The bit before we go...

[mkingdon]

In an alternative Universe to the one you think you live in, a family in Bolton live in a sprawling six bedroom house which requires no further decoration, renovation or even inspiration. The members of said family have every material possession they could desire, and every piece of clothing it is legal to wear, and some that aren’t.

In this strange place, you will never hear conversations about humdrum matters such as cash flow, bills and “why the hell have you bought that?” This family, think they are happy, they think their lives are full and complete. They are wrong.

In the real world, a very similar family, in the same town, live in a modest house that has a list of outstanding jobs longer than a Genesis album, a wardrobe with fewer choices than a vegetarian in a Beefeater, and is so far behind the curve in terms of material possessions that the main family computer is an abacus. In this house however, the walls sport a collection of black and white photographs, taken over the last ten years, each showing a different magic memory.

Who would want to live in a world like this? Well, once you find out that the real world family have squandered almost every last penny on ridiculously expensive holidays to Florida, you may guess that true happiness comes in the shape of a million magical memories and an understanding bank manager.

Yes, the Williams family are at it again, with another Florida adventure almost upon us. As usual, between the writing of trip reports my postings have been few and far between here on The Dibb, for which I as ever apologise. So where have I been?

I have been busy changing jobs, I started blogging and I've been dealing with boring real life stuff, but in a few short days we shall be back where we belong, and as ever it doesn’t feel real yet, and I can’t make the mental leap from mundane to magic just yet.

For those unfamiliar with our travels so far, I should explain that we’ve developed a fairly serious addiction to Florida, and our list of visits reads like Alan Whicker’s diary from the 1970s. Ignoring my trips as a child with my parents, as a family, we have been in….

October 1999
August 2001
August 2003
August 2004
December 2005
August 2006
August 2007
August 2008
August 2009

A decade of decadence. I refuse to tot up the amount of cash this equates to, as it could easily have funded my tummy tuck and hair weave, with enough spare cash to fund my “special reduction” procedure that would make Louise’s life that much easier too!

However, after last year’s ten year anniversary tour, the crunching of credit had bitten, and it was time to face the reality that a 2010 trip would indeed be beyond us. This was a bitter blow as 2010 is a landmark year for me, as I am to reach the (unbelievable if you saw me, even without the hair weave) age of 40.

We endured the winter months, battling endless snow, work and other nuisances, praying for some money miracle that would allow us to squander some more. Things looked bleak, and as ever, being apparently denied our holiday of choice, I was reluctant to consider alternatives.

Then, as a sure sign that we are destined to take these trips every year, such a miracle came along in early 2010. To cut a long story short, a much promised, seldom delivered bonus scheme at work actually paid out. It took me the short walk between board room (where this was announced) and desk to calculate the amount of the payment, formulate my strategy for securing reasonable flights, and begin the accommodation search. Whilst doing that, in best multi tasking mode, I also sent Louise a text with the good news, and her only response was to “stop p***ing about texting her, and book the flights”.

Back at my desk I blew the cobwebs from my computer and it saw a flurry of activity not witnessed since, well, the booking of last year’s holiday.

Luckily, despite the fact that I knew we couldn’t afford to go, I had for many months been regularly checking flight prices, so it didn’t take long to find what we needed, that being direct flights for less than the value of our house.

Having done indirect and regretted it (you can read about the painful experience here) direct was pretty much a must, although faced with indirect or no trip, you can guess what the decision would be.

So to cut another long story short, it is tradition to outline the details of our upcoming jaunt.

Flights

Thomas Cook from Manchester into Sanford on the 20th of August. I made great efforts (and extra expense) to make sure we had the vital extra inches in leg room and seat back TVs! As an aside don't ever try to enter your API info onto the Thomas Cook website. You will waste too much of your life in and endless loop of woeful web user experience and pages that take weeks to load. A quick google of the issue will outline that you shouldn't bother, TC know it is pants, and will do API at the airport. Just saying...

Car Hire

From Alamo – I have reserved a Sinclair C5, based on the premise that these car hire places don’t have anything small, so we should get something that can at least fit us all in, even if it takes two trips!

Accommodation

A mixture of villa and hotels.
The villa is of course a Dibb Villa. Coral has been kind enough to let us stay at her villa for the first nine nights of our trip.

In those first nine nights however we nip up to Daytona for one night to “do the beach” and the local water park. We are staying at the Sun Viking Lodge.

This looks to be great value for a beach front hotel, and it has oft been praised on the Dibb. If I am not impressed I shall be visiting all those members to secure a full refund, and apology!

