He did a thing! June 2019 (updated 14/05/19)

[Redrach1903]

Originally Posted by Pussycat Doll

Ahh Rachael I only just spotted this! Fabulous husband points added! We’ll miss you by less than a fortnight😢 we fly home 29th May! Looking forward to updates and reading along xx

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Hi Selina! I know! I don’t think he’ll let me forget this one in a hurry

Eeeep you go so soon!

Thanks for reading xx

Originally Posted by slow.jo

So excited for you! Can't wait to follow along on IG

Jo xxx

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Thanks Jo! I’m sooooo behind in your TRs! Must catch up! Xx

Originally Posted by Loopylooloo

Hi Rachael! Long time no speak, I have only just found this post and am really happy for you, we have no countdown at the moment, George is not with his girlfriend anymore and is working in Falklands, hubby is still on rig, with a 3/3 rotation (awkward) and Harry says he doesn’t want to go on holiday with us anymore! (16)
Top top marks to Chris, what a fabulous husband making all your disney wishes come true! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Being at boardwalk will be wonderful. Im praying we can go next May but too many maybes at the moment, so will just be excited for you for now x

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Helllllooooooo

Sorry you don’t have a trip on the horizon! You never know though

So excited to be staying on the BW!

Thanks for reading xx

Originally Posted by MinnieMrsA

How exciting - I've really enjoyed your last report! We cross over for a few days - I'll say hi if I spot you

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Ah thank you!

Yay! Please do say hello if you see my mug! Xx

[WileyCoyote]

Just too exciting ! Looking forward to reading along x

[helenlovesdestr]

Yey so excited for you!

[Lisa29]

Yay, so excited for you! And such a small countdown too! x

[Redrach1903]

Originally Posted by WileyCoyote

Just too exciting ! Looking forward to reading along x

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Thank you

Originally Posted by helenlovesdestr

Yey so excited for you!

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Thanks!

Originally Posted by Lisa29

Yay, so excited for you! And such a small countdown too! x

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I knooooooow Thanks x

[Redrach1903]

Hello everyone!

Thanks for all the lovely comments so far!

As I said in the my original post, I was having a total nightmare trying to link the hotel and tickets to My Disney Experience. Everything was booked via British Airways, but each element was separate. So, we had "non-flight vouchers" for the hotel and the tickets. However, the reference numbers on said vouchers did not work in MDE. Neither did the overall BA booking reference. Bear in mind how close we are to FP day! I was unimpressed. So I phoned Disney and had a nice chat with my new friend, Rolo. What a fabulous name eh? He couldn’t find our hotel booking or our ticket booking at his end (cue heart failure from me) but assured me that this isn’t uncommon for 3rd party bookings and that he would pass on all my details to the relevant helpdesk and they would be in touch. He assured me that if worst came to worse there was a workaround they could use to make sure I get my FP bookings! Thank you, Rolo.

I then did a bit of online research and realised BA would have to provide me with a different number in order to link the tickets and that I wouldn’t be likely to get that until bang on 60 days. How I laughed.

With the tickets element being a massive failure, I decided to try and get the resort linked at least. I contacted the Swan and Dolphin directly. They almost immediately replied with our confirmation number! Hurrah! I jumped onto MDE, but computer (phone) said no. Bah. When I told them this had happened they said they would reset this for me and to try again in 48 hours. This was excellent news for me given I am so blessed with patience Meanwhile, I get an email from the WDW Helpdesk (as promised by Rolo) saying they are currently in touch with the Dolphin and asking me for a bit more info. Even though I was already in touch with the Dolphin, I replied with the info anyway hoping they could link it on my behalf on MDE or something. Anyway, to cut an already too long story short, after various emails with the Dolphin and resetting of our confirmation, it turns out the problem was they had spelled our surname wrong. HAHAHAHAHA. Groan.

So once I input the confirmation number they had provided along with our fake surname, the resort reservation magically linked and was showing on MDE! Hurrah! I was also able to update the guests to our actual names, so that was nice. One problem solved, one to go!



I reallllllly didn’t want to wait until 60 days to get the tickets linked. That really would have put me in to a state of panic on FP day! So, I phoned BA and asked verrrrrry nicely if I could get it now. They were basically like "nah, its standard to get it at 60 days. K bye!"

I even tried putting the stupid non-flight voucher codes into that yourparkcode website that is in the small print of the booking, but that didn’t work either. Then very randomly a day or so later, Chris sent me a screenshot of an email he had received from BA with the Disney ticket order confirmation! Wait, what? I mean, I wasn’t complaining, but why did they tell me I couldn’t have it the other day?! Weird! I was out and about when I got his message, so as soon as I got home I jumped on to MDE and…… got an error message! Nooooooooooo! It said something like "please link this via the website rather than the app". Ok then. Out came the laptop, onto to the website and……



Man, if I could swear on here……

I thought I would email this new reference to the WDW help desk and I got this back!



I swear I heard angels singing…..! Thank god! I have to say that Disney were so helpful, both over the phone and via the email helpdesk. I then felt guilty cos I remembered I hadn’t told them that the resort linking was already sorted, so I of course let them know! I got a reply shortly after saying that they had just been talking to the Dolphin again and realised that there was a letter missing from our surname, so they were definitely on the ball!

