WE'RE GOING HOME!!

[LivingforDisney]

Plus getting to try 3 different resorts would be fun.

Just wondering though if you’ve considered swapping 4+ nights out with a stay at Universal?
I’m biased as I love it there as much (if not more so) than Disney, especially because of express passes.
But, express passes aside, not only is food there quite a bit cheaper than Disney, but the Xmas decorations and experiences there look fantastic. I can’t wait for the Macy’s parade, the HP Castle projections, and some of the Christmas time food offerings.

I loved Universal as well, and if I go again would spend more time there. We stayed 4 days Jan 2016 at Cabana Bay, it was a great resort, it was 3rd Jan and the prices were not expensive , but the weather turned really cold. I bought the tickets off Undercover Tourist, buy 2 days get one free, we did the rides over and over, more than enough time. We also went to the outlets near there , after we checked in, jumped in a taxi. One day we went to Wildlife Park , did a airboat ride and saw the Titanic exhibition. Also loved Citywalk at Universal, some cool resturants, shops.

 

[LivingforDisney]

Regarding food, perhaps you could consider getting the dining plan for one of your DVC weeks and then using that week to cram in all the most expensive TS options. Then in the weeks surrounding you can save money on cheaper options.
I just booked an ADR for Minnie’s Holiday Dine and I am still balking at the fact that it’s going to cost my family of 3 roughly NZ$100 pp. At just 1 TS credit on the dining plan, it has made me rethink whether getting the dining plan might be worth it. However, because I’ve purposefully chosen much cheaper TS meals on the other 2 days, I don’t think it would make financial sense. I may need to crunch the numbers again though.

As for the cruise, one other company to keep an eye on is Celebrity. We are cruising with them on the Reflection and it will be our second Celebrity cruise.
Price wise, I find them to be one of the better value cruise companies out there. Keep an eye out for their promotions as they have a lot where they include perks with your booking. We booked during a 2 perks promotion and have our drinks (including alcohol) and unlimited wifi included in the price of our cruise.
Prior to booking this cruise, I was booked on Celebrity Edge and had booked during a promotion that included the drinks, wifi and $600 OBC. Reluctantly, I cancelled that cruise as I liked the Reflection’s itinerary better. But either way, the point being that they do offer some good deals from time to time, so keep an eye out.

We did the Minnie's Holiday Dine, thought it was great, but we had free dining that time, boy that made a difference to our budget 14 nights and free table service meals and free Quick service meals for the whole trip, not to mention the snacks. Felt weird when we then went to Cabana a Bay to stay and had to pay for our meals . Lol

 

[LivingforDisney]

@ColinA OH MY LORDY!!! That's a serious crowd. The other idea we're toying with is just booking dinner at the Poly or California Grill so we can still enjoy a nice dinner, the fireworks but without the crazy crowds

Yes, we were at wdw Xmas and NYE 2015. Didn't go to the parks Xmas day,or NYE, we went out for dinner and watched the fireworks from our resort, they had a party going on, then we had a couple of minutes walk back to our room and were up bright and early for animal kingdom, where there wasn't hasn't anyone till the afternoon.

 

[LivingforDisney]

TRIP PLANNING UPDATE

As I'm sure we all do in our trip planning we've gone back and forth and back and forth regarding the length of our stay and adding on a possible cruise. When we began looking into it adding a cruise, even a short one, wasn't really as cheap as we'd hoped. Because the cruises we were considering all ran over Christmas Day the average additional cost was $3,000-$4,000 for a basic inside cabin. Although we know our food and much of our entertainment would have been included we know we'll probably add another $1,000 or more on top of the cruise cost to cover things like shopping, activities, specialty dining and tours.

So we began prioritising what was important to us for our trip and we've decided that the cruise really is an after thought and not something we 'have' to do. When it all boiled down we're returning to enjoy Disneyworld and all that it has to offer (AND BOY DOES IT HAVE A LOT!!). We believe that we'd be better off sticking to our original 3 weeks at Disneyworld and upgrading our resort choices instead of economising to fit in a cruise we never really planned to take.

Please tell me I'm not the only one who's wrestled with this dilemma? I'm the kind of person who's terrible with making choices but I feel pretty comfortable with this one.

