6 Adults and 2 Princesses Orlando Holiday Of a lifetime ***updated 19/09/17***

[flossiesjk]

Hi everyone my name is Sarah, I have been a member on the DIBB since 09 and loved reading many trip reports. I've said for my past 2 Disney holidays that I would write one, but the days just went by and before I knew it too late.
So as soon as we booked I said I would start so here goes...

The Cast

Me - Sarah
Will be 32 when we go. I will be keeping you all up to date with the trip (hopefully) I love Disney, and become obsessed with planning etc. The last Disney trip in 2012 I set out a plan for the two weeks, I think my family thought I was mad but they thanked me after as it worked out so much better. This will be my 6th visit to Orlando, If I could afford it I would go every year! I love everything about an Orlando holiday parks, shopping and especially the food. I work at our local hospital as a nursing sister, hard work but just makes my holidays even more worth it.

Husband (DH) Phill

He will be 34. fireman and worrier. Doesn't really understand my Orlando obsession. Im sure the more we go he will soon understand especially as our girls get older. He is a fabulous husband and dad, his main worry on holiday will be making sure the girls are OK. This will be his 3rd Orlando holiday. The first was in 09 just the two of us, then we took our youngest daughter in 2012. He wasn't really bothered about going to either but did enjoy them, especially seeing how excited our daughter was. So now she is older and has a younger sister so double the excitement!

Princess1 (DD1) Abigail

She will be 7 when we go and her 2nd Orlando holiday. Lover of all things Disney especially the princesses. She loves to sing and dance with all her princess dolls.Can be very shy and emotional. Was only 2 when she last went but loved it, especially the meet and greats. Went on her first roller coaster a few moths ago so I dont think she will have any problems when we go.

Princess2 (DD2) Sophie

Youngest of the group, will be 4 when we go. Her first Orlando holiday. She is only 2 at the moment but due to her older sister loves Disney, we have disagreements over which Disney film is going on and who is playing with what princess! Whenever an Orlando advert comes on TV she shouts me "look look mummy" very much different to her sister, not shy and very boisterous, im sure she will have no problems in the parks.

My Dad- Robert

He will be 55 when we go. Lover of all things Orlando especially now he has two princesses to share it with. I think this will be his 5th trip to Orlando. He is a big kid at heart and loves all rides. Chief shopping bag carrier for my mum. Since our last trip in 2012 he has lost alot of weight, Im sure he will notice it even more when we are there. Normally main driver but I did it on our last trip which he was more than happy with, felt like a holiday then.

My Mum - Ann

She will be 53. Her 5th trip too. Lover of shopping, sunbathing and relaxing. She works in the local hospital too and works very hard, more then she should. But has a very expensive hobby, she loves to travel. I think my mum and dad have 3 holidays booked before we go to orlando. She also loves orlando, especially spending time with her family. My mum has also lost alot of weight since our last trip so im sure will love the shopping even more!

Brother - Robbie
He will turn 28 whilst we are there, his 6th trip too.
The joker and big kid of the group especially in orlando. He will be the main driver this holiday, now he is old enough. Will be his first time, but im sure will have no problems at all. Wont admit it but loves to shop, eats little but very often and loves all rides. On our last trip in 2012 he proposed outside magic kingdom to his partner, was so romantic and so unexpected.

Sister in law - Tanyia

Will be 26 when we go. Shopaholic, food lover, and good fun. Her 2nd trip to Orlando. Loves all rides and willing to try anything. Last time she went her dreams can true, a marriage proposal in magic kingdom. How amazing for a first timer! They got married in Mexico last year. Very excited about this trip already planning to take an empty suitcase and lose two stone before she goes

The proposal...

So thats us all.

Florida 2012 (minus DD2 Sophie)

May 2012

So after our amazing 2012 trip we all decided that we would have to go back ASAP. I got pregnant not long after, then Rob n Tan decided that they was going to Mexico to get married. So all agreed that 2017 would be the year.
Roll on Christmas 2016. We was all at sat round the dining table awaiting christmas lunch when was all given envelopes by my mum and dad. which contained...

OMG Couldnt believe it, their was shock, tears and the biggest smiles possible. My parents where paying for us all to go to florida for 3 weeks either 2016 or 2017. We spent most of the day talking about it.
After a few weeks of looking at all options we decided that oct/nov 2017 would be for the best. As we had only just been to mexico it would give us more time to save, also means I can wait another school year before I had to take Abigail from school.

Since Christmas I had been searching for dates then finally our dates became available. I informed my mum that the dates where out now to book a package holiday or we could wait until Nov and do it all separately.
We had always stayed on I.Drive as it suited us all better. This time with us going for 3 weeks and having the girls I thought it would be nice to stay on disney for a week initially. I got some prices for this and weighed up the pros and cons. Eventually deciding to go with what we know. Will save staying on disney if we go just as a family of four.
So last week I was browsing and I fount a good deal with Virgin.
For under the budget we was looking at. I called my mum, she agreed that it was good. So that evening we all met up at our house and booked as everyone was happy with the details.


So we are going to Orlando on 28th October 2017, three weeks. From Manchester Airport.

Firstly going into

Never been in v-room before but heard seen some good reviews and will be alot better for the children.

Flying with Virgin

To Orlando International Airport

After eventually (im expecting the long waits) getting through customs we will head over to

where we will collect something like this

We had a seven seater car on our last holiday which was a little run down, fingers crossed we get a newer model this time.
Due to there being 8 of us I very much doubt we will get us plus 8 suitcases, 8 hand luggage and a pram in the car. So we are planning on booking 3 or 4 of us on transfers, then we wont have to worry.

