Now that we are under 200 days to go (just) I thought it was time to start our pre-trippie

This is us on our 1st trip to Orlando in Aug 2011



Me - Vanessa 42 civil servant, obsessed now with Florida, love reading, watching Eddie Izzard DVDs, and trying really really hard to like exercising (not happening yet though ). Not brilliant with heights but willing to try most of the rides. Didn't do RRR last time so determined to ride it this time.

OH - Rob 42 (will be 43 when we go) has fairly stressful job in the IT industry so really appreciates his time away from it all. Enjoys playing minecraft or CoD, and mountain biking. Humours me with Florida but really enjoyed it when we were there last time. Does suffer with motion sickness though so sadly some of the universal rides are a no-no.

DD1 - Georgina 15 loves Disney, Harry Potter and obsessed with anything Hunger Games or Mortal Instruments related. Very arty. Loves rollercoasters. Can be stroppy but on the whole lovely. Although quite often can be found arguing with her sister



Which brings me to DD2 - Ffion 11(will be 12 when we go). Loves dancing, will dance anywhere to anything. She is excited about the holiday but nervous about the flying. Not overly brave with trying rollercoasters but we did manage to get her to try most things at least once last time (bad mother alert - I did lie and say Aerosmith ride did not go upside down. Oops ). Starting to have the odd moody teenager moment, but usually happy.



Accommodation/flights

So after me nagging on and on about going back to Florida since we came back in 2011 OH finally gave in last summer Because OH drives quite a bit over here we aren't hiring a car so knew we wanted to stay on site to make it easier. Last time we had 2 weeks at POFQ and 1 night at RPR in the middle of it. Loved FQ so much, some our best evenings were spent with the girls in the pool and us sitting on the loungers round the pool drinking hot chocolate. I know we could have gone to OKW or SSR for not much more but I liked the fact it was a small resort and everything is a few minutes max to get to. However, much as we loved Disney we wanted it to be a bit different this time so I was looking at staying more nights at a universal hotel and the remainder at POFQ. I did consider the new Cabana Bay bit but the FOTL passes were such a plus last time that I ruled that out, as I'm guessing it will be busy with the new Diagon Alley bit (fingers crossed it's all open). Ffion had seen the picture of the guitar fountain outside HRH and was saying how much she'd love to stay there the next time we go, so after discussion between Rob and I, we agreed that's where we would stay. Originally I wanted to be brave and go DIY but after getting stressed with the flight prices OH decided he would rather we just book a package. After getting some quotes we got a brilliant quote through from Charter with Virgin flights leaving on 17th August. Unfortunately OHs work took so long to agree the 3weeks leave he wanted that by the time I went back to Charter there were only PE seats available so the price went up considerably . Sean at Charter was brilliant and priced up some other options for us. In the end we went with BA flights from Gatwick on 18th Aug so only 1 day later than we'd originally planned. Plus it meant we were still back a couple of days before the girls are due to go back to school. A bit disappointed as I was excited about trying to book seats in the bubble (ha ha - I've been on the dibb too long), but am sure the BA flight will be fine. Our booking also included 5 nights HRH, 9 nights POFQ with QSDP, Disney tickets, universal tickets and airport transport both ways (magical express on way back - yay). So all we have to do is get from HRH to POFQ on our change over day - result! Further excitement then ensued (for me anyway) when Sean emailed to say he could upgrade to a pool view room at HRH for a very cheap price so I snapped that up

This was all booked at the end of September but after reading about lots of dibb reveals I decided I wanted to do one too, so we didn't tell the girls until Christmas Day. We had Disney themed crackers, with Disney pins, decorated hats and also included small park maps that I found in the little book of magic that we had from our last trip. Then we gave the girls a countdown made by Christina Crafts and told them to make a space on the fridge and set it to 235 days. Georgina immediately burst into tears, which then made me cry too Ffion was excited until she realised we would be flying. She declared she'd rather go to Centreparcs which made us all laugh (she got more excited as the day went on though, especially when she realised we would be staying at HRH). I'm really glad we did the reveal as it was nice to surprise them, but they still have plenty of time to be part of all the planning.

