The countdown is on!

So, it’s 241 days till we fly off on our next Floridian adventure! As always the name of the game is plan plan plan plan. With a couple of contingency plans just for luck.

So, what have we been doing? Well basically we’ve been looking at everything we fancy doing, seeing and eating! This holiday is gonna be a massive change for us, in that we are staying in a hotel for the first time in years. We have mostly stayed in villas (because we like some outside space to sit and chill).  But due to the time of year we are travelling we decided on the hotel route for this next trip (see previous blogs for details) – and the one we have booked as nice balcony with a fabulous view for us to have our outside space. 

The benefits of staying in a hotel on Disney Property is that we can book fast passes 60 days before we travel. This will be a great time saver for us. We have even created a spreadsheet with a “loose” plan of attack for the holiday/adventure. We can also book Disney Dining meals a 180 days out so that will also be a great help as well.

So what are we planning?!? LOADS!! Is the answer! We are going to try and cram in as much as possible using park hopping and the inter-park transportation system when in WDW.

Our main goal as ever is fun! There will be several new rides and attractions open since our last visit, Star Wars Land (Black Spire Outpost) in WDW and Hagrid’s Motorcycle Adventure in Islands of Adventure, and all the other new exciting things that are currently being built around the parks. 

We’ve been watching the new Star Wars ride “Rise of the Resistance” with lots of excitement, it’s due to open in December so we expect the queue for that to be mad the first few months, hopefully by the time we get to book fast passes (May next year) the ride will be linked up to the system so we can book it. (Fingers crossed!!)   To put this into context the Pandora ride, Flight of Passage is still hitting the 2 and 3 hour marks on busy days. Yikes. (Must admit that was one ride we really didn’t mind queuing for!!!) 

The Hagrid ride will be using the Universal “virtual queuing” system akin to Volcano bay. This ride is still super busy at the moment so we are always keeping an eye on it and noting wait times etc in our little book of Florida facts etc so we can see when the busy days/times are. Unlike WDW, Universal don’t do free fast passes, they sell a ticket you can use, it’s around $89 per day, per person and this is on top of your standard park admission. This may be an avenue we can explore to get on the rides multiple times. (Side note, we are not really happy about this, but as they say needs must, if it’s the difference between riding and not riding then…)

The ‘other’ extra benefit of staying on WDW property is the use of the “extra magic hours”  where you get to enter the park an hour or two early before the general public. This will be a real help getting on those hard to book fastpass rides! And we will also be making use of the free shuttles to and from the hotel, so a coach picks us up and voila we are dropped at the gates of the Magic Kingdom. Easy!

Now onto some of the important stuff….DINING!! Yes! Loads of places we’ve never tried and want to go and visit, one being the California Bar and Grill.   This is situated on top of the Contemporary Resort, and it has a wrap around balcony with absolutely stunning views of the parks and surrounding areas.   The food here is simply stunning. All hand made to order. Yummers! What we love about this restaurant is what ever time of day you eat, keep your receipt,  and that way you are able to go back in the evening WITHOUT A reservation and watch the and watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks from their special guest viewing platform or from the Lounge area, with a drink, with the fireworks music piped in…… nice way to end the day.

A new restaurant will be opening soon called Space 220 over in Epcot. This is a fully immersed/themed restaurant where there are no windows just huge screens showing views of space. This is going to be another hot ticket so we’ll get onto booking this asap. 

We are also looking at booking one or two character breakfasts as well, these are a great way to meet and interact with all your pals from the parks! And with the added benefits of getting you into the parks extra early. Another little win! 

As a couple of travel lovers we will be taking trips all around the great state of Florida as well as screaming on coasters, we cannot wait to visit St Augustine in the north of the state, as well as seeing what else we can find along the way! Many times we’ve been heading to one place only to see something a bit different by the side of the road and its “all change”! That’s the beauty of the area, you never know what’s just going to pop up whilst driving. We love it!

Now onto another of our favourite activities, shopping!! Oh yes… the malls will be getting many visits next year especially the Mall at Millennia (and not just because the Cheesecake Factory is there…) also both of the Outlet malls at Vineland and International Drive.  Many many bags to carry those days. (That’s just for Mr Oh Orlando).  And not to forget the Florida Mall, a brilliant place for just about anything you want. Mrs Oh Orlando always goes here for here mid holiday ‘mani/pedi’ she says they are an amazing bargain and she always falls asleep in the massive comfy massage chair.

One last little thing we must talk about is our little ritual we have, every time we visit Orlando we ALWAYS go to the world famous Cracker Barrel restaurant on the Route 27 near Haines City. We love it. Absolutely love it. Not only for the food but for the welcome we receive. Every….single….time.   We land on the Saturday and the very next day no matter where we stay we head over to the ‘’Barrel” for the Egg sandwich and Pecan pancakes with a side of bacon. (Stops to wipe mouth…).

So, only 241 days?? Won’t be long will it??? There is so much happening at the moment in the area we could do a catch up blog each week, so watch this space! See ya’ll soon.