Beep
My heart and soul live in Florida!
- Joined
- May 30, 2007
- Messages
- 1,745
This is my ever pre-trip report so be gentle!
Ok, so, the low down on us and the trip so far.
Me, 38, DGF, absolute USA nut but especially Orlando and Disney. I've been to loads of places in my years from when I was 3 years old and living in Spain to going to Goa last year. I love travelling, vacationing, planning and being there - wherever there may be. I have been a trainer in many professions but currently train solicitors on conveyancing software. I am home-based and field-based which is great as there is no office to go to every day.
Him, DBF, 46 and not as well travelled yet. The first time he got on a plane was to Kerela in India (talk about baptism by fire) about 7 years ago. Since then we have been to Kerela again, Goa, Barcelona and Orlando. He currently works for a supplier of parts to Jaguar cars which is another story in itself as you'll see later.
My parents - virtual travellers with us. They are involved in every stage of the pre, during and post trips. They are our best friends and share everything with us. They retired to the wonderful place of Cornwall in the UK south coast a couple of years ago which is great for cheap weeks vacations for us! My plan is for them to come to Florida with us in a couple of years for something very special - read on to see what!
Him and me - we're not sure how long we have been together, we can't even work out the year let alone the month or day. We're not 100% sure where we actually met either! The important thing to us is that we did meet and are still together around 9 years later. Within a week of meeting he had moved in with me and we knew we were going to spend the rest of our lives together.
We live in a flat in Birmingham, UK with 2 cats and no kids. We are equally happy in a 5* resort or bathing out of a bucket in India. We live and work to travel and have fun. I am a PS3, XBox and Warcraft widow. He is a Disboards widower!
Once upon a time, in a land far away... India to be exact. We were in Goa over Christmas 2006 and found it a totally different holiday to the type we are used to. Our idea of relaxing is to run around until we are shattered and then collapse. So, by the end of the 2nd week we had just got used to sitting in a beach shack with a diet coke (neither of us drink) watching the sun go down. When we came back to the UK we booked for 3 weeks over Christmas and New Year this year and got a really good price.
So, fast forward a few months and we get the news that DBF's job is finishing in November. Great. That means that he will have 3 weeks in the UK and 3 weeks on holiday, which is going to make it really difficult to get work. He also doesn't qualify for any redundancy pay so it's 'cold turkey' on the finances. Oh well, never mind we'll be ok. Then, I find that we can get 3 weeks in Florida in Sept/Oct for slightly less than the 3 weeks in Goa. OK, by the time you factor in tickets, car etc it isn't cheaper but the cost of the flights/accommodation was cheaper. There is no comparison for us, there is nowhere like Florida and it would solve the problem of DBF's job in November. After a quick re-calculate of finances we worked out that we could afford it. Done, sorted, changed. The other big factor in going to Florida was that we bought over $1500 back from Goa and wouldn't have had any spending money in Florida if we hadn't.
I decided to make this an extra special trip as I knew he would be miserable at losing his job later in the year so I go into overdrive in the planning front. It is also his birthday when we are away. He has always wanted to go to Miami so we found a great looking hotel on South Beach and booked 3 nights in the last week of the holiday. My Mom and Dad then present us with a cheque for £250 ($500) to cover the cost of Miami as a treat for us. How nice!
I'm not sure if I have OCD tendencies when it comes to these things but I am absolutely obsessed with planning and knowing everything in as much detail as possible. It has only been 2 years since we last went to Orlando, but I have to buy new books and read all about everything again. I get completely engrossed in everything that I do and give it 110%. During one of these sessions I found my saviour and downfall - DIS!! OMG, total overdrive now. I found out so many things we coudl do on here that I wouldn't have known about otherwise.
We are doing Disney, Universal, Seaworld, Busch Gardens, Halloween Horror Night in the first 2 weeks and then Miami in the 3rd. We are staying on I-Drive for the duration mainly due to cost. It was cheaper to book it all through the package company than individually. This is where the fun starts for me. He has virtually no idea of anything I have planned and booked, so here is a low-down of what I have so far:
Tickets:
10 day MYW Park Hopper (we aren't into water parks or PI) but we love hopping over to Epcot for the WS at night
Seaworld/Busch Gardens 21 day unlimited (bought as it was a good price deal, not for the 21 days)
Universal 2 park/3 day
Halloween Horror night at Universal
Buying the separate tickets rather than the 14 day ultimate and Flex ticket saved us around £40 ($80)
Day 1 Arrive Orlando
2 Day for shopping and recovering, possibly Epcot on the night for WS
3 Seaworld - Dine with Shamu courtesy of my parents as our combined birthday present. I've created and printed a card from my parents explaining the present which I'll give him when we get to SeaWorld.
