Fantasia Sam
I've been here so much longer!
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2000
A reminder of the players: Sam and Paul have both been to Orlando a GOOD few times before but with other parties. This was Sam's first time on-site and Paul's first time at not Q'ing for an hour for most attractions.
Day One The Journey
Whilst Paul had been to WDW before on a number of occasions hed never been with someone who was as obsessive as me. All this Priority Seating malarkey before you travel was very new to him and his phone bill
I had the day before off work in order to prepare so I went and got a pedicure and manicure. I then spent the afternoon printing off our itinerary and putting little pictures of Mickey and Minnie and logos of all the parks all over it. I always type exactly what rides I want to do and then each morning before going to the park I take the appropriate page out of the folder so that I can double check that weve done everything that we wanted to do. I know the word your looking for right now
.anal!! Late afternoon/Early evening we had the most amazing storm of thunder and lightning and a friend of mine said that she was actually on a plane about to fly out of Gatwick to Venice at around 6.30 and they had to stay on the plane grounded until 10pm as they couldnt take off because the storm was so bad! I was sitting at my computer thinking
.yeahhhh were going to be in sunshine tomorrow.
Paul got home after his long day at work at around 7pm looking completely shattered and indeed in need of a well deserved holiday, he started a new job in January and hadnt had a break since Xmas. We had a nice last supper of Pizza and pickled beetroot this is a combination that I hadnt come across until I met Paul and I have to say Im now rather partial to it.
So we went to bed around 11.00 and I actually slept through the night - Id made sure Id had over half a bottle of wine with my supper so that it would knock me out a bit.
We got up around 5.30am and got ready. Paul had booked a car to take us to the airport around 6.30. Paul books his cars through a company he found through Kuoni and a lot of the airlines use this company for their pilots and he had told me that they were like an equivalent to Orlandos Town Car services. Well we had to laugh as when the driver turned up he got out of his car in a peaked cap, god only knows what the neighbours must have thought.
Our flight wasnt until 10.55 but we wanted to get there early. We got to the airport in good time I think it took about an hour and we went to check in now this was very exciting for me as we were travelling Club and I was really looking forward to jumping the whole Q but it turned out that the Club and First check-in desks were on the other side of the Zone so it didnt have the same impact I was looking for .but it was still exciting. We went straight through to the departure lounge and looked around the shops I bought some perfume in the Duty Free shop. We looked in the bookshop but Paul told me I really didnt need any more travel books on Orlando
! I hadnt been to the North Terminal for about a year but I noticed they had added new shops which made it a good shopping place. We then headed for the BA lounge
.HOW BIG
.. its on 3 floors and well I was in my element. It was way too early for me to have a drink so I stuck to water and pastries first and then a little later I had some toast and a Virgin Mary.
I went back out to the shops and thats where I logged on to tell you all that I was at the airport and werent you all jealous.
Sorry I just have to add here that the cubicles in the Ladies Bathroom were as big as our own downstairs toilet at home!! Amazing!
The ladies at reception called us to our departure gate after most people had boarded. So we didnt have to Q long at the gate with hoards of people. Now this is where the excitement really starts or where Paul would say I was just speechless (a very rare occurrence as some of you may know!). As we boarded the plane the steward asked us for our seat numbers and then he directed us to the stairs I was just screaming in my head OH MY GOD!! but at the same time acting as if I travelled Club all the time. We get to the top of the stairs and theres a steward who takes your jackets and hangs them up for you how cool!!
We get to our seats and a phrase comes into my head that I dont have the opportunity to say to often HOW BIG??!! .the seats were huge and I felt sorry that I didnt even have enough hand luggage to put in all the compartments around me. I sat in the seat obviously still playing it cool and stretched my legs out in front of me and they still didnt hit the seat in front ..I was in heaven.
The stewardess then brought us some OJ or Water. We were then given a menu to peruse and a little after the steward came back to see what we wanted to eat full details of what we had are at the end of this report but needless to say there was choice. We took off and then drinks were served and Paul and I both had bucks fizz and toasted each other on what a marvelous choice of holiday we had made.
