Jordi & Lisa in Return of the Lost Appetite - Sept 2014

[AdventurerJordi]

Originally Posted by CurlySue

i missed out on pizza hut heard good things about Giordanos Pizza, thats a defo for me next time, and funnel cake

food and wine festival was awesome though

See more...

Well Pizza Hut was right outside our hotel so was too convenient to pass up!

Yeah we didn't get Giordano's but we've planned that as our arrival meal haha

[AdventurerJordi]

Parks Plan

Okay so we'll start with a quick overview of what we got up to on our trip last year!

During our trip to Orlando last year, we managed to visit...

Seaworld
Discovery Cove
Aquatica

Wet & Wild

Magic Kingdom
Epcot
Hollywood Studios
Animal Kingdom

Islands of Adventure
Universal Studios

Which was enough to fill our two weeks in Florida. This year however we're going to try and squeeze even more in! Now that we're experienced Orlando experts
Lisa's been hard at work devising a holiday master plan, and organising where we'll be visiting each day.

So, without further ado, here's a list of the parks we'll be exploring this year!

Seaworld

You all know it, you all love it, unless you've had your Seaworld experience tarnished by the documentary Blackfish. We've deliberately avoided this film as we really enjoy Seaworld and the work they do.
Last year we took part in the Wild Arctic Up Close experience which was great. We got to meet and touch a Harper Seal, Beluga Whale and Garfield the Walrus! We haven't got any experiences booked this year but we're hoping to take part in the Dolphin feed!

Aquatica

We made a brief trip to Aquatica last year for a few hours and if we have some spare time we'll be heading back for another visit this year. It was good fun but realistically we aren't too fussed as to whether we go or not.

Discovery Cove

We had an amazing day at DC last year but due to the costs, we had thought that we wouldn't able to, however after deciding not to book another Seaworld experience, we had some spare cash. Oops! Looks like we're going back to DC! There's no way I could have spent two weeks in Orlando without stuffing my face and swimming with the rays!
We aren't doing the Dolphin swim this year, as amazing as it was, we'd prefer to save the money.

Typhoon Lagoon & Blizzard Beach

We didn't visit either of the two Disney water parks last year. Just because we weren't that bothered about it really! However we sorta regretted it once we'd got home! So this year we're pretty keen to visit them both! I love water parks and so I'm really excited to visit these and can't wait to have a go on Summit Plummet!

Disney Parks

Let's be honest, a trip to Orlando wouldn't be complete without visiting Walt Disney World. After falling in love with it last year (as it was my first trip to a Disney park ever! ) we can't wait to get back to the most magical place on Earth! We'll be visiting all the Disney parks again this year, particularly MK and Epcot as the Food and Wine Festival will be on whilst we're there. Oh the food and drink! Isn't it wonderful. I'm getting excited just writing about it

Busch Gardens

We chose not to go to Busch Gardens last year but now that we have our own hire car this year, we've decided to make the little road trip. It's only an hour and thirty minutes ish drive so should be an exciting trip to Tampa for us! Looking forward to getting on all the crazy rides they have there, including the insane Falcon's Fury that should be done by the time we go

Universal Studios & Islands of Adventure

Annddddd finally! Universal Studios! We're staying at the Hard Rock Hotel for three nights this year and so will be taking full advantage of the free FOLPs you get as part of your stay at a Universal hotel. We had a blast at both Universal parks last year, and with the Harry Potter expansion looming overhead, we're even more excited for this year's visit! Diagon Alley looks like it's going to be so great and hopefully some of the huge crowds will have died down a wee bit! Not to mention all the delightful edible treats on offer


So there we have it. That went on way longer than I had first planned so if you're still reading then well done you!

Next Chapter

Bookings & ADRs

[CurlySue]

Your Plans sound wicked

We didnt manage Busch Gardens or the disney waterparks either, but they are defo on my list too

I didnt rate seaworld that much but im gonna give it another try

Looking forward to more

[*Lauren-J*]

Sounds AMAZING! Fab choice of hotels and yes I agree it's all about the food!

[AdventurerJordi]

Thanks guys!
I'm a total animal/nature nerd so Seaworld was an amazing day for me! Any excuse to get up close to some amazing creatures!

