Apologies for the first batch of photos. The memory card decided to go nuts on the first couple of days. I lost most of the them and the ones I managed to salvage came out a bit "strange".
Cast:
Me (Paul) and Andrea (both in our mid-thirties).
Daughter: Hannah (4).
The night before departure. Sat 13th Oct: Stayed at the Hilton London Gatwick Airport. The rooms or service aren't anything special but being connected to the South terminal, the location is fantastic. Had a meal at "Frankie and Bennies".
Sun 14th Oct - It took around five minutes to walk down to the Virgin Atlantic check-in desks from the Hilton. Check-in was very smooth and we were advised of a one hour delay. We were also given fast track passes for secuirty
Prior to boarding we spoke to Roy Walker (used to present the show "Catchphrase" here in the UK), then it was up the stairs to take our seats at the back of the cabin in PE.
The flight departed around 90 minutes late. The flight attendant told us the co-pilot was retiring the following day to Barbados and would Hannah like to draw a picture for him. On coming in to land the usual announcements from the cockpit came over the PA system and he then thanked Hannah for the drawing. Shame she was asleep!
We arrived into MCO at around 6.15pm. As we were off the plane first, clearing immigration and customs took around ten minutes. After collecting our luggage we headed straight for car rental and didn't do the second bag drop. The "express" line at Dollar was empty, but the guy explained our car had to be brought over from Terminal A. This took around 20 minutes, so it wasn't as "express" as they advertised but we still cleared the airport in around 45 minutes
Once the car arrived (Chrysler 300M-think boat on wheels) I set up the sat nav then headed over to Disney's Contemporary Resort!
As we were for only one night I used valet (very efficient and only $10). Check-in was a breeze, then a very excited (and kind) lady walked us up to our room (think it was 4847), which is located on the Atrium level (concierge) at the end closest to the MK. She explained the hotel was very busy as both Microsoft and Hawaiian Tropic were holding conventions there and Hawaiian Tropic was holding a "beach party" out the back of the hotel (oh really
)
On entering the room she made out she couldn't find the light switch, walked us to the end of the room, then pulled back the curtains and this is where Disney came good. What an amazing view. For Hannah this was like a dream come true.
In our room we also had a personalised itinerary of all the meals I had arranged and a folder with all the park information. Very handy. We were also given a chocolate cake in the shape of the Contemporary. The room was very nice and I couldn't really fault it. It had a good LCD TV and a computer with free internet access and a facility for doing the concierge stuff (valet, bellboy etc). We ordered room service which was very good. We then watched the 9.30pm halowishes fireworks from the balcony. A word of warning here: If you ever decide to stay here, keep patio doors closed during the evening as the room was full of mosquitoes.
Mon 15 October.
Still on UK time we woke around 5am. At around 6.45am we went downstairs for our 7.10am reservation for Chef Mickey's. I had a splitting headache and I am not usually a tablet person, but was desperately in need of a Tylenol, so Andrea (without me knowing) mentioned this to a very kind CM who opened the shop around a half an hour early.
The Chef Mickey's Breakfast buffet was good. Hannah managed to get a few photos with Minnie & Pluto. Mickey was no where to be seen, so we jumped on the monorail over to MK for the opening. We arrived around 8.45am, watched the pre-opening show thing, then like proper Disney commando's marched up to Castle for Hannah to do a few rides at Fantasy Land! We managed do Dumbo, the carousel, peter pan, snow white and the cups and saucers all before 10am. We then went over to "ToonTown" for the 10am opening. Hannah got to ride (and open) Goofy's barnstormer with Goofy. At first she was all for it and got really excited when he led her by the hand to the ride. Then once on the ride it suddenly dawned on her she was sat up front on a roller coaster with a six foot crazy dog
After the ride Goofy led her over to the Judges tent and straight into a photo session with a few of the characters, including Cinderella and Belle.
After leaving Toontown we left the park and walked back to the Contemporary and checked out bang on 11.00am
Our Contemporary Stay was great. We went there with an open mind and Disney really did come good for us. When you go there with the preconceived idea that you are going to hate it, it can be so easy to pick holes and go out of your way to find fault in something instead of doing what you should be doing and enjoying your holiday and as a big fan of Universal I'm not ashamed to say I would definitely go back there. But, would we swap it for the HRH. No way! Disney can't offer what Uni/Loews give us and even Hannah (a four year old) couldn't wait to get over to the Hard Rock. Forget Mickey, views overlooking Cinderellas castle and riding roller coasters with Goofy. Hannah's best attraction is the Hard rock swimming pool! Just a shame we can't get her out of it.
After leaving the Contemporary we went over to the Premium Outlet Malls . This place is located just off the I4 (the junction for Downtown Disney) and great for a quick clothes shopping trip. We then went over to the Walgreens (corner of I-Drive/Universal Blvd) to get some water and other provisions for the HRH.
