Sneaky bonus 6 nights at Universal Feb 2020- Day 1 Travel Day

[rafjen]

I'm actually going to start the night before. The kids know about our next trip May 2020 but we had kept this trip a secret. We decided to tell them the night before as we thought it might help the early morning start. My 8 yr old daughter was so excited however I think we stressed my 10 yr old son. He was a little stroppy that we had managed to keep it a secret but quickly got excited after the initial shock.

I had packed earlier in the week so it was off to bed for a 6 am start. The weather forecast was dire- storm Ciara was looming hard. We made it through check in, security smoothly without issues. Feb is definitely calmer than August. Terminal 2 at MCO has a few choices to eat the kids wanted pancakes so we had a pleasant breakfast at Frankie and Benny's. We had 3 kids pancakes, 1 adult pancakes and scrambled egg toast and sausages. It was all good but the portions especially the kids pancakes were very small. 1 pancake 3 slices of banana (the strawberries on the menu were no where to be found). However we would go back.

We then found seats to await boarding. It was quite busy so we found a quite gate to sit at. Then a New York flight was announced as delayed due to the incoming aircraft being diverted and unable to land. Not long after our flight had the same announcement. They promised an update at 10.30-our departure time. We were starting to stress- this was made worse when the New York flight was cancelled completely and lots of people had to leave the departure area. I was convinced we weren't going anywhere. Given it was only a 6 night trip I was thinking it was a write off- if we got cancelled would there be any point taking a later flight in a day or two. Thankfully the announcement came and they had got a plane- another delay but we should be off. I cannot tell you how relieved we were. It would be a long day and any chance of making it into the parks was gone but we were going. We boarded and were off about 1.30.

We were in a row of 3 with 2 behind. My husband had the 10 year old and I had the 4 yr and 8 yr old. We were near the front of economy. We love Virgin- having previous been with Thomas cook- the entertainment is much better and its nice to not have to pay extra for a drink/extra films. The flight was smooth. Food options were chicken in a mushroom sauce, mac n cheese or veg biryiani. I had pre-ordered the kids meals which were pasta as usual. 5 hrs in and both myself and 4 yr old were starting to struggle- he needed to sleep but was having none of it. The in seat USB was helpful for the kids tablets but only 2 of the 3 worked. Fine as we had the entire row but annoying if solo. The afternoon tea was pleasant but even the kids option was far to fussy for my kids.

We arrived but had a short delay while paramedics removed a sick passenger- God love him he looked rough. I hope he was okay. We had a relatively quiet immigration queue and baggage was smooth. The immigration chap even gave the kids some photos of dogs/Pugs- not really sure why but it was a nice thought.

We had a private transfer booked- we met the driver at the Virgin arrivals area. All easy. We made it to RPR in no time. Check in was quiet. It was about 7-8 pm local time. We were tired and hungry. We were in Tower 1 top floor with a pool view, which was stunning. The room has two queens but you can pay $25 dollars a night for a fold out bed, we decided to save the money and share.

All we managed was to drop our bags and grab some food at the resort. We tried the market place area -Tuk Tuk Market. This is a recent edition but has a limited menu- we had some cheese pizzas and chicken tenders to share - no fries unfortunately. We also picked up a resort refillable mug $19 dollar for length if stay- so we thought we should get value from it.


We had a pool view which was a nice surprise.

We then fell into bed.

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[Tinkermom]

Aww what a lovely surprise ❤️

[Ciano]

Long day ! But your there now. Hope you have all recovered and have a great holiday!

[mick]

Long day but glad you got there


Joan

[Jules32]

Phew what a relief you got there its an awful feeling isn't it, we had loads of things go wrong before our trip last year felt like we were never going to get there