Notices
General Trip Reports Reports that don't fit in to the other categories

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Old 29 May 16, 02:46 PM  
Link to this Post
#1
miss_mouse
Imagineer
 
miss_mouse's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 12
American History Road Trip 2016 - Travel Day - Welcome to New York

Trip Report Index

NYC - DC- Virginia - Tennessee - Kentucky - Indiana - Illinois

Travel Day – Wednesday 23rd March 2016
"Welcome to New York"
…..sung in the style of Taylor!

Just to start, I'm Lisa - the planner and reporter. Ade is my hubby and he's our driver and there's Hollie who is 16 and Louis is 14.



My day started at 23.50pm with Louis shouting out ‘’Mum I need a drink’’.

As much as Louis has changed so much since the last trip, some things never change with that child.

I jumped out of bed with a fright. I hate that feeling of suddenly hearing shouting out in the night. But on the plus side I’d felt like I’d had a whole nights sleep already.

Up again at 3am with Ade coughing and wandering around….no doubt looking for something to help with the coughing…..a thing or 2 came to mind at that time of the morning!

And finally the alarm went off at 4am and surprisingly we got up very easily.
I would like to say due to holiday excitement, but I’d be lying. It was still going through my head ‘‘What on earth are we doing? ’’.

Hollie was up and in the shower with no problems getting up and we woke Louis at 4.20am and that was pretty easy too.
Everyone up and getting sorted.

We’d left all the bags in the lounge packed the night before so we were ready to go.

Our taxi arrived at 4.50am, 10 mins early.
He’s my inlaws neighbor. Ade has always known him.
Ade took all the bags out whilst I washed around the bathrooms ready to leave.

We were in the taxi at 5.05am.
So far so good!
We are only about 30 mins from Heathrow, but with all the roadworks going on, on the m3, we decided to leave with plenty of time. We hate stressing.

The taxi cost was £95 return and we left him a nice tip.
It was a lovely new Mercedes of some sorts and plenty of room.
The M3 was slow and we arrived at 5.45am outside Terminal 3.
Ade and I were feeling so anxious.
We kept giving each other reassuring looks.
It doesn’t help when Louis had been telling us for weeks and weeks that he had a bad feeling about this trip. He just had a feeling something was going to happen on the flight.
Thanks Louis!

We walked in to a very empty looking terminal.
Virgin are on the left side of Terminal 3 as you arrive, so they were very easy to find.
There didn’t seem to be any check in desks, only self check in terminals and the bag drop area.



At 5.50am we were queuing to drop off our bags.
There were lots of staff on so this was very quick and easy.

We’d wondered if there would be queues up at security, as we’ve never had that problem in Gatwick, but it was also empty and we went on straight through.

Hollie and I sailed through.
It was Louis that got stopped today.
All was forgiven though when they looked to Hollie and I and asked for a parent. They thought the 3 of us were siblings. Made my day!


It was just a random check and they swabbed his shoes.
Ade came through next.
He has very many pockets, he’s abit like Inspector Gadget and usually forgets something in one pocket. It’s a nightmare travelling with him.
Today he accidently left his inhaler in one of his very many pockets and got the full search being told ‘This is what happens when you don’t empty your pockets! ’’.

All set and off we went, briefly stopping for Ade to ‘sample’ some whiskey.
He offered me too, but there was no way I could stomach anything, my tummy was in knots.
I just wish I could relax when we travel.

We headed to WHSmiths. We spent £15 on drinks and treats for the flight.
Ade changed his mind just as I was paying at the self serve machine and hurried back to swap from Pepsi to Dr Pepper. It’s a good job that wasn’t one of the kids changing their minds!

We checked the large map in the terminal and found the No 1 Lounge that we’d booked.
Thankfully it wasn’t far at all.
Ade has a lounge access card from one of his bank accounts. We tried to use it in Gatwick last time and didn’t think to book a head and it was full.
So this time we reserved it. It cost £5 each to reserve but was still so much cheaper than having to pay for breakfast. It usually would cost £36 each, so £144 for all of us.
There’s no way I would have paid that as nice as it was.