I then had to choose what movies to watch I decided on Oceans 11 as I hadnt seen this yet, whilst Paul read his paper. Lunch was then served. Then Paul wanted to watch a classic film The Getaway but his screen wasnt working and they couldnt fix it because theyre not allowed to take tools, like screwdrivers, on board anymore. So we swapped seats and Paul watched The Getaway whilst I napped. We did a bit of raiding the larder and we had crisps and sweets and coke (children we are!) and then I started to watch A Beautiful Mind, whilst Paul had a nap, but Im sorry I was sooooo bored so I switched it off after about 25 minutes.
We landed on time at 3.15 and we were allowed off the plane just after the downstairs Club and First got off. We headed straight for immigration we had filled out the forms on the plane very slowly and carefully. We went straight up to a desk and the man behind the counter went through my passport and said my, you come here a lot . well of course sir, Orlando is THE BEST place on the earth through we went. Our luggage was one of the first to come through the carousel and we werent even asked to have it x-rayed we were shown straight through to the luggage drop off and then we made our way to the monorail. All of our bags were x-rayed and I got the old search thing and then we both had to take off our shoes and get them checked by a special cloth. We then got on the monorail to Landside we went straight down to the baggage claim and as we got to the bottom of the escalators we saw a board with our name on our Mears Town Car was waiting for us. We quickly checked in with the BA rep then waited for our luggage which wasnt long then our driver went to get his car and we went outside. It was now nearly 16.00 and it was still v. hot and v. humid. We got in the car and were driven to the Yacht club in half an hour
The arrival report is to follow ..
WHAT WE ATE
British Airways Flight
Appetizers:
Crab Timbale and Smoked Salmon with hot rolls x 2
Main Course:
Grilled fillet steak, gorgonzola risotto and fresh seasonal salad x 2
Dessert:
Double chocolate ganache x 1
Cheese and biscuits x 1
Washed down with:
A couple of glasses of Pouilly-Fusé each
Comments:
I couldnt believe that you could have such a lovely meal on a plane. The steak was cooked to perfection for me medium although we werent asked how wed like it. Obviously still plastic cutlery but everything was served on china and our appetizers were cleared before they served the main courses. A lot of people were not that keen on the risotto. I enjoyed it but didnt really see how it went that well with fillet steak
. Paul had the ganache and I tasted it, it was very very rich but he still managed to polish it off. The food was just as good as any Ive had in a restaurant and I was very surprised by that.
Day One The Journey
Whilst Paul had been to WDW before on a number of occasions hed never been with someone who was as obsessive as me. All this Priority Seating malarkey before you travel was very new to him and his phone bill
I had the day before off work in order to prepare so I went and got a pedicure and manicure. I then spent the afternoon printing off our itinerary and putting little pictures of Mickey and Minnie and logos of all the parks all over it. I always type exactly what rides I want to do and then each morning before going to the park I take the appropriate page out of the folder so that I can double check that weve done everything that we wanted to do. I know the word your looking for right now
.anal!! Late afternoon/Early evening we had the most amazing storm of thunder and lightning and a friend of mine said that she was actually on a plane about to fly out of Gatwick to Venice at around 6.30 and they had to stay on the plane grounded until 10pm as they couldnt take off because the storm was so bad! I was sitting at my computer thinking
.yeahhhh were going to be in sunshine tomorrow.Paul got home after his long day at work at around 7pm looking completely shattered and indeed in need of a well deserved holiday, he started a new job in January and hadnt had a break since Xmas. We had a nice last supper of Pizza and pickled beetroot this is a combination that I hadnt come across until I met Paul and I have to say Im now rather partial to it.
So we went to bed around 11.00 and I actually slept through the night - Id made sure Id had over half a bottle of wine with my supper so that it would knock me out a bit.
We got up around 5.30am and got ready. Paul had booked a car to take us to the airport around 6.30. Paul books his cars through a company he found through Kuoni and a lot of the airlines use this company for their pilots and he had told me that they were like an equivalent to Orlandos Town Car services. Well we had to laugh as when the driver turned up he got out of his car in a peaked cap, god only knows what the neighbours must have thought.
