The One With All The Birthdays.... a Pre-Trip

we will be there till the 5th so yes! still time to meet up, yay!

Another hotel booked!

Woohoo

The best way to get over those post holiday blues is to get on with planning the next one So payday has arrived and that holiday money was burning a hole in my metaphorical pocket, I couldn't help myself from perusing the trip advisor hotels... A hotel *not* on the shortlist for Ft Lauderdale popped up at a lower rate, 1/3rd lower than it had been on every other search. I had looked at the hotel before now but it had been discounted for being a bit over budget for a 1 night stay mid road trip. It was a gorgeous hotel though and seeing it just 20GPB more than all the other hotels on the list it involved a little more investigation...

It was still listed at the higher rate on most websites, it was lower on just 2 well known pages so I wasnt worried about it being a scam but I did think it could be listed with before tax (we nearly always have things priced after tax here in the UK, its mighty hard to get your head round coming to the US let me tell ya )

The other hotels, although lovely were just 3star hotels - clean and nice but a bit more basic than this one. I sent messages to my mum and Sy's mum with links to the hotel so they could give me the okay to book. My mum called me right back but she was out shopping so couldn't look, she said she trusted my judgement though (love ya mum!) so was happy to go with whatever I liked. No reply from Anne so I gave her a call a little bit later but no answer

I was convinced the websites were going to realise what a freakin' awesome price it was and suddenly change their minds so I did a naughty thing and went ahead and booked the hotels without getting the okay from Anne I know, bit naughty of me! But they are fully refundable rooms so the way I see it, if she doesnt like it we can always cancel

Anne did call me back shortly after, she had been driving the car when I called. I told her my naughty moment but she didnt care and pretty much said the same as mum. So yay! Guilt avoided

So what is this uber amazing hotel that I naughtily booked without anyone seeing???

Il Lugano Fort Lauderdale

Staying in 3 Oceanview Studio King rooms

The lovely rooms

Gorgeous little pool

I am SO very excited

What's booked and what's left to book

Booked so far

Flights

2 sets of car hire

DVC at Animal Kingdom Lodge and Grand Floridian

Vow renewal

Hotel in Key West

Hotel in Fort Lauderdale

Still to do/organise

Car hire for after our parents leave

Hotel in Miami/Homestead

Buy AP for Sy and sort tickets for parents

ADRs (eeeek its almost time for them!)

Marceline tour

Behind the seeds tour

Things for our vow renewal

MNSSHP tickets

Book Spa & Golf

Buy Memory Maker

Sort the cakes - EEEEK!

Do API for flights

Renew ESTA

Possibly book Food and Wine seminars

WOW! That's still a heck of a lot on the To Do list isn't it?

Still to come in the Pre Trip,

Key West - a list of places to eat and things we plan to do while we are there.

Ft Lauderdale - a list of things to do in the area.

A heck load more on the Renewal

ADRs

Its almost ADR time (11 days woo!) and so I have been tweaking our ADR plans.

This is the list of the ADRs I hope to get, will come back and update once I've made all the bookings. As time goes on and the trip gets closer there's usually a tweak or 2 to the ADR list but this is how it stands today...

16th October (the day we get to Disney)
Sanaa for dinner, all of us and Ruth

17th
Earlyish breakfast at 1900 Park Fare with Ruth

19th
Dinner at Via Napoli

20th
Dinner at Coral Reef with Ruth

21st
Garden View Tea room for afternoon tea

22nd
Dinner at Teppan Edo with Ruth

23rd
Breakfast at Grand Floridian Cafe
Dinner at 'Ohana with Ruth and hopefully a couple of others

24th
Lunchtime fastpass at Be Our Guest

25th
Hoop de Doo dinner show with Ruth

26th
Breakfast at Whispering Canyon Cafe

27th
Dinner at the Plaza with Ruth

28th
Lunch at Beaches and Cream with Ruth

29th
Breakfast at Captain's Grille

30th
Dinner at Trails end

31st
Lunch at Chefs des France

1st November
Kona Cafe breakfast

2nd
Dinner at Tokyo Dining

There are a few gaps in there cause we like to sample other offsite eats too so it should give us enough time to try and fit it all in

Another little update,

Booked the last of the car hire now, I've been obsessively checking the prices and last night it dropped by 15GBP so I went ahead and booked picking up from the Disney care car centre and dropping off at MCO for the grand total of 148 for 8 nights in a SUV.

