Category: Trip Planning

Planning a Trip with Mom for the Spring…

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I’m in the very early planning stages in the trip I will take in the spring with my mom.  My mom LOVES to garden so about 8 years ago (when things were great financially, or at least I THOUGHT they were, haha), I decided that I wanted to take my mom to Epcot for the Flower and Garden festival and do a Mom/Brooke weekend for her birthday/Mother’s Day present.  So, I booked the room, using some of our DVC points, and planned the trip.  Mom did pay for her own airfare (Things weren’t THAT great, unfortunately) but that first year, I did the hotel and the tickets.  She did her airfare and some of the meals.  I planned everything.  We had so much fun that we did it for the next two years.  The year of the wedding, we didn’t do it because we were both saving money for the wedding stuff, and because Frank and I were going in May already for our wedding planning and food tasting trip.  The year after the wedding, it just wasn’t financially feasible, and well, that’s been the story for the last couple years as well.  BUT things are finally getting better, and I think if I plan ahead, like I did for our anniversary trip this fall, and work a little extra here and there, I can swing it this year.  Mom is totally up for it, and fortunately, is willing to cover her airfare, her ticket and some meals.  Since I decided to go the annual pass route for the November anniversary trip, I’ll already have my ticket, so I just have to figure out my airfare and food.  And of course, spending money because let’s face it…no way am I going to Disney and NOT buying some souvenirs!

With DVC, you can book reservations at your “Home” resort (the resort where you actually own your points…in our case Bay Lake Tower) 11 months out from your arrival date.  You can’t book a room anywhere else until 7 months out from your arrival date.  When I go with mom, we stay at Old Key West.  The studios at Old Key West are the largest, and always have 2 beds, which makes them ideal for us.  Extra room to spread out and gives her a LITTLE space from me (I snore ☹).  Old Key West studios also cost the lowest amount of points per night, so we can stay more nights for fewer points than when I book a stay at Bay Lake Tower.

When I go with mom, Epcot is the MAIN attraction, although I always drag her through several parks anyways.  But Epcot is the primary reason for the trip.  Now that I have a more normal work situation, I’m really looking forward to taking a slightly longer trip with her than we’ve done in the past… The last time we went, we flew down on a Friday afternoon and had to fly home at the crack of dawn on Monday, because I just couldn’t take more time off work than that.  Previous trips were a LITTLE longer, going down Thursday night, but still coming home early Monday.  For this trip, I’m thinking about going down on Wednesday, morning hopefully and coming home Monday night.  I also want to plan TWO Epcot days in there, so we can maybe attend some of the seminars or special tours offered during Flower and Garden.

Choosing Dates

Flower and Garden Festival usually runs from March 1 through Memorial Day.  Disney hasn’t officially announced the dates for 2018, but I feel pretty secure in that window.  In the past, we’ve planned for late April or early May, trying to see the Festival at it’s peak, and, avoiding as much as possible, spring break crowds.

I decided to look at the first two weekends in May as our target.  The second weekend includes Mom’s birthday AND Mother’s Day and while that would be perfect from a celebration standpoint, it’s not really fair to steal her away from my step-dad and my brothers and their families for that weekend, so I was hoping that first weekend would work.  I checked the Crowd Calendar predictions at Touringplans.com and predicted crowd levels are fairly light Wednesday through Friday, moving to 6’s and 7’s for the weekend, which is fairly good.  Disney rarely has light days or slow periods anymore, so while I would LOVE for every day to be a 2 – 3, I consider myself lucky to have 4’s – 6’s.  I then checked availability at Old Key West for those dates.  Because it’s an older resort, it doesn’t have the popularity that some of the newer, “sexier” resorts have, like the Villas at the Polynesian resort or the Grand Floridian, so it’s generally fairly easy to get reservations there—at least during non-peak times.  Currently, the dates we want are available.  Of course, that could change between now and when my booking window opens…remember, I can’t reserve the room until 7 months out.  With an arrival date of May 2, that means I can’t book until October 2.  SO…bottom line…Have noted on my calendar on October 2 to remind me to book the reservation.  Also, I made notes on December 3 and March 3 to note when I can make dining reservations and Fast Pass Plus reservations for our trip.  Time for both Mom and I to start saving!  I won’t be able to save much until after Christmas, but it really helps to have a trip planned and (sort of) scheduled.  I do much better when I have a concrete GOAL to shoot for, know what I mean?

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Mom and a few friends…

At any rate, you will be hearing lots more about this trip as time goes on…

Happy Dreaming!

Brooke

72 Days to Go Part 3 – Planning Around Holiday Crowds

Walt Disney World Vacation Planning: Tips for Planning Around Holiday Crowds

Note: This is part 3 of a 3 part series.  If you’d like to read the first two articles, please go here and here.

