Notices

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Old 4 Mar 17, 07:43 PM  
Link to this Post
#1
HelenJNT
Imagineer
 
HelenJNT's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 15
(updated 14/11) Do They Know It's Christmas? - Helen & Andy, Nov 17



Updates:
12/03/17 Universal tickets, MDE and first food thoughts

18/04/17 Broken toes, park hours and the MVMCP conundrum

11/05/17 ESTAs, MDE, MVMCP (aallll the acronyms)

ADR day and beating the BoG system

Rivers of Light dining dramas

14/09/17 A new countdown?!

16/09/17 Fast pass day!

Three weeks to go and the panic sets in

05/11/17 - Single digit day!

12/11/17 Three days to go!

14/11/17 One day to go!

Hey howdy hey and welcome to my pre-trip report.

Before I talk about how and why this trip came about, let's have a quick overview of who we are.




Me. Helen.
Thirty-mumble
I'm a bids & proposals manager, and work has been full on recently. I love it, but it's been exhausting (this will be relevant when you read the "why").
I like 80s movies and margaritas (the cocktail not the pizza).
Favourite ride: The Mummy



Andy.
Will celebrate his 40th this year.
Does something in IT. Also long hours.
He likes biscuits and playing the guitar.
Favourite ride: The Haunted Mansion



We've been married for nearly seven years and we had our honeymoon in WDW. Since then, we've done two trips to DLP, and we've been back to the World twice. So this will be our fourth trip to Florida together, and my seventh (I went twice in the 90s with my family).



After last year's trip we knew we wanted to go back but given that our typical rotation was every three years, we were putting it on ice til 2019. Which gradually crept forwards to 2018 as we decided we couldn't possibly wait that long. So, we were all set. WDW would be booked for May 2018 once the free dining came out. We'd stay at the Caribbean Beach resort and have the free quick service dining plan. Job done.

Then, the you-know-what hit the fan and we realised CBR was going to be a silly idea given all the renovations. So we priced up POFQ and felt like we'd made a decision. We knew POFQ would be a safe choice so parked it mentally until April and went to the pub.



We also went for a quiet and controlled and sober evening with fellow Dibbers Lisa(Lollipop) and (Red)Rach:



Oh, and here's #USAnumberone, the festive edition:



Fast forward to 48 hours ago:

I had finally arrived home from three long and exhausting days in London and we were standing in Pizza Hut waiting for a takeaway (A had a margarita, the pizza kind...the wrong kind). He mentioned that he'd been having Disney pangs whilst I'd been away and how it was a shame we had to wait so long to return, but we didn't think it was in budget as we're having our house redecorated in the spring.

But it didn't do any harm to look, right?

So, leaving the pizza to get cold (that's how excited I was), we started having a little look. Something seemed a bit off with the prices... as we could afford it!

I immediately hit on a deal for the Yacht Club which was technically out of budget but still incredibly reasonable and so proceeded to make the case for it. However, A is eminently more sensible than I am and made me realise that the Yacht Club dream probably wasn't achievable this year (for me it was like that bit in Wayne's World where he sees the guitar... "oh yes, you WILL be mine...")

We looked at POR but there weren't any preferred rooms left. I have a thing about not wanting to walk too far at a resort, we like to be near the quick service restaurant, the pool and the bus stop. Not too much to ask, right? Haha. POFQ was coming in at double the price we were expecting, possibly as Disney are trying to deter people from booking it so as to keep it clear for those moving from CBR and CS?

Then there it was. Animal Kingdom Lodge. At LESS money than POFQ. What? Too good to be true, surely. Now, we knew zip about AKL. Never stayed, never visited, always believed the myth that it was miles away from it all. AK is our least favourite park. But a deluxe for less than a moderate? It needed investigation.

Thanks to the good people of the
Dibb, I quickly learned that AKL was well regarded, and no-one had a bad word to say about it. In the meantime, Andy had been reading up and looking at pictures and deciding he liked the idea of it.

24 hours ago:

We slept on it, then last night decided to do a few mock comparison bookings. Virgin and Thomas Cook couldn't hold a candle to the Disney deal so we went for it.



