With 10 People It's Never Too Early To Start, Right? Thinking About Dec 2021 (Updated 2/29/20)

[Riss]

Hello everyone! This just so happens to be my second PTR, my first one can be viewed here; however, this time, things are going to be done a little differently compared to that one. I mean, the most obvious one is that this trip isn't even booked yet and we don't really know the time frame that we're going. The only things that are certain is that we absolutely are going at some point in the future and that it's going to be around the holidays. Also there might be around 10 people, if not some more, actually going on this trip this time around. Well we're hopeful that all of us will be able to make it.

I did do a TR for our last trip, my very first one, and I'm still updating it because I'm super late and forgetful and just keep putting it off forever but we did 4 nights on the Disney Dream and then a 4 night stay at the Finding Nemo Suites at the Art of Animation and absolutely loved it. This first post will mostly be my Table of Contents where everything will be located and I can't really guarantee that I'll be posting regularly but I guess just as I think about things and as plans kind of start setting into place?

It may be a long time away until the trip but with 10 people, you can never be too early when planning a Walt Disney World Trip, right?

Table of Contents
Introductions (8/12/19)
Thinking About Resorts (8/14/19)
Squeezing a Trip in Between (11/15/19)
Figuring Out Some Details (1/13/20)
Polishing the Details (2/8/20)
Maybe Not Too Much Planning? (2/29/20)​

 

[Riss]

Introductions

So let's get started with this thing! I know I've introduced my family plenty of times throughout my previous PTR and TR but let me just do it again for those that don't know.



Ah, the wonderful gang from our last trip almost a year ago, my entire family. For this trip, though, there might be slight modifications to those coming, as in possible additions and subtractions but let's start with the people who are definitely coming.

Marisa!
So of course I have to be the first one. I'm the one in the middle with the short hair standing next to the blonde, my youngest sister, who is holding the baby. I'm currently 25, which means that by the time this trip rolls around I'll probably be in the ballpark of 27. Hopefully by then I'll have graduated from my Master's program but that's another story. Anyway, I'm the main planner, the one who wakes up early to make ADRs and FPs, as demonstrated by our last trip where we did them for the first time. I'm also the one who thoroughly researches things to make the best semi-itinerary possible since my family doesn't want to be rigidly scheduled every waking moment. So pretty much everything about this trip, all of the decisions, will somehow have my input in them as well and with quite a few people in contention of going, my mind is already buzzing with thoughts about what to do sometimes even though nothing has even been set!

Miranda!
With many people to keep track of, I figured using our names would be the easiest way. I know I haven't used names for my TRs but I felt that it would be easier. This trip involves some extended family and possible significant others so names are definitely a better way to identify everyone. But Miranda just so happens to be the second oldest in the family at 24, so she'll be around 26 when the trip rolls around. She's the shorter girl on the opposite side of the blonde girl. She's the listmaker in our family who is going to start a new corporate job soon. I'll probably designate her to be the one who compiles lists so everyone knows what they need and to not forget anything, like my family typically does.

Maverick!
Yes, that is his real name. That's my brother standing all the way on the far left. He's currently 22 but will be 25 when the trip comes, if it still comes in late 2021 since my youngest sister wants to go during the Christmas season again, or at least Disney Christmas season. He works a fancy corporate job and probably won't be in charge of any particular aspect of the trip. We'll just be happy if he is able to be on his best behavior since he likes to be a trickster sometimes.

Midori!
My youngest sister, the blonde holding the baby. She's 20 and will be around 23 when we go on this next trip. I'm pretty sure she just loves being in vacation mode and she actually wants to go on the trip earlier than when we're planning, as in she wants to go during Christmas season 2020, but my mom and I think that that's definitely too soon for the one particular youngster we're going to be taking along, which just so happens to be her son. We think he should be as old as the baby, who we took when he was a month shy of his 3rd birthday.

