Notices

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Old 1 Jan 20, 04:45 PM  
Link to this Post
#1
sarahly
Gone all Goofy
 
sarahly's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 19
*All about B* October 2020 Mum and teenage daughter PRE TRIP REPORT



Happy New Year everyone! I'm feeling like this is going to be a big one for us. Dd (B) is sitting her GCSEs and moving onto to sixth form, I'm starting a masters and making plans and preparations for my future. Things are changing, its taken me most of last year but I've got my head around it and I'm looking forward to embracing all the future has to offer.

And of course, this trip. So as per the trip report title, I plan for this holiday to be all about B and I suppose a celebration of the wonderful years we've shared during her childhood. I know I'm biased but she really is an awesome kid and we've had lots of amazing holidays to lots of amazing places, none of them have been all about her but she's embraced backpacking through Asia, historic sights in Europe and even a 75 mile 5 day hike with more enthusiasm than you could ever expect from a child. She really has been the best little travel companion I could have wished for. A Florida theme park holiday would not be my first choice but it absolutely is what B wants, and I feel like this is my last chance to give it to her while she is still a child.

Oh and


Obviously there's been discussions, I know she wants to go, she knows I'm saving but she has no idea its this year. She thinks we're aiming for after her a-levels. I plan on revealing all after her GCSE results day.

So, the cast, the bookings, the plans etc...


The Cast

Me - Sarah, 34 years old, single mum, travel loving foodie, NHS worker. I've been to WDW once, age 15 for a week on a family trip combined with a week on the coast, didn't visit any other Florida theme parks during the trip and that was the only time I've been to the USA. I've also visited Disneyland Paris 3 times and do quite love it despite myself.

Bel - 16 years old (will be 17 when we go), maths geek, drama queen, sweet tooth. Loves HP, Disney and Marvel. Has been to DLP three times, once with me age 6 for 5 days, once with school for a day and then again with me for a day and considers it one of her favourite places on earth. Never been to WDW or USA.


The Plans

In brief 22nd October - 10th November, off site, no car hire, flying direct from Gatwick.

Who wants details?

Why the date? Incorporates half term and is after GCSEs. One of the easier times of year for me to take annual leave. Good weather. I always try and eke out our holidays by adding a day or two either side of the standard week/fortnight, I work 12 hour shifts so I'm able to do this without using more annual leave.

Off site? It was a given when the free dining plan was announced. If free dining had been included for October I might have incorporated an onsite stay but I just don't see it as worth the money for us, plus I think we'll enjoy seeing more of Orlando than just Disney.

I've booked Rosen Inn at Pointe Orlando for the whole trip at what I think is a good price of £41 per night through BA.

For the same reason everyone else books it I suspect. Good location, consistently good reviews re. cleanliness and comfort, not requiring anything fancy. It will be a novelty for us to spend a whole holiday in one place.

That said, I will book a night in one of the Universal Hotels that include FOLP. Which one will be decided closer to the time and based on price. I'm planning to book via Hotels.com using Tesco Clubcard points. Anything that can be bought in Tesco will be between now and then, I even have a friend using one of my fobs to collect them for me too! So I'm hoping it will make a decent dent.

There's also the option of a night by the sea, but we will see how the plans shape up.

No car hire? Well kind of. I drive, I enjoy it and have enjoyed driving abroad previously. But I just don't feel like doing it every day on this holiday. I don't think the cost vs convenience is worth it for us when the theme park parking is so expensive and uber/lyft is so widely available for good prices. Plus I might enjoy a cocktail. I will arrange car hire for a few days though so we will have the benefit of both worlds.

Flights We live in the North East, a good 4 hours from Gatwick but these flights worked out the best option for us. They cost £919 for direct flights to MCO including luggage, thats cheaper than the decent indirect flights were looking from Manchester - which is still 2 hours from us. I had come very close to booking indirect flights from Man via Dublin for just over £1000 the week before, but overnight the price went up £200. Anyway I was happy with this price when I found it so despite having not been to bed post nights I pressed the buy button, only after very carefully checking the details to make sure I wasn't booking it for completely the wrong year or something!

So we're flying BA departing Gatwick 1325 outbound which has us arriving in MCO at 1755. And on return leaving MCO at 1825 getting back into Gatwick for 0730. Booking the hotel through BA as well made it a package so I've only paid the deposit so far.

We'll get the train down to Gatwick to avoid the long drive on return, we'll leave home the evening before and stay overnight in an airport hotel to start the holiday a day early and avoid any stress about missing the plane!

All about the money
I'm a single parent working for the NHS, its not in abundance. I will always seek out the very best price. I generally try my best to avoid buying 'stuff' - although I can see how easy it is to be drawn into it I don't think material things make us happy. I will happily spend money on experiences which I think we will enjoy and make happy memories doing or on extras which will make the overall experience more enjoyable (e.g. night at Universal hotel for FOLP). I will keep a detailed record on this trip report of what I spend as I find it very useful when planning to see these sorts of figures.

To do list
= done

Flights £919 direct from Gatwick
Train tickets to Gatwick
Airport hotel
ESTAs
Rosen Inn at Pointe £784 for 19 nights
Park tickets 14 day 9 park tickets via FloridaTix purchased for £1387.10
KSC tickets
Car hire
Universal Hotel
Reveal
Swim with manatees
Organise beach visit ?overnight stay
Fastpasses
Dining reservations
Dessert Party
Holiday shopping
Halloween plans
Set up uber/lyft accounts
Sign up for dining special offers
To be continued...


Thanks for reading peeps, appreciate any comments, tips, opinions!

