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Old 9 May 15, 09:52 PM  
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2 Exit Buddies Go To Florida! Nov 2015

Hello!

Thanks for clicking on what is sure to be a waffly, oversharing second Florida pre-trip! Quick round up of the cast:



Sarah (me, 30) and Joe (28), into tax and electronics respectively, Finding Nemo fans and newly minted Florida converts from the frozen North! I am very much a holiday enthusiast. I talk about them a lot. I think Joe likes that I come and post here as he isn't the type to get too excited about holidays until about 20 seconds before we leave for the airport! However he loves going away too, just doesn't enjoy the same build up that I do.

I have finally finished my first trip report (insert shameless plug and link HERE), and caught up on a few of the trip reports I had banned myself from reading until I had finished my own, so being a jammy so and so I can now start a new pre-trip!

If you don't know (and it feels to me as if noone can NOT know as I feel like every post I've made on the Dibb has mentioned it in one form or another ), we went for the first time in November 2014 but sadly had to cut things short and hurry back due to an emergency back here in the UK.

We got back on the 9th December and with everything that was going on- family member in hospital over a hundred miles away, Christmas imminent, my 30th birthday, going back to work, it wasn't the most calm and serene of times. Routine was out the window, and we had a myriad of things to do and think about. I was a bit overwhelmed and in an almighty sulk for a short while, and didn't want to talk about going back, or write a trip report, or even acknowledge that the USA existed. Joe did, more so than me. He even mentioned going back in January or February of this year! I think he perhaps needed a pleasant thought, a Mickey ear shaped light at the end of the tunnel to focus on.

My Florida denial didn't last too long though! Less than a couple of weeks later things had calmed down, I was now in my thirties and far too old to be sulking and we both felt like, through nobody's fault, we had missed out on a bit of down time. Any relaxing and unwinding we had done in Orlando had been thoroughly undone in the days after.

Therefore, 22nd December found me, newly 30 and old enough to know better, perusing the BA Holidays website. I can't recall what the thought process was, but I found myself staring at a price for a 14 night fly drive from Edinburgh in November 2015, flying premium economy both directions with a car the category above the one we had in 2014.

The all-in price was £1,903, which seems a lot now, but back then I stopped to think. Taking a budget of £500 each for economy flights from London, as we had last time, part of the extra £900 was getting us a regional connecting flight each with the all-important benefit that it was all on one ticket (unlike last time). If anything happened to the connecting flight, BA would be obligated to get us to the US, which we didn't have in 2014. Last year it was the best part of £200 to get down to Gatwick on easyJet, and the differing luggage allowance on the way home may have been a problem (we ended up on BA in the end with fewer souvenirs bought than planned so not sure how it would have panned out).

Anyway, back to my justification. We were also getting our two weeks car hire, which I put a value of about £250 on. This meant that the upgrade to premium economy was taking up the £450 remainder. About £100 each way each. Not cheap, but I could have maybe justified it...

Then it turned out that all my budget justifying was pointless, as I plugged in the same dates and car but direct from London in economy and it was significantly MORE expensive. For the same long haul flight to MCO from London. Therefore I was able to have the following conversation with Joe:

"Joe, I can get us premium economy flights to Orlando from Edinburgh via London with car rental for a couple of hundred pounds cheaper than the economy equivalent from London. Should I book it?"
"Seriously? Yes."

He even came down the stairs and watched me book it, that's how I knew he was enthusiastic.

So we paid less than a Londoner would have that day and in return got two extra flights with lounge access before the domestics and sitting in a nicer bit of the plane with more space. Absolutely bizarre, but mustn't grumble. I haven't checked the flights since so we could have done better but I will never know.

So that was that, deposit paid and we were going back from 7th Nov - 21st Nov!



That was kind of it, except for the insurance claim and the tickets, which will get a post of their own.

Since we booked, we've had even more upheaval! I resigned from my job in January as I decided to take my career in a different direction and signed up to go back to the accountancy practice I trained in. I love my job and the people so I'm quite sad but at the same time excited for a new challenge. I had been hoping to get it all sorted before we went away in 2014 but I find these things always get stretched out, so it had to be sorted in the new year. I had been worried that it would be nagging at me while we were in Orlando, but I'm quite lucky in that I seem to be quite good at slamming a lid on work stuff when I'm not there so I barely remember it crossing my mind!

