Pre trip planning

Since 2005, I have been going yearly to Walt Disney World in early September, but not this year. This year my cousin’s son is getting married down by St. Pete, near Tampa Florida. This is about an hour away from Walt Disney World Resort. So the rest of my family is talking about making the wedding into a extended vacation to include Walt Disney World too.

A couple of years ago I became a certified (by Disney) Disney Travel Agent. I joined my friends Trisha travel agency, Followthepixie.com. I did this so I brag that I know everything Disney. Being a certified Disney travel agent gets me discounts not available to guests. Going to Walt Disney World in September, I always had free dining which was a better discount then any travel agent discount could be. But there is no free dining when I will be there, third week in July, so I will get a TA discount for my ticket and the room. My mother will have to pay full price for her theme park ticket, and we both will pay full price for basic dining.

These are the dates, the wedding will be held on Saturday, July 18^th. We plan to fly down on Friday, the 17^th. On Sunday, the 19^th, we will somehow get to Orlando and a Disney resort, most likely Pop Century, leaving back to New York on Sunday, the 26^th. From Friday to Sunday, we will be staying at Don Cesar, where the wedding will be held at. To go from Tampa airport to Don Cesar, we book a bus shuttle.

For the Disney portion of the trip, I am trying to book two rooms, one with a roll in shower, king bed, and another connecting room with a double bed. While I will be sharing a room with my mother at Don Cesar ($200 a night), for Disney, need two bathrooms. Two major things need to get done, need to book the room and book airplane flights.

I keep trying to book with a TA Discount a room stay from the 19^th to the 26^th, but I keep getting nothing available. So instead of leaving Sunday, we plan to leave on Saturday instead. My mother and I book flights going to Tampa leaving JFK, but coming home from Orlando, we will land at LaGuardia. To and from the airports here in NYC, my mother has Access a ride.

Going to the wedding is my brother and his wife (sister in law). Joining us at Disney will be their daughter and her 2 year old son. They settled on staying at the Yacht Club. We are booked into the Pop Century, preferred, non pool view room. We are not planning too much together time, maybe a couple of meals. Their touring strategy is geared more for my Great Nephew, while my mothers and I is more about non children things like finer dining then character meals.

The only missing link in our transportation is going from St Pete to Kissimmee. We research several options and settle on my brother renting a mini van from St Pete, driving it one way to Downtown Disney area. While my mother, brother, his wife (sister in law) and I will be arriving on Sunday at Walt Disney World, my niece and her son won’t arrive till the following day. So my sister in law made one night reservation at a Downtown Disney resort before moving to the Yacht Club on Monday.

Instead of doing a vacation package that includes resort and theme park tickets, we are doing it separately. While I am eligible for a TA discounted theme ticket, my mother has to pay full price for her ticket. I use my ‘My Disney Experience’ account. I add the resort reservation and my mothers purchased theme park ticket to my MDE account. I also call up and add the dining package, basic dining, for both of us. As far as my theme park ticket, this is how it works. I place a request for a theme park ticket, and once approved, I get a number for my approved theme park ticket. On the day I arrive at WDW, I go to any will call ticket booth, purchase my ticket and have it added to my MDE account. The only problem is, I cant do any Fast Pass Pluses in advance of my trip since it is not being purchased till I arrive on site. After talking to other Disney travel agents, and even Disney Travel Agency, this is the solution. Book FP+’s for my mothers tickets, and when I purchase mine, they should be able to match Fast passes between me and my mother. Hope this is true, but only time will tell.

At the 90 day mark, I plan our Advanced Dinning Reservations for the trip, ADR’s for short. My niece is handling the dining plans for her parents and son. So this is what we planned. I am dining with my mother at the Grand Flordian Café on Sunday, July 19^th. Joining my brother and his family at ‘Ohana on the 20^th. Doing the Fantasmic Dinner Package at Hollywood and Vine on the 21^st with just my mother. I make a FP+ for Be our Guest for lunch and Boma for dinner on the 22^nd with just my mother. On the 23^rd, again eating with all family at Coral Reef. On the 24^th, having breakfast at Boma with my mother and dinner with rest of family at the new Italian place on the Boardwalk. My niece wanted to eat there, she had friends who enjoyed it. I went along since my mother didn’t mind trying it. Missing is Le Cellier. I like the Cheddar Cheese soup there. But no real time to squeeze it in. Also missing was the Illuminations Sparkling Dessert Party. It was new last year. I enjoyed it, but rest of family was against doing it. There is something about going solo, isn’t there.

Next on pretrip planning is scooters. For the last couple of years, I need a scooter to roam around the world. While my mother is very active, I am concerned for her about the hot Florida heat and insist she also get a scooter. She is thinking maybe we could share a scooter, but I know my issue and insist on two. I give her a list of companies that rent scooters to visitors in Disneyworld. 5 companies that use Disney resort personnel as go between and Walker Mobility who does a person to person hand off. I give her a list of questions to ask and get prices. Like I have done in previous years, we settle on Walker Mobility. While we are staying at Pop Century, the first day we wont be using one. If they hand off the scooter after 7 pm, they don’t charge. So they will do a drop off at the Grand Floridian and pick up at the Beach Club on Friday night. We will be leaving early Saturday, no time to drop off.

The last item to do is Fast Passes. Here is what I scheduled. On Sunday, Kali River Rapids, Kilimanjaro Safaris, and Its tough to be a Bug. Monday is Peter Pan’s Flight, Haunted Mansion, and Jungle Cruise. Tuesday is Muppetivsion, Toy Story Midway Mania, and Voyage of the Little Mermaid. Wednesday is Buzz Lightyear, Winnie the Pooh, and Mickey’s Philharmagic. Thursday is Mission Space, Spaceship Earth, and Soarin. Friday is Mission Space, Test Track, and Journey into Imagination with Figment. Muppetvision and Journey are important to do since there have been rumors that these attractions may be removed.

Since I have taken the train down to Florida for a decade now, luggage size and weight isn’t really a issue for me. But since I am flying, I look into and purchase a new piece of luggage that is ultra light and strong. I know I pack heavy, so this might be a good thing. As far as my backpack, the one I have been using for years broke. It had a lifetime warranty on it, so I send it back for a warranty exchange. I didn’t do it right away after getting the return authorization number for it, but I thought I did have enough time to do it when I did finally sent it back. As I was a couple of weeks before leaving, I call up and ask what the situation is. Lucky I have a shipping number. For they look it up, acknowledge they should have it, but don’t know why I was never shipped a replacement yet. With about a week before leaving, I also order a new backpack, just incase. I get both a couple of days before leaving.

Another yearly trip event is meeting Virginia who lives in Orlando. She, her husband, and grand children have been meeting me, usually in Epcot, for the last couple of years. Once I finalized my plans to be where on what days we start emailing each other. Sadly, I wont be meeting them this year, they will be on a cruise while I am at the world.

Another pretrip anxiety issue is this. Disney released a statement saying due to safety issues, selfie sticks are now banned from Disney theme parks around the world. They also mention the ban might be extended to monopods. I don’t use selfie sticks, but I do use monopods on all the trips. Before entering a theme park, they have a bag check where they go through all the contents before entering the park. Years ago I had a bad experience trying to enter with a large external camcorder battery. I got into the park, but a security supervisor said I would… that day only. I should leave it home on following days. To make matters worse.. I am having problems finding my monopod. I even start looking at purchasing a replacement with overnight delivery. I really cant find a good replacement to purchase online or in a store. But I find mine with a major sigh of relief.

I also do online check in.

Now just let the days click down till I fly down to Tampa.