Florida flowers and Caribbean cruising LIVE TRIP REPORT COMPLETED 3/8 About This Page:

[chezp]

Florida flowers and Caribbean cruising

Pre-trip report – part one: we’re going back at Christmas with family…. aren’t we?

Dates: Friday 20 February – Saturday 7 March
Adventurers: Me, Cheryl (42) and DH Mark (49)
Destinations: Walt Disney World
Resorts: Treehouse Villas at Saratoga Springs, Bay Lake Tower, on board the Disney Dream, Animal Kingdom Lodge Villasand Beach Club Villas
Meets: seeing lots of PassPorters along the way. I’m sure I’ll miss someone out, so if I do, my apologies, but they include Larry (Llaffinplace), Bob (UncleBob), Heather (ilovedisney247), Angie (poohsgirl), Jennifer (Jennifer Marx), Amy (AmyL), Bruce (Zazu), Michael (rhinohunter) and Maci (xwewhisper).
Celebration: going back for the Flower and Garden Festival and visiting Disney at a new time of the year for us

Hi and welcome to this, the latest in a very long list of trip reports from me. I’m Cheryl in case you don’t know me, and I’m lucky enough to be married to a wonderful man, my husband Mark, who loves visiting Disney as much as I do. This will be my 18th trip back to Walt Disney World, while it will be trip number 17 for Mark. We haven’t been since November 2013, and such a long gap in between our trips was not part of the original plans we had…

It’s hard to know where to start with this, as I don’t really remember where it started. I think it was maybe back in 2012, when we were heading out Walt Disney World, on a Disney cruise around the Caribbean on the Fantasy, and visiting Disneyland for my 40th birthday, Christmas and the new year. We don’t do things be halves!

We had visited Disney before with Mark’s parents and one of his sisters (he has three) and her family for Christmas 2007. They started to ask us when we were planning on next going back for Christmas, and we said 2014. They thought about it, and then told us that they were set on coming with us. They also wanted another of Mark’s sisters, and her family to join us, which we didn’t have a problem with, as we all get on great together.

Christmas 2014 was set, and we were going to be a group of at least 10 of us, and if Mark’s parents came along as well, then it would be 12 of us. We were so sure this was going to happen that we even started to ensure we had enough points to pay for a Grand Villa at Animal Kingdom Lodge for the last few nights. We toured one during our last visit to Disney, and fell in love with it. This was going to be an amazing trip!

It was early in 2014 that we all gathered together to talk about booking, as we wanted to get our flights booked as soon as they were out, 11 months beforehand. Everyone was very enthused by what they saw, with talk about them all staying at either the Caribbean Beach Resort, Saratoga Springs or Old Key West. I even got a couple of quotes from our wonderful travel agent Sara.

The next day, one of our brother-in-laws was going down to the travel agents to get some brochures, and some quotes, and we thought they’d be booking quite soon afterwards. However, time wore on, and nothing happened. We asked what was happening, and we were told that because one of Mark’s sisters is a hairdresser and Christmas is the busiest time of the year for her, that she was having second thoughts about going then. We knew that her husband has always wanted to go at Easter, so we could see where this was going.

We sat down with all of them and went through the pros and cons, and most of the items we thought of were cons. It would be hotter, the points values for Disney Vacation Club members would be higher, meaning less time in a Grand Villa, there wouldn’t be the holiday events and decorations etc. So the list went on. They were convinced that they were still going at Easter. Ok, then… more waiting as we now wouldn’t be able to book our flights until May. We could live with that…

It was late March I think that the doorbell rang one evening and it was one very apologetic and sad brother-in-law standing there, who told us that they couldn’t go, as they had some unexpected expenses coming up, and as they hadn’t already paid for the vacation, he wasn’t prepared to take the risk, which despite our disappointment, we could understand. He kept saying that, had we been going at Christmas, as we’d originally planned, they would’ve sucked it up, as it would’ve been paid for. Yes, I know that feeling well.

We were understandably pretty upset about this, as we were now back to square one again. I did contemplate going at Christmas, but the flight prices had gone up quite a lot since they first went on sale, and that wasn’t helping. Also, when we knew that we wouldn’t be going at Christmas, I’d said to Hazel (thomhazel) that I was wondering what to do at Christmas. At that time, I was looking at perhaps going away for a week, but couldn’t find anything cheap. Bless her, she invited us up to their house in Scotland for new year. Now this is something I couldn’t resist, as the Scots love to celebrate new year, so we’d already agreed that, and I wanted to do it. I guess we’ll have to look at another time…

I thought about keeping Easter for a while, as we get a four day weekend over Easter itself, but I thought about all the cons we’d listed, and realised it wasn’t a good plan. I knew I wanted to see the Flower and Garden Festival, and yet I didn’t want to go too late in the year. When we visited in mid April 2011, the weather was already getting too hot for us. How about March? I found some dates that worked perfectly for us…or so I thought. I eventually realised that it was Mark’s parents’ 50th wedding anniversary right in the middle of March… Ok, I really think we need to be here for that.

