Pre-Trip The August 2018, All-Welcome, Orlando Extravaganza

Fankle · Mar 17, 2018

BACKGROUND – How did this all begin? (Continued)

Our last couple of trips were to Disneyland Paris in 2015 and, before that, to Orlando in 2013. We travelled as a party of 12 to Orlando at the beginning of June, staying off-site in a villa at the Terra Verde resort. As well as the four of us, my parents came together with my sister, my nieces, my sister’s partner and his daughters. Between them, the kids were attending four different schools in two countries so coordinating all their holidays was a nightmare We had a blast but we could only fly over for a week so it was a full-on trip with little down-time.

My youngest & I with another post Kali River Rapids photo. I remember that this ride ruined the camera, thankfully towards the end of the trip!

And one of my sis & I.

My youngest niece was toothless on this trip!

And one of my eldest niece ‘hanging-out’ at Universal.

Won’t be long now until she has her provisional licence!

Think this is the only non-blurry night-time photo we managed up to this point…..

DH and my two at the end of a great MK day.

I haven't uploaded photos of others on this trip until I can check with them that they don't mind.

One last bit of reminiscing still to come...

Fankle · Mar 17, 2018

BACKGROUND – How did this all begin? (Continued)

Most recently DH, DS2 & I drove to Disneyland Paris with my nieces for a more relaxed week there in October 2015. Can’t remember why DS1 couldn’t join us.

Our only real ride photo of all our trips to date…

I love the Halloween decorations. We’ve been to MNSSHP whenever we can in Paris and WDW and it’s always been a big hit.

I rather liked this shot. One of my more artistic moments!

Gotta love the villains! Cruella was brilliant. She asked about the girls’ pets then asked if their cats were big enough to make a decent fur coat…

The dragon under the castle in Paris is always pleased to see us.

We bought a new point and shoot just before this trip, getting one that is supposed to be good for low light. We’ve been pleased with it.

Well that took a little longer than I thought. Uploading photos is time-consuming. Next up, preparing for our 2018 trip!

Fankle · Mar 17, 2018

WHY NOW?

So why now? Well, It’s my 50th birthday this summer. That seemed like as good a reason as any! DS1 finishes life as a student this summer. From September he joins the working world so trips like this will only get harder to coordinate.

THE CAST

There’s me (Chief planner and coordinator) ; DH (who enjoys Disney, although it probably wouldn’t be his first choice of holiday); DS1 (aged 24 – about to transition from student life to the working world), DS2 (20 – at Uni, who has celebrated a number of birthdays at Disney); my nieces, DNs 1&2 (ages 14 & 12 – both roller-coaster nuts and up for anything) and my sons’ girlfriends, DGs 1&2 (neither of whom has spent more than a day or two in the parks before). We live in Scotland (near many of the Outlander filming locations for those who are fans). DS1 & DG1 both live in London. DS2 & DG2 are both at Uni in the North of Scotland and Colombia respectively. DNs 1&2 both live in the North of England.

We asked my folks if they’d like to come again. Unfortunately, the heat of August and the queues would be more problematic now. My sister loved all the shows but she can’t do any but the most sedate rides (not even Splash….) so she too will stay at home. BUT, being the wonderful sister she is, she is lending me her daughters for a fortnight. My nieces will ride anything, as many times as possible, whilst competing with their older cousins in every way conceivable.

Also joining us on this trip will be my sons’ girlfriends, one of whom is from the US (West Coast) and the other from Colombia. (We’re an international crowd!) The trip will have quite a different dynamic to previous trips. Everyone will be tall enough to ride everything and this time I’m pretty sure that I will be the slowest, scaredy-cat of the bunch! We will also have the nieces and girlfriends ganging up on their cousins/boyfriends in response to the boys relentless teasing…. Having ‘interviewed / interrogated’ their girlfriends via skype and spent plenty time together at various family parties, all four girls (nieces and girlfriends) are all firm friends.)

Fankle · Mar 17, 2018

WHEN ARE WE GOING?

