11 Nights for Trip 11

It has been seven weeks since our last visit to Walt Disney World and our plane tickets are purchased for our next trip—trip number 11!  As one reader would say, the best way to get over the post trip blues is to plan another trip.  And, we actually booked this trip less than 180 days prior and missed the day when we could make our Advanced Dining Reservations, but we were still able to get all the ADR’s we wanted. ( I don’t think I have ever planned a trip with less than six months notice.)

Our trip will consist of 11 nights—ironic since it is trip number 11—and 12 days.  Where are we staying?  Right now, Port Orleans French Quarter—click here to read more.  I say “right now” because if a special were to be released from Disney that required us to switch resorts to take advantage of the special, we would switch resorts in a heartbeat.  Not that we don’t enjoy Port Olreans French Quarter, we do.  We are just willing to make a switch to take advantage of savings.  And, we might just discover another resort we enjoy.

Our flights are nonstop which pleases the husband very much, and we got a great rate--$220 per person round trip.  Finding a Park-n-Fly stay in our city of departure is next on my list of things to do and then we are all set.

We have some “new to us” experiences planned:

• Dining at Nine Dragons in EPCOT.  In our continued quest to dine around World Showcase, the China Pavilion will be our next conquest.  Only Italy and Mexico are left.  Oh well, a reason for another trip!
• The New Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom will require exploring.  We’ve seen the pictures, watched the videos, and heard the tales of the new offerings, but it now time for us to discover them for ourselves.
• Dining at Be Our Guest for dinner is one of our ADR’s.  Initially we had a very late reservation and were told it was the only one, so we kept it and were going to plan accordingly.  Then, when we added another day onto our trip, our travel agent called to make another dining reservation for us and checked our Be Our Guest ADR only to discover an earlier time had opened up.  Yippee!  This is the dining experience the boy is most looking forward to.  I think it has something to do with the fact that it is inside The Beast’s Castle, not some girly princess’ castle.
• Blizzard Beach.  While we have been to Typhoon Lagoon twice—click here to read more—we have yet to try Blizzard Beach.  We are actually going to both water parks this trip.
• We will be celebrating our 11^th anniversary—oh, another 11—on this trip and have reservations at Spirit of Aloha the evening of our anniversary.  It took our family two evenings to discuss and decide between Hoop Dee Do and Spirit of Aloha.  We are looking forward to this new adventure.
• Wishes Preferred Viewing Reservations at the Magic Kingdom—As a AAA member and booking a travel package through AAA, a member benefit is reserved preferred viewing for Wishes.  The spot is near the Plaza Restaurant and can be reserved 180 days in advance of your stay.  The problems we have encountered before were black out dates and no availability.  Knowing preferred viewing was a member benefit, we asked for it to be booked at the time we made our dining reservations rather than waiting until our package booklet came in the mail (2-3 weeks prior to a trip) and attempting to reserve a spot at that point only to discover there was no availability. 
• I must admit that part of my desire for a longer trip was getting to reap the benefits of Photopass + (click here to read more).  The husband doesn’t know this, but the dining reservations we booked were in part due to the photo taken at the restaurant could be added to our Photopass + and already I am bargaining with the boy about riding Expedition Everest or Tower of Terror so that I can get the ride photos!  I just can’t wait to try this out and know that we will definitely get our money’s worth with a longer stay.

The packing list is made and I must admit that packing for a summer trip is much easier than any other season—shorts, shirts, shoes/sandals, swimsuits.  We’ve even picked up a couple of new sets of matching shirts. 

I also know that it will most likely be a year between this trip and our next magical Disney vacation, so the cameras will be snapping plenty of photos for Williams Family Blog posts and “Where in the World” photos.  The husband has already been warned about potential symptoms of Disney withdraw.

Will keep you “posted”. . .