Two weeks at AKL (four nights free), 14 day park tickets (for the price of seven plus 25% off)
Direct Virgin Economy flights from LGW
Quick service dining plan

We added the dining plan as the cost of it was less than the amount we'd saved on the 4 nights free deal. We also thought it would be good to lock in the quick service meals rather than pay out of pocket due to the rubbish exchange rate.

We upgraded to the table service dining plan on our last trip and realised it really wasn't for us, as you'll know if you read my last trip report. There was too much faffing about, we spent a fortune on tips, and we were too hot and bothered to really enjoy the food. This time we knew we only wanted quick service as it's more flexible and there are still some great food options available. We like evenings in the parks and just relaxing by wandering around, and we conquered most of the restaurants we liked the look of last time so we won't feel like we're missing out by not having it this time.

Argh! All booked, we have a countdown!



Fast forward to seven hours ago:
Andy woke up in a good mood this morning and asked me to log on & see how much it would be to upgrade our flights to PE. I wasn't holding out much hope but thought "why not?"

After 60 minutes on hold, I finally got through, and was given a quote for the upgrade. It was so inexpensive that the person on the phone put me back on hold again to check it with someone else. Half an hour later, losing the will to live - and praying 0800 numbers weren't chargeable from a mobile or I'd have had some serious explaining to do at work- lovely Eunice confirmed that it was indeed the price. I didn't hesitate.

So it's been a bit of an eventful 48 hours. All good though.
I know you like to know prices. I don't know the exact breakdown of what's what as we booked a package but we got 14 nights in a deluxe (standard room), Disney tickets plus free memory maker, quick service dining plan, and return Premium Economy flights for £5,100. The PE upgrade was £480 for both ways.

We're going in late November. I have a mild panic in the pit of my stomach that Thanksgiving is smack bang in the middle of our trip, but hey ho. It's always busy in Disney these days and those dates were important to us as Andy will be able to celebrate his 40th when we're there. Where better to have a milestone birthday?

There's not a lot else to do now other than wait for the booking to link to the app, and frantically read up on all the Disney and Universal news I'd steadfastly been ignoring as we didn't have a trip booked. I'm determined not to get carried away with restaurant booking though... but I am tempted by Sanaa, I have to say. And the Fantasmic dinner package is a must-do, even if it doesn't feature on Stacey's list. And I must stop thinking about that delicious sushi and red snapper I had at the California Grill last year.

The other thing I need to think about is what to do/get Andy for his birthday. This is difficult. I want to make it special for him and he definitely wants to spend some time in the Magic Kingdom but that's as far as he's got (well, I suppose we only booked yesterday!) I'm contemplating 4 Parks 1 Day but not sure if that might be a bit much. Any recommendations welcome!

Also, any recommendations for AKL and November trip reports also welcome so feel free to pimp away. I've never been to Florida in the winter before and it's bothering me that I can't mentally start packing my case (or shopping!) as I have no clue what to expect weather-wise.

So what will we do?

We won't be using all our luggage weight on mugs. We've got them all. But we will be buying replacement Mike Wazowski & Grim Grinning Ghosts Christmas tree ornaments seeing as they were "put somewhere safe" after we got home last time, sadly never to be seen again.



We will spend most of our time in Disney. I'm looking forward to spending more time in Disney Springs as the second part (the bit containing Sephora, the mothership) opened on the day we left last year. I want to spend some evenings just chilling out there, something we failed to do last time.

We obviously want to see Pandora and are excited about riding Frozen and King Kong, both of which we missed by days last time. Staying at AKL, we also have an easy run in to finally see the fabled Rivers of Light too.

We will do a couple of days at Universal where hopefully we won't get as heat strokey or feel too iffy after all the simulators.

Will I finally have the balls to ride Tower of Terror? Who knows...

We say this now...but we're looking forward to just pottering (not Harry) about. Yes, we'll do Fast Passes and yes, we'll do EMH but this year I'm determined not to burn out and get rage from hiking over 12 miles a day in flimsy Sanuk sandals. I'm hoping that a nice resort, the QSDP and Thanksgiving crowds may force us to slow down a bit.
<You have full permission to quote me on this when I'm banging on in the trip report about being tired and hating everyone in the World.>

I can guarantee we'll take a load more photos that all look the same.



