In a Theme Park Far, Far Away - The 2022 Trip!

[Disney_Jess]

Hey all!

I figured I'd start my trip report as a decent place to keep track of my plans, and avoid boring my friend/family to death for the next 5 months haha!

I'll get right to it:

The Cast!

Myself (Jess) and my boyfriend (Tom) will be headed over to the magic! This will be our first holiday together (not counting the March caravan trip where we both caught Covid, and only left the caravan to drive home early).

Jess - 32, and obsessed with Disney. I've done Disney World once with family, 4 times with friends, and had 1 friends trip to Tokyo Disney. I'm an avid planner, and love a good spreadsheet.

Tom - 31, and has never been to Disney before! (Absolute shocker that I'm even in a relationship with him because of this to be honest). Likes Disney, but is really excited for Star Wars land, and all of the snacks.

I don't want to scare him off too much with extreme planning, so I'm trying to keep things a little bit casual, and go with the flow on some days.

The Flight!

I'm very lucky that my aunty had a few hundred thousand spare BA points, so I was able to book our return flights for £150 each. We're flying out on 29th October, and returning on 12th November. We'll be going Manchester > Gatwick > Orlando, and then on the way home, Orlando > Heathrow > Manchester.

Now, you don't typically get the 'perks' of the Gold membership when you're just booking as a guest, but last time I went and booked using her points, we were given the complimentary luggage upgrade, free seat selection etc. I'm saving a little money for our 2nd suitcase fee in the airport on the way home just in case, but hoping we get the free upgrade again! (It's only about a fiver/tenner difference between booking online in advance, so I'm happy to wait and see).

We've booked our seats, and are sitting in the first row of economy (I think they're called the bulkhead seats?) - the ones where skycots are normally set up. I've sat here for a previous trip and found it really comfortable, with the extra legroom really helping.

The Hotel!

After a lot of umming and ahhing (and some sulking from me because Disney hotels were extortionately priced), we've booked the Rosen Inn International - the one in LBV, over the road from the Vineland Outlets. We got a great deal on this on Love Holidays - £731 for 14 nights, bed and breakfast included. We think it was a glitch, as it was cheaper than the 'Room Only' rate, and as Love Holidays let you change your booking for no fee until you depart, I've checked every day, and the rate has been about £400 more expensive every day for bed and breakfast.

We picked this hotel after reading some great feedback on here, and also the fact there are no resort fees, and it's close enough to Uber to Disney for a reasonable price. I also really liked the fact it has a small fridge and microwave, as we're planning on eating the hotel breakfast, lunch at Disney, and then something small in the room for tea.

To Car, or Not to Car?!

We've decided to skip the car altogether this trip - prices were ridiculous, and by the time I factored in petrol, Disney parking costs, and the car hire itself, it worked out cheaper to get multiple Ubers per day. As a side note, there is a brilliant Uber calculator to work out how much on average your taxi will cost - I can't link it, but just google Uber Global Calculator.

We may hire a car for a day or 2, depending on the shopping we want to do (I want to visit Box Lunch, JoAnn Fabric, Bath and Body Works, Michaels etc - so I'm currently working out if it's worth getting multiple Ubers if they're close together, or just renting a small car for the day. Spreadsheet is in the works for that one )

The Tickets!

So far, we've booked 14 day Disney passes, with the standard Memory Maker, and added on Genie Plus. It was about £85 each more to book Genie Plus for all 14 days, so we bit the bullet, and paid in full 2 weeks ago, when we heard about them not being able to purchase in the UK after this week.

It'll definitely be Disney heavy, but we're going to wait and see what my boyfriends bonus (due in September) looks like, before we decide if we book a couple of Universal tickets. We're torn about Universal - Jurassic Park is our favourite movie (and in fact, is the first movie we watched together), and it would be amazing to see that together, but it's a lot of money which could potentially be spent on other things - will keep you updated!

My boyfriend also really wants to do Gatorland (which I love - definitely a good place to spend half a day) - we're waiting for a Klook/Groupon offer for this to come up.

