Passport sent off :D

Charlie's passport is now all filled in and sent off (well, left at the post office, she'll post it Monday ) :D

And another $100 on one of my cards! $900 on each now, so think I may need to get another! I don't like the idea of so much money being in one place, I'd be more comfortable if no more than $1000 is on each card.

Charlie's passport almost done!

Charlie's passport form is now finally filled in and his picture taken! Now I just need to get the post office to countersign it, then send it with check and send, which I should be doing tomorrow as long as there's nothing we've missed.

So hopefully in a couple of weeks we'll have his passport and we can do his ESTA and API's :D

Then it's just Ben's to go!

Once they're done, the ADR's will be booked from the 14th onwards until all days are booked, then the checklist will be almost completed!! :D

October hours are out!

October park hours, and more importantly, EMH hours are now out so I can work out our ADR's

I've had to tweak a few things but not many, so hopefully the plan is now...

Wed 10 -
Pretend kids are going to school - Surprise DVD - Train to London Hotel

Thu 11 -
Gatwick 09:15 to Sanford 14:25 Monarch(MON349)
Check-in: 06:15 South Term – Request seats
Pick up car – Alamo –
Walmart for Sat Nav and food
Pick up villa keys – Find villa

Fri 12 -
Disney Park- Disney Hollywood Studios

Sat 13 –
I drive

Sun 14 -
Disney Park – Animal Kingdom

Mon 15 -
Rest Day

Tue 16 -
Up early, drive to and check in to Hard Rock Hotel
Leave bags, get FOL passes and head to Universal Studios

Wed 17 –
Early entry to IOA and WWoHP
Check out 11am, put bags in car, head back to IOA

Thu 18 -
Arrive at 8:30cm at Discovery Cove

Fri 19 -
Disney Park – Magic Kingdom

Sat 20 –
Shopping - Florida Mall - Outlet stores

Sun 21 –
Water Park morning – Park afternoon

Mon 22 -
Disney Park – Epcot – Food and Wine – World Showcase a must this time

Tue 23 –
Sea World

Wed 24 –
NOT SURE YET

Thu 25 -
Sanford 16:25 to London Gatwick 05:45 Fri Monarch(MON348)
Check in: 13.25 into Sanford airport Lounge

Reached the 2k mark!

Woop! $2k now saved!! :D

Another $100 on the card...

Making $1900 so far!

I'm looking into getting a photoshoot done at the Poly! The photos I've seen are stunning, it would be lovely to have some nice family shots :D I'm not sure how to book one, I think I may have to ring, and we'll need matching outfits!

Almost at the 2k mark!

$1800 now saved :D

$300 in cash

$700 on one card

$800 on the other card :D

We're struggling with the big reveal now, I've asked the school and we're not really allowed to do anything! So surprising them at school could only be me collecting them unexpectedly and just telling them...I did want something bigger...

Another idea is to tell them we're going somewhere, but not Florida, so they can say bye to their friends, and then tell them when we pick them up we're off to Florida!

Ooooor the DVD idea, keep them off for the whole day instead of half a day, without them knowing...they'll think they're going to school (but I'll make sure they've said bye to their friends the day before), we'll pretend for some reason school won't start till a bit later that day so will stick on a DVD...which will reveal everything :D

I'm thinking of going with the last one :D I did want the surprise to be on the day we leave but also so they can say bye to their friends so I was stuck. But I don't think Cameron will be too bothered really, and Alyssa can say bye as usual on the playground the day before (their mum's know we're going so I'm sure they'd wait a few extra minutes :D ).

So then we can get all the bags packed the day/night before, and then just before we're ready to leave we'll stick the DVD on and film their reaction to keep forever! :D

Top up!

Added another $200 on one of the cards today so each card now has $700 on it :D

I really must ring up and get the pin for both of them!

So, added to the $300 we now have in cash, we have a total of $1700 saved! :D

The last time we went, although it was only me and 2 children, we only had around $2000 when we left and we were fine, so we're well on the way to going on an amazing holiday with the added bonus of not having to count pennies once we're out there! :D

Birthday money...

I forgot to post yesterday, My Uncle Ian sent me a birthday card last week but it only arrived yesterday!

I have $20 more to add to my fund :D

And the kids both have $15 each too so another $50 towards our savings! :D $1500 with 6 1/2 months left, half way to my target! :D

Check list updated...

