The Holiday on a Budget! (ish!)

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RobynPrincess's picture
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The Holiday on a Budget! (ish!)

The Pre-Trip report.....

So the trip started off with me and Hubby going to do a cheapie break, using left over Disney MYW days from last year, not buying anymore tickets. We had hoped we would book a last minute trip for June this year however things changed one monday afternoon/evening.

Unfortunately I am not very well, I have Severe Ulcerative Colitis (which is like Chrones, basically probably with my intestines) and that monday in question I had another hospital appointment, I have been monitored quite closely lately as I have been poorly for a long time now and don't seem to be getting better. That afternoon the doctor said the thing I had been fearing for a while, its time to look at removing my bowel Sad So we went home quite sad and deflated so my lovely hubby said 'ah sod it, lets book florida!' - Like I was going to say no!

This year we bought our first house and we have NO money, so we said if we're doing this, it will have to be on a budget.

We booked a budget hotel, got a good deal on flights to Tampa with BA. We would leave car hire until closer to the time and could afford it.

We decided not to tell the IL's as they had helped us out with a bit of the deposit to our house (we are paying them back each month but I still felt quite guilty about bookng an expensive holiday while we still owed them).

Fast forward a few weeks, Sy - who works with his dad - is in a meeting and they mention a date for the next meeting, and he said 'Oh I don't know, I think thats the day we get back from Florida' ???!!!! Whoops!! I needn't have worried though, his dad asked if they had any days on their disney tickets to come back with us LOL.

So that evening we get a call from MIL and we were talking about it and how much she wants to go back as when we go, its over her school's half term..... after a little convincing from us they booked to come with us! They fly out on the same flight as us but only stay for 8 nights, while we are staying for 17 nights

We have decided we would like to go to Discovery Cove, even after us saying it would be on a budget, as Anne and Cliff (my In Laws) missed out on doing it last time and they wanted to do it, and of course, we did it for the first time on our last trip and loved it.

Our spends are PS900 which works out roughly to $75 per day, not a lot! We did have a terramundi pot though so once we opened that and changed up our money we had a little more than we first thought but have to say I'm a little worried about spends Sad ah well! We'll have to eat at taco bell a few times lol

So then, The Cast!

Moi aka RobynPrincess aka Robyn aka mental planner

I am the mad planner of the group, Simon and his parents are so laid back they're almost horizontal! I'm 27 in July. I love Tinkerbell cause she's small but makes up for it in character teehee. I'm also the Disney Freak, this will be my 10th trip to WDW, I've also been to DLP 11 times (though I doubt ever again after the last one but thats a whole other Trip Report).

Sy aka SyMan aka my wonderful Hubby aka my rock, my everything Smile

Sy will pretty much go along with everything I wanna do, he's so good to me! He doesnt have a favourite character, but on the trip I went on just after we met I brought him back a little stitch plush and we've had a little thing about him since. Sy is 29 this year - yes that's right, he just looks years older this is his 3rd trip to WDW but he has also been to DLP twice -the first time was when he proposed on new years eve in the Disneyland park.

Anne aka Mother in Law - not the scary kind though, I love my Mother in Law (MIL is on the left Wink )

Cliff aka Father in Law and genuinely lovely man

PIL are in their late 50's. Both loved EPCOT the best on our last trip but also Loved Spiderman and the WWOHP. This will be their second trip to the mouse and are already planning to come back with us next year.

We have now booked the car hire through Affordable Car hire with Budget - free extra driver so that when we go out for dinner I can drive as I don't really ever drink (upset tummy too much!).

Discovery Cove booked and recieved the tickets the other day Laughing out loud

The hotel we had booked we had to cancel Sad friends of ours from the other forum that I'm on (Its a UK forum, I love you both equally so no shouting at me! LOL)came back and said how dirty it was, they even sent us photo's and it was bad, really bad! People had even written clean me in the scum around the pool Sad so that was a bit of a mad rush to try and get sometihing booked. We ended up booking a Condo as now the IL's are coming, before it worked out too expensive just for the 2 of us. So now we are staying on Island Club at Lindfields on the 192 Smile.

The Plan.......

Thursday 26th May
Travel from Gatwick to Tampa

Friday 27th May
Seaworld

Saturday 28th May
Spirit of the Swamp boat ride (airboat) at 11:30am, no other plans.