(In case you are wondering, I wrote this a few weeks ago no and we have been able to book a couple of adrs now )

oh you best be leaving lots of time to meet up missy! cant wait to see you again

ADR day is here!!

So of course, the website wouldn't let me book, on my ipad nor my laptop... Nor would it let me do it via the damn app! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!! WHY O WHY DISNEY?! And to make it worse, it seemed to be only me who was having the problem - everyone else who checked for me could make dummy bookings. So I had to bite the bullet and call up... an hour and 20 minutes later I had 5, yes 5, reservations booked. A 5 min job on the laptop or 80 minutes on the phone. I was losing the will to live. I dont even know why it took so long, the lady just was very thorough I guess And this evening the online system is working and I can book. Hmmmm.....

I did start booking ADR's a few days ago with Ruth, she arrives before us so she booked the reservations that we are all doing together and linked us all to them.

The list looks like this...

16th
Sanaa 7:10pm for 7

17th
1900 Park Fare 8:30am for 7

19th
Via Napoli 7pm for 6

20th
Coral Reef 6pm for 7

21st
Garden View Tea Room 2:35pm for 6

22nd
Teppan Edo 6:10pm for 7

23rd
Grand Floridian Cafe 9:30am for 6
'Ohana 6:30pm - currently booked for 14 as booked for a few friends to join us as its our vow renewal meal

25th
Hoop De Doo 8:30pm for 7

26th
Whispering Canyon Cafe 10am for 6

Still to book....

27th
The Plaza 7pm(ish) for 3

28th
Beaches and Cream (lunch) for 3

29th
Captains Grille (breakfast) for 2

30th
Trails End (dinner) for 2

31st
Chefs des France (lunch) for 2

1st
Kona Cafe (breakfast) for 2

3rd
Tokyo Dining (dinner) for 2

Still not working today Jan. Losing the will to live slowly....

glad you didn't have too many problems JoAnn C and were at least able to make some x

To make my matters worse I emailed Disney and they replied saying I can only make reservations 180 days out, no such thing as 180 + 10. I replied saying I was shocked that someone with such little knowledge was replying for Disney, honestly it made me SO cross that email!

So I called up disney tech today and they have apparently never heard of my issue, tried to blame it on internet explorer till I told them i tried chrome, safari and the app... It will let me book, but not into my 180+10

We have kept Ohana, I figure everyone else will enjoy it even if I don't eat much, just noodles and chicken wings (though I'm not a huge fan of those as I hate coriander). The chicken is official now too, it's been changed on the wdw menu online

Ooooh thank you kywildcatchick! that's in the plan now

Mrhub, I am really hoping they bring the chicken back if enough people moan about it... so get moaning everyone! lol

New update!

Sooooooo I managed to get the rest of my ADR's booked, and it was as easy as pie once my second reservation at the Grand opened up. I ended up calling the help desk, I told the guy on the phone that it was some sort of problem with my reservation which wasn't letting me book 180+10 but he just didn't want to know... told me to make them all on the phone instead But sure enough, once the reservation at the Grand opened up I was able to book all of the rest of my ADRs.

We also added on Maya Grill with our parents, Sy decided that he wanted to go back there and take everyone so that was added - luckily that wasn't a hard one to get so I just made it at 180 days.

So here is the final line up...

