Walt & The Wilsons Pre Trippie

[Guest]

Pre Trip Index

The very beginning (or scroll down)
Update 1 - Wedding Pics
Update 2 - A spot of Orlando DIY
Update 3 - Compulsive Holiday Shopping
Update 4 - My tinny and general chatter
Update 5 - 100 DAYS!
Update 6 - Holiday Shopping!
Update 7 - Weight Loss, Payments and Updates Oh my!
Update 8 - Attaction Tickets are here! Yahooo
Update 9 - Carry on luggage, Suitcase Ribbons and BIG locks!
Update 10 - Car hire, American Football and 34 days!
Update 11 -Trip Books, Shopping and SINGLE DIGITS! *NEW*




I know, I know, I know it's a looonnggg way away! BUT you all have no idea how restrained I have been and quite frankly I think I have bored my family to tears with all my Florida talk so, spurred on by a few lovely ladies who said it was never too early to start a pre trippie here I am! I do ramble and there will be pictures and probably a lot of randomness but hey it's all about the banter!
So who am I or should I say who are we?! In traditional trippie style...

The Cast:

Laura (Moi) 28yrs young! Florida nutter! Lover of all things Disney! Easily excitable and cannot wait to get back to the magic! It's been 6 long years since my last trip. This will be my 3rd trip to the mouse.




Chris (DH) 29yrs young at the moment but will be celebrating the big 30 when we are in Orlando! My lovely husband is a Florida virgin! Having never been on a long haul flight or any type of rollercoaster this will be a trip of many firsts for him! There will be cherries popping all over the place!



A little bit about us
You may of course skip this bit!


Chris and I knew each other in high school but due to our different social groups (he was a rocker...I was not) we never spoke more than a few sentences to each other. Apparently he had a crush on me back then but due to him being kinda shy and me.. well being very loud (in the previously mentioned excitable way) he never thought to ask me out!

Incidentally he did witness my first ever epileptic seizure during art class when I was 14! He then went on to develop epilepsy too at the age of 21..both of us are extremely lucky however as the doctors got our seizures under control really quickly and we can drive etc because we have been seizure free *touches wood* for many years! Anyway i digress...told you i would

Fast forward 7 years and a fair few disastrous relationships my mum comes home from work one day to tell me about a young man that has started work in her library who apparently knew me...low and behold it's Chris. Mum starts to infer that his eyes 'lit up' when she mentioned me and that I should contact him... I was 23 and back living with her after a failed engagement...I was in no way interested in another relationship! BUT curiosity got the better of me and I BEBO'd him! Do any of you remember BEBO? The poor mans facebook! Anyways he was on there, I added him, we got chatting and 6 weeks later... yes thats right 6 WEEKS LATER! He asked me on a date! Told you he was shy!

Now for anyone who doesn't like mushy stuff...skip this part!

Our first date was to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and it was just a perfect night...I already knew I liked him after talking to him non stop for 6 weeks but to be there with him in the flesh I knew it was something special. He felt the same and we moved in 8 weeks later! Engaged 5 months after that and got married 7 months later on the 5th of November which coincided with my 25th Birthday!



He is everything to me and we are always together. Best friends as well as mr & mrs! I cannot wait to share my love of all things florida with him! He already loves his food so I know along with all the attraction the eating establishments will be his thing too!



So that's us in as small a paragraph as I could manage and i'm sure it's still too long for some of you! I'm sorry do stick with me!

Our Plans

So moving on from who we are this is what we are planning... or should I said what I am planning...Chris has essentially told me to plan it all as i've been before and he trusts my judgement FABULOUS! Just the way I like it

When?
We have decided on the end of April 2013..we were initially going to go this year in September but the more we thought about it we thought it would be nice to celebrate something special on Chris' first trip (of hopefully many) so as he turns 30 in April we thought PERFECT! And it was outside of the easter holidays so we knew we would be going at a great time of year, good weather and medium crowds!

Who With?
Now the planning as i mentioned had been left to me and I kinda made a boob of it! I was so excited we had decided to go that I just kind of booked with the people I went with last time - Thomsons! Not that there is anything wrong with Thomson, as I said i have been to Florida with them before but I didn't shop around or look at the advantage of booking everything DIY! Turns out our holiday would have cost us £500 LESS if I had booked DIY! But never mind! You live you learn! So we are going with Thomson and we have upgraded to premium economy! Little bit of luxury to get us underway And we are flying from Manchester.

Accommodation?
We are staying at The Doubletree Hilton by Seaworld! For 14 nights!


