Charlotte's Very Merry First Trip to WDW (Dec 2017) - Pre travel & Travel days

[vics18]

Index with pre trip report is here



Side note before we start – I use Charlotte/Lottie interchangeably when talking about my little girl. We do call her both so it seems I have done the same in this report! I will try and stick with one name in the future!



Pre travel & travel day - Wed 29th & Thursday 30th November

I’ve squeezed these 2 days into one as let’s face it – they’re usually a bit of a dull read! So here goes.


Pre travel day was Wednesday 29th November and it started for me at 5:30am when I woke up thinking about all the things I mustn’t forget, and couldn’t get back to sleep! Charlotte woke up at around 7:15 so I changed her and took her downstairs for her breakfast so Martin could have a little lie in. Excitement levels were high!

I was going to have my hair cut this morning but decided I wouldn’t have time, so instead was just calling in for a fringe trim and for Charlotte’s first haircut! Our appointment was 9am and we got to the hairdressers just before. All the shutters were still down with no sign of our hairdresser Nicole.

I sent her a message after about 15 mins asking if she was OK as I was getting a bit worried about her. Within about 5 minutes I had a reply saying she had been held up at a Doctor’s appointment. She eventually arrived at 9:35am. Nicole is such a lovely girl, and she is very, very chatty but sometimes (like today!) I just wanted to get in, get done and get out as I had so much to do at home! So I felt like the worst person in the world for feeling impatient with her when she produced a little hair slide she had made, in a bag with a tag that said “Charlotte’s first hair cut” on it to keep a little curl of hair in. It was a really lovely and special thing to do.


I had considered having her hair cut for the first time at Main St Barbers, however I suspected (correctly as it turned out!) that she wouldn’t be a big fan of the experience.

It was all Ok after some chocolate though!

Now I was running a bit later than I had hoped, so sent Martin off to Tesco for some bits we still needed and I dropped Charlotte at my Mum and Dad’s. They usually mind her on a Wednesday anyway while I am in work so Mum said it was no problem to have her. I knew not having her around would at least double my productivity levels so dumped her and ran!


First stop, sans baby, was Next to pick up some socks for Charlotte that I had panic ordered, as I was worried I didn’t have enough for her for the whole trip. I also called into Pets at Home as I needed Frontline flea prevention stuff for Tilly (our dog) as I always put it on her the first of the month and had run out. It took them ages to find the keys to open the cupboard to get the stuff out. I was smiling and patient on the outside but panicking and wishing they would hurry up on the inside!


Finally I could go home and get to some packing. We were taking 2 large cases with one inside so we had 3 to come home with. I had packed a lot of the clothes, but finished putting stuff in now, put a few extra things in “just in case” having checked with Jo Harding who was already out there and her telling me it was hot and we were highly unlikely to need coats!

I packed our hand luggage bags and overnight bag for tonight at the Premier Inn. We did online check in, had a bit of lunch, and finished cleaning around the house. I finally got round to putting a new micro SD card in my phone as the one in there was full (Martin had been telling me to do it for days) but we couldn’t find a little tool you need to eject the drawer that contained the card. He did resist saying “I told you to do it days ago then we wouldn’t be panicking now” which was good as I might have killed him. We didn’t particularly want to go into town so we got in the car and nipped to Carphone Warehouse on the retail park nearby, where the very lovely man took my card out for me and put the new one in - phew!

We got home, had a last check around and my Dad came to pick us up. Although we didn’t have to leave at a specific time, we wanted my Dad to have chance to get home before rush hour traffic hit the M6. We called in at Mum and Dad’s to get Charlotte who had just woken up from her nap. Here we had our first holiday fail – and it wouldn’t be the last! We had a small bottle of milk with us to give her before bed and when she woke in the morning. For some reason my Dad decided to put it in their fridge for the 20 mins it took us to change Charlotte, have a chat and say our goodbyes to my Mum. You can see what’s coming here now can’t you? We walked out without the milk. We only realised once we had waved my Dad goodbye after he dropped us off! I felt a bit panicked as we now had no car and as far as I could see the Premier Inn (Runger Lane North) was on an industrial estate with nothing nearby in the way of shops!


