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Old 24 Oct 18, 07:07 PM  
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Lisa29
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Another Wedding Trip - October 2019 Pre-Trip Report *Updated 07.09.19*

Another Wedding Trip – October 2019 Pre-Trip

Intro

My sister Danielle (the one the 2015 trip was all about! ) asked me last week when I was going to start this pre-trip as I started the last one at just under 400 days out and we are currently at 343 days! I was thinking I didn't have much to report on so far but then realised after re-reading the start of my last pre-trip (where we had already had ups, downs and changes), a few things have already happened with this holiday, though not quite as much as last time, so thought I would make a start.

The trip reports from my last two trips are here, Five Little Ones Take the Adults Sept/Oct 2013 and The Land, Sea and Wedding Trip October 2015, for anyone who may like a read.

I will start with the my family, as per previous trips, it will be what we do that I will write about.

I am Lisa and this will be my ninth trip. I love these holidays, I love the planning that goes with them, the shopping, the food, the list goes on!

My husband Phil and this will be his seventh trip. I listed him as a guest star in my last pre-trip report; as designated photographer, he tends to only end up in Memory Maker photos! I will imagine it will be the same again this time, though it is his own fault for taking such good photos.

Our daughters Madison and Kaley


When I started my last pre-trip report, Madison was nearly 6 and Kaley nearly 3; they have just turned 10 and 7! Time goes so fast!

This will be Madison's fifth and Kaley's third trip. They both love dancing and Disney and are just growing up too fast. Madison is still very wary of rides, especially after us going on Seven Dwarfs Mine Train in 2015 and riding at the back, not realising this was where the ride was the fastest, so there are a lot that are on her 'I'm not going on that' list! Kaley is a bit braver so we are hoping she will go on some of the bigger rides with Phil.

The rest of the cast for the trip are:

My Mum and Dad, Lorraine and Mick

I have lost track of how many times they have been now, what with going twice a year for the last few years. They have two trips between now and October, of course I am not at all envious!

My brother Ryan, sister-in-law Bethany, niece Piper and making his debut in my reports, my nephew Cody

This was taken in May this year when they went for Cody's first trip.

My sister Danielle and brother-in-law Dave

Another (almost) making their debut in my reports

Dan and Dave's baby boy, due in December

My sister Michelle, her fiancé Jamie, nieces Sydney and Kori and nephew Saxon, however, I don't have a photo of Michelle and Jamie to hand so this is just the kids for now.

The final members of the trip are members of Jamie's family, I won't include pics as I haven't asked them if it is ok.

I imagine that the title of the report, the fact that i have referred to someone as fiancé and the mention of family members from another family *may* just give away what this trip is about!

Next up, how the trip came about.
__________________

MY TRIP AND DINING REPORTS - July 2023 Ten (Not So) Little Ones Take the Adults ~~ Onsite/Offsite Dining Report - July 2023 - 4 people - £168 budget per day plus tips ~~ Another Birthday Trip, October 2019 ~~ The Land, Sea and Wedding Trip Report, October 2015 ~~. Sept / Oct 2013 Five Little Ones Take the Adults
IG - Lisas29 and familyanddisney

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Edited at 04:39 PM.
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Old 24 Oct 18, 07:07 PM  
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#2
Lisa29
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Lisa29's Reviews
Hotel Reviews: 7
Restaurant Reviews: 13

theDIBB Guidebook
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Guidebook Reviews: 8
Links to updates

1. How the trip came about
2. Our plans, version one
3. Our plans, version two
4. Flights
5. A Very Special Update
6. Our plans, version three
7. Things booked and ticked off the to-do list
8. More things booked and ticked off the to-do list
9. ADR Day
10. ADR Booked
11. Countdown Chart
12.
Assorted Update
13. Another Assorted Update
__________________

