kittylady1972
Disneyholic
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2003
,
Today was another great day, spent at AK with a break for Chef Mickey. So fun!
Today was another great day, spent at AK with a break for Chef Mickey. So fun!
Healing at our Happy Place: making GOOD 2017 memories: Mar, May, Aug, Oct, Dec TRs (3/24 UPDATE)
- Thread starter kittylady1972
- Start date
piglet1979
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2015
Looks like you are having a great time. I can't wait to hear more about the trip.
kittylady1972
Disneyholic
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2003
We had a GREAT time for sure!
Yes...totally fun...I'll do a quick recap next!
kittylady1972
Disneyholic
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2003
We are BACK! Arrived back home yesterday around 5pm after a pretty uneventful flight. JetBlue is a FANTASTIC airline, we loved our experience with them and only wish they had more frequent flights.
The weather was GREAT overall. Our only IFFY day was Sunday, which we knew going into the trip and we modified some plans accordingly when the forecast changed. It was really a typical Florida weather day on Sunday and totally manageable.
Navigating through the parks and lines with parties of 6,8,9,11,12,14,16 people had it's challenges but it worked out well overall. On RNRC we had 16 people so we took up MOST of the car! These were all of the people on THAT ride, all part of our
We did character meals at both Tusker House at Chef Mickey's which were fun. Some of our party managed to ride FOP 3 times during the trip, twice on stand-by (an hour wait and a 2+ hour wait) and once using FP+ reservation.
We LOVED the Food and Wine Festival and had a great time eating and drinking our way around the world one evening.
Parks were VERY busy...wait times were definitely crazy but we found evening touring was the best thing for us. I let the group make the decision on when we would meet each morning, telling them that meeting later would mean longer lines and missing rides. They were good with that.
Last few hours of the parks were the best time for us, especially at MK. One night almost our entire group went off to Animal Kingdom to ride FOP in standby...but 4 of us stayed behind in MK and had a GREAT time riding a few rides and just taking in the atmosphere.
I am glad we had our 12-person van to drive to the parks, because the SOG buses to AK and HS only run once an hour and that would not have been convenient at all for us.
Overall we had a GREAT trip, I think even the non-Disney people were converts by the end and would return again. Several people were thankful they had "experts" to guide them around and I do think it made a difference.
The kids especially loved running around the parks on their own. The girls took advantage of the the Photopass photographers quite a bit and it was fun to see their photos.
Honestly I took very few photos on my own because I was enjoying being in the moment with everybody.
The weather was GREAT overall. Our only IFFY day was Sunday, which we knew going into the trip and we modified some plans accordingly when the forecast changed. It was really a typical Florida weather day on Sunday and totally manageable.
Navigating through the parks and lines with parties of 6,8,9,11,12,14,16 people had it's challenges but it worked out well overall. On RNRC we had 16 people so we took up MOST of the car! These were all of the people on THAT ride, all part of our
We did character meals at both Tusker House at Chef Mickey's which were fun. Some of our party managed to ride FOP 3 times during the trip, twice on stand-by (an hour wait and a 2+ hour wait) and once using FP+ reservation.
We LOVED the Food and Wine Festival and had a great time eating and drinking our way around the world one evening.
Parks were VERY busy...wait times were definitely crazy but we found evening touring was the best thing for us. I let the group make the decision on when we would meet each morning, telling them that meeting later would mean longer lines and missing rides. They were good with that.
Last few hours of the parks were the best time for us, especially at MK. One night almost our entire group went off to Animal Kingdom to ride FOP in standby...but 4 of us stayed behind in MK and had a GREAT time riding a few rides and just taking in the atmosphere.
I am glad we had our 12-person van to drive to the parks, because the SOG buses to AK and HS only run once an hour and that would not have been convenient at all for us.
Overall we had a GREAT trip, I think even the non-Disney people were converts by the end and would return again. Several people were thankful they had "experts" to guide them around and I do think it made a difference.
The kids especially loved running around the parks on their own. The girls took advantage of the the Photopass photographers quite a bit and it was fun to see their photos.
