Cast
------
Me - Doug, harrassed father of one new and one budding teenager.
DS1 - Tom (13), Man Utd fan and would be rollercoaster freak.
DS2 - Nathan (10) Liverpool fan, stubborn, not quite as daring and with a thing about soft toys.
A quick glance at the cast list and the more observant amongst you will note the absence of a DW. There is one, but she claims to have no desire to explore anything American beyond what she sees on her TV screen. This, and the fact she is preparing to start her nursing diploma course, gave us the great excuse to get out of her hair for the February half-term holiday and see if it was possible to enjoy only a week in Orlando as a first time visitor, without it seeming that someone had got out the remote control on your life and pressed the fast forward button.
Having read lots of good things (and before reading lots of bad things) about Virgin I booked a week at the Wynfield Inn (now Village Premier), found the DIS and quickly realised that this would not be a turn up and see what happens type of holiday. I found myself glued to the internet for hours on end meeting - virtually - lots of nice people, being baffled by strange abbreviations, having tons of questions answered and lots of others I hadn't even thought of brought to my attention (and a lot of laughs - and a few tears - as well)
Then came the big decision.
A discussion on the various parks with the boys made it obvious that they seemed more interested in the Universal rides than the Disney ones. After a lot of soul searching (and posting) I decided that, as we only had the 7 days, concentrating on Universal and Seaworld might not be such a bad idea and so I switched the hotel booking to the Rodeway Inn to be nearer to USF and ordered some flextickets.
Now the real planning begun and, alas for my DW, I became a theme park bore to beat all theme park bores.
------
Me - Doug, harrassed father of one new and one budding teenager.
DS1 - Tom (13), Man Utd fan and would be rollercoaster freak.
DS2 - Nathan (10) Liverpool fan, stubborn, not quite as daring and with a thing about soft toys.
A quick glance at the cast list and the more observant amongst you will note the absence of a DW. There is one, but she claims to have no desire to explore anything American beyond what she sees on her TV screen. This, and the fact she is preparing to start her nursing diploma course, gave us the great excuse to get out of her hair for the February half-term holiday and see if it was possible to enjoy only a week in Orlando as a first time visitor, without it seeming that someone had got out the remote control on your life and pressed the fast forward button.
Having read lots of good things (and before reading lots of bad things) about Virgin I booked a week at the Wynfield Inn (now Village Premier), found the DIS and quickly realised that this would not be a turn up and see what happens type of holiday. I found myself glued to the internet for hours on end meeting - virtually - lots of nice people, being baffled by strange abbreviations, having tons of questions answered and lots of others I hadn't even thought of brought to my attention (and a lot of laughs - and a few tears - as well)
Then came the big decision.
A discussion on the various parks with the boys made it obvious that they seemed more interested in the Universal rides than the Disney ones. After a lot of soul searching (and posting) I decided that, as we only had the 7 days, concentrating on Universal and Seaworld might not be such a bad idea and so I switched the hotel booking to the Rodeway Inn to be nearer to USF and ordered some flextickets.
Now the real planning begun and, alas for my DW, I became a theme park bore to beat all theme park bores.
