Notices
Walt Disney World and Florida Trip Reports Trip Reports and Videos

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Old 3 Jun 24, 07:17 PM  
Link to this Post
#41
cornishfrogboy
Thread Starter
VIP Dibber
 
Join Date: Nov 10
Location: Falmouth
Originally Posted by OB1LukeLucas View Post
Dan is a trooper I hope he gets a trip to Hooters as a reward! Can’t wait to read all about your trip 😊
Dan is an utter star and at that age where he actually enjoys long distance driving. He has been awesome today!
__________________

2005 onwards.. lots of times!

Index of all my Trip and Pretrip reports..https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho...6#post15662196
cornishfrogboy is offline Boy Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 3 Jun 24, 07:19 PM  
Link to this Post
#42
cornishfrogboy
Thread Starter
VIP Dibber
 
Join Date: Nov 10
Location: Falmouth
Day 1 of our 7 State USA adventure is now live and available at post #2 of this thread… only we are not yet in a State (of that kind).
__________________

2005 onwards.. lots of times!

Index of all my Trip and Pretrip reports..https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho...6#post15662196
cornishfrogboy is offline Boy Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 3 Jun 24, 07:52 PM  
Link to this Post
#43
vegboatride
Excited about Disney
 
vegboatride's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 16
Oooo excited to read along, have a wonderful holiday and a safe journey x
vegboatride is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 3 Jun 24, 09:04 PM  
Link to this Post
#44
Goosey-Lucy
slightly serious Dibber
 
Goosey-Lucy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 15
Location: Worcester
Just read your day to LGW, looking forward to following along 😊
Goosey-Lucy is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 3 Jun 24, 09:42 PM  
Link to this Post
#45
cornishfrogboy
Thread Starter
VIP Dibber
 
Join Date: Nov 10
Location: Falmouth
Originally Posted by vegboatride View Post
Oooo excited to read along, have a wonderful holiday and a safe journey x
Thankyou for your kind thoughts ❤️
__________________

2005 onwards.. lots of times!

Index of all my Trip and Pretrip reports..https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho...6#post15662196
cornishfrogboy is offline Boy Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 3 Jun 24, 09:44 PM  
Link to this Post
#46
cornishfrogboy
Thread Starter
VIP Dibber
 
Join Date: Nov 10
Location: Falmouth
Originally Posted by Goosey-Lucy View Post
Just read your day to LGW, looking forward to following along 😊
Thankyou Lucy.

I enjoy writing these ‘trippies’ and hopefully you will stay along for the ride!

There will inevitably be thrills, spills, great fun and a few disasters. That is often the way that these vacations run.
__________________

2005 onwards.. lots of times!

Index of all my Trip and Pretrip reports..https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho...6#post15662196

Edited at 09:46 PM.
cornishfrogboy is offline Boy Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 4 Jun 24, 06:51 AM  
Link to this Post
#47
ClaireNJ
Imagineer
 
ClaireNJ's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 19
Location: Essex
Originally Posted by cornishfrogboy View Post
Final preparation and travel up to LGW.

Sunday 2 June 2024… Travel preparation.. or ‘London calling’ by the Clash.


Well, this is it! Work finished at Midnight last night and tomorrow the adventure begins. Today has been spent packing and preparing for the tortuous, long, 287 mile journey to LGW.

Here are mine and Mandies packing, hand baggage only, but of course subject to the very generous 23kg British Airways allowance on both Hand Luggage and Personal Item.

I have no idea what is in the Bags on the right (just like I have no idea what Dan (21 years) and Matt 18 years) have packed. Apparently they are grown ups and know what they are doing.

I can list what is contained within my, rather colourful bags on the left, though.. stand by to be astonished 😃

The Cabin bag weighs 12 kg and contains..
A Fleece for the evenings
10 Shirts, mainly Polo.
3 Shorts
8 Underpants
4 Socks .. or rather, pairs.
Fatface baseball cap.
Swimming trunks.
Lightweight travel towel
Flipflops
Underwater mask and Snorkel that any Discovery Cove visitor may find familiar.

The Small day bag personal item on top weighs 7 kg and it contains..

Mandie’s Scrap Book (A5 size)
Mandie’s toiletries in the regulation bag with my Shield Soap and Razors added.
Satnav, leads etc in a box.
Travel Scales.
2 x Olympus Tough Cameras.
Waterproof 4” x 6” bag.
IPad.
2 Pants.
2 Socks.
1 Shirt.
My Magical A5 planning and Document folder!


Money.
We have $2691 cash plus £1200 on a Revolut Card that can be further loaded. Of that, $1000 belongs to the boys. This will be evenly distributed prior to travel.
Is that enough?
Is that too much?
Only time will tell.. and anyway I can always put some more on Revolut.
I have my BA Amex, as a safe backup.

