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Old 5 Apr 21, 10:20 PM  
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Wot no Disney - Well just a smidgeon - July 2018 mainly offsite trip report - Travel Day

Monday 2nd July 2018 – Let the unhealthy eating begin…

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Up on time and a nice calm taxi ride to the airport only to be confronted by utter chaos at the BA desks. It was the worst line for check in I’d ever seen, yes it was the start of the Scottish school holidays but even that did not explain how bad this line was. We arrived at 7.20am for our 9.20am London flight, I thought that would be more than enough time… Every time, we got closer to the front they’d have to shout an upcoming flight and call them forward to drop their bags. It was crazy. One of my friends had arrived an hour earlier and sailed through bag drop. Eventually we dropped our bags at 8.45am and headed upstairs to security. The automatic gates where you scan your boarding pass all had red crosses as security was heaving and there were no staff around. At this point I was getting a little anxious and headed over to the staff at the family security check in to ask if we could use that, I tend to think that’s just for tiny kids, but they were more than happy to let us through, as Ds was 10.

In typical fashion we rushed through and grabbed a suitable healthy breakfast of a diet coke and a chocolate bar.



I was waving goodbye to Slimming World in my head as I consumed these tasty treats. Obviously, the Gatwick flight was now delayed a little but at least that gave me a little time to calm my stress levels

We boarded just after our take off time, at least we had a while in Gatwick so I wasn’t too worried. I’m always in a tizzy with connecting flights! Anyway the plane was late in loading luggage so missed its original take off slot.



Yet again we arrived in Gatwick with no option of connecting airside, I think we’ve been able to do this once, it’s such a little thing but it really irritates me, it can be done because we’ve managed it once on this route. The good news was that security was really fast and efficient.

Ds had been hoping for a Nandos but there was no time for that as we’d arrived late. We were starving though and to carry on with the unhealthy food I had been avoiding for months we headed over to Jamie’s Deli and bought pizza, is it just me but after you’ve been dieting for ages anything that was previously forbidden tastes immense? I know I could have said I’d try to be healthy on holiday as I’d done so well but the honest truth is I love food and it is a huge part of our trips so I was going with eating and drinking what I wanted and returning to Slimming World after the holiday was over.

We ordered 2 slices of Pepperoni. The girl said it was spicy, it wasn’t spicy at all, but it was really good, we shared 2 slices for £10.


It was now 12.30 and we only had an hour till the Orlando flight so a nice short wait at Gatwick for once. We grabbed some meal deals from Boots on the way to the gate just in case the food was dire.

The flight was uneventful, other than us moaning at Ds to have a nap of some sorts and him determined to work his way through as many movies as he could possibly manage. Food offerings were ok but not great.

The little salad was nice.

The Thai chicken had a nice flavour but the chicken felt questionable so just ate the rice and veg with the sauce.

The pudding was nice enough.

The cheese and crackers and little bottle of wine were the best. 😂
Later they came round with mini magnums which were very nice.



Sandwiches and a shortbread biscuit were offered shortly before landing but I didn’t bother as I’d eaten a boots meal deal.

We landed 10 minutes early and I began stressing about immigration (spotting a theme here, honestly, I’m not the moaniest travelling companion in the world). We speed walked up the corridor along with everyone well and we ended up in a room with none of the machines, but we were seen in 15 minutes and spent another 5 minutes waiting on luggage. It was absolutely painless.

I’d booked a transfer with Quicksilver and we waited about 10 minutes on our driver who was lovely.

Straight to the Rosen Plaza, check in girl was lovely and they had granted our request of a high floor, I’d read lower floors sometimes got a bit of noise from the pool area plus we had a high floor last time with a great view, this time was the same and we could see Mako in the distance. We really enjoyed this hotel on our previous trip but thought the rooms were a little tired looking and the air conditioning unit was not great. The refurbished rooms are very nice with very comfy beds.

We were not starving but thought we would manage something so headed across the road to Johnny Rockets. I am sad it’s no longer there; we discovered this place on DH and I’s very first trip together back in 1999. What’s not to like burgers, good, milkshakes good….

