Twin city trip NY/Orlando for my 30th!

[abiknox]

Morning all!

OK, so Im probably slightly premature in writing this as the holiday isn’t until October this year but I can wait any longer! Holidays just seem more real once a pre trippy has been started!

So, onto the cast, if you have read any of my trippys before you’re probably well aware of who we are but for a quick catch up we have….

Me, Abi, 29
Lover of pretty much everything America has to offer, especially the food & the theme parks!

Aaron, husband, (of 4 years today, Happy Anniversary to us !), 29
Luckily has the very same idea of what makes a good holiday as me, also a fan of the food, outlets shopping & cocktails!

This was us together on our most recent holiday to the West Coast.



So, the main reason for this trip, as you may have guessed from the title is to celebrate my 30th birthday. The actual date of my birthday is 23rd October but as usual this falls close to the half term week and so prices shoot up to astronomical amounts so we decided to go earlier in the month instead.

The ideal trip in my mind included Florida & NY in one trip! We did New York in November 2013 and have been aching to go back since and with an 18 month break in between Florida 2014 & this trip I knew I would be more than ready to return to our favourite place too.

As it’s a special occasion, I thought we could justify a short 5 night stay onsite as long as we could secure the DDP so way back in April 2014, I was keeping my eye open for the Disney to release the offer and I booked the minute it came online! Only 17 months in advance! I must be crazy.

Disney Booking

We are paying £1408.00 for 5 nights at SSR with the DDP & 14 day park tickets ect.. My original booking was for 14th – 19th October 2015 but this was soon to change once I found some bargain flights.





Flight Booking

Fast forward 2 weeks to early April and Thomas Cook released all their 2015 flights! I had to make two separate bookings but secured the below flights for just over £500 each return! Bargain

MAN – JFK on 1st October 2015

MCO – MAN on 15th October 2015



So that’s a few bits sorted, flights for a two week twin city holiday & 5 nights at Saratoga Springs, with the dates now amended to 10th – 15th October (very simple to sort with Disney)!

[abiknox]

Idrive booking number 1

Originally, we did consider maybe getting internal flights down to Charlotte / Savannah and turning the holiday into a bit of a road trip so with this in mind I secured a booking viaTravel Republic for the Rosen Plaza on 7th ,8th & 9th October. We are paying £123.00 which seems like a bargain. We have stayed at the Rosen @ Pointe on our last couple of visits but the difference in price was only £6 a night and the Plaza looks a lot nicer





With a bit more thinking though, the one way car hire charges and the lack of time in Orlando gave us doubts and we decided to just stick with NY & Orlando for this trip!

NY Hotel

The next booking we made was for our hotel in New York, I was adamant I wanted to stay in the same area as last time, Midtown, near the Flat Iron Building as it proved to be perfect for us. Hotel prices seemed to be ridiculous, well over £700 for 3 nights but I think I have found a good one, we booked through Venere with a 11% January discount code + Quidco & secured a room at the Broadway Plaza for £510.00





Internal Flights

A few weeks ago I booked our internal flights with United from EWR – MCO for a total of £153.00 (with $25 bag fees each to pay at check in). This was for the 4th October so we have 3 nights in NY & 11 in Orlando, 5 of which are at Disney & 3 of which are already booked at the Rosen, leaving me with 3 nights’ accommodation still to book.

Idrive booking number 2

Today I have secured other nights accommodation for our Idrive stay, I have splashed out on a 1 night stay at Royal Pacific Resort at Universal! Again booked through Venere with an 11% discount code & Im also trying for Quidco cashback of 13%. Total cost before cash back £180.00. This will of course give us a better chance of getting to see the new HP areas as well as giving us FOLP for the two days we will be visiting!






So to recap, we have the following itinerary so far!

1st October – Fly Manchester to JFK, Broadway Plaza
2nd October – Full day in New York, Broadway Plaza
3rd October – Full day in New York, Broadway Plaza
4th October – Morning in New York and then fly to MCO (accommodation to be confirmed)
5th October – Day at Universal staying at RPR
6th October – Day at Universal (accommodation still to be confirmed
7th October – Free day, staying at Rosen Plaza
8th October – Free day, staying at Rosen Plaza
9th October – Free day staying at Rosen Plaza
10th October – Move to SSR
11th October -- Disney SSR
12th October – Disney SSR
13th October – Disney SSR
14th October – Disney SSR
15th October – Morning at Disney & Fly Home

We have 2 nights accommodation still to sort, I will also be looking out for good pricing on Universal tickets, maybe SeaWorld tickets, HHN tickets & finally MNSSHP tickets.!

Friends

In other news our friends Ben & Emma who appeared in my 2014 Florida trippy will also be returning this year! They are doing a full 14 days in Orlando with the first 7 nights at the Rosen Plaza & the last 7 at Port Orleans!

We are planning numerous events together, mainly HHN & MNSSHP but also want to meet up for meals at Ohana & Bahama Breeze and maybe a cheeky kitchen sink at Beaches and Cream! OOOOOH how exciting!

That’s all for now folks!

Updates:

Final accommodation bookings
New York Snacks
Disney ADR Plans
Booked ADRs
MNSSHP booked!
Wicked Tickets booked
Airport parking
NYC daily plans - part 1
NYC daily plans - part 2
Disney daily plans part 1
Disney daily plans - part 2
Disney daily plans - part 3
UK hotel booking
Idrive daily plans - part 1
Idrive daily plans - part 2
Car Hire
Disney Snacks
Universal Tickets & another booking!
HHN booked
Plane seats & ESTA
Updated NYC plan
FastPass + choices
NYC transfers
More food choices

[iheartwdw]

Great minds think alike! We're Also going to WDW to celebrate/get other our 30ths!

We have quite similar split stay holidays planned, so I'll be looking out for updates.

Laura Xx

[Mrs dee]

I'm doing NYC and Florida too / great to read thanks x

[abiknox]

Seems like there is a few of us doing similar trips! I can't wait

[redredshopper]

Loved your last reports, shall look forward to the food pictures

[academy]

Lovely start to your trippie

I am also doing New York (5 days) followed by Orlando (12 days).

First time in New York - super excited

Its also my birthday whilst we are away (49 for me ) in fact Ive got a dual stay birthday as half of the day will be in New York and the other half in Orlando

[Guest]

This is just awesome Gail so excited! Definitely gotta do my own trippy's xxx

[lovedisney89]

Another holiday booked.. not jealous at all! Haha!

Sounds like another great trip you have planned Orlando and New York is a great combo

[juliab]

You have got such an amazing trip planned it's a no wonder you're excited to start a pre-trippy. We went to New York last year for the first time and we thought it was amazing.

looking forward to reading more of your plans