The One With All The Birthdays - PTR

[RobynPrincess]

Hello and welcome to my pre trip report!

If you have followed any of my past trip reports you already know that I love food and I love taking pictures, and I love taking pictures of food so expect a very picture heavy trip report to follow I love to write in detail so don’t be surprised if my TR gets rather long, I hope it will be worth it! So sit back, embrace the ramblings and come on the journey with us!

I have already written a huge amount of this pre trip so I'll be spell checking and uploading it in parts over the next few days. I broke my cardinal rule of not starting a new trip report before the last is finished, but I promise to work on the other along side this one I couldn't help it! I needed to plan!

There have already been quite a few tweaks to the plan for this trip so far, our dates have changed our plans changed and our DVC reservation has been changed. So yeah, a lot has changed

This trip has been talked about and loosely planned for a few years, although we didn't know back then that we would be DVC owners. This year I turn 30, both of my parents turns 60 and my mother-in-law turns 60, so we had talked about going away altogether to celebrate. And just to add an extra cerebration to the trip and Simon and I are celebrating five years of marriage and have decided to have a small vow renewal ceremony ahhhhhh

So as you can see, this is going to be one big three and a half week party!

 

[RobynPrincess]

An Introduction (or, who the hell is this mad women rambling on and on)


So, before I get too carried away with myself I guess I better do some introductions

I think most people know me by now, I'm the mad obsessive planner. As my user-name suggests, my name is Robyn, I'll be 30 when we fly. My birthday is actually in July but I have absolutely no desire to ever head to Orlando in the middle of summer or peak season, so its somewhat of a belated celebration for me. I'm a big Tinkerbell fan, I think she's tiny but fierce! I couldn't choose a favourite Disney movie, there are FAR too many to choose from, though the Little Mermaid was the first film I saw in the cinema so it holds a special place in my heart. I can't pinpoint when exactly my obsession began, I first went to Walt Disney World as a teen but the obsession was already set in by then. The Disney Channel was a permanent fixture on our TV much to my dad's disgust.

This is what I look like...



Then there's my hubby, Simon or Sy. This is what he looks like...



I often say he's so laid back he's horizontal He's very easy going and will pretty much go along with any plan I make. I like to think its cause my plans are so awesome but most probably cause he will do anything for an easy life hahaha! He will be 32 when we go. His dream is to be an imagineer, he loves knowing the back story to everything, how it works, why it is the way it is - think its the architect in him. He likes the classic Disney Characters best. He said he's finding it hard to choose a favourite Disney movie but he does love Up (it was the first Disney movie we watched together).

Next up are my parents, Sian...



and Bill.



They are both celebrating their 60th Birthday's this year. My mum 's was in March and my dad 's is in October (but before we get there). My mum will tell anyone that she is 28 though so I'm sure to get a slap for mentioning her real age on here Funny story about that, we all went on a TV show called Eggheads. If you have never heard of it, its a quiz show that you go on in teams and take on the 'Eggheads' who are basically brainboxes. We went on as a family, Sy, both of our mums, Sy's brother and my brother in law (I was there too but that was only as an extra in case someone was taken ill). At the beginning of the show you have to introduce yourselves, say your name, age, job etc. Well my mum told everyone she was 28 years old with some years experience... She ended up trending on twitter as the mad woman who told everyone she was 28 but clearly much older! HAHAHAHA! Whoops...

Anyway, I digress. My parents took me to WDW for our first trip when I was a teen, my granddad said he was going to take me but he died suddenly before we were due to go I was very, very close to him and that was the year we had adverts with a little girl and her grandpa in WDW. My aunt offered to take me as my parents didn’t really want to go however we all ended up going together and we were all hooked from that very first moment. We only went for a week and did Universal, Seaworld, Wet and Wild, plus Disney and Shopping. Oh boy, it was a BUSY week! But we loved every second and we were all hooked. We went back a few times as a family over my teens, and then my parents have come back with me and Sy twice, this will be the 3rd time we all go together as adults.


Then comes Sy's parents...

Anne...



and Cliff...