Lorenzo!
Lorenzo is my nephew, Midori's currently eleven-week-old child. So that means that he'll be around 2 and a half on the trip, an age that my mom and I think is perfect. He'd be old enough to enjoy it all. We know that people think that that's still young but the baby, Jaleem, who I'll introduce in a little, had a great time at that age and still talks about it to this day when he looks at pictures. He's young so we definitely have some time to prep him in the world of Disney before this trip happens.

Mom, Marietta! Dad, Mike!
You've probably seen the trend that all of us are 'M' names and yes that was intentional! You can probably pick out my parents from the picture through process of elimination. But my parents are the ones who always pay for the trip, even though the four of us always offer to pay for our portions. We all love it when we can spend some quality time with one another in the Most Magical Place on Earth like we've been doing and I'm pretty sure my mom is grateful that all of us are able to make time to do it since she knows we're growing older and opportunities like that will probably not be as readily available. My mom is mostly the one who tells me what she'd like to see out of the trip and I try to make the best effort to fulfill her wishes. My dad is very easygoing and will pretty much go with whatever we pick. His only condition...park hoppers are a must!

Jaleem!
So the child that my sister is holding is not the one that's her son. That's the child that we babysit and we've been babysitting him since he was around 6 months old. He'll be turning 4 this year, so he'll be 6 if he goes on the trip. Now at this current moment we're not sure if he's going or not because there are a lot of outside factors determining whether or not he goes. For one thing, he'll probably be in school at that time. But more important than that, he's not our child. His parents have to give us the okay to take him whenever we're going to go, so there are other factors besides just a simple yes or no as to his attendance in the trip. We still count him as a member of the family and actually, our 2018 trip was just because of him.

So the following aren't pictured above but they're in positive consideration to go on the trip as well.

Nick!
Nick is our first cousin, my mom's nephew. He's 33 right now, so 36 around the time of the trip, and has a son who he hopes to take to Disney one day. We actually just reconnected with him so he never really had the opportunity to go with us before. He has been there before, he was the one who I went with when I went with my grandparents a little over 20 years ago, but hasn't been there for quite sometime. Not 20 years, but probably close to maybe 5? I'm not entirely sure. Either way, my mom said something about going on a trip again to him and asked him, randomly, if he wanted to come and he readily agreed. There was even an instance when he talked to the four of us kids about the trip and our experiences, wanting to get a better feel for it. It seems like he's interested in going in the future with us!

Edison!
Edison is Nick's 6-year-old son, so he would be 8 on the trip. I don't really think he's that big of a Disney fan since he tends to like superheroes more. So he's into Marvel but not really any of the other movies. Nick said that he likes Cars and The Incredibles and the obvious Toy Story but I think that might be it? I'm not too sure about the rest of it but I do know that he hasn't been there before and that he and Jaleem are like best friends and love to play with one another so with those two potentially together on one trip, that would already be a handful.

The above make the 10 that I speak of going but there are also some more players that might just make an appearance as we slowly set things into stone.

Grandparents!
My maternal grandparents may go if we decide to go on a cruise again but they probably wouldn't do Disney World since they wouldn't be able to do all of the walking and the fast pace life that is currently a Disney World Vacation. They'd be in their mid/late-70s so it'd be a lot for them and we'd completely understand. However, one thing that I think my mom is forgetting is that both of their great-grandsons are possibly going on the trip so it might compel them to attend at least a portion of it, if we're doing a cruise. They took Nick and I on a Disney Cruise and WDW Vacation a little over 20 years ago and I don't think they've been back since! Obviously we're not going to force them on the trip but I do think that it'd be cool if we were all together at least for a little bit.

Uncle, D! His girlfriend! Her kids!
So this one is a little more tricky. I'm not sure if we've said anything about us possibly going to him, my maternal uncle, yet and I don't know if he's ever been there, he might've gone during a high school senior trip or something, but it might be possible since he does do things with his girlfriend and her children, like go see Disney movies. He actually saw Toy Story 4 with them when he's never seen the other 3! But his girlfriend and her children have been to Disney before and if they're still together at that point, then it's quite possible that he may actually consider going an option because I mean, if everyone else is going, then isn't it an automatic requirement that everyone else must go? He'd be around 50, she'd be around 40, and her kids would at least be in their early teens at the time of the trip.

