We're going again!!

I didn't post the most important thing in all this. The actual holiday!!

You can the read the whole stay from start to finish, with pictures, here!

And here is the new blog as I just started as we're going again in October 2012!!

This time, I won't be on my own and there will be 3 children coming with us!

Please follow me again, if you enjoyed this blog you'll love the next. :D

OMG!

We're leaving tomorrow!! I feel so unprepared!

2 more days...

...until we leave for Gatwick!

I've got $1550 now and will add more onto my card on Thursday before we leave which will hopefully make it up to about 2k!

Then I've got another £200 to add on over the two weeks I'm there from tax credits so I should have about $2300 in total which is great. :)

Going to unpack and re-pack tonight to make sure we've got everything. I know a few bits I need to pack still and a few I could do with taking out, so that should be sorted tonight.

Getting closer!

Today I've worked out how much I'm estimating I'll spend.

Food, taxi's, tips and snacks have come to around $1300. I've rounded everything up though so I'm hoping it'll be less than that!

I have $1500 right now, and should have about $2100 by the end of the week :)

So everything I have left after the $1300 will be for shopping, souvenirs, buying things from the parks etc and duty free on the last day. :)

Getting nervous

I'm getting really nervous now! I've never been on holiday without another adult before and have to make sure I don't lose 2 young children too!

I'll be dropping kids off as usual on Thursday, getting some last minute things sorted and spending some time with Ben. Then at about lunch time I'll be picking the kids up, giving them a massive lunch to last them the journey down to Leicester, then London. We'll probably leave here about 4, getting to my mum's at 5, so we'll miss rush hour by the time we get to London.

We'll check in the hotel around 8pm I'd guess and go to the airport for something to eat before saying bye to my mum and settling in for the night.

Then in the morning, we'll be up at 6am, get washed and ready and checked out early so we can catch the short bus ride to the South terminal where we'll check in. Hopefully about 7am so we'll be one of the first checked in, and with a bit of luck we may be able to request a window seat. :)

Then we'll be dawdling around the airport for 3 hours! We'll get some breakfast and see if we can find somewhere we can watch planes take off.

Then we'll get to our terminal bit around 9:30am-10am and wait to be called!

I'm hoping the kids will sleep a bit on the plane but I'm guessing that won't happen in the first half of the flight!

I've got to get some activities for them to do on the plane and keep them occupied, although there will be back seat tv's.

So that's the first part of our journey there! I'll post again soon with the rest, I've got some holiday sorting to do!

Getting there!

Packing done (almost, just need the toiletries now which I cant pack until the day we leave) and everything confirmed.

Cameron's spots are still there but yet to see any blisters so I think we've got lucky there!

This time next week we'd have just had our first night at POP and we'll be getting ready to go to Epcot for the day. I'll probably be on the phone to Ben about now too!

Getting really excited now!

Update...

...Ok, it looks promising for Cameron. Since he was sent home from school on Tuesday he has had no blistering! Which either means it's not chicken pox, like the doctor said, or it's a very mild case.

They have faded a lot and I'm hoping the spots would have gone by the end of the weekend. If he hasn't got them then I don't have to worry about Alyssa getting them. And if she does I hope it's mild for her too so we can fly!

She seems fine though and no sign of any spots so fingers crossed it's something else!

This time next week we'll be sat on the plane (hopefully!) almost half way to Florida!

I've got to get a few more bits, boiled sweets, toothpaste, toothbrushes, higher factor suncream, and some snacks and I think that's about it.

I've got all the holiday stuff washed, they just need ironing and packing. I've got to try to figure out how to pack Alyssa's big princess dresses without squashing them. :S

We've all got summer clothes, as well as a warm outfit each. They'll both be wearing a light jacket when we go so we've got them in case it gets chilly. Swimsuits are all packed as well as snorkels for all of us. Cameron has his spiderman costume, and I need to find the top half of his Jack Sparrow outfit or that wont be coming with us!

Plane tickets, park tickets, cards, cash, daily notebook and park maps are all in my bum bag, and the folder will be going into our hand luggage, along with some snacks and something to keep the kids amused.

I've got to get another bag for hand luggage as mine is just outside the size limits! If I cant I'll have to just try my luck and hope they'll let me off the couple of cm's.

