The Mad Hatters in Florida May/June 2018 - Day 0 Travel Day

[Mad Hatters]

Hello and welcome to my very first trip report

So we are the Hatfield’s: Adam (Me), Grace (Wife), Joshua (Oldest Son), Trayvon (Youngest Son), Mick (My Dad) and Sue (My Mum).

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Thursday 17th May: Day 0 Travel Day

Woohoo, travel day had finally arrived. Thankfully there was no repeat of 2016 for me, where I woke up around 1am and could not get back to sleep at all. However Grace didn’t have the greatest of sleeps. She was up at 3am. She did however blame me for pulling her pillow out from under her, which woke her up. I disagree about that lol. Apparently we had a conversation about it at the time, which I did not remember happening haha. I woke up properly at 5am, mainly due to Grace nattering in my ear if I was awake yet. After reading all the threads on here regarding the weather at the time, we were slightly concerned. The Iphone weather forecast didn’t look particularly promising…



Joshua announced his awakening at 5:40am by releasing an extremely loud poop. Too much info? Lol. Trayvon was up not long after this.

We got ourselves showered and dressed, then got Graces hair and make-up things packed in the case. This is where we started to panic. We noticed that one of our cases had a rip at the bottom of it where the zip attached to the main part of the case. Disaster! I suggested that the hotel might have some duct tape that we could use to secure it and then just buy a new one when we got to International Drive.
We headed down for breakfast at 6:55 and I asked the guy on the hotel check in desk if they had any. He went and looked for us, but unfortunately they didn’t. We went through to the Breakfast area at 7:05 where my parents met up with us. We discussed our options and decided on having the case stretch wrapped at the airport and then purchasing a new one as suggested earlier.

I unfortunately did not make much of a note of our breakfast or take many photos. Ooops. Honestly, I do improve at this lol. I did get a couple of pictures though, and can remember most of what we had.

I had a fried breakfast, along with a cappuccino and a couple of glasses of orange juice. This was very nice.



Grace had a bowl of special K and a glass of orange juice. I believe she had some hash browns after this too.



Joshua had sausage, bacon and egg with an apple juice.

Trayvon had some coco pops.

The boys having their breakfast.



My parents had cappuccinos and fried breakfasts. I think they had a pastry each as well.

With breakfast finished, we headed back up to the room, leaving my parents behind to finish off their hot drinks, to get our bags together and to use the toilet. We headed downstairs with our cases and bags at 07:45. My dad helped Grace and I load up the cars. We set off to the APH car park at 7:55. We booked these back in August 2017 and it cost £127.94 for both my car and my dad’s. We had a bit of traffic on the way there, but it didn’t take us too long to get through it. It’s only about 3 or 4 miles away from the premier inn, so not far at all. We arrived there at 08:20. The process is straightforward; you arrive and drive up to a barrier that uses ANPR. The barrier opens and you drive into one of the lanes in front of the reception area. We checked the cars in after we had brought our luggage through into the building. They take your keys off you and give you a receipt for reclaiming your car, along with a number to phone when you get back through security.

The boys had been enjoying looking at the fish…..



….. And dancing around haha. They were very excited.




We waited in the building for about ten minutes and then we started getting on the bus to take us to the airport. The driver was a bit miserable and the bus a little chilly, but none of us cared haha. We were on our way to Terminal 1 at Manchester at around 08:45 and the traffic had pretty much all gone now, so it was a quick drive without issue.

My dad managed to take some form of selfie on the bus to the airport. Not the best of pictures haha



We got into the airport and took the case straight to the desk for it to be stretch wrapped. This cost us £10, so not too bad and then we got into the Que for checking in for the flight. Our flight was scheduled for departure at 12:00, so we were a little later than I had planned, but thankfully the check in area was pretty quiet. We managed to get stuck behind some annoying people who had obviously not weighed their cases. They were swapping clothing into and out of different cases and bags. Then there was an issue with one of the people’s passports being damaged. Frustrating. Anyway. At this point we split up from my parents and agreed to meet at the other side as our flights were booked separately. We eventually got checked in, which went smoothly. All three cases were well under weight. We then dropped off the pushchair, which we had to take to the other end of the check in area.

We then walked through to security which was pretty much completely empty. Happy days. We then walked through the duty free area (we had pre-ordered for on board anyway) Just as a note. Airshoppen on Thomas cook had some cracking deals on duty free. We got 4 for the price of 3 and an extra £10 off. Bargain. We headed to the little upstairs section to bar MCR. Grace got a diet coke, I had a pint of Estrella (It's acceptable to drink at 10am when on holiday you know ) and the boys both had a fruit shoot.