We fly to Tampa from Manchester (UK) on Sat 18th August, returning Sat 1st September. We’ve never been during the height of the summer before and I am apprehensive about the heat and the humidity. (Even before the accent, one can usually identify the Scots folk abroad by the blue-white pallor of their limbs and their squinting at the bright sunshine.) Our previous Orlando trips have been in October and early June. October was great. Lower crowds and warm, dry weather with the added fun of Halloween. This time, late August is the one time we can all go. On the plus side, we can go for a fortnight when we’ve only ever managed one week before. TWO WHOLE WEEKS!

The travelling will be a drag. We have a fly-drive package booked with BA (and their partner American Airlines). Three flights on the way out – 7am from Manchester to Heathrow. Heathrow to Miami (arriving 3pm). Then Miami to Tampa (arriving 6:30pm). Two flights on the way home – Tampa to Chicago, an afternoon at Chicago airport then an overnight flight back to Manchester. On the plus side, flights and car hire for 6 of us, all-in, came to £2.5k GBP.

I looked at pretty much every combination and every route and this was, by far, the most cost-effective. Some of the connections on the way out seem a little tight; we have about 2.5hrs in Miami to collect our luggage, clear immigration and go back through security. However, since we’re booked entirely through BA, if there are problems they’ll get us there. Travel day will be a write-off regardless. Direct flights were twice the price. We’ll put up with the inconvenience. More to spend on fun stuff while we’re there. As a further bonus, booking fly-drive rather than just flights meant that we only paid a £300 deposit on booking rather than the full flight costs.

The DGs are flying out to join us independently for the first 8 days of the trip (one from London and the other from Bogota). Both fly directly to Orlando, arriving a few hours before us. One is already working and can’t take a longer vacation. The other is at Uni and it's term time, so she too can only take a week away. Still, it allows them both 7 full park days.

Fankle · Mar 17, 2018

WHERE TO STAY

Our first night is at the Comfort Inn, Maingate. Given that we’ll arrive late we don’t need more than a place to sleep. We have two rooms booked – a regular double and a family room for 6. (It has one double bed and two sets of bunk-beds in an alcove off the main room which will be cosy!) After that we have two rooms booked for three nights at Animal Kingdom Lodge… (One savannah and one pool view). Finally we have 10 nights booked at a villa on the Veranda Palms resort near Kissimmee.

Animal Kingdom Lodge has always been a family favourite. On our first Orlando trip we split our stay between I-Drive and Coronado Springs. We were so glad we stayed on-site after staying on I-Drive. There was no comparison. On that trip we ate at Boma and fell in love with AKL. On our second trip Orlando trip we split the trip between Port Orleans (French Quarter) and AKL in a standard room. Last time, with 12 of us, we rented a villa off-site, We did visit AKL to at Boma one evening.

This time I debated between the Polynesian and AKL. We’ve never visited the Poly but it’s always looked enticing. However, when I told the boys that I was considering somewhere other than AKL, I was clearly facing mutiny, so AKL it is. I love it too and a Savannah view will be a treat. I do plan to incorporate a visit to Trader Sam’s and a meal at Ohana one evening (already booked!)

After three days at AKL we move off-site to a 5-bed villa at the Veranda Palms resort (booked through HomeAway, a site I’ve used successfully a couple of times before). We really enjoyed the villa experience on our last trip. AKL will be great and I love the convenience and fun of being on-site. However, even with 8 of us filling two rooms to capacity, it’s expensive. A villa will help us to balance the cost. It will also give us the opportunity to spread out. Four adults/teenagers per room is tough for any length of time. It will also allow us to do some self-catering. We all enjoy eating out on holiday but every night would be too much for us.

This time our on-site stay is at the beginning of the trip. Reading up on what’s changed since 2013, I understand that this will mean earlier access to book fast-passes than if we stayed off-site first. So much has changed since our last trip. Back then we used fast-pass runners to pick up paper fast-passes for everyone!

Fankle · Mar 18, 2018

UNEXPECTED BONUS OF WRITING A PRE-TRIP REPORT

It didn’t occur to me until after I began posting this that, there’s an unexpected bonus to writing about our plans online, particularly when planning for a larger party who all live in different places and different time zones. I emailed the thread link to everyone so they can follow the planning as much or as little as they want. No doubt they’ll let me know if they disagree with anything!

