Pre-Trip A first, a last, and a galaxy far, far, away... (Now with bonus London TR!)

BEE IS GOING BACK! BEE IS GOING BACK! BEE IS GOING BACK! ​

So, this title might be a bit misleading. There are actually several firsts planned for this trip, and a semi-first. But "A first, another first, yet another first, a sorta first, and a last" doesn't roll off the tongue (or fingertips) so well.

For now, I'll leave you with the cast.

Me (Bee): 30
DW (M): 30
M's mom (MIL)
M's dad (FIL)
M's brother (BIL): 27
My brother (Jay): 24

And a countdown!
Our next trip  

EDIT: Now we're doing a Passholder preview and going down early for two nights, then flying home, then proceeding with our regular trip as planned. So, here's THAT countdown:
CRAZY PEOPLE DO A PASSHOLDER PREVIEW  

 

[bee]

So...unrelated to this upcoming trip, but Southwest has announced they will no longer fly to/from Newark starting in early November. This is suuuuper annoying as that’s our preferred airline and airport, and this affects our holiday travel. We changed everything to LGA which is farther and will take more time and/or money to get to. We were planning to fly to Jacksonville on Christmas Day to be with M’s parents but we weren’t able to change that one flight and keep it on the same day, so how we won’t get there until December 26. On the plus side, I got to change a few days so we will have MORE time in either Orlando or Jacksonville, And obviously SWA didn’t charge for the changes even though the new flights were more expensive than the original flights.

Like I said, this won’t affect our August trip(s) but this will definitely make us reconsider future travel and ever using Southwest again. I’ve been a huge Southwest fangirl for years, mostly because they have good flights between Newark and Orlando and no change fees. Now that they’re not flying to Newark anymore I am looking into JetBlue (which has more flights anyway) for future trips.

All that said I realize I am extremely lucky to be able to travel frequently enough that this is a “problem” for me.

 

[Rista1313]

So...unrelated to this upcoming trip, but Southwest has announced they will no longer fly to/from Newark starting in early November. This is suuuuper annoying as that’s our preferred airline and airport, and this affects our holiday travel. We changed everything to LGA which is farther and will take more time and/or money to get to. We were planning to fly to Jacksonville on Christmas Day to be with M’s parents but we weren’t able to change that one flight and keep it on the same day, so how we won’t get there until December 26. On the plus side, I got to change a few days so we will have MORE time in either Orlando or Jacksonville, And obviously SWA didn’t charge for the changes even though the new flights were more expensive than the original flights.

Like I said, this won’t affect our August trip(s) but this will definitely make us reconsider future travel and ever using Southwest again. I’ve been a huge Southwest fangirl for years, mostly because they have good flights between Newark and Orlando and no change fees. Now that they’re not flying to Newark anymore I am looking into JetBlue (which has more flights anyway) for future trips.

All that said I realize I am extremely lucky to be able to travel frequently enough that this is a “problem” for me.

OK.. I'm going to play devils advocate on behalf of the airline for a moment... they are really struggling because of the 737 Max being down for so long. It really bites that they took away your routes though. I totally understand.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

So...unrelated to this upcoming trip, but Southwest has announced they will no longer fly to/from Newark starting in early November. This is suuuuper annoying as that’s our preferred airline and airport, and this affects our holiday travel. We changed everything to LGA which is farther and will take more time and/or money to get to. We were planning to fly to Jacksonville on Christmas Day to be with M’s parents but we weren’t able to change that one flight and keep it on the same day, so how we won’t get there until December 26. On the plus side, I got to change a few days so we will have MORE time in either Orlando or Jacksonville, And obviously SWA didn’t charge for the changes even though the new flights were more expensive than the original flights.

Like I said, this won’t affect our August trip(s) but this will definitely make us reconsider future travel and ever using Southwest again. I’ve been a huge Southwest fangirl for years, mostly because they have good flights between Newark and Orlando and no change fees. Now that they’re not flying to Newark anymore I am looking into JetBlue (which has more flights anyway) for future trips.

