Pre-pre-trip report (planning to plan)

Walt Disney World
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This site is really too addicting. Following my family’s big trip at the end of November, I said I wanted to go back to WDW, but not for a few years. I said I wanted to wait until the kids were older, not napping, could carry their own stuff. I said we’ll take the kids on smaller, closer vacations until we go back. I said a lot of things. :smile: I learned a lot on that trip, and I guess now I am itching to put it all to use. I am still visiting these forums daily, and reading what everyone else is doing/planning, and I get Disney-related emails nearly every day, and now my brain is going, hmm…when can we go back? I have taken notes as to what restaurants I want to try, how many days we could spend per park, I have a plan for travel to make it easier for us. A trip could be do-able for us, but it isn’t like we have a stash of money just sitting and waiting to be used. But I keep researching and the urge is getting stronger. I keep asking myself, do we wait and save so we can do the little ‘extras’ and maybe stay at a nicer hotel? Or go sooner but do less? Oh and also it’s funny that I could see myself being a frequent visitor. I have had acquaintances in the past who have taken annual WDW trips and I always thought, why would someone do that? Well now I know!

Not sure why I’m writing this…I don’t expect to get a lot of advice to wait, that’s for sure :slight_smile: Maybe I’m hoping that by writing this down I’ll “get it out of my system”? Nah, to do that I’d probably just have to talk to my husband. :laughing:

Well if you are still reading, I do have a question, so maybe I’ll make it worth everyone’s time so they can give an opinion. For folks that go on a somewhat regular basis, do you like to try different resorts, or stick with one? We stayed at POR in a royal room, which I liked a lot, but I am thinking of trying somewhere new. I have gotten Wilderness Lodge stuck in my head as my ‘dream’ destination, but if we try to go sooner it would have to probably be at a value (keep hearing good things about Pop!). Well that’s the end of my rambling…stay tuned… :smiley:

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My DH keeps saying that I have a problem, wanting to be at Disney all the time. I think it’s a good problem to have. :slight_smile: We were going once every other year when our boys were younger, then in 2007 we bought the vacation club, so started going every year. The last few years or so, we’ve added in a couples trip for just DH and I in addition to the family trip. I couldn’t imagine it any other way. I absolutely love it at Disney. We like to stay in different resorts to change the experience up a bit, but we do have our favorites. We like Boardwalk for the close proximity to EP and HS, and we love Animal Kingdom Lodge for the atmosphere and animals. This coming trip in April we’re staying at Wilderness Lodge, a location we haven’t been to since 2011.

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We have not done a lot of branching out. We could only afford to stay value, so we did. Next trip we booked value and then came into a bit of money that allowed us to stay at our bucket list resort, AKL. Fell in love and stayed there the next bunch of times. Took the next chance to stay at Poly on a nice discount, fell in love there too. Bought DVC. Stayed OKW because it was the only thing open on short notice - fell in love. So I guess my point is, as much as I can get my family to agree, it’s worth branching out. I have loved each resort for different reasons. And I can’t wait to stay at them again :slight_smile:

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Different resorts. I want to stay at all of them eventually, unfortunately it is getting more expensive as I have stayed at all of the values and moderates (except All Star Movies and the cabins at Fort Wilderness). Have stayed at 3 deluxes so far with 1 more planned for spring break, but still a long way to go. I have stayed at several 2-4 times each, but love trying different ones as they each have things that are good about them.

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I love Disney, but there is so much more to the world and I want to enjoy so much of it and share a variety of experiences with my kids.

We were on the every two year plan with WDW and have now stretched it to every three years. In between we cruise, road trip, and take beach trips.

This past year we did a dream road trip from WNY to SoCal and DLR. it’s was a dream come true and I liked DLR better than WDW. Plus we enjoyed the Grand Canyon, Mt Rushmore, and a host of other things with our six kids.

I do try to stay up on WDW. And I think it’s easy to stay immersed in Disney products in our homes way too easily. It feeds the Disney-fever. But I’ve been very blessed to experience more than what Disney has to offer.

We always stay off site in a house and tool around in our own car. I like my own bedroom and bathroom. I also don’t like public transportation. I may someday try AKL though.

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Ah, this is the kind of thing that I needed to hear! I think part of my confusion is that we haven’t taken many trips with our kids. My husband and I have been together about 8 years, and during that time, we’ve planned a wedding, had a baby, bought a house, had another baby…and didn’t have time for much else. Now that things are settling down, we have time to think about traveling and doing other fun things. I think right now, I’m associating travel with Disney because it’s all we’ve done so far! Taking other trips will definitely help with that :slight_smile:

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Seems like there aren’t many bad options :slight_smile: Maybe some things that are not-as-good, but we probably won’t go wrong with whatever we decide!

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I’m in the same boat. We took a “once in a lifetime trip” in Dec. on my parent’s buck and now I’m itching to go back, if for no other reason than I see all the planning mistakes I made. Of course, we still had a fabulous time. My wife being the rational one thinks I’m crazy. We could certainly afford another trip, especially if we go value, but there are a lot of other things we want to do with our time and money and going to Disney every year is admittedly a bit extravagant.

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I remember reading your report and our kids are both young… we have and do take weekend trips. But I am still itching to go back! Disney just made vacation so easy and fun our family. My DH talked me down to planning for fall 2020. So we can save and be responsible. Just the ease makes us both want to go back.

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We’ve tried a lot of resorts to find the one that really feels like home to us and that is Beach Club…but we tried most of them to arrive at that conclusion! But now that we have it, it will always be our first choice.!

