#USAnumber3 - Helen & Andy Nov18 - Highs, Lows & What's Next?

[HelenJNT]

Highs, lows and what’s next?

Hi everyone and welcome to the last instalment of my mammoth #USAnumber3 trip report. Thanks for bearing with me – it’s been a real effort getting this one written and posted so I hope you’ve enjoyed it.

I know people love a highs and lows, so let me give it a go…

Highs
Travelling Wednesday to Wednesday. This was a game changer for us. As I said in my last instalment, it’s great to have quieter airports, a holiday that spans over three weeks, and two short weeks either side. I don’t think we’ll ever go weekend to weekend again. In fact, we’ve not long been back from a week in Mallorca, and we deliberately went Tues-Tues for that one too.

British Airways. I think they get a bum rap on here. It was hundreds of pounds cheaper to fly BA than it was Virgin. We went World Traveller Plus, their equivalent of Premium Economy, and although there are more seats than in Virgin PE, we were well looked after, the seats and the entertainment were fine, and the food was outstanding. OK, they charge to reserve your chosen seats with BA WT+, whereas (last time I checked), Virgin PE don’t, but it was still cheaper to fly BA WT+ than it was Virgin Economy so this was a no brainer, especially as the flight out departed only 10 mins later than the Virgin one, and we could get an earlier flight home.

The Beach Club. No surprises here. You know we got this on a free upgrade after the great Saratoga Springs drama of 2018, and I am still amazed at our luck. Everything about it was perfect; the hotel was great, we had excellent service, and, well, location, location, location. It has really spoiled me for future trips, that’s for sure.

The dining plan. This will be a surprise to those of you who have followed us for the past three years. The first time we did the dining plan, we got it wrong and found we were eating too much food, running around the whole time as we were beholden to reservation times, and resented the lack of agility it gave us. In fact, we were so put off by it that we deliberately went Quick Service only in 2017. However, this time, we got it right. We only made reservations for places we really wanted to go, like Le Cellier, and the California Grill. Doing breakfasts helped immensely too as we were too full to eat much else throughout the day, so we weren’t stopping and starting for meals all the time. We didn’t use all the credits, but we weren’t slaves to it, I think we found the perfect balance. Plus, you get booze on it now – win.

Lows
There aren’t really any lows, as it’s a Disney holiday after all, but some of the things that narked me:

Crowd levels. Having to queue to get into a fast pass queue. It was annoying, even more so as we know it’s only going to get worse. Sure, we were there over the marathon and Jersey Week, and the end of Food & Wine, but it felt as busy as it had the previous year over Thanksgiving, and we didn’t really have the added bonus of super low crowds either side.

Hollywood Studios. We knew that going at the height of the construction work was going to be challenging, but it really was tricky. The tiering system for fast passes meant multiple visits and were it not for being able to walk there or get the boat, I think we would have lost the plot if we had to rely on the buses during this trip.

Magic Kingdom MVMCP. There are just too many parties this time of year and it really jiggers up your planning, especially when it comes to seeing evening fireworks and shows, not to mention how busy Epcot and DHS get in the evening when there is a party on at MK. We don’t mind park hopping, but unusually for us, we did it practically every day on this trip. We far prefer to get to a park in morning EMH and stay til the end of the night’s show, but I don’t think we achieved this once.

The humidity. This trip was hard work and made me yearn for 2017 where I needed a jumper more than I needed a shower. I wasn’t prepared for the heat given how much cooler it had been on our previous November visit.

What’s next for us?
Well, we are over halfway through 2019, the non-Disney year, and so far, although we get the blues from time to time, we’re doing alright with our self-imposed year off. We’ve had a nice week in Mallorca, we’re planning to go to New York in December, and we’ve enjoyed being able to take odd days of holiday here and there, rather work for 10 months straight than having it all balloon at the end of the year. I won an award at work recently, which would pay for a weekend in Paris, so we may cave yet though….watch this space.

The eagle eyed among you will know that we have a new countdown! When free dining opened back in April, I was first in the queue to book up for 2020. Actually, that’s a lie, I was about 8,000th in the queue.

