Reserved Bunks and Primani Haul

Not much to report, but I thought I'd drop in with a small update.

I have just got off the phone with Barbara at Disney World! I asked if I could request a bunk room and she tried to sell me an upgraded room with guaranteed bunks which was £1204 more the last time I checked... Err... no Barbara. I'm not bothered about guaranteeing we get them, but I would like to request them. She went off the phone for a minute and came back telling me she's put a request on our booking, but can't guarantee it will be met. That's fine with me, and hopefully we will get them. If not though, it's no big hassle.

I also asked how long it takes for our booking to show on MDE, and she said it's usually around the 400 day mark, so I am to look back again in about 3 months. I know it's a LONG way off (510 days to be precise!), but I'm excited and I want to see my reservations on there! MDE has been around for a couple of years now. You would have thought they would have ironed it out so that it is all linked seamlessly as soon as it's booked. It's all linked to the same email address after all.

I had another trip to Primani last week and picked up some more t-shirts as well as a notebook and some erasers for Amelia on the plane. She loves drawing, so it should keep her occupied for an hour. I did consider using the notebook as my travel journal, but I never did use the Moleskine Minnie one I bought last time, so I will use it for sure next year.

I am ashamed to admit that I have never seen a Star Wars film in my life, and it annoys me that Disney have jumped on the bandwagon so to speak. Everything is blimmin Star Wars at the moment. I was looking for Alex and Ani bangles the other day and the first ones that came up were Star Wars! It seems it will be unavoidable over there, so I pushed the boat out and bought myself a £4 Star Wars T-shirt in Primark for one of our Hollywood Studio days. It is actually a really nice fitting top and looks good on.
The Alice one is actually a pyjama top. They didn't have my size bottoms, so I need to go back again to get those. I love these ones though.

That's about it for now. I'll be back to show you more purchases when they arise! Haha. I have a basket full on the Disney Store's website so I can use my 15% code. Just need some pennies to check out! Lol

We're going back to Disney World!

Hi! 

It seemed a long time coming, but we finally booked! For the past few weeks I've been checking the Disney website for prices and umming and ahhing over which resort to stay at. We've watched no end of You Tube videos and after getting some advice from friendly Dibbers, we finally narrowed it down to POR and OKW. When I read on the Dibb that Virgin Holidays had exclusive pre-booking for the dining plan offer, Paul and I popped into the Virgin store in our local Tesco. We received two quotes, one for POR and one for a studio at Old Key West. However she then said it was an extra £1300 to upgrade to a 1 bed villa at OKW. Thus making our POR decision final! Their prices were astronomical and was around £2000 more than Disney had quoted us after we'd added flights on. They also said there were no 11:35am flights from Gatwick on our chosen dates and also said she couldn't apply the 7% frequent flying club discount for some reason. I knew straight away that they couldn't do anything for us. So it was back to the drawing board... or rather Disney's website; obsessively getting quotes every day! We watched more videos on POR and were getting excited about staying there. 

All the hype on the Dibb and amongst a few of my friends over the dining plan offer was crazy, and I was about to go to bed at half past midnight on Wednesday night when I noticed a thread on the Dibb "Free Dining is up on WDW website!" No one had expected it until Thursday morning, so ignoring the clock, I fired up the laptop and Paul and I sat for the next half an hour looking at prices. We priced up the difference between POR and a 1 bedroom villa at OKW and it was too expensive for our budget unfortunately. Virgin actually weren't that overpriced after all as it was an extra £1386! OUCH! We only paid £800 extra in August 2013 for our November 2014 trip. However OKW still isn't available as I write this and there are many people, no doubt in a queue on the phone to Disney now, trying to pre register for a room. No doubt in the coming months they will have more availability and the price may drop for the 1 beds. Who knows. 

I continued to scroll down and discovered that Animal Kingdom Lodge was actually only £210 more than it would be to book POR and upgrade to the DDP. This sent my mind into overdrive. After finally deciding on POR, I never considered for a second the AKL would be in our budget, so I was laying awake until gone 2am thinking about which resort to stay in! I liked the thought of being able to catch a boat to Disney Springs from POR, how we used to when we stayed at OKW last time, and having use of 6 pools at Port Orleans was appealing. The only thing I didn't like about it was the lack of storage space, and we would have to take one of those canvas folding shelves to hang in the wardrobe to unpack clothing for four of us. Animal Kingdom Lodge looked more roomy and is also one of my dream resorts! I've always wanted to stay there. Using Disney transport from there though worries me. I heard it can take up to an hour to get to DS on a bus! What to do... Such a dilemma. 