Anne turns 60 in August (Cliff celebrated his 60th last year, he's the old sensible one). I'm not 100% sure Anne and Cliff were that excited to visit WDW on their first trip. Sy had just been for his first visit (our honeymoon) and he had the bug BIG time, so we convinced them to come with us along with my parents in 2010. I think our excitement rubbed off on them a bit and they were excited, though I think they were humouring us a little They had such a fab time that they agreed to come back again in 2011 with just us (my parents couldn’t come that time ), 2012 with their friends Steve and Jude (plus us and my parents), and again now 2014 They visited the Keys in 2012 so we are relying on them to tell us where all the good places to go are They do love Disney but its more just being in Florida that they love, Anne loves wildlife especially birds, and loves all of the different species that can be found. Cliff is a bit like Sy (or maybe that should read Sy is a bit like his dad) in the way that he is very easy going and will go along with pretty much any plan, as long as the plan doesn’t include shopping


Here is where there was originally an addition to the trip...

However the girl in question is no longer travelling with us, she's gone a bit crazy, well to be fair she always was a bit crazy but she's brought crazy to a whole new level now! Eeeeek! Dodged a bullet there somewhere...

 

[RobynPrincess]

The Plans!


The original plans were to fly out the last two weeks of October and stay a week and a half on our own into November. However the school holidays times in the UK are for the last week to two weeks of October and thus has made the flights uber expensive We have to make use of the holidays as Simon's mum works for school so we were a bit worried to say the least... We monitored flight prices for a few weeks and into the sale however they were still over 900 pounds ($1450 ish) each We couldn't really afford that much, we had a few lengthy discussions about it and Simon's parents said that we should think about going without them as the week before was so much cheaper. Of course we didn't want to do that but it was coming to the stage of either going without them or not going at all What a total bummer! We kept an eye on the prices further in the vain hope that they might come down but it wasn't looking likely... and then...

It was the weekend before Christmas, we had all gone to a Christmas ball together at a local vineyard. We were sat round the table talking, you can picture the scene I'm sure, glammed up, in high spirits, wine flowing... and up came the subject of Florida. Anne said how she was upset about not being able to come when Cliff said that she was being silly, of course they were going to come! The school were going to have to like it or lump it And anyway, a lot can happen in a year's time. (Anne isn't a teacher so its not like she would be leaving students). We were all over the moon That was it, Cliff had spoken no way they could go back on it now, and come Christmas day we booked our flights

Not only that, but we booked our flights home Premium Economy! And still a few hundred cheaper than the original 900 OMG! I've never flown anything but economy so this is so exciting!!! And what comes with Premium? More luggage! And you know what that means.... MORE SHOPPING!! YAY!



look at the swish seats...



Probably should note that its just Sy and I that are flying back premium LOL our parents are flying back before us and they wanted to save and stick with economy

We had wanted to fly into Miami and to spend time in the Florida Keys at the start of our trip, however in October they have something called fantasy festival that well, let's just say isn't the sort of fantasy festival that you would want to visit with your parents and in-laws In order to escape it we were going to fly into Orlando spend some time in Disney, travel down to the Keys stopping on the way, spend some time in the keys and then travel back up and spend some more time on our own in WDW, while our parents fly home the day we get back up to Orlando. I'm sure you will agree, that was a heck lot of driving and a bit of a waste of time in the car, however understandably we really didn't want to get to Key West while the fantasy festival was going ahead. BUT now that our dates have changed we were able to fly into Miami hitting up the keys at the beginning of our trip so saving a lot of driving around and doing the best bit at the end.

So now the plan looks like this;


Fly into Miami together, spend one night near Miami as we don't get in till quite late and it will be very late to our body clocks. Up early the next day and drive to Key West, spend three nights in Key West and then drive up to Naples, spend one night in Naples before heading to Walt Disney World for the rest of the trip.

Now this is where the next change comes in... Originally we had booked a two-bedroom value room in Animal Kingdom Lodge Jambo house for the parents and a club level studio for us. We thought long and hard about this as we didn't want to leave our parents out, but we could add them as guest to our reservation so that they could enjoy the club level facilities so we went ahead and booked. And then... We carried on talking and decided that as much as we would save points and would enjoy trying club level, did we really want to spend time away from each other on our holiday? We were supposed to be on holiday together after all... Plus the value rooms are smaller than the normal DVC two bedroom rooms, there wasn't going to be much room for all of us to sit and relax together so we decided to forego it and move the reservations over to Kidani.

