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17 Feb 20, 08:40 PM |
#1
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VIP Dibber
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Another Birthday Trip, Oct 2019 - Day 1, Travel Day, From Gatwick to Orlando
The previous day is HERE.
Thursday 3 October 2019 Another rubbish nights sleep for me and I was awake at 4am. I tried but could not get back to sleep. Phil woke around 5am and also couldn't get back to sleep. I was on my phone, playing Disney emoji blitz and checking emails, catching up on social media, etc. Madison and Kaley woke just after 6am Phil and I got up, showered, dressed, etc. and I headed down to the Costa in the hotel at 6.55am. I didn't realise until I got down there that they were open 24 hours. If I'd known that, I'd have gone down ages ago. No photos but I got two portions of toast (£2.40 for the two), two cups of water, a tea (£2.10) and a medium Americano (£2.40). Total cost £6.90. Annoyingly, I had loads of points on my Costa card but their system was down so I couldn't use them. Just as I had all my stuff, I saw Ryan, Bethany, Piper and Cody. They had paid for the meal deal and were on the earlier BA flight so were having an early breakfast. I went into the restaurant with them and talked for a bit with them and Mum and Dad, who were already sat down. We wished each other good, safe flights then I headed back up to our room. Phil, Madison and Kaley shared the toast and Phil and I had our drinks. Madison and Kaley got dressed and I did their hair Kaley decided to relax a bit more We packed up the last few bits and made sure we had everything we needed to get out of the hand luggage cases in the same place and easy to get to. We checked we hadn't left anything and Phil took some photos of the room We wanted to have a wander round the shops in the airport before we went in the My Lounge so left the room at 8.20am. This hotel is so convenient, just across the road and up the travelator thing and you're there. We went up the escalator to the second floor We had complimentary premium security with our lounge booking so went straight there. This was so quick, we were through in less than 5 minutes. We had a slow wander through the duty free shop. I was very tempted by the GHD Glide but decided I didn’t really need it so moved on. We did get some Dior Sauvage aftershave for Phil, £60.45 for 100ml. We had a wander around the shops we wanted to look in and I got a Lime, Basil and Mandarin cologne from Jo Malone. £37.60 for 30ml. Madison and Kaley had some airport money to spend so of course wanted everything they saw. They finally settled on some bits they wanted so we said we would come back before we went to the lounge, rather than carrying it around with us. We headed towards where the lounges were so we could watch some planes for a bit. I was feeling a bit funny so went upstairs to Pret to get a ham, bacon, tomato and cheese croissant, £2.35. We watched the planes for a bit longer then went back to WH Smith so the girls could buy what they wanted. Madison got two M&M chocolate bars and a magazine and Kaley got a mint Oreo chocolate bar and a magazine. I don't have their receipts so not sure how much these cost. I wasn't convinced Kaley was going to eat the food on the plane so we got a meal deal for her; ham and cheese sandwich, cheese and onion crisps and a large water (£3.99 meal deal). We also got a pack of cheese Doritios (£1.29), a 4-pack of Mentos (£2.00, so annoyed I hadn't thought to get these from Poundland before we came ), Good Food magazine for me (£4.60) and a space magazine (£9.99) for Phil, total cost £21.87. It was just after 10am by now so went to My Lounge. There was no staff member there when we arrived so waited around then started to walk further in when someone came round the corner. He checked our paperwork, then we had a look to see where we wanted to sit. There were two sofas and a table by the entrance so we sat there. It wasn't the biggest of lounges and was quite busy. There was one area at the back left of the room that looked nice and cosy but had a reserved sign in - the entire time we were in there no one came to use it so no idea when the people it was reserved for were flying. The PlayStation was also broken so the girls couldn't play on that. Some photos of the lounge Photos of the food and drinks areas Where we were sat We got settled and looked at the menu We had a bit of food, I had an apple juice and tea, some porridge with sugar and some of the frittata and pulled pork with beans. This was ok, not amazing but not bad either. Phil had similar to what I had and Madison and Kaley had some pancakes and doughnuts. They didn't have enough staff in here - the pancake mix ran out and it took ages for it to be replenished. I had the last of the apple juice and the whole time we were there it wasn't replaced. The person on the welcome desk/entrance constantly kept going out the back so people either stood waiting to come in, or is some cases, just walked in and sat down anyway. Quite soon after we were in there, they were turning people away as it was full, unless they had a paid reservation. Some people argued with him over this and there was one particularly horrible 60 ish aged woman