Yo Ho, A Disney Life for Me - Summer 2020 pre trip

[Goldia]

Originally Posted by collybird

The onion rings looked amazing! I did consider making some myself and then I thought of the mess and changed my mind.

We don't have any scales in the house so I don't know how much weight I've put on (that's a good thing) but I am definitely wobblier than before haha.

I think the issue with sport isn't only the players social distancing it's that they need to have medical personnel on hand in case of any injuries and there are concerns that they NHS doesn't need to be dealing with this. I am missing football though and it will be strange to have no Euros.

Lynda - it really makes me mad that people can't follow the arrows in Tesco, and the people not complying aren't the ones you'd expect either.

See more...

Max is pretty upset that there won't be any Euros he'd convinced himself he'd be able to watch all the matches as he'd be able to fit it in with his revision time and then the important ones would have happened after he'd have finished with exams anyway. Add it to the list of things he's cross about

Originally Posted by Hel22

Abby
Thank you, thank you for keeping up with your pre trippie. Reading along offers me a slice of normality and positivity in this current situation. I have always enjoyed following your families adventures and am loving your eating around the world. Please keep posting, I can't thank you enough for the impact it has
Take care
Hx

See more...

You're welcome! is it just me or does anyone else hear Maui singing in their head when they say 'You're welcome'

It would be a lie to say that I write this wholly altruistically. I love talking about our holiday plans and then writing about all the fun we are going to have, so to be able to share it with all you guys who are actually interested and don't just shrug at me is fab for me. With you guys I often get a positive response so I'll carry on writing it, as much for me as for you...But it sure is nice to know that you're enjoying it and not just thinking 'I wish that stupid woman would stop posting photos of food'

[collybird]

I think we are all grateful to have each other, Nik is getting better but even after eight trips he still doesn't understand why I want to talk about where we'll be eating in 6 months time.

[Buggles94]

Thank you so much for keeping this TR going Abby. It really is a little ray of sunshine amongst far too much horrible news... My mum told me today that she is going to cancel her flight. Luckily she booked on airmiles so easy cancellation. I can't bring myself to do anything but am painfully aware of time passing and each week making the holiday less and less likely. We also have a trip to Center Parcs booked next month for DS 18th birthday. I'm waiting for Center Parcs to cancel but know it is inevitable... I had booked him that and and a day at Discovery Cove in July so not sure what to replace them with! Feels like all I do at the moment is wait for refunds from cancelled trips etc - still waiting for the final 25% from DLP! Can't wait to be able to plan properly again - fingers crossed we will all be there safely again soon! Take care and keep cooking - we are going to attempt scones tomorrow

[smithlane]

Hey Abby, I’m finally catching up! I’m firmly staying away from the C word part of the forum now and sticking with the happy side of the Dibb, it’s far too depressing over there!
You have been insanely busy in the kitchen, I think I’ve just put on 3lbs reading it 😂. The churros, Chocolate tart, and Key Lime Pie are definitely my favourite, I have the sweetest tooth on the planet so will always choose desserts over main courses.
Loving all the cocktails too, especially the Cosmopolitan (my favourite!). Seeing your cocktail glasses has reminded me I need some like yours. I made a Cosmo in a pint glass the other week as all the others were in the dishwasher and I was feeling lazy, it lasted ages though 😂
Im exactly the same as you in regards to the holiday, I flip flop on a daily basis. If the flight is going and the ban lifted then I’m on that plane. I understand it must be different for a Disney/theme park holiday but if it’s open then possibly low crowds which is always a bonus!
I hope work hasn’t been too crazy for you since going back after Easter. Sam has now got more work to do after I contacted the school, he’s not happy with me 😂

[Goldia]

Originally Posted by collybird

I think we are all grateful to have each other, Nik is getting better but even after eight trips he still doesn't understand why I want to talk about where we'll be eating in 6 months time.

See more...

yes at the best of times Dave is not interested in that conversation...But having thst conversation now when he doesn't think we'll be back at work any time soon let alone on a Disney holiday is a real no no.

For what it's worth though, we disagree as I think we will be back at work within the next month, I mean actually at work not this working from home thing we've got going on now.

But I've always been the optimist and he's the pessimist. He calls it managing expectations and I call it being a miserable sod

Originally Posted by Buggles94

Thank you so much for keeping this TR going Abby. It really is a little ray of sunshine amongst far too much horrible news... My mum told me today that she is going to cancel her flight. Luckily she booked on airmiles so easy cancellation. I can't bring myself to do anything but am painfully aware of time passing and each week making the holiday less and less likely. We also have a trip to Center Parcs booked next month for DS 18th birthday. I'm waiting for Center Parcs to cancel but know it is inevitable... I had booked him that and and a day at Discovery Cove in July so not sure what to replace them with! Feels like all I do at the moment is wait for refunds from cancelled trips etc - still waiting for the final 25% from DLP! Can't wait to be able to plan properly again - fingers crossed we will all be there safely again soon! Take care and keep cooking - we are going to attempt scones tomorrow

See more...

