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Old 1 Jan 19, 12:42 PM  
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missdopey
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Ok Let's Try This ... With A Difference - March/April 2019 - Pre Trip


Happy new year!
New year - New pre trip report🙂
We decided that due to Easter falling completely outside of the school Easter holidays we would do another Easter trip in 2019, so we've ended up with this countdown.
The cast will be Myself (33), DH (34) and DD (5). This will be trip number 8 for DD and my 6th live trip report.



On Christmas Day a quick browse of Skyscanner showed some reasonable direct flights for our dates. We've flown indirect with BA into Miami at a bargain price for our last 2 trips but were keen to arrive into MCO this trip with as little faffing as possible if the price was right. We got 2adults and 1child MAN-MCO for £750 each including luggage and seat reservations, more than we paid for both flights each last year but our dates weren't flexible and we were really hoping for direct.



Our dates are 30th March - 11th April, arriving back on the 12th. Learning from past experience we booked our Manchester airport parking right away, in the past the price had just risen and risen the closer we got to the holiday so we booked our 14 days meet and greet parking for £39.96.



This is a relatively short notice trip and being DVC members hoping to use our points we were aware we would potentially struggle to get availability for our entries trip and all at one resort is all but impossible at this point. So what we have managed to get so far is 30th March - 4th April in a studio at copper creek villas. Never stayed at wilderness lodge before so we are very excited about this! Hoping to try the new character storybook dining meal with Snow White etc while staying here.



We've also booked 5th April - 11th April in a studio at at Old Key West. Another resort we've never stayed at, having read lots about it we're excited for a quieter second half to our holiday and the proximity to Disney springs and boat transportation.



That left us with one night 4th-5th April to fill. The only resort with any availability has been Saratoga springs, the fact it is the Star Wars half marathon weekend has made availability for these dates particularly difficult. I currently have both Copper creek and old key west waitlisted for this night but least we have somewhere booked if they don't come through. If we end up keeping our night at Saratoga springs we'll probably pay for the deluxe dining plan for this night. We've stayed at Saratoga Springs before 7 years ago and it's one of our home resorts do it would be nice to return.



Update - 79 days to go!

My ritual stalking of the DVC availability calendar paid off and I secured the night we were looking for at wilderness lodge before our waitlist filled 😁
This means we're now 30th March - 5th April Wilderness lodge and 5th April - 11th April Old Key West.
Sent DDs passport renewal off yesterday so just waiting to get that back and sort her ESTA.



74 days to go!

Shortly after the last update I managed to secure the 5th April at copper creek so cancelled that night at OKW and giving us a 7night-5night split. We love the magic kingdom resort area so having longer here suits us.

Booked our 12 day car hire, was over the moon with the price, £321 for a standard SUV, this was booked with Alamo brits and includes an extra driver. Although I don't do a lot of driving on holiday it's nice to have the option.

Fastpass day is in 14 days. We haven't bought our park tickets yet but plan on getting the 14 day ultimates direct from Disney for £375 which include the limited edition toy story magic band. Our annual passes are still valid for the first 4 days of our trip so regardless we will be able to make them fast passes in 2 weeks time.



57 days to go!

We decided that we'd like to do chef mickeys (DDs favourite) and storybook dining character dinner. With the refillable mugs included this would cost us over $300. We've decided it makes sense to do the deluxe dining plan for our first night as this would cost about $280. We'd also be able to do another table service meal and get 6 snacks between us.
So to enable us to purchase 1 night of a dining plan we've moved our first night to boardwalk. We managed to book a boardwalk view room and we're beyond excited 😊
We expect to arrive around 7pm, check in and pop out for a meal in Epcot (we'll see what's available when we arrive). If we arrive later we'll use snacks to get something (possibly flower and garden booth items).
Early start the first morning as usual so we've booked a 7am chef mickeys breakfast. After this we'll hang out at the pool for an hour or so, before Leaving boardwalk and checking in at copper creek for 7 nights.
If we didn't have a meal last night we'll find somewhere for lunch, if not we'll use snacks, got fast passes in magic kingdom that afternoon and then will return to wilderness lodge for our 8.30pm dinner reservation artists point storybook dining.



Fastpass day was 3 days ago, plenty of availability for slinky dog/flight of passage.

8 weeks tomorrow!



4 weeks to go!

Been thinking about our plans for our holiday, so far we've got:

Friday 29th - DH and I are both off work so we're going to finish the packing while DD is at school, collect DD at lunch time and head down to Crewe to meet some friends. We'll probably grab a subway for lunch on the way which seems our usual MO. We've arranged to have tea with some friends that evening and my friend who lives 20 minutes from the airport has kindly suggested we stay at theirs the night before our flight. Means we miss the usual premier inn breakfast but saves us about £70 when you consider the room rate, overnight parking charge and breakfast cost.

Saturday 30th - We'll leave around 7.30-8am for he airport, we've booked airport parking with VIP who meet you at the terminal so hopefully should be sorted and at check in by 8.30am. After clearing security we'll head for breakfast probably at F&B's. A look round the shops and grabbing some snacks and water for the flight should put some of the time in before boarding. Flying direct with VA and due to land at 4.55pm local time. Hopeful for a quick experience at immigration and off to collect our car from Alamo. Hoping to arrive at the Boardwalk for 7pm. Plan is to check in drop of our overnight cases and head out for something to eat. If we're not too tired we'll try for a reservation at either cape may cafe, chefs du France or trattoria al Forno. If we're late/tired we'll just grab something quick possible from the flower and garden booths in Epcot before heading to bed.

