October/November 2022 - 2 week friends trip!

[Vicki7]

I'm currently trying to put together a rough plan for my trip and thought I'd share here in case I'm missing something major.

There will be me (32) and my friend Jamie (33 when we travel). We're doing 10 nights at Coronado Springs, 4 nights at Royal Pacific, and I've just managed to snag tickets to MNSSHP for Halloween night. (eek! We KNOW it'll be busy but we're both first timers and with being there on Halloween we couldn't say no to this experience!)

I've booked some preliminary park reservations, as I wanted to put a plan together, then me and Jamie can meet up and tweak it - although he's very much leaving me in the driving seat with the planning. I've briefly visited Orlando before, doing a day at Universal, and was taken to WDW as a toddler, he's never been. It's all very exciting! So, the plan so far, in terms of park reservations:

28.10.2022 - Depart Manchester on the 10am Virgin flight. Arrive at CSR and spend the afternoon/evening getting our bearings.
29.10.2022 - AK
30.10.2022 - Epcot
31.10.2022 - MNSSHP and MK in the day but with a later start
01.11.2022 - HS
02.11.2022 - Epcot
03.11.2022 - AK
04.11.2022 - MK
05.11.2022 - HS
06.11.2022 - Epcot
07.11.2022 - Check out of CSR, outlets before heading to Royal Pacific. Check in and get our bearings around the new resort.
08.11.2022 - Universal/IOA
09.11.2022 - Universal/IOA
10.11.2022 - Something different - Jamie really wants to rent a car so maybe a day at a beach somewhere?
11.11.2022 - Home time Flight is at 16.40 so maybe a last morning in Universal/IOA before heading to the airport

Planning on some evenings at Disney Springs, as there's some restaurants I really like the sound of, and we're both quite food-y.

I'm conscious the first part of the holiday is jam-packed, having a park reservation every day. Honestly, I don't know if this is a good plan or not, but hopefully it works out!

The next job, working out what restaurants we both want to do and getting them booked at 60 days out... suggestions are very welcome!

[Mexy02]

Epcot on a weekend during food and wine will be rammed . Marathon weekend 3-6 nov so plan carefully as parks will be busy again. Mk decorations go up 1/11 and you may just catch a mvmcp . If you don’t want to pay to go book a restaurant that night to watch the fireworks as they are lovely and the Christmas ones. No water park ? Still doable weather dependent . Pack layers , it can be chilly morning and night. Go seethe grand Floridian gingerbread house and visit Disney springs tree trail. Great time to go with the crossover .

Ride the skyliner

[Vicki7]

So waterparks are something we've discussed - I'm visually impaired and find them very challenging. We may well do an afternoon or morning at one though, it's definitely not completely off the table.

We definitely want to visit the Grand Floridian, so having the gingerbread house up gives us even more of an incentive!

I'd forgotten the marathon weekend - I think whichever way we plan we're going to hit busy days somewhere but definitely one I'll keep in mind. I'll keep an eye out for the Christmas party dates - if we can get a restaurant reservation where we can catch the fireworks that would be really nice.

[theotherblonde]

I am going similar time in 2023 but 14 nights at CSR. I just put alternative days for all the parks for the moment and made a rough plan for what to reserve verses to hop to in terms of what fireworks we want to see that evening.

I started and ended my reservations with MK including a reservation on arrival day if we have time. I don’t think we will actually use everyday as will do 1 or 2 days in Universal and May rent a car to do Cocoa Beach or St Augustine on of the days.

I also want to see as many of the resorts as possible. Breakfast at Chef Mickey in the Contemporary, visit to CBR, Wilderness Lodge and the Polynesian and Grand Floridian. I want to se them all if we had time. I would factor the resorts in depending on what park we are doing such as CBR on skyliner the days we do HS or Epcot and the Contemporary on MK days. AKL on days we do AK for example.

I definitely want to do the three bridges bar and grill at CSR. I also fancy so many places in Disney Springs. I want this to be a relaxed holiday starting parks at 10 or 11am and having later evenings.

