Plan Your 2026 Orlando Trip Now & Save Hundreds on Flights

It’s the 1st of January 2026, and while the UK is cold, dark, and definitely NOT Florida, the team at The Great British Mickey Waffle is here to kickstart your holiday planning! Whether you are a first-timer or a seasoned pro, the very first steps can be the most overwhelming.

In this episode, we break down how to navigate the "big jigsaw puzzle" of Florida planning without the stress.

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
It's the 1st of January 2026, Christmas is over, the
decorations are coming down, andhere in the UK it's cold, dark,
and absolutely not Florida. So if you're sitting there right
now dreaming of sunshine, palm trees and a bit of Disney magic,
but you've never been to Floridabefore or Walt Disney World and
you're thinking, where do I evenstart?
This is the show for you. Today we're breaking down the

(00:21):
very first steps to planning theFlorida holiday without stress,
the overwhelm, or information overload.
So let's get started. Now my wheel's in motion and my
windows open with the wind blowing in my hair, so this is
my way I can feel in the air. Here I go.

(00:53):
Hello everyone, and welcome to the Great British Mickey Waffle
and welcome to our very first podcast of 2026.
I hope you've all had a lovely Christmas and very Happy New
Year and that you're surviving the returns of normal life
because let's be honest, Januaryin the UK can be a bit brutal.
Now if you're anything like us, as soon as Christmas is over,
there's that familiar feeling. Holiday Blues are kicking in,

(01:14):
weather turns grey, but all of asudden all you want is Florida
sunshine, blue skies and to be walking down Main Street.
And that's exactly what today's episodes are about.
So flights, hotels, parks, tickets, Lightning Lanes,
Universal Disney Springs, where do you even start with planning?
So today is about those first steps.
And I'm not doing this on my own.
I'm joined by the entire team atthe Great British Mickey Waffle,

(01:36):
all of whom have been exactly where first timers are right
now. All look well rested after a
couple of weeks off for Christmas.
Couple of weeks off is that? Is that you Simon?
Well rested. I was more down the line of
thinking, Ben, you know, it's it's like a first timer and it

(01:59):
becomes overwhelming. It doesn't matter how many times
you've actually been the whole planning bit can be
overwhelming. So it even if you even if you've
been to Florida umpteen times before, I still think this is a
type of show that you're going to get loads out of anyway.
Because actually it changes every single time that you you
go the book, every time you look, every time you look for a
flight, you're thinking how can't go from that airport.

(02:21):
It's it's crazy stuff. So it's always good to do a show
like this because it actually gets everyone back up to date
with just with what actually is happening.
And maybe some little hints and tips that will actually help
just make it a little bit smoother.
Looked at flights for 2026. Yep, books.

(02:43):
Some more, yes. Yes, that's true.
But the prices change, everything is changing.
And John, like you said, like planning does, I can't remember
the amount of sort of details you put into planning all the
day. And I think for a lot of us it
can feel overwhelming. I remember when we booked for

(03:04):
our first trip, we did no planning whatsoever because it
was our honeymoon. So we planned so much on the
wedding. We thought, oh the we're too.
Busy planning a wedding and writing a dissertation for good
growth. Yeah, yeah.
So I'm looking forward to covering quite a few bits and
sort of things that we, we, we do quite a lot and a lot of

(03:25):
planning and sometimes over planning of our holidays, but
sometimes that's a good thing. Other times you need to put in
those rest days. Better at the over planning and
the not over planning. I think it'll be interesting.
I've got three trips booked for this year so far and they're all
different. So the first trip I've got with
Millie, so just a girls trip in a few weeks.

(03:46):
The one in May I'm going on my own so that's a solely trip.
But I'm meeting up with Anna andCallum while I'm there and then
in the summer with the family. So I've actually got 3
completely different trips booked so far.
There may be more. 3 doesn't seem like enough for you.
Pot and kettle. I like to say I do not have a

(04:08):
single Florida holiday booked currently.
I mean that will change. Probably by the end of this show
it'll change I reckon. Robin.
Yeah, I also, now I'm thinking, now I've said that it's not
quite true. I don't have any Florida flights
booked, but I might have a few sneaky nights in a hotel.
Ever hopeful. Not that flight, yeah.

(04:33):
I think it is. We've, we've got a couple of
trips booked. 1 is not to Disney, 1 is just to Universal.
And it was, we're going to pop to Disney Springs.
We're going all the way to Orlando.
It's we need a bit of Florida sunshine.
But then we've got a cruise later this year, which is still
going to be a little bit of WaltDisney World as well as it's
not. In the parks.
No. So it's going to be So what have

(04:53):
we booked? So, Clay, you've booked your
flights. I think it yeah, I think it
probably was actually for each of them.
So I actually to, so the, I justchanged my flights in February,
changed to where Millie and I were sitting after my horrible
experience in December. And then my flights in May are

(05:15):
reward flights. So I'm going with the receipts.
And then in August, yeah, we've booked our flights in the VA
sale back in September, October time and actually booked two
different sets because obviouslyDan, Millie and I are going for
218 nights, I think it is. And then Morgan and Riley are
coming with us for 10 nights. So they're coming for the 1st 10
nights. So we've actually got two

(05:36):
different bookings in terms of flights, but we've also booked,
I've also booked hotels. So Mills and I are staying at
Grandestino Tower in February inthe summer, and I think I've
mentioned this before, previously I've rented DVC
Points and staying at Old Key West 'cause it's significantly
cheaper than even staying at Pulp.
And then in the summer we've gota couple of nights at Old Key

(05:58):
West, again renting DVC Points through DVC Rental store for two
nights in a 2 bedroom villa. And then we're going back to the
villa that we've stayed at for the last two years.
So it'll be three years on the trot for that particular villa,
which is at Formosa Gardens and really, really nice.
The one with the big cinema in the garage.
How? Many.

(06:18):
How many bedrooms is that, Claire?
It has five bedrooms. And how many bedrooms are going
to be taken? Just just out of curiosity,
just. Asking for a friend.
Just asking for a friend. Yeah, great.
Unless anyone you know falls out, in which case four or five
essentially do. You know, John, you're going

(06:39):
this summer as well. How much of your trip have you
booked? A lot more than normally would
by this time because actually we've booked flights, booked the
villa again, we're going back tothe same villa as last time
because we had such a nice time last year that we thought there
we go, we'd just go away. In the meantime, however, the

(06:59):
kids have invited themselves, sowe're actually going along with
the kids, plus Josh's girlfriends come in as well.
However, this is probably the first I'm, I'm going to come out
and say this now because actually I think this is
worthwhile sharing with people. And if you're in the planning
bubble at the moment and you live up north, there is a

(07:20):
significant issue at the moment finding direct flights out of
Manchester. As we're recording this, I've
just looked up on the Virgin Atlantic website for the exact
dates that we're travelling in the summer.
We're not going from Manchester.And for this reason, now if I
want to travel to Orlando and I want to go on the direct flight

(07:42):
from Manchester to Orlando, now just hold your breath, be very
careful if you're if you're driving because actually at the
moment, one return flight in economy with a check back is
£2230 per person. Oh my goodness, per person.

(08:05):
Per person. Crazy.
Now, the reason behind this is actually there's a, there's a, a
rumoured withdrawal from Manchester of Aer Lingus.
So Virgin in true supply and demand situation, basically
knowing that if people want to travel direct, you can actually,
you know, charge whatever you want.

(08:25):
That's that's the issue. Now, one of the things to just
bear in mind is actually Virgin also fly out of London where the
prices are actually a little bitmore reasonable.
We picked up flights from Edinburgh.
Now there's two Virgin flights per week from Edinburgh.
So we, we got flights from Edinburgh.
We booked them a little while ago because they were, they were
a decent price. They were certainly, in fact,

(08:47):
they were less than half of the price of the Manchester ones.
I've just said. And actually we're going to go
to Edinburgh for a couple of days before I'm going to explore
Edinburgh. I think the thing to bear in
mind and we've for the past number of times that we've done
shows that we've discussed booking flights.
We've always said, oh, it's not worth going indirect anymore
because actually the prices are roughly roughly on a path.