At approximately 1.30pm we arrived at the HRH. We told the guy on the front desk we had pre-registered for Loews Express Check-in. He asked for my surname, my valet ticket then promptly handed us our three room cards, (complete with 1*).
The bellboy walked us up to our room and asked us if we had if we had stayed before. I nodded yes. (This was our 9th stay and a grand total of 93 nights at the HRH!
)
We were assigned room 6100 which is a King suite with a magnificent view of the pool and parks. The first thing we noticed was the different configuration of the room. The (fold away) bed wasn't in it's usual place, but had spot lights under it so that was OK! The room condition was excellent and looked like it had hardly any wear, as though no one had stayed there before. The suite had a Rolling Stones theme and had frames on nearly every wall including the bathroom! One of the frames even held a gold disc.
Other different things we noticed were the new coffee "pod" machines, new carpets and other assorted furniture, new LCD TV's, MP3 player and a DVD player!
After unpacking, it was Hannah's favourite part-straight down to the pool! Being a weekday the pool wasn't busy and it was nice to spend a couple of hours in the Florida sunshine and take a dip. Straight away I noticed they had turned the music down around the pool area. I guess there were to many people complaining about the rock music at the HARD ROCK
When we got back to the room there was a couple of messages left on the phone. One from a director at Lowes and the other from his assistant explaining how they had managed to merge our two reservations and keep us in the same room for the duration and also to welcome us and if there was anything they could do to contact them. Amazing customer service.
That evening we walked over to City Walk for dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. In the past we had always enjoyed dinner here and although not spectacular the food used to be above average. When we arrived, they were quite busy and told us 20-30 minutes. The Hard Rock All Access card I showed them didn't do anything, but had given us immediate seating in the past and we also felt the standard of the food had dropped. I honestly think the Hard Rock Cafe is now a just a place to go and take a few photos of the memorabilia or celebrate a birthday, whereas before it had the whole package (service, good food and a great theme) and attracted repeat customers.
Next up: More HRH, Universal Studios, IOA, EPCOT (evening), MGM (Fantasmic), MK (evening), MNSSHP, trip to Titusville for space shuttle launch and meals at the Kitchen (Lunch and Dinner), Bubba Gumps, Garden Grill, Beach Club, Cheesecake factory @ Millenia Mall, Hollywood and Vine, Liberty Tree Tavern, Tony's Town Square and The Outback Steakhouse @MCO.
Cast:
Me (Paul) and Andrea (both in our mid-thirties).
Daughter: Hannah (4).
The night before departure. Sat 13th Oct: Stayed at the Hilton London Gatwick Airport. The rooms or service aren't anything special but being connected to the South terminal, the location is fantastic. Had a meal at "Frankie and Bennies".
Sun 14th Oct - It took around five minutes to walk down to the Virgin Atlantic check-in desks from the Hilton. Check-in was very smooth and we were advised of a one hour delay. We were also given fast track passes for secuirty
Prior to boarding we spoke to Roy Walker (used to present the show "Catchphrase" here in the UK), then it was up the stairs to take our seats at the back of the cabin in PE.The flight departed around 90 minutes late. The flight attendant told us the co-pilot was retiring the following day to Barbados and would Hannah like to draw a picture for him. On coming in to land the usual announcements from the cockpit came over the PA system and he then thanked Hannah for the drawing. Shame she was asleep!
We arrived into MCO at around 6.15pm. As we were off the plane first, clearing immigration and customs took around ten minutes. After collecting our luggage we headed straight for car rental and didn't do the second bag drop. The "express" line at Dollar was empty, but the guy explained our car had to be brought over from Terminal A. This took around 20 minutes, so it wasn't as "express" as they advertised but we still cleared the airport in around 45 minutes
Once the car arrived (Chrysler 300M-think boat on wheels) I set up the sat nav then headed over to Disney's Contemporary Resort! As we were for only one night I used valet (very efficient and only $10). Check-in was a breeze, then a very excited (and kind) lady walked us up to our room (think it was 4847), which is located on the Atrium level (concierge) at the end closest to the MK. She explained the hotel was very busy as both Microsoft and Hawaiian Tropic were holding conventions there and Hawaiian Tropic was holding a "beach party" out the back of the hotel (oh really
) On entering the room she made out she couldn't find the light switch, walked us to the end of the room, then pulled back the curtains and this is where Disney came good. What an amazing view. For Hannah this was like a dream come true.
In our room we also had a personalised itinerary of all the meals I had arranged and a folder with all the park information. Very handy. We were also given a chocolate cake in the shape of the Contemporary. The room was very nice and I couldn't really fault it. It had a good LCD TV and a computer with free internet access and a facility for doing the concierge stuff (valet, bellboy etc). We ordered room service which was very good. We then watched the 9.30pm halowishes fireworks from the balcony. A word of warning here: If you ever decide to stay here, keep patio doors closed during the evening as the room was full of mosquitoes.
