I texted my cousin, whom I haven’t talked to since May, last night. We’ve never done a Disney trip together (unless you count my wedding) and we haven’t been planning one together, so this was funny:
I mean, it’s not REALLY official until it’s booked, but we are both pretty stoked about it. I then texted my sister and she said she’s in. So it’ll be me, my then DS4, cousin, her DD4, and my sister. The three of us always took family vacations with each other when we were kids and then when I was in my twenties and they were teens we did a few road trips, so it will be like old times, but in the happiest place on earth!
I’ve already been obsessing SO much for a couple of weeks…to the level of looking up where in the resorts we might stay you can refill the mugs if we were to get the dining plan.
We are planning on November 2021. I’ve only done the dining plan once, and vowed that I wouldn’t again! We did come out ahead because I made damn sure of it, but I ended making my ordering decisions on value over what I really wanted, and we would never all get dessert in any other circumstance…plus it made the tips cost more too. Buuuut if we do a split stay and only use for part of it, I would definitely consider it, given that it is reinstated by then.
Hopefully its back by then! I would hope Disney is back to normal but I also bet they are taking this opportunity to make quite a few changes on what Disney will be like on the other side of this, what stays, what goes, what gets modified and then what gets added. It will be interesting.
Yes. Definitely hoping things are back to normal, and knowing some things may never be the way they were. For instance… my cousin really wants to go in that little window when both Halloween and Christmas decorations are up. I know this year they are really scaling back decor, but even if I determine what week that usually is, who knows what they will do henceforth.
It does cost Disney less to swap out decor vs taking down, waiting, then putting back up. I think first week of Nov is safe to say this change will happen. Halloween doesnt make much sense after Halloween. Ive also wanted to go around this time! Start your trip in “fall” and end in “winter”
Now both sets of parents want to go too. I’m both excited and unenthused with the idea. All of us are very close and I look forward to having memories of my son with his grandparents at Disney, but on the other hand this will mean moving off property with 9-10 people (I was planning a girl’s trip + my toddler son but if the whole family is going then my bf will too) and me giving up control. In all my past trips I’ve always made all the plans and my group has followed along, and I know that just won’t work with so many people.
OK here’s another suggestion to mull over, depending what’s already been said / agreed.
You and your cousin stick to your plans. And tell the grandparents that you’ve made plans but that you’d love to see them there and let them make their plans.
Then you plan out how to meet them for some days or partial days, whilst still giving the girls your own space and time together.
Or maybe suggest they come for a few days, where you all stay offsite but then you and the girls move onsite for a few days as originally planned.
It will cost you the extra days park tickets, plus a relatively small amount towards the offsite villa, which will be cheaper and split several ways (?). But then you spend less on the onsite stay because it’ll be shorter. Just make sure you book room-only (otherwise you can’t use the package tickets for the earlier offsite stay).
If you do this I would definitely suggest you do the offsite first and save the really special few days for the girls trip.
Us girls are definitely staying onsite for at least 2 nights. Whether the parents stay at the villa during that time or come later/leave earlier is up to them. I will rent points for a monorail studio. I was planning on doing it at the beginning but the end might be better.
I guess it depends on how you feel. For me I’d rather end in the “bubble”.
A couple other things.
Halloween decorations really start coming down almost right after Oct 31st. MK would be first to swap over, pretty much overnight on the 1st or 2nd IIRC.
Even without the dining plan you could buy the refillable mugs. At around $20 each it might be worth it, they’d make great souvenirs for the kids if nothing else.
With 5 people in a studio I’d go for the Poly.The two bathrooms would make a big difference.You might have to let each kid sleep one night in the pulldown though, it’s super cute.
I thought the GF studios have 2 bathrooms? Poly is our first choice regardless…Hoping it won’t be too hard to get a studio in one of those 2 this year with rescheduled trips and 50th anniverary!