Sunday 29th May
No plans in the day, in the eveing Illuminations boat cruise (with some people from the other forum)

Monday 30th May (Memorial Day)
Discovery cove!!!

Tuesday 31st May
Day at a national park or similar to see wild animals (MIL is a birdwatcher :Drunk

Wednesday 1st June
EPCOT with an ADR at Via Napoli

Thursday 2nd June
No plan yet!

Friday 3rd June
Day at the beach in Clearwater, maybe a boat trip and drop Anne and Cliff off at the airport.

Saturday 4th June
Disneyquest in the afternoon, Boardwalk in the evening.

Sunday 5th June
Animal Kingdom

Monday 6th June
Blizzard Beach

Tuesday 7th June
Hollywood Studios with an ADR at Sci-Fi Dine in

Wednesday 8th June
Typhoon Lagoon

Thursday 9th June
Blizzard Beach

Friday 10th June
Magic Kingdom

Saturday 11th June
SeaWorld

Sunday 12th June
Travel home

Where we want to eat

So we want to fit in....
Outback
Tony Roma's
Cheesecake Factory (free slice for every $30 spend sunday - thursday)
Downtown Disney Dine in Cinema (would like to give this a go as we don't get this in the UK)
Chili's
Hooters
Via Napoli (ADR booked)
Sci-fi Dine in (ADR booked)

As we're on a budget we will be mixing those places with....
TacoBell
Popeyes
IHOP
Mcdonalds Breakfast (so Sy can have one of those weird pancake breakfast burger thingy's)
Depending on how the budget goes we might go to Ponderosa or similar though I have never been to one other than for breakfast (and that wasn't up to much). We'll see how things go with the budget!

We will probably have breakfast in the Condo some mornings - we'll have some bread in for toast and possibly some marmite Laughing out loud

Now I'm into single digits until we go, I am desperate to get on with the packing, but I only came out of hospital last night and am still a bit too tender Sad I am mentally packing and making a checklist of all the things we need to do Laughing out loud :D

__________________

Our Very Merry 24 nighter Nov/Dec 15
Watson's go West May 15
The one with all the birthdays Oct 14 4 Big Birthdays and a Vow Renewal thrown in
The OMG trip June 14 30th Birthday present from the hubs
Girly trip March 14 A last min cheapy week
September 13 our first all DVC stay
TR May 2013 the last min bargain trip offsite
Oct 2012 TR with a cruise!big family trip featuring the beach club, AKL, the dream and a villa offsite
TR on a budget May - June 2011offsite condo
TR Sept - Oct 2010 big family trip in an offsite villa

Brad's picture
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Get to feeling better! I'm sure you'll have a great time! Also can't wait to see a review of the Dine-In!

RobynPrincess's picture
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we're really looking forward to the dine in Laughing out loud

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Our Very Merry 24 nighter Nov/Dec 15
Watson's go West May 15
The one with all the birthdays Oct 14 4 Big Birthdays and a Vow Renewal thrown in
The OMG trip June 14 30th Birthday present from the hubs
Girly trip March 14 A last min cheapy week
September 13 our first all DVC stay
TR May 2013 the last min bargain trip offsite
Oct 2012 TR with a cruise!big family trip featuring the beach club, AKL, the dream and a villa offsite
TR on a budget May - June 2011offsite condo
TR Sept - Oct 2010 big family trip in an offsite villa

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Can't wait to hear all about it Smile

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Bella's picture
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Awesome trip! I can't wait to hear all about it.

And where do you people get these nice in-laws from?!? I have a return to make!

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mickey Bella


RobynPrincess's picture
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I dont know where i got mine from, have had some horrid parents of boyfriends in the past! Think my hubby is as lovely as he is because of his parents, they are such gentle, kind and just genuinely lovely caring people, i feel very lucky Smile

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Our Very Merry 24 nighter Nov/Dec 15
Watson's go West May 15
The one with all the birthdays Oct 14 4 Big Birthdays and a Vow Renewal thrown in
The OMG trip June 14 30th Birthday present from the hubs
Girly trip March 14 A last min cheapy week
September 13 our first all DVC stay
TR May 2013 the last min bargain trip offsite
Oct 2012 TR with a cruise!big family trip featuring the beach club, AKL, the dream and a villa offsite
TR on a budget May - June 2011offsite condo
TR Sept - Oct 2010 big family trip in an offsite villa

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RobynPrincess wrote:
I dont know where i got mine from, have had some horrid parents of boyfriends in the past! Think my hubby is as lovely as he is because of his parents, they are such gentle, kind and just genuinely lovely caring people, i feel very lucky Smile

I'm so glad for you! - for your trip AND for genuinely nice In Laws Smile Can't wait to hear all about it, Robyn - and I LOVE that pic of you above, as well as the one in your avatar.

