A September to Remember: 24 nights celebrating another Anni-Birth-Aversary trip @ RPR/Helios/SF. 2026

[schumigirl]

To another Carole`n`Tom Trip report!!!

Yep, I never thought I`d be writing one of these for another couple of years, but here we are again, planning for September 2026. Apparently it`s a woman`s prerogative to change one`s mind, so why not

I do believe a break is as good as a rest and both of us thought we needed a break from Orlando after 30+ trips over the years many in close proximity and with over 500 nights between Royal Pacific and Sapphire Falls, yes we did think we had maybe overdone the Orlando visits. But, famous last words!!

Our last visit was in May 2025 and we had a fabulous trip, loved ever second of it, then Tom became ill and needed surgery which meant we wouldn`t make our planned September trip but he was back to full health very quickly I`m so happy to say We did have a May trip booked for this year but decided to cancel that visit for a couple of reasons and have that break and see if we still felt like coming back, which we did, so September 2026 will be a trip we are very excited to take again. For a time we were considering heading further afield and visiting another Universal park, but Orlando won out once again. I`m not sure LA or Japan are quite for us for some reason.

We have loved the last year enjoying visits around the UK once Tom got back to full health last year and many trips to Scotland which has been gorgeous especially as we have been enjoying a few heatwaves, I even got a little bit of sunburn in Loch Lomond a month or so ago, something we always avoid in Orlando! The UK has some stunning places to visit, even in inclement weather!!

I start this TR today with just over 6 weeks till we travel and I am glad to say I have been encouraged by some lovely ladies to get it up and running. I admit, I am so happy to be doing another one as along the way we have some lovely posters who it`s always a pleasure to see and comment along with, so I hope this one is enjoyable and hopefully if it helps someone in anyway with anything Orlando related, I`ll be over the moon.

I`m the first to admit, I`m a yapper and some off topic stuff finds it`s way in there too, so if you don`t mind someone rambling a little, you`ll hopefully enjoy this one too!!!

Full details coming right up

​

 

[keishashadow]

Welcome home!!!

You've sorely been missed here. Compelled to quote Wiz Kahlifa "See You Again"!

So happy to know the irrepressible Tom is back in fine form! Since it's Halloween season trip & all, holding out for that picture of Nessie

Sometimes, a break (it's not you, it's them) is warranted. Can be just what one needs to realize they are ready to give things another go, including when it comes to travel destinations.

Wishing you a fantastic (fior mhath ) trip!

Pulling up a comfy chair, the line forms here to ride along on what I know will be another great read of your road trip review.

 

[SnowWhite09]

So excited to see your back Carole! Can’t wait to read all about your trip!

 

[disneyseniors]

YaHoo! Carole and Tom are back!!!!
So glad to hear you are doing another TR after a break from all that.
You were missed by many! September will be here before your know it

 

[schumigirl]

Welcome home!!!

You've sorely been missed here. Compelled to quote Wiz Kahlifa "See You Again"!

So happy to know the irrepressible Tom is back in fine form! Since it's Halloween season trip & all, holding out for that picture of Nessie

Sometimes, a break (it's not you, it's them) is warranted. Can be just what one needs to realize they are ready to give things another go, including when it comes to travel destinations.

Wishing you a fantastic (fior mhath ) trip!

Pulling up a comfy chair, the line forms here to ride along on what I know will be another great read of your road trip review.

keisha.....and you made it first!!!

Thank you!!! Or should I say Mòran taing. Apparently the more modern Scottish Gaelic way for thank you is to say Tapadh leat! According to Google lol I know a little Gaelic but usually have to Google anything beyond the basics.

I did have to Google the Wiz Kahlifa guy, I`d never heard of him, but appreciate the sentiment

You know Tom, nothing keeps a good man down for long and yes, a break has been good as you know.

Glad to see you and hope you enjoy this one too

 

[schumigirl]

So excited to see your back Carole! Can’t wait to read all about your trip!

SnowWhite it`s good to see you along for this one!

I am excited to start this one finally especially as one of my friends pointed out on Saturday how close the trip actually is now!!! Er, yes, it is getting alarmingly close!

