Never say Neverland: Easter '18, May/June '18, July '18, Sept '18, Nov '18 TRs (8/22 UPDATE!)

July 4th Trip UPDATE

So a few things have changed since my last update. Now that I'm back from my most recent trip, a short trip to California last Tuesday - Saturday, I should go ahead and let you all know what has changed.

First of all, the transportation has changed slightly. My DH was put in charge of booking the Autotrain for all of us. Once he started looking at prices, he determined it would be worth it to "upgrade" us from Lower Level Seats to Roomettes. In Autotrain talk, that means we will have 3 small "rooms" to share. Each room has two seats that convert to bunk beds in the evening. This allows us to come a little close to "real" sleep since we'll have our own beds instead of recliner seats. We can arrive the next morning in Orlando a little more refreshed.


The funny thing about the "upgrade" mentioned here is that DH was planning on surprising me with this. He was concerned I wouldn't be up for the extra cost of it (I'm not really) so he planned to pay for it with his own account. His dad showed up one day for dinner with us, and while there he mentioned the TWO checks he had for us, and asked if my husband had mentioned the Autotrain to me. I said yes...but I was confused about the two checks??? I guess that was so the extra money deposited to our account could be hidden from me because I would know the cost of the Autotrain for the seats only. In any case, before DH arrived home I was aware of the plan and was fine with it.

Let's see, what else? Oh we got a 5-day pass purchased for my FIL, but by the time I went to add him to our current FP+ plans, some of them had to change due to lack of availability. I made some changes here and there and for the most part I'm good with all of them. It isn't ideal for some of our plans to hit the parks early and leave as some of the FP+s are later in the day than I would like, but we can make it work I'm sure. Plus we have 6 days of FP+s but only have a 5-day park hopper for him, that we plan to have him upgrade on arrival to an Annual Pass (now kicking ourselves that we didn't have him do this on the last trip). Once he has an AP, we can then go ahead and add him to the last day of FP+s for us, which hopefully will all still be available.


Dining reservations are still in place also. They haven't changed really from what I have mentioned.

Other than that, I am now back to POSSIBLY planning a VERY quick post-graduation trip for my oldest son. I mentioned this idea to him yesterday and he appears to be on board with it. I didn't think he'd want to go and I'm a bit skeptical because I know how difficult he can be when he's tired and/or hungry, both of which are highly possible for this trip I'm considering. I'm still not sure if it will happen. We will see.


That's the current update for us. I have yet to make some kind of preliminary plan for the Thanksgiving trip, and I am still not quite happy about it because of our extra people now, but I have a few more days to come up with a plan for how to manage that. Next week I'll need to book ADRs for that trip and I will decide how many of them to include the "extra" people in for that one.
 
July 4th Trip UPDATE



First of all, the transportation has changed slightly. My DH was put in charge of booking the Autotrain for all of us. Once he started looking at prices, he determined it would be worth it to "upgrade" us from Lower Level Seats to Roomettes. In Autotrain talk, that means we will have 3 small "rooms" to share. Each room has two seats that convert to bunk beds in the evening. This allows us to come a little close to "real" sleep since we'll have our own beds instead of recliner seats. We can arrive the next morning in Orlando a little more refreshed


Awesome surprise upgrade! How long is the trip down? :faint::faint::faint::faint::faint:


Let's see, what else? Oh we got a 5-day pass purchased for my FIL, but by the time I went to add him to our current FP+ plans, some of them had to change due to lack of availability. I made some changes here and there and for the most part I'm good with all of them. It isn't ideal for some of our plans to hit the parks early and leave as some of the FP+s are later in the day than I would like, but we can make it work I'm sure. Plus we have 6 days of FP+s but only have a 5-day park hopper for him, that we plan to have him upgrade on arrival to an Annual Pass (now kicking ourselves that we didn't have him do this on the last trip). Once he has an AP, we can then go ahead and add him to the last day of FP+s for us, which hopefully will all still be available.


