Popcorn! Pancakes! Putting on a stone or more! It's our DDP trip August 2018 pre-trippie!

[LaurenPickle]

I actually started this trip report several months ago (February!) with the title 'Who needs a new car anyway?' and the exhaust fell off the next day. And then another part of the exhaust a week later. And then the clutch went. Then we discovered that the brakes weren't working. Plus we've had health problems, work problems, house problems ... it has literally been one thing after another, so I was completely down in the dumps and I couldn't face writing a trip report when I was feeling so 'UnDisney' (Is that a word? It is now!). But with only TEN days to go until we fly, I decided that I absolutely have to do one as I loved it so much last time. So here I am, starting again, and I promise, now that my miserable introduction is out of the way, that I will be cheerful and positive. Well, mostly

This first post is copied from my mis-step of a trip report in Feb, but the next post onwards is new.

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My first trip report, “Sausages with Rista”, about our trip in August 2016 was complete, but due to photobucket changing their policy on third party hosting, I lost all the pictures. So I am adding them back in which, thankfully, hasn’t been too onerous a task. I had planned to start this new report when I had finished that, but it’s our ADR day tomorrow so I think I’d better get on with this one before I end up totally behind before I have even started!

So, here we are with the introductions …

I’m Lauren, 34, chief planner for our trips. I LOVE planning things. There is nothing I enjoy more than making spreadsheets, researching, colour coding, creating summary documents ….. I am a total organising geek. I have a label maker that is labelled. Seriously. I have done all of the planning and organisation for this trip, which is exactly how I like it. I love to read Disney blogs and trip reports, especially food ones, and I have a very long ‘short list’ of places I want to try.
I also have some normal interests too, like reading, writing crime fiction, and scrapbooking. My favourite thing about our Florida trips is probably eating I’m vegetarian and I love to try new things. I really love the very immersive and detailed ride experiences, like the Haunted Mansion and Tower of Terror,and the Harry Potter rides at Universal, and I love rollercoasters.

My DH, Craig, is 36 and a teacher. He is most decidedly not a vegetarian. He is a big fan of pancakes and is very excited about the snack credits on the DDP. He isn’t a fan of huge rollercoasters, but instead loves really creative, themed rides and anything horror film or Science/Sci fi related – apart from Star Wars We are a Trek family through and through! He really enjoyed the Harry Potter rides, even though he has no interest in the books/films, and I think he’s going to love Pandora.

Penny will be 7 this time. Eek! She is very grown up now …. although I thought that last time we went, but looking back on the photos, she’s a tiny little thing! She’s had a bit of a rough year with some health problems which have knocked her confidence, but she still is a wonderful, tender hearted lovely girl. She is animal mad and wants to be a vet, so she is very excited about visiting Animal Kingdom. She is very creative too and loves to draw, paint, make collages …. anything crafty! We love watching ‘Project Runway’ together and I often find her fashioning outfits from bits of fabric, interesting carrier bags, or anything else she can find. She’s very excited about being tall enough to ride some of the bigger rides this time and is dead set on going on the Mummy, King Kong and Space Mountain. She is also excited about getting lots of pool time as she loves to swim.

Connie will be 5 this time. Last time we visited, she wasn’t even at school, but now she is a year and a half in, which I can’t quite believe. She is a confident, happy little girl who is obsessed with unicorns, allicorns (a cross between a unicorn and a Pegasus, apparently), and dressing up. She is not too keen on rides - apart from her favourites E.T. and ‘It’s a Small World’ - as she doesn’t like anything that is too fast or ‘spinny’. She loves meeting Princesses and watching shows – she’s quite the little performer, and will be singing and dancing along with everything! She is also very excited about visiting the China pavilion at Epcot – she loves anything and everything about China and Chinese culture, to the point where she often greets us in the morning with a cheerful ‘Ni Hao’!

We also have two family members who will not be joining us – our guinea pigs Runner (Penny’s pet) and Creamy (Connie’s). They are adorable little creatures and we’re going to miss them whilst we’re away.