Thursday morning soon arrived and as soon as the kids went to school I was back on the laptop again, this time on the Dibb. I asked for advice: POR vs AKL and everyone that replied said they would stay in Animal Kingdom Lodge. I looked at a few more videos and decided that it did look perfect, and at that price it would be wrong to turn it down. Paul was working, so we didn't have time to talk about it properly during the day but last night we sat and watched some more videos and vlogs on AKL (and the restaurants!)and came to the decision that we would definitely stay there. 

So last night after I put Amelia to bed, Oliver went on his Xbox upstairs and Paul and I sat down and booked! I'm so excited! We're going to keep it a secret from the kids again, although I think we will tell them a the week before we leave this time so we have a bit of a countdown. This will be the first holiday we've ever been on with just the four of us too! In 2012 my parents and sister came with us, and our last trip in 2014, Paul's Brother and his girlfriend and daughter came with us. I'm really looking forward to spending time together as a family. Let's just hope we don't fall out, as we're all in the same room this time! There's no escape! 

So here's the details: 

2 adults and 2 children aged 17 and 7 

Animal Kingdom Lodge standard room. (I will need to call and request bunk beds in the room but will leave it a week or so until the phone lines have calmed down a bit). 
Disney tickets (14 days for the price of 7) 
Free Disney Dining Plan 

• 1 waiter service meal
• 1 self-service meal
• 2 selected snacks
• Refillable resort mug

Free Memory Maker and magical extras! 

I'm loving the fact that the dining plan has changed to include 2 snacks instead of a QS dessert, as we rarely ate them on our last trip and only took them because we had to! More often than not, they were put in the fridge and there they stayed until we checked out! Having said that, we ended up with 22 unused snack credits last time... so will we have 44 left over next time? We will see! I think we need to start eating more! More cinnamon rolls you say? Haha! Amelia's classmates may be getting lots of Goofy candy brought back! 

Also, I managed to remember to book via Quidco and got 3% cashback which tracked within an hour. £128! Ca-ching! It's the first time i've used it for a big purchase so that was a nice little extra! Saying that, I have £139 tracked now, but it says I have only earned £0.05p. Some of the transactions date back to August 2015, so I'm not sure what i'm doing wrong. I don't want to transfer it to my bank yet or anything. I just want it all to show on there. Anyone know how it works? 

So all I can do now is wait for the flights to be released in November! That time is going to drag! 

In other news... Check out the Disney stuff I picked up in Primark last week! There were some lovely bits in there. Unfortunately our store didn't have any of the jewellery I was after, but I managed to pick up a Hakuna Matata T-shirt, a scarf, colour changing umbrella, two pairs of flip flops and a cute pencil case. I also got Amelia a little Ariel purse for her birthday. 

It was mine and Amelia's birthdays on Sunday. She is now a big girl at aged 6 and received enough Lego friends sets to open up her own shop! I got some lovely bits too; lots of Cath Kidston stuff, which I love, and also some Disney themed goodies! 

The make-up bag will come in handy next year so I'm saving that! 

One of my presents from my Sister was a trip to the Emma Bridgewater factory for a tour, afternoon tea and studio decorating time. I've been collecting EB china for just over a year now and it's a massive passion of mine. I mainly collect pinks, but now that we've decided on AKL, I may have to buy Paul and I some Disney planning mugs 

These are special edition mugs and £10 from each sale goes to TUSK to support their wildlife protection, community development and education programmes in Africa. I'm off to the factory on 29th April and cannot wait! 

Well that's all from me for now! I'll be back with more planning updates over the coming weeks and months! Let the planning commence! 

THINGS TO DO: 

Book accommodation CHECK! 
Purchase Ultimate tickets CHECK! 
Book memory maker CHECK! 
Request bunk beds in the room 
Renew Oliver and Amelia's passports 
Book Flights 
Book airport hotel 
Book ADR's (5th April 2017) 
Book MNSSHP tickets 
Book Fast Pass+ (3rd August 2017) 
Book travel insurance 
Estas 
Book Magical Express 
PLAN PLAN PLAN!

Fourth Family Floriday Pre Trip Plans

With my November 2014 trip report finally complete on the Dibb (I still have a few days to copy over to the blog), I thought I had better start on the next leg... a Pre Trippy for 2017! I don't want to break the three year rule after all 

I do need to get some recent photos of us and will update this soon, but for the time being... 

Our family consists of: 

Paul (A.K.A The hubster) 

Paul is celebrating his 40th birthday this summer so I am organising a weekend away in London for the both of us. We have been together for nine years and married for seven this June and in that time, we've never been away on our own, so we are really looking forward to it. Paul works so hard as a deputy manager for Tesco. He comes home exhausted some nights as he works different shifts. Mostly 2pm until midnight or 5am – 2:30pm. This will be his sixth trip to Florida. Paul is happy for me to take control with the plans for this trip. He's not one for planning, but does like to have plans in place if that makes sense, so he's happy for me to take charge! As long as he gets to eat good food in good restaurants, he’s easily pleased! He does like the flight part of the holiday, which I'm really not bothered about, so he will probably book the flights. He's usually the driver of our trip, but we won't be hiring a car this time around. 
Universal used to be Paul's favourite park, but since we went to Disney World in 2012, he has got bitten by the bug and it almost as obsessed with it as I am. 

