Pre-Trip Our first ever DELUXE break from real life: a Jan-Feb 2016 PTR

SPOILER! We originally booked for CBR, as you'll read below, but ended up upgrading to OKW!!! Our first ever deluxe stay. Can't wait!

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Hi! So, here I am, planning yet another trip. I just finished our January 2015 TR, which you can read here. I've already been planning this next trip, but couldn't stand the thought of writing a pre-trip before the other TR was done. So here we go.

I was talking to mom a few weeks ago, after accidentally browsing around resort reservations and OOPS finding a good deal for CBR... so we mentioned it to dad, and booked! It'll be my fifth trip, mom's sixth, and also dad's fifth, I think.

I'm actually surprised that dad wants to come along again this year, since he normally likes to be a bit more "worldly" than hitting up WDW year after year, but he loved everything about the trip last year so didn't hesitate to jump on board with us again.

So far, we have a room-only reservation for CBR from January 27-February 6, 2016. We stumbled across Play, Stay, Dine and Save last year, and we're hoping for a similar ticket + dining package to add to our room reservation over the next few months. I'm sure we'll find something between now and late fall. We're not super excited about going to CBR instead of POR or POFQ, but the price difference was about $40 per night, so for now, we'll stick with it! If prices change, we'll likely move. Really, it's only for the water taxi service to DTD, which we absolutely love. My family actually stayed at CBR once before (without me!) and they liked it, so I'm sure it would be fine.

Here's the cast of the trip, all in red, from our 2015 trip.



Our plan is as follows. I managed to get most of our ADRs made this morning, at the 180 day mark, minus the Fantasmic Dinner Package at Mama Melrose's, Akershus, and Trail's End. I called to see what the problem was, and was told that they're blocked at the moment but may open up in a few days. So I'll keep trying.

Wed, Jan 27
-Early morning drive to YHZ, Halifax, Nova Scotia
-Direct flight (on points!) lands at MCO at 7pm
-DME to CBR (or POR/POFQ if we end up switching)
-Quick service at the resort (the Shutters menu doesn't turn my crank and we'll be tired anyway)

Thurs, Jan 28
-Magic Kingdom day 1
-Cinderella's Royal Table: booked for 6:40pm; I hear the food is sometimes sub-par, but mom has her heart set on eating in the castle and it will be cool just to experience the atmosphere; we don't really care about meeting characters but I'm sure it'll be entertaining and worth a few pics!
-Wishes at 8

Fri, Jan 29
-EPCOT day 1
-Les chefs de France: booked for 6:10pm; another one of mom's choices
-IllumiNations at 9

Sat, Jan 30
-Animal Kingdom (AM extra magic hours - see the animals while they're active!)
-Rainforest Café: booked for 5:45pm; I'm not super excited about the menu, but mom really wants to give it a shot.

Sun, Jan 31
-Hollywood Studios (AM extra magic hours)
-Mama Melrose's (Fantasmic Dinner Package): not available to reserve until 180 days before Jan 31, so I'll try in a few days
-Fantasmic at 7

Mon, Feb 1
-Potential day off/Downtown Disney/resort hopping
-The Turf Club at Saratoga Springs: booked for 5:35pm; my pick, mostly because I really want to see SSR!

Tues, Feb 2
-EPCOT day 2 (PM extra magic hours)
-Lunch at Beaches and Cream at the Beach Club: booked for 12:50pm
-Akershus (Norway): not available to reserve until 180 days before Feb 2, so I'll try in a few days
-IllumiNations at 9

Wed, Feb 3
-Magic Kingdom day 2 (PM extra magic hours)
-Be Our Guest: booked for 6:30pm; my pick, since we loved lunch there and I hear dinner is even better!
-Wishes at 8

Thurs, Feb 4
-EPCOT day 3 (AM extra magic hours)
-Trail's End at Fort Wilderness: not available to reserve until 180 days before Feb 4, so I'll try in a few days
-IllumiNations at 9

Fri, Feb 5
-Boma breakfast buffet: 10:30am; I absolutely CANNOT wait for this; we absolutely love Boma and go almost every time we're at WDW
cleardot.gif

-Magic Kingdom day 3
-Wishes at 10
(we may do AK again instead, and potentially the Wild Africa Trek!)

Sat, Feb 6
-Quick breakfast at the resort
-DME to MCO
-Flight leaves from MCO at noon; three flights total and two different carriers to get home, which may end up being a disaster, but who cares!

I have been really hoping that the new night show at AK might be started by the time we're there again, but it sounds like March 2016 is their target. Maybe I'll cross my fingers and hope for a preview? Nah, probably too ambitious.

I'm also curious what state Disney Springs will be in come the end of January. Last year, it was quite heavily under construction and not much new stuff was open yet.

Any thoughts? I am ALWAYS open to ideas, suggestions, pointers, corrections...
 
