When will we go? Fall 202x?? A sisters trip PTR.

[eliseisawkward]

Hi friends! I decided to get started on what I will refer to as a "pre pre trip report" for what I hope to be an amazing sisters trip to Disney! The ongoing "safer at home" in my city has me going a little crazy so I need some Disney planning therapy to get me through the day. So... who am I?



That's me (and my husband)! My name is Elise, and I'm an infectious disease biologist. I spend my days in the lab, and my evenings and weekends dressing up in Star Wars costumes for charity events. Or at least I would be, if all our events weren't canceled . We did manage to do a virtual event for a local special needs school, but it's just not the same.

I've been to Disney 5 times, 3 of those in the past few years ( Aug? 1994, May? 2004, Dec 2017, Feb 2019, Feb 2020) and I'm looking forward to needing 2 hands to count how many times I've been to Disney . A few facts about me:

Favorite Princess: Merida
Favorite Villain: Ursula
Favorite Park: Animal Kingdom
Favorite Ride: Rise of the Resistance
Lightsaber color: Red



My favorite time of year in Disney so far has been December, but you really can't beat the February weather and crowds. Thinking about this trip, we might try a new season... stay tuned for more on that.

Who else might be traveling with me? Well no sister trip is complete without sisters, duh! And I have two:



Steph (pictured here with her husband Alex) has been my Disney planning and traveling partner for the last three trips! She also loves Disney and has been contemplating DVC in the not-so-distant future. Depending on when this trip ends up taking place, we might do a DVC tour!



Savanna is currently a nursing student, and this trip won't take place until after she graduates so we will have to work around whatever crazy schedule she ends up with as an OR nurse (so proud of her, she's interning in an OR right now and she's doing an awesome job). Last time she visited Disney she was stuck in a power chair because of an ankle injury caused by an extra bone in her ankle?!?! Anyway, she's since had surgery to remove the rogue bone and I think she'll be ready for another trip sans power scooter. She doesn't know about the trip yet because I'm trying to figure out how we make it a graduation present for her... but also make sure she can go...

This trip will likely exclude anyone else, but who knows at this point. I still don't even know WHEN it will be!​

 

[eliseisawkward]

Table of Contents:

Intro: When will we go? Nobody knows!
Oh the possibilities (when will we go)...
Where will we stay and how do you make a budget??
Sometimes you gotta be a little EXTRA.
Current plan: Fall 2021​

 

[eliseisawkward]

There are so many things to think about when planning. And I love fitting together all the pieces like a puzzle! But where do you even begin? I guess when would be a good beginning... but it's also the trickiest part of this puzzle.

We have options... but we also have so many restrictions! Options in order from soonest, to furthest away:

Option 1: February 2021- Unlikely because of Savanna's school schedule.
Option 2: June/July 2021- How hot/crowded will it be??
Option 3: September/October 2021- Ideal to try a new season! And maybe attend a Halloween party!
Option 4: February 2022- A time of year we love, but soooo far away.


And of course, this is all dependent upon 3 work schedules, the pandemic and traveling restrictions, saving up enough money for the trip, what kind of hotel deals are released between now and when we actually go... Right now my favorite option is #3 and honestly I'm pretty in love with the idea of a new holiday season to check out, I'd even be willing to consider a Fall 2022 trip if it looks like we can't get any of the other options to work.


Since this is all so up in the air I would LOVE to hear from all of you: what is your favorite time of year to visit Disney? Convince me why that time is the best time to visit!​

 

[eliseisawkward]

Where do we stay and how do you make a budget???

While still debating when, the other big puzzle piece we need to figure out "first" is where. Which all comes down to budget I suppose. I honestly don't know where to start there. Other than- I've started a special savings goal for this trip and so far have saved about $650. My sister(s) will obviously be splitting part of the cost so we will have to coordinate budgets. How do you even begin that conversation?

So to avoid awkward money talk with my sister(s) I've decided to start trying to figure out there where. I think pricing out a few different plans will help give me a better idea of how much to budget anyway. So win-win, right? Plus it's fun to look at pictures of all the different resorts and rooms!

Previously I've stayed at the Swan (I think it was Swan not Dolphin... I was 6...), All Star Music, The Contemporary, and Pop Century. For value resorts, Pop beats out ASMu by a landslide. The location on the Skyliner was super enjoyable for our last trip and I can't imagine staying at a value that isn't on the Skyliner anymore. We also loved the Contemporary when we stayed there as a family, but the cost $$$$ is somewhat prohibitive without someone else footing the bill. We aren't completely opposed to a split stay, and we aren't opposed to trying new resorts.

