All good things have to end some time - Days 1 & 2

[Clare]

A very brief background and disclaimer

My personal situation changed and I found I wanted to go back to Disney sooner rather than wait until my provisionally thought of May 2013. It was anticipated to be my last visit for the foreseeable future and one where I would be saying goodbye to some good friends.

The fabulous Val Ramsay was enlisted (as she always is with my bookings anyway lol) to go about putting together a trip. Lots of tweaks were made (as always) before finally settling on BA Club World and Beach Club club level for my resort.

Unfortunately, my Dad suffered a heart attack a few weeks before my trip and I was set to cancel, my parents on the other hand (with Dad being out of immediate danger) gave me clear instructions I was in no way going to cancel as this would upset them more. Up until a few days before my trip I really had mixed feelings, but the Disney magic returned just in time.

I had been put on a low protein diet shortly before this trip by my hospital dietician, call me stupid, call me irresponsible, but this went out of the window whilst I was away. I was having a good time and the consequences would be on my own head. End of.

So, onto the trip itself.

*Day before and travel day - December 1 and 2*

I had used Avios points to book a night at the Sofitel, club level. I didn't start my packing until the day before and finished up on the morning I was leaving for the Sofitel so it was one mad rush. Online check-in completed at 11.45 am for my flight on the 2nd and I was all set. I had booked a car to collect me at 1.30 pm, to get me to the Sofitel at 2 pm, the plan was to try and relax.

Bang on 1.30 pm the car arrived and 35 minutes later we were pulling up at the Sofitel. A very boring start with me checking in, being 'welcomed back' and then going up to my room where I multitasked with using my Ipad with the free internet access and watching TV. I had a great view of the runway so also spent time watching planes land and take-off.



I decided to go for an early dinner at 5 pm, I had already decided I didn't fancy any of the Sofitel restaurants so caught the shuttle over to Giraffe, where again I didn't really like the look of anything there either, and caught the shuttle back to the North Terminal to have a look there. Again, nothing took my fancy so it was down to good old M&S to save the day, 1 gluten free cheese ploughman sandwich and a bag of ready salted crisps later I headed back to my room.



With all the recent events that had happened at home I must have been physically and mentally exhausted as the next thing I remember is waking up at 7.00 am the following morning.

One thing I liked about the Sofitel are their L'Occitane verbena products so a nice bubble bath followed by a bowl of cereal in the lounge and I was good to go.





Gatwick was busy but there was a free Club World check-in desk, depositing my bags and getting my boarding pass took all of a couple of minutes and I made my way to the 'Premium Gatwick' security lane. Unfortunately it was far from premium and had a lengthy line, I don't mind waiting but I do have a problem when I have some guy behind me coughing and sneezing without covering his mouth/nose, all over me. Thanks mate. 15 minutes later (with this guy coughing and sneezing all the time) I was through A stop at duty free to purchase some Miss Dior Perfume for myself and Clarins products for mum's Christmas presents I headed to the BA Lounge. Maybe I've been spoilt with the Virgin Clubhouse or maybe the BA lounge just isn't to my taste, but as per last year I left after a short while and went downstairs to the No. 1 Lounge which I had already pre-purchased access as a back-up. I sat in the cinema room which was deserted with a cup of chamomile tea (good for the flying nerves), spoke to Jane, spoke to Mum & Dad and before I knew it, it was time to head to the gate.

The flight was on time, it was a pretty full flight going by how many people were in the gate area, my parents had asked that I ring them at the gate, unfortunately I was still feeling quite 'raw' by everything that had happened and I got a bit upset when I spoke them, they of course told me to stop being silly and have a wonderful holiday. A lovely lady who was sat behind me heard me upset and came to sit with me and ask if I was OK, there really are some lovely people about.

BA staff pulled a couple of families with small children for pre-boarding, immediately followed by a call for Club World passengers and executive gold members. Boarding completed quickly and the captain advised we would be on our way a bit earlier, but than we sat and waited, the Captain advised some cargo had been loaded that needed to be unloaded and the aircraft 'trimmed' (no idea what he meant by that!), we took off around 45 minutes later, no big deal.

