From Cowboys to the Bayou and right on down to the mouse! US Roadtrip Sept/Oct 2015 Pre Trippy!

[chelseyleigh]

Hi Everyone! What better time to start a pre trippy than a gloomy sunday morning 2 months to the day until we leave!

Please note I was unsure as to which thread this trippy was more suited to so I've put it in both and we will see if one gets removed

Anyway let's begin!

THE CAST MEMBERS;

Chelsey/Me; 23 years old, absolutely loves Disney, this will be my 7th trip to the world but Ive also visited DLP twice, DLR once, DLHK once and DLT once! And don't you worry Shanghai is on the list for next year I also love travelling and always try to combine visit new places with visiting the mouse!



Ryan/The boyfriend; Will be 24 when we travel, this will be his 5th trip to the world but he has also visited all the other resorts with me

THE ADVENTURE;

26th September;
Today we will be heading to the airport, our flight is at 11.05am so we will probably leave home at around 5.30am, I like to have plenty of time to relax at the airport and we live around an hour n half from heathrow. We have considered staying in an airport hotel overnight, but terminal 5 doesn't seem to be the best terminal for hotels and there are none actually attached to the terminal which we find a lot easier, last year we stayed in the hilton terminal 4 and could just walk through a corridor and turn up in the terminal, which terminal 5 it seems all the hotels require a shuttle that you have to pay for which is a bit of a pain, So at the minute we are sticking to getting up early and getting a lift to the airport although we haven't currently got it planned who will be giving us a lift! Anyway enough of my waffling, on with the plan!
So hopefully we will arrive at the airport by 7am, drop off our bags and then have enough time to have a nice relaxed breakfast and some duty free shopping!



At 11.05am we will be boarding a British airways flight to Austin Texas!



We are due to land at 4pm US time, we will then pick up our car from national (we are hoping to be able to upgrade on the day!) and head onto our first hotel Ramada Austin Central!







Tonight we will probably just find something nearby for dinner and fall into bed!

27th - 28th September;
Having an Ihop right next to our hotel will come in handy this morning I have a feeling!



We don't wanna have a set plan to what we have to do each day so we will see how we feel in the morning but there a few things we would like to see and do in each area we are visiting. During our stay in Austin I would really like to visit Hamilton pool, its about an hours drive from Austin but it looks like it would be worth it!



It is a natural swimming pool but currently due to the high level of rainful texas has experienced over the last few months the bacteria level is too high in the pool for swimming, but i'm hoping it will all be back to normal by the time we visit!
We also wanna take in the sights of Congress avenue and see the bats fly out from the bridge!





If we have time and i'd need to look into this a little more but we would really like to see a Rodeo! Im not even sure if Austin is the right place for this but I really wanna see one during our stay in Texas!



29th September;
Today we will be checking out of our Austin Hotel and heading onto our next location, San Antonio. I think San Antonio is about an hour and a half drive from Austin but we would like to use this day to visit Sea world so I think we will aim to leave quite early as to have enough time to drop our bags off at our hotel; The riverwalk Plaza;





After a quick drop off at the hotel we will head off to Sea world. I am aware that we won't be arriving at opening but Im hoping it will be ok seen as its a weekday and I believe this park is more of a locals park so will hopefully be reasonably quiet during the week!



30th September;
Today we will be heading over to Silver Spur Ranch in Bandera, wanna get the real cowboy experience! Another Dibber mentioned to me about Bandera General store which looks really cool so we will stop here in the way for some ice cream cowboy style! It should take us about an hour to arrive at the ranch from San Antonio so today will be another reasonably early start, might as well make the most of it whilst jetlag is still hitting us!



1st October;
Today we will spend the morning visiting the beautiful river walk, hopefully find a lovely spot for brunch and also visit the Alamo.





Late afternoon we will get back on the road onto our next destination; Houston! This is gonna be about a 3 hour drive so we will probably stop somewhere on the way to stretch our legs! When we arrive we will be checking into the Hilton Nasa clear lake;





We will most likely just chill tonight and grab some dinner at the local broadwalk.

2nd October;
Today we will heading the Houston Space centre, not something I'm particularly looking forward to but Ryan really wants to visit here, I'm sure it will be interesting...