Honestly I took very few photos on my own because I was enjoying being in the moment with everybody.
Jenny Sanders
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2007
Your trip sounds fabulous. LOVE the Chef Mickey pic!!!! Very cute!
kittylady1972
Disneyholic
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2003
Thanks! It truly was such a fun trip. I wasn't sure how it would work out with so many people to keep track of in the parks but it was fine.
kittylady1972
Disneyholic
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2003
DECEMBER PLAN
So we do have a tentative plan in place for December, but of course it's subject to change as always. I tool some lessons learned from our trip last week and incorporated them into our upcoming trip in just over 5 weeks. All of our FP+ reservations are now done, for the five of us and my FIL and here is what we have now.
WEDNESDAY: School and work first, then we'll grab something to eat to head to the airport around 4pm for our 6pm flight. This is a bit later than our flight last week, so here's hoping our hit-the-ground-running plan works out better. We should land around 8:30pm and we'll head directly to our resort, which at this point is still TBD since the five of us are booked at POR and my FIL still has NO place to stay. I can't string 2 night together for him at any reasonable resort yet. There's still a very high possibility that I will move all of us to the WDW Dolphin, which actually would be okay by me. MK is open until 1am (just like last week) so the hope is that we'll get to our resort, drop our stuff, and hit the MK for at least a few hours that evening.
THURSDAY: Depending on how late we are out the night before, we will plan to hit the parks as early as possible the next morning. This time our plan is to head to MK for the day. It is a party night, so hopefully won't be crowded since it closes at 6pm to the public. I'm debating doing the Christmas Party. We do have lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern, one of my favorites from long ago...mostly for the dessert!
We have 3 FP+ reservations at MK. If we do NOT to the Christmas Party, then we'll make plans to head to AK that evening close to the 8pm closing time and ride FOP standby.
FRIDAY: This is our EPCOT day, so I have our 3 FPs scheduled here. Like last time, we'll plan to arrive as close to the 9am start as possible and hit Soarin' first thing. After that we should have time to head to FEA and ride that one standby as well. We will return and use our FPs (Test Track and Mission: Space) and then do other rides around there like The Seas (we missed that our last trip) and maybe even The Land. If we didn't hit AK the night before (and maybe even if we did) we will head there close to the 8pm closing time and ride FOP on standby. Yes it is THAT good.
SATURDAY: This is our actual planned day at AK. Arrive close to opening (it is an 8am EMH day) and ride Everest Standby and maybe even the Safari and Dinosaur. Our FPs here are Everest (12pm), FOP (1pm) and the Safari (at 2pm) but if we get some of those rides done at opening we can redo the FPs...well all but FOP. I'd like to catch the Lion King show again, and Flight of Wonder which we missed last time also. We need to be out of AK and over to EPCOT by around 3pm as we have a 4pm reservation at Marakesh followed by the 6:45pm CP show with Kurt Russell. If we are still feeling good that evening, we can even hit MK afterwards for a few rides before the 12am closing, making it a 3-park day.
SUNDAY: Departure day...it goes by so quickly. Final day will be spent in HS, which at this point we have no plans to visit until this day. It's an easy last-day park for us. We have some FPs here, with our last one at 2pm. We'll do all we can here, departing for the airport around 5:30pm for our 8pm flight home.
And that's our December plan right now. Only 2 ADRs currently because I want to keep it flexible.
So we do have a tentative plan in place for December, but of course it's subject to change as always. I tool some lessons learned from our trip last week and incorporated them into our upcoming trip in just over 5 weeks. All of our FP+ reservations are now done, for the five of us and my FIL and here is what we have now.
WEDNESDAY: School and work first, then we'll grab something to eat to head to the airport around 4pm for our 6pm flight. This is a bit later than our flight last week, so here's hoping our hit-the-ground-running plan works out better. We should land around 8:30pm and we'll head directly to our resort, which at this point is still TBD since the five of us are booked at POR and my FIL still has NO place to stay. I can't string 2 night together for him at any reasonable resort yet. There's still a very high possibility that I will move all of us to the WDW Dolphin, which actually would be okay by me. MK is open until 1am (just like last week) so the hope is that we'll get to our resort, drop our stuff, and hit the MK for at least a few hours that evening.