Oliver 

My eldest child, aged 16. He will be 17 on our next trip. 
He’s still having his Kevin and Perry-type strops and is your typical lazy teenager, argumentative and obsessed with gaming, eating, and netflix. He is a good big brother to his little sister, Amelia though and loves her to bits. Oliver is in year 11 and is doing his GCSE's this year. It’s scary to think that this time next year, he could be driving! He’s taller than me now and his feet are now the same size as Paul's. Oliver is a proud member of Team Wimp. This will be his fourth trip to Florida. 

Amelia 

Our youngest. She turned six in April, and will be 7 when we go to Florida. She loves school and is like a little sponge; she soaks up everything and loves to learn. Amelia loves Lego Friends, watching Youtube videos (especially on One Direction!), reading, drawing and going to Rainbows. She loves Disney, and still says she wants to live in our holiday house at Old Key West forever. I think she's a little bit psychic as she asked to watch a video of Halloween at Disney World yesterday, and we haven't said anything about it in front of her! 

Amelia has now been discharged from speech and language therapy, however she does still struggle to pronounce some of her vowels. Apparently it is quite rare to muddle vowel sounds, but they said they're confident she'll grow out of it. We have to take her back in 18 months if she's still experiencing problems. 

And Me!: Aimie ~ Tea drinker, biscuit dunker, dress maker, photographer, mother, chief planner & Imagineer. I’m 35 next month and a self-confessed Disney addict! I love photography (although never said I was any good it it!), sewing, dress-making, days out with my family and planning for holidays! Disney Holidays that is! I run my own business (Little Sugar Plums) where I make and sell designer dolls, children’s clothing and accessories. I love to make Disney inspired dresses for my daughter, Amelia and she usually has a dress themed to the park or restaurant we're visiting each day of our trip! I do love a bit of Disney bounding! I am a collector of Emma Bridgewater and a Cath Kidston addict. 
Since returning from Florida, I have lost almost two stone in weight and dropped two dress sizes with Slimming World and have almost reached my second (and final) target weight, so it is my mission to maintain that until our 2017 trip. With all the cinnamon rolls, Mickey waffles and carrot cake cookies I'll be eating there, I will no doubt put on a stone by the time we return! Although the thought of looking like I did in the "before" photo below fills me with dread. It's going to be hard making healthy choices when there is so much delicious food around. 

This will be my fourth trip to Florida. I will once again be the chief planner for this trip. Head of ADR’s, fast passes, packing, organising and accounting! I already have a spreadsheet set up ready, and my case is half packed with Disney clothing from last time, although most will probably not fit me now! 

So we've been back 16 months now and quite a bit has happened. Just after we returned from Florida in 2014, a fantastic opportunity opened up for us, which brought a big change for us all, but for the better. Paul got a new job, within the same company, but in a different area. We decided to move house to be closer to our family and his new place of work, which meant moving to a different town, back to Northampton where we were both born, and where we met back in 2007. We waited until the kids finished the year at school, and we moved in July 2015. This meant the kids both had to start new schools. It was the one part of moving house that I was nervous about, as they would be leaving all of their friends behind, especially Oliver as he was at a crucial age, and was due to start year 11 in September and his new school didn't do the same subjects he'd been learning at his old school. They both settled in so well, and so quickly which really surprised me. They're both doing really well, and both have lots of friends and are really happy which is fantastic. 

Well now we're settled in our new home, the Disney blues have really kicked in big time. Paul and I have done nothing but talk about going back and have been watching Vlogs on You Tube for the past couple of months! A 2016 trip was completely off the cards because of Oliver's GCSE's, so we've decided 2017 is the year for us! We will be on a budget and have decided that we will only do the Disney parks this time. We did have a great time at Universal on our last trip, especially with our one night stay at HRH which was amazing, but there’s been so many changes at Disney since we were last there, I think we’ll have plenty to keep us busy. We would like to explore some of the other resorts, and have some quieter pool days, and maybe go horseback riding at Fort Wilderness. We'd also like to do Cirque de Soliel which we've wanted to do since our first trip in 2009! 

After being spoilt last time staying at OKW, we will definitely be staying onsite again. We just loved it so much. Price wise, it just makes sense too. No matter how many times I price up DIY, staying onsite always comes out cheaper, and I don't think you can go wrong with the dining plan, so that's number one on our agenda. So now all we have to do is wait for Disney to release their free dining plan offer next month (fingers crossed). 

