Double Trouble Does Disney TAKE TWO August 2018 - updated 28/7

[a11mark]

you wont be disspointed with BoG its great. We got sat in front of the windows where it snows and I just sat there staring out of the window. lovely restaurant

[loola30]

Originally Posted by Eccle

Your dining reservations sound great, there's a few of those I hope to try.

On HEA, things could change by August, but we watched from the enclosed area in front of Casey's Corner, really good view and everyone stayed seated so no crush of crowds. I think part of it is being used for club guests now, but if you can get in there I would recommend it

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I'll have to have a look into this. Casey's in the one at the end of Main Street just on the left? I'm happy to get somewhere early and wait but just dread the last minute deluge of people into the area. I'd probably wait to see the Kiss Goodnight and leave at a quieter time too.

[loola30]

Originally Posted by chazb

Fab pre trip report. We loved tangerine cafe st Epcot for our qs in 2016 and I’m trying to fit in this time too. So lucky your flying upper class. Have a wonderful trip x

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You have an extra human this time! Congratulations!

[loola30]

Originally Posted by a11mark

you wont be disspointed with BoG its great. We got sat in front of the windows where it snows and I just sat there staring out of the window. lovely restaurant

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The ballroom is the room I'm after too - particularly for the snow! Did you request it when you arrived or were you just lucky?

[Eccle]

Originally Posted by loola30

I'll have to have a look into this. Casey's in the one at the end of Main Street just on the left? I'm happy to get somewhere early and wait but just dread the last minute deluge of people into the area. I'd probably wait to see the Kiss Goodnight and leave at a quieter time too.

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Yes that's the one. I think because people were sitting anyway it didn't get too ridiculous. We also stayed in the park for a while after to avoid the surge leaving which worked well.

[loola30]

Boring bits, extra bits, really stupid bits...

As with all holidays, it can't just be about the excitement of booking lots of restaurants and rides! For the sake of complete honesty when it comes to costing out this holiday, I thought I should include all the extras that we've paid out for too.

New passports for me & DH - £145

This relates to the last part of the title and is my 'really stupid bit'. Some of you may remember that I narrowly averted a disaster with my passport renewal when I put all my documents, personal details, old passport and credit card details into a post box (stupid enough in the first place), but without any postage stamps on it! Cue a few days of panic as to whether it would get to the passport office or be chucked in a bin somewhere for someone to steal my identity. Some frantic Googling (marginally helpful), being told I was really stupid (not at all helpful) and waiting patiently (really my only option at this stage), eventually led me to conclude I would just have to wait and see A few days later I got a text to say my new passport was on the way and would be with me in a couple of working days. I was one very, very relieved Dibber! I opted to renew our passports early and add the additional months on so that I could get our new passport numbers and do our ESTAs before the flights came out. I didn’t want to potentially spend out a lot of money before I had my authorisation to travel



ESTA – approx. £40

I always get nervous when I’m completing these and read them super, super carefully making sure I haven’t randomly declared myself a criminal or something else stupid I had quite a delay on getting approval for both mine and DH's ESTA (even trying the log in and log out trick multiple times). I think I read somewhere that it takes slightly longer if the expiry date on your passport is more than 10 years away (which it would have been having had the remaining months added on to our new ones). The next morning, however, they were authorised and the kids’ ones went through immediately. Phew. Always a relief.



Magical Express - FREE! (If you don't count the stupid amount to stay onsite in the first place )

Once we had our outgoing flight details confirmed we finally booked the Magical Express. I remember the boys being very jealous that people were on the magic Disney bus last time so they are really looking forward to this, even though I’m aware it’s just a jazzed up coach! I'm hoping that we won't have too many stops before the Yacht Club but I know that I'll be absolutely buzzing on our way there



Premium Security at Gatwick - £2!

Thanks to a great tip on a DIBB thread a couple of months back we managed to get this booked for £1 per adult and free for kids! Last summer we were ushered through the family channel at the airport and to be honest it took longer than the regular one with it being summer holidays I honestly find this the most stressful part of the whole holiday when I'm trying to watch bags and kids and sort out belongings and keep an eye on them etc.. We want to get through as quickly and stress-free as possible. This would also enable us to spend more time in the Virgin Clubhouse – very excited about this



Insurance - £107

Super boring but necessary... The insurance policy ended up working out much more than usual this year, mainly due to 3 of us having had operations in the last 2 years. I had a minor op back in October, DH had his deviated septum repaired and Harry obviously had his squint operated on. Added to this I also went for an insurance provider that provided end supplier failure (as we are DIY) and all of a sudden our insurance premium has more than doubled In the grand scheme of the holiday it's not a lot of money but, ya know...



Premium Passport Control - £19.20

As I booked the premium security deal, I now get regular special offer emails for Gatwick airport. One of them offered me premium passport control when we land back into the UK. To be honest after a night flight, feeling like poop and having the raging hump that I’m back from Florida, I would quite happily part with a chunk of cash to avoid the passport control queues. As it was it was less than £20 to go via a premium channel (fastpass for passport control if you like!), it seemed daft not to

So that's all the peripherals I've got booked. Some expensive, some cracking deals and some that are 'free'. The next thing I have planned to get sorted is much more exciting - all the clothes!

[mrsdjh]

Glad to see you got the reward flights you wanted in the end! I'm still collecting the miles hopefully for PE next year. I like to know the flights are booked though so I'm not sure if I would be able to hang on and keep waiting once they're released, particularly as we only have a couple of dates we can fly out on.

The Yacht Club looks lovely and would be my first choice at the Boardwalk area too. We loved RPR too.

[loola30]

Originally Posted by mrsdjh

Glad to see you got the reward flights you wanted in the end! I'm still collecting the miles hopefully for PE next year. I like to know the flights are booked though so I'm not sure if I would be able to hang on and keep waiting once they're released, particularly as we only have a couple of dates we can fly out on.

The Yacht Club looks lovely and would be my first choice at the Boardwalk area too. We loved RPR too.

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Yes I got them - with your help! Thank you again

It does require a little bit of nerve to wait for the reward flights to come up but it's a great feeling when they do. We had set dates this year as well with my Mum's 60th one side and back to school the other but for both dates I have seen various options come up. It's just a case of check, refresh and check again. The app is so much easier to do this on than the website at the moment - especially if you are only searching for fixed dates. Good luck!

[smithlane]

Sounds like you will have a magical time, your two boys are just the cutest! I loved your last report so really looking forward to reading this one

[Apricota]

It does all add up.

Hello, how did you book on to th e magic express as this is the next piece in my puzzle. Thanks