Before we start the endless trip reports from my familys recent three week vacation to WDW, I thought it would be a good idea to introduce everyone and also detail our pre trip planning etc, so here goes
Chris [me] 40 something butt of my familys endless teasing and jokes. I love everything related to Orlando and WDW. Since July I have not had more than 5 days at any one time at home as I have been travelling with my job, I have taken so many flights all long haul, I just need to get away so what better place than WDW.
Valerie 40 something, big of WDW, parades, shopping and everthing related to Orlando but has a very bad fear of flying. Her main hobby is teasing me while also encouraging the boys to join in as well this is all done without any second thought to my delicate feelings. Also her motto at WDW is if it moves we have to film it or take pictures of it
Scott 16 year old son who loves anything related to the USA but never goes anywhere without his MP3 player on. His main objective is to wind his brother up and to see how low he can wear his trousers without them falling down!! Scott also has a bad fear of flying caused by travelling with Val.
Glenn 12 year old son, Scotts partner in crime loves WDW but is not to keen on the big rides or using any of his time in Orlando shopping. He has the ability to argue non stop about anything and especially with his brother while also asking 50 questions per minute He is ok with flying if he sits next to me and Val and Scott are sitting in another cabin.
We have visited WDW seven times
Oct 92 Travelodge Kissimmee 14 days
Nov 95 Caribbean Beach 16 days
Nov 97 All Star Sports 17 days
Nov 99 All Star Movies 17 days
Nov 2002 All Star Movies 21 days
Feb 2003 Caribbean Beach 9 days
Xmas/ New Year 2003 All Star Movies 14 days
We decided to have one last big family holiday together while Scott still wanted to travel with his elderly parents lol, we spent two weeks in Lanzarote in 2004 and it was evident that Scott was bored and when we mentioned going back there he was not interested. After talking with everyone we decided to try and get to WDW as that was the only place everyone seems to be interested in, Val and I decided that we would like to go for three weeks, but would need to independently book it to save some money to pay for the extra week.
It was decided that we should utilise the October half term as the boys now get 10 days off, unfortunately both Val and I are not permitted to take time off from work in July and August, well not without difficulty, and as we wanted three weeks we could really forget even bothering to ask, so we had to choose a period where we both had a chance, also Vals friends were going at the same time to ASMo with their children, who were at school and college with ours, so we decided it would be nice to be at WDW with some friends. Both companies we work for agreed the October vacation but mine were very unhappy and made me sign an agreement that I could not have more than 15 days off in one hit for at least three years.
The planning started at Xmas 2004, as I had to go into work for one day between Xmas and the New Year, nothing to do just drive 80 mile round trip to sit at my desk for three hours as cover just in case something happened and it never does!! Also while I am sat there freezing as the heating is on low, because only six of us out of 350 in they see no point in heating all of the building, but to make me even more grumpy I am thinking about the rest of my colleagues that are still in bed or sat in the warm at home eating mince pies, and I know they are making fun of me, so you can now see this was an ideal time to start planning for the warmth of Florida especially on works time, how does it go an eye for an eye i.e. you waste my time back at yer lol
Anyway after searching the internet I called trailfinders and booked flights with Delta via Atlanta [although they tried to charge me £35 more per person than Expedia, once I mentioned that they found if by magic the same flights and prices, and no I do not prefer to go with Icelandic air even though you may have them on special offer!!]. I was disappointed we could not get flights out of Heathrow as it is closer to home but there were no prices even close, so Gatwick it has to be.
We then decided that we wanted to stay at ASMo based on price i.e. cheapest Disney hotel although I would have preferred the C-Beach everyone else preferred ASMo as they felt is like coming home staying there!
I then purchased Annual Passes from Disney and Power passes from Universal, the reason we got A-passes is because over the time we would be in wdw they were the cheapest option, also if we were in the financial position to return within the year we could do so and have all the passes already paid.
After searching the internet I booked three weeks car hire with Airline Network for a dodge grand caravan at £510 all inclusive with Dollar, and then managed to book hotel and parking at Gatwick with holiday extras at the Hilton [15 days parking inclusive] for £175, although had problems could only book the room if I said Scott was 15 not 16, it kept showing no availability at 16 but yes at 15, tried the helpline who had no availability at all for any age, so went back on line 10 minutes later and got the booking accepted first time!!!!!!!!!!!!
Later in the year we made PS requests for Chef Mickeys and the Hard Rock and got tickets for MNSSHP.
After totalling up all the costs, I was quite pleased with the saving of £700 over a Virgin holiday, the only real difference was an indirect flight, but the plusses were we had a bigger car and annual passes, we was able to work the saving out as we got a quote from Virgin, we could have got more off if Disney did not stop the annual pass room discount, but that is another matter that I could go on and on moaning about, we could not use best rate as the time limits were passed both at 120 days then 60 as the code of our APs were not accepted on-line, in the end CRO did call me and offer a $120 discount if we stayed at All Star Music but it was not worth it. There was another way to get discount but that involved changing all the booking and re booking three separate bookings with three separate deposits to get $150 to $200 off we decided not to bother as they could not guarantee we would not have to change rooms three times, sorry I said I would not go on and on!!! But I found out later that if we went with Travel City it would have been cheaper, but too late we had booked and paid for everything!!!
Now it was just wishing the time away until 19th October, we did not really make any plans or schedules apart for 5 days as we also wanted to chill out, our attitude was get to Orlando do what we felt like when we wanted too etc.
