LauraDaveCharlie
Live, breathe, eat and sleep WDW!
- Joined
- Jun 10, 2012
- Messages
- 90
Hello to all my fellow WDW fans. I have spent the last two years reading all your PTR and TR - plus alooooot of Dining Reviews so I really thought I ought to return the hours of fun and make an effort to write my first PTR and (hopefully) TR!
Cast:
Laura (me!) - 42 year old Disney lover. First went to WDW in 1987 when my Dad won a sales competition with the brewery he worked for at the time. My parents, sister and I went to WDW for a week in February staying at Fantasy World Club Villas. I was 17 and, at that point, it was the best week of my life!
Dave - DH - about to hit the big 5-0!
Charlie - 6 (and a half as he would say) - long awaited only child and pride and joy
Disney History:
When I was a student and met my future husband (who had never been anywhere other than France on a ferry), I spent most of my final year working two jobs while we saved up to go on a budget trip staying at what was then The Catalina Inn. He was hooked - thankfully. I often look back on that holiday with its tiny budget and cheap hotel and think it was our happiest trip ever - even compared to the big budget ones we have been lucky enough to have since. Nothing like that first trip. Once we got engaged and I embarked on military style wedding planning, my husband's only request amongst all the organisation was that we go to Disneyworld for our honeymoon. So we went for three weeks at the Port Orleans (French Quarter as it is now) which was just wonderful. Since then we have had many trips!
I am a deputy head in a primary school and a number of years ago, I wasn't sure that I wanted to go the leadership route. An opportunity came up to teach in the US and, of course, I chose Florida! We went out in 2003 moving to a suburb just outside Fort Lauderdale. To cut a very long story short, we both loved it - and didn't love it. It was great weather, we had wonderful weekends nipping to the Keys or over to Naples (and even a long weekend to stay at the Atlantis in the Bahamas once!), we took a lot of WDW and US trips and we had a lot of family and friends visiting. But there were things we didn't love - I was very homesick and I really didn't enjoy teaching over there (felt like a different job to over here) and the US is not the same country just because it speaks the same language and we found it harder than we had realised to find anything out or organise anything we needed to. Also, we still had to work out there and, believe it or not, driving past the end of the Turnpike with its sign saying North to Orlando every day when you are on your way to work is not easy! In a way it's torture as you are so near and yet so far! So after a year we came home. Not an easy decision but the right one I think.
Not to go into too many personal details but we had spent a long time trying to have a baby before we went to Florida and we had never been successful. We came home in August 2004, moved into a new house in March 2005 and by May 2005 I was pregnant!! We were over the moon and in Feb 2006 Charlie was born. Of course this all meant we had a break of almost five years (I never thought I could do that!) from WDW. We took Charlie when he was just three in 2009 and it was the perfect trip - everything we could possibly have wanted and more. Since then we went back in 2010 and 2011 so he is quite the little disney veteran at 6 (and a half)!
How this trip came about:
After three consecutive years of WDW holidays, we decided we would have a year off in 2012. We had a lovely trip to Malta in February which was great and we are going to London for a week at the end of August which is, of course, costing an arm and a leg. That was supposed to be it for this year. We have already booked for next Summer staying back at the POFQ and we talk about that trip quite a lot. After we got back from Malta, I started to think about Dave's birthday. My initial idea was to go to a certain well known 'tropical' themed activity village that rhymes with Menter Marks (!). We have done this before with friends. But the cost for October HT was astronomical based on what you get for your money. One day driving home from work, I thought 'Wouldn't it be great to do a surprise trip to WDW instead?'. That was it - the idea was in my head and immoveable! I researched and booked flights in March and have been keeping the secret ever since. Neither Dave nor Charlie know! This is very hard. I only realised how much WDW comes up in our everyday conversations after I had booked the secret trip making it very hard not to say anything. Of course I can't tell Charlie either as a six year old can't keep a secret this big. A few people know so I can talk about it a bit but it is tough!!
The Plans:
Oct 27th - Nov 3rd - I know it's a long way to go for a week but I am a teacher so have no choice. The next time we can have a two week trip is Christmas which is mad busy and expensive. Dave's birthday is Oct 6th so Oct HT is the closest school holiday.
Flights - Man to Atlanta to Orlando with Delta. Again I would have loved to fly direct but Virgin are just exhorbitant in the school hols and this trip is not supposed to be happening anyway! Not flown Delta before so that will be interesting.
