Never say Neverland: Easter '18, May/June '18, July '18, Sept '18, Nov '18 TRs (8/22 UPDATE!)

They have an Au Pair for their 13 yo? Am I reading that right?

Yes you are...and yes they are unique. In all honesty, it may be somewhat necessary because her son attend a private catholic school in California and therefore has no way to get himself to/from school and my SIL and her husband both travel extensively...or at least used to but who knows now? So the au pair lives with them, goes to school locally (this is their 3rd au pair, they have all been from different countries) and does housework as well as child duties. However there really would be no need for her to travel to Disney with them at all because the child would not require care there. As I think I mentioned, I think they are now trying to find a way to break the contract and send her home early...nice huh?
 
EXCITING NEW UPDATE!

So as a DVC Member, I'm always finding ways to use my points as much as possible. Earlier this year, when we went to Aulani, I waitlisted a room with a different view because I knew I wanted to save some points in case I could get my dad and his girlfriend moved to a different resort. That isn't looking very likely right now, and so I had points that I was at risk of losing if I didn't use them before the end of this year. It's been tough to find ANY availability at any DVC Resorts from now until the end of December.

However tonight I did some checking...and it turns out the Tuesday night before we had planned to arrive at Universal was available at both Saratoga Springs and Old Key West.

Who wouldn't rather get to Florida a day earlier instead of getting on a 6am flight right?

It did not cost me anything extra to change to a late afternoon flight Wednesday. It also didn't cost anything for the room and the rental car cost might be about $3 more.

So now we will arrive a day earlier than planned. :)

That means the time before we leave for our next Disney / Universal trip is even shorter.

That plus a win from my Baltimore Ravens today...all good stuff! :)



 
I don't know if I ever told you this, but my daughter Ali is a HUGE Ravens fan!!! So, she was thrilled with the GIANT win yesterday!!!!

I actually DO remember you telling me that. Yes it was nice to not be stressing during the game as I often have done. I could just sit back and relax very early.
 


Hi @kittylady1972 -- I *think* I read that, in addition to sleeper accommodations, you've also had coach seating on the Auto Train. Thoughts on the coach seating? Any tips? We (me, my husband, our five-year-old twin daughters and my mom) are booked for lower level coach seats for 11/9 and 11/17. We're looking forward to the adventure and, although we've got realistic expectations ("hope for the best, expect the worst" sort of thing), we hope that we don't end up regretting this transportation decision.
 
Hi @kittylady1972 -- I *think* I read that, in addition to sleeper accommodations, you've also had coach seating on the Auto Train. Thoughts on the coach seating? Any tips? We (me, my husband, our five-year-old twin daughters and my mom) are booked for lower level coach seats for 11/9 and 11/17. We're looking forward to the adventure and, although we've got realistic expectations ("hope for the best, expect the worst" sort of thing), we hope that we don't end up regretting this transportation decision.

Hey there @joulse12 and yes we have done coach seating ONCE on the AutoTrain. It was lower level...which I thought was great. It wasn't crowded at all, nobody walked though the aisles, and if no wheelchairs you could probably bring a heavy blanket and pillows and have the girls stretch out on the floor behind the seats. I will say, even though the seats recline quite a bit they are not great for sleeping. I found I got my best sleep when I kicked one kid onto the floor and stretched out across two seats instead. Overall it is definitely an adventure. If I can offer any other tips, I would suggest packing a small cooler of drinks and snacks for everybody also. There are just not a lot of food options there so it's nice to have your own. Enjoy!
 
Hey there @joulse12 and yes we have done coach seating ONCE on the AutoTrain. It was lower level...which I thought was great. It wasn't crowded at all, nobody walked though the aisles, and if no wheelchairs you could probably bring a heavy blanket and pillows and have the girls stretch out on the floor behind the seats. I will say, even though the seats recline quite a bit they are not great for sleeping. I found I got my best sleep when I kicked one kid onto the floor and stretched out across two seats instead. Overall it is definitely an adventure. If I can offer any other tips, I would suggest packing a small cooler of drinks and snacks for everybody also. There are just not a lot of food options there so it's nice to have your own. Enjoy!

