Posts

Posted on

Honey, I’m home

Honey, I’m home. Just back from what might have been our best Disney World vacation ever. And I want to share it with you all. I contemplated how to share my trip . Do I write a day to day report or something more general, like park experiences only. After much consideration, and with the risk of oversharing, I decided to make it a day to day report. I know some days may be less interesting, but I still feel that even on the less eventful days there was something to share, and even some important information that may be useful for your next Orlando trip. So, please bare with me.

Plan plan plan

Before I start, I feel like I have to say this: planning your trip is most highly recommended. We have done Disney trips in the past, and I planned them too, but never to the level of planning I did this time. The amount of research, and day to day planning, were worth it all. And I know I have already mentioned this, but this was the best trip ever!!!! So, my recommendation to you is, plan the trip properly. This doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy your vacation, but you will enjoy it more, and utilise your time better if you come prepared.

For tips and suggestions to help with your planning process, you can read some of my past posts.


Disney Magical Express

Where do I start? I think I will start with our arrival in Orlando. The trip from Melbourne was really long and tiring. All in all, it took us over 24 hours to get to Orlando  😱 . But to cut it short, OMG, we’re here!!!

First milestone – Disney Magical Express. Let the magic begin. At 11:30 pm, we step up to the Magical Express check-in point. Dead tired, after two flights, but who cares? We’re on our way to Disney World.

On the bus we go, and after a few minutes wait, we’re on our way. As tired as we are, not a wink, eyes pealed open, just waiting for the most exciting sign ever, the Entrance to Disney World sign. And it is just amazing. I don’t know what it is, but it gets me every time. A total surge of emotions. We are here. I have waited for this moment for 5 years.

Art of Animation

It’s 12:15 am when we drive up to the entrance of Art of Animation. Off the bus and into the lobby. We love this resort. The Disney Art work incorporated in the lobby is absolutely magnificent. As we arrived just after New Year’s Eve, on January 4th, all Christmas decorations were still in place, including a beautiful Christmas tree.


Arriving from overseas, we had to pick up our Magic bands at the front desk. So, while my dear husband and kids struggle with the luggage, I leave them and go to check-in to our room. Here’s where things get interesting, our Magic bands are nowhere to be found.

Now, as a reminder, this is happening at 12:30 am, after travelling for over 24 hours. Talk about buzz kill. It took them over 20 minutes to locate our bands, but finally we had them, and we were on our way to our room.

Even though I requested a specific room, we were given a different one. Can’t say I was extremely happy about that, but checking in that late, there really wasn’t much we could do, especially when the resort was fully booked. I was told that we could come in the next day and change a room, as many guests were checking out. The room we were assigned was in building 4, ground floor, right at the back of the building.

At 1:30 am, after unpacking and showering (thank god), we finally got to bed.


I was up and about at 5:30 am, after only 4 hours sleep. It must have been the excitement . Not to wake everyone up, I got dressed, and went for a brisk morning walk around the resort. Leaving the building, I realised that the work for the Gondola cable line was just outside our room. Can’t say I was happy with that.

Saying that, and fast forward a few days, we didn’t feel the work going on at all. So, at the end of the day, even though we didn’t get our requested room, we were quite happy where we were.

The resort is amazing. This is our second time here, and we will most likely return here in the future. The imagine-ring is out of this world. From the art work in the lobby to the different resort areas. It’s really hard for me to decide on a favourite, though I’m leaning towards Cars or The Little Mermaid. One of my favourite things is to walk towards ‘Finding Nemo’ to be greeted by ‘Mine Mine Mine’ cries. So much fun. Talking about being engulfed in the Disney atmosphere.

Our requested room was ‘Finding Nemo’ building 4, third floor, mid floor. We prefer ‘Finding Nemo’ mainly because of how close it is to Landscape of Flavours and the bus transportation. The room we actually stayed in was in that building, even though not on a higher floor. No biggie, at the end of the day.

Choosing your preferential area in the resort is really a very personal decision. It depends on what is really important to you. Do you want to be close to the dining or transportation? Do you want to be close to a big swimming pool? Is it important to you to be in your favourite resort area? Do you need a suit or a standard room? All these will effect your final decision. My recommendation, again, is do your homework. Research the resort you’re staying in, and see where you would prefer to stay. Then, prior to your arrival, notify them of your preference. Even if you don’t get your preferred room, chances are that you will be close by.

Day 1 – Disney Springs

We didn’t have that much planned for our first day. In the past we would be out and about, full gear, even on arrival day. But past experience taught me that when doing that, a couple of days into the trip, we are worn out. This time, I slotted into our plans some down time. Travelling for over 24 hours, we needed time to recover. So, the plan for today was, more or less, to take it easy. As we were on the dining plan for the first part of our Disney stay, we were going to pick up our refillable mugs and have a late breakfast at Landscapes of Flavours. The only other thing planned for the day was dinner at Homecomin’ at Disney Springs.

After breakfast, which, by the way, was really good, we decided to take an Uber to the Disney outlet warehouse at the Premium Outlet at Vineland, followed by a walkabout at Disney Springs. Last time we were there it was Disney Downtown. The changes made are amazing. It’s so beautiful. We visited the re-opened World of Disney store, and had a delightful afternoon just strolling around.

Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’ @ Disney Springs

We had an early dinner reservation at Homecomin’. This was something I was looking forward to.
It started pouring rain just as we walked into the restaurant. Talk about timing  😄. All in all, we had a great time at Homecomin’. Our server was absolutely amazing. Being on the dining plan, it seemed to us just too much food to eat 5 entrees (mains) and 5 desserts. Prior to our trip I asked around, on the different boards, if this was something possible with the dining plan. Most replied that it wasn’t, but some suggested we ask anyway, who knows.

We asked if we can replace 3 entrees for starters, and to our surprise, there was absolutely no problem. We ordered between us:Thigh High Chicken Biscuits, Bee Haven Bay Fried Green Tomatoes, Bunch of Puppies & a couple of fried chicken entrees. For dessert we shared the Pecan Pie, the Hummingbird cake and Auntie’s chocolate cake. The food was delicious, but my personal favourites were the Fried Green Tomatoes and the Hummingbird cake.

