Pre-Trip Treat Yo Self! (...within reason)

So I did a thing today and started making my next trip official. As a long time lurker on this site and recent fan of reading trip reports I have decided to chronicle my trip. This will be my first solo trip and it may be a bit of a secret trip (more to follow later). Since I won't be able to share my excitement with family/friends, I thought that I would share it with you all.

I'm a Xennial-aged lady hailing( ) from the Mid West. This upcoming trip will be my 8th to WDW. There's a couple of reasons for this trip (as if you really need a reason) but the main one is a celebration. A celebration of being done paying off my student loans. Barring some unforeseen disaster I should be done the same month as the trip. The total amount was pretty substantial (like 6 figures) and doesn't include the Master's degree that I bankrolled for my DH during the same time frame.

I wanted to use some of my soon-to-be reallocated disposal income on something frivolous and something very me-centric. WDW seems like a perfect match. The thread title is my trip motto: Treat yo self! (...within reason). Not 'staying in Polynesian bungalow' sort of treat yo self, but more so the 'paying the extra $40 to not fly Spirit' sort.

T-minus 150 days.

 

[awhit066]

Congrats on paying off your student loans, that's so exciting! I've always dreamed of taking a solo trip (but haven't gotten the nerve to do it). You've left me very curious about the secrecy of your trip. Can't wait to learn more.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Rationale for the solo trip part:

My work has instituted a 'use it or lose it' policy for vacation days. There's now a cap on what you can hoard and a penalty/fee for cashing out days. My DH and I have very different work schedules and so I've tended to only really use my days for times when we both can go somewhere. Consequently, I am always hovering near that cap.

I was planning on just taking a bunch of rando days off during the year but I had a come to Jesus moment over the summer when I realized that I had gone a full calendar year between weeks of vacation. Then I got to thinking about doing a week during the winter (in addition to slightly less rando days).

I was talking this out with my DH and although he cannot go anywhere during the winter he was fully supportive of me doing so.

BES: Would it be weird to go somewhere alone?

DH: Naw, but you could always go somewhere with a friend***. How about X, Y, or Z?

BES: Preggers, has newborn, will be pregnant any moment.

DH: ....

BES: So alone it is. But where would I go? Obviously somewhere warm but what would be fun and safe?

DH: Well what about Disney?

BES:

DH: Seriously. You should. You deserve it.

End scene.

So that led to several days of scheming/planning/excel spreadsheets:

And now I have 3 nights at POP and 2 nights at POFQ booked in February.

***Notice how neither of us suggested that I go with family? Could that be a factor in the secret nature of the trip? Stay tuned...

 

[JIMINYCR]

Ive done a few solo trips in the past when for different reasons DW couldnt come. Having her consent/permission to go I jumped at the opportunities. You can accomplish a lot but at first it can be lonely having no one along to share the fun.
Keeping WDW trips secret happen more often than you think. In our case we have my sister and her family and 2 friends who are great to be with buuuut we cant vacation with any of them. We tried WDW trips with them and they were disastrous. Our styles of vacationing and how we enjoy Disney differ a lot. So by the end of WDW time I said to DW both times... NEVER again. So now when we plan a trip back we keep it hidden from them all until its too late for them to arrange to go along. Sneaky but it allows us to have a totally enjoyable trip together.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

An explanation for the secret nature of the trip:

I come from a Disney loving family and have been lucky enough to have gone on many family trips in the past. Our last one in 2017 was... unmagical. (Not katiebug level unmagical though lol)

As an adult I have developed a different travel-style and preferences than my parents and the last trip just really drove that home. (It’s not you, it’s me. But maybe a little you..) So a trip with parents is out. My favorite theme park buddy is my little brother. His vacation times are now limited by college so he’s out too.

Why can’t I just go alone but still tell the fam? I think there’d be a bit of jealousy from my mom. (Based on some reactions from when my bro and I did a trip by ourselves.) And I don’t want to be pressured/guilted into changing my mind.

As far as friends and coworkers go, I just think it’d be easier to keep this from them too. I know it doesn’t matter what others think about my trip (or my life) but just keeping this quiet would just be easier than feeling like I have to justify myself.

