I have 81 days to go until my upcoming trip and my schedule is pretty set. Every time I realised there was something I couldn’t fit in, I reassured myself by saying “well, you can do that next time”.
I think I might be serious about this. Anyhoo, I’ve been thinking about what my priorities for my 2019 trip will be. And also the timing of it.
The original plan was to go on my 50th birthday, but that coincides with Easter, so I think that might be a huge mistake.
I was also very persuaded by an argument made here yesterday that once Star Wars opens, WDW is going to be a disaster area, so I think I’d rather avoid that. I mean, I’d like to go, but maybe not until it’s been around for a few years. I’m not that invested in the Star Wars universe. I’m much more enthusiastic about Pandora and TSL.
My current thinking is to stay on property for the whole trip, but to have maybe a slightly shorter trip. I don’t know how you get free dining plan, but that would help defray the cost of staying on site. I’m thinking YC so that I can take advantage of Stormalong Bay — I haven’t done any water park action at all so far — and for the ease of walking to Epcot and DHS.
I want to visit Narcoossee’s, Citrico, Flying Fish, Yacht Club Steakhouse, Garden Grille, …
And maybe not UOR, again to save some money.
How far in advance do you plan your trips? Do you plan them even while you’re planning another one?
Free dining is rarely your best savings as it requires that you pay rack rate for the room you’re in. So for a solo traveler, that’s expensive; if you had a family of 4 in the one room, that splits the cost down if that makes sense?
I plan our trips as soon as we decide we’re going. Which is usually the moment we are on tragical express. Or now that we’ve been going regularly, I have tentatively started planning our “next year” trip, with also a tentative trip in the fall banging around in my brain. We are almost ready to buy DVC (just scheduled window installation for mid-May!) so we will be going at least guaranteed annually from thence forward.
I think @missoverexcited mentioned the UK 2019 deals were expected to be released later this month or early May.
I had a “once in a lifetime” trip in 2016. Now I’m planning our trip in Nov 2018 and also thinking about a cruise Fall 2019 or Spring 2020 and then maybe DW/Universal a year or so after the cruise. Hoping Star Wars land will have settled a little bit by then.
Because I am a problem solver, here you go… you rent an apartment in the states, someplace not too expensive… like Manhattan. THEN you have a permanent US address to use for getting all the sweet American discounts at WDW and a UK address for the sweet 14 day disney tickets!!!
Another problem solved. Another satisfied customer.
If it makes you feel any better, for a one-night stay at the CR I don’t think you could have gotten anything other than rack rate unless you had a special discount (e.g. US Military, FL resident, etc.). The “less than rack rate” rooms are typically associated with booking a full package with Disney.
Free dining is the main offer we get here. A while ago they were offering 2 nights free if you were staying 2 weeks (I think that’s what it was) but you still had to pay rack rate for the other 12.
the UK 2019 free dining offer will hopefully come out this month. In 2016 the 2 out of 7 nights free offer, was better value for my family of 4 than the free dining, this was at the Poly. For 2019, when they were offering the nights off it was only for some hotels, and that didn’t include the BC or YC. I would look into DVC.
Since I have seen you post often, it seems like you are planning trips that may benefit from getting an annual pass…? if you go more than once within 12 months, it usually works out to your advantage ticket price-
wise. Then you may be able to use an AP discount on a room. I don’t know if this works for UK travelers or not (if not, I’m really not trying to poke the bear!)
We can get annual passes. A UK liner had them while both her daughters were working at WDW. I think she had to just buy a ticket and upgrade over there, but I can’t remember for sure.
