Started as One Group Trip, Now I’m planning 5 Trips!!!

[AlohaAnnie]

Hi Vana

Thanks for posting your plans. I have enjoyed reading them.

The DVC PAP deal is what prompted us to take another trip for Spring Break 2014, We couldn't pass it up.

Love all of AKL, it is a favorite of our family. I can relate.

Ick! Airlines, I am so glad we decided to drive this time. Airline scouting drives me nuts. We have also waited to book and have been burned. One time it did work out for us and we received a cheaper deal. I think that is what prompted the waiting game.

I am going to follow along. I also love to plan and budget. It is one of my favorite things to do.

Tina

 

[kthshh]

Hi Vana

Thanks for posting your plans. I have enjoyed reading them.

The DVC PAP deal is what prompted us to take another trip for Spring Break 2014, We couldn't pass it up.

Love all of AKL, it is a favorite of our family. I can relate.

Ick! Airlines, I am so glad we decided to drive this time. Airline scouting drives me nuts. We have also waited to book and have been burned. One time it did work out for us and we received a cheaper deal. I think that is what prompted the waiting game.

I am going to follow along. I also love to plan and budget. It is one of my favorite things to do.

Tina

Welcome, Tina!! Glad to have you along. Maybe next year we will consider driving to Orlando. The furthest we've ever driven is about 9 hours. The boys are older which would make it easier. And my dh would love the night driving. Who knows? We may just give it a try.

 

[S'sMom]

Welcome, Tina!! Glad to have you along. Maybe next year we will consider driving to Orlando. The furthest we've ever driven is about 9 hours. The boys are older which would make it easier. And my dh would love the night driving. Who knows? We may just give it a try.

I vote to drive and fly. Lol drive there, if some good rates exist, and fly back. Saved us a ton year before last. I'm enjoying this journey of all of your trips! Keep em coming.

 

[::danielle::]

Joining in from Houston! Where are you located in Texas? I'm going to guess DFW since you have a layover and live so far away from HEB.

You are so kind and brave to plan a trip for so many people! There is something special about showing people what makes Disney a magical place.

And I am *very* envious of your DVC membership. I would love, love, love to buy in. Instead I live vicariously through folks like yourself.

Also, I had no idea that you could book up to nine tickets with Spirit $9 club membership! Thank you for mentioning that!

I look forward to hear more about your plans!

 

[kthshh]

Flight Changes – Trip Changes
(I know it’s supposed to be Park Plans and Dining Plans, but this is important before I get to the portion.)

When you book your flights so many months ahead of time, you run the risk of your flight times changing. Well, Spirit pulled a doozy on us. Our original departure flight was to leave at 6am and arrive at 9:30am that Sunday morning. I wasn’t very thrilled about such an early morning flight but I was glad that we would have a full day at Disney! I never got an email but happened to just log back into our flights and noticed that the times had changed. We would now be leaving at 11:25am and arriving at MCO at 2:55pm. My Day 1 plans had just been trashed. I checked to see if we could change flights. All the other flights had at least 1 stop and none would arrive much earlier than 3pm. Because we are flying Spirit, we have to get our own bags and the plan was ride the wonderful, no-hassle with driving/directions, Magical Express. I’m estimating that by the time everyone uses the bathroom, get luggage, go to the bus, ride the bus, it will be roughly 5pm before we get to our resort. We had an 8pm ADR for that day. This would leave us no time for a park. We could cancel the ADR, hit a park for a few hours, but that didn’t sound good either.

My next (and best!) thought was….what about leaving a day early? Yes, we would gain a day, but this would be an additional expense of a place to stay for everyone (plus food…well, you would have to eat anyway). There would be 11 of the 13 arriving on that day. Lots of different options, but I definitely did not have the points to sleep us all. At this point I was a little concerned about the whole notion of “group travel”. My dh and I definitely wanted to leave a day early, if they chose differently, we would arrive on different days.

