THANKS AND ALL THAT.....!

Well today we are home and adjusting to having the thermals on and heating full blast.
It's depressing :(:(

On behalf of Penny, myself and the boys thanks for helping to make Deantours Florida 2007 such a success.

Here's a couple of posts that we've had.............


northernbarbarian said...
Big thanks to the Deans, Chapmans, Coggins and the big O for a truly awesome and memorable holiday. Now I'm off to bed - hope the jet lags good for you all!Best step day 21st 17,226 - 2,343 aerobic too - where were we?Take care all and I look forward to the reunion!
02 December 2007 13:22
Duncs said...
Anyone think Kiley anal about the steps........or was that the fitness freak grandmas? man I'm tired - 3 hours slepp at 11 this morning and now 11 at night and off to bed hoping I've got this right. Beer with Mr Glass at 4 helped!! Thanks 4 wonderful time everyone and very sad that not there anymore :-(

FINAL DAY IN USA

We decided to throw ourselves in head first (well ears actually) on our last day!
Funny thing being that the shirts hardly got a second glance, which says something about the Americans taste in clothes!!



Home tommorow :(:(

OMG!

OMG...the american footie was awesome. I think we all enjoyed it far more than we thought we were going to. Top tip for anybody planning to come to Florida. Go see UCF (University of Central Florida) rather than the bigger NFL Tampa Bay, only one quarter of the price and all the same atmosphere, frills and spills - 41,000 there the day we went!! - they won

Saturday 24th

Monday 26th

Above pictured you can see Elliot and Grandma looking out to the launchpad at kennedy Space Centre. There is a space shuttle launch on December 6th and so the orbitor was actually in place - and who says this trip isn't educational!

Next pic is Jackie KILEY riding the surf on Cocoa Beach. Den we found the best beach side bar where we had outside eats to live music, we all agreed you would have loved it. Here are the 2 Grandma's swinging along to the music in that bar......

And FINALLY, yesterday we were back in the Disney parks again. MGM studios this time which I think all the adults agreed was their favourite.

Elliot and Lewis outside the StarTours (Star Wars) ride....

HAVING A NICE DAY!

LEFT. The team under their tour T-Shirts

BELOW. Mum and I actually saw a wild aligator in this lake!!!

ABOVE. At Animal Kingdom with Mickey ABOVE. Our Hawaiin night


Having a great time. Weather has been glorious, up to about 80 degrees each day. Today we are off to see the UCF Knights play at American Football so are readying ourselves for a vast intake of hot dogs and coke. On the downside, Elliot has had to make a trip to the doctor today since he has an ear infection and so has to stay out of the pool for a few days. More later.

COMING TO AMERICA

Finally arrived. Safely

Having an absolute blast so far. Have hit 'the wall' after 3 days of hard disney'ing (Animal Kingdom, Epcot and Magical Kingdom) and so today have had more of a relaxing day by our pool - inset pic. Managed to sneak out to the Fawlty Towers Tavern to watch England lose to Croatia this afternoon :(:(

Weather a steady and gorgeous 76-80 degrees each day so far. w2wbs

Hope everybody is well. Look out for more posts. SPELLRJDMDJJJW

BAR SET HIGH ON SHIRT FRONT!

My dad has set a very high standard on the 'bad' shirt front for our Hawaiian night - beat that beauty!

OMG - 3 days to go!!

Well can you believe it we're nearly there!!!

Very happy to get 2.01 on my dollars today $$$

In the excitement of all can I just remind you of a few last minute bits n' pieces:

Remember to bring:
Passport (a photocopy in your luggage is always useful)
Virgin e ticket (mum, dad and Jac C i've got yours)
Disney ticket (again bring a photocopy just in case you lose it ... who us!!!) mum, dad i've got yours
Driving Licencse (for those happy to drive)
US plug adaptor if required

I've spoken to the villa lady and she has let me know that there are hairdryers in every room (it's a girl thing!!), there are pool towels at the villa but they can't be taken to the beach and the best thing is we now have the villa for the day on the Saturday we leave (depart Orlando 19.55) so no stressfull out by 10am with kids screaming and watches to find (in joke for those in the know)!!! There is a PS2 at the villa but not sure if our games will work so sorry Dunc but no Buzz sport!