There's also been a fair bit of comfort eating going on, so I need to lose a bit of weight before starting my new job in July and Florida in December. If I write here that I'll document any weight loss here it might nudge me along to the gym tomorrow!

Anyway that'll do for now as I've got to over 1200 words to basically post that I spent an hour booking a holiday online. Oh well, start as you mean to go on and all that!

Edited at 11:30 PM.
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Old 9 May 15, 10:00 PM  
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onion2803
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Yayyyy! You're going back haven't finished your trippie yet, must get onto that straight away!

How exciting is it to be going back so soon? eeek x
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Old 9 May 15, 10:04 PM  
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iheartwdw
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Yay, I loved your last trippie (although not the shortened holiday bit ). Looking forward to reading more of your plans!

Laura Xx
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Old 9 May 15, 10:34 PM  
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Originally Posted by onion2803 View Post
Yayyyy! You're going back haven't finished your trippie yet, must get onto that straight away!

How exciting is it to be going back so soon? eeek x
Totally exciting and time's zipping by so fast! Countdown isn't as exciting as yours though!

Originally Posted by iheartwdw View Post
Yay, I loved your last trippie (although not the shortened holiday bit ). Looking forward to reading more of your plans!

Laura Xx
Thanks! Just dawned on me I've not read your pre-trippie jealous of your cruise, off to catch up now!
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Old 11 May 15, 07:26 PM  
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Update: Happy ADR Day To Us!

Well, I'm getting ahead of myself a bit here but today was ADR day and I managed to get what we wanted at the time we wanted it (pretty much), and of course when I say "what we wanted" I mean "what I decided on myself". To give Joe his due, he did ask me about it when I got home and listened to me chunter on with a smile on his face and proclaimed my choices to be "cool" in a reasonably excited tone of voice. I wonder who he has been taking the acting lessons from...

Anyway, we have decided to recreate our first full day in Florida last year by doing MK and Epcot on our first day. I wanted to get an ADR for lunch at Be Our Guest, not due to the menu but just really so we could see the inside. Managed to snag a 10.55 slot so that's good as I'm sure we will be up for an early lunch on our first day.

The next day is the Sci-Fi Dine In Theater, and we have a lunch reservation for 12.55pm. Finally, we got a 6.30pm for Sanaa on our AK day which I'm hoping is good timing as the park shuts at 6pm so we can have an early dinner than go back to enjoy an evening at the hotel. We had an ADR for Sanaa last year but never got there so looking forward to this one.

That's all we really wanted. We do still want a T-Rex ADR but as it is not Disney owned it doesn't do the 180+10 day thing so I will just have to wait for that one. All in all a productive day!
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Old 12 May 15, 03:48 PM  
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Yorkie Girl
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Yay, we go the day after you
We've not got long to go now have we?

I'm excited to read more of your plans
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Old 12 May 15, 03:53 PM  
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mrmoo123
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Great plans, we managed to get Premium Economy coming home cheaper the Economy this year... it is very strange how these things work out but no complaints from us either!
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Old 12 May 15, 09:02 PM  
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Originally Posted by Yorkie Girl View Post
Yay, we go the day after you
We've not got long to go now have we?

I'm excited to read more of your plans
How exciting! Doesn't seem like long at all, it will fly by!

Originally Posted by mrmoo123 View Post
Great plans, we managed to get Premium Economy coming home cheaper the Economy this year... it is very strange how these things work out but no complaints from us either!
Great stuff- have a wonderful trip and Happy Anniversary!
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Old 12 May 15, 10:08 PM  
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Enjoyed your last report and looking forward to this one. We will be there the same time as you, overlap most of your days but go back to home a few days before you
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Old 12 May 15, 10:50 PM  
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Ooh, just stumbled upon this one. Well done on getting the PE flights cheaper than economy I'm so glad you're getting back Sarah. I really must get back to your previous report too
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