Notices
Disneyland California and West Coast Trip Reports Trip Reports

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Old 10 Sep 19, 11:45 AM  
Link to this Post
#1
room_512
Excited about Disney
 
Join Date: Jun 11
Mission Drive Vegas>SF>LA Travel Day 10/08/19

So travel day was finally here and it was an early start to get the VA Las Vegas flight from Manchester.

I'd checked in without an issue the day before so hopefully just the bag drop to do.

The flight was 9:15 so it was an early start from home, we live an hour away at this time on a Saturday morning (its a different story on a weekday!) so we left around 5am for the drive over.

Arrived at Jet Parks 3 around an hour later and began the search for a space, as usual cars were parked all over the place. We eventually found one, got unloaded and headed for the bus, one came almost immediately.

The trip via terminals 3 and 1 was uneventful and we eventually got to T2. Headed over to the desks and we were seen straight away in the PE queue, the economy queue looked pretty busy with Orlando flight goers though, plenty of Mickey ears in view.

Bags handed over we headed up to security, just a small queue here as well (which is unusual for Manchester I do believe) and we were through without any issues, which was also a surprise as Alison normally gets called back for a second check.

We did the usual walk through of Duty free, smelling not buying and then headed to the Spinning Jenny for some breakfast. It was fairly quiet in there and we found a table without issue but it then took an age to get to the front of the queue. Once there I parted with a fortune for 2 breakfasts and 2 orange juices and went back to wait for it to arrive.

The food was ok but they definitely have you over a barrel price wise.

We then went back to WH Smiths for a couple of magazines and a bottle of water then sat and watched the screens for the gate to be shown.

Once up we made the long walk down to the new (I think its new) gate wing, it seemed to take forever to get down there.

Scarlet O'Hara was waiting for us which I think is one of the ex Air Berlin A330-200 planes.

We found a seat no problem and waited to be called.

Boarding was no problem and we took our seats in 18A and C. Plenty of legroom in PE and the screens were noticably different to the VA 747 we flew to Orlando on last year. One bonus was being able to plug headphones straight into the screen instead of the side of the arm rest.

We were given our prosecco/orange juice shortly after while economy were boarding.

Departure was on time and we were soon heading West.

One thing I noticed about the IFE was that there seemed to be a lot fewer films on there than normal, I'm not a great film watcher anyway but still, not a lot of choice. Plenty of box sets and TV programs on there though.

Lunch came round and we were given our pre-ordered chicken casserole (we'd received an email earlier in the week asking what we would like to order - a good idea IMO). It was ok but why are the bread rolls always rock hard?

The usual rounds of drinks were done, we then got a strawberry mini Solero followed later on by the afternoon tea, which was very good, especially the scone and clotted cream.

By now it was almost time for landing, I could see Hoover Dam in the distance out of the window and took a couple of pics of the desert.




Landing was smooth but we had a short wait whilst as Paramedics had to come on to take a look at a young lad who had been taken ill on the plane.

We then wandered down to immigration. The automatic booths were in operation and we had about a 10 minute wait for one to come free, quite a few people were having issues with working out how to use them and were needing assistance. We managed ok though and moved on to see the nice man. He was very chatty and was very interested in our trip - so much for them supposing to be grumpy! I have to admit we've never had a grumpy one yet!

Another short wait then for the cases and once we had them it was around the corner and past the second check where we handed over the paper slips from the machine. All was well and it was off to find the hire car shuttle bus.

That was easily done, the driver was helping everyone to load cases which was also a bonus.

I think it was then about a 10 minute ride over to the Rental Car Village. I'd booked Alamo through Virgin Car hire as it was a good price but also there was no one-way rental fee, it seemed a bit of a minefield with that when I was booking as quite a few of the companies were looking to charge or were being vague about whether they would be charging. Anyway, I'd done Skip The Queue so it was up the escalator and into the garage. A nice lady asked what type of car we had booked and she pointed us to the Full Size Row.

There were a couple of Toyota Camry's, a Ford Fusion and a few Nissan Altima's. It was a choice between the Camry and the Altima really and the Nissan won as the boot was slightly bigger, had full leather and had the lowest miles (14K).

We loaded up and then switched on the Sat Nav. I'd bought one earlier from Amazon for about £60 and downloaded the US Maps to it (free). Have to say it worked faultlessly for the whole trip.

The Aria address was put in and off we went. We headed up the South part of the strip, past the Welcome to Las Vegas sign and then a right turn into the Aria. The self parking multi story was found easliy and we went and found a space.

Luggage unloaded we then set off on the hike through the hotel to the check-in desks. We used the automated desks which were pretty easy and then went for another hike back through to find the elevators.

We'd booked a strip view room and that's what we got, on the 10th floor.



After a quick look around, including a mess around with the tablet that controlled everything in the room (sorry - Geek!) we headed to bed for a couple of hours sleep in a bid to be able to stay up later and then not be up too early the following morning.

Once awake again we messed around on phones for a while, letting people know we'd arrived etc. then got ready for a trip outside.

The plan was for a wander round the Aria and then stroll next door to the Cosmopolitan to find Secret Pizza.

We had a look at the pool area, plan was to visit there on one of the afternoons (that never happended), walked through the gaming areas, have to say most of the tables were in use whenever we walked through. We had a quick look also at the shopping mall which adjoins the Aria, nothing we could afford though.

We headed outside onto the elevated walkway to the Cosmopolitan and then headed inside. We wanted to check where EggSlut was ready for breakfast tomorrow, and this was found easily, along with a few other street food type restaurants which looked really good, all were pretty busy.

We then went and found Secret Pizza and joined the queue down the corridor



Once we got to the front we chose a couple of slices each and waited for them, we then headed back into the main part of the hotel to find somewhere to sit and eat. Have to say the pizza was delicious.



We sat a people watched for a while, it was pretty busy with hen and stag do's etc. with it being Saturday night then headed back outside





We then headed back up to the room and watched a bit of TV before settling down for the night ready for an early start tomorrow.
room_512 is offline Boy Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 13 Sep 19, 08:47 AM  
Link to this Post
#2
Mortimer Mouse
Imagineer
 
Join Date: May 10

Mortimer Mouse's Reviews
Hotel Reviews: 1
Restaurant Reviews: 6
A pretty good travel day. Glad the car hire was nice and straightforward.
Mortimer Mouse is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 13 Sep 19, 10:02 AM  
Link to this Post
#3
KayLouise
Very Serious Dibber
 
KayLouise's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 08
Great start! Look forward to reading more 😊
KayLouise is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 15 Sep 19, 09:27 PM  
Link to this Post
#4
room_512
Thread Starter
Excited about Disney
 
Join Date: Jun 11
Mobile

Originally Posted by Mortimer Mouse View Post
A pretty good travel day. Glad the car hire was nice and straightforward.
It was very straightforward, it was also a California registered car so it felt like I was doing them a favour by taking it home 😁
room_512 is offline Boy 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 09:39 PM.


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  $1.2305
Covent Garden FX  $1.2540
FAIRFX  $1.2350
John Lewis  $1.2380
M&S  $1.2178
Sainsburys  $1.2354
TESCO  $1.2364
Travelex  $1.2353
Updated: 20:30 28/03/2024
Euro Rates
ASDA  €1.1447
CaxtonFX  €1.1407
Covent Garden FX  €1.1511
FAIRFX  €1.1432
John Lewis  €1.1457
M&S  €1.1263
Sainsburys  €1.1440
TESCO  €1.1445
Travelex  €1.1435
Updated: 20:30 28/03/2024

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