See you at the airport. Get your comments on here for any last minute chat.....

AHAAAAH!

Just digging through some forums and had a Ahaaah, didn't know that moment.
Here's the link - it's regarding being charged duty on your own items bought in the UK when trying to leave the USA.....read.
http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=95122



Here's another link for reviews of Dolly's show!! I know we never actually got to a decision on which show to do. I figure that we'll probably make a decision whilst out there. Penny and I thought maybe it would be nice to do something on our penultimate night (if we've got any money left).....save final night for something a bit more low key and packing :(
http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=178862

WEATHER WITH YOU

For those of you wanting to keep in touch with what the weather's doing over there at the moment. Here's a link.

http://weather.mgnetwork.com/cgi-bin/weatherIMD3/weather.cgi?

If anybody's got a better link, let me know and I'll put it on. Shaun

CARS

We've gone ahead and booked 2 x 7-seater cars as agreed.
With only 11 of us arriving into Orlando International airport on day 1, this should be adequate for us and our luggage. For our departure day we may need to do 2 runs but we'll come up with a plan while there.

The cost of the cars for the fortnight is £329 twice = £658.
So between 10 adults that's £66 each

Car Parking is booked at Gatwick at £67 twice = £134.
So divided by 3, Coggins/Dean/Chapman that's a further £45 per family

Therefore...........What is Owed?

Shaun, Penny, Elliot & Lewis £177
Jackie, Joe, Will £111 (paid already £67), balance still due £45
Lin & Rob £177
June & Dick £132
Mark £66
Kiley £66 (paid already £100), owed change of £34
Duncan £66

All monies due to Shaun & Penny asap please!!!!!

T-SHIRTS

Mark has been on the case with T-Shirts. This is the working design we are looking to go with. We're going to have squad numbers on the rear along with a nickname.

So now's your chance to ammend the name/nick-name that will appear, we're still missing a few. Get posting with any suggestions and or feedback on the general design.

Shaun DJ Silky
Penny Pitstop
Elliot Fab
Lewis Gappy
Lin Lindy-Lou
Rob Chef
June Crocket
Dick Tubbs
Mark Life Begins (squad no.40)
Jackie C J.C.
Jo Monkey-Boy
Will Gerrard
Jackie K Kiley
Duncan SAS man

LEAVING ON A JET PLANE........

Departures number 2 & 3 leave this Sunday - June & Dick. Duncan was departure no.1 of course.

Follow their travels up to November 17th by bookmarking their blog http://www.roundtheworldin40days.blogspot.com/
Why not go there now and leave a Bon Voyage message!

Duncan, just so that you're not feeling left out. His blog address is
http://duncsepicjourney.blogspot.com/

"Have a nice day"
Shaun

ITINARY - (Draft 46)

OK...here's what we got. By no means set in stone and of course as agreed at the planning meeting ultimately it's each to their own anyhow.

This said @Deantours TM recommends.......

Sat 17th Arrive
Sun 18th Morning CHILL/Swim. Afternoon Animal Kingdom

Mon 19th Epcot (day 1 of 2)
Tue 20th Magic Kingdom (day 1 of 2)
Weds 21st Disney MGM Studios

Thur 22nd Blizzard Beach Waterpark **THANKSGIVING**

Fri 23rd Day REST / Evening PARTY (Hawaiin Theme)

Sat 24th Lunchtime American Football

Sun 25th REST

Mon 26th Space Kennedy Centre / Coco Beach
Tue 27th Magic Kingdom (day 2 of 2)

Wed 28th SPARE / possibly return to Blizzard Beach??

Thur 29th Day Epcot (day 2 of 2) / Evening Dinner Show
Fri 30th SPARE / Shop

Sat 31st Depart

A quick explanation of logic. We have tried to incorporate as much of the entertainment as possible around the DisneyUltimate ticket, ie we are taking a view that this time we'll skip Universal and SeaWorld, the addition of which would add considerably to cost. We of course would therefore have a good reason to return - what a shame!

Touring Plans. These are essential we have been advised since they can shave literally miles off of walking each day - we will provide.

