Notices

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Old 22 Apr 19, 08:58 PM  
Link to this Post
#1
Mrspodington
Getting Excited
 
Mrspodington's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 14
Off we go again August 2020 pre trip and planning ** UPDATED 15/01/2020 **

Florida 2020 is happening no backing out now the deal has been done and it's only taken roughly two years of gentle persuasion (read as asking every month) to get here. We have agreed (The grump has been persuaded) to give up this years family holiday and sell a kidney each so we can return to “The happiest place on earth”

We have previously visited Florida in 2001 staying at the Rodeway inn on international drive (I believe this is now the Rosen inn?),
2011 again staying at the Rodeway inn, this time we got married at Hollis gardens in Lakeland and finally our last trip was in 2015 and was the first time we had hired a private villa. Now everytime we have visited I have been told it is absolutely our last trip and every time I nod, smile and agree (The grump cant really think he's keeping me away can he?)

Decisions have been made and budgets have been decided (I've told the grump how much we need, no discussions needed) so here's what we have currently agreed on (also translated as what I've told everyone else we will be doing)

We definitely want to do three weeks this time so its 16 days in Orlando with a private villa, down to Miami for 4 days then back up to Orlando for 1 night in a hotel the day before we fly home. Our dates are 29/07/2020 – 19/08/2020

As we can't currently book much let me introduce the travelers in our tale.

Vikki,
Wife of a non Disnerd (grump?), mum to a 21 year old non Disnerd and a 12 year old absolute Disney freak.
Myself well I definitely fall into the Disnerd category, I'm the one you see dancing around out at the merest mention of Disney, the one who walks through the gates to the Kingdom of the Magic and cries all the while demanding everyone in the party takes a minute or 10 to fully appreciate the splendour and beauty that is Cinderella's castle.
I'm a huge Harry potter fan too so for me Florida is my home town, the place where literally all of my dreams come true.
I also happen to be fully in charge (oh the power) I am chief organiser, booker and arranger of our trips. I love to plan, like really really plan, I plan everything right down to the last and finest detail, I become this deranged Disney monster who stays up until the early hours of the morning looking and reading other peoples trip reports and finding hints and tips to make our time in Florida the best it can be, the term deranged and neurotic may have been mentioned by family members and friends in the past but when those people want advice or hints and tips I'm the one they come to (who's neurotic now sandra?) In reality I am likely to forget something really really important, think park tickets or maybe a child (yes I lost my child in Disney once and have never lived it down)

Scott AKA the Grump
My non Disnerd husband and financier of making all my Disney and Harry Potter dreams come true.
This man would never be caught shedding a tear during the fireworks or exclaiming how magical the Kingdom is however he's got his head screwed on right and is going with the flow (happy wife, happy life and all that)

Keir AKA The boy
21 and second non Disnerd of the family ( is he even mine?), this is the child I lost in Disney so maybe I scarred him for life. This one is just coming along for the ride and the shopping. Relaxed and chilled by nature he will go with the flow and do whatever he needs to to keep everyone happy APART from his younger sister who he happily winds up to the point of her declaring full scale war.

Lexie AKA Winnie witch
Age 12 and definitely one of mine! A full Disnerd and Harry potter fan just like me ( I'm so proud). This one is a full on adrenaline junkie and loves to plan as much as I do so will often be found watching Vloggers on you tube whilst deciding which Roller coaster we should do first.
Currently heading into the dreaded teens and is easily wound up by the infuriating big brother so expect a few fireworks of the non Disney kind.

Here we all are with the big man himself way back in 2015



If your still with us after all that here's where we currently are as far as booking and planning goes, I will amend and update as things get done.

22/03/2019 Villa has been booked. We (I) have booked a lovely villa in the High grove community. I seriously drove myself mad looking at villa's, there are so many beautiful ones available in the end I just had to make a decision and bite the bullet and book.