There was a nice table in the corner by a window reserved for us and it was still quite quiet at 6.45am, but did get quite busy later.

The loos were nice, but there were only 2 for the ladies.



Loo selfie!



There was a menu on the table. You could help yourself to as much from the buffet as you liked and 1 hot item was included per person, but you could pay for more if you wanted.



Our table was near to the buffet. This was taken from my seat.

There were croissants, mini muffins, pastries, cheese and crackers, cereals, yoghurts, fruits, juices and hot drinks.



The lounge was nice. There was a cinema room near the loos.



Ade was the only one who ordered hot food.
He had a bacon roll which was made to order.
The kids just had pastries and juice.



I forced some tea, juice and a mini muffin, but was feeling so sick still.



We had a nice view from where we were.





I was whatsapping with my Flo Friends group.
Our little Dibb whatsapp group. I love these girls so much!

Spoke to Mum who asked the strangest thing.
‘’Please ask Hollie to take some photos of the American Fashion’’.
Really Mum? !
Made us giggle anyway.

The lounge was starting to fill up now.
There were a couple of very strict families around us.

Therer was a family that looked Indian at the end of where we were.
She was telling her kids off lots. They were only little.
The little boy who looked only about 4/5 and got laid in to as he asked to get down from the table and the mother made him rephrase it to ‘’Please may I leave the table’’.
I’m the first one to correct mine on manners but the Mum seemed so angry and her kids were so well behaved.

The worst was the French family that sat behind us. They were speaking English, but again very very strict. They were all immaculately dressed. The girls looked around 6 and the other 2/3yrs. Again so well behaved, but kept being shouted at.
The little one got really shouted at and smacked as she got croissant crumbs on the table.
Made me feel so sad and uneasy.

Our gate came up on the screen and we left at 7.50am
An hour was enough in there.

We headed straight for gate 17.
It’s funny I worked for years at Heathrow for Lufthansa. When I first started I was just 20 and I started on 4 hour shifts. We used to go over to T3 to meet our United codeshare flights and assist passengers on to the connecting Lufthansa flights. Making sure they knew where they were going etc… It was so much fun and often we would have an hour or so between flights so we’d have breakfast in the departure lounge, but I wouldn’t have recognized the place now.
It’s all changed so much.

Anyway….gate 17 was empty…..just how we like it. Passengers were walking straight on to the flight….just how we like it too.
The Virgin staff at the gate were lovely and chatty. Said the flight was over booked when Ade asked if it was busy.
There were no further security checks in the gate room. We just walked straight on to the flight which was also pretty empty.



8.05am and we were in our seats with 40 mins left.
But we like it this way.
We’d booked extra leg room seats as we like these.
They were £40 each per flight.
It was an Airbus A340 and we had rows 33/34kh by the window.
It was just inside the economy section and felt very specious.



See, lots of space.

The captain came on and said that the flight was only expected to take 7.20 mins and it was due to be sunny and 20c in New York. Yay!



Hollie dosed up.
Not only does she duffer with glue ear, but she was full of cold.
She took sudofed, sucked sweets, stuck her ear plugs in and sniffed vicks which really helped.

Once on the plane, Ade and I relax and start to enjoy it.
I think it’s just the build up we hate.

During the flight Louis watched Vacation. He was giggling away.
I watched Modern Family.
Ade & Hollie had problems with their screens.



So they got lent ipads to use which were much better.
Better quality and more choices too.



Tea/drinks and pretzels were soon bought around.
I carried on with my trippie….see my trippie cupcake note book.

Hollie and I swapped after a while, so she could sit with Louis and I could sit with Ade for a while.



I was really impressed with the legroom at the side and space down the side of the seat for pillows and crap!
It was a good seat!
I took a big cozy pashmina for the flight. It was so much nicer than the crappy Virgin blanket cover that makes everything static.

Hollie needed a wee, so I offered to go with her. She was bursting by this point as the seat belt signs had been on for quite some time. It was a little bumpy for a very short while and then I think the captain had forgotten to turn them off again.

