(WE ARE BACK! TR LINK!) The-BFF-Birthday-bash PTR turned ANNIVERSARY trip

[Victoriasmom98]

Ok, where the heck have I been? I no longer got instant email notifications on your PTR! How is that possible? I'm confused! Ok, well I'm here now and boy did I have a lot to catch up on! So, You and Rey will be at the Coronado Springs in November? Wow! And the trip is booked and flights purchased? Holy Hannah, Batman! I'm used to waiting months and months for one of us to do something and here you go, booking already! You'll have to tell me all about the Coronado. That was one of our choices at first. Maybe in an upcoming trip. I'm so excited for you! You guys will have such and awesome time!!!!

 

[DrMomof3]

Congrats on booking flights!!!! Or at least paying for them!
That's a huge step.

Amanda

 

[KatMark]

Pretty exciting update!!!

Yesterday I was reading a November thread that I'm on and came across someone who mentioned that they booked great flights on United from St. Louis to MCO. I had looked a few weeks ago, but Southwest had the only nonstop flight and it looked like it was going to be cheaper than any of the other airlines.

So, yesterday when I saw mention of United having cheap flights, Rey & I decided to check the site... OMG, they had round trip flights for 158$! That was WAY less than it was looking like for SW (they have only released to Nov. 2nd and we are going the 5th-8th) who are charging $563 at this point. SO, we paid the 10$ fee to lock our price for a week...and the grand total is 314$ TOTAL for both of us to fly round trip!!! I'm SO glad we locked in the fare b/c this morning the prices are back up!!!! What luck! We saved $250!!!!!

We will have to take two planes, but it's no biggie, we still arrive at MCO at 12:35, which is when we figured we would be arriving anyway. SO excited and next week I'll be paying those tickets off. Seems pretty real once you have your airfare!!!

Other than that, just enjoying Rey home this week! No pics to share, sorry!

GREAT JOB on the airfares. I was very happy when I got $530 for the two of us for our September t

 

[Sam33]

I'm late but I saw drinks and had to hop on!
Also....I think I might have lurked through a past TR of yours and enjoyed it. So here I am!

 

[Minnie_Mom]

Congrats on your great deal on airfare!

You are right- booking airfare always make the trip seem more real. I am so happy for you! Can't wait to hear more details on BOTH of your trips!!

 

[-Hope-]

I'm late but I saw drinks and had to hop on!
Also....I think I might have lurked through a past TR of yours and enjoyed it. So here I am!

If drinks are what caught your eye then you've definitely come to the right place!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Ok, where the heck have I been? I no longer got instant email notifications on your PTR! How is that possible? I'm confused! Ok, well I'm here now and boy did I have a lot to catch up on! So, You and Rey will be at the Coronado Springs in November? Wow! And the trip is booked and flights purchased? Holy Hannah, Batman! I'm used to waiting months and months for one of us to do something and here you go, booking already! You'll have to tell me all about the Coronado. That was one of our choices at first. Maybe in an upcoming trip. I'm so excited for you! You guys will have such and awesome time!!!!

Thanks Ann! The DIS is a mess since they messed with the servers. I JUST NOW got notification that anyone had posted in the thread?!?!

Congrats on booking flights!!!! Or at least paying for them!
That's a huge step.

Amanda

Thanks Amanda, booked, NOT paid...but they will officially be paid tomorrow! WOOT!

GREAT JOB on the airfares. I was very happy when I got $530 for the two of us for our September t

Thanks! Yep, the cheapest I could find in SW was $563! We will have to take 2 planes, but it doesn't cut much time and the savings means more money for souvenirs!

I'm late but I saw drinks and had to hop on!
Also....I think I might have lurked through a past TR of yours and enjoyed it. So here I am!

Hope said it first...if the drinks caught your eye you have come to the right place! Rey was just making fun of me b/c I thought $300 for drinks would be enough on our trip??? He laughed and said there was no way?!?!?

Congrats on your great deal on airfare!

You are right- booking airfare always make the trip seem more real. I am so happy for you! Can't wait to hear more details on BOTH of your trips!!

Totally makes it so real! I believe they are fairly non-refundable as well, so we HAVE to go once I pay for them tomorrow!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

It's official!!! I have our flights paid for!

A grand total of 314.40$!!! What a deal! I'm so pleased!!!

We leave on November 5th at 7am, fly to Chicago with a 50 min layover and arrive in Orlando at 12:35pm! Perfect timing, works out well. With the savings, we are most likely going to stay overnight at an airport hotel so we don't have to wake up at 3am and drive from St. James (we live 2 hours from the airport)

On our return flight, we leave at 2:22 and arrive back home around 7pm!

Feels REAL now!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

YAY!!!!!!

 

[Tinker326]

Hope said it first...if the drinks caught your eye you have come to the right place! Rey was just making fun of me b/c I thought $300 for drinks would be enough on our trip??? He laughed and said there was no way?!?!?

My husband I were just talking about our 'drink' budget for our upcoming cruise in June and I said... "We should probably budget like $400 don't you think?" And he went "Uh, WHAT?"

I mean come on.. boat. tropical palm trees. beach. I need a drink (or many)in my hand to complete the picture. Duh!

Congrats on the AWESOME airline score! You are connecting through my home town (sweet home Chicago!!)!!

Happy Weekend!

 

[DrMomof3]

What a great price for airfare!!!!

