LETS GO FOR IT! - my pre trip report.

[Guest]

“Lets Go For It!“

Think it’s time for my pre trippie! It’s been a hell of a journey but we’re finally ready to go.

First of all I’ll start with the intro’s!

Clairey (that’s me!) 21, (turning 22 whilst in WDW =D) I am a huge Disney fan. Been through the Eeyore phase and the Minnie Mouse phase, Disney Princess phase…and I’m now having a Tinkerbell phase! I would say my bedroom could be mistaken for an 8yr olds! My double bed has the pink Disney Princess duvet and is covered with princess, Eeyore, Minnie and Tinkerbell pillows and cuddly toys!
I have been wanting to go to WDW since I can remember and finally at age 21 my dream will come true! =]
I have been to a lot of amazing places, my faves being Brugge in Belgium and Strasbourg in France! I’ve also been up and down the Spanish coast and out to the Islands! Which have all been amazing holidays but now it’s time to cross the pond!

Darren (that’s my other half!) 22, he’s just going for the Starwars Weekend i think haha and also the theme parks and general buzz of Orlando!
Not a fan of the sun or water parks… but still I’m sure he’ll have a great time =p he really can’t wait!

We got together 3 years ago now and our past holidays have been £9.50 holidays out of The Sun newspaper; Berwick (twice) Haggerston Castle, Seton Sands, Primrose Valley and not forgetting Blackpool! They all have been amazing holidays though (just lacking warmth! )
But then…
Last year for my 21st my mum surprised us both with a mini cruise to Brugge in Belgium and that was just out of this world!
That brings me to…

Annie (that’s my mum!) - my mum has always wanted to take the kids to WDW! (dad would rather stay at home and look after our dog! - so he is =p) and finally she is - even if we are 21 and 17! I’m kinda glad we’re going at this age as we’ll have a lot more memories to bring home!
My mum is going to shop til she drops! And can’t wait to relax at Typhoon Lagoon.


Grigor (that’s my little brother!) 17, (turning 18 whilst in WDW) he’s really looking forward to the water parks most and HWS on his birthday! He was joking the other day he wasn’t going tho because the team we support MIGHT get to the Scottish Cup Final the day we fly out - typical! He was only kidding tho…so not funny!


And so the story begins;

One day last May I suggested Florida to mum and Darren, I didn’t think in my wildest dreams they’d say “Let’s go for it!”

Originally there were 7 of us going, my best friend and her boyfriend wanted to tag along and also when we were discussing this trip my brother had a GF.

So I was online doing all the research, looking at deals etc.. we had originally planned to stay in a Villa as there were so many of us and hire a car. I got a few prices and took them into the TA’s, which of course they wanted to beat my online prices!

After we got a few prices under the £1000 mark we realised we couldn’t get 7 of us in a car with 7 suitcases and none of us really wanted to drive in the U.S or pay the extra money for the young drivers policy! (however the Villas were stunning and hard to turn away! )

So we then looked at International Drive…
We were getting quoted around £950 to £1100 for 14 nights on I Drive for the 7 of us! Which I thought wasn’t that good at all!
So I was naughty and took a made up price of £850 for the same holiday into a few TA’s - and it wasn’t long before they were beating it! Thomas Cook offered the Quality Inn for £789 which was only 2 stars and I knew it had a bad write up! So after long hard discussions and reading about cock roaches in the bedrooms we decided to spend a little more for a 3 star at least!
That’s when we got offered The Enclave Suites for £809 - we held a group meeting and looked at all the hotels again! We decided to go for it - and we did!
We all trooped into Thomas Cook that Saturday and paid our deposits for;

Thomas Cook
£809pp
14 Nights 30th May - 13th June 2009
The Enclave Suites

I had always said we’d just get our attraction tickets offline - but when we were booking it we got offered the Disney 14 Day Ultimate, the Flexi Ticket and the Arabian Nights Dinner for £279 - so we just took it as we thought it was pretty decent!

Making a grand total of £1088pp.

Next was where it all went belly up!

