5 do Florida for the 1st time - October 2018 - Pre-travel day 11/10/18

[Milpston]

Index

So the wait was finally over. If you have read my Pre trippie you will know that this holiday was booked almost 18 months ago. After a long year or so working long hours we had reached the stage of really needing this break

For the last month or so I had been keenly watching the hurricane season activity through the national hurricane season website and windy.com. Over the last week I was watching the development of hurricane Michael as it built in the Gulf. It was pretty much my worst fear for this holiday and had been monitoring it pretty much daily for the last week. I have to say it pretty much ruined the final build up. I just felt numb watching it as at one stage it looked like it would hit Tampa as a category 5 just before we arrived. The flight from Gatwick to Tampa was cancelled on 10th October. Everyone I work with was saying things along the lines of, "Oh my god, aren't you supposed to be going soon?" When it drifted past Tampa and up towards the panhandle I felt a little less worried. I still felt a bit numb at all the stress. Sally on the other hand, an eternal optimist, pretty much just said, "It'll be fine", all along and couldn't understand what I was worried about.

Sally had been packing the cases over recent weeks so it was just the last minute bits to be added in. I managed to finish at midnight the night before rather than 02:30 and Sally had the day off. I pretty much had a print off of everything relating to our holiday in a ring binder along with tickets and travel documents.


Sally did the school run this morning. She dropped Chloe at school and Emma was on a half day at pre-school. My Mum had agreed to have Benjamin for the morning so that we could get things done. I dropped him round my parents' house at the same time. Sally was packing all the cases, tidying the house while I just tried to generally keep out of the way. I felt a little better when I saw the BA flight to Tampa left on time today. Sally was getting a little stressed with so much to do and knowing it wouldn't be long before the kids were back home to slow things down. Fortunately with good supervision from me she got everything done.


At 11:30 Sally went to collect Emma from school and I went and collected Benjamin and brought him home. We finished the packing and decided on 4 cases. We all had a piece of hand luggage each and an extra one with nappies etc in for Benjamin. The kids had their keep'em quiet packs for the plane. We had individually wrapped all the things inside for them to open them on plane in an attempt to keep them amused.

Once all the cases were closed I collected Chloe from school and put some fuel in the car. On returning back Chloe got ready whilst I packed the car. I had done a dummy run a couple of days before. Of course, now that the cases were bulging slightly the task was not quite as easy. I just managed to squeeze the cases and push chair in the boot allowing all the hand luggage to come in the passenger compartment. My only fear was that the rear window might pop out half way round the M25!

We set off at 14:00 and as far as I was concerned the holiday had finally started. House all locked up and off we went for the drive down to Gatwick.

By the time we were out of our road the Disney tunes were on and the singing started mainly from Emma she loves most of the Disney films with her favourites being Frozen, Moana and Rapunzel. Benjamin will happily sit and watch Rapunzel on repeat all day.

As we got moving Sally and I both realised neither of us had actually eaten for over 24 hours and we were starving. We stopped at a Mcdonalds not far from home. Emma was delighted. If she could have anything in the world to eat it would be a chicken nugget happy meal every time. Benjamin had the same. I have no idea what the rest of us had.

I took no pictures of the food. You will see that my success at food pictures varies wildly. There will be food with no pictures and plenty with half eaten food depending on when and if I remembered to take one. We decided to eat on the move to try and beat the rush hour down to Gatwick. In this moment I was happy. I couldn't wait for over three weeks away from the stresses of daily life and quality family time with it being our first holiday as a 5.

my happy face.

For the rest of the journey Benjamin had a nap. The singing continued from the rest.

We stopped at Clacket Lane services so that Emma could use the toilet... or use the rest rooms now that I am American.

We have some scenic pictures from the drive. Sally doesn't really take many photos partly as she busy organising the rest of us. However, when I'm driving she is in charge of the camera. There will be some gems from her on this trip. It isn't impossible that Chloe may have taken these as she was the front seat passenger on the drive down. However, they look like Sally photos.

Shortly after leaving the services we called the meet and greet parking to let them know we wee about 15 minutes away. We had booked with ACE Meet and greet. Checks revealed they were the same company as Maple Manor who I had seen recommended by the oracle that is Mr Tom Morrow on the Dibb. On arrival we entered the short stay car park and we met by Maple Manor staff there.

It was quick and simple. We unloaded all our luggage, handed the car over to them and took a receipt. They took photographs all around the car and we headed off into the airport. We had thought about doing Twilight check in but eventually decided that for us it would be easier to keep our cases until the morning rather than having to hang on to 5 lots of dirty clothes and toiletries for the flight.


We walked across into the Hilton and check in was quick and easy. They took a swipe of my credit card for incidentals. We then headed up in the lift to room 3204 which was a family room on the third floor. The room was plenty big enough for the 5 of us and was just the job. It was also a bargain booking with Tesco Clubcard vouchers through Hotels.com.
I got a few pictures of the room not long after arrival. It had a window with an internal view down to reception.

While the others were all pottering about in the room I went down for a smoke. I will continue to try and refrain from saying, "have a fag", like I did throughout our trip for fear of being misunderstood. There will be quite a few references to me smoking during this trip. I am a kind of fallen of the wagon reformed ex smoker if you will. I was a heavy smoker for years, In recent years I have mainly just used and e cigarette and have the odd smoke as a 'treat' now an again. I decided I was on holiday and I would smoke when I want to and then pack it in again when I get home. I'm quite happy and capable of doing this.

On my return everyone was ready to head out. We had a wander into the South Terminal and then gave Emma and Benjamin their first ride of the holiday. We took the transit over the North Terminal. Emma was a fan of the transit and spent the rest of the evening begging to go on it repeatedly.

