I LOVE reading this - it is awesome that you are returning! For me, planning (well, for most of us on this site) is half the fun!
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Well, thank you 
But prepare yourself for the next phase of my planning. I didnāt have this phase last year.
Starting all over again
The plans on my spreadsheet became more and more complicated over the last week or so. The problem was I kept thinking of great ideas and then trying to add them in. It got to the point where I was staring at my laptop screen literally for hours trying to figure out how to make things work.
Then I realised the whole thing was broken and I had to start again.
But the time hadnāt been wasted because I had a much clearer sense of my priorities.
Iām feeling much happier with the current iteration.
The biggest change is that the Ultimate Day of Thrills VIP tour has gone. Iāve cancelled it. It was actually causing me a number of problems in my planning. The first of which was that it started so early in the day: check-in was at 8.15am, I think. Given that Iām not staying on property, Iād have to get up at about 6am.
Well, thatās just not how I work. Last year we did lazy, late mornings, but then stayed in the parks till close. This worked really well and I want to do the same again. The house Iām staying in is really lovely and want time to enjoy it.
Also ā I wonāt lie ā the ever-increasing cost of the trip was weighing on my mind. I think the last straw was my genius idea to stay at the Contemporary the night before the Ultimate Day so all Iād have to do was walk to MK from the hotel. But a single night was about Ā£540. When you add that to the cost of the tour, I would have been paying about Ā£800 ā for about ten fast passes (and I wasnāt even interested in all of them), a quick service meal, and a night at the Contemporary.
To justify the cost of the Contemporary, I then tried to fit in hotel time, including watching HEA from my room. At this point the whole plan basically snapped in half and I realised I had to start again.
In rebuilding the plan, I revisited my restaurant choices and made some changes. I was also able to come up with a much simpler way of dealing with āWill TSL be open?ā I have one DHS day ā either all day there if TSL is open (I may even rope-drop if I have to) or half a day there if not, with the other half being a bonus MK second visit with BOG lunch.
Iāll say more about restaurant choice on the other thread I started about this: Dining choices - #50 by inactiveprofile
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You made a good call here! The night at the Contemporary and the Ultimate Day are just a bit too much splurge, I think.
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Yeah ā the best part of a thousand pounds on a bunch of FPPs that Iām not that excited about and a hotel room Iād barely see was nuts.
I am keeping the (cheaper) Ultimate Nights tour. All the good stuff at AK, including both Pandora rides with minimal waiting ā thatās worth it to me.
Iām going to try to step away from my plan now. My FPP window doesnāt open up for just under three months and I feel like Iāve got a pretty good structure at this point.
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We leave in 44 days, and I am still tweaking things. I changed all our FPP for one of our MK days today, and 2/3 of them on the other MK day. I think I finally have the right plan thoughā¦but that might change, of course.
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Last year I must have done hundreds of FPP changes.
This yearās FPP planning is going to be more difficult because I have fewer days in the parks. Iām actually going to have to do some waiting in line 
I may even use a Touring Plan 
Iām under a week now and still tweaking a bit.
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Itās an obsessionā¦crafting the perfect plan.
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Iām trying to find the perfect bag for the parks!
Can you share a pic or a link of the one you have?
I searched for a month finally I went to Walmart got one for $10.