Hope you have a great time

[Vicki7]

So the months have rolled by, I've been researching like crazy, and think we've got the itinerary down. There's space to leave parks and return, there's some evenings free to allow a later start, and we've got the big things locked in. So, our two week itinerary is:

28.10.2022 - Depart Manchester on the 10am Virgin flight. Arrive at CSR and spend the afternoon/evening getting our bearings.

29.10.2022 - AK - Sanaa lunch booked at 1.20 for a break. Hoping to then return to AK for the evening.

30.10.2022 - Epcot - Toledo reservation at 8.05pm so will plan some down time at the resort/pool

31.10.2022 - MNSSHP - early dinner at Skipper Canteen at 4.50pm before the party. MK park pass booked just in case, but the rest of the day is currently unplanned, but I'm thinking a trip to the Outlets.

01.11.2022 - HS - pick up a car at 12pm, then dinner at the Boathouse at 7, so this may be a fleeting afternoon visit with a lazy morning after the party.

02.11.2022 - Epcot - Ohana reservation at 8pm, I want to try and get into Trader Sams so may be an early exit to explore the Poly.

03.11.2022 - AK - this will be a shorter day as I've arranged a champagne helicopter flight for Jamie's birthday present, at 6.30pm. Afterwards we're heading to Bull & Bear, so will want to get dressed up.

04.11.2022 - MK - full MK day, want to see the fireworks so planning to take a short break in the afternoon, even if it's just grabbing lunch at one of the monorail resorts. We also return the car today.

05.11.2022 - HS - We have Sci-Fi booked at 1.30pm, and Oga's at 4.30. I also want to get a droid build in as a friend really wants one. May schedule this later so we can see Galaxy's Edge in the evening.

06.11.2022 - Epcot - thinking a later start as we have Toppolino's breakfast booked at 9.55. Again, we want to catch the fireworks so a break may have to happen.

07.11.2022 - Check out of CSR, Disney Springs and lunch at Homecomin' before heading to Royal Pacific. Check in and get our bearings around the new resort.

08.11.2022 - Universal/IOA. Will be returning to Disney for California Grill reservation at 7.45.

09.11.2022 - Universal/IOA

10.11.2022 - Currently free - possibly do another 1 day car rental and go to a beach or KSC, unsure at the moment.

11.11.2022 - Home time Flight is at 18.45 so maybe a last morning in Universal/IOA before heading to the airport

I'm going to need a holiday after this holiday, but honestly, I don't care, as this is likely a trip of a lifetime, but if we do it again, it won't be for a good few years.

[Disney_Jess]

You're heading out the day before us! I've done a few friends trips before (this will be the first one as an adult without my friends actually), and they're so much fun. One thing I'll add is the 11th November is Veterans Day, so I imagine the parks will be busy that day (never been on that day before, but from what I've heard), and maybe extra traffic on the roads in Orlando? Just for planning the time you leave for the airport!

Did you decide on the restaurants you're booking?

[Vicki7]

Not for Universal, no. We've got everything we wanted at Disney so have decided to just go with the flow at Universal. We're using a transfer service to the airport so hopefully they'll take traffic etc into account when arranging pickup times.

[Gill H]

Originally Posted by Disney_Jess

You're heading out the day before us! I've done a few friends trips before (this will be the first one as an adult without my friends actually), and they're so much fun. One thing I'll add is the 11th November is Veterans Day, so I imagine the parks will be busy that day (never been on that day before, but from what I've heard), and maybe extra traffic on the roads in Orlando? Just for planning the time you leave for the airport!

Did you decide on the restaurants you're booking?

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We booked our Universal stay for 10/11 Nov so we would have express passes to beat the crowds. In the end there were no crowds, Universal was deserted! Even though there was a special parade. Apparently MK was rammed though.

[orlandoamber]

This sounds like such a good trip! We have similar plans in Sanaa, Trader Sam’s, The Boathouse, Homecomin’, Bull & Bear

Have you considered a meal at Three Bridges at CSR? We couldn’t fit it in on our last trip but it’s a must for us this year!