The one where 7 days just isn’t enough - Pre Travel & Travel Day

[Mariaherself]

How it all began….

Well it’s been a couple of weeks since we arrived back into the UK and after a whirlwind of a holiday and then Christmas, I feel it is now time to get the trip report started.

So just a little bit of a background with this holiday. Earlier on in 2019 myself (39, loves Orlando, food, general holidays and gaming) and DH (Also known as Dan, 44 loves pretty much the same as me but is far more technologically superior) decided to book a 18 day trip to Orlando for 2020, We had already booked a holiday for a week to New York in April so had become resigned to the fact that this year (2019) would be without a trip to Orlando.

As the year progressed, we both started to miss Orlando a lot and following the death of a dear friend of ours, along with us both suffering with illnesses we decided that life is just too short and started looking for a trip.
Now as money doesn’t grow on trees here, we decided to go budget (ish) we normally stay on site at both Disney and Universal and go a bit all out, but with this trip we needed to be a bit more frugal with the cash. We were going to just do Universal at one point as we love the parks there but once we saw vlogs of Galaxy’s Edge at Hollywood studios, we planned to book a day visiting Disney.

So off we toddled along to the Virgin Holidays shop in the Trafford Centre and within 30 minutes we’d booked 1 Night at Hard Rock Hotel (To take advantage of 2 days of Express passes), and 6 Nights at Aventura Hotel both at Universal. We also booked the V-Room and got our Universal tickets with Virgin as it worked out cheaper than Attraction Tickets or Undercover Tourist with a promotion we got. I also used some of our airmiles which took the price down considerably.

Our dates to go were 9th December 2019 for 7 nights. As the trip grew nearer, I bought us 1-day Disney park hopper tickets and tickets for Mickeys Very Merry Christmas Party, this was an additional cost, but we wanted a little Disney fix and thought this would be a good way to do it. I also managed to get a super cheap deal on 1 night at Pop Century (it was around £65) so I jumped on it as the Ubers back and forth to universal wouldn’t be much more.

So that was the plan and soon it was time to embark on our weeklong holiday.

** Just a side note but as a plus sized person I will be adding some experiences in here too in the hope that it will help those who have the same challenges as me on trips like this.


Pre-Travel Day & Travel Day

On December 8th we packed last bits into the suitcases and locked the house up, we had despatched our lovely pet tortoise Harry to a pet hotel for a week and awaited by the front door for our cab to Manchester Airport

The Taxi driver was a little late but our flight wasn’t until the following morning, so we weren’t in a great rush, once he arrived we stuffed our two check in cases and two carry on into his boot, and 40 minutes later we were rocking up to the Hilton Hotel

I had booked us a room in the Hilton at the Airport as I got it via a work discount site for pennies and I always try to book a hotel at the airport if we have an early morning flight as I would go spare if we missed our flight.

Check in was quick and easy and we headed up to our room which was on the 5th floor, the room was clean and tidy but really warm, I messed with the aircon but it made a bit of a “I am going to explode” noise so I opened the window instead. The next thing I noticed about this room was the sheer lack of plugs in it – there was two plugs for the whole room and not at the bedside but across the room which is a bit strange.

We were starting to get a bit hungry so ordered some room service, we got a club sandwich to share and a pudding each it was really nice and you can read about it in more depth on my food trip report here

After a bit of surfing the internet, a bit of TV and checking in for our flight, we were ready to sleep as we had to be up early the following day

Travel Day

We both were up at 5am and excited to set off on our trip but we didn’t get much sleep as the bed was hard and the room was super warm and because we had the window open we could hear the road traffic and the planes landing, we aimed to sleep a bit on the plane to make up for it.

We packed our last bits up and headed to the reception area for the shuttle bus at around 6am (they come every 10-15 mins to the airport) after around 10 minutes of waiting the shuttle arrived, and as we travelled to the airport we quietly listened to an American man behind us telling his friends that he was terrified of becoming a father for the first time which I thought was sweet.

The terminal was very quiet when we arrived, and we went to the baggage drop off point with no queue.
Security wasn’t overly busy but as always, I got padded down (I am pretty sure its my bra that sets the alarms off) DH’s hand luggage also got stopped and checked, he was carrying a gimble attachment for his DJI Osmo (it’s a little handheld video camera) and they wanted him to demonstrate what it was as they thought it was dodgy. Once through security we headed to Dixons, DH wanted a new external battery for his MacBook and a case for his iPad and once this was picked up, we headed over to the V-Room.


We were in the V-room for 6:50am and sat in our favourite seats (in the bar area at the window) you can people watch from here and it’s a bit quieter than the other part of the V-Room.

Breakfasts and a plate of pastries were had, along with a JD and coke and we went on Facebook to rub it in that we were off on holiday. Link to this here

We were called for boarding at 8:30am and the gate was only a couple of minutes’ walks from the V-Room. Sadly, we didn’t have the Falcon, but Ruby Tuesday was waiting for us and has been a plane we have been on before.

We had booked seats in the bubble (seats 78c and 78b) and were happy that we didn’t have anyone sat next to us I originally had an aisle seat but as the person in front reclined I decided to move to the window seat instead for a bit more room, but whilst moving I accidentally broke DH’s headphone cable with my fat bum when I sat down emoji facepalm he took it really well and after a few minutes of fiddling with it, it was back working again.