Britney!
Now this one I'm not too sure about because she has school and other things that might hold her back but Britney is Maverick's girlfriend. She's currently 19, so she'd be around 22 on the trip. The one setback is that she's currently studying to be a doctor, which means a ton of school and I'm not sure if she'd be able to take time off from school to go on a trip, or even if she and my brother would be together at that point to go. I think she did say that Maverick did mention her coming if we were to go in the future and believe it or not, she's actually never been there so it'd be a first trip for her! It'd be exciting if she came along and she's practically a member of the family anyway.

But that's pretty much the overview of everyone that could potentially be going and that means that if everyone does decide to go, then we have 17 people, which is a ton of people. Of course everyone might not be able to come and things could totally change by then but late Nov./early Dec. 2021 is in consideration as to when we're going to be taking our next trip to Disney World! I mean with this many people, I probably should've started thinking about it last year!

Well, here's to the beginnings of a crazy ride!

 

[GizmoDogg]

Following along! It's never too early to plan for WDW! I've already begun planning for our Summer 2022 trip... Because what few DVC points I have allows us for trips only every 2-3 years, I have a lot of down time thinking about our next trip. This time we will be inviting some extended family to enjoy WDW with us. So yeah, I'm hoping to make it a magical trip for them.

 

[Riss]

Following along! It's never too early to plan for WDW! I've already begun planning for our Summer 2022 trip... Because what few DVC points I have allows us for trips only every 2-3 years, I have a lot of down time thinking about our next trip. This time we will be inviting some extended family to enjoy WDW with us. So yeah, I'm hoping to make it a magical trip for them.

I really hope to do a family trip and hopefully this can be one of those times. We'd never gone with anyone other than ourselves, and the baby we took last time, so it'd be a whole new experience for my family to have just a kind of big family trip.

And I hope that the planning for your trip goes smoothly!

 

[Riss]

Thinking About Resorts



My family is one that loves to stay on-site. Every time we've gone thus far we've always stayed on site and I'm pretty sure that that's never going to change. For one thing, my family loves just being in what is called the Disney Bubble. We love taking the buses, getting park hoppers and some form of the dining plan, and just not really having to worry about anything. We just love the atmosphere of the resorts we've stayed at thus far, even though it's really only the value resorts. However, there's one main reason for that and that is truly the over-the-top theming of the resorts. Well, for the first couple of trips we went with the high school band, all four of us were in the band and were able to have those incredible experiences, so my parents and the other siblings who weren't in the band stayed at the same resort so that they were able to get us room keys so we could also charge items to their room and so they were close in case we had an emergency or needed them.

But on this past trip, from which the above photo is from, it was our first time without the constraints of the band therefore we had a free choice of what hotel we wanted to stay at. My mom basically had three conditions she wanted to fulfill, conditions that I know may not all be applicable to this future trip.

1. We all must stay together in one room
2. There must be more than one bathroom
3. There must be a "Disney feel"

When I began looking at potential resorts, we kept throwing out different names. I thought it'd be cool to stay at the Wilderness Lodge and my brother thought Animal Kingdom Lodge wasn't that bad either. The only downside to those resorts? The suites, for the most part I believe, only have one bathroom and that was a complete no. There are six adults and surely sharing one bathroom would be very painful since we obviously have more than that at home! The only way to circumvent that would be to split rooms, which was the number one thing my mom did not want to happen. Additionally, those resorts weren't really big on the Disney feel and theming.

Therefore we began to search for a resort that had everything we wanted and landed on the Art of Animation. Jaleem was two and a half and he was familiar with most of the movies at the resort. It had a six-person suite with two bathrooms and looked pretty Disney-fied to me. So we decided on that resort and we absolutely loved it! We had an incredible time and just loved the overall feel and theming and everything that we wanted was just checked off.