20/04/2019
My very own Disney world planner arrived, its red, its got Mickey heads on it's perfect. The arrival of my planner lead to hushed conversations between the grump and the boy where the words “nutter” and “crazy lady” could be heard although I can neither confirm or deny this as I was too busy gushing over the book that will become my bible.
The arrival of my planner may also have created some friction between myself and Winnie witch after she asked if she could also write in it and was given a firm “No”, I did however manage to rectify the situation before she had dialled the last digit for childline and I have agreed to buy her a Disney planner of her very own ( First disaster of the holiday averted)

Edited at 01:25 PM. Reason: edited title
Mrspodington is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 23 Apr 19, 11:24 PM  
Link to this Post
#2
Minnie Mum
Imagineer
 
Join Date: Nov 15
Mobile

Have a great trip😊
Minnie Mum is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 15 Jan 20, 09:53 AM  
Link to this Post
#3
Mrspodington
Thread Starter
Getting Excited
 
Mrspodington's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 14
** UPDATE**

Planning this trip has been a real roller coaster with more twists and turns than space mountain but things are finally slotting into place so here's an update and a quick look at how our plans currently look.

Our original dates were set as 29/07/2020 -19/08/2020, villa was booked from 29/07/2020 for 16 days with the a miami trip planned for the rest of time, we were just waiting for our flight date to be released, we had been tracking the prices for almost a year and it had looked like we were set to pay around £3800 flying direct from Manchester to MCO with virgin, our budget was £4000 for flights so I was quite content with the fact that our dates were set and was happily sat waiting for the flight release date.

Fast forward to 22/09/2019 the night before our flight dates were released I sat excited with my card ready to hit the book button and went to bed happy that the next day is when our dream trip would become a reality. As I skipped down stairs the following morning and fired up the laptop my reality became a bit of a nightmare (I'm being dramatic for effect but you get the idea right?). The laptop fired up and I was greeted with the announcement that TC had gone into liquidation thoughts of how awful that must be for staff, those who had holidays booked and those that were stuck in their current destinations played through my mind as I happily searched for my dates to book my flights, search results soon appeared along with my tears of frustration my flight prices were around £4500 way above budget and had risen to eye watering amounts to (in my opinion) take advantage of those who needed to rebook after losing their flights through TC. I'm going to be honest all thoughts of the poor people who had lost jobs/holidays or were stuck soon left my normally sane and reasonable mind and were replaced with ones of utter despair, I cried, stamped my feet like a small child, probably uttered many swear words and told anyone that would listen that my plans were ruined and we were NOT going to Florida. The grump tried to console me by saying we could always go to Spain but after seeing the look on my face retreated rather quickly as he realised he was in danger of being drop kicked into next year. Why does Disney planning turn normal people into complete raving lunatics? or is it just me?

I spent many many weeks checking prices, trying to find alternative departure airports, thinking if we were prepared to fly indirect (the grump was, I was not). I had my heart set on bubble seats with virgin again after loving the experience the last time so my unwillingness to compromise has hindered us to some degree.

I decided that the only way we could afford to go was if I plucked up the courage and asked the head of the school were I work if I could have 2 days off at the beginning of the September term. It took almost a week of dithering before I strode into his office and demanded that I got the time off or he would be ruining my Disney dream (I actually begged and smiled sweetly a lot!) I also used the fact that it was my 40th birthday because he had previously let other staff have time off for their big birthdays, and guess what I had the result I wanted, was he happy about it? absolutely not but in his own words "I can't refuse you when I've done it for others" (knew he would see it my way;-)

Our dates are now 19/08/202 - 7/08/2020
flights are booked and I've got the bubble seats I wanted, in the end we saved a huge amount by moving our dates and our flights came in at £2600 booked through Netflights because they were cheaper than booking through Virgin direct ( how does that work?). The villa currently has our dates available on their availability calendar so I'm just waiting to hear back as to if they can accommodate us for our new dates but if not I'm happy to loose the £250 deposit because even by doing that we've saved a huge amount anyway.

We have decided not to go to Miami now too opting instead to extend the villa for an extra 5 days. We will have a car so are going to explore other areas of Florida as day trips with maybe a 1 night stay in Clearwater?

Left to do is
Park tickets - Disney/Universal and maybe Discovery Cove
Book car hire
Plan,plan,plan!

