the 'blakewoods' do disney! - pre-trippie and intro's! (*update 2.6 17..more drama!)

[katy341]

i cant quite believe we are at the point of creating a pre-trippie!

let me start with a brief (i'll try keep it brief lol) introduction as to how we got here and who we are!

so im kate! (age 29+2...29+3 at time of travel!) chief planner, lover of all things disney. have been extremely lucky enough to have been a lot of times to the house of the mouse and the only person barr dd (who went for her 2nd birthday and cant really remember) to be the only member of the family who has experience in just how magical this trip will be...

oh is jason (jase) 47yrs young! new to all things disney but despite being the big tough rugby player, he's an absolute softy with a big heart who admits himself, will be in tears when he see's his hero..pooh

and here we are -- to put faces to the names!

then we have our 4 monsters...

my two children...
dd gracie (age 11) absolute mini-me in terms of disney and florida...has very recently discovered her love of rides, roller coasters and has become somewhat a rather ride junkie! fab!
very excited, has no memory really of her one and only time at florida for her 2nd birthday...

ds thomas (tom) who is 8 is a very sensitive soul. he hates that 'tummy feeling', hates anything remotely dark or scary or fast! he will be the challenge on our holiday but my thoughts are... its a holiday for all of us, theres enough of us to ride swap, meet up in an hour etc so nobody misses out and equally nobody feels pressured into riding anything they dont want to...

then we have ...

dsd 1 (jess... age 12 at time of travel). this will be our first 'blended family trip' together and the girls first time away from mum. jess is entering that pre-teen phase (mind you, gracie is not far behind lol) doesnt say much etc...but im assured from the other monsters that jess is very happy so thats good!. jess, i think quite likes the big rides, seems to be looking forward to the water rides and is quite open and relaxed. to be honest most conversations with jess seem to be about the travel day... shes looking forward to the plane i think!

dsd2 (chloe... age 10 at time of travel) is beyond excited... considering shes not biologically mine...she certainly acts like it when it comes to disney infact she may be worse than me lol. we see the girls every wednesday for tea and then every 2nd weekend..and when she walks through the door, usually its 'kate... ive been researching and...' ... i LOVE it!

and that is us... the blakewoods... our names are combined with us being a blended family... the kids created it and its just stuck!




ok... so now you all know who we are ...are you ready for the drama?! im not kidding either put the kettle on or pour the wine, your in for a long one!


ok, so ... i sneakily looked at quotes etc for the 4 of us (me, oh, dd, ds... never in a million years did we think dsd's would be allowed to come) i found a great deal with florida masters for nov 5th 2018 man-mco with car for £2700... when i casually mentioned it, oh said ahh just book it! hellooo? ! no need to tell me twice... done! sold!

fwd a couple weeks and oh was slightly down, he admitted he wished the girls could experience it so i did what most good girlfriends do...got him tipsy and persuaded him to give me his phone and let me type a msg to ex-wife and ask if we could take the girls... a reply of yes came back!

so now was a whole new ball game. due to ages etc (dd and dsd1 start comprehensive school in sep 17) we found a better deal for feb 18 ...means a week of half term so less time off school plus sooner which pleases me no end throw in a bit of to-ing and fro-ing with prices between ba and florida masters and we now had 6 seats on a direct flight with virgin, man - mco 13th feb returning 27th feb with a 6seater car with fully comp insurance for £3100..fab!

then the problems begin. in a shortened version, florida masters got the airport, flight time, names spelled wrong... all incorrect. they took 2x deposit from bank acount and kept it for 2 months, then despite being allocated a manager who assured us noting else would go wrong, they cancelled our booking with va and so my lovely 2x dibbers row seats disappeared... despite several heated calls and emails and the money for our seats refunded, the straw that broke the camels back was when va cancelled flights from man that day and wanted us to travel a day later or go indirect via jfk...

game over!

full refund issued (i believe fate played a part in this!) but someone was looking over us and our new flights (same day... closer airport) has resulted in a saving of over £900 ... wahoo!

soooooo... our flights are ...