(09:09):
But I'm beginning to see a change in that pattern.
And, and this is the first time probably since 2019, possibly
even a little before that. There are some bargains to be
had if you prepare to go indirect and by bargains, I'm
thinking particularly from Manchester.
If you choose to take the flightto Atlanta and then onto

(09:30):
Orlando, rather than paying basically two and a half, £1000
per person, you can get a flightfor about £730 per person, which
is, and that just is one stop with a decent layover in either
Atlanta or New York and it it becomes a lot more doable.
And that's maybe one way of actually cutting your cost

(09:53):
before you begin. If you go from Heathrow, Delta
also fly from Heathrow to a better variety of different
places within the US if you're looking for indirect flights
there. Again, you can pick any pick
flights up around about the £700mark, which like I say, I'm, I'm

(10:16):
a great advocate of saving money, a great advocate of
taking the indirect route, whichbasically we did for years when,
you know, we couldn't afford to fly direct and going indirect,
you know, we were paying maybe 400, four £150 per person, but
that's going back 10 years. So you actually look now that
700, seven, £150 per person to go in direct again with just one

(10:40):
layover is actually pretty good,especially when you compare it
to the direct flights out of Manchester.
And I think John, you hit you mentioned about supply and
demand. We've been looking at from
months for August and if every few minutes they change and
sometimes it's we've been looking at flying with Virgin.
But actually, well, it's actually for us to go and book

(11:00):
through Delta because you don't have to pay to book your seats.
On. Some delta operating.
Same flight over through Delta flying on a Virgin plane.
Yeah, it is one of those things.And also we've noticed that on
some of them there sort of the next level because you've got

(11:21):
economy premium and upper class,but in economy you've got
economy delight and sometimes that's worked out cheaper than
economy. Depends on the flight and
depends on the time of like. I've noticed a trend for August
that the first flight of the dayseems to be the most expensive.
The one like 12:50 or 3:50 and it's cheaper.

(11:42):
Yeah, it's actually interesting as well, Ben, because actually
again out of Manchester, the twoVirgin flights that that they've
only in the past few weeks changed the actual timings of
the the Manchester direct flights.
And rather than being an early flight in the late flight,
they're basically one's leaving at 12:20 when the next one
leaves at 1:30. So there's very little change

(12:05):
out. Again, I'm talking purely from a
northern airport, but it really,it really does sort of hit home
as to basically just to to say shop around and go and see if
you can actually get a really decent price.
Good, good result of going is actually looking on Skyscanner
or like you say, go to the Deltawebsite because actually it

(12:27):
gives you free, free booking. I prefer to go with the actual
airline website because you can actually navigate it a little
bit easier, but Skyscanner is a good place to start.
Or Google Flights purely. You get a ballpark figure but
their flight prices generally don't include luggage and you
then have to go back on the Whenyou get click through a Virgin

(12:49):
or BA you then have to go back and then try and change it.
Baggage and what? And then the price increase and
then it actually, if you've goneto there it, it, it's a
difficult one because I know skyscan and Google do bags
differently. I remember on Google you just
choose add a bag but it adds a cabin bag, not a checked bag.
Yes. Oh, and then it just, do you

(13:09):
think you've got a really cheap price?
And so you actually go through to the end and go like, oh, I
haven't got that. So you have to pay an extra like
75. Pounds, yeah.
And also, and also worth bearingin mind as well that you can't
just, if you, if you do book that the worst mistake you can
make is turn up at the airport with your suitcase is in hand
and then you find out you're going to have to pay extra on
the day and you're, you're already on the backfoot.

(13:32):
That's. It's one of my worst nightmares.
Yeah. It's just like, it's why I hate
travelling in Europe with Ryanair and things like that,
because you're forever measuringthe size of your bag.
It's just it gives. It every day.
Yeah, but I get that real sort of that real horrible feeling
and that's that's why it's quitegood.
If you just get that out of the way, you know that you've got 1

(13:53):
suitcase, 23 kilograms you sorted and you know that if you
buy too much when you're out there, you can pay for the extra
bag on the website before you get to the airport coming home.
Yeah. We did that when we flew with
Norse from Gatwick, Which I knowrecently there's been quite a
few cancelled flights, which I know is, I'm not sure.
I know when we, we booked a few years ago with the same thing of

(14:16):
like there was no online checking.
We arrived at the airport. They, you had to put your bags,
they were measuring your bags tocheck and, and all of this.
And it was just like, it was a good price we paid.
But I'm in that sort of mind at the moment that I think I'd
rather stick with Virgin or BA or Delta.
Yeah, but sometimes it is a difference and different price.

(14:39):
So Robin, do you book your hotelfirst or your flight person
first? Do you know, I think it depends.
I think it depends what sort of trip I'm doing at the minute.
I booked because we are DVC Disney Vacation Club members,
which is, if you haven't heard of that before, it's like a
Disney's own timeshare. So at the minute I was able to

(15:04):
book some nights. I booked five nights at the
Polynesian Tower, which is theirnewest resort at the moment, and
they came up as available on thedays.
I'm hoping to be there at the end of April.
So I booked them while I could and I'm hoping I have some
flexibility around what days I go and come back because when

(15:28):
I'm not staying in Disney, I'll be staying with my friend.
So I have some flexibility and I'm I'm ever hopeful that I'll
be able to get a decently pricedVirgin flight.
We have a Virgin Air miles credit card, so it it makes
sense for us to stick with Virgin whenever we can.
I mean, I'm not going crazy. I'm not paying currently today
the flight with Virgin is 800 and something pounds for the

(15:50):
days I'd looked at is north at 310.
Like you say you add on bags blah blah blah.
However that is quite I would not pay that much more, but I'm
ever hopeful that there'll be a sale of some description or
yeah, hopefully it will come down, but it depends really.

(16:11):
Yeah, I think that's that's the answer.
It depends. We will soon be booking our DVC
stay for end of November becauseyou can book 11 months in
advance. So we will definitely have our
hotel booked before our flights because the hotel will come
available technically before flights do.
So we will have that booked in the next few days really.

(16:35):
So yeah, it kind of depends. But if we're booking 11 months,
we have we book the hotel first.I think that's them.
There's so much that goes booking into a trip, but it's
working out what you're doing onthat trip because amongst all of
us, we all do different trips. And Eau Claire in December, you
were there for five nights and then you're planning August next

(16:56):
year, which is like 18 nights. So we all do different trips and
have different reasons for travelling.
So our honeymoon, it was pretty much we went into sort of Virgin
holidays travel agent and we would like a two week trip.
Originally we're planning New York and Niagara Falls and a few
things else and they couldn't piece together what we wanted.
So they suggested Florida. We went with that.

(17:19):
So really, this is all thanks tothe the Virgin Holidays.
Well done, Virgin, do you? Know, Ben, I think you touched
on something really important there actually, and I had a
conversation a couple of weeks ago, I think it was, and I have
some friends who went to Floridafor the first time a couple of
years ago and they asked me whatto book And, and I said like,

(17:41):
you need to book your flight to use book your hotel, you need to
pay for your part tickets and then you need to work out what
you know what it is you actuallywant to do when you're there.
So when you're booking your parttickets, do you want to do
universal? Do you want to do Disney?
Do you want to do none of that? What what is it you're going
for? What's the, you know, what's the
the most important thing for Andthey said, we just want to know
it's all sorted because there's so much to know.

