Our Fortnight Of Fun - Pre Trip Report

[Guest]

A fortnight of fun pre trip report June 2009

Oh my word, in 2 months we will be flying high and on our way, I am so excited (can you tell I’m excited? He he) I’ll try not to bore you all too much but you may wanna make a brew first, this may take a while!

Let me introduce you to the cast.

Me. DW (Disney wife). Keri. 30. Disney vacation planner, chief itinerary writer, report author, chief saver –upper (he he) and chief spender (well I saved it so I get to spend it too! )


Him. DH. (Disney husband) Tony. 34. Chauffer for the trip, chief bag holder (doesn’t do big rides.) Big teddy bear and the love of my life.

Eldest. DS1 (Disney son 1) James, AKA Jim-Bob. 9. A Star Wars, Power Rangers and fast rides fan. Loves Woody and Buzz Lightyear and Chicken Tenders (he only eats them when we are here!)

Youngest. DS2. (Disney son 2) Joshua, AKA Joshie bear. 7 going on 17 (if you know what I mean! Lol) He loves Cars, Toy Story (secretly Hannah Montana too …but don’t tell him I told you!), food….any kind of food….I mean he will eat anything, lol. He can’t wait for the big rides now that he is tall enough and been given the all clear from his cardiologist (Yipee! I’ll explain later)

A bit of history.

Way back when, before the turn of the millennia, a certain DH (wonderful man….when he is asleep! Lol) decided that, along with his parents, his youngest sister and his nana, that we would have our first holiday abroad, we were already living together so a holiday would be lovely.

What I didn’t know then was where we were going. A few weeks before the trip and after my whining and nagging I finally get told where we are off to. He had kept me in suspense for far too long, so he decides to stretch out the agony even further. He gets me to guess and eventually he confirms its America….so I try to narrow it down a bit, well USA isn’t little and eventually I get it. Florida….. Orlando…. Disney World and our first stay at a Disney Resort. Port Orleans French Quarter.. ..I think I must have jumped up and down for about 4 weeks (ok, exaggerating slightly here, but you get the picture) I was so happy, I had always wanted to go! I then spent the next X number of weeks trying to get organized, which as a young woman with more clothes than sense was a difficult feat! But I succeeded and the bags were packed and we were off.

Wow. What an amazing place and the heat! I just couldn’t believe how hot it was! We had such a superb time but the 2 weeks went far too quickly. We promised ourselves that we would return one day and we would bring our children. OMG DH had decided he was ready to start a family! Excellent. So we set about that on our return! Fast forward to 2002 and our second child is on the way. DS2 was born in April and very quickly we discovered that he wasn’t very well. Off to the local children’s hospital he went and cardio surgery performed. 10 days later we were all allowed to return home.

Fast forward to 2006. My mum passed away suddenly and left a little bit to me and DH so we decided to take the kids to Disney on it, (well I couldn’t let Mr’s Brown and Blair have their share, mum would have been very unhappy if I had let that happen! Lol). Well what could I do, so we booked it, packed it and …….. you get the picture (thanks Mum & Peter Kay!)

So this time its June 2007 and there are 9 of us. Me, DH, DS1 and 2, DH’s Mum, Dad, Sister, other sister and brother in law. We must have looked like the Clampits when we turned up at POFQ this second time around! Lol! I digress, another fantastic holiday was had by all and the fun that the kids had was unbelievable but all too soon we are back home with the Disney blues, wondering if we will ever be able to go back. A fortnight in Disney just isn’t long enough.

On return from officially the ‘best holiday in the world’, we were invited by my best friend, her hubby and their kids to holiday with them in Turkey, all inclusive, in June 08. So we paid the deposit and saved like mad (I was only working part time school hours to keep my skills up while the kids were settling into their school) so it was a bit of a stretch, but we managed it. Just before we went, I was offered a new job, full time, with a superb package which meant that we could afford child care. I snappily took them up on their offer and went off to our first all inc holiday and my first holiday in Turkey. Well this place (Barut Hotel, Hemera, Side (pronounced cee-day)) is lovely, it certainly gave WDW a run for it’s money weather wise, it was blue skies every day and it never rained once, the temp never fell below 23 degrees (at night!) and at it’s hottest it was 37 degrees, I lived in the pool! The food and drink here was absolutely fantastic and we decided that we would go back, if we could get it at the same price or as close to as possible. We had paid £2400 for a fortnight and so were happy to pay something similar to that plus up to another £300 if the prices had gone up. So off we trot to our local Thomas Cook shop and they give me a price for the same two weeks in June 09, as we had had in June 08 and ‘OMG’ I nearly fell off my seat! They wanted £4500! And that was with a discount applied. So straight away we left the shop (more like a run to be honest!) and we set about looking at other holiday destinations, to no avail.

So now in September 08 and still no-where booked for Summer 09. Well what should pop up on one of ITV1’s many ad break’s, one cold wet and windy night, but a WDW Florida advertisement. I had had a question! Could we afford to go back to WDW? In the ad they said that they were offering 14 days ultimate tickets for the price of 7 days. X% off WDW resorts & hotels and free Disney Dining Plan on moderate and deluxe resorts. Well when we had been to POFQ before, we had wanted to do DDP but was told that it was only open to US residents. I had, on return from Turkey, priced up a fortnight with Virgin Holidays and was returned a price of £7500 (which as you can imagine is far too much, so we had decided it a bad idea as it was far too expensive).

So on t’internet I jumped, and when WDW travel companies website comes back with a fortnight accommodation, upgraded DDP and Ultimate tickets for the 4 of us at less than £2k. We said ‘Yep’ straight away, now let’s see about flights.

