Week 1 Is By Land, Week 2 Is By Sea! A PTR

[amandaw]

Your ADR list looks great!

There's a couple on your list that we're hoping to try out this year.

 

[Trinity524]

Your ADR list looks great!

There's a couple on your list that we're hoping to try out this year.

Thanks! Which ones are you hoping to try out? I can help you out and maybe
you can give me a suggestion for that last one that I am looking for!

 

[amandaw]

Chef Mickey's- Breakfast DH's favorite and a must do for us.
Disney's Contemporary Resort

Boma–Flavors of Africa- Dinner This will be our first time. Has anyone been here?
Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge

'Ohana- Breakfast LOVE this restaurant!
Disney's Polynesian Resort

Les Chefs de France Dinner- We love the food here

Le Cellier Steakhouse- I got this one for lunch, but I think I am going to find something else.

Cinderella's Royal Table- Dinner... Our last night before going on the cruise
Magic Kingdom® Park

What do you think?

Thanks! Which ones are you hoping to try out? I can help you out and maybe
you can give me a suggestion for that last one that I am looking for!

I want us to try breakfast at 'Ohana and dinner Chefs de France.

If you replace Le Cellier, would y'all still be in Epcot? If so, maybe Via Napoli. I've heard a lot of good things about that place. We also enjoy Rose & Crown.

 

[Trinity524]

I want us to try breakfast at 'Ohana and dinner Chefs de France.

If you replace Le Cellier, would y'all still be in Epcot? If so, maybe Via Napoli. I've heard a lot of good things about that place. We also enjoy Rose & Crown.

Ohana is wonderful for Breakfast and Dinner. If you or a family member is a Stitch fan, this is definitely the place to be for breakfast. I LOVE that it's on the monorail so when you are done it's just a hope skip and a jump to Magic Kingdom.

Chefs De France is fantastic because they bring out the mouse from Ratatouille to each table and he interacts with the kids at the table. My DS LOVED it!

We won't necessarily be in Epcot, we normally go the way the wind blows on vacation, so any park or place on the Dining plan is fine. We loved Rose and Crown as well!

 

[Trinity524]

Ever think the airlines are out to get you?

Yes, this installment will be about booking airfare. We fly Southwest from San Antonio direct to Orlando. My DS is not a huge fan of flying. It's getting him on the plane and off the ground that's the issue, so we normally fly non-stop when possible.

In the past, we have flown for 79 each way, 99 each way and I want to say last year we flew 119 each way and we were miffed about it. This year, we are flying in a month before, but the flights came out at 181 each way and never went down. I have been watching them for months. This year a twist was thrown in when we realized that we can't use the luggage from the boat automatically being transferred to the plane on the way home from the cruise if we used Southwest. We then looked at Austin which is about an hour away. The flights were 125 each way non-stop. SCORE! Only the flight coming come leaves at 4 pm ish. We will be getting to MCO on the way home at 11AM. I can't imagine 5 hours in an airport with a child who doesn't like to fly to begin with. So we looked up Southwest out of Austin, and it was 128 each way leaving MCO at 1230 on the way back. SCORE.... but then I started to wonder if the flights would go down. Well, of course the didn't for a month and I booked the tickets. 2 days later, the coming home flight dropped to 110. I have a credit, but REALLY? Sometimes they seem to want to drive you crazy!

So now... I have the following dilemma, where am I going to park the car? Do I do a stay and fly? I work that Friday, so would it be worth it or do I just park at the economy parking? Decisions, decisions. I ask my DH and he looks at me as though I have seriously lost my mind. He won't even answer me anymore. What do you think?

Flight times:

8/18 2:30 PM 6:05 PM This is also the latest we have ever gotten there. I almost feel like I am losing the whole day. Boo...

9/1 12:35 PM 2:10 PM Happy about this time

Coming up Next: To get a rental car in WDW or not to get a rental car!

 

[amandaw]

The price of airfare is absurd these days. We always fly to Disney but this year we are going to try driving. We normally do Southwest as well. But, it only flies out of New Orleans which is a 2 hour drive from us. And it was going to cost over $900 for the 3 of us this fall. I'm glad you were able to find a decent price with them. As for parking, we always park in the long-term parking section at the airport. I'd rather pay the airport parking fee & have my car right there when we return since we're always tired & just ready to be home at the end of the trip.

 

[Trinity524]

The price of airfare is absurd these days. We always fly to Disney but this year we are going to try driving. We normally do Southwest as well. But, it only flies out of New Orleans which is a 2 hour drive from us. And it was going to cost over $900 for the 3 of us this fall. I'm glad you were able to find a decent price with them. As for parking, we always park in the long-term parking section at the airport. I'd rather pay the airport parking fee & have my car right there when we return since we're always tired & just ready to be home at the end of the trip.

We have driven to Jacksonville before and it's not that bad. We stop in New Orleans which cushions the "are we there yet" from me. It's a decent price, but now I don't have the ability to just call a cab, I have to pay for parking and I have an additional drive coming home. I truly hope that the prices come down and I can rebook to go out of San Antonio. When I looked up parking it was 8 dollars a day for the economy parking, which at 14 days, is quite a bit of cash! I guess we'll see what happens!

