The "It's All About Disney" October 2013 Pre-Trip Report

[Guest]

Following constant badgering from my DW, and as we’re nearly at 150 days out, I think it’s probably about time that I made a start on a pre-trippie for our return to the magic in October 2013. This will be our second family trip to Orlando – some of you may have read my trip report from our extended family visit in November 2012 (a link is here should you be so inclined!). Before I start waffling, perhaps I should introduce the cast for October 2013 …

Well, errrm, there’s me, Terry. I turned 34 earlier this year and the number of “aren’t you starting to look like your dad” comments have been noticeably on the increase. Worrying times! My favourite memories from our first trip are spending the day at Discovery Cove, seeing my DD’s face meeting the princesses at Cinderella’s Royal Table on her 5th Birthday and spending a few lovely, warm evenings sipping a Bud Light or two while the kids splashed about in the pool.



I’m looking forward to more of this … !



One slight ‘fly in the ointment’ for this trip is that I’m currently 3 months into a “minimum 6 months rehabilitation period” following an ankle injury I sustained playing 7-a-side football back in February. Here are some shots to illustrate (I’m still in the boot!) – please feel free to quickly skip past!







Initially everyone thought the ankle was broken, but an x-ray found no fracture. Eventually an MRI showed significant ligament damage but, more problematic, swelling inside the bone, where it had gone to break but hadn’t actually fractured. I didn’t even know you could get swelling in the bone! Anyway, it’s very painful and I haven’t been out of the house much! The “minimum” 6 months takes us to around mid-August, leaving 2 months to build some strength back up in my (now super skinny) leg before hitting the theme parks! We were actually debating moving the holiday at one point, but only half-heartedly, and so it’s fingers and (skinny) toes crossed for the next few months.

Anyway, back on topic, next up is my wife of almost 10 years, Nicola, also 34. Our 10 year anniversary takes place just over 3 weeks before we fly and has influenced our plans for this trip, but more of that later. Nicola really loved Discovery Cove and Magic Kingdom in particular, plus the WWoHP at Islands of Adventure. I suspect she also has fond memories of consuming a fair number of cocktails and is looking forward to sampling one or two more when we return!



Nicola is doing really well on a pre-Florida diet, and has lost over a stone and a half since our first trip (sorry, I gave up after about an hour and a half of trying to find a photo unaccompanied by an alcoholic beverage)!



To start with, Nicola was very sympathetic to my ankle problems, even though it meant I couldn’t help around the house that much, especially in the early days. However, the sympathy has long since dissipated and more than once I have overheard her telling someone that “if they don’t fix it soon, I want them to chop it off”. That’s true love for you. I can’t sleep at night for visions of Nicola morphing into Kathy Bates.



Then we have Alex, our little future football star who’s growing up wayyyyyyy too fast – he’ll turn 9 in the summer holidays. Out of all of us, he took the longest to adjust to the time difference, heat, etc. on our first trip, leading to a few grumpy moments in the first week, but ultimately he had a great holiday, didn’t want to come home and always talks of the holiday with fond memories. Alex’s favourite memory is our day at Discovery Cove (you may be, rightly, sensing that we were all pretty enamoured with the place, which is interesting as we’re not going back on this trip but, again, more of that later!).



Finally, we have Isabel (Izzy), our beautiful little 5 year old daughter. Izzy doesn’t turn 6 until a week or so after we come back, so no Disney Birthdays this time around. Izzy’s favourite moment from our last trip came on her Birthday when she spotted some deer grazing whilst we were waiting for a bus to pick us up from the Wilderness Lodge as it was the Birthday wish she’d made at our CRT breakfast (she is animal-obsessed, with a particular fondness for Bambi!). We weren’t even staying at the WL, it just so happened to be the quickest route home from Magic Kingdom to Downtown Disney at the time according to one of the CMs at the MK bus stop. Although I’m sure we would’ve loved the trip regardless, the permanent smile etched on Izzy’s face throughout the entire fortnight really made the holiday very special for us, and was a real driving force in wanting to go back while the kids are still young enough to enjoy Disney in particular. Readers of my previous trippie may notice that Izzy has lost a tooth!



Continued below …

[Guest]

Continued from above …

What will be Different about Our October 2013 Trip?

Last time around we stayed at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort with Nanny Lyn (Nicola’s mum), Grandad Chris (Nicola’s step-dad), Ellie (Nicola’s niece) and Lisa (Ellie’s mum). We had an amazing time together, and loved SSR, but for this trip it’s just the 4 of us. So, straightaway there’s going to be a big change from our last trip. As last time was also the first time that the kids had ever been on an aeroplane, it’ll also be the first time we’ll have travelled outside of the UK as a family of 4.

