Disney Luggage Tags

Just thought I would stop by to show you the Disney luggage tags I made tonight.  I made one each for the adults and a personalised one each for Oliver and Amelia.  Hopefully they will make our cases stand out on the carousel.  They have our names, addresses and telephone numbers on the back in Disney font.

The holiday Drawer...

Is it just me or does anyone else have a holiday drawer months and months in advance of their trip??  Lol.  We're not going for another 9 months, but I have been adding bits to mine for a few months now. I got some great bargains this week so how could I refuse?  The way I see it, I'm spreading the cost of the holiday further by buying things in the sale now, rather than leaving it a few weeks before we go and having to pay double for summer clothes.

Anyway.. this is my holiday drawer!

Mainly bits for Amelia so far... and can you see what's on the top?  The bikini I wanted so much for her when we visited the new London Disney Store a few months ago!  I found it in the sale on Disney Store's website for £7!  I also bought her matching shorts and t-shirt (top left) and an Alice in Wonderland top for me!  £23 for the three items.  I was well chuffed! :-D

We were also in town at the weekend and T.J Hughes was having a closing down sale.  We picked up a bottle of the Bed Head conditioner that I use and some Pizz Buin Allergy lotion for Paul as he gets prickly heat in Florida.  It was a bargain at just £4.  So that went in the drawer too.

I have 4 swimming costumes for Amelia now.  I think that should be enough!  We have washing facilities in our villa so I can always wash them. She'll probably go through 2-3 a day; swimming in the villa pool in the morning, another one at Aquatica/Typhoon Laggon/Blizzard beach during the day and another one in the afternoon back at the villa pool!  She just loves water!  I call her my Little Mermaid :-)  She's going to love it!

Also in the drawer are...

• Some plug adapters (although I think 2 of them may by European ones and not USA)
• TSA padlocks
• My Emma Bridgewater travel wallet that my Sister bought me last Christmas
• Puzzles for Amelia for the plane
• Uno cards
• Playing cards
• My holiday wallet (only comes out on holidays)
• A travel first aid kit
• Amelia's snack pod
• Some tissues
• A Star Wars beach towel for Oliver
• and some of those storage bags that you put clothes, duvets, etc in and suck the air out with a hoover (their name escapes me!).  Thought they would be good to pack stuff into to create more space in the cases and they were only £1 in Poundland!  I just hope they have a vacuum in the villa for on the way home!

I made a start on our API's this afternoon.  I have joined us all onto the Virgin Frequent Flying Club.  Paul is already a member and has a few thousand points, although he doesn't have a card yet.  We should all get a card after our trip.

Well I'm  off to make some Dibb luggage tags :-)

Will be back as soon as there is anything else to blog about!

Booked our seats!

Well we booked our seats last week and were a little diappointed to find out we're not going on a new Airbus A330-300 afterall :-(  I just hope the IFE has been upgraded on the old 747 we'll be travelling on next May as it was shocking outbound and inbound on our last trip.  Hubster is not impressed in the slightest and wants to change airports just so we get on a new plane however I have put my foot down!  There is no way i'm going through more stress.  I have enough of a worry finding ways to pay for this holiday.  It has to be paid off in 8 months and we are nowhere near reaching our target!  Worry is starting to set in big time...

Disney Summertime

This week's Disney Blog hop theme is Disney Summer time.  Quite fitting for us as next summer we will be in Disney!  I can't wait!! 

I went shopping in Asda last week and they have some really lovely Disney summer clothes for Children. I couldn't help getting Amelia a little Minnie Mouse swim suit.

She will look so cute in it, walking around Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach!  It will also keep her safe from the sun which is an added bonus.

We went to London on Wednesday to see Peter Kay at the O2 arena.  It didn't start until 7:30pm and we got into London at 12pm, so we had a few hours have a look around. Our first stop was Oxford Street to see the new Disney Store that opened in May 2011.  It is the largest Disney Store in Europe and it set out over two floors. When you walk in there's an amazing 28 foot high castle which you go through to get downstairs. The floor is glittery and the whole place is just magical More information about the store can be found here.

There were so many toys in there that I have never seen in any of the Disney Stores closer to where I live.  They had huge Special Agent Oso cuddly toys which Amelia loves and I could have spent a fortune on the clothes in there for her.  I particuarly loved this swimming costume which I may be tempted to buy for her in the future.

The merchandise in the store is widely catered for tourists and there are many London themed toys and collectibles, such as Mickey Mouse's dressed as Palace Guards and "I love London" Mickey mouse T-shirts, etc.

There was even a huge Mickey and Donald dressed as Palace Guards which Paul and I took photos of each other standing next to.