My little brother split from his GF, which meant cancelling her holiday which mucked up our final price etc and we battled hard with Thomas Cook for them to get a new invoice out to us with the correct price! We had to keep on hassling them for this, it took a while but we eventually got it sent out!

And so there were 6...until...

Next my best friend and her BF kept saying “We can’t afford to go” one week and “We can afford to go” the next. This went on for several months and I was getting REALLY annoyed and bored of hearing it!
I decided to give them a deadline that we needed to know by Christmas as they were waiting on her BFs pay check at Christmas to see if they could pay it off.
New year came and passed and still no decision made, so I told I had to know by the middle of January as we had to pay off our full balance.
A text finally arrived on my phone “We’re not going to Florida”
So we had to go through all the stress of cancelling them too! Which was even more of a nightmare as my best friend had already paid a lot towards it! (she could afford to go you see - her BF couldn’t!)
Now our balance was extremely confusing and we couldn’t work it out at all! We got two invoices a day apart and both had different totals! Both making our trip a lot dearer!
We phoned up and got palmed off a few times, finally got some answers and it turned out because they cancelled so late they had to pay a cancellation charge for the flight! When that was paid off our balance was finally correct!
I breathed a sigh of relief as I was getting so stressed and I wasn’t paying anymore than I originally signed up for!

And so there were 4...!


Unfortunately last week my mum was diagnosed with Chron’s (finally after a year of suffering and no answers she was finally diagnosed =[ ) The doctors said she might not be able to fly. We were all gutted as that meant Grigor wouldn’t be going either!
She should be starting her medication soon and with all the luck in the world will be absolutely fine for flying to Florida! *i cross everything* My mum really deserves this holiday!

Now for the fun stuff!

With the stress of the cost of our holiday off my shoulders I decided to start planning - which turned out to be even more stress! Lol!
(a lot of you will realise my stress from my countless worrying in posts! )

I joined THE DIBB =D (best thing I’ve ever done!)
I got the Brits Guide To Orlando
I ordered a WDW Planning Pack
I ordered the WDW DVD, Universal DVD and the Worlds of Discovery DVD!
Just ordered mapmans map too!

And thanks to everyone on the Dibb, I now have a ring binder filled with tips, maps, time tables, dining options, taxi services, my Dibb itinerary and a check list!


Just waiting on a decent exchange rate and then we’re all set to go!

Hope you enjoyed my pre trip report!

Clairey xx

[tiggerfan144]

You will be amazed how it will all come together. hope you have a great holiday

[Amy]

Sounds great! Fingers crossed for your mum x

[Guest]

Phew! , I'm exhausted after reading that. I'm not sure that plane you'll be on will need any fuel with all that excitement in you, they can just strap it to your back and you'll carry it there yourself. I'm loving your enthusiasm though and it looks like you deserve this hol. My only concern is that on my first visit i wasn't that bothered about going, but after a couple of hours in MK I was ready to burst with excitement so I'm worried that you might spontaneously combust. No doubt there'll be a few more posts from you before you go but good luck and don't fret about the exchange rate as it's frightening how much you can eat in a fortnight with a good rate.

[Guest]

hehe i know, i really cant wait!
i cant wait to eat florida up =p

thanks guys =]

xx

[Guest]

oh bless you tinks - how lovely for your mum having her two children celebrate "big" special birthdays whilst there. they will be memories none of you will ever forget! have a fantastic time - we are going not long after you so i totally know where you are coming from with the stress of planning and finalising everything - but it wouldnt be fun it we didnt stress to have everything perfect lol

[margyloveswdw]

Wow, you are excited... you'll have a fab time

Just realised we'll be there at the same time - I need to do my pre-trip report too!

[Guest]

see you's both there =] hehe

[Sarah84]

Great pre trippe and I bet you will have an amazing holiday, i dreamed of going to Disneyworld for years & years too and like you got to go for the first time when I was 21

Fingerscrossed for your mum, i really hope she is well enough to travel

[Simon1006]

What a manis build up! Similar to mine in ways but its so close now that its all long forgotten and now everyone is running around like mad chickens to try and get ready in time!