Living in Jamerica - The Bud Light Years Day 1 - Travel Day

[JoJo88]

“Living in Jamerica” – The Bud Light Years – October 2011

Pre-Trippy Part 1
Pre-Trippy Part 2
Day 0 - Twilight Check In

Day 1 – Travel Day

Saturday 8th October

Soon enough morning came around, I think it was around 7am when the rest of them woke, but I’d been clock watching from about 5.30. Everyone else went down for breakfast, but I can’t face food until I’ve been awake a while and so would wait until we got to the V Room.

While they were gone I had a quick shower and sorted out the hand luggage. One bag for things we would need on the plane (puzzle books, snacks, ipods, etc), and one that we wouldn’t be needing (boy’s pjs, my make up, that kind of thing). I also popped a couple of pills (just in case! )

It was around 7.45 when we left the hotel and headed over to the airport. We used our first ‘fast pass’ of the holiday to get through security, I think it’s by booking the V Room that you get to use the Fast Track line. No problems here, we’d all remembered to separate our liquids into little bags, no frisking or full body xrays, and once into the main departure lounge we headed straight for the V Room.

It was really quiet in there, a few people milling about, but not many. You are allowed into the lounge from 3 hours before your flight, so we were slightly early as it was just after 8, (flight at 11.15), but they still let us in. I suppose that explains why it was so quiet in there. We soon set up camp near the video game machines, where we would be able to keep an eye on the boys in the soft play area.

The time passed really quickly. There was plenty to do, plus we took it in turns to go back into departures and have a look round the shops. Simon got himself a holiday book, the only time he ever reads anything that’s not online. This year’s chosen one was Bear Grylls, although it turned out to be Bear’s least intrepid adventure to date as he stayed in Simon’s hand luggage bag for the entire holiday, and is probably still there now. The boys made friends with some other children in the soft play area, I used the computers for a quick ‘Dibb’ and played with the video games which were great as they were retro, so the 9 year old me was in her element! – PacMan, Donkey Kong, Space Invaders etc!

Even though the others had enjoyed the breakfast at the Hilton, there were still things in the Vroom to tempt them. Muffins, pastries, hot food, cereals, yoghurts, fruit juice, coffee, fizzy pop, plenty of it and all very nice.

As time pressed on, it started to fill up in there, ultimately there would be passengers for the morning and afternoon flights but there were still plenty of seats for everyone.

At one point there was an almighty commotion and as we turned to see what was going on, we saw a boy of about 11/12 jumping up and down screaming into a phone. We soon realised that this was him finding out that he was going to Florida and to say he was excited was an understatement, what a fantastic reaction! He was running around the Vroom telling everyone and anyone ‘I’m going to Florida, I’m going to Florida’. From what I could gather, he had phoned a grandparent who had broken the news to him. How wonderful! I did get chance to speak to the boy a bit later and asked him where he had thought he was going. He told me ‘nowhere’! . How his parents ever managed to keep it from him I’ll never know. Didn’t he notice the suitcases? Or the check in desk? What about security? Anyway, how fantastic that his parents were able to keep it from him and to be rewarded with such a reaction must have been worth the intricate covert operation! Incidentally, I realise there’s a chance the family might have had a Dibber amongst them, so if you are out there, hello, hope you had a great time!

At about 10.15 we headed down to Gate 19, which was handy as that was where our plane, Jersey Girl, a Boeing 747 was waiting for us

We saw the ‘surprise boy’ on the way down to the Gate, it would seem him & Daniel had made friends in the Vroom, and it would also seem that the boy was still extremely excited! Through the passport check, where the boys were given their V Packs. I’m not sure they even looked at them other than when Daniel opened his bag the wrong way round and emptied the contents onto the floor. There was a cap, a book, some crayons. To be honest, I’d rather they knock a couple of quid off the flight price

I don’t remember sitting down in here, I’m sure we went straight onto the plane. Daniel, Simon & I were in one row, Adam sat in the row behind with his Grandparents.

We soon got settled in and then noticed who was sat in front of us – Daniel’s new friend! He was still very excited which was lovely really, but we did think that 9 hours of him poking his hand between the seats to ‘Hi Five’ Daniel would soon get tired. As it was, the two of them chatted between themselves every now and again and it was nice for them to share their news and to chat about what they would be doing for the next few weeks.

