What's changed?

 A few months ago, someone we'd been discussing our new plans with asked us what had changed between our new and former plans. My response was "not much really, except....."  and then we proceeded to list all the things we will be doing differently and suddenly realised that almost everything has changed!  Some of the changes have been fiscally based but most of them are through the information and suggestions we've gleaned from the experts on the ground.

Shortly before we were due to go last May, we began watching certain YouTube channels.  I cannot recommend doing this enough.  Most of the changes we have considered are as a result of what we've seen and read courtesy of the fabulous people on these channels. So here is a brief overview of the main ones we started to watch, have done continuously for well over a year and will continue to do probably long after our next trip:

The AllEars team - Molly, Morgan, Quincy (Phil's favourite), RJ (my favourite), Breedlove, Jared, Lindsey, Melizza, Alan & Duckfist all combine to provide an informative but fabulously entertaining look at all the different Disney parks, Disney Spring and Universal.  Their knowledge of all things theme park related (food, rides, hotels, hidden Mickeys, Easter Eggs etc.) is unrivaled and they are simply great fun to watch. 

Disney Food Blog - AJ (sometimes in conjunction with Molly et al) has an encyclopedic knowledge of every single food item available within Disney.  She and her team literally try every food item available and review it with an unbiased opinion to help you decide what you would like.   She also produces vast amounts of literature about the parks in general, along with the food guides; and this includes the festivals, not just the standard fare.  You never get to see AJ, but I do love her accent! 

WDW News Today - Tom has a brilliant and sometimes sarcastic view on the parks around the world, even recently travelling to Paris when even we in Britain were unable to do so!  His news updates, banter and quips are refreshingly honest and, quite frankly, hilarious.

Tim & Jenn Tracker (and Jackson) - Providing a slightly different perspective on all the parks, with this family, you're shown more about what it's like with a young child (Jackson is adorable)  They have a lot of "staycations" and show a full range of different accommodation available, giving valuable insights into the various types and levels of local hotels, but also spending lots of time in the parks and shops.

The key difference was our decision around accommodation.  We all love the "great outdoors" so our original booking was for a cabin at Fort Wilderness.  As wildlife enthusiasts, the thought of being able to see animals in the wild we don't have in the UK, like armadillos, was a huge draw; and the atmosphere seemed to be more on the quiet side, which was absolutely a consideration.  Then when our booking was moved to later in the year, the only thing we could afford which was available was a Cars Suite at Art of Animation.  We were happy with this, thinking that the Skyliner at the very least was going to be a great option for travel.  

However, having watched hundreds of hours of YouTube, we have now decided that we don't feel spending money on Disney accommodation is the best way to go.  Our funds are limited and with our visits being so rare, we wanted to make the most of the experiences available.  We therefore are now looking at an Air BnB in Kissimmee, and using the money we save - thousands - on doing "fun" stuff instead. 

It's also going to be a much more grown-up experience.  With our last visit being in 2015, our daughter was on 16 at the time.  Now, she's in her 20s, so the way we approach the whole experience is going to be vastly different.  When we started the old plan, we knew that she would be old enough to "drink" and had planned to do the Skyliner Crawl, but what we've now discovered is that there are many other things we can do which we would never have considered in 2015 or 2020.   

Don't get me wrong. We still want to do all the rides, have pictures taken with all the characters and spend the majority of the time just being really childish; but now we can do it from the perspective of people who can have an occasional mojito.  And yes, we have also now discovered Margaritaville, so hurricanes (alcoholic, not weather) are in order for sure.  Epcot has become the land of food and drink, as well as rides which didn't exist beforehand and we hope that the character meals will be almost back to normal so we can take advantage of those too - I mean, who doesn't want to have breakfast with Mickey?

We've therefore pretty much decided to start our plans from scratch. We've been writing down lists of things we really want to do, places we really want to go and food & drink we want to try.  And we're confident now that with the help of all the great experts, we're going to have the best Disney adventure yet.