theDIBB - The Baker's 3 week Florida Adventure

Hi Dibbers :wavey: and welcome to my pre-trip report for Aug/Sep 2020

Although this is not my first time going to Florida, it is my first attempt of writing a trip report:erm:, so with that being said I have decided to give it ago starting with a pre-trip report. Okay, so here it goes……..

My name is Lisa, I’m currently a social work student but will be fully qualified by the time we travel in August 2020, this will be my 6th time visiting Florida and I’m already counting down the days and in full planning mode. My most favourite park is most definitely Magic Kingdom, I love fantasy land and insist on visiting and riding all attractions possible.

Then there is the Husband Mark, who works extremely hard to ensure that each year we have an amazing holiday. Mark loves Disney just as much as me and is Star Wars crazy, this will be his 9th visit to Florida, his favourite park is between Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom, Typhoon Lagoon and Universal Studios (he cant choose) his most favourite attraction is Star Tours and Transformers. Mark likes to take a fully active role in all aspects of trip planning but likes to surprise the kids with details, something that I fail miserably at, as I just cant contain myself and end up spilling the beans.

In 3rd place is our pre-teen Shiloh (11) will be 12 when we go! Shiloh made her WDW debut in 2008 when she was just over a year old. Shiloh loves all things Disney, including the man himself she loves finding out new facts about Walt Disney, she loves both universal parks but her one true love is Dolphins and all marine life in general. Shiloh has ASD and is obsessed with Dolphins, which is most probably why her favourite park is Discovery Cove – she literally sits on the beach for hours watching the Dolphins. Other then Discovery Cove Shiloh loves the water parks. For this particular holiday Shiloh is really excited to visit Toy Story Land :spin:.

And our finalist is our Dear son Harry:spin: (5) will be (6) when we travel. This will be Harry’s 3rd trip, the first being when he was 10 months old and the last when he was just 3 years old. Harry does not have a particular favourite park as of yet he just goes along with what his sister wants, but he is a thrill seeker and loves rides, he is fearless and that includes water rides. Harry is aeroplane obsessed, his Daddy’s time in the RAF probably a lot to do with this and although he will not be seeing the blue angles during our time in Florida our intention is to take a trip to Kennedy Space Centre. Harry is a keen swimmer so will no doubt love all of the water parks. He has started to show a keen interest in Star Wars

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This is us all on our last trip in 2016

This year will be our first where we stay in Orlando for 3 weeks. Previous to this we have done 14 nights and 16 nights and have stayed on Idrive, Kissimmee, we have hired a villa and stayed on Disney. Having experienced a variety of accommodation types we really love staying on site and being close to the magic, we also like to stay at a different resort every time we go. So far we have stayed at Old Key West, Animal Kingdom and Caribbean Beach Resort.

We like to fully involve the kids in all our choices and Shiloh very much insists on taking an active roll in all aspects of booking and planning, minus the actual financial contribution of course! I’m sure her choices would be less expensive if it where her own $ being spent! This year we are having 3 different hotels, so here is what we have booked.

We got a really good price with Virgin Holidays and will be flying out on the 20th Aug on the morning flight, we have also pre-booked the Vroom so Harry has somewhere to relax and play before the flight. For the duration of our stay we have booked a hired car and have gone for a Full size SUV.

We will then be spending our first 5 nights on IDrive staying at the Rosen Inn at Point Orlando. Our thinking behind this choice was mainly due to what I wanted. As much as I love staying on site at Disney the first time I visited Orladno Mark and I stayed on IDrive and I loved spending time in the evenings exploring and trying out different restaurants, I really want Shiloh and Harry to experience this. The plan is that why we are staying here we will start the holiday with visiting Sea world, Aquatica and Volcano Bay.

We will then move to Universals Royal Pacific Hotel where we will enjoy the remainder of our week in Universal, taking full advantage of the express passes. We have never stayed at Universal before so we are really excited for this new experience and intend on spending as much time in the parks as possible.

We will then be moving on to Disney for our Final 2 weeks :) and this is our final hotel change. We will be staying at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort. We have never visited this resort so we are really excited to be staying here and being in the Disney bubble.

So far this is what we have booked. Over the next few months we intend of booking our Discovery Cove package, Airport Hotel and Parking. But until then let the countdown commence and the saving continue. Im counting down the days until we book our seat selection with Virgin and of course restaurant reservations and fast passes but until then i still have 1 exam to complete in the next few weeks, our upcoming holiday to Cuba to pack for (we leave in 2 weeks and I'm still not sorted with holiday shopping etc :erm:) and of course our itinerary planning.

If you are still with me at this point guys then I look forward to reading your comments and any advice that you Dibbers have. So bye for now :wave: