zummerzet66
Are we there yet?!
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2009
- Messages
- 68
We've been holding off from doing this for a while now, as we booked this trip as soon as Summer 2010 went on sale with Virgin, then DW promptly got ill and was told she'd need a biggish operation to put things right. For a while it looked as though she wouldn't have the op in time to fully recover before the holiday but, luckily, she got a cancellation and had it done three weeks ago and is recovering nicely now.
She says that the best kind of therapy is trip planning, so here goes with what we've come up with so far!
We are:
Me (Matt), 40-something, and 3 and a half stone lighter than last trip (hope I don't put it all back on out there!)
DW (Claire), same as above (we did it together!)
DS1 (Sam), 13 going on 18, hates ToT!
DS2 (Tom), 11, will ride everything!
Here's the kids on our last trip:
When we came back last time, DW was adamant that she didn't want to go again as the Spring Break crowds had been horrendous and I had felt under too much pressure to keep up a fast pace, especially as her mum was with us for a week of the holiday and we wanted to show her as much as possible in that time. We even booked a European holiday for August 2009 in an attempt to get Florida out of our system. In the end, we all had to admit that we didn't want to go to Spain - we all wanted Florida again! We've agreed that this time the pace will be slower and we've actually discussed in advance what we all want to get out of the holiday. These discussions have since resulted in us cancelling the Flextickets we booked when we first booked the holiday, and replacing the days we would've spent at US & SW with days out in Clearwater, Airboat rides, shopping etc (the "Trips" in the title!). We also intend to have a lot more pool-time ("Dips") than previous trips!
We've also planned our meals ("Dole Whips") a lot better this time so that we can revisit some firm favourites (Ruby Tuesday, Bahama Breeze, Chili's etc) as well as trying a good range of new places (Uno, Olive Garden, Longhorn, Mimi's Cafe etc) that have been recommended here!
Everything kicks off on Friday 30th July, when we will do OLCI before hitting the road from Somerset to Gatwick for Twilight Bag-Drop, followed by a night in the Gatwick South Premier Inn. We've arranged for the Purple Parking People to collect our car at 10am the next morning, when we will make our way to the V-Room for plenty of free brekkie and coffee before the flight!
Previously, we have stayed in a 2-bedroom hotel suite in LBV, and a 5-bedroom villa in Kissimmee (down Old lake Wilson). This time, through a friend of a friend, we've plumped for a 3-bedroom Condo at Cane Island, which we remember seeing as we were driving past last time and looks very nice indeed. That, with a Virgin Flydrive with an Intermediate SUV for the fortnight, all adds up to what will hopefully be our third trip of a lifetime!
We've gone for 7-day Premium tickets for Disney, and have planned our days so that we avoid each park when it has morning EMH, and have booked breakfast at Crystal Palace at the earliest available time so that we can get in to MK before opening and hopefully get some pics of a deserted Main Street.
Hopefully, the exchange rate won't drop TOO much more between now and the end of July because we haven't yet exchanged all our spending money
but we're aiming for somewhere between $250 and $300 a day, which will cover absolutely everything, including parking at the parks, all food, shopping etc.
New things we're looking forward to most are:
Airboat ride
Clearwater (including hopefully a trip out on Little Toot!)
Winter Summerland golf (never had time before)
Evening fireworks at MK (whatever they end up being called)
Things we're most looking forward to revisiting are:
Expedition Everest (and AK in general - our fave park)
R&RC (though DW may have to sit it out)
Test Track
Florida Mall and the Outlet Malls!
We'll have the netbook with us, and internet access in the Condo, so I intend to do nightly live trippies, but that'll depend on what we end up doing each evening. I also intend to take pics of every meal at every restaurant (though, again, it depends on what happens), so the trippies will hopefully include dining reviews of the following on and off-site places:
Onsite
Kona Cafe
The Plaza
Tusker House
Boma
Crystal Palace
Captain's Grille
Offsite
Perkins
IHOP
First Watch
Golden Corral
Ruby Tuesday
Chili's
Uno's
Olive Garden
Bahama Breeze
Longhorn Steakhouse
Smokey Bones
Steak'n'Shake
Mimi's Cafe
Market Street Cafe
CiCi's Pizza
Earl of Sandwich
Coldstone Creamery
Ghirardelli's
And there's probably more, but I forget at the moment!
