Hello everyone, allow me to introduce myself

[sara969]

Hi everyone,

I have been posting lots of threads lately and i think i should introduce myself.
I was well known on the DLP trip planning board, some of you might remember me from there last year.

My name is Sarah, im 29 married and have got a daughter who will be 4yrs old in November.
I am a Disney Fan, and catch the bug easily
I had fun planning our Disneyland Paris trip last year, you can read my DLP trip report, including photos on the link below
We had a fab time and my daughter was amazed!

Well we have booked a holiday in 2010... it is a big family holiday.
My family, Sister in-law her husband and their son who is 12yrs old.
And my other sister in-law and her partner.
So all together 6 adults 2 kids.

We have originally booked to go to Mexico Cancun, staying 1 week all inclusive at the 5* Moon Palace Hotel.
But when we booked this we had arranged that the children were going to stay with Mother in-Law. However due to a few family problems we had to add our children to the booking.
And then Sister in-law priced up a holiday to Florida.

AND:

For our group to rent a gold villa, car hire included, park tickets, flights etc.. it is £1000 per family cheaper to stay 2 weeks in Florida instead of 1 week in Mexico.
I know Mexico was all inclusive but we can take the spare £1000 that were going to pay for Mexico and take it towards our spending money.
(But i am planning to take a bit more spending money, after seeing Florida shopping mall website, they look amazing )

We phoned Thomson and they said to swap holidays will not be a problem, we just pay a £35 per person admin charge and any of the money that we have paid off of Mexico will automatically go on our new Florida holliday.
We havnt called back to offically change it yet, we have just got all the details, and a quote.
But we have definately made our decision and we all feel Florida will be better for all of us, and best of all we get a 2 week holiday instead of a 1 week holiday and we get to do Disney

This will be our very 1st holiday to Florida, so its all new to me.
It looks huge and i have got lots to learn and lots to plan.
I know that everyone on here is lovely and will give me lots of help and support when planning our trip. You have all been so helpful already so thank you so much

Sorry to bore you with all of that
Just thought it would be nice for you all to know a bit about me and my family and our holiday situation.

Looking forward to getting to know you all on here, and sharing our help and support.
Best of all i cant wait to write my very 1st WDW trip report

Thanks for reading...
Sarah x x

 

[higgy66]

Sorry to hear you had to change your plans but WOW - 2 weeks in Florida and £1000 per family cheaper!

Even if you added the DDP for a family of 4 it would not come to £1000 so if you're planning to eat off site that £1000 should cover everything.

I'm a big believer in fate and it's obvious you were meant to go to Florida.

Happy planning!

 

[disneyholic family]

you're talking about two very very different vacations...

having been both places, i'd much prefer 2 weeks in orlando to 1 week in cancun.....even 1 week to 1 week, i'd prefer orlando....for me it's a no brainer....but that's me....as my name says, a 100% disneyholic....

but you have to keep in mind, you're comparing two very different vacations....one is going to be pure relaxation (AKA boring), the other will be anything but relaxing....in fact, you'll need a vacation after your 2 weeks in orlando....but you will have fun....as much fun (or as little) as you want....

so i vote for you to switch to florida!!
but you've already made that decision - so welcome to the planning board!!!
planning the trip is at least half of the fun!!!

 

[sara969]

Sorry to hear you had to change your plans but WOW - 2 weeks in Florida and £1000 per family cheaper!

Even if you added the DDP for a family of 4 it would not come to £1000 so if you're planning to eat off site that £1000 should cover everything.

I'm a big believer in fate and it's obvious you were meant to go to Florida.

Happy planning!

I think the same it was definately meant to be wahoooooo

 

[sara969]

you're talking about two very very different vacations...

having been both places, i'd much prefer 2 weeks in orlando to 1 week in cancun.....even 1 week to 1 week, i'd prefer orlando....for me it's a no brainer....but that's me....as my name says, a 100% disneyholic....

but you have to keep in mind, you're comparing two very different vacations....one is going to be pure relaxation (AKA boring), the other will be anything but relaxing....in fact, you'll need a vacation after your 2 weeks in orlando....but you will have fun....as much fun (or as little) as you want....

so i vote for you to switch to florida!!
but you've already made that decision - so welcome to the planning board!!!
planning the trip is at least half of the fun!!!