Amanda

 

[JDailey]

YAY for the trip with REY!!! I have been off DIS for a while but, I am all caught up now!! Can't wait to hear about both trips now.

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

Whoop whoop for paying off the flights! I agree with your hubs. $300 for drinks is too modest of a budget

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

My husband I were just talking about our 'drink' budget for our upcoming cruise in June and I said... "We should probably budget like $400 don't you think?" And he went "Uh, WHAT?"

I mean come on.. boat. tropical palm trees. beach. I need a drink (or many)in my hand to complete the picture. Duh!

Congrats on the AWESOME airline score! You are connecting through my home town (sweet home Chicago!!)!!

Happy Weekend!

Thank you! Yes, I think I'm underbudgeting for drinks. I can put down a few and they are EXPENSIVE at Disney! I'm concerned that flying into Ohare, we'll be running across the airport to connect, I've been there before and the airport is huge! We are practically neighbors, I grew up in St. Louis, so we always considered Chicago pretty close! Last time I was actually there, I was 13 and saw CATS, that's how long ago it was!

What a great price for airfare!!!!

Amanda

Thanks! I'm pretty excited about the price, now if they would just release free dining I would be over the moon!

YAY for the trip with REY!!! I have been off DIS for a while but, I am all caught up now!! Can't wait to hear about both trips now.

Glad you are back and caught up! (that always happens to me, btw) I think Hope & I will be planning our trip a little more in the near future. We will most likely NOT be going during the Princess and going a week later during my actual birthday! More on that later...

Whoop whoop for paying off the flights! I agree with your hubs. $300 for drinks is too modest of a budget

Yes, I realize the error of my ways. So how much should I budget for a 3 night/3 day trip for alcohol...since apparently 100$ a day is not enough!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

ADR DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

All made and I got everything I wanted. I did have to get a wee bit later on the CP breakfast, but I KNEW that this is something the system is doing lately...apparently parties of 2 are having trouble getting the 8:05/8:15 ADRs. Not sure why, but maybe they want to get the larger families in earlier? If you put in a larger number of people, you can get an earlier ADR!

So, here they are!

Monday, November 5th, Arrival Day:
Dinner at Raglan Road at 5:45pm

Tuesday, November 6th:
Crystal Palace breakfast 8:25am


Wednesday, November 7th:
Kouzinna breakfast 8:30am

I'm happy with what I got, but it feels like there should be another lunch or dinner ADR instead of two breakfasts. I think though with all the food & wine stuff we want to do that this is probably best. I also thought paying OOP might be better, but just adding up those three ADRs plus CS meals, it ended up still being cheaper to do DDP. We will do CS lunch and dinner on Tuesday and Wednesday will be eating around the World! Now they need to release free dining b/c it would shave about 210$ off my balance (better than a 35% pin) so that's what I'm hoping for!

 

[-Hope-]

Woohoo! Hurray for ADRs!

I think the later CP time will be fine because you can still show up early and then get some shots of MS before you check in.

 

[Sam33]

Hope said it first...if the drinks caught your eye you have come to the right place! Rey was just making fun of me b/c I thought $300 for drinks would be enough on our trip??? He laughed and said there was no way?!?!?

$300 is my Raglan Road beer budget!!


But for real, it's at least my Epcot budget! Lol



And awesome flight prices. I hope we get that lucky. We're having trouble finding flights under $400 a person.

 

[KatMark]

Love Raglan Road (we were there last month) and Crystal Palace is my must-do character breakfast for every trip. We've never done Koussina...can't wait to hear all about it.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Woohoo! Hurray for ADRs!

I think the later CP time will be fine because you can still show up early and then get some shots of MS before you check in.

That's what I was thinking! Twice now, for CP ADR in the early morning, I have felt rushed to get to the podium and not gotten the shots that I wanted of MS and the castle. I think this will give us a bit more time!

We need to chat about our trip too, I went and re-read our itinerary and I'm ready to change things again.

$300 is my Raglan Road beer budget!!


But for real, it's at least my Epcot budget! Lol



And awesome flight prices. I hope we get that lucky. We're having trouble finding flights under $400 a person.

Ugh, that's awful. I really didn't think we would find ours for less than 250$ a person, based on SW, but it was really the DIS that helped, I saw someone post about airfare and just happened to check. I haven't seen it as cheap as we got it since! Keep trying every day!

Love Raglan Road (we were there last month) and Crystal Palace is my must-do character breakfast for every trip. We've never done Koussina...can't wait to hear all about it.

We have never been to Raglan Road, so are excited about it! We went to Kouzzina for dinner in January and LOVED it! We thought we would try breakfast this time and it makes sense to have another breakfast ADR b/c Rey is determined to spend all afternoon and evening eating F&W goodies.

 

[-Hope-]

And awesome flight prices. I hope we get that lucky. We're having trouble finding flights under $400 a person.

You might try signing up for alerts from Travelzoo. I get email from them about deals departing from St. Louis. After Karen told me about her great airfare I went home and had an email from them with the deal listed. Good luck!

That's what I was thinking!

Of course you were- aren't we always thinking the same thing.

Twice now, for CP ADR in the early morning, I have felt rushed to get to the podium and not gotten the shots that I wanted of MS and the castle. I think this will give us a bit more time!

We need to chat about our trip too, I went and re-read our itinerary and I'm ready to change things again.

Sounds good to me. You should come over here so you can see my new furniture.