Alyssa is so close to being 40"! I don't know if they'll let her on the rides (I wouldn't take her on roller coasters or anything where the height limit actually matters), but I really want us all to go on the Spiderman ride! Well there's a few rides that have the 40" limit that shouldn't really have height limits that I would love us all to go on

Down side of going on my own is that if she can't get on, none of us get to ride. :(

Just confirmed that my landline has free international calls for under and hour (can hang up and start again) so at least I can talk to Ben every day at no cost. :)

Getting very excited again now :)

This time in 6 days, we'll be getting ready to leave for my mum's!

Major set back!!!!!

We might have to cancel! :(

Cameron has the chicken pox!

He got sent home from school on tuesday with spots. I thought they might be bites as we let the cats in the night before and Cameron had chucked his school uniform on the floor tuesday morning!

Took him to the doctors and he said he thought it was chicken pox. Since he wasn't our regular doctor, Cameron wasn't ill and the spots are not blistering I took him back yesterday. He said he also thought they were chicken pox but we'll know for sure in a day or two.

Today half the spots seem to be fading and the rest have still not started to blister more than 48 hours after the spots appeared, so I'm stuck in limbo right now!

I don't know if they are chicken pox or not, but to be safe I'm trying to keep the kids away from each other and am putting loads of Calomine lotion on him. We have 7 days to go now! if they are chicken pox they should have scabbed over by then (assuming they actually start scabbing over!!), but my main worry is if Alyssa gets them.

She has to get them today or after the holiday if we are going to be able to fly. If she gets them tomorrow we won't be allowed to go! The airline policy is that you can fly 7 days after the first spot has appeared. So Cameron will be fine.

The best thing that could happen right now is if the next time I check Cameron the spots have faded and it turns out not to be chicken pox at all! Then I can relax and start getting excited again.

Suffice to say right now I'm not excited at all, I'm just so stressed. First credit card fraud, now this...

If things come in three's, what on earth is coming next?????

I'm going to do our holiday washing and ironing today and pack them all up and hope that gets me excited again. I can't see me relaxing totally until we're actually on the plane and it's taken off!

Not a nice build up to a Florida holiday, we should be dancing around counting down the days now, instead I'm counting spots and worrying 7 days isn't enough!

Aaahhh, hopefully this time next week we would have just had a massive lunch (won't be able to eat until 8pm when we get to London) making sure everything is ready and getting ready to leave for my mum's house! Then onto the Sofitel for an early night before a very long day the next day.

Hope hope hope!!

12 days to go!

$1350 on my card now making $1500 in total. Not so bad really. I have pretty much everything sorted now. I have packed a lot of things (not permanently, just in the case so I know what to take, still need washing again and ironing before we go), got all the documents I need, confirmed the Sofitel booking, confirmed and arranged the Clearwater trip and pick up times, changed the transfer pick up since my flight was changed (2 extra hours! ), and have park maps of all the parks we're going to with rides we can go on and things we can do in each park marked on them.

I'm not sure what else needs to be done. I've loved planning this holiday, this past year (and a bit) has been a long, hard journey, with it's ups and downs, but it's been so much fun!

I want something else to do now, I can't sit around for 12 days doing nothing! I'll go bonkers! There must be something else, and I will find it. :)

I can't believe how quickly this has gone, just 12 days to go now!!

Update

$1300 on my card, $150 in cash. You think I could get $550 in two weeks??

Hope so!

Stroller and fridge swap

I've written all this on my plan but just in case, I'll write it here too.

Stroller swap.

Friday 9th October: Ring HeatherSue at 8pm ish to arrange to meet to swap the stroller.

Thursday 22nd October: Ring KrisnChris and arrange a place to meet to pass on the stroller.

Fridge swap.

Sunday 11th October: Ring Gail after Seaworld to arrange to collect the fridge from their room.

Monday 19th October: Ring Bev at 8am to arrange to drop the fridge off at her room.

I have all their numbers in my phone and will have to ring them from my room at POP or a payphone or something as my phone will probably not work over there.

Getting there!

I have $1250 on my card now and $150 in cash. I'm getting paid in 2 weeks and it should be about £300 built up over the last few weeks, so that's about another $500 too. :D

I'm hoping to get another £100 from work for the second week we're out there, and about £150 ish from tax credits which will be about another $250. Excluding the extra £100 from work, that should be around $2150!! If all this stays on track that should be plenty so I'm more chilled out now about spending money.

Just got to carry on sorting our packing out, get a few extra bits from ebay and we're all set! I've packed on little case already.

Book 'Ohana again!

