No Disney For A Few Years! (*immediately books another trip*) May 2019 (Epic Girls Trip) Update 1/26

[fallonkendra]

Yep, I'm back with another PTR! If you're new to my reports, WELCOME! If you've followed along with any of my reports before, you'll know that my husband and I were married at Disney World this past January (I still haven't started that trip report on here, but I do have a few posts already completed on my personal blog, so expect to see that on these boards within the next few weeks). During the entire planning process/two week wedding trip, we kept telling ourselves we would not be going on any more Disney trips for a few years - yeah, that lasted only a few weeks after we returned from Florida. We flew back from our wedding trip on January 13th, and on February 7th we booked flights to California for a Disneyland trip from June 9-14. Once we returned from that trip (again, telling ourselves that would be our final Disney trip for awhile...), it took all of a week before we decided on another trip, and on June 22nd we booked flights to Orlando for a December trip!

Table of Contents
The Who, What, Where, Why & When
The ADR's
The Changes
December Itinerary Part One
December Itinerary Part Two

So, after booking our December trip, I did the math and realized it would be worth it for me to buy a new annual pass (once I factored in the cost of tickets, Memory Maker plus discounts). Once I realized I'd have an annual pass, naturally I started thinking about more Disney trips haha - and the Epic Girls Trip was born! Here's everything you need to know about this trip:

Table of Contents
Another Trip?!
May 2019 - ADR's Part One
May 2019 Trip Details
​

 

[fallonkendra]

The Who

First up will be me, your guide through this journey of a planning report



My name is Fallon, I’m 30 years old and I work in Quality Control at a welding/fabrication shop. The picture above was taken earlier this month while in California. My husband and I went on our first Disney trip in April 2015, and it sparked a bit of an obsession- we’ve now been to Disneyland five times, and this upcoming December trip will be our fourth time to Walt Disney World.

Next up is my husband, Luke. He’s obviously the other one in the picture above who isn’t Daisy haha. He’s hilarious, makes me smile everyday and I’m pretty lucky to go through life with him by my side . He also loves Disney just as much as I do, and is very involved in the planning process.

The third person to join us on this trip will be my Dad.



He had zero interest in ever going to a Disney Park, but he told me he would travel anywhere for my wedding. He ended up booking a full week at Disney in January for our wedding and loved every single minute of it! He went on rides, met characters, swam in the resort pool (something Luke and I have never done...).

The What

This is the easiest W to answer - it’s a trip to WDW!

The When

December 11-18, 2018! I’ll get to our reason for those dates down below

The Where

Luke and I have done a split stay on our last two trips to Florida, and this one is no different. We tend to rent DVC points for our trips, but I’m usually all over that well before the 11 month mark when bookings begin. This trip was decided with under 6 months, so I knew I was late to the game. I submitted a request anyways, and let the company I was using know that we were open to any DVC studio (we were hoping for The Poly, AKL or Bay Lake, but we knew those were highly unlikely). They got back to us right away letting us know there was not a single studio on property available for that time frame, so I asked about split stays. They came back to me letting me know there was zero availability for our first three nights, but we could get a preferred room at Saratoga Springs from December 14-18 so we took that! Luke and I have stayed at SSR before, and really enjoyed it - hopefully Dad will be ok with sleeping on a pull-out couch!

This left us with the first three nights. We checked Hotwire/Priceline and found great prices for what we believed were the Swan/Dolphin (they were secret deals, so we wouldn’t have known the exact hotel until we paid for it). For some reason I couldn’t bring myself to click purchase... so we went back to the Disney website.

After a lot of humming and hahing, we finally decided to go with Port Orleans French Quarter for the first three nights! It’s a resort Luke and I have wanted to stay at, so we figured why not!

