'The Three Go to Disney - Watch Out' Pre Trippy

[WDWGunner25]

Hello and welcome one and all to my very first trip report! Now I have been having a bit of an internal argument with myself as to whether or not I was going to do a trippy, having never attempted one in the past, however in the end common sense lost out to stupidity and I decided to give it a go, starting with a pre trippy.

So this holiday is one that has been whispered about for a few years now, (since our last visit in 2008) however much to my disappointment the years kept passing by, taking the joys of Disney along with them. In the end last June I got so bored of waiting that I packed my bags, and went on a solo trip for two weeks to see the mouse and catch up with old friends. Of course I got thoroughly bitten by the a florida bug again-damn Mosquitos!- and I also fell back in love with Florida lol. Therefore upon my return my suggestion of a big Disney trip became an insistence :-)

Fast forward to February 2013 and the cast had been chosen and the booking was about to be made. So before we go further I shall introduce you to the cast, for our Three go to Disney extravaganza:

James (me) 28 year Florida nut.


I am the devilishly handsome, chief planner, worrier, and do everyone else's head in, with my insane levels of excitment(er) for this holiday. Yes when it comes to organising a Florida holiday, I have one rule about my planning...NO TOUCHY! Sure I let other people book things like the theme park tickets, but only after they have been clearly instructed where to buy them from and which ones we want, and are then passed to me on arrival for safekeeping; we have no room for error. One of my travel companions for this little trip early on in the planning 'procedure' had the nerve to ask me if we could get by without an itinerary! 'Well Mr Slapdash, what do you think this is a holiday?!... NO SIR, this is Disney! - tut'.

The only other thing you need to know about me, is that I go to Florida ALOT and love everything about it.

Moving on now to the lucky people who will be joining me on this expedition, I would like to introduce to the following:

Mila Kunis and Emma Stone. (Original cast)





Both Mila and Emma, were I know very excited about this trip, which is why Im sure when they realised the couldn't make it due to prior commitments, they acted out by pretending not to know me and ignoring my invite, it's just easier that way I suppose. Anyway after finding out Jennifer Lawrence also wasn't available I proceeded to invite, two of my best friends to come with me (you know just so the girls wouldn't all get jealous!).

Rob (29)


Rob is my best friend, and chief of the putter upper with James movement, which I have a sneaking suspicion will become something of a full blown society of people by the time October rolls round.

Rob is something of a Florida veteran himself, this being his forth trip in the last few years, so he too knows the score, and by now also that for a peaceful life, it's best to just to sit and nod along with my suggestions, and head where the itinerary takes us.

Like me Rob is a huge roller coaster fan, so is looking forward to the big rides such as Kraken, as well as trips to Le Cellier, Jelly rolls, and generally just being back in Florida.

Neil (33)


Ah yes, our resident newbie, apparently he visited Magic Kingdom once when he was 15 but doesn't really remember it very well, so it looks as though I am finally, going to get to 'sell' Florida to the uninitiated.

Neil is pretty chilled out, so we will see how the rather stringent plan I have works for him. He has ok'd it in principle but we will see what the reality will bring. Neil is also going to be chief driver for this trip, along with myself as his ever capable deputy, as he enjoys driving and I think is looking forward to trying it I'm the USA.

Hopefully the pace of a Florida holiday won't take him too much by surprise, however I am trying to squeeze the template first timer 2 week holiday (4 Disney Parks, 2 Universal, Seaworld and Busch) into 11 days so we will see if he returns in one piece.

Ok so it appears we have a cast ready and willing for Florida action. So with that in mind, I'm going to cover what we have booked so far.

The flights were a pretty simple process, booked with United via lastminute.com as I found them pretty good last year. We managed to get what I think is a pretty good deal, flying out of Heathrow on October 21st via Chicago (yes I know it's a busy one, don't remind me!) and flying back November 1st via Houston for £477 each which I am pleased with.

Next came what I now call villagate. We had been looking at various options for the three of us and at this point still being unacquainted with the wonders of TheDibb, I decided to go with a James Villa (afterall it did have my name written all over it - ouch!), which was pretty expensive, but I was just happy to have something.

About a week later though I was googling James Villas reviews which is usually a totally stupid thing to do after booking something, but in this case turned out to be a pretty good decision as it was then I came across TheDibb, and was told that it would be much better to rent a Dibb Villa as you know exactly where you are.

Well after having a mini freak out that I had made a massive mistake booking an 'off the shelf' villa as I now call them, I thought it couldn't hurt to at least pop a request on TheDibb to see what was available. Low and behold I got a couple of fantasic offers, which would give me a bigger, better villa, for less money than I was already paying, even including the deposit I would lose by cancelling the Me villa (I mean James Villa). In the end we settled on Ros and Jims villa, as it had fantastic reviews all round, and Ros seemed to be genuinely interested in our trip (and continues to be in touch!). So it was out with the old and in with the new and by the end of February we had flights and accommodation all booked up and the excitement started.