That's so sad about your mum. I know how I would have felt at this time last year if mum and dad couldn't have come. I'm sorry. It's not about the airmiles or the money it's about the realisation that this holiday is not going to be the one you hoped for, so I'm sorry for you

I do think that perhaps the best advice at the moment is to do nothing. Now that is based on the assumption that you don't desperately need any of the money you've paid out. But if you don't need the money now, then I think it's best to wait. If the holiday is cancelled because of FCO or other factors you will end up getting the money back. It's whether you can hang on financially or not. I'm assuming you've not booked with an agent who's at risk of going under and you're not going to lose everything. I can't keep track of who booked what with whom. I can barely keep track of where all my separate DIY bookings were made.

But for example I'm not contacting premier inn for a refund for my night before the flight room and I'm not contacting Lufthansa for a refund of the flight. All that was paid in full. Mostly, of course, I'm not contacting them because I'm hoping I still get to use the room and fly on the plane...3 months is a long time

Maybe you will get to Discovery Cove, it's not beyond the realms of possibility. At least not to my mind. But what do I know!

Originally Posted by smithlane

Hey Abby, I’m finally catching up! I’m firmly staying away from the C word part of the forum now and sticking with the happy side of the Dibb, it’s far too depressing over there!
You have been insanely busy in the kitchen, I think I’ve just put on 3lbs reading it 😂. The churros, Chocolate tart, and Key Lime Pie are definitely my favourite, I have the sweetest tooth on the planet so will always choose desserts over main courses.
Loving all the cocktails too, especially the Cosmopolitan (my favourite!). Seeing your cocktail glasses has reminded me I need some like yours. I made a Cosmo in a pint glass the other week as all the others were in the dishwasher and I was feeling lazy, it lasted ages though 😂
Im exactly the same as you in regards to the holiday, I flip flop on a daily basis. If the flight is going and the ban lifted then I’m on that plane. I understand it must be different for a Disney/theme park holiday but if it’s open then possibly low crowds which is always a bonus!
I hope work hasn’t been too crazy for you since going back after Easter. Sam has now got more work to do after I contacted the school, he’s not happy with me 😂

See more...

A Cosmo in a pint glass, Wow, Alicia your head must have been heavy in the morning. I do love glassware...I've got a glass for every eventuality.

I wish I could say that I don't stray over to the CV threads, but I do sometimes get drawn in and read a thread about whether parks or schools or whatever will open. Crikey. I love to hypothesize, but that's all it is at the moment. We're all just guessing as we have no clue and we have nothing else to talk about.

I think that's part of why I'm so lucky I've been able to work from home. It's not just that financially I know I can pay my mortgage etc it's that I get to have conversations with people other than the 3 people I live with. I get to hear both positive and less positive outlooks on what we think is going to happen.

Yesterday we had a pretty long virtual meeting to decide how we could open up school to more children, for example year 10, alongside key worker and vulnerable kids but maintaining 2m social distancing. Who knows when we will be able to implement our plan? but we do have a plan. We dont even know if we will have the autonomy to make the decision about how to get more kids on site or if we will be told via a press conference. We also dont know if parents will actually want to send their kids to school. We talked about how they would get there and would they use a bus? Or walk? And how can we make sure they comply with social distancing on the way to and from school. Its a minefield. We don't have the answer to every question. But we did try and think through options. And in the end we may have made plans that we won't be able to implement but it's nice taking about the idea of getting more kids coming to school.

That was perhaps a longer answer about school than you wanted...I'm glad Sam has some work to do I can imagine he's thrilled with you for organising that

[collybird]

I am definitely the Dave in mine and Nik’s relationship, I can get on board with ‘managing expectations'. In this scenario however, I am staying as positive as can be. Usually when I am spreading doom and gloom I have plenty of research to back up my opinion, but this time there's no precedent so no reason not to keep hoping.

I am expecting to be back at work the week after next, if not sooner, regardless if lockdown is extended again or not.

Sadly, I don’t think the schools in Scotland will go back until after the summer as we finish up at the end of June here anyway. Such a shame for the leavers and the P7 and all the little ones in nursery who will miss out on their taster days at their new schools.