Bee Haven Bay Fried Green Tomatoes

Leaving the restaurant in the evening it was pouring rain. We got absolutely drenched on our way to the Art of Animation bus stop. Luckily, this was the only actual rainy day throughout our whole vacation.

Worn out and suffering from Jet lag, we couldn’t wait to get back to our room and get some sleep. So, first day over, off to bed we go.

Next post – day two, our first day at Magic Kingdom.

Posted on

Price hike at Disney World

There has been a major price hike at Disney World for the past few  weeks.  It’s been creeping on, starting with the change to the ticket pricing system, and continuing with merchandise, price of soft drinks, food and restaurant meals.   

As a whole, prices have gone up between 5% and up to a 20% rise, adding up to the largest price increase in years.   As an example see DFB’s story from October regarding price raise of beverages, snacks and more.

If you have a Disney World vacation planned, or are planning one in the near future, you will be paying more for just about everything.   This makes Disney World an even more expensive vacation destination than it already was.

With that in mind, I had to rethink my strategy this trip not to take the dining plan.  I had a sit down and crunched the numbers, re-adjusting my budget, taking into consideration the new food pricing. 

Just as a reminder, we are doing a split stay this trip.  And to save us a load of money, I attached all our park tickets to the Art of Animation package, instead of splitting them between the two resorts.   I attacked this issue in my post about our split stay.  Long story short, if I do want to go with the dining plan I have to do one of two options:  

Either split the tickets between the two resort stays, and book two separate packages with resort, tickets and dining; 

Or, add the dining plan to our existing package at first resort stay – at AOA.

There is an option to add the dining plan to our room only package, under certain circumstances.  For us it just wasn’t suitable.

Still, the new pricing really made a dent in our plan and budget.  

I decided to return to the drawing board.  I took all our dining plans for the first 7 nights (8 days), checked out the new pricing, and redid our approximate predicted dining expenses.  Then, I went online and found the new Disney World Promotion with dining.  With their promotion dining, during our first 7 night stay, would cost us just over $60 a day per person on the regular dining plan.  Not bad at all.  Working the numbers, it came to an approximate saving of $200 before the snacks.  Wow.  What a difference.  From saving money not doing the dining plan to the exact opposite.  Really quite unbelievable.  

Saying that, the thing that made the real difference was the discounted offer from Disney.  Without this discount the dining plan would still cost us more than paying ourselves for the dining.  This is a $500 difference in price.

I immediately contacted my travel agent, and to keep a long story short, added the dining plan to our package.  It actually fit right in with our ADR’s.  Only thing,  we most likely won’t be using up all of our quick service credits.-  It’s just too much food.  But even then, we will still end up saving money.  We will probably exchange our extra quick service credits for snack credits.  The plan is to use the left over snack credits for gifts (candy, rice crisps, cookies etc.).

In conclusion

It’s true.  The dining packages aren’t always the cheapest way to go.  Some would prefer to pay more just for some peace and quiet, not needing to deal with money and calculations while at Disney World.  For this trip, at start, we elected to pay our own way.  But then we were hit with the biggest price hike in years, and found the need to recalculate our figures.  That brought on a major change to our plans this time, adding on the dining plan to our package, for the first 7 nights of our Disney World stay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted on

80 days to Disney World – update

Time flies when you are counting every single day – NOT 😊.  80 days to Disney World… OMG, I just can’t wait.  At this point I thought I owed you an 80 days to Disney World update on where things stand with our planning.

When I last left you, we had our dining reservations done (or so I thought), and two special events booked in – Wanyama Safari and Fantasmic! Dessert & VIP Viewing Experience.

If you may recall, I was planning to book another couple of dessert parties too –  the Star Wars dessert party at Hollywood Studios and Frozen ever after dessert party at Epcot.   

Since then, changes have been made to the Star Wars dessert party.  I took the time to read the DISboard’s thread for the event, and made an executive decision to forgo this event.   We are not  really hard core Star Wars fans.  There have been good changes, such as seating option during the party, but also not so good changes, especially changing most of the speciality desserts. After weighing in the cost for the event, I decided to leave this one for our next trip.  I mean, you always have to leave something to look forward to on your next trip. 😉

Links to the thread and the pics from the new event setting are below:

Official star wars galactic spectacular dessert party

New dessert party pics

As for the Frozen Ever After dessert party, well, this one isn’t one we want to miss out on.  I have literally been stalking the Disney World site, awaiting release of the January dates for the event.  We only have a couple of possible dates we can attend the event, so fingers crossed…  This is one of the more popular events, and tickets seem to run out pretty fast.  It’s a bit like securing your reservation for Be Our Guest dinner  – ‘You snooze – You loose’. 

Early Morning Magic Toy Story Land

In the meantime, I’ve been watching my Disney World Vlogs, and  discovered Disney launched a new event – Disney Early Morning Magic at Toy Story Land.  

What is this new event all about?

Early morning magic has been running for some time now at Magic Kingdom.  Now that Toy Story Land has opened, Disney saw an opportunity to cash in on the demand for the Land.  For $79 for adults and $69 for kids, you are let in to Toy Story Land, as part of a limited group. During the event you can enjoy the Land’s rides and meet with characters from 7:30 am until ninish.  Breakfast at ABC Commissary is also included. 

To start with, there were great reviews.  That changed slightly when Disney opened another time allocation for the event, doubling the number of people let in.  But even during the busier events, visitors were still able to ride all three Toy Story Land’s rides at least three to four times, including meeting some of the characters.   

I read the reviews, saw a couple of Vlogs, and as soon as it opened up for January bookings, I locked us in.  

California Grill

Meanwhile, I managed to make another couple of unplanned bookings. 

I’ve been eyeing the brunch at California Grill for weeks now.   It was something I discovered after locking in our dining reservations.  California Grill, as a whole, was a restaurant I didn’t really look at.  All our previous trips were on the dining plan, and we didn’t do signature dining.  But this time I wanted to experience something more.   Anyway, I read the trip reviews on Disboards, and decided to go for it. 

