After All This Time? ...Always - August 2015 Pre-trip Report-(Last Update 15/08)

[mrsdjh]

Looking forward to the trip report and very pleased to see you have another trip planned so soon!

Glad you had a great time.

Diane

[xAimeex]

Originally Posted by mrsdjh

Looking forward to the trip report and very pleased to see you have another trip planned so soon!

Glad you had a great time.

Diane

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Thank you! We are really excited to visit Universal again! Will be a bit mad flying that far for 5 nights but we couldn't argue with the price! It's costing less than our flights alone cost in August!

Hope you enjoy reading the trip report

[Legoman]

this is was are first time at HRH , we were luckly enough to get a good price for club level for 4 days which was very nice , i do love disney by it was nice to get out of the "bubble" and have two parks and city walk within walking distance of the hotel. having FOLP is a added bonus

[xAimeex]

Originally Posted by Legoman

this is was are first time at HRH , we were luckly enough to get a good price for club level for 4 days which was very nice , i do love disney by it was nice to get out of the "bubble" and have two parks and city walk within walking distance of the hotel. having FOLP is a added bonus

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Ahh it sounds fab! We can't wait to stay there, we're just in a standard room but the décor looks really nice! Glad you enjoyed your stay there!

[scottishvixen]

Just read your pre trip report and you put me to shame with all your planning. Looking forward to reading the trip report itself and I just love your Wonderland Tea Party!

[Disney_Diva]

I have just spotted your countdown! eekk :-)

xx

[xAimeex]

Originally Posted by scottishvixen

Just read your pre trip report and you put me to shame with all your planning. Looking forward to reading the trip report itself and I just love your Wonderland Tea Party!

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Ahh thank you. Hehe we are a little obsessed with our planning, it's all part of the holiday fun for us! The tea party was so much fun! We are planning a Harry Potter themed tea for our next double digits hehe. Thanks for reading

Originally Posted by Disney_Diva

I have just spotted your countdown! eekk :-)

xx

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I still can't believe we booked it so soon after getting back, oops! We're so excited though and it was such a good bargain that Lauren and I could afford to pay it off with the wages from August that we hadn't used as we were away! Thanks for reading

[minimum77]

Originally Posted by xAimeex

*Update*


Mini Update- My Birthday and New Purchases


Hi guys! Just a mini update this time although there are a few purchases at the end hehe. I celebrated my birthday last week. I turned 5 (+21 ) so I thought I’d show you a couple of my Disney/America themed presents!


Lauren bought me some fab Disney bits!




I love this T-shirt! I wish I looked like Ariel when I woke up! The reality is a little more like the scene in Frozen where they wake Anna up on coronation day! I’ve genuinely had conversations with people first thing in the morning while still half asleep and then had no recollection of it upon waking up properly .





Talking of Anna, Lauren also bought me this super cute cup!




She gave me this fab duvet cover too (I'm such a spoilt big sister)! Tink is one of my favourite Disney characters so I was really pleased with this! You’re never too old for Disney bed covers!





Still with the Disney theme she also gave me a Frozen birthday card!




She wrapped my presents in Bambi and Thumper paper! I didn’t want to rip it!




One of my best friends and fellow dibber Hayley and her OH gave me this amazing box of Reese’s peanut butter products! Yum! Plus some homemade chocolate galaxy cupcakes (no pictures of these as let’s face it I was too busy eating them to think about photos hehe)







Another friend bought me these amazing Cinderella pj’s!




I’ve been very lucky this year to have so many nice holiday themed presents! My parents mostly gave me money which has gone in to my savings to pay off that all important final Disney balance! and I had some dollars and gift cards from other relatives!


Totally unrelated to Disney or the holiday but it seemed wrong to do two updates in a row that don't include food and also you can’t have a birthday without cake! So to meet my food porn quota for this pre-trip report I thought I’d add this VVV




No Disney cake for me this year . For some reason I really fancied chocolate cake plus the family I work for baked me a delicious sponge cake so it was the best of both worlds hehe.


Also no shop bought Disney cake could compare to the amazing Tinkerbell cake my Mum and I had at Narcoosee’s last year!






On Friday I bought myself a couple of extra birthday presents! Please tell me other people do this and buying birthday presents for myself isn’t another sign of the quarter life crisis I’m absolutely definitely experiencing at the moment?! . I say quarter life but I sure as hell hope I’m not still around aged 104! If I am though I hope I'm still skipping up Main St or hobbling at least!


I digress! Vans released their Disney collection on Friday! When I woke up at 5:30, dibber princess_chazy had posted on FB to say that they were now showing on the schuh website! I practically jumped out of bed and logged straight in to my computer to purchase these VVV


Love!


Sadly it will be way too hot to wear them in Florida in August but they’ll get plenty of wear in this country! I really wanted the Ariel ones but so far they haven’t appeared on the website. They have them in store apparently but I haven’t had a chance to pop to our local one yet and from what I hear they’re already sold out in some shops. The Minnie ones cost £52, eek! In all honesty if I hadn’t just received birthday money I might not have bought them as that’s a lot for a pair of shoes but I am totally in love!