THURSDAY: Depending on how late we are out the night before, we will plan to hit the parks as early as possible the next morning. This time our plan is to head to MK for the day. It is a party night, so hopefully won't be crowded since it closes at 6pm to the public. I'm debating doing the Christmas Party. We do have lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern, one of my favorites from long ago...mostly for the dessert!
We have 3 FP+ reservations at MK. If we do NOT to the Christmas Party, then we'll make plans to head to AK that evening close to the 8pm closing time and ride FOP standby.FRIDAY: This is our EPCOT day, so I have our 3 FPs scheduled here. Like last time, we'll plan to arrive as close to the 9am start as possible and hit Soarin' first thing. After that we should have time to head to FEA and ride that one standby as well. We will return and use our FPs (Test Track and Mission: Space) and then do other rides around there like The Seas (we missed that our last trip) and maybe even The Land. If we didn't hit AK the night before (and maybe even if we did) we will head there close to the 8pm closing time and ride FOP on standby. Yes it is THAT good.
SATURDAY: This is our actual planned day at AK. Arrive close to opening (it is an 8am EMH day) and ride Everest Standby and maybe even the Safari and Dinosaur. Our FPs here are Everest (12pm), FOP (1pm) and the Safari (at 2pm) but if we get some of those rides done at opening we can redo the FPs...well all but FOP. I'd like to catch the Lion King show again, and Flight of Wonder which we missed last time also. We need to be out of AK and over to EPCOT by around 3pm as we have a 4pm reservation at Marakesh followed by the 6:45pm CP show with Kurt Russell. If we are still feeling good that evening, we can even hit MK afterwards for a few rides before the 12am closing, making it a 3-park day.
SUNDAY: Departure day...it goes by so quickly. Final day will be spent in HS, which at this point we have no plans to visit until this day. It's an easy last-day park for us. We have some FPs here, with our last one at 2pm. We'll do all we can here, departing for the airport around 5:30pm for our 8pm flight home.
And that's our December plan right now. Only 2 ADRs currently because I want to keep it flexible.
kittylady1972
Disneyholic
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2003
OCTOBER TRIP DAY ONE: Things don't always go as planned
Our day started off good, everybody was off to school and work but of course ready to begin vacation and the day went by so slooooowly.!
I had to leave work early because I had to squeeze in a radiation treatment before vacation. My radio oncologist had agreed to let me miss my Thurs, Fri and Monday treatments but I definitely need to get one in before going away. So I had a 12:30pm appointment for that, but of course they were running behind and I waited longer than I ever had to get the done. Soon enough I was out the door and on the way home.
At home I made some last minute adjustments to my packing and got everything ready to go. We were out the door around 3pm (for our 5pm flight) and parking the car around 3:15pm. Even there, where the parking shuttle is usually waiting for us to pick us up at our car, it took forever for the shuttle to show up, and when it did it picked up everybody else in our row before us and was full...so we had to wait for the next one. It was right behind that one though.
We all had TSA Pre-Check and this was our first experience with JetBlue airlines...but I can tell you it won't be our last! We got in line at security and DH ended up having to go through security again for some reason, so he was special. Then even after telling my 17yo to put away his stuff into his carry-on, he tried to walk through the security with his wallet and license still in his pocket. I was behind him though, so he handed all of that to me before finally going through the regular detector also. My family, all in front of us, grabbed his suitcase on the belt and we all headed to our gate, which was a very short walk down the end of a ramp. As we arrive, my kids looked at their older brother and asked: Where is your backpack?
UGH.
He and DH sprint back to security (we had only been down at the gate for a few minutes) and I was sure they would have the hounds all over that unattended bag.
I was wrong...and they both walked back a few minutes later...with a piece of paper with the number on it to CALL security to see if the bad would turn up later. They were told it wasn't there.
WHAT?