We have booked a two bedroom savanna view and a studio standard view, we have put my parents in the studio as they like to go to bed early and get up early whereas Simon's parents are more night owls like us, plus Simon's dad snores really loudly so at least his mum can get out the sofa bed if she needs to escape (now you know where Sy gets it from!), it was actually on suggestion from my mum to do it that way round, I wasn't taking any part in the decision other than saying we were having the big bed LOL.

We stayed in a dedicated 2 bed in 2012 with my parents so here are a few pictures of the room, so excited to stay there again!











Looking forward to having a bubbly bath in this...







We fly to Miami on the 11th of October and we get to Disney on the 16th, we are staying 11 nights in Animal Kingdom Lodge and then we say goodbye to our parents as they then fly home from Orlando While we check out of Animal Kingdom Lodge and head over to the Villas at Grand Floridian to stay for eight nights on our own

We're planning to do only Disney on this trip. As you may have seen we have been to Universal and SeaWorld in previous trips but we are intending to take it a bit easier this time - everyone is that much older and not and as good a health Plus it can be a bit of a rush to try and fit everything in, least this way we can have a little bit of down time Sy's parents are undecided whether they might visit Universal, they also might go to Kennedy Space Centre again, there's still plenty of time to decide though. We wont be doing either, neither will my parents as they would rather save the dosh and take Disney at a slower pace.

 

[RobynPrincess]

Planned activities at Disney

As we are staying at AKL we are planning to do lots of things around the hotel, including the culinary tour and the DVC Sunride Safari.

Also on the plan is an afternoon of golf for the boys while us girls go off to the spa at the Grand Floridian

The Marceline tour.

Behind the seeds tour, I know Anne really wants to do this so I'm going to do it too, not sure who else wants to join in yet.

Mickey's not so scary Halloween party, I know my parents aren't that interested in the party I'm not sure about Simon's parents.

Watch the fireworks from Top of the World Lounge at least once!

Catch a concert or two at eat to the beat.

I've hinted strongly to Sy that I'd like to do a horse and carriage ride round Fort Wilderness so fingers cross that comes about (he keeps saying he wants to arrange a few things for me as surprises but as I'm the chief planner he finds it hard)

A few seminars at the Food and Wine Festival.

 

[RobynPrincess]

Now onto the good bit.... FOOD!

ADR day has been and gone in the last couple of weeks, I wont even begin with how much of a PITA that was!! Needless to say this is how our ADR plans look...

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

Off site eats

Bob Evans (breakfast)
Outback
Fuddruckers
Longhorn
Kobe
Chili's
Texas Road house

Must eat snacks

Well of course, the first thing on this lost has GOT to be....



Dole Whip From Aloha Isle or Captain Cook's, I dont care where it comes from as long as it goes into my tummy!

Next up, in infamous Napoleon.



I LOVED the old napoleon from the France bakery, why o why did they have to change it?! Its still nice but now the starring rolls napoleon overtakes it - in my opinion anyway

Funnel Cake comes next on the list, we tried it for the first time on our last trip and OMG its soooooo good! Gotta get at least 1 of these



I really want to try an ice cream at the new L'Artisan des Glaces in the France pavilion.



I've never been into Karamell Kuche but I love anything toffee or caramel so I think we need to make a spacial effort to get something in there, not sure what yet, I just know I want something



Another place I've never been is Kringla Bakery in the Norway pavilion, I want suss out the menu and decide what I want to try in there



Now that we have covered the sweet stuff, I guess I should cover the small list of savoury snacks I wanna fit in

I love stopping by Liberty Square Market to get a baked potato! Baked potatos are one of my all time favourite foods so the trip wouldnt be complete without stopping here... They are such an amazing use of a snack credit too! I want to try a sweet one next time



Also want to try a mickey pretzel which will be a new one for me I've had a jalapeno cheese one before and loved it (and want one of those too).





This list will be majorly added to once the full list of food and wine is out, but that probably will involve its own entry to the report!

 

[RobynPrincess]

Car Hire

This has been a damn PITA to organise if I'm honest and we have ended up with 3 seperate car hires.

