The one I am DEFINITELY planning! Background and Pre-trip

The Trip

2 weeks including time at Disney in November, this trip will include an appearance from Jennifer and Tom.

Rob and I are flying to Tampa with BA and have upgraded to Premium economy because we both prefer it and the price wasn’t too bad this time.

We are staying the first night at Hampton Inn Tampa Airport/Westshore before driving to Orlando. Car is booked with Discount Florida Car Hire.

We will then spend 2 nights at the Rosen Shingle Creek, a hotel we have stayed at several times but not for a few years.

We are both looking forward to returning as we should be able to get some NYPD pizza for the first time in a few years (and yes, I know we could have got some on our last few trips but we never managed to). But it will be across the road this time!

We then move to Disney for 4 nights and will be joined by Jennifer and Tom. I’ll cover this later as it was not straightforward and might be why I am excited….!

After Disney, Jennifer and Tom fly home and we are staying 1 night in Rosen Inn at Pointe.

We are leaving Orlando the next day and aren’t sure what we will be doing so it didn’t make sense to book anywhere expensive.

We then drive to Fort Lauderdale where we are dropping off the car and checking into The Westin for 1 night.

We will hopefully arrive fairly early so we can make use of the facilities including the pool which looks amazing.

We are then boarding Liberty of the Seas for a 4-night Bahamas & Perfect Day cruise in a suite guarantee (which means we will get a Junior Suite).

This is the same itinerary we were going to get on our COVID affected trip in 2022 and we are both looking forward to visiting Cococay which is the Royal Caribbean private island.

We were only having a balcony cabin on that trip but apparently Rob can’t do that now!

We will likely stay on the ship at Nassau as we have been there before and weren’t that keen.

After the cruise we will drive from Fort Lauderdale to Tampa for 1 night (I really must book a car!) where we are staying in another Westin.

Then we fly home  but at least we are in premium so it will be slightly comfier.

Disney

I started booking this trip at the 11-month point (as any good DVC member would) which meant booking our home resort which as most will know is Bay Lake Tower.

Because we only have 100 points (and we had already used some of them for our last trip) the maximum amount we had was 166.

That meant we couldn’t afford a 2 bed for the 4 nights that we need so I booked 2 lake view studios and at least ensured we had somewhere to stay but obviously it wouldn’t be our preference as we really wanted a 2 bed.

As we approached the 7-month window I was stalking the DVC site regularly to see what might be available that we could afford – we would need to purchase some one time use points to secure our preference.

The options that we could afford in order to preference were:

1. Copper Creek
2. Boulder Ridge
3. Boardwalk
4. Beach Club
5. Animal Kingdom Lodge (std view only)
6. Saratoga Springs
7. Old Key West

As the day approached it was all looking good and most on the list were available (I think Beach Club was the only one that was not).

I booked time off work (just an hour in my day as a late lunch) so that I was ready – I would have to call to secure the room.

2pm arrived and I checked availability (before I called) and only 5 – 7 on the list were available 

Now they are all still amazing resorts but we really wanted something either walkable to a park or in the Magic Kingdom area (CC and BR – looking at you!)

Feeling a bit deflated I consulted Rob and we decided to book AKL standard, which I could do online as the standard view was actually cheaper than the 2 studios. I decided not to tell Jennifer and Tom and just keep checking back.

I went back to work and did some more work before the end of the day – just yuck!

I have been checking the DVC resort obsessively (it has only been about a week!), sometimes multiple times a day! Both CC and BR had some availability – maybe 2 days but for a 4-night trip we did not want a split stay and even if we did I couldn’t get all 4 nights in our favourites.

Yesterday I was having a particularly rubbish Friday working from home, I was tired and grumpy (had a late-night Thursday!) and somehow was still working at 6pm. Rob had gone to see his dad as I was going out with some friends.

I turned off my work laptop and turned on the tv before getting ready and did my usual check on the DVC site.

I almost dropped my phone when it showed a 2 bed at Copper Creek as available for our dates. 

I started dialling member services while trying to find my member number – this whole online card is a pain but luckily I kept my original membership card and carry it in my purse 

I just managed to find my number as the cast member answered my call. He checked availability and confirmed it was available to book.

A couple of minutes later and it was booked! I am so excited! It will be our first ever trip to Copper Creek (in fact we’ve never visited Wilderness Lodge at all) and only our 2nd trip in a 2 bedroom. 

I’ve added these ‘images’ from the DVC site!

Rob is typically understated about this – although I know he is actually pleased but I am bouncing off the walls and we don’t go for 7 months!

So, now I need to research room requests for Copper Creek. I have seen that the top floor has ‘dormer’ balconies that don’t look very appealing so I need to find out what request to put in to avoid them (that is more sophisticated than ‘not top floor’).