Obi Wan Kenobi
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2004
- Messages
- 3,938
Cast of Characters: (smaller than normal)
Obi Wan Kenoibi, Jedi Master, just turned 47 trip planner and banking facility
Princess Leia Organa, Obi's better half, 40 like to shop
Ewok, Obi and Leia's littl 'un 3 1/2 (going on 7), loves Dora
We normally go once a year to Florida, or sometimes (like next year) somewhere else in the USA like Vermont, Texas, Wisconsin etc...
We again, normally go Thanksgiving time as this is the best time for me work wise and does not take a good weeks up for renting out of our Villa.
However, we actually last visited Florida in January of this year, as it was Princess Leia's fortieth (superb birthday bash at Victoria and Alberts) so for this year only, we are back to our two holidays in the States as we used to do before the arrival of Little 'un.
As I have said, next year we will go to Vermont, two reasons, we love New england, and we do not want the Ewok to get blasé about WDW (he is 3 1/2 and has visited WDW four times already!)
I am a forward planning type of Jedi, so I booked the seats on the plane (Virgin VS 15 and VS 28) when we got back from the states and had organised our yearly trip to Spain in June, so the flights were booked in March.
The tickets arrived on 23rd March in a nice red envolope, with a silver ticket holder inside, and in this folder were the actual printed tickets, a in flight health brochure and a big help in a little book err, book, with details such as a welcome from SRB, about retail therapy, flying club, dollar car rental,travel insurance, checking in etc etc, This was quite strange, as normally all I ever get is an email confirmation of the flight details to take to check in. The reason it seems is that the Ewok had won a competition on the Virgin web site whgich gave him some vouchers which were used as part payment on his ticket, so the computer would not compute.
Anyway, tickets in hand, I called FC Gold and pre-assigned us into sets 6A, 6K and 7A on both legs of the journey. very good seats if travelling as a family, right at the pointy end of the plane, so no people coming and going between Princess and Ewok, with extra shelving by the 6 seats. the only problem is no overhead lockers, which can be a bit of a bun fight if the plane is full and for some reason this year, the plane IS full on the outbound with only a total of 16 seats showing available in all cabins and none at all in UC!
Next was the car hire. this was done on 'tinternet with my favourite car hire company, Hertz, though if I can get a better deal I will use other companies, so a Ford Explorer booked in June and tied to my Hertz Number 1 gold card means that when we arrive at MCO, its straight onto the bus, flash my Hertz card at the man in the booth and he hands me my car keys, excellent system.
So, Flight tickets booked, car hire booked, whats next?
ah! the overnight stay before the flight (we live in the midlands and I do not like leaving on the day of the flight, too many things can go wrong) so, check on 'tinternet again, and so in June book one night at the Hilton with car parking for 15 days. This time I decide to use the personal parking system from maple manor parking Hilton package from Holiday extras (this is a room and valet parking, when you are getting near to the Hilton, you ring up Maple manor and they collect your car from you at the hotel then return it to you when you arrive back in this country, better than trolling around on car park busses I hope!)
This again booked in June.
I should say that we have annual passes for the knights, for both WDW and Universal studios and Sea world, so those are already taken care of.
Also, I have comprehensive Travel insurance with my bank due to the type of account I have, so that's covered as well.
Because of our frequent trips to the USA both on holiday and work, I have a quantity of Travellers Cheques, so all I do throughout the year is add to them, plus I have an American Bank Account where I deposit money to remove from the cashpoints.
So, by July, everything is booked and ready, but it does not make the waiting any shorter!
Final couple of things done for the trip, as it was my birthday last week (guess which day? Whoooooo!)
and as we are not going to WDW for a couple of years now, The Princess bought me a new Digital camcorder, a Sony High Definition version HDR-HC1E (the Ewok got me a pumpkin!
) so I have spent the last week trying to arrange the camera and camcorder into the same bag! Looks like a trip to acamera store for a bigger bag!
Final thing booked today, our V-Touch appointments in the Gatwick Clubhouse, all of us having haircuts, me at 07:45, the Princess at 08:15 and the Ewok at 08:30, great times, quick drink before my haircut and then whilst the rest of the Jedi knights are getting their hair pampered and preened, I can have a full english hot breakfast, with Champagne in peace
In about two weeks, down will come the suitcases, my flight case will be filled with the essentials; chargers, Bose noise cancelling headphones, laptop, DVD's for Ewok, folders for tickets, passports etc.. and then the nagging feeling will come over me as to "have I forgotten something?"
So thats the pre-trip report done. Just have to wait some three weeks today now for the journey down to Gatwick, 22 days to go!