I can guarantee that Andy will take some more of his legendary selfies.



I can guarantee that I'll get rage about restrooms and the lockers at the Forbidden Journey.

I can guarantee that Andy will indulge in some beers this time (readers of the last report will know he had teetotalism forced upon him).

I can guarantee I shall keep an eye out for more ride photos with our adopted children.



I can guarantee that there will be many, many #USAnumberone opportunities.







I can guarantee I'll probably model some more hats.



I can guarantee that I'll keep my b**bs strapped in on Primeval Whirl this time. I can't guarantee that there won't be more strange "leaning" photos though.



I'd like to guarantee that this little chap won't spend three days of our trip away stuck up on our neighbours' roof but sadly I can't.



Sadly, I also can't guarantee that we'll see this guy again, but I really, really hope we do.



If you fancy reading all 70k words of my May 2016 report, you can find it here:
https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho...d.php?t=957739

Thanks for reading!
Helen.

Edited at 08:27 AM.
HelenJNT is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 4 Mar 17, 08:24 PM  
Link to this Post
#2
Sparksy72
VIP Dibber
 
Sparksy72's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 14

Sparksy72's Reviews
Hotel Reviews: 1
Lol! You make me laugh - especially about your 'Primeval Whirl' experience 😂 I am looking forward to visiting at a different time of year too but literally have no idea what to pack for a Florida winter 😱 Another great update 😊
Sparksy72 is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 4 Mar 17, 11:20 PM  
Link to this Post
#3
Lisa_Lollipop
Imagineer
 
Lisa_Lollipop's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 12
How blooming excited am I to be reading this (and not only because it includes my ugly mug!)... first Rach pulls an unexpected trip out of the bag and then you follow suit, oh happy days!

AKL is going to be epic and just think how many Caprese flatbreads you can justify on the QSDP (and one each please this time guys, don't show me up again)

Oh and can you guarantee another Star Wars face-fit photo? I don't think I can commit into this TR if you can't promise me another one of those (I actually laughed out loud just now thinking about it).

Ok sorry, I had to go and find it after typing this and it had me in fits all over again, I think its only fair to share it again for everyone else to enjoy a second time around...



Ah too damn excited for you both (and just think come #dibberdollsweekend in July you will be a mere 4 months away from going... and there was me worrying we might run out of things to talk about over a whole weekend (because you know, it's always such a struggle to keep a chat group going with us girls )
Lisa_Lollipop is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 4 Mar 17, 11:39 PM  
Link to this Post
#4
Excited6910
Imagineer
 
Excited6910's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 16
I think you're arriving the day we leave, last time we overlapped a little I think. I know that sounds totally stalkerish! The fact the renovations have put you off CBR is a tad unsettling for me I have to admit. We booked a few months ago when Disney had "no idea" about their huge plans for the resort. They've tried to reassure us that there will be little to no impact on our holiday so I'm hoping they're right.
__________________
Katie

Loved our Second “once in a lifetime" so much we're doing it again
Excited6910 is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 4 Mar 17, 11:53 PM  
Link to this Post
#5
wozza
Apprentice Imagineer
 
wozza's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 10
Mobile

*goes to look at prices for November*

No better feeling than having a trip to WDW booked!
__________________
Tuscan Ridge Villa - October 2010
Regal Palms resort - December/Jan 2012/13
Port Orleans Riverside August/Sep 2016
Port Orleans Riverside/Cocoa Beach October 2018
wozza is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 4 Mar 17, 11:54 PM  
Link to this Post
#6
wozza
Apprentice Imagineer
 
wozza's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 10
Mobile

Originally Posted by Excited6910 View Post
I think you're arriving the day we leave, last time we overlapped a little I think. I know that sounds totally stalkerish! The fact the renovations have put you off CBR is a tad unsettling for me I have to admit. We booked a few months ago when Disney had "no idea" about their huge plans for the resort. They've tried to reassure us that there will be little to no impact on our holiday so I'm hoping they're right.
Have you been offered any vouchers? My friend booked for early - mid October and she's getting $75 per night (there's 5 of them).
__________________
Tuscan Ridge Villa - October 2010
Regal Palms resort - December/Jan 2012/13
Port Orleans Riverside August/Sep 2016
Port Orleans Riverside/Cocoa Beach October 2018
wozza is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 4 Mar 17, 11:59 PM  
Link to this Post
#7
Excited6910
Imagineer
 