The good news was that I had my son's wallet because of the earlier issue, but the bad news was no cell phone (and of course he had turned it off so we couldn't call it or locate it) and other stuff. My son wasn't having that, so he decided to walk BACK up to security himself again...and returned a few minutes later WITH his backpack, after directing the security people to the line where they had been. Yeah it was just sitting there...unattended...for at least 10-15 minutes.
We all grabbed some food at the airport and were soon boarding our flight. The seats were lovely, the space was great, having the in-flight entertainment and WiFi for free was awesome:
and the kids loved the full-bags of snack offerings and full cans of soda they received. Yes JetBlue won us over and our flight was uneventful, landing during this beautiful sunset:
WELCOME to ORLANDO AIRPORT!
After our usual gathering of our group (there were actually 9 of us total on the flight together) we made a quick restroom break and headed to the rental car location.
Now normally this is a very quick procedure, which is why two of our group actually chose to ride with us because we were sure we would easily get them to their resort (Pop Century) well before the Magical Express would, as the rest of their family was on another flight around the same time.
Can you guess that didn't happen.
I had reserved a full-sized van with 12-person capacity for this trip because we like to drive to the parks and we would have at LEAST 9 to 11 people, sometimes more, going with us from our resort (SOG) every day. Well our rental car company that shall not be named was taking FOREVER to find us the vehicle I reserved, since of course I couldn't just walk down the lanes as usual and PICK any car I wanted.
At one point the worker there actually exclaimed "we found you one" which is when we all looked at each other like "what?"...I mean we reserved one so you should be HOLDING the reservation for us. Cue the Seinfeld episode if anybody is familiar with it, because that's all we all had in our minds.
We had some VERY impatient kids, and even my DH walked over to another booth to see if they had any 12-person vans they could rent us...and he got a no on that one.
In the meantime, the party of 2 that was with us, their family was on the ME bus and on the way to their resort...of course.
An HOUR after arriving the vehicle we rented FINALLY showed up.
UGH.
Now it was about 8:45pm and of course, though I've done this drive plenty, I missed my turn for the road I wanted out of the airport and had to make a u-turn. Lovely.
Finally dropped off two of our passengers at Pop Century and headed to Shades of Green. Parking this big vehicle, though I drive a Toyota Seqouia at home, proved quite challenging but we managed. We arrived at Shades, walked into the lobby, checked in and hit our room with plans to just drop the stuff and hit the park next. We had other friends who had been at MK for hours now and we had HOPED to meet up with them to to our 9:10pm-10:10pm FP+ together at BTMRR, but we soon realized we wouldn't make it.
My DH and youngest son were hungry, so they chose to relax at the hotel and get some food. So I took my oldest son and daughter, my friend and her husband and her nephew (both her 49yo husband and 17yo nephew had never been to WDW) and we hopped on a bus for the MK!
I don't recall when we arrived, but I feel like we met up somewhere in Tomorrowland, as I remember my DD was getting quite HANGRY now and we were trying to decide on food for her. We grabbed a popcorn bucket and had that filled and then I think we hit Space Mountain together. Might as well start this vacation off with a BIG ride!
Clearly my kids have been on this a few times and know when to pose!
After riding SM with about a 20 minute wait, we were then making our way to the next ride. The kids wanted to drive some cars (those who can't drive yet) so we hopped on the Speedway with ZERO wait. Once that was done, next up was the Teacups...where 3 of us selected a "non-spinning" cup:
Our next ride was Winnie the Pooh, again with pretty much no wait...maybe 15 minutes tops.
Last but not least, we headed through Fantasyland and rode Haunted Mansion as our final ride of the evening.
Now it was after 1am and time to start heading back, having accomplished quite a bit in our 3 hours there.
(to be continued)
Our day started off good, everybody was off to school and work but of course ready to begin vacation and the day went by so slooooowly.!
I had to leave work early because I had to squeeze in a radiation treatment before vacation. My radio oncologist had agreed to let me miss my Thurs, Fri and Monday treatments but I definitely need to get one in before going away. So I had a 12:30pm appointment for that, but of course they were running behind and I waited longer than I ever had to get the done. Soon enough I was out the door and on the way home.