Secondly, having had an absolute ball (but feeling a little tired at the end of it!) in doing the Disney parks, Universal Studios, IoA, Discovery Cove, Seaworld, Aquatica and Busch Gardens, last time around, this time around we’ll only have Disney tickets. The intention is to do more of what we loved at Disney last time, plus some of the things that we just didn’t have the time to experience, like Fantasmic for instance, whilst having a little more ‘chill out’ time back at the hotel pool. We had always fully intended to tweak the ‘Disney only’ ethos for this trip and go back to Discovery Cove for the day, but we’ve since had other ideas which I’ll go into soon!

Last time around we stayed at SSR for the first week, then moved to the Fairfield Inn & Suites at Seaworld for 4 nights, and finally onto the Hard Rock Hotel at Universal for the final 3 nights. This was all very deliberate as none of us wanted to drive, and so we based ourselves around the parks that we were visiting at the time, making use of the Disney transportation, Seaworld hotel shuttles and our legs! I see lots of posts about driving/not driving on The Dibb, and I can see the arguments on both sides. For us, we didn’t find the bus/shuttle system a hassle at all and were happy to be able to have a drink or two without any worries. This time around we’re staying at the Wilderness Lodge for the full two weeks. It was essentially a toss up between WL and Animal Kingdom Lodge and Izzy’s Birthday experience with the deer at WL was the deciding factor. Knowing my luck we won’t see so much as a squirrel on this trip, but I’ll have my fingers crossed! I’ve heard lots of positive reviews of the hotel on The Dibb, and we’re very much looking forward to catching the boat over to MK.



The reason for not returning to Discovery Cove on this trip is that we’ve booked ourselves a 3 night cruise on the Disney Dream, as a 10th anniversary present to each other. We’re reeeeeeeeally excited about this, although it was a difficult decision not to go back to DC. Weighing up the (not insubstantial!) cost of the cruise versus the (not insubstantial!) cost of a return to DC, given that Izzy will still be 3 weeks or so shy of being old enough to swim with the dolphins, we just couldn’t justify a return this time around. Whilst we definitely won’t be returning in 2014 (there are only so many kidneys you can sell), there are already murmurings of another trip in May 2015, before Alex goes up to Secondary school later that year. We’ll have to save DC for that trip if it happens along with, hopefully, a return to Universal and IoA to see the next phase of the WWoHP.

The final difference between our November 2012 and October 2013 trips is that Alex and Izzy have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA! No countdown calendars this time around. I’m not entirely sure how we’ve managed to keep it secret, as we’re always catching ourselves talking about it and immediately zipping our lips. Izzy is usually off in her own world pretending to be a deer or a baby cheetah, but I’m surprised Alex hasn’t found us out yet. He has a-m-a-z-i-n-g hearing – he can’t walk past one of those sonic alarm things that people put in their gardens to try and put cats off from doing their business there without holding his hands to his ears in pain. Apparently only a small percentage of humans can hear the noise, Alex being one of them. It’s quite amusing; he thinks it’s his super-power. Anyway, I’m sure he doesn’t know as he certainly couldn’t keep it to himself.

The plan is to pick the kids up from school as normal on Friday 18th October, hand them an envelope with some sort of Mickey-related invitation and then a taxi will pick us up 30 minutes later to head to Gatwick where we’re already booked in to the new(ish) Premier Inn at the North Terminal (I didn’t particularly fancy any of the South Terminal hotels). We loved having the kids involved in the planning of our first trip, but can’t wait to see the look on their faces when they realise what’s going on.

So, that’s a summary of what we’ll be doing on this trip. How about a bit more detail … ?

Flights and Accommodation

All booked through Virgin Holidays, just like our 2012 trip. As I mentioned in the highs and lows in my 2012 trippie, we were able to get VH to knock off around £2K to price match a quote from Travel City Direct. Still super duper expensive though, £6,400. October half term hasn’t helped, but we didn’t want to take the kids out of school for any longer than a week on this trip. The package is for economy flights with VA Saturday 19th October 2013, returning Saturday 2nd November 2013. Two weeks at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge with a woods view room, 14 day Disney Ultimate tickets, Disney Dining Plan and $200 Disney Dollars.

Earlier in May I tried to book the V-Room at Gatwick but was informed by VH that it’s already fully booked. I was quite surprised (and a little disappointed) as we still had over 5 months to go. I’d always planned to book, but just hadn’t made it a priority. Hey ho, apparently I’ve been added to a waiting list, but I’m not holding my breath.

