Ben and Libby's Adventure to Neverland! October 2011

[NatsyNoo]

Libby, as you know I read and loved your DLRP trippie and I'm sure I will love this one! Was waiting for it to pop up! You sound on top of things, can't wait to hear more baout your plans. I'm very excited for you! Being able to book is the best feeling...we just booked our cruise and flights, just waiting for accommodation
We are the same age I think so I deffo can join you as an ex-Babysitter's Club fan!

[oh_darling]

Originally Posted by zeebee

ooooh, just saw that you had posted this! so glad that someone else my age gets so excited about disney!

I am so bad that everytime I see the when does the magic begin adverts I get really excited and smile like an insane idiot!

are you going to the 4th of July (on the 3rd) meet?

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Hi Zoe! Hehe yep we're pretty cool getting so excited about Disney, I think I'm more excited this time than when I went when I was younger! That new advert is amazing, I tear up whenever I see it

We might be going to the meet, have to see about work and stuff yet but hopefully! Be so great to meet everyone!

Originally Posted by sarahrox

Only just caught up with this pre trippie and i'm ing it !
Cant wait to read more, and well done on holding out for those flights

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Aww glad you're loving it! I'm loving writing it Thank you, I think we made the right decision and it paid off

Originally Posted by TORIMS

Hi Libby
Great pre-trippie! I get just as excited as you and I am 38 - lol! Am sure you are going to have the most amazing time. The first time me and the DH went it was just the two of us and it was our best holiday ever! We get to take our DS for his 6th birthday this year so get to see it through the eyes if a child this time - can't wait!
Look forward to reading more!
Vicki x

PS: just noticed you are in Hedge End - we are just down the road from you in Fareham!

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Ooooohh a local, how exciting! Are you going to the South Dibb meet on the 3rd of July? I hope I still get this excited when I'm 38, it's looking pretty likely It'll be so amazing for you to see everything through your sons eyes, hope it's as amazing as your first time

[oh_darling]

Originally Posted by Ntink

Hey just wanted to say thanks for the great pre trippie so far!

I am relatively new to the dibb so have been making my way through the pre and post trip reports, so far im caught up on sarah woods, Dozy and Chaffey all of which have given me some great tips! They are brill!

I can really related towhat you were saying about childhood memories most of mine are of Disney (my happy place) and I too remember Sweet valley high! Seem to have the theme tune stuck in my head now!

Am looking forward to sharing your journey over the up coming months!

P.s how do you search for flights using codeshare is there a certain website? this sounds right up my street!

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Hi Ntink! Glad you're enjoying the pre-trippies, in my humble opinion it's the best section on the Dibb Ahhh the Sweet Valley High theme tune, what a classic! "Sweet Valleyyyy HIIGHHHHH! " Stunning. Did you read the books too? I was a massive fan, think I must have read every one!

I've been thinking and I can't remember how I stumbled upon the codeshare flights, I know that Continental codeshare with Virgin and BA codeshare with American Airlines so maybe if you start by looking at those two websites? So if the flight is going at exactly the same time as the BA or Virgin one and it says "Operated by BA/Virgin" you can be pretty sure it's the same flight Try Kayak for flights as well, I found it really useful to get a weekly flight check emailed to me (as well as obsessively checking the site every day of course )

Originally Posted by MissVincent

great pre trippie so far... looking forward to reading more!

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Hello! Thank youuuu, lots more to come I'm afraid!

Originally Posted by Bobsledwheels

Hey hey! Great pre-trippie so far - and i LOVE your hair! Its awesome!

I think you got a great price on your holiday, and good job holding out for those flights at the prices you want. I got way too over excited and booked it all together with Virgin on my payday without waiting and I am now sure if i did it in parts i could get it cheaper... its booked though and thats what matters!

Great news RE the grad job! Some of my friends that have just graduated have been really struggling so its fab news that you found something! I work with graphic designers all day (i work in marketing) and they all love their jobs

Looking forward to keeping up with your pre trip!

Di xx

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Hi Di! Aww thankyou for the nice hair comment I completely understand how you got too excited and booked it all on payday, soooooooo easy to get carried away isn't it But it is a gamble and the cost could have gone up and it probably has, so I agree that having it all booked is the best possible feeling and all the stress is now over. Thanks for the job congrats, a lot of my friends are also struggling so I do feel really fortunate, I just spent every day searching the minute I got home from uni and I applied for anything and everything and it paid off Graphic design is super fun, I love it! Thanks for reading

Originally Posted by NatsyNoo

Libby, as you know I read and loved your DLRP trippie and I'm sure I will love this one! Was waiting for it to pop up! You sound on top of things, can't wait to hear more baout your plans. I'm very excited for you! Being able to book is the best feeling...we just booked our cruise and flights, just waiting for accommodation
We are the same age I think so I deffo can join you as an ex-Babysitter's Club fan!

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Hi Natalie I do indeed recall your kind words on my DLP trippie, I thoroughly enjoyed yours also! Thats fab that you just booked your flights and CRUISE omg, I'm a bit jealous! I quite selfishly almost wish your wedding was this year so I could read the trippie sooner but I'm sure the time will fly by!

