Wheeler's Wishes - Pre Trip Report

[chaffey]

Hi,

Only just noticed your update. sounds like your Mum has had a good week at work and glad that the chemo is finally over.

Hope you manage to get the ADR's that you want, any idea where you want to eat out of the world?

Hope you both have a great week

Tracey

[Guest]

Originally Posted by chaffey

Hi,

Only just noticed your update. sounds like your Mum has had a good week at work and glad that the chemo is finally over.

Hope you manage to get the ADR's that you want, any idea where you want to eat out of the world?

Hope you both have a great week

Tracey

See more...

Hi Tracey!

We have a fair few where we want to eat out of the world, am going to start making a list to most next week once we have some of our ADR's, am going to sort our itinerary onto here so will post a link to that next week too!

Have just handed in a major bit of coursework so am having a bit of a re-group day today and including a bit of Disney in there!

Zoe x

[Derryfam]

Hi Tracy

Not sure where I've been with your report? I'm a pre trip a holic! great start and updates! I did read mum's start but she obviously handed it over to you whilst she is having her treatment! She seems very positive which is one of the best medicines!

Looks like we'll be there at the same time! I'm very jealous of you staying at the Bay Lake especially with a park view very cool

How funny I actually did the Hi everybody voice whist reading LOL

Take care and Lookin forward to the updates!

[Guest]

Update #3 502 Days to go

The more observant of you may have noticed something different… our countdown has increased, rather than decreased! As much as it pained us to do so we have decided that due to mum still recovering from her chemotherapy that it would be best for us to put the trip back a year to give her more time to recover more as she is still sleeping for most of the weekends.

However to make up for us not going for this year, we have changed our plans slightly… we are now flying from London Heathrow into Miami International. On arrival in Miami we are toying with two options: a) staying the first night in Miami as neither of us sleep particularly well whilst flying and then driving up to Orlando, leaving Miami early in the morning, to hopefully get to Magic Kingdom after dropping our bags off at which ever DVC location we are staying at and having some fun there. The other option, b) is we drive up the east coast of Florida from Miami to Disney’s Vero Beach.

At the moment we’re leaning towards the Vero Beach option to give us a couple of days to get over the jet lag, as like I said neither of us are good sleepers! This will give us the chance just to relax so we can hit the parks running a few days in. I know that not going to Magic Kingdom on the first morning will be hard, but it may mean that we can get away with only needing 14 days’ worth of tickets rather than 21 day ultimate tickets.

It is another four, nearly five months before we can book anything with our points, and not until another 4 months after that that we can change so this could completely change in the meantime!

We’re also thinking of two or three (probably two) nights at a Universal Hotel – Hard Rock Hotel is my choice – in order to get FOTL passes and early entry into Wizarding World of Harry Potter! I’m going to use Universal as my main reason (other than health) for losing weight as it is roller coaster Nirvana in my opinion and I really do LOVE roller coasters!

I would (and I know mum would) love to do Discovery Cove again this trip… it’s something that we need to look into, as other than the dolphin swim, the river and the food (YUM!) I don’t really do anything as I have a HUGE phobia of birds – I’ve been bitten by swans, swooped at by seagulls, had my chips stolen by seagulls and a pelican flew about 3 foot over my head when we went to the Gulf Coast of Florida in 1996, so these are with good reason! I also don’t like going into the sting ray pool as they have wings (this is how much I hate birds, that I don’t even like rays! ). I did try the ray pool in 2009 when we did trainer for the day, but as I explained in the trip report from back then, I got in into about my knees and then too many came near me at once, I freaked out, and ran back out of the pool! I won’t even go into the snorkelling bit with the fish as they come around me too quickly! That said, when you take out the cost of the other tickets that are included it is quite a good deal, and we would take the Busch Gardens tickets for that too as neither of us are particularly fussed with Seaworld.

After the two nights at Vero Beach and two nights at Hard Rock (I will get my way!) that leaves us with 17 nights which I’m sure we’ll work out, We’d obviously like to stay at our Home Resort… it is why we brought there, and I think we both still want to give Beach Club Villa’s a go, but things may be a bit tight for points, so we may have to go for a few nights at Saratoga Springs or Old Key West in the middle, or before we go to Bay Lake Tower (our home resort).