Hotel the night before flight - BOOKED

Used avios airmiles so was free. Day's Hotel (formally Skylane hotel)

Pick up from airport/train station to the hotel

Return to airport in the morning

Flights - BOOKED

Thu 11-OCT-12 London Gatwick(09:15) to Sanford(14:25) Monarch(MON349)

Check-in: 07:15 Thu Gatwick South Term

Thu 25-OCT-12 4 seats Sanford(16:25) to London Gatwick(05:45 Fri) Monarch(MON348)

Your baggage allowance is 20kgs per adult/child.

Villa - BOOKED

Thu 11-OCT-12 14 nights Disney Area Villas 4D, Disney Area - Self Catering

1 x 3 Bedroom Villa. Sleeps from 2 to 6 Adults plus 2 Children. 1x Cot Space

Address: Disney Area Villas

6365 W Irlo Bronson Memorial Hwy

Kissimmee

FL

34747

Tel. 001 407 362 1017

Car hire - BOOKED

Thu 11-OCT-12 14 Days 1 x INTERMEDIATE 4DR AUTO 2BAG AC

Insurance: Fully Inclusive

Pick-up: Alamo Desk at Airport Drop-off: Alamo Desk at Airport

One night in Hard Rock Hotel - BOOKED

Tuesday 16th - Wednesday 17th

Includes two days Front of line passes and Early entry an hour before park opening

Park tickets - BOOKED AND ARRIVED

All Disney's parks/water parks/areas

Universal Studios + Islands of Adventure

Seaworld

Discovery Cove (3 x dolphin swim, 2 x non swim)

2 x kids eat free cards

Travel card x 2- GOT

Topping up continuously

Passports -

Me, Cameron and Alyssa - GOT

Ben and Charlie NEED TO GET

ESTA's -

Me, Cameron and Alyssa - DONE

Ben and Charlie - NEED TO DO

API's -

Me, Cameron, Alyssa - DONE

Ben and Charlie - NEED TO DO

Travel Insurance - GOT

With the AA, kids free :D

ADR's - NEED TO BOOK

PHOTOPASS - ORDERED

Photopass!!

The photopass CD is going up in price on the 21st so I've pre-ordered mine today before the price increase!

http://www.disneyphotopass.com/

The photopass was brilliant last time, it's $99.95, you get a photopass card (or a few, unlimited) to give to photographers around the parks and Disney areas to take your photo and it goes onto your photopass account.

You get unlimited photos (usually around $20 each photo if buying separately!) and can then add borders and characters signatures etc and when you're finished they send you a CD of all your pictures :D

Last time we got hundreds of photos, here are a few of them :D

Past the 7 month mark!

It's 6 months and 4 weeks until we go to Florida!!! :D

Current ticker

I'm currently working on a DVD to surprise the kids with :D At the minute I'm thinking of showing them the video in the morning (starts off our Florida 2009 DVD, then 'goes wrong' revealing the surprise) then...packing them off to school! Haha!!

So they can say bye to their friends :D Then pick them up at lunch time and leave for the airport! :D

It may change, it needs to be a BIG reveal :D

Little more put on the card...

Another $100 on one of my dollar card making $1450 saved! :D

I'll be pre-ordering my photopass shortly like I did last time :D

Back to $1350 :D

Hard Rock all paid for! :D

$100 put on each of my two cards today making a total of $1350 spending money again with 7 months to go still! :D

Oh and it's my birthday today! :D Had a nice chilled day :D It'll be even better when all my auctions end today and tomorrow, lots of moolah! :D

Changes...

I've changed our Hard Rock Hotel booking to a day later, checking in on the 16th. I couldn't get the right spread of days where it was so this was the best option, no price change so it's perfect!

Also, I had the Discovery Cove date wrong! It's booked for the 18th not the 14th, I changed it waaaaay back in the beginning of this blog and forgot!

