Team Groves are Florida Bound! October 2017 pre-trip

[berniegroves]

Team Groves are Florida Bound! October 2017 pre-trip

* What we've booked
* Whats left to do
* Shopping Update
* ADR's and Disney Bookings

Hi Guys and Gals,
This is my second trip report now after successfully finishing our 2016 trip report. Yay me!
I started that pre-trip report a whole year in advance because I was so excited to finally be going back to Florida I just couldn’t wait any longer.
However, this time I was determined to finish last years report before starting this one and it took a lot longer than I had hoped. So here we are with 6 months to go until our next trip to Orlando. Hooray!

Cast:
Me – Emma (34!):
Mum, holiday planner, lover of all things Disney, Harry Potter, Super Target, Olive Garden and being in Florida generally. Spreadsheet enthusiast!

I’m very lucky to be a stay at home mum to our two children and my DH works very hard to make this possible. I love sewing and baking, although I’m no expert.
This will be my 7th trip to Florida. I went once before Simon and I were together, and then we went 3 times just the two of us before we had kids and then we have been twice since having children, once in 2012 when Miley was just 6 months old and then again last year when Miley was 4 and Grayson was 2.
I have loved every single trip we have taken here and cry without fail on the last day!
My favourite character is Eeyore.

Simon (will be 41 for the trip):
My DH of 7 years, we’ve been together for 14 years now!
Big star wars and marvel fan and the driver of the car!

He is a Paralegal and quite honestly the hardest working person I know. After working full-time he somehow manages to find the time to be a husband and Dad and also run a successful event business. He organises two Obstacle Races a year in Wiltshire and Oxfordshire and is really good at it. I’m amazed by his stamina everyday.
This will be his 6th trip to florida, all of them being since we started dating.

Getting people wet in 2012...

... and again in 2016!

Lucky for me he goes with the flow and is happy to go with any plans I make, within reason. Though this trip is actually happening earlier than expected because of him.
He prefers Universal and IoA to Disney, but he did enjoy Disney a lot more on our last trip because the kids were just SO excited by it all and that’s infectious. He loves rollercoasters and luckily is happy to do single rider until our kids are big enough to ride as well.


Miley (5, but she will have her 6th birthday in Florida):

DD, this will be her 3rd trip to Florida, her first being when she was 6 months old.
My sweet wonderful girl.
At home with us she is loud and bossy and boisterous but in other situations she is much quieter, preferring to people watch rather than join in. She is shy and can get anxious. But in Disney World last year she totally came out of her shell and marched around the parks, walked up to characters without us and talked with staff. It was amazing and reduced me to tears on so many occasions.

After returning from our 2016 trip we made the decision to Home Educate so Miley doesn’t attend mainstream school. And she has continued to blossom since we made that decision, gaining confidence, joining lots of groups and making friends.
I cannot wait to see her on this next trip as she is really looking forward to going again and keeps asking when we are going on a Floriday again!

She doesn’t just have one favourite character, she loves Tiana and Pluto. But also likes Elsa and the other princesses and Donald and the Toy Story characters and Captain America and Tinkerbell. The list is endless. Most recently Moana has been added and is a firm favourite at the moment.


Grayson (3, he turns 4 the week after we get home):

This will be his second trip to Florida.
He is a real character, ‘full of spirit’ or just plain crazy! He doesn’t stop moving, he is confident and sociable and loud and loves people and new situations. He’s basically the exact opposite of his sister (and me!). He loved Florida last time and as he will be taller this time he is hoping to be able to go on some of the bigger rides that Miley was able to do last time.

Like father like son!

He is a total daddys boy and on our last trip I was only allowed to sit with him on a ride a couple of times. But he has promised that he will sit with me sometimes too this time. We’ll see.
His favourite character is Spiderman (he’s obsessed!) and he also likes Wreck it Ralph and Donald Duck and the Stormtroopers.

So that is ‘Team Groves’ in a nutshell. We had such an amazing trip last time that I am hoping this one will be just as good, with the added bonus of being able to do more rides together.