Mon 15 October.
Still on UK time we woke around 5am. At around 6.45am we went downstairs for our 7.10am reservation for Chef Mickey's. I had a splitting headache and I am not usually a tablet person, but was desperately in need of a Tylenol, so Andrea (without me knowing) mentioned this to a very kind CM who opened the shop around a half an hour early.
The Chef Mickey's Breakfast buffet was good. Hannah managed to get a few photos with Minnie & Pluto. Mickey was no where to be seen, so we jumped on the monorail over to MK for the opening. We arrived around 8.45am, watched the pre-opening show thing, then like proper Disney commando's marched up to Castle for Hannah to do a few rides at Fantasy Land! We managed do Dumbo, the carousel, peter pan, snow white and the cups and saucers all before 10am. We then went over to "ToonTown" for the 10am opening. Hannah got to ride (and open) Goofy's barnstormer with Goofy. At first she was all for it and got really excited when he led her by the hand to the ride. Then once on the ride it suddenly dawned on her she was sat up front on a roller coaster with a six foot crazy dog
After the ride Goofy led her over to the Judges tent and straight into a photo session with a few of the characters, including Cinderella and Belle.
After leaving Toontown we left the park and walked back to the Contemporary and checked out bang on 11.00am
Our Contemporary Stay was great. We went there with an open mind and Disney really did come good for us. When you go there with the preconceived idea that you are going to hate it, it can be so easy to pick holes and go out of your way to find fault in something instead of doing what you should be doing and enjoying your holiday and as a big fan of Universal I'm not ashamed to say I would definitely go back there. But, would we swap it for the HRH. No way! Disney can't offer what Uni/Loews give us and even Hannah (a four year old) couldn't wait to get over to the Hard Rock. Forget Mickey, views overlooking Cinderellas castle and riding roller coasters with Goofy. Hannah's best attraction is the Hard rock swimming pool! Just a shame we can't get her out of it.
After leaving the Contemporary we went over to the Premium Outlet Malls . This place is located just off the I4 (the junction for Downtown Disney) and great for a quick clothes shopping trip. We then went over to the Walgreens (corner of I-Drive/Universal Blvd) to get some water and other provisions for the HRH.
At approximately 1.30pm we arrived at the HRH. We told the guy on the front desk we had pre-registered for Loews Express Check-in. He asked for my surname, my valet ticket then promptly handed us our three room cards, (complete with 1*).
The bellboy walked us up to our room and asked us if we had if we had stayed before. I nodded yes. (This was our 9th stay and a grand total of 93 nights at the HRH!
)We were assigned room 6100 which is a King suite with a magnificent view of the pool and parks. The first thing we noticed was the different configuration of the room. The (fold away) bed wasn't in it's usual place, but had spot lights under it so that was OK! The room condition was excellent and looked like it had hardly any wear, as though no one had stayed there before. The suite had a Rolling Stones theme and had frames on nearly every wall including the bathroom! One of the frames even held a gold disc.
Other different things we noticed were the new coffee "pod" machines, new carpets and other assorted furniture, new LCD TV's, MP3 player and a DVD player!
After unpacking, it was Hannah's favourite part-straight down to the pool! Being a weekday the pool wasn't busy and it was nice to spend a couple of hours in the Florida sunshine and take a dip. Straight away I noticed they had turned the music down around the pool area. I guess there were to many people complaining about the rock music at the HARD ROCK
When we got back to the room there was a couple of messages left on the phone. One from a director at Lowes and the other from his assistant explaining how they had managed to merge our two reservations and keep us in the same room for the duration and also to welcome us and if there was anything they could do to contact them. Amazing customer service.
That evening we walked over to City Walk for dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. In the past we had always enjoyed dinner here and although not spectacular the food used to be above average. When we arrived, they were quite busy and told us 20-30 minutes. The Hard Rock All Access card I showed them didn't do anything, but had given us immediate seating in the past and we also felt the standard of the food had dropped. I honestly think the Hard Rock Cafe is now a just a place to go and take a few photos of the memorabilia or celebrate a birthday, whereas before it had the whole package (service, good food and a great theme) and attracted repeat customers.
Next up: More HRH, Universal Studios, IOA, EPCOT (evening), MGM (Fantasmic), MK (evening), MNSSHP, trip to Titusville for space shuttle launch and meals at the Kitchen (Lunch and Dinner), Bubba Gumps, Garden Grill, Beach Club, Cheesecake factory @ Millenia Mall, Hollywood and Vine, Liberty Tree Tavern, Tony's Town Square and The Outback Steakhouse @MCO.
is adorable
