Filling Our Dreams to the Brim with Fright! [An October 2016 PTR] *Updated 03/10*

[axxxl]

Hi, I'm Amy. You may remember me from such trip reports as "The Beginning of an Obsession" and "We're Doing a Sequel" (the latter of which I need to finish).

Here I am, back again for another pre-trip report! I know October 2016 is a good while away, but I wanted to get cracking to detail our planning process and to see how much things change compared to when we first booked back in April this year.

Our cast remains the same as always:-



Myself, Amy, 22 years old. Has the sudden realisation that I will be a mere month away from 24 when we depart UK soil. I work for an electrical engineering company, dealing with money and admin stuff. I've been a Disney nut all of my life, but my obsession reached new levels after I visited Disney World for the first time last year. I have also been to Disneyland Paris 5 times, soon to be 6.

My fiancé, Lewis, also 22 years old. Lewis works as a Genius for Apple. Didn't really grow up on Disney, but has been slowly brainwashed by myself over the past 6 years and has grown to love it just as much as me. Lewis didn't really partake all that much in the planning for our first trip, but now enjoys being involved and making the all important decisions.

We've been together for more than 6 years now, and got engaged whilst out in Disney World in 2014. We don't have an impending wedding date as we're saving up for a house, but I managed to convince Lewis that house buying AND booking another Disney World trip was the best idea.

How this trip came to be:-

After returning from our first visit to Florida last year, we both decided that another trip must be booked. So, less than 7 days later, we had our 2015 holiday booked up. This year we didn't even wait until we'd been. As soon as the free dining deals were released, I was straight on to different Travel Agents collecting quotes.

Charter Travel came out with the best deal, and since we used them for our 2014 holiday, we booked with them.

I'd initially asked for quotes for Caribbean Beach Resort and Saratoga Springs both in May and October. We cut out May, having been twice already during this month and thought October would be a nice change. Both months were the same price, with Saratoga coming up £700 more than CBR at £4290. We definitely had intentions of upgrading to the full dining plan as we had for 2015, so with an upgrade cost of £180 each that only left a difference of £340 between the two resorts.

So ultimately, we booked Saratoga Springs from 4th-18th October 2016 with Virgin flights from Manchester. Also included was free dining, free Memory Maker and the $200 gift card. All for the grand total of £4190.


Photo by colorcrayons on Flickr

We will be spending the large majority of our time in Disney. Having previously done two Universal/IOA days and a Florida Mall day, we've decided to cut our Universal days down to one. Universal has been pretty empty on our visits, with pretty much no queues and we've been able to get what we wanted done in one day. In turn this makes a 14 day ticket pretty expensive, so we plan to buy a 1 day, 2 park ticket on the gate.

We will also be buying tickets for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, which we're both so excited to do! We're also really looking forward to seeing the parks all decked out in their Halloween gear, making for some great photos.

I have made a list (already) of the restaurants we would like to use our dining plan credits at, however this is subject to change over the next 424 days.

I appreciate I have waffled on a fair bit here, but that's what we have so far. Updates may well be few and far between for the time being, but I will definitely keep you all posted on what we've been up to during the planning process!

Our Plans
001. Introduction
002. Potential ADR List
003. Flight Change and Seats Booked
004. Disney Store Japan Haul and Current Plans
005. Confirmation of ADRs
006. Airport Hotel Booking
007. MNSSHP & ADR Changes
008. Life Updates and ESTAs
009. Balance Paid and $$$
010. Something New
011. OLCI and FastPasses
012. Star Wars Dessert Party & Life Update
013. Almost there!

[LadyDebs86]

I love your title been listening to the soundtrack this morning!

[axxxl]

Originally Posted by LadyDebs86

I love your title been listening to the soundtrack this morning!

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Thank you! I thought something Halloween-y would be appropriate

[sarahewoods]

Hi there, great start to your pre trip report.

We will be there Sept/Oct 2016, however it is mainly Oct as we go the 30th Sept.
Our countdowns will soon be upon us.

Take care

Sarah

[EJSakaAnna]

Looking forward to hearing your plans for this trip, your trip report for your last one is brilliant

[MissVincent]

Great start. October is a great time to visit

[axxxl]

Originally Posted by sarahewoods

Hi there, great start to your pre trip report.

We will be there Sept/Oct 2016, however it is mainly Oct as we go the 30th Sept.
Our countdowns will soon be upon us.

Take care

Sarah

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Yep, our holidays will be here before we know it!

Originally Posted by EJSakaAnna

Looking forward to hearing your plans for this trip, your trip report for your last one is brilliant

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Thank you!

Originally Posted by MissVincent

Great start. October is a great time to visit

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I can't wait, I'm hoping it's a bit cooler than when we've been in May! Really looking forward to the Food & Wine Festival too

[JosieO]

Really happy to see this Amy it sounds like you got a great price for your package, I'd love to stay in a deluxe. I'd have selected my restaurants by now too! x

[lovedisney89]

Great start! Loving your previous trip reports

[axxxl]

Originally Posted by JosieO

Really happy to see this Amy it sounds like you got a great price for your package, I'd love to stay in a deluxe. I'd have selected my restaurants by now too! x

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We seem to be working our way up to the more luxurious resorts haha! Next on my list is Beach Club x

Originally Posted by lovedisney89

Great start! Loving your previous trip reports

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Thank you!