JohnnySharp2
No man stands as tall as when he stoops to help a
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2005
- Messages
- 7,913
Hi,
Only my second pre-trip report and the last one I did the holiday ended up being cancelled.
Who:
me, wife Julie , son Joshua............and Teddy comes too.
When:
So it's 2 weeks from 20th August, flying from Manchester with Virgin, upgraded to Premium Economy both ways.
Despite the cost this gives us the advantages of extra leg room, being seated upstairs for the first time hopefully it will be quieter and more spacious overall, and obviously bags will be offloaded first.
In addition we are setting off an hour later as there isn't the need to get to the airport so early, hopefully Joshua can have breakfast before we leave which is a major plus as he generally doesn't eat that much until we arrive in Florida.
Ideally we would have preferred a slightly longer stay but flights were not available, plus last time Josh has just about had enough of the heat after 2 weeks so in theory the length of the holiday will be just right.
His portable DVD player with 4 batteries and numerous DVDs is invaluable for us.
Accomodation:
We have thought long and hard about varying our holiday. I think in the past there has been an element of 'over familiarity' with certain villa locations and we have given a lot of thought over a 'split stay' holiday.
However, in the end we decided it suited Josh better to have a settled stay and therefore will be based purely at a Windsor Palms villa.
Haven't stayed here before but like the look of it and the community facilities will be useful too as they have a grocery store, cinema, large pool and internet access (handy for giving updates on here for how the holiday is going).
This is the villa:
http://www.orlando-windsor-villa.com/
South facing pool, nice owners, layout of villa is perfect with kitchen very close to lounge area so no need for too much running around on hard tiled floors! (photo below from 2006 refers), DVD/VCRs everywhere too (we take a large supply of both, ALL suitable for NTSC/PAL formats).
The one thing - and something I have mentioned many times - is our occasional inability to get Josh out of the villa or out of the pool later in the day. It was kind of one of our main reasons for thinking about a split stay, whereby if we were at for example Saratoga Springs if he didn't want to go out either me or Julie still could, a walk to Downtown Disney for example.
To be honest we just don't know how many times we will get out in the evening, he is such an early riser we find after 4 or 5 pm he would rather wind down and watch TV or play in the pool etc
Hopefully we will get out a few times.
Because of this it's really difficult to plan each day, also that is something we have never really done anyway.
We do intend to try and eat out a little and have a few new places we would like to go and see, such as the Celebration Town Tavern and Tommy Bahama cafe at Pointe Orlando (I am a massive fan of TB and always buy a couple of silk shirts there).
We have fall backs such as the Outback steakhouse which is very close to where we are staying, as they do 'take-out' we quite like it and I can have a relaxing drink at the bar also.
Theme Parks:
As with many things most of our days at the parks are tailored to suit Joshua.
He loves Fantasyland at Magic Kingdom but up to now hasn't really taken to many of the other Disney parks. I suppose as he is now 2 years older than on our last holiday there is the option to try him on new attractions, such as Star Tours etc
It's as ever complicated though as with his autism he doesn't have the patience for long shows or pre-shows, I suppose over the years we have stuck to his regular favourites.
We have only been to Animal Kingdom once so in a way that will be kind of new to us.
Water parks are 'grey areas' too, I just don't know why but he either gets really hyperactive or plain miserable at them, to be honest whether we will go to one I am not sure, we are not as it stands planning to go to Aquatica.
Universal we all love and there are many attractions he likes, such as Woody Woodpecker, Curious George and ET.
Sea World they do reduced prices for disabilities so we will probably get a 1 day ticket out there, they usually do a second day free too.
So we have our old Magic Your Way hopper/non expiry tickets that have 2 days theme park and 3 water park left.
Have also recently bought new 6 day passes, so 8 days should last us more than one holiday.
Universal we have bought Annual Passes, find them great value for money and means I get 10% off Oakley gear inside the parks.
I also have complimentary tickets (through a business colleague) for Busch Gardens so we may go there also.
