Florida: the next episode August 2020 Pre Trip Report.

[jothp]

Finally it is time to start my Pre trip report.

We are a family of 5 and this will be our 3rd trip to the magic. We are:
Jo (me) Mum and chief planning fanatic.
Ollie Dad, just goes along with the trips to keep his girls happy.

Robyn (16 - 17 by our trip) a typical teenager at times but generally a lovely sensible and kind young lady. Declares herself too old for the characters but secretly loves Eeyore and Chip and Dale.

Harriet (15 or will be by the time we go) usually known as Hattie she is a thoughtful, intelligent and crazy girl but has a terrible stubborn streak! She especially loves Tigger and all things Harry Potter.

Evie (12 by the time we go) a creative, imaginative and loving soul who loves Snow White and the seven dwarfs, especially Dopey.

As I enjoyed Goldia's history in her PTR so much, I thought I would do my own.

2009
Our Disney journey began in June 2009 when we decided to take the girls to DLP. Robyn was 6, Hattie 4 and Evie 1. Before this we wouldn't have called ourselves Disney fans but we had a fantastic time and suffered badly from the Disney blues when we returned home.

2010
Soon after we were home we booked up to return the following May/June. This time Hattie had her 5th birthday on the day we arrived, Robyn was 7 and Evie was 2.

We couldn't wait to get back and managed to find a deal too good to turn down so squeezed in another sneaky trip to see the Christmas magic just as the girls finished school in December.

2011

In 2011 we went again in May/June and were lucky enough to have friends come with us. Robyn was 8, Hattie turned 6 on the trip and Evie was 3. It was our best trip yet and there was no sign yet of us getting bored.

In August we found another deal and were back yet again for our first offsite trip with annual passes too this time.

2012

Surprise, surprise it was back again in May/June this year. By now Robyn was 9, Hattie 7 and Evie 4.

After this trip we contemplated one more trip before our annual passes expired but decided that we really wanted to try Florida so we needed to do some serious saving.

2015
Finally in 2015 we were able to fulfil our dream. Robyn was 12, Hattie 10 and Evie 7.

We flew direct with Virgin and stayed 4 nights club level at RPR followed by 14 nights at OKW. Of course we always knew that this was unlikely to be a once in a lifetime trip and were eager to book again as soon as we got back. Saving started again in earnest.

2017
Thankfully we only had two years to wait until we could return. This time we stayed 3 nights offsite, 12 nights at AKL Kidani Villas and 4 nights club level at PBH.

The urge was still strong to return but unfortunately ordinary life took over and here we are just over 6th months away from our 3rd trip.

[Sparksy72]

What lovely family photos! You must be getting super excited now, not long til ADR day and then the time just flies from there.

I’m looking forward to following along on your adventures

[jothp]

Originally Posted by Sparksy72

What lovely family photos! You must be getting super excited now, not long til ADR day and then the time just flies from there.

I’m looking forward to following along on your adventures

See more...

Thanks for reading my ramblings. Looking back at all the old photos certainly made me feel nostalgic. I'll be at work all day, but I plan to start posting this year's plans this evening.

[Eccle]

Lovely photos. Looking forward to reading more of your plans

[tink111]

Fab pre-trip report! Happy planning

[jothp]

Originally Posted by Eccle

Lovely photos. Looking forward to reading more of your plans

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Thanks for reading along. I'm glad I took inspiration from Goldia for the history as it was great fun looking back at all the old photos and wondering where the years had gone.

Originally Posted by tink111

Fab pre-trip report! Happy planning

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Thanks for reading.

[Kat11]

Sounds like a great trip you have planned!

It’s pretty addictive this Florida lark! 😂

Kat

[Goldia]

Hurrah you thought of a name! I'm hoping to have started a trend with the 'our Disney holiday history' section of the pre trip. It's so nice to look through the old photos, your girls are all gorgeous I love the photos of them when they were little compared to now in their HP robes.

I can't wait to read all about your plans, yay! I'm so excited.

[jothp]

The when where and how.

So now after my ramblings that seemed to last forever we finally get on to our trip for this year. I work in a school and we like to go for between two and three weeks so there is only one time of year that fits the bill.

This time we are travelling Wednesday 5th August until Sunday 23rd August.


Like many others on this board I spent many weeks at the beginning of 2019 not so patiently awaiting the release of free dining for 2020. The release came and then the debate began of what to book. Booking a 1 bed villa (which we had stayed in on both our previous trips) was not an option as this now couldn't be done until 11 months before and I just wasn't patient enough for that.

We price crunched POR with free dining as we love the food court there and the pool looks like fun but in the end Beach Club wasn't coming in much more expensive so we opted for that.

Our stay here is for 14 nights from Sunday 9th August. I have to say that I am very worried about the idea of us all sharing one room for the whole holiday. We have managed well for a few nights in the past but it is a very long time to be in quite such close proximity.

The next job was to book the flights. I can never quite believe the holiday is happening until the flights are taken care of. After getting a real bargain with BA last time, I started stalking the BA website. Unfortunately there were no really cheap deals in September like there had been before our trip in 2017. I just missed the good Lufthansa flights that were posted on here and started to get very itchy fingers to book. Both flight prices and car hire just seem to be so much more expensive this year.

One dreary Tuesday evening (still in September as I really was that impatient to book!) I was once again looking at prices for fly drive packages. For direct flights and a 7 seater car, totals were still coming in just over £5,000. I was half debating just taking the plunge as car hire alone for a car of that size has shot up to well over £1000 leaving less than £800 per head for the flights. On a whim, I decided to see what would happen if I also added in the Universal hotel we were planning on staying at. Much to my amazement 4 nights club level at RPR only added about £600 to the total. Given that the best price I could find the hotel pricing up separately was £1800, I was about ready to bite their hands off when Ollie mentioned that he would really like to stay at HRH. At this point I nearly had a nervous breakdown worrying what changing the hotel would do to the price. Luckily HRH only added another £400 which was about the difference between the two hotels that I was finding on other websites. I bit the bullet and booked!

So having strung it out for as long as possible I can now reveal that we are flying on the later BA flight LGW to MCO on 5th August and returning Tampa to LGW on 23rd August. Our first 4 nights are being spent staying club level at HRH for the FOTL passes and we also have a large 7 seater car for the full duration of our stay.

[jothp]

Originally Posted by Kat11

Sounds like a great trip you have planned!

It’s pretty addictive this Florida lark! 😂

Kat

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Yes it certainly is. Thanks for reading.

Originally Posted by Goldia

Hurrah you thought of a name! I'm hoping to have started a trend with the 'our Disney holiday history' section of the pre trip. It's so nice to look through the old photos, your girls are all gorgeous I love the photos of them when they were little compared to now in their HP robes.

I can't wait to read all about your plans, yay! I'm so excited.

See more...

Thanks for reading. I'm not totally happy with the name but decided I could always change it later if something better came along! I've been reading lots of PTR lately and it just made me even more eager to start my own.

I think the Disney history should become a compulsory part of any PTR. I really enjoyed yours and it was great fun looking back at all our photos and reliving the memories. The girls certainly have changed so much. It really does seem a lifetime ago.