DH and the boys are used to my obsessive planning when it comes to Disney trips. After several trips they understand the benefit of a touring plan/strategy, advance dining reservations etc. When I’m talking to them about plans (usually months in advance) I know to stop when their eyes start to glaze over…. This way everyone can read (or not) at their leisure and I needn’t keep repeating myself.

Fankle · Mar 18, 2018

THE REVEAL

We booked the flights and accommodation back in October last year. The boys and their girlfriends needed to know because they all have commitments/exams etc that needed to be factored in. My sister knew (since I had to ask if she’d lend me her daughters again). In fact most of the family knew except for my nieces. Keeping it a secret was really tough. The boys nearly blew it a couple of times and had to do some fast-talking to back pedal. We finally told the girls in February after Christmas during their half-term break. I didn’t want to leave it too late to tell them because the anticipation is part of the fun and I want their input for the planning too.

For our last Florida trip we used the treasure-hunt reveal followed by a short slide show with pictures of where we were going etc. I can’t remember how we told them about the last Disneyland Paris trip. This time we knew we had to be more inventive, otherwise they’d guess straight away. With family spread over countries and continents we use a messenger group to exchange photos and for light hearted keeping in touch. We thought we’d use that for the reveal since it allowed everyone to participate from everywhere (and we were pretty confident that the girls would react as soon as their phones went ping with the first message).

I started by sending a photo of a mountain near where we were at the time. My youngest messaged “Call that a mountain…” adding a picture of Everest. (The real one - he’s into climbing.) I countered with a photo of Expedition Everest, claiming that my mountain was better. This led to a fast and furious exchange of pictures of mountains (and everything mountain related) from all over the world and a debate as to which were best.

I kept sending pictures of Disney mountains – Splash, Big-Thunder, Space….. Gotta hand it to the Colombian mountains….They look awesome. BUT, they don’t have ROLLER-COASTERS…. At this point both girls were participating fully in this battle of the thumbs but were still clueless. Eventually I was challenged to prove that my mountains were the best. Only one way to do that. Cue the film…..

I started with powerpoint adding pics of where we were going, where we were staying, who was coming etc and what’s new since our last trip. This time I was able to get really good footage of Happily Ever After with the soundtrack to embed too, along with several up-beat Disney songs. DS2 helped me turn the whole thing into a movie file. Complete overkill but the technical challenge of getting all the slide transitions to work with the music changes hooked me. Kept me amused.... Their reactions were worth the effort and we were able to share the fun with everyone.

Monty · Mar 18, 2018

Sounds fun. I’ll be there from the 25th through the 2nd with my DS and his fiancé.

Fankle · Mar 18, 2018

Monty said:
Sounds fun. I’ll be there from the 25th through the 2nd with my DS and his fiancé.

Sounds like we'll be in good company! (If you hear singing along to the tunes on the rides that will probably be my nieces.) Looking at your countdown, you'll be at AKL pretty soon...

Fankle · Mar 18, 2018

FOOD, DRINK & ADVANCE DINING RESERVATIONS (‘ADR’s)

We’ve always enjoyed eating out on our trips to Orlando. Everyone in the family enjoys good food and everyone in the family cooks, including the kids. All the kids tended to graduate to eating from the adult menus from about aged 6. Since portion sizes in the US are typically large, we often shared meals from the adult menus. The servers have always been happy to accommodate this (and we tipped accordingly).

On our last Disneyland Paris trip, with her usual spirit of adventure, our youngest niece was determined to try the snails from the buffet. (She loves olives & marinated anchovies. Snails can’t be too different right?) The expressions on the girls’ faces were priceless. First we have trepidation, in anticipation of the first snail (and big sister’s expression saying I’ve been there before, I really don’t think you’ll like this…..)…..

Followed by……. So not as nice as the anchovies…..

Some restaurants we’ve enjoyed more than others and Boma at AKL has become a family favourite. The only real misses we’ve had with on-site dining were a few years ago at the Pepper Market food court at Coronado Springs and at California Grill at the Contemporary. (I’m hiding under my desk as I type, waiting for the howls of outrage to die down. I know many folk really rate California Grill highly.)