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EXCITING! You look so beautiful in that picture! Clearly you deserve the great hubby and great in-laws! How lucky you are that you can all go together and actually enjoy each others' company!

Very, very excited for you! YAY!!! stars

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Oh wow! That sounds like one awesome trip. I am so excited for you!

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*Jennifer Lynn* NDW #38

Check out my blog at Jennifer's Disney Adventures


RobynPrincess's picture
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Well that's a turn up for the books, I just won 100 pounds on the lottery! Now we have 1000 to take with us Laughing out loud :D

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Our Very Merry 24 nighter Nov/Dec 15
Watson's go West May 15
The one with all the birthdays Oct 14 4 Big Birthdays and a Vow Renewal thrown in
The OMG trip June 14 30th Birthday present from the hubs
Girly trip March 14 A last min cheapy week
September 13 our first all DVC stay
TR May 2013 the last min bargain trip offsite
Oct 2012 TR with a cruise!big family trip featuring the beach club, AKL, the dream and a villa offsite
TR on a budget May - June 2011offsite condo
TR Sept - Oct 2010 big family trip in an offsite villa

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Posts: 4703

RobynPrincess wrote:
Well that's a turn up for the books, I just won 100 pounds on the lottery! Now we have 1000 to take with us Laughing out loud :D

It's a sign from the Disney gods!!! eek

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Robyn congrats on your good fortune, I wish that would happen to me as well.

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subvetss's picture
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Hey Robin, I will be there from the 26th to the 29th. Staying at Coronado Springs resort. Send me a private message if you think you would have time to hook up.
Joe

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So excited for you, and what better timing after such upsetting news.

Make sure to check out Groupon for meal discounts for the offsite restaurants you mentioned.

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Wishin' I was at WDW!

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The Trip On a Budget (ish) Day 1

We got up about 6am, I would say what time we woke up but I don't think I slept for more than 2 hours during the night I was so excited! Got dressed and ready to go, kissed and cuddled my cat before we left, we stayed at my parents house the night before so we could get my baby settled in at home Sad cried all the way to the airport cause I was worried about leaving her! LOL

Got the the airport and said a tearful goodbye to my parents, and then headed inside to meet Simon's parents. I had checked us all in the night before online so all we had to do was drop our bags and head to the gate Smile

We headed through quite quickly but I was taken for extra screening :confused2 they wanted to scan the handles on my handbag. I was fine though Wink just Wink Anne and I went into the Jo Malone shop and were offered a hand massage each. Anne wanted to buy some perfume in there anyway so she got that and then it was time to head to the gate. We boarded the plane and sat down, we had 1 window seat beside us " I like the aisle seat as I have to get up a lot. The lady who sat next to Sy was from Clearwater, she was very talkative! She even invited us to stay at her house when we go to Clearwater lol. She couldn't sit still though as she had a bad back so she kept getting up and down, in fact the only time I managed to get to sleep she wanted to get up so woke me up Sad which was a bit of a pain but it wasn't the end of the world, we just made a mental note not to get edge seats on the way home.

I was excited when we arrived at Tampa as I'd read about the small airport and how quickly we could get through passport control, how wrong was I??!! We weren't at the back of the queue and still it took an hour and a half to get through! I was looking at our cases sitting on the floor for anyone to take and I was getting really stressed out in case someone took them or something happened to them. We did eventually get through okay and pick up our bags.

Sy with all the bags at Tampa

We headed over to pick up the car, I was in a bit of a panic as I realized on the plane that I hadn't printed out the car hire voucher, but luckily they could find our details on the system. The men on the desk did try to fast talk us into buying extra insurance, he tried speaking really quickly saying something along the lines of 'you're having the insurance with us' and nodding, I asked him to repeat himself slowly 3 times and explain, turns out he was trying to get us to say yes to buying more insurance, just a word of warning to others! This was with Budget. We got our car " a Red Rio, it was basic to say the least, no central locking, had to lean over to unlock all the doors, and wind down windows, it did have air-con though which was the main thing!

