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Old 27 Sep 19, 01:03 PM  
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dreamadream
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Join Date: Jul 14
Orlando Feb 2020 first timers!

It is cold and wet outside so the best time to start my pre trip report!

Cast:

Me; Mother, wife, full time holiday obsessive (when work allows!) I love a planner and spread sheet I live to eat

Hubby; All round legend of a man, best hubby and dad, does everything to make everyone else happy. So chilled and relaxed he may as well stay asleep. Obsessed by football and coaches our sons team. They are shockingly bad No fault of his though

Son; Will be 17 when we go. Sweet chilled kid. Just started college and loving the freedom (me, not so much). Also obsessed by football, naturally. Eats us out of house and home

Daughter: Will be 13. Flips from a sweet child who loves Disney, recently carried her Lion king teddies to the cinema to watch Lion King movie, to a she beast, with minimal warning
Starting to worry a little more about how she will behave tbh Her passion is shopping. It doesn't matter what it is, she just likes buying Disney 'stuff'

This trip has been a looooooooong time coming! I have been researching forever. A trip was on plan about 10 years ago after a few trips to DLP but we just felt the kids wouldn't cope with the heat (more on that later!) Then I went back to uni 7 years ago to follow my life long dream to train as a Midwife. Then one morning 2 years ago I was sat with my credit card in hand ready to book, when hubby called to ensure I hadn't booked as a his sister announced her pregnancy (they run the family business together) and was due around those dates. So it was put off again
Annnnnnnnyway, that year we had to have short holidays just incase and had an adults only trip to Boston for our anniversary (and SIL had a surprise delivery 6 weeks early while we were there, ooops! family business put on hold until our return ), a family trips to NYC (our third) and DLP (also our third trip).

After our DLP trip hubby was more enthusiastic about Orlando. Prior to this he wasn't convinced we would get much out of it. We aren't big coaster riders. We had a trip to a Holland Theme park the year before and whimped out of loads of rides But DLP was perfect. We are very much Peter pan type riders and love the shows and atmosphere, But we loved BTM and rode it tons.
I do have an almost finished Trip report for that in DLP section, check it out, as no one else has
So, Florida. I have been once as a teenager. I don't remember much tbh other than the ghastly Cake castle for the 25th anniversary, MacDonald's doing pizza and my sister and brother having a hissy fit at our dads military planning.


We are not hot weather people at all. Cant do it. Over 25c I feel like i am dying. We are just back from a trip to Rome, where it was 32c, all I kept thinking was 'fudge, florida better have a cold snap come feb! ' It doesn't help that our son has a skin condition that means he is at increased risk of skin cancer therefore we have always been very cautious and avoid hot holidays! We tend to holiday in spring and autumn. Summer holidays are always out of the question. Easter is too hot and busy for us. Christmas is a nono with work as no annual leave allowed over that period.
Therefore Feb is ideal for us on all levels. The second option was Oct half term but that's further away than feb so there we go, decision made!

Feb 2020 6-21st.

Pre flight night at PI Gatwick North, our families fav hotel


Now flights. Thanks to the Dibb heads up I bagged bargain flights when AirFrance opened up their codeshare with Virgin. 4 return direct adult flights LGW-MCO £1111 There seems an error as I booked for light but given classic, so have selected seats and 4 hold cases added. I am a little suss that it may be spotted in time...


We have hired a car through Alamo Brit’s. It’s hubbys first time driving in the states. But I said if he can do it in Italy he can do it anywhere



Accommodation:

We are not a family who cope well in one room for more than a few nights (In NYC we started falling out on day 3...) so it has to be a villa or such like.
I researched so much, and after a few months I decided Windsor Hills ticked all of our boxes: close to Disney and restaurants and shops, good onsite facilities and high standard.


I looked at many villas but felt they were just too big and therefore more than I wanted to spend. I came across a Dibb Townhouse that was perfect as it has 3 bed, 3 ensuites. A pool wasn't a massive issue for us as we aren't big swimmers and the resort facilities are great. But these have a splash pool which would be ideal for some evening chilling, added pool heating.




Next up I decided one night at WDW would be good to get a days 60 day fastpasses. Daughter is obsessed by drawing (and has quite a talent), particularly Disney art so naturally AoA was selected. Bog standard Little Mermaid is enough for one night.


Then I added 2 nights at Boardwalk Villas through DVC for the very end of the holiday. I agonised over which DVC to book. I was tossing between AKL and the other boardwalk area hotels. In the end BWV won given its location ad theming. The set up is good for us as a queen bed, sofa bed for son and a pull down bed for daughter. I booked a balcony room overlooking the boardwalk. This is what I am looking forward to the most, being able to stroll to Epcot and HS particularly in the evenings.



Then I added one night at Universals Royal Pacific Resort to benefit FoL passes as we will be visiting over Presidents weekend. I used Tesco vouchers so it only cost £210


I *may* add another night at a budget WDW hotel for the 60 day fastpasses, but not stay there as think we already have enough nights together booked!