(18:04):
And the thing for them was that they felt so secure by going
into a travel agent and whether that be virgin to E or an
independent travel agent who didit all for them.
And that and I said, you know, it is possible to do it all
yourself. You can book your hotel, you can
book your flights, you can book your car, you can do it all
separately. But for them, that was on their

(18:25):
first trip, they felt that was overwhelming and they couldn't
quite get their head around it. So what they wanted to do was to
just have the information about what the options were and then
to go into a travel agent and gobook us this.
And then it was all done as a package.
They got it with a nice big bow on the top and they didn't have
to worry about it. Now, as someone who's been to

(18:45):
Florida a lot of times, that's not something I would do, but I
don't, I don't have it, You know, I don't look down on
people who do that. I think that's a really valid
option. If you've never been and you
don't know what you're doing andyou don't want to fall foul.
You know, there's so many Internet groups, you know,
whether that be on Facebook or Instagram or wherever, Reddit,

(19:08):
whatever it is that you're involved in.
And I think it, you know, Facebook for, for Brits, you're
going to Orlando. There's so many different forums
and, and people giving bits of advice and useful bits of advice
and not so useful bits of advice.
If you're not sure what you wantto do, then to go to a travel
agent who is going to make sure that A you have your flights

(19:30):
booked, B you have your transfers and C you've got
somewhere to stay with some parttickets.
That is a perfectly valid option.
And yes, you know, there may be a slight premium on that.
You may pay 10 or 20% more than someone who's doing it for
themselves, who's been five times and they think they know
what they want. But for the security and knowing
that you've a got the app to support from the UK perspective,

(19:52):
you know, you've got your insurance, you've got your, you
know, security around the, the package that you're booking.
Don't be scared to do that because that's, that's just as
valid as going and doing it piece meal and picking, you
know, you're, you're picking thebits and pieces that you want
and putting it together yourself.
So I, I actually said to my friend, you know, if that's what
makes you feel safe because you've never been and it's so

(20:15):
huge. You know, when you start looking
at all the options, it's massive.
Even just like someone said to me the other day, which Disney
hotel should I stay? At and I was like, well.
Let me ask you 100 questions. 1st and then I might be able to
give you some advice, you know, actually.
But you know what, just get if you, if you feel more
comfortable with someone else doing it and you get that piece
of paper at the end of the day, which has got everything printed

(20:36):
out and you just follow your, you know, your, your plan.
Great, That's that's great option.
I also think you've missed out one key element.
Of a definite pro for a travel agent is you can pay it off and
you have a set amount each month.
And some people really they, they're, they might not be great

(20:56):
with budgeting. They might just want to know
that I pay this much each month and then at the end it's all
paid off and I have a way I go. I think especially with the
dining plan, you know, it's not free, it's paid in advance.
But actually for some people that is such a, a, a deal
breaker in terms of I know that when I go, me and my family,
whoever it is, you know. Parents to worry?

(21:18):
Parents and for kids, I don't have to worry about feeding them
because we've got all this food included or I don't have to
worry about finding the money when I paid all that on my
flights to have a snack when thekids want a popcorn or when I
want to get a Turkey like or whatever it is that they want.
And I, I, I really do and I, I know some podcasts really look

(21:41):
like scornful of people who bookthrough travel agents.
There are amazing travel agents out there that whether they be
UK big buck guys, independents, American travel agents we can
use from the UK. There are so many options that
are available to us that I just think if you're not sure, get an
expert to help you. And that's, that's not us.
We're not travel agents. We're just people who love it.

(22:02):
But you know, there are people who can help you and and we'll
make sure that you're you've goteverything you need.
So how do you call that a? Bit of a tangent there.
No, I think. And.
We went into Virgin Holidays andat that time it was we weren't
sure we'd gone in with the idea that we wanted New York and now
before but then it's like we hadn't thought of we'd thought

(22:22):
of they would like to add on a week at Disney or and thought
about that just in the back of our mind.
It wasn't something that our whole trip was going to be, but
then it was just like talking about the questions about car
hire that we hadn't even thoughtof, and then tickets.
And it was like it was back in the day where we bought every
single ticket because that was the best deal.
We weren't sure what theme parkswe wanted to do apart from

(22:43):
Disney Universal we had to see while we had so many other.
Gator Land, sunny Gardens, all of the stuff, you've got to get
them all in. You can't get them all in.
Those five tickets are everywhere.
Yeah, yeah. That is, there is always, there
is always that little risk though, isn't there?
If you go with a travel agent that they are going to sell you

(23:04):
as much as like there is a benefit to them to sell you as
many tickets as possible. And I think that's where you're
in, if you're informed and you have those conversations and
like you're, if you are part of that, I think those Facebook
groups are amazingly helpful or the Instagram conversations
because actually there are people who've been and gone.
Do you know what? Here's my here's my story of

(23:24):
when I was there. I wish we hadn't paid for gate
alert because we went and it wasan hour and it was, you know,
whatever they thought of it. Or I didn't have time to get to
Busch Gardens because I didn't realize it was an hour and 15
minute drive away. Don't waste your money unless
you're planning to be in Tampa. You know, there's so much
advice. So a bit like, you know, when
people are having a baby, there's always someone who's

(23:46):
prepared to give them advice about how, how to do it.
And going to do it and going to Orlando is similar.
I think there's always someone who's got a Horror Story, but
also someone who's got like his nugget of wisdom, so.
Always somebody that won't shut up about their holiday tour.
Right. Yeah, I can't stop this.
Thank. God, I don't know anyone like
that. Speaking of Speaking of which,

(24:09):
if anybody wants to go back and check on previous planning shows
that we've gone over the past six years, I'm pretty certain
you'll find exactly the same advice.
We we time and time again, we keep coming back to the same
thing because it's actually, it's your holiday, you're the
one in charge of it. I would also make a mention
we've got really good friends ofthis show, Neil and Karen who

(24:31):
run port with Traveller in the UK.
They have been to Florida so many times that actually they
won't give you that sort of upsell because actually they
know exactly what it is to do a Florida holiday for the very
first time or for the 101st time.
But you you're going to get proper advice.
And actually, I think what we need to say at this point in the

(24:54):
show, probably the most important bit of advice is
actually if you, if you are, I'mtrying to think of a polite way
of saying this. If you are a little bit unsure
as to whether or not you would be allowed into the United
States of America, book nothing until you have got your Ester.
Now your Ester is actually you. You pay $40.00 for it.

(25:17):
Don't pay more than $40 because actually there are hours of
websites that charge you an awful lot money.
Like that $14.00? I know so yeah.
But if you've got to be thoughtful of the fact that if
you have got a criminal record, there is a chance that you will
be pushed towards actually getting a visa.

(25:38):
If you need a visa, it is a longand lengthy process.
Do that before you get to the booking of.
Can you use? Money on holiday?
Yeah. John, can I just?
Can I just, I'm not going to correct you, but just add to
that you don't actually have to have a criminal record.
Even if you've been cautioned for something that there was

(26:00):
then I think it's called no further action or there's been
no charge and there's no record,there's nothing.
You still need to go through it down the visa route and and when
you have to read the wording on the Esther.
Yeah, very carefully. I.
Think as well, Claire, and I think to avoid pulling us into

(26:24):
that absolute holder a lot of people on Facebook get oh, I did
this when I was. 15 in your answers.
Answered answered the Ester application completely honestly.
And you will then get to the Peace of Mind that, yes, I can
go and book and, and actually, Ithink that's for me, that's

(26:46):
possibly something that a lot ofpeople overlook.
You get a little bit excited. Just know if if you fit into any
of those criteria the auto. It will be an automatic
rejection on your Ester though. It will.
It will. But if you answer correctly,
that's the right thing. And then you need to go down the
visa route and you need 11 months of notice an appointment,
but that's that's better than paying for your holiday and

(27:09):
getting to an airport in Americaand being around a sent home.
I would just, I would just give a caveat to that.
And if you go through the form and if you need to answer, yes,
abandoned the form. Because if you fill it in yes
and you get told no, even when you apply for your visa and you
get given a visa and you get to America, it will still be on

(27:30):
your passport that you had a rejected ESTA and they'll cut
you off to another room to have a conversation and it will
happen every single time on thatpassport.
So. Don't.
If you think that you're going to answer yes, I wouldn't even
fill it in. I'll just go.
Just go for the visa but you need to 160 dollars.
Fill in the forms, book the appointment, that's all you need
to do. And then follow the questions.

