Sorry for butting in but why can't you book any FP? Maybe I should ust head over to your pre-trippie and see for myself haha, I have just spotted it in your signature!

My hubby never seems to understand how my Dibb research is saving us money either I keep on finding more things I want to do or try

Just caught up on all of your plans and you have been a busy beaver in your Dibb absence

Laura Xx

The Universal plan does seem like a fab deal, I'm glad that I'm able to pass on some tips!

I hope you manage to get the FP+ that you want!

It's flying by already!

Laura Xx

Ooh, the holiday sandwich, I forgot about that one! Nom nom

Sooo many tasty treats I want to try, I need to stop reading the food thread and the DFB!

Thanks for reading,

Laura Xx

great update as always don't forget a jalapeno pretzel... its a must try for dh.

soo much food...soooooo little time! All the things I'm thinking of seem to be snack credits mostly so if we can exchange our cs/qs credits for snacks I will super happy

Cant wait to see Erins Bakery and all the delicious gluten free muffins, cakes and cookies

(18 work days left to go!)

Just caught up on everything yay for all of the BOG reservations! You can never have too many.

You've got me putting some serious thought in to our CS credits now. I'm thinking we'll definitely do WPE, Caseys and 2 x BOG like you, but now I need to figure out how to spend the rest...great update x

YES... Definitely need to add the jalapeño pretzel to my snack list!

I've got everything crossed for being able to swap the CS credits for snacks, I don't think we'll get through them all

We break up a little earlier than other schools, so I only have 10 school days left!

Laura Xx

I don't think that you can have too many BOG ressies either!

Yummy CS choices! Sooo much food to try and fit in our bellies

Laura Xx

The Boring Bits… ESTAs, APIs, PATS, Passports, Transfers, Insurance, Check-Ins & Balance Payments

This might not be the most enthralling update… sorry Dibbers! But even the not-so-exciting bits of the holiday need prepping and arranging. So, what boring bits have we finally managed to sort out?

Well, we have sorted out Nathan’s new passport as his was due to expire just before we leave. It took hardly any time at all – less than two weeks, very impressed with the quick turnaround time . This meant that we could then do our ESTAs; does anybody else get nervous waiting for them to be approved? We have no reason to be refused entry, but I always feel nervous! We managed to do this after the dollar rate had improved slightly so only had to pay £9 each. Whilst sorting these out we also completed our APIs, which was very quick and simple and another thing that was ticked off of my ‘to do’ list.



We have been keeping a close eye on the dollar rate, as we had a few things to pay off in dollars and I want to be able to splurge whilst out there with lots of shopping sprees. I hope it continues to creep up or at least stay at 1.5, as this is what I have calculated everything at. I’m not sure if I have mentioned that we have the Halifax Clarity cards for this trip? So I am hoping that the dollar is good whilst we are out there so we get a nice exchange rate. The plan is to pay these off every few days using the app so that we don’t have a whopping bill on our return and we can keep an eye on our spends!

One of the most exciting parts of this update is probably that we have paid off the final balances for both Disney and the cruise! It’s such a lovely feeling knowing that everything is paid off and even if we don’t save up lots of spends we still have a hotel, tickets and food! We booked the cruise through an American travel agents, which is another reason why I have been so closely monitoring the exchange rates as I wanted to pay the remaining balance at the best rate possible. We got 1.57 using our Halifax cards, so I was very happy with that – I sound a bit like I am on commission for them , I’m just really happy with them so far – hopefully this continues when out there.



After paying off the balance we also managed to check-in to SSR and submit a room request. I went with the advice of lots of Dibbers and opted for Grandstand, as apparently it is the first bus stop on the way out to the parks and back to the hotel. It also has a pool nearby with the all-important drinks refill machine, so I can send Nathan down for drinks when we are in the room . I also asked for a high room, for some (fingers crossed) nice views. Ideally I would like a room closer to the lobby area, so it is a quick stroll for snacks, queries etc. I am hoping that we get this area and that the location works for us!

We didn’t have to do much about insurance, as we have free worldwide cover with our bank, so that saved some pennies! I also managed to book a train to Gatwick at the bargainous price of £34 for the both of us, as I was continually checking the dates so I could leap on the cheapest tickets when they were released. The taxi from the airport on the way back is looking to be around £115, but they won’t let us book so far out so I cannot tick that one off yet!

Final bit of news is that we managed to book the PAT (Port Arrival Time) that we wanted for our cruise . As first time cruisers this was looking unlikely as repeat cruisers could book a lot earlier, however Nathan was on his laptop at 5am 70 days out and managed to get us into the 11am slot – the earliest one for 10:30am was still available, but I am being greedy and wanted to visit Diagon Alley during early entry one last time before driving down to the port so 11am works out a lot better for us .



The most uber exciting thing came yesterday in the post…





… It’s made the holiday feel even closer. I was bouncing around as soon as Nathan showed me the Disney logo on the envelope!

Wow, we have actually done quite a bit over the past couple of weeks! We still need to book the airport taxi, exchange some dollars and decide if we want the Memory Maker, as well as saving like loons! Only 1 month to go…

Oh my, the disney envelope! Not surprised you were so excited! Days are going by fast now! Have you started packing?! Lizzie x