We headed into reception to check in as we were truly laden down with all the cases, hand luggage, stroller etc. One of the very nice staff asked if we needed any help and I blurted out that we had forgotten the baby’s milk (already won worst mother of the year award and we haven’t even left the country) and was there any way we could get some – we would be happy to pay for it. He was so lovely and went straight to the kitchen and got us a little jug full for that evening, and said to ask again in the morning and they would fill I up again for us. What a legend! He also booked a taxi for us the following morning to get us to the airport. This is £6 flat rate, compared to the half hourly shuttles which are £3 per person and £1 for children, so a taxi was cheaper for us and we thought would be a bit easier with all our stuff!


We went up to our room which was the usual Premier Inn family room. They had put a travel cot in there already for us which was handy.

What is this thing?

Yep this is fine for me

At this point I had convinced myself that I had forgotten my GHD straighteners as I couldn’t remember packing them in our overnight bag. I was a bit annoyed with myself as I would have to get some at the airport – my hair does not do well with the voltage stepdown on the hairdryers in America so GHDs are a must have item! Thankfully I had put them in and just forgotten! Yay (although I was sort of looking forward to getting new ones as I thought about it as mine are about 8 years old now! Oh well!)


I unpacked our toiletries etc. Lottie found a new fun game – dropping her little Dumbo toy into the travel cot then shouting “Bumbo” louder and louder until one of us got him out and handed him back to her. And repeat. Sigh.

This game is fun

Next on the agenda – food! We went down to the Thyme restaurant within the hotel. Martin had a burger and I had fish, chips and garden peas which Lottie shared with me. We also all shared a garlic bread with cheese. The food was OK. They were really stingey with the chips though!

Garlic bread?

We had soft drinks with dinner as we had brought a bottle of wine to have in the room once Charlotte went to sleep (remembered the alcohol – forgot the baby milk)


Back up to the room we put all electrical devices on charge, chilled out for a bit, read books and did some colouring. Around 7.30 we bathed Charlotte, gave her milk and put her in the travel cot. We turned all the lights off and just left the TV on low, hoping that would make it easier for her to get to sleep. She was really curious why we were in the room I think as she kept getting up saying “mama” “dada” or just bouncing up and down. We lay her back down a few times and eventually she dozed off – I was thinking this doesn’t bode well sharing a room for the next 12 nights! Martin also dozed off during this time (the man could sleep on a clothesline). I watched Masterchef the Professionals then woke him up to watch The Apprentice together and drink our wine! I went to sleep straight after the show finished, think he watched some more TV. The bed was super comfy but I woke at 3:30, as Charlotte woke up crying, think she had a bad dream as I just stroked her head for a minute and she went straight back to sleep. I slept fitfully after that though in case we slept through the alarm (although I have never done that in my life!)

[vics18]

Travel day – Thursday 30th November


I think we had set alarms for about 6.15 as the taxi was booked for 7.30am. Martin threw some clothes on and took Lottie downstairs to ask for some more milk – who could refuse her in her little unicorn jammies! I quickly showered and got ready while they were doing this. Once they got back she drank her milk and I packed up all the bits we’d used just leaving out her clothes.

She also had a banana I had taken for her (her favourite food in the world). Once ready we took an obligatory photograph said goodbye to the room and went down to reception.

I was amused to see that Costa was open, having read the Sear’s trip report and them being less than impressed that it previously only opened at 9!

Our taxi was waiting so we packed it up and took the 5 minute journey to the airport.
Although we only live around 30 mins from Manchester airport, staying in an airport hotel is worth every penny for us. The Premier Inn cost around £45 I think, it was clean, the staff were friendly and it was super easy to get to the airport. I love being able to set off whenever we are ready rather than having a deadline if we are going directly to the airport. Plus – holiday starts a day earlier – what’s not to like?!


Once we got to the T2 we headed to the Virgin Atlantic desks, there were no queues at all and we headed straight to the front. The guy was lovely and asking all about our trip, whether Lottie had been on a plane before etc. We had done online check in so this whole process took less than 5 minutes. Despite me already having printed our boarding passes he did new ones for us. We headed through to security which is always a bit stressful! Martin left my kindle in his bag as he thought it was in mine so had to be rescreened. The stroller took forever to come through so I was trying to keep Charlotte in one place, repack the stuff that I’d had to lift out of the bag – Charlotte’s water, baby wipes, my phone, liqids etc. Once the stroller did appear they decided to swab it. Eventually they went to pass it over the top of the counter to me, but I presume seeing the look on my face, brought it round to where I was standing so I could open it up and put Charlotte back in. Of course she decided that she didn’t want to go in the stroller and started shouting “out!” Thankfully Martin reappeared at this point so I threw my bag at him and told him to get her a snack for bribery purposes. We gave her a biscotti and pushed on through. I have to admit I was thinking at this point “this day is going to be hell on earth!”