We had hummed and hawed about having a Florida holiday this year and decided that by not doing Disney we would make it a more economical trip, so Ds was told that if there was a kids menu with stuff he liked he’d be ordering from that and not the adult menu like he’d become accustomed to on our last trip where he was upgraded to the adult dining plan. Despite having this conversation on numerous occasions, he still started sulking about being told to order from the kid’s menu. He had a grilled cheese with fries and a banana milkshake. He enjoyed it all and it was the perfect size for him.



Dh had the smokehouse burger and a strawberry and banana milkshake. He really enjoyed both. No fries but we shared onion rings which were awesome.


I had the Route 66 burger with mushrooms (a vegetable – that makes it healthy right?) and Swiss cheese, it was really nice. I love the milkshakes there, but I was worried for my tummy (it had been so long since I’d consumed so much fat in one go and if I had the burger and the shake I might regret it) so I had a Fanta which was radioactive orange, I always forget it’s a different colour here...



We’d been sent an eat and play card with our tickets, so we got 15% off the bill which helped cover the tip. Pretty reasonable and a good choice for the first night.



There was a CVS opened right next door to the hotel, so we nipped in there for some supplies. NO MINT M&Ms though, I was distraught and had to settle for mint Oreo thins.
By now it was about 9.30pm and we were done, the party animals that we are. Our light was off, and we were fast asleep by 10pm.

Day 1 here
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Old 6 Apr 21, 07:11 AM  
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Oh I love a new trip report to read. Thanks for doing it. 🙂
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Old 6 Apr 21, 07:33 AM  
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Got to love a new trip report these days.
BA at Edinburgh Airport first thing in the morning is normally chaotic. Not good when you've got up at 2am to arrive at 4am and they're not open yet.
Apart from that a pretty good travel day. Think 2018 was when BA and VA swopped terminals so the security check was no longer available.
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Old 6 Apr 21, 07:37 AM  
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Thanks for posting, love a trip report 😀
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Old 6 Apr 21, 08:31 PM  
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Thank you for this, just what I need to get me through 👍🙂
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Old 6 Apr 21, 10:55 PM  
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Originally Posted by Ivegottadream View Post
Oh I love a new trip report to read. Thanks for doing it. 🙂
Thanks for reading, I wasn't sure anyone would be interested in reading one from so long ago.

Originally Posted by disneypars View Post
Got to love a new trip report these days.
BA at Edinburgh Airport first thing in the morning is normally chaotic. Not good when you've got up at 2am to arrive at 4am and they're not open yet.
Apart from that a pretty good travel day. Think 2018 was when BA and VA swopped terminals so the security check was no longer available.
Oh that does not sound good, I thought it was 24hrs these days (well pre covid). You do wonder if they will ever be finished tinkering with everything at Edinburgh Airport. I remember the swapping of terminals, I still think 2016 was maybe the only trip where we didn't have to go airside again. Our next trip (fingers crossed) is via Heathrow and I think the set up there is different.

Originally Posted by Floridarules View Post
Thanks for posting, love a trip report 😀
Thanks for reading, it is nice going through all the photos and notes to reminisce, especially while travelling is not possible.

Originally Posted by Florida1972 View Post
Thank you for this, just what I need to get me through 👍🙂
Aww thanks, and thanks for reading, hopefully it is a little interesting, I'll try my best
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Old 7 Apr 21, 07:40 AM  
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Great to read a new trip report
Apart from a bit of a delay at your first airport it was a pretty smooth travel day.
We’ve stayed at the Rosen Plaza twice and love it there.
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Old 7 Apr 21, 07:45 PM  
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A good travel day, pizza, wine and onion rings - I’m impressed! I love your trip reports, thank you for giving me a break from online shopping.
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Old 7 Apr 21, 10:50 PM  
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Originally Posted by Taffy1959 View Post
Great to read a new trip report
Apart from a bit of a delay at your first airport it was a pretty smooth travel day.
We’ve stayed at the Rosen Plaza twice and love it there.
Thanks for reading. The Rosen Plaza is great, I'd happily stay there again.

Originally Posted by Sparksy72 View Post
A good travel day, pizza, wine and onion rings - I’m impressed! I love your trip reports, thank you for giving me a break from online shopping.
I was trying to cram in as much unhealthy stuff as I could. Aww thanks for reading, I'm glad to be of help, there is not much else to be doing so writing it is keeping me busy too.
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Old 8 Apr 21, 01:04 PM  
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Thanks for posting I really have missed trippies this last year so looking forward to reading along


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