This is us at the airport hotel last year:

We are looking forward to more of this:

How this trip came about:
We went to Florida in 2012 and then not again until 2016.
At that point I had it in my head that we would aim to go every two years whilst we all still enjoyed it. So I was expecting our next trip to maybe be in late 2018, although that wasn’t a conversation I had yet had with Simon!
About a week in to our 2016 trip we were standing in line for a ride and Simon said “We have to come here again next year”.
My response wasn’t what you would expect, and I told him to be quiet. Lol.
I was worried that Simon would tell me we could go in 2017 and then I would get really excited and then his sensible side would kick in and he would tell me we couldn’t afford it and then I’d be so disappointed. So I didn’t want him to get my hopes up.
He made this comment about a dozen times over the holiday and I eventually told him that if he said it one more time he wasn’t allowed to take it back and I would book a holiday for 2017. He laughed and continued to say the same thing. And here we are.

I am so excited that we get to go back just 18 months after our last trip, especially because the kids are still young enough to really appreciate the magic.

Although Miley told me the other day that it wasn’t the real Ariel we met, just a lady in a suit, as mermaids aren’t real.

But then later on proceeded to tell me how amazing it was that Tinkerbell was able to shrink us down to fairy size to meet her! Kids.

[MikeH23]

That looks like a Dibb villa at High Grove where we stayed last November!

[berniegroves]

Originally Posted by MikeH23

That looks like a Dibb villa at High Grove where we stayed last November!

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Eagle eyes there Mike!
It was indeed a Dibb Villa at High Grove. Redjacks villa.
We absolutely loved it. Unfortunately it was already booked for our dates on this trip, so we have booked elsewhere.

[MikeH23]

Originally Posted by berniegroves

Eagle eyes there Mike!
It was indeed a Dibb Villa at High Grove. Redjacks villa.
We absolutely loved it. Unfortunately it was already booked for our dates on this trip, so we have booked elsewhere.

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It was the sliding doors I noticed & the pool sign ! Yes we also loved the villa & the community but we are breaking our habit from offsite villas for our 5th trip & staying on site at a villa at OKW as we wanted to try the dinning plan 😎

[berniegroves]

Originally Posted by MikeH23

It was the sliding doors I noticed & the pool sign ! Yes we also loved the villa & the community but we are breaking our habit from offsite villas for our 5th trip & staying on site at a villa at OKW as we wanted to try the dinning plan 😎

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I agree the High Grove community was lovely. It was really in perfect condition and looked after really well.

Staying onsite is on my to do list for the future too. And we would most likely look to stay at OKW, so that's funny But my DH would only stay onsite for a week I think so then we'd still get a villa stay as well.

I hope you have a lovely trip next time, i'm sure you will, Disney know what they are doing. Would be interesting to see what you choose for your 6th trip after trying off and onsite.

[MikeH23]

Originally Posted by berniegroves

I agree the High Grove community was lovely. It was really in perfect condition and looked after really well.

Staying onsite is on my to do list for the future too. And we would most likely look to stay at OKW, so that's funny But my DH would only stay onsite for a week I think so then we'd still get a villa stay as well.

I hope you have a lovely trip next time, i'm sure you will, Disney know what they are doing. Would be interesting to see what you choose for your 6th trip after trying off and onsite.

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I have to admit I've taken a lot of persuading to stay on site as always loved a private villa with pool but I'm sure it will be ok & as you mentioned it will be interesting to see where our 6th trip ends up 😜

[berniegroves]

Next up ‘what weve booked’.

We originally planned mid October to early November as this would encompass both of the childrens birthdays and we thought that would be lovely. But once I started pricing up flights, for some reason it worked out almost £1000 cheaper to go early to late October. So that is what we are doing. We will be there for Miley’s 6th birthday which is exciting. Graysons 4th birthday will be one week after we return home, so we are planning to allocate him a day during the holiday to celebrate his birthday too so he doesn't miss out. Is it really cheeky to do that considering its not his actual birthday?