After seeing ColinA's photos and experience of WDW at New Years we also decided to steer well clear of this. We're ok in crowds but I'm sure that prolonged exposure to should to shoulder crowds, huge lines for everything (including toilets) and tired cranky people are not a combination that makes for a happy experience

Our revised trip dates are:

30/11/19 - Melbourne-LA-ORL-WDW
1/12/19 - 20/12/19 - WDW (with side trips to Walmart, the Outlets, Universal etc)
21/12/19 - WDW-ORL-LA-Melbourne

We'll be back before Christmas and enjoy a relaxing break with our fur babies before returning to work on 6/1/20.​

your flights might be expensive, flying into Melb so close to Xmas. Why not try Vegas for a few days

 

[Sinders99]

I loved Universal as well, and if I go again would spend more time there. We stayed 4 days Jan 2016 at Cabana Bay, it was a great resort, it was 3rd Jan and the prices were not expensive , but the weather turned really cold. I bought the tickets off Undercover Tourist, buy 2 days get one free, we did the rides over and over, more than enough time. We also went to the outlets near there , after we checked in, jumped in a taxi. One day we went to Wildlife Park , did a airboat ride and saw the Titanic exhibition. Also loved Citywalk at Universal, some cool resturants, shops.

We also loved Universal when we visited in 2016. We have seriously considered tacking on a few extra days at Cabana Bay but we're really worried about the crowd levels at the parks 21 Dec - 25 Dec. We're wondering if upgrading to one of the parks that includes a front of line pass is worth all the extra money?

 

[Franrose]

I have a 13 night stay at the moment, with 31 ADRs booked. I thought I was the only indecisive one

Our trip started with the cruise this time, as it's something my kids have always had their heart set on (and I'd said yes, 'one day' lol). So it was one of the first things I booked and I've worked the rest of the trip around it, the cruise chose the overall destination and since we were going to be in the area, who wouldn't stop in at WDW! For a couple of weeks lol! However if I had chosen the Disney part first, I probably wouldn't even be looking at a cruise as we've already cruised in this area.

We have booked a stay at Universal's (Loews) Royal Pacific Resort, I don't think we'll really need the express pass but I bet we'll love it at the time. I've booked club level to take care of the bulk of our food while there just to reduce some decision making while there. I'm quite partial to a continental breakfast.

How did you find the Titanic exhibition, @LivingforDisney? Maybe I should add it to our itinerary!

 

[Sinders99]

I've just worked out that if we economise a little and stay 14 nights at POP and then a further 7 nights at Bay Lake Towers it shaves about $2,200 off our trip cost which would be enough for us to stop in Vegas for a week on the way home. Hmmm tempting. We actually stayed in Vegas for a couple of nights between Christmas and New Years back on our first US trip in 2010 and it's a great time to visit. We didn't think we'd like Vegas but we've spoken many times over the years about going back for a longer stay to do all the things we missed out on.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

I have a 13 night stay at the moment, with 31 ADRs booked. I thought I was the only indecisive one

Lol. I’d love to know what those 31 are.

 

[Sinders99]

WARNING!! FRIDAY NIGHT RANT IN PROGRESS
​

OMG!! Ventured into a travel agency tonight after work to ask a few questions about stop over flight options and I swear I knew more about the travel industry than the ditz sitting behind the counter wearing the uniform. She honestly really frustrated me because she wasn't listening to what I was asking and just got it all completely wrong Now I know why I prefer to arrange my own travel and bookings.

Apologies in advance for anyone working in the industry but this woman was one of the worst agents I've ever encountered.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

WARNING!! FRIDAY NIGHT RANT IN PROGRESS
​

OMG!! Ventured into a travel agency tonight after work to ask a few questions about stop over flight options and I swear I knew more about the travel industry than the ditz sitting behind the counter wearing the uniform. She honestly really frustrated me because she wasn't listening to what I was asking and just got it all completely wrong Now I know why I prefer to arrange my own travel and bookings.

Apologies in advance for anyone working in the industry but this woman was one of the worst agents I've ever encountered.

I need at least two hands to count the number of times I’ve had similar experiences with agents. I do know there are some wonderful agents out there (I have had a few get me a good deal on cruises in the past) and some specialist ones with a great depth of knowledge.
But in general I am a bit of a control freak when it comes to my bookings and I prefer sorting them out myself.

In the past I’ve been recommended resorts that get terrible reviews on Trip Advisor or are miles away from anywhere of interest (I suspect they offered good commission), I’ve had tickets not sent to me, and I’ve been quoted prices that I knew from some prior research were cheaper online. Plus there have been a few times where I’ve been flexible with travel dates and stopover locations and asked if they could find me a deal, only to be told that without an exact date or route they couldn’t help me.