Set only on Sundays (we are in Orlando 3 Sundays all together), it is practically impossible to get a reservation for the brunch.  To start with, there was no availability.  I tried every day, several times, with no luck.  But after my past experience with Be Our Guest, I didn’t give up. And lo and behold, a couple of days ago, performing my daily check up, an opening appears, for 10:15.  Shocked me booked it as fast as I could.  Only problem,  that was the morning we were going to Ohana for breakfast.  Well, long story short, juggling a couple of resi’s around, we now have our coveted California Grill brunch reservation, and we still have a breakfast booked at Ohana.  I did have to cancel our Kona Cafe breakfast though.  

I don’t know if I mentioned this, but this trip is a very special trip for us.  One of the things we are celebrating is our 25th wedding anniversary.   So, my husband and I decided to give ourselves at least one night out, a special date to celebrate this event.   And what could be better than dinner at California Grill?  Good food and a romantic Happily Ever After special viewing, what more could we need? But reservations aren’t easy to come by, especially when there are only four months to go.  I was looking for a Sunday night reservation, during our Universal Studios stay.  Don’t know how, but I managed to get us a reservation on my first try.  Sheer luck, I suppose, knowing how popular this restaurant is.

What next?

At this point, the 80 day mark, there is really little left to do.  First, as mentioned, I am waiting for Frozen Ever After Dessert party to open up for booking in January.   And second, counting the days to the 60 day mark.   I’m dying to book our Fastpasses already.  I’m especially excited to book our Flight of Passage Fastpass.  

One more thing I plan to do at the two month mark is to make an order of water bottles, energy bars and a few other bits and bobs from the Garden Grocer, and have them delivered and waiting for us when we arrive at our resort – Art of Animation.

 

Posted on

Disney World dining reservations all done

142 days to go, and finally our Disney World dining reservations are all done.  I’ve been wanting to share our ADR’s with you since the 180 day mark.  Saying that, I’ve done so much tweaking, changing and rearranging, that I decided to write this post once all is set and done.

There are still two dining experiences that haven’t been booked yet, awaiting release dates for the Star Wars dessert party and the Frozen ever after dessert party.

So, here we go, this was the process of making all of our dining reservations:

The 180 day mark

Saturday July 7th, 7:59 pm  (5:59 am Orlando time), one minute to the 180 day mark.  Sitting on the sofa, laptop on my knees, waiting to leap into action.  Truth be told, I was actually sitting there in that same position for at least an hour prior to that, but never mind that…

I wanted to book several ADR’s for our 14 night stay at Disney World.  Amongst them were a few that are known to be hard to get, such as Be Our Guest and Ohana, 

I also wanted to book the Wanyama Safari, now available not only to Animal Kingdom Lodge guests.

8 pm, and I go to work.  First thing first, I look for availability at Be Our Guest.  Success.  I book an ADR for 8:15 am. Yeah.

I keep on going, and everything is fitting right into plan.  No problem getting every single ADR I want.  And then I try to book Garden Grill.  No tables available.    I try again, still no table available.  How could that be?  I try the next day, and the next day, but nothing.  What’s going on?  At this point I’m pretty frustrated, because we really wanted to try this one.

So, I come to terms with it.  No Garden Grill for us.

Then I hit another obstacle.  Because of our split stay the system isn’t allowing me to  book our reservations for the second part of our stay.  So sad. I am actually really stressed out about it.

Now I have to wait, not very patiently, for next week to complete our reservations.   

In the meantime, I spoke with Stephanie, our Travel Agent, and enlisted her help with booking the Wanyama Safari.  Within minutes our Safari was booked. Thank you so much Stephanie for doing that for us.

While waiting for the next 180 day mark to open, I keep trying to look for availability for Garden Grill, and a couple of days in, their bookings open up.  What I later discovered was that although reservation booking opens at the 180 day mark, not all restaurants release availability at that point. 

The lesson learnt, which I  will repeat over and over in this post, is never to give up.  If you don’t succeed, try try again.

173 days to go

173 days to go, and 180 days to our split stay reservation.  8 pm, I’m on it to get all our preferable dining reservations.  Ohana (Breakfast) tick, Kona Cafe (Breakfast) tick, Yak & Yeti & The Wave (Breakfast) all done.  Amazing.  I feel so lucky, that I actually succeeded in getting all the dining reservations I planned to.

You may think that is the end of my story, but it isn’t.  

A few days go by, and I receive an email from Touring Plans.  Disney has changed park hours for January 7th and added Extra Magic Hours in the morning.  That was the morning Garden Grill was booked for breakfast, and we planned to take advantage of being allowed into the park before opening hours.  Bummer.  On that day we actually had two ADR’s – Garden Grill and Ohana for dinner.  The  next day we planned to visit Hollywood Studios with an ADR for 50’s Prime Cafe. 

Could I maybe swap the two days around?  50’s Prime Cafe and Ohana are pretty popular, so that may be a problem.  I decided I’ll give it a try, starting with Ohana.  Amazing, I managed to swap the two days, no problems at all. 

At this point I decided to review our reservations.  Were they really suitable for our plans?  Should any of them be cancelled?  As I was reviewing them, I started reading up about the new dinner menu for Be Our Guest. 

To start with, we weren’t interested in dinner reservations for Be Our Guest.  Our last experience there was not the best.  We loved the castle, and that is why we made the breakfast reservations, but the food at dinner was really nothing to write home about.  But now, it seems, they had made changed to the menu, and I really wanted to get to try it for myself. 

One little problem.  We are now approx. 150 days to go, and there is no chance under the sun that I can get us a dining reservation for Be Our Guest.  I tried to book dinner reservations for each and every day we are planning to be at Magic Kingdom.  No success.  I remind myself of the very good advice on the different forums – don’t give up.  Try, try again and again. 

And that I do.  Day after day, sometimes a few times a day.  That went on for at least a week.  But I didn’t give up.  And lo and behold, a dining reservation for 4:55 pm for 5 is available for one of our Magic Kingdom days.  I actually can’t believe it.  Even though we have a reservation for Trail’s End for that day, I quickly cancel it and make the reservation for Be Our Guest.  Woohoo, we actually managed to do it.  Swiping around a few more of the plans and reservations, and we are all set.  

