Happy 50th MK - or rather, Happy 40th Epcot!

[MrsBC]

PRE TRIPPIE - or an updated 2022 pre trippie of a planned 2021 trip to replace the 2020 trip that wasn't! Still with me?

XMAS 2020
Like most of us, DH and I were booked to go last year for our (I think) 16th trip to Florida and it was just one more thing that was cancelled during the hell that was 2020!
We had hassle free full refunds from most bookings, and we accepted an open ticket from VA.

We were already planning to be there for the 50th anniversary and once flights opened up we used our open ticket for Sept/Oct Manchester - Mco, it was very easy, and flights were £230 cheaper than last year - so VA refunded the difference (it was in the bank 3 weeks later). We even managed to get the same seats - our favourites 25A and C at the back of the PE section both ways.
Looking at accommodation we decided that (as Disney have currently removed almost all incentives apart from easier access to the parks) even though we love staying onsite especially at Y&BC, we won’t pay Disney deluxe prices for a room with few or no extra perks, so we decided to book offsite on a free cancellation basis, which leaves our options open if a miracle happens and Disney announce any good offers.
For our first 4 nights we’ll hire a car and visit the malls, beach etc so we booked the Bohemian hotel on the lake in Celebration, we’ve stayed there before and love it, the lake view rooms are so peaceful and we especially enjoy being over the road from the Town Tavern

For the main part of the holiday we only looked at hotels around Disney Springs as we’re not keen on IDrive etc at all. We love villas too and have had 5 lovely family holidays in them but find them too big for just 2 of us so we booked an ‘Epcot view’ room at the Hilton Buena Vista Palace at Disney Springs for 14 nights. It looks great, we’ve heard good things about it, and the location is fab, straight across the footbridge at DS. They’ve charged us for 1 night to reserve the room which our VA refund paid for!

Our last night will be at the Grand Floridian in a garden view room, we were gifted it by Disney in ’19 after we had a slight problem at the BC. We needed to ring the special bookings line using the reference we were given, and it was lovely to hear the 'hold music'. It will be a lovely way to end the trip! If we cant go for any reason our offer is a lifetime one so we can rebook whenever we want.

We’ll have a car from the airport for the first part of the trip then use hotel shuttles, Disney transport and uber for the rest. As we’ll be onsite for the last night we’ll use the D.M.E. to go back to the airport (before it’s stopped!)
Attraction Tickets had a decent WDW ticket price on Black Friday week, so we bought our ’14 day for the price of 7’ tickets, and immediately reserved our place in the MK for the 50th anniversary! We know it will be packed out, and we may not get on any rides but we want to be there for the atmosphere and the memories. (We did the same on the 40th).
Since then I’ve booked the Clayton at Manchester airport for our pre flight night, we got breakfast included as we don’t fly till lunchtime.
I also bought some $$ when the rate went over 1.3. Hope it goes up further as the hotels are to be paid in $$.

We still need to renew Estas and annual insurance (what a waste of money that was last year ) , book meet & greet car parking, 5 days car hire, and any Disney backstage tours, ADRs, Epcot wine tastings etc.

JANUARY 21 Tweaking -
* I just happened to be browsing hotels and decided to change our first 4 nights to the Gaylord Palms. Every time we’ve passed it, we say we’d like to check it out, it looks a fun place to stay - lots of facilities and we can still visit Celebration for a walk and to get our Town Tavern fix!

We're so used to paying Disney deluxe prices that we got a big surprise to realise that (not counting our complimentary night at the GF) our 19 night trip is costing over £3,500 LESS for the 2 of us than 14 nights at BC. This will easily cover our food and drink and we're really looking forward to trying a different type of trip - however if a miracle happened and WDW offer a free DDP again we would consider changing back.