Our plans began before we’d even left Florida last time really. Before we had kids, we used to do UK holidays or short European breaks in odd number years and do longer beach holidays or long haul trips in even numbered years. It was a good way to keep our holiday spending within check and it also made us explore more of the UK. So as we went to Florida in 2016, it meant we could have a big trip again in 2018. We were already talking about it before our flight departed MCO!


We actually weren’t sure whether we should do Florida or go somewhere else in 2018. I read a lot of trip reports for DisneyLand California and I also looked at other cities in the US and Canada, including New York and Washington. I really ummed and ahhed about what we should do, but my gut instinct was for Florida. I just didn’t feel done with it yet and there were a lot of things I wanted to try still. There were two big factors affecting our decision though – the two things I had disliked about our trip in 2016.

The first was being offsite and driving in. I loved having a villa and I actually didn’t mind driving too much. But I really resented all the hassle driving to the car park, paying a fortune to park, getting a tram to the entrance or to the ferry/monorail etc, then the same in reverse. It just didn’t feel very relaxing, and, between the care hire and parking costs, it was actually quite expensive. I considered staying offsite and using Ubers, which I think seems to be an economical option for a lot of people, but as the girls are small, we often split the day up by going out early, resting a few hours in the afternoon, then going out again later, so I don’t think using Ubers would work out cost effective for us.

The second thing I didn’t like about our 2016 trip was that DH and I disagreed about our dining plans. I had booked all the ADRs 180 days in advance and talked through all the decisions with DH. He said at the time that he was happy with what we had booked - I showed him the menus and costs etc. However, when we actually were there, he was quite taken aback at the costs of dining in the parks, especially table service locations. He hadn’t looked at the menus too closely I suppose …. It was a bit frustrating for me as I felt that I had put a lot of effort into planning the ADRs and that DH wasn’t appreciative, and DH was worried that, with the exchange rate being so bad when we visited, that we were spending too much. We’re not really a couple that argues and we both could understand the other’s perspective. It didn’t put a dampener on the holiday, but it was something that I would like to avoid in future.

So with a lack of desire to drive from me and us both wanting to manage the costs without compromising our plans, it made sense for us to stay on site. And we immediately thought about Animal Kingdom Lodge, which we fell in love with when we visited Sanaa. We loved everything about it – the dining options, being so close to the animals, meeting the cast members from different African nations, and the beautiful building. It also made sense because if we booked a stay there in the free dining period, we would get DDP which we really wanted as we had several table service restaurants that we wanted to try. We ummed and ahhed for a little while as I know that staying on site is not a cheap option, and we knew that we would not have as much space as we had in an off site villa. But the advantages of staying on site outweighed that this time and we resolved to book.
So April 2017 rolled around and the start of the free dining offer. I was really stressed about this – would there be good deals? Should I book without knowing what the flight costs would be? I was pretty nervous about it. However, when it went live, I looked at booking AKL direct with Disney, it was within the budget I had in mind. I called a few travel agents to get prices including the flights, because Disney can’t quote for them more than a year out, but the prices were all about 3-4k more than the AKL including dining plan and tickets cost. I was pretty sure that I would be able to get flights for less than that, especially as we were happy to go indirect. So on April 2nd, I booked! 12 nights at AKL (the last two weeks of August 2018) including DDP and tickets, staying in a standard room. The girls were so excited when we told them and Penny especially was overjoyed at the idea of staying at AKL.

It was a long wait until September when flights became available. I had decided that as soon as I found flights that met our criteria – under £2.5k, no more than one stop each way, and arriving in Orlando at before nightfall – that I would book. I tend to get very stressed about making decisions about flights, as I’m always worrying that I might get a better deal later or that I might miss out on a better route/airline/time. I love Gretchen Rubin’s books and her podcast, and the difference between ‘Maximisers’ (people who often struggle to make decisions because they want the perfect/best/cheapest option) and ‘Satisficers’ (people who are happy to take the plunge when something reaches their expected standard, rather than hanging on/searching for the ‘perfect’ thing) really resonated with me. I’m a bit of a perfectionist and struggle to act if something isn’t or I can’t make it 100% right. I decided to just meet my minimum standard and then not look again and with that in mind, I booked flights in late September. They were on the 13th August from Manchester to Orlando, via Toronto (clearing US immigration in Canada) arriving at 5.30pm, and leaving Orlando in the evening of the 31st, flying overnight to Frankfurt, then on to Manchester before lunch the next day. They were with Air Canada and Lufthansa, booked via Omega travelstore, and cost £2.3k, which I didn’t think was too bad for school holiday flights.