At the Pepper Market, the food was ‘meh’. The atmosphere felt like a school canteen and the food was prepared at different stations. It meant everyone sat down at a different time so either we waited for the last person (while food went cold) or we didn’t eat together.

At the other end of the scale the Contemporary is another meal that everyone remembers for the wrong reasons. My youngest (then just turned 7) chose ravioli from the adult menu. We have Italian heritage so he thought he had a pretty good idea what to expect. Sadly, what arrived was a ‘raviolo’ (as in the singular). One, solitary, lonely, (albeit large) raviolo. I don’t recall that it was meant to be an appetiser. It took him a matter of moments to polish that off before he turned his hungry, pleading gaze in the direction of my beautifully cooked (but by no means generously portioned) rare, fillet steak….. So we ‘shared’ as in, he ate two thirds of it….. (I’m clearly a soft touch!).

Don’t remember too much more about the meal. We all ate three courses and saw the fireworks from the balcony but we were all rather underwhelmed by the experience. Unusually, we found ourselves snacking later on. I’m sure we’d enjoy it if we went back but, there are too many other options on the bucket list for our next trip and we have fine-dining options nearby at home. Restaurants that have good food and are fun rather than formal seem better suited to us.

I started aiming to be budget-conscious. Even the youngest at age 12 is a couple of years past the ‘adult’ threshold for meal pricing so we’re pricing for 8 adults. Then our ADR window opened and there were just so many great places on my bucket list….. Now I’m just starting to go through the reservations and look at the pricing in more detail. It will come down to what gives us the most fun/enjoyment per $$.

With the exception of perhaps one character breakfast, I think we’ll try to eat breakfast in the room/before we reach the parks. I think we’ll also try to bring food into the parks with us for lunch. (Not sure what yet though.) I’m looking at Garden Grocer to get stuff delivered. I have budgeted for a snack per day per person. To deny everyone a dole whip, a Nutella waffle or a mickey bar might spark mutiny. (I may also face mutiny if there’s not at least one Micky waffle in the plans somewhere.)

For the most part, knowing the gang, I think we’ll get most fun out of sit-down evening meals, BBQs at the villa and a few counter-service evening meals. For meals at the villa, I have a crafty plan… I figure that everyone can take a turn cooking, in pairs (AND CLEARING UP THEIR OWN COOKING MESS !!! – been caught by that one before….). So, if you’re reading troops, start thinking of menu ideas (that aren’t too elaborate, PLEASE…..). My lot are always keen to cook something adventurous. DH & I need to prepare ourselves to ignore the questions, exclamations and bangs from the kitchen when it’s not our turn to cook. I’m thinking a sun-lounger, earphones, my book….. and an aperitif ….. or two….

The Dining Bucket List
These are the restaurants on my bucket list for this trip:

Boma (Dinner) – A firm family favourite. The setting is fun, the atmosphere is always relaxed and the food has always been great. With a fixed-price buffet, the kids can be as adventurous as they like AND… I can choose what I want to eat without fear of anyone deciding they like my food better than their own!

Ohana (Dinner) – I’d like to visit the Polynesian. The restaurant looks fun and the family-style, fixed-price dining appeals.

Raglan Road (Dinner) – It gets great reviews and what’s not to like about Irish music and entertainment?

Le Cellier (Dinner) – Every time we’ve visited I’ve walked past this restaurant and wanted to eat there. This time we have the ADR! (Actually two ADRs since, with the help of a very nice cast member, I had to split the party under two bookings to achieve it.)

Now though I’m having second thoughts. It’s one of our more expensive options (especially for 8 of us) and I think it’s really only me and my youngest who are the real steak fans …. Albeit this time he can order his own! We cook a pretty mean steak at home. I may find myself releasing this ADR in favour of Spice Road Table or Tutto Italia. Hmmm….. Decisions, decisions….

Others on the list include:

Sanaa (Dinner) – I’m in two minds about this one. Seem to be Indian/African fusion. It gets great reviews online and the prospect of eating whilst overlooking the savanna sounds fun. The menu looks ok. Everyone raves about the bread service which bemuses me. It just looks like different types of naan and a variety of chutneys/dips…… Am I missing something?

