MsPennieLane
<font color=660099>Self-confessed Disney addict<br
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2003
- Messages
- 904
Day 11 - Sunday 3rd
We were woken up about 10am by the travel insurance company with details of our flights home. They had managed to find us a flight for that night flying home with Virgin Atlantic. It was going back to Gatwick which is the airport closest to us which was great. It was leaving Orlando International Airport at 5.50pm. We decided to take it, which didnt leave us enough time to do anything. Andy spoke to Disney just before 11am to let them know wed be flying home and they told us to take our time checking out which was very useful as we hadnt even packed.
I suddenly realised that we werent going to be able to make the Illuminations Cruise on the Wednesday night before we left and checked my emails to try and find our contact's cellphone number. I sent an email explaining what had happened, although I wasnt sure if she would be checking mail during her stay. I searched through previous emails and I couldnt find it, I figured I must have deleted it by accident and I hadnt written it down in my Passporter, only where she would be staying. We felt really bad not being able to let her know and we wanted to pay our way despite not being able to go so we put $40 to cover our share in an envelope and decided to drive to the hotel on our way to the airport and drop it off.
We packed everything up and went to check out about midday before heading into Everything Pop to buy some last minute goodies. We bought some fridge magnets for Andys mum and a tyre toy for Woody the mad puppy.
From here, we had to find Port Orleans French Quarter and I had no map on me, nor did I know which section of the resort it was at. We drove round looking for it and ended up at the Magic Kingdom. The CM was very rude to us but gave us instructions when we explained wed gotten lost. We followed his instructions to the letter and ended up at Animal Kingdom. Hmm ok. Again, we asked the CM where Port Orleans was and she gave us instructions. Again, we followed them to the letter and we ended up at a dead end by the McDonalds. We were getting quite frustrated by this time but as we pulled out of the McDonalds, we noticed a bus heading for Port Orleans. Brilliant! So we followed it and ended up at Blizzard Beach so I figured it must have come from Animal Kingdom. The poor driver must have thought we were stalking him.
Eventually we saw signs for Port Orleans and we parked up by reception so Andy could run in while I stayed with the car in case anyone asked any questions.
Unfortunately, our quest wasnt at all fruitful. Andy had a helpful CM but couldnt find trace of our contact at either Port Orleans resort, not even as a secondary guest so we figured the room must have been in her married name. Disappointed, we headed for the airport. You cant say we didnt try as we drove round for about an hour!
some photos taken of the front of the main Port Orleans French Quarter building
Anyway, we finally arrived at MCO. Dropping the car back wasnt a problem and we made our way to the terminal. The Virgin Atlantic economy queue was quite big but first we had to pick up our tickets. I stood outside with the luggage while Andy dealt with the tickets. He was then moved over to the Premium Economy desk and he beckoned me over with the luggage. I thought they were just being nice to us and hadnt asked us to join the economy queue to check in but it turned out that Andy has enquired about upgrading and it just so happened there were 2 seats left in premium economy. It cost us the same amount as we wouldve spent on 2 nights at the Contemporary 14th floor concierge so he figured what the heck, lets go back in style.
Our luggage was taken for us as the conveyor belts were down (economy passengers had to lug their own luggage) and then Andy had one last cigarette before we went through the gates. We were both peckish and had been told there was a Chilis somewhere at MCO so we went off on a hunt. We found it ok, after a stop in a few shops and we shared a starter of boneless shanghai wings and their triple play starter which contained chicken crispers, southwestern egg rolls and boneless buffalo wings. All of it was very nice but I was starting to get nervous so I couldnt each too much of it.
our feast
some lighthearted mucking about!
After our snacky meal, we walked back to Passport Control. It was huge and we queued for ages to get through. 45 minutes later, we were out. I was disappointed to note that the Disney Store that was by the Burger King had gone. We went into the Duty Free shop and bought 200 cigarettes for hubby and 2 bottles of Gentleman Jack for my brother. It was then time to walk to our gate, number 85.
We managed to find somewhere to sit as it was pretty crowded down there. We were late in boarding as the flight had been delayed coming in.
They called Premium Economy passengers on first. We walked onto the plane and were directed upstairs. Very cool. We were both chuffed to find that our seats were right at the front of the plane and were the very last 2 so wed have nobody in front of us. Excellent! The couple sat behind us werent very impressed. As soon as we started sorting our stuff out, the woman behind us said oh great. Rude cow! I gave her a dirty look and carried on regardless. She obviously thought that we would be tilting our seats back or something. Whenever I got up to go to the toilet or something, shed stare at me like I had 3 heads or something. Maybe we looked too trashy to be in premium economy then
Anyway, we finally took off at 7.10 and were told our journey would last about 7 hours and 25 minutes. I was a bit nervous on takeoff as it was very very bumpy. I think also I hadnt been prepared for flying home so soon. It took me a good 40 minutes to calm myself down.