who had come in when the staff member wasn't there, sat down and then kicked up such a fuss when she was asked to leave. She argued with him, demanded to see the manager, didn't like what he had to say so argued some more then stood outside the door for almost 15 minutes to make sure the staff weren't letting anyone in without a reservation. She really was an unpleasant lady and was quite obviously used to getting her own way. There was also a man, also 60 ish, who had tried to come in and been told he couldn't. He asked the guy if he could just get himself a beer and then go! He was told no but he must have came back to try and get in four or five times. In all honesty, it wasn't a nice experience being sat where we were and we wouldn't use this lounge again. At around 11.30am, the lunch-type food came out - wedges, nachos, accompaniments, etc. I got some wedges, nachos and hummus This tasted good, I wasn't hungry but felt I needed to have something as we had paid to go in. We sat talking, trying to ignore the people complaining at not being able to come in, and sorted through the hand luggage again. We had Phil's camera bag in one of the cabin cases and didn't want to have to open this on the flight so made sure what we didn't need was in this case and what we wanted out was in the other. CONTINUED IN NEXT POST
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MY TRIP AND DINING REPORTS - July 2023 Ten (Not So) Little Ones Take the Adults ~~ Onsite/Offsite Dining Report - July 2023 - 4 people - £168 budget per day plus tips ~~ Another Birthday Trip, October 2019 ~~ The Land, Sea and Wedding Trip Report, October 2015 ~~. Sept / Oct 2013 Five Little Ones Take the Adults IG - Lisas29 and familyanddisney 00 / 01 / 04 / 07 /Xmas 08 / 10 / 13 / 15 / 17 / 19 / 23 Edited at 09:58 PM. |
17 Feb 20, 09:26 PM |
#2
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Thread Starter
VIP Dibber
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CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS POST
At 12pm our gate was announced A photo before we left the lounge We gathered all our stuff together and were on our way to gate 563 by 12.10pm. It only took us about 10 minutes to get there. We first saw Ruby Tuesday Then our plane, Pretty Woman The girls wanted photos with the plane The stuff for the girls on the plane was in the bags you get to put inside Trunki's, so we got these out so we could put the cases straight into the overhead bins. They had already started boarding when we got to the gate so we walked straight on to the plane. Our seats were 34 D, E, F and G and we were sat down and settled by 12.40pm. The Captain made his usual announcements, the only thing I remember (wrote down) was that there were 453 passengers on board. We were moving away from the gate just after 1pm; the taxiing process seemed to take a while. We were in the air at 1.25pm, so not bad really. Phil watched Brightburn and Madison and Kaley both watched Secret Life of Pets 2. They had all put these on as soon as the entertainment system started working, which was before take-off. About 10 minutes into the flight, they brought the menus round. For some reason, where we were sat, they only brought them down Phil's side, no one on my side got any. Pics of the menu I had a look through the films that were available and added the ones I liked the look of to a watchlist. I started with Isn't It Romantic, with Rebel Wilson. It was around 2pm when they came round with pretzels and drinks None of us wanted the pretzels so we all gave them back. For drinks, Madison had a sparkling water and lemonade, Kaley a still water and lemonade, Phil a coke and lemonade and I had a diet coke and lemonade The food started to come round at 2.45pm ish. I had ordered a kids meal for Kaley and they were bringing these and the vegetarian, dietary, etc. but none came to her. None of the air stewards/esses came past us so when they got to us with the regular food, I asked for the kids meal for Kaley. They asked if I had ordered it in advance (I had) and went away to check. She came back with an iPad and found our details and could see we had ordered one but it turned out it had been labelled wrong and they didn't have any more that she could have. She said once the food service was finished, she would confirm that it was all on the system for the tea later on and the return journey (I knew it was as I had ordered that too). Anyway, back to the food. As Kaley couldn't have a kids meal, she had the pancetta mac and cheese, even though I knew she wouldn't eat it (she didn't, she only had the crackers). Thankfully, we had bought the food from WH Smith so she had the sandwich and crisps from that. Madison and Phil both had the chicken in mushroom sauce, mashed potato and peas I had the pancetta mac and cheese They also came with a Japanese cucumber salad with mixed leaves, boursin cheese and crackers and a chocolate and yuzu caramel ganache Gu pot. My dinner was ok, the pasta was a bit overcooked but the cheese sauce was actually very nice. The Gu pot was really good. Typically, as soon as I started eating, both girls needed the toilet and couldn't wait. Not long after that, the seatbelt signs came on for turbulence, which turned out not to be bad at all. I