Excited6910's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 16
Originally Posted by wozza View Post
Have you been offered any vouchers? My friend booked for early - mid October and she's getting $75 per night (there's 5 of them).
Yes we've received an email saying we will get the $75 gift card per night. Which we will have no issue spending with 3 little ones even though we have DDP. They love their souvenirs
__________________
Katie

Loved our Second “once in a lifetime" so much we're doing it again
Excited6910 is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 5 Mar 17, 12:11 AM  
Link to this Post
#8
Redrach1903
Disney Dreaming :)
 
Redrach1903's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 09

Redrach1903's Reviews
DIBB Villa Reviews: 2
I have no words for how much I love this!

Feel slightly smug to be included in it too!

AKL is going to be just amazing. When we went for Saana we felt it was so lush, but without feeling snobby (a la Grand Flo). I bet you will love it. Also - Giraffes. Giraffes everywhere. What's not to love?

A's birthday - Marceline to Magic Kingdom Tour! It's not as long (or expensive as KTTK), but really fab. I loved it and would happily do it again!

Oh I do hope you see the Buzz guy again - what a ledge!

Eeeeeeeeeeeep EXCITED FACE! xxx
Redrach1903 is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 5 Mar 17, 09:11 AM  
Link to this Post
#9
abiknox
Imagineer
 
Join Date: Jan 10

abiknox's Reviews
Hotel Reviews: 1
Restaurant Reviews: 5
The Starwars photo! Just incredible.

Great PT, love the fact you have snuck in a trip and a pretty good price for AKL with premium travel too! You will love the resort, I read loads about to bring too far out when we went but the buses were regular and there was no sharing with other reports so they seems pretty good to me.
abiknox is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 5 Mar 17, 09:25 AM  
Link to this Post
#10
MinnieMrsA
Imagineer
 
MinnieMrsA's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 16
Mobile

Yay! So excited to find this after I saw you had booked again, loved your last trip report. Just tried to upgrade to PE for our summer trip but it was all sold out 😭
MinnieMrsA is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 02:47 PM.


Powered by vBulletin - Copyright © 2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
DIBB Savings
AttractionTickets.com

Get £10 off each Disney Ticket with the code ATDIBB10

Get up to £50 off per room at Disney or Universal with the code DIBBHOTELS


theDIBB Blog
Disney announced that a new nighttime show, “Disney Dreams That Soar,” will run nightly at... Read More »
Walt Disney World Resort guests can get ready to have a “glowing’’ good time when... Read More »
Aquatica Orlando announce the grand opening of its newest attraction, Tassie’s Underwater Twist, on 15... Read More »


theDIBB Menu


Exchange Rates
US Dollar Rates
ASDA  $1.2347
CaxtonFX  $1.2319
Covent Garden FX  $1.2445
FAIRFX  $1.2350
John Lewis  $1.2380
M&S  $1.2178
Sainsburys  $1.2337
TESCO  $1.2343
Travelex  $1.2353
Updated: 13:30 28/03/2024
Euro Rates
ASDA  €1.1426
CaxtonFX  €1.1398
Covent Garden FX  €1.1502
FAIRFX  €1.1432
John Lewis  €1.1457
M&S  €1.1263
Sainsburys  €1.1419
TESCO  €1.1425
Travelex  €1.1435
Updated: 13:30 28/03/2024

DIBB Premium Membership
Did you know you can help support theDIBB with Premium Membership?

Check out this link for more information and benefits, such as...

"No adverts on theDIBB Forums"

Upgrade Now



X