Costs;
Three seats £3,111.10
Car hire £ 377.64
Hilton Hotel and 15 days car parking £185.00
Travel insurance "free" (ish)
Park passes already paid for (and cost already covered due to the useage in January)
but
WDW annual pass renewals £959.57
Universal studios annual pass renewal £127.35
Sea world AP £79.33
Obi Wan Kenoibi, Jedi Master, just turned 47 trip planner and banking facility
Princess Leia Organa, Obi's better half, 40 like to shop
Ewok, Obi and Leia's littl 'un 3 1/2 (going on 7), loves Dora
We normally go once a year to Florida, or sometimes (like next year) somewhere else in the USA like Vermont, Texas, Wisconsin etc...
We again, normally go Thanksgiving time as this is the best time for me work wise and does not take a good weeks up for renting out of our Villa.
However, we actually last visited Florida in January of this year, as it was Princess Leia's fortieth (superb birthday bash at Victoria and Alberts) so for this year only, we are back to our two holidays in the States as we used to do before the arrival of Little 'un.
As I have said, next year we will go to Vermont, two reasons, we love New england, and we do not want the Ewok to get blasé about WDW (he is 3 1/2 and has visited WDW four times already!)
I am a forward planning type of Jedi, so I booked the seats on the plane (Virgin VS 15 and VS 28) when we got back from the states and had organised our yearly trip to Spain in June, so the flights were booked in March.
The tickets arrived on 23rd March in a nice red envolope, with a silver ticket holder inside, and in this folder were the actual printed tickets, a in flight health brochure and a big help in a little book err, book, with details such as a welcome from SRB, about retail therapy, flying club, dollar car rental,travel insurance, checking in etc etc, This was quite strange, as normally all I ever get is an email confirmation of the flight details to take to check in. The reason it seems is that the Ewok had won a competition on the Virgin web site whgich gave him some vouchers which were used as part payment on his ticket, so the computer would not compute.
Anyway, tickets in hand, I called FC Gold and pre-assigned us into sets 6A, 6K and 7A on both legs of the journey. very good seats if travelling as a family, right at the pointy end of the plane, so no people coming and going between Princess and Ewok, with extra shelving by the 6 seats. the only problem is no overhead lockers, which can be a bit of a bun fight if the plane is full and for some reason this year, the plane IS full on the outbound with only a total of 16 seats showing available in all cabins and none at all in UC!
Next was the car hire. this was done on 'tinternet with my favourite car hire company, Hertz, though if I can get a better deal I will use other companies, so a Ford Explorer booked in June and tied to my Hertz Number 1 gold card means that when we arrive at MCO, its straight onto the bus, flash my Hertz card at the man in the booth and he hands me my car keys, excellent system.
So, Flight tickets booked, car hire booked, whats next?
ah! the overnight stay before the flight (we live in the midlands and I do not like leaving on the day of the flight, too many things can go wrong) so, check on 'tinternet again, and so in June book one night at the Hilton with car parking for 15 days. This time I decide to use the personal parking system from maple manor parking Hilton package from Holiday extras (this is a room and valet parking, when you are getting near to the Hilton, you ring up Maple manor and they collect your car from you at the hotel then return it to you when you arrive back in this country, better than trolling around on car park busses I hope!)
This again booked in June.
I should say that we have annual passes for the knights, for both WDW and Universal studios and Sea world, so those are already taken care of.
Also, I have comprehensive Travel insurance with my bank due to the type of account I have, so that's covered as well.
Because of our frequent trips to the USA both on holiday and work, I have a quantity of Travellers Cheques, so all I do throughout the year is add to them, plus I have an American Bank Account where I deposit money to remove from the cashpoints.
So, by July, everything is booked and ready, but it does not make the waiting any shorter!
Final couple of things done for the trip, as it was my birthday last week (guess which day? Whoooooo!)
and as we are not going to WDW for a couple of years now, The Princess bought me a new Digital camcorder, a Sony High Definition version HDR-HC1E (the Ewok got me a pumpkin!
) so I have spent the last week trying to arrange the camera and camcorder into the same bag! Looks like a trip to acamera store for a bigger bag!Final thing booked today, our V-Touch appointments in the Gatwick Clubhouse, all of us having haircuts, me at 07:45, the Princess at 08:15 and the Ewok at 08:30, great times, quick drink before my haircut and then whilst the rest of the Jedi knights are getting their hair pampered and preened, I can have a full english hot breakfast, with Champagne in peace
In about two weeks, down will come the suitcases, my flight case will be filled with the essentials; chargers, Bose noise cancelling headphones, laptop, DVD's for Ewok, folders for tickets, passports etc.. and then the nagging feeling will come over me as to "have I forgotten something?"
So thats the pre-trip report done. Just have to wait some three weeks today now for the journey down to Gatwick, 22 days to go!
Costs;
Three seats £3,111.10
Car hire £ 377.64
Hilton Hotel and 15 days car parking £185.00
Travel insurance "free" (ish)
Park passes already paid for (and cost already covered due to the useage in January)
but
WDW annual pass renewals £959.57
Universal studios annual pass renewal £127.35
Sea world AP £79.33
