We'd Better Visit the Mouse! Day 1 - 22nd Sept 2015 - Travelling to Orlando

[kaytronika]

Trip Index

Day 1
22nd September - Travelling to Orlando

Todays Vlog:


Not many photos today I'm afraid! This will change on future days I promise
Oh and you get a video of course!

Finally, almost two years to the day since our last trip and after over 400 days of waiting since we decided to go, the day had dawned! It was time for Florida 2015.

To bring you up to date with our previous trips for those who missed them.. Our Florida obsession began over a conversation in the garden in the summer of 2009. Gemma asked if I wanted to go to Florida and I was, admittedly, a little apprehensive. I wasn't sure all those parks were for me, would I enjoy all that crazy glitz? Hmmm I'm not sure. I eventually said yes and we were joined by Gemma's father and brother.

In 2010 we stayed at the Rosen Inn International (then Quality Inn International) and planned to visit SeaWorld, Busch and Universal. My one request, could we visit Kennedy Space Centre? Yes we could!

We had a fantastic time and repeated the same trip in 2012, this time adding in Discovery Cove instead of Kennedy Space Centre.

By 2013 some unexpected money meant that just Gemma and I could return to Florida and we decided to mix things up a little, covering just SeaWorld, Busch and Kennedy but also adding in trips to Lowry Park Zoo, Central Florida Zoo, Brevard Zoo, Big Cat Rescue, the beach... It was a busy itinerary and it called for something I hadn't done before, driving. Well, the driving was easy enough and we had a great third trip. But we returned home with no immediate plans to return.. What a grim time!

By late mid 2014 we realised we needed to go back, but what could we do this time? Well, some may notice that we had a Disney shaped hole in our previous trips. Gemma had already visited Disneyland Paris and hadn't really seemed interested in going to Walt Disney World.. I hadn't been to any Disney parks and suggested that maybe it was time to visit. It perhaps turns out that I'd been holding back a Disney obsessive, Gemma jumped at the chance! We were going to Walt Disney World!

The taxi arrived and we were first in! Woo, pick of the seats... We then picked up Gemma's father Gerry followed by her brother Matt, his girlfriend Bex and their friend Ste. The airport run from Liverpool to Manchester was straightforward with no traffic. We'd all managed to sign up to the Virgin Flying Club allowing us to pre-book seats a couple of days before, arriving at the airport in good time meant we got our seats with no issues so we were pretty much all together on a full flight to Orlando.

We do occasionally like the odd holiday tradition, so after passing security and me buying a bottle of aftershave, we hit the airport bar for a beer and a bacon butty, but what's this? the airport bar stopped doing food! Disaster! Apparently there is now a second 'premium' bar with food, the barman advised us that it was premium in price too. We just had the beer and stopped off at the Burger King narrowly missing breakfast (yay, I don't eat breakfast)

We boarded the flight on time and pretty soon were breaching the clouds above Manchester heading west to sunnier times.
The flight was perfectly uneventful with just a few moments of turbulance. I ate a pulled beef brisket meal and Gemma had a butter chicken curry, both acceptable meals. We watched films (for me: Inside Out - very good, San Andreas - OTT silliness, Furious 7 - Why do I keep watching these?)

We landed in Orlando pretty much ontime and made good progress through customs and straight on to the 'The holiday begins here!' tramway. This is my spot, the place where I know I've made it. It's the place where I relax and smile.

Once again Gemma and I had decided to rent a car this year, we chose an Intermediate SUV from Alamo so made our way towards the rental garage... As usual we promptly got lost on the way, but eventually found the car park only to find a row of cars not in our class, two Jeep Patriots, a Kia Sportage and a Hyundai. I wanted something American, but had driven the Jeep on our previous trip... I was about to settle for the Sportage which was locked and without keys. We asked if there were more cars and were told we could have our pick of the remaining cars on the line. These consisted of a few Town & Country's.. Odd... But nestled in there was a Ford Escape we'd totally missed! We picked it instantly. It was a 2016 with 8000 miles on the clock and, aside from a tiny dent on the driver door, it was in great condition. It had air-con, Sirius radio, reversing cam, central locking... That'll do nicely thanks!



