366 days of Disney! Updated 10/3/19

[shannie102]

Hi everyone! So my DH and I did something a little crazy by non-Disney people standards and bought AP’s and DVC within a week of each other. We are totally stoked! I have done a PTR before (https://www.disboards.com/threads/c...t-a-december-2018-ptr-final-thoughts.3651031/) and documented our DVC buying process( https://www.disboards.com/threads/my-purchasing-experience-with-pictures.3765128/) so thought it would be time for another PTR to help me not only share my planning process and experience, but also help me keep my trips in order I am going to try to color coordinate these by trip so when I update it doesn’t get so confusing, thus the different colors.
So here’s what we have so far for our 366 (it’s a leap year!) day year of Disney!
January 11-18 2020
Day to book FastPass- 11/12/2019
This one was a last min (in Disney planning terms) add on. My work is having a PTO ban 3/1/20-6/30/20 for a new EMR so while I had wanted to do a quick weekend in march that was nixed, so on 8/12 I literally said to DH “I want to go to Disney now” and he said “book a trip” (that’s why I married him!). Well, he has a school break in January and this is before the PTO ban so I got right online and quickly realized we wouldn’t have many choices as 1) wayyyyy to close to use DVC points, 2) its Race weekend, and 3) did I mention it was race weekend? We are not adverse to split stay so I first booked Caribbean beach for 1/13-1/18 and then needed to find something else for the 11th & 12th. In an effort to save some money we went with All-Star Movies. Has anyone ever stayed there? Where should we request? I did book a Preferred room as it was only a few $$ more and since we haven’t stayed at a value resort I didn’t want it to be such a slap in the face.

May 14-23 2020
Day to book dining- 11/16/2019
Day to book FastPass- 3/15/2020
This was planned back in April so that’s the only reason my work let me have this time off during the PTO ban. We went to DL & DCA end of March 2019 and with DH going back to school I figured I would not be able to plan another trip till he was out of school in May so this one was born. It is a hodge-podge of all the things we love as it was to be the only trip, oops! It is already paid off so no harm adding these 5 other trips

July 1-5 2020
Day to book dining- 1/3/2020
Day to book FastPass- 5/2/2020
Simply a bucket-list item for me. I have always wanted to see the fireworks at Disney on the 4th. A friend of mine posted photos from her trip this past 4th and it looked awesome. Well, add in an AP and now it’s only flight and room to go? Can’t pass that up!

September 25-28 2020
Day to book DVC- 10/25/2019
Day to book dining- 3/29/2020
Day to book FastPass- 7/27/2020

DH is in Grad school and has the 28th off, and I have BWV points so a long weekend for WFF while points are still in the Adventure season range sounds like a good plan to me

October 17-24 2020
Day to book DVC- 11/17/2019
Day to book dining- 4/20/2020
Day to book FastPass- 8/18/2020
I actually have a conference at the Coronado 10/19-10/22 and with the PTO ban I can’t use the money I would for a conference then, so might as well go to this one and have work pay for A CLUB LEVEL ROOM IN THE TOWER!!!!! I am soooooo excited! I have never stayed club level and love the Coronado so have been looking forward to staying in the tower since it started being built so this will be amazing! Has anyone ever stayed club level- any tips?
Also it’s around my birthday, WFF, and MNSSHP! Best birthday present ever!

January 2-9 2021(I would love to do 12/31-9th but let’s see if I can convince DH of this)
Day to book DVC- 2/3/2020
Day to book dining- 7/6/2020
Day to book FastPass- 11/3/2020

This would be the last trip to use the AP =(. DH would be on winter break, it’s after the holidays so work should not care if I want to take off time, and I will have 2021 points just sitting there waiting to be used This one is still in the early stages of planning so stay tuned!

 

[Eeyore daily]

Sounds like so much fun! I'm very jealous. I hope I can be like you when I get an AP next year.