A Dad and small child went in just before Hollie.
We waited and waited.
There was one loo on one side of the aisle and one on the other. 2 people had come out of the other side by now (not together).
She ended up giving up waiting and went in the other.
The food trolley was now serving lunch so we had to wait.
Ade stood up signaling to me to ask what Hollie and I wanted so he could grab our meals.
I was signaling a ‘c’ for chicken with my index finger and thumb.
I think the guy a couple of rows in front of Ade who was also stood up and oblivious to Ade behind him was wondering what he’d done to upset me. Me giving him a ‘c’. He looked very confused. Poor guy!


Finally the trolley passed and we sat down to lunch.





I didn’t really feel hungry.
It was chicken in mustard with mash, broccoli and then bit that looked like pear was suede I think.
It tasted good and I ate a little.



Ade went for the pasta and meatballs which he enjoyed, but didn’t eat much, but he did like his Bousin and crackers.

Louis hardly ate anything, but he never does when he flies.
And Hollie just picked.
I gave my salted caramel Gu pud to Hollie.



Ade watched the lastest Starwars…again….I carried on with my trippie and read the Heat mag that I’d picked up in the Terminal. The only time I ever pick up a magazine.



The lollies came around.
I still couldn’t eat anything. But Ade loved his.

Hollie wanted to swap again, she was missing her roomier seat.

I sat with Louis again and watched ‘Vacation’.
It was such a funny movie, I could totally see why Louis had been laughing to himself. I so want to buy this when out comes out. I loved the links with ‘National Lampoons Vacation’. The theme song totally became the theme of our roadtrip as we’d added that to our car play list.

Louis watched Jurassic World, a favourite of his and Hollie watched The Intern which she also loves.

Afternoon tea came around. Wraps.



I went for chicken, bacon and sweet chili. They were nice.
Ade went for the tomato and peppers which he also said was good. The kids didn’t want any.
I think the brownies got passed to Ade.



The flight went by so fast, I loved looking at the map seeing how far we’d travelled and on this one we could see our whole road trip which lay ahead of us.



The landing was rather eventful.



I was excited for the kids to see the NYC Skyline.

There was a baby crying like crazy and another person close by throwing their guts up over and over and over really loudly. I kept talking to Louis about the skyline and pointing things out hoping he wouldn’t hear the vom.
And behind us Hollie was in complete pain.



She started like this sniffing on her stuff and ended up holding her head in her hands on her lap not knowing what to do with herself. I completely forgot to give her the decongestants. I felt so bad.
We remembered on the flights on the way back and never had the problem again. So we would highly recommend Sudofed in future to anyone who suffers.

After all that we landed 30 mins early.

We were near the front of economy so off nice and fast.

Holding our breaths not knowing what to expect of the immigration hall……we were welcomed to JFK with no one in immigration.

A lovely big sunny clean hall with lots of immigration officers and we walked straight up to one with no problems and no wait.
Totally unexpected.
The officer was friendly and welcoming and that’s how we found the rest of NYC to be. Friendly and welcoming. It was a great start.

We waited for our luggage next. Our’s was the only flight in the baggage hall. We didn’t have to wait too long.
We went to the loos next.
They were lovely and clean and even smelt nice as you entered.
The boys said that theirs were the same.
We walked out with our luggage to a very empty terminal.

I’d already booked the shared taxi to the hotel through Attractions Ticket Direct. It was £12 each.
I knew it was a shared van, but I was worried about:

1. There being a queue for the yellow NYC taxi.
The last time I was in NY the taxi queue was huge and I’ve read about that on MB’s too.

2. I was worried about the 4 of us with luggage fitting in the one cab.

So this seemed like the most sensible option.

I’d read when booking the tickets that the shared shuttles come every 10 mins and obviously drop guests off at their various Manhattan hotels.
The ‘Ground Transportation’ desk was right in front as you enter the terminal, so very easy to find. I showed the guy our tickets and he told us to take a seat, the taxi would be about 30 mins.



I felt really disappointed at this stage as the terminal was empty and no one was outside by the taxi bay.
It was just a wall of yellow cabs all waiting for passengers. Typical.

And things have changed since my 1990’s trip….long gone are the ‘town car’ yellow cabs, they are now a variety of styles and sizes.
I think we would have been fine.

