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Old 8 Apr 19, 04:38 AM  
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Michyloulou
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Join Date: Jun 12
The Marsh‘s Marvellous Mousecation- Travel Day - Sat 6th April



Sorry - having trouble loading photos at moment - I’ll try & update tomorrow. Entries are behind due to long travel day & tiredness! 😴
As I said at the end of yesterday's report, I didn't get a very good nights sleep. I woke at 1.31am (convinced it was nearly 6am, again at 2.30am (fidgety daughter), and at 4am (bathroom). I then woke at 5.45am, and that was it - I was up & getting ready (DD & DS then woke - not that I was making much noise), but we were all so excited!
We were ready by 6.30am, as was DH & youngest 2 daughters, so we walked from the Marriott to Gatwick South Terminal (we had been planning on using the shuttle bus, but when DH walked back after dropping car yesterday he said the pathway was quite safe & only took 7 minutes). Here are the kids by the moving walkway.

As our flight time was listed as 9hr 45, we thought we'd get some fresh air & exercise.
As we entered security, the kids decide to walk at the pace of lightning, and before we knew it, there were about half a dozen other people between the kids and me & DH (this bodes well for the Disney parks I'm thinking at this stage!).
I was frantically calling to youngest DD who was the first to be called forward to the grey trays with her rucksack! The attendant obviously noticed my flustered look and called over to me not to worry, he'll talk her through, but they have to keep things moving! I have to say, she surprised me as she's normally quite anxious, but she took it all in her stride, and waited where the attendant told her to for us.
Next was 2nd youngest DD, her backpack, laptop bag & jacket. Only after going through the scanner she got called over as had left her iPad in her rucksack by accident, so this had to have the extra security treatment (DH did the same, lol).
Eldest DD, me & DH all had to remove our shoes & stand in the little photo booth/scanner thing & then DD got the pat-down.
After this we were good to go & got our breakfast at Starbucks (kids choice).



One of DH above trying to be funny as I took his photo!

Then had the obligatory walk around Duty Free. I only bought a Diet Coke, and the kids got some sweets + eldest DD bought herself a Clinique moisturiser.
Our flight boarded on time but we then had a delay imposed by Air Traffic control due to ‘heavy traffic ‘, so the flight departed about 40 minutes late. A good flight, kids found take-off fantastic & the little drops you experience (that make your tummy turn over) hilarious- we told them it was good practice for the roller coasters! 😂
The staff were smiley, attentive & interacted nicely with the kids. IFE was good and I managed to watch Bohemian Rhapsody and A Star Is Born (I loved the former, the latter not so much although it was interesting).
We arrived at FLL, very tired. So many queues- not particularly long & they did move, but queues for everything. Had to have cases scanned as we'd ticked ‘yes' to bringing food.
Got to Alamo easily to collect our Dodge Caravan. This is where the travel day “passports, tickets, money” fail materialises! The check-in clerk asked DH (main driver) for his driving licence (tick), and credit card - - it was at this point he realised it was still at home. 😬😬! I offered mine as I'm 2nd driver - - and after a bit of discussion with a manager they decide to accept my card (it's a joint credit card account in any case and everything had been paid for). Phew! Fortunately DH has remembered his pre-paid card (I was panicking a bit tbh)!
We got on the road from FLL to Orlando in our humongous Dodge Caravan - a 3hr drive + another Maccy D's Stop en-route somewhere near Palm Beach, with immense flashes of lightening all along the way.
Now remember I said I hadn't slept at the Marriott particularly well (and had been on my feet all day at work?), well I was also unable to sleep much on the flight. This caught up with me & im told by DH that pretty soon me & kids were all asleep!
Luckily DH did manage some sleep on the flight & is used to be up driving early hours of the morning- so this was a bit of a bonus (a busman’s holiday for him, lol!).
Towards end of journey we had all woken up & I tried to call Ocean Holidays in Kissimmee where we were due to collect our villa info, and it was listed as 10pm closing, and we were due to arrive at 9.59pm by Satnav info! Despite having a Three Roaming SIM (which was activated), just couldn't get the call to connect. We arrived 10pm on the dot, fortunately they were still open and very understanding. Lovely staff who plied is with creme eggs & candy for the kids!
We got to the villa (Davenport), it's really lovely- a couple of niggles sorted tomorrow- but 1st impressions good! We all collapse into bed exhausted.
Extra note: DH said “when we come again, I don't think we should use FLL - it's just too long a drive after a long flight- I think we'll use MCO or Sanford next time, even if it costs more”. Totally agree, but I'm absolutely ecstatic that he's mentioned “next time”! 😁😁😁

Edited at 08:35 AM. Reason: Adding photos
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