Trip report from a trip report virgin!

[vegboatride]

Wow what a fabulous view! Hope you have an amazing trip, eagerly following along.

[cornishfrogboy]

The Hotel views look awesome.. and what a steal/deal!

Hoping Tom is ok and looking forward to the next update.

[Rob & Jan]

WOW what a view-have a fabulous time.

[DisneyCupcake]

Originally Posted by babbymint

Hello all
Sitting here waiting to leave for the airport, all bags packed, paperwork sorted, so thought I might do my first ever trip report!

We are Babbymint (50 something!) known as Babs, a secondary school teacher. Mr Babbymint known as Chas, (54) a retired squaddie now self-employed gardener, and the two teenage babbymint boys, Freddie (17) half way through A levels and Tom (16) just finished GCSEs. Tom has had lots of health issues, we nearly lost him a few years ago, but he is ok now, but I am very protective over him. Freddie suffers from a lot of teenage angst - he doesn't really want to come if truth be told, I'm hoping he will enjoy it. Thus this will be our last family holiday as a unit of 4 - so I want to savour every moment!

This trip was originally for 2020 (but without NY) and is the third reschedule (xmas 2020, summer 2021).

We always do DIY - we don't have a massive income so I'm always looking to budget wherever possible - I will try to add any spends as I go - we are not a fussy family and I will generally spend a lot of time planning, booking and rebooking to get the best value. As we haven't been away for a while, I have splurged a little on this trip, but not too much. We've been to Orlando a few times, and Chas and I have been to New York separately in the past. We added in NY as it wasn't that much more to fly there first and then get the internal.

Our itinerary
New York - 4 nights - cant wait we have a 2 bed suite - more details later

Anna Maria Island - 4 nights - VRBO booked

Disney Coronado Springs - 5 nights - paid for mostly using Tesco rewards and Hotels.com

Villa - 8 nights - booked through Airbnb

Royal Pacific Club level - 3 nights - splashed out as I don't have to buy tickets for Universal as we upgraded to a seasonal pass in 2019 and its been frozen, so saved over a grand.

Flying today from Gatwick, fingers crossed it goes without a hitch - so far we have managed to dodge the train strikes too!
Catch up later...

See more...

The flat fare from the airport doesn't include any tolls ( or tips as they are at pains to point out ). That may explain the difference - did you go through Midtown Tunnel.

[DisneyMemories]

Hotel looks fantastic and amazing view - enjoy !

[babbymint]

Originally Posted by cornishfrogboy

The Hotel views look awesome.. and what a steal/deal!

Hoping Tom is ok and looking forward to the next update.

See more...

Much better today thank you

Originally Posted by DisneyCupcake

The flat fare from the airport doesn't include any tolls ( or tips as they are at pains to point out ). That may explain the difference - did you go through Midtown Tunnel.

See more...

That explains it - knew there would be an explanation

[babbymint]

We had a slow start today and had breakfast at Dunkin donuts- their coffee was surprisingly good! First off I’ve read how hot it’s been here recently but today was very manageable indeed- a lovely cool breeze too.
I had bought 3 day city passes back on Black Friday and they were around £120 each.
We set off from Dunkin’s and wandered up past the Chrysler building and Pfizer HQ to grand central station. I had been here before when I came to NY in the 90s but I don’t really remember it. A very impressive station indeed- we spent a few minutes trying to remember films that featured it and Tom said it was in a Spider-Man ps game too.

We were heading for Times Square as we had decided to do a hop on/off bus tour included with the city pass. We did the downtown circuit which took about an hour and a half. It was ok but sometimes the commentary cut off in the middle which was a bit annoying. The advertised price is $60 pp and I would not have been happy paying that.
By now it was 4pm and we realised we were starving! It’s a family tradition to go to Bubbas when visiting universal, but this year we decided to do it in ny instead. We have a Landry card but there was plenty of space anyway. We all had a shrimp based dish and mine was washed down with a couple of (rather strong) cocktails! Bill came to $185 inc tip which included the cocktails and two lagers.

After that we made a trip to Madame Tussaud’s- we’ve been to the Orlando and London ones and it’s very similar as you might expect.

After that it was 7ish and I’d been awake since silly o’clock so we headed back to the hotel and watched Forrest Gump after going to Bubbas- such a great film and Tom had never seen it before.
Tomorrow we have Empire State and the Ride booked and I really want to bike round Central Park as that had been on our plan for today - I want to see the rats for myself!

[cornishfrogboy]

A nice start. I do like the grand central image, in that you have concentrated on the higher, rather than the floor area.

[unixgirl]

Great start to your trip - absolute bargain hotel room, what a fabulous view. Well done on your planning and budgeting, impressive.

[Tigger71]

Wow that view and room ! Looks amazing