Looking at my notes I have written that we left the hotel at 7:30am and were in WH Smith airside by 8:10am, so not bad going at all!

What the heck?

Charlotte picked a book and a comic to take on the plane (my bag was literally overflowing with sticker books, books etc but her Nana and Papa had given her £10 for the airport so we let her get some others)

I got a couple of mags, optimistic I know, Martin also got a magazine I think and some sweets. Whenever we go on holiday I always get a bag of Fox glacier mints and salt & vinegar discos! It’s my must do tradition. No idea why.

From here we strolled through duty free, I picked up a bottle of Viktor & Rolf Bon Bon which is my favourite perfume ever.

There was a family in the queue behind me screaming constantly at their kids (Pandora and Mackenzie). They were running all over the queue and swinging off the barriers

Last stop before we headed into the V Room was Boots – I always get a meal deal as find the food is generally terrible on flights. (I was not to be disappointed on our upcoming flight either! #spoiler) I grabbed a wrap, some crisps that Martin could have as I had my traditional disocs, and a bottle of water. I was a bit concerned that Charlotte would go on hunger strike on the plane as she sometimes does when she’s in an unfamiliar place and being grumpy…then she’s hungry so even grumpier! So I picked up a toddler pasta meal as a ’just in case’.


Supplies gathered we finally headed off to the V room. You have to go upstairs to the area where all the lounges are located, so we waited for the lift and up we went. The desk was decorated with a lovely Christmas wreath and the ladies were lovely and made a big fuss of Charlotte – this was definitely a sign of things to come. She got so much attention from people on this trip, I think it must be her hair (plus she’s the cutest baby in the world of course )

There was a board on the way in with todays VA flights on. Last time we used the V room we were only allowed to go in a certain time before our flight, think it was 3 hours but there was no mention of that this time – maybe as there was only 1 Florida flight? Anyway we were glad there were no restrictions as we wanted to get in there ASAP.

There is an area for adults – where we have sat previously, but this time we were off to the family section. We picked a table near the play area and Martin and Lottie went to check out the Xbox live lounge and play areas.

Next he went to get the 2 of them some food. She had Weetabix and some toast and melon. He got a V room breakfast.

There’s a hot station where they serve you, here’s the menu….

Some of the items they cook fresh, such as the special which I ordered, but most of the hot items were out on the counter. There’s also a selection of fresh fruit, cereal, pastries, pancakes, and drinks.

Charlotte loved the play area (so much so that she kicked off big time when we made her come out to eat her breakfast!) and was quite happy toddling around in there with one of us and backwards and forwards to whichever of us were left sitting at the table. There was a magnetic wall which she loved, and a soft see saw which Martin spent a good while rocking her on!

It was great for smaller kids in here and a couple of times I saw staff go in and check everything was OK and nothing needed cleaning etc. For older kids there was the Xbox live lounge, a table football set and I think a couple of other TVs with Xboxes attached. They also gave us a little activity book with crayons when we checked in.
It was absolutely worth paying for this lounge just so that she could walk around and play happily, not having to be strapped into the stroller most of the time before such a long flight. If you’re contemplating a long flight with a baby/toddler/child and this is an option available to you I would absolutely recommend it. It’s really calm and relaxing in there too, much nicer than sitting in the main terminal.


At one point I noticed that Lottie had lost her hair slide, when I mentioned it to Martin he nipped straight back to where they’d been and said “she lost it while we were playing FIFA”!

She sat with me for a while and did some colouring and stickers from her new Hey Duggee comic while I had a little mimosa!

We could see our gate from where we were sitting and the plane was there – Jersey Girl.

It was announced that boarding had started so we headed down to the gate, this took all of 3 minutes! We handed in the stroller and let Lottie have a look at the plane.

