Disney and the Doubletree - Aug 2014 - Day 1

[Nimbus]

Previously - Pre-Trip Report

Day One - Saturday 16th August 2014 - Travel to Orlando and CBR

After reading the intro to this trippy in the pre-trip report, are we ready for some pretty pictures with maybe some vaguely interesting words in-between? Well here goes...

Not a really early start but it was still around 6:30am when we woke up at the start of the first day of our hols to Florida. After doing some quick last minute packing, Michelle's Dad came to pick us up to take us to Manchester airport around 7:30am for our flight at 10:55am. Of course, the last thing you want to see when you get to the airport is a 2 hour delay to your plane but that's what the screens at the airport were telling us when we arrived. Hey ho.

Anyway, we dropped our bags off at the Thomson desk (we had already completed online check in) and joined the very long, snaking queue at security. It gets you into training for the queues at the park. Then, we went through the duty free area at Terminal 2 and headed to some seats to have some breakfast brioches and a cup of tea.

Looking outside, our plane still hadn't arrived yet:



After looking around the shops and browsing on the internet a little, it was time for a coffee at Cafe Nero:



The caffeine seemed to be affecting my ability to focus!

The minion backpack was Hannah's hand baggage. Not exactly the most roomy of backpacks and I think it just contained her iPad mini.

Eventually, the plane arrived. Hoorah!



For the less observant amongst you, that was one of Thomson's Dreamliners. Better late than never.

We quickly boarded and, I have to say, the Dreamliner was surprisingly roomy and comfy (for a plane!). The inflight entertainment was quite good with a lot of on-demand films and TV shows. I watched Captain America: Winter Soldier and we all watched the Lego Movie ("Everything is awesome!"). The rainbow lightshow they show at the beginning looked colourful and pretty but I'm not sure what the point of it was. I don't think they actually change the colour of the lighting during the flight. Also, the food on the plane was nice (again, for a plane) - although right now I can't remember what we had.

Apologies, I didn't take any photos on the plane.

Eventually we landed in Sanford, about 1 hour later than scheduled so we'd made up some time. We were near the back of the plane (seats 32 A, B, C) so by the time we got off and stopped for a restroom break we were also near the back of the queue for immigration.

Wondering whether or not our transport from Sanford would be waiting, we then collected our bags and headed outside. We needn't have worried; our Florida Magical Tours driver and black Lincoln towncar were waiting. I'm afraid I didn't take a photo so this stock picture will have to do:



The drive past Downtown Orlando and to Disney and the Caribbean Beach Resort took just under an hour and on the way our driver was very chatty. At one point, when describing that he used to be a timeshare salesman, I thought he was going to sell us a timeshare! But only for the Hilton or Marriot, because they were the best ones to get (apparently!).

Anyway, eventually we arrived at the Caribbean Beach Resort, our hotel for this first week, which looked very picturesque. We entered Custom House to check in, where an older CM greeted us and took ages to take our details. And then seemed to mistake us for a different Bates family. I'm not sure the three of us look like Sharon and Tracy Bates. After correcting that little mistake, he finally handed us our MagicBands:



Very nice too.

Then bell services took us and our cases to our room, room number 4354 in the Jamaica 'village' part of CBR:



Inside looked lovely, clean and tidy - if a little dark. This had, apparently, recently been refurbished so had lost the slight Nemo theme. Other than the toiletries, there wasn't any Disney theming in the room at all. Hannah quickly made herself comfortable on one of the comfy beds:



After unpacking, we had a look around the area near our block in Jamaica. There was a little square with some tables, chairs and parasols just outside and below our room:



Unfortunately this was a smoking area. Around the corner, you could see Jamaica's smaller pool nearby:



By now we decided we were hungry - it was probably at least 6pm local time (or 11pm to us) - so we headed towards the main building in CBR, Old Port Royale.

The quickest way required us to cross the bridge over Barefoot Lake to the the island in the middle, Caribbean Cay. From the bridge there was a good view of the Jamaica area:



And a closer view of the Jamaica's pool with block 43 behind:



After a short 5 minute stroll, we entered the food court at Old Port Royale. There was a lot of choice here, and we eventually decided on a couple of individual pizzas. We were on the quick service dining plan (QSDP) so we also picked up our 'free' refillable mugs. Sadly, there weren't any purple ones left for Hannah (just our luck - there were some there the next day).

The pizzas were very nice.

Once we'd had our fill of unlimited drinks, we briefly glanced around the shop and wandered outside around the main area. It was getting dark now.





Soon, night came and they'd started showing that evening's Disney film on a screen just outside Old Port Royale. Feeling tired after a long travel day, we ambled back to our room whilst the fireworks from Epcot's Illuminations exploded brightly in the distance.

Tomorrow would be an early start.

Next - Day 2: Animal Kingdom

[Danielle87]

Thanks for the trip report as we are staying here next year :-)

[Magic Mouse]

Looking forward to reading more

[Nimbus]

Thanks folks. And I'll see about writing some more.

[nasty]

Thanks Nimbus. Luv reading your trip reports. More please

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by nasty

Thanks Nimbus. Luv reading your trip reports. More please

See more...

Thanks for the kind words.

Days 2 and 3 are now up.

[summersun]

great start, looking forward to more as staying here soon

[mossyflossy]

dont think I've yet seen TRs with CBR so thanks for the photos, and for your views on Thomsons..would you say there was more leg room than Virgin or the same?

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by mossyflossy

dont think I've yet seen TRs with CBR so thanks for the photos, and for your views on Thomsons..would you say there was more leg room than Virgin or the same?

See more...

I've never flown with Virgin so couldn't say.

According to the stats though, yes, there's about 2 inches more leg room than Virgin's (Virgin has 31 inch legroom, Thomson Dreamliner has 33 inches). The seats are slightly wider too.

The Dreamliner is certainly more roomy than other planes I've been on.

Thanks for reading.

[WifeyB]

Great start, CBR looks lovely. My niece would love Hannah's back pack!

Looking forward to reading more