What I would like to do is go to either OKW or SSR for 5 nights, to get the free Disney Dining Plan for when we are there, make use of it for those few days – especially with being so close to DTD where I know you can make good use of QS credits at a few places and then do our signature restaurants in those few days.

So now we have a lot to think about is the long and the short of it! I am going to try and keep a diary of what is going on with everything to do with this holiday and hopefully keep it updated on the first Sunday of each month, though things may not start to pick up until October/November when we can actually book some accommodation!

Things To Do
Taxi up to airport
Holiday Insurance
Holiday Money
API’s
ADR’s – we already have a list of quite a few we have made so will just make those again closer to the time!
Prescription/Medical Letter for Caroline
Find somewhere Zoe can watch Grand Prix
Make Wal-Mart shopping list
Flights
Book Seats
Accommodation
New ESTA’s (ours will have run out)
Tickets – Disney, Universal and Discovery Cove
Keys to the Kingdom Tour?

Things Already Sorted
Passports Checked (and valid)
Map’s for Sat-Nav

Next Update

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Derryfam

Hi Tracy

Not sure where I've been with your report? I'm a pre trip a holic! great start and updates! I did read mum's start but she obviously handed it over to you whilst she is having her treatment! She seems very positive which is one of the best medicines!

Looks like we'll be there at the same time! I'm very jealous of you staying at the Bay Lake especially with a park view very cool

How funny I actually did the Hi everybody voice whist reading LOL

Take care and Lookin forward to the updates!

See more...

Hi

We would have been there at the same time... then we went and changed things! We're going the same 1 year and 2 weeks later than when we originally were now

hehehe, I love the helloooo every-body Dr Nick bits of the Simpsons




Oh yes... when the first Sunday of the month happens to be a Sunday of a Grand Prix... you'll have to wait, I'll be watching my future (fantasy) husband drive lights to flag wins until late November pretty much every other weekend

[Guest]

Update #4 - 502 Days to Go! - What Our Plan was...

Incase any of you were wondering what our plan and ADR’s looked like before we changed our dates, here it is… if you weren’t wondering, I’ve posted it anyway, because it took me ages and it is the first time I have really had all that much to do with planning… hence the huge spreadsheet; yes, I am one of those people!

Tuesday 6th September 2011
AM – Transfer Home to London Gatwick Airport, Breakfast in V:Room
PM – Arrive at Orlando International Airport, Transfer to Bay LakeTower, Dinner at Five Guys Burger Bar

Wednesday 7th September 2011
AM – Breakfast at Chef Mickey’s, Contemporary Resort (ADR). Magic Kingdom for Rope Drop.
PM – Magic Kingdom, Lunch at Manny’s Chop House, Shopping at Wal-Mart, back to Magic Kingdom if feel up to it. Dinner at Homemade or Counter Service.

Thursday 8th September 2011
AM – Waterpark. Breakfast at Homemade
PM – Waterpark/Rest & Relaxation. Evening at Downtown Disney, Dinner at Paridiso 37 (ADR)

Friday 9th September 2011
AM – EARLY Breakfast at IHOP. Epcot- Futureworld. Lunch at Olive Garden
PM - Afternoon Free. Watch Wishes from Top of the World Lounge

Saturday 10th September 2011
AM – Spirit of the Swamp Tour. Early lunch at Chili’s
PM – Pool at Bay Lake Tower, Evening Fantasmic at Hollywood Studios (Attempt 1!)

Sunday 11th September 2011
AM – Breakfast at Ohana (ADR). Go to Celebration
PM – Celebration. Dinner at Steak and Shake

Monday 12th September 2011
AM – Animal Kingdom. Breakfast at Espresso, Coffee and Pastries, AK
PM – Lunch at Flame Tree BBQ. Hopefully watch parade. Dinner at TGI Fridays

Tuesday 13th September 2011
CAROLINE’S BIRTHDAY
AM – Breakfast at The Wave, Contemporary Resort. (ADR). Mother’s Choice
PM – Mother’s Choice. Dinner at Texas De Brazil