The flight was painless and went quite quickly, DH isn’t a fan of flying and spent the flight coding for an app we are making and that kept him occupied and his mind away from the flight, we also purchased the Wi-Fi (which is pretty extortionate) and continued to mock our friends on Facebook. I also watched Angel has Fallen which was a bit naff but entertaining non the less. Food for the flight and v room is reported in my food trip report here

We played battleships and who wants to be a millionaire, drank a few jd and cokes to pass the time on. I had around 20 minutes sleep for the whole flight though as I was just too excited.

**Just a side note that if any plus sized people are thinking of sitting in the bubble the arms of the chairs do not move up fully, I was comfortable enough and the bubble is great and much more quiet and personal that the main cabin but I did miss this, DH doesn’t mind me lifting the arms either as he’s got plenty of room for me to spread out a little bit.

Around 20 minutes before landing a couple behind us were asking the cabin crew if they could take the 2kg of raisins into the US, to which they were told “no” they were really unhappy but I am unsure why they would think that they don’t sell them in the US … anyway we were soon flying over the space coast, I always love this view as it means were almost here

We landed a little early which was great and as we were off pretty quickly, we were soon in the immigration hall, it took around 30 minutes and then headed to grab our bags which took another 30 minutes (I didn’t think my bag would turn up as it was one of the last) and then get on the fake monorail over to get our ride.
We booked Florida Magical Tours as a transfer to the Hard Rock hotel, we’ve used them loads of times and they’re always on time, reasonably priced and the cars are lovely. As we were a little early we waited near the collection point and a lady from Virgin came over to chat, she was lovely but a bit of a distraction as I was trying to speak to the tour company to let them know we had arrived
It took us around 30 minutes to drive to the Hard Rock and we checked in quickly, went to our rooms to refresh and we were heading down to the water taxi for around 4:25pm and at the main gate collecting our 14 day tickets by 4.45pm.

It was warm for December – around 28C which was lovely, we first stopped for a water (so parched) and then headed to Transformers

** I am UK size 22/24 and most of the weight is around my waist and bum. Transformers has a pull down lap bar which a row of 4 people share, I always fit well into this ride but occasionally someone will try and pull the bar really hard which can pinch a bit, It isn’t a problem, with my size though.

We then headed around to fast and furious, now we don’t like this ride too much but with express passes everything was game, so we did it anyway, the queue and preshow is better than the ride.

** this ride is just a bench which is easy access, the ride is very bumpy and jerky but there aren’t any problems with fitting in at all and I am sure larger people will also be able to enjoy this ride

After F & F we headed to Diagon Alley. The sunset was beautiful this evening and I took a fair few pics.

We went to try the test seat at Gringotts’s (I have been on this ride loads of times before but on one previous trip I couldn’t fit so its always worth a try, I had also been eating much healthier so it shouldn’t have been a problem) and I couldn’t fit, it has a red/green light system and if its red you cannot ride, I was baffled by this as I was smaller than other times when I had visited so I thought best to try again another day (maybe the flight swelled me up?) anyway not too disheartened I headed over to MIB, and that was absolutely fine, I also remembered to hit the red button and beat DH much to his distain.

**MIB is an individual seat with a pull overlap bar, you pull it down to the level where you are snug, I haven’t had any problems with accessing this ride at all.

The plan was to watch the Macy’s parade and the Cinematic Spectacular this evening, but we were so tired and hungry that we wanted to get some food and head back to the hotel.

We went to NBC Grill and were seated straight away (I always ask for a low table here as some are them stool tables and being short they’re not that comfy) I had a Grilled cheese patty burger and DH had a brisket meal – food report here

After our lovely meal we headed to the water taxi and were back in the hotel for 8:30pm, we had such a busy and epic day and we tried to stay awake but were just too tired and we were both asleep by 9:30pm

Tomorrow – Islands of Adventure

[Palm trees]

That sounds like a fantastic start for you. I'm looking forwards to reading more of your report.

[MrMariaHerself]

Finally it is here: the trip we didn't plan to take, yet away we go.

With such eloquence above, my replies are more augmentation than a full post...

The day before:

That exciting feeling in the pit of my stomach arrives, the quadruple checks for everything, and then inevitable clock watching for the taxi to the airport hotel.

The hotel was ok (Hilton), bar the two sockets in the room, and the air conditioning attempting to imitate a plane engine on full chat. We usually stay in the Radisson, and would recommend that over this.

Slept rubbish because it was warmer than a sauna and I was impatiently waiting for the feel of the Florida sun, and excruciating emptying of my wallet. Maybe I am a bit masochistic after all..

The pre-flight

Manchester airport drop off done (rubbish as it is now), bags checked in, security flagged because my camera gimbal looks like a weapon in an x-ray. But through and onto the V-Room.

V-Room

Love this. Excellent WiFi, food, and reasonably priced drinks. I do like a pre-flight whiskey (just the one) so they JD + coke was welcomed. Flight called, off to board.

Flight

9 hours of app coding with a couple of drinks, minimal turbulence. Smooth over all. The arms not folding up was uncool though.

Into the park and City Walk

No time to stop, we have parks to pursue. Water taxi-ed in and was getting very excited. Great first night, loads of rides, top food at NBC, knackered and sleep at the Hard Rock.

Bring it on!

[lottiesmum0]

Loved reading your report x

[mick]

A great start long frwr to reading along

Joan