MY TRIP AND DINING REPORTS - July 2023 Ten (Not So) Little Ones Take the Adults ~~ Onsite/Offsite Dining Report - July 2023 - 4 people - £168 budget per day plus tips ~~ Another Birthday Trip, October 2019 ~~ The Land, Sea and Wedding Trip Report, October 2015 ~~. Sept / Oct 2013 Five Little Ones Take the Adults
IG - Lisas29 and familyanddisney

00 / 01 / 04 / 07 /Xmas 08 / 10 / 13 / 15 / 17 / 19 / 23

Edited at 04:39 PM.
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Old 24 Oct 18, 07:10 PM  
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Lisa29
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How the trip came about

As I mentioned in my previous post, I think the title of this report gives away what this trip is about.

With 2015 being all about Danielle (it wasn't really), my sister Michelle decided that she wanted to get in on the action and have a holiday all about her (again, it really isn't!)! In all seriousness, Michelle has been talking about getting married in Orlando for a very long time.

I need to backtrack a bit here. We had always hoped to go back in 2019. We had some savings policies that were due to be cashed in during that year and we had planned on using the money to go back to Disney. However in June 2017, my Nana passed away (my Grandad had passed away 11 years before) and shortly afterwards, the opportunity to purchase their home of 50 years came to us and we just couldn't turn it down. It meant cashing in the policies and using the money towards the house, rather than being able to keep it for a holiday. We were a bit disappointed but we had our dream house and we knew that was far more important and we would go back again, albeit later than we had originally planned.

At some point between then and us completing on the house in December, Michelle told us all that her and Jamie were definitely going to get married in Orlando, and were planning to do so in October 2019. We were then in the horrible position of having to say no, as we knew we wouldn't have the money to be able to do this. This was awful. There was a time when Michelle and her family weren't coming to Danielle's wedding and we all knew the day would not have been the same if they weren't there…and there we were being in that same situation of having to say we wouldn't be able to go and we both felt terrible about it.

We discussed lots of options - only going for a week, staying offsite and doing no parks, Phil even said he wouldn't go so there was only me and the girls to pay for, but nothing was a good enough and affordable enough solution. We left it that we would be a no but would still try and work something out to enable us to go.

Fast forward to December when we completed on the house and we found out that my Nana and Grandad had left each of their Grandchildren some money. This was a lovely and unexpected surprise and we said we would put the money away for now, just in case. Christmas then came around and my amazing parents gifted my siblings and I with some money and we knew there was only one thing we would be spending it on - we were going back to Disney World in October 2019!

We were so happy and started talking about what we wanted to do, when we were going, where we would stay, and were eagerly awaiting April 2018 for Disney to hopefully release a free dining offer.

I'm going to leave this there because of course it is never that simple and of course there was some drama and plan changes when the release finally happened!

Next up, our plans version 1.
__________________

MY TRIP AND DINING REPORTS - July 2023 Ten (Not So) Little Ones Take the Adults ~~ Onsite/Offsite Dining Report - July 2023 - 4 people - £168 budget per day plus tips ~~ Another Birthday Trip, October 2019 ~~ The Land, Sea and Wedding Trip Report, October 2015 ~~. Sept / Oct 2013 Five Little Ones Take the Adults
IG - Lisas29 and familyanddisney

00 / 01 / 04 / 07 /Xmas 08 / 10 / 13 / 15 / 17 / 19 / 23
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Old 24 Oct 18, 08:21 PM  
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DiddyDan
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Yaaay you've started! I feel it makes it more real having a pre-trip report

Love all the pictures of the kids and can't wait for more! x
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Wedding pre-trip report - Dan & Dave's Orlando Wedding & Disneymoon Oct 15

With parents 00,01,04,07,12,13-With Dave! Xmas 08 Villa/09 Vegas-LA-San Fran/10 NY-Orlando KV, VB, RP & BLT/11 Vegas/12 LA & Disney Cali/14 DLP/15 Orlando Wedding/16 Orlando Poly & SSR & Vegas/17 Orlando BLT & SSR/17 DLP/18 Orlando
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Old 24 Oct 18, 08:44 PM  
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collybird
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I am so excited you’ve started!

