Batty familys US Adventure - TR - NOW WIITH PHOTOS!!

[battymum]

Day 1

As most of you already know the travellers, me, Lisa 43, DH, Scott, DD16, and twins DS13

The day started pretty early, we were up by 6:30am, we were to be picked up at 9:00am, but i really wanted the house to be ship shape before we left,(why, i dont know, ) everyone was super excited, dd's friend turned up at 7:30 and they went for a milkshake, because he wanted to see her before she left, (just friends) this sent me into a panic a bit, but they werent gone long, he had to get the school bus.
Anyway our driver turned up promptly at 9 and i mopped my way to the front door. Traffic wasnt too bad and it took just on an hour to get to the airport. Time went surpisingly quick and soon we were boarding. The flight left just on two and was pretty uneventful, food was good, although i had made the mistake of orderring a fruit platter for dd, not realising she wouldnt get anything else.
It was a long, long flight, but we all know that!

 

[areweindisneyyet]

Great start. Love the bit about dd's friend. How sweet. Glad the place got left ship shape. After our last trip I don't think I am every ordering special meals on board again.

Cannot wait to hear it all.

 

[PrincessInOz]

 

[WAMUMOF4]

I would be a bit worried about the 'friend' coming and saying goodbye as well it's sweet really. Glad you had an uneventful flight. I hope the dust and spiders stayed away from your house whilst you were away

 

[aussietravellers]

Oh another trip report! I love trip reports

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of the trip.

 

[Anne_Aus]

Can't wait to read more

 

[Busy Busy]

Hi Battymum!! Our flight left that day just before 11am and I thought of you being at the airport somewhere and then later on, stuck on the looooong flight just like we were.

You're not home yet are you? Stop by Vegas and watch these fountains with me - they are AMAZING!!

 

[kylieh]

I'm in

 

[jacs1234]

signing in to follow this one.

 

[becpee]

Reading too

 

[admel00]

Hi my name is Melissa, and I'm a trip reportaholic...... definitely in!

 

[battymum]

The sky cleared up a bit, so had to head out, this might be a slow tr.
Now where was I, oh yes, after our long, long flight we landed safely in dfw, with plenty of time to make our connection, or so we thought. But by the time we actually got off the plane and cleared immigration,(which took at least an hour and half), then got our bags and went through customs, which took a bit longer as i had stupidly put a mandarine in my bag and wouldnt throw it in any of the trash cans along the way as i thought it might make me look suspicious.
So time was getting on, and we still had to make our way to the otherr side of the airport for our connection, i was tired and stressed, dd was sulking about the phone issue (see iphone in us thread) i wouldnt let dh go to the bathroom until we were outside our gate and there was no time for finding the dallas cowboys store or getting anything to eat like i had planned.
We eventually found our gate, dh went to the bathroom and we were back on track, dd was still sulking.
At the gate there was a bunch of people from the equivalent to make a wish foundation, ours was to be a magical flight to brighten up the lives of a few children, there was a castle built in front of the gate and there was a guard of honour who clapped and cheered the children as they went through, as well as the rest of the passengers, which was kinda fun, and really brightened our mood.
But that was where the fun ended, we were on the plane, buckled ready to go, when there was an annnouncement, "sorry for the delay, there is a minor problem with the plane, we wont be too much longer"

After a bit, another announcement, " the problem is more serious than we thought, we are finding another plane, you have to disembark"
Ok, we can deal with that, but i felt for the kids on the magical flight, there were a few in wheelchairs.
So off we got, at least we could get something to eat now, we had the saltiest mcdonalds fries you would ever find. We sat for a bit, and i got dd's phone to work, so she was happy. Then another announcement, "youre original plane is good to go, we can reboard", this might have worried some, but we just wanted to get to our beds, so if they tied the plane together with duct tape, i wouldn,t have cared.
So we are back on the plane, but in the meantime it had started raining, after a bit, sorry three weeks later timelines are fuzzy, another announcement, "i have good news and bad, the good news is, it hasnt rained in three months in texas, the bad, DFW is closed"
So we wait about half an hour, another announcement, " we have a fifteen minute window to take off, otherwise our crew is over their legal flying time, we are trying to locate a standby crew"
More time passed, it was still raining, all the while i was looking at a lone suitcase sitting on the tarmac in the pouring rain, with not a single groundcrew person in sight, and i was hoping it wasnt one of ours.
Eventually, we found a new crew, the lightning stopped and our flight that was due to take off at five, took off at 8:30, i was still watching that lone suitcase as we taxied out, i wonder if it ever found its owner.

We arrived at mco just before midnight, and by the time we got our luggage, found magical express(which wasnt easy) and checked into pop century and all had long awaited showers it was well past 2 am before we hit our beds. We slept like logs until housekeeping opened the door at 10:30am.

 

[aussietravellers]

Oh Battymum, what a nightmare with the flight! . I totally feel for you as we have had flight dramas a few times now in the US and it really is not pleasant, especially when you are off a long flight from Australia.

Glad you eventually got to WDW and had a big sleep.

I'm looking forward to hearing about the rest of the trip.

 

[areweindisneyyet]

I hate when you rush for a plane and then find you are delayed.

Especially so far into a trip when you really just want to keep moving.

I bet those beds never looked so comfortable ever.

 

[Sugarglider]

Oh ick! I find those things so frustrating cause you are at their mercy. There is nothing you can do.

 

[kylieh]

American Airlines have no idea do they! We had some dramas too (in our trip report.)

Looking forward to more.

 

[WAMUMOF4]

you must of been exhausted not a great start, i hope it helped with the time change being able to sleep through the whole night.

 

[OziJo]

I'm subbing!

Your kids are around the same age as ours and your flight times look like they are similar so I am taking notes. I know from past experience how frustrating it is to rush to your gate at a certain time only then to be delayed for hours! But that's traveling I suppose. Like you I don't relax until we get to our gate.

Our flight is due to get into MCO at 9pm so after reading your start I will be preparing everyone for the worst case scenario.

found magical express(which wasnt easy)

Thats a worry. I keep reading it's not too hard to find.

Anyway. Looking forward to reading about the rest of your trip.

 

[Mum from oz]

I'm glad to hear the rain's eased up. What a marathon flight experience. I can just imagine how stressed out and tired you guys were. Good to see you made it safe ans sound in the end.

 

[5ofus]

Yucko, you are making me think a night at DFW might be a good idea.