The flight took off on time which is always a result and although not anyone’s idea of a fun way to spend half a day, it was fine. Food was served up, I honestly can’t remember what it was, chicken or beef perhaps? And as I can’t remember much about it, I can only assume it was neither delicious nor disgusting, just average. I do remember Simon grabbing a steward and asking which direction the trolleys would be going as we always seem to be last and therefore have no choice of meal. He was told they would be going from back to front which was good news and meant that whatever we chose, we would have to eat it! Drinks were offered at regular intervals, and we had the usual packet of mini pretzels which used to be a highlight of Virgin flights for me until I found them on sale in Sainsburys. And in much bigger packets too!

So, the hours dragged on, we played Top Trumps, did puzzles, played ‘Where’s the Puffle’ (a Where’s Wally type Club Penguin book). Between them the boys watched Cars 2 & Horrid Henry amongst other things. I tried to read but couldn’t get into any of the books on my Kindle, so I watched a couple of films. Again, as I can’t concentrate too well it has to be light hearted stuff I watch, so Bad Teacher & Bridesmaids it was then. Bridesmaids was hilarious, I will definitely watch it again on DVD. Bad Teacher was okay, and helped to pass the time.

A couple of hours before we were due to land we were given ‘tea’. Again I can’t remember what it was, a sandwich of some description with a hot drink, and all too soon the Sky Map looked like this:

Now, during the week before we left, I’d been a bit worried about some posts I’d read on The Dibb about the weather forecast. However with it being something that we have no control over, I’d put it to the back of my mind and tried to ignore it, knowing that weather forecasts can change depending on where you look. I also knew that it was still hurricane season in Florida and was expecting the odd short sharp rain shower, so perhaps that’s what the forecasts were on about. However, at about half an hour before we were due to land it got very dark outside, and as we began our descent it all got a little bit scary. We were surrounded by clouds for about 20 minutes and the plane suddenly resembled Tower of Terror as we bounced our way in to MCO. Adam & Daniel thought it was brilliant (ha, wait until you’re on the REAL Tower of Terror Mister!), but I could see by the look on Simon’s face that he did not. Eventually we were down, and I must say, there was a huge collective sigh of relief from everyone on board!

We landed at around 3.30pm local time to torrential rain. Oh great. 16 months of planning and the holiday was ruined, the forecasts were right, it was going to rain all month. Okay, so perhaps I was overreacting just a little but I’m not going to lie, I was gutted! We had to wait on the plane a little while, I forget why, I think another flight had landed just before us, but we were able to get off after about half an hour, where we made our way to immigration. I know there was a useful Dibb tip on how to approach the queuing here at MCO (go to the right), and we used it successfully on the last trip, but now there is just one long queue which snakes around room until and you go to the next available desk, which is a far better way of doing it if you ask me. I see it as practice for the Toy Story Mania fast pass machine It was a hefty queue, but moved constantly. Another flight came in behind us, from Glasgow I’m assuming from the accents of those who got off it. I kept my eyes peeled for fellow Dibbers but did wonder how I would recognise them. Kipling bags, Crocs & Kindles maybe?

It was about 45 minutes before we were through immigration. Our guy was friendly and chatty but Adam had been warned to behave himself in there and became a mute when the guy was asking him about his upcoming holiday! Through to baggage claim where we didn’t wait too long and then onto the monorail. We decided to keep our cases with us to save having to collect them again at the other side, and from there went straight to the Budget car rental kiosk over in the garage (in the pouring rain remember – no blast of warm Florida air for us! )

I’d pre-registered online which means you don’t have to go to the main desk in the terminal building. There was one family before us and then it was our turn. We handed over the paperwork, they handed over the keys, it really was that simple. I asked about the second driver that was included on our policy, but they didn’t want to see any driving licence, just said that we were insured for a second driver as long as he was over 25! We were told where our car was waiting for us and were delighted with what we saw. It was a brand new Dodge something or other. I’m ashamed to say that I have no idea what it was that we had, but a little research says that it might have been a Caravan? Actually, I’ve just found a photo I took of the back of the car, and it was indeed a Caravan, a Grand Caravan in fact. This particular picture was taken a while later in the holiday because, as you can see, IT’S NOT RAINING!