A few ideas I've had:

4/5/6 nights at Pop, followed by 2 nights at Contemporary (or other monorail resort)
7/8/9 nights at Caribbean Beach
2/3 nights at Yacht Club or Beach Club followed by 2/3 nights at monorail resort

I think in general we would like a "place to sleep" for the beginning of the trip where we will spend most of our time at the parks, followed by 2 nights at a deluxe where we can enjoy what the resort has to offer (but still have park time, duh). I'm hopeful that some sort of discounts will come out and help make my decisions for me. Both the when and then where.


So tell me, what's your favorite resort? What's your dream resort? Do you enjoy split stays? If you do a split stay, is it best to mix/match location?
​

 

[DLo]

My favorite deluxe is YC . I love being able to walk to two parks. My favorite moderate is POFQ because of the smaller size but who knows when it will be open again.
I think your idea of the split stay is a good one. As far as the split location , I think it depends on what parks you want to go to during that part of the trip. - whichever is more convenient.
Good luck with deciding !

 

[eliseisawkward]

My favorite deluxe is YC . I love being able to walk to two parks. My favorite moderate is POFQ because of the smaller size but who knows when it will be open again.
I think your idea of the split stay is a good one. As far as the split location , I think it depends on what parks you want to go to during that part of the trip. - whichever is more convenient.
Good luck with deciding !

I’ve heard nothing but good things about YC and honestly the walk ability is super tempting.

We would probably want to do all 4 parks. Our past two trips we’ve only done 2 park days with a single park per day. They have been amazing trips, but I do come away wishing I had the time to do all the parks. So I guess that’s why I thought splitting with different areas would be a good idea. Honestly my dream trip would probably be YC and Contemporary. If only it weren’t $$$$.

 

[Djjsperry]

I love the Yacht club best my husband likes the Beach Club best! We are trying CB in March for 3 nights then BC for 7 nights

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Joining in!

Sister trips are so much fun.

We love Fall trips because you get to hit Halloween and food and wine. I don't know if you'll include Universal in your trip but we love Halloween Horror Nights over there too. Fall 2021 might be more crowded for the 50th but who really knows what anything will be like by then lol.

Pop Century is our go-to resort because it's budget friendly and we never spend a lot of time at the resort. Since Pop has the skyliner, I feel like a Pop/monorail resort split stay would be convenient if you plan your park time out that way!

 

[Bama Mom]

Joining in. I am currently planning a girls trip with my two sisters and some of our daughters/daughters-in-law. That makes it rtricky not knowing who all is actually coming on the trip. We originally were talking about going October 2021 but now will probably go in June 2021 if it works for the sister having a son graduate high school in May 2021.

 

[eliseisawkward]

Joining in!

Sister trips are so much fun.

We love Fall trips because you get to hit Halloween and food and wine. I don't know if you'll include Universal in your trip but we love Halloween Horror Nights over there too. Fall 2021 might be more crowded for the 50th but who really knows what anything will be like by then lol.

Pop Century is our go-to resort because it's budget friendly and we never spend a lot of time at the resort. Since Pop has the skyliner, I feel like a Pop/monorail resort split stay would be convenient if you plan your park time out that way!

We also don’t spend a lot of time at the resort, so I feel like the POP/monorail split would be fun. But after talking to one sister, we would really like to do stormalong bay.... so it’s looking like we will try to rent points to do Beach Club... but again who knows When this will happen and what will be available at that time. We also discussed a more resort heavy trip this time... so we shall see.

Joining in. I am currently planning a girls trip with my two sisters and some of our daughters/daughters-in-law. That makes it rtricky not knowing who all is actually coming on the trip. We originally were talking about going October 2021 but now will probably go in June 2021 if it works for the sister having a son graduate high school in May 2021.

It’s definitely tricky not knowing who all is going... plus the world is just so uncertain now. And to top it all off, my international vacation that we thought would be canceled appears to be back on the table....

 

[CruellaNY]

Just finding this! Here to plan along with you and I’ll be back to comment on your thoughts and ideas so far

 

[eliseisawkward]

Just finding this! Here to plan along with you and I’ll be back to comment on your thoughts and ideas so far

I’ve been pretty slow on this PTR. Mostly because I have trouble making solid plans when I don’t know what travel will look like a year from now. But always happy to have more opinions sway me into spending more $$$.

 

[eliseisawkward]

Sometimes you just gotta be a little EXTRA.

Okay... Skipping right over the fact that we don't have a budget or a resort or time of year picked yet... man I'm not doing so great on this planning thing... I guess I just want to skip to the fun part. The EXTRAS.

In the past we have done After Hours at both MK and AK (I have no pictures from that AK night).