(27:52):
It's really clear. You go to the embassy and you'll
walk, you'll walk your way through that process and you'll
be approved or rejected. And none of us can tell you how
to do that. So just be honest in the Ester
review, you know. Read the care questions
carefully. That's something a travel agent
can't do for you either. You have to do it yourself.

(28:14):
The other thing that I didn't know which I read the other day
was if you have got AUS visa, whether that be AB1 or B2 visa
which is the ones that they givefor visitors who are going
leisure travel, Your visa is usually granted for 10 years.
Your passport is usually less than 10 years.
When your passport expires, yourvisa is still valid.

(28:37):
So you then have to get your newpassport and your old passport
together. You don't need to get a new visa
when you get a new passport. You only need 5 for a new visa
when your passport when your visa expires.
I'm AB1 and B2 visa holder so and I had that with my last
passport. It's weird, isn't it?
Because usually you expect it to.

(28:58):
Expire when your passport is like that.
But you have to be be careful when the passport goes because
you have to have the. I think you have to get the
passports sent back to you with the corner clipped.
That's it, Yeah. You have to have it returned to
you and you have to carry both passports because if.
They clip. If they clip the corner of the
visa visa, it invalidates the visa.

(29:19):
So they no. Right.
One of the visa is not clicked. It's.
Crazy. Take your old passport with you.
Yeah, I didn't realise that the visa was still valid when the
passport wasn't, which is 1 situation.
But yeah. So if you get a passport for 10
years and your your passport's only got your visa's 10 years
long, but your passport's only four years, then for six years
you've got to carry your old passport and your new passport

(29:40):
if. Anyone's still listening to
this, right? Right.
And it's and it's planning to gointo USA.
You're crazy. I actually.
Feel you've you've. You've probably passed.
That's the first Test of actually determining that you're
definitely, can you cope with anOrlando holiday.
Otherwise you're probably switched off and you decided,
no, we're going to Spain, it's much easier.

(30:04):
And the same point about us not shutting up, talking about
stuff, right? Oh dear me, he would have
thought. What's interesting is about all
of this is that it's learning when to spend your money.
So and actually booking things that may have a refundable
deposit or a low deposit. And sometimes that can save you

(30:28):
money because there's certain parts of the trip that we've
booked like car hire that we have booked one a week and
refund. And actually every time that I
see the price drop a rebook it and save some money so that
money can then be used somewhereelse on the holiday, whether
it's yeah, there is. Often there is often our thing
isn't that I know that people that book like a full package.

(30:50):
There is that tipping point and that that critical mass where
it's sometimes cheaper to, if the price significantly drops,
especially if you book quite a way in advance, you're sometimes
booking actually before flights have been released, before hotel
booking is actually available. You've you've taken the plunge
and booked the package, but they've booked it on an
estimation and you'll be paying that full whack until it's paid

(31:11):
off, regardless of the possibility of actually the
whole package becoming cheaper. But it's the cancellation charge
and the rebooking fee that thereis that point where it may be
cheaper for you to just cancel it and rebook again.
And it really depends how you kind of booking as we talked
about whether you're going to godown that route of booking with
a travel agent. But yeah, there's always various
things where it's sometimes cheaper to to cancel it.

(31:34):
Re book first, It's your holiday.
We've done that with when we tend to book flights and car
hire together because the flights and if you book flights
and car hire or flights and hotel, it counts as a package,
which means you get the same protection asset for each other
day. So if something happened to your
flight, which happened to us, there was a hurricane and our

(31:55):
flights cancelled, we were then accommodated and reimbursed
because we were on a package deal where it was flights only.
It wouldn't have been quite so straightforward and we would
have had to sort it, you know, quite a few things out
ourselves. But we definitely done that
where we booked flights and the car hire on a deposit, which was
I think it's like £50 each or something like that BA and then

(32:16):
found them a month or six weeks later significantly cheaper.
And then actually, you know, didthe cost calculations of how
much is the cancellation fee, how much are we saving?
And it was cheaper to cancel, pay the cancellation fee and
then rebook in the same phone call, exactly the same flights.
And we saved about six, £700 even with the cancellation fee.

(32:40):
I mean, it's unusual, but it does happen.
So I know some people are like I'm going to book my flights,
I'm never looking again at how much they cost because I don't
want to see whether they're cheaper or not.
Actually, sometimes it's if you're particularly you're
booking a package deal, it's sometimes worth keeping an eye
on when the sales are on and whether it is well A what are
your cancellation fees, but B what are the prices at the

(33:00):
moment because it can be cheaper.
Yeah. And I have to admit we when we
booked for sort of later this month, we booked it.
So I don't think it was during one of Virgin sales, but it
turned out that for the flights and hotel for a week was 1400
lbs and it's like it's on its own 750 per person.

(33:22):
Yeah. So.
So it's like Universal for free.Yeah, yeah, this is it.
You know you. Sometimes it's a glitch, but
sometimes it just is how it is that day.
And it's, you know, there are, Ithink it's worth saying there
are days that are cheaper to flyand more expensive to fly.
If you don't know if you fly on a Saturday, Friday or a

(33:42):
Saturday, it is going to be moreexpensive than if you fly it on
Monday or Tuesday. So if you're able to be a little
bit flexible and the times and the days that you're flying, you
can save yourself quite a lot ofmoney.
That also goes for times, yeah, because obviously we don't have
to go in school holidays. Where I know, Claire, John, you,
you've had to do that. Yeah.

(34:03):
Only if I'm taking my children. It's paying on my own.
It doesn't matter at all. Yeah, I just set me back.
I've got this memory of, of listening to podcasts with the
with the kids in the back of thecar.
I'm just saying thinking there could be parents who are
listening to this now, have got the kids in the car and they

(34:25):
could be 02, We could ship, shipthe kids off to the
grandparents. Yeah.
And we can go. We can go during the cheap time
to Orlando. Yeah, there we go, kids.
You. Know what's even cheap then you
know, just leave them with one of the parents what and just one
of, you know, on the road, OK? Yeah, you go.
That's it. Yeah, you have to buy one.

(34:47):
Yeah. Exactly.
You're halving the trip, basically.
Exactly it. Exactly.
Shrinky family. That's the that's the cheapest.
There you go. I don't know whether we've made
it any less overwhelming right now, though.
I. Don't think we have.
We asked the question about what, Yeah, why does it feel so

(35:08):
overwhelming? And then we've just emphasized
it is overwhelming. I, I think that it feels
overwhelming because it is overwhelming.
It's I think. Laughings.
Yeah. I think people need to keep
perspective. It's a holiday.
It's a couple of weeks in the sunshine.
And yes, you know, for me, thereis something about recognising

(35:31):
that you are not going to do andthat's OK.
There is. You know, people talk about that
once in a lifetime trip. And I know, you know, every,
every time you talk to someone new who's been to Walt Disney
World and they go, oh, this is aonce in a lifetime trip.
We're only going once and that'sit.
And we all go, yeah, OK, there in that standard UK based two

(35:58):
week holiday, which is what we all tend to do because that's
what stand Yeah, I don't know why it's gone to a fortnight
holiday, but that's what people do.
There is absolutely no way on earth you are going to do all of
Walt Disney World, all the attractions, all the, you know,
all the things you want to do, all of Universal and all the the
other stuff. It's not going to happen.

