Link To Introductions and Pre Trip index

Previous Update : Update and To Do List

Hi Everyone,

Its been some time since my last update but hopefully I'll be a bit more regular from now on.

So what have we been up to I hear you ask We've been on our summer holidays, this year we went to Cornwall, Devon and Longleat in our touring caravan and we had a great time. Managed to visit Lands End, St Michaels Mount and Stonehenge plus lots more. Body boarding on the beautiful beaches, fish and chips (a few times!), walks and just relaxing and having fun.



We bought the kids some headphones for listening to the their TVs in the car and DH got some too, so now I just need to get some myself for the flight.

We're now well and truly back to school and work and starting to feel very Autumnal as the weather changes. I've also been busy sorting out a few things on my Florida to do list.

Flights - we had a plane change with Thomas Cook, our return flight is now Airtanker and so we have no premium economy seats coming home. We are all disappointed with this. I have a thread on the situation and we have got an acceptable compensation response now. Hopefully they'll be no more flight drama.

DH's passport has been renewed and all our Esta's are now done and approved - Yay

I've taken out an annual travel insurance policy as we have a short trip to Rome coming up so this sounded like a good option. Its with Virgin and includes SAFI cover and the volcano/ash cloud extra too lol!

My planning spreadsheet is coming along well now, I do need to spend a little more time on this now as November will be ADR time and so I need to have our daily plans more or less in order. I will have to take a screenshot of it, doing it at work on lunch mostly as I have 2 screens so it's much easier haha! I've been checking out restaurant reviews and making myself very hungry (and thirsty - some rather nice cocktail options!)

Anna Maria Island accommodation is booked. We are staying in a cottage at the Northern end with our own pool, costing more than I planned due to the dismal exchange rate but what can you do. We are all really looking forward to rest and relaxation here, it looks so beautiful. We stay here between our Disney stay and our Universal stay.



I've been monitoring Universal hotel prices and have made numerous Universal ticket calculations on paper. I think January might give us some decent offers on the hotel and then I'll decide what to do about tickets once this is booked.

I've also looked at car hire a little but nothing booked yet. I'm going to preorder the 2017 Brits guide soon as I definately want that.

My plan now is to carry on with the planning slowly but surely and have some sort of ADR list soon. DH and I are going to Rome next month for a weekend break as a milestone birthday celebration and I've been busy making ticket bookings for this also, need to do some research on food and drink in the next couple of weeks, must check trip reports on here actually, I'm sure I recall seeing at least one report.

TO DO LIST
Book Car Hire
DONE - Book Anna Maria Island Accomodation
Book Universal Hotel
DONE - Renew DHs passport
DONE - Apply for all our ESTA's
DONE - Travel Insurance
Car Parking at Manchester Airport (Maybe Hotel)
Possibly Lounge Access at Manchester Airport
Kennedy Space Centre Booking
Air Boat Booking
Plan ADR's
Book ADR's
Plan FP+
Book FP+
Headphones for Plane - Just need mine.
Wishes Cruise?
Book cattery for Lulu
Sort out gadgets with 'Just in Case' entertainment
1 x New Suitcase
Pay Disney Balance
Pay AMI Balance
Spending Money Method?
Laminate all Plans


Thanks for reading, I'll be back soon

Next Update : Plans and ADR List

Gutted about the flight - we were looking at ways to cut the cost next year but ultimately decided it wasn't worth booking a Thomas Cook flight and risking getting an airtanker. Think we've been spoilt with Virgin flights!

Love your pre trip report so far. We are also going in May 2017 - 16th-31st. Ive got my plan mostly done so when our ADR date comes round I'm ready to book some in. Like your organisation style, quite similar to mine.

Its a real shame and I'm really glad its not the outbound that's changed but to be fair the Airtanker is a good plane (not to be confused with the Hi Fly which isn't) but I do know where you are coming from with the uncertainity.

