I looked up the airline fares and all were fair but not good. We opted to use miles for one ticket a

My husband is a life long Monkees fan. Last year we were lucky enough aaa hotel discounts missouri to be able to see Davy Jones at Epcot as part of the Flower Power Concert Series. We were in Florida to do a cruise on the Dream, but our timing worked out for us to be able to do this as well. This show was really a lot of fun. It was just a great family moment, the three of us enjoying a Davy Jones show. I saw that this year he was going to be playing on the first weekend of the Star Wars weekend. I joked to my husband, We should go see Davy and do Star Wars weekend this year. It was joking because we had no plans to be there this year and all vacation time is spoken for. We shelved it and didnt think anything of it until the sad news on February 29th that Davy had passed away. My husband was mourning the man and his music. I was mourning the fact that our family aaa hotel discounts missouri would never have a chance to do a fun family show like that again.
Before anything aaa hotel discounts missouri was decided I asked my husband if he wanted to go if Micky Dolenz (the other Monkee that actively tours) was the replacement. He said maybe but we werent actually planning on anything. The rumor he had heard on various Monkees sites was the David Cassidy might be the replacement. When the news was announced that Micky was the replacement, we knew we had to be there. We opted to do a quick trip and leave Nathan at home with Grandma and Grandpa. (Dont cry too hard for him, he did a 7 night cruise in April and has the DCL Panama Canal cruise next year. I have a sneaking suspicion well be back in November for MA too). We decided that flying out on Thursday morning and coming home on Sunday would probably be the best timing in terms of days and not too many nights away from Nathan. Glenns mom lives in Orlando and we figured the day flight (as opposed to the redeye) would give us an extra chance to have dinner aaa hotel discounts missouri with her, but alas, she is out of town that weekend.
We knew we would want to be in the Epcot resort area if at all possible since the concerts and Star Wars weekend would be our main focus. We are DVC members, but figured the odds of something available aaa hotel discounts missouri there would be long, so we also looked at Swan and Dolphin, but they were very booked and did not have great rates for that weekend. We were surprised aaa hotel discounts missouri at how much selection was still available with DVC though given that we were only booking 2 months out. The selection was limited, but there were still some options available. We thought SSR would be our only choice. We wanted a studio, but were able to book a garden view one bedroom at Boardwalk! We were very happy with that. More room (in terms of space and amenities) than we needed on a trip like this, but the location is exactly where we wanted aaa hotel discounts missouri to be and because aaa hotel discounts missouri of timing, we felt like we had a couple extra points in the DVC bank, so a 1 bedroom it is!
I looked up the airline fares and all were fair but not good. We opted to use miles for one ticket and pay for the other. I was thisclose to being able to upgrade us to first class one way (something that weve never done), but the ticket situation didnt allow it.
We debated whether to get a car or not. Magical Express is available and without our son (and his wheelchair), wed be a little more flexible with getting around. (Because of the WC, we typically rent a van.). (Just a note, all WDW busses are WC accessible, we just find that wed rather drive than have to do multiple transfers with the WC, which can take a long time and be tiring.) As our plans developed, we determined aaa hotel discounts missouri that a car would probably be a good thing to have since we ended up planning stuff in the MK area. I figured that as a portion of the travel budget, a car wouldnt be that expensive since we didnt need a van, just something with 4 wheels. Turns out that wasnt the case. Cars were fairly aaa hotel discounts missouri expensive. I was trying various codes to see what I could come up with and on their site (no code required) Budget had a weekend aaa hotel discounts missouri rental of a mid size SUV for $22 per day! That meets the requirements. So the car was booked. A couple of days before we left, I started getting emails from all the travel aaa hotel discounts missouri sites with updated and better rental car rates. We debated a couple different options, but ended up switching to Avis for basically the same rate for a full sized car. We preferred a car to an SUV and I have the card to get preferred service with Avis, so no having to wait in line.
We used to be big fans of the Disney Dining Plan, we used to love prepaying aaa hotel discounts missouri our meals and thought it was a great value. As the price increased and things starting falling off the plan, we were less in love with it, but have used it here and there. We knew we wanted to eat at a lot of sit down restaurants, so the DDP seemed to be making sense. When Glenn was booking the room with DVC, he discussed the DDP with the agent and decided to book the deluxe dining plan. That includes three sitdowns aaa hotel discounts missouri and two snacks per day. That seems like a lot of food, so we booked two restaurants that require two credits. We built our schedule aaa hotel discounts missouri around doing a bunch of sitdowns. We will be eating aaa hotel discounts missouri three meals a day. We are doing somewhat early breakfasts, somewhat late lunches and late dinners. We hope that works. We enjoy a full meal, so we think well get a good value out of it, but it remains to be seen if we can eat that much food.
