Well look at what the catfish dragged in! Pre-trip report Aug 08 w/pictures.

[NatalieMT]

Just thought these pre-trip/trip reports are a lot of fun, I love reading what other people are getting up to and picking up tips, so thought I might aswell have a little go at my own thread! Feel free to join me and my planning!

First I'll start off with the cast -

Natalie (Me!) - I am 18, turning 19 a couple of weeks before we leave for Disney. I've just finished 6th form, doing a levels in geography, business and chemistry. I really need to get away, I've had a truly terrible year, especially health wise. I'm currently unemployed due to illness, however I used to work in Sainsburys (bad tooth infection, really rare, dentist said has never seen it in 10 years of the job, waiting for extraction on August 8th) but looking to find a job after this vaca. and work until 2010 before my gap year to the US, Aus and NZ. I would ideally like to go on to acheive a degree in forensics and am looking at universities. I am the planner behind this family and all of our trips and they would all probably agree. I guess I'm the one with the Disney bug. I'm quite childish at heart and where is the best place in the world to be a kid - WDW! My favourite Disney film is probably Ariel (I'll be calling my first daughter Ariel at this rate!) but my favourite all time character is Eeyore. My favourite ride is Test Track! This picture is me, before a 6th form prom, in April.

Jeanette (My mum!) - My mum is great, she puts up with a lot. She currently works for Cardiff university North Wales branch doing all sorts of admin work, which she enjoys. She's a bit of a sun worshipper and so Florida is perfect for her. She will probably shoot me down for this, but she is 52, turns 53 on July 27th (best get her some nice presents). She is the one with the funds and usually funds most if not all of the trip costs. Which I am very grateful for! I'm really not sure if she's a 'Disney person', but she visits the Disney store enough ha ha and thinks Winnie the Pooh is overly cute. She takes photos of EVERYTHING at Disney, which I love but my sister hates. Her favourite rise is also Test Track and definitely not Tower of Terror! She is pictured below with her beloved Glowtini!

Sylvie (Sister) - She's 14, starting GCSEs in September and wants to be a lawyer, at that stage where going to Florida and to Disney is cool, but where characters are not. She despises planning, she just leaves it all to me and only usually wants to speak of going away the day before we actually go. Sylvie's favourite ride is Rock N Rollercoaster. This is Sylvie, in the sea on South Beach.

My Dad, who is also my Mum's husband of almost 30 years won't be coming with us. He hates flying because of vertigo, the only place he will fly to is Japan (Tokyo Disney anyone?!). Also August is his busiest month business wise and he can't afford to be away. So I guess we will be keeping it touch with him over the laptop. He's also incharge of looking after the family cat whilst we're all gone. Which is good because I would hate to leave the cat with anyone else or at a cattery.

Part 1 - The Cast.
Part 2 - Why/When/Where
Part 3 - The Disney ADRs
Part 4 - The Itinerary So Far

 

[Tammy Stringer]

Great pre-trippie Natalie and lovely photos of your family

Looking forward to reading more of your plans

Tammy

 

[Pinky166]

Great start Natalie! I will come along for the ride.....

Looking forward to reading the rest of your plans.

 

[jjk]

Looking forward to reading more Natalie

 

[Lizzybear]

Fab start! Looking forward to hearing more about your holiday plans. I did a trip with my mum and sister a few years ago too

 

[irongirlof12]

sounds like a fab girlie trip. happy planning

 

[NatalieMT]

Thanks everyone! It's nice to have some readers!

So this is part 2 I guess, the Why, When and Where.

So first of all, why Disney?! We went last year for the first time to WDW (we had only previously been to DLP) and absolutely loved it. I'm one for commercial type holidays and I think the park theming and all the rides are fantastic. I also love the American way of life - I like the fact it's pretty laid back and usually there is a really nice friendly, community atmosphere. We started up conversations waiting in line with all sorts of really interesting people. We thought this year we'd like to make the trip to Florida a little different, so have also decided to spend a few days at Seaworld, before heading to Disney. We have never been to Seaworld before so I'm sure it will be an experience!

So the next point is when... We are booked to fly out of Manchester airport (we live in Cheshire) on the morning of the 22nd of August, I believe the flight is around 10.30am and from talking to some others on the board I think other Disers are on the same plane. So come say hi, we don't bite often! The flight is a non stop Virgin flight to MCO. I'm not certain of local landing time at the moment, I'll have to look that up. I love MCO airport though, as soon as we got into the terminal last year I thought WOW. I love the glass tram tunnel over the lake and the beautiful palm trees. We return to Manchester on September 2nd, flight lands back in Manchester around 7.30am.