Thanks so much for the feedback! Sounds good. Definitely an adventure but maybe not the craziest of ideas! We had already considered bring a small rollup mat for one of the girls to sleep on the floor and her sister sleep on the corresponding seats in that row. Sounds like not only should we continue with the plan to bring such provisions, but maybe plan for it to be one adult on each set of seats with a girl below (my husband can sleep anywhere, so we'll give him the single reclined seat if someone is booked in the seat next to him). Thanks also for the food/drinks tip! We planned to bring a few things, but we'll now do so with the idea that we'll rely more heavily on what we bring. We take at least one 9+ hour road trip every year, so we're figuring that this Auto Train option has GOT to be better than that!
 


I keep trying to stop looking at my ADRs that I have booked so far for November. I can't leave them alone though. I know I've cancelled a few, I may have booked others.

Now I've booked a few for later this month too. I want to make the most of our ONE night at a Disney resort. I have added our friends to our reservation so the four of us will squeeze into a studio room at SSR right now. I got MagicBands for my friends since they have none. I ended up selecting some initial colors for them when I added them to the reservation, and later that day (or maybe the next morning) when I verified with them the colors they wanted, I went to change them and couldn't. I guess that happens when you book a room two weeks before you plan to go. The MagicBand order has shipped now.

I keep checking on the car as well, and I think I got the one for September a little cheaper, but the November one keeps going up in price.

So I just learned recently that I can get MNSSHP tickets for our friends also...and they will allow us into the park as early as 2pm for those. That's AWESOME. I think we are seriously considering spending a half-day or so at Universal on Friday, then heading to the Halloween Party if the weather looks good for it. We'll see how that goes. We may also spend at least one day at EPCOT and my friends will just need to buy a 1-day ticket for that day. Again we'll decide later. I just know that four full days at the Universal parks is just too much for us. We need some options and I know we would all enjoy a day exploring Food and Wine at EPCOT.

We are less than a week away from making FP Reservations for November. I'm still stalking the DVC site there to try to find a room for my dad and his girlfriend other than SSR but if they end up there so be it. I wonder if some rooms may open up when we get within the 30 day mark for our trip? I may look into changing the ending of the waitlist from 30 days out to 7 days out. Those few remaining DVC points that we can't use are driving me nuts. We would use them if we end up getting a room at Animal Kingdom for them, but if we don't..we would have unused points that we'd just lose and that will make me a bit crazy.

Anyway in other news, right now I'm waiting to see what's going to happen with this hurricane as it is poised to really cause trouble for my dad's house as he lives in NC right near the NC/SC border and not far from the coast. He has evacuated up to brother's house, 3 hours northwest also in NC but further inland, but that rain and wind might even be rough there as well. I'm glad they are all together at least and I'm just hoping for the best for my dad's house and my brother's house and FARM...my brother has chickens and horses..plus 3 dogs!

I have friends who are scheduled to fly from MD to FL on SATURDAY for their very first DISNEY trip. Here's hoping that their flight gets out and gets there safely. My friend has spent many hours planning this perfect trip (with a little bit of my help) for her family and I want it to be awesome for them.

 
So we've been discussing this non-Disney trip coming up in less than two weeks with our friends and I had to laugh yesterday when my friend sent me another email about it...this time with MORE Disney stuff. As you know, we are already planning on night at SSR for our arrival night, before moving over to Universal. I discussed the possibility of doing Food and Wine at EPCOT at some point and even discussed maybe MNSSHP as well. We will make those decisions when we are down there. I wasn't prepared for yesterday when my friend also asked "Would it be worth it for **** and I to get 1 Day Park Hopper tickets for Disney, so we can squeeze in Animal Kingdom - Avatar Flight of Passage, EPCOT - Food & Wine and Soarin', and Hollywood Studios - Slinky Dog Dash on Saturday?"

Ah...clearly I've made a Disney fan out of my friend and her husband after last year's big trip to Disney for the Food and Wine Festival. It was her husbands very first Disney trip...at age 49...and clearly he enjoyed it.

Now my friends are not the best at getting motivated for early mornings. They were thrilled when we mentioned changing our flight down from 6am to 2pm the previous day. My one friend is just ALWAYS running late...so I told her last night, if she really and truly wants to do this whirlwind park day that includes both FOP and SDD, it would mean rope dropping one of those rides and then hitting the other one at the end of the night. She insists they are down with that. We'll see what happens.

