starvenger
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2015
So this is the first one of these for me. Generally speaking, my family goes on two trips a year. One is usually a generational cruise with my parents, siblings, and assorted kids. The other is some sort of trip with my wife’s side of the family. My mother-in-law lives with us, so obviously that trip is done with her in mind as well as us.
Last year we skipped that trip as my wife’s best friend from the UK came over for a visit (we live in Toronto btw). And we went on Harmony of the Seas on an Eastern Caribbean Itinerary (I wrote a report on it - link is in my signature). This year, we were going to go on the Caribbean Princess, but the infant/toddler facilities didn’t look great to my brother (my nephew will be 2 at the time of the cruise) so we pivoted to an old reliable - Allure of the Seas. I will be looking to do a report on that as well.
And normally this year would be the biannual trip to the UK (quadrennial for me - I would normally head to Ohio to visit friends and do a Fantasy Football draft. Seems strange, sure. But this year we are doing it from the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton. Which apparently is not as uncommon as you might think. But I digress.). However, this year my sister-in-law and her two daughters are instead coming over to Canada in late July/early August (first time for the girls), while her husband heads home to China.
So, head count - there is me, my wife, 2 daughters (10 and 7), my mother-in-law (MiL, 70), my sister-in-law (SiL), and her 2 daughters (10 and 8). Eight people. Two of which have never been to North America. Clearly, there is only one thing to do.
ROAD TRIP!!!!
The question, of course, was - where? Lots of options near us - New York, Boston, Montreal, etc. We could go to a beach town - I went to Virginia Beach, Myrtle Beach and St. Petersburg as a kid, would love to take my kids there again.
But as this is a Disney Trip forum, so you can guess what our decision was. Especially since it's in the title.
I am basically the sole driver, so the plan is to drive down with an overnight stay. We plan to arrive on a Saturday, and leave the following Saturday, so effectively 6 days in the Orlando area. Route down is likely to be through Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Charlotte and Savannah. I’m still debating going through Port Huron and doing the I75 route. Coming back up, we’ll be going through Richmond, VA.
The question now was, what to do in Orlando? This is going to shock you guys, but people in the UK love Harry Potter, and my nieces are apparently no exception. So Universal Studios was put in play. And with the changes at DHS and craziness surrounding Pandora, we decided that MK and Epcot would be our two parks at WDW. Coincidentally (or not), we had 2 days left on our no-expire passes. So 2 days at WDW and 2 days at Universal. And yes, that means that we’ll be paying a lot on a per day basis, but since we are not planning to do more days at the parks, the savings gained by those extra days are lost. That leaves us with 2 extra days to chill/shop/whatever, which for our families is perfect.
So with that out of the way, we needed to figure out lodging. With 8 people and only 2 days at WDW, staying onsite isn’t the best option. Getting 2 hotel rooms can also get pricey, so our ideal stay would be a rental property, as that would be roomier, plus have a kitchen available for cooking. After searching through booking.com, airbnb and things like Bonnet Creek, we booked a 4BD/3Ba townhouse at Lucaya Village Resort via airbnb. FWIW the host is listed as a verified superhost with nearly 1000 reviews across their properties, so from my experience with airbnb (I’ve used them 4-5 times now) that’s about as trustworthy as you’re going to get with the site. Not saying it’s 100% guaranteed, but I feel pretty comfortable with this. Never been to this resort, but it’s not the first time I’ve gone to a place blind, so we’ll see how it goes.
So there you have it. I’m sure I’ll be filling in the blanks as we go along.
Last year we skipped that trip as my wife’s best friend from the UK came over for a visit (we live in Toronto btw). And we went on Harmony of the Seas on an Eastern Caribbean Itinerary (I wrote a report on it - link is in my signature). This year, we were going to go on the Caribbean Princess, but the infant/toddler facilities didn’t look great to my brother (my nephew will be 2 at the time of the cruise) so we pivoted to an old reliable - Allure of the Seas. I will be looking to do a report on that as well.
And normally this year would be the biannual trip to the UK (quadrennial for me - I would normally head to Ohio to visit friends and do a Fantasy Football draft. Seems strange, sure. But this year we are doing it from the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton. Which apparently is not as uncommon as you might think. But I digress.). However, this year my sister-in-law and her two daughters are instead coming over to Canada in late July/early August (first time for the girls), while her husband heads home to China.
So, head count - there is me, my wife, 2 daughters (10 and 7), my mother-in-law (MiL, 70), my sister-in-law (SiL), and her 2 daughters (10 and 8). Eight people. Two of which have never been to North America. Clearly, there is only one thing to do.
ROAD TRIP!!!!
The question, of course, was - where? Lots of options near us - New York, Boston, Montreal, etc. We could go to a beach town - I went to Virginia Beach, Myrtle Beach and St. Petersburg as a kid, would love to take my kids there again.
But as this is a Disney Trip forum, so you can guess what our decision was. Especially since it's in the title.
I am basically the sole driver, so the plan is to drive down with an overnight stay. We plan to arrive on a Saturday, and leave the following Saturday, so effectively 6 days in the Orlando area. Route down is likely to be through Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Charlotte and Savannah. I’m still debating going through Port Huron and doing the I75 route. Coming back up, we’ll be going through Richmond, VA.
The question now was, what to do in Orlando? This is going to shock you guys, but people in the UK love Harry Potter, and my nieces are apparently no exception. So Universal Studios was put in play. And with the changes at DHS and craziness surrounding Pandora, we decided that MK and Epcot would be our two parks at WDW. Coincidentally (or not), we had 2 days left on our no-expire passes. So 2 days at WDW and 2 days at Universal. And yes, that means that we’ll be paying a lot on a per day basis, but since we are not planning to do more days at the parks, the savings gained by those extra days are lost. That leaves us with 2 extra days to chill/shop/whatever, which for our families is perfect.
So with that out of the way, we needed to figure out lodging. With 8 people and only 2 days at WDW, staying onsite isn’t the best option. Getting 2 hotel rooms can also get pricey, so our ideal stay would be a rental property, as that would be roomier, plus have a kitchen available for cooking. After searching through booking.com, airbnb and things like Bonnet Creek, we booked a 4BD/3Ba townhouse at Lucaya Village Resort via airbnb. FWIW the host is listed as a verified superhost with nearly 1000 reviews across their properties, so from my experience with airbnb (I’ve used them 4-5 times now) that’s about as trustworthy as you’re going to get with the site. Not saying it’s 100% guaranteed, but I feel pretty comfortable with this. Never been to this resort, but it’s not the first time I’ve gone to a place blind, so we’ll see how it goes.
So there you have it. I’m sure I’ll be filling in the blanks as we go along.