I'm sure with your dd's FP ninja skills everything will work out! :genie: pixiedust:

That's the current update for us. I have yet to make some kind of preliminary plan for the Thanksgiving trip, and I am still not quite happy about it because of our extra people now, but I have a few more days to come up with a plan for how to manage that. Next week I'll need to book ADRs for that trip and I will decide how many of them to include the "extra" people in for that one.


Just keep telling yourself, "The more, the merrier." :D :rainbow: :D
 
Awesome surprise upgrade! How long is the trip down? :faint::faint::faint::faint::faint:

We usually board the train sometime around 4pm I think, and usually arrive in Sanford about 7am the next morning. We have a full dinner there in the dining car and breakfast the next morning. We enjoy wandering around and just hanging out and playing cards and games for the afternoon/evening.
I'm sure with your dd's FP ninja skills everything will work out! :genie: pixiedust:

LOVE this one! And so very true! :)

Just keep telling yourself, "The more, the merrier." :D :rainbow: :D

I am working on that one...still...but it's tough. I need to just LET IT GO and just try to enjoy the time there even if the company drives me NUTS!
 


That's the current update for us. I have yet to make some kind of preliminary plan for the Thanksgiving trip, and I am still not quite happy about it because of our extra people now, but I have a few more days to come up with a plan for how to manage that. Next week I'll need to book ADRs for that trip and I will decide how many of them to include the "extra" people in for that one.

Well, if you "can't" get a table for all of you, you can always split the groups up into 2 reservations at the same restaurant/approx. time. This way you will get a break during the actual meal. At least you "tried" - lol!

Plan for July sounds great! Think the upgrade will be worth it since we know how teenagers need their sleep!

I think its great that you include your father in law in all your trips. In the pics, he always looks like he's having a good time and seems to mesh well with your family. I am sure he appreciates it even more since his wife passed.

Good luck with the planning for Thanksgiving trip! Hope you can get what you need for ADRs!
 
Well, if you "can't" get a table for all of you, you can always split the groups up into 2 reservations at the same restaurant/approx. time. This way you will get a break during the actual meal. At least you "tried" - lol!

Plan for July sounds great! Think the upgrade will be worth it since we know how teenagers need their sleep!

I think its great that you include your father in law in all your trips. In the pics, he always looks like he's having a good time and seems to mesh well with your family. I am sure he appreciates it even more since his wife passed.

Good luck with the planning for Thanksgiving trip! Hope you can get what you need for ADRs!

I like the idea of "splitting" the reservations for sure. I'll keep that in mind!

Yes I definitely have some nasty teens when they don't sleep. Which is why I'm on the fence about booking this next trip that I haven't mentioned...leaving in two weeks. It would be a VERY short trip, graduation trip for my son, just him and I going. He is not at all flexible when it comes to travel...blame it on his dad. He likes things predictable not on-the-fly and this trip would be very on-the-fly. I need to make the decision very soon and pull the trigger on the flights. I think he would really like to do this, and what a nice graduation gift for him...and for me. We'll see.
 
EXCITING NEWS to SHARE HERE!

Are you ready for it?

I booked another trip this year.

We leave in less than two weeks.

Yep...you read that correctly...despite my reservations about travel with my son, I really think he wants to do this trip with just the two of us. I am starting to think about just how quickly time is passing and soon these kids will be out of the house and have their own lives...or at least that's what I hope will happen. Therefore even though money is a bit tight right now, and my time off from work is just as tight, I decided I needed to make this happen.

The interesting thing about this is that TEN YEARS ago I took my very first ONE KID trip to Disney. My son was 8 years old at the time, and he'd finally made some good progress in school after many years of struggling. I decided to reward him with a trip to Disney...as a surprise...for Star Wars Weekend since he was into Star Wars a bit at that time.

