The 40th Birthday trip, 3 years early-Travel Day- Why are you still sat there? We’re going to Disney

[Mrstenberge]

Its here, its here! And yet it still doesn’t seem real!

We woke to the sounds of ‘Do You Want to Build a Snowman,’ well I did, mum was already awake, spoilsport. We had a yogurt and a brew in bed before getting ready to leave.

We checked out, handed our forms and car keys in and headed outside for the airport shuttle at about 7am. And so, begins the morning shuttle to reach your destination routine! We only waited a few minutes, but it felt very strange not having any suitcases, will we ever see them again!?!

As we’d already checked in, we went straight up to departures where naturally there was a massive queue for security! We were through with no issues this time, in the past, mum has left face wipes in her bag and completely left a bag at security, lessons learned I think!

We are both on Three for our mobiles, so had a code for a free bottle of water at WHSmith through the Wuntu app, so that was to be our first stop. The codes didn’t work properly so had to be put through manually, this worked in our favour, because it meant we could go to the other WHSmith and get another one!

And then to wait for boarding, and wait, and wait... it was chaos, so slow. There ended up being 3 different queues, none of which were moving at one point, we were blocking the walkways left right and centre. Eventually they sorted themselves out and we were finally able to board the plane.

Of course, we were headed upstairs to the bubble, although not to my first-choice seats as we were in Cyprus on seat booking day, so I was a bit late logging in. Any who, we were in 78A and B which were fine and dandy.

Today, we were flying on English Rose but were told it would be soon changing its name to Forever Young in memory of a pilot who had passed away from cancer.

We had the standard pillows, blankets and headphones and were given a flight time of 8 hours. We were due to leave at 9.55 but started taxiing at 10.10. Chaotic queuing system you see.

There also appeared to be an awful lot of smoke coming out of the engines at this point, should we be worried!?!

Oh well, time for our first film choices! For me, it was Nutcracker and the Four Realms, it was very
good, and I enjoyed it. Mum chose The Favourite, she said she couldn’t make her mind up about it but that it was long. All those awards it won, but it doesn’t sound like it was getting any awards from Maxine!

Sat here with our pretzels and drinks, gin and tonic for me and vodka and lemonade for mum, it still doesn’t feel like we’re going, I don’t think it will sink in until we get there.

We had twin sisters sitting with us and they were ace. We all did a ‘cheers, happy holidays’ with our drinks and had a chat about all our plans.

Then it was time for lunch. For starter, there was a Japanese Cucumber Salad, although I fail to see
what is Japanese about a bit of lettuce and cucumber. For main, I had Pesto Pasta with a red wine and mum had Chicken in Mushroom with a white wine. Dessert was a Chocolate and Yuzu Caramel Ganache Gu pot, which was super sweet. We finished off with some cheese and biscuits, we were ​also given a bottle of water and one of the twins donated her red wine to me because she wasn’t keen.

By this point, I was watching ‘Ralph Breaks the Internet’ and mum ‘Nutcracker and the Four Realms’
on my recommendation. The twins went to get us another gin and tonic and vodka and lemonade and shared their hand cream with us, bless them.

The Mile-High Tea was Mozzarella with Green Pesto, Slow Roasted Tomatoes and Rocket in a Seeded Roll, a Scone, Jam and Clotted Cream. The tea arrived after the food had been eaten. Now call me old fashioned, but I do like a cup of tea with my Mile-High Tea, the clue’s in the name really! But at least it was hot.

Mum had moved onto ‘Green Book,’ she fell asleep though, so jacked it in. She then moved onto ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ even though she had already seen it at home. I started watching series 2 of ‘The Sinner’ but only managed 3 episodes.

There was a final round of the drinks trolley while we were watching our chosen entertainment and juice and Fab lollies too.

We experienced quite a bit of turbulence during the flight, so the seatbelt signs were on for long periods.

We landed at 13.30 and as the plane came in to land, I had the strangest feeling knowing this is the last time I will ever see this view on descent. I was listening to music by this point and ‘Tears Dry on Their Own’ was playing, it felt very apt.

Breezed off the plane down a quiet corridor and then bam! Immigration was ridiculous, they weren’t using the machines today and there were only 3 immigration officers and a Mexican plane had landed before ours, you know the score!

At 14.30 some more officers appeared (must have been on their lunches!) and we finally got to see an officer. All the suitcases had been removed from the belt by the time we got through, they were obviously sick of waiting for us to collect them!

Despite my fears that I would never see my suitcase again, there it was waiting for me and off we go!

So off we toddled to the monorail, suitcases in tow, dodging blue t shirted Mexican teenagers along the way.

We headed to the first floor next to carousel 8A as instructed by Virgin, to pick up our gift card, only to be redirected outside by a Virgin rep.

