Andru's Florida '05 Trip Report:Prelude to the madness

AndRu

DIS Veteran
Joined
May 23, 2004
Messages
847
Firstly, welcome to my first ever trip report.

The cast consists of:

  • Ruth – My beautiful, loving and long suffering wife. Without her I’d be a lost soul cast adrift on life’s tumultuous seas.
  • Emily – My 10 year old daughter. Hasn’t decided if she wants to be a rock chick (ala Avril Lavigne) or still play with her Barbie dolls. Decisions, decisions!
  • Daniel – Was 10lb 10oz at birth and hasn’t stopped growing over the past 8 years. Highly intelligent, always asking questions and can never be fobbed off. He has to know why something does what it does.
  • Howard – 6 years old and bonkers. He’s the joker of the family and makes everybody else laugh. Then again, he can be as immovable as a bulldozer mounted in concrete. No idea where he gets that from … :rolleyes1:
Anyway, here they are :)
RuAndKids.jpg

  • Andrew (me!) – I’m 37, daft, stubborn and stupid. Apart from looking after my family the only thing I know I want for definite is to not grow up. I don’t want to be old!
This trip to Orlando will be our third trip to Florida, the previous two were:

1997 – Quality Inn Plaza on International Drive. Emily was 2 during the break and Ruth was 5 months pregnant with Danny.
2003 – Rented villa on the Westridge Estate off Highway 27. All 5 of us plus Ruth’s Mum stayed there for two weeks in September.

For this trip, we decided to go back to the same villa as in '03, albeit sans the MIL. We hadn’t planned to go back so quickly (with it being only 18 months since the last trip) but life is for living. Our kids are growing up fast and we want to make the most of them and what better place to do it than Florida?

Now I know this is a Disney related board and our intention was always to spend some time with Mickey and Co but Florida offers so much more that we wanted to experience - especially the shopping! Consequently, we didn’t spend as much time at Disney as we could’ve done – we’ve even come back with 2 days left on our 5 day hopper passes. Sure, there were some things we missed but these were either:

By design – i.e. we made a family decision not to do something
By accident – Buzz Lightyear AND Space Mountain broke down when were there :sad2:
Stubbornness – One (or more of the children) refusing point blank to do an activity!

This holiday was for us to do what we wanted, how we wanted, when we wanted. I apologise beforehand if I waffle but I like to write; I find it a therapeutic pastime which allows me to relive the memories of the past two wonderful weeks. The purpose of writing all this has two goals, the first is for family history so that, along with the pictures & videos, we have a record of what we did. The second is the hope that I might just pass on the occasional hint/tip/nugget of information that will help someone else plan their holiday that bit better.

So, on with the reports. If just one person finds something in here that they can relate to or takes away for a future trip then I'll be happy.
 
Nice one Andu :)

I have never written up anything like this either and have really enjoyed doing it - it's living the holiday all over again and you are spot on!...it will be great to re-read the trip reports later on and bring it all back to life again :)

Looking forward to the up and coming instalments!
 
Andrew
as someone who has yet to visit Florida I'm interested in all aspects :goodvibes

Of course with so much too do will obviously have to go back frequently. :)

Reid
 

Great start, looking forward to more :)
 














Save Up to 30% on Rooms at Walt Disney World!

Save up to 30% on rooms at select Disney Resorts Collection hotels when you stay 5 consecutive nights or longer in late summer and early fall. Plus, enjoy other savings for shorter stays.This offer is valid for stays most nights from August 1 to October 11, 2025.
CLICK HERE













DIS Facebook DIS youtube DIS Instagram DIS Pinterest

Back
Top