A Magical 10 Night Trip, The 10th Month and The Orlando Trifecta- PTR - UPDATED 10/2 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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A Magical 10 Night Trip, The 10th Month and The Orlando Trifecta- PTR - UPDATED 10/2
A WDW and Elsewhere PTR
The Beginnings, Details and How it Came Together
Who: A Solo Trip
Dates: October 4-14 2017
Where: Walt Disney World, Universal Studios and SeaWorld
Resorts: B Resort in Disney Springs and a Universal Hotel Resort
Meets: Nothing tentative yet, but there are some possibilities. Let me know if you’d like to meet up, if you’ll be at Universal from October 4-7 or WDW from October 8-13
Activities: WDW, Universal and SeaWorld theme parks, Epcot’s 35th annual Food & Wine Festival, Dining, New Experiences and so much more!
I began the planning for my next trip and putting it together just about a month after my return from my October, 2016 trip. Much sooner than that trip as the planning didn’t begin until about the end of January, 2016. The title is a given, so no explaining is necessary!
I enjoyed my first ever trip in October to Walt Disney World recently along with some other firsts including Epcot’s Food & Wine Festival, new eateries, staying in Disney Springs area at the B Resort and the Kennedy Space Center. I knew I’d like to return once again in October as I had such a great time and especially the Food & Wine Festival. Just couldn’t believe it took so many trips to finally experience it and I certainly did! I can’t wait to experience much more once again at the festival.
Saturday, November 26th 2016 One thing about my October, 2017 trip was that where I’d be going was not completely set. I wanted to stay at Universal Orlando as I’d never stayed there and haven’t been there since 2009. I’d made four previous day visits in 2004 (two times), 2007 and 2009. So much as changed here since my last visit with the addition of many new attractions and especially the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
The other thing I was considering was starting my trip for three or four nights in Charleston, SC or Savannah, GA as I’ve always wanted to visit both. I checked into flights from these cities and there are no direct flights to Orlando. I think the closest may have been Atlanta as well as Miami. It’s a pretty long drive at about six hours straight from Savannah and I didn’t feel like renting a car, so these were out. Perhaps, another time!
Sometime in the early afternoon, I received an email from the B Resort, where I stayed last month. As it was the day after Black Friday, they were offering a Cyber Monday deal for stays for all of 2017. The deal was effective immediately. It was 30% off the room rates. I can book these through Monday, November 28th. I was contemplating this as I had just returned from doing some Christmas shopping. I had more shopping to do online and wanted to get this done first before working on booking another trip. By late in the evening, I’d have all my Christmas shopping completed! I don’t think I ever had all of it done this quickly, but usually have it done long before Christmas. The B Resort would have to wait until the next day as it was late.
Sunday, November 27th Early in the afternoon I went on the B Resort website through the special link for the deal and booked my stay. It’s for six nights from October 8-14. My room type is a Stunning King on one of the upper floors of the resort. It’s $134 per night and with taxes and resort fees comes to about $179 per night. A little more than I paid last year but this is a different room class as on the upper floors. Grand total comes to $1,077. I think I paid a little over $1,100 for seven nights for my just completed October trip.
Later in the day, I began looking at the resort choices for Universal Resort. There are three deluxe resorts (Portofino Bay, Hard Rock and Royal Pacific), one moderate (Sapphire Falls) and one value (Cabana Bay). I was most interested in Royal Pacific as the cheapest of the deluxe resorts as the Portofino was about $350 per night and the Hard Rock was around $300 per night, plus you get the Universal Express Pass for the length of your stay, which is a great amenity and deal and will come in handy. It’s worth it to stay at the Royal Pacific rather than Sapphire Falls with the express pass as it’s an $89 value and makes up the difference between the two resorts.
Rates were a bit high for the Royal Pacific at $276 per night without fees and tax. This was for three nights and it’s a lot cheaper at four nights as they advertise the more you stay, the more you save. I’m just hoping the rates come down as I’m only planning to stay three nights as of now. The lower rate for four nights was around $250 per night without fees. I will just wait and hope they offer a deal or perhaps book four nights instead of three. Right now, it will just be three nights at Universal.
I also need to purchase Universal theme park tickets and will buy these separately, rather than with a package as you don’t save much at all if any plus things change with cancellation fees and deposits. The Universal theme parks also have easy access by either walking there or taking a short boat ride and certainly another incentive to stay on property.