It makes me smile thinking of you in your grandparents’ house.

So glad that you’re going to be able to join your family at the wedding.
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Old 24 Oct 18, 08:44 PM  
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collybird
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Originally Posted by DiddyDan View Post
Yaaay you've started! I feel it makes it more real having a pre-trip report

Love all the pictures of the kids and can't wait for more! x
Congratulations to you and Dave on your baby news!

How funny that your family had all those girls and now three boys in a row.
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Old 25 Oct 18, 12:29 PM  
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Lisa29
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Originally Posted by DiddyDan View Post
Yaaay you've started! I feel it makes it more real having a pre-trip report

Love all the pictures of the kids and can't wait for more! x
I know, it does seem more real starting this. x

Originally Posted by collybird View Post
I am so excited you’ve started!

It makes me smile thinking of you in your grandparents’ house.

So glad that you’re going to be able to join your family at the wedding.
Thanks Colette, I thought it was about time I started.

That's lovely, thank you, it still seems very surreal sometimes that we live there.x
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MY TRIP AND DINING REPORTS - July 2023 Ten (Not So) Little Ones Take the Adults ~~ Onsite/Offsite Dining Report - July 2023 - 4 people - £168 budget per day plus tips ~~ Another Birthday Trip, October 2019 ~~ The Land, Sea and Wedding Trip Report, October 2015 ~~. Sept / Oct 2013 Five Little Ones Take the Adults
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Old 25 Oct 18, 12:37 PM  
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DisneyKim416
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Loved reading your previous reports, excited to read along with this one!
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Old 25 Oct 18, 12:39 PM  
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Lisa29
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Our Plans, Version One

As I mentioned in my previous post, we were anxiously waiting for April to come around for Disney to release the free dining offer. I had hoped it would be late March like last year but that wasn't the case, nor was early April. April 19th then seemed to be the date mentioned a lot on here so I went to bed as usual the night before but couldn't sleep properly, so ended up looking on the dibb in the early hours of the morning. The main page had the story from ATD saying that free dining had been released, yay!

I was so excited and was wide awake now! I quickly skimmed through the story and it all looked good for when we wanted to go. Then I read it properly and all the excitement went away as I read the following -

Staying at a Disney Deluxe Villa Resort?
Book by 6 Nov 2018, for arrivals from 1 Jan – 07 April and 26 Apr – 16 Sept 2019**

We wanted to stay at SSR, but as this is one of the deluxe villa resorts, and our dates would be the middle of October, it seemed that this wasn't going to be possible. I had a look to see if there was any further information anywhere, or if there was anything on the main Disney site but couldn't find anything. I managed to fall back asleep and had another look when I woke in the morning but it seemed that this was going to be the case - our original plan of sharing a 2-bed villa with Ryan, Bethany and the kids at SSR was not going to happen. I sent a message on our family WhatsApp to let them know and tried not to think of what this meant.

For us and Ryan and Bethany, staying in a 2-bed villa and getting the free dining plan was the most affordable way for us to go, as when we have priced up two studios at SSR, a 2-bed always came out at a better price. Any time we have considered a villa, I have never found that the savings have been good enough, not when you take into account paying for food, parking, magic bands, etc., and the perks of getting a free dining plan, the ability to book Fast Passes (FP) at 60 days and being onsite and close to everything, it just seems like a no-brainer to stay onsite. As we don't go every year we like to make the most out of our time there, and I know that if we left a park to go offsite for dinner or back to the villa, we wouldn't go back to a park in the evening.

That only left us with one option - to all stay separately in studios. This wasn't ideal or what we had wanted (we really have been spoilt with the living areas, kitchen, multiple bathrooms and washing facilities of the 2-beds) but the only alternative was a villa, which wasn't a consideration. I started looking at the deluxe resorts that were available (to get the regular dining plan) and they were all so expensive. The least expensive was Animal Kingdom Lodge and though this is a stunning resort, I just find it is too far away from some of the parks and didn't want to pay all that money and not be happy with the location.