For the Keys we needed a car big enough for 6 adults, 6 big cases and 6 hand luggage cases, plus my mum's ECV. As we were flying into Miami we didn't have the option of leaving a few cases somewhere, so really the only option we had was a massive mini bus. Unfortunately the minibus option is quite pricey We looked at having 2 cars but by the time you added the cost of petrol, tolls etc. there wasn't any sort of saving. So we decided to book the mini bus for the touring part of the holiday and to change to just a normal 7 seater when we get to Disney.

This is what I'm sure is going to be commonly known as 'THE BEAST'





I know, its total overkill having that thing but at least we wont have to worry about trying to fit everything in! Does anyone know if the tolls will be higher in this type of car? We dont really have tolls over here, there are only 1 or 2 roads in the whole of the UK with tolls on, none of which are close to us so I'm still learning when it comes to them Actually, while I'm asking questions... I've read that a lot of the roads down to the keys are Sunpass only, how do we set that up? I know the car hire company will offer it but as far as I am aware they charge a fortune, so is there a way of setting it up ourselves?

As we won't ever need to get all of us, our cases and scooter in the car after getting to Disney it didn't matter how big the second car was as long as we could fit us in it so we have gone for one like this....



We actually had one of these on our trip in 2012 so we know the size and how it drives. We have booked to swap the cars at the Disney Car Centre so it shouldn't take too long. The day our parents fly home they will drive themselves to the airport, without us in the car there will be enough room for all of them, plus their cases and scooter. In the past we have gone with them to the airport but this time we will just have to say goodbye at Disney.

Then that leaves us needing a car for the last 8 days of the trip. We could probably get away with not having a car for at least part of that time, if not the whole time but really we aren't fans of the Disney buses and like having the freedom of our own car... But then we will be at the Grand so we have the monorail to MK and Epcot, boat to MK... Even so we decided to bite the bullet and hire a car for that whole time, we went for an intermediate SUV.

 

[RobynPrincess]

Hotels

We're staying in HOW MANY hotels??

This list is erm, a little long. I guess I should start at the beginning though.

I 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 (you may have heard of it) 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 £24 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 £2.49 which was the cost of the insurance.

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








Next hotel is the Hampton inn Miami Homestead

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, didnt 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?








Then we hit Key West and call the next hotel home for 3 nights...




Parrot Key Resort, in an ocean front 3 bed villa

It has 3 bedrooms plus a living space.

2 bed room on the ground floor.



The Master and living space on the middle floor





3rd bedroom is on the top floor.



Isn't it just sooooooo pretty?!?! We had actually looked at staying here on our honeymoon but we ditched Key West in favour of spending more time in Disney.

The hotel is a bit out of the busy part of Key West, its about 5-10 min car ride but that's not a problem for us seeing as we wouldn't be able to walk far with mum anyway so we would take the car everywhere we needed to go. Plus it means we can be right by the ocean which is always a bonus for me The hotel does offer watersports but I highly doubt we will be partaking in any.


On leaving Key West we have 1 night on the road up to Disney in Ft Lauderdale.

Il Lugano Fort Lauderdale

Staying in 3 Oceanview Studio King rooms





The lovely rooms







Gorgeous little pool



Then we hit Disney and AKL Luckily we get to call that hotel home for 11 nights.

We then check out and say goodbye to our parents and head over to VGF to spend our last 8 nights.

 

[RobynPrincess]

Renewing our vows


This could be my favourite entry to the report I could go on and on and on and on and on... so feel free to ignore me and skip right through if you bore easy There will be SO much more to add to this section over time I'm sure but this is just what we have planned and thought about so far.


The Plan of Day

We aren't having a big ceremony, just an intimate ceremony in our room at Animal Kingdom Lodge. We plan on popping out in the morning to get some food and drinks to have in the room (though we may well do that the day before depending on time etc), then get ready and have some drinks with our family and a couple of friends, have the celebrant come to the two-bedroom villa and perform the ceremony while Randy takes some pictures, before going off to another resort (yet to be decided though probably Beach Club) for some more family photos. Then we're going to hire one of the pontoon boats on Seven Seas Lagoon and head out for an hour just cruising around and celebrating, before heading to 'Ohana for dinner and then get a space on the beach at the Poly, grab a cocktail from the bar and watch the fireworks from there