MARCH 2021 Tweaking -
*Travel Insurance renewed, cheaper than last year and Covid restrictions noted!
*I booked 4 days car hire for the beginning of the trip, with Alamo (via VHols) for £158 - cheaper than Alamo direct.
*I was checking the Buena Vista Palace site and noticed a new promotion 'Travel & Save', so I messaged them and they moved our booking to this - saving us over $160 (that's a few meals taken care of!)
*I've renewed our Estas and had a drink to settle my nerves , they were authorised within 5 minutes.

APRIL 2021 Tweaking -
*We've cancelled the Buena Vista Palace - because after reading it on the Dibb we checked out the Disney Dolphin on VHols as a hotel only booking and it was only £300 more which we're happy to pay for the convenience and location. VHols are also giving a $50 food voucher for their restaurants, and free car parking if we decide to extend the hire car, as perks. BVP refunded our deposit straight away.
*We've also changed the airport hotel to the Doubletree as it was a few pounds cheaper!
If this holiday doesn't come off at least I've had hours of tweaking fun!

MAY 2021
Just been rechecking prices and the Alamo car hire has now doubled. The Gaylord is $700 more expensive and the flights are extortionate! So glad we booked early.

JUNE 2021
We're still feeling very hopeful for mid September and have started to look at possible requirements for travel (tests, certification, vaccines, isolation etc) - it's so confusing, so I'm going to just wait until we hear properly!
We are both on the double blind Novavax trial and are both fully vaccinated, but as Novavax hasn't yet been accredited we were concerned that it would impact on travel - we'd be so mad if that was the only thing stopping us - so despite doubts we've now also had our 1st AZ vaccine and the 2nd is in a few weeks so we both feel happier about it now.

JULY 2021
Final vaccine in the bag, so all we're waiting for is an announcement from Joe Biden and his 'Covid people' to find out if the trip will actually go ahead in 2 months.
Still hoping - and I’ve booked Liberty Tree Tavern for dinner in the anniversary day as the park will be very full!

SAD DAY! AUGUST 19th 2021 - we got the dreaded cancellation email from VA today so the trip wont be going ahead.
I'm keeping this pre trip report so I can get some ideas for next year (again! )
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END OF AUGUST 2021
I've decided just to adapt this pre trippie for September - October 2022, as basically it's going to be the same trip with an added cruise!
So far I've cancelled everything and changed the Dolphin, the GF and our WDW tickets through ATD over to next September and got (another) VA voucher (with added bonus) to use on flights once they're released.
The hotel has increased in price considerably - by over 30%, and the tickets by £30 pp.

We booked a balcony cabin on a 4 night HOTHS cruise on the new Disney Wish a while ago, and that will be at the beginning of the trip.

SEPTEMBER 2021
Today I've booked Meet & Greet car parking, Manchester airport Radisson Blu for the pre flight night - got great prices for both - and the Mco Hyatt for the pre cruise night so it's the earliest planned trip ever! We even have all of our $$$ still tucked away!

The new plan so far is - 1 night Radisson Blu; 1 night at Hyatt Mco; 4 nights on the Wish; 4 nights at the Gaylord Palms resort with a car; 12 nights at the Dolphin and 1 night at Grand Floridian. Fingers very much crossed!
We may have missed the 50th anniversary day for MK, but we should enjoy Epcot’s 40th anniversary on Oct 1st next year 🙂🤞🏻

