Disney Dawgs - September 2019

[lottie89]

After my last trip report taking 2.5 years to finish, I though maybe I wouldn't give myself the pressure this time around - yet here I am!

There is absolutely no reason for the cool name 'Disney Dawgs' other than that is is the name of our Whatsapp group for planning, and it's kind of become the name of the trip.

So without further ado, let me introduce you to the dawgs:



From left to right we have...

Rich, 37 (my fiance): moans about going to Disney but always has a really good time when we're there.
Lottie, 30 (me): chief planner, lover of all things Disney.
Emily, 28 (my sister): hasn't been to WDW since 1999 when we were children, but has had plenty of DLP trips. Is as excited as me.
Jorge, 28 (Em's bf): has never been to America, and has only been to DLP once. He's mainly excited for the food.


The back story

Mine and Emily's parents took us to WDW in 1998 and again in 1999, and the memories we have from those trips are some of our most treasured ones from childhood. Although Mum & Dad promised to take us back, they never did, although we did have plenty of DLP trips so we weren't totally deprived.

In 2012 I realised that I was actually an adult and didn't have to wait for my parents to take me, so I saved up and went in 2013. The relationship I was in at the time ended very acrimoniously the next year which means I never even think about that trip and it almost feels like I never went on it. However, I wouldn't change a thing because if it wasn't for that trip I wouldn't have found the Dibb and met Libby & Ben (babes). If I hadn't have met them, I wouldn't have been invited to their WDW wedding in 2016, and I don't think I would have successfully been able to persuade Rich to come with me!

So I have been lucky enough to go as an adult, but I haven't yet been with my sister. We always said we'd go before we have kids, and with mine and Rich's wedding and honeymoon dominating 2020, 2019 felt like the right time to finally go to WDW with Emily!

The four of us have been away a few times together, the most recent was this May for my 30th birthday. I knew I was going away with Rich but didn't know where (it was Madrid!). I also didn't know that he had arranged for Emily and Jorge to surprise us there - the picture above was taken about 30 seconds after they appeared around the corner just after we had arrived. We had one of the best days EVER that day, just drinking, eating, and seeing an incredible flamenco show. I can't wait to have loads more best days ever in Florida with them!

Booking

I started looking 'for fun' in Sept 2018 at the free dining deals, and found that AKL was considerably cheaper than the other Deluxe resorts. We also considered POR as this is where we stayed in the 90s, but by the time we had upgraded to full DDP from QSDP it was coming out at £3,766 vs. only £2,590 for AKL with DDP included! No-brainer. Plus AKL opened not too long after we last went and I remember looking at pictures in a brochure and wishing I could go one day - can’t wait to finally stay there!

I sent it to my sister and we set to work persuading the boys to let this trip happen - we hadn't properly discussed going so it ended up being quite a spontaneous thing and I really didn't think I'd get Rich on board.

Some negotiating was required, and he said we could only go if we also go somewhere that isn't Florida. I have no issues with a two-in-one holiday so I was happy to comply! Emily and Jorge are just going to do Disney and Universal - Jorge was on board as soon as I explained the dining plan to him.

Not quite believing we'd managed it, Emily and I put down the deposits for 7 nights at AKL, with 14 day Ultimates and free DDP. Total cost per couple was £2,590, which compared to the same package at other resorts seemed quite reasonable (see POR cost above!). Even better now that the DDP includes alcohol - we have a drink drink with most meals on holiday, so that is genuinely going to save us a packet.

Flights

We are flying with BA, but Rich and I had enough Avios to book reward flights in Business Class. This means that we'll all be on the same plane but we'll be living it up while they're in economy, oops! They got a great price though, I think it was around £500pp for direct return flights with BA.

We then fly with Spirit to Medellin, then a quick hop to Cartagena, and then with Spirit again back to Orlando. The original plan was to get the only direct flight on Sat 5th October from Cartagena to Orlando, which gets in at 1ish, and then our flight home with BA was at 5.30pm-ish. I was a bit uncomfortable as it's not a connecting flight, but the delay history for the Spirit flight was really good and it's a risk we decided we were willing to take.

However, a couple of months ago, the Cartegna flight was moved by 4 hours! This mean that we'd get to Orlando at 5pm, and wouldn't be able to catch our flight home.

We *really* didn't want to lose our reward seats, so I signed up for alerts, hoping desperately that two business class Avios seats would become available for the Sunday, and we could just have an extra night in Orlando. Eventually, some seats did become available but on the Monday - we didn't want to risk missing them so we moved our flight home and now found ourselves with 2 extra nights to kill in Orlando (and an extra day of annual leave to take).