I'm sure there will be a few more twists and turns before we go but for now I'm happy and content with the fact we have booked and we are actually going because for a while it honestly looked like we were going to flipping Spain.
__________________
International drive - 2001, , International drive - 2006, Davenport Villa - 2015
Mrspodington is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 15 Jan 20, 09:57 AM  
Link to this Post
#4
Rabel
Very Serious Dibber
 
Rabel's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 17
Well done for getting the extra days off, I swear work never really starts until the second week of term anyway.
Fingers crossed that the rest of your planning goes well and there is very little crossing out in your planner. Would love to know what you think of Discovery Cove!
Rabel is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 15 Jan 20, 01:18 PM  
Link to this Post
#5
Mrspodington
Thread Starter
Getting Excited
 
Mrspodington's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 14
Originally Posted by Rabel View Post
Well done for getting the extra days off, I swear work never really starts until the second week of term anyway.
Fingers crossed that the rest of your planning goes well and there is very little crossing out in your planner. Would love to know what you think of Discovery Cove!
Thanks, I really was so very nervous asking for the time but glad I plucked up the courage, you're right the first week is really just settling back in so I'm sure I wont be missed too much.

Discovery cove has been a dream since way back when and each time we go back I promise to do it but run out of funds/time, I think it will definitely happen this time as a treat for the big 40! I will be writing a full trip report so hopefully everyone can follow along.
__________________
International drive - 2001, , International drive - 2006, Davenport Villa - 2015
Mrspodington is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 15 Jan 20, 10:55 PM  
Link to this Post
#6
MinnieMrsA
Imagineer
 
MinnieMrsA's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 16
Mobile

A big well done for getting those extra days off! I used to be a teacher and I know how oddly restrictive it can be for holidays (and how expensive!). Sounds like a brilliant family trip! Xx
MinnieMrsA is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 16 Jan 20, 01:26 PM  
Link to this Post
#7
Mrspodington
Thread Starter
Getting Excited
 
Mrspodington's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 14
Originally Posted by MinnieMrsA View Post
A big well done for getting those extra days off! I used to be a teacher and I know how oddly restrictive it can be for holidays (and how expensive!). Sounds like a brilliant family trip! Xx
Thank you
It's a nightmare isn't it when you''re so restricted and so frustrating that you are always caught up in the cycle of paying over the odds for holidays but I always appreciate how lucky I am to get so much time off to spend with the kids.

I honestly can't wait to go now!
__________________
International drive - 2001, , International drive - 2006, Davenport Villa - 2015
Mrspodington is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 19 Jan 20, 08:22 PM  
Link to this Post
#8
jothp
Apprentice Imagineer
 
jothp's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 15
It sounds like your plans are starting to come together. I work in a school too so feel your pain about having to book in school holidays so well done for getting a couple of extra days off.
jothp is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 12:04 AM.


Powered by vBulletin - Copyright © 2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
DIBB Savings
AttractionTickets.com

Get £10 off each Disney Ticket with the code ATDIBB10

Get up to £50 off per room at Disney or Universal with the code DIBBHOTELS


theDIBB Blog
One of the the five worlds found in Epic Universe, How to Train Your Dragon... Read More »
Disney announced that a new nighttime show, “Disney Dreams That Soar,” will run nightly at... Read More »
Walt Disney World Resort guests can get ready to have a “glowing’’ good time when... Read More »


theDIBB Menu


Exchange Rates
US Dollar Rates
ASDA  $1.2350
CaxtonFX  $1.2300
Covent Garden FX  $1.2548
FAIRFX  $1.2365
John Lewis  $1.2398
M&S  $1.2191
Sainsburys  $1.2347
TESCO  $1.2364
Travelex  $1.2361
Updated: 23:00 29/03/2024
Euro Rates
ASDA  €1.1440
CaxtonFX  €1.1390
Covent Garden FX  €1.1515
FAIRFX  €1.1468
John Lewis  €1.1477
M&S  €1.1289
Sainsburys  €1.1440
TESCO  €1.1445
Travelex  €1.1469
Updated: 23:00 29/03/2024

DIBB Premium Membership
Did you know you can help support theDIBB with Premium Membership?

Check out this link for more information and benefits, such as...

"No adverts on theDIBB Forums"

Upgrade Now



X