So that long-winded explanation was just for this:
December 11-14: Port Orleans French Quarter
December 14-18: Saratoga Springs

The Why

If you’re a returning reader of my reports, you’ll know that Luke and I are huge hockey fans - we discovered our love for Disney parks during a trip to watch NHL playoff hockey. My love for the sport came from my Dad, who is a huge Toronto Maple Leafs fan. We’ve been talking for a few years about going to see a game together, so when the NHL released the 2018/2019 regular season schedule this past Thursday, we decided this was the year we would go to a game together! We looked at a few options, but my Dad loves Florida so he decided early Christmas in Orlando/Tampa! It didn’t take much to get him to agree to staying on Disney property for the duration of the trip either haha.

The hockey game we want to go to is on December 13th, so we built our dates for our trip around that, based on the cheapest flights we could get.

My Dad and I live on opposite sides of the country, so we only see each other once or twice a year, so it’ll be great to spend a week together!




​

 

[absolutmey]

can I just say YAY and that I love love love this PTR title!? Can't wait to read all about it.

 

[caribbeandream]

I could have written this same PTR! I was just at DW in January and I'm going back in December!

 

[Raeven]

Following along!

 

[suse66]

Fellow Canadian joining in!

 

[fallonkendra]

The ADR’s

Booking a trip with less than 6 months to plan made me freak out a little bit - I’m a huge planner, and typically have a spreadsheet already completed by the time our 180 day window opens to begin booking dining. I had to tell myself it would all be ok, it’s not like we would go hungry just because I couldn’t get every reservation I wanted.

We actually went a little lighter than usual on ADR’s, but I’m sure I will continue tinkering with these over the next few months.

The alphabetical list of reservations:

1900 Park Fare (Supper) - One of my favourite character meals - I was impressed by the food on the buffet and the step-sisters were so much fun!

Homecomin’ - one of our favourites... Luke and I love the food so much it was the location of our wedding reception

*This picture was taken by our wedding photographer at our reception - I don't actually like eggs, but I thought it was a great photo!*

Kona Cafe (Breakfast) - We've had this on our list for awhile but have never been able to make it work into our schedule - this time I will finally have Tonga Toast!

Liberty Tree Tavern (Supper) - Luke and I really enjoyed our meal there. I showed Dad the pictures and he thought it looked great (plus it's all food that my Dad loves, he's very much a meat and potatoes type of guy). Also - ooey gooey toffee cake. Enough said.

Mama Melrose (Lunch) - Luke really wants to eat here, he's read great things about the steak. We actually had a reservation here for our last trip, but we ended up cancelling it so we could fit in Highway in the Sky instead. No regrets about that!

Turf Club (Supper) - Luke and I have ate here before, on our January 2017 trip. We really enjoyed it, and we're staying at Saratoga Springs so we figured why not?!

Tusker House (Breakfast/Lunch) - This was actually my Dad's pick! I asked him if he wanted to go back to any of the places we had ate this past January, and he responded with "that buffet breakfast/lunch place was really good. It was a big buffet, they had both breakfast and lunch at the same time". I was able to figure out this was the place he meant haha - he's not big into the character meets, but whenever I asked he would get in a picture with me. This also happens to be Luke's favourite character meal on property - this will be our fourth trip and our fourth time eating here...

Excuse my appearance in the picture above - it was the day after my wedding so I was exhausted!

And that’s it. I love table service meals so I won't be surprised to see myself add a few more to our list before the trip actually happens. We'll be paying out of pocket for all meals - I know we're traveling during free dining times but I'm not a huge fan of the dining plan at all, it just doesn't work for the way I like to eat. We already have a list of a few quick service places we'd like to try, but I'll put those into another post ​

 

[fallonkendra]

can I just say YAY and that I love love love this PTR title!? Can't wait to read all about it.

Thanks for joining in! The title just seemed to fit so well haha - we just can't help ourselves!

I could have written this same PTR! I was just at DW in January and I'm going back in December!

Thanks for reading! What dates will you be there in December?

Following along!

Hurray, you're here! I still need to go get caught up on your reports...I'm switching over to night shift at work as of next week, so I have a feeling I'll have more time for the boards at that point.

Fellow Canadian joining in!

Thanks for reading!

 

[caribbeandream]

Thanks for reading! What dates will you be there in December?

I'll be arriving on the 8th, celebrating my 51st bday at MVMCP on the 11th and then dragging myself home on the 12th.

