Our Magical WDW Adventure - May 2008 Pre Trip Report

[Guest]

Great reading I enjoyed that cant wait for the rest

[ely3857]

Piggles!



Jodie

[ariel2006]

And so the initial planning had been done and it was now time to start booking. September came and we had our first Disney day, we popped Cars into the DVD player, had a lovely dinner of steak, fries and onion rings and started booking, it was so exciting...


(BTW this was our first time watching Cars, bad for a Disney fanatic I know, but we both loved it)

We did the same at the beginning of October, November and December and by the time Christmas came pretty much everything was booked:

So in brief here is our holiday -

Dates: Monday April 28th - Wednesday 21st May 2008

Sunday April 27th - Stay overnight at Gatwick Hilton

Monday April 28th - Fly from London Gatwick - Orlando International with Virgin Atlantic



Monday April 28th - Monday May 5th - Star Villa, Glenbrook



We are really looking forward to trying a villa for the first time, especially since there are four bedrooms and two bathrooms for the two of us (meaning plenty of place to store all our souvenirs. It will also be great to come home from a long day at the parks and jump into our own pool. I will post some more pic's later

Monday May 5th - Wednesday May 7th - Royal Pacific Resort, Water View Room







We have walked through this resort and loved the tropical atmosphere and theming. The main reason for booking however was those all important front-of-line passes, we're so looking froward to getting our hands on these

Wednesday 7th May - Wednesday 21st May (yes 2 whole weeks) - Disney's Coronado Springs






This is the day we finally arrive home and spend our first night at Disney. I have looked at so many pictures of Coronado Springs and love all the theming so cant wait to see it all in reality. And of course just being surrounded by all the Disney magic

Saturday May 10th - 1 night at the Polynesian Resort, Castle View



We both LOVE the Polynesian and have dream't of staying here forever. We cant wait to be able to drink cocktails in Ohana, walk along the beach and then watch Wishes from our own room...this is definately one of the things I am most excited about.

Saturday May 17th - 1 night at the Yacht Club, Water view



We have never been here so cant wait to see somewhere new and also be able to walk to Epcot and watch Illuminations

Oh and to get us from A - B we booked a little car..



Now this is probably what Nick is most excited about of the whole trip. He loves cars, loves driving and loves Mustangs (lets just hope they don't run out else it will be the end of the world).

[ariel2006]

From previous visits we already knew which parks we wanted to visit (all of them) and which tickets would work out best for us. Then with the help of all you guys out there and your wonderful trippies and information we added some other special tours, excursions and dinner shows. Here is a peak at what we have booked -

Tickets
* Disney 14 day Ultimate Ticket
* Universal 2 day, 2 park Ticket
* Discovery Cove Plus with 14 days Seaworld, Busch Gardens and Aquatica

Excursions and Tours
* Seaworld Shark Dive



* Crystal River Manatee Swim



* Epcot Segway Tour - Around the World at Epcot



* Hot Air Balloon Trip




Shows and Dinner Shows

* Seaworld Makahiki Luau Dinner Show



* Disneys Hop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue



* La Nouba




We are also planning on visiting Kennedy Space Center for the first time, but have decided to buy the tickets there. We also hope to have some time to visit a few of the attractions along I-Drive like Ripleys.

Hopefully these should keep us busy for a few weeks...

Coming Next... The One With The Itinery A.K.A The One With All Those ADR's

[hel1304]

Wow - look at all those fantastic hotels you will be staying in - how lucky are you (& how jealous I am!)

Your pre-trippie is brilliant & I can't wait to read about all your adventures. You have a wonderful way of writing xx

[ClaireB]

Sounds like a fantastic trip, cant wait for the updates

[Jack Daniel's]

Wow, great pre -trippie, looks like you will have a great time, wish i could take as long a holiday

[ely3857]

Lot's of hotel hopping there!



