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Old 14 Nov 18, 03:57 PM  
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fiona88
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Join Date: May 17
Location: Newcastle
30 is going to happen anyway, best do it in Vegas - Nov/Dec 2018

After reading so many reports and 2 failed attempts at writing my own (you never know, I might finish them one day) I figured that writing a pre-trippy might encourage me to get on with this one.
So, here we go, welcome to my first ever pre trippy!

Cast:
Myself: Fiona turning 30 on our pre-travel day, not coping well with the idea, chief planner, holder of the keys and passports
Nay: already on the wrong side of 30, not interested in planning, likes sleep and food, destroyer of breakfast buffets, not allowed control of her own passport
Neither of us particularly interested in gambling, but will to give it a go when we’re out there.

The Back-story:
We’ve been together 8.5 years, and in that time I started and finished uni, we have we moved into our house together and are slowly, slowly decorating it (holidays keep getting in the way). We also have a 6 month old puppy counteracting the decorating plans by eating things like walls!



He’ll hopefully be in kennels for the week we’re away, but I haven’t sorted that out yet… oops.

Our previous holidays included a non-stop Orlando trip, my third, Nay’s first. We booked it 90 days out, on a whim, stayed on iDrive, I planned it to death and we did everything we wanted to (apart from Kong, that'll be ride one on our next trip)

When I see reviews saying you can’t do everything, you can try!

Then Salou/PortAventura for my best friend’s hen party, I again planned it to death but fought against my usual behaviour and didn’t do park route planning and let the group decide *AAAAAH*
So, after 2 theme park holidays this is going to be a very different trip


The Bookings:
We started off trying to plan a west coast trip for June 2018, this got pushed back to October due to my friend’s wedding and planning the hen etc. We then discovered the weather wouldn’t be quite what we wanted for Disneyland and Yosemite around then. So, we planned to leave the trip until 2019. Working on a more concrete plan it was becoming difficult to fit everything into 2 weeks, due travel between locations taking up so much of the trip (as well as me refusing any fewer than 4 full days at Disneyland)

Around June this year I found some flights for about £350 for November using HolidayPirates on FB, direct flight to Vegas with Norwegian out of Gatwick.
This way we could do Vegas and the Grand Canyon as one trip using my 30th as an excuse and the rest would happen as another trip, giving us more time in all locations. We’ll look at booking the rest on our return, I do have a few flight alerts set up just in case.

Once we added in seat reservations and one checked back the cost came in at around £400 each.
We ignored the recommendations of booking hard rock or hooters for cheap accommodation as I saw they weren’t ‘on strip’

After much deliberation we booked:
2 nights at the Hilton Tropicana generously donated from a friend’s Hilton points balance
2 nights at Maswick lodge south £90p/n
3 nights at Bally’s £19 p/n + resort fee of about £34p/n

A free night with breakfast at the Jurys Inn Croydon from Nay’s points would begin our stay, so just train tickets and car hire to go. I’ve never stayed in a hotel the night before a holiday, maybe it’ll reduce my usual mad panic.
As you can probably guess this is a bit of a budget trip, so we’ve been hitting myVegas and will be checking out groupon etc.


The Plan:
So, most of our list is food based, we didn’t hit many non-theme-park food locations in Orlando, so:
Dennys
iHop
In n Out Burger
Hooters (we did visit this in Orlando, but the wings are calling us back)
Hells Kitchen
A Buffet of some sort
Cheesecake Factory
El Tovar Restaurant
milkshakes on route 66



Non-Food:
The Void VR experience
Cirque du Soleil – not sure which
NYNY Rollercoaster (because I can’t have a holiday without a rollercoaster of some kind)
Freemont street
Zip Line (probably at the above)
Hike part of a trail at the Canyon
Helicopter over the Canyon
Antelope canyon or similar slot canyon (recommendations post pending)
Horseshoe Bend

These will fit in around arriving Thursday around 3pm, then leaving Vegas on Saturday morning, driving to the Grand Canyon Village via hoover dam, then heading to Page on Monday for a slot canyon/horseshoe bend and on to Bally’s late Monday evening, good job I don’t mind driving.


Oh, and on top of the planning, I’m currently sporting a lovely moon-boot for 2-3 weeks due to soft tissue damage (so glad it wasn’t a break), so for the next few weeks I’m praying that heals up nicely.
I’ve also been told to wear it for the airport/plane. Injuries like this are a bit of a trend for me, once had to visit A&E and wear a recovery sandal on a hen party in Liverpool!

My plan is to try and complete some of this report while Nay is asleep in the mornings, in Florida I used this time to prep the bags for the day but as that’ll be less of an issue, I might have some spare time.

2 weeks until panic day!
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2022 Orlando Twice in 6 Months, Magic 2021, California 2019, DLP Cheyenne 2019, 30 in Las Vegas/Grand Canyon 2018, PortAventura 2018, Orlando 98, 99, 17, 22 - iDrive

Edited at 04:05 PM.
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Old 14 Nov 18, 04:38 PM  
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snowbelle
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Join Date: May 10
Good pre trippie
We are here in Vegas at the moment having driven over from Phoenix via the Grand Canyon.
It’s unseasonably cold at the moment it was -9 the other morning with brilliant sunshine at the canyon .

If you drive to the visitor centre and head for Mather point look out first , you will get your first uninterrupted view of the canyon it’s amazing.

Also pick up snacks way before you start entering canyon lands as they are eye wateringly expensive otherwise.
Check out Hackberry general store on Route 66 if you want to get to the canyon along that road , it’s really quiet and a great drive off the interstate.

We have also done the Red rock canyon scenic drive just out of Vegas which is beautiful.
Take the blue diamond road route as it’s quicker & you pass plenty of eating stops along the way .

We were last in Vegas in 2007 and it seemed a lot quieter last night on the strip but we went earlier just to have a wander.

Edited at 04:39 PM.
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Old 22 Nov 18, 12:19 PM  
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fiona88
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Excited about Disney
 
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Join Date: May 17
Location: Newcastle
Oh dear me, I was expecting cold but not that cold, thermals shall be packed.
Thank you for the tips, we were thinking about hitting red rock canyon too if there's time on the penultimate day
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2022 Orlando Twice in 6 Months, Magic 2021, California 2019, DLP Cheyenne 2019, 30 in Las Vegas/Grand Canyon 2018, PortAventura 2018, Orlando 98, 99, 17, 22 - iDrive
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