All change for this holiday since Dorian is sweeping in. Secretly hoping he absolutely levels Mar-a-Lago and leaves everything else well alone!
Virgin Atlantic very kindly moved us to yesterday’s flight so we’re a day ahead of our plans already, which is about the only time in my life I’m not running late. We hastily booked another night at Rosen Inn at Pointe and amended our car hire too. We paid £100 for both which isn’t bad considering. We booked with Rosen directly as they’d activated the hurricane pricing so were a lot cheaper than BA, Expedia, Travel Rep etc.
I wasn’t going to bore anyone to death with an actual trip report because we aren’t really doing the parks, aside from Halloween parties and a recently added day at Discovery Cove, but thought I might type up the next few days since we might be blown away to sea by Tuesday!
We’ve also added in a couple more hotel switches since availability came through for DVC
30-1st Rosen at Pointe
1st-3rd Saratoga Springs
3rd-4th Animal Kingdom, Jambo…testing out a value studio
4th-9th Old Key West
9th-10th Polynesian
10-11th Boardwalk, BW view
11-13th Animal Kingdom, Kidani
13-15th Copper Creek
15-16th Grand Floridian
16-17th Clarion Inn LBV
I promise I at least *tried* to pack light!
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So travel day started at an ungodly 4am. I hopped into the shower to shear my wolf legs ahead of the grand unveiling of my summer body later today…head first into the pool is the only way to refresh after a flight for us.
Bear napped on until I bounced out of the bathroom 40 minutes later and announced we were officially behind schedule.
My lovely Pops was taking us to the airport and arrived exactly on time at 5am bless him…the house looked like that scene from Home Alone. Despite being packed for 2 days (a record for me) we were still running around picking up chargers and toothbrushes, locking windows, having a quick hoover and telling the cat how handsome he is.
We eventually said our goodbyes to Parsnip who will absolutely never speak to us again when we get back.
Despite hitting every traffic light on the way out of Liverpool, we didn’t see a patch of traffic on the way to Manchester airport. The new drop off zone works very well despite the astronomical charges and being a typical Dad, he spotted he could save himself £1 by having us booted out of his car within 5 minutes rather than the usual 10. So with that, we were dumped on the side of the road and very quickly said our goodbyes…I ran around to give him a peck on the cheek through the open window and he almost took my head off speeding away 😂
I’d completed OLCI the day before, adding a checked bag (we’re travelling on Economy Light tickets) and had selected middle and aisle seats on the left side in an empty row. There were plenty of seats still available towards the back but none around this area. I logged on again to show Bear our seats last night and some absolute tool had plonked himself in the window seat…who voluntarily sits themselves in a window seat with people they don’t know when there’s a load of other empty row window seats available? I would have no problem if it was a full flight or if there’d been other empty seats nearby and maybe they wanted to be close to family but no. I was polishing my elbows all night but there was no need in the end as the lovely check in lady moved us to the exit row seats free of charge. I love Virgin, especially the staff at Manchester.
I’d arranged a Click & Collect order for Duty Free just before OLCI yesterday to give us the free Fast Pass through security (you just need to do an order for £20 to qualify) and was so glad I did because security was rammed. Click & Collect orders also qualify for 10% off all purchases so I picked up a couple of bits. You pay for your order when you get to the till so I was able to switch out some of the bits I’d pre-ordered and was also able to apply the 10% discount to all the bits I’d picked up in store.
Managed to use our Lounge Pass card to get into the Escape Lounge - its a lovely lounge in Manchester and one I’d pick over the V-Room. Breakfast included self serve bacon, sausage, beans, tomatoes, scrambled egg, pastries and muffins, cereal, yogurt and berries and a fruit basket. Drinks are served at the bar and includes a sparkling wine/prosecco. Beer is self serve from a fridge.
We boarded around 10.45 after the queue had died down...the usual pretzels and drinks service came round quickly, with the new menu.
I thought I had a picture of Bear's tray but I don't - he chose the veggie option as chicken has run out but the time they reached us and this came with crackers and cheese, a bread roll and a Gu pud which was amazing. Yuzu tastes a lot like orange which I wasn't expecting...was like a really rich, caramely, gooey Terry’s Choc Orange pud.
I'd pre booked a GF meal so mine was black pepper chicken with broccoli and potatoes in a gravy, with a tomato salad, a raspberry jelly and some apple crisps.
This was delicious - the chicken and broccoli in the gravy was yummy though I didn't eat the potatoes. The jelly was more like a puree/smoothie but very, very tasty and Bear swiped my apple crisps and said they were 'interesting'. I'd definitely book gluten free again!
Now for some sad news...the mini fab lollies are no more 😭 I asked what the fresh hell was going on when I was handed this imposter and the crew said they had major problems keeping the fab lollies frozen so had permanently switched them out.
I was not impressed. They had no problem keeping these frozen, my mouth was welded to it in seconds. I didn't finish it as I'm not a fan of ice cream type ice lollies...its either an ice cream or its an ice lolly. Pick a side and stick to it 😒
Afternoon tea has also been improved since we flew last November - its now served in a cute little box. Again Bear forgot to take a picture of his - it was a mozzarella and pesto sandwich and a scone with clotted cream and jam. I think you could've built a house on the scone but he said it was ok with his cup of tea to wash it down.
Mine was delicious. I was really impressed with the treats I got and even happier with the crew slipped me two leftover GU puds from dinner.
My sandwich was chicken in a tomato mayo on GF bread. I usually avoid all bread but this was yum. Bear swiped my corn kernels and said they were delicious too.
Perfect view of the KSC as we came into land...
We landed 30 mins ahead of schedule but waited 1.5hr in immigration...we made it to Walmart for hurricane snacks by 5pm though so not too bad.
Essentials gathered (donuts, fruit loops, cookies...the basics!) we trotted over the road to Millers Ale House on I-drive. As always, it was amazing. The queue for a table was awful so we just grabbed a seat at the bar and ate there.
I officially broke my Keto diet with a Zinger Melt (medium sauce) and it was everything I've dreamed of for the last 3 months!
Bear had the Blackened Chicken and Shrimp Cobb salad which was so tasty as well...and absolutely massive!
We just had iced water to drink, I think I'd have fallen asleep on my plate if I'd had a cocktail. The bill came to $27.84 including a 20% tip.
Highly recommend Millers, especially this location...I've had some dodgy meals at the Lake Buena Vista one but the Champions Gate one was lovely back in 2017 when we last visited.
Travel day done, we collapsed into our ammmmmaaaazing Rosen beds (honest to god, two double beds is the way to live 😂
listening to the hurricane drama continue on WESH.
Total Spend:
$68 at Walmart (breakfast + lunch for next 4 days)
$28 at Millers