Thank you, and I do hope you like this one and look forward to chatting along the way

 

[schumigirl]

YaHoo! Carole and Tom are back!!!!
So glad to hear you are doing another TR after a break from all that.
You were missed by many! September will be here before your know it

along Ruth!!!

Well, along with some other ladies, you certainly encouraged me to write another one when I wasn`t as sure, so thank you!!

Yes, September is just around the corner, only 10 days or so till I can say....we go next month! It has crept around.

Always good to see you post Ruth

 

[Worfiedoodles]

Add me to the bandwagon! I am ready to come along on this wonderful adventure. Thanks for bringing us on your travels!

 

[jump00]

Carole…..Woohoo It feels like it’s been years! So glad Tom is well.
My wonderful DH is taking me to France and Portugal … spending 3 days at Disneyland Paris too. I’m finally retired and excited to travel even more. Sorry we aren’t visiting Universal this year. It would have been fun to run into you guys. Looking forward to reading your wonderful trip reports.


Brenda

 

[schumigirl]

I guess I should really introduce ourselves for those that don`t know us at all, er, where have you been....

We are Carole & Tom, a very happily married couple from the UK who simply enjoy just doing everything together, people often comment you never see one without the other and that is basically true. When we met we worked in the same industry, a very unglamorous explosives industry, but sparks did indeed fly .....sorry, that was a very bad pun!!! We got married in 1992 and in 1994 we had Kyle, probably the best son in the world anyone can ask for. Yes, I`m biased, but it`s true.

He is doing amazingly well in every aspect of his life and we are incredibly proud of him!! He is happy in his career as a Wealth Planner for a firm of Financial Advisers local to us and has a very happy personal life and yes, he is still running and regularly does marathons, half marathons and anything in between! I have no idea where he gets that bug from as his dad and I enjoy walking and not much more for exercise! We do see him a lot as he only lives less than 20 minutes away from us, we are indeed very lucky with him.

This is us, pictured recently on a visit to Scotland where we are from originally.

We first visited Orlando in 2007 and yes, it became a habit very quickly, we loved the parks but fell in love with the hotels too, at that time it was only Royal Pacific for us. It`s hard to imagine back then there were only three Universal hotels, but for us RP was where we wanted to stay. Now of course we are all spoiled for choice with all the hotel options available, something for everyone really.

The one thing that will be different for us certainly this year is we won`t be attending HHN. Yes, shock horror as we used to be massive fans of the event since the first one we attended in 07, but the last couple of years have been a disappointment in many ways. And the offerings this year, apart from Jack of course have been lacklustre to us.

Stranger Things completely bores us to tears and Killer Klowns while fun, are not what we want in terms of being scared. Add that to the mahoosive crowds that have consistently risen of the last five years, it`s completely lost it`s sparkle for us. It was always busy of course, but it`s so overcrowded everywhere now at the event. We won`t miss going now but we do still yearn for the glory days when HHN was at it`s best.

I`m not really knocking the event, although I admit, it does sound as if I am, I`m sure it`ll still be a wonderful and well attended event, it`s just not for us any more, I think I`m all scared out!

Our addition this visit will be a stay at Helios Grand and we are looking forward to adding that to the other two hotels, but more on that later.

If you`ve read one of these before you know that we always stay overnight before our flight at the Radisson attached to Manchester Airport, by the Skywalk officially called the Skylink apparently! I keep saying if you`ve read these reports over the years, you`ll know the hotel rooms as well as we do, but, we are very much creatures of habit, so I do apologise for being repetitive.

The glass above the Radisson sign is where the Executive Lounge is, so we get a fabulous view over the airport, not that there`s much going on in the afternoon however we do enjoy watching the hustle and bustle that goes on everyday at such a busy airport. ​

It`s ideal to come out in the morning and head down to the Terminal and not have to worry about the weather and it`s less than a five minute walk, even with heavy cases to get to the check in desks. ​

We arrive at the hotel around midday and always start the trip with lunch, they have the Little M Bar so we tend to have eat here and have our celebratory bottle of fizzy as a sign our vacation has started! It`s a nice little bar and although the menu isn`t huge, there are plenty of options for most folks. ​

We usually just have sandwiches which as you can see are a decent sized lunch! ​

Kyle does the Manchester Marathon every year and last year we timed it nicely for him to join us the next day, so we had a nice lunch together and spent some time in the lounge before he headed home.

