Mum, i'm taking you to Orlando! Sept 2012

[avviexxx]

Mum's first trip to see the Mouse

UPDATE 1
UPDATE 2

Hey everyone,
This is my first trip report, so bare with me and i aplogise if it gets boring.
Its half 12 in the morning and my insomnia means i can't sleep.
What better way to entertain myself then to write my first trip report.
Here are the Cast Members

Me (Avvie) 21, work in the local Co-Op, Disney and Harry Potter mad, and 3rd trip to Orlando.

Mum(Maggie) 42, single mum of 3, likes to take things slow, first trip to Orlando.

So last Setember after months of being jobless i landed a job at the loal Co-Op, but i wanted something to spend my money on other then buying crap. Getting my own place was out of the question just incase the job didn't last. I hadnt been to Orlando since 2009 and i was missing the Mouse. So i decided to take my mum on a two week holiday.
Sadly on Halloween last year my nan passed away and it hit mum hard. So i thought i would treat her to a nice holiday.
Only problem is, my mum isnt into rollercoasters and likes beach holidays. But i thought, as she always wanted to visit the states what better place to take her then sunny Flordia. So there the fun begins.

I decided to start putting money away in a savings account and slowly book up this holiday. Sept 5th - Sept 19th. I chose this time as its supposed to be the quitest time to visit. One of the main reasons to visit again is because im a huge fan of Harry Potter, and the last time i visited Orlando WWoHP was just being built, and i need to go visit Hogwarts . Any excuse to go back "home"
Originally i wanted to go to Halloween Horror Nights and thought we might be lucky enough to just get the first night of it. Unfortunatly we just miss it and would be too much hassle changing things around to catch it.

I kept an eye on Virgins sales for Flights and managed to book some cheap flights. Next was the hotel, we have always stayed on International Drive and this time would be no different. I love walking around International Drive and eating at all the different places.

I decided to book into Extended Stay Deluxe Convention Center on I-Drive, i stayed there last time and it was brilliant. Nice big suite close to all of I-Drive but with some peace and quiet.

Each month i have booked up seperate stuff. I now have park tickets and the rest of the hotel to pay for, and when mums passport arrives i will be getting ESTA's sorted and then i'm done.
We have decided to do Seaworld, Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, all Disney Parks and Discovery Cove.
Discovery Cove may be expensive, but mum deserves to have a day of luxury.
We decided to get the Eat and Play Card as the budge is tight, any savings is a great help.
Everytime i have been Orlando, we always ate snack food in the parks, so i decided this year i would get an ADR in a Disney restaurant for a treat. Mum was adamant that she wanted Crab, so i decided to book Rainforest Cafe at AK on our last night, that way she gets crab and lobster and I can have some non fish food
I am planning this by myself with help from dad, and to be honest i'm proud of myself for planning this with little help.

Our flight from Gatwick is at 1pm but with no way of getting down on the day of the flight we decided to book a room at Premier Inn Central Gatwick the night before,with the £22 meal deal which is a 3 course meal and buffet breakfast in the morning. Total £120, which for all the food included, and the closeness to the airport i thought was a pretty damn good price.

Mum isn't into rides and likes to take things slow. So this holiday will be mostly swimming pools and relaxing but we will be spending alot of time in the parks aswell. I will try and get her on rides, Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain to start her off. I was hoping to take her on Test Track as i figured she would love that, but of course its closed

Our plan is as followed:

Thursday 6th

Animal Kingdom

Friday 7th

Magic Kingdom

Saturday 8th

Discovery Cove

Sunday 9th

Hollywood Studios
Epcot about 4pm to do a few things then Illuminations.