Virgin Holidays website was quickly loaded and fly drives were quickly searched, (well I didn’t want the last seats on the plane to go now did I?!) They returned a price of £2400 for the basic economy car, so we changed a few options on the car and upgraded to a 4x4 SUV car and upgraded the insurance to the Platinum options and a price of £2600 was secured. Do-able we thought.

So we now have booked the following.

Flights
Car Hire for the duration (including upgrades on the vehicle and insurance)
Disney Hotel
Ultimate Tickets and last but not least
Upgraded Disney Dining Plan (from Quick service to Table and Quick Counter service)
Grand Total £4400 (give or take!)

It was booked in October 08 & we paid our deposit (£700) and set about saving up the rest. We sat and worked out a budget of what we would need to save each month and Bobs your uncle, Fanny’s your aunt, we have a budget arranged, new savings accounts opened and savings accruing nicely.
The balance due date is 30th June but because we had the total amount saved up early we decided that on 22nd June we pay the holiday off in full. Yipppppppeeeeeeeee! All we have to do now is keep saving up for spends and watching the Dollar rates go up…….they will go up, dear lord make them go up, please, please, please! Okay enough begging.

Because we had been to WDW before with family, we hadn’t really had a choice of where we were going to each day, but we didn’t mind, we just went along with the flow which was perfect for us. But this time it would be different, it’s just the 4 of us so a little planning was and still is required. Next thing I know is DH has been scouring tinternet and has found some sort of Disney planning and information website, something called The Dibb….don’t know if you have heard of it? But anyway it has all sorts of information, a forum, others peoples experiences and loads of tips and advice, this sort of stuff, even if you have been twice before, is invaluable to a first time planner. So onto The Dibb he goes and registers us, only a man could choose a terrible screen name for a Disney forum (tomgangster, what’s that all about? Lol) Personally I would have preferred something a little in keeping with the Disney theme, something like The Real Incredibles? What do you think? Anyway back to the story.

A few pre-trippies and a few vacation reports later, I decide that we decide that we really must book our ADR’s, so at 100+ days or so we start deciding on where we want to eat, I must stop here and say a big ‘thank you’ to all you Dibbers out there who have loaded restaurant menu’s and completed food reviews, seriously good effort, this has helped me immensely in figuring out where my kids will eat and what is on the kids menu– DS1 is a very fussy eater and will probably only eat 3 things, pizza, burgers and chicken strips. If none of these food stuffs are on the menu then the restaurant is off the options list.


Here is what I have booked so far (ADR’s – all table service):
1. Planet Hollywood (dinner)
2. Tusker House (dinner)
3. Hollywood and Vine (dinner)
4. Crystal Palace (lunch)
5. Tutto Italia (dinner)
6. Chef Mickeys (dinner)
7. Cap N Jacks (dinner)
8. Ohana’s (breakfast)
9. The Garden Grill (dinner)
10. Le Cellier (dinner)
11. Tony’s Town Square (dinner)
12. 1900 Park Fare (dinner)
So that leaves me with 2 days to book….but not sure where to eat! Decisions decisions……..
13. Sci fi dine in – what do you think?
14. Help? Any ideas anyone?

You may be wondering if we are going to do anything else other than Disney, well the answer is yes. We are going to go to the beach a couple of times, NASA, of course we will do the obligatory shopping, I want to try and see as many of the outlets as possible and hopefully if we can find a good price for the tickets, Universal and Islands of Adventure in the one day…if anyone has any tips on doing these two parks cheaply then please get in touch.

http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/planner_view.php?p=3709
This is my trip plan. Take a look and any advice is gratefully received.

Right then your cuppa has either been drunk or has gone cold while you have been reading this so thanks for your time and I hope you haven’t been bored too much.

P.S I'll try and add pics of us when I can work out how to load proper pics up and not just smilies!

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE
T Minus 38 days and counting (17th July 09) he he!

Hi everyone -Thank you for your messages so I thought I would give you just a quick update. I just this minute got off the phone to Disney Dining reservations and I finally finished booking my last ADR's and I got ... ... DER DER DER DER DA DAH

50's Prime Time Cafe
Crystal Palace
AND...
T-REX!

I'm so happy, I'm not wishing my life away but I can't wait for this trip, i'm so excited!

Thanks again for all your messages they are brilliant.
TTFN (ta tar for now - tigger!) Keri. x


UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE - 1st August 09

I can finally say that 'I go on holiday this month' and the dollar appears to be going up. Yippee.


UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE - 15th August 09

Gentlemen take your parners please and come on to the dance floor for a SINGLE DIGIT MASH UP!

We go in 9 days, argh eeeehhhhh ooooohhhhhh ahhhhhhhhh. I have 5 days left in work and mountain of ironing, the washer hasn't been turned off in 6 days and I think I am having a nervous breakdown - let me on that plane, don't you know I have a date with the Mouse?

[VickieMH]

A super pre trippie, What a lovely husband booking your first holiday and keeping it a secret... Bless him.

I dont blame you for going back when u were left a gift from your Mom... Looking forward to your holiday report xx

[fudgesky]

Great pre trippie, loving it! Ive just started mine, its very therapeutic isnt it? Weve booked T-Rex for an evening meal, chk it out looks fab. Costco out there are doing great deals on IOA & Universal tickets which you might want to consider. They last for 3 mths! but are still cheaper than buying on the gate. think they were around $90... oh heres the link http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/show...costco+tickets

We havnt included this in our budget but at those prices you never know! Have a wonderful trip, look forward to reading more and seeing those pics!

[GaynorB]

What a fabulous pre -trippie .Hope you have a great holiday

[Cinnabon]

A great pre trip report. I think you are going to have a great trip.

[cartoonp]

Great report and well witten Thak you

[Guest]

Fantastic PTR... looking forward to hearing more.

[Guest]

Trip Report Updated - please have a read. Thanks.