My little space to type out my plans and thoughts, including my back and forth and emotions on how COVID-19 might impact this long awaited vacation!
To quote The Clash:
"Should I stay or should I go now?
Should I stay or should I go now?
If I go, there will be trouble
And if I stay it will be double
So come on and let me know
This indecision's bugging me"
Who: I'm Andrea, wife to Leonard, and Mom to Anna (14) and Charlotte (3, she'll be 4 on the trip). I'm older than I am mentally, and frequently forget that I cannot recover like I could when I was 19. We live in eastern NC. Our first family trip was in 2010, when it was just me and Leonard with Anna (she was 4). That sparked out love of Disney. We've been to WDW a few times since then, managed to hit DL once, and have had two trips on the Disney Dream. This pic is of us in January 2019, when we surprised my oldest with a Universal trip, Ohana breakfast, and cruise. Her birthday does fall right around MLK Day, so we had several days out of school that made it an easy choice!
When: Our current plans are to vacation from Wednesday, November 11th - Saturday, November 21st, 2020. Current plans are to fly (via Southwest) WAY too early on 11/11. Southwest hasn't released their dates yet, but if they keep their historical times they have a first flight in the morning from Raleigh (RDU) to MCO. It'd leave at 0530 and arrive at MCO around 0710. We've never flown there before, so this will be new for us but I'm excited about only having to load one vehicle and not dealing with I-95. This is by far the cheapest flight of the day, and one of the few direct flights they do (probably also why it's cheap). Here's the kicker- we're about an hour and a half east of RDU. We'll have to leave our house by 0300 to make it to the airport and through everything on time. I'm pretty good and making sure everything but a few toiletries and chargers are packed the night before, but I will sleep like crud because I'll be so excited (and worried about oversleeping and ending up running out of the house "Home Alone" style).
Where: (are we staying, where are we going) We'll fly in on 11/11 and check-in at Pop Century. I've read enough to know to go ahead and bring our swimsuits in a carry on since our room won't be ready until alter in the day. We've stayed at Pop Century twice before (our first two trips to WDW), and it's one of our favorites. I don't know if that's because it was the first place we stayed and we had some pretty magical memories, or if it's just that great of a resort. We've stayed at AKL once and POFQ once and both were good, but Pop fits our budget the most right now. We'll have a lot of non-park time this trip, so we plan on doing some exploring using the Sky Liner since it's so close!
When we check out on Saturday the 14th we'll take some form of transportation to Port Canaveral to board the Disney Fantasy (Lord willing). We haven't nailed down HOW we're getting to PC. I'm open to taking Disney's bus, but I like getting there early and getting lunch at Cabanas and then getting a good poolside seat. We've looked into a few different other transport companies and are keeping an open mind.
What: This will be a trip with little park time and a lot of time to explore. If all goes as planned, we'll land around 0710 and be in line or on the bus by 0800 to get to Pop. We're planning on doing the Quick Service meal plan. We've done that plan once, and I think we can do a lot of meal sharing. I don't have a large stomach (sleeve gastrectomy) so I can't eat a ton at once (snacking and drinking my calories keeps me in the obese category though).
Wednesday 11/11: Arrive, grab a quick/small breakfast to prevent a hangry pre-schooler meltdown, play. Depending on weather, that may mean pool, skyliner tour, arcade, or Disney Springs. We'll do Hoop-Dee-Doo (paying OOP) that night. I'm thinking we may have some nap time during the day (if our room is ready) and then we'll try to do the middle show, hoping to catch fireworks when it's time to leave.
Thursday 11/12: Hollywood Studios. Len is a Star Wars guy all the way. I'd like to make sure we get some time in HS to explore the expansion. No other plans that day, since we have no idea when any boarding would occur for ROTR.
Friday 11/13: We'll continue to explore and play during the day, hitting up the areas we may have missed on Wednesday (Skyliner, Disney Springs, pools). We'll try to get the wee one to do a nap post-lunch, and then we'll do MVMCP that night.
Saturday 11/14: Breakfast, then whatever form of transportation we'll end up doing to PC. Lunch at Cabanas (if they're open) and then playing all day until the muster drill. Sailing away on the 7 night cruise on the Disney Fantasy Merrytime Eastern Caribbean.
Sunday 11/15: Day at Sea.
Monday 11/16: Day at Sea. We're hoping to get a Palo brunch and Disney Jr. meet and greet (brunch?) during the sea days. We haven't been able to get a Palo brunch on our other cruises (it's only on sea days and we only had one sea day the other cruises), and the Disney Jr. stuff isn't done on the shorter cruises.
Tuesday 11/17: Tortola- No idea what excursions we want yet. I have until sometime in August to figure this out.
Wednesday 11/18: St. Thomas. Again, no idea.
Thursday 11/19: Say at sea.
Friday 11/20: Castaway Cay. My favorite. Not sure if I'm doing the 5k or not. We had a hard time docking the last time and the race didn't start until after 10. I'm slow. Like a turtle in peanut butter. I stopped after the first mile and came back.
Saturday 11/21: Disembark, cry, board the bus and head to MCO. We'll probably use the Disney bus for this transfer since we aren't worried about time. No idea on what time we'd leave yet. I'm not sure how flights will be impacted with it being the Saturday before Thanksgiving. I know not to book the flight too early but don't want a ton of downtime in the airport either.
Why: Why not? Well, COVID-19 continuing to be a major issue might be a big "why not". So much of this trip is dependent on what health is like by then (and hoping this summer doesn't bring massive hurricanes, who knows with how 2020 is rolling so far).
To quote The Clash:
"Should I stay or should I go now?