As an end result, these are our reservations:

Homecoming – Dinner

Be Our Guest – Breakfast and Dinner

Crystal Palace – Dinner

Raglan Road – Lunch

Garden Grill – Breakfast

Ohana – Dinner and Breakfast

Kona Cafe – Breakfast

Tusker House – Lunch

Yak & Yeti – Dinner

Liberty Tree Tavern – Lunch

Trail’s End – Dinner

We are also booked in to the Wanyama Safari & Fantasmic! Dessert & VIP Viewing Experience, and waiting for dates to open up for Star Wars dessert party and Frozen Ever After dessert party – hoping to book at least one of them.

142 days to go.  Disney ADR’s booked.  Still have to get tickets for Sea World and Kennedy Space Centre, and of course, waiting for the 60 day mark for our fastpasses.

 

 

 

 

Posted on

How much I love Disney World

Have I told you yet how much I love Disney World?

I mean, the fact that I have a Blog called “never2old4disney” should be some what of a clue, but I don’t think that I have come outright and said it.  So, get ready, here it comes:

I am totally, completely, entirely, absolutely, wholly, fully, utterly crazy about Disney World.

Constantly reading up on every site/ DISBoard/ Blog Disney World related and searching and watching Disney World Tour Vlogs,  I just cannot get enough.   To my husband’s dismay, you could even say that I am addicted to Adam Hattan‘s, The Tim Tracker & Charlotte Ruff‘s Disney World Vlogs.  

The ever so sad reality  is that  I live possibly in the furthest possible place – Australia.    So, accessibility is limited.

Saying that, and thanks to my amazing parents, I did get to experience Disney World twice growing up.  That is when I fell in love with Disney World. That love I passed on to my beloved three daughters, and hopefully, if only partially, to my beloved husband.

So, in spite of the distance I try to get to Orlando every few years to get my Disney fix.  

Now, I know that Disneyland is closer, but I pledge my loyalty to Disney World.  The four parks, Animal Kingdom & Pandora, Magic Kingdom, Epcot – they are my fave. 

I  won’t deny it, I do love Orlando too.    For me it’s a family holiday dream destination.  Theme Parks, Water Parks, Kennedy Space Centre, International Drive with entertainment & food,  plenty options for shopping lovers and more.  Every time we visit we find something more to do.

Pledging my love and loyalty I have a very important announcement to make:

195 Days to go !!!!!!!  Yeah !!!!!!

How are we going with our planning?

With the countdown showing 195 days to go, we just booked our flights to Orlando (over 25hr flights both ways, OMG).

We have our Art of Animation Magic Your Way Package booked.  7 nights stay & 9 days tickets.  I chose not to get the Hopper this visit, it saves us money.   So, I just planned our days around that.

We also booked 4 nights at the Polynesian, room only.   I have always wanted to stay at the Polynesian.  And staying here this time will allow us to do Ohana for breakfast and dinner (my girls just adore everything Lilo & Stitch).

Our Universal Studios package is also booked – 7 nights Hard Rock Hotel club level with theme park tickets.   This also  includes Unlimited Express passes.

What’s left to do?

Well, we need to book our Sea World stay & tickets.   We were thinking of doing Busch Gardens & Kennedy Space Centre too.  We are also contemplating whether to rent a car, at least for our week off Disney and Universal sites – not yet decided.

Only several days to go to our ADR bookings – got to get that done…

This is a pretty special trip for us this time.  We are celebrating so much – our little ones 12th birthday, our middle ones 18th, my 50th coming up and our 25th wedding anniversary.  So, we do want to do some new and special experiences.  We’re hoping to book Wanyama Safari & a couple of dessert parties too. 

I just can’t wait…

I love Disney World oh so much.

 

 

Posted on

222 days to go, so excited

Hi everyone.  I think that before I get going on this post I owe you all an explanation and apology.   It’s been a while since my proper last post.  I apologise for that.  My mother passed away in December 2017, and I just couldn’t bring myself to write.    Then today I opened up My Disney Experience page and there it was … 222 days to go.     I felt that I just had to share it with you all.😊 

222 days to go

The last time I posted, I talked about split stays.  Since then so much has happened.  I actually started booking our vacation, yeah. 

Now, and this is important, even though I know my stuff, when it comes to my Disney vacation I prefer to make my actual booking through a travel agent.  And in this case, through a travel agent that specialises in Disney World bookings.  I know it is quite easy to book online , but with a travel agent, a good travel agent, you know that there is someone there for you.  A professional guiding hand.   Most specialised travel agents now days also help out with the ADR’s and any other specialised booking you may want to make.   Most of them also don’t charge you for their services.  They receive a commission from Disney.

They are constantly in touch with you and will also try to get you the best available deal.  If, for example, you book your resort and then Disney come out with a special discount that can save you money, your travel agent applies this to your booking.  The same can’t be told when you book independently.  Discounts are not applied automatically to your reservation.

 

Our booking

Being a follower of Dad’s Guide to WDW , and after I read many reviews, I decided to approach Destination to Travel, his Travel agency.  They are an authorised Disney vacation planner.  

So,  after doing all the research, I contacted the agency, and I have to tell you all that so far I’ve had an amazing experience.   My travel agent is Stephanie Walsh.  She is wonderful.  Apart from being a genuinely nice lady, she is simply a very professional agent.   I sent her my requests and immediately we started to move forward.   

Art of Animation Entrance

Our plan is to stay at Disney World Resort for 10 nights on-site, split stay.  Then we will stay 5 nights in Orlando, preferably at a Sea World partner resort, and finally 7 nights at Hard Rock Hotel, Universal Studios Orlando.

So far, my Disney resorts have been booked, one at a time, as the second resort is a DVC resort and rooms weren’t open for booking yet.  Because we are going in January 2019, and packages haven’t been released just yet, we are waiting on the tickets.  But as soon as that comes through Stephanie will re-book our first resort (AOA) as  a package.   

We decided not to go for the dining plan this time and see how that goes.  Last visit we felt we were just eating too much.  I truly think that there is money to be saved there (especially as there is no free dining offered for that period of year 😞 ).