started to watch Avengers, End Game Kaley put Toy Story 4 on for a bit She didn't watch for long and put the map on to see where we were Phil and Madison played noughts and crosses for a bit then Madison and Kaley did some drawing (Looks like Phil was trying to get some sleep.) Madison watched some of Beauty and the Beast and Kaley watched Fancy Nancy Clancy. After his nap, Phil watched The Dead Don't Die. Looking through the photos from the day, looks like Phil took a few (Kaley clearly eating in these pics!) Madison switched to How to Train Your Dragon and Kaley watched more FNC and Vampirina. Just after 6.30pm, they came round with juice, water and skittles, which were instead of the ice lolly for some reason. They also gave the kids a worksheet that kept them busy for a few minutes I had finished watching Avengers so read for a while. I was almost finished with the book I had been reading and wanted to get it finished before the end of the flight. Kaley's tea came round at 8pm She had finger sandwiches of ham and cheese/cucumber. She didn't want these so Madison ate them. We weren't really using any of the stuff we had out of our hand luggage so decided to put it all away before our tea came round. Ours came at 8.50pm and was a cheese and pesto seeded roll and scone We all had apple juice too. The food was ok, the scone is just too soft to try and put any jam or cream on it. CONTINUED IN NEXT POST
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MY TRIP AND DINING REPORTS - July 2023 Ten (Not So) Little Ones Take the Adults ~~ Onsite/Offsite Dining Report - July 2023 - 4 people - £168 budget per day plus tips ~~ Another Birthday Trip, October 2019 ~~ The Land, Sea and Wedding Trip Report, October 2015 ~~. Sept / Oct 2013 Five Little Ones Take the Adults IG - Lisas29 and familyanddisney 00 / 01 / 04 / 07 /Xmas 08 / 10 / 13 / 15 / 17 / 19 / 23 |
17 Feb 20, 09:42 PM |
#3
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Apprentice Imagineer
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Looking forward to reading more
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Dreams are forever - Tinkerbell |
17 Feb 20, 10:21 PM |
#4
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Thread Starter
VIP Dibber
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CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS POST
As we began our descent, they brought sweets round for people to have for landing. I checked the time and we landed precisely at 5.06pm US time. We were at the gate and waiting to get off the plane at 5.20pm. We were told we needed to go to baggage carousel 2 and were walking off the plane at 5.27pm (precise again). We got through to immigration very quickly and we were the only flight in there. As we got near the front, we could see Mum, Dad, Ryan, Bethany, Piper and Cody through in the baggage area. Their flight had been delayed so they weren't that much further ahead of us by the time they landed. They saw us and we waved. Immigration didn't take long at all and we were lucky with our cases and got these really quickly too. We were walking out of the baggage hall at 5.51pm and we managed to get everything up the escalator so didn't have to do the second bag drop. We had just missed the monorail ahead of us and had seen the others get on it. It didn't take long for one to come back and we were soon in the main terminal We went to whichever side is to the left as you come off the monorail and found the visitor toll pass desk. There was no one there. We waited a bit and no one came. We saw a member of airport staff and asked them and they said they thought they had closed. It was about 6pm now. There was a number to call but neither of us had a international calls on our phones so didn't want to call and be charged a ridiculous amount. We waited a bit and tried to decide what to do. I wasn't sure if we should go and sort the car and then me come back to see if they were there but in the end we decided not to bother. We went outside and couldn't see where to cross the road so went back inside (still no Visitor Toll Pass staff) and walked further down inside until we could see where you could cross over. We walked over and into the garage to the Standard SUV row. The cars were quite rubbish; there weren't many and none were what we wanted. We saw a staff member and asked if they were bringing any more cars in or had a Grand Caravan we could have (we like the space of these and the girls love how the doors and boot open). He said to follow him to the mini van row and we could have one from there. I said that we had paid for a Standard SUV and didn't want to upgrade and he told us it was fine to take a car from the minivan row and there would be no extra charge (which of course he was right about). There were a few to choose from so Phil picked the one with the lowest mileage The mileage was only 6948 We put the back row of seats down and loaded everything in the car and were on our way at 6.45pm, which shows how long we actually faffed and waited for the Visitor Toll Pass people. It took ages to drive through the garage and get out and we of course picked the lane where the car in front of us had some sort of problem. I think it took 15 minutes from pulling out of our space