That Time I Planned My Own Graduation Trip :)

[kemmerlinj2]

Hello everyone! So I've never done one of these before but thought I'd give it a try early on to see how it goes.



So where to begin?!? Let's start with a little about myself:

My name is Justin and I'm currently a 27 year old in college (I was in the Army for 5 years before starting at Campbell University). And yes I'm 27 haha. I've been carded literally for everything from going to the movies to this day, joining the Army, and even by classmates at Campbell. Just can't win!
Favorite Movie: Toss up between Toy Story and the original 101 Dalmations. And of course I'm a big fan of Marvel and Star Wars
Favorite Park: Hollywood Studios or whatever name it's going to be called . I was a big fan of the behind the scenes experiences of movies like the Backlot Express and the animation classes that were in it.
Favorite Rides: Tower of Terror, Rock 'n Roller Coaster, and the new version of Soarin!
Favorite Resort: By far, out of the three I've stayed at, it's the Yacht Club.

So the trip that I'm planning is going to be happening in May of 2019. Why am I planning so early you ask? Well that's the month that I'm graduating from Campbell University (Yay for that double major!) and honestly want to do a very big trip for myself and my mom and her fiance.

I guess I can say this whole adventure when I wanted to treat my parents to a long trip to WDW in 2015 (I had already started saving for the room and bought a couple of 10-day tickets). But right after I started school they let my brothers and I about their split which derailed everything obviously . At least the tickets were bought before they instituted the short time frame to use them . Then myself and a couple of friends last year were just talking about going to WDW for a couple of days in 2017 but those plans fell through.

Well now that the depressing stuff is out of the way we can get to the great part of it!



After a while I was wanting to do a 10-day trip just for myself during Christmas and had the outline of it planned out in my head. Then the inevitable happened and boy am I glad that it did! I got a call from my Mom while she was with her new boyfriend, Jim, while I was on my way walking to class. Somehow, what started out as just catching up turned into me spilling about going to WDW on my own. Mom asked who I was going with and like Jafar making me somehow spill it I said that it was just me, lol. And then the bombshell happened.....Mom had said "Oh, well, just make it a trip for three and start planning!"

Ok so a little background on my family's vacations, my Mom usually depends on myself to plan it since I surprised my parents, while they were together, to a cruise on the Allure of the Seas when I finished my year that I served in South Korea fixing helicopters.

And back to the scheduled programming!:

Since it was three of us going I had decided to plan on doing the trip during Christmas break of 2018 at a deluxe resort with the deluxe dining plan since the trip would be longer and we could take our time doing the parks. Then came an idea during my accounting class one day...."Since the trip is 2 years away, why don't we add a cruise at the end of the trip?!?" Oh, PSA: My family loves to cruise, including Jim who was introduced to it last year!

So I developed a spreadsheet to make a budget for how I would pay off the vacation myself since my Mom and Jim had done so much for me in a short amount of time (they still don't know the full volume of what I'm doing ). After I did this another thought came to me during finals last December: instead of paying crazy expensive prices for cooler temps in December of 2018 why don't we do a HUGE trip when I graduate in 2019?!?



Ok, so tomorrow I'll fill in what's in store and the thoughts behind it all. But it's 4 am and time for me to head to bed

 

[kemmerlinj2]

Let's see....where to begin with the plans for the trip!

Oh, on a side note: Saw Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 last night and it was amazing! Might even be better than the first one! Loved the part about Mary Poppins

So far this is what I'm thinking for the trip in May of 2019:

Dates: May 11 (Literally leaving right after my college graduation) to June 1st or 2nd. The end date depends what cruise we take which I'll talk about in a second.
Where:
-Disney: The first 11 nights is what is giving me the most debate. There's three of us and we will at least have a one bedroom suite/villa at a Disney resort. Right now it's either Animal Kingdom-Kidani Villas, Old Key West, Beach Club Villas, Boardwalk Villas, Copper Creek, Fort Wilderness, or even an Art of Animation Family Suite. I know we are going to be in the parks a lot so that's why I keep thinking it's not that big of a deal where we stay.
-Universal: Either 3 or 4 nights at Cabana Bay resort with one of the new 2 bedroom suites and buying the express passes for each day and park or getting a parlor suite with a connecting king bed rooms at Portofino Bay.
-Cruise: This is another toss up for the trip. We will do either the Disney Fantasy out of Port Canaveral or the Oasis of the Seas or Harmony of the Seas with concierge on either one. This is the reason why the end date may change since the Royal Caribbean cruises leave Sunday instead of Saturday.

Was thinking about flying from Raleigh, where I'm an hour away, to MCO for the trip since it's faster (2 hours flying vs. 8.5 hours driving) but having a car onsite just makes more sense financially and logistically!

Also who needs to celebrate graduation anywhere other than Disney World?!?

More great reasons to do the trip in May of 2019: Toy Story Land will be open in Hollywood Studios, Star Wars Land may be (please little baby Jesus let it) open during this time, and Star Wars Episode IX comes out while we are in Orlando!

If anyone out there has insight into which Disney resort or cruise to do. For what it's worth I don't mind sleeping on a sofa bed (Slept on worse while in the Army ).