Thursday 28 August 2008

Right...

...now I've got my laptop back (yay!), I can go into more detail about my holiday!

I've booked 14 nights at the POP Century resort (eeekk!!!) from Gatwick to Stanford with Thomas Cook. I added on transfers to and from the airport to the hotel and deluxe travel insurance for us all. I went round all the travel agents near me and got each one to knock a bit more off each time and add extras, until I got the best price at £2058!

That's including everything (flights, accommodation, transfers, deluxe insurance) apart from the park tickets.

So it's even cheaper than the Thomas Cook one I found online! It just goes to show it's worth it to shop around!

I paid £40 to the TA and £20 for the tickets yesterday, so now owe £1650 for the actual holiday, and £770 for the tickets.

Here is my planned itinerary: (Plans in red need to be booked in advance)

Tuesday 6th

  • Arrive at 2:35pm
  • Check into POP around 4pm
  • Have a wander around the hotel,check out some 99 cents stores and do a bit of shopping
  • Relax at hotel
  • Dinner at hotel or restaurant nearby

Wednesday 7th

  • Magic Kingdom for the day
  • Back to POP for a break
  • Magic Kingdom again for Crystal Palace (CM) (around $45) and fireworks

Thursday 8th

  • Epcot (not worlds)
  • Back to POP for a break
  • Epcot for the Worlds
  • Coral Reef dinner (around $40) at Epcot and fireworks

Friday 9th

  • Breakfast at Sizzlers or Ponderosa
  • Seaworld
  • Dine with Shamu (around $60)

Saturday 10th

  • Breakfast at 1900 Park Fare (CM) (around $41) at Grand Floridian
  • Check out I-drive and it's attractions
  • POP day (pool, games arcade, fountain, food, pictures etc)
  • Dinner at Boma at Animal Kingdom Lodge (around $53)

Sunday 11th

  • Universal Studios
  • Back to POP for a break
  • Dinner in Kissimmee after having a wander around

Monday 12th

  • Typhoon Lagoon
  • Crazy golf
  • Dinner at Whispering Canyon (around $40) at Wilderness Lodge

Tuesday 13th

  • Breakfast at Donald's breakfast Safari in AK (CM) (around $41)
  • Animal Kingdom for the day
  • Back to POP for a break
  • Animal Kingdom for dinner at Rainforest Cafe (around $45)

Wednesday 14th

  • IHOP for breakfast
  • Shopping
  • Back to POP for a break
  • Pirates dinner adventure (PAID)

Thursday 15th

  • Islands of Adventure
  • Late lunch at Mythos (around $45)
  • Back to POP for a break
  • Dinner at T-Rex cafe (around $50) and shopping at Downtown Disney

Friday 16th

  • 'Ohana's Breakfast (CM) (around $41) at the Polynesian Resort
  • POP day
  • Arabian Nights dinner (PAID)

Saturday 17th

  • Disney Hollywood Studios
  • Back to POP for a break
  • Dinner at Mama Melrose (around $40) at Hollywood Studios and Fantasmic fireworks

Sunday 18th

  • Character breakfast at THE Castle! Cinderella's Royal Table (around $80)
  • Rest of the day at Magic Kingdom
  • Dinner at Sizzlers or Ponderosa

Monday 19th

  • I-drive
  • Shopping
  • Second favourite park
  • Start packing
  • Garden Grill (CM) (around $60) at Epcot

Tuesday 20th

  • Pack up rest of things
  • Ask POP to look after bags
  • Chef Mickeys for breakfast (CM) (around $41)
  • Favourite park till about 2pm ish
  • Back to POP to collect bags and get airport transfer
  • Airport for 3pm to leave at 5:15pm
  • Say goodbye to heaven.....till next time. :)

I may need to change some of these at this comes to $681 before tips! If I gave a 20% tips at each meal, it will come to about $817!

If I took the worst case (hopefully!) exchange rate of $1.60 to the £1, it'll cost a total of £510! £425 without tips.

That is A LOT of money. I will keep this as it is just in case I find a way to afford that! I have until the 180 limit to come up with that extra money. If not, I just won't book a few of them.

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