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officialtom

officialtom

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
An update on flights (and also a slight vent session... be warned!):

We booked our flights with Aeroplan points, and went with Air Canada because they're the default carrier for Aeroplan. That said, Aeroplan isn't owned directly by Air Canada anymore, which I think is a major improvement. We generally try to avoid flying Air Canada at all costs, because they are notorious for cancelling flights, having major mechanical issues (and no mechanics available to fix them), rebooking flights to impossible times, losing luggage, etc. But we decided to fly on Aeroplan points this time because there were decent flights available, and we had points burning holes in our pockets! The plan (as originally booked) was:

-Drive to Halifax the morning of Thursday, January 27
-Fly Halifax YHZ-Orlando MCO direct at 15:45

We were very excited to have a direct flight because normally we go through Toronto or Newark. Anyway, it all seemed great! That is, it all seemed great until my parents called to change their return flights. They decided that they want to stay an extra week in Orlando to visit "snowbird" friends who winter there, just like they did after our WDW trip last year. Anyway, when mom called Aeroplan to change their return flights to a week later, they told her "Actually, ma'am, you should know that your outbound flight to Orlando has been rebooked because Air Canada has decided not to offer the direct flight from Halifax to Orlando in January." WELL THEN. I'm not sure how they expected us to find out about that change, because we did not get an email or call from Aeroplan or Air Canada until mom called Aeroplan herself. I'm also unsure why we were able to book the direct flight in the first place, given that Air Canada had decided not to continue it into 2016.

That meant the new itinerary would be:

-Drive to Halifax Tuesday afternoon (and use vacation time for the afternoon off work)
-Pay for a hotel and extra day of parking for Tuesday night
-Wake up at 2:30am and fly Halifax YHZ-Toronto YYZ-Orlando MCO at 5:30am

This just would not work for us. I can't afford more time off work. And, we don't want to have to pay for a hotel Tuesday night, not to mention waking up at 2:30am! Mom didn't feel there was anything she could do, so she changed their return flights and hung up. But I thought differently and called Aeroplan back myself. I told them the story, and they apologized for Air Canada having rebooked us. They seemed as exasperated with Air Canada as we were. I ended up talking with a wonderful Aeroplan agent named Louise, who spent an hour on the phone with me solving the problem Air Canada created. She was incredibly helpful, professional, and courteous. In the end, our flight itinerary is even better and more convenient than it was originally! The new plan totally removes Halifax from the equation, allowing us to fly right out of our home airport:

-Wake up at 3:30am and fly Charlottetown YYG-Toronto YYZ-Orlando MCO at 6:00am

We don't mind waking up so early in this case because we don't need to drive 3.5 hours from Charlottetown to Halifax (in the winter!) before catching the flight. I'll just stay with my parents Tuesday night and we'll have a quick 15 minute drive to Charlottetown Airport early Wednesday morning. So in the end, despite Air Canada creating a frustrating situation, Louise at Aeroplan saved the day and has made us very happy!

Now we're just crossing our fingers that Air Canada won't decide to cancel one of the new flights we've booked.

Onward with the planning!
 
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NCO91590

NCO91590

Active Member
See you there! LOL
DH and I are spending our 10 year anniversary (sans kiddos) Feb 1 - 8. Our plans don't seem to overlap at all...except I'm planning AK on Friday.

I'm about to read your prev TR because I'm curious to know about crowd levels and weather. I've had a few friends that said crowds are low, weather was great, but I've had some mixed reports too.
 
officialtom

officialtom

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
NCO91590 said:
See you there! LOL
DH and I are spending our 10 year anniversary (sans kiddos) Feb 1 - 8. Our plans don't seem to overlap at all...except I'm planning AK on Friday.

I'm about to read your prev TR because I'm curious to know about crowd levels and weather. I've had a few friends that said crowds are low, weather was great, but I've had some mixed reports too.
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I absolutely agree with crowds low and weather great! At least last year (which was our first January trip). We're going a week or so later this year, and hoping for similar weather! I think as long as you expect it to not be hot, and that you're happy with warm days and cool evenings, you'll love it!
 
officialtom

officialtom

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sitting at home for the first Saturday night in a long time that we've had nothing to do. Bored? Slightly. But it just gives me more time to plan and read other TRs.

Reading plenty of recent positive reviews about les Chefs de France, so I'm glad we've got an ADR there early in our trip. Managed to finally get all of our ADRs, including the Mama Melrose's + Fantasmic one, although it took several calls. Seems Disney was holding back opening up the Fantasmic Dinner Package restaurants for ADRs for quite a while. The CMs on the phone had no idea why, but said they'd been getting lots of calls about it.

Now I'm impatiently waiting for Play, Stay, Dine and Save to be opened up to non-Disney Visa holders (and have I even mentioned how desperately I wish they would offer the Disney Visa in Canada???). The rumour is it'll open up on Monday, so fingers crossed. I'll likely call before heading to work to try to get the special offer added to our room-only reservation. I think I'll also mention how much we would love to switch to POR or POFQ (currently booked at CBR) if the price is right. Maybe if I get the right CM, he/she will work some magic and get us a decent room rate to go along with the PSD&S special offer. And don't get me wrong, it's not that I'm not looking forward to staying at CBR for the first time, but I'm a bit of a creature of habit...an old soul...and I know what I like! I really do think we'd miss the water taxi at the PO resorts, especially with all the changes at DTD/DS that we're looking forward to checking out.