We sat still though and Ade spotted an AT&T.
We had signed up for a month with ‘3’ to get the over seas phone and also the internet. But he went to see what their prices were. He came back with unlimited calls/texts and internet for just $85.
We thought this was well worth it. With us doing a long roadtrip in a few days, it was peace of mind not having to worry about using all of our data before the trip. We wanted to use google maps whilst out and about.



The terminal was really nice. Very light and airy….and did I mention EMPTY!



Just before the 30mins was up, a little rather chubby Asian lady came over to us and we showed her our tickets.
2 Students were also following her now.
She was very speedy and soon off and we had to grab our bags and speed off to catch up with her.

We literally just went out of the terminal and crossed the road and the beat up old van was there.
There were a couple of older couples already in there waiting.
We piled our luggage in the back and the kids and I sat in the back row and Ade just infront of us.
He was offered to sit in the front, but she had so much crap in there and it just looked grubby.

The van was very dirty and shabby.
Duct tape holding in the air vents and other various parts.



Hollie really wasn’t happy.

The drive started out ok. It was fun seeing the boroughs and where people lived.


(spot the yellow tape in the back).

We then started the drive in to Manhattan feeling very excited.



It was arriving in Manhattan when the drive got yukky.
It was interesting seeing the Harlem area.
It’s not an area we would have otherwise ventured in to. (or would ever choose to venture in to again)
We dropped the first couple off here.

The traffic was super crazy as you could probably imagine.
Just what you would expect from NYC.
Our taxi driver fitted in very well.

The next couple were dropped off further down in to Harlem.
The traffic was crazy and she literally just pulled over blocking everyone. She was shouting at the couple with her thick Oriental accent where there hotel was and where they were to go.
In the mean time traffic was trying to get buy and beeping their horns.
Louis turned around to see this face of a huge truck in the back window and said ‘’OMG It’s Ice Road Truckers!’’.

The kids were quiet and really not enjoying this.
We carried on the drive and got to 60th st and were thinking not too much longer now. (We were 49th Street). But we drove west and right to the Hudson River and started up North again in the opposite direction of where we were staying. Whilst this was happening she was taking a call from her office about picking up someone else and we were thinking ‘please no’. She was shouting at them. It wasn’t a great journey.

She told us she was taking us on a tour and we would see the Hudson.
I was feeling so bad as I’d booked this taxi (after reading great reviews) and was wishing we’d just hopped in a cab knowing we would have arrived by now and would be enjoying the sunny afternoon.

We got chatting with the 2 students in the van. They’d been to Africa doing some missionary work whilst on their final uni year. They’d just flown from Africa to London and on to NYC.

We dropped off one girl and then continued up further North and dropped the other off. They must have been so tired.

We finally headed back along the Hudson and finally south. The whole time praying that we wouldn’t be picking anyone else up.
This driver was completely bonkers, very eratic and very shouty.
Hollie says this was the down point of the trip for her.

We finally turned left and started heading towards the Times Square area and it all started looking familiar now.



I’d spent so long on google maps I knew all the surrounding areas now.
We were so happy when we finally pulled up outside the hotel….1.30mins after leaving the airport.



Ade had already decided that he didn’t like New York and made no effort to hide it.
Whereas Louis who didn’t really want to come stepped outside the taxi and just looked up and around and said ‘Wow! It’s Big’’.
What’s Big I asked. ‘’New York’’ he said.

He was in total awe. He couldn’t get over the height of all the buildings. He was totally struck by the city from that moment on.

We tipped the taxi driver for not killing us and stepped up to the Radio City Apartments.



On first sight we were really pleased.
We were just off Times Square one end of the street (Super Dry was at the end of the street if you know the area) and at the end of the other end of the street was Radio City on the other side of the road.

I found this place on Trip Advisor. I knew it needed updating but I liked it for the fact that it was an apartment and the location looked great (which it was).



The staff were lovely (at all times).
We checked in very easily.
I had 2 bookings as I’d added on an extra night, but we could stay in the same room.
I asked about booking a taxi in the morning to take us down to the financial district, but he told us to save our money and take the subway as it’s so easy and was on the same street as the hotel.
He got a map and showed me and let me keep the map.
He was really helpful.

