Just Back - Highs and Lows summary!

[Nublar]

Having read some amazing trip reports over the last few years, I knew I wouldn't be able to contend so thought I'd ease in to my first report with a simple Highs and Lows summary.

Background
I've been going to Florida since 2007, first time with Katie (then my DG, now my DW) was in 2010 as still fresh faced teenagers. Our last trip was in 2017 to surprise my dad on his 60th birthday at Halloween. We got married in October (after re-arranging due to Covid for a year) and, rather than go on our honeymoon in the summer, had planned to bring Katie's younger brother for his first time. We planned on staying offsite and in January, Katie's mum and dad had booked on for their first time too - the more the merrier eh?!

So 23rd June - 14th July booked.

DW and I (minus my ears).

Highs

Dibb Villa - Caribe Villa Brisa @ High Grove

Unbelievable. The best villa we have ever stayed in, hands down. It had everything you could ask for and just blew DW's family away the minute we arrived. The pool deck is huge, the garden south facing and loads of wildlife. There is a real homely feel to the place and we just loved it. The pool table and air hockey kept DW's younger brother entertained too. Massive thanks to Scottishnellie as her trip report's convinced me that this would be the place for us!

Disney (and DAS)

DW's brother has ASD and, simply put, could not have coped when he was younger. He is now 16 and can recognise when he is suffering from sensory overload but we decided to apply for the DAS pass to aid this. The threads on the Dibb for online registration were great (Dr JJ) and the process itself was grand. Actually using the DAS pass on the app was really easy and this was invaluable in Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios were wait times were very high.
Everyone enjoyed the parks and we felt that they were as busy as any other time we’ve visited in summer. New experiences for us were Star Wars land – again, pretty spectacular. Rise of the Resistance was fantastic (top tip, join the queue just before park closing as the time will be very inflated). Toy Story Land - I really loved the theming of being shrunk down to a toy’s level and Slinky Dog is a great wee coaster. Guardians of the Galaxy – brilliant addition to Epcot and we managed to ride it once using the virtual queue. More intense than I was expecting and really immersive.

All of us!

Universal

This was our first time back to Universal since 2015 and we made use of their guest assistance pass for DW’s brother. This is a paper system and you get a return time to come back and use the express queue – not as handy as Disney’s app but still pretty invaluable for us.
Volcano Bay was a new experience and we really enjoyed it. It was PACKED and the wait times were long but it was HUGE and we enjoyed the ‘lazy’ rivers. Still not convinced with the whole tap and return to ride system though. Islands of Adventure was enjoyed by all and DW’s brother favourite, The Hulk, is a lot smoother with the new track. Velocicoaster – 10/10, best coaster I’ve ever been on. With that lap bar I felt like I was constantly coming out of my seat, brilliant ride. Hagrid’s – we used the guest assistance pass on this as the queues were so long and it broke down every single day we visited. That being said, another great addition and probably better suited to the park that Dragon Challenge. It was great to get back to Universal Studios itself as I really loved the park. Monsters Café was gone and The Mummy closed for refurbishment which was disappointing. The Tribute Store was very cool and had loads of wee easter eggs from ET, Jaws and Back to the Future.

Food

We ate offsite a lot and we had some great meals in Longhorn, Bahama Breeze, Flippers Pizza @ Old Town and Ford’s Garage. Massive thanks to anyone who suggested or mentioned Teak Neighbourhood grill and Yellow Dog Eats – both AMAZING and our favourite meals of the trip hands down! The photo is from Yellow Dog Eats which is covered in people’s messages on the walls. We had a poor experience at Outback and to be honest, after the last few times there it’ll probably be our last, especially when Longhorn is so good.

A Flipper's Pizza (our fave) for dinner on the pool deck. Wine and beer added for comedic effect, honest.

4th July @ Celebration

We parked up at around 4pm and had a walk around the lake before heading back to Market Street for some food and cocktails from the street food stalls. The music was fantastic and the overall atmosphere brilliant. We then headed over towards the old cinema and Kilwin’s to watch the fireworks which lasted for about 45mins and would put Disney to shame – we all really enjoyed it!

Kennedy Space Centre

DW’s dad really wanted to visit here and we hadn’t been since 2010. Really enjoyed it and they had updated a lot of the exhibits, really worth going out for the day. No launches when we were there unfortunately but still very cool.