Tonight we will heading into the city to explore Houston a little more.

3rd October;
Today it's time to leave Texas and head to the state of Louisiana! Its a 5 hour drive to New Orleans so we will probably leave Houston quite early and stop once or twice on the way. Hopefully we will arrive at New Orleans around lunchtime and check into the Crowne Plaza French Quarter;





If everything goes to plan today we will have the afternoon to explore the French Quarter and Jackson square;



4th October;
At the moment we haven't got any set plans for this day but there are a few things we would really like to do during our short time in New Orleans, First off I would like to do a airboat ride in the bayou to see the Alligators, Ryan has already done this in florida so isn't too worried about it but I never have so would really like to.



We would also like to see some off the plantations around New Orleans;



and lastly we would like to take a ride on the Mississippi river, this might have to take place in the evening;



Now I understand we aren't likely to be able to fit all of this in but we have to have a talk about what we would like to do most or figure out tours and times if we can combine some things!

5th October;
Onto our next stop today! After enjoying breakfast at New Orleans we will head onto Panama City beach, this is about a 5 hour drive so we have a couple stops planned on the way, first up is Biloxi, specifically so Ryan can visit the Hard Rock casino;



Our next stop is Mobile Alabama, don't no if theres too much to see here, but it will be a good place to stretch our legs and means we can sing sweet home Alabama



Then back on track to Panama city beach, should be about 3 hours from Mobile so we hope to arrive around late afternoon/early evening in Florida state! We will be staying at the Carillon Spa and Beach resort inn overnight so plan to do some relaxing tonight, maybe even squeeze in a massage!





6th October;
Hopefully we will feeling nice and relax after our spa stay and ready for the next leg of the adventure; Daytona beach! On route to Daytona we will make a couple of planned stops again as this is our longest leg being 5 and half hours. First up we are going to stop of at Crawfordville, Tallahassee to see this awesome car graveyard!



Our next stop is St Augustine which is about 3 and a half hours from Crawfordville so hopefully we will arrive at about 3ish and have the afternoon to have a little wander.



After exploring a little we will make the short trip down coast to Daytona and check into the Plaza resort and spa.



7th October;
Today we will hopefully be able to enjoy the beach a little and relax as well as having a little explore into some NASCAR heritage, Ryans choice!



We will leave Daytona late afternoon and head to International drive! We have to drop off our car at the hire place by 5pm so this is time dependant but I would like to stop of at Winter Park if time allows.

After checking into our Idrive hotel, International palms resort we will drop off our car hire at four point sheraton.



We will then most likely get some Giordino's pizza for dinner as that seems to be becoming a tradition on our first night in Orlando and If we have time I would also like to take a ride on the Orlando-Eye.





8th - 9th October;
No set plans for these couple of days but we will be visiting both universal parks, and most importantly this place for breakfast!





10th - 17th October;
TIME FOR THE MOUSE!
Im almost 100% sure I will be up at the crack of dawn today ready for us to check into Disney's Caribbean beach resort!
We will be visiting all the parks during our stay here plus blizzard beach. I am particularly excited about experiencing Food and wine festival! We are still undecided as to weather we will be going MNSSHP this year, we have already done it before and did enjoy it but not sure if we wanna pay to do it again.









On the 17th we will heading home via a stop in New york, Not gonna go into detail with this day cause I might just cry.

Anyway that is my long ramble over with! If you have managed to stay tune the whole time I am impressed! Thanks for reading! my next update I will most likely talk through some ADR's we have booked once they are all confirmed!

To Do List
Done;
- Flights
- Hotels
- Universal tickets
- Disney tickets
- Disney DDP
- ESTAs
- American GPS
- Car hire
To Do;
- Travel Insurance
- Confirm ADRs
- Book guest ranch
- Look into Rodeo
- Book tours for New Orleans
- Get DVLA code for car hire
- Buy portable chargers
- Buy hidden mickey book
- Decide about MNSSHP
- Arrange airport transportation
- Decide on disney nail design
- Save spends and change up dollars

[Irelandmaryd]

Wow sounds like a wonderful trip one I would really like to do myself. I look forward to your updates. Enjoy the countdown and planning. Take care

[chelseyleigh]

Originally Posted by Irelandmaryd

Wow sounds like a wonderful trip one I would really like to do myself. I look forward to your updates. Enjoy the countdown and planning. Take care

See more...