Boarding was on time and we were directed upstairs to row 80 of the bubble. None of us had ever flown up there so we were really happy to see the storage lockers and ledges down the side of the seats! How good are these?! Because of the way the seats were laid out we had 2 of these lockers and 2 windows, so a really long area. It meant I could get stuff out of the bags I needed for the flight and leave it on there so I didn’t have to rummage in the bags every 5 minutes.

The cabin crew were super nice and once we were settled brought us a seatbelt extender for Charlotte, as although she had her own seat, she had to be strapped in with one of us for take off and landing. They also gave us an infant life jacket which we stuffed under a seat and prayed we wouldn’t need!

They asked me to put Charlotte on my lap as the seatbelt sign was on and we would be leaving soon, so I did. Unfortunately the Captain then came on the tannoy and said we needed to have the plane wings de-iced, something I thought they perhaps should have done in the 2 hours the plane had been sitting there with nobody on it! Once that was done, he came on again and said that now there was a fault saying one of the doors wasn’t shut although it clearly was. He thought it was an indication fault but had to get the engineers back on to look at it and make sure. By now Charlotte was getting a bit annoyed sitting on my lap so we released her back onto her own seat for a few minutes. Once it was confirmed that it was, in fact, an indication problem, and he paperwork was done we were good to go again and she was strapped back onto me. I put The Secret Life of Pets on and she watched that happily for a few minutes.

I put snufflebabe on her chest as a Nurse who did her chicken pox vaccinations told me it can help with flying as one of the reasons babies get so upset is that their sinonasal passages become very painful due to the pressure changes, particularly if congestion is present so if you can keep the airways open with something like a decongestant it can help. I don’t know if this helped or not, but she didn’t bat an eyelid during take off, although she did get fed up off her earphones and chucked them off. I also let her have her dummy for the flight, although she usually only has it at bedtime I thought the sucking might help during the flight.

She liked pressing the screen, moving the film backwards and forwards. As soon as we were airborne and the seatbelt sign went off I set her up on her own seat with some colouring and gave her a snack. She kept asking to walk and pointing at the floor – having visions of walking up and down the tiny aisle in the bubble for 9 hours I got out with her and let her walk with me to the toilets at the front of PE. Well, turns out she is not a fan of walking on a plane! I don’t know if it’s because we were probably still climbing and it was a bit uphill, or if she just didn’t like the sensation, but she wanted to be carried back to our row and didn’t ask to walk again the whole flight! Result!

We kept her occupied with various CBeebies shows we’d downloaded onto a kindle, Disney life, colouring, reading books and doing stickers and flash cards.

The kids meal was cheesy pasta which she wouldn’t eat, (although she ate the mini cheddars that came with it) so I gave her the tomato pasta toddler meal I’d bought and she ate about half of it so I folded the top over for later. We shared the chocolate dessert! It was delicious, I was a bit annoyed she liked it!

Once we’d eaten our meals (I had some sort of chicken pasta which was pretty unpleasant) we changed her then laid her down with her head on my lap lying over her seat with her feet by Martin. She was asleep within a minute or two and slept for about 2 and a half hours. I took the opportunity to watch a film and chose Guardians of the Galaxy 2, although I’ve seen it before it’s a great film and I couldn’t be bothered watching something new!

The couple from the row in front of us were standing in the aisle to stretch their legs and got chatting with us as they were bringing their 18 month old granddaughter to WDW in Jan. At some point I’ve noted that the woman in front of me reclined her seat and turned round to ask if Charlotte was OK! Yeah don’t worry about me lady, just ask about her!


Once she woke up, we did more of the same – colouring/stickers/kindling.

She had some more snacks and water. A new show had just started on CBeebies before we went away called Yakka Dee and I had downloaded 3 episodes which are about 5 mins long. She must have watched them all about 20 times. I put other things on she usually loves, like Hey Duggee but she kept saying “Yak” and getting all excited when I put it on. Thankfully all the people around us (including Martin) had headphones on watching the IFE so it was only me wanting to murder Yakka Dee by this point!

