Will We? Won't We? Mark 2 . September 2021

[may]

Well anyone who read my last Will We? Won't We ? pre-trippie written in October 2019 may remember that I was planning to travel to WDW in September 2020 with my DD and her best friend to celebrate their 21st birthdays, my 54th birthday, DD's graduation and the completion of my Masters. I was uncertain what form the trip would take or even if it would happen at all as we were all full time students at that point and the financial implications were uncertain ...
In the meantime a global pandemic got in the way and like everyone else we had to cancel. Currently we have re-booked with the same cast for Late August 2021.

Will We? Won't We? Late August 2021 1. Background
Cast

Myself,L, 55 at the end of August 2021, lover of all things Disney, particularly holiday planning , belated celebration of having successfully completed my Masters Summer 2020.
R, daughter of L, lover of Halloween, Disney and Universal, particularly Harry Potter, belated celebration of having turned 21 July 2020 and having successfully completed BA hons in History with a 2:1 Summer 2020.
O, lovely girl, joint best friend of R,lover of Halloween, Disney and Universal, belated celebration of having turned 21 July 2020

Re-intro
We have all been to Orlando several times before, myself and R with my husband M , O with her family. R and O have been friends since school and had always shared a dream that they would celebrate their 21st birthdays with an Orlando holiday. I will simply take advantage of any excuse M has decided not to accompany us this time He may be persuaded to change his mind.

We have hesitated to book this holiday.The covid related changes particularly at WDW are necessary but a bit off putting. We are all used to summer time work fully masked. Florida will be worse but we are willing to do it. The lack of fireworks and shows is sad but may be improving. The thing we are least happy about even in the context of reduced capacity is having no fast pass system. Having failed to get there last year we are fully aware that we may well not get there this year (we're also aware that in the grand scheme of things a missed holiday or two or more is not a major catastrophe). Finances are not perfect. The jobs market is not rosy. I have spent lockdown organising the activities programme in a dementia home. R and O are furloughed from ( very) part time jobs in hospitality and attempting to build a small online business. However we find it helps to have something to look forward to so as is often said on the DIBB my finger slipped. I booked.


Broad Plan
We are currently travelling with BA direct return Gatwick to MCO on 26.8.2021 ( five days before my birthday). These flights were £248 each without hold luggage. It was a combination of early booking giving cheap flights and also a 20% off code. DD and I are used to limited luggage we did nearly a month down the east coast on the pitiful hand luggage allowed by some US budget airlines but O may be accustomed to finer things :-) I think we might want to add one hold bag each way to share if that's possible.

We have 12 nights booked in a two bedroom apartment at SPM Bluetree Lake Buena Vista (TravelRepublic £924), 1 at Hard Rock (Stayforlong £251), 7 in a family suite at Universal's Cabana Bay (Stayforlong £630)and 1 at Royal Pacific Club Level (Stayforlong £300) . I haven't dealt with Stayforlong before. They seem legitimate I hope I don't come unstuck.

This will cost us about £960 per person for flight and accommodation . This seems a reasonable price for 21 nights in those settings even bearing in mind late August / September is often cheap.BA will allow changes or refund if necessary , all accommodation is fully cancellable.


It could have been a lot cheaper. I was tempted by rooms at the Holiday Inn Resort Lake Buena Vista and perhaps Clarion Inn and Suites across from Universal however it is alleged that I have been known to occasionally, ahem, snore and O has trouble sleeping so extra sleeping space seemed a useful idea. Hard Rock and Royal Pacific aren't necessary but offer us four days front of the line passes. Club level for the last night / day is a final treat to reduce the sting of ending

It could also have been a LOT more expensive. I love staying onsite at Disney and would generally do so for at least part of most trips. Unfortunately I'm not currently seeing the value. What I am intrigued by is the fact that Travelrepublic's current very good price on the Holiday Inn Disney Springs says it includes the resort fee. I'm tempted to book that on a cancellable deal in case the half hour early entry and any possible return of early booked fast passes should be available to the Disney Spring's hotels. However there would still be that matter of the alleged snoring ...
We won't be driving. We will need to make use of uber / lyft.

We have Discovery Cove non swim booked for September 2nd at about £70 each. We will also need Disney tickets at about £440? each ( it hurts me even to type that figure) and Universal at around £280. With a greedy eye to 2022 I might consider Universal annual passes if the three park pass becomes available with the free three months extension. If Halloween Horror Nights go ahead Frequent Fear passes may be a possibility at about £110? each. MNSSHP if it happens , would also be fun, the girls love to dress up but the £70 or so for the tickets might be hard to justify if we already have 14 day ultimate tickets.

Food / Other Spends
I am a passionate follower of the great $100 a day dining reports from dixonsontour and love to save money with an initial grocery shop, a few speedy breakfasts in the room, coupons, happy hours, packed lunch for water park etc. As the girls will both now be over 21 I am planning to continue to collate my previous list of available happy hours.We have never been big shoppers, particularly with the poor exchange rate. However, we will doubtless go for a wander round the Florida Mall , particularly if we can get a decent coupon for Bath and Body Works :-)

At the end of the previous pre-trippie the question was Will we? Won't we? Will I be a mass of snivelling self pity if we don't? Like everyone else we didn't and in the context of people all around the world suffering genuinely serious problems I think I maintained some sense of proportion. Fingers crossed the vaccines rapidly improve things for everyone

[may]

Thank you to those reading along.Pleased to say that the cost of the Bluetree accommodation has been coming down. Due to free cancellation with travelrepublic I have been able to cancel and re-book on 3 occasions and have saved around £240 so far so our total per person is down to £880 at the moment.
Still got tickets to go. The three park annual pass with 3 months free is available now for universal so have to decide by the end of the month when the offer expires.
Halloween Horror Nights are apparently on but no ticket information available yet.
Still not convinced this trip is going to happen but the vaccine news is currently encouraging and it is helping me to have something to plan. Fingers fervently crossed :-)