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Old 9 Dec 10, 11:57 AM  
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Thumbs up Mickey ~ The Big Apple Way pre-trippie

Mickey The Big Apple Way Trip May 2011

~ no doubt the name will change, but its what is on the countdown so it will do in the meantime :lol:

“Cast”

Me ~ 38, “self employed” single mum and taxi driver for my son Bradley. The only organiser and planner. Enjoyed the first trip to Disney, but not a “die hard” Disney fan so can take it or leave it. Loves to travel and we always enjoy the time I spend with my son on our trips, away from work and all the hassle at home that we fit into our schedules!

Bradley ~ 10 ~ loves to go to various different places, limited to the times he is able to travel next year due to his football contract and going away on tour in July/August next year. Footie Nut or all round general sport nut, also plays golf, starting cricket and has a huge commitment with his football which leaves little time for doing other things as we travel in excess of 300 miles per week!

This is us






In 2009 we had our first trip to Disney, stayed at the QII on I-drive and secured a great bargain holiday only 5 weeks ahead of flying. AS such we had 3 weeks, premium flights, QII and car for £1700 for the two of us. The late booking left little time for planning, but we had 3 weeks of parks and fun. We returned home pretty much exhausted from the holiday, but B declared that it was his favourite holiday and although we didn’t know if we would return again, we knew it was a possibility that we may in the future. We had a cheap late deal to Fuerteventura in the October school holidays to recover! This holiday was also in the same year that I had lost my mum to cancer, a HUGE shock. She had always talked about us going away to Florida as a family, but it was something that we never managed to do. It was one of the reasons why we did go this year but it did for me, make the holiday less enjoyable as it was still so early after losing her.
While I enjoyed Florida, I am not someone who needs a "disney" fix and in the main am not overly excited about returning to Disney on this holiday next year.

In 2010 we did look at returning again during the school summer holidays but we both fancied a relaxing and beach holiday and as such returned to Turkey, although a different place than we’ve normally been and we said that we would book a holiday in 2011 to Florida.

We also decided that we would coincide the holiday with the May half term from school, take some time out and use the school inset days. But neither of us were overly keen on a full holiday to Orlando. As such, B decided that he has always wanted to go to New York . . .and so began the looking into a combined twin centre trip to New York and Orlando.

We obtained several quotes which were really high and I thought that the trip would be beyond our budget. Pillinger came up with an initial quote that was £1300 cheaper, and although we have added on some additional which has put the price up I’m still happy (although its still a lot of money lol)

So Flights with Continental, 5 nights in New York, 10 nights named Highlands Reserve Villa, car hire for the 10 days comes in at £2700.

Upgraded flights to extra leg room and now at Villa on Highgrove (upgraded to 4 bed, spa, internet. games room etc) additional £206 for villa, and £290 for flights.

As such our travel itinerary is
  • Travel to Birmingham Monday May 23rd 2011
  • Meet and Greet parking at the drop and go parking at 745pm (booked)
  • Booking a room for the on airport Ibis hotel (booked)
  • Fly Continental Airways from Birmingham to Newark on May 24th 2011 check in 6am (now upgraded to extra leg room )
  • Spend 5 Nights in the New Yorker Hotel on 34th and 8th
  • Fly Continental Airways from Newark to Orlando MCO on May 29th
  • Hire Car already booked with Thrifty
  • Spending 10 nights in a 3 bedroom Villa on Highlands Reserve
  • (we paid an extra £100 to have a named villa location which was on special offer)
  • Fly Orlando to Birmingham via Newark on June 8th 2011 arriving at 7am on Thursday June 9th 2011. Upgraded to extra leg room from Newark to birmingham.

We are both incredibly excited about our trip to New York and less so about the stay in Florida, all of our plans and interest has been about the first five days. We have discovered that our trip coincides with Fleet Week when the US Navy will be “docked” near USS Intrepid, so we are going to take some time to venture over to check them out and also, we are in New York but also flying down to Orlando over Memorial Weekend. This will also affect our planning for the weekend when we arrive in Orlando.

Things Done
  • Pay £400 deposit for holiday
  • Booked time off work.
  • Permission slip from School given and returned.
  • ESTA re-done before charges introduced
  • Passports ~ checked
  • Booked Meet and greet via Meteor thanks to an extra discount code of 26% someone posted on the Dibb
  • Bought Brits Guide to New York
  • Bought Excellent map for New York
  • Checked out Fairfx cards from last time
  • Bought new subzero luggage including take on cases as I am fed up of being the packhorse and carrying 2 rucksacks, a holdall and wheeling a case along while Bradley walks along kicking his heels
  • booked the IBis Airport hotel at Birmingham for the night before.
  • Got 2 new TSA locks from Santa
  • Booked Ibis Hotel at Birmingham Airport for the 23rd May
  • paid an additional £1000 off holiday.
  • paid the final £1370 for the holiday, all paid for now!
  • got another set of TSA locks which were half price in argos
  • Dogs now booked in with dog home from home boarder (£425 left to pay) 4pm drop off on May 23rd, lunchtime collection on June 9th.
  • updated API on continental
  • joined one pass for me and uploaded details
  • join Bradley to one pass and add to continental site
  • bought new luggage labels
  • upgraded to extra leg room seats on BHX to EWK legs of flights
  • upgraded villa to 4 bed with wi-fi, pool, spa/jacuzzi and games room at Highgrove.
  • photopass purchased and all in place for photoshare.
  • ESTA information updated for New York destination for us both.
  • Bradleys clothes all bought for the holiday
  • travel pillows bought from £land
  • travel size suntan lotions bought
  • Spirit of the swamp booked for 31st May
  • buy tickets for Seaworld/aquatica
  • change car meet and greet time
  • printed hotel voucher
  • printed car meet and greet vouchers
  • 2nd batch of dog injections
  • copy driving license, passports etc
  • photopass
  • print of yankees tickets, boat voucher, spirit of swamp info
  • print of SOL confirmation