We may quite possibly not need 2 days each in either Epcot or Magic Kingdom, but until we get on the ground it is really hard to know. It's quite possible that we may want to do more instead, like add in a Seaworld, or less like more CHILL time by the pool.

Research has gone into which parks to go into, on what days, and in what order. As well as how to manage our time around Thanksgiving weekend.

As a general strategy we reckon on getting into parks early, getting on the high volume rides before traffic builds and then getting out prior to lunch. Lunch on the way home, or at home (cheaper than in Disney parks), rest up ZZZZZZ, and then back into the parks around 4pm when they are beginning to empty out.

But this is all just what we think/have read. It's your holiday too, have your say. Please please get your comments on the blog.

Can't wait now. S&P

Planning Meeting

And after the long wait for Duncan to arrive, they finally lit the barbeque.................

Check out that blue sky and it was even shirts off for Els on the last day of September!!


SO WOT WAS AGREED?

In no particular order.
i) Jackie K is henceforth 'Kiley'
ii) Departure. Kiley in Crawley, Mark in Gatwick, Chapmans to drive under own steam, Deantours/Coggins to drive under own steam,
possible parking in Crawley - Kiley to report back
iii) Two seven seater cars to be hired - use Duncans deposit
Deantours driver pack in each car.
iv) Bedroom allocation, those with younglins upstairs, those without free for all downstairs. SAS man in the den (that's you Dunc with your SAS stylee beard!!)
v) T-shirts - Mark
vi) Kitty. Car boot split to be dollar matched by rest of group to get things rolling
vii) SAS man arriving from NZ, 17th Nov - unless diverted to I-Raq!!
viii) Ma & Pa Dean arrive from Mee-ami, 18th Nov
ix) Itinary. Rough itinary to be put together by Deantours. With addition of Football and Space Kennedy, possible exclusion of Universal & SeaWorld although 2nd days in Epcot and Magic Kingdom may not be necessary, so this may change things....to be published on blog
x) Groceries on arrival. Requests to Penny
xi) Tickets. Each to their own
xii) Dinner show. Possibly Dolly? Possibly Pirates?
xiii) Dollars - today 1.96 -best rate in a while! Nationwide debit account recommended.

Mulberry Park

Hello, IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE? 52 days to go today!

Thought is was way time that we got some photo's of Mulberry Park onto the site.

So everybody's on for Sunday, yeah?

PLANNING MEETING

Well amazingly everybody could make both dates!  We'll go for the 2nd to give everybody a bit more time to plan.
So September 30th.  Our house, Chepstow.  lunchtime BBQ.  Get here when you can. 

Jackie K, if you want to stay the night before, that's fine.  Don't arrive too early though since Penny will be at work and I'll be ferrying the boys around to various sporting activities into the afternoon.   Dunc...you are exused!

$$ DOLLARS

We got half of our dollars today. $1.94 at the travel agent in town. I was a bit gutted since it was $1.95 yesterday, but when I worked out what the difference was it worked out at just $3, not that i'm obsessed or anything!!

My plan for additional spending from reading various information on the net is to sign up for a Nationwide account with Visa card. The exchange rate from US back to sterling is better once you get to the States than what you recieve here before you go. Nationwide has the best record of exchange rates of all and the lowest transaction fees, plus the card can be used in the ATM's of most american banks.

Whichever way you'll be spending in dollars what you would in pounds at home, hee hee

The importance of being Goofy

@Deantours has created this blog as a fun and quick guide to all things Disney2007.
With less days now than well, erm, yesterday...we felt it was way time to be "just a little bit Goofy". So please join in the fun. Use this blog as a way of spreading the word. We want to see ideas for excursions, amusing anecdotes, tips on surviving Uncle Sam, pictures of Uncle Mark wearing comedy large ears, 101 different Cosmopolitan recipies and generally anything that 'bloke' told you down the pub.

Enjoy..get posting!


Planning Party
We would like if possible to get everybody together for a Planning Party. Any excuse for a BBQ and glass or 3 of Soave! The dates we are proposing are either 16th or 30th September. Post and let us know what you think.....

Disneyland 2005

SPE & L did get the chance to go on a little Disney reccy a couple of years ago, to Disneyland Paris. Here are a few snaps.