We are the Millers. One last super duper budget trip!

[abiknox]

Hello, Hello! Welcome to another trip report...

Cast..

Me – Abi
Hubby Aaron

Both 30 years old, both America obsessed. We love the weather, the food, the shopping & the theme parks! This will be my 8th visit to Florida & Aaron's 7th. Keen!

Yep, here I am back with another PT report. We have the shortest countdown we have ever had or will ever have so I have to move quickly!

Even though I ended my last trip report only 4 days ago claiming that we wouldn't be having any major holidays in the foreseeable future, we are now booked up to leave the UK on the 28th of this month for a 14 night super duper budget trip to Orlando! The title of the trip is probably obvious to a lot of you, we have a slight (read major) obsession with Millers Ale House and we will likely visit at least 4 times this trip. It’s also a seriously budget trip that we only have 2 months to save for!

It all started like this... we are currently trying to move house, we offered on our dream place in December, had our offer accepted & sold ours within a week. And that's as far as we had got when we packed our bags & set off to Florida on February 28th this year, yes just over a month ago! Basically, our sellers were finding it very hard to find their dream property & although they had made offers on a couple of places, neither of them had been accepted.

Whilst we were in Florida, we were having an absolute ball, moaning about how we didn't have any other trips booked (not like us at all) and joking that if the house move didn't progress before May we might try and come back for a sneaky week, having already got out Universal AP's, we could potentially do it quite cheaply.

So we arrive back in the UK after 11 amazing nights in the US to find nothing had moved forward with the sale Booo. We had a couple of weeks getting back into a normal routine and then one Thursday we got a call saying that an offer had been accepted by our sellers, end of chain & that the sale should now proceed quickly. To sum up we then tried to book a survey, got told to hold fire as the sellers had offered on somewhere else and then finally got the go ahead as they were going ahead with the first house. We organised the survey to take place today (Monday) but got told last Thursday they had pulled their offer, after viewing the house 6 times! :angry:

Basically, they seem like the most fickle people imaginable, I mean who offers on 4 different houses in the space 3 months but doesn't pursue any of them!? The lady is due to have their second baby on Tuesday so we know that house hunting is not going to be their top priority for a while.

Feeling a bit miffed on Thursday, I cracked open the laptop & Googled Thomson flights. I know the previous couple of years there have been £200 flights up for grabs after the Easter period & I was on the lookout. So, there were no £200 ones but there were some £250 & £295 options! OMG! The only problem was that the cheaper flights were for a 14 night holiday & the flights for 7 night trips were double

We already both had a week’s holiday booked off in May, we were supposed to be going to Tenerife with my MIL for her birthday but nothing had been booked. There were Florida dates 28th April to 12th May, we checked Aaron's leave (he finds it more difficult than me to sort last minute holiday) and he only needed an additional 4 days to make the 1 week leave over 2 weeks! The joy of shift patterns! We both ran it past our families, it seemed a bit indulgent to go back only 7 weeks after our return, especially when the money would be better seen spent on the new house but it was just so tempting & they urged us to go for it at such a reasonable price. They know the holidays will be much less manageable when we have the higher mortgage. I managed to get the holiday sorted, I work for a family business so it's pretty flexible, although I am only left with 2 full holiday days for the rest of the year now! Eeek!

I floated the idea around the Dibb as we had a couple of different options see thread here. We were both hesitant, we felt guilty that we were having another trip but at the same time, when will we ever find flights that cheap again, so close to home. We are only 15 minutes from Birmingham airport & Aaron actually works there for certain months of the year so it really is convenient. He actually checked with the Thomson reps before we booked to see how busy the flights were. Apparently the dates we were after had 25 seats free on the outbound flight and 30 on the inbound one. Busy! We also worried that we wouldn't have enough to fill our days, we aren't interested in doing Disney again (and frankly couldn't afford the tickets even if we were). Universal was sorted but without booking SW/Busch tickets, how do we fill 2 weeks!? Suggestions welcome

I was still hoping the flights would come down to nearer £200 but we all know I like to plan too so it was tempting to get the seats confirmed, especially knowing how busy the flights were. We finally hit the book button at 10 pm Friday night after a lot of discussion! As soon as it was done, the worries melted away! Exciting stuff!

