So...how did this trip come about? Well… about a year into pandemic education (ok...February of this year?), I started getting serious about figuring out how to unwind from this insanity. Living in New England, that pretty much required going South. Life’s been pretty intense up here. I started throwing around some options and decided a laid back trip to Orlando sounded good...try some new to me restaurants around Disney, do some water parks, maybe do one Disney park day. Might even stay off site.
I booked 3 or 4 different hotel options, some onsite, some offsite, some “offsite” but within Disney proper, and continued to weigh my options. All options were planned for August 7-12, which allowed me to work the entire summer school program, and still have time for quarantine before school starts again, if that was still mandatory (thankfully it’s not).
And then Disney announced the dates for Food and Wine Festival. And then I started diving into this whole concept of parks opening earlier for guests on Disney buses. And then the cheapest onsite stay was the one where I ended up with a 5 day hopper for the price of 3 days. But I did maintain the idea of doing a water park, and booked Aquatica for a day. The price of the ticket and all day dining was less than a ticket into Blizzard Beach.
So...August 7-12, I’ll be staying at All Star Movies, with 5 day hoppers, and a day at Aquatica. I made a bunch of dining reservations for places I hadn’t yet tried, and even scored a ticket to opening night of Boo Bash, this year’s Halloween event. I made my plans, and, well...suddenly this trip is not so laid back. I’m not even going to try to outline the plan here. My Google doc with my plans was like 2 pages long. And that doesn’t include the Google doc of Food and Wine festival treats to try.
The months turned to weeks, then days. The Covid cases started surging again, particularly in FL. I started debating the trip, but Nick and I decided I should still go. I packed mountains of masks, wads of wipes and (I’m blanking on an appropriate s-word here) loads of sanitizer. I played the rental car price stalking game after Hertz decided they were no longer honoring their Mousesavers CDP and presumably with people cancelling due to the Delta surge, I got a rental car for less than $250 for the duration of my trip. Check prices daily folks! And be flexible in your car category choice.
And pretty soon, it was finally time to make my return to the house of mouse, for the first time since late February 2020. To say I was ready would be an understatement.
And then Disney announced the dates for Food and Wine Festival. And then I started diving into this whole concept of parks opening earlier for guests on Disney buses. And then the cheapest onsite stay was the one where I ended up with a 5 day hopper for the price of 3 days. But I did maintain the idea of doing a water park, and booked Aquatica for a day. The price of the ticket and all day dining was less than a ticket into Blizzard Beach.
So...August 7-12, I’ll be staying at All Star Movies, with 5 day hoppers, and a day at Aquatica. I made a bunch of dining reservations for places I hadn’t yet tried, and even scored a ticket to opening night of Boo Bash, this year’s Halloween event. I made my plans, and, well...suddenly this trip is not so laid back. I’m not even going to try to outline the plan here. My Google doc with my plans was like 2 pages long. And that doesn’t include the Google doc of Food and Wine festival treats to try.
The months turned to weeks, then days. The Covid cases started surging again, particularly in FL. I started debating the trip, but Nick and I decided I should still go. I packed mountains of masks, wads of wipes and (I’m blanking on an appropriate s-word here) loads of sanitizer. I played the rental car price stalking game after Hertz decided they were no longer honoring their Mousesavers CDP and presumably with people cancelling due to the Delta surge, I got a rental car for less than $250 for the duration of my trip. Check prices daily folks! And be flexible in your car category choice.
And pretty soon, it was finally time to make my return to the house of mouse, for the first time since late February 2020. To say I was ready would be an understatement.
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