I am soooooooo excited and if i am totally honest i am feeling much more excited about Florida than i was Mexico, well i was excited about Mexico but even though i joined a Mexico Cancun Forum to trip plan, there wasnt alot to plan.
Not like WDW there is Tons to plan and that is half the excitment! I cant wait!
I am glad that you think we have made the right decision

 

[minimandymouse]

when are you going and where are you staying

 

[sara969]

when are you going and where are you staying

I am unsure where the Villa is, they did say but i forgot, im sure it will say when they post out our travel papers.
We are going April 30th 2010 - May 14th as i believe it is not too busy at that time of year.

 

[natalielongstaff]

wow ! sounds like a great trip

 

[Dimplenose]

Sounds like a good trip but have you budgeted for your park tickets? I know we're a family of 4 adults, but we're spending at least £1000 on park tickets this year and are budgeting another £1000+ for food.

Florida holidays look like a bargain but be careful with all the extras (free car hire = £300 insurance fee), then there's all the tipping (I don't begrudge it, but I do have to budget for it), I'm sure there are more things that aren't obvious.

But the biggest expense of all is that one "once in a life time WDW trip" is never enough! We're off on our 4th next week - and we're one of the more restrained families.

 

[Dizneemad]

Just like to say a big welcome to the boards. You will have plenty to book and lots of help here to assist you.
We are going on the 23rd April for 2 weeks so will look out for that totally bemused crowd on my 2nd week.
Now all you need to do is start firing away the questions. ENJOY.

 

[sara969]

Sounds like a good trip but have you budgeted for your park tickets? I know we're a family of 4 adults, but we're spending at least £1000 on park tickets this year and are budgeting another £1000+ for food.

Florida holidays look like a bargain but be careful with all the extras (free car hire = £300 insurance fee), then there's all the tipping (I don't begrudge it, but I do have to budget for it), I'm sure there are more things that aren't obvious.

But the biggest expense of all is that one "once in a life time WDW trip" is never enough! We're off on our 4th next week - and we're one of the more restrained families.

Hiya,
We have been quoted £1200 for the Ultimate Disney pass 2 weeks and the felxi Plus pass for 2 weeks and that is for 2 adults and 1 child.
It will be added to our booking and we have til Feb to pay it off. We have already paid off over £1000 for our Mexico holiday so when we change over this will automatically reduce the bill of our Florida Holiday.
Also the insurance for the car will be added to our booking but because we are 3 families together, the cost of extras like insurance, car parking, food shopping for villa, will be divided by the 3 families.
The £1000 extra which we would have had to pay on our Mexico holiday will be saved for spending money for Florida and we hope to save an extra £1000 so hopefully altogether take £2000 with us and my daughter will take £200 pocket money. (We shall take a credit card for emergency)
Anything left over we can take back with us but im sure that there prob wont be much left over, knowing us

 

[sara969]

Just like to say a big welcome to the boards. You will have plenty to book and lots of help here to assist you.
We are going on the 23rd April for 2 weeks so will look out for that totally bemused crowd on my 2nd week.
Now all you need to do is start firing away the questions. ENJOY.

Thank you so much
Everyone is so helpful here Im loving all this trip planning but it is much harder planning WDW than it was planning DLRP.
But there is so many fun things to plan, i cant wait!!
Hey i will hopefully see you there

 

[jayduk]

I am soooooooo excited and if i am totally honest i am feeling much more excited about Florida than i was Mexico, well i was excited about Mexico but even though i joined a Mexico Cancun Forum to trip plan, there wasnt alot to plan.
Not like WDW there is Tons to plan and that is half the excitment! I cant wait!
I am glad that you think we have made the right decision

I sooo agree! I've made some disney ADR's, planned which parks on which days and decided on the park tickets...now what?

...All that is left is the wait.... :-(

 

[Pooh's-Honey-Pot]

Oh your first Florida trip! Have a lovely time planning!! The start if May is my absolute favourite time to go! Really warm without the humidity you get with all the rain during summer!

 

[MrGLWatson]

Hiya,
We have been quoted £1200 for the Ultimate Disney pass 2 weeks and the felxi Plus pass for 2 weeks and that is for 2 adults and 1 child.
It will be added to our booking and we have til Feb to pay it off. We have already paid off over £1000 for our Mexico holiday so when we change over this will automatically reduce the bill of our Florida Holiday.
Also the insurance for the car will be added to our booking but because we are 3 families together, the cost of extras like insurance, car parking, food shopping for villa, will be divided by the 3 families.
The £1000 extra which we would have had to pay on our Mexico holiday will be saved for spending money for Florida and we hope to save an extra £1000 so hopefully altogether take £2000 with us and my daughter will take £200 pocket money. (We shall take a credit card for emergency)
Anything left over we can take back with us but im sure that there prob wont be much left over, knowing us

You won't have enough time to make full use out of both the Disney Ultimate and Flexi pass.
I suggest keep the Disney 14 day Ultimate and just get a 2 day Universal pass.

