Notices
Walt Disney World and Florida Trip Reports Trip Reports and Videos

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Old 23 Jul 13, 06:35 PM  
Link to this Post
#1
Starmum22
Imagineer
 
Starmum22's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 12
The 'Who Needs a New Car anyway?': Once in a lifetime- July 2013: Day 1

Monday 1st July 2013
Day 1 – The day with the delay

It's finally here- the day we've been waiting on. Tonight we'll be in the Sunshine state! I was the first up and proceeded to wake everyone else. How can they sleep? Are they not excited? With everyone up and dressed, we headed down to reception, took our overnight bag to the car and got the staff to phone our taxi for us. Taxi arrived, we piled in only for a little voice to pipe up 'I've not got my bag!' OK, hold the taxi. DS couldn't remember which room he'd left his bag in, so had to explain to the staff and ran back to the rooms and got the bag. Phew! Can we leave now – does everybody have everything? Next stop airport. The taxi left the Marriot Hotel at 8.30am for our flight at 10.50am. The excitement was building as we entered the airport and went through security with our hand luggage. I was chosen (lucky me!) for a pat down as I'd set off the metal detector. It took ages to explain to the security about DD's liquid feeds, but eventually we got those through. Other DD had about 10 bottles of nail vanish though, that weren't in a plastic bag. Cue, red face as the man very kindly popped them in a bag for us and we were clear! Relief!

Next stop was breakfast, but not before stopping and checking the boards for our flight. Couldn't believe our eyes! Flight delayed until 1.45pm! That's almost three hours! OK, not much we can do about it and we were all starving so found somewhere that offered breakfasts and ordered very expensive, mediocre food. Can't remember hat it was called, can't remember what anyone else had (I had a bacon baguette) so all in all, not very memorable. We sat for ages, watching the comings and goings of the airport staff on the tarmac outside and amused ourselves by one little suitcase which was just sitting there. Three different members of staff came over and looked at it, all looking very puzzled. The, eventually, a fourth member of staff came across it and radioed someone and sent the bag off on its merry way – hopefully to rejoin its owner!
We dawdled about the airport for ages, looking in shops and doing crosswords and wordsearches. The boys went off in search of liquid refreshments, while the girls hit the shops. In Claire's I bought myself sparkly Minnie ears while DD1 got some nails and DD2 got a keyring. We also went into another shop (forget the name) and bought a travel pillow and some games. WE spotted Cloud Nail bar, so (purely in the interests of killing time!) we decided some pampering was in order. Both Dds got nails painted with gems, and I had a gel manicure. We met back up with the boys and by this time, we are only 10 minutes from boarding. Allegedly. We were called to the gate but spent ages and ages waiting. Eventually, at around 2.30pm, our flight took off. At last! I tried to take photos of the plane but my camera decided to stop working! It's only a year old but kept telling me to take the lens cap off when it was already off. So I had to resort to taking pictures with my phone.

We boarded and got settled. The captain announced that the plane we should have been on, the one scheduled to leave at 10.50am was still in Orlando, hence the reason we were on a different plane and leaving at a different time. My kids were most disappointed in the plane as I'd told them about the seatback screens. 'Where are the wee tellies mum?' It was a Beoing something or other instead of the promised Airbus A330, but the IFE was actually OK. The films were Jack the Giant Sayer, Rise of the Guardian and Warm Bodies. The first two were excellent and we hadn't seen either of them. Warm Bodies was, IMHO, rubbish and I couldn't get into it at all, so turned to my book, not realising I'd packed one that I'd already read! D'oh! The food was surprisingly edible, from the James Martin menu. Choice was a chicken dish or sausage and mash. Opting for the chicken, I was really pleased to open it up. My last aeroplane meal consisted of scrambled egg that I could have bounced off the wall! Served with a mini cheesecake, roll, cheese an biscuits and then a cuppa with scone and clotted cream, we eventually were full up and almost there.

We arrived at Sanford airport at 6.30pm local time. Immigration was OK, a bit nerve-wracking as it was our first time. I had a good look at all the Immigration Officers and saw one who looked a bit more smiley than the rest. We got him! Very nice and the whole process was quite quick and smooth. Apart from one hairy moment when DH's fingers wouldn't scan! 'Please don't let him have a similar print to a wanted criminal!' I was thinking. Luckily, it was just the computer being slow and we cleared customs no problems. We checked in with the Thomas Cook desk, got directions and instructions for the villa and registered the villa too, instead of going to the welcome meeting tomorrow morning. Onward to Alamo!

As soon as we stepped out of the air conditioned building, we felt the heat hit us! Wow, it was really hot! We headed over to Alamo. Now for the part I was really dreading – driving! Alamo was a really smooth process and we were shown which row to choose from. They were mostly Dodge Caravans, so DH chose a white one (little did we realise then, that most of them are white and we should have picked a different, more recognisable colour!). We got the children, then the cases in and that's when I realised – I have no idea how to drive this thing! 'Go and get the man' I says to DH. 'I'm not getting him' 'Then we won't be going anywhere! ' He went to get a member of staff. After being shown how to put the car into reverse, we got going. Sat nav set up and we were on our way.