The other thing affecting our choice of dates was that I wanted to use our Virgin Atlantic miles. For reasons that I won’t go into here, because it’s personal, we weren’t exactly flush with money at the time, so the prospect of getting two Premium Economy flights for £750 ($1200) for the two of us, rather than the more usual £2,500 ($4,000) was very appealing. I plugged in various dates, and eventually came up with some that worked…

Finally, in early May while we were away for a week, we went ahead and booked our flights, using our miles, flying out on Friday 20 February, with the return flight just over two weeks later on Saturday 7 March. I was so relieved to get those flights with our miles, as there’s only availability on flights with miles. I thought we’d booked to go out the weekend that school holidays starts, but I’ve since done a bit more research, and that’s the weekend before the kids go back to school, so that worked out well.

The weekend we arrive is the Princess Half Marathon weekend. It did half run through my head that I’d really like to do a run at Disney, but it just didn’t work out. The only one I’d be able to do is the 5K, and that takes place on the Friday morning that we fly out. I couldn’t even do the 10K (even if I was capable, which I severely doubt…), as it’s the morning after we fly in, and while there’s no doubt I’d be up and about early because of the jetlag, I doubt I’d be in a fit state to do any running, plus I wouldn’t be able to pick up my bits and pieces from the Expo the day before…

However, I would like to see the half marathon to cheer on the runners, so maybe we can do that on the Sunday morning…

The other thing that’s happening while we’re there is the Flower and Garden Festival, which I think is due to start a few days before we leave – at least that’s what I hope anyway, as that’s why I chose these dates.

So where to stay? I had a plan in my mind as soon as we booked the flights, but it took me almost another month to actually go ahead and make our booking. Why the long wait? Well, there were a few reasons. The first is that it’s quite an expensive time for DVC members to visit in points terms, and while we love our one-bedroom villas, rather than the studios, it would mean a lot of points… There’s also the small matter of the Alaskan cruise that we want to take next fall for Mark’s 50th, and that will take a lot of points – and I mean a lot!

I was also trying to work out how the Deluxe Dining Plan would work for us during this trip. It’s the only dining plan we’ll have, as we like to have two table service meals a day. In recent visits, we’ve spent most of our time on the Deluxe Dining Plans, and it’s worked out really well for us, as we’ve made some good savings, and have been able to pay up front, saving us money on vacation. This time, we’ll be spending most of the vacation not on the Dining Plan, which will be a new experience for us, but it’s allowed me to be a lot more flexible and come up with options at places we either haven’t eaten at for many years or have never eaten at before, so that will be fun.

Eventually, after much thought and debate, I ended up booking the following:

Friday 20 – Saturday 21 February
Treehouse Villas at Saratoga Springs… I know it’s exorbitant, as they sleep nine people, and it’s a lot of points, but I’ve been wanting to try these for so long. We had the first night booked in a Treehouse Villa for our last trip, but when they announced they were opening the Grand Floridian Villas, and I was able to snag a night there, the Treehouse Villas got the boot…

Saturday 21 – Tuesday 24 February
We’ve got a studio at Saratoga Springs booked at the moment, but I hope to change that out to either the Grand Floridian Villas, Bay Lake Tower or Wilderness Lodge Villas (in that order) when we get to seven months beforehand. As we don’t own points at any of those resorts, we don’t have the additional four month window to book that owners get, so it’s pot luck. Hopefully we’ll be able to get something at one of those resorts, as I want to be around the Magic Kingdom for the half marathon and to enjoy some signature dining, as this will be the only part of our vacation where we’ll get the Deluxe Dining Plan.

Tuesday 24 February – Sunday 1 March
One bedroom villa at Jambo House, Animal Kingdom Lodge. Here I did have to debate about whether to take a one-bedroom villa concierge, as unbelievably, there was one available for all five nights. As all DVC Members staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge can now take the Sunrise Safari, there’s no real need to stay concierge now. There’s also the issue that you don’t know what view you’re going to get if you stay concierge as a DVC Member, and we do like our savannah view, so that’s what I opted for in the end.

