Pre-Trip report : 17 Summer nights

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fmknightuk's picture
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Pre-Trip report : 17 Summer nights

Hi all

As a quick reintroduction, as I've been very quiet on here recently, I'm Fiona from the UK and I'm a single mum to 2 dds aged 9 and 12. I've been to wdw 3 times in 2000. 2008 and 2011.

Last summer, Disney released their standard UK offer of free dining + $200 gift card for booking early so I booked WL (where we stayed in 2011) for 14 nights from 13th - 27th August this year. Then all I had to do was wait for the flights to be released at the 11 month point. However, for some reason there were no flights with VA available to return to the UK on 27th. confused I kept on checking and there were flights on 28th, 29th and 30th. Anyway, I worked it out that it was going to be cheaper to stay at a value resort for 3 nights and fly back on the 30th (very last day we could fly back as dds have to return to school and I have to return to work that week), as prices on 28th and 29th were outrageous. So, obviously with great sadness wink laugh at being forced to spend another 3 days at Disney, I booked our return for 30th clapping . But it gets better...... I knew that renting DVC points could be a good way of staying at a deluxe resort for a fraction of the price so I made enquiries and.... we're booked to stay at BCV for the 3 nights - SAB here we come. yay And it still gets better as I phoned Disney and upgraded our 14 day ticket to a 21 day ticket for only a few extra $, meaning we can enter a park (or more) every single day that we are there, it works out as great value for money. mickey

Renting dvc points through dvc Rental Store has been so easy. They sent me a confirmation number immediately and I linked the reservation on MDE so it is officially in my plans. If I do manage to make it back to WDW in another few years (takes that long to save up for it) I will definitely look at renting points as my first option. awesome

So our full plans are :-

8/11 - Check into Hilton Hotel, South terminal, Gatwick airport
8/12 - Fly to Orlando with VA, check into Hyatt Regency at MCO on arival( we did this last time and it worked really well for us)
8/13 - Take early ME mickey to WL, check in, then head to MK while waiting for our room
8/14 - 8/26 - 1st week we're there we will be doing RD every morning as we will still be partly on UK time, 2nd week we will be sleeping in more and going into parks later for evening entertainment. We will have plenty of pool/resort/down time and hopefully have a trip to a mall, at some point.
8/27 - check out of WL and into BCV
8/28 & 8/29 - take advantage of our location to walk to WS, catch boat to DHS and explore boardwalk.
8/30 - check out of BCV and take Tragical express to catch flight back to UK, sad spending the time working out how we can get back to WDW asap. crossfingers I did manage to book the last 3 seats in economy on the upper deck so hoping that will ease the pain of our return. awesome

ADRs hoping to book when window opens :-

BOG
CRT
CP
Tusker House
Sci - Fi
Teppan Edo
Boma
Biergarten
HDDR
1900 Park Fare
WCC
Wishes Dessert Party
Beaches and Cream
Cape May Cafe

'New to us' experiences:-

ADRS - BOG, Biergarten, 1900 Park Fare, Dessert Party, B&C, Cape May
New Fantasyland
Characters - Gaston, Peter Pan, Elsa and Anna (we managed to collect 42 autographs last time)
Walk to FW
Order a Lapu Lapu
Trade a pin - dds loved pin trading but I never traded a pin myself
Ride the monorail from MK to Epcot
MK Main street entertainment inc Dapper Dans and Trolley show
FoF parade
7DMT - during day and night
Magic of Disney Animation
People Mover
CoP
DVC!

So the next 6 1/2 months is going to be all about the planning and I know where to come if I have questions. biggrin

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Fiona

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Hi,

Good to see you back and those plans look amazing! You seemed to get everything at just the right time/ price

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Glad you are still around with us! and even better - you have a trip to plan!!
Glad you worked it all out so easily .. now on to the fun part..waiting and dreaming !

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Fiona, it sounds like an amazing trip. Are your daughters into Disney as much as you are? What are they most looking forward to? I think they are very lucky to have you as their mum.

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Miss Mikki wrote:
Fiona, it sounds like an amazing trip. Are your daughters into Disney as much as you are? What are they most looking forward to? I think they are very lucky to have you as their mum.

Yes Miss Mikki, my dds are into Disney, I don't think they had any choice laugh This will be their 3rd trip and although a handful of their friends have visited wdw maybe once or twice, I don't think they know anyone who has been 3 times, so they do appreciate how fortunate they are. When we mentioned our plans to a good friend of mine, she told them that they would be too old for WDW now eek - they just laughed it off.

They love meeting the characters and getting autographs. Last time we collected 42 autographs, so this time they want to beat that! Other highlights for them (and me) are Soarin, FOTLK and KS. awesome

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Fiona

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Awwww your plans sound wonderful! Great result with the DVC points, beach club is amazing! And it's having a refurb this year so will be all pretty when you get there (villas are starting to look a bit sad). SAB is great fun, and hello - beaches and cream is right there!! That's a HUGE draw for me lol I can't get enough ice cream Wink

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The one with all the birthdays Oct 14 4 Big Birthdays and a Vow Renewal thrown in
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Girly trip March 14 A last min cheapy week
September 13 our first all DVC stay
TR May 2013 the last min bargain trip offsite
Oct 2012 TR with a cruise!big family trip featuring the beach club, AKL, the dream and a villa offsite
TR on a budget May - June 2011offsite condo
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Great plans and great to have you back. awesome

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How exciting! Your plans sound like a lot of fun awesome
We did the Wishes dessert party in October and loved it! We found the view to be good and of course the desserts were delicious mickey

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RobynPrincess wrote:
Awwww your plans sound wonderful! Great result with the DVC points, beach club is amazing! And it's having a refurb this year so will be all pretty when you get there (villas are starting to look a bit sad). SAB is great fun, and hello - beaches and cream is right there!! That's a HUGE draw for me lol I can't get enough ice cream Wink

Didn't know about the refurb, even better clapping
And yes, ice cream is always good, tho I don't think we'll be trying the Kitchen Sink!