In this day and age, with each generation becoming more and more internet savvy, I do think that the way forward is to use search systems that can offer a bit more than what one can easily use on their own. Or at least offer some really good discounts.

 

[Sinders99]

TRIP PLANNING UPDATE

10.09.16-208 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

I must have done the figures 100 times over and I know there's a lot of arguments and discussion out there about when an annual pass becomes worth while. For this next trip we've got the luxury of time and for the first time (in forever - jokes) we're going to invest in annual passes.

When I did the math the cost of multiple 10 day park hoppers was around $3,185AUD once you factor in memory maker - which we strongly strongly recommend and love! Annual passes on the other hand only come to $2,500, include memory maker and we're able to take advantage of merchandise, tour and dining discounts saving us approx $500 over our 21 day stay. We'll also be picking up the Tables In Wonderland card which will save us 20% on table service dining and alcohol.

I wonder if any fellow Aussies have purchased Annual Passes and have any tips??​

 

[Brisbanemum]

Oh my goodness... I know exactly what you mean about the travel agents. I just had one tell me very excitedly that because of their company's great connections with Disney, she could get everyone Fast Passes for $75 per person per day!!!! That would be $300 per day for our family of 4! Multiply that by the 24 days we are staying this time!! Holy Moly!!!! I went into shock a little with this mis-information from a 'travel expert' and gently informed her that Fast Passes were free at WDW (unless you are staying at club level and then you can purchase an additional 3 per day of your stay of course) and perhaps she was confused with Universal's Front of the Line passes. I'd hate to think that some families out there decided against a vacation at the most Magical Place on Earth because they have believed they needed to factor in that kind of money into their daily budget. We are a rare breed here in Australia to be such Disney fanatics though lol

We had Annual Passes last year and also got the Tables In Wonderland card. The AP works out financially once you hit the 11 day mark and they have some great discounts attached to it now too. The 20% off Merchandise got a very good workout from me!! (It does not give you a further discount at the Disney Outlets unfortunately) The Tables In Wonderland saved us a tidy amount and even worked at the Pop Century Food Court. I would recommend checking out the menu's on the WDW site and put together a few hypothetical meals and drinks (make sure you factor in the 18% tipping you are required to pay using the TIW) for your entire party, and work out how long it will take you to make the break-even amount. It's a good way to work out if will be worth it for you.

We are heading back in this year for our first Food & Wine and MNSSHP in Sept/Oct. 39 days to go for us today! We were supposed to be staying close to Australia this year and just take a cruise to the South Pacific again in Dec, but Disney drew us in with the Free Dining promo again! lol So needless to say, we cancelled the cruise and now just can't wait to get back to our Home. We are still planning our original vacation back to the States in 2019 though for Dec/Jan20, with maybe 4 weeks at WDW, 5-7 days at Universal (staying at Hard Rock and receiving the complimentary Front of the Line Passes) and 5-7 days at Disneyland. We are huge Star Wars nerds so cannot wait for Galaxy's Edge to open which is why we were originally supposed to wait till 2019 till we visited again. Maybe we'll see you guys there!

 

[WanderlustNZ]

I went into shock a little with this mis-information from a 'travel expert' and gently informed her that Fast Passes were free at WDW

Wow! What did she say when you corrected her?

 

[Sinders99]

I just had one tell me very excitedly that because of their company's great connections with Disney, she could get everyone Fast Passes for $75 per person per day!!!!

We had Annual Passes last year and also got the Tables In Wonderland card. The AP works out financially once you hit the 11 day mark and they have some great discounts attached to it now too. The 20% off Merchandise got a very good workout from me!! (It does not give you a further discount at the Disney Outlets unfortunately) The Tables In Wonderland saved us a tidy amount and even worked at the Pop Century Food Court. I would recommend checking out the menu's on the WDW site and put together a few hypothetical meals and drinks (make sure you factor in the 18% tipping you are required to pay using the TIW) for your entire party, and work out how long it will take you to make the break-even amount. It's a good way to work out if will be worth it for you.

