[PrincessCastle]

What's booked though?

So when we were in Florida in 2012 we pretty much decided then that the next time we would go back would be for our honeymoon. At the time we weren’t even engaged so we didn’t have a clue when that would be! Upon getting engaged and discussing the honeymoon we decided to do more than just Orlando. A Disney cruise was discussed but that was ‘too much Disney’ for Ross. I didn't know there was such a thing!
Las Vegas was decided on and also San Fransico. So we were thinking Vegas for 4 nights, San Fran for 2 or 3 then Orlando for two weeks. But when we started talking about everything we wanted to do in Vegas (a lot of stuff) we realised that 4 nights wasn’t going to be enough. Ross tried to suggest cutting days off Florida... nice try buddy! So San Fran was dropped with a promise we would go one day, Alcatraz is calling! And not because we belong in an abandoned federal prison, but because it’s cool and it’s stories are awesome and we really want to go! One day.

The plan was then to have 7 nights in Vegas, fly to Orlando, stay a few nights on I-Drive, 2 nights at HRH then go to a Disney hotel for a week for our first onsite ‘in the bubble’ experience! The dream was Animal Kingdom or maybe Beach Club (the second being the preferred).
We usually book all of our Holidays with Thomson but this time they really really ticked us off so they lost our business maybe forever. I’m sure they don’t care... but they should.

On the release of the 2016 free DDP deals last June we called in explaining that we wanted to book a Disney hotel to make the most of the DDP deal then add on flights and other hotels at some point. Well they were not happy with this at all, telling me I’d be silly to do that as I wouldn’t be ATOL protected if I didn’t book flights now. She spoke to me like I was stupid but I told her again we would be adding flights on later when they were released. She grudgingly asked me which hotel I wanted, I said the Beach Club, she replied with ‘In Disneyland Paris?’ eeeerrrrrmmmmmmm no love, no. No such hotel in DLP, also no such thing as DDP in DLP, educate yourself fool! So she took us to her colleague and told her what we wanted and also told her that she had basically told us not to bother, so rude. This girl looked on her computer and said ‘we don’t do holidays to the Beach Club, how about All Star Sports’ *sigh* All Star Sports isn’t doesn’t exactly have the luxury honeymoon vibe we are looking for now does it! Nothing against it but it’s hardly ‘the next best thing’!

At this point I was so done, told them to forget it and walked up the road to Thomas Cook. Hadn’t been back to Thomas Cook since me and an ex booked a trip to Portugal back in 2008, where we ended up in a room with a single bed and a pull out camp bed. The hotel was full so we couldn’t move rooms even though we had booked a double room and all we got was a ‘sorry’ letter from Thomas Cook! I was fuming so boycotted it and used Thomsons forever more! How the tables have turned!

We told the guy what we wanted and he directed us to their ‘USA expert’, Sue. Sue listened to what we wanted to do now and what we wanted to do in the long term and said ‘no problem, let’s get some prices’. She was a dream! She told us that she could book flights now if we wanted to and get quotes for I-Drive hotel and HRH too to give us a better idea of overall costs.

It took a few weeks to get all of the prices and what not together because she needed to speak to the signature team as it’s such a random holiday but it wasn’t too long till we were booked and sorted!

The difference with her is that she took the time to ask us what else we wanted and told us what she could do now and what she could do later rather than just dismissing us straight away. God Damned Thomson

With most things booked this is how it’s looking so far...
04/10/16 09:15 Fly PE from Manchester to Vegas (booked)
Stay 7 nights in Vegas (no hotel booked yet)
11/10/16 Fly from Vegas to Orlando (flight not booked yet)
Stay in the Rosen Inn @ Pointe (its familiar, we like it for an i-Drive hotel) for 4 nights (booked)
Stay at the HRH at Universal for 2 nights (booked)
Stay at the Beach Club at Disney for 7 nights with free DDP and free Memory maker (booked)
24/10/16 16:35 Fly PE from MCO to Manchester (booked)
Also included are the Disney park tickets and the Magical (tragical ) express to the airport on the 24th.

We need to book the Vegas to Orlando flight soon, looking on Kayak its going to be about £250 which is the cheapest option, this has a change over in Texas. I don’t think there are direct flights!
Looking at Vegas hotels I’m thinking either New York New York or Planet Hollywood but I will seek advice in the West Coast forum and I don’t think we will be booking it until nearer the time.