Start of a Beautiful Adventure... Aug/Sep 2014

[Lolly90]

Update 1 - What We've Booked So Far
Update 2 - New York, New York
Update 3 - Orlando Food Plan
Update 4 - New York Food Plan
Update 5 - Miami Food Plan
Update 6 - Final Orlando Bookings
Update 7 - Wicked, The Mets & A Cruise
Update 8 - We've Paid
Update 9 - 99 Days to Go!
Update 10 - New York Itinerary
Update 11 - Orlando Itinerary
Update 12 - Miami Itinerary

I am pretty new to the site as a poster but have read many pre-trippies and trippies before I joined and really loved the idea of doing my own. I think these are great idea and even if nobody reads it, it will be nice for me to look back on. I have included most prices I think as I thought this might be helpful for some people.

The Cast & An Introduction

Me – Laura (23 now, 24 when we go)



Boyfriend – Mark (22 now, 23 on Thursday )



This is us in Orlando in Sep 2012. We met 4 & a half years ago, whilst at university in Leeds.



We went on a 2 week trip to Orlando in Aug/Sep 2012 with Mark’s family (my 1st trip, his 5th) and as the trip was with his family who have been several times before I didn’t get to do any planning and just had to go with the flow This year I will probably over plan (if that’s possible ) as planning is half the fun (hence my spreadsheet consisting of 14 tabs so far).

Now that we have both graduated and have ‘proper’ full time jobs we are able to afford to go on a big, exciting holiday. This began with New York as we have both always wanted to go, then I conveniently realised Orlando wasn’t that far from NY so why not combine the two Miami came about so that we could have a few chill out days before we have to head home and somewhere else I have wanted to visit for a while.

The Plan

Premier Inn Bath Road has been booked for the night before (for £29 ), so we will head there after a half day at work. We will then be flying from Heathrow to JFK direct with Delta and returning from Miami with Virgin. Our return flights have cost us £593pp. We will be staying for 4 nights at The Court Hotel in NY for 4 nights, costing £462 total.



Next, we will be taking a flight from JFK to Orlando International with JetBlue, costing £70 each. From here will pick up our hire car, which we booked through usrentacar. We have chosen a 4 door intermediate for a week, costing £226 (price we have to pay for being under 25 though we have only paid a £50 deposit so far). In Kissimmee we will be staying in a lovely villa, in Emerald Island resort for 7 nights. This will cost £455 for the week (with a £200 deposit).



Finally, we will be driving from Orlando to Miami and staying in The Hotel of South Beach, for 3 nights costing £338 total.



We booked our flights, NY & Miami hotels with ebookers and the villa direct with the owner.
So there you have it

I will post again soon with details of what else we have booked and other plans etc.

[TORIMS]

Great start Laura, but flippin' eck that's one hell of a trip - LOL!

You will have the most amazing time! Make sure you tell us all about it in your trippie.

We are in Orlando at the end of August for our 4th trip and are really looking forward to it.

Vicki x

[Stardust5]

Your trip sounds wonderful, lots of things to pack in. I am off to New York and mco in July, like you getting very excited.

[Hidden mickey]

Lovely start

[lovedisney89]

Great start

[rens]

Love your plans- hotel in Miami looks beautiful!
Im doing NYC and Florida this year too and can't wait

[Guest]

well done on your report. We love NYC, have been loads of times, so its fab to combine with Orlando.
We stayed in South Beach for a week (not at the same hotel) and then had a week in NYC - except it turned into almost three weeks in NYC as we got stuck in the Volcanic ash.

planning is so much fun!

[Lolly90]

Thank you all for reading
Going to be a very busy trip, we would have loved to extend it and make it a bit more relaxed but wouldn't be able to get the time off work
Hoping to complete a trippie on my return!

[Lolly90]

What We’ve Booked So Far

The first thing we sorted was the villa, as I know these usually get booked up early. So after this we got our travel insurance, £45 for the two of us with CoverForYou. I never know who to book travel insurance with but this company had fairly good reviews and I hope we never have to use it anyway. Then we booked our flights, other accommodation and car hire.

Next up (and most excitingly) THEME PARK TICKETS

We booked all our tickets with Attraction Tickets Direct and so far have only paid a £10 deposit each. The rest has to be paid 4 weeks before we leave but we will probably pay this off before then.

Discovery Cove
This is probably what I am most looking forward to during our whole trip. I am not a great swimmer and hate deep water but even still I knew I wanted to go here on this trip. This will be my 1st time, Mark has been once before. We got tickets for £182 each and this includes the Dolphin Swim and SeaVenture.



14 day Universal 2 Park Bonus Tickets
We’ll only have enough time to visit each park for a day but very excited none the less. Looking forward to visiting The Simpsons Area and trying a Lard Lad Donut (we’ll finish this I’m sure ) Tickets were £114 each.

Can't wait to see this again:



and enjoy a few of these:



I am a huge Harry Potter fan so hoping, like everyone else, the new expansion will be open by the time we get there (and isn’t too busy).

SeaWorld
This was my favourite park last time we visited and as we got SeaWorld included with our Discovery Cove tickets we just have to pay another visit. Very excited to go on the new Antarctica ride. We also got Aquatica included but will only head there if we have some spare time one afternoon.



Hot Air Balloon
The final thing we have booked so far is a hot air balloon ride with Orlando Balloon Rides. Once again, this is something I have wanted to do for a very long time (which seems to be a theme this holiday). I don’t think Mark is as keen as me but willing to give it a go. We’ll plan to do this early on in our week in Orlando in case we have to come back another day due to the weather etc. I’m pretty sure it will be an amazing experience. Tickets were £102 each.



We still have lots of other things to do and get booked so no doubt I will return with an update very soon. Thanks for reading!

[Guest]

How exciting! It's all looking good. We last went in sept 2012 too
Looking forward to reading along x