I had to, just look at the Polynesian resort!

I had to visit, and the kids love Lilo and Stitch too, not to mention saying bye to Mickey and Minnie on our last day. It only works out at $50 with tip anyway so it's not that much of an expense. :D

We'll be having a late breakfast/early lunch (although its still the character breakfast) on the 23rd of October, our last day, at 10:50am.

We have to get back to POP before 3pm now instead of 1 which is great so we'll have plenty of time. Packing will be done in the morning so we'll probably nip to Magic Kingdom or Epcot for an hour on the last day, then take the monorail to the Poly for our reservation.

Ok...

...I've now got $1200 on my card and $150 cash, making $1350.

I'm hoping to get quite a bit more before I go, and hopefully sort out a refund I'm due too.

It's not likely at all I'll get my money back from the fraudulent transactions before I go, but at least we'll get it back and can use it for something else after the holiday.

Ticker!

Getting so close now!!!!!

Ok...

...Still waiting on an investigation on my card and hoping for a miracle that I get my money back before my holiday, but until then I'm going to try to put as much as possible on my other one.

I've not got $1150 on it. I have about £200 ($300 ish) coming to me while I'm there (I should leave some in my account for bills while I'm away), and around £150 ($230 ish) from work, but hope to get more before I leave, going to work my arse off!

So that makes about $1670 minimum if I don't get my money back in time.

I'm hoping to get the chance to do a car boot too but that might not be possible so I'm also trying to cut back A LOT on my normal spending so I can put a little more away that way.

I'm still going to keep ringing fairfx and give them a sob story, keep telling them when I am due to leave and begging them to try to sort it out before then. I'll be a very happy lady if they can!

Great! Just what I need!!!!!

With just over 3 weeks to go, I've been the victim of credit card fraud! $460 has disappeared from my fairfx card!!

I've contacted them and all they could do last night was cancel my card since it was a sunday but I'll be ringing them back again once they open.

I've contacted the police, and they can't really do anything unless fairfx can't.

I've also contacted the website these transactions came from and told them to cancel any orders that might be in my name.

I can't believe this! I was panicking already about not having enough spending money and now I only have $1000 or so!!!!!

I really don't need this, I'm stressed again now wondering how we'll be able to manage if this isn't sorted out before we go. Great way to start a holiday, stressed and worried.

I can't even get a normal credit card because of my credit so whatever I save on my fairfx card is all I'll have. :(

Tickets are here!!!!!

I've just picked up our flight tickets!!! Unless there are any delays or cancellations (touch wood there aren't!), there's nothing left to stress about now.

The spending money I have right now is ok, so I'm just going to top up as much as possible over the next 3 1/2 weeks!!!!!

Everything booked now!!

Just booked the Spiderman breakfast for the 18th of October at 9am.

So nothing left to book or pay for now, just a few bits to take with us and spending money!!!!!

28 days to go now!!!!!!

Also, I changed teh T-Rex booking a few days ago. It's now on the 19th at 2:30pm instead of being on the same day as Shamu at 9pm!!

Getting sorted...

Ok, I think the spending money situation will be fine, fingers crossed, so that's one worry off my list.

I'm now getting freaked by how close the holiday is and how little I've got sorted!

Today I bought some suitcase scales so I know exactly what each case weighs instead of being charged at customs, a travel cushion for the kids, will get another so they each have one, and a new bum bag which fits everything I need in it and it's still small.

I've also got 2 cans of that mist spray in case we get too hot in the parks.

And last but not least, my passport has just arrived! I've just done my ESTA and it's been approved so we're all set to go!

I can get excited now, the biggest stresses (hopefully) are over and I just really need to pack and save as much spending money as possible and hope nothing is delayed or cancelled!

Update on my last post...

...well I've gone and cancelled the car!! I read the T+C to read up about the credit card issue and found that I had to have one in my name, and I had to have both parts of my driving licence, which I don't have (I have the card, but not the paper), so I wouldn't have been able to drive away in a car anyway.

Which is a very good thing, since I found a site (holidaytaxis.com) and have booked transfers to and from the airport for a total of £90! So I've saved over £200 there!

I now have nothing left to pay on my card, and have $1650 now. So I'm very happy right now. Even if I don't add any more, that's enough for us, although I will be adding more and will be getting money once out there, so things should be fine!

