Notices

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Old 25 Oct 18, 10:09 PM  
Link to this Post
#1
Bellesdream
slightly serious Dibber
 
Join Date: May 14
4 go back for another Adventure Aug 19

Hello! Welcome back to the joy and happiness that will be my pre trip report! Hopefully I will be better at keeping this report up to date than my last report.

We are Charlotte (Trip reporter, planner, Disney obsessive), Stuart, (go with the Flo, eats anything and EVERYTHING and Still skinny, Disney convert), Caitlin 12 (Pre Teen, hormonal, adventurous adrenalin junkie, Disney lover) and James 9 (quiet, Minecraft lover)




Lets start this off...
As First Timers we stayed at Old Key West in October 2017, 1 night at all Star Music and 1 night Cabana Bay. We loved our holiday, evening planning whilst there that we would be returning in 2019. Once we got back, we slowly started saving but had a hiccup with then deciding on a house move instead and delaying the holiday - this happened 2 days before free dining started and lasted until early September. At this point we had been discussing whether to go on holiday or not... Eventually we decided that this would be the last proper holiday until Caitlin was 16 and GCSEs had finished, we could go on holiday 2019 and then move house the next 2 years then we would be able to go back to Florida in 2023 ( ) But that would be special as Caitlin would be turning 16 and I would be turning 40!

So one Friday night Stuart told me in no uncertain terms to 'get it booked now' so I went for it and booked Port Orleans French Quarter for 19th August 2019 for 14 nights. Garden View rooms were the cheapest option- 2 weeks with tickets and QSDP.

A couple of weeks later when BA had a brilliant sale on (after spending every minute of every day in the weeks before looking at flights...) we booked our direct flights Gatwick to Orlando MCO for Sunday 18th August to Sunday 8th September, Landing on the Monday. It does mean the children will miss the first week of term, I have agonised over it(and will continue to over the coming months) but its booked.
ESTAs were completed before I paid for the flights... just in case!

I called Disney and moved our dates 1 day earlier so we are at Disney 18th August to 1st September - 14 nights. Then I booked Cabana Bay for 1st September to 8th September with travel republic and a £10 deposit.

Over the last few days we have been discussing the fact that we will be missing the TS meals, there are some that we really would like to do. Today I had a look on the Disney site and Old Key West is available for our dates and would be £500 more than we are currently paying for POFQ (and QSDP), if we upgraded our dining plan it would be £750 so cheaper to move... so I am hoping to call Disney tomorrow to see if they are able to move us and how much it will be...
Decisions decisions...
We had decided not to get the Disney Dining Plan this time as we struggled with eating so much food last time and missed out on snacks and some QS places that we wanted to eat in. We also wanted to be less restricted but the draw of the meals and fun... There are certain TS restaurants we definitely want to do again and some we want to try for the first time...
Cinderella's Royal Table - New
California Grill - New
Ohana - Return there
Garden Grill - Return there
Sanna- New
Mamma Melrose (Fantasmic package) - Return there
Sci Fi Diner- New
Yak and Yeti - Return there
Artist Point (Snow White)- New
[/APP]



The same for QS restaurants -
Wolfgang Puck for Breakfast

Earl of Sandwich

Blaze Pizza


Satu'li Canteen - looks amazing
Flame Tree Barbeque


Also snacks...… so many snacks to try...



plus so much more...

In the planning stakes I have already bought all of Caitlin's tops, some of James' and began planning our days already...

It is also our 15th Anniversary (11th Wedding Anniversary) whilst we are there - part of the reason we are thinking of doing the DDP - it would be amazing to have dinner at California Grill and watch the fireworks on our anniversary (even with the children!)

Next things to book -

* Gatwick Hotel
* Parking/travel to hotel
* Cattery
* Universal Dining plan if on offer
* Universal Photo package

Next things to plan
* ADRs if we get the DDP
* Days in the park
Bellesdream is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 27 Oct 18, 07:46 AM  
Link to this Post
#2
Goldia
VIP Dibber
 
Goldia's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 16

Goldia's Reviews
Hotel Reviews: 5
Restaurant Reviews: 43
This sounds like it's going to be a fun trip. We are at POFQ next summer at the beginning of August. Have you decided yet whether to move to OKW or to stay put?
__________________
Abby
New pre trip report - Summer 2024

Link to all my completed trip reports
2017: NYC and Orlando. Salzburg. Boston.
2018: Orlando. Berlin.
2019: DLP. Orlando. Washington DC.
2020: DLP.
2021: Jamaica. Rome.
2022: Orlando.
2023: Orlando. Niagara and Toronto.
Goldia is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 27 Oct 18, 10:18 AM  
Link to this Post
#3
Bellesdream
Thread Starter
slightly serious Dibber
 
Join Date: May 14
Originally Posted by Goldia View Post
This sounds like it's going to be a fun trip. We are at POFQ next summer at the beginning of August. Have you decided yet whether to move to OKW or to stay put?

