Today I booked the last of our FPs so I thought it was as good a time as any for an update (does anyone else feel sad planning their last day?! Horrible to think about how you will end the trip before even starting it!)
But that aside they are all done and I am pretty happy with how it went. I will be honest, I found it harder this time around than on any previous trips. I am not sure if that’s down to having to be more fixed on the times we wanted as we are planning more half days this time around or if there are just less available at the 30 day mark now given the increase in hotels and more on-site guests booking at 60 days out. We of course haven’t been able to secure any for FoP or 7DMT (as I totally expected) but thanks to the Dibb FP availability tool I was able to grab some for slinky dog! They were available on the evening of the day we are at Seaworld so the plan will now be to stop by DHS after leaving there. I could only manage to get 2 so I am hoping we will be able to use child swap to get us all on but if not I am happy to sacrifice my place and then will let the other 3 fight among themselves! I will of course be checking in to MDE regularly to see if there is anything else I can pick up before we arrive!
In other news… we added one more
ADR to the list! This one is for Oga’s Cantina in Galaxy’s Edge. When the reservations opened up last month I thought I would have a look to see if any slots were available on one of the days knew we would be at DHS and when I saw one for late afternoon I immediately snapped it up! From what I have read it isn’t the most child friendly place and only offers drinks and very limited snacks but at the very least it ensures us entry to have a look around which was all I wanted as John is a huge Star Wars fan so he over the moon when I broke the news to him! Although if current wait times are anything to go by I think it might actually be less manic that I had been fearing…
In other good news… we finally managed to get a better price on the Gatwick North Premier Inn! We originally had the flexible rate booked at £98 but a few weeks back the saver rate finally dipped down so we snapped it up at £72.50, much better…. My perseverance paid off!
Next up… Paul now has a Landry’s card! I already have one from previous trips but with my May (wink wink) birthday… so I signed up Paul with his September (wink wink) birthday so we now have that loaded with the $25 joining bonus and the $25 birthday bonus to be used by the 15th October (we have 3 Landry’s restaurants on our list so will definitely use these up!) and to be honest just for the priority seating alone they are worth getting!
Lastly, I think we are now sorted with Charlie’s in-flight entertainment! Surely this has to be enough to keep him entertained?! We will also have the iPad and a truck load of snacks. We have bought him some kiddie headphones which we must trial before going, I am suspecting that he will be somewhat unimpressed by them! If you think I am missing anything obvious here please do shout!
So I think that pretty much gets us up to date. I changed up the first batch of dollars today (I had some birthday money that I have been saving). I had been holding out for the exchange rate to pick up and once it got past the 1.20 mark I thought I might as well take the plunge! We will do the rest of our spends over the next couple of weeks before heading off.
Ah look at that countdown… single digit dance is fast approaching now! Excited!