So I pulled together the info and let them know about the changes. They were very appreciative that I was watching out for them and opted to come in a day early as well. Now was the big question of where to stay. I considered staying on points but after reviewing my future plans, I decided against it. It’s only one night, let’s pay out of pocket. My dh’s main concern was what was cheapest. My concern was “where do I really want to stay?” We’ve been twice. The first trip was at the AKL Jambo. We loved this resort. I loved having a savanna view. The theme was excellent. The kids enjoyed the pool. I could go on and on. I know most people feel like it’s so far away from things. But we never felt that. On our second trip, we stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort in a pirate room. We also enjoyed our stay there. The one place I’ve wanted to stay is POFQ. I’ve heard so much about the quaint size, the beignets, and the overall appeal, that I knew I had to try it. Once Disney released the Summer room discounts, I jumped on booking our room. My DH again questioned the cost of this versus the cheapest value. My reply was that it was $57 difference, and I was sure that we could handle the cost. His response, “Pick whatever you want.”
I don’t know where our friends will choose to stay, but our choice has been made. As for trying out the other DVC resorts, I’ve got several more trips over the next year to help me accomplish just that.

Up Next: Park Plans and Dining Plans (for real this time)

 

[kthshh]

Joining in from Houston! Where are you located in Texas? I'm going to guess DFW since you have a layover and live so far away from HEB.

You are so kind and brave to plan a trip for so many people! There is something special about showing people what makes Disney a magical place.

And I am *very* envious of your DVC membership. I would love, love, love to buy in. Instead I live vicariously through folks like yourself.

Also, I had no idea that you could book up to nine tickets with Spirit $9 club membership! Thank you for mentioning that!

I look forward to hear more about your plans!

Hi Danielle,
Thanks so much for joining in. Yes, we're in the DFW area.

I won't say it's been easy planning for so many folks, but I am enjoying the process.

I promised myself that I will finish this PTR. I'm going to do my best to post our plans.

 

[kthshh]

I vote to drive and fly. Lol drive there, if some good rates exist, and fly back. Saved us a ton year before last. I'm enjoying this journey of all of your trips! Keep em coming.

I love that idea. It's always exciting to go on vacation, but no one wants the long trip back home. Maybe we will try that next year.

Our extra trips are too short to consider driving but the main Summer vacation can be driven.

 

[Jackiemarie21]

Great idea! I love when I come up with ideas like that!
You will love POFQ! We stayed there in our honeymoon, it's great!

 

[S'sMom]

I love that idea. It's always exciting to go on vacation, but no one wants the long trip back home. Maybe we will try that next year.

Our extra trips are too short to consider driving but the main Summer vacation can be driven.

Yes it will not work for the shorter trips, but that big one?? That will work.

 

[kthshh]

Park Plans and Dining Plans – Saturday, June 22 – Travel Day 1

My countdown says it’s 72 days until Disney and I’m ready to go right now! My friend, S’s Mom, posted the cutest eCard on Facebook over the weekend. It said, “I’m just trying to keep it together until I can get to Disney!” I loved it. That’s where my planning comes into play. That’s my go-to activity when I just want to be there already.

So without further interruption, here are the much awaited plans for our 2013 Group trip to WDW:

On our very first trip in 2009, we arrived on a Saturday. And I’m thrilled that we have added this day on to our trip.

We will likely leave home around 7:30am. We live around 45 minutes away from the airport, and Saturday morning should be an easy traffic time. Our plan is to park in the remote parking lot and take the shuttle to the airport. We have missed a flight before so I’m a little paranoid with getting to the airport on time. Our flight is at 11:25am. I’m not sure where my travel companions will choose to park, but we will probably just plan to meet up at the gate. We will grab breakfast at the airport while we wait.

Since we changed our flight times at the same time online, we will be sitting in the same area on this flight. Their son will sit with our two sons. We decided to pay to pick our seats to ensure that we would get what we wanted. My dh is tall so an aisle seat on Spirit is a must for him. For entertainment on the flight, I’ll have a movie on the iPad for the boys. DH will listen to music and sleep, and I’ll have a hard copy book for takeoff/landing and will read a book from my phone while I listen to music. The boys will also have their iPods for individual game play.

We should arrive at MCO by 3pm, and as I’ve said before, we will have to retrieve our own luggage because we are flying Spirit. I know for certain that my family will then head to the Magical Express to our one night stay at POFQ. The M Family has expressed an interest in staying off property and pursuing non-Disney activities that day. I don’t know what they will ultimately decide but if it’s non-Disney, then they will need to secure transportation to get to their hotel.

Once we get checked in, we will probably grab a bite to eat at the POFQ counter service, Sassagoula. I don’t know what I will eat but I’m sure the dessert will be beignets!

If we’re meeting our friends, then we will likely go to DTD/Disney Quest. They only have 5 park day tickets so they wouldn’t want to use one of those days. I’ll probably suggest meeting around 7pm. We will all have to pick up our tickets at Guest Services in DTD.

If we’re not meeting our friends, then we will head to a park. I think we will start this trip at Magic Kingdom! We’ll stay out as late as we want and enjoy as much as we can. I don’t typically plan out rides and such. We adopt a more laid back approach with our touring. It’s possible that Fastpass+ will be available when we go. So anything I decide right now would probably change because of that.

Up Next: Day 2 Plans

 

[kthshh]

Park Plans and Dining Plans – Sunday, June 23 – Day 2

We’ll start this day with breakfast at Sassagoula (yes, if I like the beignets, then I will be getting more!)

First order of business is packing up to move to AKL Kidani. I know that Disney will move your luggage for you, but I think we will just catch a cab for easiness sake. I’m going to assume that our room won’t be ready so we will leave our items with Guest Services and start our day. Because of the moving around, this will not be an early morning/rope drop type of day. That’s not my family anyway. I’m guessing that we will be catching the bus to Epcot around 11am. Depending upon where our friends are staying, we will either be together, or they can meet up with us at Epcot. The Sister/Niece will also be arriving at MCO around noon and will likely be at the resort around 2 pm.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned this before but the Mother/Niece and Sister/Niece of the M Family had originally booked a room at Pop. But with the release of the summer room discounts, they have switched to AKL Jambo. I’m glad they will be closer to us.

We will do as much as we can at Epcot this day. Some must-do’s are Soaring, Test Track, and (for me) Picking a Pearl in Japan. Since we are arriving mid-day, there are no plans to return to the resort this day. We will have lunch from a CS place here. No choices – whatever happens to be close by and sounds good, when we get hungry. From here, we will head straight to our Dinner ADR at Chef Mickey’s. Nothing says welcome to Disney like this place. Our reservation is for 8pm so we will be heading out of the park at 7pm to catch the monorail over to the Contemporary. I always say that Disney transportation is an attraction all in itself.

For those with the stamina to keep going, MK has EMH that night and will be open until 1am. My crew will likely head in early because tomorrow will definitely be an early start day!

Up Next: Day 3 Plans

 

[S'sMom]

Park Plans and Dining Plans – Saturday, June 22 – Travel Day 1

My countdown says it’s 72 days until Disney and I’m ready to go right now! My friend, S’s Mom, posted the cutest eCard on Facebook over the weekend. It said, “I’m just trying to keep it together until I can get to Disney!” I loved it.

We will likely leave home around 7:30am. We live around 45 minutes away from the airport, and Saturday morning should be an easy traffic time. Our plan is to park in the remote parking lot and take the shuttle to the airport. We have missed a flight before so I’m a little paranoid with getting to the airport on time. Our flight is at 11:25am. I’m not sure where my travel companions will choose to park, but we will probably just plan to meet up at the gate. We will grab breakfast at the airport while we wait.

That saying said it all. Actually being there now would help. Lol

I love the idea of getting there early, getting a bite to eat, etc. Don't forget that DFW has that Skylink. If the other family isn't there and you have some time to kill Skylink is a good ride. That's on our agenda because we will be arriving quite early as well for our vaca.

Keep em coming. I'm loving it.

 

[jw50]

We should arrive at MCO by 3pm, and as I’ve said before, we will have to retrieve our own luggage because we are flying Spirit.

As long as you have the Magical Express baggage tags on your bags they will get to your resort regardless of what airline you arrive on. Even if you didn't receive the ME luggage tags you can still give them your baggage claim checks at the ME desk at MCO (assuming you arrive before 10pm) and they will claim your bags and deliver them to you at your resort.

Spirit doesn't participate in the Resort Airline Check-in program but that only applies to your return trip to the Orlando airport.

 

[kthshh]

As long as you have the Magical Express baggage tags on your bags they will get to your resort regardless of what airline you arrive on. Even if you didn't receive the ME luggage tags you can still give them your baggage claim checks at the ME desk at MCO (assuming you arrive before 10pm) and they will claim your bags and deliver them to you at your resort.

Spirit doesn't participate in the Resort Airline Check-in program but that only applies to your return trip to the Orlando airport.

Thank you so much for posting this. I had been wondering about this and was actually just on the Transportation board trying to clarify what a Participating Airline was.

