Fabulous Fifty Fall Fun: An October/November 2020 PanTR (Pandemic Trip Report) [COMPLETE]

THE DETAILS

So I never would have imagined my DH making the decision to do WDW for his 50th birthday trip, but that's where we are right now. Actually the planned trip was originally an Alaska Cruise, which we nixed about a year ago in favor of an Italy Cruise and trip...which we planned all pre-Covid for over the summer...and of course I'm sure everybody can guess how that turned out. We still hope to do the trip...it just may be delayed a bit.

In the meantime, having just returned from WDW in August, and having had a GREAT time, DH has decided he'd like to go back again...already...and this time take some family. Still not sure how many of our kids will attend. They all are attending school virtually at this point...2 in HS and one in college...so it's certainly feasible for them to go. The oldest one is just plain against going to Florida though...so he will likely stay at home and watch the animals. I'd much rather that than he go and complain the whole time anyway. That's gonna bring the birthday trip down and he and DH already butt heads enough.

So how far in this planning have I gone? Well as of TODAY we have 4 nights booked at Wilderness Lodge (DH resort of choice) in a 2BR Villa. Half of it used DVC points and the other half is cash thanks to an awesome PIN code I just received from WDW for the very first time. Been going to the World since 1996 or so and this was my first PIN code!

We have some Spirit credit on the books since we cancelled our March 2020 planned trip to Florida. DH also has airline points on SWA. Between the two our flights to/from Florida should be pretty cheap. In fact since we are only planning to book one way on each one, we have enough credit to book the BIG BIG seats on Spirit, which will make my family much happier. I've flown in the cheap seats, and they are fine for me, but this will be easier. Plus it appears Spirit just changed their policy and says you can cancel/change any flight booked by Sept 30th for no fee so now I have incentive to move forward with that.

Today I made a few of our ADRs for the trip as well, and for now they include:
Birthday Night dinner at Il Mulino
Other dinners at: La Hacienda, Tiffins & Tony's Town Square
Lunch at Hollywood Brown Derby

I'll order our tickets around the end of this month so we can make park reservations.

I had been hesitant to book this trip for some reason, but I'm now finally motivated and can't wait to have it all come together. Countdown: 51 days!
 
Woo hoo another trip. Hopping over from the secret squirrel trip report . I made my DH go with me for my 50th a couple years ago and had a blast . There were evening extra magic hours the day before my birthday so I made sure I was there at midnight . I wanted to turn 50 at MK. Sadly , your DH won’t be able to that with no extra hours now . I am going solo end of Nov. beginning of December this year. I have been before Thanksgiving but never after so looking forward to the Festival of the Holidays .

Different subject - have you been playing any tennis ? We just finished one leagues season and started the other one this week. This league we have to play a 10 pt tie breaker for the 3rd set . Last season , we got to choose.
 


So fun! I love your plans......there is no better way to celebrate turning 50 than being at Disney! My DH gave me a 4 night trip for my 50th 4 years ago and it was the best thing ever! That trip started my love of solo trips which are my favourite thing ever! :)
 
Woo hoo another trip. Hopping over from the secret squirrel trip report . I made my DH go with me for my 50th a couple years ago and had a blast . There were evening extra magic hours the day before my birthday so I made sure I was there at midnight . I wanted to turn 50 at MK. Sadly , your DH won’t be able to that with no extra hours now . I am going solo end of Nov. beginning of December this year. I have been before Thanksgiving but never after so looking forward to the Festival of the Holidays .

Different subject - have you been playing any tennis ? We just finished one leagues season and started the other one this week. This league we have to play a 10 pt tie breaker for the 3rd set . Last season , we got to choose.

:tigger: Yeah! I was planning a return for *MY* 50th which coincides almost with Magic Kingdom's 50th...so that is still my plan but that's another 2 years away. We have some good plans for his birthday so far at least. Ah the parks are so lovely around the holidays, we have done Thanksgiving week every other year for many years...and did early December last year which was fine. So sad that the Candlelight Processional won't be happening this year though. :(

Yes I've played a lot of tennis, but most of it has been recreational since March. They cancelled all of our spring and summer leagues, so we finished up a USTA Mixed league match and then we were done...no regional tournament for that, no advancement beyond that. I ended up organizing my own group of about 30 ladies for doubles play, so I have a schedule and people sign up and just show up on the courts and we play ladies doubles for fun...this has been happening since March and worked out well. I also have another group I play with for fun...all ladies. Then our local tennis group has tennis ladders...I've joined the singles and mixed doubles ladder and for a while I had made my way to the top of the singles ladder...but I've dropped to 3 now with a few losses recently. For mixed I have a partner and we play about once a week as well, also very competitive. For the ladder matches we have been doing a FULL 3rd set (no tiebreakers) which has made those matches quite interesting...I've played a lot of full 3rd set matches!


