Yo Ho, A Disney Life for Me - Summer 2020 pre trip

[OB1LukeLucas]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I’m totally stressed out about your holiday-obviously having caught up and read the hotel itinerary part I had instantly received the “Houston we have a problem” part. Having then quickly caught up on all replies and suggestions I feel like my head is going to explode and the ADR section is not getting my full attention...and the phone on my battery is dying and my children rudely want my attention before they go to bed-how rude😆
I’m going to call it a night and drink some alcohol to get over my panic of you trying to go to Universal in July-I feel like I’ve failed you somehow and can only assume you were caught up in the joy of planning and forgot all my annual pass/planning scenarios! 🤣
Anyway crisis has been diverted, killing myself laughing at your panicked phonecall to Disney assuming everyone in the queue is after your dates and hotel room😆
I will re-read the food plans tomorrow...

[Goldia]

Originally Posted by OB1LukeLucas

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I’m totally stressed out about your holiday-obviously having caught up and read the hotel itinerary part I had instantly received the “Houston we have a problem” part. Having then quickly caught up on all replies and suggestions I feel like my head is going to explode and the ADR section is not getting my full attention...and the phone on my battery is dying and my children rudely want my attention before they go to bed-how rude😆
I’m going to call it a night and drink some alcohol to get over my panic of you trying to go to Universal in July-I feel like I’ve failed you somehow and can only assume you were caught up in the joy of planning and forgot all my annual pass/planning scenarios! 🤣
Anyway crisis has been diverted, killing myself laughing at your panicked phonecall to Disney assuming everyone in the queue is after your dates and hotel room😆
I will re-read the food plans tomorrow...

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I'm glad my problems entertained you

honestly I don't even know what I was thinking, I knew we had the seasonal passes and knew the block out dates,but somehow this hadn't computed! I'm a total mental case. Can you imagine how awful it would have been to book up a universal hotel, paying all that money for the express passes and then when we got to the turnstiles to be turned away. I guessid have had to stump up the difference to upgrade the passes, if thats even possible.

So, now we are onsite at Disney the whole time, unless I manage to get one night at universal on Saturday 8th August as at the moment I've pencilled in a trip to universal on the Saturday and the Sunday! Plus I'm saving my Clubcard vouchers to convert to hotels.com vouchers. I reckon I'll have enough to only have to pay the tax, so it will feel like a freebie.

[smithlane]

Abby I can only apologise for missing all of these fabulous updates!
I have actually made notes as I have a lot to say

Your flights were such a bargain, well until you add the extra accommodation that is . 22 nights is fantastic!
Please god tell me you're adding baggage? You know it will send me into a cold sweat thinking of you going hand luggage only, remember the Dublin story?

What a great price on the Premier Inn, it's very easy getting over to T2 from there. Have you booked parking yet? If not park on my drive and I'll take you over, I'll message you!

Now you know I'm not a fan of staying onsite (wears tin hat ) but oh I am ever so jealous of your 2 DVC stays at BWV an AKL. This is the plan once it's just Jim and I. He can go off and play golf and I can go into the parks solo!

Easily done about forgetting about the black out dates with US! That was quite a dilemma you had trying to sort out what accommodation to go for but I think you've done the right thing in adding the 2 nights onto CBR at the beginning. If you hadn't can you imagine the spin you'd be in trying to narrow down your ADR list to 14

Which brings me onto you deciding what restaurants to book!
I'm actually laughing out loud imagining you mentally torturing yourself with setting those rules for picking which ADRs to do
I love Dave's responses too, does he not know how these holiday's work by now

Your final list is immense! I think you have made some brilliant choices, I like that you are revisiting one favourite restaurant each. I still can't believe there are over 400 places to eat in WDW, you'll just have to keep going every year to tick them all off

Your plans sound amazing Abby, I'm afraid that once you go for 3 weeks you'll never be able to go back to a 2 week holiday ever again

[3disneykids]

Wow what a roller coaster... I definitely think that the 2 extra nights at CBR was the best idea. It is fantastic that you will be enjoying a variety of hotels but also getting a couple of extra nights of the DDP
Even though we are only doing QSDP I am very much like you in the fact that I want to try new and different options. I will at some point be compiling a list I really need to be more organised lol.

