Four Hotels and a lot of food! ( Trip report title pending………)

[Minnie Mum]

23/1/19
Summer 2019; Four Hotels and a lot of food! ( Trip report title pending………)

Hello all,
I already feel like I have done lots of planning but felt it would be fun to do a pre-trip report and then try and do a live food report when we are there.
I managed to do a live food report last summer and really enjoyed it. It was a bit rough and ready, but I know if I leave it until we are home I will never fit it in!.

This is the fourth year in a row that we have been to Orlando, so the plan is that this will be the last for a few years…………………

The travel party is my husband and I and our 2 children. Middle son is 11 and loves Orlando. He is more keen on Universal but enjoys the food at Disney. He is very excited to be a Disney ‘Adult’ and I am relived he can now order what he wants. Last time, I ended up with the child meal so he could order steak!

Our daughter is the baby of the family and is 5. She is princess mad, a thrill seeker and loves water parks and pools.

I booked and paid for our flight in June 18. We are flying Thomas Cook. I kept an eye on upgrading to Premier and managed to get really good deals on both legs so we are now flying Premier which we enjoyed last year.

Hotel;I started off booking AKL with ATD for 14 night with free dining. ATD were great and deducted £150 as there were not offering gift cards

We then saw OKW available with them and changed our booking to 11 nights at OKW with our final 3 nights at Four Seasons. We stayed at Four seasons last summer for 2 nights and loved it! It is an amazing resort to relax at and the kids club( which is included in the price) is great.

Car; We have hired a car through Alamo Brit. We are picking it up on day 2 of the holiday as this knocked £150 off the price and means we can both have a few drinks on the flight. We have pondered not having a car and using Uber/ Disney transport but hubby is keen to have the flexibility and may as well make the most of the free parking which end at the end of 2019!

Our ADR date is the 15/2/19 so we are currently agonizing about that and also pondering reducing our stay at OKW so enable us to stay at a different resort for a few nights.

[Minnie Mum]

UPDATE

We have decided to reduce our stay at OKW to a week.

Last summer we did a split stay between Universal( PB), Four Season, DCL and Vero beach and all really enjoyed the variety.

So we will now have a week at OKW on DDP and then have 2 nights at Poly Club and 2 nights at YC Club before moving to 4 Seasons for our final 3 nights.

We will do the majority of our Disney TS when we have DDP and then do QS/offsite/club.

I have always wanted to stay at the Poly so i am really excited. DS has always wanted to try the slide at Storm away, so he will be delighted.

We stayed AKL club 4 years ago and really enjoyed being able to have a relaxed breakfast and few glasses of wine in the evening so hoping this will work out well for us.

[Minnie Mum]

UPDATE-Dining- Table Service

We now have 21A/7C TS Credits so have had to cut our original list.

I spent Saturday talking to the kids about what they wanted to do. There are lots of restaurant I would like to try( Homecoming, Teppen Edo, Mortomo Asian) but also feel there are not many places where the kids get to eat with princess so if they want to do that, then that what will happen.

The one adult choice is California Grill for Brunch. We loved that last time and DH was clear that this needed to happen! Surprisingly, this was the children first choice too. So that one sorted!

DS said he wanted Garden Grill Breakfast. He is a big fan off waffles/pancakes and GG obviously made an impact last time. He also enjoyed Bon Voyage for the pancakes ( he had my adult meal!)

DD wanted all meals with princess- CRT and Akershus. We have done both twice before and enjoyed Akershus( Breakfast only) and I felt CRT was ok. DH didn’t rate it at all. So the plan is that DD and I go on the day that the boys are going KSC.
We are planning to try Akershus for dinner- has anyone done this and hat do you feel?

The other restaurant that we want to fit in are;

Jungle Canteen- we really enjoyed this last time and enjoyed the must needed mid day break in MK.

Storybook Dining. This is new to us but I don’t feel you can go wrong with Snow white and WL. We stayed here 2 years ago and it would be lovely to visit again and the menu look good!

So we have 1 credit left each- I fancy Homecoming but struggling to know how to fit it in ( as have so many QS want in DS). DH thinks 1900 parkfare for breakfast as the kids love breakfast and DD is massively into Mary Poppins.

I realized after our last 14 night stay at Disney that I really began to dislike buffet! So I am a bit put off by this but sure it would be lovely.

We are planning two Disney meals out of pocket ( during club or 4S stay)

Yak and Yeti- We will use Laundry to part pay and tend to share starters. Love the ahi tuna nachos and dragon sushi roll

Bon Voyage- its one of the cheaper character breakfast and will fit in nicely when we are staying at YC.