Star Wars, Bar Bores and No Chores...August 2017 - Pre Travel Day / Background to the trip

[ladyofleisure]

Introduction / Background to the trip

We had an amazing holiday in 2015 and you will find a link to that report in my signature. That was the first time we were treated to the delights of staying on-site at both Universal and Disney. Tia and Cole sadly didn’t come with us that trip (as after I booked the trip it came to light that they were going to the same hotel with family from their mum’s side just six weeks after we were due to return home (talk about crazy coincidences)). It was their first onsite stay too at the same Disney hotel, the Caribbean Beach.

We liked the Caribbean Beach we just didn’t 'love' it, and when the afternoon rain really kicked in as we were not in a preferred location we found we were too far from the food court to avoid getting soaked, that and the endless bus stops meant we wanted to stay on-site again, but we wanted to try somewhere new. Port Orleans was in budget and we really liked the theming and the idea of getting the water taxi into Disney Springs.

Anyways, back to the reason for the 2015 trip. To cut a long story short, I’d booked for Joe and myself, Antony decided later he wanted to come along, and then we discovered Tia and Cole were going anyway.

So rather than spoil things for their own trip, we gave Tia and Cole a big pot of spends for their holiday with mum, organised a few surprises (Memories by Betsy were amazing producing the most beautiful Halloween gift baskets which were waiting for them on arrival) and off we went without them - all was ok but we really missed them and were keen to return as a group.

Antony felt even worse at missing out on time with them, so we always planned to return for our wedding and/or familymoon.

Antony and I actually got engaged in 2015 at Magic Kingdom, so my first thought was to get married in the US. For a number of reasons (including budget) that became unrealistic, so we booked our amazing holiday, and then decided it would be a great idea to get married the day before travel (we didn’t want a formal wedding, just our family and close friends).

We gathered in a lovely local restaurant, and had a fantastic afternoon and evening with views of the fabulous peak district and that really was everything we could have hoped or wished for.

It was quite hectic at times to plan everything for everyone (I’m most definitely chief planner), especially having to work until the day before the wedding, but we absolutely did the right thing we had such a ball both on the day and with our friends and at our fabulous celebration afterwards.

It was always in my mind that there could be no way better to begin our married life than with a Florida family moon and the rest, as they say, is history.

A bit more about our cast

A little more about me, I’m a marketing manager and Antony’s a commercial painter with his own business and thankfully a very loyal customer base. I am lucky as he is multi-talented and also his degree is in graphic design. More often than not can be found in his man cave/studio or tinkering away with something at home. He isn’t really one to sit still, but he has been known to immerse himself in the odd Xbox game (that is when he can get a look in).

In fact, as I’m typing he’s playing with his new ‘toy’ which is a 3D printer. He is Star Wars mad and makes a lot his own props and costumes from his studio when he’s not busy with his day job. I’m very proud to call him my husband.

Tia’s a budding actress currently studying drama at college, a fair few years younger in herself than the average 17 year old which her dad is eternally grateful for!

Cole’s challenged by his Asperger’s and his heart condition but is a brilliant lad who loves anime, comics, Japan, playing on his Xbox, Harry Potter movies and watching movies generally. Joe’s football mad and also loves spending time with his friends, his Xbox and more than anything, his pride and joy his Alien ware PC (he’s constantly gaming on there and complaining about the internet speed). Joe enjoys complaining about most things at times, but he is a really lovely, kind-hearted lad.

Just about the only thing all three of them share is that they are incredibly fussy eaters who LOVE nothing more than junk food, particular favourites are McDonalds and chicken tenders. I despair at times but I appreciate many teenagers are exactly the same and I live with the eternal hope that one day they will grow out of it.

Anyways – a bit more background on the planning - cue Spring 2016, when I managed to secure flights at the ‘right’ price of £285 indirect plus tax.

The ‘price’ of such reasonable flights is however long travel days. Our first flight was Manchester-Paris (1.05 hr layover) Paris to Atlanta (2 hr layover) and finally Atlanta to MCO, arriving as domestic passengers at approximately 5.40pm. It was going to be a long journey, but for the price it made the trip a bit more realistic as we were doing our best to keep under five figures. Direct flights for our dates were not moving from circa £1k each, and we just couldn’t stretch to that, so having discussed whether or not we thought we could put ourselves through it, we decided just to go for it and book those indirect flights.

For the return leg we were flying MCO to Cincinnati, and had a more restful four hour wait (we had a meal and a few drinks) then we flew back into Paris and then straight out again to Manchester. That was miles easier than the outward leg as you will hopefully read later - although it was an extremely tiring way to travelling home. A bit like childbirth, the memory of the tiredness soon faded, know everyone would say we would make that sacrifice again if it meant the difference to return to our happy place.

If I could wave my magic wand (Harry Potter anyone?) I would wish the flight prices from Manchester were that bit cheaper, it is a right pain to travel at peak times when prices are so ruddy expensive. A burden many of my fellow dibbers share whatever your local airport.

Anyhow, I digress, back to pre-travel day. I’d packed everything best I could a week before, checked it all millions of times, and our wedding day went like clockwork, but was generally a bit of a blur as the time passed so quickly. Our puppy Nellie was dropped off with her lovely holiday minder Susan the day before our wedding day.

So on the actual wedding day (pre travel day) Tia and I had hair and make-up, the boys fixed up some surprises at the venue (Antony and I came up with the wording and ideas for all the decorations and signs) – a few are included for your viewing pleasure here….

The sign outside the venue, Antony wanted to surprise me with. Our pet names for one another are ‘peas’ and ‘carrots’, (from Forrest Gump), as we have known each other for many years and we just ‘get on’ and ‘go together like peas and carrots’.

For anyone feeling slightly nauseated by all this, I promise you a quick recovery – hopefully all my mushy talk isn’t making you feel like you’ve just escaped Space Mountain!

I don’t think it’s very bridal but as it was the day before the wedding I spent most of the morning checking and double checking passports, money, my Revolut card and cleaning everything in sight. My hairdresser did mention I was the first bride she had seen hoovering…

Anyways, all worth it fantastic day. So, after the wedding our coach took us to our beautiful venue, then we celebrated with some live music, lots of lovely food and cocktails, and we had a wonderful afternoon and evening with great food and a gin bar, celebrating with our nearest and dearest.

I had planned to leave at 9pm to help prepare for our early start the next day, but that was more like 10pm in the end. Lots of people had surprised us with lovely cards and dollars, so we spent another hour at home chatting about how much we had enjoyed the day and had a last glass of champagne looking through our beautiful cards. It was all so perfect and the chilled day we had wanted, and we didn’t want it to end.

It soon did though – we went to sleep (well tried to) about 1am, and were back up at silly o’clock to get everyone ready for the airport.

Travel Day

[Mortimer Mouse]

Congratulations! That's a fantastic sign for your wedding.

Looking forward to reading along.