Our flight wasnt until 10.55 but we wanted to get there early. We got to the airport in good time I think it took about an hour and we went to check in now this was very exciting for me as we were travelling Club and I was really looking forward to jumping the whole Q but it turned out that the Club and First check-in desks were on the other side of the Zone so it didnt have the same impact I was looking for .but it was still exciting. We went straight through to the departure lounge and looked around the shops I bought some perfume in the Duty Free shop. We looked in the bookshop but Paul told me I really didnt need any more travel books on Orlando
! I hadnt been to the North Terminal for about a year but I noticed they had added new shops which made it a good shopping place. We then headed for the BA lounge
.HOW BIG
.. its on 3 floors and well I was in my element. It was way too early for me to have a drink so I stuck to water and pastries first and then a little later I had some toast and a Virgin Mary.I went back out to the shops and thats where I logged on to tell you all that I was at the airport and werent you all jealous.
Sorry I just have to add here that the cubicles in the Ladies Bathroom were as big as our own downstairs toilet at home!! Amazing!
The ladies at reception called us to our departure gate after most people had boarded. So we didnt have to Q long at the gate with hoards of people. Now this is where the excitement really starts or where Paul would say I was just speechless (a very rare occurrence as some of you may know!). As we boarded the plane the steward asked us for our seat numbers and then he directed us to the stairs I was just screaming in my head OH MY GOD!! but at the same time acting as if I travelled Club all the time. We get to the top of the stairs and theres a steward who takes your jackets and hangs them up for you how cool!!
We get to our seats and a phrase comes into my head that I dont have the opportunity to say to often HOW BIG??!! .the seats were huge and I felt sorry that I didnt even have enough hand luggage to put in all the compartments around me. I sat in the seat obviously still playing it cool and stretched my legs out in front of me and they still didnt hit the seat in front ..I was in heaven.
The stewardess then brought us some OJ or Water. We were then given a menu to peruse and a little after the steward came back to see what we wanted to eat full details of what we had are at the end of this report but needless to say there was choice. We took off and then drinks were served and Paul and I both had bucks fizz and toasted each other on what a marvelous choice of holiday we had made.
I then had to choose what movies to watch I decided on Oceans 11 as I hadnt seen this yet, whilst Paul read his paper. Lunch was then served. Then Paul wanted to watch a classic film The Getaway but his screen wasnt working and they couldnt fix it because theyre not allowed to take tools, like screwdrivers, on board anymore. So we swapped seats and Paul watched The Getaway whilst I napped. We did a bit of raiding the larder and we had crisps and sweets and coke (children we are!) and then I started to watch A Beautiful Mind, whilst Paul had a nap, but Im sorry I was sooooo bored so I switched it off after about 25 minutes.
We landed on time at 3.15 and we were allowed off the plane just after the downstairs Club and First got off. We headed straight for immigration we had filled out the forms on the plane very slowly and carefully. We went straight up to a desk and the man behind the counter went through my passport and said my, you come here a lot . well of course sir, Orlando is THE BEST place on the earth through we went. Our luggage was one of the first to come through the carousel and we werent even asked to have it x-rayed we were shown straight through to the luggage drop off and then we made our way to the monorail. All of our bags were x-rayed and I got the old search thing and then we both had to take off our shoes and get them checked by a special cloth. We then got on the monorail to Landside we went straight down to the baggage claim and as we got to the bottom of the escalators we saw a board with our name on our Mears Town Car was waiting for us. We quickly checked in with the BA rep then waited for our luggage which wasnt long then our driver went to get his car and we went outside. It was now nearly 16.00 and it was still v. hot and v. humid. We got in the car and were driven to the Yacht club in half an hour
The arrival report is to follow ..
WHAT WE ATE
British Airways Flight
Appetizers:
Crab Timbale and Smoked Salmon with hot rolls x 2
Main Course:
Grilled fillet steak, gorgonzola risotto and fresh seasonal salad x 2
Dessert:
Double chocolate ganache x 1
Cheese and biscuits x 1
Washed down with:
A couple of glasses of Pouilly-Fusé each
Comments:
I couldnt believe that you could have such a lovely meal on a plane. The steak was cooked to perfection for me medium although we werent asked how wed like it. Obviously still plastic cutlery but everything was served on china and our appetizers were cleared before they served the main courses. A lot of people were not that keen on the risotto. I enjoyed it but didnt really see how it went that well with fillet steak
. Paul had the ganache and I tasted it, it was very very rich but he still managed to polish it off. The food was just as good as any Ive had in a restaurant and I was very surprised by that.
)
