WHO ARE WE?
Noreen 50 years old; Senior Vice President at an Investment Banking Firm in New York City. I will be the author of the report.
Scott 49 years old; my husband; Independent contractor and co-owner of BounceU in New York
Potential Guest Appearances by:
Dana, Herman and their kids (Aaron, Sara, Ariel) they live in Florida about an hour from Disney
Kalli, Don, Dana, Tiffany, and Pamelyn co-workers/friends who work in the Tampa office of my company
Karen & Jay. Friends of mine that recently moved from Massachusetts to Florida
PLANNING
The last few years we ended up in Disney World in August which is something I would normally avoid since its so hot. Weve been doing family trips and my sister didnt want to take my niece out of school. In 2017 we did a family cruise late August to Bermuda for my nieces Sweet 16. Scott and I went to Disney late September/early October 2017. We bought annual passes so need to go to Disney before they expire on September 27, 2018
This trip went through a few changes. Originally it was Disney from Sunday 9/16 Friday 9/28 (12 nights). Then we received free cruise vouchers and decided to cruise on Allure of the Seas from 9/9-9/16 then go to Disney from 9/16-9/23. We later realized there is a conflict as Scott has a commitment on 9/9 for a charity event he participates in every year. We ended up cancelling the cruise and are back to the 12 nights at Disney.
We will be there from Sunday 9/16 to Friday 9/28
We will meet the folks from the Tampa office on Sunday 9/23/18 for lunch at place in Tampa.
We will meet up with Dana, Herman and their kids on Saturday 9/22/18
Plans to meet up with Jay and Karen will be finalized once were in Florida
Lodging
We are going to stay at my timeshare Vistana Resort. I own one week in a 2 bedroom/2 bath villa, but when its just Scott and I, I like to book the 1-bedroom premium. If you dont just book a week, you can use options and it costs more options to stay in a 2 bedroom than a 1 bedroom so we can stay longer than 1 week and still have options left over. Since this reservation went through a few changes, I couldnt do it online and ended up calling to adjust our reservations as our plans changed.
Transportation
As crazy as this sounds, when we went on a cruise out of Fort Lauderdale in April 2018, we rented a car and drove to Florida. We flew home after the cruise.
We enjoyed the road trip down so much were planning to drive back and forth this trip.
The more we started thinking about using one of our own cars and putting all those miles on it, we started to think maybe we should rent a car to drive back and forth. We both lease our cars. I reserved a car with Avis in Paramus NJ to pick up and return to that location (avoiding the airport). I made that reservation on Monday 8/20/18. I reserved a SUV
Activities
We both have annual passes.
I started making my fast pass reservations as soon as I was able to and would log on each day to make the next days reservations. Since were staying off site we cant make fast pass plans until 30 days before (on site can do 60 days)
I would log on and try to make my reservations each day exactly at 7am whether I was at work doing it, or doing it from the gym on my phone. I would be all ready to push the buttons at 6:59. Even doing this daily at 7am, I was unable to get reservations for some of the newer/more popular attractions such as Slinky Dog Dash, Avatar Flight of Passage, 7 Dwarfs Mine Train, etc.
One thing that is disappointing is that as an annual pass holder I can only make 1 weeks worth of fast pass reservations in advance. I understand there needing to be a limit but I think it should be two weeks rather than one week. We often will visit Disney for more than 1 week at a time.
I saw some information about a place called Void at Disney Springs. Scott likes Star Wars so may be interested in this. I have no interest in Star Wars but being a good wife will try this if he wants to. Turns out he wasnt that interested after all.
Scott also mentioned some interest in Kennedy Space Center so we may spend a day there
Dining
I had a handful of restaurants I wanted to try to get reservations for. Since we started planning this trip much earlier in the year than we normally do, I started to book dining 6 months in advance. Even starting exactly at 7am each day, there were some places that never were available such as Cinderellas Castle and OHana. I will keep trying and move things around if they become available.
Update 6/12/18 I was able to get Cinderellas Royal Table. It wasnt the ideal time or the ideal meal (I wanted dinner) but its a late lunch at 2:45. Later update I was able to change the time to a very early dinner at 4:05 rather than late lunch. Not ideal but better than it was.
We have the following meals booked:
Sunday 9/16 HomeComing at Disney Springs at 6:20pm
Monday 9/17 Trattoria Al Forno at the Boardwalk at 6:30pm
Tuesday 9/18 Be Our Guest at Magic Kingdom at 5:55pm
Wednesday 9/19 Tiffins at Animal Kingdom at 6pm
Thursday 9/20 50s Prime Time at Hollywood Studios at 6:20pm
Friday 9/21 Le Cellier at Epcot at 5:40pm
Saturday 9/22 Kona Caf at the Polynesian at 9:45am
Monday 9/24 Cinderellas Royal Table at Magic Kingdom at 4:05pm
Tuesday 9/25 Flying Fish at the Boardwalk at 6:55pm
Wednesday 9/26 Yachtmans Steakhouse at Yacht Club at 7:05pm
Thursday 9/27 Narcooses at Grand Floridian at 7:20pm
I didnt keep many notes this trip so am trying to recreate what we did from memory so Im sure Ill forget stuff. I would send myself texts throughout the day to remind me what we did. Between the texts and the pictures, Im hoping to be able to remember most of it.
