Firsts, Flights, Food and Frights October 2018-pre trip! Updated 30th September

[debojahh]

Haiii!

This pre-trip is just going to be my ramblings for the timebeing so here goes...

As with all previous holiday this will be the two of us.

Me(Debbie, 27)

I work in financial customer services in Brighton. I enjoy films and TV watching in my sparetime. I also love adult colouring and pub quizzes. My favourite rides are Haunted Mansion and The Mummy and I do ALL planning!

OH(Arron, 29)

He works in retail in Brighton. He enjoys playing PS4 and watching films mainly. His favourite rides are The Hulk and Tower of Terror.

Background
We went for Wrestlemania this year and i've only just finished paying that off as it was quite a spontaneous plan.
Hence no holiday this October. We got to thinking and I suggested doing New York and San Francisco in April 2018, I have priced it up through BA a few times but just never got round to booking it.

There has been lots of movement in my job, moving teams and hours etc so i'm only thinking about our next holiday now.

I thought maybe a short trip to DLP this October(i've never been) but decided maybe we should plan our big holiday instead.

I have figured our the best suitable dates and am just receiving quotes from several companies at the moment.

Plan
My plan is fly out from Heathrow to NYC on 16th October 2018, spend 4 nights there doing all the touristy things and staying near Times Square.
Then an internal flight on 20th October to Orlando. From there check in for 5 nights on Disney property possibly Pop Century(up for debate).
Then 25th October check into Rosen Inn Pointe Orlando for 9 nights, with a one night stop at Hard Rock on 31st October.
Then to fly home to Gatwick on November 2nd 2018.

Obviously we need 14 day tickets for Disney and Universal and would book HHN tickets nearer the time.
With Disney i'm weighing up free breakfast or QSDP currently.

I have had quotes from Charter travel, Pillinger and Ocean Florida so far but am finding it quite frustrating when they don't take on all your specifications.

DIY might be for the best

I think i'm driving Arron insane so its good to write this down!

[debojahh]

So for the last week or two i've been back and forth with a few travel agents and Jorden Whiffin from Travelplanners have become my best friend(she is really helpful!).

So as of this morning we are officially booked for 2018

We fly on October 17th with Virgin direct from Heathrow.


...to New York City!


We are there for 4 nights staying at the Distrikt hotel.



I'm hoping for good things as i've read reviews and thought it looked ideal.

Then on 21st October we fly direct with Delta to MCO.


When we land we will be getting the...


We are staying at Pop Century until 26th October.


And we paid to upgrade from free breakfast to QSDP for the first time ever.


From here we check into the Rosen at Pointe Orlando on 26th October for 9 nights.

Our home away from home

We have booked 31st October at Hard Rock Hotel.


Then we fly home on 4th November direct to Gatwick.


Also included are 14 day Disney tickets, so Memory maker too and 14 day Universal tickets as well as a transfer back to MCO.


Deposit all paid!

[debojahh]

I've thought of a trip name.

Firsts-because this is our first time flying from Heathrow, first time visiting New York and first time with QSDP.
Flights-we fly an extra time JFK-MCO which we've obviously never experienced and are flying from LHR and back into LGW.
Food-we always try lots of different foods on holiday and i've previously written food reports. Also with QSDP we'll be trying a few extra things at Disney.
Frights-being there for Halloween means we're doing HHN again and hoping to possibly do 6 nights, we also plan to do MNSSHP!

[debojahh]

I have obviously been thinking about the holiday but I think Xmas and work have distracted me.

So I emailed Travel Planners on 11th December as our flights had been released. They confirm we are on the following...
LHR-JFK on 17th October at 09:05 landing at 11:40
JFK-MCO on 21st October at 15:25 landing at 18:40
MCO-LGW on 4th November at 18:45 landing at 07:45


This means we get into NYC earlier than i'd been expecting.

It also means we need to be at T3 around 6am!

So after reading some reviews we booked the Premier Inn T4 non refundable room for £39.


We would miss the breakfast so didn't add the meal deal, instead we'll just grab food either at Thyme or somewhere else on the evening of the 16th and eat in the airport on travel day.

I want to book our transport to the airport but have left it for now.


The main things still required are:

• Paying off the holiday balance in July
• New York passes
• Halloween Horror nights tickets
• Spending money

In the new year we'll probably figure out a solid itinerary and stuff!

Thanks for reading

[DisneyDreamer81]

Sounds like a fantastic trip! NYC is just incredible

[debojahh]

Originally Posted by DisneyDreamer81

Sounds like a fantastic trip! NYC is just incredible

See more...

I'm nervous about NYC as it seems quite the minefield with planning and what not!
There is just so much to see and do

[debojahh]

Only a quick update as not much more has been done.

We booked the National Express from Brighton to Heathrow. We usually fly from Gatwick which is super easy for us.

The National Express was £20 for both of us travelling on 16th October at 13:25 and we should get to T2 & 3 at 15:55.

From there we will pop over to T4 to check in and have dinner etc.

New York
Because we land earlier than expected we have a much longer first day in NYC.
I'm pretty sure we're going to get the 5 attraction Explorer passes for ToTR, Empire State, HOHO, 9/11 museum and 1 other attraction. As Arron has said he is interested in getting Crown tickets for SoL.

So the NYC itinerary is roughly:
17th Oct-Check in for flight. Airport breakfast. 9:05 Fly to JFK. Check into Distrikt. Times Square and dinner
18th Oct-Statue of liberty, Ellis Island etc(3 hours) 9/11 Museum(upto 2 hours) Brooklyn bridge(at least 1 hour)
19th Oct-Empire State Building,(1hr 30) Ghostbusters, Highline(30 minutes) to Chelsea Market. Dinner. Broadway?
20th Oct-Book TOTR. Central Park, Natural history? Macy's. TOTR at sunset.(1 hour)
21st Oct-Grand Central Terminal, NYC Library. Travel to JFK. Fly to MCO.

It is incredibly rough

[pinkstargirl]

Sounds like a good plan! Will look forward to updates and reading your trip report!

Just in case you didn’t know, you can get the Heathrow Express train for free between terminals, probably a lot quicker than buses or the tube!

[debojahh]

Originally Posted by pinkstargirl

Sounds like a good plan! Will look forward to updates and reading your trip report!

Just in case you didn’t know, you can get the Heathrow Express train for free between terminals, probably a lot quicker than buses or the tube!

See more...

Thankyou Will try to update along the way!

And I've had a little look into it and thought that might be the case so thanks for confirming

[peachywish]

Subscribed Sounds like you're going to have an awesome trip! We're heading out on 19th Sept so looking forward to seeing your plans coming along.

Also, I live just down the road from you in Lewes. Hi!