Sunday 1 – Saturday 7 March
We finish off with a one bedroom villa at our home resort the Beach Club Villas. As the Flower and Garden Festival starts towards the end of our stay, I wanted to finish up here, so that we were within easy walking distance of Epcot, and now we are!

Next: our first partners in crime for this trip!

[Thomhazel]

Sounds like a fabulous trip and hope it is a good consolation for missing Christmas. If you had gone at Christmas it would be all over now.

I hope you enjoy the Treehouse Villa. I loved it one of my favourites. I found it a great place to be when I was really tired.

But I'm totally confused. I know you are flying out twice as you have the wedding but are you flying out again for Alaska or is it part of this trip and I've just missed it?

[chezp]

Originally Posted by Thomhazel

Sounds like a fabulous trip and hope it is a good consolation for missing Christmas. If you had gone at Christmas it would be all over now.

There is that...

I hope you enjoy the Treehouse Villa. I loved it one of my favourites. I found it a great place to be when I was really tired.

I can't wait to sample them, even if it is only for the night...

But I'm totally confused. I know you are flying out twice as you have the wedding but are you flying out again for Alaska or is it part of this trip and I've just missed it?

Don't worry - lots of people are getting confused. This trip is literally just Florida, with the four nights on the Dream thrown in.

Then at the end of August, we're taking the last Alaskan cruise of the season for Mark's 50th and we're also going to be going to Disneyland. That's now a two week trip (it was originally going to be three weeks) and then 10 days after we get home from that, we fly out to Boston for the wedding, so in total, we have three trips to the States this year.

[lauriep]

Another great trip about to start! I hope some day you'll be able to do the big, family trip, but it is hard to plan with so many people.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by lauriep

Another great trip about to start! I hope some day you'll be able to do the big, family trip, but it is hard to plan with so many people.

I hope so too, but I doubt it will happen now. Some of the kids are getting older now and the other problem is that we would've been dealing with different parts of the family on different budgets, which I think would've been very challenging, especially with kids involved. You don't want one side of the family doing something, like say Discovery Cove, and then the other kids asking why they couldn't go....

[lauriep]

Originally Posted by chezp

I hope so too, but I doubt it will happen now. Some of the kids are getting older now and the other problem is that we would've been dealing with different parts of the family on different budgets, which I think would've been very challenging, especially with kids involved. You don't want one side of the family doing something, like say Discovery Cove, and then the other kids asking why they couldn't go....

Very true, that could make for an uncomfortable situation all around.

[Disney4us2]

Hope we get a chance to meet up and say hello.

[shazza]

In at the beginning (makes it a lot easier to keep up ). This sounds like another nice trip. We will miss you by a week or so, as we will be there earlier in Feb.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by shazza

In at the beginning (makes it a lot easier to keep up ). This sounds like another nice trip. We will miss you by a week or so, as we will be there earlier in Feb.

Oh that's such a shame.

[pamcarey]

Sounds like a fabulous trip! Where does the Dream cruise fall into the trip? It looks like all of your nights are spent at resorts.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by pamcarey

Sounds like a fabulous trip! Where does the Dream cruise fall into the trip? It looks like all of your nights are spent at resorts.

Ah that will be explained in due course, as there were one or two changes along the way. It's a couple of days after we get to Florida, as I figured we'd want something near the beginning, so we have the energy to hit the parks when we get back!

[PhilsEagles08]

Wait. Are you doing 4 different resorts during your stay? My head is spinning trying to swallow that info!! Lol

[chezp]

Originally Posted by PhilsEagles08

Wait. Are you doing 4 different resorts during your stay? My head is spinning trying to swallow that info!! Lol

We are indeed - and the little matter of adding a cruise in too!

[PhilsEagles08]

Originally Posted by chezp

We are indeed - and the little matter of adding a cruise in too!

Lol I was trying to understand the resort situation & read right over the cruise! You & Mark are quite ambitious!

[chezp]

Originally Posted by PhilsEagles08

Lol I was trying to understand the resort situation & read right over the cruise! You & Mark are quite ambitious!

It has become a norm for us really. The last trip, we did three Disney resorts (Grand Floridian Villas, Beach Club Villas and Animal Kingdom Lodge Villas) and went to Hawai'i to stay at Aulani and also spent a night at the Hyatt at Orlando International on the way out there.

This is also the girl who organised a trip a few years ago taking in NYC, WDW, Chicago, Disneyland and Las Vegas in 17 nights!