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Old 29 Nov 18, 11:14 AM  
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LucyLoo31
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No Disney?!? Mum’s Birthday Celebrations Sept/Oct 2019

Hello Dibbers!

This will be my 2nd attempt at writing a pre-trip/trip report… The first ended badly: proposal (Busch Gardens 2015), engagement (2 years), wedding (never happened), honeymoon (2 weeks in Florida) down the drain all that went in Nov 2017 and since then the Florida blues has been singing in mine & my parents heads.

Literally my life last year


Fast forward a year on, I have a new boyfriend, moved 4 hours away from my family (parents don’t count they live in Greece!), have a new job and still the Florida blues is humming its sweet song.



We needed a new plan to cheer us up after my life choices threw a spanner in the works on the April 2018 trip and after the dust had finally settled on everything else, losing £700 deposit was the worst feeling.



But here we are the start of a new adventure.



The spotlights on Dear Mother this time, who turns a certain age and wants to spend it in Florida, and who am I to say no!



2 months of uhming and ahhing about who we’re flying with, what dates shall we go, how many nights, what parks and where are we staying and we’ve cracked it!



Tickets:

Deciding what attractions, we are going to do was the easiest bit! No Disney!
As much as we love the rides, atmosphere and everything Disney we could not justify the prices and we don’t have enough time to fit everything in so this was ruled out straight away.



We are in it for the thrills so decided on doing the ‘Super 6’ Seaworld, Aquatica, Busch Gardens, Universal Studios, IOA & Volcano Bay. Tickets started to be priced up and I was happy to be paying £354 per person for tickets (cheapest I found, can’t remember what website or date).



Along comes Black Friday or should I say Blue Friday for Seaworld etc, thanks to the Dibb once again for influencing the purchase of Discovery Cove Dolphin Swim for £165 per person.




Universal 3 park ticket purchased through Florida Tix for £10pp deposit for £254 each.




How the dates/nights were decided:

My cousin is getting married on 7th September so that means my parents will be flying in from Greece around that date and I'm a bridesmaid!



We looked at going just after on the 9th but means we won’t be there for DM birthday so that meant we had to be flying out around the 30th September so that we are there for her birthday. I looked at every possible day before the 30th and I settled that me and BF would be flying out on the 25th September, told DM they could fly out whenever as long as were all there at the same time.



I decided on 10 nights as BF is self-employed so no holiday pay for him, so he will be missing 7/8 days of work and we fly back on 5th October.



Who we’re flying with:

My DM had enough Virgin air miles for 1 flight and then DF had a few miles to put towards as well, so they ended up with a good deal for £657 for both of them in economy with luggage, flying out from Gatwick on 23rd September, returning 5th October they’re doing 12 nights.



Now my dilemma was can I find flights under £450 each for me and BF as this is what I was aiming for and didn’t want to hold out until Christmas/new year. With Black Friday weekend and having previously been looking every day for a month! I wanted it booked, done and dusted!



We’re flying out on 25th September returning 5th October with British Airways for roughly £400 each for 10 nights. I say roughly as I bought a package with a hotel included... more on this in a mo!



Flights sorted we now had the hotel(s) to sort:

The first week or so we were planning on staying on I-Drive for access to shops, restaurants and the I4 and proximately to Seaworld/Discovery Cove/Aquatica.




I began the search for a hotel with breakfast included, good location on I-Drive and good reviews. Travel Republic had a sale on during the lead up to Black Friday and I quickly booked the Ramada Plaza & Suites (without reading the reviews! Bad mistake) for £300 with breakfast for 2 for 7 nights as they had a £10 deposit option. About an hour later this came back to bite me in the butt as the reviews aren’t great and DM was not happy staying there, luckily, she’d not pressed book...



The next couple of hours were tense, finding a hotel within budget near everything. As I'd already booked and had a confirmation it’s quite straight forward to change your booking on the Travel Republic website, simply click change booking and choose your new hotel, there is a £25 amendment fee.



We have now booked Extended stay America near Seaworld, literally a 10 min walk to SeaWorld.




The plan is split stay and for my budget doing 3 nights at a Universal on-site to get the express passes at whichever is the cheapest option.



DM as it's her birthday trip was adamant, we were staying at Hard Rock Hotel as we previously have done on most trips, I was putting my foot down and saying no this is a budget trip I cannot afford Hard Rock Hotel, 1-night garden view was around £250-£300! And DM wanted Club Level! Told her she’s dreaming and no way I can afford club level!