In the UK we have fabulous Indian restaurants/ take-outs everywhere so whilst Sanaa looks good, a lot of the menu looks pretty similar to standard menu choices here. The alternative would be Jiko or eating at Boma twice. (We ate at Jiko on a previous trip and enjoyed it.) Sanaa’s location swung the vote in its favour this time, so I think we’ll eat there on our first night at AKL.

Whispering Canyon (Dinner) at the Wilderness Lodge – It’s a beautifully themed hotel and the antics at this restaurant sound like they’d be fun with our party. However, there’s only so much we can do in one trip and Ohana probably appeals more this time.

Tiffins (Dinner) – I have an ADR for the second week for the Rivers of Light Dining Package. However, I think we’ll try to see the show in the stand-by line during our first week and cancel this. The menu looks good but some of the reservations will need to go unless I’m trying to give both DH and the bank manager a heart-attack!

BOG (Breakfast or Lunch) – This is on my list just because I’m curious as to what all the fuss is about! I have an ADR for a party of 3 for day 1 at noon. No luck so far trying to increase the party size. Not convinced that we’ll keep this reservation either.

Character Dining

We’ve had fun with character dining in the past but we have no young kids in our party now so I’m not sure if it has the same appeal. I have this le at the back of my mind that without it we’ll feel like we missed something so I haven’t ruled this out yet. If we do it’ll be during the second week. We’ve always done meals with the ‘standard’ characters before – Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Chip ‘n’ Dale…. So, this time I’m considering one of these options:

O’hana (Breakfast) – With Lilo & Stich. Stitch is a favoured character by all the kids…. And it’s at the Poly!

Supercalifragalistic (Breakfast) @ 1900 Park Fare with Alice, Mary Poppins and the Mad Hatter. (I’ve read that the Mad Hatter is fun.)

Cinderella’s @ 1900 Park Fare (Dinner) – No-one so far has expressed any particular desire to meet any of the princesses but, with our party it sounds like the stepsisters might be fun.

Has anyone had any experience with any of these? I’d love to hear about them.

I thought Epcot might be at the bottom of the park list for the kids this time. I thought they might prefer more time elsewhere (even more time at Universal….). Chatting to them, surprised me. It turns out that some of their top memories are ‘snacking/eating around the world’. The Food & Wine festival kicks in at Epcot during the last three days of our trip so I’m sure that will be a hit.

fractal · Mar 19, 2018

Sounds like a great trip being planned!

As someone that has gone several time during the late July/early August I can tell you - get ready for the heat and humidity. Mid afternoons in the parks are challenging.

I recommend Ohana's and Sanaa. I understand your reservations regarding Sanaa but the food has always been very good and the atmosphere alone is reason enough to go. Where else can you eat and watch giraffes prance right by your window? I don't think you'll regret it.

Fankle · Mar 19, 2018

fractal said:
As someone that has gone several time during the late July/early August I can tell you - get ready for the heat and humidity. Mid afternoons in the parks are challenging.

I recommend Ohana's and Sanaa. I understand your reservations regarding Sanaa but the food has always been very good and the atmosphere alone is reason enough to go. Where else can you eat and watch giraffes prance right by your window? I don't think you'll regret it.

Thanks Fractal! Afternoon breaks definitely seem like the way to go.... The food does get great reviews at Sanaa. I think it will be a great place to eat on our first night at AKL. You're right, short of actually going on safari, where else could we do this. No point staying at AKL if we don't take time to enjoy the resort!

Fankle · Mar 24, 2018

Life’s Little Essentials (A.K.A. Glow-in-the-Dark Cocktails!)

For our 2013 Orlando trip, my inventive sister brought with her all the ingredients needed for a cocktail party by the pool at our villa (mostly non-alcoholic). We had flavours, colours, umbrellas, fruit, weird-shaped ice-cubes….. It was great fun. On the girls’ summer bucket list last year was to drink a smoothie out of a mango. That was harder and messier than it looked but we managed it!