Tomorrow, we will see the Builders who are working on our extension and then move out after briefing them thoroughly.

We have all day to reach LGW and difficult decisions had to be made. Even with Handbaggage only, space will be tight.
Our Seat Mii FR is clearly too small.
Our VW Polo GTI is not much better.
Dan’s VW Golf TDI is 19 years old, but clearly the best option. Thanks for the lift, Dan!

MONDAY 03 JUNE 2024.

This is it! The Patriotic Pants are out .. possibly for the very last time as they are becoming increasingly worn out and tatty.


And my early morning bath is done.


Better get everybody else up, now… or at least the boys as Mandie is already downstairs, making me a cup of tea. She is well trained!

The Car is now packed..
4 x Handbaggage suitcases.
2 x Personal Item Backpacks.
There are a further two backpacks within Dan and Matt’s cases, just in case they buy anything.
.

And then we were off..


We departed Cornwall at 1128, passing the ‘Welcome home trees’ .. or in this case the ‘see you in 20days trees’.
We were on foreign soil! 😂.
Dah wheiheyn, Kernow!


And so to my first (of many), Food report.. in Exeter!


I have opted for a rather famous Swedish delicacy.. 12x (I am no cheapskate) Meatballs, served with Gravy on a bed of Sloppy Mash, accompanied by Loganberry joue and 42 Garden Peas.. (my peasant family opted for Chips, rather than Mash).
Absolutely delicious as always and a bargain at £25 for the four of us. High end dining at its finest!

We then selected (but did not buy, a Lampshade for our new bedroom.


And then, it was onwards toward Gatwick on the Glorious A303, my favourite road in the whole World (other than the PCH).

We passed Stonehenge..

A place that I loved as a child, when you could walk amongst the stones and heaven forbid.. even touch them. All without paying a dime to the National Trust.

We then turned into Durrington in order to view ..

Woodhenge, A poor relation to Stonehenge, but just as old and a place where you can actually walk amongst the history without being fleeced by the National Trust to get within 100 yards and look over a rope barrier.


Next to Woodhenge we viewed..

Durrington Walls, a truly enormous banking that again, is 4000 years old.

But all this culture stuff was not the actual reason that we had diverted into Durrington.
This vacation is very much in memory of my Dad, who passed away on 12 January of 2023 and whose ashes were scattered into the River Avon at Durrington Bridge as was his wish.

We paused for a few, poignant minutes in his beloved memory. Dad even learned to use an IPad in order to follow our vacations on the DIBB. This is why my trips are done live, as he would get up every morning and catch up with the DIBB over breakfast whilst we were away. Having been ‘live’ in the past, I see no reason to change my habits.. He may even be watching…
R.I.P Dad, sorely missed.

Then it was onwards yet again to Gatwick! The journey actually passed with minimal congestion and without incident. We dropped Mandie and Matt, plus baggage at the Prem Inn furthest from the Terminal and headed to the Summer Long Stay parking… where we hit snags aplenty.

Our booking papers and QR Code would not raise the barrier, as we had put mine and Mandies Car on it, rather than that of Dan’s. We eventually raised the barrier by issue of a further, small ticket. There are no Staff, no Reception and no Office available to us. Eventually, we located a wandering Staff member who informed that there would be no problem, that we should enjoy our vacation and simply press the intercom on the exit barrier as we left.
This did not sound right and we tried phoning their Customer Service in order to clarify.. which was shut.
A Phone call will be made when they open at 0800 and the situation explained.

Eventually a Bus arrived and conveyed us back to the Airport, parking immediately adjacent to our Premier Inn in order to pick up a fellow Staff Member. When we tried to disembark, the Driver told me that he was not allowed to drop at this point and that we must stay on board until he reached the Gatwick North Bus Stop. I was sorely tempted to step off and tell him to ‘Ram it where the sun don’t Shine’ as I was not overly enamoured with his company by then, but managed to refrain.

We then had a rest in our two Premier Inn rooms and waiting for our ‘meal deal’ at 1945. You can be assured that a comprehensive food report was to be added later that evening!

The meal was good.. very good for a Prem Inn. Whilst my family banned me from photographing their food, they were unable to stop me from photographing my own.

We went for the ‘Meal deal, Dinner and Breakfast), now a rather pricey £29.99pp.
When you take into account the cost of a Prem Inn Breakfast and add in the realistic cost of a Pint, Chicken Wings and a Burger, as opposed to the menu prices, then the discount on the multi buy is rather marginal. Many additional things, Such as Cider now carry a supplement and of course that makes the decision even harder.