Hotel - I thought about this one for a long time. To begin with I thought I'd wait it out to see if free dining came up and book into POFQ. Meanwhile I was browsing around and came across a great deal at the Fairfield Inn LBV. I have seen this hotel in its little cluster of Marriott hotels before and thought what a good location for an offsite hotel. We love Bahama Breeze and it's right next door. I priced this up against staying at POFQ. Even factoring in free dining as opposed to paying OOP offsite, the Fairfield came out a couple of hundred pounds cheaper overall. Again, as there is supposed to be no trip this year I went for the sensible option and booked the Fairfield. Since read some great reviews and know it has some fans on here. The other thing for us was that, last year when we were are the POFQ for the whole holiday, we missed getting out and about in Florida. Because we have lived there, we enjoy a lot of things about Florida outside of WDW.
Car - didn't have one last year as we never do staying onsite. So I started shopping around. Someone posted a link to SIXT on here for an offer for a luxury car. I found out they were just off airport property but the deal was so amazing (approx £60 for a week's rental of a Mercedes E-Class or similar inc insurances) that I decided an extra half an hour or so was worth it. Hope I'm right!
Tickets - only thing left to get. Think I am going to go for 5 day basic passes as I want to do a couple of days at the beach or doing other things.
After I booked we did have two disney disasters. The first one was when they extended Test Track's closing from end of Sept to end of Nov. This has always been Charlie's absolute favourite ride - I am still living in hope they may get ahead and open at the end of Oct instead! The other one is that I found out the TL closes on the day we arrive. This is my favourite park - I know; weird. I was gutted. The day we arrive!! We just don't get on with BB. Hence the trips off to the gulf coast. Not an adequate substitution but what can I do? I honestly (fleetingly) felt like writing to disney and asking them to shut BB first and then do TL after but decided they are unlikely to change their refurb schedule based on my husband's surprise trip!
The reveal:
So, Dave's birthday is Oct 6th. The plan is for he and Charlie to find out then which is exactly three weeks to go. I haven't completely decided yet but I think I will do something along the lines of a box within a box within a box etc. In each box will be part of the message until we get to the smallest box which will have the destination of his surprise trip and some WDW stuff - new t-shirt/hat/guidebook etc. To be honest, even though the trip is for Dave's birthday, I can't wait to tell Charlie the most. He will be over the moon! Since his 6th birthday he has really got into Star Wars. When we went last year he rode Star Tours but didn't know anything about it really. He is now a walking encyclopaedia on the subject and spends time every day talking about seeing the AT-AT, making his own lightsaber and being in the Jedi Training Academy. He thinks it will be next summer which he says is ages and I sometimes say 'It will probably pass faster than you think!'.
So, will keep you updated. I need to learn how to add photos as I tried but couldn't work it out. Hope to write something of interest for some of you out there after having such a good time reading about all your wonderful trips!
Cast:
Laura (me!) - 42 year old Disney lover. First went to WDW in 1987 when my Dad won a sales competition with the brewery he worked for at the time. My parents, sister and I went to WDW for a week in February staying at Fantasy World Club Villas. I was 17 and, at that point, it was the best week of my life!
Dave - DH - about to hit the big 5-0!
Charlie - 6 (and a half as he would say) - long awaited only child and pride and joy
Disney History:
When I was a student and met my future husband (who had never been anywhere other than France on a ferry), I spent most of my final year working two jobs while we saved up to go on a budget trip staying at what was then The Catalina Inn. He was hooked - thankfully. I often look back on that holiday with its tiny budget and cheap hotel and think it was our happiest trip ever - even compared to the big budget ones we have been lucky enough to have since. Nothing like that first trip. Once we got engaged and I embarked on military style wedding planning, my husband's only request amongst all the organisation was that we go to Disneyworld for our honeymoon. So we went for three weeks at the Port Orleans (French Quarter as it is now) which was just wonderful. Since then we have had many trips!
I am a deputy head in a primary school and a number of years ago, I wasn't sure that I wanted to go the leadership route. An opportunity came up to teach in the US and, of course, I chose Florida! We went out in 2003 moving to a suburb just outside Fort Lauderdale. To cut a very long story short, we both loved it - and didn't love it. It was great weather, we had wonderful weekends nipping to the Keys or over to Naples (and even a long weekend to stay at the Atlantis in the Bahamas once!), we took a lot of WDW and US trips and we had a lot of family and friends visiting. But there were things we didn't love - I was very homesick and I really didn't enjoy teaching over there (felt like a different job to over here) and the US is not the same country just because it speaks the same language and we found it harder than we had realised to find anything out or organise anything we needed to. Also, we still had to work out there and, believe it or not, driving past the end of the Turnpike with its sign saying North to Orlando every day when you are on your way to work is not easy! In a way it's torture as you are so near and yet so far! So after a year we came home. Not an easy decision but the right one I think.