Me and Donald

Paul and Mickey

Here is a You Tube video of a tour of The Disney Store for those who may consider going there.

Dreams really do come true...

I just thought I would share with you the  bead my Husband bought me for my birthday from the kids this year.  It was my 30th, so it is quite special to me. It is a sterling silver Chamelia bead for my bracelet from their Disney range.

I can't wait to wear it. We could only have dreamed that we would be going to Disney next year, so the sentiment on it is quite fitting.

My Favourite things...

I've only been to Orlando once, so i'm sure this list will get longer by the time we go again next year, but I thought I would share a few of my favourite things about Florida.

Firstly the food!  We had some lovely meals out last time.  Tona Roma's was a big hit with us.  The three of us had a 2 course meal and drinks and it only came to $20.

The snacks over there from Walmart were lush.  I've never seen such a vast variety of biscuits or "cookies" as they call them over there.  We loved Chips Ahoy!  Another big favourite of mine was Pepperidge Farm's honey goldfish and Hershey's Bliss chocolate bar.  It just melted in my mouth! 

The BBQ pulled pork sandwich at Busch Gardens was AMAZING! Can't wait to get another one of those when we go back.

I loved the people. Other than the security staff at MCO, everyone was so friendly.  We particuarly liked the guy at the car park booth in Seaworld who told us to have a "Whale of a day".  A nice touch we thought.

The smell of Florida.  It really does have a distinctive smell which greets you at the airport as soon as you step off the plane.

The atmosphere; the sense of excitement and freedom, knowing you can go anywhere at any time and have a good time without worrying about the stresses of everyday life and be guaranteed a good time wherever you go.

Roa's Rapids at Aquatica! Hours of fun!

Discovery Cove.  An amazing day and a once in a lifetime opportunity! Loved every minute (apart from the thunderstorm).

Clyde and Seymore show at Seaworld.  Possibly more than Believe.

There are so many more but not enough space here to list everything!!

Disney Blog Hop

Welcome to those of you stopping by on the Disney Blog Hop, sponsored by Babes in Disneyland Blog!  Today's theme is "Disney Firsts" which is a coincidence as this if my first time on the blog hop! :-) 

Well I must be the baby of the Disney blogging family as my Disney First will actually be going to Disney for the first time!  It will also be our first time staying in a villa. We stayed in an appartment last time we were in Florida and only had FlexTicket Plus tickets, so we missed out on all the mouse action!

The thing I am looking forward to the most is seeing Cinderella's castle for the first time.  I think I will well up a little bit and totally get caught up in the magic! I cry watching You Tube videos of toddlers meeting their favourite Disney characters for the first time, so I dread to think what I'll be like when Amelia first meets Minnie!  I blame it on the baby brain, although Amelia is 13 months old now so I can't really use that as an excuse!

It will also be my Son's first time to Disney and my Daughter's first time to Florida so we all all very excited to say the least!

Looking forward to more Blog hopping!  If you're new to my blog, please feel free to follow it as I don't have any followers yet :-(

We're going on a new plane!

We just found out today that we will be flying on one of Virgin Atlantic's new Airbus A330-300 aircrafts when we fly out to Orlando on 19th May 2012.  Paul is really looking forward to this.  Unfortunately we'll be on an old Boeing 747 when we come home, but apparently the IFE sytem's are being updated by the beginning of next year, so hopefully our flight home will be better than the last one.  The IFE was down on both flights last time which was a very tedious flight home to say the least.

New Virgin Atlantic Airbus A330-300

Interior Airbus A330-300

We can book our seats on 30th June, so only a few more weeks to go.  We're also going to do Twilight check in the day before we travel in the hope that we can get seats in the bubble on the way home.

MORE change of plans!!

Well... Soooo much has happened since I last updated my Pre-trippy blog.

Unfortunately Paul and I had to postpone this years holiday as we were having a few financial difficulties. We've had problems with our car, our boiler's broken and I got a huge tax bill. We realised that we just couldn't afford to pay the holiday off by this September.

Begrudgingly we postponed until next May. Emerald Island wasn't showing up on Virgin's system so we had to provisionally book Highlands Reserve and were told we could change it when the new brochure came out at the end of April if Emerald Island was in it. We did this in the Virgin shop inside Tesco in Northampton. The rep told us it would be a new booking. We would have to pay an admin fee of £178 and we would then have to pay the deposit again which came to £850!! We were told this would come off of the final balance. Then once this deposit is paid, the money that we have already paid off the first booking would be transferred over to the new one (it's all very confusing!). We are now paying slightly more as Oliver will be classed as a teenager and Amelia will be going as a child and not an infant as she's 2 the month before we travel. At least she'll get her own seat though and won't be on our laps for 9 hours!