After collecting the Car we will then drive to our home for the next 3 weeks

Me and DH have stayed here in 2009 before it was refurbished,we liked it then so im sure it will be even better now. Plus lots more going on on I-Drive now too.

So thats it, and we are all very excited. Well six of us are.
The best and hardest part of the planning/countdown. I havent told the girls yet.
After seeing all the amazing holiday reveals I have decided I want to do the same, not sure how yet but going to try and leave it until the month before.
I did do this the other night though

So I am going to go now as it has taken alot longer than I thought, oops. But hey it will all be worth it when I can look back and read it in the future.

Thanks for reading Everyone
Hope to update soon

I will leave you with some pics of our last trip in 2012

[Guest]

Great pre trippy...the proposal was soo cute! Will be reading along. Have fun planning 😊

[flossiesjk]

Thankyou 😊 It was very cute and emotional. I already want to update but not got much to add haha x

[flossiesjk]

Hi everyone
well it has been a while since I last updated, even though it only feels like yesterday. Like I said before its my first trip report so apologies in advance!
Well my countdown is well on its way... only 167 days to go.
And guess what my girls still don't know
It has been really hard deciding how to tell them, i have seen so many excellent ideas, I will go into more detail a little further on.

We are flying from Manchester at 10:30am, it takes about 70 mins from our house (in good traffic) so we looked into different options for getting us to the airport. The options were:
* Drive to the airport that morning, but would mean 3 cars or 2 cars and not enough space for luggage.
* Get a minibus taxi that morning, would fit us all in plus all the luggage.
*Drive down the night before and stay in airport hotel- 3 cars and would mean a lot of expense, but would be a great way to start the holiday.

The best and cheapest option was to get a minibus that morning to take us to the airport so I got some quotes for local companies. The best I got was £150 return, which seemed to good to be true (one company wanted £300!). This would mean £50 per family. I booked it straight away.
With us getting such a good deal I started to have a look at the airport hotel prices, then we could use the minibus to get us there the day before we leave. Wow it was coming out a lot more than I expected. I then looked into the hotels at the trafford centre and enquired how much a taxi would be from there to the airport.
Managed to get some good prices so booked.

So our plan is to leave for the airport after school/work on friday, about 5pm and get the minibus to take us to the trafford centre, where we will spend the night at

I have booked rooms at £42each
That evening we can go wonder round the shops, maybe go bowling and finish with tea/cocktails at

We have never done this before so think it will be a great start to the holiday.
The next morning It has worked out around £30 for a taxi from hotel to airport. Will be great not having to get up too early and being able to make the most of our v-room access.
Due to us now leaving the day before I have decided that I will tell the girls the friday morning before school/nursery. Im going to do a little treasure hunt. The first clue will be in their bedrooms tied to a balloon, I will do about 4 clues which will led them into the front room where airport bags will be waiting. It sounds like a good plan, fingers crossed it works well.
My eldest needed a new passport which we received last week, only took about 10 days which was fab. Now we all had passports I was able to do our ESTA's. Having read a lot of horror stories about them being rejected I wanted to get it done ASAP.
Happy to say the four of us have had them approved, we can go to Florida!

We sorted our park tickets a couple of months ago. We decided to purchase the package from thomson when they had the sale on. I know some people prefer tickets in hand but we saved alot of money so we dont mind. We got the essential gold package which includes disney, universal and seaworld parks. They are all 14 day tickets so we plan to stagger them over the 3 weeks.

Now the MNSSHP tickets have been released we can decide which date to go. I was hoping to go on the 30th but its not on that evening, so think its going to the the 1st. We arrive on the 28th but would like to do the seaworld halloween event on the 29th, dont think we would last until midnight after a full park day. And i am assuming the 31st will be very popular, plus would like to see if we can experience halloween the traditional way.

Don't really need to (or should I say cant afford to) buy much to take on holiday as would prefer to buy things when we are there.I did however eventually find these in primark

my girls loved them, I got some too. They are great but I have also got them some silver sequin disneyworld park ears too, my friend got them for me last month. They will go in the reveal backpacks.

So my to do list is getting better

Passport
ESTA's
Park Tickets
MNSSHP tickets
Airport transfer
Airport Hotel
Clearwater Hotel?
Disney Hotel?
Fast passes
Daily Planner

All I can think is save save save. It is so worth it though!
Thanks for reading
Sarah

[Smilesonfaces]

The planning is as exciting as the holiday isnt it ! We are there at the same time. Think i will go to MNSSHP on the 31st I'm sure it will be busy but it will be great to go on Halloween itself. Your daughters look adorable what an amazing time they will have !
Hope you enjoy all your planning !

[Wobbles]

Great pre-trippie

[berniegroves]

Fab pre-trippy.

You are so lucky to have such a close-knit family. I am very jealous :-)
We invited my parents to Orlando with us (and their two grandchildren) but they are not interested at all in a family holiday.
So it is lovely to read about family trips like yours. :-)

We leave the day before you arrive I think :-)
Hope the rest of your plans go well.

[sheluk]

Sounds like a fab trip is being planned!

[Bianca]

What lovely parents! ...And three weeks! You can really settle in when you're away that long. No wonder you're excited. The Rosen always gets great reviews and October Orlando weather is some of the best (for us Brits anyway!).

Enjoy all your planning.

P.S. Is it just me? I count 6 adults not 7. Am I missing something?

[jothp]

It sounds like you're going to have a great trip. I'm looking forward to reading more about it.