At home I made some last minute adjustments to my packing and got everything ready to go. We were out the door around 3pm (for our 5pm flight) and parking the car around 3:15pm. Even there, where the parking shuttle is usually waiting for us to pick us up at our car, it took forever for the shuttle to show up, and when it did it picked up everybody else in our row before us and was full...so we had to wait for the next one. It was right behind that one though.
We all had TSA Pre-Check and this was our first experience with JetBlue airlines...but I can tell you it won't be our last! We got in line at security and DH ended up having to go through security again for some reason, so he was special. Then even after telling my 17yo to put away his stuff into his carry-on, he tried to walk through the security with his wallet and license still in his pocket. I was behind him though, so he handed all of that to me before finally going through the regular detector also. My family, all in front of us, grabbed his suitcase on the belt and we all headed to our gate, which was a very short walk down the end of a ramp. As we arrive, my kids looked at their older brother and asked: Where is your backpack?
UGH.
He and DH sprint back to security (we had only been down at the gate for a few minutes) and I was sure they would have the hounds all over that unattended bag.
I was wrong...and they both walked back a few minutes later...with a piece of paper with the number on it to CALL security to see if the bad would turn up later. They were told it wasn't there.
WHAT?
The good news was that I had my son's wallet because of the earlier issue, but the bad news was no cell phone (and of course he had turned it off so we couldn't call it or locate it) and other stuff. My son wasn't having that, so he decided to walk BACK up to security himself again...and returned a few minutes later WITH his backpack, after directing the security people to the line where they had been. Yeah it was just sitting there...unattended...for at least 10-15 minutes.
We all grabbed some food at the airport and were soon boarding our flight. The seats were lovely, the space was great, having the in-flight entertainment and WiFi for free was awesome:
and the kids loved the full-bags of snack offerings and full cans of soda they received. Yes JetBlue won us over and our flight was uneventful, landing during this beautiful sunset:
WELCOME to ORLANDO AIRPORT!
After our usual gathering of our group (there were actually 9 of us total on the flight together) we made a quick restroom break and headed to the rental car location.
Now normally this is a very quick procedure, which is why two of our group actually chose to ride with us because we were sure we would easily get them to their resort (Pop Century) well before the Magical Express would, as the rest of their family was on another flight around the same time.
Can you guess that didn't happen.
I had reserved a full-sized van with 12-person capacity for this trip because we like to drive to the parks and we would have at LEAST 9 to 11 people, sometimes more, going with us from our resort (SOG) every day. Well our rental car company that shall not be named was taking FOREVER to find us the vehicle I reserved, since of course I couldn't just walk down the lanes as usual and PICK any car I wanted.
At one point the worker there actually exclaimed "we found you one" which is when we all looked at each other like "what?"...I mean we reserved one so you should be HOLDING the reservation for us. Cue the Seinfeld episode if anybody is familiar with it, because that's all we all had in our minds.
We had some VERY impatient kids, and even my DH walked over to another booth to see if they had any 12-person vans they could rent us...and he got a no on that one.
In the meantime, the party of 2 that was with us, their family was on the ME bus and on the way to their resort...of course.
An HOUR after arriving the vehicle we rented FINALLY showed up.
UGH.
Now it was about 8:45pm and of course, though I've done this drive plenty, I missed my turn for the road I wanted out of the airport and had to make a u-turn. Lovely.
Finally dropped off two of our passengers at Pop Century and headed to Shades of Green. Parking this big vehicle, though I drive a Toyota Seqouia at home, proved quite challenging but we managed. We arrived at Shades, walked into the lobby, checked in and hit our room with plans to just drop the stuff and hit the park next. We had other friends who had been at MK for hours now and we had HOPED to meet up with them to to our 9:10pm-10:10pm FP+ together at BTMRR, but we soon realized we wouldn't make it.
My DH and youngest son were hungry, so they chose to relax at the hotel and get some food. So I took my oldest son and daughter, my friend and her husband and her nephew (both her 49yo husband and 17yo nephew had never been to WDW) and we hopped on a bus for the MK!
