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.
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.
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. 😊