I was home alone that day and Andy knew I was going to book, and I had been given a price envelope to keep the trip within. Obviously as soon as I got on the site, I totally ignored that, and panic bought a fortnight at the Wilderness Lodge for June 2020. At a cost of over £7,000, not including flights. Being a good wife, I then had to confess to Andy what I had done, and we agreed that despite the fact that it is a trip to celebrate our ten year wedding anniversary, the cost was too much.

I then spent the best part of eight hours on hold to Disney, to cancel Wilderness Lodge (sob) and downgrade the booking. We’d compromised on Port Orleans French Quarter instead. I have fond memories of the place having stayed there once with my family in the 90s, and once with Andy on our 2013 visit (no trip report for that one). I was a bit sad about it, but it was a clear £2k cheaper, which we knew would pay for our flights, so unfortunately good sense prevailed, and we did the downgrade. Andy did say that we should hang on to the table service dining plan though, so we paid the difference to retain that.

So. there we have it – we’re going back in June. I feel very behind and haven’t even considered planning anything for it yet. The California Grill brunch and Le Cellier dinner are a given but other than that, well, we’ll see. I don’t have to book dining til November, so I can forget about it for a while longer.

The big question I guess is what was the final tater tot tally from this trip? Six. Can I beat it? You bet.

The other question is whether there will be a 2020 trip report? Will I do #USAnumber4? In all honesty, I doubt it. Much I want the faceless folk of the internet to read about my hunt for uninhabited restrooms and obtaining ride photos with Madonna’s adopted children, I don’t know if I have another report in me. Mind you, I feel like I used all my good jokes in the 2016 report and still managed to eke out another two reports (over 160,000 words) following that one.

I guess never say never but right now….. I think probably not. My job is mad and already involves too many hours writing stuff, so the last thing I felt like doing on this holiday was taking notes, and I didn’t want to spend the evenings and weekends writing pages and pages more content, plus I didn’t want to do a half-≈≈≈≈≈ job.

You never know though – so many funny and weird things happen to us on our Disney adventures that make me think “ooh that’s great trip report material” that I might cave. Please feel free to follow our adventures via the wonders of Instagram though!

Thank you to everyone who has read along with me, laughed and cringed in the right places and taken the time to comment and engage with me. There are so many trip reports on here these days that it must be hard to know which ones to commit to.

It’s all too easy these days just to read and run, so I am genuinely grateful to those who take the time to respond and the friends I have made along the way. That includes Rachael and Lisa, who have sent me 10 months' worth of messages encouraging (badgering) me to get this completed, so I guess, if this was a book, I would dedicate it to you two.

I’m not very good at goodbyes, so I guess I’ll just say… see ya real soon…..

[Inky]

Love your reports Helen, thanks for writing, we go to POR next August, can’t wait, Disney is so addictive isn’t it x

[minnie52]

Have loved reading along! Thank you for sharing!

[arosiem]

Is that a labyrinth themed vest I spy?!? Amazing.

Loved your trippie, we were out at the same time as you and can definitely agree on some of your points. We booked November as OH is not good with heat at all and I had assured him that it would be MUCH cooler in November 👀 ooops.

Hopefully you cave and write another, or at least a mini trippie for your next one 😉 happy planning!

[Hollyhobbit]

I have loved reading all your trip reports . Thanks for taking the time . Enjoy your up coming trips x

[princess allie]

I love your reports, they always make me laugh, but I do understand that the time and effort must be huge, so I totally understand if you don’t write another (but secretly hoping that you do)

[MrsSilverStar]

Woah, the Labyrinth top featuring the song that always makes me cry combined with the news that it’s your last trip report - you’re making me emotional!

It was the Madonna’s adopted child comment that got me hooked all those years ago so I’m glad to see it referenced again, along with that cracking Star Wars photo.

Thanks for sharing your trips with us, have really enjoyed reading along.

[vampiress88]

Yours was the first ever trip report I read and it made me want to write my own.

👍

[ely3857]

POFQ is our fave but next time we plumped for Beach Club. This was based on nerves that the free dining would get more and more restricted and without it we wouldn’t stay onsite so we upgraded from ASMo to CBR to BC...

[4fromsuffolk]

Been looking out for your What’s Next bit. Loved reading all about your trip, thank you. We stayed at POFQ in 2017 it’s a nice resort you will have a great time I’m sure. I will miss your reports if you decide not to do one, but totally understand it’s a massive undertaking to start one. Take care Helen & Andy xx