Fab, has your ADR day come around now then? I'm thinking it'll be around now. Mine is Monday I believe. Hope your planning is coming along nicely

Link To Introductions and Pre Trip index

Previous Update : Catch Up and New Bookings

Time for another update I think

Big news is my Brit Guide to Orlando for 2017 has arrived which I was very excited about. I know there is a lot of information online, here and other places, but I do like a real guide book

So what have we been up to, well we've just got back from a fantastic weekend in Rome, just DH and I to celebrate my birthday, fist time we've been abroad without a child for 10 years and it felt strange but also quite relaxing . We had a really great time, were only away for 2 nights but we got so much done. I will possibly do a short trip report as we certainly felt we made the most of it and had made some good choices regarding prebooking and location so it might be useful for others.

Now I'm back its been time to make some tweaks and decisions regarding our plan and ADR's as the big 180 day approaches next week.

I had threads on my current plan and on a possible ADR list.

PLAN - http://DIBB.in/12095546
ADR's - http://DIBB.in/12112801

Thanks for the feedback those who have replied. I have made a couple of tweaks to some timings and also added a BOG dinner for our second visit to Magic Kingdom. I was unsure about menus and setting aside the time for this but the trailers for the new Beauty and The Beast have for me all excited so I'm squeezing it in

This means that we have one TS too many but that's fine as I think my DS will choose from the child menu a lot in the restaurants (he'll be just 11) and so we will just pay for a couple of meals OOP for him to recoup 2 TS credits (at least). Here is the list as it stands today;

Day 1 - No ADR (Arrival Day)
Day 2 - Crystal Palace Lunch @ 12.30
Day 2 - Olivias OKW Dinner @ 18.00
Day 3 - Tusker House Lunch @ 11.30
Day 4 - Sci-Fi Dine In Lunch @ 11.30
Day 5 - Coral Reef Lunch @ 11.45
Day 6 - Be Our Guest @ 17.45
Day 7 - Akershus Late Lunch @ 13.30
Day 7 - Teppan Edo Dinner @ 19.00
Day 8 - California Grill @ 19.30 to watch Wishes
Day 9 - No ADRs. KSC all day will eat off site on the way home
Day 10 - Mama Melrose Fantasmic Package @ 14.30
Day 11 - Rainforest Cafe Dinner (ROL package? ) @ ?

And so I just need to make some clarifications regarding Animal Kingdom days as I'm hopefully expecting a ROL announcement before our holiday and will aim to get a dining package reservation so need to see how that was working for the Jungle Book before they closed it down then I can have a slot of time ready to jump on for this if required.

Hope everyone is well and looking forward to Christmas, I really need to start making some lists and stop thinking about Disney so much

TO DO LIST
Book Car Hire
DONE - Book Anna Maria Island Accomodation
Book Universal Hotel
DONE - Renew DHs passport
DONE - Apply for all our ESTA's
DONE - Travel Insurance
Car Parking at Manchester Airport (Maybe Hotel)
Possibly Lounge Access at Manchester Airport
Kennedy Space Centre Booking
Air Boat Booking
DONE - Plan ADR's
Book ADR's
IN PROGRESS - Plan FP+
Book FP+
Headphones for Plane - Just need mine.
Wishes Cruise?
Book cattery for Lulu
Sort out gadgets with 'Just in Case' entertainment
1 x New Suitcase
Pay Disney Balance
Pay AMI Balance
Spending Money Method?
Laminate all Plans

Next Update : ADR Bookings and Other Important Stuff

Just caught up on all your plans - how exciting to be a first time visiter when everything is so new & special

You are also flying out on my 30th birthday & I am desperately trying to convince the hubby that we simply must be in Disney!

Your plan sounds really good, i don't know if you are still thinking about discovery cove but for your first trip I think you have plenty to cover for sure.

