Charlies First trip home - Trip Report!

[Chilly]

Hope you get good seats.

 

[tinks_1989]

I know they can't just one family all the seats but this caused me a lot of stress and worry leading up to our last holiday. The say DH across the aisle from me not a bulkhead and I had a bulk head seat. The next 3 seats next to me were empty. Of course DH moves next to me after but can you imagine if there were a lot o infants in the flight having four separate mums (or dads) with an infant each on their lap.

I do PRE book our seats like you but were offered the bulkhead and took them.

Hope your flight is quiet so you could all sit together with bulkhead seats. But you have plenty of you to keep little Charlie happy and plenty of laps for him to sit on.

 

[Laurafoster]

I know they can't just one family all the seats but this caused me a lot of stress and worry leading up to our last holiday. The say DH across the aisle from me not a bulkhead and I had a bulk head seat. The next 3 seats next to me were empty. Of course DH moves next to me after but can you imagine if there were a lot o infants in the flight having four separate mums (or dads) with an infant each on their lap.

I do PRE book our seats like you but were offered the bulkhead and took them.

Hope your flight is quiet so you could all sit together with bulkhead seats. But you have plenty of you to keep little Charlie happy and plenty of laps for him to sit on.

It is a nightmare. We were lucky the first time we took Megan as they said having me and DH together in the bulkhead seat wouldnt be a problem - we were even given our seat numbers. This was a few years ago (2010) and before all the aircraft changes and when you could book seats 300 odd days out. I didnt realise it had all changed as each trip after that we bought Megan a seat.

We cant check in online as we have a lap infant but we plan on getting to Twilight check in as soon as it opens at 5pm so crossing lots of fingers

 

[Laurafoster]

Woooohoooo! 9 more sleeps until we head for Gatwick!

Done my online Check in for AKV and SSR.

Now just the small matter of packing, we have just purchased an owners locker so we can leave some bits for the kids out there (and a wine glass for me!)

Packing for myself, husband, 3 year old and 10 month old. Guaranteed it will be DH that causes most problems

 

[jockey]

Not long to go now Laura...... hope the packing goes well...hope you wil post lots of updates!

 

[princess_ariel_85]

Just caught up on your fabulous PTR! It's almost here!!

We'll be there shortly after you, make sure you save us some sunshine! lol.

Looking forward to reading about your 4 night cruise, I'm still working on DH to do a cruise.

 

[Laurafoster]

Someone remind me to never fly on Friday 13th again - it must be bad luck!

First Charlie was poorly. Ended up on a nebuliser and steroids. He has a set of steroids, an inhaler and course of antibiotics in hand luggage 'just incase'.

Next my mum woke up Monday morning feeling really unwell - sinus infection and on antibiotics.

Finally yesterday morning my dad was in a car accident. He got hit by a lorry on the motorway, car spun around and got stuck on the front of the lorry and was carried 100yards before getting wedged between lorry and crash barrier. He was amazingly lucky and walked away unhurt. Foreign lorry driver who didnt speak English and a potentially written off car 2 days before the holiday. Luckily a British lorry driver saw it all so he has a witness so will all get sorted.

Fair to say we need this holiday now!

 

[tinks_1989]

Someone remind me to never fly on Friday 13th again - it must be bad luck!

First Charlie was poorly. Ended up on a nebuliser and steroids. He has a set of steroids, an inhaler and course of antibiotics in hand luggage 'just incase'.

Next my mum woke up Monday morning feeling really unwell - sinus infection and on antibiotics.

Finally yesterday morning my dad was in a car accident. He got hit by a lorry on the motorway, car spun around and got stuck on the front of the lorry and was carried 100yards before getting wedged between lorry and crash barrier. He was amazingly lucky and walked away unhurt. Foreign lorry driver who didnt speak English and a potentially written off car 2 days before the holiday. Luckily a British lorry driver saw it all so he has a witness so will all get sorted.

Fair to say we need this holiday now!

Oh my you deserve a holiday.

I really hope every one is feeling better by Friday and your dad is ok.

 

[princess_ariel_85]

Someone remind me to never fly on Friday 13th again - it must be bad luck!

First Charlie was poorly. Ended up on a nebuliser and steroids. He has a set of steroids, an inhaler and course of antibiotics in hand luggage 'just incase'.

Next my mum woke up Monday morning feeling really unwell - sinus infection and on antibiotics.

Finally yesterday morning my dad was in a car accident. He got hit by a lorry on the motorway, car spun around and got stuck on the front of the lorry and was carried 100yards before getting wedged between lorry and crash barrier. He was amazingly lucky and walked away unhurt. Foreign lorry driver who didnt speak English and a potentially written off car 2 days before the holiday. Luckily a British lorry driver saw it all so he has a witness so will all get sorted.

Fair to say we need this holiday now!