Monday 10th

Seaworld
Ripleys Believe it or Not

Tuesday 11th

Typhoon Lagoon
Crazy Golf on I-Drive

Wednesday 12th

Blizzard Beach
6.30pm Reservation at Prime Time Cafe HS
8.30pm Fantasmic

Thursday 13th

Lie in
Hotel Pool
Shopping on I-Drive

Friday 14th

Islands of Adventure
Universal Studios
(mainly for WWoHP)

Saturday 15th

Typhoon Lagoon
Magic Kingdom around 5pm for 9pm Wishes

Sunday 16th

Lie in
Pool at hotel
Titanic the Experience
Islands of Adventure at night for lit up Hogwarts (if open late)

Monday 17th

Seaworld

Tuesday 18th

Blizzard Beach

Wednesday 19th


Home

Their will be a few tweaks, but i always love to make sure i have a plan. This holiday has taken up most of my wages but it will be worth it. And i have really enjoyed planning it all. I really can't wait to get there and have a Dole Whip Float oh how i miss these.

I hope i havent bored you all too much. Any comments would be much appreciated. Let the countdown begin!
ºoº

 

[avviexxx]

Update 1

Well what a past day this has been. Ive been on tenderhooks all day knowing that as soon as 12am hit on Friday I would be paid
I have a check list with what i need to do and i want to get it done ASAP.
I thought i better get mine and mums ESTA'S done now her passport had arrived. God what a kerfuffle, didn't realise how difficult it would be.
Now mine went fine, straight away it was authorised ...
But mums on the other hand decided it didn't want to be nice.
Twice i entered payment details and both times it came up with
Your payment status could not be determined at this time. Please check back later for your payment status

I logged out and in and it still said payment was needed yet when i checked my bank balance it had taken the amount out once for me and twice for mums.
So i emailed the company, and they acted like I was dumb and told me step by step how to pay, i explained the problem to no avail.
So i decided to try once more and BINGO it worked!
But... im still £18 down from when they took it out before, so hopefully ill claim that money back

Moving on, sorry if im rambling the rest of my hotel balance is due 13th June, i get paid 15th June. So ive emailed to see if its ok to pay it 2 days late. Fingers crossed. I was hoping to get all park tickets booked today. 2 Swims with DC 2x 14 day Disney Tix and 2x 2 park Universal tickets totalling £958
But until i find out if they dont mind me paying hotel balance late, i cant book much else as i cant afford it all this pay check. I knew this planning would go wrong somewhere
Keep in mind im only 21 and this is alot of planning for me lol!

I know i needed to get Discovery Cove tickets booked up, because i wanted a certain date and didn't want it selling out.
So guess what? Yes i have just booked up our Discovery Cove tickets through attraction-tickets-direct with 2 weeks entry to Seaworld. £258 in total, yes we could have got it cheaper, but i didn't mind paying the extra £8 for a waterproof camera.

So hopefully you are all still awake and i havent bored you all. Im watching Finding Nemo The Musical on Youtube waiting for my sleeping tablets to kick in.
Hopefully the drama with booking will end soon. But atleast i have ESTAS, Seaworld tickets and Discovery Cove tickets ticked off my list.
Now just :
Universal tickets
Disney Tickets
Hotel balance paid off


Thankyou for reading, ill keep you updated and hopefully wont ramble on next time

 

[avviexxx]

Update 2

So after much thought i decided to get the rest of our Hotel balance paid. So i paid off the remainder of the balance and then booked up our 2 tickets for Discovery Cove on the 8th September with 2 weeks Seaworld entry. I decided on going earlier on in the holiday as i read up that if it rained they could move your day to another one.
I also booked up our tickets for Universal, which now leaves just our Disney Tickets to book, and have found out FloridaEscapes do them for about £5 cheaper, so next month will get them booked up from there.
So all thats left is Disney Tickets, Buy a waterproof camera, which im looking at getting an Olympus Tough which will also be used in the parks. Going to buy lots of 4gb memory cards as i tend to take ALOT of photos, and this way if i lose a memory card, i won't have lost an entire 2 weeks worth of photos
Excited to have got near enough everything done, but sad the planning has come to an end. Am now needing my Disney Fix daily so reading trip reports and watching Disney Park vids on Youtube