Stephanie has been constantly in touch with me about the Sea World package.  As of end of May 2018, Sea World has not yet published packages for 2019.  Very disappointing.  But I’m not stressing, because I know Stephanie is on it.   

Last, but not least, we have our Universal Studios package booked.  Stephanie actually managed to book us in for a price lower than the available booking price online.  😃 

I highly recommend Stephanie Walsh as a Disney Travel Specialist.  She can be contacted via email:  stephaniewalsh@d2travel.com.

What’s left to do

Well, there is still plenty left.  Funnily enough, we don’t have flights booked yet.  For some reason, prices are still way higher than what I expected.  I am pretty nervous about it, but I will wait a little longer to see if they do come down, even slightly.  But that is a big priority on my list.

Sea World, as I noted, is still to be booked.  ADR’s are coming up.  I also want to book a couple of dessert parties this time.  This will be a first for us.   

Let’s not forget the package to be updated (including park tickets).  On this one we are also swaying from our past visits.  We decided to go with the one park a day basic tickets.  They are a much cheaper option, and as we are going in January, we weren’t really thinking of visiting the water parks.  Limiting ourselves to one park a day wasn’t a big deal for us, and definitely worth the money saved.

It might not rain as much, but it can get pretty cold in January

We still need to rent a car for our Sea World stay, and purchase tickets for the Kennedy Space Station.  That is an experience I am really looking forward to.

With Universal we will probably also make dining reservations, but that can wait for the moment.

So much has been taken care of, and still so much to do still.  But OMG, 222 days to go.   I’ll keep you posted how things are coming together.  I promise. 😊 

An amazing Orlando sunset.  Can’t wait.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted on

Disney resort split stay

 I know I promised you that my next post would be Sea World.  Truth be told, I’ve been trying to write the post but it just hasn’t come to me.  I don’t know what it is, but it just isn’t happening for me.  I promise I will write that post .  But at the moment, instead, I decided to write about something else –Disney resort split stay.  This, actually, wasn’t something I was aware of until I started planning my latest trip.  I really didn’t know that it was an option, or that it was that common. But after some research, I found out that split stays at the Disney resorts are very popular.  I was even convinced to change our plans and try out a Disney resort split stay for the first time.

The Grand Floridian Resort

Disney World is enormous, with so many choices of on-site accommodations.  Sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming and hard to decide where to stay.  So, instead of making a decision, some prefer to divide their stay between two or more resorts.  That is what is known as a Disney resort split stay. 

The question is, if a split stay is the right fit for you. 

There are a several reasons you may consider splitting your stay at Disney World:

  • You have your heart set on more than one resort, and can’t make up your mind.
  • The resort you have your heart set on is a deluxe resort.  Staying there for your whole vacation is too heavy on your budget. Splitting your stay will allow you to enjoy the deluxe resort, if only for a shorter stay.
  • The resort you want isn’t available for the entirety of your stay.
  • Sometimes your party composition will change, changing the resort priorities with it.
  • Mixing business and pleasure on one trip – staying for business in one hotel, and changing hotels for pleasure.
  • Just being adventurous.

Contemporary Resort

Booking your reservation: 

You will need to make two separate reservations.  For example:  staying at AOA for 6 nights and then another 4 nights at the Polynesian, you’ll need to secure two separate bookings, with two reservation numbers, to be entered separately in My Disney Experience.  Doing that also means you’ll need to pay two deposits.   Make sure to pay attention to the different cancellation windows for each one of the reservations.

The reservations can be made online, just make sure that your second reservation starts on the day that your first one ends.  Reading many posts and forums on the matter, many find it easier to make the split stay reservation over the phone (407-W-DISNEY).  You can also use the services of a travel agent.

Pop Century Resort

What about park tickets?

When it comes to booking park tickets, the more days you book, the cheaper the tickets will get.  If you’re looking to save money, it would be best to attach your tickets for the entire stay to your first reservation.  The tickets can be used up to 14 days from time of activation. 

By making your second reservation a room only booking, and not splitting your park tickets, you can surprisingly save a small fortune.  It’s a fact.  I couldn’t believe it myself until I crunched the numbers for our trip.  With a split stay of 6 nights at AOA and 4 nights at The Polynesian, when attaching the park tickets to the first booking we will save over $US 1,500, say what??? Yep, with a small movement of numbers from left to right we will be saving a nice sum of money.  Savings like that can be very important when talking about a Disney vacation – a money consuming vacation as it is.- See my post on planning our Disney stay.

Art of Animation Resort

Dining plan/ Free dining

In the past, if you wanted to get the dining plan, when splitting your stay, you would have to attach park tickets to each reservation.  The Disney policy has recently changed, and now days guest can book the dining plan on both reservations even if their tickets are attached to the first booking.  This means, you can enjoy the cheaper tickets when attaching them to your first reservation, and still have dining plans for the duration of your stay.

Saying that, unlike the park tickets, the dining plan is linked to the number of days in each resort.  The dining must be added separately to each reservation.  Also, you must use your dining credits during your stay in each resort.  If booking first resort for 4 days and second resort for 5 days, you need to use your dining credits for the first stay during your stay in the first resort.  Dining credits related to the first reservation will expire at midnight on the day you checked out of your first resort. 

All Star Movie Resort

What happens with promotions like Free Dining?

To be able to take advantage of a promotion like free dining, you must have park tickets attached to your multiple reservations.  This means you won’t be enjoying the savings when attaching tickets to your first reservation.  You need to know, that when the free dining promotion is out, you don’t get discounted room rates either.  So, even though the free dining promotion is very tempting, you need to make your individual calculation, including your expected dining expenses, with room rates and ticket prices. You may be surprised to find that the promotion is not always worth your while.  In your case, it may be more advantageous to enjoy discount room rates, ticket attachment to first reservation and eating as you go.

What happens with my luggage?  How do I get from the first resort to the second?

There is no problem to move from one resort to the other.  Even if you don’t have your car with you, Disney will take care of your luggage.  All you have to do is check-out of your first resort, and bring your luggage to the bell service desk (or have it brought down by the bell boy).  Let them know you’re moving to another Disney resort, and they will tag the bags, give you a receipt, and have them transferred to your new resort. 