While we were waiting for our Mears coach (in hindsight I regret not booking Disney’s Magical Express), I checked my emails to see which room we had been allocated.

We will be in 4541 on the Zebra Trail, which is the area mum requested through Touring Plans but not the specific room. Cue a lot of fist shaking outside the requested room every time we walked past it!

The Mears coach arrived at 15.05. we were told by the driver that Animal Kingdom Lodge was first drop off and we would arrive in approximately 35 minutes.

He wasn’t wrong, we arrived at precisely 15.40 and were the only guests leaving the coach.

Now then, mum had overseen the Touring Plans room request and had taken her role quite seriously, almost to the point of obsession, so I feared she was a little disappointed in our room allocation. She desperately wanted a partial savannah view, so she could see the giraffes and wasn’t sure she would get that with the room we had been allocated. But in fairness, we hadn’t paid for a savannah view and we felt incredibly lucky to be staying here so we’ll accept anything!

So, we were off the coach, welcomed home and were away to check in. There was a birthday card waiting for me from a lady I had spoken to in Dining Reservations during the planning stage and ​when mum told the cast member checking us in that it was my birthday on Saturday, he gave me a badge and a tiara.

All checked in and wearing my tiara, we went off in search of 4541. No sooner had we arrived in our home for the next two weeks, they appeared, mum’s new best friends, the giraffes!

She was over the moon bless her. Our room hadn’t yet been refurbished, but in hindsight, we were quite glad because it meant we got to see it in all its Animal Kingdom Lodge glory.

We did a quick unpack and got changed, we had appointment at Animal Kingdom after all!

The bus left Animal Kingdom Lodge at 4.35 and we arrived at Animal Kingdom at...4.40, awesome.

We had a Lion King photo pass picture taken at the entrance and then it was off in search of the Eight Spoon Café Baked Macaroni & Cheese with Shrimp and Sweet Chili Sauce that mum had been banging on about for 2 whole years!

Spoiler alert, this was the only time she had it.

The cast member also gave me my first ever Mickey Pretzel with cheese for my birthday. Erm, I’m guessing its an acquired taste, it will certainly be my last!

We had a Fastpass for Kilimanjaro Safaris, I think it was our first evening safari and we saw lots of animals along the way.

Then it was off to Pandora for our Flights of Passage Fastpass. Oh my, I love this ride so much!

We had some Night Blossoms and a sit down just watching the world go by before walking across to Expedition Everest for our final Fastpass of the night.

It started to spit on the way up, but in the end, came to nothing. We had some more photo pass pictures taken on the way.

We ended up on the second row of Expedition Everest and it was so fast, I love it!

After riding, we meandered back down towards the gate. We had more photo pass pictures done, determined to make better use of it this time, and then for the bus back to Animal Kingdom Lodge.

There was a bus waiting, so we got straight on. I’m not sure the driver had passed his test though, it was a bit like the dodgems or wacky races, thankfully it was a short journey home.

When we arrived back, we had a wander around Animal Kingdom Lodge, getting our bearings, and called in The Mara to collect and fill our resort mugs. A quick scoot around tells me there looks to be some tasty treats in here.

We popped to the shop, then went back to the room and watched Law and Order SVU in bed with a brew after I’d run water through the machine a few times to get rid of the coffee residue!

[disneywiseowl]

Wow! Great travel day except for immigration (of course). 🙁
Looking forward to reading more.

[JenD1]

Fab. I used to love sitting on balcony watching the giraffes and zebra and all the other animals I can’t remember the name of!

[Mrstenberge]

Originally Posted by disneywiseowl

Wow! Great travel day except for immigration (of course). 🙁
Looking forward to reading more.

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Thank you for reading and commenting. Yeah immigration is always a challenge!

[Mrstenberge]

Originally Posted by JenD1

Fab. I used to love sitting on balcony watching the giraffes and zebra and all the other animals I can’t remember the name of!

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Giraffe and zebra were as far as we got too on remembering the names!

Thank you for reading and commenting

[Jakey Neverland]

Beautiful view from your room, must say I am very impressed you made it to a park on your first day we where exhausted on ours. Looking forward to reading about the rest of your trip.

[jools1302]

A great start to your holiday... looking forward to reading more 😀

[Mrstenberge]

Originally Posted by Jakey Neverland

Beautiful view from your room, must say I am very impressed you made it to a park on your first day we where exhausted on ours. Looking forward to reading about the rest of your trip.

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Thank you Natalie, I think we were running on adrenaline at one point but the lure of Everest was too strong!

[Mrstenberge]

Originally Posted by jools1302

A great start to your holiday... looking forward to reading more 😀

See more...

Thank you for taking the time to read and commenting

[gemma-lou]

Why will it be your last time landing at mco? X