Pre-trip Quadrilogy - planning 4 at once? No way! WAY! (9/22 - New Trip Report Link - Post 137)

skier_pete

DIsney-holics Anon
Joined
Aug 17, 2006
Let me back up a little bit - My name is Skier_Pete, I am now 47 years-old, and I have been a Disneyholic for about 11 years. Though the seeds were sown much, much earlier. Back when I was a wee lad of two my grandmother took me to this new place in Florida called DisneyWorld, and I spent much of my less than wayward youth dreaming of Tiki Birds and Captain Nemo.

But as a young adult I lost the Disney fever. Though when I met my future DW and found she had never been, we went (off-site) in 1997 as a young couple, and again in 2000. We loved our trips, but were not in a real hurry to return. In 2006 when our DD was 3.5, we decided it was time to go back. This time, we decided to stay within the Disney bubble for the first time, and we were HOOKED so bad.

Including those first trips, we are now at 13 times as WDW, 3 times at DL, a DCL trip (in 2014) and an ABD trip (also part of the 2nd DL trip in 2013) Here's the family all as one!

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We are also fairly new DVC owners - bought re-sale in 2014. My intention was to take advantage of the APs and the way DVC members can bank and borrow to take mulitple trips in a 12-month window to allow those trips to be significantly cheaper. Well, so far we haven't done that - but we are about to. The plan right now is 4 trips in a single 12 month period and this PTR will cover all 4, with links to the actual TR when they start to come together. We will have a Disney AP (which we've already paid for but not activated) and the first two trips we will also have a Universal AP - bought for a trip in February 2017.


Trip 1 - DW and I solo weekend. November 4th - 8th (Trip Purple)

This one is booked - we have 4 nights in a value room at Animal Kingdom Lodge. This gives us hopefully most of 5 days with the primary goal to enjoy food and wine, but also the chance to check out Avatarland and some of the other parks. We did a similar trip in 2014 right after we bought into DVC and we really enjoyed being just the two of us. We actually COULD spend a day at Universal as well, but we haven’t decided whether we are going to do this yet.


Trip 2 – DW, DD and I – Uni/WDW trip – February 17th – 25th (Trip Blue)

Plans aren’t solid yet, but we are activating our Universal AP on February 20th of this year, so we expect to be able to take 2 or 3 days at Universal at the start of this trip. We will then transfer to WDW on our DVC/AP. This plan is to spend a little time at each park, seeing as likely we will only have maybe 6 days at Disney because of the Universal part of the trip. We are also hoping one of these two trips to bring a friend for DD along. It would probably be my first choice to do this to the OTHER trip, as that won’t involve the extra cost of Universal, but we shall see. This trip is during President’s Week, but also the end of the trip encompasses the Princess Marathon, which means not easy to get at a non-home resort. We are tentatively planning a split stay between either Wilderness Lodge Villas or Boardwalk Villas for a few nights, followed by the last few nights at AKV. Either way we will be booking this at the 11 month mark, meaning booking it in March 2016.


Trip 3 – DW, DD and I – WDW only trip – August 25th to September 2nd (Trip Red)

A hot august trip – as of right now there is no specific plan for the resort yet – though the hopes are for a split stay between a monorail resort (Bay Lake Tower or dare-to-dream at this off-season time the Grand Floridian) and then finish the trip at either Boardwalk or Beach Club. I am not expecting to stay at our home resort at all this trip, and as such was not even planning to try and book until 7 months out, so we are talking January, 2018 that we will book. This trip would be a VERY laid back trip. Lots of time spent at the resorts…early mornings and some evenings in the parks.


Trip 4 – DW and I and hopefully another couple – possible dates Oct 13th – 17th (Trip Green)

One thing we dreamed of when we bought into DVC is to eventually have enough points to bring friends along and share our good fortune. We are hoping to have enough points leftover at the end of this adventure to get TWO rooms at AKV – hopefully value rooms, but even if we have to standard rooms – and invite another couple to come along with us. We have the couple in mind, and have mentioned it in passing to them, but will have to see as the trip starts to approach. The idea here again is to focus on Food and Wine, with some nice meals as well. The trick is even with the free room, it’s not cheap for them to come down to Disney for 4 nights, and so we still need to find someone willing to come along. This is something we would essentially have to book at the 11 month mark, so we are looking at actually booking this trip in November of 2017, so BEFORE Trip 3.


If we can pull this all off – there’s a good chance that we would not head to Disneyworld at ALL in 2019, and possibly not again until late-2020 or early 2021. (The back of my mind has another multi trip year in 2021 for the 50th anniversary – but who plans that far ahead? WE DO!) It would also give us about 24 days on our Annual Passes, which is in the ballpark of $20 per day for park tickets.

