Something Kinda Ooh! ~ Sept 2009 ~ Pre-Trip Report

[cherry-pops]

[Cross-Posted to UK TR Board]

Hi Everyone! Welcome to my Pre-Trip Report.

I've been so nervous about writing this thread, I didn't know how I would start off! But, I'm just going to launch right into it and everything should just flow!

I'm Cheryl, I'm 24-years-old and I'm planning my sixth visit to Walt Disney World for September 2009. I will be joined by my boyfriend, James, also 24 - we have been together for 7 years this summer. We live together in Norfolk in the United Kingdom.

This is us last summer in the home team's changing room at the Arsenal Emirates Stadium in London:


Our trip is being funded by my generous parents. My dad is retiring this year and my mum has chosen to use some of his payout to treat me and James to a two week holiday to Florida.

James has never been before, infact he's only ever been on a plane once and that was when we went to Spain in 2003. He's a little nervous about the long flight, but I'm sure he'll be fine. I love flying and cannot really believe it's been six years since I last went on a holiday abroad!

As I mentioned before, this will be my sixth visit to WDW - I have been with my parents five times before in '94, '96, '98, 2000 and 2002. All were summer visits in May and June, apart from in 2002 when we spend the whole Christmas holiday there.

Here are some vintage WDW photos from my previous trips, I'm pictured as a young girl with my younger brother:



Now it's time for those all important details! The Where, When and How!

We're flying with Thomson Airways from East Midlands airport in the UK to Sanford, FL - our flight times are:
Leaving:
Depart East Midlands TUES-15-SEPT 13:00 BST
Arrive Sanford, FL TUES-15-SEPT 17:25 BST
Returning:
Depart Sanford, FL TUES-29-SEPT 19:15 BST
Arrive East Midlands WEDS-30-SEPT 08:35 BST

We're staying in the Staybridge Suites on International Drive. I've never stayed on I-Drive before, but visited many times for the shopping outlets. When I've been with my parents in the past we have always rented villas with private pools and rented a car. Although we did stay in apartments on our first trip in 1994, we stayed right next door to Old Town in Kissimee and have loved that place ever since.

We're not renting a car. I'm the only driver in our coupling and I've never driven internationally before, so the whole idea just makes me extremely nervous. I know that staying off Disney property and not renting a car is risky but it's our only option really because we didn't want to limit ourselves to Disney parks - we're planning to do everything while we're there. So, being on I-Drive it will feel like we're in the middle of everything! Our accommodation does lay on shuttle buses and I'm hoping that these are going to be reliable! I have researched the Lynx bus services as well as taxi prices, just in case!

That is all for Chapter One! I shall be back soon with some more updates!


Chapter Index
#01 Introduction
#02 Itinerary
#03 Coming Soon!

[reyasmommy]

WOW, what a nice mommy and daddy you have!

Hope you have a wonderful time! Last time we went was back in September 2007 and the crowds were perfect. We rarely had to stand in line.

[OhMari]

Hi,
I just drove around Orlando for the very first time.
We usually stay on property or my dh does all the driving.

We were down the road from International Drive, on Florida Parkway, down the road from Sea World.

I thought I would be afraid to drive too, but traffic was very light. It is so easy now to get around. It took only 10 minutes to get to anywhere, I wanted to go.

If you have any questions? Let me know.

[jordanyosh]

Okay I'm in!

[cherry-pops]

I went shopping the other day and saw this t-shirt in Asda for £5! BARGAIN! I had to buy it for James - he's saving it for our holiday.


James and I were sat on our living room floor last night with some small pieces of paper and a chart trying to work out what things to do on which days. We came up with the following provisional itinerary' none of the extra ticketed events have been booked so this is all changeable.

Tuesday Sept 15
Day 0 - Fly Out

Wednesday Sept 16
Day 1 - Seaworld

Thursday Sept 17
Day 2 - Magic Kingdom

Friday Sept 18
Day 3 - Animal Kingdom

Saturday Sept 19
Day 4 - DisneyQuest, Downtown Disney, Shopping Outlets

Sunday Sept 20
Day 5 - Hot Air Balloon Ride, Typhoon Lagoon, Downtown Disney

Monday Sept 21
Day 6 - Universal Studios

Tuesday Sept 22
Day 7 -Blizzard Beach, Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

Wednesday Sept 23
Day 8 - EPCOT

Thursday Sept 24
Day 9 - Islands of Adventure, Universal Citywalk

Friday Sept 25
Day 10 - Disney's Hollywood Studios

Saturday Sept 26
Day 11 - Downtown Disney, Old Town Kissimee

Sunday Sept 27
Day 12 - Keys To The Kingdom Tour, Aquatica, Shopping Outlets

Monday Sept 28
Day 13 - Segway Experience @ EPCOT, Disney Park Hopping

Tuesday Sept 29
Day 14 - Fly Home

When it's written down like that it doesn't look like very much but I know we're going to have some really crazy days!

We tried to keep the big park days for weekdays incase it was busier on weekends.

Is there still things happening at Old Town in Kissimmee? It's been a few years since I last went! lol. I recall a classic car evening, is that Saturday night? Any info on Old Town is much appreciated because I love that place and want to have an evening strolling around there with James.

The only thing we're missing is Kennedy Space Center and because we're not driving that's the only thing with a huge question mark over how we'd go about getting there! I suppose we wouldn't know when the trips where until we got there and I want to have each day planned before we leave. I suppose some plans might change but a visit to Kennedy is a full day of your schedule which we'd find hard to spare when things start to get booked.

[Raecheal]

oh.. I"m completely in!!! We loved the segways!!!!