I started to look at the moderate resorts instead. I had heard and read many good things about the Port Orleans resorts so started here. I was surprised at the difference in price between here and Animal Kingdom Lodge (over £2000 difference). Of course, this only included the QSDP rather than the regular DDP that we are used to. The cost to upgrade the dining plans was around £800 for the two weeks so was quite a lot. We would also have to factor tips into the budget if we upgraded. Phil and I discussed what we wanted from the holiday and decided that we would like to try just having the QSDP, rather than being tied to the ADRs that are necessary with the restaurants we like and would want to eat at.

So on April 21st, we bit the bullet and booked two weeks at Port Orleans Riverside, for October 11 to October 25 2019! We booked with ATD as even taking the free $200 gift card offered when booking direct with Disney into account, ATD were still cheaper. They also offered free date changes. The deposit amount was £25 per person, so £100 for us.

Pics from google




I did realise the next day that in my rush to book the night before, I had forgotten the £35 discount that they were offering for booking a moderate resort, going through the link on here. I had a quick look on the dibb and found that people who had done the same as me had called and asked if this could be applied to their bookings retrospectively (and ATD were deducting this discount), and were also being given a £150 discount as they did not offer the gift card. I decided it couldn't hurt to call and ask if the same could be done for me. Within about 5 minutes of being on the phone to a lovely lady, I had a £35 discount and £150 price match applied to my booking and a new invoice was in my inbox!

Here is the price breakdown of my booking:

Total booking cost: £4064.00
Deposit paid: -£100.00
Less Dibb Discount: -£35.00
Less ATD price match: -£150.00
Balance outstanding: £3779.00

I have then split this further to show the separate accommodation and ticket costs. I have taken the discounts applied to my booking from the accommodation value:

Accommodation value: £2492.00
Less Dibb Discount: -£35.00
Less ATD price match: -£150.00
Balance outstanding: £2307.00
Less £100 deposit: £2207.00

Adult ticket value: £1194.00 (£398 each) Madison will be 11 so technically a Disney adult.
Child ticket value: £378.00 (£378 each)
Total ticket value: £1572.00

My lovely parents are paying for our park tickets as Christmas and Birthday gifts for the last few years so we just have the accommodation part of this to pay for.

So this is what we HAD booked……..our dates were October 11th to the 25th…..then a whole big issue with our schools half-term time meant that we would be away the week of half-term and the week after, rather than the week before and the week of half-term, which is my preference. We also looked at the flight prices with Thomas Cook and to change dates and go earlier would save us loads of money.

This meant that I wanted to change our dates, but with the lack of availability at most Disney resorts in October, this was proving problematic.

I'm going to leave this here as this was version one of our plans. I'll be back soon with version two!

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MY TRIP AND DINING REPORTS - July 2023 Ten (Not So) Little Ones Take the Adults ~~ Onsite/Offsite Dining Report - July 2023 - 4 people - £168 budget per day plus tips ~~ Another Birthday Trip, October 2019 ~~ The Land, Sea and Wedding Trip Report, October 2015 ~~. Sept / Oct 2013 Five Little Ones Take the Adults
IG - Lisas29 and familyanddisney

00 / 01 / 04 / 07 /Xmas 08 / 10 / 13 / 15 / 17 / 19 / 23
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Old 25 Oct 18, 01:19 PM  
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collybird
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I'm intrigued to see what the changes are, I'm glad you were at peace with Port Orleans Riverside, it is a lovely resort. I'm not sure how you'll feel the room will compare to a villa (you are right, anyone who stays in a 2-bed is spoiled afterwards) but I'm sure you'll be thrilled with the resort as a whole.

I've just realised that our trips next year will overlap
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