Cruise

The cruise is only for 3 nights and I’m under no illusions that it’ll go by quicker than Alex running past our cat-hating neighbour’s front lawn, but Nicola and I cannot wait for this part of the holiday. Neither of us has ever cruised before, so it’ll be a completely new experience all round. We like having dinner with the kids so there’ll be no attempts at a Palo or Remy reservation, we’ll be sticking with the 3 restaurants on rotation. Despite recommendations not to bother on such a short trip, we’ve got a balcony room (category 4C if memory serves me right) – it was only a hundred quid or so more, so I thought why not?

I made the booking with a US travel company, on the recommendation of The Dibb, Dreams Unlimited. Whilst I’ll reserve full judgement until after the event, I can say that they’ve been really helpful so far. I also booked a transfer from Wilderness Lodge to the port with them. The cruise and transfers were around £1.6K in total (*Terry starts coming over a little faint at this point*).

The cruise starts on the Thursday in our first week, returning Sunday 27th October, so we’ll still have 6 nights in Orlando when we get back. Hopefully it’ll break up our visits to the theme parks nicely. Our plans may change, but at the moment we’re not intending to get off the boat at Nassau (which is the first port of call out of Port Canaveral), so we’ll have a full day on the boat and then a day at Castaway Cay, before heading back.



The cruise, and in particular Castaway Cay, will be ‘interesting’ as, anyone who read my previous trippie may recall, I have a real phobia about open water. That was one of the reasons why I loved DC so much, as I could never imagine snorkelling in the ocean. I’m really hoping that I can at least have a little swim about at Castaway Cay, but I couldn’t even bring myself to go in past my ankles on our honeymoon in Barbados, so we’ll see. (I know what you’re thinking – wuss!) I’m not going to fret about it, if I can’t bring myself to get in the water, Nicola and the kids will happily swim in the ocean and I’ll happily sit on the beach watching them with a beer or two!

At the moment we’re also planning on keeping the cruise a secret from the kids until the day our shuttle arrives to pick us up. My only slight worry is that Alex is probably going to be disappointed that we’re not going back to DC, but hopefully that’ll be quickly forgotten in the excitement of going on a Disney cruise.

Dining

We loved having a week of DDP on our last trip. The only real downside for us was that as Disney was our first week, it was also when the kids felt most tired, still adjusting to the time difference and their exertions around the parks. Our kids aren’t the greatest of eaters at the best of times, and the combination meant that dinners for the first few days generally resulted in one or both of them falling asleep at the table! As we have two weeks of DDP this time around, we’re hoping that the kids will be a bit more alert and that mealtimes will be more enjoyable as we both love our food! We’re also planning on eating a little earlier than last time.

We’ve booked a fair few ADRs. Here’s the full list …

Breakfast at Crystal Palace
Breakfast at Tusker House
Breakfast at Cinderella’s Royal Table
Breakfast at Chef Mickey’s
Breakfast and dinner at Kona Café!
Dinner at Sanaa
Dinner at Yachtsman Steakhouse
Dinner at Artist Point
Dinner at Les Chefs de France
Dinner at Citricos
Dinner at Ohana
Dinner at Jiko
Dinner at Narcoossee’s

Just putting that list down in writing has added an extra love handle to my growing collection. At least I’ll be able to do a great truffle shuffle.



Amazingly, I was able to book everything online, unlike our first trip where we ended up having to phone (not that it was a real hassle). We’ve booked quite a few signatures for this trip – based on the fact that our solitary signature restaurant last time, Narcoossee’s, was our stand-out favourite. As we’re paying for our room at the WL for the full two weeks but will be disappearing on the cruise for 3 nights, we had quite a few dining credits to make use of (I realise paying for 3 nights accommodation at the WL and not being there makes no financial sense whatsoever, but that’s just how the trip’s evolved). The breakfasts will all be paid for OOP. I think I probably stated in my last trippie that we enjoyed our breakfast at CRT but wouldn’t spend the money doing it again. I did stick to that line of thought when I started booking the ADRs at 180 days out, however I am a soft touch at heart and the thought of Izzy’s face when she discovered we weren’t going to be eating in the castle made me think again and I was able to get an 8.05am reservation without any problems (around 170 days out).

You might spot that there’s no ADR for Be Our Guest – neither of us are that taken with the dinner menu and so as much as we’d like to see inside, we decided not to try for an ADR. Instead we’re going to attempt a lunch slot on one of our Magic Kingdom days, depending on how big the queue looks.

If I get lucky enough, I’ll probably try and change our Yachtsman ADR for the newly refurbed California Grill, but it’s not the end of the world if I can’t. I’m sure I won’t be the only Dibber looking out for it!

Anything Else?

