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Old 3 Aug 22, 09:57 PM  
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jothp
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Florida: the next episode (4th time lucky) summer 2023 pre trip report

Well here we are finally with a new pre trip report.

Some of you may remember that we had a trip planned for summer 2020 but we all know how that turned out.
The pre trip report for that trip is here if anybody is interested in looking back at historical plans. Lots of the introductions etc will be repeated in this report.

The story since 2020
When we left the previous PTR we had moved our booking to 2021 and were hoping we would be able to replicate the the plans we had for 2020 just a year later. As winter 2020 approached and the covid situation started to deteriorate again, I began to doubt that we would be getting back and never even got as far as booking anything apart from the Disney portion of the trip that had been moved from 2020. When it became clear we still couldn't travel, we cancelled this in the hope that there would be some offers for 2022. Although travelling abroad was looking tricky with all the restrictions, things in the UK were looking much better so we decided to go away in this country instead. For the last few years before covid we had been doing a center parcs trip around Easter time with my sister and her family and my parents. The 2020 trip had already been moved to 2021 and then 2022 but we decided a trip was very much overdue so we booked a quick weekend at Elveden at the beginning of the summer holidays.





Not happy with just a weekend away after the previous 18 months, we also booked a week in Devon later in the holidays. My parents also joined us for this trip.




The 2021 summer holidays passed and things here were feeling much more like normal and my thoughts once again started to turn to Florida. I decided to get something in the calendar for August 2022 just in case. The new dining credit offer didn't really impress me. One September day browsing the website, availability came up for 10 nights in a one bed villa at bay lake tower. We wouldn't get the dining credit but I'd only ever seen availability before for a night or two but never for an extended stay. This is a dream resort for DH and DDs so I took this as a sign and booked us up quickly. I thought that all we needed now was for the borders to open up again and they did. Feeling excited, I began the search for flights and a universal hotel and car hire etc hoping that this was the beginning of things in the parks getting more back to normal. All of these things seemed to have gone up so much and I was struggling to justify the cost when it still seemed that the experience still wasn't quite what it used to be and we'd have to pay for all our food this time. Something was nagging at me and I kept procrastinating and missed some half decent flight prices. As time went on, I was feeling a bit negative about all the changes - both things that were still in place for covid and those permanent changes such as EMH and genie + and was concerned that the trip would be a lot of money and a big disappointment so as we still didn't have flights, we made the difficult decision to cancel. Part of me wishes we had kept this trip, especially as more things have been returning to normal and testing has been dropped, but I would rather have cancelled and have the money for a trip next year than have gone this year and ended up disappointed. If we had gone this year it would have been several years before we could go again. Instead we ended up doing a few days in DLP at the end of July into August. I'm still deciding whether or not I've got enough notes of what we did and photos to do a full trip report but I'll add a few photos here.








We were all still very keen to go back to Florida, even Robyn who is now 19. When the dining credit offer was released again for 2023, I bit the bullet and booked us up. I am feeling very positive about this trip hence the 4th time lucky addition to the name of the trip report.

Edited at 11:54 PM. Reason: To add photos
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Old 3 Aug 22, 11:05 PM  
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The introductions

This post should perhaps have come first. But never mind. We are a family of 5 and this will be our 3rd trip to the magic and our last as a family of 5 as our eldest DD will be 20 by the time we go.

We are:
Jo (me) Mum and chief planning fanatic.
Ollie Dad, just goes along with the trips to keep his girls happy.

Robyn (19 - 20 by our trip) A sensible kind and lovely young lady who has mainly grown out of the typical teenage behaviour but spends far too much time attached to her phone. She feels like she should be too grown up for lots of the rides but secretly loves them.



Harriet (17 - 18 by the time we go) usually known as Hattie she is a thoughtful, intelligent and crazy girl but loves to be in bed a little too much! Early mornings could be interesting. Loves all the thrill rides.



Evie (14 - 15 by the time we go) can be a typical moody and stubborn teenager at times but is usually a creative, imaginative and loving soul. She is not a fan of big rollercoasters and is a very fussy eater.

Edited at 11:33 PM.
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Old 3 Aug 22, 11:54 PM  
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The Disney history

As is starting to become traditional this is our Disney history shamelessly copied from my ill-fated 2020 PTR.

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 it was to be 2020 before we could return. Anybody in any doubt about how that turned out should go back to the first post.

2022
We decided not to travel to Florida so we added another DLP trip to our Disney history. Evie had commented that she didn't really remember going so we decided to take a trip back. It was fantastic recalling all the old memories with the older two girls and telling them all about the things we used to do. It turns out Evie could remember much more than she thought. It was fantastic to see the Disney magic is still there in the girls even though the trip was different as they are now much older.



Now we are just in the early stages of planning our next trip to WDW for summer 2023.
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Old 5 Aug 22, 10:41 AM  
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caitlinsmummy
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Aww Jo, I'm so glad to see you have a trip report again I love the nostalgia of going back to the old reports, the girls have grown up so much <3 I cannot wait to follow along again with your report x
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Old 5 Aug 22, 06:02 PM  
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Originally Posted by caitlinsmummy View Post
Aww Jo, I'm so glad to see you have a trip report again I love the nostalgia of going back to the old reports, the girls have grown up so much <3 I cannot wait to follow along again with your report x
Thanks so much for following along again. It was a bit miserable being on here when I didn't have a trip that I believed we would go on but our little trip to DLP last weekend has brought back the Disney magic and I'm now in full on planning mode again.

I'm glad to see that your trip went ahead and I'm enjoying making my way through your trip report.
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Old 5 Aug 22, 08:58 PM  
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Jo, I love looking at your pics of the kids when they were little! 😍 Your trip sounds fantastic and I can’t wait to follow along. 😁 xxx
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Old 5 Aug 22, 11:06 PM  
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Originally Posted by Sparksy72 View Post
Jo, I love looking at your pics of the kids when they were little! 😍 Your trip sounds fantastic and I can’t wait to follow along. 😁 xxx
Thanks for following along. I can't believe how big the girls have got now. Sometimes in my head I think they are still small and forget that they are so grown up.
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Old 6 Aug 22, 10:58 AM  
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Originally Posted by jothp View Post
Thanks so much for following along again. It was a bit miserable being on here when I didn't have a trip that I believed we would go on but our little trip to DLP last weekend has brought back the Disney magic and I'm now in full on planning mode again.

I'm glad to see that your trip went ahead and I'm enjoying making my way through your trip report.
I totally get it. I was the same. It was until November that I actually believed we might make our trip and could start planning properly. How was DLP?

Thank you ❤️ seems like so long ago now! X
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Old 6 Aug 22, 10:32 PM  
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DLP was great thanks. It really helped me to see that Disney magic again. I'm thinking I might do a trip report for our visit but I'm not certain yet.
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Old 7 Aug 22, 10:58 PM  
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How wonderful that you have another trip booked for next year. The time will fly by and will be totally worth the wait!
It’s great you’ve managed to get to DLP for a bit of Disney magic, it’s been years since we’ve been, I think it was 2009, but we had such a great time.
You’ve made me think about going back actually as it’s so easy and fast to get there for a weekend from here!
I’m looking forward to hearing all of your plans
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