No long-haul... I'm a local now! Pre-Trippy

[debidee]

Hi everyone I'm back with a super late Pre Trippy, I can't believe it's been over a year since our last adventure so I'm very excited it's only 1 more sleep to go!
This last year have been a bit of a whirl wind, in case you couldn't tell by the title we moved to the USA! I still can't believe it myself some days but it's true :-)

So before I give you a little life update and of course tell you the plans let me do some introductions...
I'm Debi, the main planner, Disney is my happy place (along with Panera Bread but more on that later! ) and I love shopping just in case you didn't already know... AND I live 10 mins from Target, Bath and Body works and 15 mins from an outlet centre... dangerous or what!

This is Jez he is also a huge Disney fan, getting more in love with Panera bread and not so much on the shopping front - although he can lose himself for hours in Best Buy whilst I'm mooching round the mall!

So a bit of a back story to bring you up to speed and I promise I'll get to the plans! So I moved out to New England back in August last year, it was a work move and Jez joined me in January...we decided to build over here given the amount of land there is and we have a perfect house which is overlooking forest areas and mountains... still waiting for the moose and bears!

We have done just a fraction of the tourist sights including Boston - highly recommend the freedom trail tour

Vermont in the fall - I can't explain how beautiful New England is in the high of the foliage season

And most recently done Stowe for the weekend in the snow!

I've also done every target, home goods and outlet in a 20 mile radius - but enough of that back to the main event!

So we decided this time to stay onsite and take advantage of the dining plan, we usually stay onsite at OKW - it's a beautiful resort especially as you get separate living area and it doesn't feel like just a cramped hotel room! But this time I wanted to try somewhere new... so we are staying at Saratoga Springs... We are here for 7 full days and I'll be posted live every day

I'm looking forward to eating at lots of yummy food and I've managed to secure the below restaurants booked:
California Grill - can't wait to watch the fireworks from here!
Le Cellier - probably one of our favourite onsite and definitely worth the 2 dining credits
Prime Time - we did this last summer and it was brilliant! Check out my last report for more on this...
STK - after weeks of trying to get a table and nothing I had all but given up, then last night I thought I'd give it one last try and 3 options and up! So never give up!
Sci-Fi - this just looks fun so I've booked here for lunch

Because California Grill and Le Cellier are 2 credits we will eat off-site a couple of times...on our first night we are going back to our favourite offsite restaurant Maggianos Little Italy

And then I can't wait to go to city walk to a) pick up a couple of Starbucks Universal Mugs (for my lovely dibber friend Rachel) and also check out Toothsome Chocolate Factory!

We land on Sunday morning at 10am! Can't believe no jet lag and a full extra day to enjoy! We have a local airport just 20 minutes away and they fly direct to MCO, we are flying with south west airlines... just a short 3 hours away to our favourite place - I'll have some of that please!

Given we have come from -15 and 3 foot of snow we will be swinging past Saratoga to hopefully check in, change into shorts and pick up our magic bands! The weather looks fantastic, a lot hotter than I expected for February, We have booked a hire car, whilst the onsite transport is great we want to have the flexibility to explore offsite as well...

I'm expecting it to be pretty busy for the first few days, we didn't realise it is Presidents' Day on Monday, but I don't really mind as we are in the happiest place on earth!
Can't wait to see the new editions at Animal Kingdom and also looking forward to the new Frozen ride in Epcot - I'm just looking forward to everything!

Of course I'll be checking out the outlets during the week - whilst I live right on the doorstep of one now it doesn't have Victoria Secret or Tory Burch! So my wish list is a lot smaller than usual but I won't let you down and of course I'll still go to Target and all of the other places 'we' all love!
A few things I'm looking for:
Jean shirt
Boot cut jeans
Gucci belt
Tory burch bright pumps
MK espadrilles
Mickey Mug (to match my Minnie one I got last year)
Starbucks mugs for Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood and Universal
Sephora - a few sparkly delights I'm sure
Any other bargains I find!

I'm really looking forward to exploring Disney Springs, we mooched around last year but it was still not fully open. With the booking came a $100 gift card which I will be enjoying!

I think that's about it for now.

So until tomorrow... have a great weekend! Debs x

[codym]

Oh so exciting can't wait for the trippie

[app]

New Photo Added by debidee - 18 Feb 17 4:41 PM.

[eleele]

Your new house is beautiful and New England looks amazing!

Hope you have lots of fun in Disneyworld☀️🎢🏰

[Bootrip2]

Wow, what an adventure! Looking forward to reading along!

[MarionG]

What a beautiful house you have.
Such a bonus getting to Orlando in 3 hours!

[Moleymole]

Oh my goodness, you are living my dream...that is my fantasy house right there. It all sounds so wonderful, saying congratulations sounds a bit weird but it's what is coming to mind.

[Megandllsmum]

Debbie ❤️❤️
I'm so glad you have started your trippie I've been looking regularly to see if you were going to start it... You know me and social media don't get on lol so I only catch up on here.
So glad the move all went swimmingly and jez and Archie are out there now with you...Boston looks amazing and hope works going well for you.
Will be following and looking forward to sharing your days and your bargains lol, will be drooling over your pics of maggianos too we went last year because you'd mentioned it in trippies... That free bread they give you in there is to die for lol.
Take care
Lots of love
Sam xx😘

[debsym62]

Lovely to see you doing a trippie. Hope your move is everything you wanted.

[Alice2111]

Enjoy your trip reports especially all the shopping bargains ! Picked up the Super Target dollar aisle stationery tips from your previous trippies- came home with a bag full ! Hope you find some Florida bargains , your home looks amazing !