Yes, showing his Marathon shirt and medal
​

We do like to spoil ourselves a little and always book an Executive room, no different to most other rooms but you do get access to the Lounge which we do like.

Apart from once when we went on one of our Christmas trips, it`s rarely overly busy and during the day it`s practically empty so we do always enjoy a few hours just chilling. ​

Around 4.30pm they start serving some cold items and Tom and I both love Charcuterie style food, so this is ideal. Around 5pm they bring out the hot items, snack food like mini pies, samosas, mozzarella sticks, shrimp in filo pastry and vegetable spring rolls. It really is enough to make a proper meal out of, so it works for us.

Wines, beers and hard liquor all go out around 4.30 too and it is help yourself which is nice and in all our visits, we`ve only ever seen anyone go overboard once. Most folks manage to be sensible, but it is nice that you can go up when you feel like it. And in the last few years they have added sparkly to the offerings which we do enjoy ​

And around 8pm they bring out various desserts, usually a small selection of cakes, nothing too fancy, but nice with a cup of tea!

I opted for the lemon, Tom went straight for the chocolate of course, I think I can say for sure Kyle inherited his love of chocolate from his dad!!! ​

The hotel does have a lovely restaurant that starts serving dinner at 5pm but with having the snacks up in the lounge, we stopped eating there many years ago, it seemed silly to upgrade to the lounge and then not make use of all that they offer.

They do however serve an amazing buffet breakfast that we never utilise as it would be just too early for us to eat before heading down to the Terminal. On the way home when our flight used to come in fairly early, we would take advantage of it but now our flight lands after it has stopped serving which is a shame as we did enjoy it after the overnight flight.

So, that`s usually our Pre-Travel day accounted for, it is very relaxing and we do enjoy that extra day and no worries about getting to the airport in the early hours of the morning. The rooms are lovely with very comfy beds and usually extremely quiet, they do have good soundproofing. So, we always look forward to this overnight stay.




I actually started this post early this morning, it`s now 7pm UK time and I`m finally ending it as we ended up walking along the shore front and went further than our usual daily 6 miles. We made it to 9.6 miles so I think it`s a "feet up" night but my goodness we have had some gorgeous weather here this summer

Got to make the most of it while we have it!



More coming soon ​

 

[schumigirl]

Add me to the bandwagon! I am ready to come along on this wonderful adventure. Thanks for bringing us on your travels!

back Maria!!

Glad you are here too, I know how busy you are right now!!

I hope you love this one too and thank you for the encouragement, again, very much appreciated!

Good to see you of course

 

[schumigirl]

Carole…..Woohoo It feels like it’s been years! So glad Tom is well.
My wonderful DH is taking me to France and Portugal … spending 3 days at Disneyland Paris too. I’m finally retired and excited to travel even more. Sorry we aren’t visiting Universal this year. It would have been fun to run into you guys. Looking forward to reading your wonderful trip reports.


Brenda

along to you too Brenda!

Happy to see you, yes my Tom is doing wonderfully thanks!

Wow!!! Congratulations on your retirement, I agree, the next step is definitely to travel more

I`m sorry you won`t be in Orlando at the same time this year but it sounds like a fabulous trip you have planned!!! We haven`t been to DLP for many years now but we did love Paris, Tom proposed to me at the top of the Eiffel Tower and of course there is a story there lol

Beautiful city and you`ll love it, have you been to either place before? That is a wonderful husband to take you on such a lovely trip!!

Oh when do you go?

I`m so happy to see you along for this one too Brenda, look forward to chatting and congratulations again on a very happy retirement and a wonderful trip to look forward to

 

[jump00]

along to you too Brenda!

Happy to see you, yes my Tom is doing wonderfully thanks!

Wow!!! Congratulations on your retirement, I agree, the next step is definitely to travel more

I`m sorry you won`t be in Orlando at the same time this year but it sounds like a fabulous trip you have planned!!! We haven`t been to DLP for many years now but we did love Paris, Tom proposed to me at the top of the Eiffel Tower and of course there is a story there lol

Beautiful city and you`ll love it, have you been to either place before? That is a wonderful husband to take you on such a lovely trip!!

