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30 Oct 22, 06:50 AM |
#1
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VIP Dibber
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Once, Twice, Three Times A Doodad: Orlando 2022 - Pre-trippie
Welcome to our trip report! For those who haven’t read my trippies before, I’m Gill...
I'm married to Peter... and this will be our third visit to WDW. You can read about our two previous trips here: Gill and Peter H's Orlando trippies as well as many visits to Disneyland Paris... Gill H & Peter H DLP trippies - Ensemble! plus a couple of Disney cruises and other holidays. Gill and Peter H's trip reports - general First of all, a little background info, and an introduction to a holiday that has changed shape more often than the Genie! After 27 years of life in London, we moved to South Wales to take care of my parents, back in January 2020. Of course, we couldn’t know at the time that the world was about to go completely bonkers due to a little thing called covid. While we were unpacking our removal crates, we were also planning our much-anticipated visit to Japan, which was booked for November 2020. As things turned out of course, that wasn’t possible, so we postponed it to November 2021. And just as an emergency backup, we eventually booked ourselves a very small holiday to Walt Disney World. It was going to be just for a week, probably offsite, and on a very tight budget, in January 2022. As the months rolled on and Japan showed no signs of reopening to the outside world, we eventually cancelled our holiday, and decided to look again at our WDW booking. Slowly it grew to a 10 day trip, and then two weeks. Instead of offsite we went for Pop Century. And the idea of a day or two at Universal snuck back in, eventually resulting in us booking a night at Sapphire Falls.
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DLP: many offsite and onsite trips
WDW: Port Orleans Riverside Dec 10; SSR Nov 14, POFQ Nov 2022 DCL cruises: 2 so farOther parks: Tokyo |
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30 Oct 22, 06:56 AM |
#2
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Thread Starter
VIP Dibber
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Then life threw us another curve ball. You may remember that at one point, the US authorities were requiring visitors to take covid tests before they flew home from the US, as well as before they entered the country. We decided we simply couldn’t take the risk of having to isolate in Orlando for 10 days at the end of our trip. Apart from needing to get home to my parents and our lovely cat Cookie...
it would be difficult to take more time off work. And even if our insurance would cover everything, the thought of being stuck in a hotel room for 10 days was not appealing. So reluctantly we postponed our January trip to November 2022 instead. (We don’t do heat, so it had to be winter!) Unfortunately this meant we missed out on the 50th anniversary UK offer, as there were no rooms left in the right categories. So we decided what the heck, and changed from Pop Century to Port Orleans French Quarter. And our booking at Sapphire Falls became a night at Royal Pacific Resort, since we do enjoy the free Express passes. Through all this, our Travel Counsellor Helen had been an absolute star. Never too busy to come up with more options and do all the complicated sorting out. We can’t say enough good things about her and the amazing service she provides. Our flights were booked with BA from Heathrow, and had been transferred to the new dates. But then we had a little unexpected money, and decided that we would upgrade our seats. Helen came up trumps again, advising that Premium with Virgin was coming out considerably cheaper than World Traveller Plus with Heathrow for our dates. And not only that, but the outgoing flight was much earlier, and the home flight much later, giving us more time in Orlando. That’s a win in my book. So now the only thing left to arrange was all the peripheral stuff. We booked a train to London for the day before the flight, and a room at the Premier Inn Terminal 4. This was on the basis that we would be able to walk to Terminal 4 and get a shuttle to Terminal 3, at a fraction of the cost of a hotel nearer T3. Then a few weeks ago, along came the announcement of the latest train strike dates, one of which – wouldn’t you know it – was the day we had planned to travel to London. So we looked at alternative options. Travelling the day before would involve an extra night in a hotel, and wasn’t ideal due to work and other factors. Going by coach was possible, but we’d need a taxi to the nearest pick up point, and the cost of this plus two single fares was around £160. Eventually we contacted our friendly local taxi driver to enquire about an airport transfer. He offered to take us from our home in South Wales to our hotel in Heathrow for £200, so of course we jumped at the chance. The strike also gave us some concerns about our ability to get from T4 to T3 by shuttle the following morning. Our flight is 8am and we are advised to be there for 5am, and we know that transport doesn’t get back to normal very quickly after a strike day. So we cancelled the Premier Inn, and have now booked into the Hilton Garden Inn Terminal 2/3, which enables us to