All that said I realize I am extremely lucky to be able to travel frequently enough that this is a “problem” for me.

We’re in the same boat.... errr plane.
Southwest cut directs to MCO and ATL for us. I really enjoyed flying with them but now they just aren’t going where I want/need to.

 

[bee]

OK.. I'm going to play devils advocate on behalf of the airline for a moment... they are really struggling because of the 737 Max being down for so long. It really bites that they took away your routes though. I totally understand.

I realize it’s not their fault and it’s a whole big unfortunate situation that affects a lot of people. It just sucks that they are ending service to an entire (very busy) airport. Ah well, life goes on...

We’re in the same boat.... errr plane.
Southwest cut directs to MCO and ATL for us. I really enjoyed flying with them but now they just aren’t going where I want/need to.

Wow, that’s surprising to me!

 

[bee]

My brother and I were strategizing for GE opening day and imagining all the ridiculous line possibilities...and it turned into this:

 

[bee]

So. For the GE preview, we were able to change our 8/21 flight to a late flight on 8/20 at no extra cost. We will land near midnight on 8/20 so instead of spending Disney prices for a short night, we found a basic hotel near MCO with a free shuttle and free breakfast for $51! Now our plans look like this:

Tuesday 8/20
Late flight to MCO
Shuttle to airport hotel

Wednesday 8/21
Breakfast at airport hotel
Shuttle to MCO
DME to ASSp
Check in, leave bag(s)
EPCOT! Activate APs, buy Tables card
FPs: LWTL and Soarin’
Boat or walk to DHS
STAR WARS!!!!!
Maybe late EMH at MK
Back to ASSp and crash

8/22
Check out ASSp
Bus to EPCOT for a couple hours
Bus to ASSp
DME to MCO
Afternoon flight home

8/23
Do laundry and PACK!

8/24
Proceed with big trip as planned

 

[krisri18]

So. For the GE preview, we were able to change our 8/21 flight to a late flight on 8/20 at no extra cost. We will land near midnight on 8/20 so instead of spending Disney prices for a short night, we found a basic hotel near MCO with a free shuttle and free breakfast for $51! Now our plans look like this:

Tuesday 8/20
Late flight to MCO
Shuttle to airport hotel

Wednesday 8/21
Breakfast at airport hotel
Shuttle to MCO
DME to ASSp
Check in, leave bag(s)
EPCOT! Activate APs, buy Tables card
FPs: LWTL and Soarin’
Boat or walk to DHS
STAR WARS!!!!!
Maybe late EMH at MK
Back to ASSp and crash

8/22
Check out ASSp
Bus to EPCOT for a couple hours
Bus to ***
DME to MCO
Afternoon flight home

8/23
Do laundry and PACK!

8/24
Proceed with big trip as planned

It's so crazy it just might work!

 

[Rista1313]

So. For the GE preview, we were able to change our 8/21 flight to a late flight on 8/20 at no extra cost. We will land near midnight on 8/20 so instead of spending Disney prices for a short night, we found a basic hotel near MCO with a free shuttle and free breakfast for $51! Now our plans look like this:

Tuesday 8/20
Late flight to MCO
Shuttle to airport hotel

Wednesday 8/21
Breakfast at airport hotel
Shuttle to MCO
DME to ASSp
Check in, leave bag(s)
EPCOT! Activate APs, buy Tables card
FPs: LWTL and Soarin’
Boat or walk to DHS
STAR WARS!!!!!
Maybe late EMH at MK
Back to ASSp and crash

8/22
Check out ASSp
Bus to EPCOT for a couple hours
Bus to ***
DME to MCO
Afternoon flight home

8/23
Do laundry and PACK!

8/24
Proceed with big trip as planned

Whew that's tiring.. you are going to need your big trip to relax... HAHAHAHA!

