The Big 50 trip May ‘22!- Pre-trip report

[sha9]

That’s the final refund in for the trip we should be on right now 😩. That’s this now officially a pre trip report for next year!

[Taffy1959]

Glad you got everything refunded and a great result with POFQ

[sha9]

I haven’t updated in a while because nothing really to say!

Still no Universal hotel booked. I’m thinking I should make the effort to lock in an “ok” price that’s refundable but really we’re hoping for a good Annual Pass rate like we had for this year.

Mum & Dad have decided they’ll just go for a 1 day ticket, which really will need to be park to park. I think we’ll probably just buy from somewhere like Undercover Tourist but I’m going to hang off until Black Friday just in case. Unfortunately the AP discount is only in multi-day tickets and one day tickets are seldom in any kind of special offer but it’s probably not going to matter if we wait.

The airport hotel is booked. I’ve gone for the Hampton Inn at Edinburgh Airport and was able to get a decent NHS discount. It includes breakfast but I always want to just get across and get checked in so I’m not sure we’ll definitely use it. It’s free cancellation up to a couple of days before so we may change our minds. We’re not that far from Edinburgh but I like the holiday starting early!

Virgin have finally changed the plane to a bigger one so we’ve managed to book seats for the return. We’ve got 2 window seats and Mum & Dad are either in front or behind us each leg. Very happy with that.

I’ve also been thinking about Genie + and the IAS and have factored in a few dollars for that into our spends. I definitely think we’ll use it so I’d rather get saving for it than eat into spending money.

Just think, it’s nearly Christmas and then it won’t be long!

[Taffy1959]

Glad you’ve got your seating on the plane sorted out.
I think we’ll probably use our $200 gift card for Genie + and the only ride I’m willing to pay extra for is Rise of the Resistance as DH really wants to ride it but that will be once only.

[sha9]

Originally Posted by Taffy1959

Glad you’ve got your seating on the plane sorted out.
I think we’ll probably use our $200 gift card for Genie + and the only ride I’m willing to pay extra for is Rise of the Resistance as DH really wants to ride it but that will be once only.

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Yes that’s a good idea. I didn’t think of that! We will definitely pay for Flight of Passage and Rise of the Resistance each day we’re in those parks. I think I’d rather plan to pay for it all and then hopefully we won’t actually need to.

[Taffy1959]

Originally Posted by sha9

Yes that’s a good idea. I didn’t think of that! We will definitely pay for Flight of Passage and Rise of the Resistance each day we’re in those parks. I think I’d rather plan to pay for it all and then hopefully we won’t actually need to.

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I think we’ll get to the parks as early as possible and see if we can get on some of the headliners before the crowds come in fingers crossed 🤞 that will work for us.

[sha9]

Originally Posted by Taffy1959

I think we’ll get to the parks as early as possible and see if we can get on some of the headliners before the crowds come in fingers crossed 🤞 that will work for us.

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Yes us too. I think the advantage of having been a few times is that we know what we want to do and know what will generally be quiet first thing. I’m hoping Genie and the new system won’t mess with that!

[sha9]

I haven’t updated for a while cos not much has been happening. We’ve decided not to do Universal for the first 2 nights after all. I’m not sure Mum & Dad are that bothered and while Marie and I have our annual pass vouchers they would have to pay a lot for a one day ticket. We decided to just extend the Disney stay instead. Unfortunately you don’t get additional dining credits and because the offer was for a maximum of 14 nights they’ve had to move our stay forward two days and add two nights as a different booking on to the end. Bit of a faff but the CM sorted it all out and we got the Blue Light discount for all of it. It now means moving the theme park reservations. I’ve worked out if we don’t go arrival day (which we never do) and don’t go our last day (which we like to do but will do DS instead) then as long as we have a day off in the middle we should be fine.

Plans are shaping up! So far we’ve booked:

Airport hotel (not vital but we like it!)
Airport parking - this is free for VA customers going from Edinburgh but it’s the long stay and there’s no shuttle so I booked a closer car park. If they reintroduce the shuttle in time we may cancel.
Kennels for the dogs.
Flights with VA from Edinburgh in PE.
Car hire with Hertz via Costco.
Accommodation at POFQ.

Still need to sort transfers with Mears connect for Mum & Dad as we don’t think the car will have enough boot space for all the luggage. Also thinking about an airport lounge but that might be a bit frivolous!

[sha9]

Well today is ADR day! It feels so weird because normally I’ve have done this months ago and been playing about with them, tweaking our plans. It feels odd to really have had nothing to do until now. I’ve still the last week to do but we’ve managed to get Space 220. I only checked for the 10th day as we really want day 12 so I’m going to keep pushing it. This will likely be the only expensive restaurant and we’ll be going for the traditional “1 TS” places rather than “2 TS”. I’ve also booked:

Homecomin’
Grand Floridian Cafe
Ale and Compass
Nine Dragons

Still to book:

Liberty Tree Tavern
Olivia’s

The plan is to eat at resort restaurants on each Saturday so we’re not going anywhere too busy and know we have somewhere arranged to eat.

It’s so exciting to be booking dining reservations again!

[sha9]

So I was having a browse at hotels since our last two nights are technically a separate booking and found the Swan for cheaper than we’re paying for those nights at POFQ. It’s with VH who also include parking and resort fee. I was able to cancel the 2 night bookings as a modification so no fee and have switched to the Swan. I used some miles to get money off so all in we saved about £50 each party and another $20 for parking.

Off now to make up a little toiletry bag for the Swan stay! I know there’s no need but these are the things I enjoy 😂.