Things Done New York Specific
  • Bought New York Yankee tickets for the 25th Time 105pm (tickets now in hand.
  • Booked Statue of liberty for 9am on Friday 27th May
  • sent request through to Big Apple Greeters ~ heard back, we are waiting for confirmation, changed times with them for the thursday (wed we are at baseball)
  • bought tickets for Manhattan by Sail cruise for 24th @ 7pm twilight cruise for $0 but $8.50 booking via goldstar total cost was $17 when should have been $80 plus booking.
  • Booked ESB tickets



Things Done Florida Specific
  • bought florida tickets 5+2 free MYW plus from Orlando Attractions (now arrived)
  • booked adr at Tusker house for the last but one day for AK.
  • Spirit of the swamp booked for 1030am on 31st May


Things to do

GENERAL
  • Continue to fill up Fairfx cards
  • Currency
  • get F&B voucher from BHX site
  • fill out dog sitter forms
  • sort and pack dog stuff for sitter
  • get stuff sorted for cats



New York part
  • Email hotel with room request that was sent via Pillinger
  • Book tickets for the sony wonderlab max 3 months before (end March)


Florida Part
  • Driving instructions from MCO to villa
  • Plan intinerary

Spending Money Log

Allowing $175 per day in NYC (tickets etc all paid before we go)
Allowing $100 per day in Orlando ($75 dollars last time was plenty)

Total wanted NYC = £875 and Orlando $1000
Extra for shopping $500
Total wanted $2375

Current cards

Cards currently at $1733

need $600 for me
plus Bradleys spending money @ $15 a day x 15 days = $225.00


Edited at 02:50 PM.
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Old 9 Dec 10, 11:58 AM  
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Helpful Links I have come across for planning


Statue of Liberty Cruises and booking HERE

NYC taxi fares HERE

Restaurant/Diners prices, menues and finding them HERE

Sony Wonder Technology Lab HERE

Tribute WTC (not the workshop) HERE

Subway and Walking Directions HERE

Big Apple Greeters HERE

Official Site of Central Park HERE

DIscount Broadway Theatre TIckets ahead of time HERE

Top of the Rock info HERE

Empire State Building official site/tickets HERE
Privately Owned public spaces to "stop" HERE


instructions of getting to and walking Brooklyn Bridge HERE

Madison Square Garden Events and Tickets HERE

Stub hub for New York Yankees tickets HERE

Roosevelt Island Information including Tram HERE

Gray Line New York bus sightseeing tours / hop on and hop off info HERE


Circle Line Cruises and information HERE

Info about the metrocard and NYC blog with lots of info HERE

Official Site of the New York Pass HERE



LINKS TO MUSEUMS

american museum of natural history HERE

MTA Transit Museum in Brooklyn HERE

New York City Police Museum HERE includes 9/11 tributes

New York City Fire Museum HERE

intrepid sea, air and space museum HERE

Childrens museum of Manhattan HERE


ZOOs

Central Park Zoo HERE

Bronx Zoo HERE

Edited at 06:34 PM.
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Old 9 Dec 10, 12:53 PM  
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Sites for Restaurants/Dining places to check out

Max Brenner
841 Broadway | Btwn 13th & 14th St
website HERE

NEW YORK CITY – 841 Broadway (between 13th and 14th Streets)
Our reservation dates and times change weekly. Please visit Open Table to secure your online reservation. If you are unable to secure a reservation on the date and time you would like to dine with us, please note, that we accept all guests in the order in which they arrive at all times.
Hours of Operation:
Mon – Thurs - 09:00am – Midnight
Fri - 09:00am – 02:00am
Sat - 09:00am – 02:00am (brunch is served from 09:00am - 04:00pm)
Sun - 09:00am – 11:00pm (brunch is served from 09:00am - 04:00pm)

Katz's Deli website HERE
205 East Houston Street, New York, NY 10002


Ellens Stardust Diner website HERE
1650 BROADWAY, CORNER OF 51ST STREET - 212.956.5151 -
MON - THURS: 7AM - 12M / FRI - SAT: 7AM - 1AM / SUN: 7AM - 11PM


Skylight Diner (near hotel)
402 W 34th St, New York NY10001 40.753452 -73.9964958
(At 9th Ave)
Menu HERE

Sweetiepie restaurant facebook page (awaiting reopening news)
HERE

Edited at 10:42 PM.
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Old 10 Dec 10, 01:13 AM  
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Well done on all your planning so far - you've got so much sorted already. It sounds like it will be a fabulous holiday. I think you're doing it the right way round. We did New York after visiting Orlando this year, and wished we'd done New York first. At least we'd have some rest days to relax after the hectic pace of NYC instead of having to come straight home. I'm very jealous!