 

[fallonkendra]

Changes, Changes, Changes​

Of course I couldn’t leave things alone and had to tinker with them. First up was the hotel: Disney released discounts for the fall (that covered the dates of our trip), so I jumped online to check it out. Our final four nights are set with a DVC rental, so there’s no moving that without losing all our money, so I was mainly interested in the first three nights. The discount on Port Orleans was small - like $20/night when I first checked (I checked again a few days ago, and it’s now over $40/night, so who knows?). Anyways, I realized that by downgrading to All Star Music, we could save over $400 from our original Port Orleans reservation. I don’t particularly love Values, but I do love having an extra $400 - so it was changed. I’m still a little sad about it, but my Dad was happy - he wanted to keep the hotel costs down since we just use the room to sleep. Fine, it does make sense.

We haven’t changed the ADR’s too much. We managed to find a better time for our Homecomin’ reservation, and were able to snag a Candlelight Processional Dining Package for lunch at Biergarten. We really wanted Trattoria el Forno, but there was nothing to be found this morning when bookings opened up. Oh well, next trip!

Speaking of the next trip, you’ll hear more details about that in the next few days

 

[fallonkendra]

Another Trip?!​

When we went this past January, I purchased a Tables in Wonderland card and we loved having the 20% discount on food and alcohol at so many locations. My annual pass expired in February (I had the Premier Pass, which I had activated at Disneyland on our January 2017 trip and had the 13 month promotion - I used it again at Disneyland in November 2017 and then for our two week trip to WDW in January 2018). What this means is that my TIW card does not expire until January 2019, but I need an annual pass to use it...I started doing math and we realized that we could save money by having me purchase a new AP on our December trip - once we added in the cost of the tickets I'd be buying, Memory Maker (which is a must for me - I love ride photos!), and then the savings from being able to use my TIW card again - not to mention the savings on merchandise (which I always buy way too much of...) #Disneymath.​

Once that was decided, of course the wheels in my brain began turning...if I was going to have an Annual Pass from December 2018-December 2019, it just made sense to try and squeeze another trip in... so I mentioned to a few of the girls I'm Facebook friends with from here on the Disboards that we should try and plan a trip around the same time - and it has evolved into The Most Epic Trip Ever (@chunkymonkey is looking after that Pre-Trip Report) - close to 20 women who write Dining Reports/Trip Reports here. So, Luke and I are heading back to Florida in May 2019!

We decided that a week is too short, so we'll be there for 10 nights! May 1-11 are our dates - but we haven't booked flights yet. We also don't have a hotel booked for May 1-6, but I was able to submit a request to a DVC rental website and lock down a place for May 6-11... at Animal Kingdom Lodge! You have no idea how excited I am to finally stay there, it's one of my dream hotels! Chances are, our first five nights will be at a Value resort to keep costs down - more than likely Pop Century.

Our ADR day isn't until the beginning of November, so we have a few months to think about dining options...although we might have a sizeable list already made haha.

So, here are our current countdowns:

80 Days Until Fastpass Day for December trip
101 Days Until ADR Day for May trip
140 Days Until December trip
221 Days Until Fastpas Day for May trip
281 Days Until May trip

So much for no Disney trips for a few years....​

 

[emilyhuff]

SO COOL! You are so lucky to go twice within 6 months! I can't wait to read all about your plans!

 

[MiracleCream]

The hockey game we want to go to is on December 13th, so we built our dates for our trip around that, based on the cheapest flights we could get.

My Dad and I live on opposite sides of the country, so we only see each other once or twice a year, so it’ll be great to spend a week together!

Whoo, I love it! I’ll be there too dec 15-21st and it’s near my birthday (few days before getting to Disney) so I’m gonna wear that birthday button! It’s so cute you’re taking your dad along I love reading about people taking their parents along and sharing that Disney magic.

 

[fallonkendra]

I’ve become very talented at abandoning these PTR’s... it's only been 4 months since I last posted an update

So let's see...

Since we're less than 3 weeks out, I'll talk about the December trip...

