"This is Definitely The Last Time" Pre Trip Report 30.4.2015 - 15.05.2015

[Sam_Smith]

Well here we are again!

Less than 2 weeks away from our last ever trip to Walt Disney World in Florida. Now I’m sure you have all heard that before, but DH assures me this is definitely going to be the last one.

Booooooo Hissssss……

So the cast:

Me (Sam). Long time Disney lover. Planner. Organiser. Feeder. Dresser. General giver.

Him (Alan). USA fanatic. Driver. Moaner. Eater. Procrastinator. Usual receiver.

These are just general descriptions that I’m sure most of us have experienced at some time or another. Nothing to do with DH deciding this is last ever trip to WDW of course!

Some other ones I can think of are:

Me: Actual Boss
Him: Wannabe Boss

I jest of course. This is us at our wedding in September 2014.

This was me after a couple of drinks in the evening!

This last trip will be our official honeymoon.

We spent 4 days in a caravan with our dogs after the wedding, but that doesn’t count.

They are:

Our Kelpie – ‘Arry

Who we have had for just over a year. He is about 18 months old and we got him from a rescue centre after he was found wandering the streets as a puppy. He is “challenging”, which is not always a bad thing. I’m sure I’ve got that word on one of my old school reports somewhere, and I turned out alright! He is completely bonkers though!

This is our old boy Tyler

Who is also a rescue and is 10 this year. He is a lab lurcher cross and very laid back. They will be going on their very own holibobs to a kennels that we have often used, and they are very well loved and looked after.

So back to this trip.

The “This is Definitely The Last Time” trip was conceived before our wedding last year, when the free dining was still on offer. We did the DDP on our last trip and couldn’t resist the offer again, even though that was also supposed to be the last trip ever!

You can read all about it here.

Our PORfect Getaway Sept 2013

This time we (the royal we) decided on CSR with an upgrade to DDP for the first week of our trip, with some Universal time and a trip to California thrown in for good measure. DH wants to drive on Route 66 in an obscenely loud and fast car, and we plan to visit a friend in Roseville Ca, as well as seeing as much as we can on route.

The first consideration was when to go. We usually use indirect flights with United, as my friends’ husband works for them and can get us companion passes. If you do your homework and book the quietest flights at the quietest time of year, you can usually get on OK, and if you are lucky you get in Business class! With this in mind, we decided on the beginning of May 2015. This would miss any UK school holidays, and the US Spring Break would be over too. The second leg would see us flying up to SFO to pick up a car, and a flight home from LAX. More of that later.

Booking commenced:
• Week at CSR with upgrade to DDP and park tickets included - £1677 with Disney
• Annual travel insurance - £37 with Annual Travel Insurance.com
• 2 nights at Cabana Bay Beach resort - $293 with booking.com
• Heathrow parking – £104.20 with BAA.com
• ESTA for me in my married name - £10.63 via the official website
• Universal Tickets - £240 with Florida Escapes
• Disney Express one way – free with Disney
• Passport for me in my married name - £82.25 with check and send
• Birthday surprise for DH - £**** direct with (more on this later)
• Illuminations Dessert Party - £65.67 with Disney
• Memory Maker - £17 share booked with Dibber
• Garden Grocer - $111.71 booked online
• Birthday card for DH - £6.94 with Moonpig (for the surprise)
• 29th April til 15th May – booked off work
• 29th April til 17th May – booked at the kennels
• Magic Bands – colours chosen

ADR’s:
• Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano Fantasmic Package - 17:05 1st May
• Le Cellier - 18:00 2nd May
• BOG breakfast- 9:45 3rd May
• California Grill - 19:30 3rd May
• O'Hana - 18:45 4th May
• Sanaa - 19:05 5th May

Fastpasses:
• Various booked but only because I had to give it a try. We are not really too bothered about the headline rides this time. Read about my one and only Hulk experience from our last trip, and you will understand why! lol

So with about 5 weeks to go it was time to get us listed on the United flights. This is when we got a bit of a shock! Apparently some US United employees had been caught selling their allocation of flights, and so the company had decided to temporarily suspend the perk for everybody!

OMG it left us needing to book a flight pretty sharpish!

Much Googling ensued, and I managed to find indirect flights for both of us for around £1000. Not bad, but DH decided he would rather fly direct given the choice, so I found flights with Virgin for £1200. We discussed what this would mean for the rest of the holiday, because that was basically our whole flight budget and some spent in one go. So after much soul searching we decided to stay in Orlando for this trip and try California when United had sorted things out.

This decision had a knock on effect with some of my bookings however. The car hire had to be changed, and the flights were now from LGW instead of LHR so I had to change the parking.
Neither turned out to be an issue. I amended the car hire to pick up and drop off at MCO, with an extra day. This cost less than £10 more, and I cancelled the LHR parking which gave me a full refund, so I made a new booking for LGW parking- £73 with Gatwickparking.com

Flights were booked with Virgin - £1266.32 30th Apr – 15th May

This just left where to stay for the final 6 nights. I hadn’t booked any accommodation in California, because we were planning to just wing it, but I really fancied a villa now. I eventually found one at Indian Pointe. A 4 bedroom with pool and spa for £546 for 6 nights including pool and spa heat.

Phew sorted – thank goodness!

The last thing was to break the news to my friend that we would not be visiting. Well not this time anyway. Just before I was about to contact him on fb, a message popped up from him:

“I will be in Orlando the same time as you for work. May 4th til 9th or 10th”

It must be fate.

[gartland87]

Hi! Great start, it sounds like an amazing holiday you have planned, I'm thinking of something similar for 2017 so am looking forward to reading more x

[Guest]

Haha! Love the descriptions of each other! Great start! Look forward to reading the rest. Have a fab time

[EllenClaire]

loved reading the start of your trip we are there a few days same as you

[Sam_Smith]

So I have an update on the birthday surprise for DH.

We had a telephone call from Kip at the Exotic Driving Experience last night. Unfortunately DH took the call!

Anyway, I was kind of expecting it after the terrible accident that happened there the week before last.

So they have suspended all exotic driving experiences but have offered him the 8 lap NASCAR experience at no extra charge.

He's happy to do it even knowing what happened, so it's all booked.

Only thing is I had a big birthday card made at Moonpig with a Ferrari on the front, and I wrote a poem inside which said he would be driving one.



He knows about it and has told me to keep it for his birthday.

So no more surprises apart from the huge chocolate cake and bottle of pink champagne Garden Grocer will be delivering to our room.

[VickieMH]

gutted this is your last time... I just couldn't cope without my hit of Florida and Disney x