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Old 3 Oct 16, 03:40 PM  
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:) Another Dose of Disney Dreams August 2016 - Day 1 - Flight to Miami

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Friday 5th August – BA Flight to Miami

Well this was the day we were the most excited for our flight to Miami!

Slept a lot better, the bed was super comfy like the previous night, quiet and the room was really dark. Still woke early about 5am which was due to the excitement. I could hear a little noise from next door then realised it was probably Scott getting up! I left Poppy asleep until after I’d finished getting ready and packed the few bits and pieces we had. Scott messaged me to see if I was up, course I was lol. It was time to wake Poppy and it was so funny because the first thing she said to me was “Mummy we’re flying to Miami today” – so right we were.

Once ready the boys came into our room then we had quite a fraught 15 minutes trying to sort all our hand luggage out! Even though I know we’d got everything important, I still feel the need to look and check every bag to make sure we don’t forget anything! I also think because we’d moved about so much between different hotels this made me even more anxious about leaving things behind. I didn’t want to take unnecessary items either as we had no need for the clothes we’d worn over the past couple of days, they were to be left in the car. Anyway we did double check each room then took all our cases back down.

We decided to have our breakfast at the airport where we’d feel more relaxed. We could see the breakfast buffet from our room, as the room there looked out into the lobby/dining area, and it did look rather nice.

The journey over to Terminal 3 took no time at all, literally minutes. We were more than excited to be visiting Heathrow airport for the first time.


I called the Meet and Greet Company (Drivefly) that we were on our way and would be arriving very soon. He gave us instructions on where to leave the car and 5 minutes later we were pulling into the short stay car park. Drove up to level 3, where surprisingly we found the bay in which we had to leave the car straightaway. Just inside the doorway was the desk for the meet and greet. The guy was very helpful and promptly checked all our details. He then gave us instructions of what to do on our return, we took the receipt and that was it, the last we would see of our car for a few weeks.

Took the lift down, somehow we got a little confused with which floor we needed to get out on, so we went up and down a few times – preparing ourselves for Tower of Terror haha

We eventually followed some other people who had a case in the hope that they knew where they were going! Jamie then spotted the sign for departures! Thankfully we found the check in desks for British Airways a lot more easily. Jamie though was directing us to 1st class, talk about wishful thinking!




Check in was a breeze again, there was no wait for us, we received our boarding cards and waved goodbye to our cases and booster seat for a few hours. All sorted, security was next. No queue here either but like Gatwick we were directed to the family area. Like before we had no wait, Poppy got chosen again as we walked through. She had to go into the body scanner and then have her shoes swabbed. The lady was really nice and commented on how lovely her hair was braided whilst going through this process, so Poppy wasn’t bothered by any of it.

As we walked on through the duty free section Jamie was like - Wow this place is ginormous! We didn’t stop to look as our main priority was to have some breakfast! Food was more important than shopping at this moment in time!



Found a place, I really can’t remember the name of it, but it looked like a big pub. It was full of families and we could see people eating breakfasts so we thought we’d give it a try. It was really busy but the waitress soon found us a table. We all ordered but it was a while until our food came out, I was panicking a bit but there really wasn’t that much need there was still lots of time. The food was really good.


Jamie and Poppy both had pancakes





Hayden opted for porridge with fruit


Scott had the cooked breakfast



I had granola with fruit and yogurt, so filling


Suitably stuffed we left to have a quick look in the shops. Only managed to go in WHSmith where we purchased a few magazines for us all and stocked up on some water. I pick the magazine with the best free gift lol, the one of choice had a lovely benefit bronzer, perfect Quick toilet stop before we started to make our way up to Gate 40, it was a really really long walk! I’m glad that we set off when we did.

We sat down for a short while, had yet another toilet break - excitement makes you want to go to the toilet more frequently haha.






We had a quick look at some of the planes, don’t think the boys will ever tire of plane spotting.

It was great that the time was moving quickly, we really only sat a while waiting before they started calling for boarding. There was a piano in the corner of the lounge, one of the passengers got up and played a few tunes whilst we were all waiting, how nice.