I think this hotel is beautiful and i'm looking forward to staying there! I had considered changing from this hotel to The Springhill Suites by Seaworld because what I didn't know about The doubletree is that they make you pay for parking your car there and you have to pay for a fridge! I was shocked and quite frankly appalled

$14 per night parking and $10 per night for a fridge! These should surely be complimentary! Hence why I then turned my attention to the Springhill suites...free parking...free fridge and breakfast in the morning! However the lovely people at Thomsons were not very helpful with the changeover and wanted a ridiculous amount of money to change even though it's the same brochure price... go figure! So before I break into a huge rant about that i will leave it there! The Doubletree will be lovely... I will just need to swallow the unfair add ons and learn the lesson to not dive in through excitement!

Are we driving?
Yes! Although I am a little apprehensive! Chris doesn't seem concerned at all and said I can leave it to him if I want...i may give it a go but if he is happy to do it then...cocktails anyone?
We are going to hire our car through Alamo using the brits guide code alamo/brits This gets your 10% off and free additional drivers. Unsure of what kind of car to go for though...any advice?

Set In Stone Plans

So it is a while away BUT there are a couple of things that are set in stone and more things i will add as times goes on!

First thing is the lovely hubbies 30th! We are going to...
DISCOVERY COVE! YAY!



I am so excited about this! I have never done it and of course Chris hasn't so it's going to be so special! His b/day is the day after we arrive so we think this will be the perfect way to get over any jetlag! A lovely relaxing day with a really special treat thrown in! We have booked the Dolphin Swim along with the package that gets you into Seaworld and Aquatica. Our plan is to get up early and head there spend all day there and then go back to the hotel and get changed and head to Magic Kingdom for dinner at Tonys Town Square (Lady and the Tramp is in my top 5 disney movies and i've not been here) finish the day of by watching the electrical parade and Wishes! It gets me all excited just typing this! There will more than likely be tears!

Parks?
All of them! Well all of Disney..including the water parks (we love the water!) Universal is a must do especially Harry Potter since it's close to our hearts (first date remember?) And not forgetting Seaworld and Aquatica! It's a lot of parks but we can do it. I'm kinda planning on doing two full theme park days then a waterpark to chill out at. Hopefully it will work out that way! We have purchased our tickets from Attractions Ticket Direct on their 10% deposit deal and we were really happy with the price we got!

Travel Plans?
Being from bonnie scotland and travelling from Manchester our plans are to drive down the day before and book a hotel and use the meet and greet parking...hotel still to be decided!

I think that's about it for now! I'm recovering at the moment from a gallbladder removal operation so this is an excellent distraction while I am getting better! Thank goodness for the DIBB! By the way could someone please tell me what DIBB stands for?

Look forward to chatting with you all! OH before i forget!

Weight Loss Journey
I'm on a journey i've lost 2 stone so far but looking to lose at least another 2 before florida! So I may have some update posts about that or if any of you are on the same please share!

If you made it this far you have our respect and honestly our shock

Much love!

[Guest]

Lovely start Can't wait to read more. What a horrid pain to have to pay for parking in your hotel.
How come you picked being so close to that area? I bet you're so excited aleady. Hope it goes quick for you xx

[MissVincent]

great start! im a sucker for wedding photos tho lol

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Steph0188

Lovely start Can't wait to read more. What a horrid pain to have to pay for parking in your hotel.
How come you picked being so close to that area? I bet you're so excited aleady. Hope it goes quick for you xx

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Oh I am! It's super exciting! Even though it's a while away! You booked yours with over 400 days didn't you? (from your trippie) has it went quick for you?

Regarding area, it wasn't so much the area just thought the springhill suites looked quite nice and reasonable with good trip adviser reviews

[Guest]

Originally Posted by MissVincent

great start! im a sucker for wedding photos tho lol

See more...

Haha! I have 100s! Have to admit i love them too!

[joanna23]

Amazing pre-trip, you sound like a lovely couple. Fantastic news on your weight loss too, well done you.

[Guest]

Ah okay, I'm just looking for next time
yes, it was over 400 days & it's gone pretty well. We've had little trips inbetween & do things to help the time go by, it will soon get there xx

[Twiga6]

Paying for your fridge?! How cheeky! Love your pre trip, looking forward to reading the trippie! X

[Sam_Smith]

Love the pre-trip report. Congratulations on your weightloss so far. I have lost 8 stone since my last visit to Florida, so i am really looking forward to doing all the rides when we return next year. It will be like I'm a Disney virgin again!

Dibb stands for Disney Information Bulletin Board.

[Donna McG]

Great pre trippy. Well done on your weight loss. That's fantastic. Hope the time until you go goes quick (except while I'm away )

x x