It took us about an hour to get to the condo, we did have to stop outside a McDonalds to get the number of the lock to get the key out! Oops! We did eventually get there though Wink We were very pleasantly surprised, we got a cheap last minute deal so we didn't have the highest of hopes (well I didn't!) but it was lovely.

Here are the pictures...


Nice eh?

We then unpacked, showered and headed out for dinner and to Publix. We bought the essentials from Publix and decided to go to Applebee's for dinner, as we'd had good meals there last year. Unfortunately we didn't have a great meal, my food was so greasy I couldn't eat it, the chicken was overcooked and like rubber, Anne's food was really greasy and she couldn't eat it. They took our meals off the check without asking, it was the manager who came over to clear our plates and he asked how it was and why we hadn't eaten. Our server wasn't good either, we had to keep asking for our drinks etc, not what we're used to in Florida that's for sure. We were tired though so we paid (with 18% tip) and left.

We fell straight into bed when we got home, feeling very, very tired!

As this trip we are on a budget, I wanted to try and let others know our spending so it might help them in the future when planning trips.

Today we spent $108 in Publix but this was split between 2 families and included 2 cases of Bud Smile So we spent $54. In Applebee's we spent $30 each couple.

Total spend $84

Tomorrow, Seaworld!

__________________

Our Very Merry 24 nighter Nov/Dec 15
Watson's go West May 15
The one with all the birthdays Oct 14 4 Big Birthdays and a Vow Renewal thrown in
The OMG trip June 14 30th Birthday present from the hubs
Girly trip March 14 A last min cheapy week
September 13 our first all DVC stay
TR May 2013 the last min bargain trip offsite
Oct 2012 TR with a cruise!big family trip featuring the beach club, AKL, the dream and a villa offsite
TR on a budget May - June 2011offsite condo
TR Sept - Oct 2010 big family trip in an offsite villa

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Great trip report so far, and nice photos. Anxiously awaiting more so please don't disapoint us Smile .

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I agree with Vettelover, can't wait to hear more. Trip reports are my favorite!

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Aww thank you! I'm glad they are interesting to read Laughing out loud I am sick with flu so have plenty of time to get through it all Laughing out loud

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Our Very Merry 24 nighter Nov/Dec 15
Watson's go West May 15
The one with all the birthdays Oct 14 4 Big Birthdays and a Vow Renewal thrown in
The OMG trip June 14 30th Birthday present from the hubs
Girly trip March 14 A last min cheapy week
September 13 our first all DVC stay
TR May 2013 the last min bargain trip offsite
Oct 2012 TR with a cruise!big family trip featuring the beach club, AKL, the dream and a villa offsite
TR on a budget May - June 2011offsite condo
TR Sept - Oct 2010 big family trip in an offsite villa

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Very nice trip report so far! Thank ya awesome

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- My Int3ractiv3 Trip R3port '12 - CLICK HERE!
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Great TR!! I love your luggage!!

Yuck, no good about Applebee's..I really can't stand that place. They used to be great but then suddenly they just turned awful..oh well...that condo is great!! I love the Disney room. Did you sleep in there? Haha!!! Can't wait for more!!!

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The Trip on a Budget (ish) Day 2, SeaWorld

We decide to try and get up early, I think we got up about 8am which isn't too bad considering what little sleep we'd had over the past few days. We had some breakfast in the condo before heading out to SeaWorld.

We paid the $14 ($7 each) to park and passed through bag check and turnstiles into the park. We picked up a park map and planned our day around the shows that we wanted to see. First was the new Shamu show, One Ocean. It was due to start in about an hour so we walked over that way. We stopped to grab a refill cup ($7.45) on our journey over the lake. We still had plenty of time so we went into see the Polar Bear, Beluga Whales and Walrus' Smile

Sy and Cliff took the helicopter Wink Anne and I took the walking route (I am not very good with motion simulators). It was then time to watch the new show One Ocean. Having read online that the trainers were going back into the water I had high hopes, unfortunately they weren't in the water so I was quite disappointed. It was a good show though, just would have been better in my opinion with the trainers in the water with them.