16th Sanaa 7:10pm for 7
17th 1900 Park Fare 8:30am for 7
19th Via Napoli 7pm for 6
20th Coral Reef 6pm for 7
21st Garden View Tea Room 2:35pm for 6
22ndTeppan Edo 6:10pm for 7
23rd Grand Floridian Cafe 9:30am for 6, 'Ohana 6:30pm for 14
25th Hoop De Doo 8:30pm for 7
26th Whispering Canyon Cafe 10am for 6, Maya Grill 7:30pm for 6
27th The Plaza 7pm for 3
28th Beaches and Cream 2:30pm for 3
29th Captains Grille 10am for 2
30th Trails End 7:20pm for 2
31st Chefs des France 12:40pm for 2
1st Kona Cafe 10am for 2
3rd Tokyo Dining 7pm for 2

The plan has also taken some bashing since the park hours have been released, then the DVC Sunrise Safari opened up. Heck the plan is looking so full I don't know how anyone can come to Disney for less than 2 weeks! There will most likely be a few more tweaks to come once the line up of eat to the beat is released and the food and wine seminar list comes out.

For now, this is what the plan looks like...

10th Friday
Finish packing and drop the cat over to Sara's house if we haven't already dropped him off the night before.
Head to the hotel at Heathrow and go for dinner nearby

11th Saturday
Taxi from hotel to Airport
Flight 12:30pm Heathrow to Miami
Pick up car hire
Hotel overnight in Homestead
Dinner (maybe longhorns?)

12th Sunday
Drive to Key West
Stop on route at deer nature reserve & Islamorada for tarpoon feeding
Check into key west hotel
Get dinner and visit sunset pier

13th Monday
Key west tour
Blue heaven for key lime pie
Possibly head over to sunset key?
Bennihana dinner
Drag show

14th Tuesday
Key west
Dolphin boat trip
Historic sea port for dinner

15th Wednesday
Check out of key west hotel
Stop in Everglades to do airboat trip
Stop over somewhere on the way to Orlando, Ft Lauderdale?

16th Thursday
Have breakfast in/near hotel
Drive to Orlando (3 hrs on turnpike)
Check into AKL room might not be ready so will leave bags with bellhop in that case
Meet up with Ruth and go to Walmart
Bring shopping back to room, unpack/sort shopping
Change car for smaller at Disney car centre
Sanaa 7:10pm
TOTWL/swim at hotel/or park if we aren't too tired

17th Friday
1900 park fare breakfast 8:30am
Magic Kingdom morning & afternoon
Afternoon rest
Fudruckers dinner
Hollywood studios evening for Fantasmic (7:30pm)

18th Saturday
Breakfast in room
Animal kingdom
Kobe dinner

19th Sunday
Sunrise safari
Rest lunchtime
Epcot afternoon/evening
Via Napoli (no Ruth) 7pm
Eat to the beat

20th Monday
Typhoon lagoon
Epcot evening
Coral reef dinner 6pm
Eat to the beat

21st Tuesday
Hollywood studios morning
Afternoon tea garden view tea room 2:35pm
MNSSHP

22nd Wednesday
Breakfast celebration tavern
Check out celebration
Golf/things
Epcot (EMH)
Teppan Edo 6:10pm
Eat to the Beat

23rd Thursday
Renew vows
Grand Floridian Cafe breakfast 9:30am
Pop to Walmart to get snacks (though quite possibly do this the day before)
Renew vows
Pictures at AKL and beach club/boardwalk
Hire a boat on seven seas
Ohana 6:30pm
Hallowishes on at 9:30pm

24th Friday
Marceline tour (need to book this)
Magic kingdom morning
Lunch be our guest if can get fastpass
Afternoon swim at hotel
Jellyrolls

25th Saturday
Animal kingdom morning
Culinary food tour of AKL
Hoop de doo 8:30pm

26th Sunday
Whispering canyon cafe breakfast (no Ruth) 10am
Magic kingdom
Maya grill 7:30pm
TOTWL

27th Monday
Check out of AKL
Lunch somewhere? Maybe visit a park?
Check into VGF
Change car
Evening MK
Plaza dinner 6:30pm

28th Tuesday
Ruth home
Beaches and cream lunch 2:30pm
Hollywood studios

29th Wednesday
Captains grille 10am
Blizzard beach
Welcome home Wednesday
Territory lounge for fondue

30th Thursday
Magic kingdom
Afternoon swim in hotel
Trails end 7:20pm

31st Friday
Epcot
Chefs des France 12:40pm
Carriage ride round fort wilderness
Carrie's Halloween party (our friends who live in Orlando are having a Halloween party!)

