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Old 10 Jul 19, 11:42 PM  
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walt4it
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:) Going out in a Blaze of Glory - July/ August 2019

Going out in a Blaze of Glory -2019.

Welcome back

Amidst a few final days of 2018 to type up - I proudly bring our 2019 Pre Trip report

For anyone stumbling across this, who has not read any of our adventures previously – they are just a click here away.

I know those who have read the many posts and threads on The Dibb since I changed the countdown last year - have asked repeatedly.


Does the name of this trip report mean the end? Is it the last one? Is it the end of an era?
Is it the culmination of so many successive trips?


We feel so lucky to have done every single day that we have done before. It has been a total joy to share the words I have typed before.
But, YES, we are all thinking this is the end.


Our complete -Going out in a Blaze of Glory- “our hands are held up high”
It fits in with day 20 last year - Our Alarm day




This video is from 1991 - a night in Brixton when The Alarm ended.






I don’t expect you to listen to the song, but it encapsulates where we are at.

I am ”learning how to hit back and learning how to fight” too – not going to type it, but it has been a tough few months.

Our house needs some TLC , our boys are at an age when the summer holidays are golf comp days missed and more than anything else – I’m not paying for Disney hotel parking next year!

We were not going to go this year, how could you surpass 2018?

GCSE results day would mean for time constraints too, so no need for a Florida holiday, get the house sorted out and more than anything we need a fallow couple of years – just like Glastonbury!
All those Florida excuses …

Until… BOOOOOOMMMMMM!




A little fly drive BA bargain popped up, fly into Miami and with a car included at a price that seemed silly not to put a £200 deposit down on.

The cost per person was appealing, at today’s car hire rate (June 2019) the car hire element of the trip covers nearly two people on the overall fly drive package!

The flight part of the trip seemed to be a no brainer, pay the deposit and when the bargain flights kick in, we can make the choice - to stick with this booking or jump to another bargain.


Despite constant looking, they never came. We just kept looking at the £2600 for 4 people and a full size SUV for 4 weeks – booked!

Amid all the Brexit talk of the time, and an awareness that if we used Frankfurt like 2018 or Paris/ Amsterdam or anywhere in Europe, we could be in a bit of unchartered waters as to what immigration might bring. This BA booking was going to be a flight path that totally did not involve Europe.




I type all of this with more confusion and frustration about the whole thing now, than I did when we booked.








We booked with a true intention of avoiding any of that immigration nonsense etc – and here we are months later no clearer.


Personally – I think all of the European carriers Lufthansa, KLM , Air France and more , have simply taken UK passengers out of their flight costings and as a result we have not had the many great flight prices seen in the past 10 years .

If Lufthansa had offered me an over nighter in Frankfurt, I would have taken it - they were fantastic last year.

There has been so few European carriers offering ‘bargains’ - I begin to wonder if this year we will meet more French/German/Italian etc people in WDW?

Might be wrong, but those Transatlantic seats need filling – looks like the UK is now bottom of that list for European Airlines.




Our booking with BA, means the route will be Manchester – Heathrow – Miami.



We were reassured that we had no need to deal with all the uncertainty and thoughts of queues in a Euro airport, whilst those who are meant to be running this country had never even thought of that– at least we had!

Having flown into Miami last year, with trip report days here.

We recognised we did not want to do the same things again, and so Mrs Walt4it set upon a bit of a personal mission whilst I was engaged in other things, like booking the flights.

Her quest was complex, tempting and usually one she would never tell me about.

But she did!

We have never stayed on site for more than a few days, 5 day minimum gets you free DDP and to enjoy some wonderful places to stay and eat!

Somehow, and with a gust of wind and a sea breeze that I’m sure was an alignment of all that we have to celebrate- we found our Disney holiday 2019.


This year is different…

We will celebrate our 20th Wedding anniversary on the trip.

I am on a half century birthday (can’t even get the keyboard to type the number!)

Josh has completed his GCSE’s and will turn 16 days after we return.

Joe will become a teenager on our return,

... and as always, Alison never looks a day over 28!


Her plan, not mine - I hasten to add! - was for an extended Disney stay- this was before they messed up / sorry changed the 60 FP day window

I’m thinking she had insider info – as It has worked out so well for us and possibly would have been a pain in the back side had we just booked the usual 5 night stay.

So, what was that plan?