We are heading back in this year for our first Food & Wine and MNSSHP in Sept/Oct. 39 days to go for us today! We were supposed to be staying close to Australia this year and just take a cruise to the South Pacific again in Dec, but Disney drew us in with the Free Dining promo again! lol So needless to say, we cancelled the cruise and now just can't wait to get back to our Home. We are still planning our original vacation back to the States in 2019 though for Dec/Jan20, with maybe 4 weeks at WDW, 5-7 days at Universal (staying at Hard Rock and receiving the complimentary Front of the Line Passes) and 5-7 days at Disneyland. We are huge Star Wars nerds so cannot wait for Galaxy's Edge to open which is why we were originally supposed to wait till 2019 till we visited again. Maybe we'll see you guys there!

I also had a travel agent try to tell me on our first trip to WDW in 2016 that we needed to be careful engaging a US based travel agent for our accomodation booking because we'd turn up at the resort to check in and then have to pay an additional resort fee!! Unbelievable!! The miss communication and misunderstanding about Disney here in Australia is actually pretty disgusting. These people are supposed to be industry experts and people sadly rely on them to give them the very best advice

We went absolutely crazy buying merchandise on our 2016 trip - OOPS!! This time we're going to try and be more restrained and do our Disney souvenir shopping outside the parks at the outlets or Walmart/Walgreens/Target. We found that there was some great Disney merchandise all over Orlando at a fraction of the parks prices. If we really love it and can't do without it we'll make sure we can get a discount with our annual pass

We too opted for a closer to home holiday this year and chose 2 weeks in Adelaide/Barossa over Christmas/New Years. We've talked about that trip for years but until recently we lived in North QLD and the costs were preventative. Now that we live in Melbourne it's an easy drive away. We weren't supposed to be going back until December 2021 but after we moved to Melbourne we added a lot of income to our annual salaries and we don't have kids so it suddenly became possible for us. We're big Star Wars fans also, so we're crossing our fingers that there's no delays in the construction of A Galaxies Edge and that it's open when we arrive. That could be a double edged sword though. Great experience but big lines and big crowds in Hollywood Studios. Good thing we have the luxury of time on this trip.

You'll love Food & Wine & MNSSHP!! That's exactly what we did on our first WDW trip in 2016. Make sure you keep your Halloween costumes low fuss and light weight. The heat can still be pretty bad at night in September/October and you don't want to spend the whole party sweating. Make sure you enter the parks at 4pm the night of your party too and have dinner early so you don't chew up party time. If it rains don't leave!! Find a spot to ride out the rain. We had a massive storm at our party which started around 9:30pm and went on for about 2 hours. 75% of people fled the parks but then the rain stopped around 11:30pm and the fireworks went ahead and the last parade of the night. It was fantastic because there were so few people and we had a front row seat to everything. They also kept the park open later and we didn't leave until around 1:30am. Oh and make sure you hunt down the special party photo ops if you have memory maker (HIGHLY RECOMMEND). You'll have such an amazing time!! Click on the photo and it'll take you through to a video of the last minute of the Halloween fireworks

P9180560 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr
18.09.16-210 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

18.09.16-204 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

 

[Franrose]

Also a control freak here But I like to know everything there is to know, and I prefer it direct from the horses mouth rather than second or third hand where problems can arise. And at the end of the day, I need to be able to know how things are put together so I can fix problems myself if they arise, because things do change on these vacations. Right now I have a cruise booked with a TA purely so I can have OBC, and even that is annoying me lol (because instead of being able to securely use the website to pay for my trip at a time that suits me - for eg, if I see the dollar do good things - I have to call or email and wait the 24 hours it always seems to take for us to be able to get messages to each other, and trust her with my credit card details [she's already sent them to me once via email to 'confirm' which makes me so mad as email is not secure - I chose not to email them to her in the first place for a reason!] etc).

Lol. I’d love to know what those 31 are.

There are some double ups as I try and figure out dates/best options, but they include (in approx date order, lol)


Rainforest Cafe
Grand Floridian Cafe
Chefs de France
Be Our Guest Breakfast - before park opening (this is on Christmas Day actually, we'll have to see how keen to be up we are that morning, lol!)
Skipper Canteen
Chip & Dale's Harvest Feast Breakfast (before park opening)
San Angel Inn
Minnie's Seasonal Dine at Hollywood & Fine (Dinner Fantasmic!)
Tusker House
Tiffins
Yak & Yeti
Coral Reef
Tokyo Dining
Sci Fi Dine In Theatre
T-REX
Mama Melrose
1900 Park Fare
California Grill
Marimoto Asia
Victoria & Alberts
'Ohana

Some of the double ups might be the same restaurant but a Candlelight Processional booking, for eg. Still trying to get my head around whether we'll do that (have done it before). We have some TBA narrators, so it will depend on what we think of them (and I need to sit down and see what DH's thoughts are there, he has been too busy with work to give his 2c recently).