We were on floor 5.
We took the elevator up.
It was an old hotel and reminded us of ‘Tower of Terror’.


Our room.

We were going in with very open minds.
All the reviews we had read were very positive, but like I said we knew it needed updating. We went in and were really pleased.

As you entered the room, there was a room on the left with 2 queen beds. There were cupboards and a flat screen TV on the wall.



Opposite the front door of the apartment was the bathroom.



Deep bath and a really powerful shower with the softest water.
I had the best hair and the softest skin here.
We also had loads of very fluffy big towels and lots of toiletries.



Then on the left was a nice size living room.
The sofa was a sofa bed, so the kids had a bed each and some space from each other.
Facing the sofa bed was another flat screen tv.



The tv was all on demand which the kids loved. We did have some down time during the trip and it was great that they could put on Modern Family and other favourites and just watch.
We were really impressed.



There was a table and chairs in the corner and a kitchenette too.
It was handy having a full size fridge.

Yes, it may not be 5* looking but it was spotless.
We really couldn’t fault this place the whole time we were here.
And here was our view.



We didn’t stick around for long as we wanted to get out and explore.
We took photos and left.


Cont...
__________________
Lisa xx

@adeandlisadodisney

All of my Trip Reports...Here!

Edited at 03:07 PM.
miss_mouse is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 29 May 16, 02:47 PM  
Link to this Post
#2
miss_mouse
Thread Starter
Imagineer
 
miss_mouse's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 12
Cont...



See what I mean about ‘Tower of Terror’.



It was 4.10pm and it was almost 20c outside right now.
We wanted to make the most out of it and were all gearing to go.
We grabbed our TOTR tickets and thought we’d try and go up there.



This was taken just outside our hotel walking away from Times Square.
I really liked the street we were on. It felt very clean. We had a pizzeria and a really nice deli next to us. The pizzeria always played 50’s music which was great to hear as we left or arrived at the hotel. Was a lovely feel.

This was taken at the end our our street.



We easily found the ticket office for the TOTR, although we’d already paid for our tickets, you still have to book. The next available tickets weren’t until 7.30pm. We thought that was too late really as we wanted the views in the day. So we booked for 5pm the following day instead.

We had a wander around the Rockefella Center (where the TOTR) is located.
It‘s like a rabbit warren inside this place. So confusing.
We wanted to find our way out near the ice rink. We could see it, but couldn’t find it. We ended up asking someone.



And finally found it.







The lego store was on the other side so we stopped in there too.



Ade picked up an I LOVE NYC lego Keyring and another keyring too.

We decided to walk in the direction of Times Square and go to the Hard Rock Café for dinner as I’d bought dinner tickets.





It was now 5.15pm.



We walked down 5th Avenue down to 42nd Street.
The Whole time behind this huge group of kids all wearing Black T shirts/tops. It was very handy as the traffic always stopped for them as there was so many of them which made our walk much easier.
It was quite funny as Louis was also in black and looked like he was part of them.

And in to Times Square.



We laughed seeing a Minion and Woody……they came over and started hugging Louis.
We laughed more…



They actioned us to take photos.



We carried on laughing….



Then they wanted Ade in the photos too, which made Hollie and I laugh even more….
Then Woody flipped a piece of card asking for a tip……they had the last laugh!

Bloody cheek. We handed Woody $1 and the cheeky Minion tried to get in on the flipping and tipping and I think at this point Ade felt like flipping something too… his finger…..instead we said No and walked off.

Last time we fell for that one. In all fairness though, it was a laugh and we do still laugh about it now, just so cheeky!



We saw Hard Rock over the Road.



Times Square was looking rather beautiful.



So the Hard Rock Hotel.
We don’t have a great track record with Hard Rock. Our previous time in Orlando, we had one night at the hotel in Universal. The kids were so excited to to eat in the Hard Rock Café. But Unfortunately I came down with the most awful migraine in the afternoon and we think Ade’s was heat stroke. Either way, we were room bound. He hogged the bathroom whilst I chundered in the sink outside the bathroom whilst the kids had to sit in the bed and watch tv. Really not the way we had planned our one night at the Hard Rock.
We did try and venture out to the Hard Rock Café at night, but we couldn’t be near food or noise. Thankfully the staff kindly bought the kid’s burgers outside to them.
So today we were hoping for a much better experience.