(36:18):
So I think that, and I had this conversation at the weekend with
someone that, you know, there issomething around prioritising
what are the things that are important to you and the people
that you're travelling with, whether that be family, friends,
you know, random acquaintances, whoever it is that you're going
with or meeting there, What is it that's most important to you
to see? Pick A1 attraction in each park,

(36:40):
pick a restaurant, you know, andbe happy that anything over and
above that is a bonus because you're not going to be able to
do it all. And that's OK because I don't
know anyone who's ever been to Orlando other than perhaps your
brother John and your family whowent.
We've done Orlando in three days, but they missed.

(37:03):
But they've never been back. And I think, I think that's,
that's the key bit clear. And I, I think you're really on
to something here in that whole thing of, of, and not just, not
just yourselves, but if you, if you're going with a wider party
or you're going with your family, get everyone to be part
of that planning process. So that if there is just one
thing that everybody wants to do, ensure that you get a chance

(37:27):
to do it. I can only take us back to last
year and the amount of differentstories I've heard from people
who visited Epic universe of oh,you know, ranging from how good
it was to, oh, it was, we didn'tget to do this.
And actually, we went with no expectation.

(37:47):
We went purely to soak up a brand new theme park and
everything that we actually managed to do, which on the day
we went, we were very lucky. It was an awful lot, but we
hadn't expected. We hadn't expected to come away
with that feeling. And I think that possibly goes
back to some of your first experiences in going to Florida

(38:08):
where you go to a theme park, beat Disney, beat Universal.
And do you think I can do that every single thing, every ride.
And I've come away at the end ofthe day and I've only done half
of it because it's been maybe the queues have been a bit long
or maybe I've been, I've realized I need to stock for
food and actually. Just.
Rein in a little bit and actually your enjoyment

(38:31):
multiplies by umpteen amount because actually you then will
experience more because actuallyyou're not just going from ride
to ride to ride. You're actually getting much
more of the atmosphere and you then getting that opportunity to
stop, to watch the parades to, to just soak up what every
single theme park has got to offer.

(38:53):
So a question for you where if this is like someone's your
friend's first time, where do they find out what rides that
they want to do, what restaurants they want to do?
Like where do you, where would you suggest, what would you
suggest that they how they research it to have a plan of
one or two things that they wantto do?
I mean, obviously outside of, well, you need to listen to the

(39:15):
GB Mickey waffle. Our next episode is going to be
us listing all of the rights andattractions you can do It's.
A really good question, Robin, because previously there was
like the like the planning VHS and DVDs that you get from Walt
Disney World. You could ring up and get

(39:37):
delivered. And you know, there was a the
holiday brochures where you could look through all the
pictures of the things and they had like lists and rides and
various stuff. And that doesn't none of that
really exists anymore. I think that the current the
current trend is to watch vlogs on YouTube, which is, you know,
has they'll have a little bit ofa spin on them.

(40:00):
But if you watch a few, then youget a general feel.
And I think that there are some really great vloggers out there
who are fairly impartial in terms of their views.
They share the information rather than their own personal
Well, they spend share their experience, but perhaps without
the. The weighting of their own views

(40:23):
on it, if you see what I mean. So I always think that Disney
Food Blog is a great option in terms of eating.
But also AJ, who's who tends to be the host usually is really
good at sharing different experiences that are happening
across Walt Disney World. They've got a great website that
supports all of the things that they do.
So I tend to go to Disney Food blog if I'm looking for

(40:45):
information or new food information or restaurants that
are just opening and things likethat.
I think there's some great UK vloggers who perhaps have a
slightly more in tune view of what someone from the UK might
want to see. But that's not to say that our
friends in the in the US might might not be able to.
Yeah. Say it's one of those weird

(41:07):
things because there's always this, it's so difficult and I
think the Disney app has maturedover the past few years.
Yes, not all works like booking dining move.
Directly to our. Website and all over the years
we've had to deal with VPNs and not have access to things but I
think it's in a good place rightnow that actually if someone's

(41:29):
coming across dizzy for the first time you've say you've
booked it and you know you're going toward Disney World
actually just opening the app and looking at the map so it
gives you a great scale of how big Walt Disney World is so how
many different places you've gotyour different parks you've got
all your different hotels and all the different transportation
options because yes you've got bus boat, monorail sky liner all

(41:52):
of these sort of. Different trains and
automobiles. I mean, you can get stuck in as
much as you want to get stuck in, can't you?
You can, you can be quite high level about, oh, there's some
restaurants in that park, so we know we can eat there.
There's restaurants at that hotel you can go.
I want to eat that restaurant and I want to I want to eat that
particular item off that particular menu and taste that

(42:15):
drink. Yeah.
If you think there's a lot of materials even just on their own
website as as well as. Through quick service and table
service. So you can go, this is eligible
for a snack credit or this is available for.
So you can sort of think like, OK, we can eat here, we can eat
there. And I find that that's quite
useful. But yeah, you're right, there's

(42:36):
so much information out there. It it all depends on what you're
looking for. YouTube's got some good on rides
point of view videos for some ofthe.
Rides and attractions as well, Which?
Will give you a good indication as to whether or not it's
suitable for the people in your party.
Other podcasts as well. You know, we had Andy from the

(42:58):
Most Magical Podcast on Earth inwith us on December, middle of
December and he's got a podcast that comes out every two weeks.
He talks about people, talks to people who have been to Walt
Disney World usually and their experience, you know, so we've
got friends within the podcasting and YouTube circle
that have so many views. You know, we could sit here and

(43:19):
list a whole load load of peoplethat you could watch and listen
to, all of whom have a slightly different view.
It is tricky because you can't, I don't think anyone view is the
right view. It's what works for you as a
person and your people that you're travelling with.
So if you're travelling with kids, it's going to feel
different if you're travelling on your own, you know, and

(43:41):
that's what I was saying that, you know, the beginning of the
podcast, I said, you know, actually I've got three trips
planned and they're all slightlydifferent.
And what I do on those trips will look slightly different
based on the fact that I'm travelling with Milly on my own,
then on my own on my own. And then with family, you know,
all of us in the summer, they'reall going to be slightly
different because of the, the, the different people that are
travelling. Making your own holiday at the

(44:03):
end of the day, right? Listen, listen to people's
opinions. But there'll be some people that
will say, this is the best restaurant I've eaten at.
You must go and eat at CiCi's Pizza, right?
And there'll be other people that will say I'm never going
back to CiCi's Pizza. So it's all about gathering, the
gathering a kind of broad spectrum of opinion, but always
remember it's your. Don't go to Sizzler.

(44:24):
You're a holiday. They exist anymore A.
Good reason, Ponderosa. They used to.
They used to be hugely popular. Though I love them, in like the
90s they were the thing, they were the place to go and this is
the thing, it all changes. I heard a vicious rumour this
week that Sweet Tomatoes is reopening in Florida.

(44:45):
Don't tell me it's a vicious rumour.
I'm still mourning Claire. Apparently so.
I love Shame Robin. That was a superb yeah.
When you were sick of eating fries in a theme park.
Don't get the broccoli salad. Yeah.
I hope it's true. I hope so too.

(45:06):
It was, yeah, but it was the most amazing sort of slip of
the, yeah, of the options of, ofwhat you could actually was
available to eat in Florida. And yeah, I hope that, I hope
that comes to. Fort Myers.
Apparently, yeah. We were just reading that Fort
Myers, it's a quite a drive fromOrlando.
You know, maybe it means they'llbe.
More, it's a. It's a start.

(45:29):
Or the Broncolini. Then.
Just take the day trip, you know, to Fort Myers just just
for the. Just for the the vegetables we.
Have friends? Traditional value.
Just for Wagamamas Wagamama Wagamamas in Tampa.
They go. There are wagamamas in.
Tampa no there. Was a Wagamamas in Tampa that's.

(45:51):
Isn't yeah, cool. They were there on opening day I
think. That's one of the things is
that, you know, there is there is a little bit of braish food
fatigue that happens after a fewdays.
Certainly for me, I get a bit, you know, I don't quite
understand how people can do twoweeks of just eating beige food.
I get a little bit edgy. I can.

