Beauty & The Beast take THE CHIPS & Co on thier first Mickey Adventure - Nov 2014 - Pre Trippie

[WileyCoyote]

What a fabulous trip you have planned. Loving your story so far, you have been mega organised and the pics are brilliant, really bring your story to life. We will look out for you if we make it to any of the parks !

[cintabelle]

Originally Posted by WileyCoyote

What a fabulous trip you have planned. Loving your story so far, you have been mega organised and the pics are brilliant, really bring your story to life. We will look out for you if we make it to any of the parks !

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Thanks.. I appreciate the comments, still very new to this trip report malarkey! Lol

But I think it will be something for us all to read back and to bring back all the good memories.

[LauraC]

Really enjoying your pre-trippie, looks like you have some fantastic plans!

[cintabelle]

Originally Posted by LauraC

Really enjoying your pre-trippie, looks like you have some fantastic plans!

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Thanks Hun - I just need the next 199 days to fly by now!

[lfc_sarah]

Great pre-trippie! I love how you've done all of the pictures into little collages! Really enjoyed reading it! Plus you're there at the same time as us. We go on the 10th-24th!

Keep it updated because I'd love to read more, especially your finalised plans, I may see you about the parks!

[cintabelle]

TICKET TRAUMAS...







Sorting out which tickets we wanted has been a bit of a Trauma this time! At one point I literally thought my brain was going to explode!

Usually we just get the 14day ultimate Disney tickets, we have used the Magic Your Way tickets in the past but this year we wanted the Flexibility of the Ultimate. Especially as we were travelling with 5 people that have never been before, including 2 small children. Our issue is we are going back in September of 2015, so it makes more sense to buy the Annual Passes for this years trip.

BUT ... Then Disney Dining was confirmed to be returning for 2015! Our plan is to stay at the Board Walk & Hard Rock next year, if I am wanting Disney Dining, we would have to purchase Disney tickets again next year!

We are hoping to stay at the Boardwalk for 5 days, one of these days we will be eating at V&A's, so the dining plan would only really be relevant for 4 days. After lots of calculations, advise from other Dibbers, we decided that the free dining wasn't for us. If we buy the annual passes this year, it's an extra £200. If we paid for 14 day passes again next year, we would be paying out another £600 approx. So the saving is £400 - would we eat £400 of food in 4 days? The other issues with Disney dining, you get a main and a dessert and we really prefer starters. I don't think I have ever ordered a dessert in America, with exception of the Cheesecake Factory and that was to take away!

So after taking advise from some lovely Dibbers, we decided we would go for the Annual Pass and alongside it, the Tables in Wonderland Card. We would then save on car parking fee's this year and next, we would have free Valet parking for the 2 years holidays and we would get 20% off every meal inc drinks! When I looked at the savings that I would be making, Disney dining just didn't work out as an option for us. We will still be eating in Disney restaurants but I will be able to order my starter and main, cocktails and get 20% off! As there is 7 of us this year, that's going to be a big saving, especially as I can get the discount of Character meals like CRT and Tusker House!

So we have finally settled on the Disney Annual Pass & the Tables in Wonderland Card!







Next we had to decide if we all wanted to go to Discovery Cove?! We have done this every year but I wanted to make sure it was something that everyone else wanted to do. If Discovery Cove was on the cards, we wouldn't be needing the Universal Flex ticket.

Everyone decided they would like to visit Discovery Cove, without the dolphin swim. So purchasing the Discovery Cove tickets gives us access to Aquatica and Seaworld for 14 days. We would not be visiting Bush Gardens this year.







And finally our Universal tickets, we have decided in the Universal 2 Park, that will give us 14 days access to Universal and Islands of Adventure. We will be staying at Hard Rock for a night, so we will also have our complimentary FOTL passes.







Now we have decided on our tickets, we now need to get saving so we can purchase them!

Disney Annual Pass - $650 x2 (£812 approx)

Tables in Wonderland Card - $100 (£62 approx)

Discovery Cove non swim - $179 x2 (£233 approx)

Universal 2 Park - £111 x2 (£222)

Total Ticket Cost - £1329!

Ouch... Best start saving my Pennies!

[cintabelle]

Originally Posted by lfc_sarah

Great pre-trippie! I love how you've done all of the pictures into little collages! Really enjoyed reading it! Plus you're there at the same time as us. We go on the 10th-24th!

Keep it updated because I'd love to read more, especially your finalised plans, I may see you about the parks!

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Thanks for Reading.. I am glad you enjoyed it.

I have just noticed you have started a pre trip trippe.. I am off to have a read!

[Luby-lu]

Fab pre trippie :-)
we will be there on the 27th Nov
I cant wait! ! :-)

[cintabelle]

Originally Posted by Luby-lu

Fab pre trippie :-)
we will be there on the 27th Nov
I cant wait! :-)

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Thanks for reading... November will soon be here, I can't believe how fast the year is going!

