The Stones Family Vacay - May 19 - Travel Day

[MrsEgg]

Our Trip report Index can be found Here

We had decided to opt out of booking an airport hotel the night before this year due to too many sleepless nights through doors slamming, freezing air cons, boiling hot rooms and Chester being too excited he just wouldn’t sleep so we decided to cut out losses and even though it would be an early morning we thought at least we would get at very least some sleep.

The alarm woke us at 3.30am and we had both managed to sleep through without waking up. We both got ready and got the remaining items packed up before waking Chester up. We were all packed up and in the car by 4.30am and for once on schedule.

Manchester airport is normally around an hour and a half but with the traffic at this time of the morning we got there in just over an hour and we did stop for a few minutes to grab two tea’s from McDonalds on route.

I had booked the M&G at T2 for car parking, we were due to fly from T3 but we were flying back into T2 so we made the decision we would rather do the walk this end of the holiday. The M&G had moved since we had last came in 2017, it was now situated on the top floor of the multi-storey car park, it seemed a little more chaotic than previously and a little less convenient than it once was as we had to catch the lift down and then walk across. With the cost of the multi-storey being cheaper when we booked it didn’t seem as good value as it once was.

We made our way into T2 and followed the walkway over to T3, it took around 15 minutes with luggage in tow, mostly under over until the last couple of minutes. It was very well signposted too and we arrived at the Flybe counter before we knew it.

Check-in was eventful with the Rugby Team in front of us not all getting on to their flight to Toulouse as the plane had gone tech and there wasn’t enough seats on the replacement plane for everyone. The coach was to say the least, not very pleased he was losing half his team and I felt very sorry for the lady behind the desk.
Check-in was quick, I checked and double checked that our baggage would be going straight through to MCO which I was reassured it would and we could pick up our next boarding card when we exited the gate at Glasgow and could stay air-side. With the lady’s reassurance we were making our way through security in no time. We do find Manchester very good when you have young kids, once again we were pulled from the normal security line to go through the fast pass. John got his normal additional screening wand and we were on our way through.

We were greeted with a swarm of hen parties and stag do’s, T3 you never do disappoint. We managed to find a quiet corner in the Lion & Antelope we were all starving by this point and it was only 6.30am.

John and I both ordered the creamy porridge oats topped with banana and drizzled with gold syrup, £3.99 each. John also ordered the Scrambled Egg with Salmon £7.99, Chester had Toast £1.98 with a side of beans £2.98 and me and John both had an orange juice each £2.50, Chester wanted a fruit shoot but it wasn’t available here so John went off in search of one was also £2.50.

Breakfast Total £27.93

The food came quickly and was plentiful, I didn’t finish my porridge and neither did Chester with his beans on toast, John ate all of his and most of our leftovers a recurring theme.

We both agreed it was better value at the Antelope & Lion than the Frankie and Benny’s at T2 where we would normally of headed. The Stage and Hen do’s kept Chester amused too with all their fancy dress attire.

We popped into boots while we wanted for our gate to be announced and got 2 bottles of water £1 each and also a bag of grapes for Chester 80p, which he then proclaimed tasted different to our normal grapes so I ended up eating them on the plane, to be fair they were a little draw your ≈≈≈≈ up sour.

The flight was short to Glasgow, Chester sat next to John and I sat behind. I greeted the man who would be sitting next to me with a smile and approving nod and in turn my efforts were returned with a blank stare. I knew then that was the limits to our conversation and I got my book our and read for the next 45 or so minutes there.
We had a 3 hour connection time in Glasgow, we wandered around for some time looking for the promised placed where to pick up our boarding cards, we then came to the conclusion after walking around for half an hour the Flybe Check-In lady didn’t know what she was talking about and exited airside and went back into the Terminal, found a Virgin Check-in Kiosk printed our boarding tickets and re-joined the security line again. It was quick and we were back in the Terminal with 2 hours left to go. We had a wonder around the shops but nothing took our eye.

Welcome to Glasgow!

By 11.30 Chester was hungry again so we headed to the James Martin Kitchen, everything looks really fresh and had lots of seating to decide to give it a try.

I had the Chicken Pesto Wrap £4.99, John had the Tuna Nicoise Salad £5.79 and also a Blueberry Muffin £2.20. Chester had the kids meal deal which was a drink, sandwich, packet of crisps and a piece of fruit for £3.50 which we thought was very good value, especially after the price of the fruit shoot in Manchester.
Total for lunch cost £20.53

We found some seats in the main concourse area and settled down for the wait, Chester got comfy laying across me and the adjoining seat and promptly fell asleep. John went off to have a wonder around some more shops and I had a lovely chat to an older gentleman as his wife read. He was telling me of all their travels over the years, the time passed very quickly and before I knew it John was back saying the board was now showing as boarding.

We headed to the gate and boarded pretty quickly. We were row 34 which didn’t have a window, which I wasn’t bothered about, I had picked them as they were the closest to the front when we booked, otherwise the next option was into the 70’s. The plane was one of the fullest I have ever seen to Florida.

We settled down for the flight, the plane films were OK quite a few we had already seen. I did watch Captain Marvel which I thought was just OK. Chester watched Wreck it Ralph and John watched Fighting with my family.