I don't recall when we arrived, but I feel like we met up somewhere in Tomorrowland, as I remember my DD was getting quite HANGRY now and we were trying to decide on food for her. We grabbed a popcorn bucket and had that filled and then I think we hit Space Mountain together. Might as well start this vacation off with a BIG ride!
Clearly my kids have been on this a few times and know when to pose!
After riding SM with about a 20 minute wait, we were then making our way to the next ride. The kids wanted to drive some cars (those who can't drive yet) so we hopped on the Speedway with ZERO wait. Once that was done, next up was the Teacups...where 3 of us selected a "non-spinning" cup:
Our next ride was Winnie the Pooh, again with pretty much no wait...maybe 15 minutes tops.
Last but not least, we headed through Fantasyland and rode Haunted Mansion as our final ride of the evening.
Now it was after 1am and time to start heading back, having accomplished quite a bit in our 3 hours there.
(to be continued)
kittylady1972
Disneyholic
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2003
OCTOBER TRIP DAY ONE
We said goodbye to the castle:
And then paused to have a photo taken of the brave group that managed to hang this long:
We hopped the monorail back to the TTC, but has to wait until about 2am for the next SOG bus (they run every 20 minutes from the TTC). Soon we were on the bus (and we had a fabulous and friendly bus driver btw) and back at our resort. We made plans to meet around 8am the next morning for our first full day adventure. Yes that meant some of us would be up around 7am and riding on about 3-4 hours of sleep MAX! How would we hold up?
We said goodbye to the castle:
And then paused to have a photo taken of the brave group that managed to hang this long:
We hopped the monorail back to the TTC, but has to wait until about 2am for the next SOG bus (they run every 20 minutes from the TTC). Soon we were on the bus (and we had a fabulous and friendly bus driver btw) and back at our resort. We made plans to meet around 8am the next morning for our first full day adventure. Yes that meant some of us would be up around 7am and riding on about 3-4 hours of sleep MAX! How would we hold up?
ariane37
Dis veteran
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2012
Welcome back! I loved seeing all your pictures on FB Sorry about the car rental thing, we had an experience similar to that the one time we rented a car down there. Not fun waiting and not fun dealing with the added stress!
Also glad your FIL decided to join you in Dec. and I hope you find a resort! Yes, availability is slim. Did you decide on Kurt Russell or Jody Benson? I know you were leaning towards Kurt, I'd love to see him narrate.
Sorry about the car rental thing, we had an experience similar to that the one time we rented a car down there. Not fun waiting and not fun dealing with the added stress!all we fly is JB and we love it. They fly out of all the airports by us, we love that we pick our seats when we book. This is why I don't understand the whole SW seating thing, guess I've been spoiled by JB lol.
Also glad your FIL decided to join you in Dec. and I hope you find a resort! Yes, availability is slim. Did you decide on Kurt Russell or Jody Benson? I know you were leaning towards Kurt, I'd love to see him narrate.
kittylady1972
Disneyholic
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2003
Welcome back! I loved seeing all your pictures on FB
all we fly is JB and we love it. They fly out of all the airports by us, we love that we pick our seats when we book. This is why I don't understand the whole SW seating thing, guess I've been spoiled by JB lol.
Also glad your FIL decided to join you in Dec. and I hope you find a resort! Yes, availability is slim. Did you decide on Kurt Russell or Jody Benson? I know you were leaning towards Kurt, I'd love to see him narrate.
Glad you enjoyed the photos. We have a TON of them so I tried to post the most interesting. The album I shared with our group is over 200 photos!
Yes we've never had an issue like that with the rental, so this time we are trying a different company to see how it works out. I should mention that DH complained via email and the other company did refund us $50 for the rental, and we had a REALLY great rate on this 12-passenger van. Still have decided to pay about $10 more for the next trip and try another company. We'll see.
My only problem with JB is that we are so limited on the flights. They only have direct flights about once a day out of our local airport, and a few others but they are all connecting which we like to avoid. SWA has many other options at all times of the day and night. That's why in December we are going out on JB and coming back on SWA.
