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-   -   Brummies trip with 3 Generations! - June/July 2019 (Pre- Trippie) Updated 16/6/19 (https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=1080483)

Brum26 15 May 18 02:39 PM

Brummies trip with 3 Generations! - June/July 2019 (Pre- Trippie) Updated 16/6/19
 
Hello Dibbers!

You may remember us from previously un-finished trip reports such as 'The Brummies are Coming 2012', 'The Brummies are Coming Again 2013' and the more recent ' Even more Brummies are Coming 2017'

So, we last visited Mouseland in 2017 which was our first trip with our little bundle of joy, Joseph who was 19 months old when we visited. He absolutely loved it and the look on his face, especially around the characters was priceless.



For those of you who haven't seen us before, let me introduce the cast:

Me - Mike (Chief Planner, Organiser & Booker)


This will be my 6th trip to Orlando but only my second time staying on-site. I am self employed and work from home so browsing the dibb is a welcome distraction.

The wife - Emma

She will be chuffed that I have shared this picture of her eating pizza whilst wearing some pizza pyjamas on our arrival night at POFQ last year. Emma loves Eeyore and this is her 4th trip.

The daughter - Jemma

Jemma is now 15 and will have literally just taken her last GCSE exam when we go at the end of June next year. She is Disney & Harry Potter mad. This is Jemmas 6th trip.

The son - Joseph

Joseph is now 2 and a half and literally hasn't stopped asking to go to Disney World since we got back in September. I think his big sister may be partly responsible! Like all toddlers, he has his moments but is a very funny boy and loves Disney films. This is Josephs 2nd trip.

The dog - Bob

Sorry Bob, you still can't come!

Here we are all together:




UPDATE 26/6/18: We now have an additional member of the cast! My Mom has now decided to join us for her first visit in 20 years and first time on-site. Here she is rocking Joseph's ears!



When we visited in 2017 it was the first time that we had ever stayed on-site and we had our head turned by the free ddp. We did a split stay with our first week at POFQ before moving on to stay in a villa for the second week.



This time we have decided to do 14 nights of pure Disney and will be staying at POFQ again and flying out on 29th June. We really loved how small the resort was the last time we went and it was perfect for us with Joseph being so young. We have again upgraded the ddp and have already started dreaming about the delicious food that we will eat.



We thought about just doing 10 nights but I figured that I would probably regret not booking 14 and this way we can just really take our time and have some rest days. We have decided not to do Universal at all this time as we have done it all before and there isn't a great deal there for Joseph. We potentially may do a day at Seaworld as we got rained out of there last year.

I've also decided that we won't rent a car this time and will just rely on Disney transport. I'm still not sure if that is a wise move but I'm sure we will manage. It also means that I can try some cocktails!

So, that is it for now! Will update as we go along and let you know which restaurants we decide to book etc.

:mickeybou

Kat11 18 May 18 05:15 PM

That all sounds brill! We’ve also booked for POFQ next October with ddp. Can’t wait to try somewhere new as we stayed and are staying again at OKW.

Looking forward to updates. 😁

Kat

Brum26 26 Jun 18 01:38 PM

UPDATE TIME!

It is a good job that I enjoy planning as everything is a little up in the air for our 2019 trip. As you know, we have booked to stay at POFQ for 14 nights from 29th June 2019.

Well...

Things have changed a little and may change again. My Mom started showing a little more interest than usual in our next trip and then asked if she could come along. I thought she was joking at first but she really wasn't. My Dad doesn't fancy it as he doesn't like long flights anymore but said that he would pay for my Mom to come with us if it was ok with us.



I totally get why she wants to come along as Jemma is almost 16 and so will soon be too busy with her own social life to visit her grandparents every weekend and Joseph is at the perfect age to enjoy the characters etc as he will be 3 and a half when we get there.

Her last visit was in 1998 when my parents took my sister and I when we were teenagers so things have changed quite a bit and she has never stayed on-site before.

So... I did a bit of research and decided that the best way to do it would be to just book an extra room at POFQ with upgraded dining plan and then Jem can share with my mom if she wants to so that we have all got a bit more space.

That said, I am a little torn on whether we should consider OKW 1 bedroom villa if and when they become available at 330 days. Any opinions would be much appreciated.

Just a couple of days after booking the extra room I suddenly realised that our current dates would mean flying out the morning after Jemmas year 11 prom. As we normally stay over at the airport the night before I am not sure that it is going to work so we may now have to move everything back 24-48 hours.

