The special first trip for our girls-April 2016 ** 12/05 ** We are home!

[chazb]

Introductions and cast

Hi, and welcome to my 1st ever pre trip report, so please be gentle with me!



Im charlie, 30 years old and mummy to two beautiful girls. I am chief planner of this trip and love writing lists and organising. I am very lucky to be a stay at home mum. My favourite disney characters are Eeyore and Ariel and my favourite ride is Dinosaur.


This is my DH Adam, he is 31 years old and an amazing man. He works very hard as a self employed floor layer and is funding this trip for us. We have been together 9 years after meeting in Ibiza ans have been married 11 months. Adam is not as crazy about disney, but knows this is part of his life now he lives with three girls!lol. His favourite character is Woody and his favourite ride is terror tower.




A couple of recent pictures of us


This is our eldest daughter, phoebe. She will be 3 at the end of july. She is such a happy confident little girl and tells me everyday that I am her best friend and how happy she is. She loves disney and her favourite characters are woody, buzz, tinkerbell, doc mcstuffins and she also loves the minions. This will be her 1st visit.



This is our youngest daughter Darcey. She will be 2 in January. She is also a very chilled happy baby. She was born with a dislocated hip so spent the first 9 months in a full body cast and a brace and was behind with her walking. She now has just started walking and the docs are happy with her progress. She loves mickey mouse, jake and sophia.





A couple of recent pics of the girls!


Our little family


Also coming with us are my mum and dad, sue and mark. They are also big disney fans aswell and are really excited we asked them along with us. My mums favourite character is Ariel and her favourite ride is kali river rapids. My mum doesnt do rides and this is the most adventourous she gets!lol. My dads favourite character is dumbo (bless) and his favourite ride is space mountain.




So there you have the cast. This will be me, my mum and dads 4th trip, Adams 2nd trip and the girls 1st trip. I will update later with what we have sorted so far.

[Lisa_Lollipop]

What a lovely family have and such beautiful girls... you must be so excited to be taking them out for their first Orlando holiday!

We have similar countdowns so must be going around the same time, OH and I fly out on 4th May for 17 nights

[chazb]

How the trip came about- Update

Since having the girls, I have known that I have wanted to take them to Disney but couldn't work out when the best time to take them would be. After talking to a friend who took their children at a similar age and said how amazing the trip was, me and adam decided 2016 would be the year.

Next was deciding when would be best to go, we decided on end of april/ beginning of may or end of september. Phoebe starts reception in september 2016 and I didnt want to take her out of school then as I think its a really important time when she will be making friends and settling into the school routine so didnt want to disturb her, so were left with April/may 2016.

We also asked my mum and dad if they wanted to come with us and were over the moon and were easy with whatever I wanted to plan.

I contacted a couple of travel agents and Charter travel were coming back with the best prices. So as soon as the free dining plan was realised in April this year we paid our deposits and booked. So we are going 26th april-10 may 2016.



Staying at the amazing Saratoga springs resort in a 2 bedroom villa



Flying with virgin direct from LGW-MCO



Getting the magical express to our hotel, for some reason so excited about this!









Also included free in our package we have...
The disney dining plan
$200 giftcard
Disney memory maker

We are really happy with everything that we got with this package and the price we paid for it and really excited that we are able to eat in all the disney restaurants we want too as we have never done this before as we have mostly ate offsite in previous trips. The last time we came was 2007 so a lot has changed and excited by all the new things to try, see and do.

Thanks for reading xx

[chazb]

Originally Posted by Lisa_Lollipop

What a lovely family have and such beautiful girls... you must be so excited to be taking them out for their first Orlando holiday!

We have similar countdowns so must be going around the same time, OH and I fly out on 4th May for 17 nights

See more...

Ahh thank you so much. Yes I am so excited and know the girls are going to love it. Thank for reading

[academy]

Great start

Lovely photos , what a lovely family you have.

I am also mum to 2 girls (although they are now 21 and 14!)

Lots to plan for you and plenty of time - I think I'm all planned out now with 4 weeks to go

Can't wait to read more on how your plans are coming along

[chazb]

Plans so far!

So since we booked this holiday I have been in a slight disney bubble. I remember when I came across the DIBB one evening while doing holiday research and thought it was the most amazing thing ever. I have spent my evenings reading trip reports, food reports and lots of pics. So I have already made quite a few plans and I cant thank the lovely people on the DIBB who have given me so much help and information.