to driving through the barrier. Loved seeing this sign We went through two tolls on our way to Port Orleans Riverside, $1.75 each, and pulled up outside POR at 7.30pm. I recorded driving under the Walt Disney World sign so don't have a photo! No photos of outside but I'm sure we have some from another day. I immediately logged onto the wifi and I had a message from Tim (Fairytale Personal Shopper) to say he was in the lobby. We went straight in to meet him and we chatted for a while and he gave me all our parcels. We said goodbye and Phil waited with the parcels whilst Madison and I joined the line to check in. Phil took some photos while we were waiting It didn't take us long until we were being checked in. We had booked a garden view room and I had done a room request through touring plans, hoping to be in Magnolia Terrace. This wasn't honoured as the lady checking us in said we had been upgraded to a Royal Room in Oak Manor! I was so pleased, I knew these rooms were lovely and were much more expensive than what we had booked. I didn't ask why we were upgraded but did wonder if it was because it was the girls birthdays the following day. Anyway, she gave us a scroll that you get if you're staying in a Royal Room, sorted the birthday badges for Madison and Kaley and gave us our magic bands. I also asked if it was possible to opt our of mousekeeping and receive the gift card instead. (There was also a sign for this on the reception desk.) She explained how it would work, said we would receive an e-gift card for $90 and said that we could just call down if we needed anything. She said the email would be with me within a couple of hours and to contact them if it wasn't but it did come straight through, so no issues there. A couple of maps with our room number on and we were on our way. We took all the parcels out to the car and followed the signs round to Oak Manor, where we then had a faff trying to work out where to park. We decided to just park where we thought was closest to where we needed to be and headed to our room. It turned out where we had parked was the right place and we were at our room really quickly. We were on the second floor in room 9248. We went in and took some photos before we brought all of our stuff in The scroll we were given to take away is what is on the table, as part of the table design. We were really impressed with the room. It wasn't as small as we had imagined it would be and the Royal Rooms really are done very well. We then went back to the car and unloaded everything and took it to our room. It was a little after 8pm by now. We just put all our stuff in and went straight out to go to Riverside Mill for some food and to get our refillable mugs and some milk. It was a lovely walk, we were really close to the bridge back over to the main area and it only took us a few minutes. We were really pleased with the location of our room. We went to Fultons General Store first to get our refillable mugs. We got pink, green, red and black lids for our cups so we knew whose was whose and used our credits for these. They should have cost $19.99 each. I also got half a gallon of whole milk, $3.69 plus .24 tax, total $3.93. I charged this to the room for some reason, I'm not sure why I didn't pay cash. From here we went to Riverside Mill and I was surprised at how busy it was. Nothing that caused any issues with getting a table or waiting for food, just more people than I was expecting for 8.40pm. We decided to share two meals and had the chicken tenders and fries and a bacon cheeseburger and fries. We got two big boxes of cookies instead of drinks as we had our refillable mugs. I don't have the individual prices but including tax, this should have cost us $41.07 but we used two credits. It was around 8.45pm by now and the girls were really tired. We ate our food, which tasted really good, and went back to our room just after 9pm. The girls pretty much fell into bed and were asleep within about a minute. Phil took a few more photos of the artwork in the room Phil and I got out the various storage items we had brought with us (hanging shelves and the drawer organisers from Ikea and some pop up baskets from Poundland for shoes and washing) and unpacked and sorted all our stuff. I had just started going through the parcels when Mum and Dad arrived. They were bringing us our Poly magic bands (we were on their booking so we could park there and spend time there all together tomorrow) and some water that Dan had got for us that morning. We talked for a bit and they told us about their travel day and vice versa. While talking, I realised that my Bath and Body Works orders weren't with my stuff so I messaged Tim. He replied quite quickly to say he had found them and arranged to meet again to drop them to me. Mum and Dad left as they were shattered and we finished sorting through our stuff and wrapped the girls presents. After a really long day, we were finally in bed at 11.30pm. Next up, Three Birthdays in Magic Kingdom is HERE! TODAY'S DINING PLAN ROUND UP - 2 Counter Service used and 0 Snack Credit used. 4 refillable mugs redeemed OVERALL DINING PLAN ROUND UP - 2/80 Counter Service used and 0/80 Snack Credits used. DINING PLAN CREDITS REMAINING - 78 Counter Service and 80 Snack Credits.
