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Old 14 Apr 18, 11:55 AM  
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ladyofleisure
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Star Wars, Bar Bores and No Chores...1 Sept 2017 - Day 14 - The Long Way Home...

We were so sad it was time to go home already, and more than a little disappointed that despite it being an 11.40am flight from MCO to Cincinatti, that the Magical Express pick up time was 7.20am! This seemed a little excessive but we were assured that with the works at MCO everyone was being asked to leave extra time.

So, we all made our way down to our final breakfast at the Riverside Mill with very heavy hearts, (and tired heads as it was only 7.02am) we bought a large yoghurt parfait as a snack credit, we had 13 QSM remaining and just two snack credits, which I didn’t think was too bad. We had absolutely no luggage room or appetite left to consume anything else!

Everyone else had a 1 QSM breakfast to go of pancakes etc. and Antony had his final bounty platter.

We checked in without incident and Antony bought drinks and a sandwich from the burger king at Orlando International, and as is holiday tradition he complained about it as the service was dreadful and his breakfast sandwich was cold.

The purchases from Burger King were $7.19 sausage muffin, hash brown, coffee, hash brown regular, small soda $2.39 coffee $1.89 total $11.47 tax $0.75. Total $12.22.











We were so sad to see our last of the Orlando International for a while.

Undeterred the rest of us had eaten on the Magical Express so were not hungry. The first Delta flight was fine and passed without incident.

It landed bang on time in Cincinatti at 1.45pm and unlike out outward leg, we had a very comfortable four hour wait until our next flight, which passed relatively quickly. The airport was fairly quiet, and the children were more than happy with some final choices of American food and some great wifi.

At 3.39pm at Outback Steakhouse Cincinatti Antony and I shared two chard altitude project 9 Chardonnay. Antony had first tried a shock top at $7.89 (he hated it) and he also had a 1 dft 20 sg wedding county boy brewing vanilla brown ale or $7.49 subtotal was $39.38 tax $2.36 total spend was $41.74 with tip $50 dollars. They were lovely and we sat in there at the bar as the children were happy totally ignoring us, sat on their IPads. The waiting area was huge, and the airport was very quiet. There was plenty to keep us relaxed and occupied, we didn’t feel bored.

The children all had their final Chick Fil A and I bought a sandwich.

I was a bit embarrassed when I was ordering as the staff member’s mouth fell open and she stopped asked all the staff to hear me speak as ‘mam… you sound real pretty when she talk….’. I guess they don’t get many visitors from Manchester…

My notes say this was at 4.00pm and the venue was Bureggers Hebron my sandwich was a cheese tomato melt and I enjoyed this with a San Pellegrino which was $5.99 and $2.59 – sub total $7.58 tax 0.51 total $9.09.



The prices were good the children had 1 Nuggets (12) $5.85 two large waffle fries $4.60 and two soda fountain $4.10. Total $15.42.

We left Cincinnati on the 6.05pm flight to Paris. Again this was a really busy flight, but we soon settled down to watch a few movies. I dozed a little and before we knew it we were landing at CDG Paris at 8.15am.

We were all shattered by that point, but thankfully didn’t have to move very far to find out next flight which was the 9.30am Flybe from Paris to Manchester.

Before the little bus that takes you from the terminal to your plane on these short hall budget flights, there were increased security checks in the queue (I was surprised as I’d not seen that before) where people were being asked in detail about destinations, how long they were staying. It reminded me more of American immigration than anything I’d seen before in Europe.

This was easily the worst flight of the trip as Joe and Cole were sat together and a very annoying child was sat behind them and he spent the entire hour kicking their chairs, and basically ignoring his father’s attempts to stop him. They were shattered and just wanted to watch their iPad and I felt so sorry for them, the flight couldn’t be over quick enough.

The annoying kid’s sisters were also on the flight and they were so hyper I think the entire family had spent 24 hours eating Haribos before boarding. I was going to swap with the boys so I could sort annoying kid out, but they insisted they would be ok. I really felt for them and they didn’t need that sort of end to a long journey. I was so glad it was a short flight.

We landed without further incident at Manchester Airport. I had pre-booked to fast track at passport control for £20, but we didn’t really need it but after the nightmare flight we couldn’t have faced a big queue.

We were through in no time really, with our taxi driver waiting to take us home. We couldn’t believe just how quickly those two weeks had passed, but just so happy we had such wonderful memories that will last us a lifetime… (and over 1000 photos for when the memory was fading).

Future plans

So, apart from working hard and all the other bits and bobs of home, I’ve been busy planning a few more trips. We decided we couldn’t justify another Florida break for 2018 but that we would aim to go back for Star Wars related reasons in 2019. So this year Antony and I have fab Singapore Airline flights booked direct from Manchester to Texas later (this month in fact) for a bargainous £200 each return. We have hired a Mustang and are driving from Houston to New Orleans and back via Galveston, just in time to make it to the Rodeo.

