Anyone got a Disney/Florida Holiday Planned Part 2

[Groovee]

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40 days until we leave!

Getting very excited now and doing lots of summer clothes shopping as we have hardly anything! Got some skechers go walks for myself and some other skechers sandals for the kids at the weekend.

I have my ADRs booked (only 3 as we are staying off site) - managed to get some good ones at 100 days out and even now when I look there are more popping up at good times so I guess people cancel things nearer the time. My point being if anyone can't get something they want, keep checking just in case :)

Checked in to our Bahamas cruise last night and got the kids club sorted and snorkelling gear for Castaway Cay. Feels a bit like booking 2 separate holidays!

Just waiting for the 30 day mark to book FPs - bit nervous by what you have said Bacon as we have booked everything through Virgin and I had an email saying our 12 digit ref numbers for MDE will be with us approximately 30 days before we leave. Fingers crossed...

We have booked seats on the top deck of our Virgin flight there and back so we get off the plane before the other economy passengers. Cost me £150 to book all 6 on the way there but we are flying out of school hols so hoping the plane is full or they might close our section and put us downstairs. Fingers crossed again...!

Hello, is anyone else heading to Disney next year? We are going in February. Am
waiting excitedly for the free dining to be released- we did this in 2013 and 2014 and it made it worthwhile to stay on-site. Its usually end April so am waiting in suspense to book- hoping to also get the 1/3 off Saratoga Springs!

Anyone else staying on-site? I know most people prefer the villas...

Hi Nikki, we have booked the upstairs bit too ('the bubble') and are also hopign the flight is full for the same reason! It didn't cost us anything to book as we're Flying Club members so maybe try that if you're going another time. The cruise sounds great - I love the look of Castaway Cay!

Hi Swede, Feb is a fab time to go - we went end of Feb for the last 2 trips. Current plan is August next year. We're not staying onsite - I do prefer villas but would love to try an onsite hotel if we could afford it at some point. Must be lovely with no driving to worry about.

Oh my husband is a flying club silver member! That is on our account so you think they would have noticed. Cheeky buggers.

YaY I'm now the proud owner of MNSSHP tickets

Congrats chesty!

Bastarding bastards at the Halifax hadn't actually sorted my card. Nor did the sort it the second time I phoned. Let's hope third time is a charm!

Great morning at typhoon lagoon today and then went to downtown Disney for the T Rex cafe. It was OK - rainforest cafe with low budget dinosaurs. We thought the kids would love it but they barely noticed the themeing, so not worth the mark up on mediocre food IMO

Fingers crossed that the card is properly sorted!!

I'm so glad you said T-Rex wasn't all that as I cancelled my reservation and decided to visit Dinosaur World instead and go for a much cheaper lunch after it. I read it was noisy in there and I hate eating when you need to shout across a table.

Congrats, Chesty! Now, what are you dressing up as? :) I'm going too but can't book until we have our annual passes sorted. The date we are going won't sell out but I'm still twitching to get it booked anyway! Found out something very annoying - annual passholders can only book 7 days of FPs in a month! It's to stop the locals block-booking everything apparently but it's so unfair!!

Hermione, shame the T-Rex wasn't up to much but, as DogHairs said, it's good to know to give it a miss - thanks for taking one for the team :)

183 sleeps to go - ADRs are just around the corner :)

Hermione Whats the parking situation like at Downtown Disney, is the multistorey park finished?

Yes Dog, parked in it yesterday but a lot of construction still going on.

The new areas of fantasyland are brilliant, such a great addition. We are home, foot sore and weary after a long day in the Magic Kingdom, but so worth it! Also thr Monsters Inc laughter floor show is really fun and queues were only 10 mins even though the park was rammed

So excited about fantasyland - the last two times we went it was totally shut and before that I visited as a child so I just can't wait

Loving all of your updates Hermione makes me feel a bit closer to being there, keep 'em coming.

Fantasyland...great...noted!

Love reading your updates like strawberry said, only 57 days until its my turn. Got the dogs sorted at the vet yesterday for their stay in the kennels and paid off the themepark tickets so they should be arriving soon

We'll today was epic - half the group went with the girls for breakfast with a princess in Norway/Epcot and the other half went to Kennedy space centre for lunch with an astronaut. Both highly recommended - let me know if you have any questions!

Back to Epcot tomorrow for round 2 and staying for illuminations. Universal Monday and Tuesday and we're staying on site to get early access and express passes.

Hermione were in Florida At mo too. And we had lunch with an astronaut at Kennedy today! Definitely recommend. A full day out.
We're off to Hollywood tomorrow then typhoon Lagoon on Sunday.
Reviews so far - parks not as busy as I feared. Weather far hotter than expected.
Animal kingdom was fab - great Safari; tough to be a hug hilarious; lion king magical; Kali river Rapids hilariously wet. We had character lunch at Tusker House - food great and plentiful.
Magic Kindon - awe inspiring. Entertainment all over the place, rides aplenty. We're back there later in the week for the parades and fireworks.
Epcot - relaxing. Better for older kids. Had lunch at coral reef which was lovely but didn't cater very well for children.
Blizzard beach - we went there at 4pm one afternoon. Plenty of space with shade. We hired towels for $2 each. We'll definitely be going back. Lots of fun.

Were are you going to watch illuminations from hermoine? Do you have a good spot in mind?

chair I loved it's tough to be a bug

163 sleeps!

lucas MNSSHP wear depends if I manage to shift some serious pounds what are you thinking you'll wear?

Any flight recommendations from London? It will be over the summer and we are flexible on dates so are looking for the cheapest deals!

$2 to hire a towel! so cheap, I'm not going to bother taking towels this time more space for shopping

How quick are the fast passes going for the popular rides? do you know. I've been reading about people waking up at 6am 30 day's before to grab the best rides.

Oh chair what a coincidence! He was lovely, wasn't he? There were so many questions I wanted to ask him. The Atlantis exhibit was amazing - I was tearful. Yes, it is boiling and due to be overcast and thundery next few days I think.

chesty we have dinner reservations in Italy, so somewhere near there I think. SIL is a Disney nut so she has this stuff all planned out.

nochocolate call dial a flight and ask for Wayne - he's always sorted us great flights at the best price

Hi all, just come across this thread which has made me very happy! We are going on 20th Oct for 14 nights staying onsite at OKW. Anyone else going then?

Also a tip I found is use the www.easywdw.com website, it has free crowd calender which was really useful last time we went in 2012.

Another great flight booker is Carly at Flight Centre, we have booked a few flights with her and have always managed to get the best rates. We booked our florida flights with BA which are now £6000 more expensive than when we booked.

Notchocolate The best thing to do is get a price from two, so maybe Carly and the person Hermione recommended then go back and forth between them to push down the price as low as possible.

Notchocolate forgot to say we always reserve our flights then pay off a chunk every month to make it more manageable.

Hi all, have read lots of this thread as great to get lots of tips and I'm very excited now to be planning our first trip I gather it's cheaper to book flights and villa separately rather than as a package, please could someone tell me what a good price for London to Orlando return is? We're planning to go outside UK school holidays end April/beginning May 2016 - best price I've got atm is around £600 pp return with BA. Is this a good price, or should I wait for a seat sale? Thanks in advance!

Hi carrier for me its cheaper to book a package but I'm flying from Scotland, I have booked it separately before but that was when Flyglobespan were around and had cheap flights from Glasgow. I usually book with Thomas Cook but this year going with Thomsons as I prefer flying into Sanford.