My parents finally arrived to where we were just after we had finished our drinks and gone back downstairs. We popped into WH Smiths to grab the boys and grace a sandwich for the plane. We also got some water and some Pepsi max for Grace, Joshua and I had Pepsi max ginger. As part of the meal deal we got some mini cheddars, crisps and a chocolate bar. We then all visited the toilet and sat down awaiting the gate to be announced. Well, all of us, except Trayvon



At around 11:05 the gate number was announced on the board, so we headed on over. It was announced that we could start boarding at around 11:20, with the plane due to take off at 12:00. We got on the plane and took our seats. We were sat in row 8, in the centre 4 seats (D,E,F and G) with no seats behind us. It was lovely to be able to recline without the worry of annoying people behind you. My parents took their seats, which were extra leg room ones on row 9 (H and K). These were picked as they were in one of the best places to get off the plane at Orlando international. Our seats had to be changed from our original booking when TC changed aircraft to the Airtanker leased A330 (G-VYGK). The seats we had originally booked became extra leg room seats which the kids couldn’t sit in. My parents were unaffected by this change.

We took off slightly later than scheduled, at 12:20. I started looking through the films and Grace started looking for the boys. We had decided before that we were going to upgrade the films to the premium selection (£5 each). Before we had chance to do this, we were struggling to get some of the films working. The crew announced there was an issue with the economy IFE. They had been trying to fix it but were unable to. As a result, they upgraded everyone to the premium selection. Result. A nice £20 saving there and the first bit of holiday magic.

As a surprise for my parents, I pre-booked us a bottle of champagne to share. The cabin crew asked me when we wanted it and I said as soon as. This was brought out to us nice and quickly. My parents really appreciated it. Grace really enjoyed it haha.

Cheers….




A drinks service was brought round quite quickly into the flight. I got a bottle of red wine for me and white for grace. I also got 2 miniature bottles of vodka to mix with my Pepsi max ginger. Trayvon got a couple of fruit shoots and Joshua still had his Pepsi max ginger from the airport. My dad got some red wine and my mum a Pepsi max. Food soon followed. Adults had beef and dumplings.



This came with a bread roll, Cheese and biscuits and a delicious fig and date compote. There was also a little container of water. The dessert was a dark chocolate and mint mousse. The food was pretty good to be honest. No complaints at all.




The children’s meal was a meatball and pasta dish. The meatballs were very flavourful. I can’t quite remember what else they had with this, though I think it was the same as what we had.



After our lunch, we all got settled in to the IFE. I watched justice league, which I thought was pretty good. Grace watched Thor Ragnorak which she thought was brilliant. She watched something else but can’t remember what it was. Joshua was flicking between a few films and cartoons. Trayvon watched Loony toons and Mickey Mouse on repeat. Mini cornetto’s were brought round which were enjoyed by all.




We had a bit of a move around between us and took some daft snaps while we were at it.




Then Trayvon had a little sleep.



At another drinks service I got myself a can of Stella.



And I then watched we are the millers. We have watched it a few times now and find it really funny. The real life Ned Flanders bit always tickles me. Some more food was brought around towards the back end of our flight. I can’t 100% remember all of it but I remember a cheese and spring onion finger sandwich. There was also a lemon drizzle cake. I think it was served with a miniature packet of crisps looking at the pictures. The boys and Grace didn’t enjoy the sandwiches so had tucked into the ones from the airport and offloaded the plane ones to me. Grace was struggling a little with a headache at this point. This was most likely from the champagne and wine, as she drinks very little at home. She took some paracetamol, which helped her with it.




Not long after this it was time to land. We had made up some time in the air and so we landed slightly early. We were due in at 16:20 USA time. We actually touched down at 16:12. No complaints with that.
Unfortunately we didn’t come in to the usual gorgeous sunshine. It was raining. Ah well, who cares, we were in Florida! We had a short delay getting off the plane, as the air bridge had broken down. Fortunately this didn’t take too long, around 15 minutes or so. Then it was time to disembark the plane. We were the second lot of people off the plane thanks to our seat location. We headed to the dreaded immigration hall expecting the worst but got a brilliant shock. We had arrived to the hall being completely empty. Whoop!

We had a polite and friendly officer which was a nice change and we were straight through to the baggage reclaim area. Amazingly there were already suitcases going round the carousel. We spotted some of ours as well . So we grabbed them and the others very quickly followed. With nothing to declare we headed to the second bag drop area. We took our cases and everything up the escalator and got onto the monorail. It had amazingly only taken around 20 minutes from getting off the plane to get onto the monorail.



We headed across to the terminal to check in for Disney’s Magical Express. It took a bit of finding as this was our first time using it. It’s very easy once you know that it’s right at the end of the terminal. Once we were all booked on, we headed into the lane as instructed. After hardly waiting, we were boarding. We set off not too long after. The bus was stopping at 3 resorts. First was Port Orleans French Quarter, Then our stop of Port Orleans Riverside then finally onto Saratoga Springs.