And I don't have the added stress worrying about the car hire or credit cards etc. I just need to sort out what I need to pack, what paperwork I'll need and how I'm going to cope for 2 weeks away from Ben!

Getting worried...

...about spending money. I now have $1800 on my card, which would be fine if there was nothing else coming off, but the car money is coming off soon which will be just over $500.

I'm trying to save up as much as possible and keep it in my work account, then withdraw it for when I go on holiday.

I'm pretty sure I'll be fine as long as nothing else is needed from this card. I don't know the policy at the car hire place. If they take a credit imprint, that amount will be blocked until I take the car back, so I hope they'll accept my mum's card but I'm not so sure. If that is what they do, I guess I'll have to save some of the shopping we had planned for the airport!

I do get £300 while I'm out there, so I just have to make sure I put as much as possible on there between now and 5 weeks!!!! Not even 5 weeks. Going to have to work my arse off I think.

Also, I rang up about my passport yesterday since it's been 2 weeks, and they said it was sent off for printing on the 3rd, so should hopefully be here Monday! That will be the end of the biggest stress and I can get ESTA sorted then too.

I really need to get sorted now. I've got loads of stuff to print off and sort out, packing to sort out (and we have nothing so far). I've not really sorted much at all!

The countdown has really begun now, it's going to come around really quickly now!

Update

Cancelled Teppan Edo, even though I really want to try it, as spending money is not going to be plentiful at all.

Got $1870 on my card and really need to add a lot more, since $500 is coming off for the car soon.

Still awaiting passport and will ring up on friday if it isn't here by then.

Booked with Shamu!

12:30pm on the 11th of October, all booked and paid for. :D Just need to wait a week or two to book the breakfast with Spiderman and all meals are sorted!

Passport sent!

Finally, with less than 7 weeks to go now!

Paid with my fairfx card so I now have $1900 on it, with just the car to get. I'm going to add everything I can to the card over the next few weeks, no more chips or stuff I don't need for a few weeks now. I really wanted to get to $3000 but I don't think that will happen now so I'm just going to put on as much as possible!

I'll be fine with money though as I'm not spending so much on food now, and I get about $500 while I'm out there so that will bring me up to $2400 straight away, plus anything else I put on from now, excluding the $500 odd that the car payment will be of course!

Cut backs...

I've cut some ADR's off my list. I had far too many and it was going to cost me a fortune. I'll save around $600 taking 5 ADR's off!

I'm now no longer booked at Sci-fi, Crystal Palace, Boma, Le Cellier or 'Ohana's.

I did really want to try Le Cellier, especially because it's so hard to get and I got a really good time, but it's one of the most expensive of the lot so had to get rid. Next time. :)

I'll post my new, and final, itinerary later.

Hit a few snags!

Knew it would happen!

Firstly, I've still not got my passport yet, or paid for my car. This will all have to come off my fairfx card :S

I've had a lot of unexpected bills and payments, which I've had to use my fairfx card too so I only have £2040 on my card now. Still not bad really.

I haven't been working much over the past few weeks either which hasn't helped so I need to work my butt off to save as much spends as possible.

Also, the Sofitel hotel we're staying at the night before will have the monorail closed at the time we're there. Not a major deal, we can get a short bus ride to the airport, but hopping on the monorail straight to our terminal within minutes was one of the reasons I booked the Sofitel in the first place.

So I've got $2040 on my card. $150 will be for the passport. The car money will be going onto the fairfx card anyway over the next few weeks so won't be eating into my current spending money. I still want $3000, which means I'll have to save up £800 in 8 weeks!! Not sure if I can manage that but I'll try my hardest!!

Tickers...

Update!

I know it's been ages since I updated this so I think it deserves a good update!

Was ADR day last week. The online system is up and running so at 11am I was all ready. I managed to get most of the ADR's I wanted and good times for us, and a couple of extra ones I never thought I'd get!

I'm still working on my itinerary now the emh hours are out and I know where we'll be eating so I may change or add things on before we go.

So far I have;

Coral Reef

Saturday 10th Oct

7:20pm

T-Rex

Sunday 11th Oct:

7:30pm

Princess Storybook meal at Akershus

Monday 12th Oct

8:10am

Donald's breakfast safari

Tuesday 13th Oct

9:00am

Boma

Tuesday 13th Oct

6:50pm

1900 Park Fare

Wednesday 14th Oct

8:00pm

Mickey's Backyard BBQ (paid for)

Thursday 22nd Oct

6:30pm

Just need to wait until I can book Dine with Shamu and breakfast with Spiderman. :)

Changes...

