Coming Up
October, 2025: Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party
Ever since I went last year, I’ve wanted to go back - and take the kid! I knew she’d love it. It’s silly and fun and there’s candy and costumes and food and a catchy song. Thanks to my abundant JetBlue air miles and Mosaic 2 status, our flights are costing a whopping $22 total ($11 each) for seats with even more legroom. We’re going to zip down early Saturday morning, stay at the Contemporary so we can be within walking distance of the party on Sunday night, and then zip back on Monday afternoon and be home in time for dinner. Monday is a school holiday that is currently only observed by two states, so the parks won’t be teeming with the usual school holiday crowds - they’ll just be their normal level of average crowdedness. And yeah, it’s hurricane season… but I was there last year during peak hurricane season and it wasn’t too bad so I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
Alright, let’s BOO this! ;)
Last Minute: A Very Merry Solo Thanksmas
The kid is off to the Catskills with her dad and I’m in a rather strange living situation with my most recent ex-husband where we are co-habiting until a few real estate things are sorted out. (This is not uncommon in NYC.) It’s working out fine; but I’ve come to realize that taking regular breaks away is a good thing! So somewhat last minute, I thought - what if I pop down, you know, during the second busiest time of the year crowd-wise (not to mention the busiest long weekend for domestic travel in the USA)? It’ll be great! After our Christmas trip to Disneyland, I actually think I’m well-prepared for crowds. There were several open reservations at GEO-82, where I will be enjoying a nice early dinner.
This is a very cheap trip - although it has become a little more expensive through the magic of Disney Math. The plane tix are my usual Jetblue using air miles (with the “even more” upgrade w/ my Mosaic 2 status!) so, even with the insurance, the flight was $29 round trip! And while I had initially booked at All Star Music, I couldn’t bring myself to be entirely dependent on the bus so I switched to Pop C again for skyliner access. As someone not really fussed about rope drop, crowds should die down by late morning. That thing moves fast.
The best part is there’s a Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party on 11/28 and this will be my first one. You know there is nothing I love more than the Fab 5 in some kind of themed outfit with a bunch of “free” seasonal treats thrown in.
Come to think of it, it’s not actually a “very cheap” trip except perhaps by Disney standards (see Disney Math). But if you are putting a price on your own peace of mind, it’s a pretty solid deal. And I don’t have to cook a turkey.
January, 2026: Solo Trip
Another one week solo trip!
It’s too soon to have any detailed plans, but the gist is to check out Animal Kingdom Lodge for the first time. I also want to go to the new GEO-82 lounge in EPCOT so I’ll need to make a reservation once the 60 day window opens on 11/18/25. One goal I have for this trip is to do as much free stuff as possible - that is, just go around a see things and be in environments and just sit and people watch - and maybe lean more into the fireworks and parades and that side of things.
So far, I have my accommodation and flights booked. The flights are JetBlue (miles - and I used my Mosaic status to get extra legroom so the entire thing was $11) and I’m doing a “split stay”: 4 nights in a preferred view Studio at BLT (Bay Lake Tower), a night at Animal Kingdom Villas (Jambo House) , and then 2 nights at Grand Floridian (aka Grand Flo) in a studio with a view of the park so I can watch the fireworks (my belief is that Grand Flo is what WDW has in lieu of a Disneyland Hotel - I mean, you can’t be calling yourself a ‘World and then have a ‘Land hotel - and since this will be my first time actually staying there, I will have stayed at all of the The Disneyland Hotel hotels).
For park tickets, I priced out 5, 6, 7, and 8 day park hopper tickets and once you get past 5 days the marginal cost of each additional day is very low - the difference between 7 and 8 days is $40 - so I’m planning on getting an 8 day ticket to keep my options very open. I want to build in some resort time and, of course, plenty of quality time just a sittin’ on ye olde monorail… I will not be doing any lightning lane nonsense - not with an 8-day park hopper. That would be ridiculous! update: After doing the math on all three trips, it was cheaper to get the annual Incredi-Pass (at time of writing it came with a $100 GC as well). Not only did I save a little bit on the park tickets themselves, but I re-booked my hotel rooms (for the Fall ‘25 trips) at the Annual Passholer discount rate and saved even more (heh heh heh, “saved”). There are some additional discounts at shops and restaurants but they look to be the same as what I get with my Disney Visa and there’s no stacking. It was definitely worth it based on this year. Next year is going to be a light year in terms of trips. The pass expires September ‘26.
Side note: I booked the January hotels by renting DVC points, which means I paid 54% rack rate but it’s non-refundable. This was well before I got the Annual Pass, so I’m going to check back nearer the time for any lower AP rates on those same rooms just to see what might have been. Having the flexibility to change, cancel, or spread out the payments make it something to consider in the future.
I am counting down the days. At time of writing, the days is… so many days.
Spring Break, 2026
Whelp. It worked! Now that I have the Incredi-Pass, the lure of perceived value is too strong! Well played, Disney. Like Thanos, you are inevitable... I booked 6 nights at the Caribbean Beach Club Resort for the kid and me for her Spring Break. I’ve put down a deposit on the room and am hoping for a passholder discount to kick in nearer the time. I wanted to do some kind of trip for her and thinking about planning something more complicated - and expensive - seemed too daunting. So… here we are. It makes me happy, and she seemed very into it. So why not?
Is it too many trips? Probably. Should we go somewhere else, do literally anything else? Probably. But it was definitely cheaper than doing an all-inclusive resort package at one of those Caribbean places. It’s definitely not cheaper than staying home and not doing anything, of course, but I don’t find that restful. And I think getting away is good if you can swing it. I don’t find “staycations” at all useful. Every weekend I have a staycation right here in New York Ci-Tay where I live and I don’t come out of it feeling any less stressed than when I went in.
I’m very excited to stay at Carribbean Beach Club - a moderate resort. Partly because of the price, but also for the different experience we might have there than our usual “Disney” vibe, which is to be as close to MK as possible and run around like the entire thing is about to close and we’ve got to squeeze in as much as possible before they turns the lights off forever. I like the idea of going more often and… uh, not doing that. Perhaps we’ll spend more time at the resort taking advantage of the little beaches and pools and general “island” theming and actually relax.