Jodie

[ariel2006]

Now this post could have many names - The One With The Itinerary is the most obvious and lets any readers I may have know exactly what they are getting. However, maybe a more appropriate title may be The One With All Those ADR's or maybe The One With All That Food, as as you will soon see we have made 19 ADR's in a period of 14 days and that is just Disney Dining. Add to that 9 days of Universal, Seaworld, Busch Gardens and various I-Drive/Orlando restaurants and that constitutes a whole lot of food.

So without further ado, here is my much researched, much changed and much polished itinerary, and just to make it slightly easier to spot all those many ADR's I have highlighted them in pink for you



Sunday 27th April
The day has finally arrived, the best day of the whole year
Say Good-bye to the kittens (I will introduce you soon), final checks then drive to Gatwick
Twilight Check-in then check in to Gatwick Hilton

Monday 28th April

Check-out of Hilton, through customs and to Virgin Gatwick Clublounge to chill-out and have a nice relaxed breakie avec a glass of bubbly before our flight (oh and of course time for some duty free shopping).
Gatwick – Orlando International with Virgin Atlantic
Pick up car (hopefully the Mustang) and drive to our Villa at Glenbrook.
Tea at Bahama Breeze then visit Walmart for a few essentials (and probably a lot of non-essentials too)
Chill in villa – unpack, swim, watch some classic American TV


Tuesday 29th April
Up early and drive to IHOP for our first holiday breakie and our first IHOP breakie.
Seaworld for day with lunch at Sharks Underwater Grill.
Leave Seaworld early afternoon and head to Mall at Millenia for some designer shopping (I know it’s a bit early for shopping but we both need to pick a few things up for Thursday and this will be our only chance)
Tea at The Cheesecake Factory -can’t wait for their delicious cheesecake

Wednesday 30th April
Busch Gardens for the whole day, lunch at Crown Colony - and despite Nick’s protests we will be riding Sheikra
Tea at Texas de Brazil - this restaurant sounds great, a huge buffet of salads and sides and skewers of meat cut tableside

Thursday 1st May
This is Nick and my 4 ½ year anniversary (not marriage, only dating) – I know its a bit strange but we wanted something to celebrate on this holiday and this seemed the perfect thing, especially since we quite often miss big occasions
Breakfast at Golden Corral
Seaworld for day – we have both the Shark Deep Dive and Makahiki Dinner Show booked for today to celebrate - Nick is a little apprehensive about swimming with Sharks but hopefully it will help him conquer his fear a little
Friday 2nd May
Aquatica for the day
Tea at Hooters - tacky – what more can I say?

Saturday 3rd May
Up early for our trip to the Crystal River for our Manatee Swim
Tea at Outback Steakhouse
Sunday 4th May
Free day – well our free days aren’t actually free or any less strenuous, but just don’t involve theme parks or excursions
Breakfast at Golden Corral
Shopping – Florida Mall / Prime Outlets / Premium Outlets
Congo River Golf and Ripley's - this will be our first chance in 3 holidays to spend some time on I-Drive
Takeaway in villa for tea and time to pack (crikey its been a week already)

Monday 5th May
Check out of villa and into Royal Pacific Resort
Breakfast at Island’s Dining Room
Day at Universal Studio’s
Tea at Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville – I love Margarita’s
Shopping and chilling in CityWalk


Tuesday 6th May
Day at Islands of Adventure
Lunch at Mythos - heard so many good reviews about this
Afternoon in hotel, chilling in pool, CityWalk
Tea at Tchoup Chop - this was one of my favourite restaurants from last time and we cant wait to go back

Wednesday 7th May
Check out of Royal Pacific and into Coronado Springs – at last we are home
Day in Downtown Disney – for shopping, lunch and hiring a boat
Check in to room and unpack, check out resort and pool
Tea at Maya Grill


Thursday 8th May
Our first Disney park day
Up early and head to Epcot for Segway Tour
Morning in Future World
Lunch at Coral Reef
Back to CS for swim and to get ready for evening
Drive to Fort Wilderness for Hop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue dinner show (and a bit of resort snooping)


Friday 9th May
Discovery Cove – this is the day were both most looking forward too, I love Discovery Cove so much