 

[shannie102]

So January 11-18th 2020…..
This “Last minute” trip was determined, planned, and booked all within 1 hour. After determining housing, and resolving myself to trying a Value resort, it was time to book our flights. We are Loyal to Jet Blue so with who was easy. They have a hub 1 hour from our house and it’s a direct flight that gets there at about 10am and leaves at 8pm, so you get 2 almost full days! We have a lot of points with them and have always had a good experience, even with issues their customer service is awesome. DH has a Plus card so we get 1 free checked bag each, another bonus! Flights booked, now it was time to discuss dining.
We are doing TiW instead of the dining plan for the first time, because we are first time AP and DVC. I am a little concerned that we may spend more, but DH thinks we will spend less. You can bet I will be keeping receipts and plan to compare at the end of the trip. We do like our cocktails and lounge atmosphere so getting to use TiW there will help some, but I worry I will look the price and make my food decisions based on that.
Of course we have some of our favorites so those had to be added, and a few new ones based on what is currently a TiW participant. Plus, with not having to eat 1 sit down and 1 quick service a day like we are used to, a little more free time. I was pleasantly surprised since we are going at a slower time that I was able to get everything we wanted including:
Yak and Yeti
Be Our Guest Lunch
Wine Bar George Brunch
Oga’s Cantina
Spice Road Table
I was going to make a little spread sheet of our daily plan, but then a super fun curve ball came about! My co-worker had mentioned her daughter was going to Disney in January and it turns out our days are the same! So we wanted to coordinate some plans with them, and when Vikki heard this she couldn’t be left out, so now our little group of 2 is up to 7 at some times. I have vacationed with Vikki in the past and am so excited to get to go to Disney with her. Her daughter is a huge Disney fan too so this will be awesome!


May 14-23rd
Awaiting airfare to open up, not so patiently as I have points to use that are burning a hole in my pocket!
The plan for this trip is Poly for 1 night on rented points from @LYSE. He was so nice to work with and when I asked DH where he wanted to stay that we haven’t been he said Poly and I couldn’t agree more. Very excited to stay at our first monorail resort.
We then head to Cape Canaveral for a Royal Caribbean cruise 15-18th. It has a full day at the newly updated Cococay and a little rest before the rest of the vacation may be needed as…
18-20th we are going to Universal. We have reservations for 1 night at Cabana bay, because that pool and lazy river looked awesome, and then 1 night at Lowes Royal Pacific so that we get the unlimited express pass for free for 2 days (check in and check out day). I think we may get a season pass here too as after 4 days it’s worth it and with 3 now and 2 planned for October it would pay for itself.
Then back to Disney to the French Quarter 20th- 23rd. We have never stayed here, had it booked many times but then free dining came out and it was not available to switch. Very excited to try it. Any tips for this resort?

 

[shannie102]

July 1-5th
Went on the Boards to the Rent/Trade DVC and wanted to see if anyone had points to rent for this time frame. The prices for hotels were higher then we normally pay, as we normally go in off peak times, and for what it would cost me for a moderate I figured I could rent DVC points at a deluxe.
Now, you may not know me, but I’m only kinda crazy. As this will be our 3rd trip in 2020 and we still have 3 more after this I primarily just want to be in MK for the 3rd as the fireworks are the same and Epcot for the 4th. We will have done all the rides we want in the previous trips and the planning plan for this one is just our 3 fast passes and out. I figured we would eat at the resort the most on this vacation as it will be so hot I am sure we will need to come back for cool down/relax time. While thinking how laid back this trip would be compared to many others I realized I wanted a resort that had great dining and a good pool and entertainment. Animal Kingdom
Pm3681 posted he had some points for AK, but he posted this in July so I figured it would be a long shot that he would still have them August 1st when he could start to try to book my vacation. He was so kind and answered all my questions and even got up early that day to make sure we got what we wanted; a savanna view studio. Lots of great communication, so thanks @Pm3681 for the reservation!
Now my big question is- when can I book the dessert party for the 3rd and 4th?