The time will be ticking away nicely for you now looking forward to your updates x

Thanks for reading, it really is exciting to be doing all this the first time round although all the information can be a little overwhelming! I hope you can get there for your 30th

Link To Introductions and Pre Trip index

Previous Update : ADR Plans

ADRs are Done

So I have a few things to update you on but first up is ADR day. It was Monday 21st November and I was in work but poised and ready to start clicking away come 11am. I'd done a little preparation work after reading a few threads on here (added a phone number, card details etc), opened up the website at 11am and only my Day 1 was showing open for booking I closed it down and tried again and nothing, I was resigning myself to calling at 12 and sounding a little bit bonkers at work as I booked all the places we'll be eating at in 6 months time

Anyway, I thought about the app and low and behold it was working so I got stuck in, only a couple of things I couldn't do on the app. Here are my bookings,

Crystal Palace Lunch
Olivias Dinner
Tusker House Lunch
Sci Fi Dine-In Lunch
Coral Reef Lunch
Be Our Guest Dinner
Akershus Lunch
Teppan Edo Dinner
California Grill Dinner
Mama Melrose Fantasmic Lunch/Dinner(!)
Yak and Yeti Dinner

I couldn't book the fantasmic dinner package on the app but called the following day to sort that out.

We have 1 dinner too many for our TS credits but that's fine as my DS will be 11 and I don't see him eating from the adults menu much at all so we will ensure we pay OOP for a couple of childrens meals over the course of the holiday. I may change the Yak and Yeti but am waiting to see what happens with ROL first.

So excited about them all, we were out in Manchester at Teppanyaki Chinatown on Saturday evening with friends and loved it, can't wait for the kids to experience it.

Other Important Stuff

While on the phone to sort out fantasmic I booked BBB for our daughter. We will be going to the Disney Springs boutique before heading over to Epcot to meet lots of princesses, I think she will love this

I also added my DH 40th birthday celebration onto the California Grill booking so hopefully he'll get something special as this is the meal where we will celebrate that (we he'll also have his birthday badge of course )

Black Friday has happened and a few things came out of this.
Firstly DH spotted my headphones with a good reduction and so those were bought.
Secondly there was a post on here about a deal for the Universal photo package, 5 consecutive days for $59.95 and as we will be spending 4 days on site for Universal this sounded good so I bought this.
Thirdly Universal tickets have been purchased. Orlando Attractions had the new 3 park explorer tickets on offer and so I paid £809 for 3 adult and 1 child tickets plus the extra bits and bobs they give away. Booked with a £10 pp deposit. Still seems like a lot of money compared to my budget but don't think well get it much cheaper.

So a massive update and lots of items marked off my To Do list. Now I am moving onto getting Christmas sorted out and keeping a close eye on Universal hotels offers (please)

As always, thanks for reading

TO DO LIST
Book Car Hire
DONE - Book Anna Maria Island Accomodation
Book Universal Hotel
DONE - Book Universal Tickets
DONE - Renew DHs passport
DONE - Apply for all our ESTA's
DONE - Travel Insurance
Car Parking at Manchester Airport
NOT DOING - Possibly Lounge Access at Manchester Airport
Kennedy Space Centre Booking
Air Boat Booking
DONE - Plan ADR's
DONE - Book ADR's
In Progress - Plan FP+
Book FP+
DONE - Headphones for Plane - Just need mine.
NOT DOING - Wishes Cruise?
Book cattery for Lulu
Book Magical Express
Customise Magic Bands
Sort out gadgets with 'Just in Case' entertainment
1 x New Suitcase
Pay Disney Balance
Pay AMI Balance
Pay Orlando Attractions Balance
Spending Money Method?
Laminate all Plans

Next Update : 12 Weeks to go, BIG update

Link To Introductions and Pre Trip index

Previous Update : ADR's are Booked

Wow, the months are flying by and we are now 12 weeks away from our trip

2 years ago this weekend we were in DLP having a fantastic time...



