323 days until my first trip!

[masterpabu]

That time will fly by.

And, yes, I completely agree about the exchange rate. It’s awful.
We’re leaving in 40 days and I’m really not holding my breath that it will get too much better. Just as long as it doesn’t get any worse.

Yea definitely as long as the rate doesn't get any worse we'll all be okay!
In hindsight I probably should have exchanged some money earlier this year but at the time I was just happy to be planning this trip lol

What are some good places to go shopping outside of Disney? I can see there's the Premium Outlet nearby, just wanted to see if there are any other recommendations?

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Yea definitely as long as the rate doesn't get any worse we'll all be okay!
In hindsight I probably should have exchanged some money earlier this year but at the time I was just happy to be planning this trip lol

What are some good places to go shopping outside of Disney? I can see there's the Premium Outlet nearby, just wanted to see if there are any other recommendations?

I’m hoping that the Democrats having just taken the House might weaken the US dollar a bit. Time will tell.

As for shopping, unfortunately I’m not the one to ask. Apart from a few specialised souvenirs, the only place we insist on shopping during US trips is Walmart. I’m an ‘experiences’ over ‘material items’ gal who balks at high price clothing. So I love Walmart bargains. It’s a great way to top up our wardrobes and spend very little. High fashion it isn’t though.

 

[AussieNSW]

We enjoyed the Florida Mall. Strange as it may sound to many we did this on arrival day.
Arrived from our flights Sydney - Dallas- Orlando and had to decide between Disney springs and Florida mall.
I am glad we chose the mall. It was in July this year and it was really hot. The family was hot and a bit grumpy and naturally we couldn’t get into our room for a while. Disney springs is very much open air and we needed aircon which the mall provided. We also needed a variety of different stores to keep everyone happy. Disney springs just doesn’t have the variety of shops we needed.
We got an Uber and off we went. Had lunch at shake shack which we loved and spent a few hours shopping. Got back the room was ready and had a late dinner after a refreshing swim.

 

[Yanevernoinoz]

Oh the exchange rate is horrible at the moment in just about all the popular currencies. We are going to Japan in May 2019 then WDW in 2020. We've got our fingers crossed for even just a little improvemen.

 

[Yanevernoinoz]

The Orlando Outlets are our favourite for shopping. https://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlet/orlando-vineland

Because our trip always starts on the Universal side of Orlando, our first day involves a little sleep in until 8am then it's breakfast and a trip to I-Drive then the outlets followed by dinner with an evening stroll around City Walk.

I agree that shopping at Disney Springs doesn't have the variety, although Uniqlo is pretty good but oh boy the food choices at Disney Springs and we all know that holidays are really about the food lol

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Masterpabu rather late congrats on our engagement and have a wonderful trip!

 

[masterpabu]

Thanks for the suggestion guys! We won’t be doing tooo much shopping since the exchange rate is bollocks but we still enjoy a good deal if we see one!

And Thank you @Aussie Wendy! It’s funny because my partner was planning to propose on our trip but alas his impatience & excitement got the better of him lol!

This week has been absolutely dragging on but I can’t believe I’m finally going on this trip, just 6 years of planning/dreaming of this and in just 6 days we’ll be flying!

We have 4 days in DLR as soon as we land next Wednesday, and while I’ve always been in love with WDW I’m really looking forward to having DLR charm my socks off. I’ve done such little research into the parks and just want to be surprised by it so looking forward to that!

 

[masterpabu]

Just one sleep left to go! (13 hours to be precise)
As excited as I should be, the nerves have also started creeping on me, I don’t particularly enjoy flying but I just keep picturing what it’ll be like arriving at WDW which helps

We’ve been told of the storm hitting Sydney tonight so fingers crossed tomorrow won’t be too terribly chaotic at the airport!


I should probably start another thread for the trip report, which I’ll try keep as up to date with photos for anyone who might like to enjoy as well

 

[viaggiamo]

Have a wonderful time!

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Have a wonderful time!

The Sydney storm made the news over here. It sounded really bad, so I hope it didn’t affect your flight.

 

[Yanevernoinoz]

Have an amazing time! We did a WDW trip on this day 3 years ago (memories are rolling in thanks to Facebook lol )

Love to read your trip report

 

[masterpabu]

Thanks everyone! I've barely been on my phone/any form of social media since I've arrived (which is probably a good thing!) and have just made it to WDW now and have some time to sit down and catch up on everything lol!

I have to say I absolutely love it here, even though it's only been a couple of hours! Disneyland unfortunately didn't leave as much of an impression on me as I had hoped, but now I've finally made it to the world and that's all that matters (to me anyway!)

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Yaay. Yes I am afraid I am a little underwhelmed by Disneyland though it was our first park (for a few visits) before we spread our wings to parks around the world. Have an amazing time in WDW!!

 

[masterpabu]

Yea my fiancé and his family insisted Disneyland was a must so I can at least say I went lol!

Just finished our 5 nights at Kidani Village which was so lovely! A little sad to say bye to the animals but we’re now checked into our Poly room and just wow!! I requested Tokelau House on the upper level, and the wish was granted! Our room is on the end closest to the lake, and we can juuust see MK from our balcony and that alone felt so magical to me haha

I love love being able to just walk outside and see the castle and GF, I just went out to watch the fireworks from the lawn and it feels so intimate watching it away from all the crowds

Tomorrow night we have dinner at California Grill so I’ll get to see holiday wishes for the first time!

Also hoping I’ll be able to sit down tomorrow and start that lil trip report with some photos to share!

 

[masterpabu]

A very belated Happy New Year to everyone!!
I hope you all enjoyed yourselves over Christmas and New Years

I can't believe it's already 3 weeks since I've been back from the trip and the post-disney depression hit me quite hard!
I've now progressed to the stage (possibly denial as well ) of planning my next trip, even though it probably won't be for another few years

I really wanted to put up a trip report asap but manage to start bits and pieces so over the weekend it should almost be complete for you to enjoy!
Here's the start of the report for you guys to take a peek at, hopefully you find it entertaining/amusing/pitiful for our attempts to stick to our plans
Trip report!