You can go off to enjoy a great day in the park, and return in the afternoon or evening directly to the new resort.  Check in, and make your way to the Bell boy service to retrieve your luggage.  You can take your luggage yourself or have it brought up to your room.

The bag transfer will usually take several hours, and in most of the cases the luggage will arrive at the new resort mid-day to late afternoon.  If there are items you need during the day – keep them with you while the luggage is in transfer.

All Star Sports Resort

How does the split stay effect dining and Fastpass booking windows?

With the fastpass, if tickets are attached to your first reservation and extend the length of your stay, you can make fastpass reservations at the 60 day mark for your entire stay.  If tickets are split, the reservations would need to be make separately at 60 day mark of each reservation.  When planning to make your dining reservations online, you will be able to make reservations at the 180 day mark for each reservation.  If you make the reservations by phone they will, most likely, make your reservations for both consecutive stays.

What about Disney Magical Express?

While on split stay you can take advantage of Disney’s Magical Express.  Attach pick up to your first resort and transfer back to airport to your last resort.  Make sure they are aware that you will be arriving to one Disney resort and leaving from another.

Coronado Springs Resort

Do you get two Magic Bands, one for each resort? How are they used?

You will be issued two magic bands, as you are booked in two separate holidays.  You can consolidate to one band.  When checking into your second resort, just ask Guest Services to add the new resort details to your first band.  If you have a My Disney Experience account, and both your Magic Bands are connected to your account. Then you should be able to use them interchangeably for your park tickets, charges to your room, Fastpasses and anything else linked through that account.  When checking in just make sure both Magic Bands are properly linked to your room key.

Planning your split stay

A split stay is a great way to experience Disney even more.  Saying that, you must understand that managing your split stay takes more effort, more attention to details and more energy. 

When you plan your split stay, it would make sense for you to visit the parks in the vicinity of the resort location.  For example: Staying at AOA and then at Poly, make your Ohana reservations for your Poly resort stay.   Smart planning can make up for time lost in the resort transfer process. 

Bottom line, it may be harder to plan a split stay, but on the same note, it may well be worth it.

 

 

Posted on

Orlando vacation planning

Orlando vacation planning  is so much fun.  I do tend to call it my ‘Disney’ vacation, and an enormous amount of time does go towards planning the Disney part of the vacation, but all in all, it is an Orlando vacation.  22 days trip (this time), of which 11 are to be spent at Disney.  My basic Disney planning is done (number of nights, resorts, restaurants and special events).    Now it’s time to tackle the remaining 11 days of our trip.

Universal’s Islands of Adventure

Universal Studios Resort

So, Universal Studios is a must for us.  We’re crazy about everything Harry Potter, and as a whole, we really loved Universal Studios Resort last time we stayed.  We also made a conscious decision that this time we want to end our trip at Universal, based on our last trip experience. 

Our last stay was for 4 nights at Hard Rock Hotel club level.  That was the first time we stayed on site at Universal.  It was outstanding. 

Hard Rock Hotel is an amazing hotel, and  their club level is wow. This type of set up really worked for us.  You get a nice breakfast spread, water and soft drinks as much as you want.  In the afternoon, you’re served afternoon tea with assortment of hot and cold snacks, beer, wine etc., and in the evening, a night snack is up for grabs (they have amazing cookies, especially the white choc. Cookies 😉  ). 

Staying on site, at Universal Studios Resort, has its advantages too.   Depending on the on-site hotel you choose to stay at, you will enjoy different perks. 

Hard Rock Hotel and Portofino Bay Hotel are the top end hotels (the Premier). Royal Pacific and Sapphire Falls are the Preferred hotels.  And Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort and Universal’s Aventura Hotel are the Prime Value range for Universal.  

Staying at all on-site hotels you will enjoy:

  • Early park admission to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Universal’s Volcano Bay one hour before park opening;
  • Complimentary transportation to the parks and City Walk;
  • Resort-wide charging privileges with the room key;
  • Complimentary delivery of merchandise bought throughout the Resort to the hotel (very useful);
  • Complimentary club-to-club access to select Universal CityWalk venues for the length of the stay. Just show the room key to get into the clubs.

CityWalk at night

When staying at the Premier hotels (Hard Rock and Portofino Bay), and also when staying at Royal Pacific Resort, you get two extra perks, that to me, are the bomb:

  • Free Universal Express Unlimited; and
  • Priority seating at select restaurants throughout the Resort.

When going during school holidays, or any time the park is crowded,  having the Unlimited Express pass is worth its weight in gold.  If buying the pass separately, it will cost you, as of today, 89$ per day per person. 

I can tell you that we took full advantage of our Unlimited Express pass.  We did go during a slow season, but even on the weekend, when the park was full, our longest wait for a ride was less than 10 minutes, and that was on the really packed rides. 

So, if you ask me, staying on site at one of the hotels/resorts that reward you with the express pass, is truly worth it.  And that is the reason we decided to return to Hard Rock Hotel on our upcoming trip.  As I said, it’s a great hotel, you get all the special perks, and it’s within walking distance from all the parks and CityWalk.  

You can enjoy the complimentary transportation from the hotel to the parks, but for us, we just enjoyed walking everywhere.

For those not interested in staying on-site, price-wise or otherwise, there are plenty of hotels in the vicinity to choose from. 

How long do we stay?

Good question 🙂 .  Are a couple of days enough for the two Theme Parks?  Well, It can definitely be done in two days.  Just how much you will actually fully enjoy it depends on time of year and just how busy the parks are when visiting.

I do recommend that, if possible, you take at least three days for the two parks.  This allows you to do both of the parks fully and even get to visit your favourite rides and lands again.  And if you have more time on your hands, well, stay longer, enjoy the hotel and resorts, take a day at Volcano Bay, Universal’s new water park, stroll through the Theme Parks, enjoy shopping and great dining at CityWalk, and just have a wonderful time.

Just enjoying ourselves

For our upcoming trip we decided to take it easy at Universal.   At first, I was looking at a 6 night stay, giving us 3-4 days spread out in the Theme Parks, a day at Volcano Bay and some free time. 