Edited at 04:17 PM.
sarahly is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 5 Jan 20, 09:27 PM  
Link to this Post
#2
3disneykids
Imagineer
 
3disneykids's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 18
Location: Yorkshire
Mobile

Looking forward to following along...hope you film the reveal
3disneykids is offline Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 5 Jan 20, 10:11 PM  
Link to this Post
#3
SandE
Being a bit Goofy
 
Join Date: Jul 18
Mobile

Can't wait to see your plans! I'm a single mother too and me and my daughter whose 3 and my parents go october 2020 too counting down to our ADR day in april now!
SandE is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 5 Jan 20, 11:45 PM  
Link to this Post
#4
vampiress88
Imagineer
 
Join Date: Aug 18
Mobile

Loving this
vampiress88 is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 6 Jan 20, 09:44 PM  
Link to this Post
#5
Goldia
VIP Dibber
 
Goldia's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 16

Goldia's Reviews
Hotel Reviews: 5
Restaurant Reviews: 43
How exciting. I'd be bursting at the seems wanting to tell her! I did a mum daughter trip with my daughter to DLP last Feb, which was nice for us as a pair to go on holiday together just the two of us.

I hope you have a brilliant time. Fingers crossed the GCSEs aren't too stressful, my DS is taking his this summer too. I cannot believe it really, how did that time go by?
__________________
Abby
New pre trip report - Summer 2024

Link to all my completed trip reports
2017: NYC and Orlando. Salzburg. Boston.
2018: Orlando. Berlin.
2019: DLP. Orlando. Washington DC.
2020: DLP.
2021: Jamaica. Rome.
2022: Orlando.
2023: Orlando. Niagara and Toronto.
Goldia is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 13 Jan 20, 08:56 AM  
Link to this Post
#6
Elsa42
Apprentice Imagineer
 
Elsa42's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 14
Location: UK

Elsa42's Reviews
Restaurant Reviews: 1
She’s going to be so excited! You must film the reveal! Your plans sound great! It won’t be long before that countdown gets down! Look forward to reading more of your plans!
Elsa42 is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 19 Jan 20, 06:45 PM  
Link to this Post
#7
sarahly
Thread Starter
Gone all Goofy
 
sarahly's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 19
Thanks for reading along!

I don't have any real updates yet. Just mulling it all over, reading lots of trip reports and blogs. I've started to put down a rough itinerary, looking forward to finding out the park opening hours although still a while to go yet. Keeping and eye for a good price for Gatwick Premier Inn, currently £82 which is more than I'd like to pay. Religiously checking my Tesco Clubcard app to see how many points I've got and how much that will be worth in Hotel.com vouchers for a Universal hotel. Starting to think about an overnight stay in Clearwater. You know just general holiday obsessing

In other news Bel got her mock results on Friday and she did really well - 3x9s, 2x8s, 2x7s and a 5 (RE, oh well) - I'll be so happy if she gets results like that in the Summer!

How is your son getting on Abby? I did feel quite stressed about it all over the summer and at the start of the year but now that we're in the midst of it and she's coping okay I'm feeling calmer. She just needs to get back in the swing of revising/homework now the mocks are done, she did really well in the run up to them. I can't believe I have a child sitting GCSEs mind, where has my baby gone?! And wasn't it only a couple of years ago I did mine!
sarahly is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 19 Jan 20, 07:43 PM  
Link to this Post
#8
Goldia
VIP Dibber
 
Goldia's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 16

Goldia's Reviews
Hotel Reviews: 5
Restaurant Reviews: 43
Mobile

Ha ha, totally agree it doesn't feel like I'm a grown up yet, let alone old enough to have a son doing GCSEs.

Max just finished his mocks on Friday so he doesn't have the results yet. We need to get on and sort out his application for 6th form, but at the moment he doesn't know what subjects he wants to do as he's not really enjoying any of them.

I hope you get a better price for the PInn at Gatwick, we have ours for Heathrow booked up, keep checking and I'm sure that it will come down. We've paid ridiculously over the odds in the past, this year I booked very early for PI as I saw a great price.
__________________
Abby
New pre trip report - Summer 2024

Link to all my completed trip reports
2017: NYC and Orlando. Salzburg. Boston.
2018: Orlando. Berlin.
2019: DLP. Orlando. Washington DC.
2020: DLP.
2021: Jamaica. Rome.
2022: Orlando.
2023: Orlando. Niagara and Toronto.
Goldia is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 12:24 AM.


Powered by vBulletin - Copyright © 2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
DIBB Savings
AttractionTickets.com

Get £10 off each Disney Ticket with the code ATDIBB10

Get up to £50 off per room at Disney or Universal with the code DIBBHOTELS


theDIBB Blog
One of the the five worlds found in Epic Universe, How to Train Your Dragon... Read More »
Disney announced that a new nighttime show, “Disney Dreams That Soar,” will run nightly at... Read More »
Walt Disney World Resort guests can get ready to have a “glowing’’ good time when... Read More »


theDIBB Menu


Exchange Rates
US Dollar Rates
ASDA  $1.2354
CaxtonFX  $1.2297
Covent Garden FX  $1.2545
FAIRFX  $1.2350
John Lewis  $1.2380
M&S  $1.2178
Sainsburys  $1.2354
TESCO  $1.2364
Travelex  $1.2353
Updated: 23:00 28/03/2024
Euro Rates
ASDA  €1.1447
CaxtonFX  €1.1406
Covent Garden FX  €1.1513
FAIRFX  €1.1432
John Lewis  €1.1457
M&S  €1.1263
Sainsburys  €1.1440
TESCO  €1.1445
Travelex  €1.1435
Updated: 23:00 28/03/2024

DIBB Premium Membership
Did you know you can help support theDIBB with Premium Membership?

Check out this link for more information and benefits, such as...

"No adverts on theDIBB Forums"

Upgrade Now



X