Fast forward to me booking flights and the wonderful BA having the option to book a hotel for part of your stay I was looking at Hard Rock Hotel at Club Level for 3 nights, this was coming out quite reasonable at £1993 with the flights as well, I was prepared to book, I had my card ready all I needed was the go ahead from DM... DM says how about 4 nights? It brings the price down per night... I could have thrown my laptop out the window and my phone, did she not understand BUDGET!



After the red vision had cleared, I calmly input 4 nights at Hard Rock at Club Level, computer said £2092, an extra £100! Is that it!? I asked permission if I could book this and DM said yes do it! Card ready, internet connection stable, inputting details, confirm... COMPUTER SAYS NO! Safe to say I had a meltdown. Tried 3 times to get the page up I had, computer kept saying there were no available seats for my dates! I knew this as a big fat lie. Black Friday my arch nemesis I will get this holiday booked!



Que a phone call to BA and 20 minutes later I had flights and Hard Rock booked for a deposit of £300. Now DM had to book her Hard Rock stay, she booked via Travel Republic again as they have the £10 deposit option and she paid £1367 or something around that.



Have I missed anything?
Oh yes...
Car Hire
Getting to and from Gatwick (Do I book a hotel the night before?)
Putting the dog & cat in kennels & cattery
Spending Money (How much do we really need?)
Esta’s
New Suitcases/Trainers

I hope this is it!



I will update once a month with things that have been booked/bought/paid for.

Thanks for reading!
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LucyLoo
Feb 03, Sept 04, Oct 06, 08, 10, Feb 13, Nov 15 - Quality Inn International, St Petes Beach, Royal Pacific, Hard Rock Hotel, Fairfield Inn, Clarion Inn
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Old 2 Dec 18, 11:30 AM  
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#2
Juliemack
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Location: The moving walkway

Juliemack's Reviews
Hotel Reviews: 5
Enjoyed your pre-trippie love all the memes
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Old 4 Dec 18, 10:49 AM  
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LucyLoo31
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Gone all Goofy
 
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Join Date: Jun 15
Originally Posted by Juliemack View Post
Enjoyed your pre-trippie love all the memes
Thank you!
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LucyLoo
Feb 03, Sept 04, Oct 06, 08, 10, Feb 13, Nov 15 - Quality Inn International, St Petes Beach, Royal Pacific, Hard Rock Hotel, Fairfield Inn, Clarion Inn
LucyLoo31 is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 10 Jan 19, 03:29 PM  
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LucyLoo31
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Gone all Goofy
 
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Join Date: Jun 15
Dec/Jan Update

Happy New Year Dibbers!
To all of us going to Florida this year hurrah!
On with the show...

The dreaded winter months with Christmas thrown into the middle, a time when no one has any money and we live life on the edge… third world problems and all that.



Since last time this has happened:
Christmas, I cooked for 6 people and I can safely say I am a feeder. I should have invited the whole street, we were living on leftovers for a week and we still have food hanging around that was bought ‘for Christmas’. There is so much chocolate a diabetic would sweat just seeing it, not helpful now I’ve joined slimming world. The number of times the cat had to be rescued from the Christmas tree – 4, the number of times the cat knocked the tree down – 1, she learned from that mistake, I’m still finding baubles and tinsel bits around the house…



Nearly dying, my car’s brakes failed – never using Kwik-Fit again, the absolute ******** didn’t fit my caliper correctly on one wheel in Oct so for the last 2 months the bolts slowly became loose and then completely fell out! Never been so terrified in my life, I am lucky that I’m level headed and my dad taught me how to use gears and hand brake to slow down. I would never wish that experience on anyone.



New Year was a chilled affair, we drank numerous bottles of alcohol, we ate the food left over from Christmas and chocolate so much chocolate, we watched Disney movies (Hercules & Tangled) played monopoly and nobody threw the board! Managed to stay up until 12.35am and then had a hangover the next day.



My birthday at the end of the month, anybody who has their birthday in December or January knows the feeling.



No joke this is what I get.

Ha! This year I’m actually having a sort of grown up birthday… Let’s say I’m getting nearer 30. Me and the boyfriend are heading to Colchester staying in the Premier Inn for £100 for 2 nights with breakfast each morning, we’re going to Colchester Zoo on my birthday, as they have a good deal on for January where its £10pp for tickets & then a Spa for the day after which is a Bannatyne Premium Spa in Colchester and this was an absolute bargain at £70 for 2 of us, we’re having back & feet massages as well! I do like a good deal!



BACK TO FLORIDA TALK

Buying items that are for the holiday and shall not be used before said time.