Have we all seen the proposals from Orange County for the reopening of the parks? Keep the faith everyone! That there is any plan at all is heartening. They include guidelines for how cinemas will operate which makes me hopeful that Disney will not close all indoor theatres as was rumoured.

Fingers crossed Disney can get up and running and then we'll worry about Trump and the FCO. Baby steps!

[mrsdjh]

Hi again Abby and everyone else

I love reading your pre-trip report although I end up doing it in chunks so this evening there's been lots of lovely food for me to drool over - you have been very busy in the kitchen! I'm more of a basic cook but was going to try a themed night for my daughters 15th birthday on Sunday, but she's asked for pizza from Dominos and they are delivering so that's a win/win! It'll be a funny birthday for her in lockdown so we're trying to think of somethings we can do to make it special that don't involve having to try and get anything from the shops. We may have to try and make a cake though as when my husband did our weekly shop yesterday he said there were no birthday cakes in store.

Interesting to read about your work planning meeting as Id said to my daughter who is in year 10 that if anyone goes back before September it would make sense for it to be her.

On your holiday front, I think you're right and a lot can change in 3 months especially with the noises coming from Florida about getting things back open soon - I think we should hear more tomorrow so fingers crossed for you.

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by Goldia

A Cosmo in a pint glass, Wow, Alicia your head must have been heavy in the morning. I do love glassware...I've got a glass for every eventuality.

I wish I could say that I don't stray over to the CV threads, but I do sometimes get drawn in and read a thread about whether parks or schools or whatever will open. Crikey. I love to hypothesize, but that's all it is at the moment. We're all just guessing as we have no clue and we have nothing else to talk about.

I think that's part of why I'm so lucky I've been able to work from home. It's not just that financially I know I can pay my mortgage etc it's that I get to have conversations with people other than the 3 people I live with. I get to hear both positive and less positive outlooks on what we think is going to happen.

Yesterday we had a pretty long virtual meeting to decide how we could open up school to more children, for example year 10, alongside key worker and vulnerable kids but maintaining 2m social distancing. Who knows when we will be able to implement our plan? but we do have a plan. We dont even know if we will have the autonomy to make the decision about how to get more kids on site or if we will be told via a press conference. We also dont know if parents will actually want to send their kids to school. We talked about how they would get there and would they use a bus? Or walk? And how can we make sure they comply with social distancing on the way to and from school. Its a minefield. We don't have the answer to every question. But we did try and think through options. And in the end we may have made plans that we won't be able to implement but it's nice taking about the idea of getting more kids coming to school.

That was perhaps a longer answer about school than you wanted...I'm glad Sam has some work to do I can imagine he's thrilled with you for organising that

See more...

Haha yes it was a bit foggy but as every day is a weekend day for me at the moment I thought I might as well make the most of it 😂
The Covid thread keeps pulling me back, it’s like I’m a glutton for punishment. Yes the school thread (which did annoy me at times!) and the Disney ones I’ve kept up with. I need to keep telling myself most comments are only opinions from people not cold hard facts. It ain’t over till the fat lady sings right 😉
Yes that must be an added bonus of still working to be able to speak to other people other than who you live with. I am such a natterbox at work, I speak to so many people every day (pre lockdown) it’s so very strange not to now. I’ve become the crazy lady that just chats to random people in the Tesco’s queue now 😂
That’s encouraging that schools are even talking about alternative arrangements. For both Sam’s school and Hope’s college it would be relatively easy to implement as 50% of the student body is no longer there (Sam’s school is only Year 10-13) so I’m really hoping something can potentially be put in place for after half term. I understand it’s a heck of a lot harder for larger schools though!
At the moment I think I just need a glimmer of something optimistic to keep me going, it’s the not knowing that’s slowly driving me insane

[Goldia]

Originally Posted by collybird

I am definitely the Dave in mine and Nik’s relationship, I can get on board with ‘managing expectations'. In this scenario however, I am staying as positive as can be. Usually when I am spreading doom and gloom I have plenty of research to back up my opinion, but this time there's no precedent so no reason not to keep hoping.

I am expecting to be back at work the week after next, if not sooner, regardless if lockdown is extended again or not.

Sadly, I don’t think the schools in Scotland will go back until after the summer as we finish up at the end of June here anyway. Such a shame for the leavers and the P7 and all the little ones in nursery who will miss out on their taster days at their new schools.

Have we all seen the proposals from Orange County for the reopening of the parks? Keep the faith everyone! That there is any plan at all is heartening. They include guidelines for how cinemas will operate which makes me hopeful that Disney will not close all indoor theatres as was rumoured.

Fingers crossed Disney can get up and running and then we'll worry about Trump and the FCO. Baby steps!