In 2015 at Disneyland Paris, my nieces and I graduated to glow-in-the-dark cocktails. As I recall, mine was a blue glowtini. Not sure what the red one was or who ordered it. DS1 turned 18 on that trip. It might have been his first legal alcoholic drink. In fact, as I recall we made him go to the bar, driving licence at the ready, to place the order only for the bar-tender to serve him without question. We’ll need to make sure the older ‘kids’ in our party keep their IDs with them on this trip.

Last summer, to christen a new, small garden pond that has been several years in the making we had a BBQ/glow-in-the-dark party out-doors. It had been a warm day and I jokingly suggested the girls should bring swim suits and they took me seriously…. It did take several hot chocolates to revive them afterwards. (Right now the same pond is covered in a layer of ice. It might be technically spring but it snowed most of last weekend.)

So my question to all you knowledgeable people on the forum is – What are the best cocktails we should look out for in Walt Disney World? Both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. I’m not a fan of super-sweet drinks, so recommendations for drinks that with a hint of bitterness/acidity would be appreciated. Glow in the dark definitely wins points.

Part of the attraction of visiting the Poly is for pre-dinner drinks at Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto. I understand that we’ll need to get there early and that when it’s busy they hand out buzzers (in the same way as when you check in for a dining reservation). If anyone has recent experience they can share I’d be grateful. I figure that we’ll get there early and, if there’s a wait, we can explore the resort.

Another place that I’m considering adding to the bucket list is Jock Lindsey’s Hanger Bar in Disney Springs, perhaps before we go to Raglan Road for dinner. I’ve looked at the Edison too. Any thoughts or recommendations would be welcome.

Fankle · Mar 24, 2018

PRE-TRIP PIXIE DUST

Tidying up my emails and gathering everything holiday-related into one folder, I found an email from BA from a few week ago that I obviously didn’t read carefully at the time. BA changed our flights! When I originally read it, I spotted a minor change to the timing of one of the earlier flights and didn’t think any more of it. Reading in more carefully, they’ve completely re-routed us on the way home. Instead of flying via Chicago, we’re flying home via Philadelphia.

One of the major downsides of the flights we originally booked was a long, long wait in Chicago. Originally we left Tampa for Chicago at 10:45am, spending all afternoon at Chicago airport then flying overnight to Manchester at 7:45pm. Now, we don’t leave Tampa until 5:05pm to fly to Philadelphia. We leave Philadelphia for Manchester at 9:10pm, still arriving back in the UK at 9am the following day. This means that, instead of an early start on our return travel day, driving straight to the airport, we can spend an extra half-day in the parks and finish with an early lunch. Yaaaay!!!

Fankle · Mar 24, 2018

WHICH PARKS & WHERE TO GO – DECISIONS, DECISIONS

There are so many options for how to spend time in Florida other than the obvious choices of Disney and Universal. On our first Orlando trip, we drove out to the Kennedy Space Centre for a day which was fun and a nice change of pace. We also spent a couple of evenings on I-Drive since it was close to the hotel.

On our second trip we spent a day at Discovery Cove which we thoroughly enjoyed (no dolphin swim). However, SeaWorld has never really appealed and the older I get, the more I find myself troubled by animals that are encouraged to perform for our entertainment. We also spent a day at Busch Gardens on our second trip. It was fun but it really was just roller-coasters sitting alongside animals with little theming. One trip was enough. This time we did consider spending half a day at Gatorland &/or the everglades but, on reflection we’d rather spend more time at either Disney, Universal or at the Waterparks……

WATER-PARKS & MINI-GOLF

We’ve spent time at the water-parks on all our trips and we love them. We use them instead of rest days scattered throughout the trip. We tend to get there for opening, enjoy the slides first then spend time lounging or floating in the lazy rivers. There’s nothing remotely like these in the UK. There are indoor ‘fun’ pools but they’re not the same at all. They’re loud, echoing, chlorine-smelling places with no theming and no sunshine.

On our last, big family trip we made it to Typhoon Lagoon but not to Blizzard Beach. Sadly a tropical storm on our last morning meant a change of plan. One of my enduring memories from Typhoon Lagoon is taking three small, happy, excited girls into the wave pool and emerging 10 minutes later with two of them wailing and at least one bleeding. (I had forgotten just how vicious the waves there are!)

