Getting Dad on board and finally booking the hotel
So fast forward a month, we’re now in mid February 2018. I chose today to ask Dad if he wanted to come with us to Orlando in 2019. We talked through a lot of the pros and cons of staying on site compared to in a villa. This was sort of vague conversation without really any decisions being made and I left if with me saying that Dad should think about what their budget would be. I wasn't overly confident at this point.
Another month and a half went by and on Monday 2nd April we were travelling to Poole for a family caravan holiday. Max was with one of my brothers and his family and Kate was with me, Mum, Dad and my nephew.
Out of the blue Dad said ‘Can we have a quick chat about Orlando?’
You know me I can’t do quick chats about anything, but my favourite subject, well there is no chance of this being a quick chat.
So I replied ‘Sure’
Now my notes of this conversation are pretty poor as we were driving at the time, it was a long journey and the conversation moved on and then when we arrived we stopped and ate lunch in the caravan park club house pub and so it was quite some time before we got into the caravan and I could write up everything that had happened.
Some of it is clear to me though.
Dad ‘How many Disney parks are there?’
Me ‘Theme parks or water parks or both?’
Dad
probably already bored with the conversation and wondering why I can’t just answer the question already ‘Er, both’
Me ‘4 theme parks and 2 water parks’
then of course I listed the theme parks and tried to explain them to him
Dad ‘I saw a TV show about Kennedy Space Centre. Can we go there?’
Me ‘Sure’
Honestly, I would have said anything at the time to get him to agree to it Presently, though, we have tickets for 9 theme parks booked so I’m not sure when we would fit in KSC. I will get to the buying of tickets process at some point in the pre trip but it seems like I’ve opted for a chronological story telling, so you will have to wait to find out what we will be doing, it won't be too long though as I really need to crack on to the
ADR list.
As I said I can't recall the whole conversation there was also some discussion of flights and where to stay.
In the meantime I had not been inactive on the planning front I had been trying to decide which resort would suit us best. I had spent a lot of time messaging Collybird asking her about the options and she gave some advice about which resorts could be good.
Saratoga Springs and the idea of a 2 bedroom villa at that resort was coming out on top as my favourite as it would give more space than just a hotel room. I also liked the idea of Yacht and Beach or Boardwalk as I love the locations of those resorts and they have a lot to offer (but realistically this was always going to be too pricey).
I was also eagerly awaiting the release of free dining. You may recall there were many threads in the planning forum with people guessing it would start in early April. April 6th was mentioned, but this came and went with no free dining, then people suggested 19th April.
Well, I’m sure many of you can remember what happened – the deluxe DVC resorts of OKW and SSR were not included in the launch of free dining so my main idea was out the window and I felt like I was back to square 1.
Bear in mind that we had only had some vague chats about going away together and hadn’t really agreed anything, that was partly because I wanted to be able to present an idea of prices so that it wasn’t just an abstract idea.
Back to the drawing board I went.
I priced up 14 nights at Port Orleans Riverside, Animal Kingdom Lodge, Port Orleans French Quarter and Coronado Springs. I also thought about a split stay with 10 nights at WDW and 4 nights at a Universal resort. I looked at so many websites and combinations.
At the end of May 2018 Dad mentioned that he’d had an email from Norwegian Airlines saying there were flights to Orlando for £175. I knew this must not be for our dates as that was way cheaper than we would get, but it did suggest to me that probably they were serious about wanting to go with us. When we looked at the email the flights were for January so wouldn’t be helpful. But, I did sit down and have a proper conversation with Dad and Mum about either Port Orleans French Quarter or Coronado Springs. I explained all about the DDP and the credits for food that can be used anywhere and not just in your hotel. I’ve since explained this about 5 more times and I still don’t think they fully get it, but it’s one of those things that sounds so confusing until you are there.
Then Coronado Springs ended up having no availability so that was off the cards.
Finally, in June 2018, we settled with Port Orleans French Quarter. We check in on Tuesday 30th July for 14 nights. We have 2 rooms with DDP and tickets included, plus of course the $200 gift card, which I believe we get 2 of but I would need to go and check the paperwork.
It was a relief that it was all booked up.
I’m really excited about POFQ it’s a small resort which will be new to us as well as Mum and Dad. I took these photos of the resort from the boat when we went to Disney Springs from POR last summer. This is the closest we have got to the resort and it will be exciting that it's a first for us as well as them.
The slide into the pool looks fab. The kids were pretty excited about this when they saw it.
Once we had booked up the room I asked Mum what things she would like to do when we are on holiday.
She had three things on her list:
1. Swim with dolphins
2. See the Harry Potter stuff
3. Eat inside the castle
At the time I didn’t have the heart to tell that the first 2 are not WDW at all and that currently we had only booked up Disney
so poor Dad doesn’t get his Kennedy Space Centre and Mum doesn’t get her swim with dolphins or Harry Potter.
Well, of course since then some of that has been sorted out, but one of the (many) things I have learned from the Dibb is to not try and do everything in one trip because missing stuff out means you have a reason to go back and a chance to re-do your once in a lifetime holiday.