We passed through the Magic sign just before 6pm. I felt quite emotional at this point as I was so happy to be here. It truly is an amazing feeling that first time you go through the sign on your holiday.



We checked in at POR nice and quickly. The cast member was lovely and friendly and explained about how to get to our room the quickest way etc. She gave us some badges celebrating our 1st visit and got us our magic bands. We also got given the option of declining Mousekeeping. We took her up on this and received a $60 e-gift card.
We headed to our room at Magnolia bend, room number 8517. It was only a standard room, knowing we wouldn’t be spending a huge amount of time in it. It was lovely though and much larger than we thought it would be. Sorry for the rather rubbish pictures. My camera is no good when it’s not bright.








My parents were in the room next door to us. We found this to be a great location with both a quiet pool and the main pool close by and only a 2 minute walk to the bust stop.

We unloaded a few bits from our cases and as we were all hungry we headed to get our refillable mugs and for some food. The time was around ten to 7. The weather was warm but a little drizzly.
We first went to Fultons general store, to redeem our mugs; Purple for me, pink for Grace, red for Joshua and Blue for Trayvon. My parents also got theirs. My mum got purple and dad blue. We also had a little look around. I scouted out the beer prices, to make sure I had made a good saving ordering from Garden grocer lol. I would say I did.




We then headed to the Riverside mill food court. We were a little overwhelmed initially. It was quite busy and we didn’t really know the process. We sussed what we had to do and headed to the appropriate food counters. I went to order mine and Trayvon’s, along with my dad. Dad and I ordered the Bayou burger (Served with Chopped Braised Prime Rib, Abita Beer Fondue and House-made Pickles on a Toasted Brioche Bun with Choice of Coleslaw or French Fries). We both got this with fries. I also ordered Trayvon the children’s hamburger, cookie and grapes. There was a bit of a mix up here as they seemed to forget about making Trayvon’s burger. We were waiting quite a while. They apologised and told us to tell the checkout cast member to not charge us for it. I also substituted my drink for a carrot cake. I told my parents to sub their drink for a dessert but this seemed to get lost in translation.

Bayou burger and carrot cake



Children’s hamburger



Grace went up to get Joshua’s and then her own. Joshua had a cheese flatbread which he got with a breadstick and grapes. Grace went for the BBQ pulled pork sandwich served with chips (or crisps now we are back in England). Grace substituted her Drink for a carrot cake too. We forgot to get both of the boys included drinks. Like I say we were a little over whelmed. We soon got into the swing of it though.

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[Mad Hatters]

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BBQ sandwich



Cheese flatbread



My mum got a make your own pasta dish which I can’t remember what it had in it and don’t have any pictures of either. Sorry.

I have to say, the food was very good. My dad is not someone who eats many burgers, but he thoroughly enjoyed it. My mum wasn’t blown away with the pasta, but there was nothing wrong with it. Grace hardly made a dent in her sandwich as it was so rich. We were also all super tired, which probably contributed to the waste. I didn’t finish all my fries and could only manage half the carrot cake. Most unlike me and just shows how tired I was haha. We gave the other carrot cake to my parents.

Carrot cake left overs



After this we headed back to the room. We Phoned bell services for our garden grocer order to be dropped off. This was delivered to POR around the time we landed. While we waited we got some unpacking done. We then put the kids to bed as it was around 20:30 by now.



After quite a wait, our order was finally delivered at around 21:00. The bell services chap was very apologetic for the wait, which of course was no problem. I gave him a tip for bringing it to us anyway. I checked through everything and separated what was ours from my parents.




I took my parents groceries round to their room and then said goodnight, once we had arranged the time we were meeting for the bus in the morning.

Grace and I put the garden grocer order away…..



…. And then she headed off to bed. I made some notes and had a read through my phone for a little while before I too headed to bed at around 21:45.

And that is our travel day complete.

Total steps: 13,214.

Tomorrow is Magic Kingdom and then Disney Springs.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed.

[JenD1]

Great travel day. Fancying POR next time so looking forward to seeing what you think. Rooms look very comfortable. Was there enough storage space? AKL had very little last year.

[sazza22]

This is fab! We're staying at POR next year and have stayed a couple of times before but never thought about getting food delivered, was it easy to do? Looking forward to reading more soon! 🙂

[stupet11]

Pretty smooth travel day, good work!

[RT's]

Great travel day!

Although I'm not sure that tiredness is a valid excuse for wasting CARROT CAKE 😱

[Goldia]

A nice smooth travel day. What a nice idea to order the bottle of champagne, I bet that was a great start to the trip!

[Forest32]

Love reading about a travel day! Can't wait to read more

[jools1302]

Great start looking forward to the rest thank you 😀

[arielrocks]

Great teavel day!

Quick question though... I didn’t think GG would deliver alcohol unless you were there to sign for it at the resort, has this changed? Great news if it has.