Some piccies...



We then planned our next show which we decided would be Clyde and Seamore, Anne and Cliff had never seen this show before so we wanted to make sure we saw it this time. We stopped on the way round to ride Journey to Atlantis, Anne didn't like the look of the big drop so wouldn't ride with us. We did get quite wet but we dried out a little sitting down watching the show.

Afterwards we sat down and had an ice cream ($8.50) near the penguins, and then went to feed the Sealions ($20, 5 trays for the price of 4).

We looked around all of the animals and fed the Rays ($5, 1 tray) before we left, we were still feeling really jet lagged. We stopped on the way home to get some Popeye's chicken ($12.50) as we love it, plus Anne wanted to try some.

Once back at the Condo I decided to have a bit of a lay down, but asked Sy not to let me sleep too long or I would be up all night, well he woke me after about 2 &1/2 hours! I wasn't best pleased so I decided to stay in bed for the night rather than get up and wake myself up and then not be able to get back to sleep a few hours later.

Simon and his parents were really tired too so they decided to get some food in from Publix plus get the bits we forgot the night before when we were so tired ($40). They got cooked chicken pieces, bread rolls and salad, I had some the next day and it was really lovely!

As I don't remember anything from that night (cause I was asleep!), I will leave it there and say tomorrow, Spirit of the Swamp!

Spends today total $100.45

__________________

Our Very Merry 24 nighter Nov/Dec 15
Watson's go West May 15
The one with all the birthdays Oct 14 4 Big Birthdays and a Vow Renewal thrown in
The OMG trip June 14 30th Birthday present from the hubs
Girly trip March 14 A last min cheapy week
September 13 our first all DVC stay
TR May 2013 the last min bargain trip offsite
Oct 2012 TR with a cruise!big family trip featuring the beach club, AKL, the dream and a villa offsite
TR on a budget May - June 2011offsite condo
TR Sept - Oct 2010 big family trip in an offsite villa

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The Trip on a Budget (ish) Day 3, Spirit of the Swamp & Celebration

I was awake at 6am due to going to bed at about 5:30pm the night before so I dug out my laptop and planned our journey to Spirit of the Swamp air boat tours. It was about 45 mins drive away. I wrote it all down in my trusty notebook (the one that recorded all of our spends and things I wanted to remember) and then skype'd home to speak to my parents. By the time I had done that and had a shower everyone else was up and getting ready for breakfast. Anne wasn't feeling very well and said she wasn't going to come on the airboat, I think Sy and Cliff were annoyed with her cause it was her that was really keen on doing it but she agreed to come. I think she was more worried about ruining it for us cause she wasn't very well. We followed the directions but it looked a bit strange where we turned up, it was a public park but just as we were about to turn out again a man stopped us and told us he was Captain Harold and showed up where to park. We got on his airboat and he talked us through all of the safety rules etc and we let him know Anne wasn't feeling too good. As we had headphones with mouth pieces on we could talk to each other so he said just to let him know if she wasn't feeling too good and we could stop and go back. We had an amazing time! It was by far the best airboat we have ever been on, it was just us on a little boat, not the huge things you usually see. The one to one service was amazing, he took us where we wanted to go, showed us thing we were interested in, he even took us a bit further out to try and find an endangered bird as Anne is a bird watcher and wanted to see it. We had an hour's tour which was $40 each but next time we would go for an hour and a half as it was so good. We didn't want it to end! I had booked and paid for the boat in advance so it didn't come out of our spends.

A few pics from the boat.

Going really fast, see the lack of hair at the front lol

We then headed back and stopped in Celebration for a wander around the shops, especially Woofgang Bakery Wink then we sat down with an ice cream. (Anne and Cliff paid for ice cream)

We then drove back to the Condo and had a swim in the pool.

After our swim we had a shower and got ready to go out for dinner, we decided to go to Chili's on International Drive, as it was Memorial Day Weekend it was PACKED. We waited about 45 min for a table, unfortunately our buzzer wasn't working and they had buzzed us a few times before they came to look for us. The food was good though, we did the appetizer to share and a main each for $20. We spent $40 in total including drinks and tips.

Once we left Chili's it was after 11pm so we decided to go back to the condo and get some sleep.