Just wanted to say how helpful this pre-trippie is, providing so many links which will be a great help for others planning to visit New York. Wish it'd been around before my first visit.

One last thing - that photo of the two of you is absolutely gorgeous!
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Old 10 Dec 10, 09:55 PM  
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Hi Karen,

We are also doing the same trip as you in April next year, 5 nights in New York and 14 nights in Orlando.
Thanks for all the info you have posted, I'm lost with all the New York stuff. It will be nice to start planning the New York part of the holiday.
We are also staying in a villa in Orlando, rented from a fellow Dibber.

Thanks for sharing your info.

Sandra.
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Old 10 Dec 10, 11:07 PM  
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Originally Posted by jocat View Post
Well done on all your planning so far - you've got so much sorted already. It sounds like it will be a fabulous holiday. I think you're doing it the right way round. We did New York after visiting Orlando this year, and wished we'd done New York first. At least we'd have some rest days to relax after the hectic pace of NYC instead of having to come straight home. I'm very jealous!

Just wanted to say how helpful this pre-trippie is, providing so many links which will be a great help for others planning to visit New York. Wish it'd been around before my first visit.

One last thing - that photo of the two of you is absolutely gorgeous!

Thank you

I posted up the links cos I access the Dibb at home and at work, but its not helpful if I want to check something out at work or home and its saved in my favourite at the place Im not so thought I would included them here, update the posts and also in the hope they may be useful to others in their planning
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Old 10 Dec 10, 11:09 PM  
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Originally Posted by Swoody View Post
Hi Karen,

We are also doing the same trip as you in April next year, 5 nights in New York and 14 nights in Orlando.
Thanks for all the info you have posted, I'm lost with all the New York stuff. It will be nice to start planning the New York part of the holiday.
We are also staying in a villa in Orlando, rented from a fellow Dibber.

Thanks for sharing your info.

Sandra.
Sounds great Sandra too Ive really gotten into the NYC planning and even DS isn't overly keen on returning to Orlando/Disney, Im beginning to wish that we had either just gone to NYC for longer or that we'd matched it up with somewhere different.

Not quite sure what it is, I know Im not excited about the villa staying . ..maybe thats it . . .who knows LOL
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Old 10 Dec 10, 11:22 PM  
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I have spent this week reading some more trippies on TA and trying to decide about what to do regarding the car at the airport and hotel etc.

Decided that I wasn't intending to drive up early morning and that I wasn't going to risk the motorway after this years stressful supposed 45 minute trip to the airport which turned into over 2 1/2 hours. A kind Dibber posted a discount code for Meteor meet and greet which gives 26% off, this means Ive paid £70 for my 17 days parking but meet and greet, so going to book a room at the Ibis hotel on birmingham airport as its 2 mins walk across the car park to the terminal

Current hotel prices are £43.60 for the night non cancellable, £60 or £66 with free internet and movies. As we have a 6am check in, wont be worth the latter so will probably book the first one next week

So this week

~ booked meet and greet parking

~ and uploaded the weekly £30 onto my fairfx card (rate only 1.55) glad I uploaded £300 when it was 1.6 now have $770 on one card $155 on the other (need $875 spending money for New York Days @ $175 dollars a day and $1000 dollars for $100 dollars a day for Orlando ~ $75 dollars was plenty last time but adding a bit extra just in case) plus a little extra total wanted $2000 current total $925.

~ had response from Pillinger regarding my queries, and to change to later internal flight would cost £15 each to change ~ decided not to bother.

must remember to sort out photopass (hve started a photopass group) and need to add it to the list.

Move to done list ~ airport parking,
Add to "to do list" ~ photopass, book ibis hotel,
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Old 20 Dec 10, 04:09 AM  
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brillant pre trippie - great deal on the holiday L x
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Old 7 Jan 11, 11:33 PM  
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Havent done a lot. Did contact Pillinger regarding a conversation we had with regards to getting a good deal on the park tickets only to be told its the rate as per their website!

Have stopped uploading money onto Fairfx for the time being due to such a low rate.

Booked the Ibis hotel at Birmingham Airport for the night before we fly, got the room for £49, (had gone up since before Xmas, should have booked before the VAT changes etc) but when we arrive car will be collected by meet and greet and we can relax for the evening ahead of our 6am check in.

Got 2 TSA locks for Xmas (well done Santa!) only labels or something to distinguish luggage by. Mind you with the new subzero luggage we've bought, it does stand out more than traditional luggage.

Picked up $50 of $1 bills for tips while I had spare cash in my purse LOL

Edited at 11:37 PM.
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