The next hour or so was spend with numerous laptops, Ipads & phones out, we both tried to find the best deals possible on the hotels we were after and it turned into a bit of a competition. With a couple of changes to our original plan, we soon had most things confirmed & came in £200 under our accommodation budget. Sweet!

This is what we have booked so far...

Flights

Thomson Dreamliner, 28th April - 12th May 2016. BHX - SFB. £295 plus luggage @ £160 via Travel Republic

Accommodation

Clarion Inn Lake Buena Vista - 28th, 29th & 30th April 2016. £145.00 (including breakfast) via Travel Republic

Rosen Inn @ Pointe - 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th May 2016. £160.60 via Amoma with 6% cashback

Avanti Resort I Drive - 5th & 6th May 2016. £109.00 via Travel Republic

Grand Plaza St Pete's Beach - 7th May 2016. £130.00 via Travel Republic

Rosen inn @ Pointe - 8th, 9th, 10th & 11th May 2016. £164.76 via Amoma with 6% cashback.

A quick summery

3 nights Clarion Lake Buena Vista
4 nights Rosen inn @ Pointe
2 nights Avanti Resort Idrive
1 nights Grand Plaza St Petes
4 nights Rosen inn @ Pointe

Travel Republic does allow you to make changes up to a few days before so we can tweak anything if we want (come on very cheap Royal Pacific Resort rates)!

We haven't made any real plans yet; we are still in a bit of a haze and disbelief that we are going back so soon. We will obviously eat ourselves silly, with no excuse not to try some new places. We hope to get in the car a lot more & explore what Florida has to offer. St Augustine is a must & we will research some other places that are realistic for a day’s adventure. Suggestions again please!

So that’s where we are at the moment. We have some major saving to do over the next couple of months to cover the cost but at a total of £720 each for 14 nights in Florida, I really do feel like we found a bargain!

We aim to try and stick to the $100 a day food budget that some Dibbers have proved to be doable. Cocktails are out, domestic beers for Aaron are in & I’ll be mostly sticking to soft drinks. I'm afraid we won’t be able to resist a bit of shopping though so the credit cards might have to take a hit! Additional park tickets are unlikely but if Mako miraculously opens at SeaWorld I don't think I would be able to resist!

Updates soon, very soon I guess as I need to get things sorted asap, my to do list currently looks like this...

Save money! Haha
Lose weight
Re do Aaron's ESTA (runs out mid way through the trip)
Buy a new suitcase (mine broke on the last trip)
Book car hire
Request rooms
Sign up for vouchers
Pick restaurants
Save more money!

So that’s where we stand for now! Let the planning commence!

Updates

Initial plans part 1
Initial plans part 2
Car Hire
Daily Plans & Eats - Part 1
Daily Plans and Eats - Part 2
Daily Plans & Eats - Part 3
Daily Plans & Eats - Part 4
First few $ bought
$ & Gatorland booked

[Redrach1903]

OH EM GEEEEEEEEE! You are going back! Haha! Love it!

We will be there at the same time We'll still be in Disney when our dates overlap though, so doubt i'll see you kicking about

I am so excited for you! xx

[Lisa_Lollipop]

So excited to be getting another trippy so soon! Good for you on booking up and you certainly shouldn't be feeling guilty... life is for living and money is earnt to be spent! Sounds like an amazing trip planned (especially given how quick you have turned it around!) and I am sure those 14 days will fill up surprisingly easily once you get planning it all out!

I will be keeping an eye out for you when we are there

[brindle159]

Oh my god! So soon after your last trip!

