Pre-Trip Family Reunion WDW Madness (Feb 27-March 10, 2017)

Firstly, apologies for not finishing my January 2016 OKW trip report. I'll post some high level thoughts soon at the very least...not sure I'll get around to doing a full TR.

So, back to the present. What it is about the start of summer that always makes us book?? Once again, we're booked for next winter.

The game changer? We're going with several other families of our relatives who started going every year two years ago. They finally gave in and made the trip (partly with our urging) and have been hooked since their first day in WDW. This will be our first trip actually going with kids since we were kids ourselves, and I can't wait to see their reactions!

For now, we're booked room-only at POR for 10 nights, February 28-March 10, 2017. Booked a garden view because it is only $5/night more than a standard view for some reason. We'll definitely be requesting a room in the Magnolia Bend mansions, which we like a lot more than Alligator Bayou. If they drop the Royal Room prices closer to our travel date, we'll consider one of those too!

Fingers crossed for decently-priced flights and a good pin code! We lucked out last year with good last-minute room discounts and then a 30% off pin code. Hoping for something similar again!

251 days...

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officialtom

officialtom

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Well, here we are at day 170. Actually, make that day 169! Surprise surprise, nothing with WDW trips ever stays quite as planned. This time, it's a good change.

Originally booked Feb 28-March 10, room only, which we upped to a vacation package last week. We're still waiting for Play, Stay, and Dine to come out, or (fingers crossed) another 30% pin code to apply to the reservation.

Anyway, last week we got a Westjet email about a seat sale that includes travel dates until the start of April. So, yesterday, we clicked the link and started looking at the sale prices. We always always always try to fly out of our home airport of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, rather than driving four hours to the much bigger airport in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and spending a night in the airport hotel. We usually end up going to Halifax because they have several carriers flying direct to Orlando, and they're much cheaper than out of Charlottetown. Anyway, with the seat sale, we checked out the Halifax prices first, and they were actually pretty good. Then, with fingers crossed, we checked Charlottetown. Naturally, nothing was available leaving on February 28th, BUT we could fly back home direct from Orlando on March 10th. We were intrigued. Just for fun, we checked February 27th, and BOOM, Charlottetown-Toronto-Orlando, leaving at 6:25am and arriving by 1:30pm, at a very good price, with only 6 seats left.

Now before we got all excited about going a day earlier than originally planned, we did a bit of a cost-benefit analysis. If we went from Halifax on February 28th, we'd need to pay $250 for the airport hotel the night before and parking for 10 days, about $50 in gas, and $50 to cross the Confederation Bridge between PEI and Nova Scotia. BUT, if we went from Charlottetown a day earlier on February 27th, we would only have to pay for an additional night at WDW and a meal somewhere. No parking, no airport hotel, no gas, no bridge. Turns out Caribbean Beach is only $214 that night (American dollars, but whatever, we'll get some kind of discount). So we booked! 11 nights now instead of 10. Split stay, starting at CBR for one night, then switching to POR for ten nights.

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On a side note, we are very very very happy to not be flying Air Canada this year. They seem to get worse (delays, cancelled flights, incredibly expensive, lost luggage, negative legroom) every year. We love Westjet and are excited to be flying with them! It's been a while.

Now, let's back it up to last weekend. The family (cousins, aunts/uncles, closest friends, siblings, in-laws, etc.) were all gathered in Bathurst, New Brunswick for my wonderful grandmother's 92nd birthday. We had a really great time (and so did she!). It was so nice to see everyone and to take a break from the hustle of the fall work season. Plus, we got some WDW planning done...

As I've mentioned previously, this is the first time we'll be going to WDW with kids (since we were kids) and we can't wait to experience it with them. Originally, my uncle D and aunt W and their two kids (10 and 13) were going to come, but they've had to back out (at least very likely) due to hockey and gymnastics tournaments in March. Around the same time, my cousin and his wife, their two little girls, and his parents (my aunt and uncle) decided to book for March 4-10 at AoA, where they stayed in a family suite last year and absolute loved it. And then, at our gathering in Bathurst, another one of my cousins and her husband decided they would join with their two little girls (18mos and 3 years). Well, my cousin's parents decided they couldn't miss out, so they booked too, along with another one of my cousins jumping on. And, my cousin's inlaws have decided to join in too.

So I've actually lost count, but I think there will either be 5 or 6 families travelling to WDW, all slightly different dates but overlapping for at least 5 full days. We've made a bunch of dining reservations together and will all be doing a few park days together too. We're even thinking about getting t-shirts made...

It is going to be a hilarious, painful-to-organize, but incredibly memorable event. WDW may never be the same!

169 days and counting.
 
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officialtom

officialtom

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
A bit more change:

No longer splitting our stay between CBR and POR. Decided to go POR for the full stay so we can have the dining plan from start to finish (they wouldn't apply the dining play to the one night at CBR). We were planning to just pay out of pocket for the first night's food, but my uncle and aunt J&C asked us to double up meal credits one night to watch Wishes from the Cali Grill. We've never done that, so, naturally, we can't say no! So now we have enough meal credits to cover Cali Grill plus all of our other ADRs. I'm a bit disappointed to not be trying CBR (even for just one night) but we'll probably end up visiting my cousins C&S and their family who are staying there.

The bigger (and more exciting) change is that my aunt and uncle D&W and their two kids, who had to back out a few weeks ago due to hockey and gymnastics tournaments planned during our trip, are back in! They've reserved at POR from March 1-10, which may change depending on when they can get the best flights.

