PTR - East Coast and US and WDW Nov-Dec 14

[PrincessInOz]

Well, the ADR's were all booked last night

I got everything I wanted at the times I wanted. One of the benefits of travelling solo, maybe?

I had a couple of last minute shuffles, as I noticed the Easy WDW park recommendations had come out just as I was setting myself up as dabecs had suggested (many thanks again!), but it was pretty easy to manage. A day of plans swapped here and there, but on balance, still the same trip.

One thing I hadn't really considered, the MVMCP got in the way a couple of times. I got around that by switching a plan to book Liberty Tree Tavern from later in the trip to the first night I'm at Disney, which is the MVMCP I will be attending So I now have a gap later in the trip, which I might use to check out more of the Boardwalk.

As for the actual booking process, it is pretty painful having to click through so many screens one after the other. A couple of things tripped me up - the phone number, the description given by the website for international visitors doesn't work, so I just entered my number in the same way they wanted US numbers (xxx-xxx-xxxx). And the other thing that caught me out is that I tried to be smart, and flick through the multiple pages and book multiple restaurants at the same time (on different tabs). The poor website got very confused, so when I was just about to confirm BOG, the tab suddenly loaded the confirmation page for CRT. So I had to start the BOG reservation over again. Luckily, the time I had was still available. So that's one tip I'll go back and add to the ADR thread - go through the entire booking process for each restaurant one.at.a.time!

Congrats! Seems like a very good outcome and learning experience.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Gongrats for getting everything you wanted

 

[FireflyFi]

I'm starting to feel like I'm not quite done. Even after booking all the restaurants, there's still...Wishes dessert party? Fantasmic dinner? Candlelight Processional? It never ends! Lol out of those I'm only really stalking the Wishes thread...Fantasmic I haven't done enough research on, and CP...unless there's someone interesting presenting, I just don't think it would be my kind of thing.

 

[PrincessInOz]

I'm starting to feel like I'm not quite done. Even after booking all the restaurants, there's still...Wishes dessert party? Fantasmic dinner? Candlelight Processional? It never ends! Lol out of those I'm only really stalking the Wishes thread...Fantasmic I haven't done enough research on, and CP...unless there's someone interesting presenting, I just don't think it would be my kind of thing.

It never really ends.

 

[FireflyFi]

3am...lucky I'm awake, Wishes dessert party finally opened! I'm booked for 9 December. I was originally planning on doing the MVMCP on 2 December, the first night I arrive, but there's talk about it being crowded due to being so close to Thanksgiving. So I think I'll go to the one on the 9th instead.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

3am...lucky I'm awake, Wishes dessert party finally opened! I'm booked for 9 December. I was originally planning on doing the MVMCP on 2 December, the first night I arrive, but there's talk about it being crowded due to being so close to Thanksgiving. So I think I'll go to the one on the 9th instead.

Congratulations

 

[PrincessInOz]

Congratulations. Enjoy!

 

[zanzibar138]

Woohoo! Sounds awesome

 

[FireflyFi]

Well...I bit the bullet and booked in the Harry Potter package

I played around with their website and found that I only need to give them $50 to secure it, so...why not? Book now, stress later haha

And I ended up booking HRH, which is what I always wanted. There is a bit of a price difference, my original booking at RPR was about $750, plus tickets would have cost about $200, plus I needed an extra night of accommodation for the first night in Orlando, so maybe another $150 for that. The package deal came to a bit over $1500...oh well, save a bit harder! I'm kinda rationalising it because I think I've found accommodation in Boston for about $500 less than what I originally budgeted. So no real impact in the end.

But yeah, very happy to have four nights at US, and at HRH

 

[PrincessInOz]

You won't regret it. I think the crowds are going to be manic at UO this year. Anything that gives you early access will be worth it.

 

[FireflyFi]

Yeah, I think so, too. Booking in the breakfast times was a bit tricky. I tried to book them as late as possible, not that there were really many options! For one place, the latest that could be booked was 9:00, and the other 9:30. Which means, anyone booking this package *just* gets to take advantage of the extra hour early entry, and then has to ship off to breakfast. Maybe they planned it that way?

This isn't current trip planning related, but I had dinner with friends last night, the same friends I traveled with in 2012. One is considering going to Hawaii to celebrate her mum's birthday next year my eyes lit up - it's not that far from Hawaii to LA / Orlando. She's a huge HP fan. Repeat trip maybe??

 

[PrincessInOz]

Absolutely.

I would be locking that trip in.

 

[zanzibar138]

Congrats on booking your HP package We've learnt that there are some things you have to splurge on when you're on holidays. It sounds like it will be worth it

Hawaii/LA/Orlando sounds like a great plan

 

[LisaAJ]

Booking in the breakfast times was a bit tricky. I tried to book them as late as possible, not that there were really many options! For one place, the latest that could be booked was 9:00, and the other 9:30. Which means, anyone booking this package *just* gets to take advantage of the extra hour early entry, and then has to ship off to breakfast. Maybe they planned it that way?

This is what is holding me back from booking this package. It seems to be a waste of the mornings. Then again, the breakfasts themselves will be an experience! Hmmm

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Great news FireFlyFi - regarding both the HP package and a possible Hawaii trip next year.

 

[maryr1oz]

Your plans sound so great!

I'm really looking forward to hearing more

It's so nice to have a holiday to look forward to at this time of year in winter...

 

[FireflyFi]

I'm starting to get nervous about booking things in, and add in the ratestogo discount and I just can't help myself from hitting the 'confirm booking' button.

So, the more important and expensive things will have to wait (no deals / too expensive), such as Boston and Philly accommodation, and flights from Washington to Orlando and Orlando to LA, but I have at least booked...

Newport accommodation
http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Hotel...ham_Newport_Onshore-Newport_Rhode_Island.html

Washington accommodation
http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Hotel...Hotel-Washington_DC_District_of_Columbia.html

Saved maybe a few hundred from the original plan by securing those two. Progress!

 

[PrincessInOz]

YAY! Both hotels look great.

I like the Wyndham chain of hotels. Hope this one is up to the usual standard.

 

[FireflyFi]

I've never stayed at Wyndham, but before all the FP+ rules came out, I was pretty determined to stay at Bonnet Creek. I'm pretty sure this one won't be up to that standard, but hopefully still good

From what I understand from the reviews there are two parts to the resort - one building full of one bedrooms and no facilities and another building full of two and three bedrooms and all the facilities. They were the same price to book, soooo... it's just going to be me kicking around a two bedroom two bathroom apartment lol

 

[FireflyFi]

So I got an email from qantas in the early hours of this morning. They've shortened my holiday by about an hour (scrooges!) with my MEL-LAX flights leaving about half an hour later, returning half an hour earlier.

This means my 'not the best, but manageable' 2:55 layover in LAX to a 'definitely stress worthy' 2:25 layover.

I had a quick look on Kayak to see what other flights are available maybe a little later. If I had to scrap my already booked Delta flight, what are my options and what would the damage be? Looking through the list of flights, there was one with Delta that left 20 minutes earlier than mine. Look closer - that is my flight!! Thanks for the update Delta......

So, the layover is now down to 2:05....*sigh*....oh boy.