NEXT: More Resort Deals!!!!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Last edited by SuperDave; 08-11-2017 at 07:33 PM..
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So excited that you've started your PTR for your return to the F&WF! I knew once you made it to that event at Epcot, you'd have to return. Too bad we won't be going until November or we'd be there at the same time. Maybe next year you'll be back in October because those are our current plans. We stayed at Royal Pacific and loved it!
Signing on to follow if that's ok I've just finished your How the Western Caribbean was won TR and really enjoyed it!
We are at Universal (Royal Pacific) and WDW (Wildeness Lodge) 4-22nd October :
Suzanne x
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So excited that you've started your PTR for your return to the F&WF! I knew once you made it to that event at Epcot, you'd have to return. Too bad we won't be going until November or we'd be there at the same time. Maybe next year you'll be back in October because those are our current plans. We stayed at Royal Pacific and loved it!
I was pretty certain about that as well as once I did it, I'd be hooked! Not sure about WDW for 2018 yet, but a good possibility. Would be great to finally meet up! Have you set your dates for 2018 yet? You'll see how my resorts pan out for Universal. When did you stay there as I don't remember this from your TRs? Then again I've only been reading these for the last five years or so.
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Great start! Your room at the B Resort sounds wonderful.
Should be a good one!
Quote:
Originally Posted by suzanne1972
Hi Dave,
Signing on to follow if that's ok I've just finished your How the Western Caribbean was won TR and really enjoyed it!
We are at Universal (Royal Pacific) and WDW (Wildeness Lodge) 4-22nd October :
Suzanne x
Glad you enjoyed my Magic cruise TR! All are welcome to follow along! In this PTR my tentative plans are 10/5-7 at Universal and 10/8-13 at WDW. The Royal Pacific is a possibility so we may be able to meet up for a quick hello.
Quote:
Originally Posted by manticorjenn
Can't wait to read about your plans for another F&W Festival. The room upgrade sounds like a great choice.
Quite a few plans once again for the F&W Fest and you'll see how they come together. Sounds like a good room at the B Resort.
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Signing on, I can't wait to hear about your plans. We are planning on 10/28-11/3 next year.
Glad you are on board and looking forward to sharing these with all here!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
I was pretty certain about that as well as once I did it, I'd be hooked! Not sure about WDW for 2018 yet, but a good possibility. Would be great to finally meet up! Have you set your dates for 2018 yet? You'll see how my resorts pan out for Universal. When did you stay there as I don't remember this from your TRs? Then again I've only been reading these for the last five years or so.
We haven't set definite October 2018 dates yet. We stayed at Royal Pacific back in June 2011.
We haven't set definite October 2018 dates yet. We stayed at Royal Pacific back in June 2011.
Probably why I don't remember you staying there! Did you do a TR for this? If so provide the link as I'd like to see it. Not sure if I can access it easily but you can by clicking your Profile and clicking your Threads started. I'm sure you know this!
I think October may be set as my time of year to go now as I can't think of EVER missing the F&W Festival now. Before it was winter or early spring to get away from the cold winters of the northeast in CT but just gotta hold out now! Possibly around mid October. I'm going Columbus Day weekend this October and I hope I don't regret this! Went a week later last year on the 15th to WDW.
Let me know what your dates are when you decide. I'm not doing my planning yet as my 2017 one is not here yet and still doing planning with some 50 days to go or so!
My countdown is actually 54 days not 55 as below. Slight glitch I guess, but could change!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Last edited by SuperDave; 08-12-2017 at 11:43 PM..
December 1-18 During the month, I began checking flights to Orlando for next October. Most of the airlines had flights for my dates, but JetBlue, which I prefer to fly on only had their schedule through Labor Day, 2017 so I’d just have to wait until it opens. I also have some JetBlue and American Express points, which I’d like to transfer and get a cheap flight. I should only have to pay the add on fees for the most part.
Monday, December19th I received my weekly email from Mousesavers.com for their resort deals in the Disney area. Most of them are usually for the Hotel Plaza Boulevard resorts in Disney Springs. This week they had one for the B Resort, which I had just booked a few weeks ago. It is for all of 2017, but there are some black out dates. I checked this, and my dates are good.
