Plans in place... holiday paid for - now very excitied!!

[Daysleeper40]

We are heading off to Florida on 9th May this year and it has been a long time in the planning - we had our first trip in 2007 and I can't believe it's FINALLY nearly here!

I am going to start my proper pre-trip / trip report just as soon as I decide on a name for it but in the meantime I have to release some of my excitment now we are all paid up and it is just a matter of waiting to go!!! So basic plans are:

Day 0 - drive to Gatwick, overnight stay at Hilton or Sofitel (not booked yet).
Day 1 - V-Lounge and thenflight leaves at 13:00. Arrive in Orlando, transport to Four Points by Sheraton on I-Drive. Dinner at Sweet Tomatos.
Day 2 - Typhoon Lagoon / Hollywood Studios.
Day 3 - Epcot / Illuminations.
Day 4 - I-Drive (shopping / mini golf n all that good stuff). Dinner at Bahama Breeze.
Day 5 - Magic Kingdom.
Day 6 - Universal Studios / Dinner at Citywalk.
Day 7 - IOA (HARRY POTTER!!!!) / Blue Man Group
Day 8 - Discovery Cove... dolphin day!!
Day 9 - Seaworld inc Sealion Spotlight tour thingy.
Day 10 - BGT inc Tiger & Orangutan Experience.
Day 11 - Seaworld inc Behind the Scenes Beluga Experience.
Day 12 - BGT inc Serengeti Safari.
Day 13 - Universal Studios / Dinner at Citywalk.
Day 14 - IOA... MORE HARRY POTTER!!!!
Day 15 - Aquatica / Wet n Wild
Day 16 - Seaworld inc Wild Arctic Behind the Scenes tour.
Day 17 - Bonus Day - we will decide on the day.
Day 18 - Leaving day (packing / shopping / waiting for transport to airport).

So what do you think - I know a lot of you will be horrified with how little Disney we are doing but we are much bigger fans of all the other parks than Disney. We did AK & Hollywood Studios in 2007 and really didn't enjoy AK much at all. Liked HS though and Rock n Rollercoaster was in rehab at the time so we want to go back and at least ride that.

I am sudenly really excited having paid off the holiday balance and booked all the tours / extra's. I'm not sure I can wait until May!

 

[jtlover]

I am excited for you

#As you havent booked your hotel you might want to check out APH via Matlan website as they are offering good rates for Sofitel and Hilton with parking.

For my dates it came out at £136 for 2 adults and parking at Sofitel

 

[Kath2003]

I'm with you - we just don't do Disney any more. We can't justify the ticket cost. We usually do a character meal to get the experience but the rides are better at US/IOA anyway, IMO.

Looks awesome; have a great time!

 

[Daysleeper40]

I am excited for you

#As you havent booked your hotel you might want to check out APH via Matlan website as they are offering good rates for Sofitel and Hilton with parking.

For my dates it came out at £136 for 2 adults and parking at Sofitel

Thanks for the tip - I will take a look. I am having trouble finding a hotel plus parking deal because we are going for 17 nights. Everyone seems to do 8 & 15 nights as standard and then any extra days are paid at the parking daily rate. I think it might work out cheaper to book the hotel and parking seperately...

I'm with you - we just don't do Disney any more. We can't justify the ticket cost. We usually do a character meal to get the experience but the rides are better at US/IOA anyway, IMO.

Looks awesome; have a great time!

I know - I nearly had a seizure when I realised how much we are paying for those few days at Disney! We have actually ended up with 14 day passes as the company were doing a buy 14 days for the price of 7 deal. Came out at something like £500 for the two of us. I try not to think about that too much!

This could be our last trip to Florida for a while though and OH particularly wanted to go to Magic Kingdom. In a way I want to see all the parks too - once we have I'm not sure we would go back for a third time though. It's just so expensive.... and we just prefer everything about IOA / US / SW / BGT.

 

[jtlover]

Just had a look and found £164 for Sofitel and £176 for Hilton with 17 days parking

 

[Daysleeper40]

Just had a look and found £164 for Sofitel and £176 for Hilton with 17 days parking

Excellent - thankyou

Now all I have to do is find a Matalan and sign up for the card - doesn't look like I can do it online.

 

[jtlover]

Also worth looking at gatwickreservations.com as you dont pay until you arrive