We are very excited about going back... The Plan is already being completed!
Still haven't decided about OKW yet... We would love to go back with the Ddp but the QSDP also has an aspect that we want to go to.
I love the look of POFQ and spent a lot of time deciding on it... It looks amazing, you will have a fabulous time 😃😃
Bellesdream is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 28 Oct 18, 02:19 PM  
Link to this Post
#4
Bellesdream
Thread Starter
slightly serious Dibber
 
Join Date: May 14
I've just called Disney and the Old Key West availability has gone 😕😕😭 I feel a bit gutted but I can't wait to go to POFQ. We may look to pay for 1 meal OOP.
Bellesdream is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 28 Oct 18, 09:07 PM  
Link to this Post
#5
katnav
Apprentice Imagineer
 
Join Date: Feb 15
Mobile

How exciting. We are also at French quarter Aug 15th-31st next year. Stayed there last year and absolutely loved the resort!
We are going to upgrade to the Disney dining plan from QS as although we don't have a sit down every day we will most days and it saves money overall.

Shame you feel disappointed missing out on OKW but I'm sure you will love FQ.

You have quite a few of the same restaurants on your list as we have ours.
katnav is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 28 Oct 18, 10:33 PM  
Link to this Post
#6
Bellesdream
Thread Starter
slightly serious Dibber
 
Join Date: May 14
Originally Posted by katnav View Post
How exciting. We are also at French quarter Aug 15th-31st next year. Stayed there last year and absolutely loved the resort!
We are going to upgrade to the Disney dining plan from QS as although we don't have a sit down every day we will most days and it saves money overall.

Shame you feel disappointed missing out on OKW but I'm sure you will love FQ.

You have quite a few of the same restaurants on your list as we have ours.
Katnav we might see you there! I think I was a little gutted as I had planned some meals and knowing the experiences.

I did feel that we would miss out if we went to OKW as the QSDP would give us so many options...

Which restaurants are you hoping to eat at?

I now need to think of where to eat for our anniversary.
Bellesdream is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 9 Dec 18, 03:07 PM  
Link to this Post
#7
Bellesdream
Thread Starter
slightly serious Dibber
 
Join Date: May 14
A mini update from me!

Planning has slightly stalled at the moment due to Christmas and still being so far away from flying! I did manage to get the Universal Photo package over Black Friday so we have 5 days worth of photopass and some prints as well all for $59.99 which worked out as £46 so I am really happy.

I have bought clothes for both of the children in preparation (just in bigger sizes!) otherwise I don't think I have done anything else currently.

We have no ADRs to book bar BOG breakfast and lunch hopefully and they don't release until February 19th so it's feeling slightly slow at the moment.
Once Christmas is out of the way we will have Caitlin's birthday and then it will be Easter and the Countdown will be on!


I am constantly looking for options for the Premier Inn at North Terminal and parking - it's currently looking quite expensive - fingers crossed that the sales in January will work and we get a good deal.
We have decided to have a party/picky/picnic dinner on our evening before we fly in our room in the Premier Inn and then breakfast in there which will be £20.50 for the 4 of us - bargain. We will probably purchase meal deals again in the airport for food and I would imagine James will eat that as he didn't really like the main meal last time, we didn't get a second meal/tea as we were indirect last time so it will be interesting to find out what the option is on the flight.