I've looked at the park hours during our time there and since we won't have the ability to utilize any extra magic hours I think I've determined our best day for a 3 or 4 park challenge would be Saturday. I think we could arrive at HS in the morning (9am opening, arrive close to 8am) and hit the Toy Story Land rides first. We may not do much of anything else there, and then we'd head over to EPCOT to catch Food and Wine for the afternoon into the evening. Around 7:30pm or so, we would head off to Animal Kingdom which has an 8:30pm closing and get in line for FOP to finish off the day. If we get out of FOP and are still lively enough...we could even squeeze in a few last hours at Magic Kingdom which is open until midnight. While I don't necessarily like doing F&W on a Saturday because I know it will be crazy, I think we can probably handle it for the most part.

I must say I did enjoy hearing how enthusiastic my friends were about attempting a full Disney day on top of all of our Universal stuff. Really looking forward to this trip!
 
I sent this out as a possible ONE-DAY FOUR-PARK plan for all of us for Saturday. If we end up doing MNSSHP as well, then it will be a 3-park plan instead. I'm trying to remember what rides we did NOT do last year so I can incorporate a few of those this trip for our friends. Since we may end up doing MNSSHP on Friday night, this might make this next day early morning a bit rough.

Here is what I've come up with though:

SATURDAY PLAN:

  • Depart from our Universal resort NLT 7:15am and head to Hollywood Studios, arrive and be at gates by 8am (9am opening but they let you in earlier). According to what I've read, if we are at the front of the turnstiles at opening and the front of the pack heading to Toy Story Land, this plan should work out very well
  • Head to Toy Story Land once released and get in line for Slinky Dog Dash. Ride SDD. Head to Alien Saucers. Ride Saucers. Hit Toy Story Mania before leaving Toy Story Land. Ride Star Tours and then head to Tower of Terror for one ride before leaving park.
  • Depart Hollywood Studios NLT noon for EPCOT. Spend most of the afternoon and evening doing Food and Wine. Maybe try to ride Soarin', Test Track & Mission: Space while there.
  • Depart EPCOT NLT 6:30pm and head to Animal Kingdom. Ride EE and perhaps Dinosaur. Around 8pm, get in line for ride FOP (8:30pm park closing).
  • *IF* we are still ready to go, once done with FOP we can spend the last perhaps 2+ hours at Magic Kingdom (midnight closing).
I still can't believe we are just over a week away from our next vacation. How time flies.

BONUS NOVEMBER UPDATE!
It now looks like we might extend our November trip just a little bit. I've looked this morning into changing our flights back to our local airport (15 minutes away instead of 45+ minutes away for the other current airport) and also adding a day, so we would fly home Saturday morning instead of Friday afternoon. This would be about another $200 to change all of the airfares, plus add another $100 for a hotel for Friday night near the airport...after spending all day Friday in Disney of course. I've sent this information to my husband to review so we'll see what he says. I think he'll probably go for it. We'll see. I have another reason for doing this and that is my son might end up having to fly down on Wednesday now instead of Saturday with us due to his college classes. I'm hoping he can see about whatever work he has for Wednesday he can do at the same class he has Monday, but we'll see how that goes. This would mean he has to get himself to the airport near our house, fly down, and maybe even make his way to the hotel via taxi or Uber...or maybe he can even Magical Express? I'll have to look into that as well for him if that ends up being the case. This at least gives him all day Thursday and Friday with us.

 
Ok sorry for the delay here...it's been a crazy week so far. Woke up and got ready early on Tuesday to make FPs only to discover that my SOG reservation was gone...so I would have had to wait another day. UGH! I booked a last-minute one night reservation so I could do FPs and I'll need to look into the issue at some point. THEN of course the system was SLAMMED that morning and getting in to make FPs was insane. I posted a response in another thread that was here that morning...I've never seen a message that ALL Fastpasses were already distributed for ALL parks on a given day. I knew it had to be a system issue...but how cruel for people to think that (yes my SIL out in CA who got up at 3am to do her FPs DID think this). So I kept trying that morning and little by little had some success.