It's an even better deal than the one I recently got from the B Resort. There is a significant room discount plus the $25 daily resort fee is waived. I checked the various rooms and unfortunately the upper floor rooms are not part of this promotion like the one I had just booked. They had one for a Captivating King room, which is the type I stayed in last year, which I loved. I decided to book this as it was a great offer. The total was $861 for six nights compared to $1,077, which is quite a savings! That’s $36 less per night, so a nice $216 savings! I paid my deposit online with my Amex card and cancelled the original reservation as well. I was quite happy about this!
Rest of December and Early January I didn’t do much work on my trip as JetBlue still hasn’t extended their schedule beyond Labor Day and I’ve been pretty much checking every day. I usually get an email, when they extend their schedules.
One thing I did do was upgrade my American Express Rewards card to a Premier Awards card. It costs a little more than my current card but there are some nice incentives in regards to travel. This will come into play a bit later with some good and some confusion.
Sunday, February 5th It’s Super Bowl Sunday and during the afternoon before the game between the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons, I got around to reading my weekly email from AllEarsNet as I’ve had it in my inbox since Tuesday. There was one thing that was quite intriguing this week. The Swan and Dolphin hotels in the Epcot resorts area had a special offer. If you live in one of the states in which this years’ Super Bowl teams reside, then you can take up this offer. If you purchase a two night stay you get one night free. As I live in Connecticut, this was one of the states included as a New England state.
This offer may only be booked by phone, which is what I tried to do. I asked for the Swan resort but they didn’t have any rooms available for this offer. But, the Dolphin was. I booked it for six nights from October 8-14 in a standard room. It was more than the B Resort at over $1,300 for six nights, but staying close to Epcot and Hollywood Studios is a nice bonus and a good price as I was saving a third off the regular rates. Other good bonuses include some WDW resort incentives such as a 60 day window for Fastpass+ reservations, Extra Magic Hours and Disney bus transportation. All good selling points and a good reason to book it. Even though the B Resort was a better rate, the extra incentives and convenience sold me.
There was also another additional bonus to this offer! If the winner of the Super Bowl is from the state/region (New England) you reside then you get a free room upgrade. As the Patriots became the Super Bowl champions I’d be getting this as well. I was happy about this and won’t know how good the upgrade is until I check in! I paid my deposit on the room and I was good to go!
One thing I had to do was cancel my B Resort reservation. I checked online and my reservation doesn’t appear there, but I did receive an email with this reservation and a confirmation number. It’s probably because this was a promotion through AllEarsNet and I’d just have to call the hotel to take care of this. It was getting near game time, so I’d do this another week.
NEXT: Hoping for JetBlue’s Extended Schedule!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Last edited by SuperDave; 08-13-2017 at 05:47 PM..
Probably why I don't remember you staying there! Did you do a TR for this? If so provide the link as I'd like to see it. Not sure if I can access it easily but you can by clicking your Profile and clicking your Threads started. I'm sure you know this!
I think October may be set as my time of year to go now as I can't think of EVER missing the F&W Festival now. Before it was winter or early spring to get away from the cold winters of the northeast in CT but just gotta hold out now! Possibly around mid October. I'm going Columbus Day weekend this October and I hope I don't regret this! Went a week later last year on the 15th to WDW.
Let me know what your dates are when you decide. I'm not doing my planning yet as my 2017 one is not here yet and still doing planning with some 50 days to go or so!
My countdown is actually 54 days not 55 as below. Slight glitch I guess, but could change!
I have so many posts that it even took me a while to find this TR. I actually couldn't find it at first, but I did find the PTR. Thank goodness, I put a link to the TR in at the end of that. So here it is. I'm sorry, but the photos are missing. I don't know for sure, but I may have accidentally deleted them from Photobucket a few years ago.
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I can’t wait to experience much more once again at the festival. 
I think the closest may have been Atlanta as well as Miami. It’s a pretty long drive at about six hours straight from Savannah and I didn’t feel like renting a car, so these were out. 
Perhaps, another time! 
I can book these through Monday, November 28th. I was contemplating this as I had just returned from doing some Christmas shopping. I had more shopping to do online and wanted to get this done first before working on booking another trip. By late in the evening, I’d have all my Christmas shopping completed! 
Right now, it will just be three nights at Universal.
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Too bad we won't be going until November or we'd be there at the same time. Maybe next year you'll be back in October because those are our current plans. 
PassPorter Guide Author
Waiting for our next adventure after enjoying our Alaska cruise. 
Jenn
As I live in Connecticut, this was one of the states included as a New England state.
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