I found this out because I have just booked the new Discovery Cove SeaVenture for myself to do (adults only) which looks amazing!! :D

Check out the video here! :D

And this is the new plan, not yet complete! Alyssa keeps saying she wants to go to the beach so we might have to fit that in somewhere :D

Wed 10 - London Hotel

Thur 11 – Travelling

Fri 12 - Disney Park- Animal Kingdom

Sat 13 - Water Park

Sun 14 - Disney Park – Hollywood Studios

Mon 15 - Rest Day

Tue 16 - Universal

Wed 17 – IOA

Thu 18 - Discovery Cove

Fri 19 - Disney Park – Magic Kingdom

Sat 20 – Shopping

Sun 21 – Rest day

Mon 22 - Disney Park – Epcot

Tue 23 – Sea World

Wed 24 -

Thu 25 – Travelling

Smashed my pot!

I almost forgot! I smashed open my terramundi style pot today!

By taking a tenner out of the cash point every time I went to the post office, sometimes more, I've managed to save a MASSIVE £816.50!!!! :O Which is going straight into the bank tomorrow.

Gobsmacked!! I'm getting another pot straight away and I'm going to do the same again!

I had to smash it as I couldn't fit any more notes in, but if I fold them once more next time I should be able to last longer before smashing :D

Now...what to spend it on...?

Just a draft...

Here's an idea of the kind of plan we'll have, no doubt it'll change a little in the next few months!

Universal and IOA cannot be moved as the Hard Rock Hotel has now been booked :D

Discovery Cove has also been booked so that can't be moved, as well as the first and last days as we'll be travelling. The rest can be swapped and changed but so far this is looking good as there are rest days between park days, no two consecutive days are too similar (ie Seaworld before DC) etc :D

Wed 10 - London Hotel

Thur 11 - Travelling

Fri 12 - Disney Park – Magic Kingdom?

Sat 13 - Disney Park- Animal Kingdom?

Sun 14 - Discovery Cove

Mon 15 - Universal

Tue 16 - IOA

Wed 17 - Rest Day

Thu 18 - Water Park

Fri 19 - Disney Park – Epcot?

Sat 20 – Rest day

Sun 21 - Sea World

Mon 22 - Shopping

Tue 23 – Free day

Wed 24 - Disney Park – Hollywood Studios?

Thu 25 - Travelling

I also just bought and underwater camera! Not just a camera but a camcorder too so I can't wait to try that out! Imagine the recordings I can get with that at Discovery Cove! :D

New balance...

Universal haven't take money off my card yet but I paid with it, so I'm knocking off $325.13 (room + tax) making $474.87 on one card, $300 on another, and $250 cash totalling $1024.87 saved!

I just topped it up by $125.13 to make it up to $600 on the first card and a total of $1150 in total saved! :D

It's still showing at $925.13 n the first card but I'm sure it won't be long before it's debited.

Hard Rock Hotel!

I've just booked a night in the Hard Rock hotel in Universal :D

We'll be checking in early on the 15th of October, leave our bags and get our Front of Line passes and head straight to Universal Studios before opening! Spend the day not queueing for anything, with the chance the nip back to the hotel for a break before carrying on :D

Then we'll get up, get our bags in the car, and get to Islands of Adventure an hour before opening to be the first ones in to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter!! :D

Spend the day there, we've got until 11am to check out so we could even nip back before then for quick rest if we need to, then check out and head back to the park :D

Can't wait!! :D

Topped up again :D And new hotel?

$1350 now saved :D

I was also thinking of booking one night in the Hard Rock Hotel in Universal!

One night gets you in the park an hour before everyone else, and also front of line passes for everyone so we can skip lines!

It also means we won't have to drive the long drive to Universal in the morning, then again at night...the again when we want to do IOA...

We can drop our bags off in the morning, check in, go straight to the park (not sure if we'll be able to get up early enough to get checked in before 7:30am!), can come and go as we please as the hotel is only 5 minutes away from the park, go back at night etc

Then we can do the early entry the next day in IOA (Harry Potter!), and do that park too :D

It's only £179 for all of us or £199 for breakfast too :D

I'm not booking yet as we need to know what we're doing day by day so I know what day we can book but I'm thinking early in the holiday so we have more chance of getting up early due to jet lag! lol

Card is here :D

My second travel card arrived this morning and I've loaded another $100 onto it making $1250!

$250 cash, $800 on one card, $200 on the other :D

The kids are all dressed up for book day today in their new Harry Potter outfits!

Normally I wouldn't spend so much on a costume for a school day but they'll 'need' on for the WWoHP in October and these will still fit so I thought I might as well get them now :D