I think that’s it for the boring exposition posts for a while.

From here on out expect shorter posts and probably just a lot of thinking out loud as I plan.

Thanks for tuning in.

 

[MinnieM123]

An explanation for the secret nature of the trip:

I come from a Disney loving family and have been lucky enough to have gone on many family trips in the past. Our last one in 2017 was... unmagical. (Not katiebug level unmagical though lol)

As an adult I have developed a different travel-style and preferences than my parents and the last trip just really drove that home. (It’s not you, it’s me. But maybe a little you..) So a trip with parents is out. My favorite theme park buddy is my little brother. His vacation times are now limited by college so he’s out too.

Why can’t I just go alone but still tell the fam? I think there’d be a bit of jealousy from my mom. (Based on some reactions from when my bro and I did a trip by ourselves.) And I don’t want to be pressured/guilted into changing my mind.

As far as friends and coworkers go, I just think it’d be easier to keep this from them too. I know it doesn’t matter what others think about my trip (or my life) but just keeping this quiet would just be easier than feeling like I have to justify myself.

I think that’s it for the boring exposition posts for a while.

From here on out expect shorter posts and probably just a lot of thinking out loud as I plan.

Thanks for tuning in.

I think you'll have a great time! I've done a number of solo trips (4 nights, once a year), and love the freedom of doing what I want, when I want. There's plenty of other guests and CMs to chat with, if I want to. Sometimes, I like roaming around the parks and just going on whatever attractions have the shortest lines. Also, as a solo, I take advantage of the solo rider lines at many of the top park attractions. Usually I don't even bother with FastPass -- don't need it.

Going to WDW with others is also good, but I just wanted to share that it's fun to go solo, too.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Going to WDW with others is also good, but I just wanted to share that it's fun to go solo, too.

Thanks @MinnieM123 I really am looking forward to the solo nature of this trip. I plan on knocking a lot of Disney ‘firsts’ off my list this trip.

I just thought of a new one today- a drink at Trader Sam’s!

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

All this talk about ticket price changes is making me antsy. On the fence about buying them tomorrow from UT or waiting until the next MouseSavers newsletter comes out for potential additional discount.

The hotel reservations I can cancel so I feel like once I bite the bullet on tickets then there’s no turning back.

 

[tonystark]

I'm following along... potentially diving into the student loan world for grad school so I live vicariously through you having paid them off!! And going to Disney, of course

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

All this talk about ticket price changes is making me antsy. On the fence about buying them tomorrow from UT or waiting until the next MouseSavers newsletter comes out for potential additional discount.

The hotel reservations I can cancel so I feel like once I bite the bullet on tickets then there’s no turning back.

You can book a package with tickets, and lock in at current prices with a deposit.

I've got $200 down on a WDW package that includes hotel/tickets, so my price is set.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

You can book a package with tickets, and lock in at current prices with a deposit.

Yeah. I’ve been considering that option but it’s at least $40 cheaper to do them separate thru UT for me.

I’m still in a thrifty mindset. But I guess have to weigh the convenience/ peace of mind as well.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

Yeah. I’ve been considering that option but it’s at least $40 cheaper to do them separate thru UT for me.

I’m still in a thrifty mindset. But I guess have to weigh the convenience/ peace of mind as well.

What's UT?

You could also go through a travel agent. Quote them your prices and see what they come back with.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

What's UT?

Undercover tourist- they are an online Wdw authorized reseller of tickets. It’s a bit cheaper than going through Disney but I’d have to buy the tickets soon than I was anticipating and the tickets wouldn’t be as cancelable as a package thru Disney.

 

[Doc Disney]

Congratulations on paying off your loans! I can't even in my wildest dreams imagine that ever happening to me
Can not wait to hear more! I have always wanted to do a solo trip

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

I can't even in my wildest dreams imagine that ever happening to me

It can! It will! (Although judging by your handle I'm sure your total is higher than mine is/was) My unsolicited advice is:

1. Break the big amount down into smaller more tangible goals. The excitement from meeting a tiny goal is motivating.
2. Live as student-y as possible for a long as possible- but still allow yourself some fun.