[Goldia]

Originally Posted by smithlane

Abby I can only apologise for missing all of these fabulous updates!
I have actually made notes as I have a lot to say

Your flights were such a bargain, well until you add the extra accommodation that is . 22 nights is fantastic!
Please god tell me you're adding baggage? You know it will send me into a cold sweat thinking of you going hand luggage only, remember the Dublin story?

What a great price on the Premier Inn, it's very easy getting over to T2 from there. Have you booked parking yet? If not park on my drive and I'll take you over, I'll message you!

Now you know I'm not a fan of staying onsite (wears tin hat ) but oh I am ever so jealous of your 2 DVC stays at BWV an AKL. This is the plan once it's just Jim and I. He can go off and play golf and I can go into the parks solo!

Easily done about forgetting about the black out dates with US! That was quite a dilemma you had trying to sort out what accommodation to go for but I think you've done the right thing in adding the 2 nights onto CBR at the beginning. If you hadn't can you imagine the spin you'd be in trying to narrow down your ADR list to 14

Which brings me onto you deciding what restaurants to book!
I'm actually laughing out loud imagining you mentally torturing yourself with setting those rules for picking which ADRs to do
I love Dave's responses too, does he not know how these holiday's work by now

Your final list is immense! I think you have made some brilliant choices, I like that you are revisiting one favourite restaurant each. I still can't believe there are over 400 places to eat in WDW, you'll just have to keep going every year to tick them all off

Your plans sound amazing Abby, I'm afraid that once you go for 3 weeks you'll never be able to go back to a 2 week holiday ever again

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You don't need to say sorry for not replying to all my musings more quickly, just make sure you don't do it again

Seriously, I've already paid for the cheap flights in the extra costs of hotels. We could have gone PE for less I reckon but do you know what I am still thinking we will not add on even 1 hold case. I'm not a massive shopper, we've still yet to set foot in a mall in Florida, so there wont be much in the way of souvenirs or extra stuff to bring home. I figure any snacks we have leftover from the DDP part of the trip will be eaten when we are in the frugal last few days of the trip. Only half joking about that, we will eat the snacks but I doubt we will be too frugal as I am planning ADRs for most of those days. So all that means we can fit clothes into the cabin bags, any toiletries that I really must have I'll decant into 100ml bottles. But shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, sun tan lotion etc I'll just buy out there and it will surely end up being cheaper than paying for the extra case. Of course I will have to use the laundry facilities but that just means cocktail time

I've not booked any parking yet, but I'm sure you don't want my car parked on your drive for over 3 weeks! It was a very kind offer though xx

I can just imagine you and Jim in a deluxe hotel, perfect for you to get up and wander early while Jim has a long lie in and you're right he can go off and golf while you have fun in the parks.

I was looking at my restaurant choices this afternoon as it's ADR day on Tuesday, it won't surprise you that I've made a couple of tweaks. Anyway, Dave asked me what I was doing and so I told him I was making sure we had a good balance of buffets compared to proper sit down meals and double checking I hadn't put two character buffets back to back. He rolled his eyes. I think I'm ready for Tuesday though. Somehow having a longer trip seems to have made it harder, I thought it would be easier to fit everything in. But last year, with less days, I had a plan I knew what I wanted and I stuck with it, no messing, no tweaks, not in the run up and not while we were out there, none at all. This year I just can't seem to settle and so I anticipate there will be tweaks.

You're right, I probably won't ever be able to go back to just 14 nights now.

Originally Posted by 3disneykids

Wow what a roller coaster... I definitely think that the 2 extra nights at CBR was the best idea. It is fantastic that you will be enjoying a variety of hotels but also getting a couple of extra nights of the DDP
Even though we are only doing QSDP I am very much like you in the fact that I want to try new and different options. I will at some point be compiling a list I really need to be more organised lol.