Spook wrote:
How exciting! Your plans sound like a lot of fun awesome
We did the Wishes dessert party in October and loved it! We found the view to be good and of course the desserts were delicious mickey

Really hoping we can get the dessert party booked. I've seen videos of it on youtube and it looks a good view without having to deal with the crowds on Main street awesome

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Fiona

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Looks awesome Fiona! Come on, summer. silly

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Awesome plans! And 21 days?! eek Gotta love that Disney math! awesome muchlove

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Sounds great! The Wishes desert party sounds like a great idea - might just have to look into that myself!

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Sounds awesome

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180 days to go so I have booked my most difficult to get adrs today. I had to phone up, as online I couldn't book beyond my first day confused
Anyway, once I got through, I've booked

Be Our Guest for Dinner clapping
Crystal Palace 8:20am (Mainly to be able to take photos of the castle before MK opens biggrin )
CRT - Lunch (This was top of my dds list of restaurants to book)
HDDR - ( This was top of my list and by booking early I think we get the best seats in our category)
Boma for Dinner.

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Fiona

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fmknightuk wrote:
180 days to go so I have booked my most difficult to get adrs today. I had to phone up, as online I couldn't book beyond my first day confused
Anyway, once I got through, I've booked

Be Our Guest for Dinner clapping
Crystal Palace 8:20am (Mainly to be able to take photos of the castle before MK opens biggrin )
CRT - Lunch (This was top of my dds list of restaurants to book)
HDDR - ( This was top of my list and by booking early I think we get the best seats in our category)
Boma for Dinner.

Great choices!! You will enjoy them all! muchlove

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fmknightuk wrote:

CRT - Lunch (This was top of my dds list of restaurants to book)

yay yay WHOo hoo! Nice grab!

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Just added an adr for The Boathouse to my list. awesome Only trouble is I now have too many adrs, I will have to cancel at least one, if not 2 Puzzled

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Fiona

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I almost booked the Boathouse for one of the September trips. I keep thinking I may change my mind!

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I have booked the Boathouse for lunch. Menu and VTs I have seen food looks fab. Slightly expensive Wink but have to try it once.

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Awesome trip ....I'm stuck here..Where is BCV and SAB..I've went thro all my Disney scenarios..I give up ..lol... sad

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Ok..I've got the BCV..Beach Club Villas..Still stuck at SAB.. confused

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The Watchmaker wrote:
Ok..I've got the BCV..Beach Club Villas..Still stuck at SAB.. confused

SAB - Stormalong Bay

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JoAnn C wrote:
The Watchmaker wrote:
Ok..I've got the BCV..Beach Club Villas..Still stuck at SAB.. confused

SAB - Stormalong Bay

Thanks... Some still get me. LOL laugh

It took me forever to get BTM the other day waiting

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"I do not like the cone of shame."

"I want adventure in the great wide somewhere. I want it more than I can tell."

"It seems to me that we have a lot of story yet to tell."

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JoAnn C wrote:
The Watchmaker wrote:
Ok..I've got the BCV..Beach Club Villas..Still stuck at SAB.. confused

SAB - Stormalong Bay

awesome cheers.

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Yay for Boathouse! Can't wait to hear what you think, it sounds fabulous! yay

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JMed wrote:
JoAnn C wrote:
The Watchmaker wrote:
Ok..I've got the BCV..Beach Club Villas..Still stuck at SAB.. confused

SAB - Stormalong Bay

Thanks... Some still get me. LOL laugh

It took me forever to get BTM the other day waiting

Oy the abbreviations! Thanks for the clarifications...BTM...BTM....BTM???

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TinkASL wrote:
JMed wrote:
JoAnn C wrote:
The Watchmaker wrote:
Ok..I've got the BCV..Beach Club Villas..Still stuck at SAB.. confused

SAB - Stormalong Bay

Thanks... Some still get me. LOL laugh

It took me forever to get BTM the other day waiting

Oy the abbreviations! Thanks for the clarifications...BTM...BTM....BTM???

Big Thunder Mountain... silly

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"I do not like the cone of shame."

"I want adventure in the great wide somewhere. I want it more than I can tell."

"It seems to me that we have a lot of story yet to tell."

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Ohhhh (face palm) Thanks! Smile

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TinkASL wrote:
Ohhhh (face palm) Thanks! Smile

I did the same thing! rolling

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"I want adventure in the great wide somewhere. I want it more than I can tell."

"It seems to me that we have a lot of story yet to tell."

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I want to hear all about the Boathouse. We thought about going there in April, but it had just opened and wasn't taking ADRs yet, and then hubby's foot started to hurt so walking over there became a bit too difficult. Next time for sure.

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I just got ADR's for us at hte Boathouse in Sept with Ken & Jan.