This time around? Things are definitely going to have to be different. Not even including the potential people that could come, but only with the 10, there's no way we're going to be able to all stay in one room. Even if Nick and Edison were to stay in a separate room, we still couldn't all fit in one room, or one suite I should rather say. But even though we have to abandon the first two rules, I'd still say that the third one stays because of the fact that we're taking children with us and my mom agrees that the Art of Animation was an incredible resort and would stay there again.

So I was thinking about the possible ways to separate us and the easiest would probably be boys in one suite and girls in another. Lorenzo would obviously be with the girls and with his mother. Jaleem is a possibility for either room since he and Edison are friends and love hanging out with each other. However, as for everyone else, a clear split between boys and girls might just be the best bet. That would really only put 4 or 5 people in either room. The additional is because of Jaleem and since Lorenzo would only be two and a half, he wouldn't "count" when it came to number of people in a room.

I know that there are larger suites that could accommodate my family but the real selling point for us is, as I've mentioned, the theme. Edison likes some of the movies, like Cars, and would probably enjoy staying at a resort that is themed exactly to the thing that he loves and the same goes with Jaleem. And with Lorenzo, we'll eventually get him to that point where he recognizes characters and whatnot. If we were able to do it with Jaleem, who we didn't have all of the time, then we can definitely do it with Lorenzo and constantly exposing him to Disney movies and characters.

I'm pretty positive that the Art of Animation is where we're going to land for our next trip. Everyone loved it and how can you change something that six adults can actually agree on?

 

[Riss]

Squeezing A Trip In Between

Well, I know it's been a while but here I am with a short quick update and as per the title, I am actually going to be going to Disney World again before this planned family trip is set to take place! My best friend has actually asked me if I wanted to join her and her parents on their vacation to Florida, which includes stops at Disney World and Universal!

Of course it may be strange to have two almost 26-year-olds going on vacation with the other's parents, but she's an only child and her family does a sort of big trip every year, this past year they went on a week long Carnival cruise and while they were there, their flight ended up getting delayed to come back home. She said that had it been for any longer than what it was, she and her parents were going to go spend the day in Disney World, which got her mom to thinking about how they hadn't been there in a while so they decided to go again. They actually were somewhat thinking about going on a Disney cruise for their last trip since I had just been on one before that but they went to their fan favorite instead. Who knows, maybe in the future they'll go on one again! My friend, Amy, said that they had been on some when she was younger.

But anyway! Getting back on track, this trip will be a lot of firsts for me, of which the biggest one includes that we will be staying off-site in a hotel that her parents like. I have never stayed off-site before so it will definitely be an adventure; however, it'll be one that I'm looking forward to experiencing. She and I have actually stayed in a room together in Disney back when we went in high school, which was quite a while ago. For this trip we're also going to Universal for a day. I haven't been to Universal in almost 10 years, so it's been quite sometime and I definitely know she's excited to experience the whole Harry Potter land, which I think that'll be really cool. Additionally, they were initially planning on driving, which would be like a 17-hour trip, but decided against it since it didn't cost that much more to fly. While this trip will have a ton of differences compared to what my family has done before, such as no dining plan, I'm sure it'll be fun and exciting.

I just thought I'd give a quick update about where things are right now as I now have a new trip coming up. Ah, I forgot to mention when the trip is haha. It's from May 2 - May 9 2020 with the plan currently being like 3 days in Disney, 1 day in Universal, and I'm assuming 1 sort of rest day, which I might try to convince Amy to go to Downtown Disney.

On a small note about the other trip, though, my youngest sister may have lowkey convinced my mom to start thinking about going sometime November/December 2020 instead of 2021? We haven't touched much on the subject but whenever we talk about going in 2021, she expresses her desire to go earlier and I think my mom is slowly being persuaded to go that route. So I guess we'll have to see!

 

[Riss]

Figuring Out Some Details

So I guess this has kind of turned into a 2-for-1 pre-trip report with me talking about my experience planning this trip that's coming up in May and then our potential trip for the year after. Well, here's another update about my trip that's coming up in May!