Over the last five months I have busied myself putting together a rather detailed itinerary, as well as booking all of our theme park tickets (including Halloween Horror Nights - Ahh), insurance and car hire. Now shock horror I actually contracted out car hire duties to Neil, as he will just about be doing the most driving, and he knows lots about cars. I was actually more ok with this than I thought I would be, however I still couldn't let go of the reins totally, in that I told him to please book through Alamo and get the gold package, as it covers me to drive as well. So really looking at it he just chose the car, and even that he asked me to sign off on first. Hmm ok so he just paid on his card, still it's a step forward. Hi I'm James and I'm a planaholic!

So today is my Double Digit Dance and that makes me rather excited. I still have plenty to do, so I'm thinking to make the time go quicker I will do little updates on here every 10 days, to keep all my avid readers (you know you love it! ) happy.

Onwards Dibbers 100 days to go!

[First Timer 12]

Fab pre-trippie. You guys won't find the days fading away now till your on that plane

Looking forward to reading the trip report

[Bobsledwheels]

Hi James!

Great start to your pre-trippie, and good choice on the three original options of companions, it's a shame they couldn't make it!

Looking forward to the trippie!

[LaurenYorkshir]

Hi James , great pre trippie happy DDD Day !

[WDWGunner25]

Originally Posted by LaurenYorkshir

Hi James , great pre trippie happy DDD Day !

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Thank you! I have read your trip reports, and funnily enough I actually read YOUR pre trippy to ensure mine wasn't too crap lol. I love your style and enthusiasm for it

[LaurenYorkshir]

Originally Posted by WDWGunner25

Thank you! I have read your trip reports, and funnily enough I actually read YOUR pre trippy to ensure mine wasn't too crap lol. I love your style and enthusiasm for it

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Well thank you ! I do worry that I waffle quite a bit haha. Looking forward to your next update .

[WDWGunner25]

So time has flown by since I put this pre trip report up and my personal target of an update every 10 days has admittedly been cast aside in favour of other much more exciting things like work and paying bills... YAAAY!

Finally though I have just about managed to tear myself away from all the fun and frivolity which goes hand and hand with being the perfect man that I am, to regale you with tales of mirth and wonderment. Please don't get too excited as I know there are going to be a lot of you, and I want all those crammed into the back to be able to see as well .

Anyway The thing I have noticed myself doing most regarding this holiday is what I call 'playing Deal or No Deal' with the $ rate. Imagine if you will Noel Edmonds, talking to a chiseled, Channing Tatumesque Adonis in the studio and you shall be somewhere close... well close to humouring me anyway, if your a bit too cynical for that imagine, then imagine a 5 ft 8 average sized Brit, who speaks with a voice far to posh for his own good and your a lot closer. There the veils down and my delusions have been ruined...go and never darken this pre trip with your cynical ways again

*ahem* well back on topic I'm pretty sure you all know exactly what I mean when I say Deal or No Deal with the rate. I get up look at the rate and have the following conversation in my head (I have a lot of conversations in my head, is that bad? ). 'James the rate today is 1.4986, and Fair Fx are willing to throw in a free card if you deal now, deal or no deal?' This is followed by a bit of debating about whether its going to go up anymore or if its peaked at lasts weeks 1.53 and should buy now, saving myself the dreaded 1.44 rate that I have nightmares about. Suffice to say I haven't dealt yet but with the current rate back at around 1.53 it is getting harder to play on.

In other news Mickeys Not So Scary Halloween Party tickets have been successfully acquired. To be honest it wasn't originally on our list of events to do, but in October unless you go on a day when the busy day guide may as well just say 'were you born stupid?!' your not going to be able to stay in the park past 7ish in the evening. That and of Mickey wrote to me personally to request my presence and I didn't want to let him down.

Being three guys though, we thought we better balance that out with Halloween Horror Nights, just so we feel a bit more butch, and now with those tickets also in our possession, I can categorically say that I will NOT be scared of any of the houses (what's inside them though is another story ).

So that's pretty much where we are up to, hopefully time will keep whizzing by and that there will be a much more exciting number on my countdown when next update. I hope that you are all able to hold your anticipation in until then...

[C4rla]

Hope you have a great time!

We were considering MNNSHP this time, but have decided against it as I seem to have picked far to many other things to do :P Have you been before?

[WDWGunner25]

Originally Posted by C4rla

Hope you have a great time!

We were considering MNNSHP this time, but have decided against it as I seem to have picked far to many other things to do :P Have you been before?

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Once as a guest and I was good fun, the parade is excellent (and I don't watch parades as a rule - golden ride time! ) BUT I worked all but one of them in 2007 so I am intimately familiar with the whole thing LOL

[LaurenYorkshir]

A great little up date ! I would love to go for the Halloween festivities at some point but you are already much braver than me as the thought of HHN fils me with panic... now MNSSHP on the other hand is much more cup of tea Make sure you get lots of goodies !