Drinks and pretzels were served quickly and we were also given a menu for the food. I can’t say any of it seemed that appealing. There was a Pesto Pasta option, a chilli and rice and also a chicken mushroom with mash.

Chester was given his kids meal which was cheese pasta, mini cheddars, a strawberry fruit yoyo, laughing cow cheese with roll and a chocolate caramel truffle dessert. This arrived quickly and before the main meals were served.

John went for the Pesto Pasta which he said was good, I had the chilli and rice which was just OK, his pasta defiantly tasted better. The salad was a little strange and neither of us ate much of this, Chester ended up eating my crackers and the dessert was OK, not my favourite of the GU pots.

Then later the star of the show arrived, the mini Fab Lolly.

We were then later served a Pesto and Mozzarella sandwich and Scone with cream and jam. After John’s Pesto pasta he was feeling a little Pesto’ed out so left the sandwich and ate the scone instead. Chester had the same as us a picked at it and I ate the sandwich but left the scone which John soon hoovered up. The scone tasted really salty to me?

More movies were watched and I read some more of my book.

Time seemed to be moving quickly and we were disembarking before we knew it only to be met with the worst immigration que I have ever seen, my heart sank. It took nearly 2 hours to get through immigration, it was a grim experience and defiantly the worst I have ever seen. Kids were falling asleep everywhere and it wasn’t until an hour and a half into the queue, 2 more flights arriving behind us they opened up more terminals.

Our bags were waiting for us in a pile to one side, we quickly grabbed them and headed out. I had already done pre-check in with Alamo – a service which means you can head straight to the garage rather than queueing up at the desk and you don’t have to go through the sales-add on drivel. There were not many cars in the mid-size, 3 saloon cars and a Kia Sportage, John decided to go for the Sportage, it was newer than the rest and he prefers the high seat of an SUV than a saloon.

The drive to Disney was easy, we had previously upgraded our EE plan to Max plan so we used google maps and were at Coronado Springs in 28 minutes going via the 417.

We're Home!

As soon as we stepped into the CSR lobby I welled up, taking a breath we went to check-in. Check in was quick, the lady was absolutely lovely and said they had received my fax request. If you don’t know you can fax requests through to the resorts, they are not guaranteed but I’ve found previously it has worked well for us. We were given the building I had asked for (Casita 5 and a corner room). We were also offered to opt out of Mousekeeping which we accepted ($70 - $10 per day less your arrival day) which was emailed to me as a gift card. We were also able to request a Microwave which they said they would bring over shortly.

We drove over and the resort looked beautiful, we were so happy to finally be here! We put our magic bands on, dumped our bags and headed to El Mercado for some food. CSR has had a lot of construction work going on however it was nearly finished when we stayed and we were lucky that the bridges across the lake had just opened the week before our arrival which mean we could get to the food court and the pool within a couple of minutes now.

The Room was beautiful - we really liked how modern it felt.

The food options were good at El Mercado, Chester had a children’s Cheese burger, John had the Bacon Cheese burger and I had the Philly cheese steak. We also swapped out the drinks for desserts which was no problem, Chester picked a rice crispy mickey with chocolate top, John picked up a chocolate & peanut cupcake and I had a fruit cup. We also picked up our refillable mugs and filled these with minute maid lemonade from the fountain dispensers.

QS Credit Used – 3
QS Credits Remaining - 21
DDP Credits – 24
Snacks – 48
The food was really good, John ate all his and his cupcake but me and Chester took ours back to the room for another day. We wondered back to our room, the microwave was already in the room waiting for us too. We unpacked and was in bed by 10.30pm Florida time, 3.30am UK.

Steps: 15876
If you’ve got this far, thanks for reading – Tomorrow we head to Magic Kingdom, Walmart, Disney Springs and Eat at Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’ and can be found Here

[jools1302]

Nothing like that feeling when you first arrive... your room looks lovely - looking forward to reading along 😁😁

[JanetteP]

Great travel day, looking forward to reading more.

[LOU,]

Yikes to the 2 hours in immigration, other than that a nice travel day. Your room looks lovely, are they giving out different bathroom products? Thanks for sharing

[MrsEgg]

Thanks everyone, the immigration queue was the longest queue we did all holiday!

The bathroom products were different from what we had when we stayed in CRB last, there was Mouthwash, Moisturiser, Aloe Vera After Sun, A Shower Cap & A Vanity Kit which had a nail file, cotton bud and I think cotton pad in it. There were full size dispensers for shampoo, conditioner and body wash in the shower.

[Palm trees]

Apart from the queue at immigration that sounds like a great start to your holiday. Looking forward to reading more of your report.

[show_the_magic]

Looking forward to this! We are booked for CSR next year, great start!

[pastylad]

looks like a good travel day just cant beat that feeling of going

[MrsEgg]

The Stones Family Vacay - May 19 – Day 1 – MK, Walmart, Chef Art Smiths Homecomin’ & Disney Springs now added

[JUST_MORE_MAGIC]

Thank you so much for this report! We will be staying at Coronado Springs on the dining plan next year with our 5 year old so your trip report is great to follow along!