Ugh...the resort booking is frustrating. I can find NOTHING for him unless I want to piecemeal the trip or pay over $500/night for the room. Right now he has the option of 2 nights at Boardwalk and 2 nights at either POP, AoA or WL. If only he was going to value/mod to the deluxe I would consider it...but going DOWN in luxury seems wrong to me...and the cost is still high. We really may be looking at a stay at the Dolphin or Swan at this point and sticking him with one of the kids, but we still have some time for something to come through I think, even if it isn't looking very good.
Since you are the expert, let me know if you see anything coming up for our timeframe...Dec. 6th - 10th...4 nights. I can generally get one or two nights, sometimes in one place and same category, sometimes same place different level if I book them one night at a time. Very little for the moderates though, and I'd really like to keep him with us at either POR or POFQ.
We are definitely going to see Kurt! I just think that's going to be so cool.
Last edited:
Jenny Sanders
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2007
You had so much fun!!!!
kittylady1972
Disneyholic
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2003
DECEMBER PLAN
Quick update on our December plan. Earlier this week I was actually able to snag TWO room reservations at a resort for our December dates. And so, FOR NOW, we are booked at Pop Century.
We have stayed at Pop Century before, a few times but it's usually a one-night stay until we move elsewhere. A few years ago we ended up driving to Florida earlier than planned due to a snowstorm in MD, so we checked in at Pop late one night, got two rooms, and put a kid in the room with his grandparents.
This time around, the kid will be in the room with his grandfather also, and I am planning a few room requests. One will be connecting rooms if possible, and the second will be to be in one of the newly renovated rooms because they look very cool, even if I'm not fond of the new trend to go away from carpet to the harder flooring.
In a way, I'm kinda excited about the stay at Pop, just because we haven't fully experienced that resort due to our short stays. However I do like having a room where we can all stay together and maybe a bigger room, but for only 4 nights and we spend so little time in the room, I really appreciate the money savings.
I'm still holding POR just in case I can find a second room there. So yes, I now have FOUR deposits in place for 3 rooms at Disney in December.
To further complicate things, SOG just opened up some dates today, HOWEVER like the Disney reservations, I can only book if I do it one date at a time because for the ONE night they only have a specific category that is NOT available for the remaining 3 nights. On the positive, switching at SOG is easier than any Disney resort since it's all one building. However if we check out of one room before our other room is available, we'd need to store our stuff, which I guess could be done at bell services or even in our car if necessary.
Tough decision....and one that would require more deposits...and these would be non-refundable in the next few days (30 day cancellation).
UGH.
**********
What I've also failed to mention, is that I'll most likely be on the hook for some damage to the rental vehicle that occurred while we had it. The company has sent me an email at the end of last week which I need to respond to but haven't yet. That's probably going to be expensive, and before everybody mentions how to handle it, I've done some research and learned that it looks like NEITHER my insurance NOR the credit card insurance that is standard and used to book the vehicle will cover any damage because they tend to NOT cover anything that holds more than 8 passengers. Excluded from coverage is everything I've read, so unless somebody else has different information, I'm not happy about this. We'll see what happens as I determine the best way to approach this one.
Therefore this trip really needs to be as cheap as possible, and Pop might be our answer to that.
Quick update on our December plan. Earlier this week I was actually able to snag TWO room reservations at a resort for our December dates. And so, FOR NOW, we are booked at Pop Century.
We have stayed at Pop Century before, a few times but it's usually a one-night stay until we move elsewhere. A few years ago we ended up driving to Florida earlier than planned due to a snowstorm in MD, so we checked in at Pop late one night, got two rooms, and put a kid in the room with his grandparents.
This time around, the kid will be in the room with his grandfather also, and I am planning a few room requests. One will be connecting rooms if possible, and the second will be to be in one of the newly renovated rooms because they look very cool, even if I'm not fond of the new trend to go away from carpet to the harder flooring.
In a way, I'm kinda excited about the stay at Pop, just because we haven't fully experienced that resort due to our short stays. However I do like having a room where we can all stay together and maybe a bigger room, but for only 4 nights and we spend so little time in the room, I really appreciate the money savings.