Just the other day my friend Amy and I sat down with her parents to kind of try to iron out some more of the details since they've yet to get the tickets for the theme parks. Here's pretty much what the basics of this trip are going to be:

Length: Sunday, May 3 - Saturday, May 9
Hotel: We're staying off-site at a Hampton Inn
Itinerary: 3 days in Disney, 1 day in Universal, 1 free day

Seeing that we're flying in on Sunday, our arrival time at the airport will be around 2pm and leaving on Saturday sometime in the afternoon, those are going to be more like down and relaxed days. There's a possibility for us to go to Disney Springs, the former Downtown Disney, on Sunday when we arrive. I've always wanted to spend more time there since seeing it briefly on my last trip and know that her family would like to see it as well since the last time they went to Disney as a whole was almost 10 years ago!

One of the important things we haven't figured out yet is the timing, or what days we're going to necessarily do what. Her parents are going to get the tickets yet are also going to ask some questions to the travel agent that they're dealing with regarding the tickets and the new way to do it. Even though I've been there more recently, I honestly couldn't answer their questions about the tickets because my family always stays on Disney property and gets the whole package together from Disney. They have said that the ideal situation is to have the tickets and be able to kind of pick and choose what days we want to use them. I think that that might be a possibility but am not entirely sure so I didn't want to give them wrong information and figured it'd be best if they asked just to get accurate information.

Additionally, another important factor to consider is what we're going to do with the free day. Her parents are more of the show kind of people, although they definitely want to see the new Star War's land in Hollywood Studios and perhaps Pandora, apparently they're also big fans of Avatar, while Amy and I are more of the ride people. Her parents do go on some of the more milder rides since they've gotten older but probably won't go on as many. Therefore when Amy and I were talking privately about it, we mentioned to one another that perhaps her parents could add a fourth park day for us at Disney and her parents could go see a show somewhere or do something else. We are renting a car so we would have to exactly figure out what we want to do with that, as in they would probably have to drop us off and pick us back up, but I think we'd be able to make it work.

I am getting more excited as this trip is drawing closer and have learned that I'm definitely going to have to help Amy and her parents when it comes to planning a Disney vacation because they didn't know of the app and only knew of paper Fast Passes. I'm pretty sure they don't know anything about Magic Bands and her dad being a big Star Wars fan might want to get a Star Wars one himself. I guess I have a lot of things to teach them within the next 3 and a half months before we go!

 

[mdsouth]

I just found your report! Super exciting to have TWO trips to plan and go on!
It will be interesting to hear about your trip with Amy and her family off-site versus onsite. Like you, most my trips have been onsite. My offsite trips were the one and only family trip I took when I was 13 and that was just when there was only one park - MK! No EPCO, AK or HS. And I had one offsite trip with my hubby when we were first married and it was just the two of us. Looking back now, I don't think I even priced out the Disney resorts thinking they would be too expensive for us, that was back in 1993. Since then I have been on three family trips of our own and each time we stayed at a mod. I had priced out values but each time we were able to go when they had good discounts and ended up in mods. My last trip was in 2014.

Like you, I am now planning a trip with a possible large group for this summer June 2020. It will be myself, my son around your age, 23, and my daughter who will be 17. We will probably also have my niece with us who is also 17. And it looks like my brother and his family (wife and two sons) might also be going at the same time . They have not been so it will be their first trip.

I have a pretrip report that I have been working on and it has changed several times since I first started planning this trip to tag along with my daughter's band trip. But the band trip was cancelled. HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT! I had the Disney bug, so I have just modified my plans to go at a different time.

 

[Riss]

@mdsouth
My family has actually never stayed in any resort besides a value but at this point we don't feel we're missing anything. Perhaps when everyone is a bit older we might try out something new but we just love the theming of the value resorts too much, especially for the youngsters. I think our current new favorite is definitely Art of Animation, despite only staying there one time so far.

And that is such a large group, too! Plus with it being your brother and his family's first time there, it'll definitely be exciting for everyone involved!