That's all for now. Sitting here impatiently refreshing the special offers page...
 
officialtom

officialtom

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Having patience certainly pays off, although I'm one of the most impatient people I know.

Just before leaving work this morning, I went online, saw the Play, Stay & Dine offer for POR, and snagged it. We originally booked room-only for CBR because the room rate was a lot cheaper than POR. For some reason, PS&D is cheaper at POR than at CBR, so I booked at POR. It would be our first time in a royal room, which mom has wanted to try for a while. I was going to surprise her with that piece at check-in. I didn't bother cancelling the CBR room-only reservation just yet.

But.........

To throw a very magical wrench into things, I noticed that it would only cost $1,000 for us to upgrade to a deluxe studio at OKW. Split three ways, that means only $300ish each to finally get to stay at a deluxe. We've always dreamed of staying in a deluxe, so we decided to go for it. If we're going for 10 days, it makes sense to splurge...or at least that's what I'm telling myself. I called, because I didn't want to make a third reservation and risk screwing things up. The CM was super helpful and excited for us, and seemed surprised at such a good rate for OKW. She switched our PS&D reservation from POR to OKW, and cancelled the CBR one. It all only took about ten minutes, and would have been even faster if I hadn't been a bit indecisive.

We're very excited to try a new resort, which is even closer to DTD/DS, and has bigger rooms, kitchenettes, and balconies!!! Thankfully I only had to pay the $200 deposit today, so we have a few months to set aside the balance.

So we now have our flights, room, dining, park tickets (base), MDE, and ADRs all booked. Time to start planning FP+!

Long live PS&D!!!
 
officialtom

officialtom

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
And the saga continues! I got a pin code by email tonight for 30% off deluxe resort stays Jan 2-June 7, 2016. Did some googling to confirm that pin codes can be applied to existing reservations, so I called WDW Reservations and voila! Another $200 off our trip!

The CM had an awesome southern accent and she was a complete joy. Made my week!
 
officialtom

officialtom

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sitting at home on a sick day, absolutely miserable with what was a sore throat yesterday and complete sinus cold today. Thankfully the magical Buckley's pills are taking the harm off a bit.

Nothing better to do between naps than nail down some more plans for our trip. Happy to hear that the lumberjacks have been axed (lol...), although I hope they do have other jobs to go back to. It was such a terrible show, and an abysmal representation of Canada, just like the terrible circlevision video. I've ranted about that before so I'll spare you for now.

I got another pin code by email yesterday for 30% off certain deluxes, not including OKW. It includes AKL, Poly, BC, BW, and a few others. So I called and spoke to a wonderful CM who compared prices at those spots to OKW. Poly and WL were not available for our dates, and the only comparable price was AKL standard view for about $150 more than we're paying for OKW. Given how much we love the Disney Springs water taxi service, we'll stick with OKW.

I am definitely encouraged that they're still pushing the special offers and pin codes for early 2016. Hopefully that translates into some vacant rooms and low crowd levels.
 
NCO91590

NCO91590

Active Member
I've been getting nervous when reading all the fall TR's. Historically low crowds on paper, but all the parks seemed to be mobbed. Hoping that's mostly due to F&W.

Keeping my fingers crossed for Skippers Cantina ADR's to open up.
 
catmom46

catmom46

Well-Known Member
officialtom said:
Sitting at home on a sick day, absolutely miserable with what was a sore throat yesterday and complete sinus cold today. Thankfully the magical Buckley's pills are taking the harm off a bit.

Nothing better to do between naps than nail down some more plans for our trip. Happy to hear that the lumberjacks have been axed (lol...), although I hope they do have other jobs to go back to. It was such a terrible show, and an abysmal representation of Canada, just like the terrible circlevision video. I've ranted about that before so I'll spare you for now.

I got another pin code by email yesterday for 30% off certain deluxes, not including OKW. It includes AKL, Poly, BC, BW, and a few others. So I called and spoke to a wonderful CM who compared prices at those spots to OKW. Poly and WL were not available for our dates, and the only comparable price was AKL standard view for about $150 more than we're paying for OKW. Given how much we love the Disney Springs water taxi service, we'll stick with OKW.

I am definitely encouraged that they're still pushing the special offers and pin codes for early 2016. Hopefully that translates into some vacant rooms and low crowd levels.
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Bummer that you're sick! Hope you feel well soon!
 
Billy6

Billy6

Well-Known Member
Very nice! I will be down at the same time as you. My wife, son(20months) and I are taking a cruise on the Dream on the 29, so we have planned one day at MK. It looks like that day is the same as your plans(Jan 28th)!!

Have a safe and magical trip!!
 
officialtom

officialtom

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Billy6 said:
Very nice! I will be down at the same time as you. My wife, son(20months) and I are taking a cruise on the Dream on the 29, so we have planned one day at MK. It looks like that day is the same as your plans(Jan 28th)!!

Have a safe and magical trip!!
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Thanks!! You too. We may try a Disney Cruise someday, but likely not in the next few years. The ships look incredible.
 

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