Other things:
Away from Orlando we are going to Clearwater for the day.
Also trying to get Josh walking as much as possible, he really struggles with walking long distances hence we take our child's wheelchair with us. To be honest we don't use it that much at home, but it's essential for our holiday and he is after all registered disabled.
When we visit a mall for example we hope not to use it.
Plan:
Well it's a bit short, you just can't plan too much in our circumstances so most days it's just how we feel, however we have a rough idea for the first few days, most days we are back at the villa for a few hours for lunch and an afternoon relaxing.
Wed 20th - arrive at villa, I go to Publix on my own whilst Julie and Josh get settled and we unpack on my return. That's it, we never go out on our first evening.
Thu 21st - Morning -collect disabled parking permit, Universal Studios, back to villa and then shopping at Mall At Millenia/Pointe Orlando in the late afternoon and early evening.
Fri 22nd - Morning - Magic Kingdom, back to villa and then EPCOT late afternoon, Outback for tea.
Sat 23rd (option 1) - Clearwater for the day stopping off at the International Plaza Mall in Tampa on the way back, Celebration Town Tavern for tea and then Old Town.
Sat 23rd (option 2) - Morning - Universal , return to villa and afternoon shopping (Florida Mall/Festival Bay), Celebration Town Tavern for tea and then Old Town.
Sun 24th - whichever of the 2 options above we didn't do on the saturday minus Old Town presuming we went there.
Mon 25th - probably Magic Kingdom morning, return to villa and then MGM late afternoon and early evening.
That's all 'planned' so far, obviously a few shopping trips, theme park days and maybe attempts to eat out as we go along the way.
Touch wood he will have a good time, there were a few hiccups in 2006 and we need to be careful with the heat also. We are going to temporary increase his Epilepsy medicine, as the last occurrence we had was one of the 'hiccups'...I am kind of nervous therefore so really hoping it all goes well.
Just musn't forget to take his Teddy!
One last thing if anyone else is going and sees a guy pushing a wheelchair wearing a red Liverpool shirt....it just might be me!
Only my second pre-trip report and the last one I did the holiday ended up being cancelled.
Who:
me, wife Julie , son Joshua............and Teddy comes too.
When:
So it's 2 weeks from 20th August, flying from Manchester with Virgin, upgraded to Premium Economy both ways.
Despite the cost this gives us the advantages of extra leg room, being seated upstairs for the first time hopefully it will be quieter and more spacious overall, and obviously bags will be offloaded first.
In addition we are setting off an hour later as there isn't the need to get to the airport so early, hopefully Joshua can have breakfast before we leave which is a major plus as he generally doesn't eat that much until we arrive in Florida.
Ideally we would have preferred a slightly longer stay but flights were not available, plus last time Josh has just about had enough of the heat after 2 weeks so in theory the length of the holiday will be just right.
His portable DVD player with 4 batteries and numerous DVDs is invaluable for us.
Accomodation:
We have thought long and hard about varying our holiday. I think in the past there has been an element of 'over familiarity' with certain villa locations and we have given a lot of thought over a 'split stay' holiday.
However, in the end we decided it suited Josh better to have a settled stay and therefore will be based purely at a Windsor Palms villa.
Haven't stayed here before but like the look of it and the community facilities will be useful too as they have a grocery store, cinema, large pool and internet access (handy for giving updates on here for how the holiday is going).
This is the villa:
http://www.orlando-windsor-villa.com/
South facing pool, nice owners, layout of villa is perfect with kitchen very close to lounge area so no need for too much running around on hard tiled floors! (photo below from 2006 refers), DVD/VCRs everywhere too (we take a large supply of both, ALL suitable for NTSC/PAL formats).
The one thing - and something I have mentioned many times - is our occasional inability to get Josh out of the villa or out of the pool later in the day. It was kind of one of our main reasons for thinking about a split stay, whereby if we were at for example Saratoga Springs if he didn't want to go out either me or Julie still could, a walk to Downtown Disney for example.