Also, that is such a disappointment about your daughter's band. My high school also did the Disney band trip every other year, so my siblings and I were lucky enough to each do it twice in high school and then tag along when the other siblings were doing their trips, and it was such an incredible experience that I don't think I'll ever forget. Actually, my first time doing it, freshman year in high school, was in Epcot. We marched around the World Showcase. The second time, though, was even more incredible and we actually marched before the Electrical Light Parade, before they took that one away. Marching towards Cinderella's Castle at night in December, when it's all lit up, is surely something you'll never forget.

 

[Riss]

Polishing the Details

So since I last wrote more details are finally coming into place about the trip in May and also, I've been starting to kind of plan out some ideas for our trip later next year. First off, let's talk about my trip coming up in May.

Originally when her parents were going to buy the tickets, Disney was having the special on like 4 Parks in One Day or something along that line and we were thinking about that, thinking that we could spend a day in each park no problem. However, a little while later, maybe a couple of weeks, Amy told me that her Dad actually went back to the original plan, which was to just do some park hoppers and choose an amount of days, which ended up being 4. That meant that we were covering our free day with an extra Disney day. She said the reason for the change was that her parents didn't think that they'd be able to find something to do in all of the parks, something to occupy them for the entire time since they aren't really thrill ride people anymore. Since they're a tad older they'll probably focus more on the shows or maybe the not thrill rides. I figured that was fair enough and we came to the agreement, as well as her parents, that one pair would just take the rental car and then the other could take the buses whoever wanted to switch parks and then we'd meet up someplace.

Honestly, that's not totally bad in my opinion. I am fond of park hoppers but I wouldn't necessarily be against giving them up either since this is totally her family's trip that I'm just kind of tagging along with. Therefore I'm mostly letting them make the hard decisions. They haven't been there in 10 years, so I should help guide them but let them choose what seems interesting to them the most.

Also, one thing that I was probably going to get whether she or her parents got them or not is a Magic Band. But a couple of days after I told Amy about their existence and what they do, she said that she and her parents were interested in purchasing one. We also came to the decision that we're going to purchase them at Disney Springs the first day we get there because they don't have a very large selection online on the Disney Store website and I'm pretty sure I remember there being some sort of tech store, maybe, around that we could possibly look at a bigger selection. It's not like we're dying to have them in our hands right this second.

One thing I am curious about, though, is doing the whole Fast Passes. I know we can't book them until 30 days out because we're staying off-site but...I don't know. I did mention them to her and she knows about them but I'm not sure if her parents fully understand. As far as I understand about the tickets, her parents have gotten them, I think... So I guess I just have to get the number or something and figure it out when that point in time comes. I'm thinking maybe she and I can be on my Disney account, as in have our tickets linked up together and then maybe her parents on her dad's account, if or when he makes one? Is that even possible? I just think that would probably be the easiest way to go about making Fast Passes in case one of us leaves the park for whatever reason and goes on over to another one.

Additionally, one final thing about this trip is that we've already hit a slight snag with the airport before going. Our flight has been pushed back by around 2 hours. Now instead of having our flight at around 10:30 like it was originally, it's a little bit closer to 1pm, actually. It's not like that's a super bad thing because we get there at around 3pm but just until we get to our hotel and then make it over to Disney Springs, which was just going to be our first day type thing, we'll probably end up eating dinner there and maybe shopping around a little bit for that time. I'm still hoping that maybe my good luck with airlines will rub off her bad luck but maybe her bad luck just outweighs my good luck when combined with her parents haha.

On another note, about my family's possible trip in a little less than 2 years, I've started thinking about dates and possible times to go. Of course I might be in grad school at that time and things might be a little less than ideal, but hopefully it won't be too bad. Our current mindset is doing Disney first then a Disney Cruise so fingers crossed that that plan gets to stay the way it is. We're also hoping to do something for a little longer maybe. If not a longer cruise then a longer time in Disney World. Every time we've gone we've always just done the parks and have always been on the go but I think we'd like a day where we didn't have to do anything and have time to actually check out Disney Springs properly and maybe even swim or something. That is looking like it's something definitely in the cards for my family.

