Florida on a Budget – Yeah Right! – Pre Trippie

[sueh6]

Cast Members –

Me - Sue, 43 - planner extraordinaire and budget holder
DH – Andy, 47 - happy to go along with anything I plan
DD – Christy, 17 – Fast approaching the end of those horrible teenage moods (it’s nice to have my daughter back!)
DN – Shannon, 17 – niece and close friend of DD – excellent at one liners and perfect match for DH
DS2 – Sam, 14 whilst on holiday and entering the ‘teenage’ state of mind
Joe – 14 – best friend of DS2


Hi everyone, well we’re back again with my ramblings of all things Florida planning. For those of you that can recall my last pre- trippy things have gone from good to better and for those that can’t your welcome to read – Here. DS2 is still in remission (yeahhh! ) and desperately hoping that he can now get on all of the rides. As you can see DS1 is missing on this trip as he is going with his mates to Malia (sp?) . Although I love Florida this has definitely put a dampener on things for me as I just couldn’t imagine our trip without Dan. However, that was then and this is now – I am now really excited and feeding on the boys’ enthusiasm.

Florida – 2006
We had an ADR booked one evening for the Whispering Canyon Café; our first time dining onsite and our first look at a Disney hotel. We had a wonderful evening and were amazed to find that people were dining alongside us for free – the DDP! A plan began to hatch in my mind as to our next trip and when we got home I found out about the 2006 offer regarding staying onsite and free DDP if you booked between august and November for the following summer. I prayed for a whole year for this offer to happen again and waited with baited breath for the end of August 2007 to come around.

August 2007
I wasn’t disappointed and quickly took advantage when a stay onsite + free DDP were offered again. We decided we were definitely going to go back but at a fraction of the cost of our 2006 holiday and agreed that Disney’s POR was our choice for 14 nights from the 23rd August to 6th September. As money was tight I also started to save my Tesco deals coupons for flights and have been avidly points collecting for the last 12 months! Joe and Shannon were also invited to come along with us.

After this there was a definite lull in proceedings as I tried to come to terms with the fact that Dan would not be coming along too (and DH and me trying to persuade him!). However, it quickly became clear that there was no hope, not even with the offer of a free holiday. His job would not allow him to take 4 weeks out over the summer period and so come January I finally reached acceptance and decided that I needed to start planning, particularly as our ADR window was fast approaching.


February 2008
I did the first pass of our dining choices and rang Disney Dining with trepidation. I had no need to worry however as they were all fine and I had a very funny conversation with the CM who was amazed that I not one, but two, sets of twins! Once explained she thought I must be the best Mum in the world to be taking friends for both of the kids!

I also booked our KSC tickets and 4 tickets to see Cirque Du Soleil – Sam and Joe decided that they did not want to see it and so it was decided that they could have some free time in DisneyQuest whilst the rest of us watched the show.

As we’re staying onsite DH questioned whether we would need a car for the whole two weeks of our stay and I agreed that we wouldn’t; it would also be nice for us both to enjoy a drink when we have all of those lovely dining options! We decided that one week was enough, in the middle of our holiday, and so this was also booked.

We then had the problem of how we get from the airport to POR? Simple answer – a limo! ? ! Return trip was arranged as a surprise for everyone.

March 2008
The last time we visited Florida we stayed for one night in the Hard Rock Hotel at Universal and everyone agreed that we wanted to do this again. Sadly HRH was fully booked for the night we wanted and so we chose to stay at RPR and to be honest, I’m glad now as this will be something completely different for everyone.

April 2008
After seeking advice from the lovely Dibbers we have decided as a surprise for the kids to book the Adventure Tour for Busch Gardens where we get FOTL for all the major rides, lunch, a show and also a Savannah Tour where you can get up close and personal with a giraffe! We all love Busch Gardens but find it a bit stressful as it’s always busy when we visit and tempers always seem to get a bit frayed; this way the day should only be relaxed and enjoyable.

DS2 also had his nephrology appointment for his kidney disease this month and it was with some nerves that we attended the hospital this time. Would puberty be affecting the progression of his disease? Had he grown? Would he be able to fly long haul? As you’re already aware everything was amazing – the doctor’s truly cannot understand how well his is doing and even reduced his medicines further. He’s a walking miracle!

May 2008

As it's DS2s birthday whilst we're away I started to think about what he would like to do and his view was pretty simple: only a park if it's Universal or surprises! As we're doing Universal and RPR the day after his birthday I needed to get my thinking cap on! I think I've come up with a perfect day for him (he's very sporty, loves fishing, animals & food) and this is the plan:

ADR at Boma for breakfast

Fishing at POR for a couple of hours

Visit to SkyVenture and the media package (double flight time and DVD)

Bahama Breeze for dinner

Night-time airboat ride at Boggy Creek

I'm certain he'll be over the moon with his day and will bring home some lovely memories!

I was also reading the Dibb and noticed that people were talking about MNSSHP and that they were booking in September! Could this be right? They were to start on the 5th September - our final night in Florida! Another surprise was booked for everyone and our ADR at the Yachtsman Steakhouse changed to the previous Saturday (we can also do Illuminations that night too!).

June/July 2008

I’d had a bit of a quiet period with planning as everything seemed to be done and I was itching to be doing something again – very dangerous! So on looking at the Seaworld website I started to take a look at the dining experiences. We couldn’t do the ‘Dine with Shamu’ as it was too late in the day (we have an ADR at the Yachtsman on that evening) and so looked in to the Backstage at Believe. It sounded perfect and was duly booked for all 6 of us. Another surprise to add to the list!

I’d also read a report in May about upgrading with Monarch close to the flight date as the upgrade price was very cheap and I’d been keeping my eye on the cost since then. When I booked the flights I was looking at an upgrade cost of around £1500 for Premium flights which I couldn’t justify. However, at the end of July I noticed that the price had dropped loads and was now only a third of that cost. Quick check with DH to make sure and this was also booked and is to be kept as yes, you’ve guessed it,…..another surprise for the kids!

Well that really is it now guys….we’re all ready and raring to go and will be doing our SDD in a handful of days now. Our budget is blown, but hey, who cares …….WE’RE GOING TO FLORIDA!


Sue x

[disneydaft70]

WOW that's some budget holiday you have there!

Great pre trippie, look forward to reading your TR's. I hope I get to read them before I go...although I certainly don't need any more ideas

JA x

[ely3857]

Great start! - It's the same with us, we start with a 'budget' but then before you know it we 'have to have' MNSSHP, Convertible. WCC ...



Jodie

[DizneyBlonde]

We work on that same budget too...
... the never ending and just one more thing budget!

Can't wait to read more.

[sueh6]

Lol! I started with such good intentions and then thought about a couple of 'surprises' (this is now a florida tradition and is as exciting for the kids as anything else so I can't not do it!), it's DS2s birthday whilst were there so am planning another couple of things too

Sue x

[DizneyBlonde]

Don't talk to me about surprises!

[summerlily2002]

Sounds fab, Great news about your son too

[TracyW]

We were going to go on a budget this time, then "free" DDP came along so we HAD to upgrade from POP to CBR to save money lol!

[Guest]

Great start! I love reading about how others plan their holidays etc.,
agree the 'budget' never seems to stay the same

Looks like we will be there around the same time. (21 Aug to 5 Sept in POFQ).

[sueh6]

We should try and meet up Theresa seeing as though we're so close - POR & POFQ, if only for a drink and a chat!

Sue x