So we have booked a night in the Hampton by Hilton at Gatwick Airport on the night before we travel. We have never done this before and think it will be a nice way to get our holiday off to a good start. We will either get a taxi or ask adams mum if she will drop us off at the airport and have a nice relaxed evening with the girls. My mum and dad are probably just going to travel up the morning we travel as our flight is not till 1pm so we wont be able to do twilight check in as the whole group is not present, but we are fine checking in the day of travel. I think we got a really good deal for this. I paid £75 with expedia for a family room with breakfast included the next day. I did this through Kidstart which is a cashback site and got 10% cashback so more than happy with this deal.



So when we get on the plane we will be heading up the stairs and sitting in the bubble. Yep we got dibbers row 80 and row 79 in front. As soon as I read about this on the dibb I knew it was where I would really love to sit. My dad seemed well excited that we could sit up there and didn't even mind when I said we had to pay more money to reserve seats. So I contacted Virgin on FB asking for reference number and they came straight back to me and so I booked them. We are keeping it as a surprise from the rest of them, just me and my mum know. Im hoping this is going to help me sitting up there as I am soooo scared of flying and think being able to talk to the air hostesses will make me feel better. Thats what I am hoping anyway!lol



We have booked 1 night at the royal pacific resort at universal for the early entry and the express passes. Adam seemed very excited about doing this when I 1st mentioned it as he loves the big rides but he has probably forgot we even discussed it as it was over a day ago!lol. So I went ahead and booked 2 rooms for all of us. I booked direct through universal and think it was about £150 per room. I am able to cancel up to 24 hours before so if I come across a better price I may cancel and rebook. Again only my mum and I know we have booked this so a nice surprice for the rest of them.





We have also got 14 days disney tickets. We will go to all 4 disney parks, downtown disney and one of the water parks, not decided what one yet.



We also have bought universal 2 park/14 day bonus tickets. We will spend 1 day at each park which im hoping will be enough with our early morning entry and fast passes.

A couple of other things that I will book when the 180 day mark comes around


We will book this for phoebe to do. I will just book her the basic package and will buy her a dress from home and bring it with us. I think she will love doing it and will be a lovely thing for her to look back on.






Unfortunatly Darcey will be too young for bibbidi bobbidi boutique, but I will try and book for her to have her 1st haircut at the barber shop in MK. I have read that it is a fun experience and they will sprinkle her hair with pixie dust. I will also buy her a princess dress to wear on the day too.

So thats my plans so far.

Thanks for reading xx

[chazb]

Things to do in each park


I have now begun thinking and planning the rides and attraction that we want to do in each of the parks. Looking back over our previous trips there seem to be quite a few things we missed out on or our new since our last trip in 2007. I think the previous times we went we didn't do as much planning and we went in the school holidays so may have played a big part in this. I have wrote a list of things to do which we haven't done before and a list of must dos for us as a family. Obviously we want to try and see as much as possible but these are the things important to us as a family.

Magic Kingdom!


I have a feeling this is going to be the girls favourite park and will be the park we spend the most time in.

The rides we have not done before
* Country Bear Jamboree



Have actually read really good reviews of this and is a Disney classic. The girls will love all the music and bright colours. not sure what the hubby will think of this one.


* New fantasyland area- Really looking forward to seeing this in real life after seeing lots of pictures of it. I really like the tangled film and yes I will be one of the ones taking pictures in the toilets!lol.

* Mickeys Philharmagic- Cant believe we have never done this on our three previous trips but will be definatly something my mum enjoys

* Carousel of progress- Again another that seems to pass us by, but seems to be a favourite on the DIBB




This is a ride all of us girls we love as Ariel is one of our favourite characters and we spend a lot of time watching the film.


Our favourite must dos from previous trips

* Pirates of the Caribbean- hopefully the girls will be ok on this and not too scared of the dark

* Haunted Mansion- Again I will see nearer the time whether I think the girls will be ok on this. One of my favourites of the parks.



A disney classic and a must do



* Buzz lightyear space ranger spin- I love this ride and the girls will be so excited seeing buzz! I going to try really hard to beat everyones score on this!lol

* The parades- We all love the parades and love watching everyone around me faces as they see the characters. It will be even more special this time seeing my girls faces



Wishes- probably my favourite disney experience. It always makes me cry and I know this time will be no different.