Things are ticking along nicely with the day planning. I've got an AMAZING friend who lives in Orlando who does wedding planning especially for brides from the UK, she has been helping me to arrange things with our celebrant Tim, and Randy Chapman (photographer). We now have set the date so it will be happening on the 23rd of October We did want the 24th but Randy is already booked for that day. We are happy with the 23rd though. We are having the ceremony at 2pm, I thought we should go for slightly later but Sy was adamant that we should go for that time so that we have enough time to fit everything in, he doesn't often object to things I thought I better give in We have an ADR at 6:30pm at 'Ohana so that leaves a lot of time for the ceremony, pictures and a boat trip As its a Thursday I believe it will be a MNSSHP night and so Hallowishes will be on 9:30pm.

Clothing

I have a dress ordered already. I did some bridal modelling for a friend last year and part of that I did some modelling of bridesmaids dresses, one of which I totally fell in love with I couldn’t stop thinking about it so I went to try it on again, and yup, I still love it I did take a picture but I’m undecided if I'm going to put it up as its a bit small and I don’t look that great in it lol. Sy wants to buy a light grey linen suit for the day to wear with a white linen shirt. Shoes wise, think we are going to get Sy some Tom's, he's been wanting a pair for ages anyway and we thought they might go quite nicely with the relaxed theme. I am still utterly clueless on my shoes, I might get a pop of colour or I might just go for plain ivory... I think I need to give it some serious thought lol



This is the dress... I'm not sure it looks all that amazing on the model, its much prettier in real life I'm having the dress in Yellow with an ivory sash.





Flowers

I plan to do my own flowers for the day, I have done bouquets in the past and as I only want something very simple - a posy of roses - it will be easy to do so i'm not worried, I'm undecided whether to make my own fake bouquet and take it with me or take the stuff to make a real rose bouquet while i'm there. I also intend to make a few button holes for everyone else. The colour of roses we are going to have is white for me, thought yellow might be too much yellow. Might go for yellow for everyone else though I am a huge lover of yellow and would have chosen that for our wedding but hubby wanted pink (yep, he chose the pink, not me) so I have chosen the colour this time.







Hair and Make-up

I plan to do my own hair and make up (I did my own make up on our wedding day too, I love make up and hate the way other people do it on me - I always think I do a better job LOL). I dont like in your face make up so to speak, I like it to look understated I may go for some subtle false eyelashes though Hair wise, I'm going to go for a loose messy bun on the side with a few flowers in my hair, like this...





Decorations

As its only a simple affair we aren’t going OTT with anything, though I am going to make a few little decorations for the room like some bunting, and I'll maybe grab a few balloons too. The decorations list may grow slightly if I have time to make stuff I do want to make a few signs for us to hold in some pictures. I'm thinking of along the lines of 'We (still) Do' or a sign for us each to hold, one saying 'I (still) Do' and 'Me Too'. Thought they were really cute I did also want to make something that says 'Time To Renew, and Say We Do' thinking of maybe making something like that to hang somewhere...





I was also looking at making something like this in yellow and white should be easy enough!



Music

I plan to make a playlist and just play with on speakers in the room through my phone or iPad. I have got a smallish speaker system now but I’m not sure its small enough to carry across at Atlantic, so I might try to find something a little smaller, like a plug in speaker. I may buy one in advance and send it to my friend... or maybe I should just ask her if she has one? That would solve a lot of the hassle!

Cake

I'm planning to order a mini 2 tier cake for after our meal in 'Ohana, I've been obsessively watching the cake chatter thread religiously. Think I’m going to go for a vanilla sponge with passion fruit mousse with a white frosting with yellow mickey accents. A bit like this...

 

[RobynPrincess]

Actually while I'm speaking of cakes...

I intend to order a cake one evening for my parents and Anne to celebrate their 60th birthdays. I was going to do it to share saying happy 60th birthday but no name so it would be something to share - I'm not sure we want 3 seperate birthday cakes lol. Thinking of doing Sanaa our first night and having it there. Will worry about it nearer the time though as you cant book the cake this far in advance.

I've also been dropping serious, serious hints to Sy for the Chocolate Slipper dessert... Knowing my husband it won't come to anything but I’m not giving up the hope just yet. I'm not sure when it would fit in, I believe it has to come from the Grand Floridian so it has to be a restaurant thats served by their bakery so a GF or Contemporary restaurant.