... and 12 weeks today we will be heading for our first park day in Magic Kingdom which is really exciting

I last updated this in November which is a LONG time ago so it really is time for an update, lots to tell. Plans have moved on, new bookings made and a rough plan in place.

Car Hire I booked a mid size SUV through Alamo Brits a few weeks ago, we will be picking this up from the Disney car care center part way through our trip. DH and DS will go pick this up while us girls are at BBB.

Universal Hotel Finally bit the bullet and booked 3 nights club level at RPR through Booking.com, this booking has free cancellation so I still live in hope that we will get an amazing offer but realistically I know this won't happen. With Volcano Bay opening while we are there its going to be a busy time for them. Its quite a lot more than I hoped to pay but thats the way the cookie crumbles I suppose.

Kennedy Spotted a great offer posted on the boards for adults same price as kids so this was immediately booked and I passed the info onto 2 sets of work colleagues who also booked the deal

Airboat I've made a booking with Spirit of the Swamp for a 1.5 hour airboat ride. They were very helpful and sent us great directions straight from hotel to airboat.

Spending Money We've got a Halifax Clarity card and will use this for everything chargeable plus take some dollars with us. It just seemed like the best way to do things without having to deal with lots of cash. Then settle the bill either during the trip (wonders of online banking) or once we get home.

Flights Well, Thomas Cook flight changes were not over it turns out. We are now on the airtanker with no seat back TV's for our return flights, the entertainment will be streamed to our own devices and so this becomes even more important to resolve. Between the 4 of us we do have 3 tablets and DH and I also have smartphones but I don't fancy watching a film on my phone! Kids birthdays are coming up and we were thinking of getting them new 'better' tablets so this could be our solution. As its the return flight anyway its not as big a deal as outbound would be, I'm hoping we'll all have a sleep!

Other Bits and Bobs Magical Express from airport to OKW is booked and we've picked our Magic Band colours. We've also decided not to pay for aiport parking, we are lucky to live fairly close to the airport and so will just take 2 taxi's as it will be cheaper. We'll probably jump in a black cab coming home to save the hassle or calling for a local cab to come locally in rush hour travel, I think we will just want to get home.

I'll do a seperate update on the plan which is more or less set in stone. With ROL and Avatar announced I was able to make some firm plans for Animal Kingdom days and I've also made a couple of changes to our ADR's because of this. I love how easy it is to check out ADR options on MDE and make changes, it really works well.

I'm using Touring Plans for each park day at Disney and as a first timer its really helped me to get to grips with the size and layout of the parks and how to navigate them. I'm making my own ride/show plan and using their evalute function to get predicted wait times and walk times between rides, I know its not for everyone and if needs be we will make in the park decisions and changes but I do think it will help us get the most out of our park time.

I'm loving The Dibb trip planner. I'm using this for everything and will print it off to take with us so we have all of our reservation numbers and other stuff in one place

Thanks for reading my update, we have a very busy 12 weeks ahead of us. All the usual work/life/kids stuff, caravan season starting so a few (cheap) weekends away are booked early in the year, kids turn 11 and 8, hubby turns 40 and after all this its FLORIDA

TO DO LIST
DONE - Book Car Hire
DONE - Book Anna Maria Island Accomodation
DONE - Book Universal Hotel
DONE - Book Universal Tickets
DONE - Renew DHs passport
DONE - Apply for all our ESTA's
DONE - Travel Insurance
NOT DOING - Car Parking at Manchester Airport
NOT DOING - Possibly Lounge Access at Manchester Airport
DONE - Kennedy Space Centre Booking
DONE - Air Boat Booking
DONE - Plan ADR's
DONE - Book ADR's
In Progress - Plan FP+
Book FP+
DONE - Headphones for Plane - Just need mine.
NOT DOING - Wishes Cruise?
Book cattery for Lulu
DONE - Book Magical Express
DONE - Customise Magic Bands
Sort out gadgets with 'Just in Case' entertainment
New Suitcases
Pay Disney Balance
Pay AMI Balance
Pay Orlando Attractions Balance
DONE - Spending Money Method?
NEW - Sort out Camera and memory card options
NEW - Holiday Clothes Requirements
NEW - Garden Grocery order
NEW - Letter to inform school as kids are missing 5 days
Laminate all Plans