I went for..

10x Peri peri Chicken wings (£3.50 supplement) and they were very good. The others had Calamari.
We all had Cider (£1.50 supplement each).

I had a Chicken Burger as a main..

It was not on its side like in the photo. I simply haven’t edited it. It would never fetch £14.60 in a real restaurant, though.

Mandie had Peri peri Chicken and I am told that it was real good. I unashamedly stole this image.


Dan had a Burrito (Good but not apparently tasting very Mexican) , whilst Matt had a Sirloin Steak that was OK (and that attracted a £3 supplement).

A Dessert came at a £2 supplement and I must say that this represented excellent value. Unfortunately, I ate my Ice Cream Sundae so fast that I forgot to Photograph it.

I then invited Matt, who turned 18 last month to buy us a round. Foolishly, I did not look at the price, merely inviting him to transfer £20 into my account as he purchased his first ever round of drinks… foolish because they came to £26.40! We don’t pay that in Cornwall as locals. Even the Emmits don’t pay that much! I had been done.


Matt looking smug after escaping with just a £20 bill for his first ever round.

The total for the evening (and tomorrow morning) was £162 plus a £10 cash tip.

Was that good value? I am honestly not so sure.

And now to sleep. We rise at 0530 for a 0600 breakfast and move to S Terminal for our flight.

And it’s goodnight from me. 😃
Arghh good morning you had dessert but you forgot to take a pic CFB 🤷🤦
Hoping you’ll improve your skills as the trip goes on 👌
I look forward to daily updates with my breakfast
Enjoy yours & have a safe smooth flight today 🇺🇸❤️
__________________
All my trip reports

https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho... php?t=1266923
ClaireNJ is online now Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 4 Jun 24, 07:34 AM  
Link to this Post
#48
FamilyDisney
Getting Excited
 
Join Date: Mar 13
Have a great holiday, love your trip reports, daily live updates are my favourite style. Think it's lovely your Dad learned to use an ipad to keep up with your travels.
FamilyDisney is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 5 Jun 24, 07:42 AM  
Link to this Post
#49
disneypars
Imagineer
 
disneypars's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 07
Good travel day. Glad Dan got his first Hooters meal of the trip.
__________________
2004 - 2014 WDW
2016 - 2019 WDW
disneypars is offline Boy Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 5 Jun 24, 10:05 AM  
Link to this Post
#50
ClaireNJ
Imagineer
 
ClaireNJ's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 19
Location: Essex
Originally Posted by cornishfrogboy View Post
Flight day 04 June 2024.

As is normal, I struggled to sleep before a flight and as a result we were all at Breakfast by 0600, had walked round to the North entrance, had caught the Monorail to South, had cleared Security and were seated in Departures by 0715.

We are not Duty Free Shoppers in any way at all (other than Matt and I am holding his 💰 in any case).
Thinking about it, the truth is that we are not Shoppers at all. I detest shopping.. and people.. and queues and spending money.
Dan, meantime chalked off Wetherspoons pub no 336 on his list, purchasing a Bumbu Single with Pepsi..at £7.40!


Boarding was simple and the Aircraft, a B777 200, 95% full. Exit row seats 33a,b,c were duly occupied, along with 33d across the aisle. Mandie is clearly looking somewhat smug as the two middle seats in her row of four are to remain unoccupied.

Mandie looking smug.
And then we waited… the pushback from the gate was delayed by 15 minutes to 1030. I can live with the disappointment… we are going to Vegas!

The flight was long, 10.5 hours long and interspersed with Food.

After take off, it was Pretzels and Orange Juice. I have spared you an evidential photograph on that one!

After a couple of hours, came our first hot meal..

Dan, Matt and I went for the Cortage Sludge, accompanied by a rather rough 🇨🇱 Chilean Sauvignon Plonk, a Bread Roll, some Jacob’s Crackers, and some cheap Cheddar. There was also a Tub of Chocolate and Rasberry Compost that was delicious and also a Tub of Cusscuss that remained unopened by any of us. Not great, but adequate by outbound Airline standards.


Mandie went for the Vegetarian Lasagne and she rates it as 10/10.

I then settled down to Angry Birds, but soon passed every level at 3 stars, not by skill, rather persistence and boredom.

Then I had a nap.. only to be woken by some raucous Martians who had clearly hammered the free drinks and were in their multiple dozens. I expect this on a flight to Magaluf, Khavos or Sunny Beach, but surely not one to Vegas?
Time to play who wants to be a Millionaire.

Around 2 hours before arrival, a second meal was forthcoming. We all went for the Chicken Option with a Barley Side plus Carrots… because it was in fact, the only option. This was rather good!