A couple new wrinkles:  Usually, when we go in November we go around the 10th-15th.  We got married on the 16th in 2014.  So this year, of course, I was looking at our “Anniversary Weekend” when I planned our dates. What I didn’t notice is that Thanksgiving is on the 23rd this year…Rookie mistake.

Thanksgiving

For those of you that don’t know, Thanksgiving week is one of the busiest weeks of the year at Disney World.  TONS of people go to Disney for Thanksgiving, primarily due to the shorter school week, I think.  It’s not as bad as Christmas, but it’s fairly close.  Now let me say something about crowds:  It’s Disney…frankly, it’s pretty much ALWAYS crowded.  They run so many room and vacation specials these days that “slow season” doesn’t really exist anymore.  My mom and I usually go during the spring because we like to attend the Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot.   Spring at Disney is RIDICULOUSLY crowded, due to the spring break crowds.  BUT, if you go in prepared for it, pack your patience and go with the flow, you can still have a great trip.  However, if I CAN plan to go during a week that isn’t super busy, I usually do.  Early November has always been one of my favorite times to go.  Generally, it’s the calm before the storm of Thanksgiving and Christmas crowds.  Usually, the Christmas decorations are up by the 10th or the 12th, so you can get all the Christmas mojo without the hassle of the Christmas crowds.   ANYWAYS….I didn’t realize when I planned our dates that we are rolling into the Thanksgiving week.  So crowd projections starting Sunday are CRAZY.  Giant bummer.  Total rookie mistake.  I can tell I’m out of practice on my trip planning.  {sigh}  So basically, I know that Thursday, Friday and Saturday will be (hopefully) manageable crowds, while Sunday and Monday will be a little more on the super crowded side.

Construction

Also, Hollywood Studios…under MAJOR construction right now.  Star Wars land is under construction and Toy Story Land is under construction.  A lot of areas and attractions have been closed and torn down to make way for these changes.  In the meantime though….Not sure Hollywood Studios will actually involve a whole day.  So I may end up modifying our Sunday/Monday plans.  Conversely, Animal Kingdom was traditionally for us an “open until 3 or 4 pm” kind of day.  We love AK, but usually, we’d be done around 4.  NOW, AK is open in the evenings AND there are new attractions (PANDORA) and nighttime entertainment.  SO I may plan to hit AK on Sunday afternoon and evening instead of waiting until Monday which might free up Monday night to go back to MK for one last fireworks before we go home on Tuesday.  Not sure yet, still figuring that out.

And looking at 72 days, oh my goodness, I really should have this figured out by now!  Fast pass reservations open up in 12 DAYS!

The most important thing is to be aware that crowds are much higher around the holidays, and you need to consider that in your planning.  DEFINITELY plan your Fast Pass reservations as soon as your window opens; same with your meal reservations.  You will competing for a limited number of spots with a lot of other people!

Having said that, the holidays are a very special time at Disney.  There are lots of special decor, merchandise, activities and photopass Magic Shots.  There are special snacks and a special kind of energy in the air that doesn’t happen any other time of year.  It’s a magical time!  But…it IS crowded, so it’s important to plan for extra rest time to escape the crowds, and to pack your patience!

You absolutely will still have a wonderful Disney vacation–you just have to take the crowds into consideration as you plan.  I like to say that I’m “Planning Around the Crowds” because I like to minimize the impact of the crowds on my vacation as much as possible.  With some advance planning and the right attitude, you too can plan around the crowds!

Happy Dreaming!

Brooke

72 Days to Go…Part 2

Walt Disney World Vacation Planning Tips: PLANNING THE SCHEDULE

Note: This is part 2 of a 3 part article.  If you’d like to read the first part, please click here.

  1. We are arriving on November 16, which is our actual anniversary. We’ll land around noon, assuming no delays, so by the time we get our luggage, get our car (this is still not a firm decision…we normally rent a car because we like the freedom and flexibility of having our own wheels BUT the smarter financial decision is to NOT rent a car and use Magical Express and all the free Disney transportation.  Still deciding on this) stop and get water and breakfast foods and snacks and get to the hotel, it will probably be 2pm or so…

So I had a couple tentative plans initially:

  • Check in and have a lazy afternoon at our Resort.
  • MAYBE go visit the wedding pavilion and say hello to where we got married, maybe go inside if it’s open and take some pictures, maybe kiss on the spot where we kissed at the wedding, stuff like that.
  • Have a nice dinner somewhere for our anniversary. Somewhere with fireworks views because HELLO first visit back in three years and we LOVE WISHES.  Except that WISHES is gone.  There’s a new show, Happily Ever After, which I’m sure will be amazing too…but {sigh} we loved our Wishes.  Oh well, change is part of life.   For this, I was thinking either California Grill at the Contemporary Resort or Narcoosee’s at the Grand Floridian.  We’ve had great experiences at both of these, although California Grill gets a slight edge because we really love watching the fireworks there, and it’s a little easier for us to get to because Bay Lake is attached to the Contemporary.  Pricewise, they’re both about the same…way more than we should be spending on one meal!
  • Alternative to nice (expensive) dinner: Attend Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party at the Magic Kingdom. MVMCP is a special ticketed event.  It officially starts at 7 pm, but you can get in the park with your MVMCP tickets as early as 4 pm.  Generally speaking, the weeknight parties, especially early in the season, have lower crowd levels than a regular park day, and it can be a great way to see more attractions with shorter lines.  PLUS, the Merry Christmas parade is one of my favorites (the Halloween party parade is better, though) and that happens twice during every party.  There are special Holiday-themed fireworks (usually called Holiday Wishes, but I don’t know if that’s been re-themed as well since Wishes no longer exists…I will have to investigate that).  They distribute free hot cocoa and cookies (well, “free” is a relative term since you are paying for your party tickets) and the party goes until Midnight.  Oh, one more thing: It “snows” on Main Street frequently throughout the party.    There are some cute little shows and dance parties that happen around the park too—and of course, special MVMCP themed merchandise you can ONLY get at the party.

I knew a couple of main things: I didn’t want to burn a park pass day on Arrival Day and I wanted to make sure we saw Magic Kingdom fireworks (and the CASTLE) on our anniversary.  Of course, a couple other options exist. As DVC members staying at Bay Lake tower, we can go up to the Tower Lounge on the roof and watch the fireworks from there.  They have appetizers and a bar and the view is similar to the view from the California Grill.  Also, since we’re spending the extra points for theme park view, we could just stay in the room and relax and watch from there…assuming it’s a decent view.  Third, we could go watch the fireworks from the Contemporary…there’s a large balcony of sorts right where the Bay Lake Tower walkway meets the Contemporary…we took a bunch of our wedding pictures there, so that would be a nostalgic spot as well.

I went ahead and made a dinner reservation at California Grill, figuring I could cancel if I decided to go a different direction.

  1. Planning the park days: Using the crowd calendar and taking into consideration our personal preferences, I started plugging in park days on our schedule.  Assuming we’d either do the Christmas party at Magic Kingdom or at the very least see the Magic Kingdom fireworks Thursday night, I decided that Friday we would go to our second favorite park, Epcot and we’d return to Magic Kingdom on Saturday.  A couple of factors: There’s another Christmas party Friday night, so I knew if we did Magic Kingdom Friday, we’d have to leave by 7 pm—I wasn’t about to buy tickets for a party AND burn a park pass day in the same day—it was either go to the party on Thursday night or not at all.  I wanted to make sure we have at least one full day at MK so I decided Saturday.
  2. We generally like to visit all four parks when we visit, as long as we go for at least four days, so next I plugged in Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom for Sunday and Monday—primarily based on park hours and projected crowd levels.
  3. So current plan: Epcot Friday, MK Saturday, Hollywood Studios Sunday and Animal Kingdom Monday. We fly home Tuesday afternoon so Tuesday morning will either be lazy, pack, hang around the resort (Frank’s preference) or one last mad crazy dash to Magic Kingdom and then Disney Springs (Brooke’s preference).  We’ll see how that works out….
  4. Once I plan my park days out, I start working on meal reservations. I actually started making reservations for meals mid-May—I think even before I bought our airline tickets.  Disney lets you book ADRs (Advance Dining Reservations) six months out.  A big part of our Disney experience is good, sit down meals in air-conditioned restaurants. We like the breaks to recharge our batteries, relieve our favorite moments from the day (so far) and talk about what we still want to accomplish that day.  Yes, taking the time for a sit down meal “takes away” from time we could be visiting attractions, but I learned pretty early on that if I want my husband to actually ENJOY his trips, I need to build in lots of breaks and give him time to rest and recharge.  An interesting side effect was that I learned how much more I enjoyed myself when I gave us those breaks.  So for me, sit down meals are MANDATORY.  Now, this trip we have some budgetary constraints so I may have to cancel some of these, and we may need to go off property and grab quick economical meals at someplace like Perkins (assuming we have a car) or just do sandwiches in the room—but I decided to make reservations initially and then I will cancel as we get closer to vacation if it looks like we won’t have the funds.

I hope my “real life” stories as I plan our trips are helpful to you as you plan your own vacations.  My goal is to offer Disney vacation planning tips and tricks to my readers, and to help all of you navigate the sometimes challenging process of planning a Disney vacation!