We loaded the boys into the car (Daniel on the booster seat we’d brought from home), and managed to get the cases in somehow. It was like a giant game of Tetris, except that the cases didn’t fall from the sky. Simon familiarised himself with the car, I familiarised myself with Mapman’s Map and by 5.15pm we were on our way. Did I mention it was raining? Torrentially?

We headed south out of the airport, down the 436 turning off onto the 417. The traffic was kind to us, I always worry about driving in a new car, on the wrong side, after a 9 hour flight, and that’s just as a passenger, so I don’t know how Simon feels about it but he doesn’t complain so must be pretty confident. We did get a little lost as we got near WDW, and somehow ended up on World Drive, rather than Hwy192, spotting some familiar sites along the way. “Quick kids, shut your eyes, you’re not supposed to see any of this until tomorrow”! No one was blamed (even though it was obvious it was Simon’s fault) and we managed to get back on track pretty quickly which is a small miracle as we’ve always found WDW really easy to find our way around on the way in, not so much on the way out!

It must have been just before 6pm when we arrived at the gates of Windsor Hills. We showed our rental voucher and were handed a yellow card that we were to show each time we wanted to enter the resort. A couple of minutes later and we were pulling up outside our home for the next 3 weeks. The door uses a keycode so we didn’t have the hassle of collecting a key, and soon we were in! As I said in the pre-trippy, this villa is almost identical to the last one we rented and so it really did feel like we’d come home. We all had a look round, knowing exactly where our bedrooms were and began to settle in a little.

The main living area:

The kitchen:

The boys’ room:

Our room:

Mum, Dad, Adam & I popped out to pick up a few bits to see us through the next few days. We made the rookie error of going to the Winn Dixie which is the nearest supermarket to us, near the Outback Steakhouse at Marker 4. It also happens to be the most expensive. We knew this from last time, so I have no idea why we went there again, especially when we knew there was a Publix a few minutes up the road which had been our supermarket of choice on our last visit.

We picked up a few essentials, and a few not so essentials, spending a whopping $165. Included in the essentials were ponchos for the following day. It was still chucking it down outside and showed no signs of stopping, and we were determined not to let the rain stop play. We got the boys some fetching yellow Disney cape style ponchos, us grown ups went for navy blue coats which, looking back at the pictures, made Simon & Grandad look like they belonged in a lab (as technicians, not specimens! )

From there I popped to Subway to get me & Simon a sandwich. 2 foot long chicken subs @ $5 each. That’s 2 lots of 1 foot subs, not 2 foot subs. Oh you know what I mean! With hindsight we could have shared one, as we both only ate half, but then we finished them off the next day so all was not lost. Me 1, foot long sub nil! Mum & Dad got themselves something from the Chinese takeaway next to the Winn Dixie and we picked Adam up a McDonald’s on the way home. I knew Daniel would be almost asleep by the time we got home and wouldn’t entertain food so I didn’t bother getting him anything specific, there was enough in the shopping to keep him alive if he was still awake.

We were all in bed by 9.15pm, asleep not too long after. I might even had made a little wish that night that the rain would be gone by morning and glorious sunshine would be in it’s place. If wishes are going to come true anywhere, it’s got to be here, right?

So, I wonder what time ‘silly o’clock’ will be tomorrow……..

Coming soon….. Raindrops keep falling on my flip flops

Day 2 - Magic Kingdom

[pixie81]

Brilliant travel day. So sorry it was raining when you got there Hoping that it will clear up soon.


Love the villa and the car! How many seats did it have?

Looking forward to reading more!

[col2501]

nice travel day Jo! V room looks fab, we've never flown with virgin, villa looks lovely too we went to that winn dixie quite a few times and never spent less than $70... should have gone looking for the publix really...

[highland lass]

Great travel day love the villa wish I was on that Glasgow flight with my Kipling crocs and kindle

[summersun]

great start

[florida mad]

Great travel day, the villa looks fantastic.
We were in the v-room that morning and on the same flight and yes also dissapointed with the rain when we landed

[Gill635]

Brilliant


xx

[Seaworldfan]

Great start.. love the story about the lad being suprised in the V-room

[princess boo]

Can't wait to read the rest of your report, we will be staying at Windsors Hills in August.

[Cinnabon]

Great travel day.