Things still aren't entirely ironed out on that trip, though, as in I don't entirely know who is coming but my mom did make mention to the fact that us kids are probably going to be paying for ourselves but she will pay for the child we babysit, Jaleem, my nephew, and my cousin's child, who is also my cousin haha. So they did make mention of that but us kids are entirely ready to pay our own way and were honestly expecting it since we prepared to pay last time but my parents shut us down. Hopefully they'll let us contribute in some sort of way this time and not just dismiss us entirely since they're actually toying with the idea properly.

That's all I have to say right now, though, but this trip in May is getting closer with every passing day and I still feel like there's so much to do but I'm not even the official planner! I just want her parents and her to enjoy it since they haven't been there in 10 years and I definitely don't know when they'll ever return! Let's hope this trip is a smooth one!

 

[mdsouth]

@mdsouth
My family has actually never stayed in any resort besides a value but at this point we don't feel we're missing anything. Perhaps when everyone is a bit older we might try out something new but we just love the theming of the value resorts too much, especially for the youngsters. I think our current new favorite is definitely Art of Animation, despite only staying there one time so far.

And that is such a large group, too! Plus with it being your brother and his family's first time there, it'll definitely be exciting for everyone involved!

Also, that is such a disappointment about your daughter's band. My high school also did the Disney band trip every other year, so my siblings and I were lucky enough to each do it twice in high school and then tag along when the other siblings were doing their trips, and it was such an incredible experience that I don't think I'll ever forget. Actually, my first time doing it, freshman year in high school, was in Epcot. We marched around the World Showcase. The second time, though, was even more incredible and we actually marched before the Electrical Light Parade, before they took that one away. Marching towards Cinderella's Castle at night in December, when it's all lit up, is surely something you'll never forget.

It sounds like you had great band trips! I agree, marching towards Cinderella's castle when it is all lit up would definitely be something that stands out in your memories.

One thing I am curious about, though, is doing the whole Fast Passes. I know we can't book them until 30 days out because we're staying off-site but...I don't know. I did mention them to her and she knows about them but I'm not sure if her parents fully understand. As far as I understand about the tickets, her parents have gotten them, I think... So I guess I just have to get the number or something and figure it out when that point in time comes. I'm thinking maybe she and I can be on my Disney account, as in have our tickets linked up together and then maybe her parents on her dad's account, if or when he makes one? Is that even possible? I just think that would probably be the easiest way to go about making Fast Passes in case one of us leaves the park for whatever reason and goes on over to another one.

I think it would be a good idea for you to get the numbers off the tickets and then link them to your own Disney account and then you could plan the Fastpasses for you all or as you said, you can be in charge of you and your wife's passes and your father in law in charge of theirs. But it seems like you might be better at picking fastpasses for everyone. If you go to the theme park forum there will be threads that discuss how to link your tickets or the Orlando hotel board since there will lots of other people like you who are staying offsite and linking their tickets.

 

[Riss]

I think it would be a good idea for you to get the numbers off the tickets and then link them to your own Disney account and then you could plan the Fastpasses for you all or as you said, you can be in charge of you and your wife's passes and your father in law in charge of theirs. But it seems like you might be better at picking fastpasses for everyone. If you go to the theme park forum there will be threads that discuss how to link your tickets or the Orlando hotel board since there will lots of other people like you who are staying offsite and linking their tickets.

We're actually not married or in a relationship! Haha. We've just been friends since high school.

But yeah, I'm just not sure on what route to take for it yet since I know her parents aren't really thrill ride people and would probably do more shows, but they are into Star Wars and would probably definitely want to check out the new land and maybe do Star Tours? The only thing that I think would be an issue would be if someone decided to switch parks and then trying to make Fast Passes after that for our separate parks.

 

[mdsouth]

We're actually not married or in a relationship! Haha. We've just been friends since high school.

