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Old 5 Aug 14, 09:44 AM  
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"I wanted to go to Switzerland" August 2014 Pre-Trip Report

With just 7 days to go, if a trip report is to be started it better be soon!
Along with this, I guess a hello to the forums is necessary, although I am just taking over the role from my mum- ilovepbandj - who wrote a trip report of one earlier trip (Third Time Lucky) and got as far as a pre-trip report for another (Zip-Loc A Croc). Lets hope I can get further than that!

The Cast Of Characters

(photos to be added as soon as it lets me! )

Mum- This will be her 9th trip to Disney, and she’s looking forward to stocking up in Bath and Body Works and finally getting cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory.
Dad- This will be his 8th trip and he is looking forward to the roller coasters and any rare chances to relax.
Me- 16 years old and this will be my 8th trip. I’m looking forward to Diagon Alley and eating at Sweet Tomatoes again (they better still do the still pomegranate lemonade)
Phoebe- The one responsible for the title of this trip! 12 years old and this is her 7th trip She’s looking forward to swimming in the resort pool and having big buffet breakfasts (where she will just pick at fruit and waffles)
Hermione- 7 years old and this will be her 4th trip. She’s looking forward to riding Space Mountain for the first time (still half an inch off the requirement for Rock n Roller Coaster annoyingly!) and doing lots of shopping.


Mum and Dad had booked this trip as surprise, after struggling to find any other holidays that we would all have enjoyed within a similar budget. So a fairly last minute (well 2 months before) booking was made and we are back to Florida! To keep it a secret, us kids were to ld that we were off to Switzerland for 2 weeks walking, biking and swimming. When the actual holiday was revealed, the reaction was perhaps not as positive as expected; resulting in Phoebe screaming that she "wanted to go to Switzerland", hated us all, and proceeding to run out, slamming the front door for dramatic effect.
This of course set Hermione off on a similar tangent. Calm was achieved by later that evening, after the discovery that this outburst was mainly due to the fear of the long flight. Nothing that some ride videos and restaurant menus couldn't fix.

The Plan

We fly on Tuesday the 12th of August with Swiss Air from Heathrow, to Tampa with an hour and a half stopover in Zurich. Flying into Tampa should be relatively easy with hopefully shorter immigration queues and still only an hours drive to our accommodation.

We are staying in a townhouse at the Encantada resort, right next to Lindfields where we stayed on our last trip in 2012, so we know the location is fab. Right close to Disney and a Super Target/Publix/Olive Garden/Sweet Tomatoes/Longhorn Steakhouse just 2 minutes away! We won’t have our own pool but the resort has 2, so that should be good enough.

The plan is complete; with 5 day Magic Your Way Disney Tickets we have planned 2 days in Magic Kingdom, 1 in Epcot and 1 in Hollywood Studios. Leaving one ticketed day free for a revisit if anyone insists! FastPass+s are booked (made an easier job by no one wanting to meet A&E, although we do not have any 7DMT fastpass+s so we will have to risk that one at rope drop). We have Seaworld tickets with Aquatica included.

As me, Mum, and Dad are Harry Potter fans (and Hermione almost there), we are all looking forward to seeing the new Diagon Alley area and getting on the ride if the queue is not too horrendous. So it made sense to book a stay for 2 nights at the Portofino Bay hotel, in our second week. This gives us the early entry AND 3 days Unlimited Express Passes, which we are hoping to make full use of now we can finally all ride (most) rides together!

There are also a fair few shopping days, and a long list of restaurants to visit. Even a few *gasp* rest days.

So that’s it! The packing is starting and the excitement is building. Still to do:
Photocopy all important documents (including fastpass+s in case the system goes haywire again)
Finish packing
Sign up to restaurant coupons
Do the API
Sort out money
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Old 5 Aug 14, 08:17 PM  
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vanlou
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Great plans.

Love the title - my 12 year old daughter decided she would rather go to Centre Parcs when we told her about our holiday. Must be something about 12 year old girls Thankfully she's quite excited now.

Not long to wait
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Old 5 Aug 14, 08:56 PM  
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Originally Posted by vanlou View Post
Great plans.

Love the title - my 12 year old daughter decided she would rather go to Centre Parcs when we told her about our holiday. Must be something about 12 year old girls Thankfully she's quite excited now.

Not long to wait
It must be! We found out that most of the reluctance was due to the flight/hassle in planning and getting there, so maybe Switzerland/Centre Parcs just seems simpler. But Disney will always win out, I am sure. I am glad your 12 year old is excited!

Not long at all now. Only been counting down for less than 2 months which is awfully strange!
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Old 16 Aug 14, 07:15 PM  
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I hope you are having a magical time. Look forward to hearing about it x
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