Tickets will be 2 weeks WDW and Universal. I did want to do KSC too but ill leave that for next time. SW is not for us. I did it as a teen and it didn't sit well with me then, but I will leave it there!

We are big foodies! There are so many places on our list! Mostly off site but on site I have so far booked:

BoG Lunch
50's Prime time
Epcot Garden Grill Breakfast
Tusker House Lunch

I am waiting to book dessert party fireworks, but they are currently sold out, but I will keep looking! I am also waiting for after hours MK top open up thanks to a large monetary gift recently

The snacks on our list is endless...


That's it for now!

Edited at 05:34 PM.
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Old 27 Sep 19, 05:41 PM  
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Milpston
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Sounds like a great trip and you definitely deserve it for having to wait for so long. I will be following along.

I'm sure experts will give more accurate advice but I'm not sure of the worth of booking another on site stay for one night for the 60 fast passes if you don't intend to stay. My reasoning is you are still not likely to get the big hitting fast passes like slinky or FOP at 60 days out as there are too many booking them with longer onsite stays. Most of the other others 'should' still be available at 30 days I would think.

Your countdown will fly down now!
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Old 27 Sep 19, 06:18 PM  
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Scotty
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We overlap slightly. I enjoy February as we also don't do hot. Looks like a great trip. Enjoy.
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Old 29 Sep 19, 05:23 PM  
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dreamadream
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Originally Posted by Milpston View Post
Sounds like a great trip and you definitely deserve it for having to wait for so long. I will be following along.

I'm sure experts will give more accurate advice but I'm not sure of the worth of booking another on site stay for one night for the 60 fast passes if you don't intend to stay. My reasoning is you are still not likely to get the big hitting fast passes like slinky or FOP at 60 days out as there are too many booking them with longer onsite stays. Most of the other others 'should' still be available at 30 days I would think.

Your countdown will fly down now!
Makes sense, thanks, I think I will stick with what I have got already x
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Old 28 Oct 19, 05:42 PM  
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dreamadream
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Double Digit day! Soooo excited! Tonight we are having a USA themed dinner with pulled pork in brioche, ribs, wings, ceaser salad, coleslaw, corn dogs. And cookie dough pie and ice cream for pudding. Yeah, slimming world starts tomorrow, again again again again...

We are off to Alton Towers Wednesday to give the coasters a go as we are very aware we are ride wimps and need to up our abilities...

Anyway, updated Plans:
I have agreed with hubby and decided against booking after hours, for now...
I have however booked Terrace Gardens Dessert party for one of the nights we are at staying at WDW which I am looking forward to.
I booked a night at PI Gatwick north for the morning of our return. We drove back from Gatwick a few weeks ago at 2am and hubby agreed £64 was a bargain to be bale to climb into a comfy bed at 8am for a few hours and not die on route home...

Our off site restaurant list is growing. The musts are:
Ihop, Dennys and Cracker Barrel for breakfasts
Cheesecake factory (never managed a cheesecake before! The bread gets us... ) Plan on taking away to share a few!
Shake shack (we are terrible with these when in the US! Their Shake stack is a dream!)
LongHorns
Millers
Bahama Breeze
Olive Garden
Kobe

Also adding these onsite ones:
Polite Pig
Panda Express
Bubba Gumps (although daughter not keen as still moans about the ribs 18 months after we went to the Times Square one!)

I am not booking any more ADR's as already feeling stressed about being in a certain park on a certain day. If on the day we fancy something I will check what's available.

That's it for now!
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Old 26 Jan 20, 09:12 PM  
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borntoshop
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We're there from the 7th Feb. We've signed up to bubba gump, free appetizer of the day and Bahama breeze are offering so much off.
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Old 26 Jan 20, 10:47 PM  
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jothp
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Not long to go now. I hope you have a fantastic time.
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Old 27 Jan 20, 08:31 AM  
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Elsa42
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I’m surprised I’ve missed your pre trippie! Great planning you’ll have an amazing time! Looking at your countdown you haven’t got long at all!

The planning is a lot of the fun of it! We stayed at the boardwalk and it is just beautiful! To sit on the balcony in the evening and morning and watch people come and go to the parks is such a nice atmosphere!

A couple of great meals you’ve picked there Tuskers house, garden grill and 50’s prime time are some of my favourites!
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Old 27 Jan 20, 02:30 PM  
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Floridadreams
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I can’t believe I missed this! You’re in single digit days now! So exciting! We’re there from 8th February for our first trip after a long long time of planning and putting off! Looking forward to hearing how you get on. Enjoy 😊
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Old 27 Jan 20, 05:07 PM  
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RachaelC
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We’re there at the same time! Unfortunately only a week for us though.

Will be keeping a keen eye on your opinion of Windsor Hills as we have a villa booked there for the summer
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