Our 14 day Ultimates would have run out on the Friday, so I called Disney to find out how much it would be to upgrade them to 21 day Ultimates. I was expecting it to be a bit too expensive, and was happy to just book a cheap hotel and sit by the pool for a couple of days if need be, but the lady on the phone said 'that'll be £12 madam'. I had to make her repeat it twice - it was literally £6pp for an extra week of unlimited park entry. Obviously I didn't even consult Rich and just added this to our booking.

So we've now ended up with two bonus days at Coronado Springs, we'll just catch the Skyliner opening and the new Epcot Forever nighttime show!

So with all of that in mind, here is our...

Final itinerary


21st September 2019: BA flight LGW - MCO
21st - 28th September 2019: 7 nights AKL with free DDP
28th - 29th September 2019: 1 night Universal's Endless Summer Surfside Inn & Suites in a 2 bedroom suite

Here is where our trips diverge...

Emily & Jorge
29th September - 1st October: 2 nights Hard Rock Hotel
1st October: BA flight MCO - LGW

Lottie & Rich
29th - 30th September 2019: 1 night Hard Rock Hotel
30th September 2019: Flight MCO - MDE (Medellin)
20th September - 2nd October 2019: 2 nights Celestino Boutique Hotel
2nd October 2019: Flight MDE - CTG (Cartagena)
2nd - 5th October 2019: 3 nights Casa San Agustin (can't wait to stay here, it looks amazing)
5th October 2019: Fight CTG - MCO
5th - 7th October 2019: 2 nights Coronado Springs (and Lib & Ben will also be there!)
7th October 2019: BA flight MCO - LGW

Rough plans for the parts of the trip we are all together

As this is going to be the last trip for quite a while, and probably the last without kids in tow, we are going all out. We have bought tickets for MNSSHP, as well as HHN with Express Passes. We're also going to hire a car for one day and drive to Kennedy Space Centre - as it's the 50th anniversary of the moon landings this year it seems like a good year to make the trip!

Saturday 21st September 2019: DAK on arrival for Rivers of Light
Sunday 22nd September 2019: DAK and MK for MNSSHP
Monday 23rd September 2019: DHS, Disney Springs and Cali Grill dinner
Tuesday 24th September 2019: DAK, Epcot, Jellyrolls
Wednesday 25th September 2019: Typhoon Lagoon, MK, Ohana, and back to MK
Thursday 26th September: Epcot, DHS, Yeehaw Bob at POR if we can stay awake
Friday 27th September: MK and Epcot
Saturday 28th September: Kennedy Space Centre and US for Halloween Horror Nights
Sunday 29th September: US & IOA then meeting Libby & Ben for drinks!

ADRs

We had to find a balance here of places Rich and I enjoyed last time and wanted to revisit, and new places to try. With a seven night trip and definitely wanting to do a signature, it was hard to whittle it down to 6 restaurants!

We knew we wanted to do Sci-Fi Dine In, because on our 2016 trip I was texting my sister from there and we were both getting super overexcited about the prospect of a trip together, and we said there and then that we'd go to Sci-Fi together.

> Tusker House breakfast (I was chuffed with my 8am reservation on a non-EMH day, and then they announced 7am EMH every day. I can't move it so we'll have to attempt FOP then head straight over for breakfast. A tad annoying but will be fun!).
> Sci-Fi Dine In lunch
> California Grill dinner
> Ohana dinner
> Biergarten lunch
> Be Our Guest lunch
> Hacienda de San Angel dinner

We'll also be trying out some new QS places and obviously making the most of Food & Wine at Epcot!

I'll leave the pre-trippy there, I've covered the main info! And I'll do my very best to write the trip report in under 2.5 years this time

[Loulabelle18]

Aww can’t see the pic!
Plans sound amazing

[Hmr89]

£12 for the ticket upgrade was a bit of a bargain!

Your plans sound great and I'm looking forward to reading your reviews of Colombia

[charlie_fame]

Yay! Love reading your trip reports and know Libby from the Disney brides group on FB and your right she’s a babe ! Hope u have an amazing time , we are also going to be at AKL the same time as u so excited to stay there 😊

[AJ86]

Sounds like to be a great trip, looking forward to the trip report, hopefully it takes you less that 2 and a half years to do!

[princessgem]

We go 28th sept 👋 we got a bus to Kennedy before and it was brill, it picked us up from one of the Disney resorts! Booked on one of the attraction websites.

[Kat11]

Following along 👍🏻

Kat

[laurac1988]

You have essentially the same dates as us! See you there!

[sheluk]

Wow what a trip! Can’t wait to read all about it. Hubby and I loved all of our pre kids trips, make the most of those free alcoholic drinks

[janewah]

Looking forward to reading, and reliving, as we are there for the same week, and have the same MNSSHP night booked! Also a fan of the split holiday, we are doing Nashville/Memphis/New Orleans before the Disney week. It makes it intense to cram so much into 8 days but hopefully means soaking up every moment and none wasted!