Tomorrow, Shopping & Illuminations cruise Laughing out loud

__________________

Our Very Merry 24 nighter Nov/Dec 15
Watson's go West May 15
The one with all the birthdays Oct 14 4 Big Birthdays and a Vow Renewal thrown in
The OMG trip June 14 30th Birthday present from the hubs
Girly trip March 14 A last min cheapy week
September 13 our first all DVC stay
TR May 2013 the last min bargain trip offsite
Oct 2012 TR with a cruise!big family trip featuring the beach club, AKL, the dream and a villa offsite
TR on a budget May - June 2011offsite condo
TR Sept - Oct 2010 big family trip in an offsite villa

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Hold the phone..is Sea World really only $7.00 per person or did you get some sort of deal???

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mickey Bella


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Bella wrote:
Hold the phone..is Sea World really only $7.00 per person or did you get some sort of deal???

I think that was for parking.

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Yeah sorry its $14 parking per day, and split between 2 couples was $7 Smile sorry got you all excited then lol

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Our Very Merry 24 nighter Nov/Dec 15
Watson's go West May 15
The one with all the birthdays Oct 14 4 Big Birthdays and a Vow Renewal thrown in
The OMG trip June 14 30th Birthday present from the hubs
Girly trip March 14 A last min cheapy week
September 13 our first all DVC stay
TR May 2013 the last min bargain trip offsite
Oct 2012 TR with a cruise!big family trip featuring the beach club, AKL, the dream and a villa offsite
TR on a budget May - June 2011offsite condo
TR Sept - Oct 2010 big family trip in an offsite villa

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Posts: 2859

The Trip on a Budget (ish) Day 4, Illuminations cruise

We got up and decided we would go out for breakfast. We've never been to Denny's before but Anne and Cliff have when they did their west coast tour and really enjoyed it, so we thought we would give it a go.

We drove along the 192 and every one that we came to had a huge queue out of the door! We did eventually find on near SeaWorld that was off the beaten track a little that we got seated straight at.

It seemed like most of the other chains of the same price, wipe clean menu's etc. The food was good and the waitress was lovely. We would definitely go back (and we do later in the trip). Cliff and Simon didn't seem to notice the food and surroundings much though, they found their eyesight kept landing on the head waitress... she had a rather large bottom that they were admiring Wink hehehe... As in the style of the whole Trip Report, we spent $25 on breakfast including tip (for the 2 of us, it was $50 in total for 4 adults).

We went for a wander round Walmart after what was then brunch Wink and bought a few bits to bring home. We then went to the Premium outlets by Wet and Wild. We were so upset to see that Beard Papa's had gone Sad we ate many a cream puff from there over the last 2 years Sad Will have to go to London more often for our fix hehehe Wink I did get some candles from Yankee Candles though ($25)

On our way back we stopped at Bed, Bath and Beyond as we'd never been there before and thought it looked like a good shop. I think we spent about an hour and a half in there! I bought a Bagel slicer and Sy got a fancy zester. ($21)

We started to get really thirsty on our way home and were on the lookout for a bar to stop at. We ended up at Houlihans on the 192. It was pretty empty, there were a couple of other people at the bar inside and a few people at the bar outside. There was only 1 barman as there were so few customers, he split his time inside and out. We sat inside as it was nicely aircon'ed Wink one of the customers from outside came in a shouted at the barman because he wanted a drink :confused2 it was pretty uncomfortable, I applaud the barman though, he kept his cool and apologized and went straight to serve him with a smile, I would have given the man a few choice words personally!

We had a cocktail each and the guy's had a beer each. The cocktail was very strong, Anne and I started to feel woozy after just 1! We spent $15 on drinks ($30 in total for for 4 of us).

We then headed back to the condo to get changed and ready for our illuminations cruise. We were going with another forum family, I had noticed that we both had adverts in the 'wanted' sections of the cruise thread so I PM'ed the family and asked if they would like to join forces. They did and they even booked the cruise for us Smile (how lovely is that?!). We got to the Yacht Club nice and early and had a drink in the bar before heading out to the dock to board our boat. ($18 per couple for drinks). We got there first and kept an eye out for them. When they got there we said our hellos and introductions and then went onboard. We really enjoyed their company for the evening and couldn't have asked for a nicer family to share a cruise with. I haven't mentioned names as I forgot to ask if that was okay! I did ask if it was okay to post pictures though Laughing out loud (cruise was $35 each person, the other family paid the tip as they had the boat decorated for a birthday).

