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Hello from West Yorkshire

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Sun, 01/05/2014 - 15:34
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Hello from West Yorkshire

Hello everyone, I am looking forward to getting to know you all on the forum and as well as getting help from you all with my many planning questions, I hope that sharing my experiences and knowledge will help others in return.

I am Karen, mum to Charlotte (9yrs), Archie (4yrs) and Lucy (2yrs) and married to Iain, my toyboy and train driver husband. I first visited WDW with my parents in 1988, when I was 18yrs old, not sure I quite got it then, but I was obsessed with the detail and the design of the parks.

I finally convinced a very reluctant Iain to go to DLP back in Sep 2007, with 3yr old Charlotte, and he loved it and agreed to a trip to WDW in May 2008. Since then we have become a family of ever increasing Disney lovers, each of us loves a different aspect of the Disney experience, Archie loves characters and parades, Charlotte and her dad are rideaholics, I love the details and the Imagineering, we are still working out what Lucy's favourite thing is. We have now been to DLP 11 times, and are planning our 4th family trip to the world in October/November 2014, a mahoosive 5wk trip clapping

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next Florida trip Oct/Nov 2014 - Magnificent Mega Month of Making Magical Memories - pre-trip report

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Sun, 01/05/2014 - 15:40
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Welcome!! Disney Holic! Perfect name for this forum. Are you going to be at the World for all 5 weeks or are you seeing other sights as well?? Where are you staying?? Looking forward to hearing much more about your trip!

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Sun, 01/05/2014 - 15:44
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Hi Karen! Very pleased to see you here. (Karen is a very dear friend of mine!)

I am so jealous of your big 5 week trip later this year but very much looking forward to meeting up with you over there Laughing out loud

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Our Very Merry 24 nighter Nov/Dec 15
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The one with all the birthdays Oct 14 4 Big Birthdays and a Vow Renewal thrown in
The OMG trip June 14 30th Birthday present from the hubs
Girly trip March 14 A last min cheapy week
September 13 our first all DVC stay
TR May 2013 the last min bargain trip offsite
Oct 2012 TR with a cruise!big family trip featuring the beach club, AKL, the dream and a villa offsite
TR on a budget May - June 2011offsite condo
TR Sept - Oct 2010 big family trip in an offsite villa

Sun, 01/05/2014 - 16:19
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welcome

5 weeks - wow!

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Sun, 01/05/2014 - 19:25
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JMUDukz wrote:
Welcome!! Disney Holic! Perfect name for this forum. Are you going to be at the World for all 5 weeks or are you seeing other sights as well?? Where are you staying?? Looking forward to hearing much more about your trip!

I should have said that I am something of a planning freak (as Robyn knows), we are doing lots of other things in Florida, I will write a pre-trip report soon as I have done quite a bit of prep now and am getting excited, but as a quick overview we have:

  • 19nts at Encantada in a 4bed townhouse
  • 4nts on the Disney Dream from PC with double dip at Castaway Cay
  • 4nts at the Disney Beach Club
  • 3nts at the new Universal Cabana Bay Beach Resort
  • 6nts at Floridays
flying home on Thanksgiving

We will be visiting Clearwater, St Augustine, all the WDW parks, the Universal parks, DC/SW/BG, LEGOLAND, Gatorland, KSC, manatee swim, iFly, rodeo, MNSSHP, MVMCP, Osborne lights and a heap of other stuff. I am gutted that I don't think we will have time to visit Miami and the Keys, which we had planned when we were originally booked to sail on the Disney Magic from Miami, before DCL changed the sailings. We might have the occasional rest day if I can fit one in rolling

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WDW - 4 trips between 1988-2011,
next Florida trip Oct/Nov 2014 - Magnificent Mega Month of Making Magical Memories - pre-trip report

Sun, 01/05/2014 - 17:44
King Fergus

Welcome aboard from Scotland.. clapping

Sun, 01/05/2014 - 19:15
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5 WEEKS?! Holy awesomeness that is is the longest vacay I've heard of yet! So jealous! You guys are going to have so much fun!