I'm currently trying decide whether we go to Kennedy Space Centre - we would love to but we don't have a car and the costs for one day hire plus tickets or tickets including transport will tip us to about £200+ so i'm not sure whether to go or not... Opinions are welcome!
Bellesdream is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 27 Jan 19, 04:45 PM  
Link to this Post
#8
Bellesdream
Thread Starter
slightly serious Dibber
 
Join Date: May 14
Another Mini Update from me -
I have just booked our Car Hire for 8 days (31st August to 8th September), a standard SUV collecting it from the Disney Car Care centre and then returning it to MCO when we go home.
I've been planning our days using the Touring plans busy day guide, opening hours from the dibb and deciding what we want to do.
We are looking at the following plan - it is park heavy -rest is for the UK! ;-)
Sunday 18th August - Fly to Florida, pool evening
Monday - 19th August - Epcot
Tuesday -20th August - Animal Kingdom
Wednesday 21st August - Hollywood Studios
Thursday 22nd August - Typhoon Lagoon
Friday 23rd August - Magic Kingdom
Saturday 24th August - Blizzard Beach
Sunday 25th August - Animal Kingdom
Monday - 26th August - Blizzard Beach
Tuesday -27th August - Magic Kingdom
Wednesday 28th August - Epcot
Thursday 29th August - Hollywood Studios
Friday 30th August - Typhoon Lagoon
Saturday 31st August - Animal Kingdom
Sunday 1st September - Magic Kingdom - move to Cabana Bay
Monday - 2nd September - Volcano Bay
Tuesday -3rd September - Kennedy Space Centre? not 100% sure when we will plan Kennedy but somewhere in this week
Wednesday 4th September - Islands of Adventure
Thursday 5th September - Universal Studios
Friday 6th September - Islands of Adventure
Saturday 7th September - Volcano Bay
Sunday 8th September - Universal Studios then fly Home.

It's not 100% yet, I am pretty sure it will change a load of times before we go but this is the plan so far.
We fly 202 days so nearly at the under 200 days... ADR day is due soon but we only need to book a Be Our Guest Breakfast and lunch.

I've been going through the days and planning our Fast passes - or the ones that I will be aiming for when fast pass opens.
In some ways it feels like it is ages away but I am sure it won't be long and it will be here. I've joined slimming world again to loose some weight before going, with targets for each half term - when thinking about it like that it sounds so close!
Bellesdream is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 27 Jan 19, 05:03 PM  
Link to this Post
#9
GezzasGem
Imagineer
 
GezzasGem's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 13
Location: West Midlands
Mobile

We are now under the 200 day mark - it is scary how quick it goes! Sounds like a great trip you have planned, I will come and say hi if our paths cross at any point! 😁
GezzasGem is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 21 Feb 19, 08:14 PM  
Link to this Post
#10
Bellesdream
Thread Starter
slightly serious Dibber
 
Join Date: May 14
Originally Posted by GezzasGem View Post
We are now under the 200 day mark - it is scary how quick it goes! Sounds like a great trip you have planned, I will come and say hi if our paths cross at any point! 😁
OOh definitely say Hi! It seems to be going quicker at the moment! slightly scary!
Bellesdream is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 04:06 AM.


Powered by vBulletin - Copyright © 2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
DIBB Savings
AttractionTickets.com

Get £10 off each Disney Ticket with the code ATDIBB10

Get up to £50 off per room at Disney or Universal with the code DIBBHOTELS


theDIBB Blog
Aquatica Orlando announce the grand opening of its newest attraction, Tassie’s Underwater Twist, on 15... Read More »
Starting April 5, 2024, at Walt Disney World Resort, Disneyland Resort and Disneyland Paris, the... Read More »
With spring breezes already gently blowing across Walt Disney World, it is time to welcome... Read More »


theDIBB Menu


Exchange Rates
US Dollar Rates
ASDA  $1.2469
CaxtonFX  $1.2404
Covent Garden FX  $1.2554
FAIRFX  $1.2483
John Lewis  $1.2497
M&S  $1.2288
Sainsburys  $1.2449
TESCO  $1.2464
Travelex  $1.2475
Updated: 03:00 19/03/2024
Euro Rates
ASDA  €1.1455
CaxtonFX  €1.1409
Covent Garden FX  €1.1531
FAIRFX  €1.1448
John Lewis  €1.1470
M&S  €1.1282
Sainsburys  €1.1438
TESCO  €1.1443
Travelex  €1.1450
Updated: 03:00 19/03/2024

DIBB Premium Membership
Did you know you can help support theDIBB with Premium Membership?

Check out this link for more information and benefits, such as...

"No adverts on theDIBB Forums"

Upgrade Now



X