Glad you’re planning Il Mulino again-this time go lol!
Have my 50th planned for Feb 8-)

So I was really looking forward to this, then I read some recent reviews and they made me wonder if we shouldn't reconsider :rolleyes2 this plan. I know you love this place, so we may still keep it...only time will tell. With the way I am with ADRs though....you never know.

So fun! I love your plans......there is no better way to celebrate turning 50 than being at Disney! My DH gave me a 4 night trip for my 50th 4 years ago and it was the best thing ever! That trip started my love of solo trips which are my favourite thing ever! :)

I totally agree...just don't think that was the celebration DH had in mind but this is his idea. I do enjoy solo trips, or trips with just the girls or just one of my kids as well, so I get it!
 


So...just a quick update here. Flights south are booked...pretty excited about that...and we still have some credit left since DS20 REALLY doesn't seem to want to go with us. That's fine...we aren't going to push...it's not worth all that. My DD17 seems a bit hesitant as well...but we've said we will even fly her home EARLY if she wants...guess we'll see what happens since we have yet to book the return flights.

Right now our plan is:
SAT: Early morning flight...get rental car...check in at Wilderness Lodge...hang by the pool for the day or just enjoy the resort; birthday dinner that night
SUN: EPCOT day
MON: ANIMAL KINGDOM
TUE: STUDIOS
WED: MAGIC KINGDOM; evening flight home

I think we will be okay doing EPCOT on a weekend...it's the largest park and should handle crowds the best. We didn't do Animal Kingdom at all last time, so looking forward to that park. Studios on Tuesday I hope will give us another shot at a RoTR boarding pass because I know that's all DH will want to do...again. Wednesday is our last day and I kinda like saving MK for last during the most recent trip.
 
:tigger: Yeah! I was planning a return for *MY* 50th which coincides almost with Magic Kingdom's 50th...so that is still my plan but that's another 2 years away. We have some good plans for his birthday so far at least. Ah the parks are so lovely around the holidays, we have done Thanksgiving week every other year for many years...and did early December last year which was fine. So sad that the Candlelight Processional won't be happening this year though. :(

Yes I've played a lot of tennis, but most of it has been recreational since March. They cancelled all of our spring and summer leagues, so we finished up a USTA Mixed league match and then we were done...no regional tournament for that, no advancement beyond that. I ended up organizing my own group of about 30 ladies for doubles play, so I have a schedule and people sign up and just show up on the courts and we play ladies doubles for fun...this has been happening since March and worked out well. I also have another group I play with for fun...all ladies. Then our local tennis group has tennis ladders...I've joined the singles and mixed doubles ladder and for a while I had made my way to the top of the singles ladder...but I've dropped to 3 now with a few losses recently. For mixed I have a partner and we play about once a week as well, also very competitive. For the ladder matches we have been doing a FULL 3rd set (no tiebreakers) which has made those matches quite interesting...I've played a lot of full 3rd set matches!



So I was really looking forward to this, then I read some recent reviews and they made me wonder if we shouldn't reconsider :rolleyes2 this plan. I know you love this place, so we may still keep it...only time will tell. With the way I am with ADRs though....you never know.

I totally agree...just don't think that was the celebration DH had in mind but this is his idea. I do enjoy solo trips, or trips with just the girls or just one of my kids as well, so I get it!
Wow you are playing a lot ! That’s awesome. One USTA league , my team was invited to State but that got canceled ( May ) . Playoffs for summer had less teams advance this season so it wouldn’t last as long . Fingers crossed the fall season is able to continue.

I am sure you’ll make the best of your DH’s birthday trip ! Can’t wait to read about it .
 