1st Saturday
Kona cafe breakfast 10am
Animal kingdom
Swim at hotel afternoon/early evening
Texas Roadhouse

2nd Sunday
Seaworld?
MK evening

3rd Monday
Seaworld again if we decide to buy tickets
Epcot evening
Tokyo dining dinner 7pm

4th Tuesday
Check out
MK
Outback at the airport

5th Wednesday
Arrive home to Gatwick

We are gonna be pretty busy huh? LOL

I also stumbled on somewhat of a bargain deal for a hotel at Heathrow for the night before our flight. There's a website called holiday extras which does airport hotels, car parking, trains tickets etc. They have a 'Free if cheaper' guarantee so if you book through them and find it cheaper elsewhere they refund you the whole cost, plus give you what you booked. I've seen lots of people have success with this website at getting their airport parking for free. So one day I was surfing the net and looking at hotels for the night before when I saw that one of the hotels on my shortlist (yes, I'm that organised) was showing up at about PS24 more expensive on the Holiday Extras website than I'd seen it on other pages. So I quickly booked hotel rooms for us all (plus the insurance so I could cancel it if they decided not to honour the guarantee) and called them up. The lady took me through all the details online and sent the info off to the right team (who were on holiday as this was over the Easter holiday) and sure enough, 2 days later I had an email saying that our claim was successful and we would be getting our hotel for free!! Woohoo! So now we have a hotel for the night before our flight to Miami, which is down the road from my dad's favourite Indian restaurant (we used to live in the area and that was where my dad was stationed in the police so he knows the best places to go), all for the bargain price of PS2.49 which was the cost of the insurance.

And the hotel in question? That would be the Novotel. 4/5 on Tripadvisor.

And while I was in the mood for booking hotels, I also booked our Miami hotel We all really liked the look of the Hampton Inn Miami Homestead. Its south of Miami which is perfect as we drive south for 20 mins from the airport, we have been to Miami a few times and it wasn't really in the plan for this trip - we would rather get to Key West early the next day, and because of jetlag we would only be getting to the hotel, getting some dinner and then sleeping, didn't seem much point heading into the centre of Miami. Plus its the number 1 rated hotel in the area and has a free breakfast What's not to love about it?

So the To Do list now looks as follows;

Booked so far

Flights

Car hire

DVC at Animal Kingdom Lodge and Grand Floridian

Vow renewal

Hotel in Key West

Hotel in Fort Lauderdale

Hotel in Miami

Hotel in Heathrow

ADR's

Sunrise Safari

Still to do/organise

Marceline tour

Behind the seeds tour

Disney tickets for in laws, the rest of us have bought our tickets now

Things for our vow renewal, and pay the balance.

MNSSHP tickets - Think its just me and Sy doing that with Ruth.

Book Spa & Golf

Buy Memory Maker

Sort the cakes

Do API for flights

Renew ESTA

Book Food and Wine seminars

Oooh if you see us you must say hello! there are a fair few of us planning to do MNSSHP on that date

Thanks Allie! only 5 months and 10 days to go HAHA

Marceline tour booked for 20th October yay!!

Ahhhhh! that would be AWESOME! I booked for 6 adults, i'm not sure how many they take per trip but I'd book asap if I were you in case it starts to get filled up.

Thank you! I'm very excited to do this tour, my friend says it was her fav tour and she has pretty much done them all now, and its such good value too!