Should I stay or should I go now?
If I go, there will be trouble
And if I stay it will be double
So come on and let me know
This indecision's bugging me"
Who: I'm Andrea, wife to Leonard, and Mom to Anna (14) and Charlotte (3, she'll be 4 on the trip). I'm older than I am mentally, and frequently forget that I cannot recover like I could when I was 19. We live in eastern NC. Our first family trip was in 2010, when it was just me and Leonard with Anna (she was 4). That sparked out love of Disney. We've been to WDW a few times since then, managed to hit DL once, and have had two trips on the Disney Dream. This pic is of us in January 2019, when we surprised my oldest with a Universal trip, Ohana breakfast, and cruise. Her birthday does fall right around MLK Day, so we had several days out of school that made it an easy choice!
When: Our current plans are to vacation from Wednesday, November 11th - Saturday, November 21st, 2020. Current plans are to fly (via Southwest) WAY too early on 11/11. Southwest hasn't released their dates yet, but if they keep their historical times they have a first flight in the morning from Raleigh (RDU) to MCO. It'd leave at 0530 and arrive at MCO around 0710. We've never flown there before, so this will be new for us but I'm excited about only having to load one vehicle and not dealing with I-95. This is by far the cheapest flight of the day, and one of the few direct flights they do (probably also why it's cheap). Here's the kicker- we're about an hour and a half east of RDU. We'll have to leave our house by 0300 to make it to the airport and through everything on time. I'm pretty good and making sure everything but a few toiletries and chargers are packed the night before, but I will sleep like crud because I'll be so excited (and worried about oversleeping and ending up running out of the house "Home Alone" style).
Where: (are we staying, where are we going) We'll fly in on 11/11 and check-in at Pop Century. I've read enough to know to go ahead and bring our swimsuits in a carry on since our room won't be ready until alter in the day. We've stayed at Pop Century twice before (our first two trips to WDW), and it's one of our favorites. I don't know if that's because it was the first place we stayed and we had some pretty magical memories, or if it's just that great of a resort. We've stayed at AKL once and POFQ once and both were good, but Pop fits our budget the most right now. We'll have a lot of non-park time this trip, so we plan on doing some exploring using the Sky Liner since it's so close!
When we check out on Saturday the 14th we'll take some form of transportation to Port Canaveral to board the Disney Fantasy (Lord willing). We haven't nailed down HOW we're getting to PC. I'm open to taking Disney's bus, but I like getting there early and getting lunch at Cabanas and then getting a good poolside seat. We've looked into a few different other transport companies and are keeping an open mind.
What: This will be a trip with little park time and a lot of time to explore. If all goes as planned, we'll land around 0710 and be in line or on the bus by 0800 to get to Pop. We're planning on doing the Quick Service meal plan. We've done that plan once, and I think we can do a lot of meal sharing. I don't have a large stomach (sleeve gastrectomy) so I can't eat a ton at once (snacking and drinking my calories keeps me in the obese category though).
Wednesday 11/11: Arrive, grab a quick/small breakfast to prevent a hangry pre-schooler meltdown, play. Depending on weather, that may mean pool, skyliner tour, arcade, or Disney Springs. We'll do Hoop-Dee-Doo (paying OOP) that night. I'm thinking we may have some nap time during the day (if our room is ready) and then we'll try to do the middle show, hoping to catch fireworks when it's time to leave.
Thursday 11/12: Hollywood Studios. Len is a Star Wars guy all the way. I'd like to make sure we get some time in HS to explore the expansion. No other plans that day, since we have no idea when any boarding would occur for ROTR.
Friday 11/13: We'll continue to explore and play during the day, hitting up the areas we may have missed on Wednesday (Skyliner, Disney Springs, pools). We'll try to get the wee one to do a nap post-lunch, and then we'll do MVMCP that night.
Saturday 11/14: Breakfast, then whatever form of transportation we'll end up doing to PC. Lunch at Cabanas (if they're open) and then playing all day until the muster drill. Sailing away on the 7 night cruise on the Disney Fantasy Merrytime Eastern Caribbean.
Sunday 11/15: Day at Sea.
Monday 11/16: Day at Sea. We're hoping to get a Palo brunch and Disney Jr. meet and greet (brunch?) during the sea days. We haven't been able to get a Palo brunch on our other cruises (it's only on sea days and we only had one sea day the other cruises), and the Disney Jr. stuff isn't done on the shorter cruises.
Tuesday 11/17: Tortola- No idea what excursions we want yet. I have until sometime in August to figure this out.
Wednesday 11/18: St. Thomas. Again, no idea.
Thursday 11/19: Say at sea.
Friday 11/20: Castaway Cay. My favorite. Not sure if I'm doing the 5k or not. We had a hard time docking the last time and the race didn't start until after 10. I'm slow. Like a turtle in peanut butter. I stopped after the first mile and came back.
Saturday 11/21: Disembark, cry, board the bus and head to MCO. We'll probably use the Disney bus for this transfer since we aren't worried about time. No idea on what time we'd leave yet. I'm not sure how flights will be impacted with it being the Saturday before Thanksgiving. I know not to book the flight too early but don't want a ton of downtime in the airport either.
Why: Why not? Well, COVID-19 continuing to be a major issue might be a big "why not". So much of this trip is dependent on what health is like by then (and hoping this summer doesn't bring massive hurricanes, who knows with how 2020 is rolling so far).
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I am still being optimistic (and realistic) about our June, July and Sept. trips! We had to cancel our 
I know I would have taken that pretty hard, even with anticipating it coming. Crossing my crossables that the July trip is on!