 

[Franrose]

I wonder if any fellow Aussies have purchased Annual Passes and have any tips??​

We did the Premier Pass one year, which is the annual pass that can be used at both Disneyland and Disneyworld. We got the Tables in Wonderland card too. I set everything out in an excel spreadsheet and looked at prices with/without the discount, and to be honest it wasn't a massive massive savings, even though back then the Tables in Wonderland card could be used at Victoria & Alberts (and we did use it for that). I got the PP and hubby and kids got 10 day park tickets for both WDW and DLR, but anything that needed paying for I used my pass to get the discount. We didn't use it for accommodation discounts as we were already getting a seasonal package discount at WDW and we used DVC points at DLR, and we're not huge merchandise purchasers, although I do remember lots of tees and dress ups on those trips lol. We have always travelled to both properties, last time we did two separate visits to WDW too broken up by a cruise (so was more than two weeks worth) but in the end, for the outlay I've not bothered again. If I knew we were making more than one trip in a year I might do it.

 

[Sinders99]

TRIP PLANNING UPDATE

WE BOOKED OUR FIRST 14 NIGHTS ACCOMODATION AT...........

08.09.16 by Jennie Gardiner, on Flickr

Super excited to have it locked in. Of course if a special comes up or a better rate pops up (pun intended) we're able to rebook. The other part of our accomodation will be a 7 night DVC stay at Bay Lake Towers but we won't be able to book the DVC rental until 11 months out - January 2019. We're leaving the Bay Lake Towers stay until the last week of our trip (14 Dec - 21 Dec) as a nice treat to finish off. We figure also that the crowds will start to build in that week, so being closer to Magic Kingdom will help us avoid some of the transport frustration that comes with crowds and tired people You all know what I'm talking about!​

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Yay! I bet that makes it feel more real.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Also a control freak here But I like to know everything there is to know, and I prefer it direct from the horses mouth rather than second or third hand where problems can arise. And at the end of the day, I need to be able to know how things are put together so I can fix problems myself if they arise, because things do change on these vacations. Right now I have a cruise booked with a TA purely so I can have OBC, and even that is annoying me lol (because instead of being able to securely use the website to pay for my trip at a time that suits me - for eg, if I see the dollar do good things - I have to call or email and wait the 24 hours it always seems to take for us to be able to get messages to each other, and trust her with my credit card details [she's already sent them to me once via email to 'confirm' which makes me so mad as email is not secure - I chose not to email them to her in the first place for a reason!] etc).



There are some double ups as I try and figure out dates/best options, but they include (in approx date order, lol)


Rainforest Cafe
Grand Floridian Cafe
Chefs de France
Be Our Guest Breakfast - before park opening (this is on Christmas Day actually, we'll have to see how keen to be up we are that morning, lol!)
Skipper Canteen
Chip & Dale's Harvest Feast Breakfast (before park opening)
San Angel Inn
Minnie's Seasonal Dine at Hollywood & Fine (Dinner Fantasmic!)
Tusker House
Tiffins
Yak & Yeti
Coral Reef
Tokyo Dining
Sci Fi Dine In Theatre
T-REX
Mama Melrose
1900 Park Fare
California Grill
Marimoto Asia
Victoria & Alberts
'Ohana

Some of the double ups might be the same restaurant but a Candlelight Processional booking, for eg. Still trying to get my head around whether we'll do that (have done it before). We have some TBA narrators, so it will depend on what we think of them (and I need to sit down and see what DH's thoughts are there, he has been too busy with work to give his 2c recently).

Great selections.

I just realised that our dates overlap. It’ll be funny if we end up in the same place at the same time.
I’ve just started a PTR so please pop over and let me know more about your plans.

 

[Sinders99]

Yay! I bet that makes it feel more real.

Oh my goodness it does! It really feels real now and it'll make us more committed to save those pennies we need to add all that extra magic we all love on our trips. I'm actually going to start making a couple of 'MUST' lists which I'll post here as part of my pre trip planning report. MUST eat - MUST do etc.

There were so many things we had hoped to do on our first WDW trip but as we all know, it's super easy to forget all your plans in the moment and on our first trip we definitely under estimated how long things would take and over estimated what we'd be able to achieve. So I feel like having a couple of quick reference lists will help us stay focused