4 Universal Studios
5 Day free
6 Magic Kingdom - Lunch at Crystal Palace with Pooh and friends courtesy of our cats as his birthday present from them. I've done another card from the cats explaining the present which I'll give him when we get to the Magic Kingdom.
7 MGM - Dinner at Sci-Fi Diner (somewhere he has always wanted to visit and knows that this is booked)
8 Animal Kingdom, possibly followed by Epcot
9 His birthday - this is where the fun really starts. In the morning when we are in our I-Drive hotel, I'm going to place pictures of Disney characters around the room with instructions for him to follow the characters to find his present. At the end of the trail will be a toiletries bag and an envelope. The envelope will contain a poster explaining his present, $40 PotC Disney Dollars and a Disney birthday badge! I have 2 nights booked in a BWV courtesy of a DVC member along with the DDP. We are going to have a lazy day around the Boardwalk, play mini golf and then have dinner booked at Boma. I'm arranging a cake to be delivered too. I had originally booked Spoodles but didn't like the menu as much as Boma.
When we get to the villa I'm going to ask him to wait outside and then decorate the room with the Disney scene setters I've got, and all the Disney Beanies I've been buying off ebay! I'm going to give them out to kids in the parks after his birthday. He has cards from all our friends, parents etc (yes, the cats too) which he can open in the room.
When we are having dinner at Boma, I'm going to ask him to marry me. We have talked about getting married one day but it's nothing official. Part of my cunning plan of being on the Boardwalk is to have a look at Seabreeze Point which is shere I would love to get married. This is the special thing I would love to bring my parents out for.
10 Next day - Epcot. I have lunch booked at Le Cellier which is somewhere we have always fancied trying but again he knows nothing about. We will go back to the room early evening to freshen up as I have a Wishes cruise booked with a family from Delaware. Again, he knows nothing about this!
The family is celebrating their DD's birthday and we are swapping gifts - really looking forward to meeting them. I found out from her mom that she loves Tinkerbell so I have a musical trinket box and have bought a necklace and friendship bracelets to put in it. I've also got her a beautiful teddy bear with an England jumper and flag so she can remember those people on the boat with the strange accent! We are having the boat decorated for them and organising a cake between them.
11 Next day is Epcot again as he wants to see the Beach Boys. I have dinner booked at San Angel in Mexico which we both love - again he knows nothing about this.
12 Busch Gardens
13 Downtown Disney and Adventurers club (he told me he would like to go here after I bought the MYW tickets) and he doesn't know we are going to AC. I've told him that the ticket doesn't cover it so we can't go
14 Islands of Adventure
15 Day free and the Halloween Horror at Universal. Meeting with some Diser's do do a backstage tour which he know nothing about. I'm not sure about this - I don't like being frightened but he really wanted to go. I've told him it's going to cost him something shiny!!
16 Day free and a late morning to recover from HH
17-20 Miami. We are staying at the Beacon Hotel on SoBe and I haven't planned anything yet
21 Day free
22 Home
In the days free we have KSC, Gatorland, Disney resort hopping and a whole host of other things to choose from. Oh, and shopping of course! We've never been to a Disney resort so I'm really looking forward to having a look at them, and hopefully looking at venues to get married. If he says yes....!
The only bad thing about the whole trip is we found out a couple of weeks ago that he is losing his job in August, not November, so we are in exactly the same position that we were in before we changed the holiday! If we had left the holiday where it was in Goa we would be ok. Ho hum, I'm sure we'll be fine. We tend to land on our feet even if we bruise our butts on the way. I'm looking at all the stuff I have planned as a thank you as he will probably be a kept man for a few weeks and I have housework, cooking, cleaning, ironong etc planned for his few weeks!
Thank you for reading my pre-trip report, I hope you've enjoyed it and haven't been too bored!
Alex x
Ok, so, the low down on us and the trip so far.
Me, 38, DGF, absolute USA nut but especially Orlando and Disney. I've been to loads of places in my years from when I was 3 years old and living in Spain to going to Goa last year. I love travelling, vacationing, planning and being there - wherever there may be. I have been a trainer in many professions but currently train solicitors on conveyancing software. I am home-based and field-based which is great as there is no office to go to every day.
