Our (My) was May now September 2014 trip plans

[PrincessInOz]

Ten months and two weeks to go!

We're busy planning, agreeing, trying to extend to get the longest possible time away from work!

My workplace has just bought in the option of buying two more weeks of annual leave per year by salary sacrifice, so six weeks annual leave per year!

I think i'm going to take them up on it!

More vacay time in the US.

 

[becpee]

Looks like our trip just got extended by a couple of days (at least).

I'm wanting to go to the airshow in San Diego in Oct, The Blue Angels will be there and that is something i've wanted to see since I saw them training in 2001.

Always love a little more vacay time!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Better and better!

 

[dabecs]

Sounds like a great trip plan so far

I agree it's important to add something new to every trip, it also helps remember which trip was which when you are looking back

Have you planned any excursions on the cruise? We are also doing the Eastern on the Fantasy, October 2014. It's our first cruise and I can't wait

It's nearly November, and November and December always zoom by - in no time at all you will be able to say your holiday is "this year!"

 

[becpee]

Sounds like a great trip plan so far

I agree it's important to add something new to every trip, it also helps remember which trip was which when you are looking back

Have you planned any excursions on the cruise? We are also doing the Eastern on the Fantasy, October 2014. It's our first cruise and I can't wait

It's nearly November, and November and December always zoom by - in no time at all you will be able to say your holiday is "this year!"

I'm excited to get to next weekend, and we'll be in the nine months so many weeks countdown

We haven't yet decided on excursions, so many to choose from!

 

[marvel]

Did you book the vistana yet? i just did for us in Sept and it ended up being $150 per night including all taxes. its cheaper to stay there than in our own home !

 

[becpee]

Did you book the vistana yet? i just did for us in Sept and it ended up being $150 per night including all taxes. its cheaper to stay there than in our own home !

I haven't yet, did you book direct with them or via a third party?
(Technically I did book but I cancelled because our dates staying there had changed slightly).
I think I might book using Webjet, we're going to book a one bedder and I think it works out a bit cheaper on webjet...

 

[PrincessInOz]

Did you book the vistana yet? i just did for us in Sept and it ended up being $150 per night including all taxes. its cheaper to stay there than in our own home !

Congrats....on having another trip in the works.

 

[becpee]

A small development tonight, while i'm sitting here suffering tonsillitis, checking flight prices to LA from Melbourne and I see $4000 for the 3 of us with Qantas, pretty good And then I see I can use my QFF to bring the price down to $3300 for the 3 of us, very happy with that!!

So now I have Delta credit to use for a leg to MCO or return valued at $300USD

This is on like Donkey Kong!!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Hope you feel better soon. Congrats on the amazing flight price/deal.

 

[zanzibar138]

Sorry to hear you're suffering with tonsilitis Hope you feel better soon.

Nice work on the flights

 

[becpee]

Sorry to hear you're suffering with tonsilitis Hope you feel better soon.

Nice work on the flights

The flights made me feel better and made me lose sleep last night

So excited!!

Does the planning of a trip ever lose it's excitement???

 

[zanzibar138]

The flights made me feel better and made me lose sleep last night

So excited!!

Does the planning of a trip ever lose it's excitement???

I hate to think how much sleep I have lost planning our SE Asia trip!

No. No, it doesn't.

 

[becpee]

So, our itinerary as it stand (today)

7th Sept Melbourne to Orlando (via LAX and DFW)
7th-12th Sept Universal Studios (not sure which hotel, i'll see what I can get a deal on)
12th-20th Sept WDW accom (still tossing up where)
20th-27th Sept Disney Fantasy Eastern Caribbean Cruise
27th Sept evening fly to LAX
27th Sept-28th Sept LA accom
28th Sept-5th Oct unknown
5th Oct-9th Oct Anaheim accom (unknown) Disneyland days
9th Oct late night flight direct to Melbourne

So, as you can see we're still undecided about alot of things

Internal flights are yet to be booked but I do have my eye on some with AA, waiting to see if there is any movement with them at all.

Meanwhile, the AUD is crashing

 

[PrincessInOz]

So, our itinerary as it stand (today)

7th Sept Melbourne to Orlando (via LAX and DFW)
7th-12th Sept Universal Studios (not sure which hotel, i'll see what I can get a deal on)
12th-20th Sept WDW accom (still tossing up where)
20th-27th Sept Disney Fantasy Eastern Caribbean Cruise
27th Sept evening fly to LAX
27th Sept-28th Sept LA accom
28th Sept-5th Oct unknown
5th Oct-9th Oct Anaheim accom (unknown) Disneyland days
9th Oct late night flight direct to Melbourne

So, as you can see we're still undecided about alot of things

Internal flights are yet to be booked but I do have my eye on some with AA, waiting to see if there is any movement with them at all.

Meanwhile, the AUD is crashing

Nice! Happy waiting for deals.

