Who/When/Where:

Who:  Sue (60), DVC Member

            SB (62), husband

            Tiana (50’s), friend

            Jonnell (early 60’s), Tiana’s husband

Dates: September 20 – 23, 2019

Resort:  Disney’s Old Key West Resort – 1 bedroom villa

Experience: Very Experienced – 58^th stay at OKW

INTRODUCTION: 

Typically, we book our main Food & Wine trip in late October or early November, but I also book a weekend in early October.  I HATE early October, as it’s still hot & humid, and I have no tolerance for that crap anymore.  But, I love Food & Wine Festival, so I’m torn.  I booked the weekend of October 4^th, knowing I couldn’t wait until late October to do Food & Wine.

When more of the concert lineups were announced, I saw Starship was booked for Sept 20-22.  I really enjoy them, as does my friend Tiana.  I checked availability, and of course nothing decent was available.  The best option was a 1-bedroom villa at Old Key West – probably my least favorite resort, but the 1-bedroom villas are nice (won’t even consider a studio there – I’d stay home first).  I booked it, figuring Tiana would be able to stay for a couple nights if she wanted.  A 1-bedroom villa is way too much for a solo person, but if I have to “suffer” through it, that’s not the end of the world.  September will be just as crazy hot/humid as early October would have been, so I don’t look forward to spending time in the parks – sitting at the resort pool will be bad enough!  As it turns out, Tiana won’t be spending any nights, but SB is planning to spend the first night.  He talked Tiana’s husband Jonnell into coming to Disney with us, so Saturday Tiana & Jonnell will drive down for the day, and take SB home when they leave.  That leaves me with a 3-day trip that will be us as a couple on day 1, the whole gang on day 2, then a nice solo day 3. 

I ended up canceling my October 4^th reservation once the concerts for those dates were announced – Taylor Dayne (enjoyable but not a “don’t miss”, and someone I’ve never seen who has zero appeal to me at all).  If not for the expected heat/humidity I most likely would have kept the reservation, but as I’ve said before – it’s miserable trying to enjoy Food & Wine Festival when you’re sweating to death.  I’d rather stay home.  Plus, I’ll have 3 Food & Wine trips during November when the weather is better (the real trip, a 4-night weekend, and a 1-night stop before heading further south for a HAL cruise).

This year the concerts are pushed back an hour on Friday and Saturday nights, which actually helps for these early trips.  5:30 is godawful hot & humid.  By 6:30 it shouldn’t be as awful.  The primary reason for this trip is to see Starship.  Jonnell has an annual pass, but they have to stop to get it activated – which means potentially waiting in line at guest services.  They eventually decided to leave early and stop at Epcot when Guest Services open to activate or pick up his annual pass.  From there they’ll drive over to the resort and then we’ll all take the Disney buses back to Epcot.  That’s what she wants to do – I stopped trying to make sense <g>.

I was able to book fastpasses for the other 3 of us, and we’ll take our chances on Disney allowing Jonnell to ride with us.  I don’t expect a problem at Spaceship Earth, and we may skip Living with the Land, but I expect at Frozen we’ll be limited to our original party of 3.  If SB or I decide to sit out and give a band to Jonnell that’s the only way he’ll get to do that attraction. 

The plans so far are:

Friday 9/20:  Drive to WDW, Epcot/Food & Wine, Starship

Saturday 9/21:  Epcot/Food & Wine, Resort, Epcot/Starship

Sunday 9/22:  Pool, Studios, Food & Wine, Starship

Monday 9/23:  Drive to Gainesville

Sue