What an awful time your having. Wishing everyone a speedy recovery and I hope your dads ok. xx

 

[princess_ariel_85]

Hope you had a good flight yesterday and that everyone is feeling better.

Enjoy your holiday and I look forward to hearing all about it when you return.

 

[wicket2005]

Nightmare

 

[Wills Mom]

Wow that was a bad week!! But they do say a bad start leads to a good finish! The year DH popped the question at WDW we had just had our joint bank account cleaned out by online fraud and I was so upset going on hols but needless to say it was a magical vacation Hoping yours was just as wonderful

 

[Laurafoster]

Thanks all, it was definitely a nightmare week but of course the holiday more rhan made up for it

I'll hopefully start my report in a few days but to start off here are a few highs and lows -

Highs:

Virgins PE - lush lush lush! Wish i could afford to fly this way every time.

AKV - first stay at rhis resort and we were only there for 2 nights but i loved it.

Disney Cruise - once again it didnt disappoint. An amazing 4 days.

Charlie and Megan - Charlies first visit and Megans 4th but both kids had a great time and seeing them so excited all the time made my holiday perfect.

Lows:

Flight out - despite the luxury of PE the flight was a nightmare. DH got food poisoning and was really ill all flight. Luckily my parents were there to help otherwise i dont know what i would have done.

Flight home - Virgin split us up and sat my 3yo on her own. Had to spend ages tryig to sort something out. Virgins suggestion was i sit on my own with both kids for the flight whilst he sits a few rows away.Nightmare!

Saratoga Springs - My last trip here i loved it. But this time not so much. My first experience of a rude cast member, and issues with housekeeping (or lack of). And the first time ive complained about a Disney resort.

 

[PJB71]

Thanks all, it was definitely a nightmare week but of course the holiday more rhan made up for it

I'll hopefully start my report in a few days but to start off here are a few highs and lows -

Highs:

Virgins PE - lush lush lush! Wish i could afford to fly this way every time.

AKV - first stay at rhis resort and we were only there for 2 nights but i loved it.

Disney Cruise - once again it didnt disappoint. An amazing 4 days.

Charlie and Megan - Charlies first visit and Megans 4th but both kids had a great time and seeing them so excited all the time made my holiday perfect.

Lows:

Flight out - despite the luxury of PE the flight was a nightmare. DH got food poisoning and was really ill all flight. Luckily my parents were there to help otherwise i dont know what i would have done.

Flight home - Virgin split us up and sat my 3yo on her own. Had to spend ages tryig to sort something out. Virgins suggestion was i sit on my own with both kids for the flight whilst he sits a few rows away.Nightmare!

Saratoga Springs - My last trip here i loved it. But this time not so much. My first experience of a rude cast member, and issues with housekeeping (or lack of). And the first time ive complained about a Disney resort.

Oh no sounds like you had a nightmare with Virgin Laura

I've been wondering how your holiday went.

Look forward to hearing more about it

 

[Wills Mom]

Our cousin had the same problem with VA seating their two year old separately and then expecting parents to sit separately thus leaving one poor parent to deal with the stress alone. They need to seriously rethink the way they arrange seats for families with littlies!!Looking forward to hearing all about the trip though

 

[Laurafoster]

We were so looking forward to this holiday as it had been a roller coaster year. In October our Son Charlie was born, although the birth itself was fine. 48 hours after getting home I was feeling quite unwell. Thinking I just had a case of the flu or something my mum insisted on taking me to our local urgent care centre. I was quickly seen by the triage nurse who was so concerned he called a doctor in, within 10mins I was strapped into an ambulance and on my way to our nearest A&E. To cut a long story short I was eventually diagnosed with Sepsis and I spent several days on ICU then a high dependence ward. Due to the nature of the ward I wasn't allowed my newborn son with me, nor could I see my little girl. My parents and DH had been told to prepare themselves for the worst which must have been awful for them. It took a looooong 13 days but I was eventually well enough to leave hospital but for another week had to return twice daily for IV antibiotics.

It was definitely the worst thing we have been through as a family, but the main reason that this is relevant to the story is that once I was well enough to be on a regular ward I wanted something to do to take my kind of things. Luckily I had an IPad, portable wireless and a credit card So my last week in hospital was spent planning a much needed holiday.

 

[Laurafoster]

Thursday 12th September

The big day had finally arrived. We were travelling down to Gatwick late that afternoon to stay over night before the flight tomorrow. I'd taken DD and DS to nursery so I could do all the housework and tidying without their assistance. DH was 'working from home' so he was able to help with everything too.

We had the car loaded up and ready to go by 2:30pm, picked the kids up and were on our way by 3pm. We swung by my parents house so we could all drive down together. The M25 was thankfully mostly problem free and the journey took around an hour and 10mins. We had booked a meet and greet service for our car parking so we called to let them know we were almost there. When we arrived at the airport they were ready and waiting for us, keys handed over and we were heading to twilight check in within 10mins.