Not quite Highs, not quite Lows

Car

We booked with Alamo through Andy at DFCH. Great service as always. We had to do 2 bookings in order to keep costs down. A 7 seater SUV for 1 week and then a standard SUV for the last 2 weeks. This came in at around £1000 as opposed to £2300! Our 7 seater SUV was assigned to us, they only had Nissan Armadas in the row (the Ford Expedition I wanted was a Max and so an upgrade, similar situation with the Chevy Suburban). Tried haggling with the Alamo attendant but not having it. The Armada was very thirsty and I found it very heavy to drive. Back to MCO, dropped off with no issues and in to pick up the standard SUV. The row full of intermediates and 1 Jeep Grand Cherokee. I asked the attendant if there was any chance of a Ford Explorer – “We don’t get cars for people”. Ah okay then mate, cheers. Asked another attendant at the hut and was pretty much told no, I then explained to him that the row was full of Intermediates apart from the Jeep – “well that’s all we have right now”. We took the Jeep. To be fair, it was a lovely drive and we managed to fit all our luggage in (5 large cases, 4 small cases and 2 backpacks) but I was disappointed in Alamo’s customer service. A few years back in LA I reserved a standard SUV, had a look in the row and didn’t see anything I liked, asked the attendant for an Explorer and he replied “any particular colour sir?” not quite the experience at MCO! We used the Visitor Toll Pass and it was very straight forward.

Lows

Dublin Airport

We’re from Belfast and wanted to get immigration over and done with so this was a necessity. For some reason we couldn’t check in online – 3 hours we waited in queue to check in. 3 hours. We even applied for special assistance due to DW’s brother but this only applied to the security queues apparently. It was not a great start to the holiday. Felt sorry for some of the airport staff too as it was clear they were stretched.

The Dollar Rate/Price

We noticed a massive difference in the overall cost of things from previous years, at the end of the day you just have to accept it but we kept looking at things and going “that’s doubled!” etc. This was most noticeable in Walmart/Publix etc when getting provisions for the villa. Still no idea how some of the locals are able to fill 2 trolleys worth of groceries, would be an absolute fortune! Gas was around $4.19 a gallon too. We visited the outlets and there are still some bargains to be found, just really takes you to do some working out now!

Traffic

Now, this one I had prepared myself for. I’d looked at so many threads on the Dibb and they were all pretty much bang on. The 192 from High Grove (on the 27) to World Drive was very busy in the mornings and the traffic lights don’t help. Sherberth Rd was very busy and often backed up too. If going to Disney we often took Avalon Rd on to Western Way as you constantly moved as opposed to start/stop the whole way. Coming home at night and heading back to the 27 was dreadful. All the Disney traffic added about 25mins on to any journey. Again, we found ourselves taking Avalon Rd home and on to the 192 which helped. The I4 was horrendous, a trip to Universal was around 50mins-1hr 15mins. It’s funny as it seems to be a car park from Champions Gate until Disney Springs, then once you go past the exit for Sea World its grand again. Ah well, just one of those things!

Overall it was great to be back and there were a lot more highs than lows for sure. DW’s mum, dad and brother had a brilliant time and have definitely caught the bug (don’t we all!). We’re hoping to head off on Honeymoon for a very chilled time, maybe Bali? Beyond that, we’ll be back for sure. With the cost of everything right now, and the poor exchange rate, we will have a look at different options.

Anyway, thanks for reading!
Chris

[vegboatride]

A great summary. Looked like you all had a good time, it’s nice to see first timers reactions. Thanks for posting

[Goldia]

Sounds like a fab family trip, not too many lows. Congratulations on your wedding!

[margyloveswdw]

Sounds like a great trip!

Thanks for sharing and congratulations!

[Nublar]

Originally Posted by vegboatride

A great summary. Looked like you all had a good time, it’s nice to see first timers reactions. Thanks for posting

See more...

Thanks very much. Yeah we all loved it to be fair, but it was brilliant to see their reactions as first timers!

[Nublar]

Originally Posted by Goldia

Sounds like a fab family trip, not too many lows. Congratulations on your wedding!

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Not too many lows at all - to be honest the likes of the traffic was just me being a moan, not like it ruined the holiday. Thanks very much, as you can see Katie is still milking it with the Just Married ears

[Nublar]

Originally Posted by margyloveswdw

Sounds like a great trip!

Thanks for sharing and congratulations!

See more...

It really was! Just great to be back again. Thanks very much!

[scottishnellie]

Brilliant trip summary - thanks for posting.

I’m glad you loved the villa - we really missed it this year when we hadn’t booked far enough in advance to get our dates. Fab villa

[Nublar]

Originally Posted by scottishnellie

Brilliant trip summary - thanks for posting.

I’m glad you loved the villa - we really missed it this year when we hadn’t booked far enough in advance to get our dates. Fab villa

See more...

Thank you! Aw it was honestly the best villa we have ever stayed in, Randy and Barb were so accommodating too. Really brilliant hosts to deal with. Aw, that’s the only thing - it’ll only get more and more popular!

Thanks again for your trip reports, they really gave us so many tips and ideas!