I’d pre bought dinner cards for Hard Rock Café from Attractions Limited Direct. They were £15 each. They looked like credit cards and could be used in any of the US Hard Rocks by the looks. All the cities were printed on the back.

It was a set menu which we knew already.
You could choose from a regular or cheese burger, pulled pork burger, pasta or a chicken Caesar salad. It also came with a soft drink and cookies after. To be honest, the mains are what we would always go for anyway. So this suited us really well.
The big selling point for me was that it was priority seating. You receive the next available table.

The current table wait time was 1 ½ - 2 hrs, so this worked really well for us. We were really pleased.
We were given a buzzer and went off to explore a little. We thought about getting a drink at the bar, so we went in to the restaurant area. It was nice in there but really busy. There was nothing free around the bar at all. We walked back out to the checkin point and went in to the restaurant area on the other side. It just felt like a hall with a load of tables in there. Like an over flow. There were lots of spare tables in here. Our buzzer then went off. We’d only been waiting around 10 mins.

We got taken to or table which was naturally in the ‘overflow’.
In hindsight we should have asked to wait to sit in the main part of the restaurant, but we were tired and were just happy to be seated so quickly. I could see that Hollie was really disappointed though.



There was just no atmosphere in this part. We could hear the music, but it was from the main restaurant. There were plastic table clothes and it just had that echoey hall like feeling. There was a big stage in there which a huge school like group came in and sat at. The stage was covered with tables.

Our server came out and took our drinks order. The kids went for their favourite US drink, pink lemonade and we both had buds.

We ordered and our food came out. We didn’t wait very long.



Ade went for cheeseburger.



Hollie's bacon & cheeseburger.



Louis pulled pork burger.



And I had the chicken caesar salad.



The food was really good. No complaints at all and just what we all needed. The bud seemed like the best bud I’d ever had. You can’t beat ice cold bud. I think I just needed it.

Service was as cold as the beer unfortunately.
It was just food placed on the table.
When we wanted to pay the staff were all chatting and we had to try and catch their attention.



We just left a $10 tip.
We were given the box of cookies to take away in a Hard Rock Box which was quite sweet in a Hard Rock Bag.

We left the restaurant hall and went and had a nosey around.



There was some cool stuff to see.



We’d been looking forward to the Hard Rock store. We’d bought Hollie a T Shirt in the Orlando store before But Louis was far too small for the T Shirts and the kiddie ones just weren’t the same.
There were quite a few to choose from. The boys ended up picking the same without realising.
Hollie didn’t want one this time.

We paid and as we had the dinner cards, you also got a free gift when you spent over $25. So we paid individually to get one each. The T Shirts were $31.50 each.
The choice of gifts was a Hard Rock luggage label or drawstring bag (like PE/swim bag). We went for one of each.

The wall behind the till was cool.



We’d spotted Walgreens in Times Square as we’d arrived at the Hard Rock, so decided to pop in there next to get some drinks and milk for the apartment. I’d also wondered about picking up a cheap hairdryer so that Hollie and I had one each for the trip.

There were no hairdryers, but we did get bottles of water, milk, the boys chose pots of cereals and we also got some soft drinks.

As we came out of walgreens one of the funniest moments of the trip happened.

The 3 of us were out of the store.
To exit it was a slow revolving door.
Just large enough for one person to exit at a time.
The kids and I came out and turned around to look for Ade who was missing.
He was stuck in the revolving door, bent partially over putting something in one of his many pockets in his combat style trousers and was being spooned by a little Chinese lady.
Apparently he hopped in and she suddenly joined him in the little space which caused the door to stop and they were stuck in their spooning together.

The kids and I were doubled up laughing. It just looked so funny and became the joke for quite some time.
Ade spooning with the Chinese lady!

Times Square was buzzing and we wandered and popped in and out of some stores.
We left Hollie is Sephora….in her own little make up world.



