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Old 19 Aug 18, 01:40 AM  
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pinkstargirl
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All Change Please! Nov 2019 Pre Trip (Solo) UPDATED 04/08/19

So once again I find myself planning for a Florida trip. Some things don’t change - I’m still going solo and I’ll still be flying into MCO! But nearly everything else... well, read on and you’ll see why I’m calling this trip the ‘All Change Please!’ trip!

A quick bit about me - I’m Heidi, 33, but will be 34 when I travel. This will be my 8th trip to Florida and my 5th one solo. I’m very happy in my own company so solo trips never worry me. I am a massive Stitch fan, and my favourite Disney movies are Beauty and the Beast and Lilo & Stitch.


Universal, May 2018

So, you may be wondering, what will be so different about this trip than any of your previous solo trips? Well, I shall enlighten you!

Upon arrival at MCO I will not be making my way to wait in a massive line for a hire car. I will be heading for the Magical Express. Which can only mean one thing - I’m staying on site for the first time ever! (I have stayed on site in DLP once last year, and will be staying on site again next month, but never in Florida.)

I have booked a 2 week stay at All Star Sports for November 2019, with a 14 day Disney ticket included, and my room booking came with free breakfast, which I have upgraded to the QSDP. Originally, my plan was to book a week on site, still with the 14 day ticket and QSDP upgrade, and then use the Magical Express back to MCO and hire a car for the second week, staying somewhere else. But I did my sums and 2 weeks onsite only came up around £150 more expensive. To me, not having to faff about packing all my stuff and moving is worth that £150. If it’s still offered, I will take the gift card instead of mousekeeping, which will be used for the couple of table service meals I want to have.

I will not have a car for most of the trip, so will be relying on Disney transportation. I’ve used it on a few occasions before, and hopefully I don't get too frustrated with it! I am still looking into hiring a car for 2 days around the middle of the holiday for trips to Walmart, outlets, and malls. If I don’t buy a couple of pairs of Skechers every trip then have I even been to America?!? I found a couple of decent prices to hire a car from the Car Care Center for 2 days, if for some reason these are not available then I will look to my other option which is Uber/Lyft. But I feel like there will be more freedom with a car, so I may even get that booked soon!

So, I’m currently 442 days out from travel. There is not much else I can do at this early stage. I can’t book flights until December, I will stay overnight at a hotel at Gatwick the night before (Premier Inn most likely as I'm hoping to fly with VA from Gatwick) but that can’t be booked until a year out either. I’ve never had this long a countdown before as usually I’m very impulsive with my trips! My biggest thing right now is saving to pay for it all. My balance to Disney is due in September 2019, so I have 12 months to save. (Hence the being restrained near Primark!) I also have a 5 day DLP trip next month to finance, the hotel and tickets are paid for, but I don’t think I’ll be coming home with too many souvenirs!

I’m still looking into the details of the QSDP, and ADR/Fastpass dates are confusing me, but otherwise I am very excited to get back to WDW! It will have been 3.5 years between visits by the time I go next year. I’ve not seen Pandora, or Toy Story Land. I’m hoping everything I know and love is still operating - Illuminations, I’m looking at you!

Next time I update, I’ll hopefully have my stuff together and have a list of things to work through!

Edited at 11:30 PM.
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Old 27 Sep 18, 10:15 PM  
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Just a small update at the moment now that my DLP trip is out of the way! I thoroughly enjoyed my Paris Adventures and only spent £150 from my Florida savings which I’m amazed at! I was very restrained on the souvenirs, but I did reward myself for the races I took part in by buying the medium sized Stitch! He’s now with the rest of my Stitches on my bed...



Anyway, back to Florida 2019! I’m now at just over 400 days to go, I still can’t book my flights or airport hotel! I’m hoping to have enough miles to fly Premium again, that was an experience I enjoyed when I went to LA in 2016.

I have booked car hire though. 2 days as planned through Discount Florida Car Hire - I’ve booked a convertible... why not treat myself when it wasn’t that much more than an economy car?!? I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a Mustang!

That’s all there is for this update, I probably won’t be back until the end of the year when hopefully I will have booked my flights!
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Old 20 Jan 19, 02:17 AM  
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Another update now I am officially going this year!

My flights are booked. I'm flying out of Gatwick on 4/11 at 09:40, landing into MCO at 14:15. I'm flying PE and am currently deciding whether I will choose the bubble or not. I fly home on 18/11 at 17:05 (not happy about this time but it's the only flight on that day) and I'm in Economy as VA didn't have any PE available. I've been told by a rep to keep an eye on the flight and if any PE becomes available then I can upgrade for 10k miles and the cost of the tax difference. I'm keeping my fingers crossed! I also don't know if they would switch me to a later flight should they release one, it is something I'm also keeping an eye on.

As the flight home is so early and I will be catching the ME at lunchtime, I will probably plan to visit a park on my first night rather than on my last morning. Even if I just have a couple of FP booked and then leave again.

I booked the Premier Inn opposite the North Terminal for the night before, along with the meal deal that they offer. I go to the cargo area at LGW once or twice a month for my job and every time I see the PI I get all excited as I know that is where my holiday will start!

I'm still deciding if I want to get the National Express coach from LHR to Gatwick, or if I want to drive to Gatwick and park there. I've done both before and can cope with the drive home. I don't live too far away from LHR so it's around an hour drive.

And that's everything that's been booked since I last updated, I'm now awaiting park hours being released, and my ADR day in May. I won't be booking many as I'm on the QSDP, but I'm thinking a breakfast and lunch at BOG, a breakfast on my first morning and probably Teppan Edo as I love it. I'm planning to take the gift card in exchange for no housekeeping, so that will cover the TS meals.

A couple of other things I am considering at the moment are the Keys To The Kingdom tour and maybe MMVCP, but we'll see.

(Oh, and I'm also saving for another DLP trip in September. Whoops.)
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Old 20 Jan 19, 09:56 AM  
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I'm just back from my second solo trip. The bubble is fab but likely to disappear at the end of the year as they are getting new planes
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Old 4 Aug 19, 11:29 PM  
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Another update!

WDW received a large chunk of my hard-earned cash on Thursday as I paid my balance off!

I've been checking PE availability sporadically since booking at the start of the year. I'd managed to get PE flying out, but the only reward seats on the way back were in Economy. Not ideal, if I had to have one of each I'd have preferred PE coming back for the extra luggage allowance. So as I said, every so often I've been checking, with no joy. I looked a couple of weeks back and there they were! I was immediately on the phone to Virgin and getting it checked, and then booked! So I'm now flying PE both ways which I'm looking forward to. When I went to choose my seat, there was only one available, so it seems that I got incredibly lucky.

I've booked a handful of ADRs. I'm only on the QSDP and I don't want to spend loads on table service meals. I booked my traditional first-day Disney buffet breakfast, although not at The Wave this time, I'm trying out Trail's End. I've also booked Teppan Edo as I always enjoy it, and two meals at Be Our Guest (QSDP yay!) - one breakfast and one lunch.

I'm in the beginnings of rough planning now. My FP day is coming up in a month and I want to have an idea of where I want to be. Since the new Hagrid ride opened at Universal I'm also considering getting a 1 day, 2 park ticket so I can ride that and other favourites!

I think the only thing left to book is car parking at LGW, and I have yet to decide (and I know I need to be fairly quick!) if I want to go to one of the first MVMCP, I've never been to one of the parties!

That's it for now but I will update again soon!
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Old 6 May 20, 06:53 PM  
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We stayed at the PI North Terminal, great hotel for the price. Look forward to reading more about your trip.
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