The 3 week Sept extravaganza – which turned into a 2 week trip in June with a cruise!

[Lizzim]

This feels like a trip that we have been planning for such a long time, I really wanted to be at WDW for the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Magic Kingdom.

We have DVC and so I set about booking us accommodation at Bay Lake Tower for 1st Oct 2021, this of course happened at the 11 month point so was booked late in 2020 when we were really confident that the trip would be happening.

We managed to secure flights with Virgin Atlantic in Upper Class for reward points (95,000 I think) and around £1300 for the taxes.

Along with a couple of nights at Bay Lake (in a 1 bed) for the 50th I had also booked us into Bay Lake earlier in our trip in a studio and we also had a few nights at Animal Kingdom Villas!

We planned to spend a week at Key West (between the Disney stays) and then our final week either at the Gulf Coast or at Hilton Head Island. We didn’t actually book the last week as it became clear as we went through 2021 that it wasn’t going to happen.

Our flights were cancelled in August and we thought about when we should try and rebook – December maybe? But would we be able to get into the USA? We weren’t sure and we wouldn’t get such good weather or the DVC bookings at such relatively short notice.

So, we decided on June 2022, and decided to shorten the trip to 2 weeks (as we would look to book a trip later in the year). I was surprised that Virgin moved our flights with literally no fuss – I filled in a form and they rebooked with no charge (even though June reward flights are normally more miles).

We rented out some of our DVC points that couldn’t be banked and set about booking our new trip.

We have the following:

1 night at Boardwalk on our arrival night (low points and we can hopefully pop into Epcot on our first evening)

4 nights at Bay Lake Tower in a Theme Park View studio

4 nights at Animal Kingdom Villas in a Savannah view studio

We then leave WDW for a 4 night cruise with Royal Carribean in a balcony cabin. We went on a ‘staycation’ cruise to Belfast and Liverpool in Sept 2021 and really enjoyed it, we are looking forward to better weather on this cruise!

We head back to Orlando for our last night where we managed to get an Animal Kingdom Value studio (again low points!). We have never stayed at Jambo House before so it will be nice to see the difference between Jambo and Kidani.

The good thing about this trip is that many of the costs were already covered from last year. We had flights paid, we have booked an airport hotel using loyalty points. We used our DVC rental money to pay for a chunk of it so it almost feels free!

The only thing that’s slightly annoying is that we bought Boo Bash tickets for the 2021 trip and have a credit with Disney but because we needed the 14 day tickets to cover our trip we haven’t been able to use it….but that can help pay for another trip!

Coming up next….park reservations, dining and special events!

[Lizzim]

We had a list of restaurants that we wanted to book including some old favourites and some new choices, some new to WDW and some just new to us.

I had assumed that our 60 +10 day window would open in one go but apparently because we had 3 separate reservations (which are continuous but at different resorts) we had 3 shorter windows. Not an issue for most of our choices but I was trying to get Space 220 and every time I looked there was no availability.

In good news I have so far booked the following:

The Plaza (our favourite option in the MK)
Sanaa (literally our favourite restaurant on property, and I will probably book lunch for our last day too)
Steakhouse 71 (we always wanted to try The Wave but didn’t make it)
Yachtsman Steakhouse (another of our favourites despite the price)
Jiko (never been before and the menu looks great)

We were also hoping to get into the Moonlight Magic event at Hollywood Studios during our trip.

This is always a bit of a lottery but I logged on Wednesday afternoon a few minutes before the queue opened, somehow I got allocated a place of around 1800 and after about 15 minutes wait I was through to the booking page and we were registered! I am hoping it might allow us to ride a couple of things with shorter waits as I am not planning on buying Genie+ or any of the individual paid rides.

We will also try and use the late opening (for deluxe resort guests) at Epcot and Magic Kingdom although not sure how successful it will be.

Finally, we have been hoping to do the Wild Africa Trek for a while now (after doing the Keys to the Kingdom tour a few years ago). I had been hoping that they might allow me to put my Boo Bash credit towards it but I called (and waited on hold forever) and they said it has to be tickets.

I didn’t want to spend forever on hold again so we used a VPN to access the US version of the website earlier today and despite the fact we are past the 60 day mark we managed to pick up a lunchtime slot during our trip!

In a further lucky twist I was checking for Space 220 reservations again this morning (as I have been doing at various times) and got a dinner reservation for the last night of our stay at Animal Kingdom Villas! I did have to rearrange a few of the others as a result but we now have almost everything booked that we wanted!

I do have to book a couple more for our last couple of days (when we return from the cruise) but we are almost sorted!

Just have airport car parking to sort out I think

[Goldia]

It sounds like this will be a fab trip. Well done on getting the Moonlight Magic event booked up and the Wild Africa Trek. Great to be able to add on a few of these extra experiences. Not long now until you go. June isn't far off at all.

Happy planning

[Lizzim]

Originally Posted by Goldia

It sounds like this will be a fab trip. Well done on getting the Moonlight Magic event booked up and the Wild Africa Trek. Great to be able to add on a few of these extra experiences. Not long now until you go. June isn't far off at all.

Happy planning

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I’m a bit nervous about how different it’s going to be without FP+ and not paying for Genie+ but I’m hoping I’ll find some of the magic!

[Lizzim]

I wanted something to wear for Wild Africa Trek, we have a midday slot so probably hot and it might rain.

So I got this combo from the Disney Store, only ordered Sunday and it arrived today!

[smithlane]

This all sounds great Lizzi!
It’s good you managed to get all the restaurants you wanted to try, we’ve only got one to book and I’m dreading it as we’ve got quite a limited itinerary for Orlando!
Looking forward to reading about the Wild Africa Trek, I’d love to do it one day.
We’re spending our last 5 nights on Hilton Head Island which I can’t wait for so hopefully you’ll get to visit next time.

[Lizzim]

Originally Posted by smithlane

This all sounds great Lizzi!
It’s good you managed to get all the restaurants you wanted to try, we’ve only got one to book and I’m dreading it as we’ve got quite a limited itinerary for Orlando!
Looking forward to reading about the Wild Africa Trek, I’d love to do it one day.
We’re spending our last 5 nights on Hilton Head Island which I can’t wait for so hopefully you’ll get to visit next time.

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Hilton Head Island is fab - we went a few years ago. So many amazing restaurants there you have to try!

[Lizzim]

We have booked all of our meals now and today sorted parking at Heathrow (which due to my procrastination cost an extra £40!).

We have booked a little bit of extra time on our arrival back into the UK as we plan to get breakfast and take a shower in the Virgin arrival lounge - the logic being we can maximise our time sleeping in Upper Class and hopefully get a decent breakfast on the ground!

We also booked our port arrival time for our cruise. We have booked 12 - 1230 so we don't need to leave too early but hopefully means we can get onto the ship fairly early

[Lizzim]

Minor dilemma today on our last night at Disney.

I saw elsewhere that the new GF resort studios are available to book and there is availability to swap... but it is 10 more DVC points than we are currently using (which we would borrow from next year).

I can't decide if we should switch? We have a value studio at Jambo at the moment which suits our plans for a final lunch at Sanaa before we fly home (and we won't have a car at that point) but being at the GF would make a final trip to the Magic Kingdom easier as we could walk... but I do like to conserve our points... !

[Goldia]

I'd swap if there was availability. It's only 10 more points you could have a final lunch at Grand Floridian Cafe or as you say pop into MK.