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You know what’s funny though, we’ve been fortunate to take a trip to the Caribbean with our 2 young kids and on a handful of road trips to other theme parks and beaches, but nothing compares to Disney when you have 2 little ones in tow. Disney makes it so easy… no need to rent a car, no need to lug around or rent car seats for the car, no need to worry about your checked airline bags, constant stimulation for the kids. We were all about exotic travel before the kids. One day I’m sure we’ll get back to doing stuff like that again, but for now, it’s all about Disney and we love it.

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My attitude with kids and travel is go early and go often. My kids are excellent travelers and very go with the flow. We’ve been fortunate that they’ve all mapped fine in strollers and adjust to the change in routine.

I also will say although I have been to Disney often, I don’t consider myself a WDW visitor as much as I consider myself someone who visits Florida and goes to WDW often. Back when all tix were non-expiration we would buy a 10 day ticket once our child turned three and spread it out over a few trips. Admittedly it was a lot easier to go to Florida for a week and just spent two days at the parks when it wasn’t $110 a day to do so.

It’s takes a lot more effort these days to get a strong ROI IMO.

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I’ve only stayed onsite once at POFQ and it felt like home. I am staying there again in August, and can’t imagine staying anywhere else if we’re onsite. I think future trips would be offsite again though, for cost.

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Truer words have never been spoken.

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I have favorite resorts, but I also do some branching out. I’ve stayed at ASM, POP, CBR, CR, AKL, and SoG. I have WL planned for my next trip in December (it’s been on my bucket list). I have no driving desire to stay at any of the others, and certainly no interest in staying at all of them “just to have done it”. Of the ones at which I have stayed, POP, SoG, and AKL would be my “return choices”, depending on budget and availability. Ask me after December if WL is on my “do again” or “one and done” list (I’m anticipating the former).

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I’ve been going to WDW on and off since the mid 1970s. In the early years the choices for on-property were limited and it was easy say “I’ve done them all”. With all the expansion that has transpired and a decrease in the frequency of my visits, I can no longer say that. My first and always favorite is the Poly.

After I got past the mania of “This is my once in a lifetime visit and by gosh I’m squeezing in every possible park minute, so the resort is just a place to crash”, the resort’s location, transportation options and amenities assumed a greater value. For that reason the deluxe and moderates are my go-to resorts. I still use a value resort for nights where I have later arrival or early departure flights (aka split stay).

Each resort has its advantages and each will serve a portion of the WDW complex better than others. Got a two year old in a stroller or someone pregnant in your party, then a short walk to the Contemporary for R&R can be a life saver (been there, done that). Want to eat most dinners in the World Showcase, then staying near the International Gateway would save you a bunch of steps and time. Focusing on the Animal Kingdom, then there’s no doubt that the AK Lodge has a lot to offer.

The old adage holds truth, “you won’t know until you try”

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I’ve done the I’ll wait x years, well that changed. I swore that I would never, ever go during Christmas time and never, ever go to the Christmas party. That changed and for 2 years in a row, spent Christmas at WDW, the first year we did the party and then on Christmas were one of the Crazy people I had talked about, were in MK.
Never say never, that I have to wait for x years and think that it stays at what you say. Things can and often do change. Enjoy what you do.
Oh, almost forgot. I sometimes play around and plan trips that I don’t plan on taking and end up going .

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I figured I’d update this thread, as I’ve done more pre-planning activities, and want to share them with SOMEBODY! :slight_smile:

I decided that it actually would be a good idea to go back before my son turns three…no paying for tickets, buffets, etc. I decided that next spring would be a good time to go, and celebrate my 40th birthday at the same time! I sent out an email to one of the MVT agents listed on the TP spreadsheet, who got back to me right away and said when they get packages for the time frame we’re looking at (late March/early April), she will get back to me. Then I started putting together a budget and schedule to see what my ideal trip would look like. I put in an estimate of some prices, hoping that the TA could get the hotel price lower, but knowing that some things will probably go up (ticket prices…sigh). So, here’s a rundown of what I’m looking at…

Flying to Tampa on a Monday, where we will stay overnight at my mom’s condo. This is to alleviate a little of the traveling stress I felt on our last trip. Rent a car, get some groceries, maybe do a little sightseeing that afternoon.
Tuesday: drive to WDW. My hope is to stay at WL, but this would depend on the cost and what kind of discount we can get. I’m thinking maybe Caribbean Beach or POFQ as a backup. Head to MK and ride our favorites, see fireworks.
Wednesday: Epcot
Thursday: MK (calling this ‘adventure day’…focusing on any rides/attractions/characters that fit the theme)
Friday: AK
Saturday: rest/resort day; also DS for lunch at Raglan Road
Sunday: Epcot, including Behind the Seeds tour
Monday: HS, including EMM TSL (if it’s still around, after SWGE opens), HDDR dinner
Tuesday: MK, including EMM (this will be princess/fantasyland day), drive back to Tampa
Wednesday: fly home (as of now, the nonstop flight back that I’d want to take is at night…if the schedule stays the same, this gives us another day to spend in Tampa)

I’m looking at leaving Florida before Easter, but part of the trip will overlap with my daughter’s spring break. I want to have enough days to not have to rush, but don’t want her to miss TOO much school (she’ll only be in first grade, though, and she will be able to catch up). I used a few different crowd calendars to try and get an idea of which parks are more crowded on which days. One change I might consider making is swapping the Sunday and Monday, especially if the EMM isn’t happening any more (or if we just decide it’s not in the budget). I don’t know how Sundays are during the F&G festival at Epcot.

Other things that could change if we end up not being able to swing this budget I’ve done…the rental car (we could fly straight into Orlando and use Disney transportation…but I hated waiting for DME–so hot and waited close to an hour–and the buses so I want to drive myself everywhere except MK), the EMM events, and HDDR. But I have all of a sudden turned into a super saver! :smile: And I’m getting my daughter on board, too…nope, we’re not buying that, we’re saving money for DISNEY!!

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