Look at the gorgeous yumminess...



I've also seen this gorgeous thing that I would like to try and incorporate...



I thought I might be able to arrange for a plate like that with 2 swans on it for me and Sy while we are at afternoon tea. Will need to speak to Pat at the Grand Floridian, fingers crossed she's in a good mood Though I did think maybe if she's not up for doing the swans, she might let me have this written on the mini wedding cake plate.

 

[Disney_Sarah]

Wow

Plans look amazing so far.
Your Minnie Dress is stunning.

xx

 

[RobynPrincess]

Awww thanks Sarah! Its a Vivien of Holloway dress I love it xxx

 

[elmlea22]

Oh I am so happy to have stumbles on this. I missed your Trippies on the Dibb, I was so sad to see you had left. Love your Trippies . I am gradually turning more and more to the "darkside"

 

[RobynPrincess]

Oh I am so happy to have stumbles on this. I missed your Trippies on the Dibb, I was so sad to see you had left. Love your Trippies . I am gradually turning more and more to the "darkside"

awwwww thank you! glad to know i'm missed. I removed half of my TR's down and told the owner to take down the rest. I like to think of that site as being the 'dark side', here everyone is actually nice! and its not run by a **** (starred myself out there)

I've just finished a TR from march

 

[elmlea22]

awwwww thank you! glad to know i'm missed. I removed half of my TR's down and told the owner to take down the rest. I like to think of that site as being the 'dark side', here everyone is actually nice! and its not run by a **** (starred myself out there)

I've just finished a TR from march

Cool. I shall have a read of the march one.

 

[dixonsontour]

Lots of fantastic plans.

Not been to the keys for many years - we went several times before we had DD. Hope we will make it back one day. The accomodation you have picked looks fab.

Love your vow renewal plans - yellow will look lovely. Is my fave colour too - i'm on my 4th yellow car

 

[wilma-bride]

We are there at the same time as you (as were my DD and I in March). Your vow renewal plans sound great.

I hope you enjoy the Keys, we went a couple of years ago now and loved the relaxed atmosphere.

 

[RobynPrincess]

We are there at the same time as you (as were my DD and I in March). Your vow renewal plans sound great.

I hope you enjoy the Keys, we went a couple of years ago now and loved the relaxed atmosphere.

ah you choose the best times to go is it October you are flying AL? We found them really nice and attentive, though I think i'm still not a fan of indirect really. The layover on the way home was the hardest bit, when you are shattered and have to wait at the airport for the flight from Dublin. That being said I would do it again for the right price

 

[RobynPrincess]

Cool. I shall have a read of the march one.

Enjoy xxxx

Lots of fantastic plans.

Not been to the keys for many years - we went several times before we had DD. Hope we will make it back one day. The accomodation you have picked looks fab.

Love your vow renewal plans - yellow will look lovely. Is my fave colour too - i'm on my 4th yellow car

Ahhh! I love Yellow too, I've never had a yellow car though... I feel like i'm living a sheltered life hehe (actually I learned to drive in a yellow saxo, my instructor liked to be noticed!)

I'm really looking forward to seeing the keys, my in laws went in 2012 and really enjoyed it.

 

[Hayley94]

Subbing in, sounds like it's going to be an amazing trip. And your Mickey and Minnie costumes are brilliant! Vivien of Holloway do such lovely dresses, I had your Minnie one in black for my prom! Can't wait to hear more

 

[RobynPrincess]

Sooooo, its been a while since I've updated and lots has happened (if you are on my facebook, you will probably already know about some of it!)

I'll start with the To Do list, this is how it now looks...

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

Spa treatments for the ladies

Marceline tour

All day tickets bought

Balance paid on Vow Renewal

Cake for Vow Renewal sorted, along with desserts for TOTWL

Golf Cart hires for the day at Ft Wilderness as there were no spaces for horse and carriage ride


Still to do/organise

Behind the seeds tour? Not 100% sure this one is gonna fit into the plan :-/

MNSSHP tickets - Think its just me and Sy doing that though not sure about Anne & Cliff

Book Golf

Buy Memory Maker

Sort the cakes

Do API for flights

Renew ESTA

Book Food and Wine seminars (cheese seminars for the men)


Bit of a drama has also unfolded since the last update... My 'friend' is now no longer travelling with us. She has fallen out with me, I do know why as she told a mutual friend however she hasn't told me personally which I think is a bit sad and pathetic when we have been friends for years. The reason itself is also not only pathetic but actually unhinged! (I honestly think think she's lost the plot!). I won't go into it here, but lets just say I'm glad we found this all out now rather than her turning mental while we are on holiday. I have to admit our families are quite relieved as its back to just being us again on the trip (they weren't too keen).