I didnt think much of our film choice - the only film that appealed to me was Garfield the Movie, which I watched twice and really enjoyed. Andy watched Man On Fire with Denzel Washington and some of Code 46 which he said was a pile of poo. The Denzel film was good but apparently the ending really lets it down. The other film we had was Kill Bill Volume 2 - oh great NOT! I really felt that there wasnt enough choice for the family, some of the films they showed today I feel were too violent to be shown on flights but I shall get off my soapbox now.
The flight was pretty uneventful, a bit turbulent in places but nothing that I really panicked about. The food was quite bad, not as good as I was expecting. The beef was as hard as old boots and tasted like it too. All I ate in the end was the roll and butter and cheese and biscuits. I couldnt even stomach the cake.
I spent most of the flight reading magazines and watching Garfield and Dora the Explorer, as well as an episode each of the Simpsons and Friends.
Andy managed to get about an hours sleep but I never got any. By the time breakfast was served about 6am I was shattered and starving. What was breakfast? A blueberry muffin and some orange juice. Erm, ok! I gave the muffin to Andy and snacked on half a bag of Cheetos instead!
The weather at Gatwick was absolutely awful. It was pouring with rain, misty and windy and our landing was really bumpy and I hated every minute of it. It wasnt until we were a minute until landing that the mist cleared and we could actually see where we were going.
At last we were down - I wanted to kiss the ground I was so glad to be there. We got off the plane before the other passengers and headed to Passport Control. They are doing a lot of work at Gatwick at the moment and we walked a fair way until we were directed down some stairs and onto a bus. The bus driver really needed to be sent back to Driving School, his driving was appalling - considering loads of us were standing up! 5 minutes later, we were at the terminal building making our way to Passport Control. The line wasnt long so we got through really quickly - Im sure ours was the only flight that had landed at that time.
Next it was on to baggage collection and only had to wait about 5 minutes or so. I turned on my mobile phone and a message came through from my mum saying Good morning, so I knew she was waiting for us at arrivals. We went through Customs no problem and into the arrivals hall we went, where I saw my mum waving madly at me.
The journey back to Croydon was slow as we hit all the rush hour traffic. The weather was diabolical but as we neared home, the rain subsided a little. Once inside, it was time for the kettle to go on and once wed had a hot drink, my mum drove home and we went to bed for some sleep.
We were both feeling a little sad that our holiday had to come to an end so quickly but Im glad that Andys feeling that he did the right thing in coming home early. Even though initially his parents didnt want us to come back, I think theyre glad we did. Andy says it doesnt feel so bad now hes closer to home.
coming up: final thoughts and a few last photos
Anz
We were woken up about 10am by the travel insurance company with details of our flights home. They had managed to find us a flight for that night flying home with Virgin Atlantic. It was going back to Gatwick which is the airport closest to us which was great. It was leaving Orlando International Airport at 5.50pm. We decided to take it, which didnt leave us enough time to do anything. Andy spoke to Disney just before 11am to let them know wed be flying home and they told us to take our time checking out which was very useful as we hadnt even packed.
I suddenly realised that we werent going to be able to make the Illuminations Cruise on the Wednesday night before we left and checked my emails to try and find our contact's cellphone number. I sent an email explaining what had happened, although I wasnt sure if she would be checking mail during her stay. I searched through previous emails and I couldnt find it, I figured I must have deleted it by accident and I hadnt written it down in my Passporter, only where she would be staying. We felt really bad not being able to let her know and we wanted to pay our way despite not being able to go so we put $40 to cover our share in an envelope and decided to drive to the hotel on our way to the airport and drop it off.
We packed everything up and went to check out about midday before heading into Everything Pop to buy some last minute goodies. We bought some fridge magnets for Andys mum and a tyre toy for Woody the mad puppy.
From here, we had to find Port Orleans French Quarter and I had no map on me, nor did I know which section of the resort it was at. We drove round looking for it and ended up at the Magic Kingdom. The CM was very rude to us but gave us instructions when we explained wed gotten lost. We followed his instructions to the letter and ended up at Animal Kingdom. Hmm ok. Again, we asked the CM where Port Orleans was and she gave us instructions. Again, we followed them to the letter and we ended up at a dead end by the McDonalds. We were getting quite frustrated by this time but as we pulled out of the McDonalds, we noticed a bus heading for Port Orleans. Brilliant! So we followed it and ended up at Blizzard Beach so I figured it must have come from Animal Kingdom. The poor driver must have thought we were stalking him.
Eventually we saw signs for Port Orleans and we parked up by reception so Andy could run in while I stayed with the car in case anyone asked any questions.