 

[becpee]

So I set my alarm so early this morning even though I didn't have to work, was going to head out for a walk/run but am a little sore so thought i'd give it a rest for a day

But laying there thinking about the new fastpass system has me a little worried so was thinking i'd book a value resort, then went a different way of thinking and sent in a request for a DVC reservation

Boardwalk was my first choice, Animal Kingdom second and Old Key West for third.
DH was so hard to convince...NOT
He doesn't care as long as he can play golf LOL

So hopefully something comes through, and soon LOL

9 months to go and i'm a little impatient

 

[WanderlustNZ]

So I set my alarm so early this morning even though I didn't have to work, was going to head out for a walk/run but am a little sore so thought i'd give it a rest for a day But laying there thinking about the new fastpass system has me a little worried so was thinking i'd book a value resort, then went a different way of thinking and sent in a request for a DVC reservation Boardwalk was my first choice, Animal Kingdom second and Old Key West for third. DH was so hard to convince...NOT He doesn't care as long as he can play golf LOL So hopefully something comes through, and soon LOL 9 months to go and i'm a little impatient

Good luck! I hope you get exactly what you want. From the impression I got from the brokers, the BWV can be a bit hard to come by, but the other two should be okay. If you get offered OKW, I would consider sitting it out a bit longer and waiting for AKV.

I rented DVC points for my last stay and did a split stay BWV (5 nights) and AKV (6 nights). We really like both, but I think if I knew then what I knew now, I would have booked the whole stay for AKV. We stayed in Jambo and got upgraded to a Savannah view room and we LOVE LOVE LOVED it. I can't actually put into words how much we loved it. I couldn't wait to get back from the parks in the afternoons to sit in my quiet place out on the balcony and watch the animals. I just felt happy every minute I was in that room. They give you an animal identification tick sheet at the start of your stay with all the animals and birds you can potentially see around property and I loved sitting and watching them wander by. Plus I loved the theming, the warm woods in the room, rocking chairs around the campfire, toasting marshmallows, and the huge beautiful lobby. (I think I would have loved it a tiny bit less had we been staying in Kidani and not had that grand lobby).

The restaurants were great as well. I recommend getting the first Sanaa booking of the day (I think 5pm from memory) and asking for a window table. We got a table easy as we were the first one into the restaurant, but within about 10 minutes all window tables were taken. I think they lay out food for the animals just outside the restaurant about this time, because there were so many different animals out the window I didn't know which way to look.

Lastly I preferred the transport from AKV than from BWV. I know it's rare to hear someone say this given the location of the two, but I just hated how many stops the BW buses had to make at other hotels and the boats are really slow and crowded. We always walked to Hollywood Studios and almost always got there faster than the boat.

In saying that, the BW was great for walking to Epcot, the bakery is yummy, and we did enjoy watching the fireworks from our balcony at night (Wishes to the left, Illuminations to the right, and a carnival scene down below). But no fireworks view was better to me than those animals.

Awww, now I'm feeling all sentimental. I will get back to Animal Kingdom lodge one day...

 

[becpee]

Good luck! I hope you get exactly what you want. From the impression I got from the brokers, the BWV can be a bit hard to come by, but the other two should be okay. If you get offered OKW, I would consider sitting it out a bit longer and waiting for AKV.

I rented DVC points for my last stay and did a split stay BWV (5 nights) and AKV (6 nights). We really like both, but I think if I knew then what I knew now, I would have booked the whole stay for AKV. We stayed in Jambo and got upgraded to a Savannah view room and we LOVE LOVE LOVED it. I can't actually put into words how much we loved it. I couldn't wait to get back from the parks in the afternoons to sit in my quiet place out on the balcony and watch the animals. I just felt happy every minute I was in that room. They give you an animal identification tick sheet at the start of your stay with all the animals and birds you can potentially see around property and I loved sitting and watching them wander by. Plus I loved the theming, the warm woods in the room, rocking chairs around the campfire, toasting marshmallows, and the huge beautiful lobby. (I think I would have loved it a tiny bit less had we been staying in Kidani and not had that grand lobby).

The restaurants were great as well. I recommend getting the first Sanaa booking of the day (I think 5pm from memory) and asking for a window table. We got a table easy as we were the first one into the restaurant, but within about 10 minutes all window tables were taken. I think they lay out food for the animals just outside the restaurant about this time, because there were so many different animals out the window I didn't know which way to look.

Lastly I preferred the transport from AKV than from BWV. I know it's rare to hear someone say this given the location of the two, but I just hated how many stops the BW buses had to make at other hotels and the boats are really slow and crowded. We always walked to Hollywood Studios and almost always got there faster than the boat.

In saying that, the BW was great for walking to Epcot, the bakery is yummy, and we did enjoy watching the fireworks from our balcony at night (Wishes to the left, Illuminations to the right, and a carnival scene down below). But no fireworks view was better to me than those animals.

Awww, now I'm feeling all sentimental. I will get back to Animal Kingdom lodge one day...

I got an email back this morning saying no BWV available as yet, so i'm on a list waiting, wishing, hoping it comes through.

If not i'll have to find other options, the possibilities are endless

 

[becpee]

Ticker check!

8 months, 4 weeks and 2 days!

I also checked into our cruise FB group yesterday and found out that our cruise is a Halloween Haunts cruise with Halloween activities on board

Photo opportunities with Jack and Sally

Time's a tickin'

 

[PrincessInOz]

Hope the waitlist comes through.

And YAY for Jack and Sally.