[AdventurerJordi]

Bookings & ADRs Part One

These are just some of the bookings and ADRs that we've made so far! Woo!


Bookings

Travel Insurance
Not the most exciting of things to start with my hey everyone needs it! We've chosen Elephant for our travel insurance and went with their premier policy that includes a single trip for the both of us. Yawn, no one really cares too much about insurance so moving swiftly on!

Insurance - £63.34

Photoconnect
Again, not the most interesting booking but hey! We've got ourselves the three day photoconnect pass for our time at Universal Studios. We got this pass last year and it was so easy to use and I like being able to just download the photos when I like! Would recommend this to anyone visiting Universal.

Photoconnect - £31

Tomorrowland Terrace Wishes Dessert Party
We luckily managed to stumble across a free date and time for the dessert party that was almost exactly what we were looking for! So we quickly snapped it up before it went. We opted not to do the dessert party last year but this year we'll be looking forward to gorging on desserts in front of Wishes! And the Tomorrowland Terrace is a great vantage point to get some amazing photos of the castle all lit up!

Our booking is for Sept 24th at 7pm!

Dessert Party - £34

Busch Gardens Serengeti Safari
We've booked up to join in the Serengeti Safari during our day at Busch Gardens. We get to interact up close with a variety of different animals and even get to hand feed some such as the giraffes!

Our date for this booking is Sept 12th at 12pm

Serengeti Safari - £25

Next Chapter

Part Two

[AdventurerJordi]

Bookings and ADRs Part Two


ADRs

As the title of this pre-trip suggests, there wasn't a whole lotta dining last time we visited Orlando! Therefore it comes as no surprise that we had absolutely NO ADRs last year! Poor show I know However, we've been on the ball with our bookings and have managed to secure a few good ADR's, including the illustrious Be Our Guest! Woohoo!

Splitsville Luxury Lanes
Sept 13th - 18:15

We decided to ease ourselves into Disney dining with a trip to Splitsville for some good ol' fashioned burgers, shakes and bowling! Doesn't get more Americana than that! On top of that they also serve up some damn fine looking sushi too.

House of Blues
Sept 18th - 19:30

As lovers of the Deep South, a trip to House of Blues was definitely on the cards! They offer some delicious looking home cookin'! A mixture of BBQ and cocktails is always a winner in my eyes.
We've managed to get hold of a voucher from restaurant that entitles us $50 off when we spend $100 or more which is an awesome deal!

Sci-Fi Dine-In
Sept 19th - 11:45

Sci-Fi Dine-In is our one and only lunchtime ADR. We chose Sci-Fi because of the great seating in the 50's style car seats and the classic Americana menu! We walked past it during our visit last year and regretted not booking up!

Trail's End
Sept 20th - 18:30

As we're staying in Wilderness Lodge, it made perfect sense to carry the cabin/lodge theme and book a table at Trail's End. They offer a dinner buffet full of delicious items like fried chicken, ribs, potatos and more! What more could you want?

Yachtsman Steakhouse
Sept 22nd - 19:35

It's no secret that both Lisa and I are full on red blooded carnivores. We love us some meat! So a trip to Yachtsman Steakhouse sounded like the sorta place we could satisfy those meaty cravings!

Be Our Guest
Sept 24th - 16:30

So surely everyone knows about BOG! It's on the 'must visit' list of many Dibbers I'm sure! We luckily managed to secure ourselves an ADR for here. It's a little earlier than we would have wanted it but hey, when you get offered a time for the day you want, you don't argue with it!

So! There we have it. Our ADRs for our stay in Disney. Hope you enjoyed reading, and maybe we'll see some of you there if you have a similar booking to us!

Next Chapter

Itinerary

[AdventurerJordi]

Quick update for y'all! We've booked ourselves up for the MNSSHP on Sept 23rd. Overall the two tickets came to around £80 which ain't so bad Looking forward to this! Might even dress up haha!

[princessjilly]

Great ADRs. We also are doing HOB, BOG and yachstman.

[lauz]

Hi there, your plans sound great, especially the wilderness lodge part, would love to stay there! We fly out a day later than you! Will keep my eyes peeled and say hello if i spot you, though in reality it will probably be unlikely!