September 25-28th
If you read my Purchasing DVC experience post, you would know the biggest reason I wanted DVC was to get other people’s points. What I mean is to have them transferred to me as it seemed like the best deal to just get a lot of points from other people for a one time cost and then get to have the 11 month booking window at that resort. That’s where @Jefftr66 came in. He posted he had 85 points to BWV and I have never stayed there so it seemed like a match. He was willing to transfer them to my account, and within 48 hours of having my account number I was already having points transferred into it, yay! Another easy-peasy interaction thanks to the DVC rent/trade section. We plan to use 36 of the 85 for the September trip and thus will use the other 49 in October or January as they expire 1/31/21. Haven’t really thought much about this trip other than hoping I get that reservation and wondering if at that time I need to walk it to make sure we have that weekend.

October 17-24th
Need to see what we do with points in September before I can really plan out this trip, in case we need to get a 1 bedroom or preferred room for more points. If it all works out the plan would be 1 night BWV on the 17th and then 18-23rd at Coronado club level, and then 1 night at Universal Lowes Royal Pacific again for the express pass. If the flights stay the same, which it has for 3 years, we would have almost all day Saturday to be at the park so worth the move. Also I really want to do HHN so we would do it that Friday night and it would be best to be there then trying to get back to Disney at 1 am.

January 2nd-9th
Really, no plans. Have to see how points are, what the 7 month booking window looks like (as we will have 51-101 points to use from VB) and too many other things to account for….like if I can convince hubby to go down on the 31st for NYE and stay till the 9th or leave earlier if he really will go down sooner. Plus race weekend should be the 7-10th so maybe leave before then? NYE is on a Thursday so it would be cheaper to fly that day… just saying

 

[shannie102]

double post, oops

 

[chri3060]

January 11-18 2020
In an effort to save some money we went with All-Star Movies. Has anyone ever stayed there? Where should we request? I did book a Preferred room as it was only a few $$ more and since we haven’t stayed at a value resort I didn’t want it to be such a slap in the face.

October 17-24 2020
I actually have a conference at the Coronado 10/19-10/22 and with the PTO ban I can’t use the money I would for a conference then, so might as well go to this one and have work pay for A CLUB LEVEL ROOM IN THE TOWER!!!!! I am soooooo excited! I have never stayed club level and love the Coronado so have been looking forward to staying in the tower since it started being built so this will be amazing! Has anyone ever stayed club level- any tips?

Following along with your Disney filled year!

We stayed in a preferred room at All Star Movies for a last minute trip in August. We were in Toy Story building 9. It was a 2 minute walk to the pool, food court/lobby, and bus stop. Definitely worth the extra money as the resort is pretty big!

We also stayed club level at Gran Destino Tower for a long weekend in July. It was absolutely amazing! The rooms are gorgeous- from our standard view room, we could see the fireworks from Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Don't be afraid to ask the club level concierge for anything you might need. They were very helpful in meeting our needs during our stay. I recommend getting to the lounge right around the time the evening appetizers are put out. During our stay, we arrived later one evening and the lounge was pretty busy and seating was scare. We food the food and drinks throughout the day to be delicious, but the afternoon food selection is definitely more of a snack, and I don't think it could replace a meal/lunch.

 

[shannie102]

So I did something a little crazy this weekend. After a couple glasses of wine (because no good story starts with a salad) DH and I were talking about the lack of DINK (Dual Income No Kids) sites/podcasts/ current Instagram accounts so we decided to make one. So please feel free to follow me at #WDWDinks on Instagram because who doesn’t need one more site to clog their feed with fun pictures of Disney?

 

[shannie102]

DINKS
DH and I are DINKS and proud of it. Because of that disposable income we like to do something special each trip, and even with 6 trips we will still try to do something a little special each trip.
January
DH’s birthday is in January so I let him pick the extra this trip, and he came up with something I had never heard of but sounds amazing!
We threw around the idea of the African Wild Trek, but I was worried that if its bad weather it could be canceled and read some bad reviews that the reason it takes so long is that everyone crosses the bridge one at a time and that takes a while. DH was in charge of this extra and with some research found Savor the Savanna: Evening Safari Experience. This looks awesome! An evening safari, dinner on the Harambe Wildlife Reserve, and a commemorative keepsake (coasters) sounds like a great birthday present. I have found a few reviews on this and you tube videos, but not many, so trust me there will be a full report when I get back.