Unfortunately, our quest wasnt at all fruitful. Andy had a helpful CM but couldnt find trace of our contact at either Port Orleans resort, not even as a secondary guest so we figured the room must have been in her married name. Disappointed, we headed for the airport. You cant say we didnt try as we drove round for about an hour!
some photos taken of the front of the main Port Orleans French Quarter building
Anyway, we finally arrived at MCO. Dropping the car back wasnt a problem and we made our way to the terminal. The Virgin Atlantic economy queue was quite big but first we had to pick up our tickets. I stood outside with the luggage while Andy dealt with the tickets. He was then moved over to the Premium Economy desk and he beckoned me over with the luggage. I thought they were just being nice to us and hadnt asked us to join the economy queue to check in but it turned out that Andy has enquired about upgrading and it just so happened there were 2 seats left in premium economy. It cost us the same amount as we wouldve spent on 2 nights at the Contemporary 14th floor concierge so he figured what the heck, lets go back in style.
Our luggage was taken for us as the conveyor belts were down (economy passengers had to lug their own luggage) and then Andy had one last cigarette before we went through the gates. We were both peckish and had been told there was a Chilis somewhere at MCO so we went off on a hunt. We found it ok, after a stop in a few shops and we shared a starter of boneless shanghai wings and their triple play starter which contained chicken crispers, southwestern egg rolls and boneless buffalo wings. All of it was very nice but I was starting to get nervous so I couldnt each too much of it.
our feast
some lighthearted mucking about!
After our snacky meal, we walked back to Passport Control. It was huge and we queued for ages to get through. 45 minutes later, we were out. I was disappointed to note that the Disney Store that was by the Burger King had gone. We went into the Duty Free shop and bought 200 cigarettes for hubby and 2 bottles of Gentleman Jack for my brother. It was then time to walk to our gate, number 85.
We managed to find somewhere to sit as it was pretty crowded down there. We were late in boarding as the flight had been delayed coming in.
They called Premium Economy passengers on first. We walked onto the plane and were directed upstairs. Very cool. We were both chuffed to find that our seats were right at the front of the plane and were the very last 2 so wed have nobody in front of us. Excellent! The couple sat behind us werent very impressed. As soon as we started sorting our stuff out, the woman behind us said oh great. Rude cow! I gave her a dirty look and carried on regardless. She obviously thought that we would be tilting our seats back or something. Whenever I got up to go to the toilet or something, shed stare at me like I had 3 heads or something. Maybe we looked too trashy to be in premium economy then
Anyway, we finally took off at 7.10 and were told our journey would last about 7 hours and 25 minutes. I was a bit nervous on takeoff as it was very very bumpy. I think also I hadnt been prepared for flying home so soon. It took me a good 40 minutes to calm myself down.
I didnt think much of our film choice - the only film that appealed to me was Garfield the Movie, which I watched twice and really enjoyed. Andy watched Man On Fire with Denzel Washington and some of Code 46 which he said was a pile of poo. The Denzel film was good but apparently the ending really lets it down. The other film we had was Kill Bill Volume 2 - oh great NOT! I really felt that there wasnt enough choice for the family, some of the films they showed today I feel were too violent to be shown on flights but I shall get off my soapbox now.
The flight was pretty uneventful, a bit turbulent in places but nothing that I really panicked about. The food was quite bad, not as good as I was expecting. The beef was as hard as old boots and tasted like it too. All I ate in the end was the roll and butter and cheese and biscuits. I couldnt even stomach the cake.
I spent most of the flight reading magazines and watching Garfield and Dora the Explorer, as well as an episode each of the Simpsons and Friends.
Andy managed to get about an hours sleep but I never got any. By the time breakfast was served about 6am I was shattered and starving. What was breakfast? A blueberry muffin and some orange juice. Erm, ok! I gave the muffin to Andy and snacked on half a bag of Cheetos instead!
The weather at Gatwick was absolutely awful. It was pouring with rain, misty and windy and our landing was really bumpy and I hated every minute of it. It wasnt until we were a minute until landing that the mist cleared and we could actually see where we were going.
At last we were down - I wanted to kiss the ground I was so glad to be there. We got off the plane before the other passengers and headed to Passport Control. They are doing a lot of work at Gatwick at the moment and we walked a fair way until we were directed down some stairs and onto a bus. The bus driver really needed to be sent back to Driving School, his driving was appalling - considering loads of us were standing up! 5 minutes later, we were at the terminal building making our way to Passport Control. The line wasnt long so we got through really quickly - Im sure ours was the only flight that had landed at that time.
Next it was on to baggage collection and only had to wait about 5 minutes or so. I turned on my mobile phone and a message came through from my mum saying Good morning, so I knew she was waiting for us at arrivals. We went through Customs no problem and into the arrivals hall we went, where I saw my mum waving madly at me.
The journey back to Croydon was slow as we hit all the rush hour traffic. The weather was diabolical but as we neared home, the rain subsided a little. Once inside, it was time for the kettle to go on and once wed had a hot drink, my mum drove home and we went to bed for some sleep.
We were both feeling a little sad that our holiday had to come to an end so quickly but Im glad that Andys feeling that he did the right thing in coming home early. Even though initially his parents didnt want us to come back, I think theyre glad we did. Andy says it doesnt feel so bad now hes closer to home.
coming up: final thoughts and a few last photos
Anz
Anz