And we popped next door in to Starbucks.
It felt really good not having to worry about keeping a close eye on the kids anymore now that they are older. I like this more relaxed feel.

So starbucks……. We had one item only that we were hinting for….



I am here mug….NYC

First one of the trip ticked off the list.

We went back to Hollie she was very happy. She ended up buying an Anastasia Beverley Hills Contour Kit $40 plus some particular sponges that she was after.
She’d come away with a very precise shopping list.
She had planned well.

The sun was setting on Times Square now. It was so busy.



But it was a fun atmosphere.



We walked back to our hotel.

We were so pleased where our hotel was located. Right on Times Square would have been too busy for us.
Some of the streets coming off where abit…



But our’s, 49th Street was really nice. We were really happy.

This was our view from our room at night.



We had showers and the kids took baths.
The water took a while to get hot, but we soon learnt that as it was an older building you just had to let it run for a few minutes before. But there was plenty of hot water for us all and the shower was really powerful and the water was so soft. I had the best hair ever. I loved it and our skin all felt so soft too.

The only problem was that the water was white. We decided not to risk it in the kettle. We later found out from Dad that it was probably water softener that was added.

We got everything unpacked that needed to be unpacked for this mini break and everything all laid out early for tomorrow as we were wanting to be out the door for 7am as we had Liberty passes for 9am.
We were hoping that our jetlagged body clocks would have us up early.

We were all in bed by 9pm.

It has been a very easy travel day and we felt like we’d done so much already.

On a side note, I did follow up with attractions re the shuttle.
I started by leaving a review on their site about our experience. But it never got posted. But 5* comments were going up after mine.
We have used this company many many times now and their service is excellent and the staff are so lovely on the phone. I could see that the reviews are monitored by a third party, so I called up last week.
I was asked to email, which I did and I also included some photos of the shuttle where you could see the duct tape and the mess in the front of the vehicle.
I was so impressed with the response. I had an email within minutes. A phone call from a manager later that day. He was so lovely. He said he would expect the shuttles to be immaculate. He was taking it up with the company in NYC. A couple of days later he called again. I was given a partial refund which I never had expected and also copied me in on the email response from the shuttle company. The shuttles are owned by the drivers and so get inspected. Apparently hers’ had been pulled up that day and made to undergo repairs. They also addressed the driver and said that due to the email, so was pulled from driving to undergo more training.

I was so shocked, but also impressed. Hopefully others won’t have that start to their trip now.
Well done Attractions Limited. Great service once again!
__________________
Lisa xx

@adeandlisadodisney

All of my Trip Reports...Here!

Edited at 03:09 PM.
miss_mouse is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 29 May 16, 03:32 PM  
Link to this Post
#3
JoJo88
VIP Dibber
 
Join Date: Jul 08
What a lovely smooth travel day Lisa, well, apart from the shuttle bus

I'm laughing at Ade being spooned, that's the sort of thing you can easily forget over time but somehow I doubt you'll ever let Ade forget it, especially now it's in writing!

Sorry that poor Hollie was suffering, hope she felt better soon

Lovely report Lisa, looking forward to more xxx
JoJo88 is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 29 May 16, 03:42 PM  
Link to this Post
#4
miss_mouse
Thread Starter
Imagineer
 
miss_mouse's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 12
Originally Posted by JoJo88 View Post
What a lovely smooth travel day Lisa, well, apart from the shuttle bus

I'm laughing at Ade being spooned, that's the sort of thing you can easily forget over time but somehow I doubt you'll ever let Ade forget it, especially now it's in writing!

Sorry that poor Hollie was suffering, hope she felt better soon

Lovely report Lisa, looking forward to more xxx

Hiya jojo

Everytime I think of Ade spooning, I get the giggles

Hollie was good thanks. If only she would get grommits fitted :angry:

Chat soon xxx
__________________
Lisa xx

@adeandlisadodisney

All of my Trip Reports...Here!
miss_mouse is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 29 May 16, 05:37 PM  
Link to this Post
#5
Mortimer Mouse
Imagineer
 
Join Date: May 10

Mortimer Mouse's Reviews
Hotel Reviews: 1
Restaurant Reviews: 6
What a great travel day. You did well to stay up for so long. I considered the Radio City Apts for our trip (family of 5), but in the end went for the Salisbury hotel as it was cheaper. Good to know that there is a reasonable alternative to the usual 2 double beds/one room set-up.

