My dream WDW trip that never should have been - May 2009

[Hannikins]

After reading everyone else’s frankly BRILLIANT trip reports I thought I’d give one of my own a shot!

Firstly the Cast

Me - Hannah (23)

I love all things Disney related, especially old school Disney movies (they don’t make them like they used to! ). My favourite movie is The Little Mermaid, I remember going to see it at the cinema when I was very young, sitting in the upper circle and being so completely in awe of the whole thing that I didn’t want to get up in the interval to get an ice cream in case it started again and I missed something! No matter now many times I watch it I always end up in tears before the end.

I’ve never been to WDW but I’ve fantasised about going ever since I was little. I remember being really jealous when my friends got to go and came back telling me how wonderful it was

Boyfriend – Adam (27)

Not the biggest Disney film fan on the planet, although he admits he rather likes Stitch. I think my love for the whole thing is gradually wearing off on him though I got him to sit through Monsters Inc last night, that a BIG step forward in my book. Despite this attitude he’s a big kid at heart and he loves the atmosphere and sense of fun you get in Disney parks. He’s been to Florida with his family twice when he was younger staying at Disney’s Grand Floridian on both occasions – wasted on him obviously.

Here’s a picture of us both:


Adam doesn't always look like this - He's just incapable of smiling nicely for photos!

We’ve been together for 6 years in April. We met just before I went off to university (great timing I know!). Not to worry though as after a year apart, with me on my own at university he eventually moved to Northampton to be with me until I finished my degree. During this time we had several holidays

2003 – Lanzarote
This was my first holiday abroad and my first trip on a plane (AHHHHHHHHH!). As I’d never been abroad before the heat was an experience in itself! This has to be the thing I’m least looking forward to in Florida as I don’t cope very well when it’s very hot – Heat rashes, burning to a crisp – the works!


2005 – Southern Italy
Adam's family own a family house in a small village high on a mountain in Italy. As I was a student and didn’t have a lot of money we decided to join them to keep holiday costs down. This was a new type of holiday for me again as it was far away from all the tourist resorts. This was a positive though as you really did experience the food and traditional culture along with the locals

A view down the main village street


Us enjoying the local cuisine


2006 – Paris – the surprise birthday trip
I celebrated my 21st in 2006 and Adam arranged this short break as a surprise for me. The week before the holiday however I forced him to tell me where we were going so I knew what to pack. Lucky I did though! I don’t think a bikini would have been ideal Parisian sight seeing attire!

He did keep one little surprise all to himself until the plane journey though. A day pass to Disneyland Paris – yippee! . When he told me I was so excited I cried. Because I knew nothing about the trip I didn’t get chance to plan anything – which made me very nervous, I hate not planning. I needn’t have been worried, as the day went without experiencing any Mammoth queues and we didn’t even use fastpass- mainly because we didn’t know what it was! I really enjoyed the trip and cried a lot (seeing a pattern here?) which was fairly embarrassing, especially during the parades, THANK GOD for sunglasses to hide my shame

Yes we are in Paris, that light in the background is the Eiffel Tower I promise


2007 – Tenerife
My Mum and Dad went on a trip here in 2006 and told us how much fun it had been, especially there trip to the local aminal park. I had a great time there on this recommendation, enjoying the biggest cocktails I’ve ever seen and some great animal shows at the park itself

Us enjoying a meal by the sea


Cocktails yum yum!


Penguins exhibit


Whale Show


Dolphin Show

[Hannikins]

2008
No holidays this year as we decided to take the plunge and buy a house together instead.

We also increased our family by 2

Izzy – affectionately known as fatty puss




and Bella – affectionately known as Sweetie pie




They will also be going on holiday in May at the same time as us – to a cattery. I feel like such a mean mummy but I’m sure they won’t give two hoots! I’ve promised to buy them some nice toys while I’m away as compensation

My holidays before all that? Well before meeting Adam I’d always had holidays in Cornwall with my family. As you can see the weather was rarely much cop!

That's me proudly posing with my 'fairy garden'


And so onto 2009………

We weren’t intending to have a holiday this year. With the new house we had decided to spend our money on getting a new bathroom and doing a bit of DIY. However early in 2008 my Auntie mentioned they were thinking of taking my seven year old cousin to Disney, and wanted to know if we’d like to join them along with my mum and dad. Adam seemed keen so I started doing some research into the cost of flights during the Easter hols, to see if we could afford it. Flights were working out at around £900 so it was really a no go for us. Out of interest while researching flights I tried a few dates in May and found that I could have the whole holiday, flights and all, for less than the £900 flights at Easter. This really was a no brainer so I declined the offer to go with the family, wished them luck with the Easter crowds, and started to plan the holiday just for the two of us instead, how selfish am I!