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Sun, 01/05/2014 - 23:01
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Welcome, Karen! Sounds like an amazing trip!! Looking forward to hearing all about your plans and experiences yay

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Trip Reports:
December 2013: 10th Anniversary, 1st DVC Stay | April 2014: Birthday on the Boardwalk | May 2014: Star Wars Weekend, Navigating WDW with a wheelchair | August 2014: Villains Unleashed | September/October 2014: MNSSHP, F&W, Tower of Terror 10-miler | March/April 2015: Disneyland and California Coastal Cruise | November 2015: Wine & Dine Half, Food & Wine, 1st Disney Cruise | February 2016: Presidential Classic Gymnastics Meet | March 2016: "Work" Trip, Tours, F&G Festival | April 2016: Conference at Disneyland | Fall 2016: Festive Fall Fun | January 2017: Festival of the Arts | May 2017: AbD Backstage Magic | July 2017: AbD San Francisco | Sorry I had to give up doing trip reports. Too many time commitments right now.

Mon, 01/06/2014 - 00:14
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Welcome! What a great trip you have planned! You will have to tell us what the new Universal Cabana Bay is like. Do you get the same perks as the guests that stay in the other Universal hotels?

Mon, 01/06/2014 - 00:49
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Hi Karen and welcome to our friendly group. Have fun on your marathon vacation. If there was a smiley for jealous I would be using it right about now. wink

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Mon, 01/06/2014 - 04:58
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Welcome Karen. Any friend of Robyn is a friend of ours. Wow 5 weeks that will be an amazing trip. Have a great time planning.

Mon, 01/06/2014 - 07:26
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Welcome from slightly damp Guernsey welcome , Sounds like an epic trip awesome

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Mon, 01/06/2014 - 09:21
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Thanks for the welcome all muchlove

It is an epic trip and we are lucky that my husband can get the time off, we have been saving it for 3yrs and because after this year I will not be able to take the children out of school during term time for at least 7yrs, probably longer, this is the last big holiday we will have for a long long time, I am hoping to make it to the West Coast in 2022 for my belated 50th birthday, between times we'll be restricted to budget camping holidays!

Ms.Mouse wrote:
Welcome! What a great trip you have planned! You will have to tell us what the new Universal Cabana Bay is like. Do you get the same perks as the guests that stay in the other Universal hotels?

No, you don't get the same perks, you still get early entry to WWoHP which is the key for us, but no free Express Passes. We are ok with that as we are going at a quiet time and midweek, if we were going the week after we would need the Express Passes and so would have to book RPR or HRH, but at more than double the cost. Besides which, I like the look of the new hotel and the pools etc, just hoping that mid November the weather is warm enough for swimming the days we are there.

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Always let your conscience be your guide....

DLP - 11 trips between 2006-2013
WDW - 4 trips between 1988-2011,
next Florida trip Oct/Nov 2014 - Magnificent Mega Month of Making Magical Memories - pre-trip report

Mon, 01/06/2014 - 11:06
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welcome to WDWFG! We have a great group of contributors here to help in any and all aspects of visiting pretty much any Disney Park. Enjoy & don't forget to read over the The Forum Rules.

Mon, 01/06/2014 - 12:59
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welcome
I was brought up in West Yorkshire, in Leeds awesome
Your holiday sounds great. Do you homeschool atm? If not, has the school head agreed to time off or are you just going anyway wink The recent change in rules re authorized hols during term time has thrown my holiday plans for 2014, we were going to go in May for 2 weeks but i'm considering Easter, August or Christmas school hols now.

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Mon, 01/06/2014 - 14:31
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Welcome to the forum. I want to return the welcome as a fellow newbie as well.

Your trip seems fantastic. And if you ever need tips for Universal, well let me know. I cannot guarantee that any of my old coworkers will still be working there. BUT there is a very good chance they will be (as many are transitioning over to the new Potter area). So if you ever need tips on Universal, I am your girl Wink

I hope you will share with us your trip in details on this forum. I would love to hear all about the planning up to the flight over and then how your experiences went Smile

Also, I see you have been to DLP... I miss it! I still consider it like a second home! I haven't been since 2006, when I left France, but I used to go 15 times a year from opening year to 2006. So you can well imagine how much it means to me Smile

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Mon, 01/06/2014 - 16:00
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Quote:
we were going to go in May for 2 weeks but i'm considering Easter, August or Christmas school hols now.

If you're looking for the lowest crowd option among the three, might I recommend going as late in August as you can go. I don't know when your school starts, but I've gone the week before Labor Day twice and it is among my favorite times to go! There's nothing special going on, but attendance is relatively low and the parks are still open pretty late. By the end of the week, the fall decorations are usually up. Christmas is beautiful, but Christmas week has historically been very crowded. I've been over New Year's one time. Never again. I understand that Easter is a close second to Christmas for crazy crowds.