[cintabelle]

Well it's been a busy weekend as far as the Disney planning goes...

It's been the May Bank holiday and the sun has been shining. It is rare for Paul to be off on Bank holidays, so we have been enjoying the time together - Long walks with the dogs and plenty of Disney Planning.

We have been waiting for the Christmas Part Nights to be officially released & on the 5th May, they were available to book! It was 100% confirmed, we would be going the MVMCP on our last night before flying home!

The knock on effect of this was, our plan was now pretty much set in stone and we could go ahead and book The Hard Rock Hotel & Discovery Cove.

I started by looking into getting The Hard Rock Hotel confirmed. I went direct through the Hard Rock website to start with... 2 rooms, 5 adults & 2 children. The price came back at $667 - approx £420.

I then tried Thomas Cook ... NO AVAILABILITY! I went on to try a few different travel operator, all were coming back with No Availability for the night I wanted!

Paul went via Trivago & Trip Advisor, it came back with a message that 25 operators had been checked and there was no availability!

Panic was starting to set in a little... I was only actually looking for prices today and wasn't planning on booking! After a frantic text to my Mum and Brother, we all agreed if I could get availability, I should just get it booked!

I then remembered that my bank account (RBS Private Black Account) had a dedicated travel concierge service. So I gave them a quick ring to see if they could get availability for me before I booked direct with Hard Rock! I got a very friendly travel advisor and she was able to find me 2 rooms, through an America tour operator, the cost...

£360... I was very happy with this price and got the rooms booked immediately!


THE HARD ROCK HOTEL... BOOKED!







Then the trauma of the MVMCP tickets... My lovely Mum (aka Mrs Potts) text me at 9am this morning, to ask if I was awake?! ... She was online and was going to book the Christmas Party tickets for us all, they had just been released today.

I was a touch apprehensive, for a number of reasons...

1. Mum is ok with her lap top and I pad and but she is not GREAT!
2. My dippy side clearly comes from my Mum & she can be a bit 'blonde' lol
3. Mum has never been to Disney & isn't used to the MDE app or the online ticket booking sites.
4. And probably the main reason... I am a utter control freak and don't like not being in control!

However I am very grateful that my Mums is getting involved as much as she is and it is really helping, as I have only ever planned for me & Hubby!

So 9am, I get the text asking of I am awake...

9.10 - Phone call from Mum - 'Help I have spelt Paul's name wrong and it won't let me go back! '

So I logged onto the website and talked my Mum through how she can delete what she has done and start a fresh! Checking she knew how to spell her Daughter and son in laws Surname?!


9.20 - Phone call from Mum - 'I am putting my card details in but it says I am missing information! There are bits at the bottom of the form that needs completing but my screen won't scroll down?! '

Hmmmmm... How to you try and work through that over the phone?! I talked her through making her screen smaller, that didn't work.. Then talked her through using the CURSER KEYS on her lap top to tab down! Hey presto... She is off again!

9.30 - Phone call from Mum - 'I have put in all my card details, he has accepted everything & says the balance I owe is nil but then my computer is saying ERROR OCCURRED! '







Now I did think that the tickets might actually not be in sale yet, as it was only 9.30am. A quick check on the lovely Dibb showed that a lot of people were having the same problem and the tickets only actually come on sale at mid day.

I suggested Mum left the laptop and called Disney at 12.00 to confirm her card hadn't been debited and re order 7 tickets for the Party!

12.30 - Phone call from Mum - 'We are all sorted, I booked over the phone, Disney were having problems this morning and we can collect the tickets from Will Call when we arrive! I have also been very clever and redeemed myself for my mistakes... I have linked all the tickets on MDE! '

So after a few little Hic Cups... MCMCP ... BOOKED!






CAN YOU SPOT THE MISTAKE? - There is only 6 tickets on here, My Brother doesn't seem to have a ticket! As I type this, Mum is on her way down for a brew and I will break the news to her, that she MAY have only booked 6 tickets! I will update later!


Finally for an eventful weekend, we booked our Discovery Cove tickets.

I had got a price direct from Discovery Cove & also got a quote through my Black Account travel concierge and they were again very competitive. However when I called my Mum, she said that she had seen an even better price in FloridaTix site. I haven't heard of FloridaTix and have always used Black Travel or Orlando Attraction Tickets.

A quick post on the Dibb asking about FloridaTix and numerous positive replies, it was settled!


DISCOVERY COVE TICKETS ... BOOKED!







I am pleased with the prices we have paid for everything & we have been able to save some pennies here and there, every penny counts!

More pennies saved means more...







Dollars to spend!


We have done a lot this weekend and my excitement levels have been verging on unbearable!

It's only 7 Days till we make our first ADR - so watch this space! Especially as the ADR booking is being done by the one and only Mrs Potts! As I am at work, I can't guarantee that I will be free at exactly 11am! So Mum is going to be booking them through the MDE app.

I can see some 121 training sessions on the app before next Monday!

WISH US LUCK!