I guess I should also mention that we DID change our dates and flights. We are now flying down the same day but out of a closer airport and returning home on Saturday morning instead of Friday morning. My son will most likely fly down Tuesday night to join us (I've convinced him he can miss ONE day of college classes, 2 of them, on Wednesday) and I just need to figure out how he will get to our resort. Can he do Magical Express if arriving a few days later than the rest of us? I can probably even pick him up. This will be his first time navigating the airport on his own, but I'm sure he can manage it as much as he's done it with us.

Anyway, here is the tentative schedule I sent out via email today:


***************************
SATURDAY:
Arrive 9:15am MCO airport. Check-in at Shades of Green for one night.
***************************
SUNDAY:
Check-in at Animal Kingdom Lodge - Kidani. We can try to hit the Magic Kingdom in the morning for a few hours before brunch at Chef Mickey’s at the Contemporary. After Chef Mickey’s Brunch, spend the afternoon/evening at the Magic Kingdom. Watch the lighting of the Castle. Optional: Late lunch/early dinner at T-Rex Cafe in Disney Springs OR dinner at The Plaza at 4:10pm for Dina and Kids, brother and family only. Sanaa Reservation for SIL and family and my DH.

FP: 6:30pm: BTMRR; 7:50pm: SpaceMt; 8:50pm: 7DMT

(SIL has 12:45pm Tower; 2:40pm TSM; 5:15pm RnRC)

Meals: (won't be keeping all of these...awaiting decisions)
11:45am: Chef Mickey's Brunch(14A2C)
3pm: T-Rex (6A2C) EAT W/DINOSAURS!!!
4:10pm: The Plaza Restaurant (9A2C)
5:15pm: Sanaa (7A)
***************************
MONDAY
Spend the morning at EPCOT. Arrive close to 9am opening and ride Soarin’ standby, followed by Nemo and Friends. Head to Test Track followed by Spaceship Earth and Mission: Space. Character lunch (optional) at Garden Grill for brother and family OR grab a small snack and leave around 2:30pm and head to Disney Springs to have an early dinner at T-Rex Cafe. Evening option at any park.

FP: 10:20am: TestTrack; 11:35am: SE; 12:40pm: MissionSpace
(SIL has 11am Na’vi; 2:20pm Dinosaur)

Meals:
11:55am: Garden Grill (3A2C)
3:30pm: T-Rex Cafe (7A1C) FOOD AND DINOSAURS!!!
(SIL has Sanaa 5:25pm 7A)
***************************
TUESDAY:

Arrive at Animal Kingdom close to 9am opening. Ride Na’vi River Journey standby, then head to Expedition Everest and ride standby. Head to Dinoland and do rides there plus Dinosaur. Catch showing of Festival of the Lion King then lunch at Satu’li. Ride Safari. Optional early dinner at Tusker House. Break in afternoon. Possibly pick up DS at airport. Return to park for the evening and catch Rivers of Light.

FP: 1:20pm: Safari; 3:10pm: EE; 5:25pm: FofP
(SIL has 2pm TestTrack; 3:40pm MissonSpace)

Meals:
3:40pm: Tusker House (8A2C)
(SIL has 8:20am Crystal Palace)

***************************
WEDNESDAY:

Arrive close to 8am opening of Magic Kingdom. Ride SpaceMt (standby), Buzz, TTA, and then head over to ride BTMRR using FP+. Lunch for all at Liberty Tree Tavern. Next ride Peter Pan and any other Fantasyland attractions. OPTIONAL: Sanaa dinner; optional Rose and Crown Pub for dessert only and Illuminations Viewing.

FP: 10:10am: BTMRR; 12:55pm: PeterPan; 3:10pm: 7DMT
(SIL has 9:30am BTMRR; 11:50am SpaceMt; 1:15pm MonstersInc)

Meals:
11:15am: Liberty Tree Tavern Lunch (14A2C)
5:25pm: Sanaa Dinner (8A)
7:50pm: Rose & Crown Pub & Dining Room (Dessert & Illuminations only) (8A2C)
***************************
THURSDAY:

Arrive close to 8am for opening at Hollywood Studios and head to Toy Story Land immediately to ride Slinky Dog, Alien Saucers and Toy Story Mania all standby. Afterwards head to Tower of Terror and possibly Rock N’roller Coaster. Ride SlinkyDog again at 2:30pm with FP+. then head to Animal Kingdom Lodge for Thanksgiving Dinner. Evening maybe at HS for Fantasmic! OR at Magic Kingdom for final night.

