Upcoming 2026 Trips (Disney and Other)

I grew up in Texas and thought I could take the heat. I was wrong! We have been in Seattle now for close to 40 years. I guess we just became heat wimps as an 85 degree day is a hot day here!

We're originally from Texas as well! My parents moved me out to California in '88 so we moved from a humid heat to a dry heat and now vacation in humidity yet again. ;)

Our resale contract just got placed into our account so my wife went to town getting the rest of the year planned.

October -

• 2 nights @ Vero Beach in hopes to catch some turtle hatchlings make their way to the ocean (my oldest loves turtles)

• 3 nights @ BRV to lounge (EDIT: Wife switched us over to Boulder Ridge. We almost purchased points at Copper Creek so this will be enlightening! Taking Epic off the list since our kids won't go on the big rides. Meh)

• 6 nights @ Poly for the "Welcome Home" trip with the Family.

December -

• 4 nights @ BLT with our good friends and now fellow Disney family. (We're thinking of only going to Epcot and Hollywood Studios)

• 1 great night of Jollywood Nights.

• We surprised two of my friends from work with a Disney World trip last Christmas. Neither had ever been and one couple had never been on a plane! Converted both of them... lol. So this is considered a bonus trip with the extra points from the new contract and the friends were going with this time thought Jollywood was the best thing ever invented.

And this is all thanks to my wife - she's the planner in the family. I just get to enjoy it. lol

October and December are Great months to visit Florida. Not too hot not too humid. In the old days we would go the first. 2 weeks in December. It was great! Parks were not crowded. Just a lot of Brazilian tour groups. Now there is no real off season. People found out that the winter weather was great. And after Covid, people are not afraid to take kids out of school. It is still our favorite time to go as all the decorations are up. One thing we enjoy is resort hopping to look at the different lobby Christmas decorations and gingerbread houses. Even our grandkids get a kick out if it.

My DW (dear wife) just tells me when she wants to go and what she wants to see and I do the rest. Planning is a bit of pressure, but rewarding in the end. This year we are going for a little over 2 weeks in October for MNSSHP. We are also taking the Grandkids (and their tag along parents) to DLR in april. They are 6 and 10 and never been. They have been to WDW a couple of times with us. Their first trip we stayed at BLT. THe youngest, who was 4 at the time, said. "Ok I live here now". Broke my old heart to tell her no, no we dont.

We have never been to Vero. We hear it is really nice. We do love OKW. It is a fall back at 7 months for us. Feels like a real vacation home.

Hope you enjoy you membership as much as we do!

And Happiness was Texas in the rear view mirror!

September 2026 - Hilton Head. We love this resort and can't wait to be back.

No Disney cruises going on a carnival

April: Mother/Daughter WDW split stay trip with my Mom- 4 nights at Boardwalk followed by 3 nights at Poly. These were both bucket list resorts for us and it was out first time staying at them both.

June: Couples trip to Montreal with my BF, who doesn't like to travel much, and who I have not yet convinced to go to WDW.

July: 3 days at Hersheypark with my BF and his kids (I've been there several times, but his kids have never been there and he hasn't been since he was young)

December: Another Mother/Daughter trip to WDW- 4 nights at AKL (2 nights Jambo, 2 nights Kidani). AKL has been our favorite resort since we first visited it in 2008. I took this same December trip solo last year and fell even more in love with AKL seeing it decorated for Christmas. In 2024, we stayed at AKL in November and missed seeing the tree go up by one night! 😭I can't wait for my Mom to experience it this year!

We also love to do Christmas at SDC. Reminds us of the Osborn Lights.

God I miss the Osborn Lights.

We did BRV instead of OKW. Glad we made the switch!

@Laura Gnewuch Laura, how was the Alaskan Cruise? My wife and I actually looking into going in ‘27.

You will love it, we've done it four times.

Oh my it was the best! We sailed on the Wonder from May 18-25. The weather was chilly, but the rain held for us almost the entire trip. Ketchikan and Juneau are known for it's rain, but Ketchikan we had clear skies.

The boat is intimate and the cast members are fantastic! My son who is 23, I wasn't sure if he'd like it. He fell in love! The beauty of Alaska is unreal, you just can't capture it in pictures.

We did the Sled Dogs, Gold panning, and the White Pass Railway in Skagway. Highly recommend! We saw a momma bear and cubs on the mountain via the railway.

We did the Mendenhall Glacier and Salmon Bake in Juneau. Also, great! We had time to mosey around the Juneau town before getting back on the ship.

Ketchikan - we did a wildlife exploration and crab feast. We saw eagles and seals on this trip. We pulled up crab pots and got the history of the waterways & crabbing. Oh my you get 1 1/2 to eat all the dungeoness crab you can eat. We saw the most stunning rainbow on the ride back to the ship.

We want to go again! My next visit, I'd do later in the year to see if we could catch more wildlife. You will LOVE it! Any questions, I'm happy to answer.

I loved it, we will do it again!

Thanks, Laura - we do have a 22-year-old son, and we were wondering if he would want to go/enjoy it. Can I ask if you considered/evaluated any of the other cruise lines?

Yes, my son and I used to cruise on Royal Caribbean; however, I fell in love on the Treasure with my friends. The cast members are unbelievably awesome! It really changes the cruise experience.

On Royal while it is cheaper, I find them asking for upgrades constantly...they are in your face. "Don't you want another drink", "don't you want the spa package"? I couldn't even enjoy the pool without being bothered. Will I sail Royal again? Yes... However, my son was skeptical about going to Alaska. "What will I do?", "how much fun will it be being so cold", all things he said.

After losing my husband two years ago, my son & I have really bonded on our Disney trips. So...I thought I would see if sailing Disney would be the same. It was more than I could have imagined. I'm not sure how they knew who to sit at our table, but we had the best people dining with us. They had a mom with a 21 year old that my son bonded with a tad. Saying that, he loved the adults moreso. We laughed so much at dinner.

After the cruise, I found a post on Instagram my son made...he had pictures from a night he walked around on the top deck at midnight and the words "I fell in love". It warmed this mom's heart. Apparently, he wanted to see the Northern Lights. And he is not an outdoorsy guy.

Can you save money on another line? Yes. Can you see different ports? Yes. That said, this was the best memory, bonding experience my son & I could have. Disney cruise lines will always be my first choice going forward.

Wow, that is awesome. I'm sold. A lot of what you said is why we bought DVC: lifetime memories and experiences. For us, that is more important than trying to save some money. Thanks for sharing.

You are welcome! I'm happy to answer any other questions you have.

Unfortunately with DCL discontinuing the cruises in Australia you no longer get the repositioning cruise that stops in Hawaii.

My first ever DCL!!!! is 118 days away. happy 55th birthday to me

Oh my goodness, sorry I didn't see your post. It was fabulous! We went on the Disney Wonder.

At first, I felt the ship was too small, but as time went on the cast members felt like family. It was perfect! The entertainment on the ship is amazing, don't miss it! The ship is just as important as Alaska itself. We stopped in Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan. We only got a little drizzly rain. The views are spectacular.

You will love it! Any questions, just ping me.

56 days to the Disney Dream

61 days to Vero Beach

64 days to the Island Tower (only one night)

Where you headed on the Disney Dream?

I'll be in Vero in 84ish days.

You will love it!

On our cruise to Alaska, I was just as enamored with the ship as I was with Alaska. The cast members are AMAZING! If you like the characters, they are everywhere. It's easy to get a picture.

Abel & I will be on the Fantasy next year. I'm excited!

Five nights on the Dream out of Fort Lauderdale starting 27 September with port calls at Castaway and Lookout Point and two days at sea followed by three nights at Vero and a single night in the Poly Tower before we fly home from MCO.

Sounds magical! :-)

I like the Cruise/Vero Beach combo (in either order). The night in the Poly is an added bonus because we have a morning flight home from MCO and I don't want to drive there from Vero Beach.

75 Days!! Split stay BLT, BWV and MNSSHP thrown in!

Just us no kids or grandkids!

Surprise trip started yesterday - out of points but still "on property" and enjoying the parks. Its warm being overcast and a little rain has been nice. Its 115 at home so being here is nice right now. ;)

thanks! we're really excited about exploring the Fantasy!

Festival of the Arts is unique and fun! I would highly recommend checking it out.

2026 is a busy WDW year for us! We were able to get the Military Salue pseudo-AP, so we are taking 4 trips

Jan '26: VGF and SSR (convinced us buy a VGF contract and that we really don't like the size of the SSR 1BR living rooms anymore)

May '26: OKW 2BR with friends. Hadn't stayed at OKW in 16 years. LOVED it. Also decided to get Owner's Locker because we bought an air fryer we want in the room 😂

Sep '26: BLT just us 4. Haven't been to BLT since '21 and are excited about the remodel.

Oct '26: Riviera. Haven't been to Riv since we added on after our 2024 stay.

Yay for grandparents helping! How many kiddos do you have and what are there ages? What are your favorite hacks for traveling to Disney with kids?

We are 2 weeks out from an Alaskan cruise! We did a DLP trip followed by an ABD Norway trip in May so seeing how the Norway vs Alaska comparisons go. Maybe someday a NatGeo antarctic cruise will happen.

Our budget is recovering from the move to Florida (and all the things we didn't know were wrong with our new home) so we have been enjoying mini overnight trips to Universal as passholders. We just booked an overnight on Saturday December 5th to see all the Christmas at Universal and I cannot wait! We've never been at Christmas.

Also planned an overnight mother-son trip to Universal (did a mother-daughter a few weeks ago) and I'm really excited for that 1:1 time 💙

^ We are local now too ( as of July 2024 ) and we have Universal APs but we still haven't stayed at any of their resorts, every time we say we will something else presents itself Maybe 2027 will be the year

Best trip ever! You'll love it.

How was the ABD Norway trip, I have it booked for Aug 2027.