Not to go into too many personal details but we had spent a long time trying to have a baby before we went to Florida and we had never been successful. We came home in August 2004, moved into a new house in March 2005 and by May 2005 I was pregnant!! We were over the moon and in Feb 2006 Charlie was born. Of course this all meant we had a break of almost five years (I never thought I could do that!) from WDW. We took Charlie when he was just three in 2009 and it was the perfect trip - everything we could possibly have wanted and more. Since then we went back in 2010 and 2011 so he is quite the little disney veteran at 6 (and a half)!
How this trip came about:
After three consecutive years of WDW holidays, we decided we would have a year off in 2012. We had a lovely trip to Malta in February which was great and we are going to London for a week at the end of August which is, of course, costing an arm and a leg. That was supposed to be it for this year. We have already booked for next Summer staying back at the POFQ and we talk about that trip quite a lot. After we got back from Malta, I started to think about Dave's birthday. My initial idea was to go to a certain well known 'tropical' themed activity village that rhymes with Menter Marks (!). We have done this before with friends. But the cost for October HT was astronomical based on what you get for your money. One day driving home from work, I thought 'Wouldn't it be great to do a surprise trip to WDW instead?'. That was it - the idea was in my head and immoveable! I researched and booked flights in March and have been keeping the secret ever since. Neither Dave nor Charlie know! This is very hard. I only realised how much WDW comes up in our everyday conversations after I had booked the secret trip making it very hard not to say anything. Of course I can't tell Charlie either as a six year old can't keep a secret this big. A few people know so I can talk about it a bit but it is tough!!
The Plans:
Oct 27th - Nov 3rd - I know it's a long way to go for a week but I am a teacher so have no choice. The next time we can have a two week trip is Christmas which is mad busy and expensive. Dave's birthday is Oct 6th so Oct HT is the closest school holiday.
Flights - Man to Atlanta to Orlando with Delta. Again I would have loved to fly direct but Virgin are just exhorbitant in the school hols and this trip is not supposed to be happening anyway! Not flown Delta before so that will be interesting.
Hotel - I thought about this one for a long time. To begin with I thought I'd wait it out to see if free dining came up and book into POFQ. Meanwhile I was browsing around and came across a great deal at the Fairfield Inn LBV. I have seen this hotel in its little cluster of Marriott hotels before and thought what a good location for an offsite hotel. We love Bahama Breeze and it's right next door. I priced this up against staying at POFQ. Even factoring in free dining as opposed to paying OOP offsite, the Fairfield came out a couple of hundred pounds cheaper overall. Again, as there is supposed to be no trip this year I went for the sensible option and booked the Fairfield. Since read some great reviews and know it has some fans on here. The other thing for us was that, last year when we were are the POFQ for the whole holiday, we missed getting out and about in Florida. Because we have lived there, we enjoy a lot of things about Florida outside of WDW.
Car - didn't have one last year as we never do staying onsite. So I started shopping around. Someone posted a link to SIXT on here for an offer for a luxury car. I found out they were just off airport property but the deal was so amazing (approx £60 for a week's rental of a Mercedes E-Class or similar inc insurances) that I decided an extra half an hour or so was worth it. Hope I'm right!
Tickets - only thing left to get. Think I am going to go for 5 day basic passes as I want to do a couple of days at the beach or doing other things.
After I booked we did have two disney disasters. The first one was when they extended Test Track's closing from end of Sept to end of Nov. This has always been Charlie's absolute favourite ride - I am still living in hope they may get ahead and open at the end of Oct instead! The other one is that I found out the TL closes on the day we arrive. This is my favourite park - I know; weird. I was gutted. The day we arrive!! We just don't get on with BB. Hence the trips off to the gulf coast. Not an adequate substitution but what can I do? I honestly (fleetingly) felt like writing to disney and asking them to shut BB first and then do TL after but decided they are unlikely to change their refurb schedule based on my husband's surprise trip!
The reveal:
So, Dave's birthday is Oct 6th. The plan is for he and Charlie to find out then which is exactly three weeks to go. I haven't completely decided yet but I think I will do something along the lines of a box within a box within a box etc. In each box will be part of the message until we get to the smallest box which will have the destination of his surprise trip and some WDW stuff - new t-shirt/hat/guidebook etc. To be honest, even though the trip is for Dave's birthday, I can't wait to tell Charlie the most. He will be over the moon! Since his 6th birthday he has really got into Star Wars. When we went last year he rode Star Tours but didn't know anything about it really. He is now a walking encyclopaedia on the subject and spends time every day talking about seeing the AT-AT, making his own lightsaber and being in the Jedi Training Academy. He thinks it will be next summer which he says is ages and I sometimes say 'It will probably pass faster than you think!'.
So, will keep you updated. I need to learn how to add photos as I tried but couldn't work it out. Hope to write something of interest for some of you out there after having such a good time reading about all your wonderful trips!
Oh I think you did the right thing telling them, now you can all enjoy the excitement of the countdown