I'm still holding POR just in case I can find a second room there. So yes, I now have FOUR deposits in place for 3 rooms at Disney in December.
To further complicate things, SOG just opened up some dates today, HOWEVER like the Disney reservations, I can only book if I do it one date at a time because for the ONE night they only have a specific category that is NOT available for the remaining 3 nights. On the positive, switching at SOG is easier than any Disney resort since it's all one building. However if we check out of one room before our other room is available, we'd need to store our stuff, which I guess could be done at bell services or even in our car if necessary.
Tough decision....and one that would require more deposits...and these would be non-refundable in the next few days (30 day cancellation).
UGH.
**********
What I've also failed to mention, is that I'll most likely be on the hook for some damage to the rental vehicle that occurred while we had it. The company has sent me an email at the end of last week which I need to respond to but haven't yet. That's probably going to be expensive, and before everybody mentions how to handle it, I've done some research and learned that it looks like NEITHER my insurance NOR the credit card insurance that is standard and used to book the vehicle will cover any damage because they tend to NOT cover anything that holds more than 8 passengers. Excluded from coverage is everything I've read, so unless somebody else has different information, I'm not happy about this. We'll see what happens as I determine the best way to approach this one.
Therefore this trip really needs to be as cheap as possible, and Pop might be our answer to that.
Jenny Sanders
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2007
That really sucks about the rental car!!!!
Raeven
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2015
You probably booked it around the same time I did because as I was looking a couple days ago I saw Pop and only Pop open for our dates 
Plus it was our ideal dates vs what we were doing before moving back and forth. We’re trying to do a more budget friendly trip since we still ended up going for a couple days in sep so we ended up paying for 2 sets of flights when we changed this trip and new Aps.
Anyway we booked Pop too! (The 8th-13th of Dec). It saved us a couple hundred and now our dates are all together. Plus there was better availability at Universal the latter half of the week and we can see HEA now so overall I’m happy with it.
Plus it was our ideal dates vs what we were doing before moving back and forth. We’re trying to do a more budget friendly trip since we still ended up going for a couple days in sep so we ended up paying for 2 sets of flights when we changed this trip and new Aps. Anyway we booked Pop too! (The 8th-13th of Dec). It saved us a couple hundred and now our dates are all together. Plus there was better availability at Universal the latter half of the week and we can see HEA now so overall I’m happy with it.
kittylady1972
Disneyholic
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2003
Yes, I'm not happy about it either. I drive a Toyota Sequoia on a regular basis, but parking this beast proved to be a challenge for me. The turning radius totally sucks on those 12-passenger monstronsities!
You probably booked it around the same time I did because as I was looking a couple days ago I saw Pop and only Pop open for our dates
Anyway we booked Pop too! (The 8th-13th of Dec). It saved us a couple hundred and now our dates are all together. Plus there was better availability at Universal the latter half of the week and we can see HEA now so overall I’m happy with it.
Probably was the same day...awesome! Yeah I am kinda warming up to the idea of Pop Century, and it's such a short trip anyway that I don't anticipate much time in the room. We have to renew our APs on this trip too, so I really think I'll probably stick to Pop unless I can get Shades to open up for all of our dates in one room category. Currently it would only cost me about $60 more to book SOG, but I'd be in one room for 2 nights and another room for 2 nights. I'm kinda thinking a return to the Disney bubble would be nice, but SOG is still a great place to stay. We'll be leaving two days AFTER you arrive though, so if we both end up at POP look out for my crazy family!
piglet1979
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2015
I have a question about southwest. The 2 free checked bags is that 2 per person?
kittylady1972
Disneyholic
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2003
Honestly we have NEVER checked bags, but I would assume if it's two checked bags then it would be two per person. We always do carry-on luggage.
piglet1979
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2015
We are horrible at packing. When we drive to Disney the back of my SUV is full. I have an Outlander with the 3rd row. It is quite ridiculous. This trip though I will have tighten up on the packing since the rooms on the boat are small.
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