Tomorrow is payday for me. Which means this weekend is payday for my loan servicer. Oh well. One payment closer.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Now at 140 days out. Much to the chagrin of my bank account I have moved pretty fast on this trip. Initially I figured I could just do room only reservations and then add in flights/tickets over the course of the fall/winter and spread out the trip cost. I was wrong. (Hopefully that's not an ongoing theme of this trip). Now I'm the proud owner of park and plane tickets.

Park Tickets:
I got paranoid about upcoming ticket prices changes and ended up buying them from Undercover Tourist.

Upside:

• easy to use UT
• tickets linked to my MDE account
• saved $40 based on the current prices
• I can retroactively feel good about this once those ticket price changes come

Downside:

• $$
• If my plans change, I'm stuck with tickets that I have to use sometime in 2019 (which is only a partial downside)

Flights:

One of the flights I was interested in sold out and the other possibilities were more than 1/2 full so then I turned my focus to plane tickets.

Turns out I was wrong again in my initial post to mock Spirit Airlines. I've flown them several times before without issue but... it's kind of hard to get excited about Spirit.

The flight timing and ease of airport parking swung this in Spirit's favorite. The cost saving was a bonus too. Especially since I didn't have to pay extra to pick a seat etc. (DH's consolation: "Well at least they're not one of the ones who have beat people, right?")

Based on various flight price trackers I could have waited and saved $60, but potentially not have gotten the flight timings that I wanted. Happened to get an email discount from Spirit yesterday so I was able to save some money and also have the security of having the flight times that work for me.

So now tickets and flights are locked down. I have my room only reservations too but will continue to creep on any discounts that might come up.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

DH misplaced his credit card this week and requested new cards. No biggie. Stuff happens.

Oh no. Wait. The plane ticket!

The transaction was still processing. What would happen to it in card number limbo?

Luckily nothing. DH had to review all the recent charges with the credit card company and make sure they were ours. Amazingly he has been paying attention to my trip rambling and knew the airline charge was legit.

All is back to status quo.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

DH is just full of surprises this week.

There might be some work changes for him in the next couple of months (hopefully) and yesterday he casually mentioned “Who knows, maybe I’ll go on this Disney trip with you...”

I mean partially I’m excited because I enjoy traveling with him and we have never been to WDW together.

The other part of me was looking forward to going solo. Oh well. It’s just a possibility on the horizon at this point.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

You might be asking yourself: “just how is BES able to finish off these loans *and* pay for a Disney trip?”

Well last week on my day off I went to work. Not just regular work. I went back to my previous job. A job I left because it was terrible. So terrible that many people have left and they are so continuously short-staffed that they let me still pick up hours there.

The bright spot is that it’s within the same organization as my current job so these counted as overtime hours. (my daddy didn’t raise no fool)

In the midst of working 14 hours (and may I remind you on my day off) the hotel deals for early 2019 came out.

Sweet Christmas! (A forum appropriate substitute for my true exclamation) That was suboptimal timing for me. I couldn’t call to adjust my reservations but was able to update via the website.

Saved money on the POP portion of my stay. For the POFQ days though there wasn’t any available rooms left by the time I was able to look. There were standard rooms at PORS though for a fair amount of savings. So I made the switch.

I love PORS and have stayed there multiple times. However as the week went on I started to doubt my switch. What if I got put in the back of the Alligator Bayou? That doesn’t feel like the best place of solo lady late night walks.

Luckily a room popped up at POFQ later in the week and I switched back. It was for a little cheaper than my original reservation but a little more than PORS would have been. Certainly worth the peace of mind though.

124 days!

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

One of my least favorite things about current Disney is the amount of pre-planning. My ideal travel style is to pick just a few things I really want to do and then just wing the rest. Now I feel like I’m getting forced into making more definite plans.

I’m going to book a tour or two this trip which is making me decide where I’ll be each day a little sooner than I would like.

Someone fuzzy was none too pleased with my planning session this morning:

“Human! The only thing you need to schedule right now is tummy rubs.”