I would love to say it went well...but fact is that it started out HORRIBLY...I mean lots of yelling and lots of tears shed by me mostly...my son HATES surprises. In the end it turned out well, especially as we pulled into Pop Century and he was so excited. DH/his dad flew down later that evening to join us but initially it was just the two of us hanging out here:

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The next day we would surprise him again with our visit to Hollywood Studios. He had no idea about the Star Wars Weekend events. We really spent the day with him getting autographs and photos.

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This was a very quick 2-day trip, where we only visited EPCOT and Hollywood Studios, and the next day we were on the road back home...well actually to North Carolina where I had dropped off the other two kids with my mom and dad.

So now here we are...ten years later...planning another trip but DH won't be joining us this time. There will be no Star Wars Weekend. We will just spend 2 nights hanging out and doing some park time, plus the DVC After Hours event at Typhoon Lagoon AND Dine with an Imagineer which he does NOT know about yet.

I booked flights last night, have a rental car booked, and have ONE night booked in one resort (Polynesian Villa) and a second night at All Star Movies while I stalk the DVC site to see if I can get a second night elsewhere. I had a talk with my son last night about setting expectations, knowing that he has to travel with me and I will be doing things on the fly. We will be resort nomads, no need to unpack for our nights. We should be able to travel with limited stuff because it's just two nights. He seems totally on board with all of this.

And so that's the deal, we will depart the morning after he graduates from high school and return 2 days later. I have some FPs booked for MK but for some reason am unable to book any other FPs for him for the trip. He has mentioned he really wants to spend some extra time at EPCOT this trip, so we'll try to do that. Plus with a stay at the Polynesian I'm sure he'll want to hang out there a little bit, which is why I scheduled the flight for earlier than I had originally planned.

That's the deal...another trip...another chance for people to call me crazy!


 


I call you amazing! With expectations set (and 10 years of maturing) there should be less drama than last solo trip with him.

My only concern is where we live there is a parent sponsored and chaperoned all night graduation party immediately following the ceremony. Both of my kids would have been upset to miss this event. Will he be missing anything like this that he can hold a grudge over your head for the rest of your life like only a teenager can do? Lol
 
I call you amazing! With expectations set (and 10 years of maturing) there should be less drama than last solo trip with him.

My only concern is where we live there is a parent sponsored and chaperoned all night graduation party immediately following the ceremony. Both of my kids would have been upset to miss this event. Will he be missing anything like this that he can hold a grudge over your head for the rest of your life like only a teenager can do? Lol

You know I've heard nothing about an after-hours party for his school. We had that when I was in HS...but I've seen nothing. He attends a very small public charter school. Prom is tonight and he isn't even attending that. So no I don't think he'll miss anything. We won't leave until the day AFTER graduation anyway.

I think it's awesome and I can't wait to hear all about it!

Thanks. Yes even my husband admits I'm a bit crazy, and when I told some good friends last night...even they were a bit shocked. I still think this will be a nice post-grad celebration for him so I'm planning a few things that are special for us to do. I'm even thinking about another tour, maybe one we haven't done yet. Nothing set yet though.

I'm definitely enjoying the planning even though it's last minute.
 
I love that you and DS are going after he graduates, I can only hope that Ricky or Chris would want to do that with me :goodvibes

Dine with an Imagineer at Cítricos: July 5th
This sounds SO FUN. A fantastic restaurant combined with an amazing, special event.

Yes I do as well. July 4th will mark one year since the death of my mother-in-law, so we really don't want to spend it at home. Her last trip to Disney with us was July 4th week, so it seems fitting to go during that time.
I completely understand not wanting to be home, and I think Disney is the perfect place for you all to be :hug:

Yes we have Slinky Dog Coaster and the Alien Saucers booked for two different days.
Great! I've had pretty decent luck getting both for my clients so far...............