Luke has moved/changed a few ADR's. He had picked up an early lunch reservation at Sebastian's Bistro, but just recently dropped it when he found a late breakfast reservation at 'Ohana. I'd imagine the food is much better at Sebastian's, but it's not really a place with a ton of options for my Dad and I.

Our basic itinerary for the first four days:

Tuesday, December 11, 2018 - Luke and I are flying red-eye, so we're scheduled to arrive in Orlando around 10:30am. I'm not holding my breath for our Magical Express tags to arrive - stupid Canada Post rotating strikes - so we'll need to grab our luggage before hopping onto the bus to head off to All Star Music. We don't expect our room to be ready, so we'll drop our bags and catch an Uber/Lyft to Walmart for a few snacks/bottled water for the trip. My Dad's flight arrives around 1pm, so I figure we'll arrive back to the hotel around the same time as him. We might head for a quick nap, we'll all be tired, but we'll play it by how we're feeling. We have a supper reservation at Homecomin', so we'll head to Disney Springs at some point and hopefully have time to check out the Christmas Tree Trail (I loved it last year). After stuffing ourselves full of delicious southern food I think we'll be tired and ready to call it a night.

Wednesday, December 12, 2018 - Hopefully we're able to get a good night's sleep, because we have an early start to the day with a breakfast reservation at Kona Cafe. After some Tonga Toast, we'll head over to our park of the day - Magic Kingdom! Luke and my Dad both have Canadian discount tickets, so we'll have to stop at guest services for them to activate those. I will also need to activate my annual pass We have fastpasses for 7DMT, Space Mountain (a first for my Dad), and BTMRR, and an early supper at Liberty Tree Tavern - which I think my Dad is going to love! Who knows how late we'll stay, but there are Extra Magic Hours that night until 11pm.

Thursday, December 13, 2018 - We'll be able to sleep in, before going for an 11am breakfast at 'Ohana. It's one of the few character meals Luke and I haven't been to, so I am looking forward to finally trying it. We'll then pick up a rental car, and drive to Tampa. This is the night we go see the Toronto Maple Leafs play the Tampa Bay Lightning - I'm pretty excited to finally attend a Leafs game with my Dad! It'll be so late by the time we get back to our hotel, we'll all be exhausted.

Friday, December 14, 2018 -We can sleep in a bit, but we do need to check out of All Star Music. We'll send our bags with bell services, return the rental car and be at Hollywood Studios for our 11:30am reservation at Mama Melrose's. Luke has been wanting to eat here for a few trips now, so we finally decided to make it happen. We then have afternoon fastpasses for Star Tours, Rock n' Roller Coaster (another first for my Dad - if we can get him on it), and Toy Story Midway Mania. We weren't able to get a FP for Slinky Dog, and we won't be there at rope drop so we might just need to suck it up and wait in line for it. That evening we decided to skip Jingle Bell Jingle Jam, and booked the Fantasmic Dessert VIP Viewing Experience. Once we leave the park, we'll head to our new hotel - Saratoga Springs! We also have a late reservation at Turf Club in case we're hungry (which I think we will be).
​

 

[fallonkendra]

I might as well finish off my plans for our itinerary for December...

Saturday, December 15, 2018 - Today is Epcot day. We have fastpasses for Frozen Ever After, Spaceship Earth and Journey into Imagination before heading to Biergarten for a Candlelight Processional dining package at noon. The rest of the day is open for us to just wander around World Showcase, and snacking at the Festival of Holidays booths for supper. Our dining package is for the 8:15pm showing of the Candlelight Processional - I love Christmas, so I'm really looking forward to that! Illuminations is at 9:30 that night, so we should be able to catch some of it.

Sunday, December 16, 2018 - We'll be starting our day off with a 10:45am Brunch reservation at Homecomin' (yes, for the second time on this trip - we love it!). Since we're staying at Saratoga Springs during this portion of the trip, it won't take too long for us to get there, so we'll be able to sleep in a bit. Afterwards, we have time to wander around Disney Springs, maybe do some shopping before heading back to Saratoga to get ready for the evening. We have tickets to attend Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party - my first one ever! We knew we wanted to eat something before the party starts, so we have a 4:45 reservation for Skipper Canteen - a first time for all of us. The rest of the evening will be spent enjoying all that the Christmas party has to offer!

Monday, December 17, 2018 - On our last park day, we'll finally be heading to my favourite park - Animal Kingdom! When I asked my Dad if he wanted to eat at any of the same places we had taken him last January, the only one he immediately asked for was Tusker House - which is Luke's favourite character meal, so it wasn't a hard sell to get us to book that! That is booked for 10:40, and our fastpasses are for the afternoon - we figured we would want to sleep in a bit after staying up late at the Christmas party the night before. Our three Fastpasses are for Flight of Passage, Safaris and Everest. We'll leave the park in the early evening and catch a bus to the Grand Floridian so I can see the Gingerbread House again, and then we'll finish off with supper at 1900 Park Fare.

Tuesday, December 18, 2018 - We'll check out, and I believe Magical Express will pick us all up around 9:30am. The three of us are all on the same flight from Orlando to Toronto, so I won't need to say goodbye to my Dad until we are already back in Canada.

And that's it. It'll be the shortest WDW trip yet for Luke and I (2016 was 7 park days, 2017 was 8 park days and 2018 I did 11 park days, Luke did 10), but we do have our May trip to look forward to!​

 

[fallonkendra]

May 2019 Trip​

Our December trip came and went (and I'll eventually get around to writing a trip report - maybe). Our May trip is now quickly approaching! We also extended our trip even more, adding on two extra nights to our trip saved over $600 on our flight (and we booked those two nights at Pop Century for $150/night - so it actually will save us money haha!).

ADR Day happened a few months ago, and we have a sizeable list... we've been cancelling a few here and there, and still have a few more to cancel to get down to a reasonable amount of meals haha Here's the first few days of the current list:

May 1st - Currently have a reservation for our favourite, Homecomin' at 7:40pm. However, this will be cancelled and I will be booking the Happily Ever After dessert party for myself, where I will be meeting up with a few of the ladies traveling down for our Epic Meetup, while Luke is planning on heading to Earl of Sandwich (one of his favourites!).

May 2nd - Breakfast at 1900 Park Fare (we've only been there for supper, and love it, so let's see how this meal compares! I mean, I won't be complaining about Strawberry Soup for breakfast!). We're currently holding two lunch reservations - Be Our Guest and Skipper Canteen. More than likely we'll cancel BOG, since Skipper Canteen surprised us in December with how much we liked it! Supper will be at Homecomin' (which is why it won't bother us to cancel the reservation for the night before)

May 3rd - Breakfast at Kona Cafe (Luke's new favourite breakfast at WDW). Supper is at 'Ohana as part of the large group meet-up, but I am a little sad they recently changed the noodles to rice I loved those noodles!

May 4th - Trattoria El Forno breakfast. There are plans for some drinking around the World on this day, so I thought it best to get a good base of food in my belly first haha.

​

 

[fallonkendra]

May 2019 - Trip Details​

I realized I never really gave a proper introduction to this trip...​

It will be just Luke and I traveling together, but we are meeting up with 28 people? I think that was the last count? I've actually never met any of these ladies before, so I'm really looking forward to it! It's going to be such a great experience to spend some time at Disney with people who love it as much as we do

Our dates are firmly set now: May 1-13th, 2019

Accommodations:
May 1-6, 2019 : Old Key West
May 6-11, 2019: Animal Kingdom Lodge (Jambo House)
May 11-13, 2019: Pop Century

Flights:
WestJet, arriving at 10:22am on May 1st and departing at 6:14pm on May 13th

Tickets:
Me - Annual Pass (activated in December 2018)
Luke - 10 day Canadian discount park hoppers

ADR's:
Part One (May 1-4)


Fastpasses:
To Be Determined in a few weeks

Itinerary:
To Be Determined
​

 

[Jenny Sanders]

Hi Fallon!!! I'm Jenny and I will be one of the gals going on the Epic girl's trip. I am sooooo excited!!!