The time is drawing close when I need to make my annual trip through the absolute maze that is, buying theme park tickets for our Florida trip. The sheer enormity of the options available are enough to scare anyone, even someone who has been through this as often as I.
The simple stuff is usually Universal, as we only need two days there around our on site stay, and even I can navigate that purchase fairly well. Sea World and Busch have alas not made the final cut this year. Budget plays a part, but really we just don’t have enough days to get to them and do them justice. So the real task is to select the ideal ticket option for WDW.
So that will be a major thrust of my weekend to come, and if you need the internet this weekend I’d get on it early as I may wear it out by late Sunday.
My choice may be swayed by the ever improving dollar rate. Many a day in the preceding months I have toyed with the idea of getting some dollars before the dollar rate dropped any further. Seeing rates at less than 1.4 at one stage was truly depressing. Thankfully, the bank rate seems to be consistently above 1.5, and whilst this is still pretty paltry compared to the freakishly high 1.9 or so we have had on one previous trip, psychologically, getting above the 1.5 makes me feel like I have had a minor victory!
With a better dollar rate I may buy our tickets from a US site in dollars. We shall see. I am tempted by those non hopper things, for the exact amount of days we need, as they are good value, however, they come with several drawbacks.
1. You can’t hop between parks
2. They don’t include water parks and Disney Quest
3. We can’t just pop into a park on a whim for an hour or two, as this will use up a full day
Choices, choices.
How goes your post op recovery Craig? I hear you all say in unison. OK, thanks. I have had better weeks in terms of sleep, mobility and lack of pain, but I seem to be emerging from those woods now, and edging back to something like normal, well as close as I ever got anyway. I got bored of the whole resting and not doing stuff within about two days, and just became really frustrated by not being able to do anything. Now that I can actually do stuff again, the appeal seems to have worn off a little.
The week gone by has seen Emily go to Chester Zoo on her end of year reward trip. The reward was that I was allowed to give the school £17 for the privilege. Speaking of Emily she finishes school this week, as she has a busy few weeks ahead until the official end of term.
Next Monday she starts two weeks work experience. She managed to get a placement at the same place as one of her friends. How did she manage that? Well, because she is coming to where I work. My team is naturally delighted to have the bosses daughter around for a fortnight!!
Once she finishes that, she immediately goes to Berlin on a school trip. This is to support her History GCSE, in which they are covering the Nazis. The itinerary looks great, and I wouldn’t mind going. Seems only fair after sorting her work experience out for her? Then on her return, it is her fifteenth birthday, and of course a few weeks after that we go to Florida.
We attended a planning session at the school a few weeks ago to go through the long list of rules, and even worse, stuff they will need to be bought to take with them to Germany. As the group are obviously below eighteen, visiting the proper concentration camps is not an option but they are going to Sachsehausen Concentration Camp which apparently was the place where they trained SS officers to carry out the Final Solution. They are also doing the Stasi Museum, the Wannsee Villa and Checkpoint Charlie amongst lots of other stuff in a very busy week. There will be some light after all that shade as they also visit a waterpark, ten pin bowling and the Olympic Stadium.
Most of my school trips involved a kagool, curled up sandwiches and three hours on a coach to some caves in Yorkshire. Although, I did do one overseas trip to Hamburg to stay with my German pen friend. Everyone in my German class had a pen friend allocated, and they also came over to stay with us. My chap was called Carsten Polland. I wonder where he is now? Germany I am guessing, but you know what I mean. This exchange programme will explain why after three years of study, my grasp of the German language starts and ends with being able to ask for a piece of Black Forest gateaux.
Sounds like a fun summer for Emily. She had better make the most of it though, as next year is her official GCSE year and she will be locked in her bedroom for all of it revising. In case Emily reads this, if you look up the definition of revising, there is no mention whatsoever of Facebook, MSN or iPod. Just so we are clear!
Time to draw this here post to an end now, as I have the house to myself. The girls are out with friends celebrating someone’s birthday. This involves a trip to Manchester (for a change), a visit to see Eclipse, and then a sleepover. The best bit of all of that is that it happens at someone else’s house. Louise is also out, at the hairdressers, which is a double-edged sword. It creates an Xbox opportunity, but also creates a huge dent in the bank balance. Life is never simple!
Here’s to a shorter week next week.
Till the next time…..
Mkingdon's Blog 
Good to hear you are recovering Craig. I am lucky in that I can defer the finer points of our Orlando jaunts to my wife, all she asks is that I continue to work as this will allow her to continue to spend. I merely need to go in the direction I am told on the days I am told…seems to work fine so far.
Berlin?? for a school trip?? Jeezo, all we got was a visit to pile of stones that was once an Abbey apparently. Hope your Xboxing goes well