The rather nasty thing she did while un-friending me though is cancel all of our shared ADR's. She arrives in Disney before us so her booking window opened first which is why she made all of the reservations, it didn't ever even enter my head that she would do something so spiteful so I was happy for her to book them all. I don't even care that we were left with no ADR's in the run up to our trip, which fall slap bang in the middle of free dining (so restaurants are already chocker-blocked), but what I was so very upset about was that she also cancelled our ADR for 'Ohana - our vow renewal meal, for 14 people. She didn't even give me any notice or let me know she was cancelling, so it was only that I went on to have a look and saw that she had cancelled them all that I knew anything about it, and of course by that time the reservation at 'Ohana had gone

She didn't just ruin it for us though, she ruined it for a family who is mutual friends to us both, they were coming to the meal so hadn't made a separate reservation there as they didn't want to go twice, now they are also left without a trip to 'Ohana The worst part is, I went to try and rebook our ADR's but as we were all named on the reservations it wouldn't let me rebook without cancelling her original ADR's, so I text her and let her know that we needed to get together and cancel and rebook at the same time. I deliberately didn't cancel her reservations cause I'm a nice person, even though there's only 1 of her (easy to get) and 6 of us (hard to get). Instead she went ahead and cancelled them all, just cause she's a cow. (She then went to on tell mutual friend that I had cancelled most of them myself and she just did the last few - honestly, she's unhinged!).

I tried calling Disney 3 times and they basically didn't seem to care, they just said keep trying to see if a table comes available It wasn't until I posted on a Disney wedding group on facebook about it that someone gave me 'Ohana's direct number to call them and see if they could help. They could! They could rebook the reservation however they couldn't change who's name it was under, nor could they stop it reappearing on MDE, so She was still able to cancel it again. They did suggest calling the Disney dining number again to ask them to try and change it into our name. Sy was so good, he was on the phone for about 45 minutes with them trying everything they could think of to change it but there was nothing that they could do The only thing she could suggest would be to cancel the reservation and book it again right away. Not wanting to keep the reservation in Her name (as I didn't trust her not to cancel it again) I said go ahead however as it was a reinstated booking that they didn't really have the space for anyway, the seats never came available again It was a stressful few days while we tried to sort something out, I got all excited when they could reinstate the booking and so disappointed when we lost it again. She did suggest to keep checking in the run up to October but tbh now it just feels tainted there. I have however booked us into the Wave for dinner and arranged (with private dining) a cake and desserts to be had at Top of the World Lounge I think this is actually even nicer than what we had planned before, okay the restaurant won't be as lively but fireworks and dessert at TOTWL?! That's pretty unique I feel a lot happier than I did at the time anyway

I had to do a lot of rejigging to the plan now that our ADR's were screwed up. So this is what the revised plan looks like...

11th Saturday
Flight 12:30pm Heathrow to Miami
Pick up car hire
Overnight near Miami
Dinner maybe Longhorn Steakhouse

12th Sunday
Breakfast in hotel
Drive to Key West
Stop on route at Deer Nature Reserve & Islamorada for tarpoon feeding
Check into key west hotel
Visit a supermarket for some drinks and nibbles for the room
Get dinner and visit sunset pier

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

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

15th Wednesday
Check out of Parrot Key hotel
Breakfast near hotel
Drive towards Ft Lauderdale
Stop in Everglades to do an airboat trip
Arrive in Ft Lauderdale
Dinner - possibly Texas de Brazil?