Another thing is weather. We live in PA, so our weather is probably slightly more similar to yours in the UK than it is to the weather in Florida. I don't find the temperature or the humidity to be that bad in Florida when it's already hot and humid at home, but if it's cold here and Florida is mid heat-wave, it's practically unbearable! We've had this happen on both of our December trips and on our April trip. This past trip, we left 32 degrees at home and within 2 days of being in FL, it was 85 degrees--more than 50 degrees difference! When it's 94 here in August and we go to FL and it's 98, there's really not much of a difference and it's actually a more bearable change to me.

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Be good at something. It makes you valuable. Have something to bring to the table because that will make you more welcome. --Randy Pausch

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Trip Reports:
December 2013: 10th Anniversary, 1st DVC Stay | April 2014: Birthday on the Boardwalk | May 2014: Star Wars Weekend, Navigating WDW with a wheelchair | August 2014: Villains Unleashed | September/October 2014: MNSSHP, F&W, Tower of Terror 10-miler | March/April 2015: Disneyland and California Coastal Cruise | November 2015: Wine & Dine Half, Food & Wine, 1st Disney Cruise | February 2016: Presidential Classic Gymnastics Meet | March 2016: "Work" Trip, Tours, F&G Festival | April 2016: Conference at Disneyland | Fall 2016: Festive Fall Fun | January 2017: Festival of the Arts | May 2017: AbD Backstage Magic | July 2017: AbD San Francisco | Sorry I had to give up doing trip reports. Too many time commitments right now.

Mon, 01/06/2014 - 23:19
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fmknightuk wrote:
welcome
I was brought up in West Yorkshire, in Leeds awesome
Your holiday sounds great. Do you homeschool atm? If not, has the school head agreed to time off or are you just going anyway wink The recent change in rules re authorized hols during term time has thrown my holiday plans for 2014, we were going to go in May for 2 weeks but i'm considering Easter, August or Christmas school hols now.

I was brought up in Bradford, but after 12yrs living in Manchester I coaxed Iain back to the right county, and now we live on the border in Todmorden. I don't homeschool at the moment, I am planning to discuss the trip with the EWO and the headteacher is already aware. Charlotte will be taking her 11+ at the start of October, and I will have done a fair bit of tutoring with her over the summer so am not worried about her missing school, but if the fine is going to be huge I will register her as homeschooled for the year, until she hopefully starts Grammar School in 2015. I am also not bothered about Archie missing school, as personally I do not approve of children starting forma education until at least age 6yrs (like in Germany etc) but I am worried that since his class/year at school is oversubscribed I might have to just pay the fine for taking him out for 4wks as if I register him as homeschooled I might not get him back into school. It is all very complicated, but we are going come hell or high water, I know not everyone will approve but it's my decision.

Melli wrote:
Welcome to the forum. I want to return the welcome as a fellow newbie as well.

Your trip seems fantastic. And if you ever need tips for Universal, well let me know. I cannot guarantee that any of my old coworkers will still be working there. BUT there is a very good chance they will be (as many are transitioning over to the new Potter area). So if you ever need tips on Universal, I am your girl Wink

I hope you will share with us your trip in details on this forum. I would love to hear all about the planning up to the flight over and then how your experiences went Smile

Also, I see you have been to DLP... I miss it! I still consider it like a second home! I haven't been since 2006, when I left France, but I used to go 15 times a year from opening year to 2006. So you can well imagine how much it means to me Smile

Wow, 15x a year to DLP, I wish I could go that often, I did make Iain apply for a job on the Eurostar with a view to moving to France, I was going to try apply for IT jobs at DLP. A lot has changed since 2006, hope you get back soon, I am not sure how we will cope without a DLP fix this year, specially as the new Ratatouille ride/area is opening in July. We are DLP Shareholders, though our membership to Le Club Actionnaires expires in April 2014 and the rules have changed on membership so not sure if we will renew.

Regards WWoHP, I know where to come when I need some touring tips wink thanks very much for the offer.

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Always let your conscience be your guide....

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WDW - 4 trips between 1988-2011,
next Florida trip Oct/Nov 2014 - Magnificent Mega Month of Making Magical Memories - pre-trip report

Mon, 01/06/2014 - 23:48
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Ugh. It's in my plans to go back "home" and see what has changed at DLP. I am planning on Disney CA this year, but I am very strongly considering going to DLP next year. Plus it'll be great to see some of my Friends again Smile

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