After checking out the pricing, I found that an additional day at Hard Rock Hotel, club level, will cost us an extra 50$.  Yes guys, 50$ for one more night, for a family of 5, including club level.  Well, what would you do?  I don’t think it’s hard to guess what we plan to do…🤑 

Where to eat?

Universal Studios Resort has an array of worthwhile restaurants.  At CityWalk you will find FishCow, Bubba Gump, Hard Rock Café, Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville, Emeril’s, The Toothsome Chocolate Emporium & Savory Feast Kitchen and many more. There are great restaurants at the hotels and resorts, such as The Kitchen, The Palm, and Wine Riffs at Hard Rock, Mama Della’s Ristorante at Portofino Bay, Emeril’s Tchoup chop and more.

Bubba Gump

There are  Character dining options , although the reviews aren’t great, and they seem not to justify their cost.  Most, if not all characters attending the meals can be met at the parks.

Mythos at Islands of Adventure is a no-miss, for atmosphere as well as food quality.

There are plenty of dining possibilities in the parks too, most of them are quick service dining options, and most of them are themed according to their location.  Leaky Cauldron or The Three Broomsticks at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Duff brewery and Moe’s Tavern, and Krusty Burger at The Simpson’s, The Circus McGurkus Café at Dr. Seuss and so so much more.

Our choice of dining for this time, considering breakfast is covered by club level, are:

  • Emeril’s in Orlando (at CityWalk) –for a late lunch (dinner is slightly too expensive for my liking) – I just have to try the Banana cream pie.

תוצאת תמונה עבור ‪emeril's banana cream pie‬‏

  • Toothsome Chocolate Emporium & Savory Feast Kitchen – Freakshakes and chocolate, who needs anything else?
  • Leaky Cauldron – we ate at the Three Broomsticks last trip, and this time it will be the Leaky Cauldron.
  • Mythos – for the atmosphere and good food.
  • Hard Rock Café – just cause we feel like it ☺️ .
  • The CowFish – sushi and burgers, how can you go wrong?

This time, we’re going to take it easy.  Revisit our favourite rides and lands (everything Harry Potter, for example). Enjoy CityWalk more.  Enjoy the Hotel more, and as a general rule, just have a good time, not rushing ourselves.   

I recommend that, if possible,  you do that during your vacation too.  People tend to take their time at Disney World resorts, but rush through Universal Studios.  My advice is, when possible, give yourself time at Universal Studios too.

Next post Sea World…

 

 

 

Posted on

Special events, parties and experiences at Disney World

First few times we visited Disney World we were kinda clueless.  Of course, we visited the parks and Disney Springs, and enjoyed the Resort we stayed at, but that’s it.  With proper research lacking, we were unaware of all the amazing options available for an extra something special at Disney.

Before our last trip to the World I was much more thorough.  I made it my mission to properly research the whole shebang, and so I did.  It was my husband’s birthday, as well as my middle daughter’s twelfth,  and I wanted to do something else, something special.  I was blown away with the options available.  There are so many special events, parties and experiences at Disney World to choose from.  That said, they all cost extra, and most of them don’t come cheap.  Some are definitely worth it, some may not be, mostly, it’s a matter of personal opinion.

Seeing the abundance of option, I thought i might concentrate most of the options together in this post for you, to help ya’ll  (all that without going into the different tours that are also available).

Special events:

These are seasonal special events , usually either at Magic Kingdom or Epcot.  The seasonal parties to celebrate Halloween and Christmas are after dark special events, while the Festivals at Epcot are full day events.  The parties are what they call ‘after dark’, and even if you have park tickets for the day, you will need to buy tickets for the party.  On the days the parties run, the park closes early for all guests, but if you have tickets to the party you can stay the whole day.  Also, the party usually starts at 5 pm, but entrance to party goers starts a couple of hours earlier, so they can enjoy the park and rides even before the special party events (such as special parades, dance parties, trick or treating etc.).

International Food and Wine Festival at Epcot

Running every year since 1995, the International Food and Wine Festival is a yearly event.  This year running from August 31st to November 13th 2017. As it’s name, this is a Food and Wine festival,  special kiosks are set up around the World Showcase, with food and drinks that reflect the various countries represented in the Festival.  Countries and vendors may change from year to year.  Admission is part of park admission, but food and certain special activities will cost extra. I haven’t yet had the pleasure of visiting during the Festival, but it is definitely something I wish to do in the future.

Epcot food and Wine Festival

Epcot Flower and Garden festival

This annual Festival, usually set in Spring time, March through May, combines beautiful Spring time gardening with good food and plenty of entertainment and special events,

International Festival of the Arts at Epcot

This is a new one, started only January 2017. This coming year it will be running January 12th until Febuary 19th 2018.   It’s meant to celebrate art as a whole, but especially Disney art, in the past and present.  Guests are surrounded by amazing visions, watch creative processes live, enjoy live shows and excellent food and wine, having a new experience every time they go. 

Epcot International Festival of the Arts

Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party

Just as it sounds, this is a  one of a kind, not so scary, Halloween Party in the Magic Kingdom.  This party usually runs every year from the end of August right through until November 1st, mostly three times a week.  This is a wonderful fun event.  You can dress up, with certain restrictions, found on the Disney World site .  There’s so much going on during the party.  You can enjoy trick or treating trails, most rides are still running during the party, there’s an amazing great parade, the Boo to You Halloween Parade, the Villains Spectacular, the Hallowishes Fireworks show and so much more…

I actually discovered this wonderful enjoyable party just before our last trip, and one of my best decisions was to buy the tickets for the party.  We actually did the party on the day we arrived. We checked in to our hotel (AOA), got settled, and went off to the Magic Kingdom.  Taking advantage of the early admission to the park,  we enjoyed the rides, and at five were off to start our trick or treating.  The parade is amazing, Hallowishes fireworks show is amazing, it’s all amazing😀  , and to me it’s an experience you would want to enjoy at least once.  Unfortunately, our next trip can’t be during that period, so we’ll be missing out on the party.  Saying that, I will definitely try to do it  again in the future. 