Our Skipper tried many times to get us all in the picture but she couldn't quite do it, this is the best one hehehe

The Globe from our boat.

Having now done a Wishes cruise and an Illuminations cruise I definitely prefer the Wishes cruise. We got glasses for our eyes once we got moored up at the bridge between France and the UK however I still got a few ashes in my eyes which put a bit of a dampener on it for me. Plus there were still a lot of people around us when we watched Illuminations, at Wishes it feels like it's just you and the fireworks. Still really enjoyed them both though!

After the cruise we went for a wander around the Boardwalk. We had a look in some of the shops and watched some of the street performers. We decided (why? I don't know) that it would be fun to hire a Surrey Bike. Having done this before I have NO idea why we did it again hahahaha. We made it once round and a half, the boys dropped us off at the car and we were getting the car and picking them up at the boardwalk as their shoes were rubbing and Anne needed the toilet (and we were right by it at the Yacht Club). (Surrey bike was $22 so $11 each couple)

We had a bit of trouble getting into the car park of the boardwalk, I don't think the man at the barrier believed that we were just picking them up and didn't trust my I.D, he did eventually let us in though and we picked the guys up and went back out again and made our way back to the villa.

Total spends for the day $197.50 which inluded petrol.

Tomorrow, Discover Cove!!!

__________________

Our Very Merry 24 nighter Nov/Dec 15
Watson's go West May 15
The one with all the birthdays Oct 14 4 Big Birthdays and a Vow Renewal thrown in
The OMG trip June 14 30th Birthday present from the hubs
Girly trip March 14 A last min cheapy week
September 13 our first all DVC stay
TR May 2013 the last min bargain trip offsite
Oct 2012 TR with a cruise!big family trip featuring the beach club, AKL, the dream and a villa offsite
TR on a budget May - June 2011offsite condo
TR Sept - Oct 2010 big family trip in an offsite villa

RobynPrincess's picture
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Posts: 2859

The Trip on a Budget (ish) Day 5, DISCOVERY COVE!!!!!

We were up nice and early today as we wanted to make the most of our day at DC Laughing out loud

When we got there we joined what looked like one of the biggest queue's I have ever seen! It did go down quickly though and we were soon checked in and got our lanyards. Simon and Cliff looked great, Anne and I however... well lets just say mine got lost on the way home Wink We have been to DC before but this was a first for Anne and Cliff. We made our way to the lockers to get changed and get a wetsuit. Cliff and Sy got waistcoat sized ones while Anne and I got the fuller ones, I was aware of how awful I looked last year in them plus I could hide more of my body in it Wink Anne was given the same as the boys and for some reason the lady didn't want to give her a fuller wetsuit, said she would be too hot? I went back and got her one though and we were soon dressed and ready for breakfast. Last year when we came it was a nice gentle breakfast, no queue, just a light continental serving, this time however it was very different. We deliberately hadn't eaten breakfast and we had to wait half an hour to get something. It was a cooked breakfast but they actually had less choice than before " and a bigger queue! When going again I would have breakfast at home, it was a real waste of time when we wanted to go off and explore. What we did have wasn't great which was a shame as their lunches are lovely.

After eating we went to find some loungers to leave our things. We found some in the shade and began rubbing cream on each other. For those who haven't been, you are given special cream that's fish/dolphin friendly. I was however upset to see the family next to us putting on their own cream, as far as I was aware they ask you NOT to use your own as it can harm the animals. Maybe they couldn't read the signs though, they were Spanish. We went straight into the Ray pool.

And Simon's water 'Robot' impression Wink

After we'd had a play in there we went into the winding/lazy river. We got out at the Aviary to feed the birds, while I was walking around holding the bowl of food a bird landed on me and scared the hell out of me! I jumped out of my skin as I was looking the other way. It was lovely though Smile We also heard the Peacocks mating call, they were in season and very noisy! Simon is frightened of them as when he was 4 years old one stole a sandwich out of his hand! Unfortunately as we were just about to walk past one he fluffed up his tail (or whatever the right term for that is Wink ) and Simon wasn't too pleased Wink hehehehe oops!

We went round the river again and then went to sit down and get a drink. We would have to have lunch soon as our Dolphin swim was at 2:15 and we needed to let our lunch go down a bit before going into the water with them.

