Is it too early to start a PTR? Oh well!

Hola! Bonjour! Konichiwa! Guten Tag! Hello! This is my PTR for my families October 2011 trip. I've always wanted to do a TR from our previous trips, but I've never got round to it or if I did, I've just never finished it (I think I made one post on a previous one).

This is our 6th trip to Orlando, we're going for 3 weeks and we plan on going to Disney, Universal, Islands of Adventure, Sea World and Aquatica. We also plan on doing MNSSHP and ... HHN:lookaroun
Our last trip to Orlando was in October 2008 and we weren't supposed to be going for a good while yet, as I had college for another year and then I will be going onto University next September. As this year was a big year for birthdays, because it was my 18th in June and it is my Moms 50th in August, my dad decided to throw out all plans and let my mom book a trip for whenever we wanted.

We were only supposed to go for 17 days and there was supposed to be 2 additional members of our trip.
These extra two people were my brother and my nephew. We were only supposed to go for 17 days to be fair to my nephews mother who would of course miss her son. Then later on, family drama ensued and my nephews mother decided he could go, then she changed her mind and told us he couldn't go, which then changed my brothers mind and he decided not to go.

Anyway! After the family drama, we decided to extend our trip to 21 days and here are the finalists who made the cut!

Me! I've just turned 18 in June, big disney lover, harry potter lover, musician, college student, big roller coaster enthusiast and all around nerd.

There is a photo of me and my nephew!

My mom! She is the big 5-0 in August. Big Disney fan, loves all the parks in Orlando, and really looking forward to our trip. She loves all the rides in Disney but is not a big rollercoaster fan, although she does try them.
Favourite rides - EE, Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Splash, Haunted Mansion, TT and Star Tours
She also likes The Mummy ride and Spiderman (Which obviously aren't in Disney:zipit

My dad! He is 52 in September. He's not a huge Disney fan, but he does enjoy the parks and loves going on all of the rides and shopping. He works hard away from home all year round so he deserves this trip. He is also my roller coaster buddy!
Favourite rides - Star Tours, Tower of Terror, RnRC, The Muppets
(The Hulk, Spiderman and Kraken) Which aren't in Disney!

A family photo! I'm glad on this trip, my hair will look a lot better than that:lol:

Sorry for the long post! I'll post some more stuff in another one!

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Excellent PTR!!! Although Disney is my fav, we love to take time and do other things like Sea World, Busch Gardens and Universal. In fact next spring we're going to skip our usual day at Universal and do Discovery Cove!! (we've been to Uni twice since Potter opened so we want to try something different!)

 

[Alexx]

Excellent PTR!!! Although Disney is my fav, we love to take time and do other things like Sea World, Busch Gardens and Universal. In fact next spring we're going to skip our usual day at Universal and do Discovery Cove!! (we've been to Uni twice since Potter opened so we want to try something different!)

Thank you! Yeah Disney will always be my favourite too, but we can't go to Orlando and not go to the other parks. Oh Discovery Cove, that'll be a sweet day! We've never been there but we wanted to.

 

[Alexx]

Here's a second part to the post above. Although I'm writing a PTR and getting excited about the trip, we haven't exactly booked everything yet, so there could be a few details missing from this. But we are DEFINITELY going!

Hotel
This is one of the details we haven't finished booking yet, we haven't decided what hotel we're staying at. One fact is that we're staying off-site, this is due to HIGH flight costs, we're saving money so we have more to spend on souvenirs and other items.
My mom is in charge of booking everything and she has a big list of hotels, which will be narrowed down to one, soon enough.

Flight
As always, we'll fly with Virgin Atlantic into Orlando International Airport, the problem we usually have is whether to fly from Manchester or Gatwick. Gatwick is usually the cheaper option (although not by much), so we'll drive 6 hours to Gatwick and fly from there.

Plan
Unlike many people on here, we don't follow a day to day plan for parks, we go with the flow of things. This year though, we have a bit of a plan to follow. Going with the theme of things saving money, we bought 14 day passes for each of the parks. 14 day passes you say? I thought you were going for 21 days?
Yes! That is correct we are going for 21 days, so we have decided to start with the parks on one ticket first, and then start the next set of parks the week after.
This year we're starting with the tickets with Universal in them, because I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan and I cannot wait to get to WWOHP, so I've convinced my parents to start there.

Things we DEFINITELY need to do this trip
It has been 3 years since we last visited Orlando, so of course there are some new things which are in the parks. So here is a list of what we most definitely have to do this trip.