Now that we had our flights, we were able to amend our Disney booking – moving everything a day later – to fit in with our return flight – and to book our Universal stay. We knew that we wanted to stay onsite at Universal too as I wouldn’t be driving, plus we love having the front of the line passes. Last time, we had stayed for one night at RPR, which gave us 2 days of FOTL passes. We decided to stay at Royal Pacific again as the girls loved the pool and the Hawaiian theming, plus it was the cheapest hotel to offer FOTL passes.


I just didn’t feel happy though – the hotels were perfect, but the flights were niggling me. I was pleased about going via Canada as clearing immigration before MCO is a huge bonus. But I just … I didn’t feel right about it. After booking, I read a lot of negative reviews about Omega online, which left me nervous and my unease deepened when Omega started sending me flight change notifications. First, it was just ten minutes one way or another – but at least one a week it seemed. And then it was a huge change from the flight that got us into Orlando for 5.30pm to one I had seen and rejected that arrived in Orlando after midnight, plus an amendment to the flight back that meant we wouldn’t meet our connection in Frankfurt for Manchester. It was an absolute mess and all the messages about this were sent on the 26th December, so the Christmas feeling completely dissipated for me. I was completely stressed, which worsened when I tried calling them and was told that nobody could help me until at least the 28th or possibly in the New Year. ARRRGGGHHH! And when I finally managed to get through to someone, the phone call was ‘accidentally’ cut off twice, which looking online, seems to be a regular occurrence with them... I barely slept for a week with worry. However, I finally spoke to a man who was willing to help and he looked at various options for me, which were all unsuitable (arriving back after the school term had started, arriving in Orlando after midnight, three stop routes etc). He finally agreed to speak to the airline and thank the lord, they agreed to cancel with no charge. I felt such a relief. It took four weeks to refund my money, which made me feel very stressed as I wasn’t sure about Omega at all, but the money came back as promised.


In the meantime, I booked new flights and these ones I immediately felt happier about. They were exactly the same price (well, within £10) so we hadn’t lost out because of the delay. This time, we wpuld be flying from Manchester directly to Orlando with Virgin, then home with a 24 hour stop over in New York (10pm to 10pm), again with Virgin. We are all so excited about our trip to New York. Penny is a bit obsessed with the place as the location of one of her favourite films, Home Alone 2, and the home of Project Runway! I’ve booked a hotel and we’re planning a busy day with (TBC) a trip up the Top of the Rock, a ferry over to Staten Island to see Lady Liberty and the skyline, a wander in Central Park, and a trip to Mood fabrics for me and Penny!


So as we stand now, the plan is
Flight from Manchester to MCO, direct with Virgin.
5 nights at the Royal Pacific Resort
12 nights at Animal Kingdom Lodge.
Evening flight from MCO to New York JFK.
One night at the Chelsea Savoy in Manhattan.
Evening flight to Manchester.

[summersun]

great planning, cant wait to hear all about your trip. I did new york in feb and it was great x

[Cinderella]

Looking forward to your trip! Have fun!

[LaurenPickle]

So 180 days out, it was time to book our ADRs. I was prepared and ready, with everything planned out on notepaper, coffee in hand, and my laptop, phone and tablet all logged in to MDE. We have the inclusive DDP for our 12 nights so we have 12 table service credits, 12 counter service credits, and 24 snack credits each.

Here's what we went for - a mix of old favourites and a few places we are so excited to try.

Our first night at AKL, we will be eating at Boma, which is new for us. I wanted to try this place because it's one of the AKL restaurants, so it will be convenient for our first night staying there; I know we're going to want to explore the grounds so we won't want to travel too far. Plus, from the reviews of Boma, it seems to be a lot like Tusker House, which Craig and I love.

The next morning, we're at the Crystal Palace for breakfast. I am so so excited for this as is Craig (he's the 'Pancakes' bit of the title, and will probably have a triple digit pancake count for this trip ). The girls love the Hundred Acre wood friends and we had a wonderful time last time, so we had to revisit. It's just such a beautiful location and we love the theming, characters and range of breakfast options too.