We tried Wet ’n’ Wild on one previous trip and were thoroughly disappointed (having already experienced the two Disney parks). This time everyone is super-excited to try Volcano Bay. So that’s at least three days planned – one for each of Typhoon Lagoon, Blizzard Beach and Volcano Bay! Hoping we can get some time at Volcano Bay later on the day/evening too. It looks awesome at night. Hopefully they’ll have sorted out their technological teething issues by this summer and some of the ‘new-park’ novelty will have worn off.

I also have fond memories of playing crazy-golf in Orlando. I think we did this once one evening on I-Drive and once at Fantasia Gardens too. If we can squeeze this into our plans one evening I’d like to include it. We haven’t managed this often though because, after a full-day, we’re usually too tired… Anyone have any recommendations other than the Disney courses? Which ones have the most surprises/best theming?

ELeigh · Mar 29, 2018

Fankle said:
We fly to Tampa from Manchester (UK) on Sat 18th August, returning Sat 1st September. We’ve never been during the height of the summer before and I am apprehensive about the heat and the humidity. (Even before the accent, one can usually identify the Scots folk abroad by the blue-white pallor of their limbs and their squinting at the bright sunshine.) Our previous Orlando trips have been in October and early June. October was great. Lower crowds and warm, dry weather with the added fun of Halloween. This time, late August is the one time we can all go. On the plus side, we can go for a fortnight when we’ve only ever managed one week before. TWO WHOLE WEEKS!

While it will probably be hot and humid hopefully not peak crowds as kids in FL are headed back to school by then

morgan22 · Mar 30, 2018

We too have a big family trip planned ... in August .... flying from Manchester, on AA ... into Tampa ...BUT ... we fly home on 18th so we'll pass you mid-air with our sad faces on!

We've been visiting regularly since 1988 when I was just 10 yrs old ... so I have a 'special' birthday this year too. It's our 30th anniversary trip and I will be doing a pre-trip report & trip report as I have been instructed by dd1 (turning 12 whilst we're there).... you're so organised to have done yours!

Your plans look great. The only adr I've made so far .... is lunch at BOG for dd1's birthday ... there are 10 of us so I was desperate to secure it ! We ate at Raglan Road last trip and I managed to get Beaches and Cream too ...
you mention 1900 Park Fare for character meals ... we did breakfast last time and tbh it wasn't my favourite ... I love Chef Mickeys and Crystal Palace but 1900 seemed so noisy and chaotic and the food was subpar ...

I look forward to reading more from you as your plans progress xx

Fankle · Mar 31, 2018

ELeigh said:
While it will probably be hot and humid hopefully not peak crowds as kids in FL are headed back to school by then

Fingers crossed! I remember our October trips being quieter than our last visit at the beginning of June. I'm not sure though if part of that isn't just down to overall increases in crowd levels. The weather was pleasantly warm but I do recall that if there was a breeze, it could be a little cool for swimming. We were okay with the heat in June. Great for the pool but we did have a tropical storm that wiped out a half day with an utter deluge. I'm crossing my fingers that we don't get anything that disruptive, although it it hurricane season......

Fankle · Mar 31, 2018

morgan22 said:
We too have a big family trip planned ... in August .... flying from Manchester, on AA ... into Tampa ...BUT ... we fly home on 18th so we'll pass you mid-air with our sad faces on!

Oh wow. We really will pass each other in mid air! Congratulations on your anniversary. (We hit our 25th a couple of years ago.)

You did well to get a BOG lunch reservation for 10, particularly with the changes they've made to the dinner set up there. Thanks for the tip about 1900 Park Fare. I have more ADRs at the moment than I think we'll need. I need to be ruthless and go through to cut some out. One or two extra things I'll probably keep in reserve in case plans change and some we may keep or release depending on how the budget is looking! There are some good counter-service options too.

I started to write the trip report a few weeks back when the weather was so awful and I've found it to be really helpful to organise my thoughts. A big group is always harder to coordinate.... Look forward to reading about your trip.

Pre-Trip The August 2018, All-Welcome, Orlando Extravaganza

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