When we set off on our year of travel in July, we started at Walt Disney World. At the time, that was just because we had been planning a trip and hadn't fit it into the first half of the year, but it turned out to be the start of something bigger.
We had inclinations that we might get all the parks done in the year. We were booked to be in Tokyo and Hong Kong for the marathon and a wedding (respectively) so adding in the parks made sense. With a few months in Asia, it wasn't hard to get to Shanghai Disneyland. And even though we only had a month in Europe, it seemed necessary to visit Paris and Disneyland Paris. The kicker, then, was Disneyland. The OG.
Fitting Disneyland In With Some Cheap Flights
We were already booked on a flight out of Asia (SIN to LHR in Singapore Suites, booked using points), which would have been the best way to fit Los Angeles into our plans. But as our plans evolved and our entire trip started to look like it would take longer than a year, we had a bit more flexibility, and in figuring out where to go from London, we noticed cheap flight to LAX on Norwegian. Together with an Airbnb, we could put together a pretty cheap trip.
Not so long ago when we had only seen one Disney destination together!
The annoying part of that plan is it puts us in Los Angeles rather than London for getting to our next destination. While we investigated a few options, we ultimately decided that there were enough good options from LAX or, after a placement flight, JFK that we could sort it out later. Alternatively, we can take a bit of time to see some more of the US. After all, Toy Story Land will be opening in Walt Disney World just a few months later...
All The Disney Parks In A Single Year
Our Disney schedule winds up looking like:
- July 2017 - Walt Disney World
- September 2017 - Disneyland Paris
- November 2017 - Shanghai Disney
- November 2017 - Hong Kong Disneyland
- February 2018 - Tokyo Disney Resort
- March 2018 - Disneyland
So what did this cost us? A lot (we'll probably add it up in a later post), but not as much as you might think, especially for the quality of flights. For example, we caught a sale on Singapore Premium Economy into Europe and an error fare on TAP Portugal out of Europe. To get to Asia, we flew business class on Korean Air using points. From Asia to London we're flying Singapore Suites First Class, again purchased with miles. And to get back to LAX, we're flying low-cost on Norwegian.