FP: 11:50am: Tower; 1:05pm RnRC; 2:30pm: SlinkyDog
(SIL has 5:20pm FOP)

Meals:
3:30pm: Boma - Flavors of Africa THANKSGIVING Dinner (14A2C)
***************************
FRIDAY:

Check out of Animal Kingdom Lodge. Head to Animal Kingdom park for final rides. Spend the day there with dinner at Tiffins OR can catch Candlelight Processional at EPCOT or spend evening at Magic Kingdom. Drive to hotel near airport that evening for final night.

FP: 10:05am: EE; 11:35am: FOP; 12:40pm: Dinosaur

Meals:
6:30pm: Tiffins

Check-in that evening at hotel near MCO Airport. Saturday morning flight.


So that's the schedule, subject to change as always. I do have two rides on 7DMT, we did get SDD and FOP (but I dropped FIL off our FOP ride when I was told he planned to tour the parks with my SIL instead...so he'll miss out on that with us and them). I've indicated my SILs FPs on the schedule as she clearly plans to be in different parks on different days from us, which is fine with me. We have a few meals together...that should be enough. I can probably handle three meals but I'm not even sure about all of those.

And in other news, we leave for Florida in just five more days.





 
The same thing happened to me on my FP day for our October trip. I was panicked because I have revolved this entire trip around Gia's third birthday, and everything she loves...I was nervous I wouldn't get what I wanted. Thankfully, it all worked out and not only did I get what I wanted, but when I wanted it...:love:
 
The same thing happened to me on my FP day for our October trip. I was panicked because I have revolved this entire trip around Gia's third birthday, and everything she loves...I was nervous I wouldn't get what I wanted. Thankfully, it all worked out and not only did I get what I wanted, but when I wanted it...:love:

Whew...so happy for you also. Persistence just pays off. My kids were late for school that morning (because I drive them...and I hadn't planned to still be making FPs at almost 8am) but it all worked out. I am overall happy with my selections, and I've tweaked a few but none of them are major ones. We needed to drop an ADR in order to fit in FOP but that's okay. I'm not sure we'll keep all of the character meals, I'm hoping for input from my brother and SIL about that but they have been pretty quiet. I think we'll keep Chef Mickey for sure on arrival day. If my brother and family chose not to arrive a day earlier (Sat) then they would miss out on Chef, and we would keep Tusker as a backup OR they could do Garden Grill.
 
So I can't just leave anything alone. Disneyproblems Right? I just did a quick check on room availability for next week for our ONE night at a Disney resort for any DVC rooms and what pops up? A night in a Lake View Studio at Bay Lake Tower. We love Bay Lake Tower. Plus I still have points to burn...and so it has been changed because...I'm me.

I think I just might surprise my friends with this.

 
That’s awesome!!!!

I know Right? It is only too bad that the MK closes early that night for MNSSHP (and if we do go to that we would go Friday to take advantage of the 2pm entry) and that my friends don't also have APS. I totally want to do some EMH at a Disney park now...but we will barely be a BLT for 12 hours.

 
Seriously I need to just step away from MDE...and yet I cannot.

Anybody hear that The Plaza is now serving breakfast? Do I NEED to eat breakfast at the Magic Kingdom the day that I'm already having lunch at Liberty Tree? Nope...and yet I want to try it so it's booked.

I've made some slight FP adjustments as well...nothing major and to none of the major ones of course.

I made a late dinner for Frontera Cocina on the day I plan to pick my son up at the airport. He and I loved that place back in May.

I also made a reservation for the Star Wars Dessert Party next Saturday...I'm not sure we will keep it as it may mess with our plans to do 3 or 4 parks in a day.

I also made a reservation for Crystal Palace dinner during MNSSHP...just in case we attend that.

I know...I have a problem. I need to step away from MDE for a while.
 

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