM : Whispering Canyon Cafe

We will be checking into Wilderness lodge today, so the perfect time to get into the swing of things with WCC. This is also our third visit to this restaurant, the first time was in 1997 when DW and I had breakfast here and dreamed of someday staying here. Only took 20 years! The last time was 2009 for my 40th Birthday.


Friday, February 23rd, 1:30 PM Be Our Guest restaurant. We've eaten here twice before, once for dinner and once for lunch, the last time was I also 2015. We might not even make this reservation. We are hoping that this Friday they will repeat the previous year where they had the Moonlight Magic event at MK on the Friday, in which case we may not head over for this lunch and cancel it.


Last TS restaurant is the only one we haven't tried before, and the only one signature one. DW and I are going to try Artists Point on our last night before we leave. I don't have pictures of course because we haven't been before.

I hadn't noticed that all our selections were either last attended in 2015 or 2009. Just a coincidence I think.

What do you think? Good choices?

 

[skier_pete]

Trip Blue - February 2018: Yay, our waitlist came through, so now we have FOUR nights in a Boardwalk view room instead of one in a Pool view and three in a Boardwalk view. We still may cancel that first night, but it's nice to know we won't have to move rooms if we don't.

Trip Purple - November 2017: It's approaching fast, our Fastpass day opened this week. We also ended up contacting a friend that lives in the area with plans to meet up for two of the days. That combined with the near impossible quest to get a Flight of Passage FP+ has led to some changes of plan. I’ve listed the new plans below.

Saturday:
We still arrive at MCO and rent a car to head to Universal. However, we are going to drop off the car at the car care center today rather than wait until morning. The car rentalThe car care center closes by 4 PM, so we would need to leave Universal no later than 3 PM. I made the following Fast Passes, with the Safari one being optional as to whether we actually do it or not.
Kilimanjaro Safaris 4:40 PM - 5:40 PM
Na'vi River Journey 5:40 PM - 6:40 PM
Rivers of Light 7:30 PM showtime
We still likely will eat a light dinner at the Nomad Lounge (Tiffins) maybe if we aren’t hungry go over to Sanaa after ROL.

Sunday:
No longer need to drop off rental car – so instead it’s 8 AM EMH at Hollywood Studios. I also booked some FP for this morning. We probably don’t need these as we will likely hit the rides we want between 8 AM and 11 AM even without a FP. The extra TSM FP+ would give us an extra ride DWs favorite ride if nothing else.
Toy Story Mania! 9:05 AM - 10:05 AM
Tower of Terror™ 10:05 AM - 11:05 AM
Star Tours – 11:05 AM - 12:05 PM
However, we have to leave DHS by 11 AM for our lunch at Monsier Paul’s, so that 3rd one probably won't get used. Our original plan after lunch was to go to MK for the rest of the evening, but I was not enamored with this as I was worried it was too exhausting, thus the FP+ now booked in the morning. Our plan change led us to a different night at MK, so instead we are just going back to the hotel for a little while, and then coming back to Epcot for a few hours for “dinner”.

Monday:
Epcot – we now have plans to meet friends our today. We will likely go to Epcot the two of us for a while in the AM and at noon for lunch, returning to the hotel by around 2 PM. We will meet up with our friends at the hotel around 4 PM and make our way back to the park. We have included our friends in our room reservation, which allows us to book FPs together:
Spaceship Earth 4:35 PM - 5:35 PM
Epcot Character Spot 5:40 PM - 6:40 PM
Frozen Ever After 7:20 PM - 8:20 PM
8:30 PM – still heading over to JellyRolls for a late night of fun

Tuesday:
Mid-morning, again back at Epcot for more Food and Wine
2:30 PM -4 :30 PM – Festival Center for a Culinary demo and a Wine seminar.
4:30 PM: Head to MK. (Switched from Sunday to spend evening with friends.)
Peter Pan's Flight 5:15 PM - 6:15 PM
Seven Dwarfs Mine 6:25 PM - 7:25 PM
Haunted Mansion 7:35 PM - 8:35 PM
This is now our only evening for MK, giving us just about 4 hours in the park. This is just fine even though it is my favorite park, we just want to see Happily Ever After.