So in love that I then parted with a little more birthday cash later in the day when I saw the matching backpack on the Vans website! It was £35 but it’s so cute! I don’t usually like wearing backpacks in the parks but I might have to reconsider for this one!





It’s been a while since I’ve done a shopping update so I thought I’d
add a few of the bits we’ve bought in the last couple of months for the holiday. With the gift cards I received I’ve had quite a few extra bits this week to add to my pile. I love gift cards, total guilt free shopping!




I bought a couple of playsuits from New Look. I like the retro kind of feel to this one so I’m thinking I might wear it to Beaches and Cream (read: I’ve already added it on to my clothes planner for our meal at B&C hehe)






These are both from H&M! The top one was £14.99 and the bottom was £19.99. It concerns me how creased they are already though! The mint green one is my favourite but it’s super short so I’m still undecided on it for the holiday.


Moving on to the Primark stuff! Lauren and I have both bought a pair of these Mickey shorts! We’ll be wearing them on separate days hehe! They were £12 each.




Lauren also bought these Harry Potter pj’s!



They had them in Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff but not Slytherin which was a shame as I really wanted them . They cost £6 if I remember right!


On our recent visit to the Merryhill Primark we also bought a pair of Disney flip flops each! Lauren's favourite princess is Jasmine so she had to have the Aladdin ones! I originally wanted the Anna and Elsa ones but then I spotted the Sleeping Beauty design and changed my mind! I think they were only £2 or 3!








I bought this Minnie Mouse toiletry bag which I think will be really handy!




I also bought this VVV



It’s an Ipad case… I don’t have an Ipad . It has Hogwarts on it though and I know I’ll find a use for it! I’m thinking I could carry our Universal documents in it! Lauren also bought the matching phone case!


My final Primark purchase was this amazing bag for life! It'll be really handy in the airport to carry the inevitable last minute WH Smiths/Boots etc purchases!




Still on the Ariel theme but this time from Asda! I spotted this fab t- shirt for £8! I love a bargain Disney tee!




A couple of months ago I started thinking about a bag for Universal. My Disney park bag is red with white spots so I didn’t think I could get away with using it over on the dark side hehe. I knew I wanted a small bag and eventually came to the conclusion that I should get a bum bag!


Now I’ve not owned a bum bag since I was about 7! They were the sort of thing my parents wore on our first couple of Florida trips in the late 90’s early 00’s! But it does seem they’ve made a bit of a comeback recently so I decided to put aside my bag snobbery and get myself a bum bag.


I spotted one that actually didn’t look too bad on surfdome. It was £25 but I found a voucher code and managed to save £5 which was a result! When it arrived I was surprised how much I actually liked it! It’s really spacious and has a useful pocket on the front that would fit a small camera in! I think I’m a bum bag convert!







Last up is another Hot Topic order. I wasn’t going to buy anymore from there but right after the election the exchange rate rose to 1.55 and then HT had a half price international shipping offer plus 20% off everything weekend. I then found a $10 off voucher code so it would have been rude not too really hehe.




I love this set of earrings! The Ohana ones will match my necklace! They cost around $8.




This is a lot bigger than I was expecting but I think it’s so cute! I love Alice in Wonderland. It cost $10.




Still with the Alice theme, I couldn’t resist these!




A golden snitch necklace! This was around $6.




This Rapunzel t-shirt was such a bargain! It cost $8! It was in the junior section so I bought it in extra large and luckily it fits!



I love this luggage tag! It’ll be great for the outbound journey as we’re arriving at Universal first. I can also use it if my Hogwarts letter ever turns up (it’s 15 years late now!) hehe. It cost $6 if I remember right.




These Little Mermaid shorts were $13. I love them but they’re super short so I better start running now if I want to get my thighs in to them by the summer!


Last up is this Ariel hair bow! I love the dinglehopper!




Phew and that’s it! No more shopping for me now unless I come across the Ariel vans, I might not be able to resist them hehe.


That’s all for now! Hope update hasn’t been too boring! We’re a couple of weeks away from booking our FP+ choices so hopefully the next update will be a little more exciting!


Thanks for reading and happy planning! x

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Hi I love reading your trip report Do you minb me asking about your hot topic order. Did you have to pay customs charges?

[EnchantedRose]

I know I'm late to the party but I can't wait to read your report! I paid more than you for our flights and they aren't even direct... BLADDY HELL!

[xAimeex]

Originally Posted by minimum77

Hi I love reading your trip report Do you minb me asking about your hot topic order. Did you have to pay customs charges?

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Ahh thank you! Yes it varies depending on the amount you order. On average mine have been around £10-12 depending on how much I've spent. However Hot TOpic use Parcel Force for delivery and they charge a £13.50 release/delivery fee no matter how much the order cost so around £25 on average.
They do such lovely Disney and Harry Potter stuff though it's hard to resist! Look out for a half price International shipping event as that makes it a bit cheaper! Thanks for reading

Originally Posted by EnchantedRose

I know I'm late to the party but I can't wait to read your report! I paid more than you for our flights and they aren't even direct... BLADDY HELL!

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Ahh thank you! I hope you enjoy reading! It's due to be finished tonight! School holiday flight prices are shocking aren't they! We were very lucky that someone posted about the good flydrive prices! Thanks for reading