Epcot


I really like epcot and enjoy wondering around the worls showcase. We are also going during the flower and garden festival so looking forward to seeing all the different character toparies around the park

The attractions we havent done before


* New test track- really enjoyed this before and looking forward to trying this new version




Really looking forward to this and we all love nemo


* Turtle talk with crush- I have watched a couple of you tube videos of this and think it can be really funny with the kids asking questions



I will be brave and try them all, even the beverley!


* Visit two countries we haven't visited before Norway and Japan. Hopefully the new frozen ride will be open by the time we go, but will probably be queing for 2 days to get on it if dont manage to get a fast pass for it



Pick a pearl in Japan. Another thing I found out fromthe DIBB and really looking forward to doing this and think it will be a great experience


Our must dos from previous trips

* Living with the land- My favourite ride in Epcot and I know the girls will enjoy this too

* Soarin- I did do this last time we went but remember we had to queue for ages and cant really remember much about it. I think Phoebe may just be tall enough to do it

* Spaceship earth- What isn't there to love about this ride!

* Illuminations- Another must do- love all the fireworks in Disney

Hollywood studios



I really like this park but am quite upset that when we go quite a few things will have been shut. Is a good excuse to come back again though to see all the new attractions



The attractions we haven't done before

* New star tour- my dad loves star wars so something he is looking forward too

* Frozen sing a long- I know the girls will love this and im preety sure its going to make me cry when I hear everyone singing along- yes I do cry a lot



My girls will adore this and will be so excited by it. We are so excited to see their faces throughout the show




Again the girls will love this as Toy Story is their favourite film and again I will beat everyone with my amazing scores


Our repeat must dos from previous trips


* Beauty and the beast show- Love love this!



Again another one of our family favourites, brings back such good memories of being little. Hoping the girls enjoy it just as much



* Tower of Terror- one of adams favourites. I have never been brave enough to do it before so really want to try and do it this time. Im ok on fast upside rides just dont really like rides with a big drop, also never done splash mountain

* Rock and roller coaster- Love this and love aerosmith



Fantasmic, the most amazing show at disney and yes you guessed it I will cry and adam will spend his time laughing at me for being so emotional


Animal Kingdom



I think this is my favourite park and really hope the girls love it just as much. Adam really enjoys it here too


Attractions never done before

* Flight of wonder- Have always seemed to miss this on past trips, probably because my mumhates it if a bird flies close too her

* The lion King show-Can not believe we have never done the Lion King show before as I love all disney shows so really looking forward to this

* The boneyard- the girls will enjoy having a play in here




A ride we can all enjoy going on together


Previous visits favourites and must dos

* Finding nemo- A fab show

* Dinosaur- My favourite ride in Disney and I always look petrified in my ride photos

* Experdition Everest- a favourite of adams, not so much me but will be brave and go on again

* Kilimanjaro safari- Another ride we will all enjoy and the girls will love seeing the animals up close. I will get a good lion photo! lol



My mums favourite ride and a firm favourite with all of us. My mum doesn't go on many things so is really nice seeing her laughing her head off on a ride.


Wow sorry I have rambled on a lot for now. Thanks for reading and next up our universal must dos

[chazb]

Originally Posted by academy

Great start

Lovely photos , what a lovely family you have.

I am also mum to 2 girls (although they are now 21 and 14!)

Lots to plan for you and plenty of time - I think I'm all planned out now with 4 weeks to go

Can't wait to read more on how your plans are coming along

See more...

Ahh thank You. Really enjoying planning it all. Have been reading your pre trippy and looks like you are going to have an amzing time and will look forward to reading the trip report. Not long to go, bet your so excited? !
Thank you so much for reading xx

[chazb]

Universal Rides and attractions




We plan on spending two days here. One day in Universal and one day at IOA, making use of the early morning entry and the express passes we will get from staying on-site for one night. On previous trips I have always really enjoyed Universal studios and know Adam and my dad will have a really good couple of days here.
I was slightly worried that the girls would be bored here, but after researching I think there is quite a lot for them to do, especially phoebe and as my mum doesn't go on many rides my mum will be happy to take Darcey around the shops and the little play areas and also just spend time people watching.
I also think by having the express passes there isn't going to be much waiting time for the people not going on the rides, fingers crossed anyway.



Wow, since we were last at universal studios, there seem to be a load of new attractions which we haven't done...


* Rip Ride Rocket- I remember seeing this being built when we were last here. Adam will love this and so will my dad. Im still not sure if Im going to go on it yet, but I like to think I will be brave enough




A must must do for our family. We love the films and the girls are obsessed with the minions. I am so glad that they do stationary seats so the girls can definatly go on it and my mum has already volunteered to sit with them.