Travelling to gatwick

We will be travelling up from Cornwall by train the day before. I did price up flying from Newquay but it's about £500 return, so unless we win the lottery that's a no-no. Plus I've been saving my tesco club card points to get the train tickets through red spotted hanky, so hopefully won't need to actually pay too much. Just annoying that you can't book the tickets until at least 3months before, so have to wait until May to get that crossed off the list. I have sorted out our accommodation at Gatwick though. Last time we stayed at the Hilton which was ok but I think I built it up into something more impressive in my head, so was a bit disappointed. Plus the girls were in the bunkbeds and they squeaked if you so much as breathed, so not a lot of sleep was had. After reading Mrs Pumpkins travel day I decided I really liked the look of the new Premier Inn North hotel so after many weeks of checking I finally managed to book a £29 room for the night before. I have also booked the breakfast (the girls eat free) so the total was about £46. Bargain. Our flight isn't until 13:50 so we can have a lie in (yeah right) and not have to rush. For the evening meal the night before we are planning to go back the Giraffe as we really enjoyed our visit there last time, after we've done the twilight check-in.

Parks

Universal (fingers crossed Gringotts ride will be open when we are there), IOA, all the Disney parks, although will probably only do one of the water park this time. Also looking at Seaworld and Busch gardens while we are at HRH as we can get transport from the universal parks. Am a little nervous about Seaworld, but feel I need to go and make a balanced decision based on my own opinions.
MDE all set up and linked to my reservation, and the magic bands are partly selected (Rob orange and Ffion yellow. Georgina wants purple but that's not an option at the moment,so she hasn't chosen yet. I, being the good parent that I am, am waiting for her to chose before I pick mine. In other words, I'm bound to pick the one she wants, so to save any argument I'll just wait ).


Still to do

Train tickets - have bought my family & friends railcard though with £10 off offer
ADRs (only going to make a couple, not sure where yet)
Tickets for SW and BG
Pre-booking Fast passes
Spending money (well saving money to spend, but I'm sure I'll be spending lots of money before we go too )


Just realised, I forgot to explain the title of the pre-trippie. When I was completing the ESTA online, for some reason it didn't like Ffion's name and automatically changed it to Gino! Then I accidentally set her country of origin as The Yemen instead of the UK. And yes, sadly I am as dippy as this makes me sound Luckily I noticed all the mistakes on checking so it has all authorised on the correct name etc, but it's become a bit of a joke now that we're leaving Ffion behind and taking Gino from The Yemen instead. Could have been an interesting chat at the airport

Sorry - I've gone on a bit. Thanks for reading so far. Next event will be the booking of the ADRs.

Here are a couple of photos from our last trip.





Updates

1. pets
2. ADR ideas
3. ADRs booked
4. rough plans days 0-5
5. rough plans days 6-15
6. memory maker
7. pofq photos
8. 'Ohana update
9. sweetie jar countdowns
10. 100 days
11. MK plans
12. ticket update (SW and BG)
13. Epcot plans
14. HS plans
15. mousekeeping
16. AK plans
17. train tickets
18. fastpasses booked
19. dollars
20. a few purchases
21. Seaworld
22. Busch Gardens
23. a few more purchases
24. POFQ online check-in/magic band selections
25. which Mall?

We are going on the 17th, late august is a fab time to go...super hot! Hrh is fab and you will love sw and bg. Don't be put off by negative press about sw and blackfish, dig deeper and read about both sides...very interesting!

When we went in 2011 we were there late August and loved the weather, hot and humid We were quite lucky and only had a couple of days where we got totally soaked from a rain shower and had to change our plans. Both times we were at Epcot funnily enough, and never got to see IllumiNations, so that's on the list for this time

I agree with SW - I need to keep an open mind. Plus it's such an amazing opportunity to see all the mammals/fish up close.

It looks like we will be in the premier in at the same time. We are staying there on the 17th as we are flying on the 18th with Virgin

Hopefully it will be as good as it sounds. I like the fact it's just across the road as well.

Give us a wave if you see us

We stayed there in November and for what they charge it's a perfect hotel for both Terminals. Lovely breakfast with a good choice. We opted for dinner too which was good. Everyone is so very friendly and helpful.

Thanks Florida girl, always good to hear positive feedback

Hi

Sounds like a plan!

We had the task of 'how to get from Cornwall to Gatwick' ... the price we pay from living down here As it's only the 2 of us we are flying up & have a great deal on an airport taxi back shared with my Mum & Dad.

We are also staying in the Premier Inn the night before, should be good for the cost & it is soooo close which is a bonus

Look forward to hearing your plans

Claire from Cornwall

I must admit a bit of me wishes I hadn't saved up my tesco vouchers as I probably would have booked the flights from Newquay then. Still, more money to spend when we get there instead

Just clicked on you pre-trippy link from another post, made me laugh out loud, great stuff. Your girls are gorgeous, have an amazing time. I'm going to find it hard not to stand up on the plane and shout for all us mad Dibbers to make themselves known! Xx