Less than 30 days out so better get this PTR rolling - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Less than 30 days out so better get this PTR rolling
Since we're less than 30 days out, I figured I'd better get this PTR going. So, here it is...
A little background:
During the summer of 2015, right after we had gotten back from our 10-year anniversary trip, we decided to book a trip to WDW for September of this year. Then our friend, who plays for the Atlanta Braves, asked us in January to come down to see him and watch some of his Spring Training games.
We booked that trip this past January. Since we decided to go on that trip, we decided to bump this trip back from September to November to give us a couple more months to recoup some of the costs from the March trip.
So that's about how this trip came to be, and we're happy it turned out to be an almost Christmas trip. Hopefully some of the decor will be up for the holidays.
The cast:
So, who all is going? Rather simple really. Just myself and my wife.
This is us after picking up our APs in March:
Me-40[-something-year-old self-described Disney fanatic. You know the one who watches Youtube videos all day long, even at work when I can get away with it. The one who wears Disney shirts almost every day and has several Disney themed ties for church, work, etc.
About 4 years ago, before our first-ever trip to WDW in April 2013, I didn't want anything to do with WDW. My how the times have change.
I've convinced my DW that we need annual passes, and we have bought APs. Now, I'm trying to convince her into buying into DVC. Not sure we need it, but it's Disney.
Disney wife-I can't say her age in public, but it's between 25-35. She's the reason I'm hooked on WDW. From before we got married in 2005, she wanted to go to WDW. First she wanted a Disney-moon, then a Disney-versary. She begged and pleaded every year for me to take her. Finally I did in 2013, and I haven't been the same since.
She allows me to love Disney and buy most all things Disney World related that I come across.
Where we're staying:
When we first booked the trip in July 2015, it started out we were going to stay in Art of Animation. When bought APs when we went in March, and then the AP discounts came out and of course AofA wasn't on there and other resorts were. So we changed our minds to stay at one of the resorts that was on the discounted price. Now, we're staying at All Star Music.
This is the first time we'll have stayed at All Star Music becuase we're typically Pop Century people. I'm excited to try something new. We've done the All Star thing before as we stayed at Sports on our first trip in 2013. About the only thing I didn't like about Sports was sharing the buses with other All Stars, but I hear that's no longer the case.
The dates:
Once we figured out the month, we had to figure out the dates. We had some airline credit we needed to use up from our trip in March. We had originally booked a flight last November for our March trip and after several changes, had enough credit to purchase this flight as well.
But it had to be used by Nov. 28.
We didn't want to go during the summer - too hot and not enough time to save up. We didn't want to go during Thanksgiving week - too crowded.
Since going in September or October would give us less time to save up, we decided on early November. High school football season ends the first Friday in November in Texas, unless you're in the playoffs.
So we decided on Nov. 12-19.
Next we had some other things to figure out like dining plan or paying out of pocket, renting a car or taking WDW transportation everywhere. Also, what places to eat, which parks on which days, any other actitivities besides just going to parks.
Turns out we're still working on all of that.
Also in the mix of trying to plan a trip, we've been trying to buy our first home since June. The process has taken forever, and the closing date has been pushed back 3 time from the first week of Septmeber until sometime between October 19-21.
The loan company told us not to take out any big expenses, and I think a Disney trip counts as a big expense, which means we haven't been able to pay for the trip yet.
We've had to save the money in an extra account or just buy a few gift cards along the way and pay for it or most of it that way. We finally paid off our trip on Friday, even though we're not supposed to close on the house until this week. But our 30-day threshold came, and we just had to do it.
Details to come include plans, ADRs, etc. Since we're less than 30 days out, hopefully I'll be updating this soon.
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 on your PTR! My DH was like you, never considered going to WDW, never even wanted to go, until I finally wore him down and we went in 1995. Now he's super excited for each trip we take. Unfortunately we cannot go often enough to have APs (too hard when one lives on the west-coast of Canada - at least it is for us) but we usually stay 2 weeks when we do go. If DH had his way, we would stay at WDW for a month (again, kind of unrealistic for us lol)! Looking forward to hearing about your trip and I hope you have an awesome time!
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Pixie Dust
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Congrats on the home purchase as well!!
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