* Simpsons Area- Again when we last came they had just built the simpsons ride but none of tge surrounding area had been done up in a simpsons theme so will be good to have a look around here. We managed to get my mum on the simpsons ride but I have a feeling she will be declining to ride again this time.

* Transformers- I am looking forward to this ride especially as people say it is very similar to spiderman





This is a little water play area for the girls to enjoy. It will be nice to sit and chill for a little while and watch the girls having fun in here.


Looking at all the news attractions we have to experience has got me really excited and looking forward to repeating some of our old favourites The mummy and shrek 4D.





Not much as changed since we were last here but again is an enjoyable park especially for Adam and my dad with all the big rides. Some our fabourites include



* Spiderman- A really fun enjoyable ride, looking forward to this

* Cat in the hat ride- The girls i. sure will like this as loud music and bright colours




Jurrasic Park River Adventure- I have never been brave enough to do this as it has the one big drop thing I hate but I really want to try and conquer my fears this trip. Adam loves this ride.





This is one of our favourite family rides and just remember laughing so much on this ride. It is also one of the only rides my mum goes on so hoping she can get on it a couple of times with the express passes, even though you get totally soaked.






Dont worry, I havent forgotten about this amazing place, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I know it is over the two parks but thought I would do it has one post.
I am so excited to be visiting here asI really love Harry Potter. The pictures I have seen make it look amazing and I bet the atmosphere is fantastic. I am looking forward to all the rides here, especially the hogwarts express which I think will be fantastic.
Looking forward to going into all the shops and treating us to a few bits and pieces. The girls haven't seen any of the Harry Potter films but Im sure they will still enjoy the area, especially the sweet shop.





How amazing does this look? !




So looks like were going to have a good two days here.
Thanks again for reading xx

[chazb]

Food, Food and more food- our ADR wishlist!


Adam thinks this is me when Im eating. Eat really quickly and get so much around my face, Im sure he is confusing me with one of the girls!



So I love food and eating out at restaurants and was so excited when we got the free DDP and will be eating onsite most days. I have a list of restaurants I really would love to eat at and will be my priority at getting reservations at the 180 day mark.




I would really love an 8am reservation at crystal palace on our 1st morning so we can walk up a near empty main street and get some fantastic group shots all together.
Im looking forward to helping myself to lost of different pastries and cakes and will give the breakfast lasagne a try.



The main reason for the reservation is obviously to meet this handsome guy, my favourite disney character. I cant wait fir a cuddle with him.


Ohanas Dinner



The main reason is to try the lapu lapu. I have also got the rest of the gang excited about trying it (obv not the girls). I think having big platters bought to the table will be fun aswell and im looking forward to the noodles and chunks of meat.


Raglan Road Dinner



So one of the main reasons for choosing this is the bread and butter pudding dessert. Im not sure if I even like this dessert, im more of a chocolate girl, but the reviews are so good that I will have to try it.
I also like the fact that there is entertainment while you are eating and it will be fun watching irish dancing. Im sure the girls will enjoy this too.


Rose and Crown dinner




The main reason that we want to eat here is to try and get a table outside to have a really good view of illumimations. I will try and get antable for around 19.30-19.45 and hope we get an outside table. The menu looks good too.



Coral Reef Lunch




There are two reasons that I want to eat here. I think it such a unique type of restaurant to eat in and know we will all love watching the fish while eating our food and a great experience for the girls to have.



The second reason is because I have to have this dessert. Really hope that they don't remove it from the menu. This is my perfect dessert.


Margaretaville- Citywalk



So I really love margaritas and so the margarita flight is the perfect treat for me. I can try four of the different flavours. The food looks good too!


Be Our Guest Lunch



Im really hoping to get a lunch reservation here using a counter service credit on one of our magic kingdom days. I think the whole restaurant looks amazing and think I would like to eat in the west wing with the rose. Food wise I like the look of most things on the menu.


So looking back on my list so far I seem to have chosen places with good cocktails and yummy desserts, well we are on holiday after all.

We are probably going to pick 2 or 3 more character breakfasts/dinners, so just have to make our final decisions on them.
I think we will definatly do Tusker house and Hollywood and Vine breakfasts.
I am then looking between akehurus, garden grill and 1900 park fare for a dinner reservation.

Thanks again for reading xx