My sister and I go to WDW often, just the two of us, with no kids…a couple of 40 somethings out to indulge in the childish wonder in our hearts! A couple of years ago, we really wanted to do annual passes for Disney. But the company we both worked for had other plans for us. That company decided that the 4000+ people they had working in our building needed to move “somewhere else”. They up and closed our building, forcing all employees to either relocate to another state or leave the company. We both chose the latter. Successfully finding new jobs in mid to late 2019 meant we didn’t have squat for vacation time. So no annual passes at that time. Probably best because of the pandemic hitting shortly after that.
Fast forward to late 2020. We have both built back up substantial time off with our current jobs. And to top it off, our side gig Etsy shop was taking off like a rocket online because of the pandemic. That side gig pays for our Disney trips, so now we could afford up to 4 trips per year both in time and money. Things were coming together. We were two weeks away from purchasing those annual passes for a stellar 2022 when Disney pulled the rug out from under us. Annual passes suspended! Having our first trip planned in late January/early February 2022…ok, no big deal. All the rumors said Disney only pulled annual passes so they could get through Christmas without another lawsuit like in CA. When mid-January rolled around with still no passes, we compromised. We changed that trip over to a Universal trip and added a few days in Epcot for FOA. Great Trip but only a couple days in Disney parks. But it was going to be okay because we had our next trip planned for April.
Now, trip #2 is on the way for early April 2022. As we watched the rumor mill on the annual passes, we thought maybe they would come back shortly after the usual February price hike. Nothing. As the date of no return approached, we had a decision to make. We could NOT afford daily tix for 4 trips in a year. So what to do instead? Finally, when the decision was forced, we decided to use trip #2 (which already had hotel, air, and car booked) to explore the other many options of Orlando with a couple days in Disney parks. We would still be able to eat at Disney resorts and go to DS, but we chose one day in MK and one day in EP (for the festival of course). The rest of our time will be spent outside of Disney, seeing what else Orlando and surrounding area have to offer us.
But what are we doing about the rest of the years trips? Sadly, with the current rumor mill and no confidence in Disney right now, we decided to change things up a bit. We always wanted to do a Disney cruise. My sister will be my cruising companion because my husband gets extreme motion sickness. We decided to combine our two future trips this year into one bigger cruise trip in December. No parks for that one as the cruise we picked leaves from Galveston and not Canaveral. But still exciting.
Now we are T minus 23 hrs and counting to said trip #2. And the post from @Dreamer about SW troubles has me nervous! Our SW flight is booked for 12:20 pm tomorrow right when the thunderstorms are supposed to be approaching Orlando. I am an absolute wreck right now. I will be keeping an eye on that flight every hour for the next 24 hours…hoping that we don’t have to find another way to get to FL.
This trip will be loaded with Disney foods…we are food junkies…and not so much Disney parks. And yes, as the title says, we plan to do both EP and MK without Genie+ or LL. I mean, we are liners after all, right? We can do this! TP has given me a very naïve outlook and probably bolstered my confidence too much in what I can get done without either. Our plan is this right now:
Arrive Sat 4/2 in late afternoon with an ADR at Homecomin’ for 9:40 pm (I know it’s late but it was all we could get)
Sun 4/3: SeaWorld and the Seven Seas Food Festival (exciting…more food!)
Mon 4/4: Kennedy Space Center
Tue 4/5: Ale &Compass Bfast, ICON Park (Just doing the wheel and wax museum right now with a stop for lunch), Wolfgang Dinner at DS
Wed 4/6: Epcot (festival food all the way!)
Thu 4/7: Steakhouse 71 Bfast, Orlando Zoo, Maya Grill Dinner
Fri 4/8: MK with lunch at Skippers
Sat 4/9: Trattoria BFast, with DS for the rest of the day, leave by 4 pm for flight
I want to keep the trip report going to whole time, but I can’t make any promises with all our new adventures. And I won’t be able to update anything after work today until I reach the airport tomorrow. Our internet provider at home has lost their marbles…and their speed. So WiFi at home isn’t happening right now. Hopefully, something doesn’t happen to my flight or I might have to go to my gym just for their internet!
I’ll be following as I’m curious how trips without Genie + are going!