So… dates…. 

We've been in June/July back in 2009 which was too hot and humid for us. 
May was hot when we went in 2012, but not too unbearable. 
And last year, the beginning of November. Well it was OK the first week, but FREEZING on our second week and I definitely don't want to go that time of year again. 
The Easter holidays would be the ideal time, but less time to save, so we're now thinking October time. We love the thought of doing MNSSHP and the kids have mentioned several times that "next time we go" they want to do Halloween there. From what I've seen through reading trip reports, it's still hot that time of year. 

As I said earlier, we've been watching a few Vlogs on You tube, and Paul really wants us to give it a go next time, so I think we will be investing in a GoPro and a few accessories before we go I think they will be mostly for our benefit and I doubt they will be You Tube worthy! I can see a lot of editing required! We are by no means a perfect Disney family, as you'll know if you've read my previous reports, so we'll see how that goes! 

So which resort? I have been looking on the Disney website (almost daily ) at the resorts. Because we want the full dining plan, if recent years are anything to go by, we will have to book a deluxe resort. OKW and Saratoga Springs aren't showing yet, although they probably will when the DDP offer comes out. We are a little bit limited because most resorts have two queen beds in their studios, and I don't think it's right that Oliver and Amelia should share a bed (I also think it's illegal isn't it?). So we have shortlisted these three possible resorts... 

PORT ORLEANS RIVERSIDE. 
I know this is a moderate resort, BUT the newly refurbished rooms have two queen beds and a pull down bed which would be great for the four of us. The only problem is, we would have to ask if we could upgrade to the full dining plan, as the moderate resorts only get quick service dining. We really like the look of this resort. Paul likes the food court, and Amelia would love the pull down bed with Louis the alligator inside. The only downside is having all four of us in one room, with no privacy for Paul and I. I'm not sure if we would be able to manage two weeks without killing each other! Lol. 

ANIMAL KINGDOM LODGE 
Because of the restaurants and the fact the studios have bunk beds in addition to a queen bed. The kids would love this. Like POR though, it would be cramped with the four of us in one room for the duration. 

OLD KEY WEST 
Our final and most expensive option would be to have a one bed villa like last time. I keep telling myself we only really use the room for sleeping and getting showered and changed before we go out, so I don't want to spend another £800 to upgrade from a studio to a one bedroom villa. When I think what else we could get for that money... That said, we LOVED staying here last time, and we really were spoilt with this resort. It would solve the sleeping arrangement problem and Paul and I would have privacy with our own bedroom. The rooms here are very spacious too unlike any of the other resorts. The only downside of OKW is the restaurants... We didn't eat at Olivia's last time, because we had so much choice in the parks that we preferred to spend or table service credits on, and Goods to Go wasn't brilliant. We would prefer somewhere with a food court. 

So there's a few things for us to think about, which we can't really do until the end of April when we can see options and prices. If POR offered the full dining plan, I think that would sell it for us. I can't see them doing that though. 

Already, I have been thinking about the dresses I will make Amelia. I might even do a bit of Disney bounding myself this time 

My Sister and her Boyfriend went to Las Vegas for New Year and brought Amelia and I matching Mouseketeer T-shirts back, which I am saving for Florida! I have wanted one of these for years! When we were planning our last trip I tried to get Amelia one on the Disney USA site, but they only had baby sizes, so I was absolutely over the moon with them when she gave them to us! 

I am also desperate to get a pair of Disney Birkenstocks and some Vans too. 

MUST DO'S OF THIS TRIP (things we missed last time) 

Ride the Liberty Belle in Magic Kingdom 
Try a Dole Whip ice cream (not a float this time) 
Complete the whole of World Showcase Kidcot Funstop 
Get the kids passports for World Showcase too maybe 
Spend more time at the resort pool 
Campfire stories at the resort in the evening 
Movies around the pool at the resort in the evening 
Peter Pan's Flight – not sure if it's worth it, but we haven't done it before 
MNSSHP
Rivers of Light at Animal Kingdom 
Pandora/Avatar land (if it's complete by October) 
Frozen Ever After ride (if we're lucky enough to get FP+ for it). I'm sure the standby times will be extortionate. 
Disney Springs – explore all the new areas 
Hoop de Doo Music Revue
Meet Rapunzel (missed her last time) 
Go horse/pony riding at Fort Wilderness 
Have a domingo sundae at Ghirardelli's 

We have lots of time to think about ADR's and fast passes and things like that. I don't want to plan too much now as I'll have nothing left to do nearer the time! 

So I will love you and leave you for now. If anyone has any advice to offer about accommodation onsite that would suit our family, so that Oliver and Amelia have their own beds, I would love to hear it. 

Until next time... 

Aimie. x