As we started to descend and she had to be strapped in again (Martin drew the short straw this time!) she started to get really upset. I think it was a combination of tiredness –by now it was way past her bedtime – and ours ears were popping so hers must have been too. She was quietly whimpering but by the time we actually landed she was crying loudly. Luckily all our nearby fellow passengers were really sympathetic and saying she had been so good the whole flight.
As we pulled up at the gate we could see luggage being unloaded from another Virgin plane at the stand next door, so knew immigration was going to be bad. Thankfully we were quickly off the plane and into the little hall where you have to self scan your passports. Once we did this we got funnelled into one of the lanes and ended up awaiting about 45 mins to be seen by an Immigration officer. Charlotte was in the carrier and constantly asking me to “walk”. She was easily distracted by pointing out things in the hall and the family behind us were quite taken with her so she was showing off saying all the words she knows and giving them high fives. For some reason shortly before we went away she had started picking out a “victim” and constantly pointing at them saying “man/lady/boy/girl” *delete as applicable* Todays victim was the man in front of us in the line. She was pointing at him saying “man” “bag” “hat”. She kept waving at him but he wasn’t taking her on at all!


As we got nearer the front there was an older couple and the man was getting really irate as he felt people from the other line were getting seen first when it should be their turn. He wasn’t quite shouting about it, but was certainly raising his voice and waving his arms around. We were cringing! We exchanged knowing looks with a few people around us who were clearly having the same conversation we were – “mate, cut it out or you’ll be on the next flight home!”
Eventually it was our turn to be seen and the immigration officer was lovely and really friendly. He asked how Charlotte had been on the flight and wished us a lovely trip! Think that’s the first time that’s ever happened to me in about 6 trips to the States!


One of our cases was already sitting there waiting for us, along with the stroller and as we walked up we saw our other case plop out onto the carousel! We managed to avoid second bag drop – Martin had Charlotte in the carrier and was carrying the stroller (still folded) and one case. I had the other case and both hand luggage bags.

We made it out and headed to the Virgin desk to get our gift card.

I'm freeeeeeeeeeeeee!

The lady told us that we had to go to the Virgin pitstop and collect it when we sorted out the car. Over to the garage we went. I went in and got the card, then came and waited with Charlotte (now in the stroller) while Martin went and did the car paperwork. We had only booked a compact but she told us to pick anything from the mid size section. We grabbed a car seat and found a car. Sorry detail fans but all I can say is it was a Hyundai and it was silver! Martin couldn’t manage to fit the car seat as securely as he was happy with so I went back to the Alamo desk and asked someone for help. Although they are not allowed to fit the seats she did come over and show him where things went so he could do it. By now it was hot, we had been awake for about 17 hours, he was sweating bullets trying to get this seat fitted, Charlotte was being a total ratbag and I could have actually cried!


Once it was done we got in the car and drove to the desk. The lady checked our driving licences and credit card we had registered with them. She programmed Animal Kingdom Lodge into the sat nav and gave it to us. We were finally off! Charlotte was asleep within about 20 seconds she was so exhausted. It was so exciting seeing some of the sights we are so used to on that drive. We had a new wave of energy. There was a lot of traffic on our route though and it seemed to take forever to get onto Disney property. The sat nav at one point took us to an obviously backstage area where there were large areas with lots of tree and plants being grown! We ditched the sat nav and followed the Disney signs, and were soon pulling up at Animal Kingdom Lodge.

We parked and took the cases over to the main lobby. Walking in it took our breath away, it was so beautiful. The Christmas tree was stunning and Charlotte said “wow” (she woke up when we moved her from the car into the stroller) .

Unfortunately it took an absolute age waiting to check in, there were only 3 cast members working on the desk. One of them was dealing with a family who were obviously making some sort of complaint. Eventually we were seen, given our magic bands and shown our room on the map.

We had a room on zebra trail, and from the map I had a suspicion we would have at least a partial Savanna view. Unfortunately we were absolutely miles away from the lobby! I requested a travel cot and she said they would bring one up. We headed off to the room to dump our stuff and it felt so far away. We couldn’t make out much of the view as it was dark and the savannas aren’t lit, but it was definitely a savannah view so I was happy! We decided to go to Mara and grab a quick bite to eat as we were suddenly ravenous. We started out on the expedition back to the lobby, and I stopped in at reception to ask if there were any closer rooms. The lady explained that unfortunately they were completely sold out for the weekend but I could ask again on Sunday! There was no way I’d move once we’d unpacked so I thanked her but said we would stay where we were! She also set up a new pin for us for charging to the room using our magic band and I got a first visit badge for Charlotte. (Side note – as it turned out it really didn’t bother us being far away from the lobby in the end, we weren’t going backwards and forwards to our room during the day. Once we left, we tended to be out and we took our refillable mugs with us – filled them on the way out and then on the way home.)