Noreen 50 years old; Senior Vice President at an Investment Banking Firm in New York City. I will be the author of the report.
Scott 49 years old; my husband; Independent contractor and co-owner of BounceU in New York
Potential Guest Appearances by:
Dana, Herman and their kids (Aaron, Sara, Ariel) they live in Florida about an hour from Disney
Kalli, Don, Dana, Tiffany, and Pamelyn co-workers/friends who work in the Tampa office of my company
Karen & Jay. Friends of mine that recently moved from Massachusetts to Florida
PLANNING
The last few years we ended up in Disney World in August which is something I would normally avoid since its so hot. Weve been doing family trips and my sister didnt want to take my niece out of school. In 2017 we did a family cruise late August to Bermuda for my nieces Sweet 16. Scott and I went to Disney late September/early October 2017. We bought annual passes so need to go to Disney before they expire on September 27, 2018
This trip went through a few changes. Originally it was Disney from Sunday 9/16 Friday 9/28 (12 nights). Then we received free cruise vouchers and decided to cruise on Allure of the Seas from 9/9-9/16 then go to Disney from 9/16-9/23. We later realized there is a conflict as Scott has a commitment on 9/9 for a charity event he participates in every year. We ended up cancelling the cruise and are back to the 12 nights at Disney.
We will be there from Sunday 9/16 to Friday 9/28
We will meet the folks from the Tampa office on Sunday 9/23/18 for lunch at place in Tampa.
We will meet up with Dana, Herman and their kids on Saturday 9/22/18
Plans to meet up with Jay and Karen will be finalized once were in Florida
Lodging
We are going to stay at my timeshare Vistana Resort. I own one week in a 2 bedroom/2 bath villa, but when its just Scott and I, I like to book the 1-bedroom premium. If you dont just book a week, you can use options and it costs more options to stay in a 2 bedroom than a 1 bedroom so we can stay longer than 1 week and still have options left over. Since this reservation went through a few changes, I couldnt do it online and ended up calling to adjust our reservations as our plans changed.
Transportation
As crazy as this sounds, when we went on a cruise out of Fort Lauderdale in April 2018, we rented a car and drove to Florida. We flew home after the cruise.
We enjoyed the road trip down so much were planning to drive back and forth this trip.
The more we started thinking about using one of our own cars and putting all those miles on it, we started to think maybe we should rent a car to drive back and forth. We both lease our cars. I reserved a car with Avis in Paramus NJ to pick up and return to that location (avoiding the airport). I made that reservation on Monday 8/20/18. I reserved a SUV
Activities
We both have annual passes.
I started making my fast pass reservations as soon as I was able to and would log on each day to make the next days reservations. Since were staying off site we cant make fast pass plans until 30 days before (on site can do 60 days)
I would log on and try to make my reservations each day exactly at 7am whether I was at work doing it, or doing it from the gym on my phone. I would be all ready to push the buttons at 6:59. Even doing this daily at 7am, I was unable to get reservations for some of the newer/more popular attractions such as Slinky Dog Dash, Avatar Flight of Passage, 7 Dwarfs Mine Train, etc.
One thing that is disappointing is that as an annual pass holder I can only make 1 weeks worth of fast pass reservations in advance. I understand there needing to be a limit but I think it should be two weeks rather than one week. We often will visit Disney for more than 1 week at a time.
I saw some information about a place called Void at Disney Springs. Scott likes Star Wars so may be interested in this. I have no interest in Star Wars but being a good wife will try this if he wants to. Turns out he wasnt that interested after all.
Scott also mentioned some interest in Kennedy Space Center so we may spend a day there
Dining
I had a handful of restaurants I wanted to try to get reservations for. Since we started planning this trip much earlier in the year than we normally do, I started to book dining 6 months in advance. Even starting exactly at 7am each day, there were some places that never were available such as Cinderellas Castle and OHana. I will keep trying and move things around if they become available.
Update 6/12/18 I was able to get Cinderellas Royal Table. It wasnt the ideal time or the ideal meal (I wanted dinner) but its a late lunch at 2:45. Later update I was able to change the time to a very early dinner at 4:05 rather than late lunch. Not ideal but better than it was.
We have the following meals booked:
Sunday 9/16 HomeComing at Disney Springs at 6:20pm
Monday 9/17 Trattoria Al Forno at the Boardwalk at 6:30pm
Tuesday 9/18 Be Our Guest at Magic Kingdom at 5:55pm
Wednesday 9/19 Tiffins at Animal Kingdom at 6pm
Thursday 9/20 50s Prime Time at Hollywood Studios at 6:20pm
Friday 9/21 Le Cellier at Epcot at 5:40pm
Saturday 9/22 Kona Caf at the Polynesian at 9:45am
Monday 9/24 Cinderellas Royal Table at Magic Kingdom at 4:05pm
Tuesday 9/25 Flying Fish at the Boardwalk at 6:55pm
Wednesday 9/26 Yachtmans Steakhouse at Yacht Club at 7:05pm
Thursday 9/27 Narcooses at Grand Floridian at 7:20pm
I didnt keep many notes this trip so am trying to recreate what we did from memory so Im sure Ill forget stuff. I would send myself texts throughout the day to remind me what we did. Between the texts and the pictures, Im hoping to be able to remember most of it.