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I'm pleased I went for the bonus time at CBR. I'm so excited to see the changes they've made to the resort. I loved it before the skyliner and I hope it still has all the charm and all the laid back vibes of the Caribbean. Not that I've ever been to the Caribbean so I can't really compare

I was thinking the same thing about the QS as we always fall back on old favourites there too. I can't remember ever having a hot dog from Casey's for example, we may have on our first trip, but there are others too that we've just not eaten at and I want to try them all

[Kat11]

Well how did your ADR bookings go? Or is that tomorrow? Can’t remember if you had included pre travel day on your countdown?

I’ve finally got together a semi-permanent plan but I’ve ended up with AK on our second full day so not sure I’ll manage to get a FP for FOP! I don’t go on it anyway cos it makes me queasy but the rest of the family love it.

I’ve also got a list of ADR’s planned which are half new and half we’ve done before, but there’s only 3 must do agains on there so others are still up for grabs. I’ve defo got my eye on Tony’s parade package after your rave review along with Caitlinsmummy’s one too.

Are you going to fill out a vacation planner for us to see as I love those. 😁

Kat

[Goldia]

Originally Posted by Kat11

Well how did your ADR bookings go? Or is that tomorrow? Can’t remember if you had included pre travel day on your countdown?

I’ve finally got together a semi-permanent plan but I’ve ended up with AK on our second full day so not sure I’ll manage to get a FP for FOP! I don’t go on it anyway cos it makes me queasy but the rest of the family love it.

I’ve also got a list of ADR’s planned which are half new and half we’ve done before, but there’s only 3 must do agains on there so others are still up for grabs. I’ve defo got my eye on Tony’s parade package after your rave review along with Caitlinsmummy’s one too.

Are you going to fill out a vacation planner for us to see as I love those. 😁

Kat

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You're spot on today was ADR day I'm pretty happy with everything. Of course the app on my phone was not working I was trying to hurry as I didn't have much time to squeeze it in so I had to login to the website on my phone and slowly but surely work through the days. I'll write it all up properly and do a full update, but long story short I'm happy with the first 10 days being done.

I'm glad you've been inspired to add Tony's to your choices, I hope you're not disappointed it really was a cracking meal we had there. I've got to book that in the next few days as I plan on doing that later in the trip this year. I've decided to do AK on our first full day as it has EMH. I know there is no chance of us getting a FOP FP but we have yet to see the whole queue for stand-by so maybe I'll put that in the plan for the EMH time. But I know if we do decide to go for the stand-by I'll be thinking about all the rides we're not doing as the rest of the park will be really quiet. We'll see. Park strategy and touring plans can be decided much nearer the time.

[caitlinsmummy]

So glad you managed to sort them Abby looking forward to the update

Kat if you can manage to do Tony's definitely do it xx

[Goldia]

Originally Posted by caitlinsmummy

So glad you managed to sort them Abby looking forward to the update

Kat if you can manage to do Tony's definitely do it xx

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A planning update is on it's way right now! It's not a full update, more of a mini update, ADR day is so exciting though isn't it?

[Goldia]

Daily plans

I thought it would be helpful (and hopefully entertaining ) to share some of the thought processes I go through when deciding which parks to do on which days as I’ve seen a few threads asking about the busy day guides and how people use them. We’ll see how much of the inner workings of my mind you all find useful or indeed entertaining .

So, I do always look at the busy day guide and park hours information on the dibb. Then, not content with just looking at it I like to copy it to my own spreadsheet so I input the dates of my trip and then I input the park hours and then I input the EMH and EEH and then I colour code it Yes it sounds like a lot of work, that’s because it is! This is the current year’s sheet I’ve got the 2019 Universal park hours on it as they haven’t been listed on the park hours information on the dibb.

Look how I’ve made it very clear to myself that the annual passes cannot be used in July and they will expire. I’m not going to make a hideous mistake and plan in a US or IOA day when we can’t actually go then.

The next spreadsheet that I like to type up is the most recommended, average and least recommended parks for each day of our trip. I also really like the historic crowd averages function on the dibb. Does everyone know this is available as I sort of stumbled across it? When you look at the park hours next to the name of each park there is a little blue i icon which you can click on for further information. There are show times, attraction operating hours shop opening hours and also a really handy button that tells you the historic park hours and the average crowd level for that park in years gone by. This score is then added to my spreadsheet and is colour coded red, amber green for just that park.