My boyfriend and I just finished reading your report yesterday, we loved it! Enjoyed your frequent trips to Millers (we can't wait to go there!)

We go out on 5th May flying from Brum, and staying at Rosen Inn @ Pointe, so we may cross paths!
Hope you have a lovely flight!

(ps, we're also from Worcestershire, we were amazed to find someone so close to home on here!)
x

[abiknox]

Originally Posted by Redrach1903

OH EM GEEEEEEEEE! You are going back! Haha! Love it!

We will be there at the same time We'll still be in Disney when our dates overlap though, so doubt i'll see you kicking about

I am so excited for you! xx

See more...

I know! I'm still in denial I think! We have so little planning time! We might spot each other at DTD!

I was going to ask a couple of questions on here actually but you might be the best person to ask given your amazing planning capabilities!

Are Hulk, Mako or Kong likely to be open and what is May like weather & how are the crowds!? It's a completely new time of year for us!

[abiknox]

Originally Posted by Lisa_Lollipop

So excited to be getting another trippy so soon! Good for you on booking up and you certainly shouldn't be feeling guilty... life is for living and money is earnt to be spent! Sounds like an amazing trip planned (especially given how quick you have turned it around!) and I am sure those 14 days will fill up surprisingly easily once you get planning it all out!

I will be keeping an eye out for you when we are there

See more...

Yep, I'm still trying to get passed the guilt. I'll be fine soon I'm sure. We have spent all weekend planning where we are hoping to eat.

Say hi if you spot me!

Originally Posted by brindle159

Oh my god! So soon after your last trip!

My boyfriend and I just finished reading your report yesterday, we loved it! Enjoyed your frequent trips to Millers (we can't wait to go there!)

We go out on 5th May flying from Brum, and staying at Rosen Inn @ Pointe, so we may cross paths!
Hope you have a lovely flight!

(ps, we're also from Worcestershire, we were amazed to find someone so close to home on here!)
x

See more...

There are loads of midland people on here, there was a thread on here recently asking who lives near Bham and there are hundreds of Dibbers that are very close.

Are you flying Thomson too? Have you done a pre trip report? Say hi if you spot me! (unless I'm by the pool looking like a heffa! Haha).

You're pretty convenient for Millers! Hope you love it as much as me!

[Sweets]

Sounds great

Re: the ESTA. You only need it for entry so you don't need to apply for another for this trip.

[nadya]

Sounds great.we went in 2010 with a week to organise things as got £199 flights through thomson.got everything sorted for 10 of us no problem.Have a fantastic time ,love your reports

[Redrach1903]

Originally Posted by abiknox

I know! I'm still in denial I think! We have so little planning time! We might spot each other at DTD!

I was going to ask a couple of questions on here actually but you might be the best person to ask given your amazing planning capabilities!

Are Hulk, Mako or Kong likely to be open and what is May like weather & how are the crowds!? It's a completely new time of year for us!

See more...

Oh yeah, we'll be at Disney Springs a lot cos POR is so close! I will look out for you

Hahahaha! Um. Hulk I have no idea about, I haven't seen any recent rumours. I don't think Kong will be ready, but I'm keeping everything crossed for soft openings! Mako I'm not sure either as we don't do SeaWorld so I haven't been looking. Sorry

Weather and crowds are pretty good! We have generally had wall to wall sunshine with a few storms here and there, but nothing lasting! I think the only time we had continuous bad weather was the end of April in our 2013 trip and even that was just 2 days I think! It's still really warm in the evenings too, so i've never needed a cardi or anything!

We found October much busier than May so we are glad to be going back at this time of year. It's honestly an ace time of year xx

[Lisa_Lollipop]

I am so hoping for a soft opening of Kong and Mako, would really be the icing on the cake for this holiday!

As for Hulk, from what I gather the new track is all in place now but they haven't started on the queue area etc. so I am not holding out much hope for this being open when we are there

May is a super time to go, glorious weather and not too busy... you are going to love it!