Wednesday
Decided to try to use 8 AM EMH to finally catch Flights of Passage! Should be easy to rise early enough to get over to the park by 7:30 AM and get on the ride with a reasonably short wait. Then return to hotel to check out and send our bags through Bell services to the airport. Then our last day at Epcot:
Mission: SPACE 9:50 AM - 10:50 AM
Soarin' 10:50 AM - 11:50 AM
Living with the Land 11:50 AM - 12:50 PM
2:30 PM for our final Culinary Demo (LOBSTER!) then a last bit of Food and Wine beforeback to hotel to catch ME to airport. Our flight leaves at 9:25 PM, so literally pushing this trip to the limit.

I'll again point out that we are seeing very limited time in parks outside of Epcot:
5 hours (max) at Universal/IOA.
4 hours (max) at MK
4 hours (max) at AK
3 hours (max) at DHS
Meanwhile - about 20+ hours at Epcot.

We are actually leaving for Italy in about a week, and when we get back their will only be about 32 days until this trip. It's weird to be having 2 weeks in italy coming up and being more worried about my 5 day Disney trip a month later. That said, I think this trip is pretty firm, so I don't expect a lot of posts between now and the date we leave. I will of course be putting together a TR, so you will likely see that shortly after we return, and then more updates for Trips 3 and 4.

 

[skier_pete]

Whew, back from 11 days in Italy, and I feel like I should be updating here. (Where in the world would I post an Italy - non-Disney Trip Report?)

I have some updates to make:

November 4th - 8th (Trip Purple)

MB are shipped and scheduled to arrive tomorrow. I think this one is wrapped from a PTR stand-point, and just a matter of posting a TR link. (25 days to go!) Only other note here - they've extended the 20% off deal for many restaurants until December, so we will definitely not be purchasing TIW prior to THIS trip.

February 17th – 25th (Trip Blue)

So today I booked a hotel near Universal for arrival night. It's looking an awful lot like we won't be able to move from our current flights without a big expense, so arrival at 4:30 PM on Saturday it is. I booked a night at a La Quinta that looks to be about 5 minutes from Universal. We'll arrive in Florida and check in, and probably go over to Uni for a few hours in the evening. Not too late though - because on Sunday we will check into one of the FotL hotels 8 AM - probably Royal Pacific as it is the cheapest of the FotL hotels. Universal is yet again pissing me off, because not only do they want to charge me $419 + tax for one of these hotels, but they also want me to pay for the room up-front when I book. ARGH! I'm sort of cash-poor right now and really can't afford to lay out $500 at the moment, so this ressie is going to have to wait. I still have half a mind to say "screw it" and keep our Boardwalk reservation for that night.

August 18th to August 26th (Trip Red)

Still nothing booked here. However, we've moved the date up a week. Decided we did not want to push up against DDs return to school/labor day. After all the hurricanes this past summer, we also thought that maybe just in case we would move things up a week and if a hurricane delayed our arrival or departure we would have that cushion week. We are also going to invite a friend to come with DD. This should be happening in the next few weeks. Still holding off booking until 7 months. The other interesting thing is the move means that we will be booking our ADRs while at WDW on trip Blue. This had never happened before.

Oct 20th – 24th (Trip Green)

So we had talked about bringing some friends with us. Since that plan we bought points at BWV, and are now planning on spending this trip at this location, while I don't mind the idea of sharing these points with friends, the first year we only have 52 points available, so in order to do so, we would have to borrow points from our next UY. For those that don't know - borrowing points is a dangerous game if you aren't sure if someone is going to use them or not. The problem now becomes getting commitment from friends, and believe-it-or-not, non-Disney friends don't understand the idea of committing to something 11 months in advance. (As a point, even with a free room, a 5-day weekend for a couple without an AP can easily run $2000 with airfare and park tickets and food.) The friends we wanted to invite in fact have indicated to us that it would be too hard to commit because the husband has to travel on business for long periods of time, and they can't even commit 30 days in advance, never mind 11 months. At this stage, we are unsure that we have any other friends we could get to commit, so we are considering not booking the 2nd room this time. Maybe some year in the future - but right now it looks like we might be doing this one solo.

 

[khertz]

Where in the world would I post an Italy - non-Disney Trip Report

Right here on your PTR!!