We have also started planning our dining so I will update again soon with a list of where we are planning to go!

kblackman 11 Aug 18 12:22 PM

loving your report, cant wait to read more! x

Brum26 6 Sep 18 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kblackman (Post 13420666)
loving your report, cant wait to read more! x

Thanks for reading! :)

Brum26 6 Sep 18 12:58 PM

UPDATE TIME!

So, as I mentioned in our previous post, we were considering whether to move everything back by a day or 2 due to our original dates meant flying out the morning after Jemmas year 11 prom. Unfortunately due to my Moms work dates and the fact that Disney now charge to change dates even when the price remains the same, we have decided to stick with 29th June.

I have been browsing flights for the past 3 or 4 weeks and have now finally booked. Our preferred airport was Manchester and even though initially Gatwick was coming up cheaper, the prices flipped a bit in the last week so we are now flying with Virgin direct from Manchester. We ended up booking through NetFlights and got a price of £513 each for Economy Classic. I had in my head that I wanted to get flights for £500 each so that was close enough for me. I checked again today and they had gone up by about £30 each so I am happy with that.



Just for anyone who is seeing great prices from TravelUp, we also saw some good prices but when I called them to check that this was for Virgin Economy Classic they didn't have a clue. The customer service was horrendous and that was before I had booked so we decided not to risk it. I've since heard other horror stories of people who have booked only to find out later that they had Economy Light despite TravelUp saying it included luggage.

Anyway, as it is only just over 100 days until we can book our ADR's lots of deliberation is currently going on to finalise restaurants. My Mom who is a notoriously fussy eater has just said, book where you want to go and I'm sure there will be something I will eat. I even printed off menus to show her for about 20 restaurants to see where she would like to eat but she has just been very laid back and told us to book whatever. I can't wait to see her face when I tell her that we are going for Japanese food at Teppan Edo! :grin:



So we have 296 days to go, lots of saving still to do and lots of planning to sort out. Will update about ADR's soon!

Brum26 11 Nov 18 06:08 PM

Happy Sunday everyone! (Unless you’re not reading this on a sunday!)

So, it has been way too long since our last update and with 50 days to go until ADR day I think we are almost sorted with where we are planning to eat during our trip. In case you missed it we are staying at POFQ but have upgraded to the full DDP.

So in terms of TS restaurants we are planning to eat at:

Chef Mickeys (Breakfast)
Via Napoli
Teppan Edo
Ohana
California Grill
Prime Time Cafe
Liberty Tree Tavern
Rainforest Cafe
Chef Art Smiths Homecomin’
Tratoria Al Forno (Breakfast)
Garden Grill
Cape May Cafe
Raglan Road

If there’s anywhere that you think we should definitely be going to for a TS meal then feel free to let us know as we’ve still got time to look at other places and swap some around.

We’ve also got a list of QS restaurants that we are going to try but maybe I will list those in another update.

We are still trying to work out how we are going to get all of us and our luggage to and from Manchester airport. My latest bright idea is to look at getting a second hand roof box to put a couple of cases in so that we can all go in my car. If we get taxis then we are looking at over £300 return and hiring a car works out about the same. I’m unlikely to get much use out of a roof box other than for this trip so thought that if I can get a second hand one that’s big enough we can then just drive and pay for the parking at Manchester airport which will work out a lot less than £300. Still need to do some research to find out if we can get a box that will fit 2 cases in it.

I’ll be back with more updates soon!

Goldia 18 Nov 18 09:10 AM

This sounds like it will be a special trip, with your mum coming as well. What a lovely way for your daughter to celebrate finishing her exams.

Good luck with getting all the ADRs you want. You've got some of our favourites planned! Plus a few that we have never done.

Brum26 18 Nov 18 10:02 PM

There’s a few there that we have never done either but looking forward to trying them. The other plus side of my mom coming is that for the first time ever Emma and I will be able to have a night out at Disney Springs as we have a babysitter with us!

Thanks for reading.

Brum26 27 Dec 18 05:28 PM

Arghhhhh. It’s very nearly ADR day. It’s kind of snuck up on us as we were very busy with work over the last few weeks and then Christmas etc. I think we are pretty much there with what we are planning to book but may go over it once more tonight or tomorrow to make sure.

Here’s where we are planning to go...


Chef Mickey (Breakfast)
Ohana
California Grill
Liberty Tree Tavern
Teppan Edo
Cape May Cafe
Raglan Road
Trattoria Al Forno (Breakfast)
Garden Grill
Via Napoli
Prime Time Cafe
Chef Art Smiths Homecomin’
Rainforest Cafe

Have we missed anywhere that is a must do or are there any new restaurants just opened or due to open that we should take a look at?

All opinions welcome.


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