Updates may not be that frequent here - but I promise links to all the trip reports will come through here.
 
Hi Skier Pete, your trip report caught my attention because I will be going 4 times this year! Although now that I read through your first post, it seems you are aiming for the year 2017-2018.
Technically we will have used our AP 5 times this year since we got them in December 2016 and used them then. Good luck on the planning! We have rented DVC points for most of our trips and using the equally awesome labor day discount for our august trip. That is very generous of you to share your DVC points. I wish we all had friends like you :) Amazingly I am the most disney-obsessed person I know in my circle of friends, LOL. Some have not even been.
 
Hi Skier Pete, your trip report caught my attention because I will be going 4 times this year! Although now that I read through your first post, it seems you are aiming for the year 2017-2018.
Technically we will have used our AP 5 times this year since we got them in December 2016 and used them then. Good luck on the planning! We have rented DVC points for most of our trips and using the equally awesome labor day discount for our august trip. That is very generous of you to share your DVC points. I wish we all had friends like you :) Amazingly I am the most disney-obsessed person I know in my circle of friends, LOL. Some have not even been.

Sounds like you need to BUY DVC points if you keep renting them! I've checked in on a few of your TR, though lately I haven't been reading many TRs for time reasons.

We really don't have friends (at least locally) that are Disney obsessed as we are...but we have a few friends that like it there. We love hanging in the park with friends, and have some friends that love good food and good drink, and just think it would be a fun time! I would love to be able to afford enough points to invite friends along all the time.

Joining in Pete!

Thanks for joining in Ryan!
 


Checking in! This is like a dream year for me! It's in my sights for a future year for us! Our next trip isn't till end of April beginning May 2018, but I'm really hoping for a few trips in the 50th aniversary year too! I went for the 25th and have a ridiculous shirt with that pink cake on it and I plan on wearing it in all its glory!

Looking forward to all the plans! Only 2 and a half months till your first round of ADRs!!!
 
Checking in! This is like a dream year for me! It's in my sights for a future year for us! Our next trip isn't till end of April beginning May 2018, but I'm really hoping for a few trips in the 50th aniversary year too! I went for the 25th and have a ridiculous shirt with that pink cake on it and I plan on wearing it in all its glory!

Looking forward to all the plans! Only 2 and a half months till your first round of ADRs!!!

I didn't even think of the ADRs. Yeah, I guess early May. We may not have many ADRs that trip, since it mostly a food and wine trip, but I am thinking of trying out Tiffins for a Rivers of Light package.

Before that though - we actually only have a month until our second round of DVC booking for Trip #2 - at least getting our home resort locked up for that very busy week.

I am thinking similar to you @NJlauren that we are targeting the 50th as our next big round of trips. So these trips in 2017-2108, and then no WDW trips in 2019, then starting in fall of 2020 with another 3 or 4 trips which will culminate in the 50th in 2021. I really want to be there for the 50th. (I am sure it'll be a tough time to get there - LOTS of Disney fans are looking to that one!)
 
subbing in!

OK, I had time to read back and get caught up. I am so envious of your travel plans! With our moratorium I am taking it seriously and not planning anything at WDW.

It sounds like you have a great mix of plans from family time to solo parents time. I love the idea of bringing people along, we've done that twice now.

I will look forward to hearing about all these trips!
 
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I didn't even think of the ADRs. Yeah, I guess early May. We may not have many ADRs that trip, since it mostly a food and wine trip, but I am thinking of trying out Tiffins for a Rivers of Light package.

Before that though - we actually only have a month until our second round of DVC booking for Trip #2 - at least getting our home resort locked up for that very busy week.

I am thinking similar to you @NJlauren that we are targeting the 50th as our next big round of trips. So these trips in 2017-2108, and then no WDW trips in 2019, then starting in fall of 2020 with another 3 or 4 trips which will culminate in the 50th in 2021. I really want to be there for the 50th. (I am sure it'll be a tough time to get there - LOTS of Disney fans are looking to that one!)

I'm wondering what the run dates of the 50th will be i doubt with my work scheduled I would be able to be there on the actually 50th, (it's oct 1 right?). Hoping I can get 2 trips in during the celebration.... we shall see!
 
subbing in!

OK, I had time to read back and get caught up. I am so envious of your travel plans! With our moratorium I am taking it seriously and not planning anything at WDW.

It sounds like you have a great mix of plans from family time to solo parents time. I love the idea of bringing people along, we've done that twice now.