NOVEMBER 2021
The Gaylord Palms is now rebooked for the 4 nights after the cruise; I'll be watching the price and cancelling / rebooking if it comes down. I'm looking forward to seeing the Halloween stuff there (this years looks amazing).
As the borders open to the UK next week, I've decided not to worry about Covid entry requirements until I have to, as it all might change again yet!
We have another 2 weeks before our return flight is released and I'm checking prices daily for both flights and car hire! and hoping that the Dolphin car hire desk reopens as we want to return the car there. Looking forward to a 'taste of Disney' as DD and I are off to Disneyland Paris to see the Christmas decorations at the end of the month - can't wait.
edit November - I checked the Gaylord today and it's now reduced by over $100 a night, so I cancelled and rebooked saving us $429 - quite a few meals 'paid for' with that saving for our 4 night stay!
In fact it's more than paid for 7 days car hire through Virgin Holidays £339 inc insurance - much cheaper than booking Alamo direct!
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Well happy new year everyone, this pre trippie is now about 100 years old!
We now have our VA PE flights - but not from Manchester as hoped, the prices from there are extortionate and haven't moved since being released! We're travelling down to LHR instead, and last years voucher, with the added bonus from VA, covered the cost (apart from £12) - it was over half the price of Manchester.
I've cancelled our airport car parking and hotel, and booked the Hilton Garden Inn at LHR. We're using the same hotel in March when we're off on a cruise.

So just car parking, pre departure tests and transfers from MCO to sort out now.
Today the news that we don't need to test before flying home has made me very happy - let's hope it doesn't change again.

FEBRUARY:
I have now booked our Meet & Greet car parking at LHR - £155 which at first I thought was expensive, but it's actually for 24 nights so it's not bad really.
Our VA flights have been changed (along with many others), so we arrive slightly later, no worries as we're only staying at Mco that night, and flying home 2 hours earlier at 5.25pm instead of 7.15pm which means no leisurely lunch at GF on our last day as planned, as we'll probably need to leave for the airport at approx 1.30pm.
Only 7 months to go

MAY - more information has been released about our HOTHS cruise, the Halloween decor looks amazing - as does some of the merchandise (I have my eye on this Dooney tote bag!

Today I booked MNSSHP for the beginning of October. We haven’t been for quite a few years (what a carry on now having to use a VPN etc just to book things!), so the whole trip is looking very spooky now.

I’ve also cancelled and rebooked Gaylord Palms (again) saving another $165 - every little helps with this terrible exchange rate! There are lots of Halloween events on at the resort too 🎃

JULY - 7 weeks to go!
Time seems to be going a bit faster thankfully, and I've booked our DCL transfer from Mco to the port, and rebooked Gaylord Palms a couple more times. So far I've saved over $700 on our original price! I've done Skip the Line with Alamo which we all know is a great help when you just want to get into a car.

This past week I've been busy - we've got Covid Recovery certificates ready for DCL, and we're hoping they're accepted (there's been some controversy about it on the Dibb), if not we'll just book Express Test at LHR as we've done before.

One of the ports on the cruise is Nassau, and I've booked a 3 hour local walking tour which seems much better value than the cruise line tours. DillyDally Tours
I've also been booking Villa de Flora for dinner, Sharks Underwater Grill at Seaworld on the Magical Dining Month offer, which is good as you get free parking and the one of the main draws for us is that we can stay in the park for a few hours afterwards with no extra cost and we haven't been to SW for years.
I've also made some ADRs - including Oga's Cantina and Space 220 lounge for drinks; Liberty Tree Tavern before MNSSHP and B&C so I can have a No Way Jose for dessert We're not doing as many TS meals during the Disney part of the trip this time, though we will book a couple more, and for anyone staying at the Dolphin - yes, you can definitely book the first 1+ 10 days dining at 60 days .

[Loopylooloo]

This is just a wonderful plan! I am really happy for you and hope that it happens. I love the sound of your hotels, especially that you will have a night at the grand floridian, can I recommend a special meal in Narcoossees? Its our special place and I dont think we will get there anytime soon.

Being able to walk out to Disney Springs will be fantastic for evening meals etc.

I turn fifty this year, and so wanted to be there for the anniversary so I will just have to live it through your trip report MrsBC. Do it for me...xx

[MrsBC]

Originally Posted by Loopylooloo

This is just a wonderful plan! I am really happy for you and hope that it happens. I love the sound of your hotels, especially that you will have a night at the grand floridian, can I recommend a special meal in Narcoossees? Its our special place and I dont think we will get there anytime soon.