'You're in the ditch.' This phrase was said about 15 times in our journey. For anyone who has never driven in the USA before, it is scary the first time you do it. My road position was awful, I was really quite daunted by being on the 'wrong' side of both the car and the road and it didn't help that it was dark by this time. I was so confused over where I should be on the road, I kept taking the exits when I should have been keeping left! After taking a 20 minute detour, I eventually managed to get us to the villa! Luckily, the kids slept all the way and missed the arguing and tears!

We were all exhausted and didn't really have time to do anything at all. Despite being starving, after a very quick look around and a nosey at the pool, we dragged the cases out the car and collapsed into bed. Dd1 was taking something out of her hand luggage – the cheese and biscuits from the plane! OMG! I could have killed her! 'We lied to US Customs! They specifically asked if we had any food or dairy products!' 'But I was hungry' Ooops, lesson learned! It was about 11pm local time, so our bodies (still on UK time) thought it was 4am! But...we'd finally made it! At last! Tomorrow – Animal Kingdom.
__________________
It's kind of fun to do the impossible.
Starmum22 is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 23 Jul 13, 06:55 PM  
Link to this Post
#2
Pussycat Doll
Imagineer
 
Join Date: Jun 09

theDIBB Guidebook
Pages Created: 1
Excellent day, its always a bit scarey in the dark when you have no clue where you're going! Pussycat
Pussycat Doll is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 23 Jul 13, 08:16 PM  
Link to this Post
#3
mick
VIP Dibber
 
mick's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 04
Location: Rugby

mick's Reviews
Hotel Reviews: 1
A good travel day we have been lots and although I drive a lot here I have never driven in America so well done Mick always does the driving

Joan
__________________
mick is offline Boy Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 23 Jul 13, 09:58 PM  
Link to this Post
#4
DarrellAS
Excited about Disney
 
Join Date: Jun 08
Hi Lea

How many hours in total were you delayed?

D
DarrellAS is offline Boy Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 23 Jul 13, 10:04 PM  
Link to this Post
#5
karalma
Imagineer
 
karalma's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 10
Sounds so like us. We always have arguments on the way to the villa and I can remember how scary it was the first time. DD also made us lie to customs - she took an apple through and we realised at the villa. We were so shocked.
karalma is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 24 Jul 13, 07:12 PM  
Link to this Post
#6
Fuellady
VIP Dibber
 
Fuellady's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 12
Shame about the delays. Well done for driving from the airport. I have driven in Florida, but would never do the first stint! I need a few days to get used to being on the "wrong" side of the road!

Isn't that first blast of warm Florida air wonderful... it always makes me feel like "finally, I'm here"
__________________


All of my trip reports are in this INDEX

My most recent reports are below:
*Complete* A Tale of Two Cities - Washington D.C. & Boston - March 2023
We Love Food! An Offsite Dining Report - May 2022
Fuellady is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 30 Jul 13, 07:11 AM  
Link to this Post
#7
happy bunny
Imagineer
 
happy bunny's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 08

happy bunny's Reviews
Hotel Reviews: 2
Restaurant Reviews: 1

theDIBB Guidebook
Guidebook Photos: 11
There's nothing quite like that first 'smell' of Florida

Shame about the delay and I too have horror memories of arriving late and trying to find an out of hours office to pick the villa keys up from and then trying to find the villa, not good!

Looking forward to reading more
__________________
happy bunny is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 09:22 AM.


Powered by vBulletin - Copyright © 2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
DIBB Savings
AttractionTickets.com

Get £10 off each Disney Ticket with the code ATDIBB10

Get up to £50 off per room at Disney or Universal with the code DIBBHOTELS


theDIBB Blog
Disney announced that a new nighttime show, “Disney Dreams That Soar,” will run nightly at... Read More »
Walt Disney World Resort guests can get ready to have a “glowing’’ good time when... Read More »
Aquatica Orlando announce the grand opening of its newest attraction, Tassie’s Underwater Twist, on 15... Read More »


theDIBB Menu


Exchange Rates
US Dollar Rates
ASDA  $1.2361
CaxtonFX  $1.2302
Covent Garden FX  $1.2488
FAIRFX  $1.2365
John Lewis  $1.2391
M&S  $1.2178
Sainsburys  $1.2376
TESCO  $1.2376
Travelex  $1.2353
Updated: 08:00 28/03/2024
Euro Rates
ASDA  €1.1417
CaxtonFX  €1.1389
Covent Garden FX  €1.1490
FAIRFX  €1.1413
John Lewis  €1.1444
M&S  €1.1263
Sainsburys  €1.1434
TESCO  €1.1428
Travelex  €1.1435
Updated: 08:00 28/03/2024

DIBB Premium Membership
Did you know you can help support theDIBB with Premium Membership?

Check out this link for more information and benefits, such as...

"No adverts on theDIBB Forums"

Upgrade Now



X