Oh when do you go?

I`m so happy to see you along for this one too Brenda, look forward to chatting and congratulations again on a very happy retirement and a wonderful trip to look forward to

We are in Paris August 27-Sept. 3 (Paris 4 days- DP 3 days) then Lisbon til Sept.8. I’m really looking forward to the Veuve Clicquot tour. My favourite drink . How romantic of Tom to propose at the top of the Eiffel Tower .
Thanks for the kind words! I had an amazing retirement “send off”

Brenda

 

[Docwoods]

See? All that was needed to get the trip report board hopping again was you Carol!

 

[keishashadow]

A Kyle sighting! Woohoo

It has to be heavenly to be able to enjoy a daily stroll along the beach!

 

[disneyseniors]

9.6 miles! I keep going over 9.6 miles!!!! That is an amazing amount of walking, Carole!
I can't imagine doing that, but are amazed at you two and your morning walks
Robin and I went 8 miles one day at Universal and I thought that was a lot, even for a theme park.
All kidding aside, can't wait for your September trip report

 

[schumigirl]

We are in Paris August 27-Sept. 3 (Paris 4 days- DP 3 days) then Lisbon til Sept.8. I’m really looking forward to the Veuve Clicquot tour. My favourite drink . How romantic of Tom to propose at the top of the Eiffel Tower .
Thanks for the kind words! I had an amazing retirement “send off”

Brenda

That will be amazing!! And I can imagine what a lovely send off you had from work, it’s lovely to know folks made you feel extra special when you retired!

I do love a glass or three of the Veuve or the Boli…..whichever lol but that tour will be fantastic. We did the Moet visit years back, not my favourite champagne but it was decent and the folks were lovely.

It was a lovely proposal. We already had the ring made (we were already living together too) so not a surprise as such, but I thought he was going to do it on a private river cruise 2 nights later, but he arranged with someone from the Jules Verne restaurant to bring a bottle of champagne up to the top. I could see this lady smiling at me all the way up in the elevator lol and he proposed there and then. But, I am terrified of heights so I’m literally backed up against the wall terrified to move in case the Eiffel Tower falls down

My face is a mix of delight and terror lol it was incredibly romantic though and everyone cheered as I yelped yes wondering how quick we could get back on the ground!

You’ll have to let us know how the trip went though, I’m so excited to hear about it and Lisbon too, I’ve never been there! Weather should be glorious too at that time of year

 

[schumigirl]

See? All that was needed to get the trip report board hopping again was you Carol!

along Docwoods!!!

You did make me smile with that comment, yes this board needs some va-va-voom again, it used to be so busy.

But thank you for taking the time to post, and I`m happy you`re along for this one too and I hope you enjoy it

 

[schumigirl]

A Kyle sighting! Woohoo

It has to be heavenly to be able to enjoy a daily stroll along the beach!

lol yes, had to get our boy in there at some point

We are so lucky with the shore a few minutes drive or a very short walk and this summer has been glorious so we have been fortunate. We`re not long back in from walking today, but it was only 3 miles, my tootsies were groaning so we had a cuppa in one of the cafe`s before heading back home. Glad we did it though as it is beautiful again.

It`s going to hit hard when winter comes around this year after such a gorgeous summer

 

[schumigirl]

9.6 miles! I keep going over 9.6 miles!!!! That is an amazing amount of walking, Carole!
I can't imagine doing that, but are amazed at you two and your morning walks
Robin and I went 8 miles one day at Universal and I thought that was a lot, even for a theme park.
All kidding aside, can't wait for your September trip report

Yep, it was lovely and to be honest we didn`t notice how far we had wandered, I admit we were glad to get back to the car! So, we were a bit lazy and drove down but it meant we could walk further by the water.

That is a decent walk in the park Ruth and in the Orlando heat it is still impressive, I`m sure you and Robin wouldn`t have noticed how far you had walked, you don`t really pay attention when you`re having fun.

Glad you`re along Ruth