After a couple of weeks going from TA to TA we eventually agreed on the following trip….

14 nights on international drive, staying at the quality inn plaza with Virgin flights

TOTAL COST - £1650

Just as I was on my way to book it I got a call from Thomas Cook, saying that they’d spent some time looking at my requirements again (they’d been way off with the price when we’d first asked them) and had a great deal for us if we’d like to pop in to discuss. Well we were only across the road in another travel agents so we thought why not!

Their deal turned out to be a great one. Same price as the one we nearly booked but with 5 nights at pop century instead. Great I thought, but Adam had reservations. He was used to staying in deluxe Disney hotels and didn’t think I’d get the same experience at a budget hotel. We enquired how much extra in would be if we change the 5 days at pop to 5 days in one of the moderate hotels. The cost was £100 each – which we thought was worth it. We chose to stay at Port Orleans - Riverside as the agent said it was quite a romantic resort and I liked the look of the boat ride to Downtown Disney

We booked it.

Thursday 7th May until Thursday 21st May

Flying with Virgin from Manchester Airport

9 nights at The Enclave Suites on (near) International Drive
5 nights at Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside

TOTAL COST - £1750


TC also offered us a free over night stay at a nearby airport hotel – how could we refuse! So we can now add a night at the Britannia Manchester Airport Hotel onto our holiday!


Now that’s the introduction and basis planning sorted, sorry if I've bored you all - I hope you got this far!

Now for my favourite bit - Let the planning commence! ...

[Clare]

Sounds like it's going to be a great trip

I love your little kitties!

[Hannikins]

Once I knew the holiday was booked and paid for I started planning. That was back in January. It’s now coming up to only 50days left until we go and I’m ADDICTED to planning, almost to the point were I’m in danger of over planning. We’ve both take a very different approach to planning for this holiday..

ME
I want every day planned out so I know where I’m going and more importantly where I’m going to eat. I want money portioned out over the holiday and I want as many list as possible to keep myself calm

Adam on the other hand…

Doesn't want us to be to ridged, wants a basis plan but doesn’t think we need ADR’s or a day by day plan. He wants to go with the flow and most importantly doesn’t want to worry about the cost too much as it’s a once in a lifetime trip.

As you can see two totally different approaches to planning…. mine is obviously right to here goes!

My planning tools



The picture is a bit blurred but it basically comprises of the following

Brochures
A folder containing all the brochures we had with useful information in them, such as maps. Including the brochure we booked through – Thomas Cook signature

Ticket Confirmations
Ticket confirmations from Charter Travel and Virgin. When my vouchers arrive they will also be going in this folder

Hotel / Travel confirmations
All the invoices and confirmations of the flights and payments from Thomas Cook

Busy Day guide
A print out from the crowd calculator for my 5 Disney days

Mini Note Book
Contains all the information we currently have set in stone to take with us , such as ESTA and passport numbers. Bank telephone numbers and ADR’s The back of the notebook is reserved for the day by day plans and touring guides which I will copy down once I have confirmed

Travel Guides

• Brit Guide – 2009
• Unofficial Guide – 2009
• Frommer’s WDW and Orlando Guide – 2006
• AA Orlando – not very useful but came free so can’t complain

All these guidebooks have proved really useful. My favourite has been the Frommer’s guide as it’s really funny and interesting to read from cover to cover. The unofficial guide has been the best for actual advice, especially the touring plans which I intend to use on some days

I’ve also ordered a mapman map so I’ll be adding that to my collection as soon as it arrives

Things I’ve already booked…

Tickets

• Discovery Cove Ultimate Adventure Tickets - £179 each
• Universal 2 park bonus tickets - £70 each
• 7 day Disney ticket - £183 each

Total for all tickets- £864

ADR’s

• Sunday 17th May 2009 - Boma
• Monday 18th May 2009 – California Grill
• Tuesday 19th May 2009 - Ohana

For the other two nights Adam’s convinced me not to book anything and we’ll decided when we get there – I’m not convinced

Things I still have to book….

Transfers

• Home – Manchester
• OIA – Enclaves
• Enclaves – Port Orleans
• Port Orleans – OIA (Although I have the magical express booked if I need to use it )
• Manchester - Home

Travel Money
We still have to get some cash out, I was waiting for the exchange rate to hit…1.6 I live in hope!

IF (when) the rate improves the plan is to arrange the following

• Roughly $30 for dinner each
• $20 for the rest of the day each

TOTAL - $100 per day = $1400

We’ll then be taking our own spending money – around £500 each

Nearer the time I also need to……

• Print off the ESTA forms just in case
• Book Busch Gardens transport online
• Use Virgin flight on-line check in
• Use Disney hotel online check-in and request room
• PACKING – really HATE this bit as I’ve already completed the rather more enjoyable part of BUYING new things to pack!