Trick or Treating at Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party

Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party

Also a seasonal special.  The Micky’s Very Merry Christmas Party  is, as it sounds, a party celebrating the Winter Christmas holiday season.  Starting from November 9th, running through until December 22nd, this party is all about Christmas.  It’s amazing how only nine days apart, the park changes from a Halloween celebration, with all the amazing décor, to a full on Christmas celebration.  The vibe of the decorations and parade can be caught on the yearly Disney Christmas TV Special, broadcasting from Disney Land and Disney World.  At the party you can enjoy the Once Upon a Christmas parade, Mickey’s most merriest celebration – a special holiday stage show, a special Frozen show starring Anna and Elsa, and the Holiday Wishes fireworks show.  Just like the Halloween party, special tickets are required for this event.

 

Christmas decorations at the Magic Kingdom

Dessert Parties:

Dessert Parties are events held in almost every one of the Disney World parks, on fireworks shows nights, binding together an enjoyable dessert party,  for us sweet toothers, with special seating or  viewing areas for the show.  There are different dessert parties at the different locations, they keep evolving and changing.  You can even enjoy the dessert parties during the Halloween and Christmas parties (with extra cost, of course).  Here’s a current list of the optional dessert parties:

The fireworks dessert party at Magic Kingdom – optional with Plaza Garden viewing or Tomorrowland Terrace viewing.   Enjoy great desserts while viewing the fireworks show at the Magic Kingdom.

Frozen Ever After dessert party at Epcot – this is a relatively new one.  You can enjoy a wide array of desserts, Frozen inspired, while seated viewing Illumination at Epcot.  An added bonus is an extra opportunity to ride the Frozen Ever After attraction after the show ends. 

 Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular Dessert Party at Disney’s Hollywood Studios – this dessert party is Star Wars themed (surprise surprise).  With a wide selection of Star Wars themed desserts, some savory options, and plenty of specialty beverages, with and without alcohol. On top of that you receive a Star Wars novelty (at the moment, it’s a Chewbacca stein).  Just like the other dessert parties, there is a special viewing area for the fireworks show.  This one is a definite yes for us.  I’ve seen the reviews, and I’m planning to book it for our next trip. 

Star Wars dessert party

Happy Hallowishes dessert party, fireworks holiday dessert party and Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM! Holiday Dessert Party at Disney’s Hollywood Studios – are the holiday special event dessert parties available.

 

Special cruises:

Pirates & Pals Fireworks Dessert Voyage – this is a special one.  You enjoy a dessert party at the Contemporary Resort, with the company of Captain Hook and Patch, and after you’re escorted out to the boats, and go for a cruise for a view of the fireworks.  This one is mostly for the little Pirates.  Reading the articles and reviews, it’s not one of the best dessert parties offered, and more of a special pirate experience for the little ones.

There used to be another option – Ferrytale Fireworks: A Sparkling Dessert Cruise – but at the moment it is no longer available.

Illumination cruises – these are specialty cruises, to book individually.  The boats are small, and carry up to 10 people.  The price includes the pontoon boat, driver, water and soda, and bagged snacks.  You can order Private dining to be delivered to the boat.  The boat takes you to Epcot for an excellent view point for Illuminations.  We did this one on our last trip.  I booked it as a surprise for my hubby’s Birthday.  I also had a Birthday cake delivered to the boat. We had the boat to ourselves.  It was absolutely amazing.  We had the time of our lives.  Illuminations is an amazing show, and the view we had was unbelievable.  It wasn’t cheap, but in my opinion, it was really worth it.

A birthday Celebration speciality cruise

Special experiences:

Bibbidi bobbidi boutique – This is a real princess/knight experience for the little ones.  Set in an enchanted beauty salon, either in Disney Springs (Once upon a Toy Store at marketplace) or at the Magic Kingdom (Cinderella’s castle), to get a magical makeover for young princesses or knights, aged 3 to 12.  Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique is owned by Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother, operated by her apprentices – Fairy Godmothers in training.  Girls can choose hairstyle and then have make up added on, nail colour and accessories too.  You can even add a Disney princess costume (extra cost). Boys can be transformed into a knight.  This experience is the  just right  for your little princess or knight, but be aware, this experience doesn’t come cheap (as of October 2017 the basic package is 64.95$ plus tax, and if you want to add the costume, well then it can jump up to 199.95$ plus tax).

The Pirates League

Join the Pirates league, and transform into a pirate, mermaid, siren, empress or zombie.  This experience is for boys and girls, aged 3 and over (including the older boys and girls among us).  There are plenty of packages to choose from starting from 19.95$ plus tax and up to 99.95$ plus tax. This is a great fun experience.  Not only transforming into a pirate or mermaid or one of your other choices, but also go through an initiation, then it’s time for your oath, and you’re sworn into the Pirates League.  At that point you will enter a hidden chamber for a photo opp.  On our last trip we did the mermaid package for all my girls (aged at the time: 6, 12, 17).  They loved it (and so did we).  Going through the makeover was great fun, and the initiation and being sworn in, well, that’s one of those things the girls will remember for years to come.  I wholeheartedly recommend this one.

Wanyama Safari

This experience is something I just learnt about lately.  In the past it was limited only to those that stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, but as of late it is now open to all.  If you’re into wildlife and good food, this experience combines the both.  First you get to enjoy a safari ride within the savanna in the Animal Kingdom Lodge, and after that you enjoy a dining experience at Jiko, which is considered one of the best restaurants at Disney World.  At the moment  cost is just over 200$ plus tax per person. 

 

Disney Floral & Gifts

With Disney Floral & Gifts you can surprise your partner or kids with a special Disney gift awaiting in your room on arrival.  There is an array of set gift baskets to choose from, different themed baskets, or you can build your own gift basket if you wish to.  This, as of most Disney experiences, is not cheap. But if you wish to immerse yourself and your family in  just a little more magic, well then, it may be worth it to you and your family.

Those are most of the events, experiences and parties available at Disney World.  There are also special tours available at the parks, but I won’t be getting into those. 

Halloween at the Magic Kingdom

Yes, you can certainly enjoy Disney World without taking part in the special events, festivals, parties or experiences.  Especially when it’s your first visit.  But if you’re planning a longer stay at Disney, or if this isn’t your first visit, or even if you just want to amp up the magic, then go for it.