Our "lets get out of the cold" trip - pre-trippie

[katiec]

Hi all,

This is my first trip report.
This is us......

Me - Katie (41) (planner in chief) Winnie the Pooh mad, i'm a kind of "I wanna do it now" person, likes anything sporty, but likes food just as much
This will be my 3rd trip but 1st with DH - not been since 1999

DH - Andy (39) happy to go with the flow, not really mad about anthing (apart from Man U!!) and is just mad to put up with me!!, is kind of a "lets wait until tomorrow" person, thinks he holds the purse strings.. if only he knew....
This will be 2nd trip and 1st with me - not been since 1997

We got married nearly 2 years ago and had a honeymoon in Edinburgh on our Tesco vouchers! (We moved into 1 house only 4 weeks before the wedding so money was a bit tight), so although we have been away inbetween times, we're kinda thinking of this as a "proper" honeymoon trip.
Although we are lucky enough to get away quite often, this is the first time I have known DH to actively get excited about a trip - its always the time we are going away that work goes mad
I have booked DH in for a Clarins massage for Wed afternoon to get him into the "i'm relaxed for my holiday" now mood!

I love the sun, but neither of us (esp DH) really do sitting on sunbeds or boats, so 2 weeks on the beach by the sea are not really our thing.. as we have found on our travels!)

Also in the family is my DS aged 20 - he's off at Uni so not coming on this trip - will be doing Camp America for 3 months in the summer, so will be getting his American fix fairly soon.

We like to get away 2/3 times a year if we can afford it - we tend to go for the cheaper hotel option so we can afford it (we both work full time and DH works too hard in my opinion) - NYC for the weekend is my favourite, but our last full 2 week holiday was 4 years ago to Turkey when DH spend the 2nd week in the hotel room

So why is this called "Lets get out of the cold" trip?
Well our usual long holiday is 11 nights skiing in Canada.. we always go in January because its cheapest... however it is VERY VERY cold. We were there for my 40th birthday trip in Jan 2008 but during the day is was -25 and much colder at night. I got REALLY REALLY fed up with feeling like the michelin man in all the layers and taking an hour to warm up after our walk home after dinner. (Thermal vest, long sleeve t-shirt, fleece, ski jacket, ski helmet, neoprene face mask, silk gloves, proper gloves scarf - you get the idea!) So I put my foot down and said i'm too old for being this cold.. lets go to Florida.


So 10 months after booking in 2 more sleeps we're of to the Gatwick Hilton for the start of our holiday
We fly out on Friday at 1130 with Thomas Cook premium economy, staying at Ramada Inn Lakeside, International Drive. Ok it may not be the best hotel in the world, but it was a good deal and we dont plan on spending much time in the hotel anyway. One of the reasons we picked I Drive was because we like to walk about after our evening meal... especially if we have stuffed ourselves!!!

These are our plans at the moment. I've done ALL the planning - DH says my eyes are square from all the time on the Orlando forum boards!

Fri 17 - arrive - have quick walk around IDrive and just eat what we fancy. Our first night tradition is TGI's so lets see if we can keep it up!
Sat 18 - MK
Sun 19 - AK
Mon 20 - Breakfast at BOMA and then Water park - probably TL
Tues 21 - Seaworld
Wed 22 - Universal
Thurs 23 - KSC
Fri 24 - Nothing planned for this day
Sat 25 - Epcot
Sun 26 - DHS
Mon 27 - Discovery cove - how good is this day gonna be
Tues 28 - IofA
ADR booked at California Grill
Wed 29 - Day at the beach - and eating at Crabby Bills, Indian Rocks Beach (have been here on last 2 trips - forget about fine dining - this place rocks!)
Thurs 30 - Nothing planned for this day
Fri 1 May - Quick trip to MK before off to the airport

We'll probably spend all day at each park until we've had enough or we're hungry. We've also planning to do a couple of half day shopping sessions and we'll also do another water park. We're quite flexible and will change about if necessary/weather etc


I have managed to wangle the next 2 days off work (my leave offically starts on Thursday).. apart from getting my hair done, etc, I really dont know how I am gonna manage with 2 free days before we go away - too much daytime TV probably.

So i hope i havent waffled on too much, but have given you a little taster of us and our trip - and here's a little picture of me and my "two boys"

(Well I will do when I can work out how to do it!)

Edit - sorry for some reason I cant seem to post a piccie.

 

[Gaynor]

Sounds like a great trip you have planned, I can feel your excitement. Hope to read a full trip report when you get back
I would probably spend the next 2 day on the DIS boards getting giddy

oh and your photo's not showing!

 

[irongirlof12]

fab trip planned

 

[mark&sue]

Once again you have gone before I can say have a great trip so hope you are really having a wonderful time right now


susan

 

[raph_b]

I love the pre trip!

Hope you're having fun out there right now

I really hope you enjoy California Grill next week, I hope you will tell us all about it

 

[wicket2005]

I hope you have had a fantastic holiday and look forward to reading all about it. The only remedy for holiday blues from Orlando is to book another one up.

 

[Pegasus928]

Here's to a great holiday and some fun in the sun.

You certainly have a lot of full days and I look forward to hearing all about it when you get back.

 

[natalielongstaff]

hope you have a brilliant time

 

[suzycute]

Just caught up with your pre trip report - you must be back now - hope you had a great time and look forward to hearing all about it!

 

[arieljasmine]

Hope you had a wonderful trip, looking forward to hearing about it when you come back down to earth!

Laur's xx

 

[florida sun]

Hope you had a fantastic trip