I'm so glad that we don't have to go to claim our luggage and can head straight to the Magical Express. If our group travelers decide to stay offsite, they will unfortunately have to go and pick up their luggage.

I'm not too concerned about being able to use the Resort Airline Check-in. We've done it once, and our luggage did not arrive back in Texas when we did. It was so chaotic at the Carribean Beach Resort that day that I believe it was Disney's mistake and not the airlines.

 

[Jackiemarie21]

I have been thinking about doing a Pick a Pearl too. I am going to play that by ear I think. Your plans sound great so far, can't wait to hear more!

 

[B A Mouse]

I am guilty of pretty much just reading along with others trip report and never really posting. But I'm hoping that someone....anyone...will comment on mine.

I'll be in the world with you! I love your report good job!

 

[kthshh]

I have been thinking about doing a Pick a Pearl too. I am going to play that by ear I think. Your plans sound great so far, can't wait to hear more!

Thanks! I don't know what I will do with the pearl but I know I want one! Lol!

Our first trip was more about the boys. This trip my dh and I are thinking about things that interest us as well.

 

[kthshh]

I'll be in the world with you! I love your report good job!

Thanks for following along!

 

[kthshh]

Interruption: The Five Trips

Well, I’m going to interrupt my plans of the Group Trip to give you a rundown of the meaning of the title of my trip report. As you know, a simple planning for a 2013 Summer Group Trip with a family of 5 from our church led us to finally purchasing DVC and then buying Premium Annual Passes for my family. With the PAP’s and the DVC, I knew that we would be able to capture more time at Disney for the price of airfare and food. In the beginning, I figured all we needed was one more trip and the PAP price would be realized. So without further ado….here are the 5 trips:
1. Group Trip – June 2013 – Started as a five night trip for 9. Now it’s a 6 night trip for 13.

2. My 40th Birthday Celebration – September 2013 – This trip will be just me and a girlfriend who is in love with Mickey Mouse. She turns 40 a few months before I do. Airfare has been purchased and we will be staying at OKW. We will actually be flying back home on birthday, but at least I will wake up in my happy place. Our trip will start on a Friday with a late afternoon arrival. Right now, she’s planning to get 2 day park hoppers. We will spend Friday night at DTD, do two parks on Saturday and two parks on Sunday. We may even throw in the MNSSHP on that Friday night…no decisions on that yet.

3. December 2013 – My family of 4 – Another Friday thru Monday or maybe Thursday thru Sunday trip depending upon airfare. I really want to see the Christmas decorations, enjoy the cooler weather and the low crowds. The boys will likely miss two days of school for this trip. No decisions on which DVC resort we will stay at. I’m thinking either Boardwalk or Wilderness Lodge. This is the one trip that I’m more likely to cancel as well.

4. March 2014 – Spring Break – The last two years we have done a Staycation for Spring Break. That ends in 2014. We’ve tossed around the idea of taking a Disney cruise during this time, but my DH has a hard time taking time off around this week. I’ve suggested that we return to Disney since we are able to do it minimally. We will hit the beginning of Spring Break and might possibly leave out on the Friday before the break begins and return on Tuesday. This will give us 4 nights over that time period. We will stay at either the Boardwalk or Wilderness….whichever we didn’t stay in for December. We went to Disneyland on Spring Break 2011. It was a whirlwind trip. We left early on a Sunday morning, had 3 day passes, and flew out late Tuesday night back to Texas. It was a fun, quick trip! I’m hoping our WDW Spring Break trip will be just as fun. It’s weird because this year, as I would check Facebook over that week, I kept seeing all these random people that I knew who had gone to WDW for Spring Break.

5. Summer 2014 – sometime around the 2nd week of June – Week to possibly 10 day vacation. Much has been thrown out about the trip and we have not buttoned any of this down or made the decision. Some of the options include a 4 night Disney cruise, Hilton Head/Savannah, and Universal. But I’m safe to say that at least 3 nights will be spent at WDW on property. We want to have a different trip for 2014 than we had in 2013, and figure that it’s the best time to consider splitting up our vacation, since the WDW portion is already paid for.

So that’s it….seems like a lot. I think after we’re done in the summer of
2014, it will be a few years before we return. 2016 or possibly 2017. But those trips really ought to hold us over for awhile!!!

 

[S'sMom]

It's getting close. Any new developments?