Wednesday 14th September 2011
AM – Check out of Bay Lake Tower. Move to Beach Club Villa’s. Epcot World Showcase.
PM – Epcot World Showcase. Illuminations. Dinner at Hacienda de San Angel (ADR)

Thursday 15th September 2011
ZOE’S BIRTHDAY
AM – Swimming in Stormalong Bay
PM – Lunch at Cheesecake Factory, Shopping at Mall at Millenia & Prime Outlets. Dinner at Wendy Burger

Friday 16th September 2011
AM – ?
PM – Lunch at Teppan Edo (ADR). Back to Beach Club. Dinner at Yachtsman Steakhouse (ADR)

Saturday 17th September 2011
AM – Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Breakfast at Starring Rolls Café
PM – Lunch at Mama Melrose’s (ADR). Fantasmic at DHS (Attempt 2!)

Sunday 18th September 2011
AM – Lie in/Shopping
PM – Lunch at Ruby Tuesday’s. Shopping at Florida Mall. Dinner at Whispering Canyon Café, Wilderness Resort (ADR).

Monday 19th September 2011
AM – Four Mountains Challenge
PM – Lunch at Le Cellier (ADR). Rest

Tuesday 20th September 2011
AM – Check out of Beach Club Villa’s
PM – Lunch at Wendy Burger. Transfer to Orlando International Airport. Check In. Dinner at Outback Steakhouse (Airside)

Wednesday 21st September 2011
AM – Arrive back to London Gatwick airport. Transfer to Poole.
PM – Home


We haven’t cancelled the ADR’s yet! I want to keep hold of them incase we win the Lottery, in truth, we just haven’t gotten around to cancelling them yet… if any of you would like any of them, please PM either me or mum (cheekieminx) and we’ll see what we can do!

Next Update

[pcnine28]

Sorry to read that you've had to postpone this years trip but it seems sensible to me. Although I am very fortunate not to have been poorly, I was pregnant last time I was in WDW and it knocked me for six, a few days where barely did anything as I was so sick and tired.
Much better to wait til mom is much better :-)
Plus, it gives you longer to lose some weight so that you can really enjoy US and IOA and to save more spending money, yippee!
Btw, your degree sounds really interesting, what do you hope to do when you graduate?

[Guest]

Originally Posted by pcnine28

Sorry to read that you've had to postpone this years trip but it seems sensible to me. Although I am very fortunate not to have been poorly, I was pregnant last time I was in WDW and it knocked me for six, a few days where barely did anything as I was so sick and tired.
Much better to wait til mom is much better :-)
Plus, it gives you longer to lose some weight so that you can really enjoy US and IOA and to save more spending money, yippee!
Btw, your degree sounds really interesting, what do you hope to do when you graduate?

See more...

The more we think about it, the more we realise that it is a good idea! I also forgot to add that had we gone this year my 30,000 word MSc dissertation would have been due in 2 days after we returned! We'd booked before I knew dates and stuff for the course!

When I graduate, I hope to find a job! My degree covers both Forensic Anthropology and Forensic Archaeology, but I prefer Anthropology so either find a job in one of those, or get an office job for the time being and keep my eye out! Have been looking at a few internships and am in the process of applying for those too - just need to re-learn french before I can properly apply! I would also work in general Forensic Science as that is what my undergraduate degree is in, but the area is, unfortunately, really saturated with people who can do the work!

I do really want to go to Universal this year... we're such disneyphiles that even though we've originally got tickets to Universal for trips in 2006 & 2009 we've ended up either selling them or cancelling them before we went! We weren't going to be going this year, but with the three week trip we want to

Hope you have a lovely time in Paris when you go

[sarahewoods]

Hey Zoe

Lovely to see your update, obviously I already knew your plans, and I am of course sorry you are not going this year but happy at the same time that you and your mum can join us on our special date.

I think you are doing th right thing on holding onto the ADR's, you never know what may happen,... That euros is mine tonight don't worry I will ake you both with me

Another grand prix fan, I just love it, in fact would lve to go to see on live, but is a little too expensive for us.

Looking forward to meeting you and your mum in July, speak soon, take care, pass my love on to your mum xx

[pcnine28]

Um Sarah, if you win about 107 million tonight, do you think you can me too, pretty please?
Lol xx