Our First Family Trip May/June 2020 *cancelled*
 

:wavey: I've been Dibb member for years but my last trip was 10 years ago so I haven't been an active poster in a long time, just lurking and dreaming :blush: The cast of characters has changed somewhat since my last trip:

Me aka Liz
OH Ian
DD1 Nancy (7)
DD2 Astrid (4)
DS Dominic (3)

It'll be my fifth time but everyone else's first. We almost booked to go to Orlando in 2013 when it was just me, Ian and Nancy but decided, grudgingly, to be sensible and put the money towards our impending house purchase. That and 2 more additions to the family 17 months apart meant the holiday pot wasn't too healthy for a while but i'm so excited to finally say we're going to Orlando next year :d: The kids have had a taste of Disney already as we went on our first family trip to DLRP in 2017, staying in Davy Crockett Ranch. I was a bit apprehensive about taking 3 little ones (they were 5, 2 and 1 at the time) but it was fantastic, they all loved it and Nancy cried when it was time to go home bless her! It was a total change of pace to my previous trips as part of a couple, you're definitely forced to slow right down and spend far more time in the loos :D but seeing the magic through your children's eyes is amazing and just made us more determined to take them to WDW :thumbs-up

The tentative plan is 3 weeks over May half term (the girls' school has 2 weeks off) plus the week before. Staying 10 nights onsite (likely CBR) for hopeful free dining which we'll upgrade to get the TS meals and 11 nights offsite (some kind of self catering accomodation, villa/suite/condo not sure yet)
For our 10 nights onsite we won't be hiring a car and plan to enjoy being firmly in the 'Disney bubble' with our only concern being not buying too many souvenirs :spin: Offsite we'll be hiring a car and enjoying the other Orlando attractions and restaurants. Universal, KSC, Seaworld and Gatorland are must dos plus a trip to the Florida Mall. I'd like to go to a beach one day aswell, just deciding which one :) I'm also considering a night in a Universal hotel to get the express pass perks if the price is right ;)

As far as flights go Manchester is our airport of choice but i'm not tied to any particular airline. Currently weighing up if it's worth the hassle of flying indirect as the savings can be quite significant, though on the other hand the idea of missing a connecting flight or it being cancelled with 3 kids in tow makes me very nervous indeed :confused2 Hoping I can find a good enough direct flight price that this won't be an issue!

As we're not even a year away from the holiday at this point I have a fair bit of time to plan, but some definite restaurants/activities we have in mind are:
-Harmony Barbershop in MK for Dominic
-Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique for Nancy and Astrid (bringing the dresses from home!)
-Cinderella's Royal Table (hopefully after BBB)
-Cheesecake Factory (a must do for me when in the US)
-IHOP (same again!)
-Keke's
-Garden Grill in Epcot
-Bubba Gumps
-Cracker Barrel
-T rex (I know the food gets mixed reviews but Dominic loves dinosaurs so I think he'll be in his element here)

With it being so long since my last trip a LOT has changed in the parks, I almost feel like a first timer :blush: I've been poring over the Brit's Guide to 'refamiliarise' myself and watching youtube videos, especially loving DFB :spin: The biggest change is in the fastpass system (no more of those machines you put your paper ticket in it seems!) but i'm hoping the 60 day perk of staying onsite will mean we can get on all the rides we want to at some point during our trip :thumbs-up

That's all for now... I know this section of the forums isn't as active as it used to be but I always loved writing these back in the day, I feel like it adds to the excitement of planning a trip and hopefully a few of you out there feel the same :)

I'm loving seeing a couple of 2020 pre-trip reports. Loving the sound of your trip and will be following along as we will be returning July 2020.

It sounds like you’ve got a wonderful trip planned - and after 10 years you’ll notice many changes (we recently had our 1st trip back for 23 years & my hearts aching to be back already, but with 4 kids it’s going to take a lot of saving again 😭).
Enjoy your planning, 2020 will be here before we know it! 😊

Thanks for following along michyloulou and Milpston! :wave:
A few updates: I booked the Disney portion of the trip shortly after free dining was released (along with half of thedibb I'm guessing :pgig:) Standard 5th sleeper room at cbr, although Dominic is not yet booked on due to a glitch on Disney's end meaning you can only book these rooms for 4 people currently. Will ring back in June when it should be sorted and add him on :) I also decided to stay 11 nights rather than 10 so we'll be there 16th-27th May.
I'm currently researching villas and have a few shortlisted, hoping to make a decision on that shortly and put a deposit down :thumbs-up Next on the list will be flights next month if the price is right once they're released, hoping for £500 max per person. Will also book car hire and travel insurance next month.
For other park tickets I'm waiting til black Friday as heard there are often good sales on them then and every saving helps ;)

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A really good plan!

So after lots of searching and emailing I've found and booked a lovely villa for our 10 nights offsite :) It ticks all the boxes for us and is nicely within our budget:
http://oakhilldisneyvilla.com
I thought I was being quite organised booking a year in advance but from my search I've discovered that lots of the villas I was interested in were already booked so I'm glad we're all sorted now!
Also my Disney reference is now working on the mde app which is exciting even if there's nothing that needs doing this far in advance. Nevertheless I've been enjoying planning my imaginary counter service meals in the online ordering section ;)

Sounds like you are going to have a great time! We are going out very end of April for 3 Weeks, I also have not been for 10 years and never without my parents! OH has never been!

I really want to write a trip report any tips for a newbie reporter?

Aww that's lovely, hope you're enjoying planning your first trip as a couple :) I just watched this video recently, very interesting for those of us who actually haven't been in 10 years: http://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2018/0...d/#more-201170
As far as trip reports go I used to do a rough diary in a notebook each day then type them up on my PC when I returned home. Realistically I doubt it'll be a long detailed report this time but I would still like to document the holiday as it's likely to be a while until we can return.

A few days ago I rang Disney to try and add our extra night on (initally booked 16th-26th and hadn't got round to changing it) and discovered that there was no availability in a 5th sleeper room at cbr for that night! I then had a (totally first world) dilemma on my hands:

1. Hold out for more 5th sleeper rooms being released for the extra night.
2. Book another Disney or other offsite hotel for the 1 night.
3. Book a Universal hotel for the express pass perks.

I was leaning towards 3 and found a good rate for a club room at HRH on hotels.com. Using Tesco vouchers brought the cost down to £290. The club perks include breakfast, drinks, light snacks through the day and substantial snacks in the evening which i'm certain we'll make good use of, especially with their being 5 of us :thumbs-up

We are in similar position to you. Me and DW have been a few times, although the last time is 15 year's ago when we got married. Now booked CSR at the end of May with our 12 and 8 year olds.
Have you thought about POL 5th sleeper? we were originally going to book there but decided on CSR as it was £500 cheaper.