See more...

Well, I think things are looking up. It seems Orange County want to give some autonomy to WDW, they've set guidelines about what measures could be taken in order for parks to re-open. It's no different really to the ideas that we're talking about with businesses over here. Social distancing with people staying 6ft away from each other is something that every shop already operates. How possible is that in a theme park? Well who knows? But it feels like another version of the question we've all been asking here...how can schools operate a 2m social distancing? I think the answer is we just have to try because it really is inconceivable that we wait to open everything up until there is a viable vaccine or cure as that could be months, if not years in the coming.

So I'm feeling positive today. But then I always thought the parks would open up in time for Independence Day. The question for us being 1000s of miles away is will fligths be going ahead and will there be travel restrictions or quarantine on entry to USA?

I'm sure your return to work follows the same thinking I outlined above. How can social distancing work in a kitchen? It will have to is the only answer, really, isn't it? I'm sure you will make sure everyone is as safe as they can be and I for one would love to have some KFC so I bet there are a few people who will be queueing up for their takeaway.

Originally Posted by mrsdjh

Hi again Abby and everyone else

I love reading your pre-trip report although I end up doing it in chunks so this evening there's been lots of lovely food for me to drool over - you have been very busy in the kitchen! I'm more of a basic cook but was going to try a themed night for my daughters 15th birthday on Sunday, but she's asked for pizza from Dominos and they are delivering so that's a win/win! It'll be a funny birthday for her in lockdown so we're trying to think of somethings we can do to make it special that don't involve having to try and get anything from the shops. We may have to try and make a cake though as when my husband did our weekly shop yesterday he said there were no birthday cakes in store.

Interesting to read about your work planning meeting as Id said to my daughter who is in year 10 that if anyone goes back before September it would make sense for it to be her.

On your holiday front, I think you're right and a lot can change in 3 months especially with the noises coming from Florida about getting things back open soon - I think we should hear more tomorrow so fingers crossed for you.

See more...

I'm glad you're enjoying the food. Max made some rocky road the other day, but I forgot to take a photo so he will have to make it again

Ooh we've got a Dominos down here, that's a good idea. I hope your daughter has a lovely birthday, finding ways to treat her without being able to shop isn't going to be easy but at least you can get the pizza she wants. It will be odd for her to not have all her friends over or be able to go out and have fun with them. I'm sure you'll do lots of special things together and while it won't be the same as normal I'm sure it will still be a special day.

Originally Posted by smithlane

Haha yes it was a bit foggy but as every day is a weekend day for me at the moment I thought I might as well make the most of it 😂
The Covid thread keeps pulling me back, it’s like I’m a glutton for punishment. Yes the school thread (which did annoy me at times!) and the Disney ones I’ve kept up with. I need to keep telling myself most comments are only opinions from people not cold hard facts. It ain’t over till the fat lady sings right 😉
Yes that must be an added bonus of still working to be able to speak to other people other than who you live with. I am such a natterbox at work, I speak to so many people every day (pre lockdown) it’s so very strange not to now. I’ve become the crazy lady that just chats to random people in the Tesco’s queue now 😂
That’s encouraging that schools are even talking about alternative arrangements. For both Sam’s school and Hope’s college it would be relatively easy to implement as 50% of the student body is no longer there (Sam’s school is only Year 10-13) so I’m really hoping something can potentially be put in place for after half term. I understand it’s a heck of a lot harder for larger schools though!
At the moment I think I just need a glimmer of something optimistic to keep me going, it’s the not knowing that’s slowly driving me insane

See more...

There are very facts out there at the moment, just a lot of conjecture and some people sure do seem to like putting the willies up others. The kind side of me knows they are probably just really scared and that fearfulness is pervading everything for them. It must be very hard on them to be so afraid. I very rarely comment now as things can be taken out of context and I don't want to be a part of the problem.

Plus I'm feeling optimistic at the moment and I don't care to be reminded that other people are not thinking the same way as me much easier to just ignore it and live in my own happy world.

[Goldia]

Keeping Everything Crossed

It seems like there are parts of the world that want to start opening up, even with tentative steps this feels like good news to me.

I read the guidelines and mandates produced by Orange County and the Governor of Florida and it seems like they want to get things moving again out there. There are still lots of questions as it's anyone's guess how long phase 1 will last and when they will move onto phase 2 and whether the big theme parks will open up at all during those phases .

WDW seem to be accepting bookings from 1st June so it looks like they are aiming for a 1st June opening. What the restrictions will look like and how they affect the park experience are more questions we don't know the answer to. So, for now I'm going to add them to the list of questions that we don't know the answer to and park them. I'm going to look forward and remain hopeful .

Earlier today I had an email from Premier Inn today regarding our booking on 25th July for the night before the flight. It was a Non-flex booking and they've changed it to advance rate which means we can cancel up to 28 days prior to the stay and get a full refund or amend the booking up until the arrival day. Now, I only paid £35 for the room, so it was super cheap, but it's nice of them to be helpful and given that we booked on a cheap non cancel-able rate I think it's good of them. I'm hoping I still get to sleep in the room.

I've been checking my Lufthansa flights once a week and they are still there - so that's good. Lufthansa have introduced some conditions, all passengers and staff have to wear face masks in airports and on planes. I wonder if we will have to get used to wearing face masks soon. But, the flight still exists and hasn't been cancelled.

At the moment the FCO foreign travel advisory is our biggest problem to overcome Of course, there is nothing we can do about that and we just need to wait. We also need to hope the USA want to receive foreign visitors and won't require a quarantine . I'll add those problems to the list of unanswerable questions that I've parked and am saving for another day. It's part of my strategy for a healthy mind, I'm not thinking about things that I have no answer for and no control over. What's the point? There's nothing I can do about it anyway, may as well put it to one side for another day.

So, how do you feel about actual planning? Is it too soon to talk about? I feel like you're all with me on the keeping hopeful band wagon so I'm going to share

Before all this became all we could think about and talk about I had been thinking about Rise of the Resistance. I can't wait to ride it for the first time and I really want to get as many rides on this as possible. Galaxies Edge wasn't open for our visit last August so we haven't done Smuggler's Run either.

I'd been keeping an eye out for all the posts on here about various strategies for getting a boarding pass. I'd watched all the vlogs from people who got to HS at the crack of dawn and nabbed a boarding pass and I decided that I wanted to do a bit of research of my own.

It was mid-February, it was cold and I didn't have much to do as the ADRs had all been booked and I was starting to get really bored and wanting to keep the planning alive .

I'd hoped to be able to share with you all some solid data and helpful hints, albeit from someone who has never been on RotR . In the end I was only able to collect 8 pieces of data and the last date I wrote down was for 7th March, because, well, you know why everything stopped...

So, here's what I did. At exactly 8am Orlando time, I logged onto MDE and into the boarding pass area. My research found that on one of the days all the boarding passes were gone before I logged on so all gone in literally seconds. On the other 7 days the boarding passes were all gone by 8.01am.

What does this tell us? You've got to be quick!

How did I undertake this data collection?

I realised the MDE app would let me click on the get a boarding pass link, get through to selecting my party and then to the point where it realised I wasn't actually in the park. At this point I would close down the app and re-start to see if the option to get a boarding pass was still there and many times it was. I was able to set up the party, selecting Dave and the kids multiple times and I felt was encouraging as each time the home screen was saying boarding passes were open.

Do you only have 1 minute and that's it? In a word No! All is not lost.

After 8.01am it's not the end as the back-up group boarding passes are then allocated and this is what I found surprising. Most days that I went through the process the original set of 'guaranteed' boarding passes went upto group number 63, so anything from boarding pass 64 onwards was a back up boarding pass. And these were open for booking for a lot longer, the results were very varied, anything between 4 and 25 minutes for the back up groups to still be available.

Do you actually get to ride though if you get allocated a back up group?

That was the next thing I decided I needed to check. How likely was it that back up groups would actually get a chance to ride? It was great that the chance of getting a boarding pass wasn't just there for less than a minute, but if back up groups didn't ever get on RotR then they were useless.

So, I logged on at noon Orlando time and most days by noon they were calling for boarding groups in the 40s and 50s to go to the ride. That's great as the initial guaranteed boarding groups only went up to 63. I checked back in at 5pm Orlando time and many days they were in the 80s and the last three days that I checked they were calling for boarding groups in the 100s to go and ride.

I was feeling pretty good that even if we didn't get one of the initial boarding groups due to dodgy wi-fi or some other issue it seemed likely we would be able to get a back up group and that would likely mean we would be able to ride in the afternoon/evening barring any downtime.

Like I said before, I'd hoped I would be able to collect more than just 8 days worth of data, but I was doing it at the weekend as that's when I could log on and I ran out of time . When the parks open up I'll start logging it again, as who knows how the restrictions will affect wait times and so all this data may be useless! It seems that capacity of rides will change and the volume of people that can ride per hour will decrease.

I realise the whole set of data that I compiled isn't likely to be useful to anyone at all . But I figured if there was anyone who would even be remotely interested in how I spent some of my time dreaming about my Orlando holiday back in February then it was you guys

Take care everyone and I hope you all had a good week