May
D23 let us know that Cirque du Soleil is back for our May trip. We loved the old show and figured we would want to see the new show ASAP. Booked tickets as soon as I heard this and we have amazing seats for the Thursday performance while we are there. If it is anything like La Nouba it will be fantastic!

July
The dessert parties and just being at MK on the 3rd and Epcot on the 4th will be the special extras this trip. The idea of the nighttime safari at AKL has come up, but I’m not going to push DH’s wallet any further for a minute

September
Most likely something with Wine and Food Fest, but this is still up in the air. If the unlimited MNSSHP is still available I would probably get this for us to use in September and October as it seems that it pays for itself if you use it more than twice.

October
Going to Universal for Halloween Horror Nights. I am not a big horror fan so this is more for DH and I want to say I did it. Has anyone else done this? Any tips for semi-scardy cats?

January
Way too far out to figure this out at the moment!

If you had disposable income and could pick something special what would you choose?

 

[shannie102]

May 14-23…now May 13-23
Jet Blue just released their flight schedule for this and they changed things up =(. We always love the early flight and then having the whole day and not having to waste a night at a hotel, but they now are doing a 6-8pm MCO to SYR then 9-11 SYR to MCO loop instead of the 6-9am SYR to MCO then 8-11pm MCO to SYR they have been. So, we are now actually leaving the 13th at 927pm and getting to MCO at 1208am on the 14th. This put a little kink in our plans as we rented the DVC points and I don’t want to have 2 different reservations, and really don’t want to spend the points at the Poly to just sleep there, so looks like we are going to try All Star Music. It was between Music and Movies, but since we are staying at Movies in January we will try Music in May. It is just to sleep, so we took the cheapest room they had for that night and will just have them transfer over the bags to the Poly in the am. I was considering staying at the airport, but that was $262 a night. Then I looked at an offsite with airport transportation, but figured at that time I don’t want to have to cut into our park time transferring twice on Thursday. So, Music it is. Has anyone stayed there? Any suggestions for the quietest place?

September 25-28
We will be using our transferred in points to book this in a few weeks. It will be my first DVC reservation I am making and a little worried that we will get blocked out of the studio I want. Why- because 1, it’s a weekend, 2, its during Food and Wine Fest, and 3, I miss the 7am vs 8am booking due to having to call in. I am toying with the idea of calling, since with transferred points I can’t make reservations online, and booking 9/21-9/28, Monday- Monday, then calling back to cancel Monday-Friday and keep Friday-Monday as planned. As I will be outside the 30 day window I am under the understanding these will just go back into my points and I can use them for the October and January trips later as needed. They are banked February 2019 points so I have to use them by 1/31/2021. I know this is controversial and I would hate if I was trying to book the same time and was blocked out, but these dates are in concrete and we are bringing first timers with us and I want them to have the best experience. I guess I’m more in the Disney knows about this and if they wanted to stop it they could so since they didn’t I’m going to take advantage of it crowd.

 

[shannie102]

(imaging this is orange as the text color doesn't want to work today) September update- Had to call in to book my room, as they are transferred points and thus you cannot do it online. Would have been fine but their computer system did not work for transferred points and I lost out on my standard studio and then boardwalk studio while waiting for them to fix the problem. I did end up booking wed-mon when we will most likely only be there fri-mon. I called back today to cancel wed-fri and wouldn't you know- the standard studio opened up. I was listening to the DVC podcast and they said this happens, and they are right. I had not even seen a message from Disney yet staying they were available. So, I moved to the standard studio I wanted, but when I went to cancel the day she said she could not as this was a wait list? what? Its 10 months away. I think she was just confused, so I will try back tomorrow with a different DVC CM and see if they are able to cancel the first 2 days, but I cant see why being wait list as long as over 31 days out would change my ability to cancel days, when my wait list has already come through. Anyone else been through this?