We didn’t rush to get up though as the queue was quite long so we waited a while until it wasn’t as busy before making our way onto the plane. How I love this walk.


Jamie was eyeing up those seats at the front, because he’d watched a vlog about somebody being upgraded into first class he was so wanting it to happen to us. Told him we had no chance of that happening and to keep walking all the way to the back lol. So loved those seats, thanks Wizzo for your review of these seats in your fab trippy Settled ourselves in quickly. Poppy wanted to sit with me so that left Scott sitting in front of us with the boys – perfect.







Like the previous flight, we were in a queue for around 10 mins, we could see all the planes waiting to take off. I love this part of the journey the anticipation of what’s ahead is just so exciting.


Soon we were taking off, another great feeling to be up in the air. I’d taken some travel sickness tablets just after breakfast as I can sometimes suffer a little. It’s usually the taking off and landing which I struggle with but this take off had been brilliant.

A flight attendant came over and gave Poppy a bag, it had a book and pen in it. A nice little gift for her which she wasn’t expecting and handy too, she uses the bag for her PE kit at school now. Jamie popped his head through the seat to see what Poppy had been given, think he was a bit miffed that he didn’t get a bag!



Continued below

Edited at 03:51 PM.
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Old 3 Oct 16, 03:45 PM  
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Next was the drinks trolley




Poppy’s food came round first, I’d ordered a child’s meal for both Jamie and Poppy. Can’t remember exactly what was but some kind of breaded chicken with mash peas and ketchup, followed by a yogurt, crackers and cheese? Poppy gave her lunch a big thumbs up


Not long until the adult meals came out. I had the mushroom risotto which was quite tasty and creamy, maybe a little too salty but then food always taste’s a little different up the air. I gave Poppy my dessert as it was a bit too chocolatey for me but all in all a great meal. I was given some more wine with my meal, and Poppy a couple more cans of soda. Not long afterwards the attendant came round with more soft drinks, juices and water. Excellent service.


We settled down to watch some films, Poppy opted to for Jungle Book and Zootroplois, both of which she’s seen before. Later Poppy did watch the newest Kung Fu Panda film which she’d not seen, could tell that she enjoyed it as she was laughing very loudly through the movie. I watched Money Monster first, not a bad film and I didn’t think it was going to end that way. Next was 10 Cloverfield Lane which, thankfully wasn’t too scary or jumpy but did turn out to be an excellent watch. Of course in between all of this we were up and down to the toilet umpteen times, you know what kids are like, but it’s great that you can pause and rewind the films. It makes it so easy to pick the story back up again.


Poppy enjoying the films


The boys had a few magazines to keep them entertained along with watching the various films and TV shows. I’d brought along a few little toys for Poppy, Shopkins and Nom Noms. Of course we had plenty of colouring books so Poppy had plenty to keep her occupied. I watched another film which I’d not seen before, The Boss. Thought it was quite funny. Had a couple more drinks, can of soda and another little bottle of wine. Watched another film, couldn’t believe how well I was doing on the movie front, I’ve never watched this many! I was so engrossed with the films that I completely forgot to have a look at the skymap! Put London as Fallen on which I’ve already seen but I do love a good action thriller. Had a bit of a snooze whilst watching, then got woken by the flight attendant reaching over giving Poppy her afternoon meal.


Quick toilet stop for us both before the adult version was brought out.


All tasted good especially the scone

I had a look for the first time to check the time, I was amazed to see that it was 7pm London time – I get confused if I change the time straight away. Meant that we only had another hour left before we were due to land, how quickly had that gone. Poppy and I had another toilet break, we weren’t desperate but you bet your life that Poppy would announce that she needed the loo, just as the sign for fastening your seat belts would come on


Wasn’t long till we were due to land when Scott started calling to me, I wondered what was up? Turns out that Jamie had been sick. Luckily Scott had got a bag which Jamie had used bless him, but it had burst open and the contents had spilt out everywhere. There wasn’t a great deal I could do, which I tried to explain to Scott. I’d got some baby wipes but they were in the bag which was stowed in the overhead compartments. I couldn’t get up because the seat belt sign was on! I gentlemen opposite Scott passed him some tissues over and gave him another plastic bag, we just had to wait the next few minutes until we landed. Jamie was doing ok, told him to take deep breaths. I started to feel really queasy at this point too, I knew it would have to happen at some point but thankfully for me I wasn’t sick.