She looked at so many options and then “as if by magic, the shopkeeper appeared”




Whoops – Mr Benn moment for us older readers, for those younger than that – Childrens TV used to look something like this just before the news on BBC1 (in the days of just 3 TV channels! Told you I’m on a half century)

Something really did appear magically though,



A 10 night stay in the Yacht Club, with Dining plan for a price that was cheaper than a per night Villa stay.

We have always had a cost per night in our planning, this was blown away by what we had in front of us. We did not sleep on it – we just pressed the BOOK IT NOW Button





...paid the deposit and went to bed, just wondering what we had done, still wondering if we should have made it a longer stay

We are reluctant to stay on site for too long, we always love the Villa experience – we love the space and the pool and even the cooking bit- in the past, the 5 day Disney stay with Fast pass booking for whole of trip at 60 days was valued, it was what you paid that bit more for.

In the space of our booking, those rules then changed, and having had so many so many special times over all of our previous trips – this is possibly where I recognise this is our Blaze of Glory.

From a UK planning point of view – I know our holidays will never be the same again, unless we stay on site, off site at 30 days will mean you have nothing of the rides that attract the greatest lines and more than anything it extinguishes that flame you have when you try to book your fast passes.


I type all of this before Star Wars opens this Autumn at WDW and I sense this will become a greater problem in the future for everyone (and me!) staying off site, yet already the prices have risen substantially and then there is the bonus of UK guests having to pay for parking in a Disney resort too.

So, How did we tell the boys ?


This was different from all others, we have enjoyed so many different ways, Dibbcast reveals. Treasure hunts, darts and more!

Yet this year had told the boys at Christmas we were going, we then went out for a meal together with a bit of a game to put some detail in the plan.













It was to allow the boys an opportunity to have a say on what they want to do on holiday, to input on the whole planning process and to ensure that we all knew it was the last one.


The planning part struck early doors with our Dining Plan choices, we aimed to visit favourites from the past and also to visit places not seen before.

The 60 day Fast Pass window was exciting – 10 days to book and in true commando green army man style – I went in early for Flight of Passage, day 2 to be clear and it took great determination to avoid just booking 10 days straight.


An opportunity to fit in some Tower of Terror was needed, as I know this is working at limited capacity and the walk on again and again and again and again and again that was enjoyed in Summer Nightastic in 2010 has never been the same since. Each year it gets busier and busier and in 2019 the queue will be longer than ever.
Still my favourite ride though!





We also managed to ensure that we got Slinky Dog booked, 7 Dwarfs and the one visit to Peter Pan that we have to do every trip! (I have no idea why, but it is one that has to be done!)


The frustration hit home then for another 30 days as we could no longer book the rest of the trip.


We did however get the train to and from Manchester Airport booked for just £60 return for all 4 of us




and the Premier Inn at Heald Green booked for £36 for the night before we fly.



Now, as always, there can be a moment in any trip planning when a little curve ball arrives, ours was caused by Disney offering the fantastic opportunity to milk us out of another few dollars with a Magic Band upgrade. Having all had the same colours in the past this was too good an opportunity to miss….

youtube/watch?time_c...&v=YbHaL2XIArc

Until we chose our respective bands then paid for the bands on the US Disney website, and then went through days and days of uncertainty as to what was happening

I think the department at Disney who has this idea were possibly unaware that this little untapped goldmine of extra revenue was going to prove so popular.

It proved so popular that we had no access to any Magicband stuff on My Disney Experience for weeks – just a picture of the 7 dwarfs saying they were trying to fix it.



Well, a couple of emails later and just a polite question as to not having grey bands on arrival , we found an email stating we had 3 bands dispatched and our CC would be charged again – that left us with one son who had missed out.

Eventually after another email we got a code to buy one and that is supposed to be at the Yacht Club reception – I will believe all of this when I see it – what a shambles, of something that Disney had full control of to start with.


They have ended up spending more working hours dealing with the mess this has made rather than the exciting new addition to the magicband experience.

Anyway, we leave in under two weeks time, to our happy place and more than anything - I can’t wait to meet anyone who has read any of all this stuff I type, who recognises us -please do stop and say hello, or even just ask – “are you on The Dibb?” ( just like fellow Dibbers did last year)
Shout if need be!

We already have a couple of Dibb meets with long time readers to see on this trip and will be spending some time with friends we met on our very first family adventure in 2008.
One Dibb meet on a shared Illuminations cruise later has led to a friendship that transcends words.

I hope you will enjoy sharing all of days when we return, and I hope that once again we enjoy our days in our Happy Place.

Our Going out In a Blaze of Glory.

Coming Real Soon!