While I was waiting to be seen, I noticed that the same family who were there when we checked in were still there talking with the cast member! I don’t know what had happened to them but eventually they asked to speak to the manager as they weren’t happy with what the cast member was saying to them. The manager was basically apologising and asking them what she could do to improve their guest experience, she had already given them 6 extra fastpasses, she gave them 3 more and refunded a nights full rack rate for AKL onto their booking (think she said around $350!) They still weren’t moving from the desk though. I think they were angling for a room upgrade but she explained to them that the resort was full and she had done all she could for them. They got the message in the end and begrudgingly left the desk!


Off to Mara and we just wanted some comfort food! I got chicken tenders and fries, Martin got a hot dog, we picked our refillable mugs up. You order from a station at the front, they give you a receipt and a pager, you go and pay the cashier, then go back and collect your food once the pager goes off. It all seemed a bit long winded and faffy this night but actually makes sense, and I was glad you could order at one place rather than have to visit separate counters. Martin paid for the food and waited to pick it up as I received a message from Beth from Fairytale Personal Shopper, whose service I had signed up to a few months earlier. She offers a personal shopping service, will hold parcels for you and also delivers groceries and only charges a $15 fee! She had arrived at the hotel to deliver our stuff. She delivers in person where possible now to avoid people having to pay the parcel holding fee that Disney charge. She had a wagon with all our stuff in it – I must admit I had forgotten some of things I had ordered! All the groceries were boxed up into chilled and non chilled to make it easy to unpack. It was lovely to finally meet Beth, she’s such a nice person and I totally recommend using her service! She let me take the wagon to the room, so I went up and dropped the stuff off before returning the wagon to her in the lobby! We said goodbye and I went back to Mara to meet Martin and Charlotte. He had our food so we filled our cups and went back to the room together. The cot had been delivered, so we undid the cases, I found some jammies I had packed near the top for Charlotte, gave her some milk and she was out like a light within seconds.
We ate our food sitting on the floor, then somehow found the energy to unpack! I don’t know how we were still standing but I knew I wouldn’t want to do it in the morning. Once that was done we fell into bed and were soon fast asleep!

That felt like a long day when we lived it, and even longer when I just wrote about it! Sorry for the lack of pics towards the end - we definitely hit a wall! In a nutshell, there were moments of stress but Charlotte was the best behaved I could have ever hoped she would be, under the circumstances and we were really proud of her.

If you made it to the end – well done! I hope you will come back for more. Tomorrow – first day and of course we spend it in Magic Kingdom (as is law on our first day.)
Day 1 - Magic Kingdom & Meltdowns!

Thanks for reading!

[mitch-fishguard]

Great start to your holiday. Out of interest, what sort of room did you have in your seats ? Was the recline of the woman intrusive ?

[Smilesonfaces]

Thanks for going to trouble of doing a report. It was really interesting and fun to read.
Will look forward to the rest! Hope you have that great view when you open your curtains.
Those people complaining at the desk, wasting hours of their holiday to get a freebie !

[marypoppins38]

We have row 80 booked for our flight to NY next year so great to see the storage and windows. I recognise the retail park... I think we might be local to you!

[tootsie rolls]

Great read,charlotte did do really well 😃😃😃

[EJSakaAnna]

Oooh excited for this .

Charlotte did so well on such a long day, what a trooper. Love the biscotti bribery, I've recently discovered the snack distraction tactic haha!
I'm sure her little wow when you got to AKL made all the stress of the day totally worth it .

Looking forward to more! xx

[Goldia]

Aah your daughter is so cute. She did really well on the flight. I'm looking forward to the next update.

[eleele]

What a lovely travel day report. We're making a similar journey next week up to that Premier Inn, hope it all goes as smoothly for us as it did for you.

[LottiesLot]

Really enjoyed reading about your plans and travel day. Your daughter is very cute. Great choice of name - I'm a Charlotte too! Looking forward to finding out how the rest of your trip goes.