 

[QueenDoOver]

Hello! I just followed you over from my pretrip to check out your pretrip Wow! I have total cruise envy! But dang those Disney Cruises are expensive! Your ds is darling. How wonderful that he has a doting Grandpa going on vacation with him.

We also have Le Chefs De France booked for our trip, on our date night. We are really looking forward to it. My teenager just got back from a trip to Paris with his showband, and the one food item that he raved about was the duck. So I am making him a seperate ADR with his teen cousin to have a grown up meal at Chefs on a different night, so they can have duck.

Happy Planning!

 

[Trinity524]

Hello! I just followed you over from my pretrip to check out your pretrip Wow! I have total cruise envy! But dang those Disney Cruises are expensive! Your ds is darling. How wonderful that he has a doting Grandpa going on vacation with him.

We also have Le Chefs De France booked for our trip, on our date night. We are really looking forward to it. My teenager just got back from a trip to Paris with his show band, and the one food item that he raved about was the duck. So I am making him a separate ADR with his teen cousin to have a grown up meal at Chefs on a different night, so they can have duck.

Happy Planning!

We love Chef France and believe it's very romantic. I have been to Paris before and it's very similar. We always ask to sit by the windows and watch the "world" go by. I know you will love it!

Disney Cruising is expensive, but I was quality time with my son. We went on Norwegian and it was horrible. The kids club was horrible and the eat anytime equates to wait an hour to eat because everyone still wants to eat at the same time. I wanted more family type activities. Grandpa is absolutely over the moon and has his own countdown!

Welcome to my pre-trippy!

 

[Trinity524]

I'll be back tomorrow with more.. but I wanted to say I made my first Disney purchase of the season.

I needed a bag that was a "cross body" style and I picked up this little cutie..

http://video.ebags.com/liveclicker/fb/?ref=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5lYmFncy5jb20vcHJvZHVjdC9lYmFncy9waWF6emEtZGF5LWJhZy85NDU1Mz9wcm9kdWN0aWQ9MTMxODY3MA==&widgetid=6388&aid=17&playlist=6388&overlay_type=6&dim1=&dim2=&dim3=&dim4=&dim5=94553&component_id=908&width=320&height=240&LCTB_iframe=true&tb_height=640&tb_width=575

I have to say that I love it! I think it's going to be a great day bag after the trip as well!

 

[Trinity524]

We have gone back and forth for months of whether or not we should get a rental car. Remember that we are also going on the cruise, so it would really be for two weeks. As of right now, we have decided against it, so we are going to go with the Magical Express from the airport:

and we will be taking Disney Transportation to and from the parks..

then Mears to and from Universal Studios.

Then we are going to take Disney Cruise Transfers to the cruise boat and to the airport afterwards

This seems like a lot of money not to have a car there, but it is most convenient to us. The rental car, plus gas, plus Universal Studios, plus the cruise parking makes it seem like a no brainer, so tell me why I keep going over this detail in my mind?

Would you guys do it any differently?

 

[amandaw]

I agree with your modes of transportation except for maybe one. I would look into using a private car service or a rental car for going to/from the port. If you do the rental car, you could pick up at Disney & then return to the port location & they could shuttle to the port. On the way back, the rental car agency would shuttle you from the port to the rental car location & you could return the car at the airport. We did a combo of these when we went on the Dream last year. We had a private car bring us from WL to the port (I can't remember the exact price but I'm thinking like $120 for the 3 of us). When we got off the boat, we took the Budget shuttle to their agency, got a car, went to DTD & then returned the car to the Orlando airport. Including a car seat, it was right under $60. These may not be good options for your family, but just wanted to throw them out there for you!

 

[natebenma]

Here's another thought for you on the Universal day... like you need to make more decisions

Have you looked into the Dreams Unlimited offer- one price for round-trip transportation from Disney area resorts and one day ticket to US/IoA.

According to this link, it is $129.99 for adults, $122.99 for children.

https://www.dreamsunlimitedtravel.com/universal/

Don't know how it compares to our plan.

 

[Trinity524]

I agree with your modes of transportation except for maybe one. I would look into using a private car service or a rental car for going to/from the port. If you do the rental car, you could pick up at Disney & then return to the port location & they could shuttle to the port. On the way back, the rental car agency would shuttle you from the port to the rental car location & you could return the car at the airport. We did a combo of these when we went on the Dream last year. We had a private car bring us from WL to the port (I can't remember the exact price but I'm thinking like $120 for the 3 of us). When we got off the boat, we took the Budget shuttle to their agency, got a car, went to DTD & then returned the car to the Orlando airport. Including a car seat, it was right under $60. These may not be good options for your family, but just wanted to throw them out there for you!

I am going to price this out! Thank you!

Here's another thought for you on the Universal day... like you need to make more decisions

Have you looked into the Dreams Unlimited offer- one price for round-trip transportation from Disney area resorts and one day ticket to US/IoA.

According to this link, it is $129.99 for adults, $122.99 for children.

https://www.dreamsunlimitedtravel.com/universal/

Don't know how it compares to our plan.

We already bought our Universal Tickets; however, I am going to see who they used for transport! Thank you!!

 

[Trinity524]

Just when I thought I did well, the flights dropped their prices. Now we are going to leave out of San Antonio and fly back to Austin due to the flight scheduling. Good thing is that we are paying the same amount to fly out of Austin as it is to fly out of San Antonio!!