Him, DBF, 46 and not as well travelled yet. The first time he got on a plane was to Kerela in India (talk about baptism by fire) about 7 years ago. Since then we have been to Kerela again, Goa, Barcelona and Orlando. He currently works for a supplier of parts to Jaguar cars which is another story in itself as you'll see later.
My parents - virtual travellers with us. They are involved in every stage of the pre, during and post trips. They are our best friends and share everything with us. They retired to the wonderful place of Cornwall in the UK south coast a couple of years ago which is great for cheap weeks vacations for us! My plan is for them to come to Florida with us in a couple of years for something very special - read on to see what!
Him and me - we're not sure how long we have been together, we can't even work out the year let alone the month or day. We're not 100% sure where we actually met either! The important thing to us is that we did meet and are still together around 9 years later. Within a week of meeting he had moved in with me and we knew we were going to spend the rest of our lives together.
We live in a flat in Birmingham, UK with 2 cats and no kids. We are equally happy in a 5* resort or bathing out of a bucket in India. We live and work to travel and have fun. I am a PS3, XBox and Warcraft widow. He is a Disboards widower!
Once upon a time, in a land far away... India to be exact. We were in Goa over Christmas 2006 and found it a totally different holiday to the type we are used to. Our idea of relaxing is to run around until we are shattered and then collapse. So, by the end of the 2nd week we had just got used to sitting in a beach shack with a diet coke (neither of us drink) watching the sun go down. When we came back to the UK we booked for 3 weeks over Christmas and New Year this year and got a really good price.
So, fast forward a few months and we get the news that DBF's job is finishing in November. Great. That means that he will have 3 weeks in the UK and 3 weeks on holiday, which is going to make it really difficult to get work. He also doesn't qualify for any redundancy pay so it's 'cold turkey' on the finances. Oh well, never mind we'll be ok. Then, I find that we can get 3 weeks in Florida in Sept/Oct for slightly less than the 3 weeks in Goa. OK, by the time you factor in tickets, car etc it isn't cheaper but the cost of the flights/accommodation was cheaper. There is no comparison for us, there is nowhere like Florida and it would solve the problem of DBF's job in November. After a quick re-calculate of finances we worked out that we could afford it. Done, sorted, changed. The other big factor in going to Florida was that we bought over $1500 back from Goa and wouldn't have had any spending money in Florida if we hadn't.
I decided to make this an extra special trip as I knew he would be miserable at losing his job later in the year so I go into overdrive in the planning front. It is also his birthday when we are away. He has always wanted to go to Miami so we found a great looking hotel on South Beach and booked 3 nights in the last week of the holiday. My Mom and Dad then present us with a cheque for £250 ($500) to cover the cost of Miami as a treat for us. How nice!
I'm not sure if I have OCD tendencies when it comes to these things but I am absolutely obsessed with planning and knowing everything in as much detail as possible. It has only been 2 years since we last went to Orlando, but I have to buy new books and read all about everything again. I get completely engrossed in everything that I do and give it 110%. During one of these sessions I found my saviour and downfall - DIS!! OMG, total overdrive now. I found out so many things we coudl do on here that I wouldn't have known about otherwise.
We are doing Disney, Universal, Seaworld, Busch Gardens, Halloween Horror Night in the first 2 weeks and then Miami in the 3rd. We are staying on I-Drive for the duration mainly due to cost. It was cheaper to book it all through the package company than individually. This is where the fun starts for me. He has virtually no idea of anything I have planned and booked, so here is a low-down of what I have so far:
Tickets:
10 day MYW Park Hopper (we aren't into water parks or PI) but we love hopping over to Epcot for the WS at night
Seaworld/Busch Gardens 21 day unlimited (bought as it was a good price deal, not for the 21 days)
Universal 2 park/3 day
Halloween Horror night at Universal
Buying the separate tickets rather than the 14 day ultimate and Flex ticket saved us around £40 ($80)
Day 1 Arrive Orlando
2 Day for shopping and recovering, possibly Epcot on the night for WS
3 Seaworld - Dine with Shamu courtesy of my parents as our combined birthday present. I've created and printed a card from my parents explaining the present which I'll give him when we get to SeaWorld.
4 Universal Studios
5 Day free
6 Magic Kingdom - Lunch at Crystal Palace with Pooh and friends courtesy of our cats as his birthday present from them. I've done another card from the cats explaining the present which I'll give him when we get to the Magic Kingdom.
