Orlando 🤩 🇺🇸

Honestly writing this feels like a dream, it’s not quite sunk in yet that we’re actually going to Orlando in April 2026! This is despite the fact that we’ve had it booked since August 2024. This is the first of two trips we have panned for Orlando in 2026, with the second being in October 2026. We honestly don’t feel like it’s real. Now I know we are extremely lucky to be going on one holiday this year in 2025 never mind having one booked every six months over the next year. We defiantly don’t take this for granted and we also appreciate not everyone can do this, but we both work full time jobs and like to have something to look forward to so whilst we can.

This will be Darren’s first time visiting Orlando or the states in general as well as any of the big theme parks, a dream he’s had for years and again something he spoke to me openly about and at length when we first met, then came the YouTube vlogs which I’ll admit I enjoy as well. For me though I was very lucky growing up and both my self and my sister have been to the states, Florida in particular, many times as kids. Whether it was me, mum, sister, gran and grandad or the whole family of aunties, uncles, cousins, family from overseas you name it we were all there at some point! No this time round for me is different as myself and Darren will be staying in Orlando for the full 11 nights where as years ago as a kid it would be on the Gulf coast in the Redington Beach area and the old trusty Ram Sea condos we would stay in. This would be broken up by a few days, normally a long weekend, visiting the theme parks over in Orlando and staying in a hotel for that time. So staying in Orlando for the full 11 nights is going to be completely new for me but I honestly can say I can’t wait! We’ve done nothing but talk about what we’re going to do and where we want to go which I’ll break down a little more in detail shortly. I would be lying if I said I didn’t have FOMO by not being able to go this year and experience the new Universal Epic Universe sooner than we will be but at the same time I’m hoping the rush will be done and gone when we get there in April.

The holiday its self is booked through tui and we fly from Manchester to Melbourne Orlando International, which is just outside Orlando by about 70 miles or so, in April 2026. This does mean traveling down the night before, staying in the Holiday Inn opposite T2 at Manchester but honestly we’re not that bothered about it. We plan to drive down the afternoon before and as part of the overnight stay we have parking booked for the car for the entire time we are away. This was all booked through tui, cheaper options there may have been but it made it easier for us to book and pay for everything in the one place, minus that is our Universal and Kennedy space centre tickets. They were booked through FloridaTix as they weren’t an option to add onto our tui booking.

The flight its self is something I’m not bothered by as having travelled to the States before as well as Mexico and the Caribbean in the past I’m used to long haul flying. This will be Darrens first long haul flight but he has traveled to Spain in the past and by then, more recently Gran Canaria! So I’m sure he will be fine. We have opted to pay the extra for tui’s premium economy cabin/seats as both being over 6 foot the thought of travelling in economy and not being able to get comfortable is something we both agreed was not happening. I have to say though we’re not even on board and I’m slightly disappointed already. This being our first trip to Florida we thought we’d add on extra luggage to our checked bags only to find that tui has changed things up recently and as we are in premium economy and have 25kg checked luggage each already we are unable to up this to the 30kg that economy passengers can choose to do. Now first world problem I know but it baffles me that I’ve chosen to pay the extra but face having a lesser luggage allowance than someone who’s sat in economy. It’s not as if our hand luggage allowance is greater as it’s the same 10kg regardless of what cabin class you fly, unless I’ve read this wrong in which case I will happily stand corrected. Never the less though we will make do with what we have and say no more about it.

We will be staying at the new Universal Stella Nova resort, one of three new hotels built to compliment Universals new Epic Universe Theme Park! this and its sister hotel the Terra Luna sit on the road leading up/into Epic Universe from our understanding. To say we’re excited is an understatement! the hotel looks stunning and from the vlogs we’ve seen both hotels are amazing but Stella Nova seems to just edge it as being the better out the two. We will of course update you on this after we have been and seen them for ourselves! As it stands at the moment Stella Nova Resort offers early park entry up to an hour before the actually opening time. This is for select parks only however this may change in the future so who knows where we will end up in that extra hour, if they even still offer it but the time we arrive!

Now as I mentioned we booked our Universal and Kennedy Space centre tickets through FloridaTix, both on really good deals! Our Disney tickets are booked with tui and are part of our overall booking and included all the usual kind of things you’d expect with that, memory maker etc. We do plan on potentially upgrading both our Universal and Disney tickets to annual passes depending on the cost as we’ve seen allot of differing price points in the vlogs we’ve watched on YouTube, but it would make sense given we are retiring to Orlando in October 2026. So overall the cost to upgrade may be the smarter choice versus buying brand new tickets for just 2 weeks again! This is something that were are planning for when working out how much money to take/have available when we get there but again we will update you on this when we have been! But we plan on doing as many parks, if not all of them whilst we’re there and special attention will be getting paid to Epic universe. Mainly because I’m a massive How To Train Your Dragon fan as well as a Nintendo fan and Both of us are huge Harry Potter fans as well, however there will be no cloaks being purchased or worn in the park as even in April it’s far to warm for the two of us to be doing that! 🤣

Originally we were planning to use Ubers and Lyft’s whilst there however adding up the costs and thinking it through more we’ve decided to hire a car! frustratingly, or thankfully I’m. not sure yet 😅, Sixt, who we’ve chosen to hire the car with, do not seem to have a pick up/rental office at Melbourne so we plan on jumping on to the included transfer with tui and have arrange to pick the hire car up the next day from the Margarita Ville Hotel! This is where the fun begins as I will be doing the driving but it will be my first time driving abroad 😬 I drive for a living so I’m pretty sure we will be fine its just reminding myself drive on the right and unless it says you can’t I can turn right on a red light if its clear and safe to do so! What could possible go wrong!! We have no idea what kind of car we will be getting other than it saying BMW X5 or similar on the booking!

The main reason for hiring the car is so that we have more freedom to go where we want when we want and spend as much time in the places that we want to and less time if we aren’t feeling the vibe!

All in were planning on having an amazing time and honestly can’t wait to get there, in fact we’re so keen on being there we’ve booked another Orlando trip for October 2026 like I mentioned earlier, but more on that in another blog.

For now thank you for reading, if you have any hints or tips please feel free to share them with us and everyone else who reads this.

Have an amazing day and if you’re planning your own trip either soon or further down the line safe travels and have an amazing time 🤩

Callum & Darren