Next, the official schedule post! Things are getting serious.
 
officialtom

officialtom

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Here's our planned schedule, which can of course change at any time! Any thoughts/comments/concerns? Open to ideas! A few questions are in orange.

As of Oct 23, 2016:

Monday, February 27 (travel day, one day earlier than originally planned!)
-6:25am YYG-YYZ, YYZ-MCO arriving 1:30pm
-DME to CBR hopefully by 3:00pm
-Unpack, explore, pool time
-QS supper at CBR (saving a TS credit to double up at the Cali Grill)

Tuesday, February 28 (Disney Springs day)
-Morning recharge/pool
-Bus to DS
-ADR at Art Smith’s at DS at 5:25pm

Wednesday, March 1 (MK day 1)
-Aunt/uncle D&W and their kids check in to CBR (date TBC)
-ADR at Skipper Canteen at 5:20pm (we can’t wait to give this spot a try)
-Wishes 8pm
-EMH 8-10pm (I love EMH that still let me get to sleep at a reasonable time!)

Thursday, March 2 (Epcot day 1)
-Cousins P&C and aunt/uncle P&J check in at AoA (their third time there and they love the family suites)
-Aunt/uncle J&C check in to CBR
-EMH 8-9am, rope drop
-Mid-day pool break/;aundry if needed
-QS dinner at Tangierine Café (we tried this spot last year and loved it! Also, saving a TS credit to double up at Tiffins)
-IllumiNations 9pm

Friday, March 3 (AK day 1)
-AK rope drop
-ADR at Cali Grill at 7:20pm to watch Wishes from the deck with aunt/uncle J&C (still trying for a slightly later ADR)

Saturday, March 4 (DHS - several families there)
-Rope drop…maybe
-Lunch at PizzeRizzo (can't wait to read reviews once it opens)
-ADR at Sci-Fi at 5:50pm with aunt/uncle J&C
-Fantasmic 7pm
-Star Wars fireworks at 8:15(?)
-YeHaa Bob at POR at 10:30pm if we're not exhausted, then cab back to CBR

Sunday, March 5 (Epcot day 2)
-Cousins C&S and their family check in at CBR
-Pool morning
-ADR at Beaches & Cream for ice cream at 2:00pm (just us)
-ADR at the Biergarden at 6:35 with the whole group (currently a reservation for 19)
-IllumiNations 9pm

Monday, March 6 (AK day 2, whole group at AK)
-EMH 8-9am, rope drop??
-ADR at Tiffins at 5:20 with one other family (we’re all pumped to try it)
-Rivers of Light?????? PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday, March 7 (day off/DS day 2)
-QS breakfast
-Pool morning
-Snack lunch at DS?
-DS afternoon
-ADR at ‘Ohana at 6:55pm with cousins C&S and their family (it’s one of our favs and their first time)

Wednesday, March 8 (MK day 2 - several families there)
-MK before rope drop
-ADR for breakfast at BoG (QS) at 8:10am with cousins C&S and aunt/uncle J&C
-ADR at the Grand Floridian Café 6:30pm, just us
-Wishes 8pm
-EMH 8-10pm
-Kiss goodnight!

Thursday, March 9 (Epcot day 3 or MK day 3, right now leaning towards Epcot - cousins C&S at Epcot)
-first group of family checks out
-EMH 8-9am
-ADR at Tutto Italia in Epcot at 5:30pm (first time)
-IllumiNations 9pm

Friday, March 10 (we travel home)
-Use up snack credits for souvenir snacks or swap for QS
-DME at 7:20am (gross…)
-11:20am MCO-YYG direct!

Sunday, March 12
-Cousins C&S check out of CBR and travel home
 
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officialtom

officialtom

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
DimpledDevil18 said:
Wow... I can only imagine trying to coordinate a trip with several other families. It's difficult enough sometimes with just my family! It sounds like a blast though!
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It will be! A ton of planning already but we're not trying to do everything together. Plenty of flex. Luckily a few of us cousins love the planning almost as much as the trip itself so we'll sort it out!
 
officialtom

officialtom

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Another change to report (mainly so I can remember all the planning that went into this trip when I'm 80!)

When the special offers came out on Monday of this week, the rooms allocated at POR for Play, Stay, and Dine were gone except for the royal rooms. I checked at 7am EDT online. The total price was $200 less than our rack rate reservation, but still incredibly expensive compared to last year. I checked CBR and nothing was available there either, so I booked the royal room.

On my way to work, I called and spoke to a lovely CM who was incredibly helpful. She understood my main goal - get the price down, preferably staying at POR, but open to switching to CBR if the price was right. She, like me, wasn't able to get anything at POR under the PSD offer, but she found availability at CBR! So I switched resorts and saved more than $1000 off our original rack rate. Awesome savings and very happy.

Now, I'll keep checking for POR availability (mainly because we love the water taxi service to DS), but I have a feeling we'll like CBR just fine. Quite a large group of us will be staying there, with the others staying at AoA. I've never stayed at CBR before and am looking forward to checking it out. My family stayed at CBR without me one year (rude) when I was in finals at university, and they loved it.
 
officialtom

officialtom

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
For anyone wondering about pin codes, we got two earlier this week! Both by email, one to me and one to my dad. They're for up to 30% off deluxe, 25% off moderates, and 20% off certain values. Offer valid for stays most nights from January 1 through June 7, 2017.

I called to apply it to our reservation but it turns out the PSD special offer we have is better than the pin code. Apparently we're getting both PSD and the ticket offer (25% off for Canadians) as a combo, which wasn't doable last year.

So, unless we get a much better pin code, we'll be sticking with PSD!
 

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