Now for the where part! Last year we stayed on Disney property at the Swan, we decided we wanted a hotel that wasn't themed and was sort of almost a step back for typical Disney. I wouldn't fault the hotel at all, it was lovely. Great staff (I'm a Red Bull addict, the lady on the front desk located a 6 pack of Sugarfree Red Bull for me at about 10pm at night and sent it to the room in an ice bucket!), really quiet hotel, nice restaurants, comfy beds and great location. This year whilst at Seaworld we will be staying at the Seaworld Renaissance, this will be for 4 nights. We booked this hotel purely for the location and convinience factor. Although having said that it looks beautiful and I have heard good things about it. We will then relocate to Disney and will be staying at the Beach Club for 6 nights. We're hoping to be able to upgrade, when we arrive (for a fee I'm sure!) to a room with a full balcony or patio, as we liked our balcony at the Swan. We chose the Beach Club, because it's close to Epcot and also for the fantastic pool. Plus we fancied a change!

Here's some pictures from the Swan, last August -

 

[Minniespal]

Lovely start Natalie, very nice photos of you and your family.

Looking forward to reading more.

 

[Girlsontour]

Looking forward to reading your reports! We don't live far away from you - only about 10 miles

 

[mandymouse]

Great start Natalie. Your pics are lovely and I look forward to reading some more

 

[NatalieMT]

Thanks again everyone! Nice to know you're not far away Girlsontour - I'm often in Winsford, or close to Winsford with my cheerleading squad. We performed at DeBee's I think it is a couple of weeks back now.

So onto part 3 the Disney ADRs. I have no ADRs for anything at Seaworld, I've heard the food at Seaworld isn't great and so we will probably just opt to eat at local restaurants or in the hotel.

Anyways here's the ADRs I booked for Disney and a little run down of what influenced the decisions. We usually only make ADRs for the evening, I don't eat breakfast often and usually my mum and sister just grab something quick. Same for lunch, we'll just be doing counter service. We're not really foodies, my mum really likes to try everything, my sister isn't too picky but I have real food issues. I tend to eat just a few certain things over and over, I'll be honest my diet is less than varied. Although I am probably quite healthy as I eat an awful lot of fresh fruit and vegetables, being vegetarian.

August 26th - Flying Fish (evening). We had our first meal at Disney at Flying Fish and so why not carry on the tradition. I love walking on the Boardwalk area before dinner and this is a great restaurant and suits all 3 of us. My mum and sister like fish a lot and even though I'm a vegetarian I occasionally will eat tuna (tartare ha ha!) and crab. I'll make the stretch whilst on vaca. anyways and esepcially since the fish in Florida is so good and fresh.

August 27th - Crystal Palace (breakfast). I had originally wanted Cape May, but I left booking late and there were no openings. Looking forward to the Winnie the Pooh waffles and the breakfast lasagne.
- Tokyo Dining (evening). Again we didn't plan on eating here! But the CM I made bookings with suggested it. My sister and I like sushi an awful lot and I've heard there is tempura which I'm sure my mum will like. We will try it anyway.

August 28th - Les Chefs De France (evening). We totally missed out on walking round international gateway last year and so have decided we must do that this time round. I've heard Chefs De France is a little hit or miss but the menu looks nice so why not I guess.

August 29th - Not eating at Disney today. We're going to be going to Brio's at The Mall at Millenia. It's an awesome Italian, really great food, friendly, fast service and good value for money.

August 30th - Cape May Cafe (evening). Buffets are great, especially for those of us that are picky (just me mainly!) and it's in our hotel which is really convienient.

August 31st - Jiko (evening). We tried this last year and it is absolutely fantastic. So that being said we'll be going back and I just hope it's as good this time round.

I know my Mum really wanted me to book Boma and Chef Mickey's but unfortunately they just seemed to get booked up so quick that I had little choice in the matter. I would continue calling and see if there has been any cancellations but it's just quite a hassle.

I do hope to do some dining reviews, in due course and hopefully with pictures. Provided I don't look too out of place taking snaps of all the food!