We queued for ages again for lunch (I really would like to see them rethink this a little bit as I don't understand why it needs to take that long) but it was lovely. Anne had Salmon with mango salsa, I had chicken tenders, Simon had a sandwich, I can't quite remember what Cliff had though Sad

After lunch we sat down for a bit before our dolphin swim. Before long it was time to head to the cabana to talk about our swim " and sign the waiver! We met our trainer and the other family who were in our group as well and headed into the water. We had a young Dolphin at first but she kept getting distracted so they sent her back and got another one out to us, well she didn't want to play with us either! So we swapped her with one of the other group's dolphins but she didn't want to play either!! We weren't having much luck hehehe, in the end out came a really big male dolphin who was more than happy to play, he was one of the oldest dolphins they have and he was lovely. We had our picture taken with him and we did buy a picture of us all with him after we left the dolphin pool.

We went for another go in the winding river and a wander round the aviary before sitting down with an ice cream. Now I don't know if they do this on purpose but that ice cream has got to be one of the WORST things I have ever put in my mouth! It was awful!! Not 1 of us could eat it lol. I think they do it to keep down people having them, you wouldn't go back for a second believe me Wink We then went to pick up our photo, a little tip " DON'T leave picking up your pictures until you're leaving the park as the queues are massive " we did this last year and waited ages. This time though, no queue Smile

It was getting nearly time to leave so we went into the Ray pool again for a little while, we were the only ones in there as it was quite late in the day and I think lots of people had gone home already. We then got out and headed to the showers to get ready to leave Sad

We were leaving past the other premium outlets so we ran in quickly to go to Ralph Lauren as Sy had seen a Polo shirt he liked in the other mall but they didn't have his size, we were in luck though as they had it here! He got 2 (as they were cheaper when you bought 2 Wink and we spent $85.

We needed to get a few bit from Publix on the way home so we stopped at one that happened to be right by an Outback Wink We were all feeling very tired so we decided to get dinner then, and not go home and get changed first (which is what we had been doing the other nights we had gone out in the evening).

Dinner was lovely as always in Outback. I love their sweet potato jackets Laughing out loud :D

Dinner cost $55 per couple but Anne and Cliff treated us (aren't they lovely?!)

After we popped into Publix we headed back to the condo. We were all feeling very tired by now so we watched a bit of TV and went to bed fairly early (for us!) ready for tomorrow.

Total spends $140, Anne and Cliff paid for Publix and Outback

__________________

Our Very Merry 24 nighter Nov/Dec 15
Watson's go West May 15
The one with all the birthdays Oct 14 4 Big Birthdays and a Vow Renewal thrown in
The OMG trip June 14 30th Birthday present from the hubs
Girly trip March 14 A last min cheapy week
September 13 our first all DVC stay
TR May 2013 the last min bargain trip offsite
Oct 2012 TR with a cruise!big family trip featuring the beach club, AKL, the dream and a villa offsite
TR on a budget May - June 2011offsite condo
TR Sept - Oct 2010 big family trip in an offsite villa

kayb's picture
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Joined: 04/26/2011
Posts: 174

I've always wanted to do Discovery Cove but it never quite happens Smile

Lizzy_B's picture
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Joined: 10/25/2010
Posts: 3246

Loving your report! And I have to add...you are just the CUTEST couple. Smile

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RobynPrincess's picture
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Joined: 03/14/2010
Posts: 2859

Awww shucks Smile thank you Smile

__________________

Our Very Merry 24 nighter Nov/Dec 15
Watson's go West May 15
The one with all the birthdays Oct 14 4 Big Birthdays and a Vow Renewal thrown in
The OMG trip June 14 30th Birthday present from the hubs
Girly trip March 14 A last min cheapy week
September 13 our first all DVC stay
TR May 2013 the last min bargain trip offsite
Oct 2012 TR with a cruise!big family trip featuring the beach club, AKL, the dream and a villa offsite
TR on a budget May - June 2011offsite condo
TR Sept - Oct 2010 big family trip in an offsite villa

Bella's picture
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Joined: 06/11/2010
Posts: 3886

yay, I love seeing this picked up again!

Discovery Cove sounds amazing! Are the sting-rays right there in the water with you?? How do they keep them from..well..stinging??

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mickey Bella