Well hello there
Welcome to the beginning of my fifth trip report here on the Dibb.
We returned from Florida last Wednesday morning, and to tell you the truth, our holiday was literally so incredible, I have barely been able to think about it since we got back for fear of sinking very quickly, and very deeply into PFD (Post Florida Depression). I'm sure many on here are familiar with the symptoms. My particular strain usually involves browsing on the WDW website pricing up a holiday I know that I can't a) afford and b) get time off work for.
The pre-trip report for our holiday is
here. This page also includes links to our previous trip reports.
In short, we went to Florida from the 2nd July to the 16th July. We stayed three nights at Loews Sapphire Falls Resort at Universal Orlando and then eleven nights at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort. We were a party of nine (cue CM rolling their eyes at us and saying 'Just a moment, please' at the beginning of every ride). We are all one family, but three dining plans. Ha. There's me and my husband Neil; my Mum, step-Dad, Martin and brother, Oliver (OB), and my Auntie Debsy, Uncle Mark and two cousins, Megan and Sam. We had an amazing time.
I will be sharing every moment with you - all the love and laughter, all the smiles and tears and most importantly, all the magic!
So... here we go.
Day 0 - Monday 1st July 2019 - Overnight at the Radisson Blu, Manchester Airport
Neil and I had both booked this day off work. Since we had stayed over at the Radisson Blu the night before our honeymoon in 2017, we have concluded that before a long haul, staying at this hotel is something that we simply must do. Using numerous cashback deals and Booking.com genius rewards, I'd managed to book us an executive room for less than the price of a standard.
Anyway, we spent this day doing a lot of the normal pre-holiday rituals. I did some cleaning and Neil did a few jobs for his Mum. We had booked a taxi to take us to Huddersfield station at 12.30 for our train at 1.10 but as is our way, we were ready to go by 11am.
To pass the time, Neil decided to practice his putting for the Florida Open (the boys were playing golf at Oak Trails on the 10th July). Spoiler: this practice did not pay off
Our taxi arrived on time at 12.30 and we said goodbye to our little house for two weeks. We got the train (again, on time, booked on advance) but it was absolutely heaving. While we had booked seats,as it was the train that went all the way to the airport, there were loads of people on board with cases and there was no room at all for our cases ANYWHERE. We basically had to put them by the door (we weren't the only people to do this) and then Neil had to get up and move them out of the way every time we pulled in at a station.
The train seemed to take forever to get to the airport, as we got stuck in a bit of a Manchester city traffic jam, but once we got through Oxford Road and Piccadilly, we were free and clear.
We ascended in the lift and headed for the Radisson.
Feeling like some actual VIPs, Neil and I went up to the Executive check in desk (complete with executive *cough* WHS sandwiches stuffed into our pockets) and got all settled into our awesome room.
Super King size bed.
The TV that's made us re-evaluate the size of our television at home.
Posh sink
Massive shower that's basically bigger than our bathroom at home.
Amazing view
This is my 'I've arrived on my holidays' smile. Yeah, I was pretty content at this point, I've gotta say.
Neil and I had our sandwiches and then decided to make the most of the facilities of the hotel and went down to the pool. It was as we remembered. The pool isn't massive, but it's clean, warm and very relaxing. We also went in the steam room, sweating off the sins of the two stag dos and two hen dos we'd been on in June alone.
Yes, we're at
that age
.
After a good hour down there, we went upstairs for showers and headed for my favourite place at the Radisson: the lounge. I was a little worried about how busy it would be, but it was absolutely dead.
We were the only people in there until 5pm, and even then, there were probably only three other 'parties' that joined us. There was plenty of food and drink on offer and plenty of room as well.
Up until 5pm, there was tea and coffee, soft drinks, olives and pretzels, but then after 5pm, they brought out hot and cold nibbles and alcohol. They had mini shepherds pies, tempura prawns and veggie samosas. All gorgeous. Neil treated himself to a G and T and I helped myself to a lovely Pinot Rose.
Still pretty hungry, we did the incredibly classy, so 'non executive' thing and ordered some takeaway pizza and had a bed picnic, watching the rest of the day's tennis and then casting Brooklyn 99 to the TV from our Netflix account.
I don't think I've ever been so chilled out the night before a Florida holiday. Everything was packed, I hadn't forgotten anything, we'd been getting texts from the rest of the gang that day who were finishing up their last days at work. Everyone was in fantastic spirits, everyone was so excited. As a result, I slept like a baby in our gorgeous air conditioned room at the Radisson
. The perfect start to our two week adventure.
Day 1 - Travel day and arrival at Sapphire Falls is
here