Sunday 31st - We're always up at the crack of dawn on our first morning so we've booked a 7am reservation and chef mickeys, DD absolutely loves it here! We'll have some breakfast then return to Boardwalk and use the pool for an hour of so before packing up our overnight stuff and checking out. Next up is check in at copper creek for our 7 night stay here. If we had snacks for food last night we'll be slipping in a lunch reservation early afternoon, so far ideas are jungle canteen in MK or Homecomin' at Disney springs. I'd have liked to have done beaches and cream but we all know reservations at this short notice are few and far between 😢
We've got fastpasses in MK this afternoon which we may or may not make use of depending on our lunch choice. This evening we have a reservation at artist point for storybook dining and expect to be right to bed after we've eaten.

Monday 1st - today's plan is to head out for breakfast on the US192, Denny's or ihop are our go to breakfast spots. We'll use this opportunity to get some supplies from Walmart for our room, eg bottled water, crisps, cookies, beer and pop tarts. We'll spend the late morning/afternoon at a water park and then evening is likely to be Epcot where we'll pick up our pass holder magnets for the flower and garden festival before our APs expire tomorrow 😢 I plan to see about upgrading mine to a gold pass whilst on Epcot if the price is right. Without dvc discount/ability to purchase a gold pass and the upgrade discount I'm hoping to use the value of my 14 day ultimate to bag a cheeky cheap upgrade, we won't likely be back again in the next 12 months so it's not worth us all doing it and won't be the end of the world if I don't get a good deal.

Tuesday 2nd - fastpasses are booked for animal kingdom this morning, i'll be making sure I get a night blossom drink in pandora whilst there! After a couple of busy days I think we'll spend the afternoon back at the pool. This evening we have a reservation at Kobé on the 192, kids eat free on a Tuesday and combined with the early bird menu we'll have one of our favourite meals for under $50. Tonight is Extra Magic Hours at Epcot which we'll head to if we're feeling up to it.

Wednesday 3rd - today's fast passes are booked for Hollywood studios, we don't tend to spend too long here at a time so we've planned to hit the outlets on Vineland when we leave. While here we'll get dinner in the food court, I absolutely love the orange chicken from the maki of japan counter. EMH tonight are at MK, if we don't fancy the park we might go to the top of the world lounge for drinks and fireworks.

Thursday 4th - we've got fastpasses for magic kingdom this morning but I may rearrange them for later today and drive over to Disney springs this morning, have a wander round and grab lunch at earl of sandwich and a sundae from ghirardelli for dessert.
This afternoon/evening seems a good time to chill out at the resort, use the pool and maybe grab a take away to bring back for dinner.

Friday 5th - fastpasses are booked for Epcot, thinking of booking either a lunch/early dinner reservation for Via Napoli, we love the pizza here and the mezzo metro can be shared between the 3 of us and they offer 15% DVC discount. We'll head out of the international gateway to the boardwalk and maybe hire a Surrey bike.

Saturday 6th - we've got a lunch reservation at be our guest today with fastpasses booked around this on Magic kingdom. We may do a full day here today, energy permitting. We'll go back to copper creek for the rest of the day when we're tired out and probably hang at the pool as this will be our last opportunity 😢

Sunday 7th - check out of copper creek and check on at Old Key west, we'll probably go for lunch while waiting for our room to be ready, Disney springs would be a good option. We've never been to Old Key west so we'll have a good look around and check out the resort. This evening we've got fastpasses at Hollywood studios so that's the plan.

Monday 8th - we've got very few plans for today, likely to be some time spent in the pool, a trip to Disney springs if we didn't make it yesterday and maybe a park in the evening if we fancy it.

Tuesday 9th - fastpasses are booked for animal kingdom, whilst out this direction we may head for lunch somewhere along the 192, we have a few faves like Arby's and Buffalo Wild Wings we'd like to get to. This evening is EMH at Epcot so we'll head there for a bit. I'll be wanting some treats from Karamel Kuche and may attempt to get some home in one piece.

Wednesday 10th - our last full day! We'll sort out most of our packing, spend some time at the pool and this afternoon/evening will be spent at magic kingdom where we'll watch happily ever after and hopefully stay for extra magic hours.

Thursday 11th - Home time 😢. We'll finish our packing, leave Old Key west and probably grab some breakfast and do some last minute shopping at Disney springs. Our flight isn't until around 5pm so we'll aim to arrive at he airport around 1.30-2pm and once checked in we'll get some lunch at chills too in The main terminal incase the food on the flight is the usual poor standard. That'll pretty much bring to an end our 2019 Florida fun.

As ever there's every chance these plans will change when we're there but it's always fun to see what I thought we might do compared with what we end up actually doing. We enjoy a game of miniature golf so this will probably appear somewhere and perhaps even an escape room or two!



10 days to go!

Yesterday I finally got round to adding the deluxe dining plan to our 1 night boardwalk stay. Total cost for 2 adults 1 child was $276. Exchange rate on the clarity card was $1.32 so cost us £210. I've managed to get a 4.30pm reservation for storybook dining bringing our reservation forward by 4 hours, meaning out plans for the dining plan will be:
Dinner when we arrive - looking at cape may cafe or chefs du France.
Breakfast - chef mickeys.
Lunch - snack credits somewhere.
Dinner - storybook dining.
Plenty of use out of our refillable mug.

I also managed to secure a reservation for beaches and cream on our last full day 😀

Single digit day tomorrow 😀😀


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Old 1 Jan 19, 03:32 PM  
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Cinderella
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Great start👍
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Old 2 Feb 19, 11:18 AM  
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saratogajan
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Looking forward to this. I’m there when you are! At the grand Floridian villas for the last part of our stay for my husbands marathon running! Have a great holiday
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Old 20 Mar 19, 11:21 PM  
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app
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New Photo Added by missdopey - 20 Mar 19 10:21 PM.
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