So glad when we landed, as soon as we were able I got up out of my seat and retrieved the baby wipes. Cleared Jamie up best we could, the most of the contents had landed on the blanket but some was down Jamie’s trousers. He was feeling better though which was the main thing. The smell was terrible, which you can imagine. I thanked the gentlemen across from Scott who had been really helpful. Soon the plane was emptying, we were to be one of the last ones of anyway, so we waited till everyone had passed us before moving.

I apologised to the lovely flight attendant about the mess, she told us not to worry at all and explained that she’d seen loads worse than that in her time. Before leaving the plane, she gave us a few bottles of water and remarked at how lovely the children had been during the flight (there wasn’t many kids on it) which did make me smile seeing as though Jamie had thrown up everywhere. We were the last ones off!

It was strange because we normally just follow the crowds round, this time the people from our flight had gone but somehow we found our way through to Immigration. We joined the long queue then Scott took Jamie to the toilets to wipe down his trousers a bit more. I’d got a spare t-shirt in hand luggage but not any trousers or shorts. They soon joined back up with us, the queue had barely moved. The longer we stood the worse I started to feel, I could feel myself getting hotter and hotter, even though the air con was working perfectly well. I walked very quickly through the line to the rest rooms where my lovely afternoon tea made an unwanted reappearance! I like to say I felt better for it, well I did slightly. I splashed my face with a bit of water which did perk me up a bit and made my way back to the long line.

We queued for around a hour or so, we were starting to get tired but there’s not a great deal you can do. Soon we were directed to another queue, this being for an actual booth. There was maybe 5 other families in front of us so it wasn’t too long before we stepped up the booth. The Officer asked us where, with a very serious tone, where we were from. Scott replied, we’re from Yorkshire and that was it, the officer was all smiles and asked if we liked cricket. Scott started chatting all about cricket and the officer said how much he loved cricket and football too. Now this was a nicer way to start of holiday, he loved our Yorkshire accent and wished us a happy vacation.

It was seemed like a long walk round to the baggage reclaim area. We didn’t even know which belt number our bags were on but we needn’t have worried because our cases had been put to one side along with the booster seat. They were just stood there waiting for us, probably because we were the last ones through from our flight. Scott collected them then the next task was the catch the monorail over to the car rental.









All went really smoothly we walked down to the preferred Avis point down on level 2 in the garage area. It was then that the Florida heat hit us and boy was it hot. It was now 4.30pm local time. Only took Scott a few minutes to sort the car out, we sat and waited. It must have been at this point when Jamie lost his hat, he’d put it down somewhere but forgot to pick it back up. Never mind it was a £3 hat, at least we’d not left anything valuable which is easily done when you’re tired.

Avis informed Scott we’d been given an upgrade to a small SUV, our booking was for a fullsize so we were keen to see what the car was. Jamie was happy to get an upgrade of some kind lol. Walked over to bay J23 and was more than delighted with our car, a Ford Escape, plenty big enough for all our luggage and loads of space for us to travel in comfort.


Scott had purchased a Sat Nav from Ebay, he was originally going to hire one but found it was the same price the buy a used one so did that instead. Cost £25. Plugged it in, took a while for the maps to load up but they came on eventually. Think it was mainly because of still being in the garage. We drove out at 5pm, paid for a full tank of petrol which was $40 before leaving.

Our hotel, Comfort Suites was only a few miles away at the side of the airport. We’d followed the route on street map the best you can but it always looks so different in real live. Luckily we did find it ok, only minutes away. We were given a nice room on the 5th floor and had a view of part of the airport.





