I'm 54, and my wife and I have never been to Disney World
So why are we going? I always thought it was a kiddie park, so never gave it thought, but I had been catching coworkers talking about it, so I asked, and they are pushing me to go. I looked into it and discovered how generous Disney is towards military, even retired military, and with my airlines points almost expiring, we decided to pull the trigger. We are way way way overdue for a vacation, and as we explore sites like this and various youtube videos, we are getting really excited about our decision.
We are flying out on 9 Sep, and using a 5 day park hopper, 10-14 Sep. Our airline points paid for the flight for my wife and I. Shades of Green had a room available for all but the last night, so we will switch to the Poly for the last night, which also had a military discount, and got a generous deal on the park hopper passes through the "Salute to Military" special. We wouldn't have been able to pull this off if it wasn't for the stars aligning with the points and specials.
I feel like I did my homework and got the Magic Bands in the mail, scheduled fastpasses and made a few dining reservations... just made a recent discovery though, I was puzzled why MK closed early a couple days, at 1800?... I thought they had fireworks every night? Then I read something about the Halloween parties... Bingo! it all made sense. We purchased a party ticket for the Sunday when we arrive, now we have something to do that evening before our park hopper tickets are in effect
Bonus!
We are not getting a rental car... we need to figure out transportation to Shades of Green from the airport, but because we are staying at Poly the last night, we can use the shuttle from Poly to get us back to the airport.
One lesson learned I can already note: this isn't a vacation that should be booked on a short notice whim. I missed the planning window on some of the restaurant reservations and fast passes. I keep checking though, and was able to snag the Ohana breakfast as it surprisingly popped up just a couple days ago... still watching for Be Our Guest. The only fastpass we couldn't get was the Avatar Flight, but we will go early and wait the regular line. Can't complain, I think we did pretty good considering the fairly short notice.
I bought my wife a Stitch doll (her fav Disney char) and a shirt through the online Disney store to help build the excitement... I think it's working as she already has her suitcase contents all spread out in the spare bedroom, ready to be packed.
It was also a nice surprise to read about Epcots food and wine fest going on... looking forward to that.
I'll try to keep this report going as we make discoveries, and thanks to everyone for sharing the loads of information here!
So why are we going? I always thought it was a kiddie park, so never gave it thought, but I had been catching coworkers talking about it, so I asked, and they are pushing me to go. I looked into it and discovered how generous Disney is towards military, even retired military, and with my airlines points almost expiring, we decided to pull the trigger. We are way way way overdue for a vacation, and as we explore sites like this and various youtube videos, we are getting really excited about our decision.
We are flying out on 9 Sep, and using a 5 day park hopper, 10-14 Sep. Our airline points paid for the flight for my wife and I. Shades of Green had a room available for all but the last night, so we will switch to the Poly for the last night, which also had a military discount, and got a generous deal on the park hopper passes through the "Salute to Military" special. We wouldn't have been able to pull this off if it wasn't for the stars aligning with the points and specials.
I feel like I did my homework and got the Magic Bands in the mail, scheduled fastpasses and made a few dining reservations... just made a recent discovery though, I was puzzled why MK closed early a couple days, at 1800?... I thought they had fireworks every night? Then I read something about the Halloween parties... Bingo! it all made sense. We purchased a party ticket for the Sunday when we arrive, now we have something to do that evening before our park hopper tickets are in effect
Bonus!We are not getting a rental car... we need to figure out transportation to Shades of Green from the airport, but because we are staying at Poly the last night, we can use the shuttle from Poly to get us back to the airport.
One lesson learned I can already note: this isn't a vacation that should be booked on a short notice whim. I missed the planning window on some of the restaurant reservations and fast passes. I keep checking though, and was able to snag the Ohana breakfast as it surprisingly popped up just a couple days ago... still watching for Be Our Guest. The only fastpass we couldn't get was the Avatar Flight, but we will go early and wait the regular line. Can't complain, I think we did pretty good considering the fairly short notice.
I bought my wife a Stitch doll (her fav Disney char) and a shirt through the online Disney store to help build the excitement... I think it's working as she already has her suitcase contents all spread out in the spare bedroom, ready to be packed.
It was also a nice surprise to read about Epcots food and wine fest going on... looking forward to that.
I'll try to keep this report going as we make discoveries, and thanks to everyone for sharing the loads of information here!
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. Enjoy!