Happy Dreaming!

Brooke

To continue to part 3 of this article, please click here.

72 Days to Go!

Holy Toledo!  Just put a countdown app on my phone and lo and behold…SEVENTY TWO DAYS until our trip to Walt Disney World.  My goodness, how the heck did that happen??  I thought we were more in the neighborhood of 90 days!  Whoops.  I guess time flies!!!

Walt Disney World Vacation Planning:  72 days to go!!!

Holy Toledo!  Just put a countdown app on my phone and lo and behold…SEVENTY TWO DAYS until our trip to Walt Disney World.  My goodness, how the heck did that happen??  I thought we were more in the neighborhood of 90 days!  Whoops.  I guess time flies!!!

So let’s review.  Here’s what is done so far:

  • DVC Room Reservation: Bay Lake Tower, 5 nights, Studio, Theme Park View. I pretty much NEVER spring for the extra points for the Theme Park View, but….it’s been THREE YEARS since the wedding trip and we are both in SERIOUS Disney withdrawal (ok, I admit it…it’s ME and my castle obsession with the major withdrawal symptoms…) and while I did NOT spring for a one bedroom, the few extra points per day for the view seemed worth it to me.  We’ve never had a theme park view room at Bay Lake before…I’m hoping it will be as good as I’m picturing in my head!
  • Book the airfare: This was tough as it was the first place I had to spend ACTUAL real money (Our DVC is a regular monthly payment at this point, so when I book the stay I don’t FEEL the spend).  And there’s that whole should I pull the trigger thing.  Airfares from Chicago to Orlando can vary WIDELY over a period of months.  I can’t tell you how many times over the years I found a great fare, debated about it for a few days and it was GONE when I decided to buy, never to be found or matched again…So I played the check the airfare every week game for awhile and finally bit the bullet in May.  Good price, not great, but at least the money was spent and not available for life’s little challenges…we’ve had more than one trip over the last few years derailed by unexpected car repairs or other expenses.  And of course, since I booked the airfare, I’ve seen better prices at least 4 times.  AY YI YI.  Oh well.  What’s done is done and at least WE ARE DEFINITELY GOING THIS YEAR.
  • Plan a tentative schedule. This is always when things start to get fun for me.  I use the Crowd Calendar at https://touringplans.com (this site is an annual subscription, but is an automatic YES every year for me at renewal time.  TONS of great content, but honestly, the Crowd Calendar alone is worth the subscription cost.  These folks do TONS of research and studying and in the field tests and use all that data to predict crowd volumes.  I have found them to be a pretty accurate predictor over the years.  Nothing is perfect, and occasionally I have seen some dissenting opinions, but in my experience, they’ve done a pretty good job at predicting crowd levels and making updates when things change.  I usually do my planning of our schedule in a couple of phases:
    1. Go to touring plans and write down the park hours for each park for each day of our trip. Make notes of which park will have extra magic hours and when.  I also note nighttime show times at each park (fireworks, fantasmic, illuminations, etc.)
    2. I then take a look at our flight times and make some basic decisions: will we visit a park or Disney Springs on arrival day? Will we visit a park or Disney Springs on departure day?
    3. A couple other driving factors: How long has it been since we’ve been to Disney?  Do we have another trip planned in the next year?  For this trip, there’s a little extra pressure because it’s been so long since our last trip. One of the benefits of being DVC for us was that we went at least once per year, and I usually got down to Disney 2-3 times a year, by  including a girl’s weekend and mom/Brooke weekend.  I did Annual Passes every year in those days, and between DVC, Annual Passes, and KNOWING my next trip was never more than a few months away, I didn’t feel that pressure of HAVE TO SEE AND DO EVERYTHING that you feel when you are planning a trip that may not be repeated any time soon….

So this year’s trip is a little tough for my planning instincts:  We haven’t been since our wedding trip…and while that trip was AMAZING, it was a very busy trip, full of family activities and oh, I don’t know, A WEDDING DAY and all the wedding related mumbo-jumbo and trying to coordinate with everyone so it wasn’t really one of our normal vacation trips.  Add to that, I didn’t do my mom/Brooke trip that year because we were saving for the wedding, and my girl’s trip didn’t happen that year for the same reason.  Frank and I DID make an extra trip down for a quick 3 days to do our wedding planning trip but that was very rushed and crazy.  And then of course, after the wedding trip, the bottom started dropping out of our business and our incomes dropped and trips to ANYWHERE became out of the question for a few years…

But things are getting better now, and happily, this year’s Anniversary trip is a GO!!!!

Happy Dreaming!

Brooke