(46:12):
Train you, Claire, It's OK. I realised as I was saying that
I nearly said chicken tenders and fries and then realised,
Robin, that's like when you're away, that's meant to be yours.
So honestly, Claire, I'm actually with you.
Even you get exhausted. Even when I get to the point
where I'm like, I cannot eat fried chicken and fries anymore.

(46:34):
It's just like I, I feel like I should take multivitamins with
me every time I go because of the lack of nutritional value of
the food. And I, I remember today we were
doing something at home and Millie said to me, can we get
some corn syrup? I was like, no, we can't because
it doesn't exist in the UK because it's full of all sorts
of horrible additives. Why not?
Why do they have it? Well, Millie and, and it's sort

(46:56):
of been, it's that sort of nutritional issue that for me, I
think if you, if you're aware ofthat beforehand, that actually
tends to be quite beige unless you seek out the good stuff.
There is some really good stuff in the parks, in Disney Springs,
in the resorts, you can find amazing food that isn't beige,

(47:17):
but you do have to have a littlebit of a look for it.
And if you know podcast like ours and then other places will
be able to give you that information.
So if you're slightly concerned about your child eating only Mac
and cheese for two weeks, let ushelp you and.
Do you know what? I, I, I know I, I am a Taipei
kind of person. We've met me.

(47:37):
We've met me. The first thing I do if I'm
visiting another Disney outside of Walt Disney World, believe
me, I know those menus inside out, but outside of Walt Disney
World, Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, Disneyland, Hong Kong,
etcetera. First thing I always do is like
Ben said earlier is a download the app, open up the map, click

(47:57):
around, look at the restaurants,bring up the menus and you can
have a look and see where you fancy.
I know I might be 6 months aheadof time, but I can look at those
menus and see the sort of thing they do.
They might change one or two things, but if you're going to a
burger place, you're going to a burger place, they're not going
to change that much. So it's it's very easy to do

(48:20):
that on the app. It's very easy to find out what
foods are on offer where, so youcan have more of an idea of if
you don't want to eat chicken Nuggets and fries every day, you
can have an idea of where to go to escape that.
The plus point is though that you you have got like time.
If you're going to book like 11 months out, you don't need to
worry about actually what you'regoing to eat or where you're

(48:41):
going to book food till you're going to have months of time to
sit and go into that level of detail.
I think it's making. Less overwhelming.
It's like, yeah, understand whatyou're going to do at the high
level. You don't need to plan day by
day where you want to be. You just need like a high level
of saying, yeah, we'd like to visit those parks.
We'd like to visit those. It gives you that out the the
kind of target of, well, we needtickets for Disney and Universal

(49:05):
or just Disney or just Universal.
And then you can look at, well, how many days are we going to
spend in each park? How are we going to split the
trip up? You kind of don't need like you
to make it less overwhelming upfront.
You don't you definitely don't need to have gone into that
level of home to worry necessarily about.
You can do all that exploring when you've got the comfort of.

(49:25):
How many days am I during the Universal days?
I do Disney, Do I stay at Disney, Do I say Universal?
Do we stay in a hotel? Do we stay in a villa and all of
those bits. So it's just a big jigsaw
puzzle. You just sort of try and piece
together what your must do is onholiday because not it isn't
just the theme parks, it isn't just it's all to fix that.

(49:46):
You add together on what you want to do on your holiday
because it is a holiday and you do want time to relax.
You don't want to be in the parkfrom drop to fireworks every
single day we check. But maybe you do.
Maybe it's a five night trip andyou're doing it right, Claire.
I was going to have any of you ever used an online planning

(50:08):
tool or a physical like bought aphysical planning book or
document or something that you can use when you write this
stuff down? Because there are, there are
like online planning tools that give you like a month by month
countdown and they say, you know, 10 months you can do this
and like at nine months, have you thought about this?
And like 3 months, have you thought about what you might

(50:29):
want to eat? You know, I think there are
things out there that can help you if that's your bag.
I think I've bought them, but I'm not sure I've ever used
them. I I bought 1 I think probably
for our second or third trip. I actually found it confused me
more than actually anything elseand I I then decided that I

(50:50):
actually needed just to sit downand just think rationally and
take myself step by step throughthe trip myself.
I actually felt having a book which seems written in this day
and age now seems really old school.
I'd probably. Leave it at home as well.
Yeah, but you would. You would because they were
usually like that thing. Yeah.
You'll probably take up about 3 kilogram a year of your anyway.

(51:14):
Valuable shopping space. Yeah.
So right behind, yeah. Swapped out for shopping from
there, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Walmart supplies pass. The body work.
Yeah, right. Yeah, Chick-fil-A and I think as
well, I think nowadays there's so much online that you can
actually dip in and dip out of and know that we've spoken

(51:35):
before about certain places thatyou can go to and you, you
actually, even if it's an old, old fashioned forum, go in, but
take the information that you want yourself and don't always
take it as gospel. I think that to me is one of the
things that the the biggest danger is when everyone was in a

(51:56):
book previously, everyone said, well, OK, that's in the book.
It's going to be factual when you read stuff online.
It that it I still I still have an issue with unless it's come
from a a valued source. There's still places out there
that just spout the most amazingabout a rubbish.
There's there's one, I can't even remember the name of it,
but on Facebook, there's one Orlando place that news wise

(52:21):
they come up with and it's just click bait after click bait
after click bait and none of it's true.
You know, next thing they were telling us that the castle's
getting painted this year for the whole year.
Strangely enough, strangely enough, the painters and
decorators turning up tomorrow. There we go.
So we said, well, today we were supposed to be like not
overwhelming people, maybe not stressing people out, but

(52:43):
actually sometimes being on a Disney holiday with Florida
heat, especially if you're therein sort of summer months, lots
of people crowded places. Sometimes a holiday can be quite
stressful. Are there any ways that we try
and avoid that when when you're in on your Disney vacation or
holiday? Just it's really weird, isn't
it? That's a.

(53:04):
Really good, Ben. That's such a good point.
And actually, if it is first time as well, one of the
biggest, the biggest things thatyou forget is particularly if
you're going in the summer is actually to make sure even you
normally you will take on water as and when in the UK, it's
basically drink as much water asyou can possibly take on board.

(53:25):
Whenever you can take it on board, stay hydrated because
actually that's that's, that's one of the first things you
begin to notice first couple of trips and you wonder why you're
getting this massive headache, this you're feeling really
lethargic and basically you're just dehydrated and and actually
you then I still get this after umpteen years of I tend not to

(53:47):
eat an awful lot during the day because it's so warm.
And so again, that's that's another knee problem.
So then you get that. You get to that bit of the day
when you start getting a bit snappy, a bit bit sort of short
tempered with the fact that the queue isn't moving very quick
and you realise actually just take 5 minutes and just sit down
and have something to eat. Cool yourself down a bit because

(54:09):
it actually you know, better Condos as all the world are good
and actually you can then go again.
You know, it might mean that yougo back to your hotel if you
were staying close by, go and goand have half an hour to an hour
in the pool or whatever. Make it your holiday.
But yeah, staying hydrated for me is is really one of the key
bets as. I say even if you're not staying

(54:32):
on site. Take an hour or.
Two out of the park to go and visit one of the hotels.
Have a drink in the bar, have a meal.
Just sit in the lobby and enjoy the atmosphere for a little
while. Just get out of the hub hub of
those busy parks for a couple ofhours.
Oh, wait for it and everyone leaves.

(54:53):
I think, I think John, you're absolutely right about
hydration. And, and in the back of my mind,
I can hear Morgan's voice when he was a cast member and he
would always repeat the mantra that they, they were told just
cast members, which is don't hydrate for today, hydrate for
tomorrow. But if you don't drink enough
today, tomorrow is going to be arubbish day and you're going to
feel like pants. So just make sure that you're

(55:16):
drinking sufficient water and, or, and if you feel like you're,
you know, if your mouth is dry, you've missed the boat, you're
too late. So actually Gatorade and things
like that at that point are really important because they've
got electrolytes in. So, you know, don't be scared of
drinking some some Smurfs juice,as we call it in our house, and
you'll feel infinitely better afterwards.