So we did this and was given until 30th May to pay the deposit off. We were a little concerned about the villa at Highlands reserve as the rep said that she could not guarantee we would have a spa, etc. and hubby really has his heart set on one. He has visions of sitting in one at the end of a long day at the parks with a cold bottle of Bud!

When we got home we started looking at Dibb villas and fell in love with one in Lindfields. It was everything we were looking for and a fraction of the cost of what Virgin were charging. We would also have the peace of mind that we would have a lovley villa with a pool and spa, BBQ, games room; everything we wanted. I contacted the owner and luckily our dates were available. We booked it for our 2 weeks and called Virgin and cancelled the accomodation on out booking. This meant that we had to have yet another booking reference number and were told that until the 2nd deposit had been paid, we would have 3 live bookings!

We are now just under a week until 30th May and were really struggling to pay the £850. We have called Virgin in Northampton several times and kept getting fobbed off being told so-and-so was out of the office but will call us back (but never did). In the end Paul put a message on Virgin Holiday's Facebook page asking if we would lose our money if it wasn't paid on time and somone PM'd him straight back asking for our details. 10 minutes later we had a call from Virgin customer services who were SO helpful and apologetic for Northampton messing us about . Within a matter of minutes they had cancelled the previous 2 bookings, transferred all of our payments over to the new booking and told us we don't have to pay the deposit again. She said it's complicated procedure, but customers don't have to pay the deposit again when amending bookings. She said she was going to phone the Northampton branch and explain it to them as they're obviously trying to push their luck with their customers. We have lost all confidence with them and will phone customer services/facebook if we have any other queries again. Hopefully we won't have to change again though!!!

SO.... To sum up, we are now staying in a 3 bedroom villa on 19th May 2012 for 14 nights. Flying with Virgin, flight VS027 from LGW. We still have the free V Room passes and Magic Me tickets for our whole party and 8 seater car with platinum insurance. We are also looking to go to Discovery Cove, just me and hubby and leave the kids with my parents for the day. I'm really looking forward to that.

So now our party will consist of the following people with their ages at time of travel;

Me - 31

Paul - 35

Oliver - 12

Amelia - 2

My Mum - 54

My Dad - 58

I'm soooooooo excited and it feels like a massive weight has been lifted off my shoulders not having to pay the deposit again. I only wish we had booked the villa privately to begin with and saved ourselves all of this stress. I have had no end of sleepless nights over it.

I'm really tempted to do my Dibb itinerary now but I know it's too soon. There's so many things I want to do and see!

I know it's sad, but we've already got a holiday drawer where I have been adding bits. I found a little Disney Princess snack pod in TK Maxx which will be ideal for Amelia on the plane. It has a rubbery bit on the top with holds the food in, but you can push your hand through to get the snacks out. Ideal for some little Goodies snack biscuits/raisins, etc.

I also got myself one of those body shaper swimming cozzies from Marks and Spencer last week which is looooooovely! So flattering. I can't wait to wear it in Aquatica! Think I might get another one so I can wear it when the other one is wet from the villa pool in the morning!

The downside is that I will no longer be able to use my Disney Memory box as the date is wrong :-(  I will have to make another one soon.
I will write again soon if I have anything new to report on our planning!

Amelia's 1st and My 30th Birthday

Amelia's 1st and My 30th Birthday

We had a wonderful couple of days last weekend.  We had a Very Hungry Caterpillar party to celebrate Amelia's 1st Birthday and also my 30th.  Yes that's right, on my birthday last year I was busy in hospital giving birth... my worst and best birthday all rolled into one!  Lol.

I have been busy with the preparations for the party for a few weeks so I have stopped selling my cards and memory boxes for the time being.  I will start again on 1st May once Easter is out of the way.  I want to spend as much time with my family over the next few weeks.  It's not often that I get so much time off work!

I put my love of card making and papercraft into practice at the party and made all sorts of decorations to include invitations, food picks, a "Thank you for coming" sign, a birthday card for Amelia and some little cards to stand around the food on the table.

I ordered the most FANTASTIC cake from Teresa's Tasty Treats (on Facebook).  It was a major talking point and everybody loved it.  I really didn't want to cut it.  It was so spectacular!

A great day was had by all.  Amelia and I were thoroughly spoilt with beautiful cards and gifts and the weather was perfect so we were able to get out into the garden.

Here are some photos of the day, and of the things I made:

Sandwich/food picks

Thank you for coming sign

Invitations

Card for Amelia

Very Hungry Caterpillar cake

On Thursday he ate four strawberries..

He was a beautiful butterfly!

Amelia unwrapping her present from us (a Smart Trike)

Foooood!  Yum yum!

Amelia opening her presents