Ok, I did have £85 to pay the TA for my extra luggage, but they now owe me £14!

I've taken the transfers off and booked car hire!

14 day car hire in a Chevrolet Colbalt (or similar), 4 door, with a full tank of petrol and the young driver surcharge included, for £373! A bit more than I was quoted before but that one was a two door :S

Paid £35 deposit today so have £338 left to pay on that.

I've saved £100 from taking the transfers off so that's brilliant. Only paying an extra £273 for fully inclusive car hire which is an amazing price!

Things will be going a little slower now...

So far all earnings have been going straight onto my fairfx card, but now I have more outgoings, so adding to my spending money is going to take longer than he has been so far.

$2700 on my card so $1300 left to reach my big target! I've actually got enough now for everything I want to do, but the more the better!

Little more...

$2650 saved up so far!

Car hire!

Until now I wasn't even considering car hire because of the under 25 surcharge. Everywhere I've looked charges around £450 for the car, then another £350 for the young driver surcharge! No way am I paying £800 for a car, that's more than the resort alone!

But I've found a site, http://www.carhire3000.co.uk , that has a 4 door car, all insurances, surcharge included, and a full tank of petrol for just over £350!

So I may be booking that soon. :D

Booked a meal!

Found out today you can book the T-Rex dinner 6 months in advance so I've booked it for us!

Can always change it if my other ADR's don't fit around it.

Right now, we are booked at the T-rex café on Sunday teh 11th of October at 7:30pm. Should arrive 15 minutes before.

Yay!

Little more...

$2550 on my card!

Well I've actually got $2600 but there's an issue with something I bought, so waiting for a refund.

I've also decided to book window seats for on the way there. It'll cost £70 both ways but I don't think it'll matter on the way back so will book them for the way there instead for £35.

Don't much fancy being able to watch us leaving Orlando, and we'll probably sleep most of the way back.

I can't wait to see the kid's faces when we take off, looking out of the window. :D

Woop!

$2500 now on my card!

And...

$2350 now on my card :D

Woohoo!!

The kids passports arrived this morning!

I've applied for ESTA for the both of them and they have been approved. So it's just me now.

I've added 5k each onto our luggage both ways so we don't have to worry as much about going over on the way back, which I think we will with only 15kg each!

I also got all of our birth certificated back so I can get my passport done now.

Dining....

Online dining is up and running!

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/

I'm still going to ring so I can book the next 10 days (perk of staying onsite) and the site doesn't let you do that. That could change though so fingers crossed!

But once I'm all booked I can swap and change and add on dining whenever I like up until the week we go. :D So not as much pressure to get the reservations we want first time.

Plus, I finally got hold of my U.S reservation number! I've been trying for weeks to get it with no luck (need it to book ADR's over the phone) so I'm pleased now.

...

$2300!! Getting so close to my target now!

I rang the passport office yesterday and they said they hadnt recieved my forms, but I sent them special delivery so they should be there today for sure. They told me the kids's passports should be here in a week, maybe less, but they can't guarantee it in case loads of people apply now or something like that.

So I'm waiting for those to arrive, and I can finally do mine!

Update...

Kids passports forms sent off again and $2250 on my fairfx card!

Yay!

$2150 now on my card and our birth certificates have finally arrived!! So I'll be going to the Post office today and sending them off.

Hopefuly it won't be long before we get their passports so I can get on with getting mine sorted so we can apply for ESTA!

Less than a month till I make my ADR's!

More...

$2050 now on my card.

Woohoo!!

Half way there!  $2000 on my card. :D  So chuffed!!

Plus, today my ticker has moved into the 3 month mark.  3 months and 29 days but still!!

Less than one month until I can make my ADR's. :D

$1900!

Looking like a daily thing right now! I was going to wait and see if the rate went up again but figured it wouldn't make much difference as I'm adding little and often so got another $50 today. :D

My tickers. Sooo close!!!!!

:D

$1850!

More...

$1800 on my card now!  Yay! 

Yay!

A lot of debts paid off so I've been left with a lot more today after a big pay day :D

$1750 now on my card!  Woop!

Half way to minimum amount!

My minimum spends is $3000.  I now have $1500!!!

I have to get $3000 to be able to afford everything I want to do, go to the places I want to eat etc, but I'm still aiming for $4000.  If I can get more then even better!