Siome42
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2017
This will be my first trip report. DH & I had been to WDW once back in 2000, when we were 19 before we knew each other. We had fond memories, and wanted to introduce our two boys to Disney.
I started planning this trip in May of 2016, because I wanted to do something special for our 10th Anniversary (9/8/2017). I figured the best way to celebrate would be a trip that we could remember with the kids. I followed Tom Bricker's blog, watched Dis Unplugged on youtube, and read a ton of information before I ever booked our reservation. I also made a spread sheet of restaurants and rides, graded on desirability and various other factors. This amounted to a huge waste of time, but it did help me go over the parks well enough that when we got there I had a pretty good idea of where, when, and how to get somewhere/do something. I also studied the maps and watched a lot of videos about restaurants and rides experiences. I had over a year to kill before we actually went, so I became slightly obsessed with Disney.
I knew I wanted to stay at Pop Century, because of the bus route. I wanted to try for free dining, but I prepared myself to pay out of pocket for the Table Service Dining Plan. I bought 6 single use tickets when I first made our reservation, knowing that if I got free dining I would have to upgrade to park hoppers, and still pay the difference between QS & TS meal plans. I also knew that I wanted to do MNSSHP.
By sitting on hold for 2 hours the day the free dining deal dropped, I was able to get free dining for 7 of our 8 day trip. I was also able to get a renovated room at Pop Century and tickets to MNSSHP on 9/7/17. We ended up renting a car, but the bus system did come in handy during the later part of our trip. I was able to book all of the reservations for dining that I wanted, mostly by trolling the reservation boards daily and changing them up several times. I managed to score tickets to Rivers of Light, so we didn't have to wait in stand by or use a fast pass. I was able to book all of the fast passes I had really wanted, including FOP & Navi River Ride by splitting AK into 2 park days. I had the 8:20 reservation to BOG so we could rope drop Fantasy Land. I also had category 1 seating at SOA. I had extra money going into the trip, so I thought we were set.
Then, hurricane season hit. We live in the Panhandle of Texas, so wind is an every day thing here. We're used to being in an oven with the sandblaster going most days out of the year. It's flat here, and water is precious, so trees are pretty few and far between. Tornado or severe weather involving large hail is what we are used to. With the closest coast almost 10 hours away, I never really considered what booking in hurricane season would mean. I bought travel insurance, and told myself it would be fine.
We traveled from Texas to Orlando 9-2-17. Our original plan had us flying out on 9-3-17, but because our flight would have connected through Houston right after hurricane Harvey, we had to change plans, so we added a day on the front of our trip to fly through Denver instead. We were supposed to fly back on 9-10-17, but we ended up trapped at Disney until 9-14-17 because of Hurricane Irma. I might have had a small meltdown as I realized the extra week I had taken off work to have a kid free/husband free mommy holiday was dissolving right before my eyes.
More to come! I have to go unpack. If the suitcases sit in my living room any longer, I may have a breakdown.
I started planning this trip in May of 2016, because I wanted to do something special for our 10th Anniversary (9/8/2017). I figured the best way to celebrate would be a trip that we could remember with the kids. I followed Tom Bricker's blog, watched Dis Unplugged on youtube, and read a ton of information before I ever booked our reservation. I also made a spread sheet of restaurants and rides, graded on desirability and various other factors. This amounted to a huge waste of time, but it did help me go over the parks well enough that when we got there I had a pretty good idea of where, when, and how to get somewhere/do something. I also studied the maps and watched a lot of videos about restaurants and rides experiences. I had over a year to kill before we actually went, so I became slightly obsessed with Disney.
I knew I wanted to stay at Pop Century, because of the bus route. I wanted to try for free dining, but I prepared myself to pay out of pocket for the Table Service Dining Plan. I bought 6 single use tickets when I first made our reservation, knowing that if I got free dining I would have to upgrade to park hoppers, and still pay the difference between QS & TS meal plans. I also knew that I wanted to do MNSSHP.
By sitting on hold for 2 hours the day the free dining deal dropped, I was able to get free dining for 7 of our 8 day trip. I was also able to get a renovated room at Pop Century and tickets to MNSSHP on 9/7/17. We ended up renting a car, but the bus system did come in handy during the later part of our trip. I was able to book all of the reservations for dining that I wanted, mostly by trolling the reservation boards daily and changing them up several times. I managed to score tickets to Rivers of Light, so we didn't have to wait in stand by or use a fast pass. I was able to book all of the fast passes I had really wanted, including FOP & Navi River Ride by splitting AK into 2 park days. I had the 8:20 reservation to BOG so we could rope drop Fantasy Land. I also had category 1 seating at SOA. I had extra money going into the trip, so I thought we were set.
Then, hurricane season hit. We live in the Panhandle of Texas, so wind is an every day thing here. We're used to being in an oven with the sandblaster going most days out of the year. It's flat here, and water is precious, so trees are pretty few and far between. Tornado or severe weather involving large hail is what we are used to. With the closest coast almost 10 hours away, I never really considered what booking in hurricane season would mean. I bought travel insurance, and told myself it would be fine.
We traveled from Texas to Orlando 9-2-17. Our original plan had us flying out on 9-3-17, but because our flight would have connected through Houston right after hurricane Harvey, we had to change plans, so we added a day on the front of our trip to fly through Denver instead. We were supposed to fly back on 9-10-17, but we ended up trapped at Disney until 9-14-17 because of Hurricane Irma. I might have had a small meltdown as I realized the extra week I had taken off work to have a kid free/husband free mommy holiday was dissolving right before my eyes.
More to come! I have to go unpack. If the suitcases sit in my living room any longer, I may have a breakdown.