I'm wondering if we should book another tour. Those are always fun. This one at AK was probably one of our favorites:
I want to do Wild Africa Trek so bad. What time of year did you do it? Wondering how disgusting it is during the summer months :crazy2:
 
I love that you and DS are going after he graduates, I can only hope that Ricky or Chris would want to do that with me :goodvibes

I was actually surprised, since he is definitely one who tends to complain about the trips at times, especially during the CROWDED times. He does not do well with crowds. Or long waits. And he definitely doesn't like the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants way of travel, which is just fine with me. So we will see how it goes.

I completely understand not wanting to be home, and I think Disney is the perfect place for you all to be :hug:

I agree that celebrating the life of my MIL on the anniversary of her death in one of her favorite places seems fitting. We are going to eat at one of her favorite places (Mama Melrose) and ride her favorite ride (Tower of Terror) all on July 4th. As much as I'd love to see the MK fireworks again, we'll probably try to see Illuminations at EPCOT instead for July 4th as I think they do a little something extra that day.

Great! I've had pretty decent luck getting both for my clients so far...............

Yes we are definitely looking forward to trying out both new Toy Story Land rides.


I want to do Wild Africa Trek so bad. What time of year did you do it? Wondering how disgusting it is during the summer months :crazy2:

Ohhh...we did do it in July. I think we did an afternoon one because they gave a discount for it if you booked it. It wasn't horrible. I do think they were calling for rain (in Florida...go figure) that day, but I do remember they gave us some nice chilly towels at one point. The meal out on the savannah was really nice. It was definitely a top tour for all of us.
 
UPDATES UPDATES UPDATES!!

So over the weekend we won the DVC Lottery TWICE...and the Disney Reservations system lottery once as well. Quite a few changes happened and I'm excited about all of them.

First of all, I've been on a waitlist since pretty early on for ONE night at Aulani. We did have all 3 nights in a 2BR unit booked there for our Hawaii trip, but two of those nights were for one level/view and the last night was a different level/view, meaning we'd have to move that last night. It would be no big deal really, but getting that last night at a different level meant saving me some DVC points....points I could use on other trips this year. We went out with some friends Saturday night, the friends going with us on this trip, to celebrate the guy's 50th birthday and I was asked if we had all 3 of those nights booked in one place yet. I told her the story of how I've been stalking the DVC website to try to get that last night moved but it wasn't looking good. Then I checked my email after I got home...and there was the welcome home from Aulani...and verification that our waitlist was fulfilled! Yeah!

The other stalking I've been doing was for the second night for our upcoming trip in just over a week now. I had one night booked at a Poly Villa Studio, but NOTHING was available in a DVC studio for the second night. I had us booked at a room at All Star Music (someplace I've never stayed) and I was okay with that...but I knew it would be a step down and it would just be nice to stay in another room for FREE. So while sitting at my daughter's softball game yesterday, I pulled up the DVC website and did a quick check...and there was a Poly Villa Studio available! I snagged it quickly, with my extra points from the Aulani change it worked out well. The only issue now is we still have to change rooms since the first night is in a std view and the second night is a lakeview room. That's okay though, we'll take it for two nights at the Polynesian!

Last but not least, was the issue with our rooms for July. When I booked both rooms, I didn't have my FIL added to the room, I just put my name on both of them so I could manage them. These were both at CBR and I ended up booking a waterview room because by the time I booked my FIL they only had waterview left with my APH discount. I've been trying to modify/change the reservation and add my FIL to on of the rooms, but the site doesn't seem to be cooperating with that even though it appears to let me get to a point to add him, it never updates. Finally last night I decided to just go ahead and book a new room, putting my FIL and oldest son in it, and as it turns out they had a standard view room available. This would save us a little money for the trip, as we really don't care much about the room and view for as little time as we spend there. So I booked a standard view for them, and then went ahead and booked myself back in a standard view room also, as it was available. Then I cancelled the other two room reservations for the waterview rooms. It is always nice to save a little extra money whenever possible.