walk to T3. Yes, it’s more expensive, but one less thing to worry about. In a final twist of fate, the train strike day has now changed, but it’s too late now as we’ve cancelled the train, and frankly I don’t care, we’re not making any more changes! So that is the torturous story of this trip – phew! Well done for reading this far. But why the title? What the heck is a Doodad? Well, if you have read our first two Orlando trippies, you will know that we have done Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party on each of them. Twice last time, in fact. And this time we’re doing one on our final night in Orlando. But much as we love the party, we find the title difficult to say, and always end up calling it “Mickey’s Very … Christmas … Doodad” or eventually just “Doodad”. So our first trippie was called “Mickey’s Very Christmas Doodad” and the second one, celebrating the arrival of magic bands, was “Return to Doodad: The Bands of Power”. And for our third title, we’ve drawn inspiration from the old Commodores song. Sing it with me now… “You’re once, twice, three times a Doodad, and we love you!” And so I leave you for now, hoping for no further changes, at least until we land in Florida! See ya real soon, and may all your Doodads be merry and bright. >>Pre-travel Day INDEX
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DLP: many offsite and onsite trips
WDW: Port Orleans Riverside Dec 10; SSR Nov 14, POFQ Nov 2022 DCL cruises: 2 so farOther parks: Tokyo Edited at 01:02 PM. |
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30 Oct 22, 08:43 AM |
#3
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VIP Dibber
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Love reading your trip reports and so pleased you’re finally able to return even though you’ve had to make a lot of changes.
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30 Oct 22, 12:04 PM |
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Imagineer
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Gill, I’m so glad that you and Peter are finally getting to go back.
Have any amazing time! 😁
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All my trip reports in one place! |
30 Oct 22, 12:16 PM |
#5
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VIP Dibber
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Fabulous! We may see you around the parks x
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Katebush95 Glenbrook Villa April 2009 Highgrove Villa July 2011 New York New York April 2017 Back to the magic take two! November 2022 Pre-Trip report |
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31 Oct 22, 07:01 PM |
#6
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VIP Dibber
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Crikey, look at your countdown! I hope you have an amazing time and I can't wait to read all about your adventures.
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Abby New pre trip report - Summer 2024 Link to all my completed trip reports 2017: NYC and Orlando. Salzburg. Boston. 2018: Orlando. Berlin. 2019: DLP. Orlando. Washington DC. 2020: DLP. 2021: Jamaica. Rome. 2022: Orlando. 2023: Orlando. Niagara and Toronto. |
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31 Oct 22, 08:43 PM |
#7
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Imagineer
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I'm looking forward to reading your trip report. As for the changes - they're what makes it more exciting! I'm a big fan of them myself - always something needing booking & researching. Have a wonderful trip.
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31 Oct 22, 11:11 PM |
#8
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VIP Dibber
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We did the same! Every time it was cancelled, I added something else on
HGI is a really nice hotel, the restaurant is nice too and not badly priced for an airport hotel (no booking needed). The walk to T3 is helped by a few moving walkways and is easy to do. Have a beignet or 2 for me at FQ!
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DISNEY HOLS: WDW - Y&BC x 8, AKL x 2, POFQ x 1, villas x 5, GF x 1, Dolphin x 2 DLP - Sequoia x 4, Newport Bay x 1, Cheyenne x 5, Santa Fe x1 DCL Magic, DCL Wish BOOKED - Beach Club Villas Sept '24, Disney Treasure Sept '25 TRIP REPORT INDEX www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=835984 Edited at 11:13 PM. |
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3 Nov 22, 08:36 AM |
#9
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VIP Dibber
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Hope you have a great trip not long to go now, we used Helen at TC too
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All of Team Bricki's Trip and Food Reports 2019- Our Super Secret Wedding and Honeymoon In Disney World 2022- Brett's 40th Celebrations In Orlando 2023- Lisbon and Sorrento 2024- Athens and Italy Tour 2025- Seville INSTAGRAM teambricki_yorkshire_foodies |
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3 Nov 22, 08:50 PM |
#10
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Imagineer
Join Date: Mar 04
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Have a fantastic time you two
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