Aug 21st, we will be at Mama Melrose's doing the Fantasmic package at lunchtime. Craig and I ate there on our honeymoon trip, but we haven't been back since. It's our 10th anniversary on August 9th so it seems a good year to revisit! The girls and I particularly like Italian food and I really want to try my first cannoli.

Aug 22nd is our first Epcot day and we will be eating our evening meal at Akershus. We had a mixed experience here last time. We liked the venue and the character interaction. The food was some of the best I ate on the trip and we all LOVED the smorgasboard. However, we had a bit of an odd waitress who was completely incompetent, left us for ages at a time, said some slightly strange things etc. So, if we get her, I'm going to request a different waitress, but otherwise, we are all excited about this one.

Aug 23rd, we are back at MK and booked in for lunch at Tony's town square for the festival of fantasy parade package. I don't know if this is one of those admissions that might get me kicked off the DIBB, but I have never watched a Disney parade I've seen them from a distance, but I've never done the whole 'find a spot an hour before, sit on the kerb and wait' thing. It makes me feel stressed just thinking about it! So booking a package where we get a reserved spoot made it feel a bit less taxing for me as a weird, anxious person! Tony's seemed a good family dining option with plenty the girls would enjoy, plus the ravioli looks good for me.

On the same day, we are having an evening meal at Sanaa. We were hoping to have this just for me and Craig as our anniversary meal as we both loved it last time. With the closure of Simba's Cubhouse at AKL (boo, hiss ), it's not possible, so we are dining as a family. I will not be sharing the bread service with the kids. I might not even share it with Craig I am actually excited about going with them and I really hope we spot some wildlife through the windows.

Aug 24th, we are eating at Yak and Yeti, which I think we will pay for with a mix of Landry's credit and OOP. We all enjoyed the counter service Y&Y last trip and Craig loves the theming at Expedition Everest, so I think this will be a new favourite.

That night, we are eating at another 'new to us' restaurant, Whispering Canyon Cafe. I had it in my mind that this wasn't a great option for veggies, but I have seen some positive reviews and I am sure the girls will love the antics, even if they have been toned down a bit recently. Craig will definitely enjoy the ribs and chicken etc!

Aug 25th, we are having a day off from table service. But Aug 26th, we have a reservation at Be Our Guest at lunchtime (counter service) and Coral Reef for dinner. We have eaten at BOG previously and we loved the venue and the food, and it was one of the girls' top picks to revisit.
Coral Reef is new for all of us, but I am so excited about it - the veggie option, tempura fried cauliflower sounds delicious (I am a bit of a cauliflower fiend). Craig is having an existential crisis about whether he can eat fish in front of fish

Another day off from table service on Aug 27th, then we are at Epcot on August 28th for dinner at the Garden Grill. This was one we arranged, then cancelled last time, and we are all excited to get there at last. We all love Chip and Dale so we're hoping to have a lot of silliness and fun.

August 29th, we are at Trattoria al Forno for the Bon Voyage breakfast, although it's at 12 noon, so it - well, that's not even brunch time is it? Definitely lunch. I want to say that the girls are big fans of Tangled so that's why we booked it, but I'm just as big a fan as they are I like the idea of it being the Princes as well as the Princesses, brings a bit of a different dynamic.

As we come to the end of our Disney trip, Aug 30th is breakfast at Ohana. I wasn't sure whether to book breakfast or dinner, but I had seen mixed feedback on vegetarian options at dinner and the girls love Lilo and Stitch, so breakfast it is. The Polynesian is one of the places I would most like to stay on property so it will be fun to eat there.

Our final table service meal at Disney is lunch at the Liberty Tree Tavern, another meal which we booked then cancelled last time. I am a bit of a history geek so this was my top pick, but we are all excited about the ooey gooey cake

Next post, I'm going to do a day by day overview combining our FP bookings and our counter service plans.

[LaurenPickle]

Thanks Cinderella and Summer Sun Now I'm writing this report, I'm getting excited about it at last!

[Inky]

Looking forward to reading more!

