Notices
Walt Disney World and Florida Trip Reports Trip Reports and Videos

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Old 15 Mar 19, 12:06 AM  
Link to this Post
#1
mermaidhair
Excited about Disney
 
Join Date: Apr 17
Mermaid Hair Don't Care - Austin and POFQ - August 2018 - Travel Day

Index is here

Pre-trip report is here

Hi everyone.

So I will start with a disclaimer - I'm afraid this is not going to be like the many incredible reports on here that have inspired me! I really didn't take detailed enough notes and I think I only photographed about 10% of the food. But I still wanted to write it to give back to you good folks on the Dibb that inspired our first family trip to WDW

The cast:
Me (Clare) - The planner
DH (Peter) - The reluctant one
DS1 (Sean) - 8yo - such an easygoing boy
DS2 (Luke) - 5yo - our wonderful little boy with additional needs

We were starting off with a week visiting my brother, his wife, their four kids and dog in Austin, Texas. Paul has lived there since I was 14 so I had visited several times before, but not since 2005 so this was the first time with hubby and the kids in tow.

Our flight with Norwegian was at 10:00 and we live about an hour and a half from Gatwick so we left at 5:30. The roads were nice and clear, even the M25, so we arrived on schedule at 7:00 and dropped our car off to the guy from ABC Meet and Greet outside the terminal.

The queue to check-in was fairly long but I kept the boys entertained with the Disney themed drinks I had bought, and then realised we wouldn't be able to take through security



Finally we got to the front. I did get some extra questioning as our return flight was on a separate booking, but it wasn't too much of a grilling!

We had debated getting one of the hidden disabilities lanyards for Luke, but bizarrely, the airport tends to be one of the places he copes amazingly well! When we went on holiday in 2017, I was horrified to discover he had been randomly selected to go through the full body scanner, and was sure he would kick off. But the next thing I knew he put his hands up like they showed him and seemed totally unfazed by the situation!

Security seemed to be going smoothly this time too, until DH's tray got pulled aside. He had one job in the packing and it was to sort out the over the counter medicines we were taking, and he had failed to notice the Piriton was 150ml - bye bye Piriton! Fortunately the boys didn't experience any prickly heat this holiday, which they can be prone to when we do our usual AI jaunts to Majorca etc.

Even with the slow progress through the airport, we had time for a sit down breakfast at Nandos. I don't have any photos but think we had:

Me: Sausage and Fried Egg Roll £5.95 plus Corny Browns £2.60 and a bottomless Coke Zero £2.80
Peter: The Nando's Breakfast £9.70 and a bottomless Coke Zero £2.80
Sean: Sausage Breakfast Roll £4.95 plus Corny Browns £2.60
Luke: (Did I mention he's very fussy yet!) Side order of Chicken Sausage £2.05

Total on the credit card statement is £31.20 (which doesn't add up, so maybe they've increased their prices since August )

This was very nice but Luke wouldn't touch the sausage because it looked different than he was used to. I think he had one of the many snacks from the bag, probably a croissant because he seems to be addicted to those. Think he was a Frenchman in another life! But Peter was panicking about him not having eaten so he also got a side order of chips to go £2.60.

As we were flying Norwegian with no drinks included we also spent £4.60 in Boots on a couple of large bottles of water and probably a couple of Pepsi Maxes as Peter and I are fizzy drink fiends (though currently off it for Lent!)

By this point the boards said our flight was boarding. I was pleased I'd made the decision to go to Austin first when I saw the MCO flight was delayed by about an hour (but spoiler alert, this may have been a premonition re the flight home!). So we started walking to the gate, I can't recall which number it was now but it seemed to be miles away, and I was starting to panic as Luke isn't the most enthusiastic walker so Peter and him were lagging behind.

Eventually we got there and they were boarding the flight from the back so with us being row 11 we still had plenty of time! Luke suddenly discovered some energy and started running along the rows of wooden seats - we figured it might tire him out so let him get on with it!



Sean looking forward to his first longhaul:


Finally it was our turn, and we were all very impressed with the new plane and the legroom - I was too late to get three seats at the bulkhead in row 11 but managed to get D for my tall husband and then the boys and I were in A, B and C across the aisle.