16th Thursday
Have breakfast in/near hotel
Drive to Orlando
Check into AKL, room might not be ready so will leave bags with bellhop in that case
go to Walmart
Bring shopping back to room, unpack/sort shopping
Change car for smaller at Disney car centre
Sanaa 6:55pm
Swim at hotel/or park if we aren't too tired

17th Friday
Whispering Canyon Cafe 8:35am
Magic Kingdom morning & afternoon till about 2/3pm
Fastpasses - Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain and Jungle Cruise (visit Tiki room and Liberty square, could get baked potato if hungry for lunch)
Swim/relax in room for a bit mid afternoon
5/6pm head to Hollywood studios Fantasmic (7:30pm)
Dinner offsite Texas de Brazil if we don't go in Ft Lauderdale or Kobe after Fantasmic.

18th Saturday
Breakfast in room
Cheese seminar (men)
Shopping morning (women)
Animal kingdom late morning & afternoon
Fastpass - Dinosaur, Lion King, Kali
Yak & Yeti dinner 5:15pm
Jellyrolls & Boardwalk evening

19th Sunday
Sunrise safari (includes breakfast)
Rest lunchtime
Epcot afternoon
Fastpass - Test Track, Spaceship Earth and Figment.
Via Napoli 7pm

20th Monday
Marceline tour 7:45am
Magic kingdom morning
Lunch be our guest if can get fastpass (try for 12pm)
Fastpass for Anna & Elsa, Storytime with Belle, Monsters inc
Leave MK after lunch
Afternoon pool & rest
Epcot late afternoon/evening
Coral reef 8:45pm
Eat to the beat Smash Mouth

21st Tuesday
Hollywood Studios morning till about 1:30pm
Fast passes - Toy Story, ToT, Muppets
Afternoon tea garden view tea room 2:35pm
Change at hotel for MNSSHP

22nd Wednesday
Check out Celebration
Breakfast in Celebration Tavern
Walmart/Publix to pick-up nibbles
Golf/spa 1:30pm arrive
WDWFGU meet in Epcot (EMH)
Fastpass for Soarin (not sure what else)
Smash mouth again eat to the beat
Dinner somewhere, maybe graze around World Showcase?

23rd Thursday
Renew vows
Grand Floridian Cafe breakfast 9:30am
Renew vows
Pictures at AKL
Hire a boat on seven seas
The wave 6:35pm
TOTWL
Hallowishes on at 9:30pm

24th Friday
Breakfast in room
Typhoon lagoon 10am opening
Culinary tour of AKL 4pm
MK evening
Fast passes - Wishes, Dwarves, Pirates

25th Saturday
Animal kingdom
Fast passes - Finding Nemo, Tough to be a Bug, meet Minnie & Mickey
Rest late afternoon
Wagon ride at pioneer hall before dinner
Hoop de doo 8:30pm

26th Sunday
1900 park fare 10:40am brunch
Hollywood Studios lunchtime till about 5pm
Fastpass - Beauty & the Beast, Little Mermaid & Stunt show
Back to hotel to change for dinner
Yachtsman steakhouse 7:30pm
TOTWL

27th Monday
Check out of AKL by 11am
Lunch somewhere? Maybe visit MK?
Fastpass - Monsters inc, Buzz Lightyear, Meet Mickey Mouse
Check into VGF
Swim by the pool for an hour or so?
Parents leave by 5-5:30pm
Change car
Dinner somewhere
Evening MK

28th Tuesday
Hollywood studios morning & afternoon
Beaches and cream 2:30pm
Epcot evening
Kiss round the world <3
Eat around the world
Wilson Philips eat to the beat

29th Wednesday
Captains grille 10am
Blizzard beach
Welcome home Wednesday possibly
Dinner somewhere maybe with Karen, Iain & family?

30th Thursday
Magic kingdom EMH morning
Golf cart for the day at Ft Wilderness
Trails end 7:20pm

31st Friday
Epcot
Chefs des France 12:40pm
Carrie's Halloween party!

1st Saturday
Kona cafe breakfast 10am
Animal kingdom
Carrie & Mark for dinner?
Fast passes for Wishes, Space Mountain
MK EMH till midnight

2nd Sunday
Seaworld
Meet up with Diane and Adam 7pm ish
Big river grille dinner at the boardwalk

3rd Monday
Seaworld again if we decide to buy tickets
Epcot evening
Tokyo dining dinner 7pm
Boyz II men eat to the beat

4th Tuesday
Check out
MK
Outback at the airport

5th Wednesday
Arrive home to Gatwick