Our Disney Plans so Far...

I have been writing a pre-trip report over on The Dibb, but I thought I would write a quick post here about our plans now that they are booked.

Last April, we booked to go back to Disney World this October. We managed to keep it a secret form the kids up until last month when we decided that as Oliver is now 17 and as a job (and would need to book time off work), we should tell him.  He is very excited and has already started saving his money for the Mitsukoshi Department Store in the Japan Pavillion in Epcot.  Amelia, who turns 7 next month, is still none the wiser.  She thinks we are going to go back to Orlando when she is 8, but still talks about it every single day without fail!  We are planning on telling her the day we drive down to the airport.  I can't wait to see her face!

We have booked a standard room at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge and I have requested bunk beds.  I have heard many people say that they have been given a free upgrade to a Savannah view room on arrival and I have my fingers crossed that the same will happen to us as it would be amazing to wake up and see giraffes grazing a few metres from our balcony.

Animal Kingdom Lodge has always been my dream resort and never in a million years did I think we could ever stay there.  When the free dining plan offer was released last April, we very nearly booked Port Orleans Riverside and upgraded the quick service dining plan which came free to the full disney dining plan.  But when I looked at the price difference between upgrading, it was only £200 more to stay at AKL with the full dining plan included which is nothing in the grand scheme of things really.

Our package also includes 14 day Disney's ultimate tickets which gives us access to all 6 Disney parks and the mini golf.  Free Memory Maker, a $200 gift card and lots of 'magical extras' (money off coupons, etc).

The Disney dining plan includes 1 table service meal, 1 quick service meal, 2 snack and a refillable resort mug per person, per night of our stay.  We have already picked out where we want to eat, ready to make our advanced dining reservations (ADR's) which I will tell you about in a minute.

We have personalised our magic bands which are also complimentary to Disney resort guests.  I've ordered a purple one this time. These work as our room keys, admission into the parks, they connect photo pass photos to our Memory Maker account and allow us to check in at Fast Pass kiosks.  We can also charge food and merchandise purchases to our resort hotel room by swiping them at the check out.  We had these on our last trip, but I'm excited to use the new 2.0 version which they released a few months ago.

The night before our flight we will be staying in a family room at Premier Inn North terminal.  I booked the correct hotel this year!  If you've read my previous trip report, you'll know what I mean by this!

Premier Inn is literally over the road from the airport, and as Virgin now fly out from the north terminal, it couldn't be any more convenient! 

We haven't booked breakfast yet.  We can always add it on when we get there, or see what the restaurants in the airport have to offer.

We are booked on the 13:00pm Virgin Atlantic flight to Orlando International Airport and have paid to pre-book our seats.  We are sitting in the bubble again (upper deck) exactly the same seats as we did on our last trip

When we arrive in Orlando, we will take the Magical Express from the airport to Animal Kingdom Lodge which I have also booked.

We couldn't go to Disney World in October and not do Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.  We are REALLY looking forward to this.  I can't wait to see the parade and collecting all the candy!

This year we are also going to book Amelia into Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique again, and also the Wonderland Tea Party at 1900 Park Fare.  I have bought her a Belle dress, as she's obsessed with her lately.

I REALLY wanted to get her this Alice dress.  I saw it in the Disney store last year and it is stunning. However I have just tried to order it, and, as is the theme with the Disney Store, literally EVERY time I want to buy something, they are out of stock in Amelia's size.  I truly hope they get some more in soon and that it hasn't been discontinued. It's such a beautiful dress. 

At this stage of the planning there's not really much more we can do.  We have narrowed down our list of where we want to make dining reservations, so we're just waiting for Disney to release their park hours so we can schedule them in to the right days.  Our ADR (advanced dining reservation) day is on 5th April.  On this day we will be booking:

Breakfasts

• Crystal Palace
• Boma
• 1900 Park Fare
• Tusker House (River's of Light Dining Package)
• Cape May Cafe
• Ohana

and dinners at:

• Boma
• Ohana
• Akershus
• Via Napoli
• Whispering Canyon
• Hoop-dee-Doo Music Revue
• Sanaa
• Mama Melrose (Fantasmic dining package)

Some of these we have eaten at before and really enjoyed, and others are new to us, so we have a good mixture. 

And that's about it for now.  The next things to cross off my list are:

1. Travel Insurance
2. Renew the Kids Passports
3. ESTA's and
4. Purchase holiday clothes

I'll keep this updated when anything new develops. 

Thanks for reading 😊