We’re planning on visiting Typhoon Lagoon on this trip, as this was closed for our first trip. We probably won’t bother returning to Blizzard Beach as we weren’t quite as enamoured with waterparks as we’d expected to be, with zero “chill out” time involved with two under 10’s! Added to that, Izzy’s “near death” experience (possibly a slight exaggeration) on one of the family raft rides at Aquatica has really put Nicola off and so a visit to TL is really just to say we’ve been.

Before I forget I also wanted to mention that, following a post on The Dibb to say it had become available, earlier in May I used VH’s revamped ‘manage my booking’ system to pay off a fair chunk (£2K) of the balance. A day or so later I had a call from VH to say that they were sorry but there had been a technical glitch and the payment had been taken twice! The lady on the phone was very apologetic, explaining that they’d refunded the amount straightaway. As it transpired, because it happened over the early May Bank Holiday weekend, the money actually came out of my account and went back in all on the same day, so it wasn’t really a big deal. A week or so later, a courier knocked at the door with an apology letter from VH, along with a couple of bottles of wine!



I know that they were at fault, but I thought it was a nice touch, and I hadn’t expected anything. I left it all out for Nicola to see when she came home from work and I don’t think she’d even made it to the second paragraph before the white wine bottle was empty.

There’s still a few things I’ve got to sort out, a replacement ESTA for me (my passport expired this year), although the other 3 are still covered from last time; the Disney Photopass+ is also on the list to be pre-ordered; the taxi to and from the airport needs booking (that’s Nicola’s one and only job); plus we’ll want to request our seats with Virgin Atlantic, later in July. Spending money also needs to be sorted – I’m actively monitoring the dollar rate most days with a general look of mild horror. I’m sure there’ll be more holiday clothes to buy too, although hopefully a lot of last year’s purchases will still fit the kids (doubtful, I know, but that’s the Scrooge McDuck in me).

Anyway, I sincerely apologise for the inane babble – I’ll try to keep any further updates to a minimum level of waffle. Thanks for reading!

Updates

- Plans for week 1, part 1
- Plans for week 1, part 2
- Plans for week 2, part 1
- Plans for week 2, part 2
- Airport taxi booking (please don't pass out with excitement)!
- Dollars sorted and pre-holiday shopping!
- A prelude to the reveal!
- Outbound seat request and a slight alteration to the plans
- Inbound seat request
- Disney cruise online checkin (and yet another ADR!)
- Summer holiday fun and a fresh itinerary
- Magic bands and Fastpass+
- Holiday clothes!

[cupcakefairy]

Great pre trip hope the ankle is healing well! and bonus on the free wine! We are looking to do the cruise next time around probably honeymoon time so be nice to hear your thoughts

Happy planning xx

[Redrach1903]

Yay! So glad you are doing a trippy! Your plans sound great x

[PenguinPatter]

Love it the kids are going to be so excited

[RachF]

Sounds fab, will keep any eye out for you all!

[TheSaltsinNZ]

Great pre-trip! I hope your ankle heals well. I ruptured my ACL a couple of months before a holiday in Orlando. Putting ice on my knee after the long days around the parks helped a lot!

[Guest]

Originally Posted by cupcakefairy

Great pre trip hope the ankle is healing well! and bonus on the free wine! We are looking to do the cruise next time around probably honeymoon time so be nice to hear your thoughts

Happy planning xx

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Thank you We have high hopes for the cruise. Will be nice to do something completely different. Will try and take lots of pics to share.

Originally Posted by Redrach1903

Yay! So glad you are doing a trippy! Your plans sound great x

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Thanks Rachael. I'm loving your trippie, can't wait for the next instalment (hint hint)!

Originally Posted by PenguinPatter

Love it the kids are going to be so excited

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Thanks! I really hope so. We've nearly relented once or twice to just come clean, but I think it'll make it extra special. Can't wait to see their faces.

Originally Posted by RachF

Sounds fab, will keep any eye out for you all!

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Fingers crossed for nice weather and and low crowds, eh? We loved early November, so hopefully October will be just as good.

Originally Posted by TheSaltsinNZ

Great pre-trip! I hope your ankle heals well. I ruptured my ACL a couple of months before a holiday in Orlando. Putting ice on my knee after the long days around the parks helped a lot!

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Thanks for reading, and for the tip. If all else fails, Alex owes me a few piggy backs.

[Ladleboy]

I'm looking forward to this bad boy...

Shaun

[Shifu]

See you there!..you fly out from Gatwick the day before us.

Suprised the VRoom was full . I booked ours last June the same time as the holiday so maybe more have done that for this year.

I look forward to reading about your trip. May even do one ourselves this year :0)