13th feb ncl - dub (clear immigration) and 4hr lay over before flying dub - mco, arriving 7pm (their time!)

we have no villa booked as yet but a few in the lead!

car booked through alamo

flying back 27th feb same route, with a 7hr lay over in dublin...not ideal but are thinking of a hotel room to chill in..?!


i have lots of ideas swirling in my head, though i feel under pressure as theres only me with any type of floridian experience! i tend to cry a lot ... im so excited. we have had 3yrs of ups and downs and this is my happy place in which i am opening to the other people in my life. its a big deal for us, for me even. after dh and i seperated i thought id never get back...but this time its with new people, a new experience and through the eyes of 5 other people who are experiencing all of this magic for the first time.

i cant wait. i cant wait to share my place with my family x


UPDATE 2.6.17..

just when I thought I was sorted... aer lingus have changed their ncl to Dublin flight times to evening which means we would have to stay over night in Dublin and get the next day flight to mco so thus begins a whole new day of calls emails etc anyway... to cut a long story short we now fly from lba (Leeds is pretty much the same distance for us as newcastle) and we are now on the 08.30 lba flight arriving in Dublin at 09.40. Then leaving at 14.15 arriving in mco at 19.00 ... seats booked and selected and meals arranged... I'm not moving anymore!


UPDATE 13.2.18 (AT RIDICULOUS O'CLOCK !)

So its 4.18 and ive been dibbing since 2am because I'm like a big child and am far too excited to sleep because my lovely people - today is pre-travel day! after 10yrs and 2 failed trips - this is it - its actually happening!

I realise I haven't updated this pre-trippie at all and that's because ive had so much happen over the last 5 months its unreal. so to fill you all in -

we found a cracking deal and opted to spend the first 5 nights of our stay onsite at okw in a 2bed villa. having not visited mickey in 10years and having never stayed on property, its like a whole new world has opened up to me with adr's and fp at 60days (in my day it was a piece of paper printed at the machines on the day!) I don't know if in the opinion of others whether ive made the most out of it but it works for us
then we have (thanks to LIZH) the most stunning villa ever to look forward to for 9 nights.

I think after 5 nights I will be ready to leave my Disney bubble and head to all the old haunts of when I regularly visited. I know for some, these are tacky (old town etc ) but its tradition lol

ddp really has allowed us to experience meals that otherwise would be out of our budget - theres no way we could justify 3 character meals for 6 people had it not been included! so really looking forward to trying that but moving on to the villa lets us take the 2nd part of our holiday at a slower pace and enjoy the other parts that I know our family will love - Walmart for me, bath and body works for the girls, florida mall food court for oh lol and anywhere ds can buy tat!

so, I'm gonna take a million pics and my book for notes Is already packed ... and I will see you on the other side. I look forward to making my trip report - fabulous way to keep the memory alive.

[JenD1]

Oh my goodness Kate I'm glad I took your advice and had a cuppa with me. What a rollercoaster before even leaving! Absolute nightmare re flights but glad it turned out well. Sounds like you'll have a wonderful holiday with your family.

[Smilesonfaces]

Hope you all have a lovely holiday. I remember watching your reveal video, you have a lovely family. Enjoy all your planning. At least you have an ally in DSD2. None of my family are interested until they get there !

[katy341]

Originally Posted by JenD1

Oh my goodness Kate I'm glad I took your advice and had a cuppa with me. What a rollercoaster before even leaving! Absolute nightmare re flights but glad it turned out well. Sounds like you'll have a wonderful holiday with your family.

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Haha I did warn u! Lol I'm hoping that's the storm over now so can concentrate like the important things like which has day to do epcot or what to eat at longhorn lol... x

[katy341]

Originally Posted by Smilesonfaces

Hope you all have a lovely holiday. I remember watching your reveal video, you have a lovely family. Enjoy all your planning. At least you have an ally in DSD2. None of my family are interested until they get there !

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Thank you so much x

Yes she definitely cranks my excitement up a notch! Don't you worry when u need some enthusiasm we are all here for you!

[katy341]

Can't believe the drama again about flights...surely that's it all over and done with now!?!

[fiona3103]

And breathe... surely now this'll be the last switcheroo with flights for you!

[Excitedx4]

What a nightmare about the flIghts. Have you put a request in on here for dibb villas?

[katy341]

I've done a few! Lol I've had several quotes a few I loved a little out of budget but still looking. We go on holiday to Mallorca next Sunday but after that holiday ...villa search will be my priority! X

[katy341]

update on main post :-)