Now let the trip reports begin, please stay awake!!!!!!!!!!!!
Chris [me] 40 something butt of my familys endless teasing and jokes. I love everything related to Orlando and WDW. Since July I have not had more than 5 days at any one time at home as I have been travelling with my job, I have taken so many flights all long haul, I just need to get away so what better place than WDW.
Valerie 40 something, big of WDW, parades, shopping and everthing related to Orlando but has a very bad fear of flying. Her main hobby is teasing me while also encouraging the boys to join in as well this is all done without any second thought to my delicate feelings. Also her motto at WDW is if it moves we have to film it or take pictures of it
Scott 16 year old son who loves anything related to the USA but never goes anywhere without his MP3 player on. His main objective is to wind his brother up and to see how low he can wear his trousers without them falling down!! Scott also has a bad fear of flying caused by travelling with Val.
Glenn 12 year old son, Scotts partner in crime loves WDW but is not to keen on the big rides or using any of his time in Orlando shopping. He has the ability to argue non stop about anything and especially with his brother while also asking 50 questions per minute He is ok with flying if he sits next to me and Val and Scott are sitting in another cabin.
We have visited WDW seven times
Oct 92 Travelodge Kissimmee 14 days
Nov 95 Caribbean Beach 16 days
Nov 97 All Star Sports 17 days
Nov 99 All Star Movies 17 days
Nov 2002 All Star Movies 21 days
Feb 2003 Caribbean Beach 9 days
Xmas/ New Year 2003 All Star Movies 14 days
We decided to have one last big family holiday together while Scott still wanted to travel with his elderly parents lol, we spent two weeks in Lanzarote in 2004 and it was evident that Scott was bored and when we mentioned going back there he was not interested. After talking with everyone we decided to try and get to WDW as that was the only place everyone seems to be interested in, Val and I decided that we would like to go for three weeks, but would need to independently book it to save some money to pay for the extra week.
It was decided that we should utilise the October half term as the boys now get 10 days off, unfortunately both Val and I are not permitted to take time off from work in July and August, well not without difficulty, and as we wanted three weeks we could really forget even bothering to ask, so we had to choose a period where we both had a chance, also Vals friends were going at the same time to ASMo with their children, who were at school and college with ours, so we decided it would be nice to be at WDW with some friends. Both companies we work for agreed the October vacation but mine were very unhappy and made me sign an agreement that I could not have more than 15 days off in one hit for at least three years.
The planning started at Xmas 2004, as I had to go into work for one day between Xmas and the New Year, nothing to do just drive 80 mile round trip to sit at my desk for three hours as cover just in case something happened and it never does!! Also while I am sat there freezing as the heating is on low, because only six of us out of 350 in they see no point in heating all of the building, but to make me even more grumpy I am thinking about the rest of my colleagues that are still in bed or sat in the warm at home eating mince pies, and I know they are making fun of me, so you can now see this was an ideal time to start planning for the warmth of Florida especially on works time, how does it go an eye for an eye i.e. you waste my time back at yer lol
Anyway after searching the internet I called trailfinders and booked flights with Delta via Atlanta [although they tried to charge me £35 more per person than Expedia, once I mentioned that they found if by magic the same flights and prices, and no I do not prefer to go with Icelandic air even though you may have them on special offer!!]. I was disappointed we could not get flights out of Heathrow as it is closer to home but there were no prices even close, so Gatwick it has to be.
We then decided that we wanted to stay at ASMo based on price i.e. cheapest Disney hotel although I would have preferred the C-Beach everyone else preferred ASMo as they felt is like coming home staying there!
I then purchased Annual Passes from Disney and Power passes from Universal, the reason we got A-passes is because over the time we would be in wdw they were the cheapest option, also if we were in the financial position to return within the year we could do so and have all the passes already paid.
After searching the internet I booked three weeks car hire with Airline Network for a dodge grand caravan at £510 all inclusive with Dollar, and then managed to book hotel and parking at Gatwick with holiday extras at the Hilton [15 days parking inclusive] for £175, although had problems could only book the room if I said Scott was 15 not 16, it kept showing no availability at 16 but yes at 15, tried the helpline who had no availability at all for any age, so went back on line 10 minutes later and got the booking accepted first time!!!!!!!!!!!!
Later in the year we made PS requests for Chef Mickeys and the Hard Rock and got tickets for MNSSHP.
After totalling up all the costs, I was quite pleased with the saving of £700 over a Virgin holiday, the only real difference was an indirect flight, but the plusses were we had a bigger car and annual passes, we was able to work the saving out as we got a quote from Virgin, we could have got more off if Disney did not stop the annual pass room discount, but that is another matter that I could go on and on moaning about, we could not use best rate as the time limits were passed both at 120 days then 60 as the code of our APs were not accepted on-line, in the end CRO did call me and offer a $120 discount if we stayed at All Star Music but it was not worth it. There was another way to get discount but that involved changing all the booking and re booking three separate bookings with three separate deposits to get $150 to $200 off we decided not to bother as they could not guarantee we would not have to change rooms three times, sorry I said I would not go on and on!!! But I found out later that if we went with Travel City it would have been cheaper, but too late we had booked and paid for everything!!!
Now it was just wishing the time away until 19th October, we did not really make any plans or schedules apart for 5 days as we also wanted to chill out, our attitude was get to Orlando do what we felt like when we wanted too etc.
Now let the trip reports begin, please stay awake!!!!!!!!!!!!
.
I still think he should have asked though 