Great to have so much info and fab photos in your report. Thanks for posting.
Mortimer Mouse is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 29 May 16, 06:39 PM  
Link to this Post
#6
miss_mouse
Thread Starter
Imagineer
 
miss_mouse's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 12
Originally Posted by Mortimer Mouse View Post
What a great travel day. You did well to stay up for so long. I considered the Radio City Apts for our trip (family of 5), but in the end went for the Salisbury hotel as it was cheaper. Good to know that there is a reasonable alternative to the usual 2 double beds/one room set-up.

Great to have so much info and fab photos in your report. Thanks for posting.
Hi,

It's tricky isn't it?! This worked so well for us. I wouldn't feel happy the kids staying in a different room from us, so this was the perfect set up.

Looks like you are off again very soon.
Have a great time.
__________________
Lisa xx

@adeandlisadodisney

All of my Trip Reports...Here!
miss_mouse is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 29 May 16, 07:45 PM  
Link to this Post
#7
4holibobs
VIP Dibber
 
4holibobs's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 14
Thanks for the tip on pre-booking airport lounge, we also have the cards via our bank account so I have pre-booked for our upcoming trip.

I loved your last trippie and I'm so looking forward to this one!

Thanks for taking the time to write it up 😀
4holibobs is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 29 May 16, 07:46 PM  
Link to this Post
#8
miss_mouse
Thread Starter
Imagineer
 
miss_mouse's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 12
Originally Posted by 4holibobs View Post
Thanks for the tip on pre-booking airport lounge, we also have the cards via our bank account so I have pre-booked for our upcoming trip.

I loved your last trippie and I'm so looking forward to this one!

Thanks for taking the time to write it up 😀
Hi

You are so welcome.
I'm glad it helped.
It had never occurred to me before.

Thanks for reading and good luck with your trip x
__________________
Lisa xx

@adeandlisadodisney

All of my Trip Reports...Here!
miss_mouse is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 29 May 16, 09:25 PM  
Link to this Post
#9
disneylover
Imagineer
 
disneylover's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 08
Us dibb girls love you too! Great travel day apart from the shuttle and its great that you've followed that up so that others won't have that awful experience again. I'm absolutely cracking up at Ade getting spooned in the revolving door. Poor Ade! Your hotel looks to be in a great location .
__________________
disneylover is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 29 May 16, 09:30 PM  
Link to this Post
#10
christybell
Imagineer
 
christybell's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 08
Great review, love the look of the apartment and location
__________________

July 2009 ASM/TI/Hmew'd Suites
August 2010 OKW/Dibb villa
July2011 OKW/RPR/Cocoa Beach/Dibb Villa
July 2012 RPR/Carnival Destiny/Dibb Villa
July 2013 OKW/Anna Maria Island/Dibb Villa
Nov 2013 Sunset Lakes- my 40th Birthday
April 2014 Cruise and Villa
April 2015 Clearwater/RPR/Dibb Villa
Dec 2015 Dibb Villa to see the Xmas lights
July 2016 RPR/Cruise/Dibb villa
christybell 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 11:10 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
One of the the five worlds found in Epic Universe, How to Train Your Dragon... Read More »
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 »


theDIBB Menu


Exchange Rates
US Dollar Rates
ASDA  $1.2354
CaxtonFX  $1.2298
Covent Garden FX  $1.2494
FAIRFX  $1.2365
John Lewis  $1.2398
M&S  $1.2191
Sainsburys  $1.2351
TESCO  $1.2364
Travelex  $1.2361
Updated: 10:00 29/03/2024
Euro Rates
ASDA  €1.1447
CaxtonFX  €1.1407
Covent Garden FX  €1.1521
FAIRFX  €1.1468
John Lewis  €1.1477
M&S  €1.1289
Sainsburys  €1.1440
TESCO  €1.1445
Travelex  €1.1469
Updated: 10:00 29/03/2024

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