It came with a Strawberry Cheesecake in a pot that was also nice and in addition a pot of seasoned, cold Barley, which we all gave a miss.

Dan was by now settled with his rather fascinating book..


And time was quite literally flying by 😄😄😄.


We passed over the Grand Canyon (I think)


Shortly before finals and an uneventful landing at Las Vegas!

Immigration took an hour and was manual, rather than the new, fancy passport readers. We were then out with our Handluggage, pausing only briefly to watch the scramble at baggage reclaim.

A taxi to the Luxor was $22, fixed rate and then we entered to find that the Computers had crashed, the queue to check in was huge and we were joining the end of it.. or rather I was, whilst Mandie, Dan and Matt relaxed in the Lobby.
After an hour, a very apologetic staff member came around and offered a $25 pp Dining Credit note to all in the queue and I duly took 2 notes to a value of $100

Here is one of them. These should cover breakfast tomorrow morning.. I hope!

Eventually, I got to the front of the queue and was dealt with by an extremely apologetic Receptionist who was booking in manually. In fact, she was so apologetic, that she then gave us another $25 Dining Credit pp.

I would have looked extremely rude, had I declined her generosity and besides.. that will pay for another Breakfast 😂😂.
I guess that $200 is fair recompense for the inconvenience, particularly as the first vouchers were not allocated by name or room number.

Additionally, our rooms were upgraded into the towers. Even better, whilst Mandie and I are in the Gold Tower, Dan and Matt are in the Silver Tower.

Our room.


Dan and Matt’s room.

Now to see the Strip!

Firstly, we were somewhat tired and somewhat hungry. Hooters is just a couple of blocks from the Luxor and so it came to pass that it was the favoured choice of all 4 of us.



The place looked real nice, clean and respectable. The girls had scrubbed up fine.

Dan had Sliders..

Matt had a custom Burger..


Mandie and I opted for the Grilled Chicken Burger..


We all had bottomless Coke.

When presented with the $97 bill and ever mindful of misogyny or sexual exploitation, I questioned our Hostess, Darlene at length about her working conditions, potential career progression and other sundries , before giving her a tip.
All can rest assured that I detected no sign of any exploitation whatsoever in her replies.
Darlene smiled, said thankyou and then shoved the ‘20’ in her Bra, before walking off, wriggling her Orange clad backside in appreciation as she went.

In modern pricing terms, I would describe this as a really good, budget meal.

Time to move on, and we were all incredibly tired. We took a stroll up as far as Caesars in order that I could do a ‘recce’ for our forthcoming ‘Bachanal Buffet’.

Here are a few of the somewhat familiar images that we took.





We were in our room for 2100.. and now for what will hopefully be a good nights sleep.
Yayee you’ve arrived all ok
I must admit I had to Google Bumbu haven’t got a clue that was pricey though 😬
I ❤️Mandie’s Smug face think she was happy with no one next to her as well as being across the aisle from all the boys
Bed looks huge in the Luxor we stayed here & though it’s not as fancy as most Vegas hotels it was nice & we walked to most things
Did Matt finish all his burger it was MASSIVE 😳
Enjoy your free breakfast later hopefully the $200 will be enough
__________________
All my trip reports

https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho... php?t=1266923
ClaireNJ is online now Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 04:22 PM.


Powered by vBulletin - Copyright © 2000 - 2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
DIBB Savings
AttractionTickets.com

Get £10 off each Disney Ticket with the code ATDIBB10

Get up to £50 off per room at Disney or Universal with the code DIBBHOTELS


theDIBB Blog
Walt Disney World Resort in Florida is to unveil a host of magical experiences that... Read More »
FREE Nights & Great Ticket Savings on 2025 Walt Disney World Holidays Book by 31*... Read More »
Universal has announced the official opening date for its latest theme park – Universal Epic... Read More »

theDIBB Menu


Exchange Rates
US Dollar Rates
ASDA  $1.2142
Covent Garden FX  $1.2342
FAIRFX  $1.2193
M&S  $1.1959
Post Office  $1.1840
Sainsburys  $1.2197
TESCO  $1.2195
Travelex  $1.2182
Updated: 15:00 07/02/2025
Euro Rates
ASDA  €1.1719
Covent Garden FX  €1.1795
FAIRFX  €1.1767
M&S  €1.1513
Post Office  €1.1570
Sainsburys  €1.1748
TESCO  €1.1746
Travelex  €1.1732
Updated: 15:00 07/02/2025

DIBB Premium Membership
Did you know you can help support theDIBB with Premium Membership?

Check out this link for more information and benefits, such as...

"No adverts on theDIBB Forums"

Upgrade Now