Finally here's a happy picture of the castle in MK, seeing this really puts me in the Disney mood -

 

[jockey]

Great start, can't wait to hear more

 

[natalielongstaff]

Great start Natalie

 

[mamaboogie]

Hi Natalie!

That all sounds great! You have ADRs for some restaurants we don't - you just can't fit them all in can you? So I will be interested to hear how you get on!

We stayed at the Beach Club two years ago and really loved it. It has such a lovely atmosphere and is fantastically close to EPCOT!

I look forward to hearing more about your trip - we overlap slightly as we are there from 12th - 28th August!

Shari xx

 

[TotallyAngelic]

great trip report Natalie - I am enjoying reading all about your plans! We don't live far away either ( Prestatyn ) so Chester and Cheshire Oaks are our main shopping centres! Look forward to reading more!

 

[NatalieMT]

Thankyou everyone! TotallyAngelic I love Cheshire Oaks - only not when it's too crowded! Glad you enjoyed the Beach Club Shari, I read a few reviews recently that were a bit dubious but I'm glad that's probably not the case.

Anyways I've written up a little itinerary of the trip as it stands so far, as there are things we're doing that I haven't mentioned as of yet. It might seem a little military but seriously if we don't make plans and stick to them we never get anything done! We'll probably also return to some parks late on in the evening for the EMH, but as we're not sure of which parks are open when yet we haven't decided on anything.

I think we're most looking forward to Aquatica and Discovery Cove, because we have no idea what it will be like - same for SeaWorld in a sense. We will be riding the Haunted Mansion as many times as we possibly can hence 2 days at MK (LOVE the Haunted Mansion but it was shut on our trip last year for refurb.). We also really liked Expedition Everest last year too, unfortunately I missed out on the Kali River Rapids, TOT and Rock N Rollercoaster as I was ill the day we did those. This year though I'll make it on for sure.

August 21st - Staying overnight at Radisson SAS Hotel, Manchester Airport.

August 22nd - Virgin flight out of Manchester Airport 10.25am. Arrive Orlando MCO approx. 2pm.
- Check in at Renaissance Orlando Resort.
- Spend couple of hours at SeaWorld.

August 23rd - Morning at Aquatica.
- Afternoon at Premium Outlet Malls Orlando.

August 24th - Spend day at SeaWorld.
- Dinner at Seasons52 (7700 Sand Lake Rd.).

August 25th - Spend day at Discovery Cove plus Dolphin Swim.

August 26th - Relocate to Disneyworld.
- Check in at Beach Club Resort.
- Spend day at Epcot.
- Dinner at Flying Fish

^^^ That's my sister in the pink!

August 27th - Spend day at Magic Kingdom.
- Breakfast at Crystal Palace.
- Dinner Tokyo Dining.

August 28th - Spend half day at Animal Kingdom.
- Return to hotel to swim for afternoon.
- Dinner Les Chefs De France.

August 29th - Spend morning at Typhoon Lagoon.
- Afternoon at Florida Mall then Mall at Millenia.
- Dinner at Brio's Tuscan Grille (Mall at Millenia).

August 30th - Spend morning at MGM.
- Spend some time in afternoon at Downtown Disney.
- Return to hotel to swim.
- Dinner at Cape May Cafe.

August 31st - Spend day at Magic Kingdom.
- Return to hotel to swim.
- Dinner at Jiko.

September 1st - Check out of Disney.
- Virgin flight from MCO to Manchester, lands approx. 7.30am 2nd September.

 

[mark&sue]

Sounds like you will have a magical trip.

We stayed at the Beach Club Villas and loved it.

Here we are with a shot of the hotel behind us

Have a great time. Can't wait to read your trip report.



Susan

 

[CHEK]

Hi Natalie, well I'm another that's not too far from you, we're from Crewe
Sounds like you have a fab holiday planned, and not long to wait now

 

[NatalieMT]

Oh I have been to Crewe a few times yes. Sounds weird but I've only really seen to train station as I pass it on the way to London and the theater because I took a friends child to a pantomine. :lol:

Thanks for the picture Susan - it does look gorgeous. I am very excited to stay at a Disney Property, last year we stayed at the Swan which was lovely, but not very themed.

I feel so underprepared for this trip though, I'm not sure why. I do have all the tickets now though which is a relief! It's weird that on Thursday I'll be at the airport and Friday in Orlando.

 

[raph_b]

Only a few days to go now - you must be so excited!!!