[Excited6910]

Looking forward to hearing about your trip! Enjoy!

[Zomax25]

This sounds like a fab trip! Can’t wait to read along. We loved the Bon Voyage breakfast. Had lovely food and an interesting mix of princesses. We were the very last table to be seated which was odd, but we got to see everything and everyone.

[LaurenPickle]

Day by day, this is our plan ...

Tuesday Aug 14th:
We're flying direct from Manchester to Orlando on the lunchtime flight with Virgin. It's our first flight with Virgin so we're excited about that and hoping that the girls have a nap for a little while.
We'll be taking an Uber from the airport to our first hotel, the Royal Pacific Resort at Universal Orlando. Our plan that evening is to walk up to Citywalk, swap our vouchers for real tickets, and grab a light meal in the food court area (Moes, BK, Panda Express etc). If the girls are up to it, we might have a swim, but no parks that night.

Wednesday August 15th:
We are going to Universal Studios for our first park of 2018 and I think our first ride will be Connie's favourite, ET. Lunch will most likely be in the Simpsons food court. That evening, the girls are going to the RPR kids club and Craig and I are going for dinner at Mythos.

Thursday August 16th:
We'll be spending the day at Islands of Adventure with lunch at Burger Digs. Dinner will be at Margaritaville.

Friday August 17th:
Not sure whether we will do US or IOA, but I think we will be at Hard Rock Cafe for lunch. The girls are going to the kids club again so Craig and I will probably just grab something like fries or a doughnut on the go. We don't want to eat too much as we are planning to hit all the big rides that the girls are too small to ride - not that Penny long legs is too small for many now!

Saturday 18th August:
Another US/IOA mixed day - probably revisiting our favourites as this is our last Universal day Not sure what we will do for lunch, but most likely Toothsomes for dinner.

Sun 19th August:
Our first Disney day. We are planning to leave Universal pretty early - maybe have an hour or two revisiting a few favourites, then an Uber over to AKL. Even if we can't get in the room then, that's fine as we will leave the bags and head over to our first park ...
AK! We have FP for Na'vi River at 12.15PM, Kilimanjaro Safari at 1.15PM and the 3pm Festival of the Lion King. Then an evening reservation at Boma and time to enjoy the resort.

Monday 20th August:
We will be heading over to MK for our 8.10AM Crystal Palace reservation. Our fast passes are 9.20AM for Peter Pan, 10.20AM to meet Cinderella and Elena, then 1.20PM to ride the Seven Dwarves mine train. I'm not sure how long we will stay at MK that day, but my plan for meals is Pecos Bill's and Pinocchio's, one for lunch and the other for dinner (if we stay that late).

Tuesday 21st August:
Hollywood Studios! We are planning to stay for Fantasmic (new for us!) and we have booked the Mama Melrose lunch package, so we probably will have a pool morning before going to the park just before lunch. We have FP at 2.10PM for the Tower of Terror, which we will child swap on (I'm hoping to swap Connie for one that eats broccoli and remembers to turn lights off ), the 4pm showing of Beauty and the BEast, and Toy Story Mania at 5.15PM. We will probably have a light dinner at the Backlot or Fairfax fare, then I will munch popcorn all the way through Fantasmic.

Wednesday 22nd August:
Our first day at Epcot which is so exciting - it was always my least favourite of the parks, which is more of a reflection of loving the other parks than disliking Epcot, but the girls absolutely loved it so I have seen it through fresh eyes. We have a 9.10AM FP for Soaring, 10.10AM for Spaceship Earth (aka 'The Mammoth Ride' in our house) and 11.10am for Living with the Land. I'm hoping that once we have ticked those FPs off that I might be able to book an evening one for Frozen ever after.
It depends on how we are all feeling, but my plan is either to eat at either Sunshine Seasons or Electric Umbrella and then carry on with rides/ shows etc until our Akershus ADR at 5pm, or, if we are tired, to head back to AKL and lunch at the Mara before heading back to the park for 5pm and a few evening hours of fun.