Next Update : Daily Plans

Link To Introductions and Pre Trip index

Previous Update : 12 Weeks to go and BIG Update


Daily Plans

Here are our current plans, still a few things to decide particularly for the Universal part but Disney is more or less done

Saturday 20th May Flight from MAN to MCO arrives @ 2.35pm. Magical Express from airport to OKW. Check in, pick up Garden Grocer order, settle into room and QS dinner or pizza delivery. TBD. Maybe pool as the kids will be EXTREMELY excited

Sunday 21st May First park day, MK for rope drop show (really want the train show to come back, bit gutted about that change). ADR at crystal palace for lunch. Stay until around 3pm. Back to OKW and chill, ADR at Olivias for dinner.

Monday 22nd May AK today, EMH. No ADR's. Plan to stay until around 3pm and get a lot of the park done. Pool time and Disney Springs for QS dinner.

Tuesday 23rd May Hollywood Studios, ADR at Sci Fi Dine in for lunch. Again, plan to stay until around 3pm then resort time or whatever we fancy.

Wednesday 24th May Epcot, Future World only. ADR at Coral Reef for lunch. Stay until around 3pm then resort time or whatever we fancy, Maybe mini golf.

Thursday 25th May Morning free. MK arrive around 1pm. Parade at 3pm, ADR at Be Our Guest for dinner, watch Happily Ever After.

Friday 26th May DH and DS pick up car from Disney Car Care Center. DD at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique @10am Disney Springs. Epcot - arrive 1pm. ADR at Akershus for lunch. World Showcase adventures. ADR at Teppan Edo for dinner. Watch Illuminations.

Saturday 27th May Spirit of the Swamp airbost ride @ 10.30am. Rest if day free to do whatever we want. ADR at California Grill for dinner and fireworks. This is DH bif 40th celebration meal. If we feel up to it, a coupdl of hours on MK then monorail over to Contemporary for dinner.

Sunday 28th May KSC all day. Dinner probably near KSC. Might look for something near the beach maybe.

Monday 29th May Water Park AM. Hollywood Studios at 2pm ish. ADR at Mama Melrose for fantasmic dining package. Watch Fantasmic. No idea about fireworks yet

Tuesday 30th May Packing and Mini Golf AM. Animal Kingdom around 1pm. ADR at Tusker House for lunch on ROL dining package. Visit Avatarland - NEED FP+! Watch ROL.

Wednesday 31st May Last Disney Day Check Out of OKW. MK for last morning. Spend all remaining DDP credits! Travel to Anna Maria Island to check into cottage, chill around our own little pool

Thusday 1st June to Sunday 4th June Explore AMI. Eat lovely food, BBQ around our pool, beach time, boat trips, shopping, chill out and recover from Disney parks while preparing for Universal parks!

Monday 5th June Leave AMI and travel to Universal. Check into RPR. Parks and pools - specifics undecided.

Tuesday 6th June Early start for Universal early entry at parks. Specifics undecided.

Wednesday 7th June Our 13th wedding anniversary so need to decide on a nice restaurant. Universal parks again, visit to Volcano Bay? - We'll see!

Thursday 8th June Last day in Florida Check out of RPR. Spend as long as we possibly can at Universal parks. Travel to MCO, flight home at 6.20pm.

Friday 9th June Home, no doubt to grey clouds in Manchester!

AFter writing this down, I know I need to do a bit more research on the Universal parks. I have started to look at the rides and try to familiarise myself with them, particularly what is suitable for our kids. Also a bit more research on Disney Springs as we might head over for a couple of evenings and some QS meals.

NEXT update - Aahhhh 37 days to go!