As a non-bubble person these are fun to read.
As a vacation person, it’s as we pull out of the driveway. Real life stuff starts melting off me and the fun begins.
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Same here- as soon as we’re on the road again!
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I agree with everyone who says mini-mono then Magical Express. But I have to admit I get more of a bubble feeling at DLR, which is the opposite of many people. Staying across the street, you are totally in the real world and then about 75 yards into the Esplenade you hear the music and, bam, bubble.
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We stay off property too, so I would say vacation mode starts as soon as we check into our Airbnb. Disney magic bubble mode happens when we pass the WDW gates. But it also hits in waves of magic after that point.
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I felt the feeling as soon we scanned into the ME line.
Anybody else watching American Idol Disney night?
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Nope.
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I generally never watch the show, but I left it on because it’s Disney. Three songs down, and I haven’t especially liked any of them…
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I liked the second song from Tamgled. I didn’t know the first song and the CoCo theme song is very sentimental to me and that guy just didn’t do it justice. I was sad.
Having never been to WDW (yet! 16days left to rectify this), I have to say I never understood DLR not having the “bubble” feel. We totally feel the “bubble” at DLR. The minute we walk into any of the resort hotels I feel it. I remember it knocking me over in the Frontier Tower of DLH. THey were playing the music from the original Magnificent 7 theme song in the lobby. To this day, I am instantly transported to that day when I hear that song.
I think it is because so few people stay onsite and somehow crossing Harbor Blvd. Is to too “real world”. But to me that abrupt change makes the bubble feel stronger!
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DH will only stay onsite (he hates to travel and especially hates southern CA and staying onsite gives him the illusion that he is not in So Ca). Maybe that is why the bubble is so strong for me. I did stay off site when I went with my sister and I really did not like going in off of harbor. The rest of the trip we took Uber to the other side and walked in the “normal” way. I can see the abrupt transition creating a bubble effect for you though. It may have been that way for me if I didn’t have to wait 45 minutes to get through security.
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I agree with that, I’m on holiday as soon as we lock the front door behind us. We have mainly done WDW offsite - only 1 onsite stay, and we still went off site a lot, so maybe we don’t feel ‘the bubble’ in the same way others do. Driving under the welcome sign is when I feel I’m at Disney. But I’m not sure about a bubble.
Even when I stayed offsite I felt I was in a bubble. Maybe a big Orlando bubble that stretched all the way to Davenport.
I love how different Florida feels to the UK. I love the feeling of being thousands of miles away in a strange, foreign country, where even the grass is different. That’s why I love the heat and humidity, too. It’s all part of it. Indeed, it wasn’t so special in December in that regard.
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Yes admittedly an “I’m not in Kansas (Manchester) anymore” bubble. An “I’m on holiday” bubble. But not the bubble that people talk about where they won’t go to Universal or even to a shop or restaurant offsite because they don’t want to leave the “Disney bubble”.
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I think this is why I am in the bubble even on my way to Universal.
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In a way the holiday starts in the hotel airport. And flying Upper Class makes the flight part of the holiday, too.
(To be clear, I don’t pay full price for UC! My next trip is UC outbound — I paid £250 for the upgrade 
)
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I really need to know how you find these amazing upgrades!
/jealous/
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Because I’m self-employed I can choose whatever vacation dates I want. So step one is to load up the Virgin Atlantic price matrix and hunt down the cheapest combination. I look at Premium Economy and Upper Class. I have a ceiling of around £1,500 all-in for the flights.
For my next trip UC was too much but PE was about £1,200.
Step two is to obsessively check the VA app. Every day it offers an upgrade price. For my return journey It is currently quoting an extra £1,817.80. That’s one-way. Additional. That’s a hard pass.
But a few months ago VA had a sale on and it was offering £250 for the outbound upgrade to UC. So I bit their fingers off and took it. That’s half the cost of one night at the Poly. (Insert sarcastic comment about @OBNurseNH here.)
Next Christmas I found UC return for about £1,450. So I went for that. I booked early. The current price for that seat is £3,706.74.
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Going back at Christmas? Nice. Is that this year?
Yeah I guess being self-employed helps. So you book around the flights pretty much, within a time frame presumably. Do you set yourself a “I’d like to go in May / June 2020” target and go from there?
Just getting tips for a few years down the line…
I know my eldest DS uses a fare search site, and always comes up with things like “I could go next month for £249 return”. He doesn’t do the planning though, not sure I could go at that short notice. 
Yeah. There is an opportunity cost to going during term-time. I can juggle students around, but it’s not ideal.
So for the summer I looked at June / July / August. To my surprise the best flight prices were July. (Disney hotel rooms didn’t seem to vary in price so the dates were determined just by flight price.)
For Christmas I decided it was worth going in term time. Partly for cost, partly for lower crowds. So I’m going mid-December. I have time to plan my work schedule around it. Interestingly, not only was the flight cheaper, so was my room on-property — by about a third. So they do vary.
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