7 MGM - Dinner at Sci-Fi Diner (somewhere he has always wanted to visit and knows that this is booked)
8 Animal Kingdom, possibly followed by Epcot
9 His birthday - this is where the fun really starts. In the morning when we are in our I-Drive hotel, I'm going to place pictures of Disney characters around the room with instructions for him to follow the characters to find his present. At the end of the trail will be a toiletries bag and an envelope. The envelope will contain a poster explaining his present, $40 PotC Disney Dollars and a Disney birthday badge! I have 2 nights booked in a BWV courtesy of a DVC member along with the DDP. We are going to have a lazy day around the Boardwalk, play mini golf and then have dinner booked at Boma. I'm arranging a cake to be delivered too. I had originally booked Spoodles but didn't like the menu as much as Boma.
When we get to the villa I'm going to ask him to wait outside and then decorate the room with the Disney scene setters I've got, and all the Disney Beanies I've been buying off ebay! I'm going to give them out to kids in the parks after his birthday. He has cards from all our friends, parents etc (yes, the cats too) which he can open in the room.
When we are having dinner at Boma, I'm going to ask him to marry me. We have talked about getting married one day but it's nothing official. Part of my cunning plan of being on the Boardwalk is to have a look at Seabreeze Point which is shere I would love to get married. This is the special thing I would love to bring my parents out for.
10 Next day - Epcot. I have lunch booked at Le Cellier which is somewhere we have always fancied trying but again he knows nothing about. We will go back to the room early evening to freshen up as I have a Wishes cruise booked with a family from Delaware. Again, he knows nothing about this!
The family is celebrating their DD's birthday and we are swapping gifts - really looking forward to meeting them. I found out from her mom that she loves Tinkerbell so I have a musical trinket box and have bought a necklace and friendship bracelets to put in it. I've also got her a beautiful teddy bear with an England jumper and flag so she can remember those people on the boat with the strange accent! We are having the boat decorated for them and organising a cake between them.
11 Next day is Epcot again as he wants to see the Beach Boys. I have dinner booked at San Angel in Mexico which we both love - again he knows nothing about this.
12 Busch Gardens
13 Downtown Disney and Adventurers club (he told me he would like to go here after I bought the MYW tickets) and he doesn't know we are going to AC. I've told him that the ticket doesn't cover it so we can't go
14 Islands of Adventure
15 Day free and the Halloween Horror at Universal. Meeting with some Diser's do do a backstage tour which he know nothing about. I'm not sure about this - I don't like being frightened but he really wanted to go. I've told him it's going to cost him something shiny!!
16 Day free and a late morning to recover from HH
17-20 Miami. We are staying at the Beacon Hotel on SoBe and I haven't planned anything yet
21 Day free
22 Home
In the days free we have KSC, Gatorland, Disney resort hopping and a whole host of other things to choose from. Oh, and shopping of course! We've never been to a Disney resort so I'm really looking forward to having a look at them, and hopefully looking at venues to get married. If he says yes....!
The only bad thing about the whole trip is we found out a couple of weeks ago that he is losing his job in August, not November, so we are in exactly the same position that we were in before we changed the holiday! If we had left the holiday where it was in Goa we would be ok. Ho hum, I'm sure we'll be fine. We tend to land on our feet even if we bruise our butts on the way. I'm looking at all the stuff I have planned as a thank you as he will probably be a kept man for a few weeks and I have housework, cooking, cleaning, ironong etc planned for his few weeks!
Thank you for reading my pre-trip report, I hope you've enjoyed it and haven't been too bored!
Alex x
This time, we are going to try to do a lot of stuff to make our visit really fun. MIL has all sorts of little day trips planned, including a visit to a Mennonite community (I hear they have wonderful baked goods and really nice hand-milled soap!), a trip to do little mountain sight-seeing if the weather is nice, and we're even thinking about going to Dolly Parton's amusement park, Dollywood, which I think would be really funny just to see. Of course, it will pale in comparison to WDW, but still be fun in a quaint sort of way. We're also planning to do 1 or 2 nights in Nashville. So I really think we will have a nice time this time. I'm actually looking forward to it!
: to see you mentioned me and the family in your report. We too are looking so forward to meeting you and Tim! Can you believe we've only got 47 days left 
until our boat party. Yet, an hour just seems to short for us to meet and celebrate, 