I'm here and excited to read along. Your plans look great and I agree with EPCOT being the park most likely able to handle the larger crowds. At least you've been once and know what to expect. Sounds like a great way to celebrate being 50 party:
 
Wow you are playing a lot ! That’s awesome. One USTA league , my team was invited to State but that got canceled ( May ) . Playoffs for summer had less teams advance this season so it wouldn’t last as long . Fingers crossed the fall season is able to continue.

I am sure you’ll make the best of your DH’s birthday trip ! Can’t wait to read about it .

Actually they have cancelled our USTA season until the end of 2020, so no fall either. Sorry your State tournament got cancelled. I'm fortunate that I get a lot of opportunities to play with different groups of people. Played last night with some lovely ladies...but just wasn't very challenged there. It's a chance for me to work on things I guess, but I left not really feeling like I got a workout...though I had a nice time and it was great to get out. Tonight a friend/former team captain invited me to play some mixed with him and his wife and another guy. I'm looking forward to it because I know it will be challenging. I have a singles ladder match tomorrow after work. So I'm good with all of that and no pressure that my 4.0 USTA rating will drop after I earned it last year.

Yes I'm sure we'll have a nice trip. Definitely looking forward to it.

I'm here and excited to read along. Your plans look great and I agree with EPCOT being the park most likely able to handle the larger crowds. At least you've been once and know what to expect. Sounds like a great way to celebrate being 50 party:

Thanks....and yes I think so also. I'm concerned it seems crowds are increasing based on latest reports, but we'll see how it goes.
 
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Stalking pays off...thankfully. Nothing has really changed, only that I was able to modify my DVC reservation to Sat/Sun night and my CASH reservation to Mon/Tue night which saved me some money. I may even consider renting points for the last two nights to save more...but I'm going to wait until closer to the trip for that.

We have yet to book the return flights...but should still have time for that. Nothing has changed there either.

I still look into other restaurant options but for now the ones listed so far are the same.
 
So as of today I've added a few more ADRs but I'm still on the fence about them...go figure.

DH really wanted a GFC breakfast...so that's now booked and will likely stay.

I'm seriously considering an extra park day now...buying a 5-day ticket instead of 4 and attempting a park on Saturday...just don't know which one but for the extra $25 per ticket why not have options?

We finally booked our return flights on SWA as they had increased in price/points by a little bit and why risk it?

Still can't get oldest son to go with us...even for the weekend.

Looked for a better rental car deal...didn't find one. That's okay what we have is pretty good...and it's a full sized SUV of all things.

Considering renting DVC points for the last two nights of our reservation to save some money. Looking at that now and using the DVC Rent/Trade board here which I haven't used in many years.

Reports of larger crowds and longer wait times even during the week are scaring me a little bit. Anybody else?


COUNTDOWN: 43 DAYS
 
Considering renting DVC points for the last two nights of our reservation to save some money. Looking at that now and using the DVC Rent/Trade board here which I haven't used in many years.
Have you contacted DVCstore.com? They have a variety of options at $14 per point if you book prior to December 20th. A couple of days ago I was able to book a 2 Bdrm dedicated villa for four nights at Animal Kingdom Lodge Kidani Village, Savannah View, for $14 per point. After taxes, we are paying less than $600 per night, which is a big savings over paying cash through Disney for $1150 per night plus tax.
 
Another 1970 baby following along!! My 50th was in February and DD turned 21 in June. We had a trip planned for August, which we moved to December. DH is the one in our family that wants nothing to do with the trip. He was going to grudgingly tag along, but we did a consolation beach trip for August, so he is going to stay home and it will be just girls trip.
 
I just changed around some breakfasts yesterday for our trip next week lol it never ends! But that's the fun of it :goodvibes

Not worried about crowds. Especially for my "work" I'm thrilled that more people are going and we'll adjust a bit to go earlier than we did in July. And in normal times we always end up there during holidays with crowds so it won't be different!

Another 1970 baby following along!! My 50th was in February
1971 but also February! Have my birthday Disney trip all set!
 
Have you contacted DVCstore.com? They have a variety of options at $14 per point if you book prior to December 20th. A couple of days ago I was able to book a 2 Bdrm dedicated villa for four nights at Animal Kingdom Lodge Kidani Village, Savannah View, for $14 per point. After taxes, we are paying less than $600 per night, which is a big savings over paying cash through Disney for $1150 per night plus tax.