We did Twilight check in to discover they had moved our seats (as always). We were flying PE and I had originally requested a row of 3 with 2 behind but they had given us 2 in front instead so it wasn't an issue. Cases dropped off we headed to get the monorail over to the North terminal as this is where we were staying for the night.

A few months ago I had booked the Premier Inn, a family room with dinner and breakfast. We checked in and were very pleased with our room. Very clean and really comfy beds and a cot for Charlie. We headed straight down for dinner in their restaurant at 6pm. Included with the price was mine and DHs dinner but we had to pay for Megan's (Charlie just shared with everyone else). It was nice enough food, kind of a beefeater type menu so something for everyone. We had a few drinks before heading off to put the kids in bed.

Despite being excited they were also very tired and were bathed and fast asleep by 8pm. I had a relaxing bubble bath with a glass of wine and a magazine whilst DH watched some form of sport on the IPad using the free WiFi. We then went to sleep around 10pm.

 

[Wills Mom]

The two weeks after having Charlie must have been absolutely dreadful! This was most definitely a much needed holiday. Can't wait to read all about it!

 

[jen_uk]

We really like the Premier Inn as well Looking forward to reading more

 

[Laurafoster]

Friday 13th September

Despite my hopes that following a long day and a late night the kids would sleep in this morning they were still up bright and early. Megan was so excited at this trip she really understood exactly where we were going and Charlie, well Charlie wakes up full of smiles every morning.

We all got up and ready and left our stuff in the room whilst we headed down for breakfast about 8am. Breakfast was nothing special, just the usual buffet but it was the start of my diet downfall! Once we were all full we grabbed our stuff from the room and decided to head through to departures.




We went through the family section and were through in about 5mins. First stop was Boots to get some snacks for the plane. Megan can sometimes be fussy with her food so I wanted to make sure we had some back up food for her. We also grabbed some cartons of formula for Charlie. We then popped into duty free for the obligatory squirt of perfume. After this we headed over to the No1 lounge to chill for a few hours before the flight. It's not everyone's cup of tea but we really enjoy the lounge. It's a perfect place for us to relax somewhere quiet, it allowed us to give Charlie a nap and Megan was happy as it had a view of the runway. As always we had great service, we walked in to find that they had reserved us a table with 2 large sofas which was perfect for Charlie's nap. Our flight was at 1pm so we had a early light lunch in the lounge (Megan had a Fish Finger sandwich, the rest of us had a plate of cured meats and bread). Wasn't big but certainly nicer than plane food!

We headed down to departures around 12:30. My poor mum is scared of flying and I had convinced her that flying on Friday 13th would be no problem, our departure time was 13:00 and we ended up at gate 13. Mmmmm not a happy mum! Boarding was a bit slow but we were soon sat in our big comfy seats and being given a glass of sparkling wine for take off. (Really wish I could afford PE every trip!).





The flight out was mostly uneventful but unfortunately DH came down quite unwell. Either food poisoning or some sort of sickness bug but either way it left him unable to do much but sleep. So I ended up trying to keep both kids happy. Thank god for grandparents!!! Both Megan and Charlie were very well behaved on the flight. Megan sat watching endless Peppa Pig and Charlie is just a nosey baby so he was happy watching (and smiling) at anyone who walked past. We landed on time and after reading horror stories about MCO immigration I literally frog marched the family off the plane. We were the 2nd family into the immigration hall which was........empty! Walked straight through, our cases were already on the PE carousel and the pushchair was unfolded and ready for me to put Charlie in. I dont think I have ever been through so quickly, we were at the meeting point for our taxi 20minutes after landing.

We originally had booked Magical Express but I'd suggested to everyone else that for this trip a taxi would be beneficial as Charlie was bound to be tired (although at this present time he was far from it). However as a surprise I had booked a 'special' taxi. A hummer limo! Everyone loved it, especially Megan once she got inside and found the lights, music and enormous bag of Lays. The adults were equally excited when they got in and discovered the beers and wine! Never has a journey to WDW gone so quickly!



We were spending our first 2 nights at AKV. It was our first stay here and I was super excited! We had done online check in so it was just a case of collecting our room keys and heading off to the room. Megan spotted some giraffe whilst we were walking to the room which she loved! As soon as we got to the room the kids energy started to slip so we got them ready for bed and gave them some of the food we had packed for tonight (just some cereal bars and bits) and they were both fast asleep by 8pm US time. DH also went straight to bed, he was still feeling really unwell so I gave him some medicine and he went to sleep. My parents headed over to the Mara and bought me a flatbread and a Bud Lime Rita. So after unpacking a few essentials for tomorrow I sat out on the balcony and enjoyed those whilst reading my kindle. I them headed to bed about 9pm, I figured as everyone else was asleep they were all likely to be up early so I might as well do the same.