1. Ride the new rides that have been built since we last visited
Manta
Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey
Star Tours 2
Rip Ride Rock It
I think there are some others but I can't remember at the minute!

2. Visit WWOHP
As I said earlier, I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan, and I just can't wait to go to that section!

3. Do MNSSHP and HHN
We've done MNSSHP on our last trip and it's safe to say we're doing it again! We loved it, it was just fantastic. A new thing on our trip though is HHN, the Universal Halloween party. I'm looking forward to it, but I am most definitely terrified!:lookaroun

4. Dine at a sit down Disney Restaurant
We've been 5 times and we've never actually made reservations at a restaurant on Disney property. It's always been quick service stuff, but I think that's changing this year. I'm pretty certain we're doing the Fantasmic package, with dinner at Mama Melrose.

Another thing I will be writing about is weight loss. I want to lose a bit of weight before I go to Orlando, not too much though as I don't think I'm too big. I just have a bit of a stomach and my waist is a bit big so hopefully I'll be able to do it and my laziness won't take over!

 

[Alexx]

An update on our trip.

We still haven't fully booked but we have the dates.
4th October until the 25th October, so three long weeks in Orlando.

Also, we have started making reservations, and i've made one so far.
Tusker House Restaurant
Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park
Time: 10:10am (Breakfast Includes Characters)

If anyone has any good suggestions where else we could eat, I'd appreciate it although it must include vegetarian food as my mom is a vegetarian.

 

[brifraz]

Alexx,

Sounds like a nice sized adventure you guys have planned. Don't worry about posting an early trip report, we are about to post our PTR for a trip next April!

In terms of dining as a vegetarian, Disney is the best. I was a strict vegetarian for 12 years and no matter where I ate at Disney there was something (or I asked the chef and often made them happy by allowing them to be creative!). For the past few years, I have allowed some poultry and seafood to creep back into my diet, but when at Disney I still tend to choose vegetarian. Here is a decent article about dining vegetarian at Disney http://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2011/01/20/a-vegetarian-in-disney-tips-from-an-expert/

Also, hope you enjoy your trip from Manchester! We also travel from Manchester each time we visit, but we drive!! (OK, so that's Manchester in Maryland, USA :animwink

 

[Alexx]

Another update!

Here's another update to our trip. We've finally booked our flights! So this means we're officially going now!

Flying from LGW 4th October into MCO.

Then flying back on the 24th October. This gives us 20 days to enjoy our holiday!

I've also got a surprise set for my parents, I've made a reservation for them at wolfgang puck cafe at downtown disney. It's just for them two so I'll have to go shopping or something (oh what a shame:lol

Then during their meal I've ordered a cake to be brought out to them, so hopefully they'll like it!

That's all for now!

 

[Disney Shib]

@ALEXX
I am actually heading to Disney World with my family in October as well. We are going from the 7th though the 16th. Both of my parents turned 50 this year and I turned 25 so we decided to all go down as a family. The last time we all went down was in 2009 and it was just our immediate family...mom, dad, myself and younger brother who is 23 now. This time we are all bringing our significant others and a few other family members are joining. I can't wait!

After reading your PTR and seeing how much of a fan you are, you should ask around about the Disney College Program while you are in Orlando since you are a college student. I did it during my Spring semester in 2007 and it was one of the best experiences of my life. I met some of my best friends during the program. My poor boyfriend is still listening to my stories LOL. Enjoy your trip!

 

[olinecoach61]

Wow! 3 weeks in Orlando is going to be awesome! Look forward to further updates.

 

[Alexx]

Wow! 3 weeks in Orlando is going to be awesome! Look forward to further updates.

Yesss, I'm looking forward to it!

@ALEXX
I am actually heading to Disney World with my family in October as well. We are going from the 7th though the 16th. Both of my parents turned 50 this year and I turned 25 so we decided to all go down as a family. The last time we all went down was in 2009 and it was just our immediate family...mom, dad, myself and younger brother who is 23 now. This time we are all bringing our significant others and a few other family members are joining. I can't wait!

After reading your PTR and seeing how much of a fan you are, you should ask around about the Disney College Program while you are in Orlando since you are a college student. I did it during my Spring semester in 2007 and it was one of the best experiences of my life. I met some of my best friends during the program. My poor boyfriend is still listening to my stories LOL. Enjoy your trip!

Oh nice! I hope you have a good trip. I love Disney in October so the trip should be awesome.

I'll ask about it when I go! Haha it'll be good if I could get on the college program.