But yeah, I'm just not sure on what route to take for it yet since I know her parents aren't really thrill ride people and would probably do more shows, but they are into Star Wars and would probably definitely want to check out the new land and maybe do Star Tours? The only thing that I think would be an issue would be if someone decided to switch parks and then trying to make Fast Passes after that for our separate parks.

Oops! Going to Disney with a great friend sounds like an ideal way to visit the parks. I have only gone with family before. My best friend since kindergarten is a huge Disney fan too. I have suggested a few times that we need to plan a trip together. Money is tight for her, and I only am able to budget every four years or so for a trip, so we have never really had the chance to go together. I am just glad she was able to go with her adult kids and her own parents a few years ago.

 

[Riss]

Oops! Going to Disney with a great friend sounds like an ideal way to visit the parks. I have only gone with family before. My best friend since kindergarten is a huge Disney fan too. I have suggested a few times that we need to plan a trip together. Money is tight for her, and I only am able to budget every four years or so for a trip, so we have never really had the chance to go together. I am just glad she was able to go with her adult kids and her own parents a few years ago.

I've been to the parks with her before thanks to high school, which was 10 years ago, and actually the last time that Amy went! But I hope that you'll be able to visit the parks with your friend some time in the future!

 

[Riss]

Maybe Not Too Much Planning?

With my trip at the beginning of May getting closer, Amy and I are in the beginning stages of talking about planning. We've discussed the options we may have when doing FPs or some sort of dining reservations, although it wouldn't really be anything too grand because we're not really into doing many sit-down restaurants. We might do some with her parents, who said that we could join them for dinner some nights, but the majority of our eating will probably be on the go.

But since we started discussing possible FPs or other things we might want to do, I don't think we're really going to be heavily detailing every single thing out and kind of just do things as we do them. Sure, it'll be great if we get FPs for some of the bigger rides, but I'm not really counting on it because we are staying off-site. I do know of the possibility of getting FPs 30 days out and even the day of, so I'll totally keep my eyes open for that, but it's not like it's a deal breaker if we don't get them. We do have 4 day tickets with park hoppers, so I'm assuming that we'll be able to do everything we want to do within that time.

I also don't think that we're really going to do the Festival of Fantasy parade at MK. I've seen it numerous times and while Amy has never watched it, I had to look up when the Festival of Fantasy started running, she said she's not interested in seeing it. It's probably mostly due to the fact that I would send her the parade and fireworks on Snapchat, therefore she feels like she probably saw it as many times as I did. We are planning on seeing Happily Ever After, though. I totally recommend it and wouldn't want to miss it. On the other hand, I don't think we'll see Fantasmic or the fireworks show in Hollywood Studios and I don't think we'll do Rivers of Light either. The Epcot fireworks are a maybe, though. I guess it all depends on what we decide to do once we're there.

While this trip is still a little bit away, it's starting to feel real now that we're starting to put more concrete plans into action that doesn't involve just getting the park tickets and airline, which we already have.

But quickly, about the other trip that this PTR is actually about, I know that Disney has released the Summer 2021 itineraries for the Disney Cruise Line, so I'm keeping my eyes open for when the fall/winter ones get released as I'm starting to put together a possible trip that we might be able to do around that time. I'm still looking and thinking about late November or early December as possible times. I guess the one kind of downside, although definitely not a deal breaker, would be that my family loves Food and Wine and by doing that time frame, where we'd be there for the holiday decorations, we'd potentially miss the festival. But at this point, I'm just waiting for the time when Disney Cruise Line will release their schedule so I can go from there and bring out possible scenarios to my family.

 

[mdsouth]

Like you, we will be mostly eating counter service while we are there on this trip. I definitely have to see the Magic Kingdom fireworks at least once while there. on most of my trips were saw them in the park. On our last trip, we saw them from inside MK once and then we were at Grand Floridian having dinner and finished and saw them from there. I am thinking about places we can watch them other then inside the parks. I have never seen Fantasmic and the old EPCOT show was okay. So, I am not making any special plans to see them.