Our view

Everything was spot on with the room. It was nice and clean, big with right amount of beds for us all. The settee turned into a bed for Poppy. The air con worked a treat, free parking and breakfast too. Not bad for £70. I’d put our swimming gear in a separate packing cube so they were easily located, we got changed and headed down to the pool for a hour to stretch our legs so to speak. Had a lovely splash around in there with the other children, everyone was playing pool games together it was really nice. The pool was in a good shaded spot and the water was lovely and warm, great way to end our day.


We showered and changed and went out for some tea. We weren’t overly hungry but we needed to have a bit of something as our last meal had been a few hours ago, plus both Jamie and I had been sick. I’d remembered seeing a Mc Donald’s on Google maps but couldn’t recall how near it was. We drove out of the car park and literally 100m later Mc Donald’s as there lol. Never mind, we went through the drive through, ordered a few things then took the very short journey back.


We were all stating to feel really tired now, it was no wonder the local time was around 7pm so to us it was midnight. Put the TV on to look for a channel showing the opening ceremony of the Olympics, found one and started to watch. The kids were laid on their beds watching, looked round literally minutes later and both Jamie and Poppy were asleep. We called it a day then for all of us, we were tucked up and asleep for 8, how good was it to be finally here.

Just a few more hours left of travelling to do in the morning then that would be it for 3 weeks yay
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Old 3 Oct 16, 07:29 PM  
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Caught up on your double travel day. What a shame that you were both air sick but otherwise seems like a smooth journey overall.

Your kids have grown so much. Still have their gorgeous smiles though 😊

Look forward to reading more of your adventures xx
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Old 3 Oct 16, 08:42 PM  
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Bedtime on arrival day, best feeling ever!
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Old 3 Oct 16, 09:10 PM  
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Sickness aside a great day.youre kids are very well behaved
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Old 3 Oct 16, 10:11 PM  
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Flight looked great
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Old 3 Oct 16, 11:42 PM  
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Great Travel Day. I notice your children breakfast creates a Hidden Mickey and so does yours
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Old 4 Oct 16, 07:56 AM  
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I loved reading this! I love travel day! We flew into Miami last year and were lucky with immigration but from the way they had set up the queue with loads of zig zags I could tell we were the first of a few planes! Your hotel looked lovely, I wish we had done that, we just drove straight up to Disney... At rush hour. Never again lol!
Loved this report, I can't wait to read more!
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Old 4 Oct 16, 08:09 AM  
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Originally Posted by CuriousAlice View Post
Caught up on your double travel day. What a shame that you were both air sick but otherwise seems like a smooth journey overall.

Your kids have grown so much. Still have their gorgeous smiles though 😊

Look forward to reading more of your adventures xx
Yes apart form the sickness it was a great travel day which went really smoothly.

I can't believe how much they've grown either it's scary lol

Thank you for reading Xx

Originally Posted by ely3857 View Post
Bedtime on arrival day, best feeling ever!
Haha you are so right

Thank you for leaving comment

Originally Posted by Floridaagogo View Post
Sickness aside a great day.youre kids are very well behaved
Yes it was a good travel day thankfully we were all fine in the end.

Thanks for your lovely comments
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Old 4 Oct 16, 08:15 AM  
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Originally Posted by dixonsontour View Post
Flight looked great
It was lovely

Thanks for commenting

Originally Posted by orlando 2013 View Post
Great Travel Day. I notice your children breakfast creates a Hidden Mickey and so does yours
Well spotted I hadn't noticed them

Thank you for reading

Originally Posted by Rachelrapunzel View Post
I loved reading this! I love travel day! We flew into Miami last year and were lucky with immigration but from the way they had set up the queue with loads of zig zags I could tell we were the first of a few planes! Your hotel looked lovely, I wish we had done that, we just drove straight up to Disney... At rush hour. Never again lol!
Loved this report, I can't wait to read more!
I love travel days too, they're so exciting

Yes that queue kind of snaked round for ages, it didn't look too bad to begin with then we realised how far the queue went round!

We did wonder whether to drive straight up, if it had have been just me and Scott we probably would have

Thank you for reading along
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