Babysitters Club was such an awesome series of books the movie was on Sky the other day so I obviously watched it... can't say it was a winner though, I was quite disappointed Best to stick to my memories I think!

[oh_darling]

Thank you everyone for your kind comments, glad you're enjoying it!

Just writing up the saga that was choosing our International Drive hotel...

[Guest]

libby, glad to see you have started your pre-trippie!

i am really enjoying it, knew it would be a good one!

i really enjoy reading pre-trippies or trippies from other couples, as you know we are another october couple in florida, so it is great to be able to compare notes and get excited together!

[oh_darling]

The Second Accommodation Bit

Okay so, we had flights, we were definitely going! But we only had 6 nights accommodation booked We would have been perfectly happy just sleeping on the side of the road as long as we were in Orlando but we thought it would probably be best to try and find some additional accommodation. So, after Christmas was all over with, I started looking for hotels on International Drive.

We had a few things that we were looking for in a hotel. Ideally, we didn’t want to spend more about £200/250 each for 9 nights. We could quite easily have spent a lot less and stayed in a basic hotel but we decided to budget for something a bit nicer. We wanted somewhere in a good location n I-Drive, where busses/taxi’s to and from places wouldn’t be too much or confusing. We were also quite keen to have a complimentary breakfast included, to save a bit of money and also the ease of being able to eat in the hotel before we went out. A continental breakfast was fine, but a cooked one was better I had also stumbled upon the concept of “studio” rooms; slightly bigger rooms with a separate dining/living area. Obviously there is only two of us but we loved the idea of being able to watch tv while the other is napping/still asleep and also able to have a little fridge etc to keep snacks/juice in. FLORIDIAN JUICE! Ben absolutely loves orange juice and I've told him that juice in America is dirt cheap and comes in massive bottles and is GOOOOOOOD!

So with all these things in mind, I (obviously) began a spreadsheet! And, for your viewing pleasure (if only to laugh at my obsessiveness) here is said spreadsheet:



As you can see, I looked at mainly suite rooms. Some were as high as £400 each for 9 nights while some where as low as £130. I also included some other factors like if they had free breakfast, a nice pool, any other things worth noting (one had a 42 inch plasma screen! ) I also checked out the Dibb, any threads about suite rooms were immediately read.

One that kept coming up was the Homewood Suites. They are I think number 11 on TripAdvisor ( I think the Universal Studios one is Number one! ) had fab reviews, an I-Trolley stop right outside, free hot breakfast, nice pool. AND most importantly, an evening “Welcome Home Managers Reception” where you get complimentary wine, beer and snacks Mon-Thurs! As our I-drive week wasn’t going to be as busy as our Disney week, we were planning lots of nights out and a free beer or two while we were getting ready would go down a treat! I fear we’re going to come across as alcoholics on this pre-trippie but honestly we aren’t, we are just ex-students who like a drink or 10



Tragically though, Homewood was coming in way over our budget, £378 each for 9 nights to be precise. By the way, I’d been doing all this sad spreadsheeting on my own up to this point, just filling Banjo in on the deets when I saw him, until one Sunday we were chilling and I showed him a few websites of different hotels. Well, one look at Homewood and he declared it the best hotel he’d ever seen (mainly due to the rumoured compliemtary beer ) and after seeing it’s TripAdvisor reviews he said we had to book it! So I went on the Dibb for advice on how to find it cheaper and someone mentioned TravelRepublic. I typed in our dates and lo and behold, it was showing as £236 each for 9 nights! ARGHHHHHHHHHH

After a few seconds hesitation we booked it! Such an amazing price I couldn’t believe it. Double and triple checked that we’d get a suite room and a hot breakfast as it didn’t mention it on our invoice. Turned to the Dibb and got a few replies from people saying they’d booked it through TR and they got both a suite and the cooked breakfast. Awesome! So it’s booked on Ben’s credit card and as we both had the money, we paid it off immediately ☺ So two huge things paid off, our flights and half our accommodation. As before, I thought I’d include some photos of Homewood Suites to show people who may not have seen it before how AWESOME it looks!

[NatsyNoo]

Great update, hotel/suite looks fab, I hear great things about Homewood. I've never stayed offsite but would definitely consider this as an option! Booked tickets with Travel Republic in 2009 and they were great so hope they are the same for you with accommodation!

[sarahewoods]

Wow, i have to agree Homewood suites looks fantastic, and for such a bargain too. You must be thrilled. Btw, I love your spreadsheet.
Looking forward to more, have a great weekend xx

[Helen0705]

Hi Libby ,

Just caught up with your pre-trippie and have really enjoyed reading it !
Well done on getting your flights and accommodation at great prices.
We're there in October too so will look forward to reading more and getting excited with you !

Hel x

[oh_darling]

Originally Posted by NatsyNoo

Great update, hotel/suite looks fab, I hear great things about Homewood. I've never stayed offsite but would definitely consider this as an option! Booked tickets with Travel Republic in 2009 and they were great so hope they are the same for you with accommodation!

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Eeek yep hoping they'll be okay, they seem a well established company so I'm not too worried I'm seriously so excited about Homewood, just seems like a genuinely nice hotel who will help you out with anything and it's always nice to have that piece of mind