The Reservations!

We're mainly focusing on small snack-type meals, but there are a few things we're definitely booking when our 60 day window is open:

T-Rex Cafe - I absolutely love this place. The food is decent, the dinosaurs are all cool, and the staff have been great every time I've been. I'll probably get myself a Landrys card (if T-Rex is still on for that) to save a little money.

Character meal - we haven't decided which one yet, but I really want my boyfriend to experience one character meal. This is my first trip without DDP, so I think I'd have withdrawal symptoms otherwise! Any suggestions would be great - I've done most of them over the years and I'm still absolutely torn.

Sawa's Lightsaber workshop - my boyfriend is DESPERATE to do this. We've priced it up, and it'll be about $235 dollars including tax, so he'll be doing this alone, and I'll just go along and watch

Oga's Cantina - this looks incredible, and we want to get the 2 x souvenir mugs. This will be $80 total for the 2 drinks.

The Plans!

Plans are very loose at the minute, and I've tentatively reserved some park passes, but nothing set in stone yet. We're definitely doing MK on our first full day, as I'd like to see all the Halloween decorations before they switch over to Christmas. We'll also probably use the Saturday and Sunday to shop, rather than visit the parks (depending on crowds).


So that's it for now! Currently working through my snack must have list, shopping list, and other bits for my intensive planning. I can't WAIT to be back!

[Experiment626]

Isn't it great when you feel you've nabbed a good deal! Sounds like you've done well on the hotel

I would love to see your must-have snack list! That's on my list to start compiling next.
Happy planning KX

[Disney_Jess]

A slight change (the first of many, I'm sure haha):

I've switched our hotel to the Fairfield Inn & Suites Orlando Lake Buena Vista, on South Apopka Vineland Road. It's about £300 more expensive, but comes with free wifi, free breakfast, and no resort fees.

I was stressing out a little about food choices - I do long days normally, so the thought of walking a mile to find places to eat after a park day was not appealing, and neither was booking an Uber every time I wanted to eat.

The Fairfield suites have got Steak and Shake, Giordanos, KFC, Pizza Hut, Olive Garden, Manny's, Dunkin, Teak Neighbourhood Grill, Chillis, Dennis, Ihop and more, all available right next door - the furthest one is about 0.3 miles I think!

Still working on my full snack list, but I've got some time off coming up, so I'll try to lock in our plans then!

[ClaireNJ]

Originally Posted by Disney_Jess

A slight change (the first of many, I'm sure haha):

I've switched our hotel to the Fairfield Inn & Suites Orlando Lake Buena Vista, on South Apopka Vineland Road. It's about £300 more expensive, but comes with free wifi, free breakfast, and no resort fees.

I was stressing out a little about food choices - I do long days normally, so the thought of walking a mile to find places to eat after a park day was not appealing, and neither was booking an Uber every time I wanted to eat.

The Fairfield suites have got Steak and Shake, Giordanos, KFC, Pizza Hut, Olive Garden, Manny's, Dunkin, Teak Neighbourhood Grill, Chillis, Dennis, Ihop and more, all available right next door - the furthest one is about 0.3 miles I think!

Still working on my full snack list, but I've got some time off coming up, so I'll try to lock in our plans then!

See more...

That’s a good list of restaurants nearby, especially Dunkin, Chilis, Olive Garden & Denny’s
Yum yum 😋😋

[Michelle]

Originally Posted by Disney_Jess

A slight change (the first of many, I'm sure haha):

I've switched our hotel to the Fairfield Inn & Suites Orlando Lake Buena Vista, on South Apopka Vineland Road. It's about £300 more expensive, but comes with free wifi, free breakfast, and no resort fees.

I was stressing out a little about food choices - I do long days normally, so the thought of walking a mile to find places to eat after a park day was not appealing, and neither was booking an Uber every time I wanted to eat.