​

Both were EXCELLENT events that we really loved. As childless adults who love the rides the After Hours events are basically made for us. So of course, if at all possible we will try to have an After Hours as part of our plans. Both times we did this as our only park ticket for that particular day and it worked out really well for us.

But this trip I would love to do something new and EXTRA. I certainly cannot afford a VIP tour or anything like that. But I would love to gift my sisters one extra thing. There are a lot of add on tours and activities around WDW so here's where I would LOVE some input. Experiences involving food or drinks are ok, but we do have a vegetarian (me) and a gluten-free person (Savvy has Celiac's) so that can be a bit tricky.

What was your favorite EXTRA (tour, activity, add-on) experience that you have done?
What have you not yet done but really would love to try?

 

[CruellaNY]

I really enjoyed the Up Close With Rhinos tour! It's only an hour so doesn't take lots of time and it is/was like $40 per person so won't break the bank. If they bring it back I want to do it again!

For a longer tour we enjoyed Marceline to the Magic Kingdom and at about 3 hours it didn't feel like it took too much time either. Oh and then we really really liked the Destinations Tour in WS at Epcot.....that's about 5.5 hours though and we got a snack, water fruit and cheese. Man I really hope they bring these back! AH too, we've done 2 at MK and 2 at HS and I want to do AK.

 

[Wishuponastar0412]

We did the Keys to the Kingdom tour last October. My family all loved it and is still talking about it. It does include lunch in the price tag. Plus getting to go under the Magic Kingdom was priceless. It was amazing there's a whole other world going on down there.

We also have done and loved Up Close with Rhinos and the Wild Africa Trek. We typically go on a tour a trip, but I doubt they'll be back up when we go in November

 

[eliseisawkward]

I really enjoyed the Up Close With Rhinos tour! It's only an hour so doesn't take lots of time and it is/was like $40 per person so won't break the bank. If they bring it back I want to do it again!

I remember reading about someone else doing the rhino tour and that definitely sounds like a great one. Bonus points for being under $50pp! It’s definitely on the short list.

For a longer tour we enjoyed Marceline to the Magic Kingdom and at about 3 hours it didn't feel like it took too much time either. Oh and then we really really liked the Destinations Tour in WS at Epcot.....that's about 5.5 hours though and we got a snack, water fruit and cheese. Man I really hope they bring these back! AH too, we've done 2 at MK and 2 at HS and I want to do AK.

5.5 hours is probably longer than we would want to do, but 3 hours is totally within reason. I’ll have to look into that more and see if I think my sisters would enjoy it. My fingers are crossed AH comes back because that’s not even an extra for us, it’s a necessity.

We did the Keys to the Kingdom tour last October. My family all loved it and is still talking about it. It does include lunch in the price tag. Plus getting to go under the Magic Kingdom was priceless. It was amazing there's a whole other world going on down there.

I’m debating how backstage we really want to go... I love the idea that backstage just doesn’t exist and onstage is just a magical world full of pixie dust. And then part of me is super nosey and wants to see everything.

We also have done and loved Up Close with Rhinos and the Wild Africa Trek. We typically go on a tour a trip, but I doubt they'll be back up when we go in November

That’s two votes for rhinos! Is wild Africa trek the one that leaves from inside AK or from AKL? Either way it goes on the list as well!

 

[eliseisawkward]

Got to see my youngest sister (Savanna) this past weekend and I just couldn’t help but ask if she was interested in a sisters trip and she’s on board as long as work allows! She really wants to do Halloween Horror Nights (she IS a spook/scare actor at a local *big name* haunt so this is no surprise). So it looks like this trip will cater to that desire as well!

As I see it now, we will likely split between universal and Disney, so likely staying at POP for cost/convenience during the Disney portion. Savanna said she likely won’t be able to do more than a long weekend, so we will have to figure out exactly what she wants to do so we can make sure to fit that in if she has to leave earlier than Steph and I do.

The current projected timeline will be Fall 2021!!

 

[kimberwee]

We love fall at Disney!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Fall is my favorite time to go! Universal also does daytime tours of the HHN houses with the lights on so you can see more of the details- not sure if that's something your sister would want to do! We haven't done it but it was on my list for this year.

 

[Sarahh1027]

Just got caught up! Having a vacation to plan makes all the difference, even if the details aren’t sorted out yet lol September is my favorite time to go. I’m a little worried about the 50th anniversary crowds, since a huge draw of September is low crowds. But the fall decorations and the Food and Wine festival will make it worth it!! I’ve never been to Universal but September 2021 will hopefully be my first time!! I’m a huge Harry Potter fan! Good luck planning!