The index to this whole trip can be read here

The very first day can be read here as the prologue/ grand depart
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Going out in a Blaze of Glory- Our Summer of Sorcery 2019 - COMPLETE! 4 Weeks, from The Yacht Club for 10 nights onto much more Florida fun too

All of our previous Trip reports and escapades can be read here.

Edited at 11:23 PM.
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Old 11 Jul 19, 06:15 AM  
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joanna23
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All sounds amazing. I’m in a similar place to you that this may be our last!
Wishing you a wonderful adventure as always. I have huge Y&B envy!
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Old 16 Jul 19, 01:18 AM  
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walt4it
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Originally Posted by joanna23 View Post
All sounds amazing. I’m in a similar place to you that this may be our last!
Wishing you a wonderful adventure as always. I have huge Y&B envy!
Would be glad to buy the ices creams at Beaches and Cream or the beers at the Rose and Crown - been too long since we last met and would be interested to discuss why it is your last too

Have a great trip and hope we get a catch up, still not met your newest addition to the family

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Going out in a Blaze of Glory- Our Summer of Sorcery 2019 - COMPLETE! 4 Weeks, from The Yacht Club for 10 nights onto much more Florida fun too

All of our previous Trip reports and escapades can be read here.
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Old 11 Jul 19, 09:30 AM  
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Great read - looking forward to it and maybe bumping into you around Orlando!
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Old 16 Jul 19, 01:23 AM  
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Originally Posted by sparkyweb View Post
Great read - looking forward to it and maybe bumping into you around Orlando!
Just give us a shout - I am so aware that so many people have read our trip reports and we don't know you. If in doubt please do just ask

I'm hoping for a summer of Dibb meets

Your countdown is looking so good as I type this - 9 days and 8 hours

If we don't meet, I just hope you have a fantastic holiday
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Going out in a Blaze of Glory- Our Summer of Sorcery 2019 - COMPLETE! 4 Weeks, from The Yacht Club for 10 nights onto much more Florida fun too

All of our previous Trip reports and escapades can be read here.
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Old 11 Jul 19, 10:07 AM  
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Iv just finished reading your last trip report and am really looking forward to this!
Think we might arrive just after you leave but hope you have an amazing trip it sounds fabulous.
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Old 11 Jul 19, 12:31 PM  
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We get to the Yacht Club on the 21st (the Sunday) for 11 nights after starting our holiday at Wilderness Lodge...so by my calculations I'll no doubt pass you in the corridors and see you by Stormalong or the quiet pool!
This time it's just my son (16- also recovery post GCSE's ) and I (55...warning...it all starts to fall apart physically after 50 so be careful haha). So if you see a mum and son, both glasses wearers, son has dark hair, I have white hair from the front with a long pony tail, spherical, and a dodgy knee which gets more limpy the further into the holiday goes (so on day 1 wont be limping too much, day 11 I'll probably be resembling Quasimodo)- then that's us!

Hoping you have an amazing time... I cant even comprehend a holiday that long...wow. Looking forward to reading all about it.

Edited at 03:51 PM.
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Old 11 Jul 19, 03:20 PM  
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Looking forward to following your trip as always 😆


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Old 16 Jul 19, 01:15 AM  
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Originally Posted by Shifu View Post
We get to the Yacht Club on the 21st (the Sunday) for 11 nights after starting our holiday at Wilderness Lodge...so by my calculations I'll no doubt pass you in the corridors and see you by Stormalong or the quiet pool!
This time it's just my son (16- also recovery post GCSE's ) and I (55...warning...it all starts to fall apart physically after 50 so be careful haha). So if you see a mum and son, both glasses wearers, son has dark hair, I have white hair from the front with a long pony tail, spherical, and a dodgy knee which gets more limpy the further into the holiday goes (so on day 1 wont be limping too much, day 11 I'll probably be resembling Quasimodo)- then that's us!

Hoping you have an amazing time... I cant even comprehend a holiday that long...wow. Looking forward to reading all about it.
Love it , when I am reading a reply and a countdown is ticking to 1 day and 8 hours

See you at the Yacht Club

Have a great flight and see you real soon
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Going out in a Blaze of Glory- Our Summer of Sorcery 2019 - COMPLETE! 4 Weeks, from The Yacht Club for 10 nights onto much more Florida fun too

All of our previous Trip reports and escapades can be read here.
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Old 11 Jul 19, 03:31 PM  
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We will all do a final something at some point.

Its nice that on this occasion, its entirely your choice, as it will be mine in 2020, when we will hand over the baton to a younger generation.

Looking forward to following your adventure.

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