Thanks for reading! Will hopefully get an update in soon! 😊😊

[feelthemagic]

Sounds amazing, looking forward to updates

[chelseyleigh]

Originally Posted by feelthemagic

Sounds amazing, looking forward to updates

See more...

thanks for reading!

[CrispyA]

Sounds like a brilliant trip! We're off to Texas next week - can't wait!

[chelseyleigh]

Originally Posted by CrispyA

Sounds like a brilliant trip! We're off to Texas next week - can't wait!

See more...

Thanks for reading! Hope you have an amazing time! Cant wait to read all about it when you return!

[chelseyleigh]

So now that we have all but one of our ADRs figured out I guess it is time for a little update!

Oh and just wanted to mentioned
! 57 DAYS !
sorry about that...

Ok ADRs lets go..

Saturday October 10th

7.50pm - Ohana's
Literally our favourite restaurant in the world and I mean the actual world not just disney world!
So excited for this one, hence it being on our first day at disney after most likely a day at Magic Kingdom!
Can't say theres one thing in particular im looking forward to here, I love it all! The bread (aaaaah the bread!) the noodles, the wings, the meats, the bread pudding aaahhh its all just so good! <3



Sunday October 11th

8.45am - Cape may cafe (This is hopefully a temporary ADR as we are hoping to get a slot for Chef Mickeys come up, but if not Cape may cafe is great!)
Love the atmosphere here and we seem to have a tradition of going here before we go to the water parks! I guess its all the nautical gear!



8.10pm - On to Epcot tonight to one of our fav's, Teppan Edo, we only tried this one for the first time on our last trip but absolutely loved it, the food is great but we love the atmosphere and entertainment most, we had some really great people on our table with us and it was really fun meeting new people! We will save Illuminations for another night.



Monday 12th October

7.45pm - Garden grill
I would imagine today will be spent at Hollywood Studios, so we will head to Epcot in the evening, never tried Garden grill but heard good things about it so we thought we would give it a go, we like family buffets so should be good!



Tuesday 13th October

5.15pm - yak and yeti
Another fav! We ate here on our last trip and omg the food is out of this world! we shared the ribs and the duck cause we couldn't decide and they were both so good! And the cocktails are the best I've had in disney! Perfect way to end a day in Animal Kingdom!



Wednesday 14th October

11.05am - Beaches and Cream
Ice cream for breakfast, why not?!



Thats all we have booked today as I want to save lots of space in my tummy for the food and wine festival!

Thursday 15th October

10.25am - Crystal palace
Its a shame that this is such a late breakfast as our dinner is quite early today as well but unfortunately you can't be fussy with ADRs when you have to book inside the 180 day window! I am hoping to get an earlier one nearer the time but for now it will do! Definately looking forward to having some more Poohs French toast!



5.50pm - Sci Fi Dine in
Another new one for us but it looks like fun so hopefully we will have a good time, Im particularly looking forward to this shakes here! Im a little worried that we will get out in time for the 7.30pm showing of fantasmic tonight but am planning on booking fastpass so hopefully that will help a little! We will probably use this as one of the meals to pay out of pocket as then we wont need to have dessert so it will save a little time!



Friday 16th October

7.25pm - Yachtsman Steakhouse
Our last full day
Another new try, we always like to have one nice signature meal in there and this one should be good as we both love steaks!



So thats all folks! Hopefully i'll be able to get chef mickeys in but ill keep you updated! Don't think we did too bad considering we booked these about 85days out, nearly 100 days under when they can be booked!

Thanks for reading, I think in the next update i'll be updating a little on some holiday buys and my beauty prep planned for the trip!

To Do List
Done;
- Flights
- Hotels
- Universal tickets
- Disney tickets
- Disney DDP
- ESTAs
- American GPS
- Car hire
- Confirm ADRs
- Decide about MNSSHP
To Do;
- Figure out what sunpass/tollpass we need
- Travel Insurance
- Book guest ranch
- Look into Rodeo
- Book tours for New Orleans
- Get DVLA code for car hire
- Buy portable chargers
- Buy hidden mickey book
- Arrange airport transportation
- Decide on disney nail design
- Save spends and change up dollars

[chelseyleigh]

Firstly I apologise if this update if a bore fest to some people, but for me its a super exciting part of holiday prep!