Being able to walk out to Disney Springs will be fantastic for evening meals etc.

I turn fifty this year, and so wanted to be there for the anniversary so I will just have to live it through your trip report MrsBC. Do it for me...xx

See more...

I will definitely do a trippie - probably on the photo app as its easier last thing at night when you're there. We love Narcoosee's too - I wish they'd bring the Sunday brunch back though that was our favourite.

[Cloverlady]

Sounds great!
Some great places to stay!

I've posted on the September thread already, but we too are booked for September!
This will be hubby and mine first trip without our now young adult kids - we had originally booked our first couples trip for last year but of course it never came off.

Grand Floridian is gorgeous! How romantic!
One day we WILL stay there even if for one night
I'm annoyed as we got a good price to stay at Yacht Club on one of our (sadly cancelled-by-Covid) trips last year - oh boy were we looking forward to it. It was going to be soooo romantic!
Like you, there's no way we would rebook Yacht club this year with no dining included! So we are booked into Coronado Springs with again no dining, but am currently toying as I said on the September thread, with staying, like you, off site in one of the Disney Springs hotels instead... still time to decide...

Let's hope it all comes off for us all!

[MrsBC]

Originally Posted by Cloverlady

Sounds great!
Some great places to stay!

I've posted on the September thread already, but we too are booked for September!
This will be hubby and mine first trip without our now young adult kids - we had originally booked our first couples trip for last year but of course it never came off.

Grand Floridian is gorgeous! How romantic!
One day we WILL stay there even if for one night
I'm annoyed as we got a good price to stay at Yacht Club on one of our (sadly cancelled-by-Covid) trips last year - oh boy were we looking forward to it. It was going to be soooo romantic!
Like you, there's no way we would rebook Yacht club this year with no dining included! So we are booked into Coronado Springs with again no dining, but am currently toying as I said on the September thread, with staying, like you, off site in one of the Disney Springs hotels instead... still time to decide...

Let's hope it all comes off for us all!

See more...

Yes, fingers crossed! Nothing will beat the Crescent Lake area for location and loveliness, but we are looking forward to trying out something new.

[Kat11]

Sounds like a great plan. We’ve got 4 nights booked at the Buena Vista palace for our trip (if it happens 🤞🏼 ) too. I like the fact it’s got balconies as well as being walkable to Disney Springs because we love to eat there.

We’ve currently got a week at CSR before going to Hilton BVP then 4 nights at RPR (club) might swop things around a bit before we go to use our BA vouchers after moving our flights onto virgin? 🤔 thinking of spending 10 days as BVP then onto RPR if we do?

Wonder if we’ll get there?

Kat

[MrsBC]

Originally Posted by Kat11

Sounds like a great plan. We’ve got 4 nights booked at the Buena Vista palace for our trip (if it happens 🤞🏼 ) too. I like the fact it’s got balconies as well as being walkable to Disney Springs because we love to eat there.

We’ve currently got a week at CSR before going to Hilton BVP then 4 nights at RPR (club) might swop things around a bit before we go to use our BA vouchers after moving our flights onto virgin? 🤔 thinking of spending 10 days as BVP then onto RPR if we do?

Wonder if we’ll get there?

Kat

See more...

Yes, the balconies were a plus for us too - I love my morning coffee out there, so we usually only book rooms with a balcony.
I'm very positive that we will but my fingers are still crossed anyway .

[Goldia]

That last night in the Grand Floridian will be something to look forward to, what a great end to the holiday. I really hope all your plans come together.

[MrsBC]

Car hire booked now - Alamo via VHols was much cheaper than Alamo directly; and managed to get the hotel booking moved to a new promotion - saving $160 :-)

[MrsBC]

Estas renewed - sweaty palm time! They were authorised within 5 mins. Is it just me who feels like a criminal doing them and I check and recheck my answers