We stopped at the bar at the North Terminal for a drink. Sally and I had a bottle of bud each. Chloe had a coke, Benjamin and Emma had a water each. They both drink water or squashes at home and pretty much stuck to water and a few juices right through this trip. When asked Emma always said she wanted water which is a good thing I suppose.

After a drink we headed back to the south terminal. Wetherspoons was rammed and there was no way we were even going to get a double 'stroller' through the door. We opted for Giraffe which was much quieter.

We just at an entree as we had a Mcdonalds earlier which Sally and I washed down with a beer and a glass of wine.

I had a Steak, Sally had Nachos. I got confused when I looked as I thought my pictures had got mixed up but Chloe had an all day breakfast which was a strange choice for her. The kids shared a flatbread. Emma is nightmare when it comes to eating. She rarely eats much and is so fussy its ridiculous. Benjamin on the other hand will eat just about whatever you put in front of him. Emma didn't eat much which was no surprise but polished off her cold chicken nuggets from Mcdonalds later on!

The meal was pretty decent. We had no complaints and the service was good. The bill was £71.00. I don't recall what tip I left. Chloe checked us in on facebook which must be law when you are at an airport and the kids were really good. They do eat out but not very regularly so we did wonder how they would take to eating out so much on this holiday. Tonight was a success and got us in the mood nicely for the holiday.

By the time we finished eating and paid the bill the the kids were running around the restaurant like loonies. There were not many people in there for them to annoy so once we got bored of herding them up we gave in and took them for a couple of trips on the transit. Emma loved riding up front.

After a while Benjamin was getting tired and irritable so we decided to call it a night. We grabbed a travel adaptor and some luggage locks on the way to the room. You would think I'd have got these earlier and not got ripped off at the airport with 18 months of planning but no. Emma had a minor melt down but soon got over it and we headed up to the room. Emma went to bed and was a bit miserable and Benjamin came in with Sally and I. They were both tired but fighting it so we were happy when they finally went to sleep.

That was time for Sally and I to get a bottle of wine from room service. Chloe ordered a Coke. Sally and I really don't drink very often. We got into New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs on previous cruises and were looking forward to having our favourite again when in Florida which is Kim Crawford. When we last came back from the US I tried everywhere to buy it in the UK and couldn't get it anywhere. I recently checked in the lead up to this holiday and found that you now can.

We ordered a bottle of VavasourNew Zealand Blanc as a nightcap which didn't take long to arrive at about 20:15.

Sally sorted her car insurance online as that was due to expire whilst we were away and Chloe watched a bit of Stranger Things on Netflix on her Ipad.

Whilst having a drink Chloe and Sally were having a look down to reception from the window. They realised that every time they were looking out people from downstairs were looking up at them so they were messing about bobbing up and down etc. Apparently people were laughing at them from down below. The little things that amuse these two!

About 22:00 I went outside for a smoke before bed. On walking back into reception I could see the two of them at the window messing about and pulling faces and just being general idiots. I pretended I had no idea who they were and whilst taking a couple of pictures of a room window from reception.

Sally and I settled down to sleep about 22:30. I set my alarm for 05:00 and Sally set hers for 04:45.

It was then off to bed. I had reservations about booking an airport hotel for tonight as last time I did it felt like more hassle than it was worth. However, the hotel was perfectly adequate for what we wanted and it really felt like it added an extra night to our holiday. I would consider doing it again in the future.

We were now fully in holiday mode and excited for what the next three weeks or so would brink.

[JanetteP]

Great start and looking forward to reading along, having only just read your PTR. What a cheek to move you to a moderate - but a great result with the Beach Club. We did SSR this year, and didn't like it as much as OKW - would love to stay at the Beach Club, having visited for a Yachtsman meal.

[DisneyDaffodil]

Great pre-travel day, love how happy Emma looks riding the transit, she is going to love Disney 😀. You are quick with your trip report, shaming me into trying to start ours soon. Although I haven’t finished the holiday ironing yet 😂

[Milpston]

Originally Posted by JanetteParker

Great start and looking forward to reading along, having only just read your PTR. What a cheek to move you to a moderate - but a great result with the Beach Club. We did SSR this year, and didn't like it as much as OKW - would love to stay at the Beach Club, having visited for a Yachtsman meal.

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Thank you. We were really pleased with the move to Beach Club after some stress involved initially. We intended to go and have a look at SSR to see what we were missing but, as with lots of things, never found the time. Thanks for reading along.

[Milpston]

Originally Posted by DisneyDaffodil

Great pre-travel day, love how happy Emma looks riding the transit, she is going to love Disney 😀. You are quick with your trip report, shaming me into trying to start ours soon. Although I haven’t finished the holiday ironing yet 😂

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Thank you very much. I have no choice but to get on with my trip report. My notes after the first couple of days are pretty much non existent so if I don't get it done while it's fresh in the memory it will be a pointless exercise
I hope you had a fantastic trip and look forward to reading along when you can do it.

[Eccle]

Great pre travel day, looking forward to reading the rest! Can't wait to hear about Beach Club in particular as we're staying there next year

[Milpston]

Originally Posted by Eccle

Great pre travel day, looking forward to reading the rest! Can't wait to hear about Beach Club in particular as we're staying there next year

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Thank you. We really liked the Beach club and the location. I don't think you can really go wrong with it.

[Goldia]

I love the excitement of pre travel day. The photos of the kids all looking happy are great. Even the photos of road signs are fun! I can't wait to read all about your adventures over in WDW I hope it was all magical and that you all had a wonderful time.

[Cinderella]

Exciting start 👍

[caitlinsmummy]

Awww the kids look so happy. The window would amuse my husband and kids to no end too 🙄 looking forward to reading the rest of your report. Fab pre travel day xx