Bankrupt again?! Travel Day

[Loopylooloo]

We set off for London Gatwick at a civilised time of 2pm, thankfully the luggage went in the boot ok, and we had a good drive down and got to the South terminal for twilight check in at around four thirty.
There was literally nobody in the check in queue, so we were checked in straight away - fantastic! First time doing this, but wont be our last! We then took the shuttle over to the Sofitel at the North terminal, which was so easy and quick, it took two minutes if that.

All very straight forward. We love the Sofitel, I booked early, and we had a Junior Suite, which was huge, with a seperate bedroom for the kids, our rate of £250 included a full three course meal each, and full English breakfast, for five people...
Friday morning came, none of us slept much just through sheer excitement. So we were a bit groggy shall we say and George in particular struggled. He has had the same cold as we all have the last week, and he doesnt like early starts. He was a bit grumpy...
There was a cute little girl at the boarding gate, standing up on the chair and announcing very loudly 'I am MOANAAAAAAAAA!' Which made us all laugh. I love Moana and hope we are going to see her in the parks! There were also a few Wrestlemania fans, sporting their Tshirts.
We boarded the Thomas Cook flight MT2974, the plane was super clean, and our seats (Row 7, at the back of the Premium cabin) were great, a full recline with nobody behind us. We were given a pack with a blanket, very snuggly, an eyemask, lip balm, ear plugs, toothbrush and snuggle socks. The kids made themselves comfy!

The James Martin food soon came, there was a choice of roasted chicken, wrapped in ham, a beef curry, or potato gnocchi with cheese sauce. The chicken was delicious, according to hubby.

I tried the curry - not so delicious, bit dry, so I asked to swap and got the gnocchi, which were really tasty. They were the veggy option.
The in flight entertainment was good, I watched 'the accountant' with Ben Affleck, it was really good.
When we landed, we ran like lunatics to immigration- we weren't the only ones it was like a stampede! Only to find a HUGE queue, it took three hours to go through, and I really felt for the people with young children. Donald Trump can you please make immigration great again?!
After what felt like FOREVER we finally cleared customs, got our bags, and went to Terminal B, bought our magic bands, (so we are Disney ready) and went down the escalator to Alamo, to get the car. We had booked a standard SUV - the first car we were shown was ok, some kind of chevrolet, but it had the fifth seat in the boot on its own, and the luggage was a push, so thankfully the man took pity, he then showed us a gorgeous Ford Explorer special edition, with built in Sat Nav! Woo Hoo! Happy days, Terry was very happy, the car is the highlight of his holiday so I was pleased for him, he has named the car 'Dora' (the Explorer! ) The sat nav worked like a dream, straight to the Marriott Lakeshore Reserve, which looks very nice, our apartment is overlooking a lake, we flung everything into the room, and then went for our first dinner, which by tradition, is always at Millers Alehouse. Our nearest is Hunters Creek.

There was a bit of a wait, and we were so jet lagged by now, we were spinning. Poor Bethany who has never flown long haul before was nearly asleep in her dinner bless her. But at least George was happy now he had some food.

Ribs and fries, our go to meal at Millers. Delicious.
I told the kids that tomorrow we would be going to Magic Kingdom, and having a lovely breakfast with Winnie the pooh and Tigger, to which George replied 'Oh God, they are probably going to really p-ss me off'
And so it begins! Tomorrow - Magic Kingdom

[RachelM]

good travel day. We love Millers too.

[Disney Bear]

What a good travel day. Pity about the immigration queue.

[parkgirl]

Love the pic of the case with the ariel tag and the ribbon. That would make me very happy!

[Jaynew]

Woohoo you've started. I can't believe the queue for immigration was that long! I hope Atlanta isn't like that on wed. We only have a 2 hour layover!

Can't wait for more instalments.

[WileyCoyote]

Long day but hey, you are there. I moaned at just under an hour in the immigration ... But that was clearly a short queue. Eeeesh, 3 hours, that's harsh.

And another wait at millers, that's a shame . Once jet lag creeps up on you its hard to fight it . Kids did brilliantly !

Laughed at George's comment about brekky , hope it went ok.

Nice job on the car too... Always good to have a happy driver

Looks like a great start ... Look forward to more

[MarionG]

Crikey 3 hours in Immigration that is bad. No way could I stand for that long...
Sounds like a good flight, not been on Thomas Cook for some time but the seats look good and the meals tasty too.

[floridasarah]

Wooohooooo Louise Lovely day apart from the 3 hours in immigration. There are 4 dibbers on this flight including me next Friday so hope its not like that again

Thanks for the info on row 7 we have that coming home, but no James Martin meals on the way back. Did Harry have the kids meal, if not do you know what it was?

I laughed at Georges comment about Pooh and Tigger

I am so looking forward to your report, your holiday is so similar to ours minus the teen and girlfriend

[Melbatb]

Glad that you got there safely! Three hours though - not the best start!

Enjoy Tigger today!

[caitlinsmummy]

Great first day report.

3 hours immigration ... OMG! I think I'd have put my kids back on the plane back home rather than stand for 3 hours with them!

The comment about Pooh and Tigger made me laugh ... I can imagine my 9 year old will have a similar feeling hehe x