 

[bee]

So now it looks like my brother will be coming down for the first weekend of the big trip and staying offsite with a few of his local friends Friday and Saturday night then driving back Sunday, so he and I (and all of the people) will hang out on Saturday 8/24. I added him to our Tokyo Dining lunch that day and I was also able to add him to all the FPs that everyone has in Epcot that day. I've never had FPs for SIX people at once before!

 

[Loco_driver]

All caught up. Your pics from London are amazing! Sounds like you’ll have a pretty fun but hectic trip this month!

 

[dizfan917]

So now it looks like my brother will be coming down for the first weekend of the big trip and staying offsite with a few of his local friends Friday and Saturday night then driving back Sunday, so he and I (and all of the people) will hang out on Saturday 8/24. I added him to our Tokyo Dining lunch that day and I was also able to add him to all the FPs that everyone has in Epcot that day. I've never had FPs for SIX people at once before!

We had 13 for every FastPass during our trip last July! It worked out surprisingly smoothly and we all had a GREAT time! Hopefully your experience is the same.

 

[bee]

I'd love to wrap up my mini London TR before I go to WDW!!!

Day 6, cont.

After the rose garden we walked a few blocks to board a bus toward Hyde Park.

CAN YOU SPOT THE ???

 

[bee]

Day 6, cont.

 

[bee]

Day 6, cont.

After the park we took a bus back to our hotel. We were some of the first on the bus so we had our pick of seats, and of course we chose the very front!

When we got off the bus we passed by a little grocery store which had these out front:

@Darstarr (This was taken BEFORE the whole avocado/guacamole business in your TR I believe, but now I can't help but think of you!)

Back at the Marriott:

We were just in time for tea time!

This lemon cake was SOOO. GOOOOOD. It was perfectly moist and had the right balance of sweet and tart. The little cheesecake was good also but the lemon cake. Oh, the lemon cake.

 

[Rista1313]

I can agree I love lemon cake! And LOL about the

 

[MinnieM123]

About that red mailbox -- reminds me of a trip I took to Ireland quite a few years ago. My friends and I wanted to mail some postcards, and we asked the owner of the B&B (where we were staying), where we could fine one. He told us a location a few streets away, and we looked around and around -- no mailbox. Hmm.

Finally, we saw a person put an envelope in a green, upright pipe on the sidewalk (that's the only way I can describe this thing! ). Anyway, it was the Irish version of a mailbox (a little bit like the red one in London, although the London one was slightly more identifiable). We all had a good laugh over this, as we must have driven by at least 5 pipes on sidewalks, during our travels that day!

 

[bee]

PS Does anyone else see the resemblance between the building in these photos, and the Riviera Resort?

 

[bee]

Day 6, cont.

We had dinner in the lounge but I didn't take any pics as it was mostly the same stuff as previous nights (cheese, hummus, salads, etc.). After dinner we spent the rest of the night in our room watching movies on TV and watching the sunset out the window.

By the end of the night it was raining but we could still see the sunset!

 

[bee]

Day 7: Monday, May 27 (last full day)

This morning we only had coffee in the lounge as we had plans to have a full English breakfast at a nearby pub called The Old Bell. They had a vegetarian version for under 3 pounds! Yes please!

We seated ourselves, then ordered both food and drinks at the bar. When we ordered we told the bartender our table number and then paid him upfront. He gave us our beers and then we took them back to the table to wait for our food to come from the kitchen.

Breakfast, with veggie sausage

After the pub we walked back to the room to change, because our plans today required slightly dressier attire and we planned to be out all day. Then we went back out to wait for the bus to the city center.

We waited no more than five minutes and were soon on our way!

Stradivariu(s)

 

[Spash007]

Hold up - beer with breakfast? I have no objections (actually I think it's pretty brilliant - it looks like Apple Juice right?), but I don't even know if that's an option in the States! Is that customary in the UK?