No Telling How Pharaoh’d Go

As I fired up WordPress to write this week’s post, I instinctively reached for my trip report note-taking book. What do you mean you don’t have one of those?

For inexplicable reasons, I am currently using one bought on The Disney Wish for more money than I care to confess.

However, I find myself in the unusual position of not having any such notes to write from. We have been fortunate/irresponsible enough of late that I have had many trips to write up and having to go free form this week is all a bit alien.

I know many of you may be thinking I’ll be telling you about the next trip we have booked in this post. I’d hate to be so predictable.

Well, a few months ago we were discussing when we may get away again and the need for a short winter break somewhere warm. So yes, in November Louise and I are heading off for a 10-day sunshine break that will definitely not involve WDW parks!

It’s trickier than you might imagine finding somewhere to go that will be warm at that time of year that doesn’t involve a stupidly long flight for just 10 days away and doesn’t cost the earth.

Many hours were spent on the internet, researching and planning, dismissing the obvious Mediterranean spots as the temperatures were just too low and unreliable in November. The Caribbean was pricey, as of course were far-flung spots that we can only really dream of affording such as The Maldives.

Eventually, it looked like Egypt would be the winner and specifically Sharm El Sheik. I knew nothing about the place but gradually got to know the lay of the land and almost every detail of every hotel in our price range. I won’t admit to how much time I invested on Google Street View “wandering” the local area. Once you are a holiday-obsessed planner there is no turning back regardless of the destination. It seemed to have all we needed.

• Hot weather
• All-inclusive resort
• Some nightlife suitable for two tired 50-somethings

Louise would have liked to see the Pyramids but we quickly discovered they were a 5-hour drive away!

A hotel was pretty much decided upon and much time was spent obsessing over the reviews and the 1% of them that were not great, naturally ignoring the 99% that were.

This is the thing when going somewhere unfamiliar, especially on All Inclusive, as if something isn’t right you are stuck there for the duration. Due to this uncertainty, my finger continued to hover over the “Book” button rather than commit, terrified of throwing a chunk of cash at something we may have to endure rather than enjoy.

Anyway, Louise and I chatted and we went ahead and booked.

We’ll be arriving in Florida on November 13th.

Look, it was Louise’s fault. We discussed the Egypt thing and the risk of it being not all we may wish for, especially the food and potentially getting bored of the same menu every night and having to go out and eat in unknown places. At this point, Louise suggested Las Vegas, and that was the slippery slope to Florida as we were already in the right country at that point. Vegas was too far, and too expensive for what was a short winter break and that led me to pitch the idea of Florida. I wouldn’t class myself as a natural salesperson, although, inexplicably, I did support the family as one many years ago. The pitching was not too arduous before agreement was reached.

Bear with me. What we wanted was nice weather, great food, and guaranteed quality of resort and restaurants. We had no need (or real desire to be honest) to venture near any theme parks, we could just sit by a pool and then at night choose from limitless eateries, many of which we knew would be excellent. There is also suitable nightlife for us in the shape of Jellyrolls, Yeeha Bob, City Walk, Disney Springs, etc and we know where everything is. It took all the risk and worry out of what is intended to be a relaxing respite from the winter back home.

See, it made perfect sense.

Cost-wise, it would be no different from the Egypt option we were looking at. It is out of any school holiday period which keeps costs down and cheapo flights are booked in Economy with Aer Lingus. A sensible car, (and car hire prices seem to be settling finally as we got a Compact SUV for £380 for 10 days), and hotel-wise we have been very practical and pragmatic, avoiding Disney resorts despite our love of all things Yacht and Beach Club.

After a decent amount of research, I decided on the Drury Plaza Hotel near Disney Springs.

This was for a few reasons.

• Location – We can walk to Disney Springs and it is central to anywhere we may want to drive to.
• Price – It was very reasonable, especially as the price has no add-ons like resort fees and your room cost includes a free buffet breakfast and a form of happy hour in the evening where you get three free drinks per guest and some complimentary food (I suspect we won’t use the latter too much).
• Reviews – Almost all good across the board and the place is pretty new so everything should be in good condition.

So I apologise for the predictability of this post. We really did try to go somewhere else, honest! I can honestly say I have no desire to go to a WDW park on this trip. However, should we encounter a chillier day or two and not be able to sunbathe by the pool, we may go to Bush Gardens for the first time in years or even Sea World, who knows, but they don’t count!

With perfect timing for this week’s post, our ADR window opened last week and I have booked our first at Sanaa on the evening of our first full day. There is no distance too great for that bread service.

There won’t be too many ADRs made as we love so many off-site places, but we may try a few new eateries at Disney Springs with it being walkable from our hotel. If anyone has any “must-dos” there I’m all ears.

Till the next time……