Relaxing in seat 10J (in the smaller second Club cabin)


What can you say about flying, it's boring, you sit, you eat, you drink, you watch TV - in my case I sit and watch the sky map for the best part of 9 hours as it helps my irrational fear of flying lol.



Although we took off later, we still arrived on time, yay A bonus was on the 2nd December only one Virgin Manchester plane was flying and one Virgin Gatwick plan (the VS15), we were therefore arriving after the Manchester flight but before the Gatwick flight so hopefully not too bad in immigration. In fact, it turned out to be excellent as the Manchester flight had arrived early and with not a full flight, they were through immigration quickly and had cleared before we arrived. I was therefore the 4th person to arrive to an empty immigration hall, result!

Unfortunately my luck temporarily blipped here and I ended up with a horrible immigration chap who fired numerous questions at me including how much money did I have, where was I staying (he asked me that question 4 times, even though it was on my Esta paperwork and customs form which he was holding in his hand!), what did I have to go back to in the UK, was I meeting friends, why was I in Orlando alone (he asked me this question 4 times also!). I don't think he was particularly enamoured with my answers but as he had nothing to push me further on he thrust my passport back at me and said I was free to go, nice.

Immigration blip aside, the cases had come off the plane within minutes and I found myself sitting on the Magical Express less than 30 minutes after getting off the plane.

I could now relax as my holiday had begun, Disney Beach Club here I come.

There's something about the Magical Express that I love, everyone is happy and full of Disney spirit and you of course have the cute Disney video, that's really trying to tap into your subconscious to spend even more money. It was a full bus, the first stop was Riverside and the whole bus emptied out with the exception of myself and another lady. Next stop was Boardwalk (I had slight guilt pangs here wondering if I'd made the right decision to stay at the Beach Club), where the lady got off and I found myself the only passenger on the bus. On arrival at the Beach Club as I exited the bus a greeter was waiting and welcomed me by name (I'm assuming the Magical Express people had updated her as she was carrying an ipad).



I was whisked up to the Stone Harbour Club for personalised check-in. The Beach Club have the new RFID locks where you just hold your key up to your room door to access, there is also one of the RFID locks on the elevator to gain access to the Stone Harbour Club.



I had booked a garden view club level room, the standard views overlook roof tops and parking lots, the water view overlook mainly stormalong bay, I didn't want to pay for a water view room, preferring the lake, and ending up with stormalong bay. Garden view seemed the best option, I was also advised that these were located closest to the elevators and lounge.

My room was 5629, a few doors along from the club level lobby area and the lounge, perfect. Even more perfect was the room itself, pictures really do not do it justice, it was beautiful and immaculately clean. I quickly went out onto the (full) balcony to see what my view was - it overlooked the rear lakeside entrance, with a view of the plant arrangements, stormalong bay behind and a view of Crescent Lake to the left - a perfect view.







I had the deluxe dining plan so made my first use of it with room service for dinner, nothing fancy, just some 'comfort food' being a burger (in a gluten free bun) and french fries.





First impressions of the Beach Club were 'wow' I think I'm going to like it here

[KarenG]

Fab travelling day Clare! Immigration person excepted.

I love your room at the Beach Club - its beautiful.

[BevS97]

Sounds like a great start to your trip, and how nice of the woman at the airport to speak to you when you were upset. We need more people like that.

[collybird]

Hello Claire!

I am so sorry to read about your Dad. I hope he is improving.

It made me laugh that you watch the Sky Map and find it calming. I am not actually afraid of flying but the Sky Map terrifies me. I hate knowing that we are over water. For some bizarre reason I feel like if we crash over land I'll be fine and dandy but over water I'm a goner.

[ILoveDaveLamb]

Wow! Good old M&S with their GF sandwich, eh? Marvellous , the variety you can get there. Must be tough watcihng your protein too.

Great first day. Hope it was an extra special trip for you.

[Alyson]

Hello Clare, I do enjoy your reports and I can see this is going to be a good one.

Shame about grumpy at the airport, but I bet your room soon put a smile on your face it looks wonderful

[Guest]

Looks great.

[lovedisney]

Wow, great travel day

[gingababe]

Great start to your to trip..
I am looking forward to the rest ! xxx

[chaffey]

Glad you had a great start to you trip (even if it was full of lots of emotions)

Beachclub looks amazing - one day I WILL get there