What I mean is I find it pointless to just look at the lowest crowd level each day as that is nearly always going to be HS or AK every single day for our trip. Hollywood Studios has a high of 3.3 and a low of 1.5 for historic crowds. So, there’s not much point in comparing it to Magic Kingdom which has a high of 6 and a low of 3.7. Therefore, I colour code each park individually only comparing the crowds at HS to itself not to other parks (I hope all that technical talk makes sense ). I then compare this information to the recommended parks and see if the ‘greenest’ day for us on our trip matches with the Dibb recommended park.

Next I print out the dates of our trip on an A3 piece of paper, collect up mini post-it notes and get sticking.

We like to go to a park in the morning, then have a rest at the resort and then in the evening we go to a different park or to an ADR at a resort. I like to put EMH at the beginning of the trip, these are always the least recommended parks on the busy day guide so after our break at the resort I will then plan the most recommended park for the evening or an alternative if I fancy somewhere else.

I've gone for two Universal days back to back as I'm really keen to do an overnight stay and get the express passes. I've also planned in some days towards the end of the trip when we might do EEH. We've never done this before as we've always struggled to stay awake later. I've put in the days where we think there will be MNSSHP, but these are just guesses based on the park hours.

After I’ve got a rough plan of what I’m happy with, bearing in mind it’s all done on post-it’s so that I can make changes swapping things around easily, I then get a new set of little post-it notes out and write out all the ADRs that I want to do. These can then be stuck on the relevant days as, of course, a meal at Coral Reef needs to be planned for a day that we are going to Epcot. This year it feels like I’m planning less meals in the parks and more at resorts and DS than before so I was struggling to get them all in. But I think I’m happy with the plan.

Saying that, I've realised that this photo isn't the most uptodate photo as I've changed lots of the ADRs since I took the photo on Friday. So, now the plan is Sci Fi Diner on Tuesday 28th not HBD Fantasmic...plus there are other swaps, but you get the idea. I've also moved Boathouse to the DDP part of the stay as I can't stop looking at the menu and thinking that I won't want to order a cheap club sandwich! I'll have to take a new photo and share that later so you can see the new ADR plans.

Once these little post-its are stuck on I check out the restaurant timings so that I can decide when we want our reservation to be made. I found out that the Trattoria al Forno breakfast actually runs until noon so we can have a later brunch here but the Topolino one doesn't run as late so that's on a day where we will be at the resort in the morning. I also tally up the number of EMH, mornings, evenings and late nights at each park to check it’s a fair amount That’s the little blue post-it bottom right. ADRs that I had planned to do but that aren’t included are stuck down the right too, just in case I want to add them in.

Then when I was getting my list of ADR timings together I remembered that as we have such a long stay at three different resorts I would need to check when each ADR could be made. So, today was the 180 day mark for our trip. I was able to book the first 10 days of ADRs from Sunday 26th July to Wednesday 5th August. We do not ever have an ADR on travel day as we’re just too shattered and find that pizza or nuggets are about all we’re good for. Then tomorrow I can book for Thursday 6th August and each day following until 3rd February when I can book Tuesday 11th August. This is the date that we check out of the first resort and check in to the Boardwalk. So, I believe that I won’t actually be able to book ADRs for the Boardwalk stay until 13th February as this is when I will be 180 days out from that part of the trip…does that make sense? I think this logic is correct and that on 13th February I can book the three days that I’m staying at the Boardwalk and then I’ll have to wait until 16th February to book the three days ADRs for when we’re staying at AKL. We’ll see what happens, as of today I have booked the first ten days worth with only minor irritations of MDE crashing on the app and then being incredibly slow on the website . I’ll update you with the full list when they are all booked and done.

For those who would prefer a full daily plans write up so that you can see what parks we are going to and when, as opposed to how I planned it all, then fear not I will of course do that for you all! Kat asked if I was going to type it up into the trip planner and actually this was something that I didn’t make much use of last year but I intend to do it this year.

It’s all felt rather exciting today as we are now less than 6 months to go, it’s downhill now to summer.

Wahoo We're going to Disney World.