The last thing to figure out was admission media. We live in Los Angeles and are Disneyland Annual Pass holders. And our renewal is in April, so this decision would dovetail around that as well. Simple math told us that a Premier Pass would be the best for Glenn since he always gets a DL Premium annual passport and the cost to upgrade to the Premier was less than a three day ticket. It was less clear for me since I typically get a DL Deluxe aaa hotel discounts missouri passport. Really the decision hinges on whether we think we will make it back in November or not. If so, then the Premier pass makes the most sense, if not a three day non hopper is the cheapest.
Just as we were in the meat of our planning we happened to see one of those Hidden Disney specials. On this particular one they talked about the various tours that were available. We always knew about them, but for whatever reason, Glenn was really struck with doing the Keys to the Kingdom tour. Ive always wanted to do the Behind the Seeds tour at Epcot, so we decided aaa hotel discounts missouri to do those on our trip as well.
Friday, May 18th, walk to Epcot, have breakfast at Seasons, do the Behind the Seeds tour, tour Future World until our 1PM ressie at Rose and Crown. After lunch, tour WS in conjunction with waiting in line for and watching the Micky Dolenz shows. We are hoping to do at least two of them. It is EMH at Epcot that night, we are going to see Illuminations and then do a late dinner at Les Chefs de France. aaa hotel discounts missouri We are hoping aaa hotel discounts missouri the special cheese chef is working that evening.
Saturday, May 19th, We have breakfast at Kouzinna. Then we are headed to DHS for Star Wars weekends. We are not exactly sure what that entails. We know the park will be busy. We are both SW fans, but not enough to wait an hour for an autograph from the guy who does a voice on Clone Wars. I definitely want to hit the merchandise tent and see the parade, but beyond that we may just do general park touring. We have a 1:30 reservation at the 50s Prime Time Caf. We sort of wanted Sci-Fi Drive In, but the times available werent great. We are very happy with Plan B though. Well wrap up and head to the room to get cleaned up and head to the 8 PM Polynesian aaa hotel discounts missouri Spirit of Aloha show. MK is not open late that night or we might try to sneak over for a little bit. Well probably head back and start packing up.
Sunday, May 20th, We have a the Keys to the Kingdom tour first thing, so we will need to be up and out early. Well drive to MK, do the tour and spend any remaining time at MK. Hopefully seeing the new Circus area. Well probably stay until 3 ish and then head out to the car and then head to the airport.
This trip will include some firsts for us. Well be staying at Boardwalk for the first time. Well be doing the two tours for the first time. I did the train tour with my Dad a few years ago; Glenn has never been on any of the tours. Well be eating for the first time at Flying Fish, Rose and Crown, Kouzinna and the Spirit of Aloha. All of these things were things we wanted to try, but just never got to for whatever reason.
Thursday, May 17th. We were up and out early to battle the LA traffic to the airport. We got to the parking in plenty of time, dropped our car off and took the shuttle to the airport. We checked out bags at the curb and headed in. Security was not bad at all and we were on our way. On our way to the gate, we stopped at McDonalds and grabbed coffee and a biscuit. The flight took off more of less on time and we were on our way. We spent the trip out reading and playing the onboard trivia game. Before we knew it, we were landing in Orlando. We grabbed our bags and headed out to the Avis kiosk. We were able to go directly to our car, a Mazda 6. The car didn t seem like a full size from the outside, but it was plenty roomy on the inside.
We usually stop for supplies breakfast, travel and otherwise on our way to WDW, but this was such a quick trip that we didn t need anything and headed straight to the Boardwalk. We pulled around to the front, unloaded our stuff and checked in. I went to park the car, not nearly as easy as it sounds and started the epic like quest to get to our room. I took a quaint little path that took me to the DVC units, but that was one offshoot of the main offshoot, so I had to walk down two offshoots to get to the elevator (we were on the fifth floor) and then had to walk all the way down two long halls as we were all the way at the end of the section. The good news on our location is that we were right by stairs, the bad news was the closest thing to them was the path the DHS and our plans didn t have us going that way. The room itself was very nice once I finally got there. It was described as a garden view , reali