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MY TRIP AND DINING REPORTS - July 2023 Ten (Not So) Little Ones Take the Adults ~~ Onsite/Offsite Dining Report - July 2023 - 4 people - £168 budget per day plus tips ~~ Another Birthday Trip, October 2019 ~~ The Land, Sea and Wedding Trip Report, October 2015 ~~. Sept / Oct 2013 Five Little Ones Take the Adults IG - Lisas29 and familyanddisney 00 / 01 / 04 / 07 /Xmas 08 / 10 / 13 / 15 / 17 / 19 / 23 Edited at 08:27 PM. |
18 Feb 20, 03:15 PM |
#5
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Imagineer
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Sounds like a pretty smooth travel day, just a shame about the kids meal. Great getting an upgraded car and room too!
Can’t wait to read about the next day! X
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Michelle - ShelUK Too scary, too hot & too splashy - Orlando May-June 2022 May 2017 Trippie - Complete January 2016 Trippie - Complete |
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18 Feb 20, 03:56 PM |
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Imagineer
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We’ve booked that lounge 😳
Wasn’t expensive and we mainly did it for the constant coffee but I dare say Zoey will find any member of staff available and hand out a rollicking if the pancake machine isn’t working 😆
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With The Kids... POFQ ~ Jan 2013. OKW ~ May 2014. POFQ & HRH ~ Aug 2017. Cabana Bay & POFQ ~ Aug 2018 ~ Villa 2021 |
18 Feb 20, 06:38 PM |
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Apprentice Imagineer
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Sounds like a great travel day. Your room upgrade looks fab too
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1 Mar 20, 04:01 PM |
#8
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Thread Starter
VIP Dibber
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Thanks, it took ages for the photos to upload for this one.x
Thanks, we were really lucky with travel day and the upgrades.x I hope she does! We would have found it much better had we not been sat where we were, so just don't sit by the door! We didn't pay a lot for it either.x Thanks, the room really was lovely.x
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MY TRIP AND DINING REPORTS - July 2023 Ten (Not So) Little Ones Take the Adults ~~ Onsite/Offsite Dining Report - July 2023 - 4 people - £168 budget per day plus tips ~~ Another Birthday Trip, October 2019 ~~ The Land, Sea and Wedding Trip Report, October 2015 ~~. Sept / Oct 2013 Five Little Ones Take the Adults IG - Lisas29 and familyanddisney 00 / 01 / 04 / 07 /Xmas 08 / 10 / 13 / 15 / 17 / 19 / 23 |
17 Apr 20, 04:26 PM |
#9
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Imagineer
Join Date: Oct 11
Location: Dundee
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A disappointing experience with the lounge, definitely not a relaxing start to your trip. I’d have not been able to chill out with all of that drama going on, and I think if we had been there Nik would probably have wanted to leave! The lunch spread definitely looks better than breakfast.
I always think the food on Virgin looks okay, we’ve never flown with them to Florida. What a treat to have been upgraded to a Royal Room, I would love to stay in one of those. Your room looks in a great location and it’s a beautiful area of the resort. I am not pleased to see Riverside have switched their Disney fries for fat chips! A long travel day but everything went smoothly so what more can you ask for |
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22 Apr 20, 09:10 PM |
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Excited about Disney
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I can’t believe i’m only just reading this! You had a pretty good travel day, and did well with 2 upgrades! It’s funny how you kept bumping into the others when you were on different flights 😂
The girls were so good all day, bless them. Can’t wait to read tomorrow! x
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Wedding pre-trip report - Dan & Dave's Orlando Wedding & Disneymoon Oct 15 With parents 00,01,04,07,12,13-With Dave! Xmas 08 Villa/09 Vegas-LA-San Fran/10 NY-Orlando KV, VB, RP & BLT/11 Vegas/12 LA & Disney Cali/14 DLP/15 Orlando Wedding/16 Orlando Poly & SSR & Vegas/17 Orlando BLT & SSR/17 DLP/18 Orlando |
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