March Break madness ~crowds, craziness and cocktails! A March '22 PTR! TR link 03/22

[suse66]

Hi everyone! Welcome to the planning for a long awaited March Break trip! It's been three years since we had the pleasure of travelling to Disney for March Break and I have missed it. While the crowds are nutty, the temperatures are perfect and it's Flower and Garden festival time! Who could ask for anything better???

Travelling with me is my lovely husband and Disney enabler. He has not been over March Break since our last full family trip in 2016. Our last trip together was for our 20th wedding anniversary in July of 2019.

This trip is definitely going to be resort heavy as we focus on fun things to do outside the parks. We are looking at two day hopper tickets and plan to take advantage of both early morning entry and late hours for deluxe resort guests.

Our ADR date is coming up on January 13th and we are looking at lots of new to us restaurants, especially in the Disney Springs area. As always we will check out lots of lounges, awesome snacks and new cocktails. Any must try ideas for us??

Join in with me as I plan the perfect, relaxing trip!


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[pkondz]

I'm not really a PTR commenter so much, but here nevertheless.

While the crowds are nutty, the temperatures are perfect and it's Flower and Garden festival time! Who could ask for anything better???

You could ask for perfect temperatures, F&G and low crowds.

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

I’m here! Can’t wait to see what you’re planning. Exciting times ahead

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Are you staying at your dvc home resort? I hear great things about Wine Bar George in DS but I haven’t actually eaten there but it sounds great. To be honest it’s been so long since we were there (2018) I’m sure everything has changed but I am looking forward to reading along and hearing your plans

 

[suse66]

I'm not really a PTR commenter so much, but here nevertheless.

Thanks for joining in! I am happy to have you here.

You could ask for perfect temperatures, F&G and low crowds.

I could ask for a free resort stay too but I think that would be as likely, lol. The low crowds will have to wait until my late August trip. Although then I will have my surface of the sun wrapped in tinfoil temperatures.

I’m here! Can’t wait to see what you’re planning. Exciting times ahead

Thanks so much for joining in! I figured the way to make my back to school during an Omincron surge bearable is to focus on Disney trip planning!

Are you staying at your dvc home resort? I hear great things about Wine Bar George in DS but I haven’t actually eaten there but it sounds great. To be honest it’s been so long since we were there (2018) I’m sure everything has changed but I am looking forward to reading along and hearing your plans

We are staying DVC but not at Boulder Ridge. I would really like to add a small contract so we are trying out a few options. More details soon!

I am dying to try Wine Bar George! Hearing Jenny and Joe rave about it has really piqued my interest.

 

[pkondz]

I could ask for a free resort stay too but I think that would be as likely, lol.

You can always ask…

Pretty sure I know the answer though.

The low crowds will have to wait until my late August trip. Although then I will have my surface of the sun wrapped in tinfoil temperatures.

 

[rdkeim]

Following!

 

[KathyM2]

Following along and living vicariously once again!!

 

[amazingact21]

Following along.

 

[suse66]

Following!

Thank you for joining in!

Following along and living vicariously once again!!

Welcome Kathy! I am trying to be optimistic about this trip but the latest surge is making me a little nervous.

Following along.

Great to have you here, Alexis!

 

[KathyM2]

Welcome Kathy! I am trying to be optimistic about this trip but the latest surge is making me a little nervous.

Yeah I hear you. On our trip to south Fl just now, my DD tested positive and could not fly home. She is fine with no symptoms and decided to stay with my parents while I came home with my son (long story but he needs to see his other grandma) Luckily now for her school is online anyway, and we are fortunate that she has a place to stay while she waits it out. She's on day 5 now since the positive test and everyone else is negative, and everyone is feeling fine. I'm hoping that now that means none of us will get it...

 

[suse66]

Yeah I hear you. On our trip to south Fl just now, my DD tested positive and could not fly home. She is fine with no symptoms and decided to stay with my parents while I came home with my son (long story but he needs to see his other grandma) Luckily now for her school is online anyway, and we are fortunate that she has a place to stay while she waits it out. She's on day 5 now since the positive test and everyone else is negative, and everyone is feeling fine. I'm hoping that now that means none of us will get it...