Disney Store Online Purchases


Animators Suitcase Black Friday sale £36


Disney Animators Tangled Bag £2.69


Pascal Coin Purse New Year Sale £3.15


Edna Mode Cosmetics Bag New Year Sale £3.23

Sports Direct Online Purchases


Puma Women's Trainers £25


K Swiss Women's Trainers £17



Airwalk Men's Trainers both pairs £17 each

Asda George Online


Hogwarts Ladies T-Shirt £5



Jurassic World Park Staff Men's T-Shirt £5. This is mine!I am not sharing! Why do the men get all the cool ones?!

So that’s all the things I’ve bought for the holiday so far, I’m sure there will be more, the list keeps growing of clothes/socks/underwear/toiletries we need.



My parents have sorted out the car hire so I don’t have to worry about that anymore, I think they’ve paid around £300 for an intermediate car.

Holiday planning hasn’t started yet as waiting for the times to be released and busy day guides however this is what it currently looks like:
25th – Arrive in afternoon, Shopping, probably Walmart for essentials
26th - Seaworld
27th – Busch Gardens
28th – Aquatica/Seaworld
29th- Shopping or Busch Gardens
30th – Discovery Cove
1st – Check into Hard Rock Hotel, Universal parks
2nd – Volcano Bay/Universal Parks, possibly HHN
3rd – revisit Seaworld/Universal Parks
4th- Universal Parks/Last day for shopping
5th – Universal Park in morning/Fly home



Still to sort:
*ESTA’s – my passport is up for renewal in Oct. I know I am going to need a new one before then when should I do this?
*Dog & Cat kennels & cattery (this may not need to happen, we currently have my father in law staying with us and he’s lovely and helped us out financially so may still be living with us in September.)
*Pay everything off by 21st August, funds are looking good so far.
*Spending money, we are thinking of $100 a day.
*Getting to and from Gatwick – we will be taking our car, and really want to stay in a hotel the night before, recommendations for Gatwick South Terminal? Best website to book through? Never stayed overnight there.

Get through January and then everything should start to come together.
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LucyLoo
Feb 03, Sept 04, Oct 06, 08, 10, Feb 13, Nov 15 - Quality Inn International, St Petes Beach, Royal Pacific, Hard Rock Hotel, Fairfield Inn, Clarion Inn
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Old 8 Mar 19, 03:44 PM  
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LucyLoo31
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Join Date: Jun 15
Update Feb/March

Hi again Dibbers!

Ok, so its been 2 months since my last update and a fair few things have been happening!

Had my birthday end of January and spent a lovely time in Colchester, the zoo is fab! Fed a giraffe & an elephant it was the highlight of my birthday! Also went and had a spa day, DB fell asleep in the spa and started snoring… *face palm* he was soooooo relaxed! The premier inn in Colchester town centre is fantastic as well, the room was huge!



February was a good month:

Booked HHN tickets for £64 each and got 2 nights entry so will be doing this either Weds/Thurs/Fri night we are at the Hard Rock Hotel, hoping they have some fabulous houses like last year! I will probably scream and wet myself… We have paid £10pp deposit and will pay the balance in August.



I booked purple parking car park for Gatwick and we treated ourselves to the No1 Lounge, in total we have paid £136.84. This was via the Purple Parking website as I get e-mails from them, and this was a good deal in my eyes, as parking was around £80 and the lounge was around £50 so we don’t have to debate over where we will be eating breakfast, straight to the lounge to snack & drink!



Still debating a hotel for the night before, so have provisionally booked Europa Gatwick Hotel & Spa, this can be cancelled close to the date (24th) if we don’t have the funds. Cost for the night £52.



We have also chosen kennels and cattery for the dog & cat’s holiday, it’s a short drive from home and they will be in the same place so easier for drop off/pick up and the cost for both of them is £305.40, which is amazing!



Remember when I said my passport runs out in Oct… Turns out it was February this year… I’m travelling to see my parents in May, I applied yesterday for a renewal of my passport, £75.50! So ESTA’s will be so much easier as we have years on both our passports, these will be done probably in August now.



I have resisted the urge to buy anything for the holiday, however I did go a bit mad on EMP website as they have so much nice Disney clothing…

So that’s everything that has been booked so far and we will be paying off the flight and Hard Rock Hotel this month! Then its set we will definitely be on that plane!



Other things that’s been happening:

I got a new car as my death trap convertible is in a court case with the guy I brought it from, we will be going to court in April. Shiny new car for me, I love it!