Anyhoo, on with other matters. I sorted our ESTAs out the other day. Mine was still valid, so I just needed to update the visiting address. Chris's was expired, so I did a new one for him. At first I got the dreaded "authorization pending", but when I checked later that night it was all approved. Phew I also did the Advanced Passenger Info for BA while I was at it!

We have also decided to cancel the hire car. There are a couple of reasons for this. First of all, it's $25 per night to park at the Dolphin (whoa) and secondly, we just don’t think we will need it this time. With staying onsite and only doing Disney, it seems like a waste. The only time we will need to get a Disney bus is to Animal Kingdom, Typhoon Lagoon and Disney Springs. We can walk to DHS / Epcot and get the monorail from Epcot to MK! We do want to eat offsite a few times and go shopping, but Ubers are so reasonable and the hotel has a fee shuttle to the outlets! It will be different for us, but I think much more relaxing. Especially for Chris since he does all the driving!

Another thing we did was book our seats for the LGW – MCO flight. We realised you can now use Avios for this, so we figured we may as well use them up! We chose row 18, seats A and C in the hope that nobody will take the middle seat. Fingers crossed for that snack seat!

Lastly, I have of course been working on the itinerary. We are trying to keep it a fairly relaxed affair and spend some time milling about the boardwalk etc, but I do want to take advantage of a couple of the Extra Magic Hours! My FP plans are all mapped out too and I am hopeful that it all goes smoothly on Thursday. I will let you all know

[Lisa_Lollipop]

Oh my goodness the drama! What a relief it is all sorted now, you have earned yourself a large glass of wine for all that palava! Good old Rolo for being so helpful, hands down bets name ever!

I don't blame you for cancelling the car hire, that is crazy parking charges! It also means you can both always have a drink now... win win!

Ooo I have always wanted to be brave enough to book A and C seats in the hope no one takes B... I would never be so lucky for that middle seat to stay free though! Keeping fingers and toes crossed it becomes your snack seat!

[HelenJNT]

Wow, what a palaver. And shows it isn't all automated then, given the typo in the surname. So glad you were able to get sorted in time - well done Rolo! Have to say, this kind of thing puts me off not booking direct with Disney - we had similar things when we last booked with Virgin.

Same as Lisa, brave of you leaving that middle empty seat. What if someone books it who loves a cheese sandwich? Nowhere to hide...

Are you eligible for the Disney Magical Express to the Dolphin?

[Redrach1903]

Originally Posted by Lisa_Lollipop

Oh my goodness the drama! What a relief it is all sorted now, you have earned yourself a large glass of wine for all that palava! Good old Rolo for being so helpful, hands down bets name ever!

I don't blame you for cancelling the car hire, that is crazy parking charges! It also means you can both always have a drink now... win win!

Ooo I have always wanted to be brave enough to book A and C seats in the hope no one takes B... I would never be so lucky for that middle seat to stay free though! Keeping fingers and toes crossed it becomes your snack seat!

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Oh man, i was so stressed! Rolo was so sweet!

Yeah totally, its just much nicer for Chris not having to worry about driving! Will be very different!

Haha well our logic is that not many people would fly solo to Orlando. Fingers crossed! xxx

Originally Posted by HelenJNT

Wow, what a palaver. And shows it isn't all automated then, given the typo in the surname. So glad you were able to get sorted in time - well done Rolo! Have to say, this kind of thing puts me off not booking direct with Disney - we had similar things when we last booked with Virgin.

Same as Lisa, brave of you leaving that middle empty seat. What if someone books it who loves a cheese sandwich? Nowhere to hide...

Are you eligible for the Disney Magical Express to the Dolphin?

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Yeah was a total stress!

HAHAHA imagine? The flight doesn't look busy, so fingers crossed!

Nooooo that's one of the few perks we don't get, but we will grab an Uber. It's about $35! So nothing too drastic xxx

[Redrach1903]

Just a quick update to say that my FastPass day was a roaring success! I got everything I wanted at the times I wanted. The only exception was FoP on our first AK day. I wanted a morning slot and there were only evening ones available, so I subbed it for Na'vi River. We have a FoP for later in the trip, so no biggy. Anyway, I do kinda want to do standby for this ride anyway to see all the theming properly, so I'm thinking if there is a standby wait of 45 minutes or under we will jump in

I got all the other biggies like Slinky, Alien Saucers, 7DMT and Frozen Ever After with relative ease! Happy days!

The only thing that is annoying is not being able to book all 3 Toy Story rides, so hopefully we will get on Toy Story Mania during EMH.
Also, can I just say (again) that they need to do away with the tier thing at Epcot. It's pants.

Oh another wee update! Since we cancelled the car and are saving money on that plus the parking fees, we decided to pay to guarantee a balcony and resort view I know we won't be in the room that much, but the thought of being stuck with a view overlooking the service entrance or something equally miserable, isn’t that appealing. Money talks and all that.

I'll be back on soon to share our daily plans