- Oh just thought, if you were thinking of sharing your tickets with the other families then this will not be possible.
1 - it's against the conditions and
2 - they fingerprint you on first entry.

Gary

 

[sara969]

You won't have enough time to make full use out of both the Disney Ultimate and Flexi pass.
I suggest keep the Disney 14 day Ultimate and just get a 2 day Universal pass.

- Oh just thought, if you were thinking of sharing your tickets with the other families then this will not be possible.
1 - it's against the conditions and
2 - they fingerprint you on first entry.

Gary

Hiya thanks for your reply,

Oh No we will definately not be sharing our park tickets with others, we are all purchasing our own as we will all want to be in the parks together, thats part of the fun going in a big family group.
And we all need to be together so we can take it in turns to go on rides while someone watches my daughter.

I meant we will be sharing other costs such as: Parking, Petrol, Food shopping for Villa and the hired car costs.
Which will be good for us all as it will be shared out between 3 couples.

 

[Pinky166]

Having been to the Moon Palace resort in Cancun & obviously WDW, you certainly made the right decision! Don't get me wrong it is a lovely resort but Disney is so much more fun.

Happy planning & ask as many questions as you want.....none of them are ever stupid so don't be embarrassed.

 

[Lisa x]

Sara, just to say, everyone is different when it comes to Florida and what they want to do, amount of time in a park etc....

The first time I ever went, I got both of the tickets that you are thinking about, the Flexi and the Disney and I did EVERYTHING.....

All 4 Disney Parks, Blizzard Beach, Seaworld, US, IOA, Wet n Wild, Busch, Discovery Cove with dolphin swim!

It was a very tiring holiday and very full on. We were on the go from early morning until later at night but I have to say, it was so much fun!

We needed a holiday when we got back to recover but I didnt regret any of it. We do it much more leisurely now. Just a point to say if you are raring to hit it FULL ON......Do it!!

Thing about Disney, people say save something for your next trip and do it more leisurely but what if there is no next trip? I would want to have experienced it all!!!

 

[sara969]

Sara, just to say, everyone is different when it comes to Florida and what they want to do, amount of time in a park etc....

The first time I ever went, I got both of the tickets that you are thinking about, the Flexi and the Disney and I did EVERYTHING.....

All 4 Disney Parks, Blizzard Beach, Seaworld, US, IOA, Wet n Wild, Busch, Discovery Cove with dolphin swim!

It was a very tiring holiday and very full on. We were on the go from early morning until later at night but I have to say, it was so much fun!

We needed a holiday when we got back to recover but I didnt regret any of it. We do it much more leisurely now. Just a point to say if you are raring to hit it FULL ON......Do it!!

Thing about Disney, people say save something for your next trip and do it more leisurely but what if there is no next trip? I would want to have experienced it all!!!

Thanks, i think we both have the same opinion
TBH i dont think we will go again in the near future as it is a very expensive holiday.
Also we will be making baby plans next year as we would love another child as we have always wanted 2 kids
So i doubt we will go to WDW again until the baby is at least 4yrs old as i wouldnt enjoy going with a baby, i wouldnt be able to relax.. nappies/milk etc... OH NOOOOO
Prefer to go with a child no younger than 4yrs old as they are potty trained, a bit more independent and the most important thing is they are old enough to go on a few rides.
Im sooooooo excited and from reading what you said about ur 1st trip it is possible to do as much as u can if u plan it well

 

[sara969]

Having been to the Moon Palace resort in Cancun & obviously WDW, you certainly made the right decision! Don't get me wrong it is a lovely resort but Disney is so much more fun.

Happy planning & ask as many questions as you want.....none of them are ever stupid so don't be embarrassed.

Ahhh thank you so much
I am pleased that you think we have made the right decision
I think we will leave Mexico Cancun until the kids are much older and then we can relax and enjoy it more.
About asking questions, i think i have asked millions already and i have tons more in my mind
You will all be thinking ... ''oh gosh not Sarah again''!!!