The July/Aug 2013 American Pye Trip Report Highs, Lows and Future Plans

[SarahJayne]

Trip report index here

Highs, lows and future plans

Highs

I mean where do I even start! If you’ve gotten this far you know that pretty much everything was an absolute high but I’ll try my best to pick out a few every special things. So in no particular order…

Villa
Getting upgraded to a 4 bed 1 storey villa from the 3 bed bungalow villa we’d booked was a massive bonus and a great surprise when we arrived. It was a beautiful home, we had loads of room and having our own pool was brilliant. I know everyone is different but the thought of the four of us staying in a hotel room (or even a one bed suite) fills me with dread! I really like the space and the home from home feel and this villa had it all. We booked through Jetsave and wouldn’t hesitate to do so again if the price was right.

Clearwater and the dolphins
Like I said on this days report – we’re not really beach people but I’m so glad we spent the day at Clearwater. It was wonderful seeing more of Florida and so perfect spending hours playing in the beautiful Gulf of Mexico waters with the kids. But seeing dolphins swim in their natural habitat was an absolute highlight of the holiday.

Cirque du Soleil
Loads of people had said how great this show was but it wasn’t until I saw it that I really understood what they meant! Awesome performances and I’m so glad the kids got to see it – a great experience for us all.

Day 10 – Magic Kingdom
If I had to choose just one day to do all over again and not change a thing, this would be the day I’d choose. After my wedding day and the birth of my children it was easily the most perfect day of my life. We spent the whole day at MK, had the most beautiful weather, saw the afternoon parade with a perfect view, ate at Be our Guest, watched the electrical parade and saw Wishes - the best fireworks on Earth. We laughed and had fun all day and it was the end of that day when I realised that I’d never been more grateful for my life, for my husband, for my children and for getting to spend the most magical day with them all in the most magical place on earth.

Ohanas
The best food we’ve ever eaten. There really isn’t anything else to say about this other than I will never return to Orlando and not eat here!

Jedi Training
When we went in 2011, Anna was too young so Jack did it and loved it but this time it was extra special because they both did it together and loved it. How cool is it that my kids got to fight Darth Vader and become Jedis! ?!? Star Wars fans may not appreciate it but the kids loved doing it and we loved watching their little faces!

Every little Disney thing
From the fabulous rides, wonderful food, character meet and greets, fireworks, cast members and photopass pictures. No one but NO ONE does it better. All of our time in Disney was magical and we loved it all.

Lows

Ok, so this is really hard because let’s be honest, there was nothing bad about this holiday but there are just two things that I would have changed if I could…

Jack’s mini illness
Ok, so by day 3 he was absolutely fine but it really wasn’t the best waking up on the day we were due to fly with a little boy who felt poorly. It was just a bit of a sore throat/cough/cold and the calpol we bought airside in Manchester kept him going through the flight. It was me worrying about it that was worse. I’d had visions of us missing out on park days, taking him to the Drs and having to claim on the insurance all before we’d even taken off! After a couple of good night’s sleep he was fine and nobody missed out on anything. Moral of the story: don’t worry about anything until you have to! Easier said than done I know!

The weather
It was only the first 4 days that we saw rain and had 10 days of sun after than but I was starting to worry that it would be wet every day after rain the first four afternoons and then a dreary morning in Animal Kingdom. I seriously started to worry when hurricanes and tropical storm were being monitored on the news but yet again it was all for nothing because we had a glorious 10 days (and even on the first 4 days when it did rain in the afternoon for an hour, the morning before and the evenings after it were glorious!) But if it were up to me it would be sunny and hot all the time! I do love the heat

Future plans

Well as you can see from my countdown we are making our first trip to Disneyland Paris in 23 days! We’d decided before we even went to Florida last year that we wouldn’t go back in 2014 and would instead save up for a year and have another big holiday in 2015. So we asked my Mum and Dad if they would like to come to Paris with us and they said yes! They’ve never done Disney at all before so Paris will be new to all of us really. We’re going for 5 days, on the Eurostar and staying at Hotel New York. We’ve booked tickets for the Buffalo Bill Wild, Wild West show and will be spending a day in Paris sightseeing on the open top bus we’ve also booked. It’s all every exciting and means that I don’t have to wait another year for my Disney fix!

As for next year, well we have big plans for 2015 It’s Adam’s 40th and our 10th wedding anniversary next year so we’re going all out!

The plan is…

NYC 4 nights

Disneyland California 2 nights/3 days (staying onsite)

San Diego 7 nights (staying in a villa/condo in La Jolla hopefully)

LA 1 night/2 days

And I couldn’t be more excited! Adam and I have been to the west coast before on our honeymoon (we did San Fra, LA, Vegas, Hawaii) and we’ve both been to NYC (Adam has to go a couple of times a year for work too) but the kids have never been and I just can’t wait!

We’ve already started researching – I’m a regular on the West Coast Dibb board now! And have found some lovely self-catering places in San Diego to choose from. And I will get my Disney fix 3 years in a row! We all can’t wait to experience Disneyland California and are quite pleased that come next year we will have been to 3 out of 4 of the Disneylands We’ll also be doing all of the usual tourist stuff in NYC including a broadway show and when we’re in San Diego we’re planning on visiting the zoo, Seaworld and Legoland.

And now the end is near…
So that’s it folks! A massive thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read this trip report. When I first put my pre-trippy together this time last year I had no idea what a labour of love it would be. So many Dibbers had made it look easy but I can tell you it is not! But I’m so very glad that I’ve done it! I now have just over 32,000 words and dozens of pictures telling the story of the greatest holiday we’ve ever had (so far )

Much love – Sarah.xxxxx

[lfc_sarah]

Really great trip report! Really lovely looking family! Glad you had as god of a time as you did!

[SarahJayne]

Originally Posted by lfc_sarah

Really great trip report! Really lovely looking family! Glad you had as god of a time as you did!

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Thanks so much and thanks for reading

Sarah x

[Bozza]

You swam in the Pacific Ocean - that's quite some drive from Florida...

[SarahJayne]

Haha! Nice catch! That's because I've spent the day daydreaming about the pacific when we hit the west coast in 2015

[Thing1thing2]

Lovely report, I'm hoping to take my 9yr old boy Jedi training, he's Star Wars mad! He's so excited for the new film next year.
And the dolphins at the beach I bet that was amazing site to see, I would of loved that.

[SarahJayne]

Originally Posted by Thing1thing2

Lovely report, I'm hoping to take my 9yr old boy Jedi training, he's Star Wars mad! He's so excited for the new film next year.
And the dolphins at the beach I bet that was amazing site to see, I would of loved that.

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Jedi Training is awesome for Star Wars fans! My two loved it And we can't wait for the new film either

And yes, the dolphins were amazing and so beautiful. A real once in a lifetime experience.

Nice to know that a few people have made it through the whole report - I'm so glad you enjoyed it

[loonatuc]

Just sat here on this grey day and read your whole trip report! Really good read and your enjoyment came across. Thanks for writing :-)

[shirley]

Great end and hope you enjoy DLP. Happy planning for 2015xx

[SarahJayne]

Originally Posted by loonatuc

Just sat here on this grey day and read your whole trip report! Really good read and your enjoyment came across. Thanks for writing :-)

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Originally Posted by shirley

Great end and hope you enjoy DLP. Happy planning for 2015xx

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I'm so glad you've enjoyed reading it it was the most fabulous holiday - here's to many more for us all!