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Old 1 Dec 20, 01:45 PM  
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Elsa42
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"Giving up is for rookies" - The bigger and better trip September 2021 UPDATE 12/12/20

Hi everyone

It’s time to try again. I thought I’d start a new Pre Trip Report. I thought starting again would save confusion and help me keep track of the planning. We were meant to be going in September 2020 but due to COVID it just wasn't a possibility. I know people aren't planning again for 2021 as it's not known where we will be however if you can't plan and dream of a Disney holiday whats the point aye.

For those of you who haven't read my previous trip reports heres a little about us. I'm (Chloe) I’m 26 years of age but will be 27 on our next trip. I’m a qualified veterinary nurse and love all things Disney. My favourite park is Animal Kingdom and always will be! I love the atmosphere there. Im not a big thrill seeker however will try certain rides if Ryan can persuade me to go on them. I love cruising and a Disney holiday without a Disney Cruise just seems wrong. A little shameless plug to my previous Trip reports here

After 12 years away 2015

If you can dream it you can do it - 2017

Onto my partner in crime. Ryan 26 but will be 27 when we go! The last trip was his first but he enjoyed it greatly. His favourite ride in Disney is Fight of passage which surprised me as he's a big thrill seeker. He does love the hulk though! He also found a new love for Monsters Inc University while watching it on the Disney Dream. He likes the Pirates of the Caribbean theme tune/ride and will put up meeting characters with me.. although I think he secretly enjoys it.



September 2018 was Ryan’s first trip! I wasn't sure how he would enjoy it but he seemed to get into it straight away and we had a fabulous time! We started off staying at Universal for the first few days and experienced Volcano Bay for the first time which was fabulous and we cant wait to get back there. Following on from there was a 3 night Disney cruise again which Ryan loved! The food was great and we ended up doing the castaway cay 5k (I’ve never ran in my life but managed to complete it in 39 mins so not too bad) We then went to Disney for the last part of the holiday staying at the Boardwalk Inn! We were upgraded to a boardwalk view <3 we had an amazing time and I cant wait to go back. We did the 5 parks challenge and it was a great day! We completed it and ended up doing a lot of headliner rides such as Slinky dog dash, Everest, Navi river, Rock and roller coaster and Test track.




Im not sure where this trip will go. I’m trying not to plan too much however I want to feel positive that the trip is going ahead. We said at the start of this year that if we couldn't go to Disney 2020 we would go in 2021 and make it bigger and better!

We’ve just brought our first house together so I'm not sure how much the funds will allow us to go “bigger and better” but we will see. I hope you will stick around for the adventure and fingers crossed for all us crazy people planning a trip in 2021.


See you real soon

Edited at 01:55 PM.
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Old 4 Dec 20, 11:48 AM  
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Cruise and Flights

It’s finally time to start planning again. I know I know maybe too soon BUT I’ve had a wave of positivity and therefore I'm ready to start planning again. It may not be completely what we expected but even if we can go back to the magic I’ll be happy.

We had a cruise booked for 2020 which of course we cancelled. Disney’s Cruise Line isn't currently running and its expected to not start running until at least March 2021. We know its a long shot but you never know what will happen between now and then so for now… we are going on the Disney Dream.



SO what happened with our cruise. Well the final balance was due in May 2020 and we just knew we weren't going to be doing to Disney this year. I rang disney and explained there's no way we would be able to come and could we change the booking to next year. I'd read that concierge is non refundable and non changeable so hoping this would be ok. It was absolutely fine, the cruise was changed to next year free of charge around the same dates and we even got to pick a better room! Sorted.

Lets go back slightly to how the cruise came about. This holiday we wanted to make sure we didn't just repeat the same things as 2018 just because we enjoyed them so much so we decided to try and build a slightly different holiday. We started to price up between the 3 night and 4 night Bahamian cruises with a balcony as we both enjoy being able to go out morning and evening and look at where we are. We were trying to decided what to do when Ryan hit me with something completely different. The words that came out of his mouth next shocked me “We should go Concierge” I actually thought he was joking. Turns out he wasn’t. I check and rechecked the prices and what extra’s were included before we decided we were doing it!

We have done a lot of research into whats included with Concierge. We know some people will think its wasted money however we were really keen to try and not sure this will be a possibility in the future so we thought grab the chance while we can.