Oh no! So sorry to hear that news! I hope she feels better soon and that the rest of you remain negative. Hopefully everything is ok with C and he gets settled back at university soon. Jack is going back on Saturday (one week online at Trent with in person beginning the 17th). Jamie can't even move back in to residence at Guelph until the 23rd so will do his first two weeks of classes online at home. Stuart will be online until the 24th as well but may go back to residence earlier as he finds it hard to work at home.

 

[igrsod]

Hoping to go over March break as well. We too will be doing a resort heavy trip.

 

[DLo]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more.

 

[suse66]

Hoping to go over March break as well. We too will be doing a resort heavy trip.

Welcome! Glad you hopped over from the March planning group! Will you be driving down or flying? We are flying from Toronto (no direct flights for a reasonable $$ so we are connecting through Montreal instead).

Following along. Looking forward to reading more.

Thanks for joining in!

 

[igrsod]

Welcome! Glad you hopped over from the March planning group! Will you be driving down or flying? We are flying from Toronto (no direct flights for a reasonable $$ so we are connecting through Montreal instead).
Thanks for joining in!

At this point we haven't decided, but most likely flying. When we flew in December, we went direct from Montreal.
It was significantly cheaper than Toronto and much easier to navigate.
Since I'm still trying to secure rooms, I haven't gotten to the point of booking a flight.
Pre pandemic we always found that flying out of Montreal on March break was so much cheaper as their March break is usually the week before Ontario.

 

[KathyM2]

Oh no! So sorry to hear that news! I hope she feels better soon and that the rest of you remain negative. Hopefully everything is ok with C and he gets settled back at university soon. Jack is going back on Saturday (one week online at Trent with in person beginning the 17th). Jamie can't even move back in to residence at Guelph until the 23rd so will do his first two weeks of classes online at home. Stuart will be online until the 24th as well but may go back to residence earlier as he finds it hard to work at home.

Thanks. She is feeling fine actually, and now she is past the 5 days of isolation required in the US, so she can go to the beach with my mom after online school! I don't think I feel that sorry for her lol! So far everyone else also still feels fine. C is going for a PCR test today because he wants to be able to visit his other grandma who is not well, and we want to make sure he is still negative (even though he got a negative test last week)...so...crossing fingers...

I hope your boys do ok with the online learning while living at home or in dorms. We got the news yesterday that C's school will also be online until Jan 31, but they are still ok to go back to dorms as planned on Jan 16th...I hope it stays that way. They handled it so well with regular testing in dorms there that I think he's better to be there and at least have the company of his roommate and not be so isolated like he would be doing online school at home.

 

[suse66]

Thanks. She is feeling fine actually, and now she is past the 5 days of isolation required in the US, so she can go to the beach with my mom after online school! I don't think I feel that sorry for her lol! So far everyone else also still feels fine. C is going for a PCR test today because he wants to be able to visit his other grandma who is not well, and we want to make sure he is still negative (even though he got a negative test last week)...so...crossing fingers...

So glad to hear your daughter is doing well! With being online for school now, I wish I could head to Florida and teach online from there!

 

[suse66]

Travel and resort details!

Finding flights that were not going to blow my budget out of the water was a huge challenge. Typically I use my AirMiles rewards for flights and just pay for the fees and taxes. There was nothing available from Toronto Pearson at all, so I decided to look at Toronto Island airport. I was able to secure a flight connecting through Montreal. The only catch is that we have a 5 hour layover in Montreal! I told Bill about our layover and all he said was "they have a bar, right??" We will have to clear customs in Montreal as well. Our flight to Orlando leaves at 6:00 and arrives shortly after 9:00. Rather than make our way to Disney at such a late hour, we decided to stay at the Hyatt Regency right at the airport for our first night.

Sunday morning we will make our way to the beautiful Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa for the first two nights of our trip!



I am looking forward to the proximity to Disney Springs as we are only planning on two park days this trip. I am hoping the spa will be open in March as we would love to spend an afternoon there. As well, we are looking forward to morning yoga, renting bikes and exploring the walking trails.

Our next resort is just down the way from Saratoga....the original DVC property at Old Key West!



We are here for four nights and are looking forward to the chill, laid back atmosphere. I am dreaming of adding on another DVC contract so having the chance to stay at two new properties will help me decide if I want to own there.

Park plans coming up next!

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[kastoney]

Happy New Year Susan!!! Joining in on all your planning. For the first time in a while (well since 2020 at least) we don't know when our next trip will be so gonna have to live vicariously through you.