The plan

So after reading through the guides, checking and double checking the busy day guides (why can’t they all agree!) Our plan is as follows….

Day 1 - Wednesday 6th May 2009

• Taxi from Home to the Accommodation at 8pm
• Check In to Brittania Manchester Airport Hotel

Day 2 - Thursday 7th May 2009

• Check Out from Brittania Manchester Airport Hotel
• Depart from Manchester Airport
• Arrive at Orlando International Airport
• Check In to Enclave Suites

Day 3 - Friday 8th May 2009

• All Day - Universal Studios

Day 4 - Saturday 9th May 2009

• All Day - Islands of Adventure

Day 5 - Sunday 10th May 2009

• All Day - Discovery Cove

Day 6 - Monday 11th May 2009

• All Day - SeaWorld

Day 7 - Tuesday 12th May 2009

• All Day - Busch Gardens

Day 8 - Wednesday 13th May 2009

• Morning & Afternoon - Aquatica
• Afternoon & Evening - Shopping

Day 9 - Thursday 14th May 2009

• All Day - Islands of Adventure

Day 10 - Friday 15th May 2009

• All Day - Universal Studios

Day 11 - Saturday 16th May 2009

• Check Out from Enclave Suites
• Check In to Port Orleans Riverside
• Afternoon & Evening - Epcot world showcase to have a walk around and watch IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth - 9:00pm

Day 12 - Sunday 17th May 2009

• All Day - Animal Kingdom
• Evening - Hollywood Studios to watch fantasmic at nine
• Dinner at Boma
• this is MK magic hours day 9 till 12am! to I might go here after Fantasmic if I'm not to tired

Day 13 - Monday 18th May 2009

• All Day - Epcot
• Dinner at California Grill

Day 14 - Tuesday 19th May 2009

• All Day - Hollywood Studios
• Dinner at Ohana

Day 15 - Wednesday 20th May 2009

• Magic Kingdom and Wishes Nighttime Spectacular @ 9:00pm

Day 16 - Thursday 21st May 2009

• If we didn't get chance to do everything we wanted at MK then we'll take advantage of the EMH in the morning to finish off.
• Check Out from Port Orleans Riverside
• Depart from Orlando International Airport
• Arrive at Manchester Airport

I’m now fairly happy with the plan, although I don’t think ‘all day’ will actually mean all day. I’m hoping that I can get Blizzard Beach in there somewhere, if possible. I doubt it though, as it’s already looking quite ‘Full’

I'm really lookg forward to the whole holiday now and writing it all out again like that has just added to my excitement. Adam's also buzzing. He's interested to see how much things have changed but more than that he's really excited about doing the dolphin swim. It's something he's always wanted to do and I think he may shed a tear or two

WHAT NOW?!?!

I’m officially ‘planned out’ now. Since I’ve done the important bits I’m now going to concentrate on the following…

• Making lists of all the rides I want to go on and the attractions I want to see
• Copying out all the tour plans I want to try and follow into my trusty note pad
• Wearing in all the shoes I've bought for walking round the parks

Most importantly...

I'm going to TRY De-sensitising myself to Disney in general. This is very important otherwise I am going to be a blubbering wreck for the whole holiday – not a clever idea for a contact lense wearer!

I’m going to do this by listening to the parade theme tune that makes me cry the most ‘Dancin a Catchy Rhythm’ and watching ALLLLL my Disney films before I go. I don't think it will work but it's a good excuse!



Monsters Inc was also in the pile but as I mentioned before, I got Adam to watch it with me last night . That’s one down 15 to go!

The Day Before >>>

[Guest]

Im so pleased you are getting to go atlast, have a great time.

Ps love the kittens

[cathann]

Wow, you are really organised. Your plan looks great, you're far more sorted than us, I'm somewhere between you and Adam on the 'needing everything planned' front. Enjoy the next few weeks!

[k l is excited]

Wow! you are very well organised. I truly hope you both have the wonderful holiday that you are so looking forward to. You do realise once you have been you will want to go again thats what happened to us when we went in August 07 and here we are planning for October 09.

Karen

P.S. Hope you manage to get in all the films before you go. lol

[col2501]

wow, what a detailed pre trip report! I enjoyed reading it! it's our first trip to the magic too and I can't wait - got a bit longer to wait than you tho!
Love the pictures of your cats - they are adorable!
Will look forward to your trip report!

[Guest]

Sounds as though it's going to be a fantastic trip.

[wickesy]

Great report, looking forward to hearing all about it when you get back. Dancin' A Catchy Rhythm is one of my faves as well.