Thursday 23rd August:
We are back at MK with a 9.20AM FP for Splash Mountain - I'm really hoping we can get Connie to ride it this time as I know she will love the animatronics. 10.25AM is our Jungle Cruise which I find baffling, but the girls love it 11.25AM is our Haunted Mansion FP (Woo hoo, my favourite!). We will have lunch at Tony'd Town square as part of our Festival of Fantasy Parade dining package before the parade at 2pm. We have a dinner reservation at 6pm at Sanaa, so we will be leaving MK at probably 4.30PM or earlier.

Friday 24th August:
We'll be returning to Animal Kingdom with a 11.35AM FP for Expedition Everest (another child swap with Connie), the our lunchtime ADR at Yak and Yeti, a 1.50PM meet up with the Disney Pals, then a 3PM ride on Flight of Passage. I was hoping that we would get to ride FOP a little earlier in the day, but you take what you get with FOP FPs! We will be eating dinner at Whispering Canyon Cafe, but we won't be able to nip over to MK for any rides as it is MNSSHP that night.

Saturday 25th August:
Another Hollywood Studios day, this time focusing on the new Toy Story area. We have an 8.05AM FP for Star Tours, although we're hoping to get to Alien Flying Saucers before that. 9.55AM is the Slinky Dog Dash and 10.55AM is Tower of Teror. We are planning to have lunch at Woody's, if it isn't crazy busy. That evening, the girls are going to the children's activity centre at the Dolphin hotel, 'Camp Dolphin', which is a name that always makes me laugh. Craig and I will be going back to Hollywood Studios to ride ToT again and soak up the atmosphere.

Sunday 26th August:
2 park day - MK and Epcot. We have a 9AM FP for Rapunzel and Tiana, 10.10AM for Enchanted Tales with Belle, and 11.10AM for Space Mountain which Penelope wants to ride Not sure about that one! We have a lunch reservation at Be Our Guest. We will have another hour or two at MK, before getting the monorail over to Epcot where we have a 6PM ADR at Coral Reef.

Monday 27th August:
We'll be either going to Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon - the jury is still out on which! That evening, the girls are going to Pixar Place at the Contemporary and Craig and I are going to MK with FPs for the Haunted Mansion, Seven Dwarves and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We'll probably get dinner at Pecos Bill's or Columbia Harbour House.

Tuesday 28th August:
Another Double Park Day! AK and Epcot this time. We have a 9AM for Kilimanjaro Safar, 10AM for the Kali River Rapids, then 11AM for FOP. Lunch will be at Satuli which I am SO EXCITED to try. We might end up making two stops as I'm not sure what the girls will think of the Satuli offerings. We will be spending the afternoon and evening at Epcot, visiting the World Showcase, before a VERY long awaited dinner at the Garden Grill.

Wednesday 29th August:
Our final visit to Hollywood Studios. We have a FP for the Slinky Dog dash at 9.40AM, 10.45AM for the Tower of Terror, then Star Tours. We have a breakfast/brunch for lunch at Trattoria Al Forno, before heading along the Boardwalk - maybe via Ample Hills Creamery - and into Epcot to look around any of the World Showcase pavilions we haven't yet seen properly. We will probably eat at Tangierine Cafe - Connie LOVES cous cous so that will be her favourite place, no doubt - and Liberty Inn.

Thursday 30th August:
We are starting the day at 'Ohana with Lilo and Stitch for breakfast. I think we're going to see how we feel that day. I have made FP reservations at MK (Peter Pan, 7 Dwarves and Jungle Cruise, all in the morning) if we fancy heading there, and have thought we most probably will go to AK that afternoon evening with a meal at Flame Tree or Harambe. But if we fancy another water park day, we'll do that instead.

Friday 31st August:
Our last Florida day We will be going to MK with FP for Splash Mountain at 9AM, Peter Pan at 10AM and It's a Small World at 11AM (not usually one with a huge queue I know, but it's Connie's Disney favourite and she would be very upset not to have a ride on it before we leave this year). We have a lunch reservation at Liberty Tree Tavern at Noon. We don't leave for New York until 7.30PM so I should think we will have time for a few last rides before we have to head back to AKL for the Magical Express back to MCO.

We still haven't planned much for New York yet so I will have to do a write up for that another time!

[MinnieMrsA]

Loved your last report so was very excited to find this! Your countdown is tiny now. Have a lovely holiday xx