We also have one night booked at the Hard Rock Hotel to get the essential front of line access in the Universal parks. We do have 14 day tickets for Universal so we may, if we find ourselves at a loose end, pop in when not staying on site, just to soak up the atmosphere and tackle any rides with a queue sub 20 minutes.

The trip ends with the realisation of a long held wish to stay at the Beach Club, courtesy of the kindness, and lending of points, of TinkTatoo (Thanks Jakki). I shall wake on my birthday in the magical embrace of the Beach Club.

Meets

We are, as if you hadn’t realised by now, creatures of habit, and we are meeting up with old friends (well they aren’t that old, but older than me) Jakki (TinkTatoo), Steve and their kids Naimh and Aoidhan. I like to spell their names differently each year….that is sort of a tradition too. We are also meeting Margaret (gala), Michael and Katherine, Catherine, Kathryn, Katheryn, (one of those has to be the right one! ) for cocktails at the Hard Rock pool bar. Knowing Margaret we’ll no doubt be rolling in at 6am, jacked up on Sex on the Beach (that’s a cocktail!) and cheesecake….and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.


Anyway, if this is all new to you, then I should, as is the pre trip norm, run through the cast members for the trip.

Craig (me) – You now know how old I am. Husband, father, captain of industry, Bon viveur, stretcher of T shirts, and buffet worrier.



What do you mean I look stupid in this photograph?

Louise – Older than me, wife, mother, boob photographer, flight hater, sun worshipper and wine worrier.



Emily – Eldest daughter, 15, fringe wearer, freaky child (her Mum’s nickname for her), apprentice drummer, boy worrier, beautiful.



Rebecca – Youngest daughter, 13, fringe wearer, bass player in the making, wrapper of Dad around little finger-er, boy worrier and of course beautiful.



This photo comes courtesy of Rebecca's facebook collection!

Ryan – Yellow and blue, getting on a bit, and we’re very close.



I think all the preparations are complete now. Park tickets were secured a week or so ago, and we, who am I kidding, I, plumped for a Magic Your Way Base Ticket (10 days), and the Universal 14 day from Orlando Attractions. In the past we’ve done the Ultimate ticket, but the difference in price is just too much to ignore.

The MYW was about $240 (roughly £160) each, whereas the Ultimate 14 day is around £220. Multiply that difference by four and the case is compelling. The one drawback is that you can’t park hop, but with 10 days, we have around three days spare in case we need to, or if we want to nip into a park for an evening to watch the fireworks etc.

On Monday of this week I sat and watched the dollar rate rise nicely at the perfect time, and I took the plunge more or less right at the top of the swell. I got a rate of 1.567 from Crown, and they arrive with us tomorrow. Hopefully the rate will stay where it is at least now, so the credit card purchases benefit. At the risk of being too much of a currency geek, I have a Post Office credit card, which apparently doesn’t do all that nasty extra charging and rate capping when you spend overseas too!

As I mentioned earlier, I am just a couple of weeks into my new job, and things seem to be going OK. They still let me in every morning anyway. It is hard to concentrate on a new job when I have something really important like our next trip to think about. My mind keeps wandering to all the places we love, the special atmosphere unique to WDW, and in no small way the food!

So I think that’s it. You know what you need to know, if you haven’t endured one of my trip reports before and you really want to see what the trip report might be like have a look at the ones below, to see if you are up for it. In the meantime, as we countdown to take off, feel free to track our progress on Twitter and/or Facebook, and of course via my blog. The latter doesn’t always focus on Florida, but I suspect it may over the next couple of weeks!

Not long now...

[Lydiakate]

Brilliant. Been waiting for this pre-trip to be posted. Have a wonderful holiday.

[TrueBlue]

ooooo goodie... another Williams trip report coming up soon!

All sounds good Craig...glad you've managed to squeeze another trip in this year

[Guest]

Cannot wait for another undoubtably hilarious trip report!
Havea fab time!

[ambersmom]

can't wait for more Craig - no nan and grandad this year?

[mkingdon]

Originally Posted by ambersmom

can't wait for more Craig - no nan and grandad this year?

See more...

No not this year. Just the four of us (five with Ryan)

[Guest]

Yeah! I was beginning to think you weren't going to do a pre-trip this year!

Have a fab time Williams family! Really looking forward to hearing all about it.

xx

[Guest]

Very entertaining ... looking forward to the trippie

[Benno1]

Brilliant pre trippie, been waiting a long time for this
Hope you have a Brilliant time and I know there will be a lot of us waiting with baited breath to read your trip report

[dangallimore]

Awesome, cant wait to read your reports when you get back. loved the previous ones Have a great time