What do you think?
She says that the best kind of therapy is trip planning, so here goes with what we've come up with so far!
We are:
Me (Matt), 40-something, and 3 and a half stone lighter than last trip (hope I don't put it all back on out there!)
DW (Claire), same as above (we did it together!)
DS1 (Sam), 13 going on 18, hates ToT!
DS2 (Tom), 11, will ride everything!
Here's the kids on our last trip:
When we came back last time, DW was adamant that she didn't want to go again as the Spring Break crowds had been horrendous and I had felt under too much pressure to keep up a fast pace, especially as her mum was with us for a week of the holiday and we wanted to show her as much as possible in that time. We even booked a European holiday for August 2009 in an attempt to get Florida out of our system. In the end, we all had to admit that we didn't want to go to Spain - we all wanted Florida again! We've agreed that this time the pace will be slower and we've actually discussed in advance what we all want to get out of the holiday. These discussions have since resulted in us cancelling the Flextickets we booked when we first booked the holiday, and replacing the days we would've spent at US & SW with days out in Clearwater, Airboat rides, shopping etc (the "Trips" in the title!). We also intend to have a lot more pool-time ("Dips") than previous trips!
We've also planned our meals ("Dole Whips") a lot better this time so that we can revisit some firm favourites (Ruby Tuesday, Bahama Breeze, Chili's etc) as well as trying a good range of new places (Uno, Olive Garden, Longhorn, Mimi's Cafe etc) that have been recommended here!
Everything kicks off on Friday 30th July, when we will do OLCI before hitting the road from Somerset to Gatwick for Twilight Bag-Drop, followed by a night in the Gatwick South Premier Inn. We've arranged for the Purple Parking People to collect our car at 10am the next morning, when we will make our way to the V-Room for plenty of free brekkie and coffee before the flight!
Previously, we have stayed in a 2-bedroom hotel suite in LBV, and a 5-bedroom villa in Kissimmee (down Old lake Wilson). This time, through a friend of a friend, we've plumped for a 3-bedroom Condo at Cane Island, which we remember seeing as we were driving past last time and looks very nice indeed. That, with a Virgin Flydrive with an Intermediate SUV for the fortnight, all adds up to what will hopefully be our third trip of a lifetime!
We've gone for 7-day Premium tickets for Disney, and have planned our days so that we avoid each park when it has morning EMH, and have booked breakfast at Crystal Palace at the earliest available time so that we can get in to MK before opening and hopefully get some pics of a deserted Main Street.
Hopefully, the exchange rate won't drop TOO much more between now and the end of July because we haven't yet exchanged all our spending money
but we're aiming for somewhere between $250 and $300 a day, which will cover absolutely everything, including parking at the parks, all food, shopping etc.New things we're looking forward to most are:
Airboat ride
Clearwater (including hopefully a trip out on Little Toot!)
Winter Summerland golf (never had time before)
Evening fireworks at MK (whatever they end up being called)
Things we're most looking forward to revisiting are:
Expedition Everest (and AK in general - our fave park)
R&RC (though DW may have to sit it out)
Test Track
Florida Mall and the Outlet Malls!
We'll have the netbook with us, and internet access in the Condo, so I intend to do nightly live trippies, but that'll depend on what we end up doing each evening. I also intend to take pics of every meal at every restaurant (though, again, it depends on what happens), so the trippies will hopefully include dining reviews of the following on and off-site places:
Onsite
Kona Cafe
The Plaza
Tusker House
Boma
Crystal Palace
Captain's Grille
Offsite
Perkins
IHOP
First Watch
Golden Corral
Ruby Tuesday
Chili's
Uno's
Olive Garden
Bahama Breeze
Longhorn Steakhouse
Smokey Bones
Steak'n'Shake
Mimi's Cafe
Market Street Cafe
CiCi's Pizza
Earl of Sandwich
Coldstone Creamery
Ghirardelli's
And there's probably more, but I forget at the moment!
What do you think?
). We plan to add more dollars just before we go so that we'll have a nice round $300 per day (obviously some days we'll spend less which means that we can spend a lot more on other days - shopping!!!). We've even done the Alamo car rental online check-in already!
small world Ill have to have a look at your pictures to see if I recgonise you. Hope the hair cut was ok 
for 7 
