August 2018 Dixonsontour does Universal Intro

[dixonsontour]

Trip report Intro

Who we are

Me Stephanie - 43, Dibber and lover of food reports. I enjoy all the parks, eating out and shopping.

DH - 44. He is with us but prefers no photos on social media. He is our driver in Florida, i'm not brave enough. He is now self employed so some days he stayed at hotel and worked for part of the day. Enjoys buying electronic gagets.

DD Anna - 12. Anna was born without her left hand but it doesn't stop her. She had just finished year 7 when we went.

Previous Trips

We have been to USA and Florida too many times to count. I think we are around 30 trips. We first went to Florida as boyfriend and girlfriend in July 2007. Anna has been to Florida 13 times.

Because we go a lot we tend to do Universal or Disney parks not both in same holiday.

We used to always go in October as Anna got 2 weeks off in primary school. Perfect time to go.

Since starting at Grammar school she unfortunately only gets one week

We tried late August for the first time last year. I did a food but not a trip report. We flew into Miami for the first time as BA flights were under £300 each for school holiday dates.

Basically when we got back from that holiday in September 2017 I saw the same BA cheap flights into Miami for August 2018.

Who we booked with

So I booked 3 flights MAN to MIA return and a full size SUV car with Avis. As this was a package booked with British Airways only £300 deposit was payable with balance due July 2018.

I then saw the Aventura Hotel onsite at Universal was due to open August 2018 and they were doing a deal with $100 free food and drink credit for early bookings. I called BA and added the hotel to the fly drive.

Total cost with BA was £1967 (3 flights at £313 each, Full size SUV with insurance and 9 nights at Aventura hotel)

Tickets

We had Universal 3 park 14 day UK tickets for our 2017 holiday. We upgraded these on our 2017 holiday to the 2 park Universal seasonal annual pass. This only cost $5 plus tax each. Absolute bargain as it covered us for most of the 2018 holiday. Saved around £750 on buying new tickets.

The annual pass runs from the first day you use the 14 day uk tickets not the day you upgrade. Annual pass lasts for a year and a day so annual pass got us access until Wednesday 22nd August. This gave us 5 days at Universal which was fine for us this time.

DD and I went to MNSSHP on 24th aswell. Think this was $80 each booked online on the disney website. DH didn't as he has been several times to MNSSHP and wasn't bothered.

We also visited Disney Springs and Seaworld (Seaworld entry included in cost of meal at Sharks Underwater Grill as it was Magical Dining Month)

Food

We have a car and love eating offsite. I aim for $100 a day food budget for the 3 of us which we stuck to this year for all food and drinks

Link to my Food review for this holiday

https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho... php?t=1098982



Parking


$14 a night at Aventura Hotel. We didn't pay for parking at the parks, just got the hotel bus or boat from Sapphire falls to the parks. DH dropped us off at TTC for MNSSHP. Seaworld parking was free with the magical dining deal.



Thanks for reading hope people find it useful

　

　

[collybird]

What a bargain flying into Miami, that may be something we have to consider for the future.

[Mightyfraz]

thanks for sharing, looking forward to reading it :-)

[dixonsontour]

Originally Posted by collybird

What a bargain flying into Miami, that may be something we have to consider for the future.

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It was a big saving. If we had been there for for longer I think we would have stayed in Miami area then travelled up as it is a long drive on the first evening.

Originally Posted by Mightyfraz

thanks for sharing, looking forward to reading it :-)

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Thank you

[Excitedx4]

Ready to start reading 😁

[dixonsontour]

Originally Posted by Excitedx4

Ready to start reading 😁

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Thank you