And that is that for us. I'm very happy with all of the changes and the money savings and points savings on each of them. Now I can stop stalking for at least part of the year. I'm still stalking Thanksgiving week reservations though. I now also have an open waitlist that I can use if I want to book another trip too! :)
 
Yay for the Room Fairy showing up! You are far more tolerant than me when it comes to changing rooms at the same resort.

We stayed at ASMu last June for a very short stay. It was fine since we were barely in room. And I REALLY liked the price!
 
Yay for the Room Fairy showing up! You are far more tolerant than me when it comes to changing rooms at the same resort.

We stayed at ASMu last June for a very short stay. It was fine since we were barely in room. And I REALLY liked the price!

Well since it is only two nights, we figure there's no real need to unpack. I plan to carry not much more than a backpack with me for this trip. I *REALLY* like the price of this as well...FREE to us since we are using our already purchased DVC contract points.

Our very first Disney Resort stay was at ASMu back in 1997, before DH and I were even married. That's the first and only time we've stayed in one of the All Star Resorts. I wouldn't have minded going back there for fun.



Yay! So happy all your room ressies are working out!!!!

Thanks! I know I was so excited when I saw the Aulani Waitlist had come through. I was just as happy to be able to book a 2nd night at the Polynesian though!

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AND in other breaking news, I've decided to extend our trip a little bit more now. I moved our flight up from 10am to 7am. I decided it wasn't worth it to come to work for just over an hour. I know I wouldn't get much done just thinking about leaving for Disney that day. Once I factored in the change in my flight cost ($10 more) and the change in the rental car ( I booked a new one and it saved me $5) I was only adding $5 to the cost and getting a few more Disney hours. YAY!

I do still need to play around with our FPs some more maybe. I'm struggling a bit with what parks to do on what days despite having FP+ reservations. I know my son really only mentioned MK and EPCOT, but I'd love to sneak in Pandora and I already have HS FPs since we have a lunch planned there already on our last day.

OH and I also went ahead and booked a few ADRs for Thanskgiving week. Unfortunately I can't book the rest until tomorrow so that will mean my priority is Thanksgiving Day for 16 people at Boma. Other than that, I actually got a Chef Mickey for the Sunday before Thanksgiving for 16 people also, so yes I included the OTHER side of the family who has joined our trip WITHOUT asking...but they are just SO excited about it as they like to post to me on social media. I have yet to respond. Ugh.

Be the better person Dina. That's what I'm working on doing.
 
Thanksgiving Update: I made a few ADRs over the last few days. I'm not sure which ones we will keep. I think we'll stick with Chef Mickey for sure, and I still can't do Thanksgiving Day yet for some reason. I'll try again tomorrow. I even snagged a BOG breakfast which I thought would be nice to try as we haven't been there in years.

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GRADUATION TRIP UPDATE: I keep going back on forth on what we'll do here. Now that we have an earlier flight, I moved up our FP+s but I'm not sure we'll make the first one (BTMRR) because it begins about the time we are scheduled to land. Sure we MIGHT be at the resort within about 45 minutes of landing, but who knows for sure. I also managed to get a better deal on our rental car by booking with a company I have NEVER used at MCO because they've always been to expensive. They are still one of the major companies, so I should be fine, but just in case I have a backup reservation for $2 more at a company I use frequently there.


Our day two plans are very up-in-the-air right now. Since we might have a late night at Typhoon Lagoon the evening before, I'm not sure we'd be up for the EMH morning at EPCOT. That's really our best chance to do stuff at that park because so many FP+s are gone for morning/afternoon there due to the EMH I'm sure. I think this is the day we'll also try to squeeze in some time at AK because Satuli is a favorite of my son's and it would be a good place for a reasonable lunch or dinner for us.

Our final day will definitely be HS for the most part, though we may try to squeeze in some time at another park first thing in the morning if we are up for it.

I feel like we'd love to enjoy as much of the Polynesian Resort as we can, weather permitting. Time at the pool sounds good to both of us. Dole Whips also. Plus the sushi counter there I know will be on the list.

 

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