(55:39):
And sunscreen. Yeah.
Plenty of that, too. Plenty of that.
The worst thing is being miserable because you've you've
overexposed some. And yeah.
Not drunk enough water and yeah,headache.
Dean burn to the point that putting clothes on and it's
resting against sunburn. That's always.

(56:00):
Yeah, no fun, never clumpy, no. But also I think goes into
planning actually that trying not to do too much all at once.
If you're there for two weeks, you need every single day to be
a park that do half days do justgo into leave some in the
morning and just mix up what youdo on holiday.
Sometimes we do shopping in an afternoon, but hit Magic Kingdom

(56:23):
missing in the morning and yeah,and just just mix up your trip
and just decide to actually knowwe're not going to go to a park
today. We're just going to chill by the
pool. Just just relax.
And I think it leads into that that whole, our, our whole
planning of the first trip is knowing when you want to go,
doesn't it? Because we're saying all these

(56:44):
things for during the summer months when it's very, very,
very warm. But if you really like fancy
going at Christmas, you maybe need to take lots of different
layers because it'd be hot one minute and cold the next because
you just you never can tell in in the winter months.
So you do still need to hydrate because you're doing a lot of
walking and exercise. You definitely possibly more

(57:07):
than you realise to be honest with you, because you're walking
around the park, you don't realise quite how many steps
you're doing. You may be able to last all day
in a park in a cooler climate, but it's a summer month and it's
late 30s. You might say, well we're going
to do 1/2 day because the the sweat on my shirt is that bad

(57:28):
that it looks like I've stepped out of the shower anyway, so
it's time to time to go and get in there in a in a bath.
What? Is it say, Robin?
Yeah, you can wear in summer. Yeah, that's that's how I would
describe it. So, So yeah, I think I think it
helps having an idea when you want to go, what things you want
to see. Obviously if you go from August

(57:51):
till October, you'll get some Halloween and if you go from the
1st of November till kind of middle of January, you'll get
some Christmas decorations. So they're worth noting.
Obviously then there's differentEpcot festivals, if that that's
your theme throughout the year. That's knowing, having an idea
of when you would like to go when, what sort of weather do

(58:13):
you want? Do you want it to be so hot that
it's almost unbearable or do youhave children?
That means you have to choose a school holiday of some
description. So is the summer the preferable
time or do you want to get away at Christmas and have some
something magical at Christmas? I think that that's that it

(58:33):
really helps when you're when itcomes to planning is knowing
when you would like to go have an idea before you go into your
travel agent or. And also go back and go back and
check some of our previous showson this, because actually we, we
did get a definitive answer to this is that actually there
isn't any proper part of the year that it's not OK to go to

(58:56):
Walt Disneyland. It it it can happen wherever.
Instead of Florida. Yeah.
The one thing we just said there, and I think this is this
surprises people when you first go.
And actually, again, if you're the type of person you've got
like the health app on your phone that counts your steps
during the day. Yeah, when you're at home and

(59:17):
you're thinking I'll go for, I'll go for a walk for half an
hour and stuff like that. You know, I'll get the steps in
for the day. And you know, you probably sort
of, if you're lucky, you get maybe 10,000 steps.
Expect that to multiply by at least three on a busy park day.
And I'm not being funny. It actually comes as quite a
surprise to your phone when it starts pinging up and the fact

(59:39):
that, you know, are you for real?
You're about to die. You've done that much exercise,
done that much exercise today. Always does it for me.
I never realise quite how far. I'm like Epcot because it's big
and expansive. I know I'm walking a long way.
Hollywood Studios, weirdly, is the one that I tend to take the
most steps in, but yet it doesn't feel that way.

(01:00:02):
Yeah, does that. Way if she walks in Fantasmic
because that always feels like. Yeah.
I've heard maybe I'll. Go to the next date to go and
see this show. Yeah.
It's worth every step but yeah, 30 to 40,000 steps is not
unusual on a park day. So that's where you know,

(01:00:24):
comfortable footwear and and plenty of water really makes a
difference. You can get some electrolyte
tablets to throw in your your park bag as well which might be
useful so. I I swear by those actually.
I find that they really do help.So yeah.
And you can, as you say, come ina little tube that you can throw
in your bag. Or the sachets that you buy in

(01:00:45):
Walmart, whatever. Yeah, grab a car, throw them in
the bag and if you're feeling rubbish they'll make you feel
better pretty much within like 10 minutes.
Yeah, yeah. I might say good footwear that
that makes difference. And also if you're someone that
suffers with chub rub and I having precautions, whether it

(01:01:05):
be some sort of stick roll on that you can on if it's shorts
under a skirt or something. Be prepared because there's
nothing worse than being in likethe back end of a theme park and
thinking, I don't know how I'm going to walk to the front of
the park to get out because it'sso sore.
It's it's definitely worth thinking about before you go see

(01:01:28):
what it's like here. If you walk for hours a day, do
you get it here? Well, chances are you're
probably going to get it there and try and take precautions.
Take something with you and get stuff called Body Glide that you
can put on like liquid talc, allthese sorts of things that might
help. They're worth, they're worth
investing in if you think it might happen.
That is no minor issue. I would absolutely agree with

(01:01:52):
you, having been there. We've, we've always said that
doesn't matter what time of the year you go, you're never sure
what weather you're going to encounter.
So be prepared for what you takewith you.
Because when we went to Florida over Christmas a few years ago,
we had realized we'd have to take coats as thick and light
hats, gloves, scarf and all of that.
But three days later we will ensure some T-shirt.

(01:02:13):
You never know what the world isgoing to throw your way.
Yeah, and. Expect lots of different
weather. In, in winter, I think in the
winter months of November to March, it can be changeable and
I think layers is the key because it can be really chilly
in the morning and the evening so cold that Simon sat there

(01:02:34):
with a jumper and trousers on, which you know, that means it
must be cold during the day. We need shorts and T-shirts.
So it's it's definitely changeable and if you're going
in the summer months, just just buy a poncho, buy a Disney or a
universal poncho because they replace them for tear.

(01:02:55):
They they replace them for free and just enjoy.
It enjoy the sweaty warmth of the poncho.
It's probably going to rain at one point.
It's a memorable experience. You know why I think I'd rather.
Have the rain or. Just enjoy the rain and dance.
Around in it, you know if you want to splash down Main St.,
splash down Main Street, you canCrocs for the win.

(01:03:20):
Yeah. Well, I find.
Crocs flip flops are like. Death traps when they're.
Wet No. Put them in sport mode, you'll
be good. Even the.
Lack of soul underneath them I can.
Find that very wild as well. But yeah, if he if it's going to
be raining, you're going to needto wear shoes that are going to
dry out. Yeah, not thick, heavy trainers.

(01:03:42):
Trainers will take. Three days to try out, even in
the sun. Do you know what that's such an
amazingly important? Tip make sure you take more than
one pair of shoes if you're taking trainers.
If they get weight, you need to have an alternative.
You do, yes, and also sometimes if you find that.
If you find a rub on your feet and you didn't realise how bad

(01:04:03):
the rub was, the worst thing is putting that same pair of
trainers on the next Yeah, rub, Yeah.
So you want you? Want to at least have something
that might be margin buck until that's probably where Crocs come
in. If you do feel foul of that, you
can go. To the first aid centres in the
park. So Disney has amazing first aid
centres in every single park. Universal too.

(01:04:25):
Universals have been to the ones.
At Universal, have been to the ones at Disney and they.
Will furnish you with amazing blister plasters if you need
them at band aids. You know they will look after
you because they see it all day every day.
So if you, if you are, if your feet are red rule and you are
limping your way down Main Street, nip into the, into the
first aid centre and they will help help you out.