So with 52 days to go its time to start thinking about holiday pamper prep and new holiday clothes! Yay!

Here's what I have in mind at the moment, I'm going all out this year
Ive recently had my eyebrows done with semi permenant make up so don't have to worry about them other than a little plucking!

Ive also booked in to get my lips done with fillers a few weeks before we go, Ive never had this done before but its something I've always wanted and will only get a small amount so shouldn't be trout pouting too much

This wednesday Im getting a whole fresh new lot of hair extensions which will be about 6inches longer and much thicker! So excited to resemble a brunette rapunzel So Ill be booking my maintenance appointment for the wednesday before we go so that's hair sorted! Ill be using lots of hair treatments leading up to get it prepared for the sun and humidity damage!

On the wednesday I'll be getting my wax done and am also going to treat myself to a full body massage, I spend a lot of time at the gym and weight lifting so have to get deep tissue massages quite regularly so I though this would be a convenient time to fit one in My wax is just for the bikini area so after this ill epilate my legs and underarms and exfoliate so I'm silky smooth!

On friday ill start of with getting LVL treatment on my eyelashes, never had this before but it looks amazing! Its a sort of perming treatment but doesn't damage your lashes and lasts 6-8 weeks!



After this its my spray tan, I no some people think its crazy getting a tan done before a holiday, BUT I'm so pasty white and never get a tan anyway so its nice to at least start with a glow even if I do come back paler than I went! Having a tan always helps when it comes to wearing a bikini!



Then onto my nails! Now I've put a lot of thought into this, I want disney but theres also 2 weeks before we get to disney so I want subtle disney, this is what I have in mind at the mo, Ill be getting gels so they should definately last well.



Ill also getting sparkly shellac on my tootsies to match!

So thats what my holiday prep will consist of! I absolutely love the pre holiday pamper day or dayS in my case!

Onto a bit of shopping! Now I am pretty disappointed to say there has only been 1 disney purchase so far but Im sure this will change!

Some goodies from ASOS;



So here's the one n only disney purchase, but it is a good one! I love this top and can't wait to wear it when I see donald!



Skirt for the evenings



Fringed playsuit which I thought would be well suited in cowboy land!







Some new bikinis! Pretty sure some of these won't be great for the waterparks...



Some embellished embroidered shorts, thinking these can be worn day or night!



Bomber jacket for the chillier evenings



Nice easy to wear dress!



After wearing these 1 evening recently Ive come to realise that I won't be wearing these for long periods of time whilst we are away - they do rub!

Onto a few bits from H&M..



Super comfy sweatpant shorts, thought these would be good for the longer car journeys!



Lacey shorts, hopefully can wear these day or night



Another one that won't be suitable for the waterparks..



floaty blouse, should keep me cool

A few bits from missguided...





Can't wait to wear this playsuit around the beach areas, its so pretty!



These are super comfy so I think I'll be wearing these quite a bit!

And lastly some trousers from zara



Perfect for the cooler evenings

So thats it folks! Don't spose I'll be doing much more shopping seen as all the summer stuff is leaving the shops now! Guess its good on my bank balance! But I am still hoping to pick up some new birkenstocks, some comfy denim shorts and some easy to wear summer dresses!

Thanks for reading!

Done;
- Flights
- Hotels
- Universal tickets
- Disney tickets
- Disney DDP
- ESTAs
- American GPS
- Car hire
- Confirm ADRs
- Decide about MNSSHP
- Decide on disney nail design
- Look into Rodeo in texas (None on during our stay)
To Do;
- Figure out what sunpass/tollpass we need
- Travel Insurance
- Book guest ranch
- Book tours for New Orleans
- Get DVLA code for car hire
- Buy portable chargers
- Buy hidden mickey book
- Arrange airport transportation
- Save spends and change up dollars

[anji]

Extremely jealous now! If you have time while you are in Austin there's the most wonderful restuarant at Lake Travis called the Oasis. Maybe you could combine it with Hamilton Pool?

We had lunch there on our way into Austin and the views just take your breath away. Have a fab time

oasis-austin/