A list of the perks we can find are as follows:

-Before embarking we can book activities sooner than other guests
We can embark the ship any time we want so we are hoping to get there as soon as embarkation opens and be some of the first on the ship. Normally we use the disney transportation which gets you there around 1/1:30pm so we are hoping we can now make the most of this day.
-Once on board your taken by one of the Concierge hosts, who takes you to Concierge Lounge to give you drinks (champagne!), food, and a folder containing a personalised itinerary listing our activities for the duration of the cruise.
-Fridge in the room stock with water and drinks
-You can also order any food from the restaurants that evening to your stateroom through room service.
-Extra Wifi
-Provided with robes and slippers in our room
-Upgraded bath products
-Access to the private concierge lounge (free cocktails) and sun deck
-Pillow Talk Program: Guests of our Concierge Suites may choose from pillow options including hypoallergenic, feather and therapeutic memory foam.

Its booked for the middle of our holiday so we get some park time followed by some rest and relaxation before getting back to the madness for more park time.


I’m really hoping the cruise start running again. All we can do is keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best.

Onto Flights. I received a text from my friend on black Friday to ask if we had checked flight prices. To be honest I hadn't even thought about it. I mentioned it to Ryan and he said if we find a good price to book it. I briefly looked but decided to wait until the following day.

Onto the following day where I sat on the laptop all day researching. Trying different voucher codes and looking between prices. Ideally I wanted a similar price to what we got for 2020.

British Airways had a Black Friday deal with 20% off BUT you couldn't add car hire onto the package which we need. I looked at car hire separately and it worked out a good price. I then looked at British Airways with the car hire and flights and it worked out around £70 more than this year so we were pretty happy.

Virgin was a no go at £880 for both of us without car hire. We decided to take the flights with the 20% off and sort car hire out at a later date. That was until be found out that you had to pay the full amount when only booking flights. If you book flights and car hire you can pay a deposit. Which for now with the current situation works better for us.

We decided to just go for it and book both the flights and the car hire. We were looking at which car to get, previously we had booked the Ford Escape however this was coming out more expensive so we went for the Ford Explorer. Which looks huge and we are super excited. We received a discount for booking together and 7 days for the price of 5 on the car hire. We also got to pay the minimum deposit rather than the whole price.



So we have Direct flights from Gatwick to Orlando MCO September 2021 in economy seats, flying back economy to Gatwick Direct flights with a Ford Explorer for the whole trip for £610 per person. I’m really happy with this price. Its only slight more than we had planned this year and we now know its booked. I’m also wondering in the new year as more people want/allowed to travel prices may increase.



The deposit was £150 each and final payment isn't until August 2021 so we have plenty of time to see whats going to happen and whether our plans come together.

Thats it for now, look forward to updating soon!
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Old 4 Dec 20, 08:19 PM  
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tootsie rolls
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Hi are you flying on the 11th sept by any chance ,we have the same countdown , great pre trip 😁
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Old 4 Dec 20, 09:35 PM  
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Oooh this sounds great. It's exciting having something to look forward to! I would love to do a Disney Cruise one day. Looking forward to reading more
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Old 5 Dec 20, 12:52 PM  
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Originally Posted by tootsie rolls View Post
Hi are you flying on the 11th sept by any chance ,we have the same countdown , great pre trip 😁
We are! Have you got the same flights?

Thank you, hopefully we can get ourselves out there. I have everything crossed.
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Old 5 Dec 20, 12:54 PM  
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Originally Posted by smithlane View Post
Oooh this sounds great. It's exciting having something to look forward to! I would love to do a Disney Cruise one day. Looking forward to reading more
It really is! Its hard to get too excited when we've just cancelled one trip but we just felt it was worth a shot!

We love the cruises, they are so magical. We are hoping they will be up and running soon but you just never know. We have everything crossed. Thank you for reading
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Old 5 Dec 20, 01:41 PM  
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Originally Posted by Elsa42 View Post
We are! Have you got the same flights?

Thank you, hopefully we can get ourselves out there. I have everything crossed.
Me too we cancelled April , moved to sept feeling a lot more positive , we are on the morning flight from Gatwick , your cruise looks amazing 😁
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Old 9 Dec 20, 08:51 AM  
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You’ll get there just before us! We picked the afternoon flight just got price really 🙈 I normally always get the morning flight so your there and can go to the park but we are taking a different approach this time 🙊
We can’t wait, I’m so hoping they start running I really do love being on the dream 🥰
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Old 12 Dec 20, 12:34 PM  
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Originally Posted by Elsa42 View Post
You’ll get there just before us! We picked the afternoon flight just got price really 🙈 I normally always get the morning flight so your there and can go to the park but we are taking a different approach this time 🙊
We can’t wait, I’m so hoping they start running I really do love being on the dream 🥰
I do prefer the morning flight , but as long as we can go next year I really wouldn’t mind 😁
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Old 12 Dec 20, 01:48 PM  
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We do prefer the morning flight as well. I like being able to get there and start our holiday as quickly as possible. We are like you though as long as we can go we dont mind!
Have you done a pre trip report?
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