The Fairfield suites have got Steak and Shake, Giordanos, KFC, Pizza Hut, Olive Garden, Manny's, Dunkin, Teak Neighbourhood Grill, Chillis, Dennis, Ihop and more, all available right next door - the furthest one is about 0.3 miles I think!

Still working on my full snack list, but I've got some time off coming up, so I'll try to lock in our plans then!

See more...

Love the name of your trippie

Just to say that if you are thinking of hiring a car for a couple of days the Fairfield Inn does charge for parking.

[Disney_Jess]

Originally Posted by ClaireNJ

That’s a good list of restaurants nearby, especially Dunkin, Chilis, Olive Garden & Denny’s
Yum yum 😋😋

See more...

Do you know, I've never been to an Olive Garden! Definitely looking forwards to trying their breadsticks!

[Disney_Jess]

Originally Posted by Michelle

Love the name of your trippie

Just to say that if you are thinking of hiring a car for a couple of days the Fairfield Inn does charge for parking.

See more...

Ooh, thank you for the heads up! We've actually completely changed our plans again now So won't affect us at the Fairfield, but good to know for future trips!

[Disney_Jess]

UPDATE

And of course, I've completely changed all my plans in the space of 24 hours haha!

Originally, I was very keen on getting a villa - I love being able to come back and really spread out and relax, but with it only being 2 of us, I thought it would be a little out of budget, and I didn't want to pay the crazy car hire prices we've seen over the last year!

HOWEVER - browsing the Dibb yesterday, I spotted that MDV (villa owner on here) had a week available in their Sandy Ridge villa for 4th November - 11th November. Spoke to my boyfriend, switched some bookings round, and we're now looking at:

Oct 29th - Nov 4th - 6 nights in Fairfield Inn & Suites LBV
Nov 4th - Nov 11th - 7 nights in Dibb villa
Nov 11th - 1 night in hotel (tbc - considering a Disney value for £130, as it's Veterans Day and lots of other places are coming in the £100 mark for a budget anyway)

We're also hiring a car! I wanted to collect in LBV/Disney area and return to the airport, rather than have to get an Uber to the airport to collect etc, and Andy from DFCH has got me a brilliant quote! Collect in DS on the 4th, and return to MCO on the 12th, for £335 total!

We were thinking about possibly grabbing a couple of Universal tickets, or a Discovery Cove ticket, but now we've added car hire I think we'll skip this to try and keep us within budget, and instead have some shopping days/do things on I Drive etc on our second week.

Very excited to have the villa to relax in! Also, I wanted to recommend Love Holidays for hotel only bookings - so far, I've amended my stay 4 times, and it's been absolutely free, switching dates, number of nights, and actual hotels. It's also been cheaper than booking.com and booking direct each time I've checked!

[Disney_Jess]

UPDATE

My boyfriends passport has arrived! Normally I wouldn’t book a trip before having this in hand, but he only let me know recently that his dog had chewed the back cover, so we needed a new one.

From submitting the application to getting it through the door was 6 weeks and 1 day (although my uncle got his back on the same day, and his took 6 days - go figure haha!)

Estas have been completed and approved! I’ve also started up my making/customising side business again to get some more Florida spending money (may have to become a Dibb advertiser for my Disney themed bits!)

Estas are a huge weight off my mind now - we’re actually going!

[Disney_Jess]

(Slight) Update!

After 2 x flight changes, I’ve managed to switch us to the direct flights - MAN - MCO! Flying with Aer Lingus, and I’d prefer BA, but I’m conscious that domestic flights will be chopping and changing so much over the coming months, and I don’t want the constant stress of wondering if it’s going to change again.

Our outbound MAN-LGW was cancelled, so we moved the holiday by 1 day, to fly MAN-LHR-MCO. This was fine, but then our return flight was changed - meant an extra 2 hours in Orlando, but then a 5 hour wait in Heathrow, which I was not keen on!

We’re now back to the original dates, flying direct both ways. It means about 90 mins less in Orlando than originally planned on our final day, but I’d much rather have direct flights.

Tomorrow we hit double digits day!