(01:04:47):
They, they know this happened. So then that I, I always can
judge a British person who's never been to Orlando because
they're wearing sparklingly bright white trainers that they
bought in the outlet. You like back in the 90s, it was
the belts factory outlet at the top of my and you'd see that
you'd see these people with these trainers that were like

(01:05:08):
blinding you. They were so white.
And you just know that a person's going to have blisters
by the end of the day. Don't wear new shoes.
Just take your old shoes that are comfy and then leave them
there and buy new ones. What are they?
Leave the old ones in the bin inyour resort or in your villa.
They'll walk themselves there bythat point because.
The And if they're not that bad,donate them to like the.

(01:05:30):
The homeless people that in Orlando that they, they have
donations, shelters and stuff, but you know, just just buy new
ones there and throw the old ones away.
You don't need to when new ones in the parks actually spent on
this holiday and it's like your first few.
Days are like. Brand new shoes and like oh
don't do it no and actually that.

(01:05:51):
Is that for me is one of the. Best bits of advice is actually
go with the oldest, most warningcomfortable pair of trainers
that you've got monkey as stinkyas trainers you can because
actually. Because actually it will.
Just mean that you know that they are living and actually if
you do a little bit of shopping when you're there, buy a purse

(01:06:14):
to bring home, you'll feel that you've got a bit of a bargain on
that front. And then actually just leave the
old ones, leave the old ones to just have a second life.
But you will just you will feel so much better.
You really will because you're actually, you can't keep doing
park day after park day with, with feet that are in a bad

(01:06:35):
shape because actually it it, that's the one thing that is
going to see you through. It doesn't matter how long
you're going for. You know, even it's only 5 days,
be it 14 days, be it 28 days, you need, you are going to be
walking an awful lot and comfortable, comfortable shoes
are an absolute must. I can't believe this podcast.

(01:06:57):
We've gone from indirect flights.
To new trainers in this place oflike an hour and that's why
we're here. I think it's.
Maybe worthwhile if you listen to us for the first time, you
know, we, we do 2 podcasts a month, every month, but we're
also live every single Wednesdayon YouTube now if you want to

(01:07:18):
find out. And we and we do talk about
little sort of side issues. You know, we go into side
questions. Yeah, and and particularly John,
the live show, who knows what might come up.
But again, if you listen to us for the first time, this is, you
know, we actually, we live and breathe our own planning through

(01:07:38):
each of the shows anyway. So if you ever have a question,
send us a message, be it in our lovely Facebook community, the
waffle, us arms or just messageson, on, on the socials, drop it
in the comments. Yeah, but we we will get back to
you. Because actually.
We've all been there before and actually it's why we all keep

(01:08:00):
going back. It's because we have, we have
such a cracking time. The first time we went, we
actually thought, this is just something I want to go and
experience again, but I want to experience it a little bit
better. And unfortunately it kind of
becomes a little bit, it becomesa little bit addictive because
when we all first started doing this, we never thought we'd be
doing a podcast about it. So, you know, who knows what

(01:08:23):
your trip would bring and do youknow, I think before we wrap up
the show. I think we should share.
One bit of advice for if someone's planning their first
ever trip to Walt Disney World, what what would you do?
What's your one bit of advice for them, except you'll be going
back again? Unless you have a complete.

(01:08:44):
Nightmare and everyone has a Strop and.
Things like that, which probably, I think my brother's
family probably did when they went.
But yeah, it because it does become that trick where don't.
Yeah, I'll, I'll let everyone else out.
But yeah, just plant the fact that you'll be going back again.
How about you? For me it's sit down.
With the people you're travelling with.

(01:09:05):
And pick one thing each that is the most important thing to you,
whether that be a restaurant, anattraction, an experience, you
know, to go to Harry Potter landin, you know, islands of
adventure, whatever is the most important thing to you.
And make a plan that each persongets to do that really important
thing. Everything else is a bonus,

(01:09:28):
except that you're not going to be able to do and.
See. And.
Eat everything. Yeah, Even though you want to
try. You might.
Want to try but. There is something that you're
going to miss I. Think I think mine.
I've got 2. I'll start with one because I
feel like someone else might come up with the other one.
So my my thing with I do have people ask me about the trip

(01:09:50):
like we're going to do a trip. Have you got any advice?
My, my advice is always try and make it as long as possible.
So you know, Claire said earlier, we kind of have this
preconceived idea, 14 night holiday, we go Saturday to
Saturday. And I kind of say to people,
could you go Friday to Sunday? Just give yourself an extra

(01:10:10):
couple of days. So you're going for say 16
nights instead of 14. It just gives you a bit more
time to play with and a few moresort of moments that you could
maybe rest. So especially when that when the
one of the big expenses. Is getting now in the 1st place
Yeah when the flights are so expensive anyway it.
Can be, well, we'll just try andsqueeze a few extra days.

(01:10:32):
If you can, could you go on a Thursday and come back on a
Saturday like that, that sort ofthing.
If if you can, can you squeeze in any more time?
Play with the flights? It's those flight prices you
might. Find that actually just
stretching you out and not beingover a Saturday or Sunday just
brings you prices down. So it can be beneficial as well.

(01:10:53):
But I agree that getting over there and getting over the your
jet lag and time zone differenceis like one bit.
Once you're there, make the mostand be there as much as you can.
I think that's good. My, my thing for me would be
give yourself the flexibility when you're there, sure, go
ahead and plan it, but you mightfeel differently when you're

(01:11:15):
there. You might, you might end up that
you've plan to do a full day somewhere and actually and
you've done half day because youwere more tired than you
expected or something comes up. Don't be afraid to give yourself
that flexibility and allow and just remember it's your holiday
and it's yours to kind of be flexible when you're there and
accept you might need to change things because of something

(01:11:36):
you've experienced or something that you decide actually, I want
to go back and see more of that.And you've got the high level,
you've got your tickets booked, but just be flexible about it
and just enjoy it, I think, and allow yourself to enjoy it.
My my tip would just be to there's no harm in.
Doing more research, I think over several years in doing this

(01:11:57):
podcast, everyone has a different opinion.
You can go on 74 and something and it's just actually spend a
little bit of time on yourself working out what you want to do,
what's your, what makes your holiday for you and then just go
and book it because you won't regret it.
I think, I think how many times that I've looked at other
holidays and different things and gone like actually, we

(01:12:17):
should just go and do it, make those memories.
There's no harm in doing that. So I'll can I, can I be cheeky?
And add another 1 then. Because you didn't say it, which
I thought you were going to say.Take a moment to relax, make
sure you take stop and smell theroses.
You know, we've all said it before.
We're all rushing down Main Street to go on the next ride
and go to the next place. Take time to talk to the cast

(01:12:40):
members just and try not to rushall the time.
Take moments where you where youslow down for a bit, sit down
for half an hour and just peoplewatch.
Yeah. So that's that's my other little
bit of advice, which I think kind of builds on some of the
other things. But yeah, take take time to just
chill and relax as well. So if you're planning your first

(01:13:02):
Lorid or Dizzy Sugar. Right now, we really hope this
episode helps you feel a little bit calmer, maybe a lot more
excited or maybe even more stress, who knows.
This is the beginning. So the next few episodes we will
be probably we'll be diving deepinto future planning tips.
So budgeting, packing, park strategy, food, because that's
something we always do in the Great British Mickey Waffle.

(01:13:23):
We love talking about food, so if you're stuck, confused or
just want to talk Disney, come and join our community and ask
away. We've all been there.
So thank you so much for listening to the great British
Mickey Waffle. Don't forget to subscribe, leave
a review and share the show withanyone dreaming of Florida right
now. As always, we'll see you soon.
See you soon, see you soon. Happy new Year.

(01:13:43):
Now my wheels in motion and my windows.
Open. With the wind.