We are also travelling with friends in April to Brooklyn for a five day trip to celebrate some big birthdays, and as a family we are all going back to Texas for the last two weeks of the school summer hols. It was a no-brainer when I found direct Singapore flights Manchester to Texas for £400 each and we have an AirBNB home with pool booked in San Antonio, we plan to visit the Six Flags Parks, the Alamo, possibly SeaWorld and NASA and we are all really excited about the water parks.

It’s not Florida but I’m sure we will have a fantastic time and thanks to my fellow dibbers who have included trip reports in Texas and Louisiana as I’ve got a fair few ideas for those trips too.

Writing this report has helped me deal with the well-known symptoms of sadness associated with not having any Florida planning to do, and roll on Spring when I can hopefully bag a good free dining deal for next year. Having three children in different schools/colleges with different holidays is a nightmare, and it’s usually only in the six week break that our holidays coincide enough to make Florida trips possible. So for now, it’s plenty of Disney dreaming with a smattering of Universal.

We have said it must be a Villa stay next time as we really need the space, with a few days at the Hard Rock Hotel – we absolutely loved it and also the Club level, it was just fantastic and so much easier on the feet with just being five minutes from the parks.

Cheerio for now and if anyone has any questions fire away, happy planning and happy travels everyone, heather
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A link to my 2020 trip to Los Angeles:
https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho... php?t=1161735

A link to my 2017 trip to POR and HRH is show below:
Star Wars, Bar Bores, Car Tours and No Chores!

A link to my 2015 trip to CBR and RPR is shown below:
https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho...me+the +power

Edited at 05:11 PM. Reason: adding photos
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Old 14 Apr 18, 08:13 PM  
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DonnaD
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Just finished reading your full report. Sounds like you had a great time. I was already thinking a villa would suit you before I got to the end. As you were happy with a pizza instead of TS some nights the flexibility (and space!) will really work for your family.

I am sure you will have a great time in Texas. My adopted DD was born on Galveston so I have very fond memories of it. Make sure you check opening times before planning any parks in late August though. The local schools will already be back and some were open weekends only when I was there.
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Old 14 Apr 18, 09:05 PM  
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Fraggle35
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Just finished your report and it was lovely...we were there at the same time and it brought back lots of lovely memories. Like you we had made our plans months in advance but found the pace of this holiday much slower than previous ones and we also had a family meeting the night before to discuss what we were going to do, so much easier when you have teens to keep happy.
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Old 18 Apr 18, 07:35 AM  
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ladyofleisure
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Yes I think so, it is always hard to balance with the weather etc and teens differing opinions. I'm glad you had a lovely trip too, I'm a bit gutted we lost a memory card this trip, but I still wanted to post this report and have the photos we do have to look back on - and the memories which are priceless.

I'm glad you enjoyed it and thanks for reading along. Hope to see you in Star Wars Land in 2021 (still working on Antony...)
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A link to my 2020 trip to Los Angeles:
https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho... php?t=1161735

A link to my 2017 trip to POR and HRH is show below:
Star Wars, Bar Bores, Car Tours and No Chores!

A link to my 2015 trip to CBR and RPR is shown below:
https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho...me+the +power
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Old 27 Apr 18, 07:17 AM  
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yellowrose78
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Really enjoyed your report and your future plans sound fab, thank you for sharing
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Movieland Hotel IDrive - 2002 / POR - 2012 / 3 Weeks at OKW - 2014 / Villa at Highlands Reserve - 2016 / New York and Orlando - 2018 / Caribbean Cruise MSC Seaside - June 2019 / Orlando Covid cancelled 2020 and 2021 / Planning for Orlando 2024
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Old 27 Apr 18, 08:07 PM  
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Palm trees
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Thanks for your report and I'm glad to hear you have some lovely plans for this year, those flight prices sound fantastic!
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Old 30 Apr 18, 10:36 PM  
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ladyofleisure
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Thanks for the tip off re the Texas parks Donna I will be sure to check those opening hours much appreciated
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A link to my 2020 trip to Los Angeles:
https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho... php?t=1161735

A link to my 2017 trip to POR and HRH is show below:
Star Wars, Bar Bores, Car Tours and No Chores!

A link to my 2015 trip to CBR and RPR is shown below:
https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho...me+the +power
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Old 1 May 18, 12:22 AM  
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DonnaD
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Originally Posted by ladyofleisure View Post
Thanks for the tip off re the Texas parks Donna I will be sure to check those opening hours much appreciated
It was Sea World in San Antonio that I noticed was weekends only 15 years ago. It definitely isn't a year round international destination like Orlando. The beach in Galveston was very quiet too although downtown San Antonio wasn't.
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