Looking Forward To More Than One Disney Vacation!

We are very grateful to be looking forward to more than one Disney vacation in the coming months.  Disney's Magical Express has sent us the luggage tags for more than one upcoming trip!

The trip to come first is a spring break jaunt to Walt Disney World.  We will be celebrating the husband's Birthday--who we have decided has celebrated more Birthdays at Walt Disney World than any of the rest of us!  We're staying at Disney's Coronado Springs for the first time since the summer of 2016.  Coronado Springs is undergoing refurbishment and building a multi-story tower of rooms to add to the resort.  Click here to read more about staying at Coronado Springs.

Our Fastpasses have been selected for this trip and grocery delivery is all set.  Packing is the what's left for this trip--that and making the husband his set of trip cards.

Some things that we are looking forward to during this trip include:

• Dining at Raglan Road and House of Blues, both restaurants at Disney Springs.  
• A parade viewing and dining combo package at the Magic Kingdom featuring lunch at Tony's on Town Square and reserved viewing location for Festival of Fantasy Parade.  I did not know this offering existed until I was making Dining Reservations and uncovered it in the list of options.  We'll let you know how it goes.
• Backstage Magic Tour  which is a new for us experience and includes a 7 hour tour that includes at least two parks, experiencing the utilidors at the Magic Kingdom, and lunch at Whispering Canyon at Disney's Wilderness Lodge.  An Annual Pass discount was available for this tour.
• Highway in the Sky Dine Around which is a 5 course progressive dinner of sorts that starts at The Contemporary and stops at all monorail resorts for a course and returns to The Contemporary for dessert and fireworks viewing.  This, too, is new to us.  We have been looking at this unique opportunity since last spring and either it wasn't offered while we were at Walt Disney World or it had no availability.    

The next countdown is for another trip to Walt Disney World.  We're staying at Disney's Pop Century, our fourth stay at this resort.  Click here to read about staying at Pop Century.  Some different experiences for this trip include:

• Discovering Enzo's Hideaway Bar at Disney Springs.  No reservations are accepted so it's show up and see what happens.  Enzo's has a "Sunday Supper" offering that is on our agenda.
• The opening of Toy Story Land at Disney's Hollywood Studios!
• Taking Disney Cruise Line Transports from resort to port.  Taking the transports is not new to us, but we usually take the transport from the airport and arrive early at the port.  We're going to change things up this trip and take the transport from the resort, which will having us arrive at the port later--sometime after lunch.  

Which brings us to the next countdown and that is for a 5 night sailing on the Disney Dream.  We booked this cruise while on board last summer.  The itinerary includes two days at Castaway Cay, our favorite itinerary--click here to read more.

I read an article  about the positive effects of vacations and how cruises have a long-term positive effect for up to 6 months after the cruise.  I agree!

When we disembark the cruise, we're headed to Disney's Grand Floridian Resort for a 2-night stay.   This stay is complimentary to Disney as an apology gesture for some bumps in our vacation last summer.  We've known about a 2 night complimentary stay since last summer and decided to use it almost a year later.  What we're specifically looking forward to while staying at the Grand Floridian:

• Exploring a new resort.  We've been to the Grand Floridian many times for dining, but have never stayed there, so exploring is on our agenda!
• Getting tickets for the 4th of July Celebration at the Grand Floridian that includes steak & shrimp fry along with 4th of July fireworks watching at a reserved location.  Last year, the tickets went on sale May 8.  I've got my eyes peeled for any releases!  I called Walt Disney World and the event is in their system but they are not booking it yet.  
• Trying Beaches & Cream, a restaurant located at Disney's Beach Club Resort.  We have a reservation for this restaurant for us first timers.

When people ask us why we keep going back, the lists above are just some of the reasons!  Walt Disney World has so many offerings and changes things up regularly so that there are new experiences for us to discover.

Multiple Countdowns for Multiple Upcoming Trips

Even before we left on our Summer Vacation in July, I had already purchased airfare for two more trips--well, round trip airfare for one and half the airfare for the other.  And now, we're managing multiple countdowns and planning for more than one trip.

The trip furthest away is a celebratory birthday jaunt to Walt Disney World, but due to the Disney planning calendar--180 days prior--the planning for this trip came first.  I asked the guys to give me one restaurant to put onto our list.  The boy, without hesitating, said Tony's.  The husband, after thinking about it awhile asked for Garden Grill.  'Ohanas, Crystal Palace, Rose & Crown, Tusker House, and 50's Prime Time Cafe round out the other dining locations.

The trip that is happening first, a seven night sailing on the Disney Fantasy, requires planning attention next.  Since we are Gold Castaway Club members we can make reservations for Port Adventures and on board experiences such as the spa or adult dining 105 days prior to our sailing if when paid in full. 

So now we need to look closely at port adventures.  Right now the top runners are a Cozumel Beach Break at Playa Mia Grand Beach and Water Park and  River Tubing in Falmouth, Jamaica.  Some of our criteria for selecting port adventures is the value of the experience, the length of time--Does the travel time to the port adventure last longer than the experience?  And is it something that all of us would enjoy? Right now the husband has his eye on the water bicycle that is include in the Cozumel Beach Break.

Soon it will be time for us to check-in online for our cruise; filling out the required paperwork online.  And since the boy has a new Passport, we need to update that information as well.

As a part of our cruise, we needed pre and post cruise one night hotel stays.  Our fantastic travel agent is on this and we have reservations at the Hyatt at Orlando International Airport.  The location of this hotel could not be any more convenient. 

Another day in the countdown I need to keep track of is the 60 day before Walt Disney World so we can make Fastpass + selections.  My current calculations indicate that we will be sailing on the Disney Fantasy when the 60 day mark arrives.  A dilemma.  Do we purchase wi-fi on the ship and make our plans using the app on my phone or do we wait until we disembark?   When I posed this question to a message board group I am a member of, the results were mostly to wait unless we can get in on a free wi-fi offer the first day on the ship.

It's exciting to anticipate an upcoming Disney vacation.  It's doubly exciting to have two upcoming Disney vacations!