Pints, Points, Photos & Plenty More - August 2017 (honeymoon!) UPDATED 12/07

[Leyfy]

Well, as I've finished our Christmas trippie ($30k Later) I thought it might be time to start the pre-trip for the next one! Phew...

So, who are we? For those who have not caught our previous adventures, we are Phil and Kim.

Phil likes to do this:

(The drink said pints)

I like to do this:

(take lots of photos!)

So there you have our trip report - Pints, Points, Photos and Plenty More!

I'm a long-term fan of Florida after first visiting 21 years ago with my parents. I dragged Phil there kicking and screaming in 2013 for a 'once in a lifetime/never to be repeated/yada yada etc etc' trip.

Sooooo... Did I mention that this will be our fifth trip together since then?!

You can read about our previous trips here:

51 Bacon Rolls - December 2013 (sorry the pictures are broken)
Strike That! Reverse it - August 2015
It Must Be Believed to Be Seen - December 2015
Other Places, Other Worlds - August 2016 (the less said about THAT trip the better! Have a read if you like to see what can go wrong on holiday...)
$30k later - December 2016 (name inspired by the hospital bill caused by 'Other Places, Other Worlds'! 'Nuff said! )

This is to be our last trip to Florida for a little while we think. Although they are the famous last words of many a Dibber, so I will hold that thought...!

It's also going to be a special trip as it is our HONEYMOON! Yes, we are in full swing of things with dresses being bought, arguments over whether Phil can wear red trousers to the wedding (Luckily a post on Facebook where both groups of friends agreed with me that it was a resounding NO! ), makeup ladies being hired (just for Phil ) and discussions on 'cake' wedding cake or cheese wedding cake ...

The big day is the 28th of July and there were several discussions about us going to the West Coast for our honeymoon. "We've done Florida loads, lets go and see California, oooh I can't wait to go to the ORIGINAL Disneyland, how about Las Vegas..."

Yep - 100% certain we are doing the West Coast!

Soooo... We booked Florida instead!

You know how it is

Basically, the West Coast would be a lot of me driving (I do all the driving on holiday) and we both love our holidays in WDW.

We decided to go the week after the wedding and end the holiday in Walt Disney World. In September last year I saw some reasonable flights with Norwegian Air leaving on the 1st August and returning very early in the morning of the 16th. This was through kayak, and surprisingly when I clicked on the link I didn't get either a notification telling me that the flights were either unavailable or twice the price we'd originally quoted!

So flights sorted, I turned my attention to Walt Disney World and the final five nights of the holiday. Booking direct through WDW Travel Company was coming out at over £2k for the Boardwalk Inn or Beach Club!

So in the end I decided to rent DVC points through a rental company and we will be staying at the Boardwalk Villas. If you have read any of my other trip reports you'll know we LOVE the Boardwalk area and staying on site there is a huge bonus!

Another 'must' was two nights at Universal as we missed that out of our last trip. Hoping to take advantage of our jetlag, that will be our first stop so we are up early and in the parks. I have booked our old favourite, The Royal Pacific for our first two nights.

So - to sum up

1st August - Fly with Norwegian Air and stay at RPR
2nd August - RPR/Universal
10-15th August - Boardwalk Inn (we fly at 00.50am on the 16th!)

The middle-ish bit of our trip was a bit more tricky as I said I'd like to go to the Gulf Coast, maybe Anna Maria Island or Treasure Island. I also realllllly wanted to drive along this:

In the end after hours looking at maps/trip advisor/asking for advice on here we settled for 4 nights in Naples and 2 in Key West.

After quite a lot of research and reading up this is where I have booked:

Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Club

The Eden House

As I am going to be doing a LOT of driving, I said for once I wasn't going to book a budget car (we've had a Fiesta, a Toyota Yaris and what I dubbed a Hyundai 'Tiny Thing' before) and I wanted one of these:

(I borrowed this picture from The Dibb somewhere - thank you if you posted it, I take no credit!)

Yup - Mustang convertible! (Or equivalent )

So, that was the 'main' parts of 'the plan' in place:

1st - Flight to Orlando and check in to RPR
2nd August - RPR resort
3rd August - Pick up car to drive to Naples
4/5/6 August - Naples
7/8 August - Key West
9th August - Idrive. We didn't want to 'waste' a Disney day with the 6 hour drive from Key West so we are doing one night at the Rosen Plaza near Pointe Orlando
10/11/12/13/14/15 August - The Boardwalk Inn

Next up I started thinking about excursions. I love the water and really wanted to do a snorkelling adventure but Phil isn't so keen on the water. I didn't really want to go on my own but I found this company that does something called 'Afternoon Snorkel Trip: Reef & Ritas'. You basically go out on a catamaran, you can snorkel the reefs off of Key West and then you get margaritas on the way back! I had a little chat with them online and they confirmed that Phil could stay on the boat if he wasn't comfortable with going into the sea, so with his blessing that was booked for one of our Key West days!

We're also planning an excursion out to the Everglades, but that is yet to be booked.

I'll leave it there for the time being but Saturday is our ADR day and I will update to let you know if I got everything we planned ...

Thanks for reading

Update 11/02/17 - ADR day!

Update 12/02/17 - Non-Disney food plans

Update 05/03/17 - Little extras

Update 25/03/17 - Tragical Express Woes and the Everglades

Update 12/04/17 - T-Shirts, Photos and Packing Cubes!

Update 27/05/17 - Tickets and Disneyland Paris

Update 11/06/17 - T-Shirts and Fastpasses

Update 25/06/17 - Snacking Around the World and Micro-Planning

Update 12/07/17 - Disneyland Paris

[beth21]

Hi we fly to Naples on the 28th July for 16 days we love it you won't be disappointed...we spend early evening on the pier watching the sunset so might see you there... if I'm feeling brave I'll say hi

[Leyfy]

Originally Posted by beth21

Hi we fly to Naples on the 28th July for 16 days we love it you won't be disappointed...we spend early evening on the pier watching the sunset so might see you there... if I'm feeling brave I'll say hi

See more...

Aww if you spot us please do, we are not scary, I promise

I can't wait to go, Phil is really looking forward to Naples too. We have a reservation at Truluck's one night, which looks fab!

[vics18]

Sounds like an amazing trip! Congrats on your upcoming wedding! Good luck with your ADRs

[emmabanana]

Sounds like an amazing trip, fingers crossed you get all your ADR's.

[Leyfy]

Originally Posted by vics18

Sounds like an amazing trip! Congrats on your upcoming wedding! Good luck with your ADRs

See more...

Originally Posted by emmabanana

Sounds like an amazing trip, fingers crossed you get all your ADR's.

See more...

Thanks both - I have a 'plan of attack' for the ADRs (the BOG breakfast and Cali Grill being priorities). I will post an update on Saturday ...

[MinnieMrsA]

Yay - very excited to find this 😊 sounds like a great trip. We go on the 13th so overlap for a day or two. Also great date to get married (my birthday!) - looking forward to seeing your ADRs. Xx

[2littleboys]

Hi Kim, sounds like a fantastic trip. Congratulations on your upcoming wedding. looking forward to following along with your adventures.

[Momofboys]

Oh congratulations! Sounds like a fab honeymoon. Haven't read your christmas trip report, been a bit cold turkey on reports at the moment, but I'll make an exception for yours!

[Redrach1903]

Oooh this sounds absolutely amazing!

Good luck with the wedding plans in the meantime xxx