I didn't find any points we could use there at less than $19 or $20 a point, but thanks for the information. I get their emails and hadn't really looked recently. Sounds like you got a great deal and the guy I am renting from charged $15 a point which was pretty good. We are still saving nearly $1000 to do it this way for our 2 nights over paying cash. I just cancelled the Disney cash reservation last night.

Another 1970 baby following along!! My 50th was in February and DD turned 21 in June. We had a trip planned for August, which we moved to December. DH is the one in our family that wants nothing to do with the trip. He was going to grudgingly tag along, but we did a consolation beach trip for August, so he is going to stay home and it will be just girls trip.

Very cool about the birthday but sad about the cancelled trip. Hopefully the December one works out for you. Girls only trips are so fun...I'm sure you'll have a great time! My DD might want to do another girls trip for her HS graduation this spring...I'm hoping so!

I just changed around some breakfasts yesterday for our trip next week lol it never ends! But that's the fun of it :goodvibes

Not worried about crowds. Especially for my "work" I'm thrilled that more people are going and we'll adjust a bit to go earlier than we did in July. And in normal times we always end up there during holidays with crowds so it won't be different!

1971 but also February! Have my birthday Disney trip all set!

Awesome...and nope the changes are never ending even with far fewer restaurant choices! I'm sure you'll have a great trip and we aren't terribly concerned either as we'll take advantage of getting there early also and then just see what we can do. I kinda wish we were going back for Thanksgiving and I'd love to even consider going Christmas or the New Year this year for the first time but I don't think I could convince DH to ever do that.
 
I'm pretty sure I must be insane for continuing to think about other trips, having to buy tickets each and every time...it's not cheap. I really wish APs of some kind were an option...or I qualified for some Florida resident tickets. But alas I do not...and so I'll continue to pay money to visit my other HOME.

Over the weekend I managed to secure some DVC rental points at a good rate, so I changed to those for the 2nd half of our trip and cancelled my cash reservation. I'll just need to see about linking these 2 Copper Creek 2BR Villa reservations at some point. I hate that I have NO real control over this new reservation, but I'm confident that we'll still go no matter what so I'm willing to accept some of the risk at doing it this way. It will save me about $800 to do it this way..more money to spend on the trip!

I checked the Spirit website yesterday...should not have done that...the prices of our flights have dropped but of course it's not like we paid for them in the first place since we were using credit...and we still have credit left we need to book by the end of this week. I need to find some way to use that...do I go in December/January/February/March? These are my thoughts right now.

I haven't touched our ADRs yet this week but of course I'm always looking.

Over the weekend I suggested that maybe we should consider 5-day tickets instead of 4-days since we are arriving early on a Saturday. Our plan was to just hang at the lovely Wilderness Lodge Resort for the day...but what if we wanted to get out and do something? It would cost about $25 more each ticket for 5 days over 4 days. However I have just submitted my order form for the 4-day tickets for now. We can always take them back to SOG and upgrade them to 5 days once we arrive if we decide we need another day. The bigger question is...which park would you do twice? My FIL suggested MK and I have to agree there...though I hate to be in that park on a weekend, maybe if it's just a few hours it won't be too bad? This way we would start and end our trip in MK which would be nice.

Of course, the current hours for the parks have them closing pretty early, but I see every now and then they seem to be extending hours for some of the parks, especially on the weekends. If that's the case, then it just might be something to seriously consider. We do already have plans for DHs birthday dinner on Saturday though, so it's not like we'd stay late in any of the parks anyway.

Also ordered a few Magic Bands over the weekend, got the standard ones for the kids and my FIL and declined any for DH and myself...we have plenty. Then I ended up on the shopDisney site and ordered several other Magic Bands from there because they have some cool colors. I'll post them when they arrive as I also got DH and myself some cool Maryland shirts from the site...has anyone seen these? They have them for every state and they are pretty cool looking.


39 DAYS TO GO!
 
I am enjoying reading about your plans. I am excited to see how it turns out! For our November trip, there are hardly any restaurants available for the days we are there. Why is that? Will the parks be super crowded, or are the dining rooms just that limited for capacity? We really want to try Sci-Fi Diner at HS, but I can't find a single opening, even when I change the size of our group from 8 to 6 to 4 to 2. :worried:
 

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