To be honest we just don't know how many times we will get out in the evening, he is such an early riser we find after 4 or 5 pm he would rather wind down and watch TV or play in the pool etc
Hopefully we will get out a few times.
Because of this it's really difficult to plan each day, also that is something we have never really done anyway.
We do intend to try and eat out a little and have a few new places we would like to go and see, such as the Celebration Town Tavern and Tommy Bahama cafe at Pointe Orlando (I am a massive fan of TB and always buy a couple of silk shirts there).
We have fall backs such as the Outback steakhouse which is very close to where we are staying, as they do 'take-out' we quite like it and I can have a relaxing drink at the bar also.
Theme Parks:
As with many things most of our days at the parks are tailored to suit Joshua.
He loves Fantasyland at Magic Kingdom but up to now hasn't really taken to many of the other Disney parks. I suppose as he is now 2 years older than on our last holiday there is the option to try him on new attractions, such as Star Tours etc
It's as ever complicated though as with his autism he doesn't have the patience for long shows or pre-shows, I suppose over the years we have stuck to his regular favourites.
We have only been to Animal Kingdom once so in a way that will be kind of new to us.
Water parks are 'grey areas' too, I just don't know why but he either gets really hyperactive or plain miserable at them, to be honest whether we will go to one I am not sure, we are not as it stands planning to go to Aquatica.
Universal we all love and there are many attractions he likes, such as Woody Woodpecker, Curious George and ET.
Sea World they do reduced prices for disabilities so we will probably get a 1 day ticket out there, they usually do a second day free too.
So we have our old Magic Your Way hopper/non expiry tickets that have 2 days theme park and 3 water park left.
Have also recently bought new 6 day passes, so 8 days should last us more than one holiday.
Universal we have bought Annual Passes, find them great value for money and means I get 10% off Oakley gear inside the parks.
I also have complimentary tickets (through a business colleague) for Busch Gardens so we may go there also.
Other things:
Away from Orlando we are going to Clearwater for the day.
Also trying to get Josh walking as much as possible, he really struggles with walking long distances hence we take our child's wheelchair with us. To be honest we don't use it that much at home, but it's essential for our holiday and he is after all registered disabled.
When we visit a mall for example we hope not to use it.
Plan:
Well it's a bit short, you just can't plan too much in our circumstances so most days it's just how we feel, however we have a rough idea for the first few days, most days we are back at the villa for a few hours for lunch and an afternoon relaxing.
Wed 20th - arrive at villa, I go to Publix on my own whilst Julie and Josh get settled and we unpack on my return. That's it, we never go out on our first evening.
Thu 21st - Morning -collect disabled parking permit, Universal Studios, back to villa and then shopping at Mall At Millenia/Pointe Orlando in the late afternoon and early evening.
Fri 22nd - Morning - Magic Kingdom, back to villa and then EPCOT late afternoon, Outback for tea.
Sat 23rd (option 1) - Clearwater for the day stopping off at the International Plaza Mall in Tampa on the way back, Celebration Town Tavern for tea and then Old Town.
Sat 23rd (option 2) - Morning - Universal , return to villa and afternoon shopping (Florida Mall/Festival Bay), Celebration Town Tavern for tea and then Old Town.
Sun 24th - whichever of the 2 options above we didn't do on the saturday minus Old Town presuming we went there.
Mon 25th - probably Magic Kingdom morning, return to villa and then MGM late afternoon and early evening.
That's all 'planned' so far, obviously a few shopping trips, theme park days and maybe attempts to eat out as we go along the way.
Touch wood he will have a good time, there were a few hiccups in 2006 and we need to be careful with the heat also. We are going to temporary increase his Epilepsy medicine, as the last occurrence we had was one of the 'hiccups'...I am kind of nervous therefore so really hoping it all goes well.
Just musn't forget to take his Teddy!
One last thing if anyone else is going and sees a guy pushing a wheelchair wearing a red Liverpool shirt....it just might be me!