While I tried to get myself in order to begin the journey Gemma slowly cooked. Oops! I turned the engine on and got the air conditioning to run allowing me to compose myself, set my sat nav up and get ready to drive. We headed out without issue and made our way in to the late evening sun. What a glorious night!

The drive to the hotel was pretty straightforward aside from the NavMii sat nav which was less than ideal when compared to the Google Maps navigation we used after this journey. I handily keep a Three sim in an old phone and had topped up to take a Feel at Home data plan to the US which allowed me more data than I could possibly use, this gave me access to Google Maps and was rock steady for all but one night of the holiday. Highly recommended!

This would be our first trip at the Rosen Inn Pointe Orlando, we had decided to move after seeing the construction planned for up near the Rosen International. To be honest, the two hotels are largel identical room wise so we'd have no issue staying in either.

We were checked in to a 6th floor pool view room which afforded some great views to the south.

The room was just fine for our holiday, a base to live out of. I have to say the carpets were in pretty grotty condition though. Rooms offer twin double beds, a flat screen TV, a small bathroom with a fridge and microwave. Again, perfectly acceptable for a busy holiday where not much time is spent in the room.

Unpacked and raring to sleep, we decided to head out and grab a bite to eat at Miller's Ale House across the street. It's somewhere we've always spotted but never actually tried. They had a special on pork shank which I decided to go for. Gemma had a BBQ chicken flat bread. Both of us enjoyed our food and washed it down with quantities of Budweiser. I would try more craft beers later in the holiday.

With the long day of travelling behind us we decided to hit the hay and call it a night. Tomorrow's plan would be a taxi to SeaWorld and a nice relaxing day in the park.

[rummy63]

Great stuff . Enjoyed the video.

[pamela1960]

Welcome.
We stayed at the Rosen a couple of years ago for two days prior to our villa.
Great location . Good service.
Enjoy Millers tonight. Great food and drinks at great prices.
Enjoy your holiday. We leave for Florida next Saturday.Taking the grandchildren for their first trip.

[foiled]

Great video, glad I'm not the only one who gets lost in MCO!

[kaytronika]

Thanks for the comments, we always seem to end up grumbling at one another in MCO! I don't know if the signage isn't there or (more likely) we completely miss it! I'm sure it's just the flight taking it's toll on us! At least we made it to the hotel without getting lost this time

[Bridgelass]

Thanks for the video... brill x

[Ilovesnowwhite]

Brilliant start, A long but stress free travel day how did the others get to the hotel?
xx

[kaytronika]

Originally Posted by Ilovesnowwhite

Brilliant start, A long but stress free travel day how did the others get to the hotel?
xx

See more...

They had the transfer provided via TCD/Mears
We actually beat them to the hotel by about 5 minutes and we all ended up in rooms next to each other.
It worked out really well!

[collybird]

'It can beep all it wants because I'm not being rushed' are you my OH!? He's never one to be rushed.

We're hiring a car for the first time this year so it was great to see your drive. It looked scary a times.

Thanks! Looking forward to seeing more of your trip.

[kaytronika]

Originally Posted by collybird

'It can beep all it wants because I'm not being rushed' are you my OH!? He's never one to be rushed.

We're hiring a car for the first time this year so it was great to see your drive. It looked scary a times.

Thanks! Looking forward to seeing more of your trip.

See more...

The drive isn't all that bad at all to be honest. Just quite a bit to take in straight after the drive. Definitely a good idea to take your time to familiarise yourself with the car before you leave. Once you've picked the car you are in no real rush.

The worst part about the local drivers is that they like to cut in front of you, otherwise they're far less stressed than UK drivers!