Unfortunately Redjacks villa was already booked by someone else, so I was back to the drawing board to find something else. Simon and Miley both had requests, Simon wanted a nice outlook from the pool area and Miley wanted a pink house! I wanted flexible living space and a pool that wasn’t too overlooked.
I looked at a LOT of villas, but eventually found one in the Reserve at Town Centre. This is a totally new area to us, but I don’t think it will be much difference time wise to the ones we have stayed in previously. The villa is Treefields Reserve and looks AMAZING! We cannot wait.

Look at that view!

The villa is now listed on the Dibb as well. :-)

We are flying from Gatwick on 5th October with Virgin. We have economy seats booked on the outward journey, but on our return flights it was about £50 cheaper to book premium economy, so that’s what we did. I am a bit concerned about the kids sleeping in their seats because I know the armrests don’t go up, but then the seats are wider, so hopefully we will be okay.

We have booked the Premier Inn at Gatwick to stay in the night before the flight so that we can do Twilight check in.

We’ve not stayed at a premier inn before so I am hoping its all okay.
I have booked the same airport carpark as last time which was the Official Gatwick valet parking, as it was unbelievably convenient and I do love things that make life easier.

Our car hire is also sorted, we have booked and paid a deposit with Car on the Drive again.

We used them last year and once again it made our journey so much easier. It was so nice being able to get in the car and be driven to the villa, especially so because Grayson cried for most of the car journey as he didn’t understand why he suddenly had to be strapped in after being able to walk around on the plane. So I am looking forward to using this service again.

I know some people won’t agree with this, but I have also booked a pushchair through Kingdom Strollers again.

The kids will be 5 and 3, but despite this I have booked a double stroller. I should say that with the exception of Florida last year Miley has not been in a stroller since she was just over 2 years old and Grayson hadn’t used one since he was about 18 months. But it was invaluable last time, Grayson took naps in the pushchair when he needed them. If we needed to get somewhere quickly we could pop them both in and then hot foot it across the park. It stored all manner of things which was useful. And as I have mentioned before Miley can be quite sensitive and it takes her a little while to settle in to things. Every morning when we got out of the car she would jump in the stroller and pull the hood all the way down so she couldn’t really be seen. It took me a few days to realise that she was using it as a way to shield herself from the crowds etc whilst she warmed up and got used to all the people. There was a couple of other occasions during the holiday where she would do the same thing, jump in the stroller and pull the hood down and it was because she was becoming overwhelmed and needed a minute to herself. She is very good at knowing what she needs.
I feel like I should say we didn’t stay in the parks all day, so we weren’t forcing her to be there. And we asked them if they wanted rest days and they never did, they loved being in the parks and Miley adores going on rides and meeting characters, but it can be sensory overload with all the people sometimes. So the stroller gave her a place to recharge if she needed it.
And lastly the parks are big, my kids have a lot of energy, but they are just kids. And whilst we only do half days in the parks, the stroller gives us a chance to save their legs and energy for something else. Rested kids means happy kids means no tantrums. So that works for us.
I honestly have no idea if we will need it this time, but I would rather have it just incase.

I have also booked our travel insurance with Virgin this time. We have not used them before, but they covered everything I wanted included, I got some cashback and it was a decent price.

So that’s everything I have booked currently. It’s coming along nicely now with not too much left to sort out.

Next up: My to-do list!

[Mamie Baldwin]

Hooray, the adventures of Miley and Grayson again. I loved your trippie last time and can't wait to follow this one too.

[berniegroves]

Originally Posted by Mamie Baldwin

Hooray, the adventures of Miley and Grayson again. I loved your trippie last time and can't wait to follow this one too.

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Ah that is so lovely to hear. I was wondering if I should bother with another trip report. lol. You've made me smile.

Maybe 'the adventures of Miley and Grayson' would be a good trip report title!

[Wobbles]

Great - thanks for sharing. I can't wait to see the next bits