Saturday 10th May
Magic Kingdom for morning
Afternoon tea at Garden View Lounge, Grand Floridian (and more resort snooping) – I wanted to try here last time but we didn’t get time so I made sure we had a reservation this time
Check in to Polynesian Resort for the night – Castle View Room
Tea and cocktails at Ohana – our other favourite restaurant
Wishes from room, pool or beach


Sunday 11th May
Breakfast at Kona Cafe
Free morning at the Polynesian – swimming, shopping, chilling
Possibly Parasailing and Personal Watercraft's at the Contemporary
Afternoon in Magic Kingdom
Tea at Crystal Palace and Wishes
Back to Coronado Springs – “bye Polynesian and castle view”
Monday 12th May
Breakfast at Maya Grill
Morning at resort
Afternoon/evening at MGM (emh)
Tea at Hollywood Brown Derby then Fantasmic

Tuesday 13th May
Blizzard Beach for day
Evening at Downtown Disney – shopping and tea at House of Blues
La Nouba – we love Cirque du Soliel, having seen 4 of their shows La Nouba still ranks top

Wednesday 14th May
Kennedy Space Centre


Thursday 15th May
Animal Kingdom for the day – our one and only day here so lots to do
Lunch at the Yak and Yeti - can’t wait to try this new restaurant
Tea at Jiko (and yes more resort snooping)

Friday 16th May
Up ridiculously early for our Hot Air Balloon Flight – I cant wait to see how everything looks from up above
Chilling day
Late lunch at Whispering Canyon
Evening at Magic Kingdom for the PRINCESS AND PIRATE PARTY – yes we got tickets and I cannot wait to get all dressed up and savage my way through the park

Are you running out of steam yet ... cause I am just by looking at it all, oh well you only live once, and its only 23 days, I can sleep the rest of the year (oh damn I have work and stuff)

Saturday 17th May
Lazy morning – no doubt we will need it by now
Lunch at Beaches and Cream – I am definitely starving myself ready for the legendary Kitchen Sink (just obviously not on the holiday cause that would just be silly)
Check in to the Yacht Club – waterview room
Tea at Yachtsman Steakhouse then watch Illuminations


Sunday 18th May
Breakfast at the Yacht Club Galley
Epcot World Showcase for the day – probably sampling several bevarages
Tea at Le Cellier then Illuminations – bring on the cheddar cheese soup

Monday 19th May
MGM for the day, probably lunch at the Sci Fi Diner although nothing is booked yet
Tea at California Grill (and resort snooping) – hopefully we will be able to get a window table for Wishes

Tuesday 20th May
Breakfast at 1900 Park Fayre
Magic Kingdom for the day, probably an afternoon break at Coronado Springs to pack
Tea at Ohana (again) – the perfect last night, a lovely dinner in a lovely setting, cocktails and Wishes from the beach


Wednesday 21st May
Departure day – but I don’t wanna go home
Check out of Coronado Springs and do Downtown Disney check in
Morning at DisneyQuest, lunch and final shopping at Downtown Disney
Drive to airport, Nick’s last drive in the Mustang
Evening Flight back to Gatwick – Premium Economy

Thursday 22nd May
Arrive back to sunny England with only distant memories of our amazing holiday


As you can see we are packing a lot in to a fairly short amount of time. Will we burn out? Probably, but not until we get back and then it doesn't matter. There is so much we want to do, we haven't even fitted half of it in now. And not knowing when we will be coming back again we want to fit as much in as is humanly possible.

The I-Drive/Orlando restaurants are not set in stone, we have so many new ones we want to try as well as some old favourites so I have just put in the ones we definitely want to do. We are also hoping to fit in:

Bahama Breeze
Cici's Pizza Buffet
Chili's
The Olive Garden
Longhorn Steakhouse
Fuddruckers

As for shopping we aren't really sure where to go as I have only been to Mall at Millenia before. We will definitely be visiting here but hope to try a few new, and maybe cheaper places, so any ideas would be welcome.

Coming Up Next... The One With The Oversized Villa and maybe meet the Cats

[JudyC]

You look like a lovely couple, and your plans looks fab. Lucky you having 23 nights there