I will look forward to hearing about all these trips!

I have such a hard time NOT thinking about going to Disney. It really is a sort of sad obsession, if it wasn't for how much for the actual trips are.

I'm wondering what the run dates of the 50th will be i doubt with my work scheduled I would be able to be there on the actually 50th, (it's oct 1 right?). Hoping I can get 2 trips in during the celebration.... we shall see!

The actual 50th will be Oct 1st. I usually totally avoid these big dates, but for some reason I want to be there for this. (Maybe because I went the very first year.) I'm sure the races will be the usual times - isn't the wine and dine around November 10th every year?

Joining in
Following along...

Thanks for joining in!
 
The actual 50th will be Oct 1st. I usually totally avoid these big dates, but for some reason I want to be there for this. (Maybe because I went the very first year.) I'm sure the races will be the usual times - isn't the wine and dine around November 10th every year?

hehe! I mean run dates of the celebration. Like oct 1 2021-sep 30 2022 or whatever. I must have worded this poorly not sure a better way to word this.
 
Updates:

Trip #1 (November 2017): So after spending several days a Universal we are still undecided with whether we want to take time away from Disney for Universal. We are thinking maybe of spending our first day of the trip there. I am leaning towards this idea:
- Early flight on Saturday, landing around 10 AM.
- Send suitcases to AKV via Magical Express.
- Rent a car at the airport (National) for $42.
- Drive to Universal (free parking thanks to my preferred pass upgrade).
- Spend day at Universal.
- When done, drop off car at Disney Car Care Center / National Car rental return near TTC.
- Take bus from TTC to AKV.

Cost will be minimal ($42) and we could hit a few of our favorites (no FOTL option though) without having to worry about DD who doesn't like the rides. We can even single rider many of the rides if the lines are too long.


Trip #2 (February 2018): Realizing I am going to be 50-60 points short for these trips, we talked to a friend about renting some points. We made arrangements to rent points for 3 nights at Wilderness Lodge during the last 3 nights of the trip (which is also when the Marathon is going on). So I'm planning on booking the first 4 nights at AKV at 11-months and then we'll see if we can maybe change those 4 nights to Boardwalk for the 1st half of the trip. Only two weeks away from booking this trip!!

Our Universal experience convinces me we don't need more than 2 days at Universal on this trip. We might be able to get DD to do the Harry Potter rides again, but I think a lot of the rides she won't want to do again.
 
hehe! I mean run dates of the celebration. Like oct 1 2021-sep 30 2022 or whatever. I must have worded this poorly not sure a better way to word this.

Oh, sorry!! I wasn't sure what you meant! My guess is it will be something like May 2021 - Sep 2022. Very unlikely they have a year-long celebration that doesn't last at least 16 months! (Disneyland for the 60th did May 2015 - Sept 2016 when they actual date was July, 2015.) I mean, WDW has started really downplaying these anniversaries, but I really believe for the 50th they will go all out.
 
Oh, sorry!! I wasn't sure what you meant! My guess is it will be something like May 2021 - Sep 2022. Very unlikely they have a year-long celebration that doesn't last at least 16 months! (Disneyland for the 60th did May 2015 - Sept 2016 when they actual date was July, 2015.) I mean, WDW has started really downplaying these anniversaries, but I really believe for the 50th they will go all out.

No worries! Yeah that makes sense 16-18 month celebration! We got to sneak in a trip for Disneyland 60th so I would at least like 1/2 of the 50th!
 
I have such a hard time NOT thinking about going to Disney. It really is a sort of sad obsession, if it wasn't for how much for the actual trips are.

The struggle is real.

I went Sunday for F&G and I already want to go back.
 
I have such a hard time NOT thinking about going to Disney. It really is a sort of sad obsession, if it wasn't for how much for the actual trips are.

Well I do have F&W in CA that opened today. We have deminars booked for Friday, and I have two different sets of VGC reservations, you know got to use up the points!

And then Fran was talking about taking my parents to F&G in 2019, so I guess it's not a total stop of plans....
 
I'm here!! Lots of great trips you have lined up (so far ;) - maybe you'll end up with more planned with those APs burning holes in your pockets?)
 
I'm here!! Lots of great trips you have lined up (so far ;) - maybe you'll end up with more planned with those APs burning holes in your pockets?)

Yeah - I wish - 4 alone would be amazing, but the airfare costs from Buffalo are just enough that it's unlikely we add another one! I mean, we're pretty lucky that we can often get flights around $200 and even direct flights, but it's still adds up!
 

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