Luke settled in straight away and was glued to the IFE even before they turned it on properly



Family plane selfie:


In it for the long haul:


Looking at the time on this, which I'm pretty sure was taken before we took off, I guess we were a little behind schedule leaving. For the first few hours, things were going really well. Luke was mainly watching things on his tablet, as he hadn't really enjoyed the selection on the IFE, which was a bit limited for kids on Norwegian we thought. They did have some cute Disney games that he played for a while though. Sean ended up watching the Young Sheldon, which I'm not convinced was very suitable for him but hopefully any dirty jokes went over his head! At some point I decided to start watching Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri but I hadn't realised it had so much swearing in it, so in the plane version there was a lot of mother fudging, which made it a bit of a strange one to watch. Due to my competitive streak, I also enjoyed the quiz game where you could play against others on the plane. I haven't flown long haul for 10 years so never seen anything like that before!

We had given the boys some little gifts to unwrap - Sean had a Tsum Tsum blind pack and Luke had a selection of small Toy Story characters - I think it was Woody and Bullseye in the first one he opened. So this also kept Luke occupied.

When the food came Luke was having absolutely none of it, and didn't even want to look at it, so Peter ended up having to balance that as well as his beef, which was tricky as they are served on cardboard trays on Norwegian! I don't have a picture of Peter's but here is my Chicken and Quinoa:



This was small but very tasty. The pudding was really creamy and I enjoyed it - I think I may have ended up having two as Peter wouldn't have liked it (I wonder who Luke gets the fussiness from )

Sean's kids meal:


He enjoyed this.

At some point there was a meltdown from Luke, who ended up throwing his Disney Tsum Tsum sticker book violently and it landed a few rows behind. My DH had to give up his extra legroom seat to pacify him, which he did brilliantly as usual. We think Luke slept for a few hours but the rest of us didn't sleep at all.

I watched Eddie the Eagle while I was in Peter's seat, which I thought was really good. We also got our second "meal" of a chicken mayonnaise (I think!) roll, but I have no photo and let's just say it wasn't exactly memorable!

We landed more or less on schedule, and I was hoping Immigration would be a breeze as this is one of only three international flights into Austin. I didn't actually track exactly how long it took, but I found it a bit frustrating that we had to use the machines but then still see a person too! Though the lady was very nice, and understanding when we explained Luke didn't talk.

Finally we were through, and so pleased to see my sister-in-law and one of my nephews on the other side waiting for us. Off we went to their house, they've moved since my last visit and their new place is amazing. We couldn't wait to get out in the garden for some fresh air after all those hours flying, of course it was rather hot fresh air with it being Texas in August but the boys seemed to like it (though I have cut myself out of this as I didn't look the best after the flight!)



The other new addition to the family who we hadn't yet met is Paddington, their Golden Doodle. We are very mean parents and haven't given in to any demands for a dog yet, so the boys loved spending time with their furry cousin:



I think we managed to stay up until about 9pm, and went to sleep hoping Luke wouldn't be awake at 3 or worse!

Thanks for reading. The next post will just be a summary of our week in Austin, and I'll try to get that up in the next couple of days. Bye for now!

Week 1 is now up here!

Edited at 12:50 AM. Reason: Adding something
mermaidhair is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 16 Mar 19, 06:57 PM  
Link to this Post
#2
Cinderella
Imagineer
 
Cinderella's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 04
Cute dog!
Cinderella is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 16 Mar 19, 07:56 PM  
Link to this Post
#3
DISNEYLIZ
Imagineer
 
DISNEYLIZ's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 13
Great start to your trip, love the cute dog
DISNEYLIZ 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 08:28 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  $1.2302
Covent Garden FX  $1.2544
FAIRFX  $1.2350
John Lewis  $1.2380
M&S  $1.2178
Sainsburys  $1.2354
TESCO  $1.2364
Travelex  $1.2353
Updated: 07:00 29/03/2024
Euro Rates
ASDA  €1.1447
CaxtonFX  €1.1418
Covent Garden FX  €1.1526
FAIRFX  €1.1432
John Lewis  €1.1457
M&S  €1.1263
Sainsburys  €1.1440
TESCO  €1.1445
Travelex  €1.1435
Updated: 07:00 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