I’m booked to go see my parents in Greece in May for 4 days, DB isn’t coming as the self-employed situation is still ongoing for him.

I got a new job! I really really want to train to be a veterinary nurse and I will be starting down this career path in my new job as an Animal Care Assistant in April! So many new things to learn, I cannot wait!



Thanks for reading dibbers! Until next time x
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LucyLoo
Feb 03, Sept 04, Oct 06, 08, 10, Feb 13, Nov 15 - Quality Inn International, St Petes Beach, Royal Pacific, Hard Rock Hotel, Fairfield Inn, Clarion Inn
LucyLoo31 is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 5 Sep 19, 05:36 PM  
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LucyLoo31
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Join Date: Jun 15
The Last Update! Hurrah!

It's been 6 months

APOLOGIES

We have had so many things going on at home. Since the last update we have:
Been to Greece for 4 nights - May
Been to Spain for 5 nights - June
Hen Party weekend in London - July
Moved house (again) to live nearer the coast and still haven't been to the beach! - August
Acquired a rabbit, lost rabbit, got 2 new rabbits - August
BF's sister gave birth to a 10lb baby! Seeing him this weekend

Upcoming we have:
Cousin's wedding this weekend!
Finishing my job as an Animal Care Assistant because we made a life decision. Me and BF are opening a shop in Eastbourne, East Sussex on 7th October (selling Disney, Harry Potter, Gaming/TV/Movie related items, Loungefly ) we are so excited!

Onto Florida talk...

EVERYTHING IS PAID OFF

We did this in June as we had the funds available so all that's left to pay is all the animal kennel fees, we have the money set aside for them.

We got dollars at an exchange rate of 1.21 from TravelFX, I think, we had to do a bank transfer and they sent the money out in 2 days, exchanged £1303 and got $1500. With opening the shop, which we only agreed to last week, we thought we'd be missing an opportunity not to get lots and I mean lots of American products stocked for our shop. So we exchanged another £250 and got $300 to spend entirely on stock, we will be having lots of trips to the outlets and mall! And may need another suitcase, 3 hold and 2 hand luggage for the way back...

I ordered 2 new hold suitcases as we currently only have 1 and that was a Walmart special from 2015, it has served me well but didn't think it would last this time. Purchased for £24.99 each from The Range sale.

We have changed our overnight stay to Premier Inn as it is closer to the airport and is £3's cheaper than our original booking for Europa.

Way back in May when I visited my parents in Greece, my lovely DM really wanted to do a Disney park so discussions were opened about how about just 1 day to do a park? But which one?
We love all the parks for different reasons but this year tough decisions were made.
MK was ruled out as last time we went it was a full on day 8am-midnight and they have MNSSHP, we did toy with the idea of doing this but ruled it out.
Epcot we like to split into 2 days as we struggle to get everything done and with illuminations changing we were sad, another park we can miss.
HS, star wars land, say no more.
Which leaves ANIMAL KINGDOM, my absolute favourite Me and DM both loves animals and the Disney shows at this park, DF loves Everest, Bug's Life & Dinosaur, BF can't remember this park from when he last went so will all be new

The current plan is:

Tuesday 24th - Travel to Premier Inn
Wednesday 25th - Depart Gatwick, Arrive MCO, check into Extended Stay at SeaWorld, Walmart, restaurant around the corner, think it's a steak house.
Thursday 26th - Animal Kingdom 8am-8pm, dinner at Rainforest Café
Friday 27th - SeaWorld, possible shopping trip in the evening
Saturday 28th - Busch Gardens 10am - 6pm
Sunday 29th - Aquatica is a definite for today and we might do SeaWorld or Shopping and we are going out for dinner for DM birthday.
Monday 30th - DM big birthday, Discovery Cove, chill day, we may eat out but need to pack for our move to HRH.
Tuesday 1st - Check out of Extended Stay, Check in HRH, dump bags, head into park, eat at Citywalk
Wednesday 2nd - Parks or shopping maybe both, HHN
Thursday 3rd - Parks/Volcano Bay/HHN
Friday 4th - Shopping/Parks
Saturday 5th - Parks in the morning/Flight home in the afternoon

Just realised we planned to do HHN on Fri 4th but wouldn't work out well for our next day so swapped some things over! Not sure on eating plans yet! Going to wing it HAHA

Thanks for reading
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LucyLoo
Feb 03, Sept 04, Oct 06, 08, 10, Feb 13, Nov 15 - Quality Inn International, St Petes Beach, Royal Pacific, Hard Rock Hotel, Fairfield Inn, Clarion Inn
LucyLoo31 is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
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