Ive never done a trip report before, so I hope that youll all bear with me if I make any mistakes in trip report protocol - and my spelling , which is notoriously poor. I also forgot to do a pre-trip report so Ill quickly fill you in on some details now.
So whos going? Well, first there is me, Richard - to be referred to as DD from now on. 39, run my own business in the UK and love Disney. Lidia, DW, 43, makes sure I dont bankrupt my business and loves shopping. That passion is shared by DD1, Gabby and DD2, Milly who loves what ever Gabby loves. DD1 is 14, DD2 is 9. Well be in Orlando for 3 weeks and will be joined midway through week one by my father-in-law, 74 (!), mother-in-law, 64ish and brother-in-law, 40 who are travelling up from the Dominican Republic (forgot to mention that my wife is Dominican - we met in New York and were married there a long, long time ago).
OK, on with the trip. Cases were packed and ready to go on Thursday evening (17th March) and we were up and ready to go at 6.00am on Friday. Dad drove us to Birmingham airport for our 10.00am flights with Continental via New York. This was our 4th trip to Orlando since 2003, but the 1st where we had not taken direct flights. We also usually travel from Manchester, but Bham was pleasant enough. Snagged some average breakfast fare at the airport food court, had my final cigarette for a while at the smallest smoking area Ive ever seen and overpaid for a pair of sunglasses at Duty Free as mine were still on the coffee table at home.
I was slightly concerned about flying Continental as Id read a report in one of the Sunday papers a few weeks previous saying that they were the worst of the 6 Transatlantic carriers they tested and to be honest they werent far off the mark. After the safety video and a welcome video starring a very smiley CEO, the T.Vs packed up and stayed packed up for the whole trip to NY. DD2 was none too pleased as they were due to show Mean Girls and I was none too pleased as they should have also shown Cat Woman - awful film, but that cat suit . Food was the usual : chicken or beef; something masquerading as salad; coffee flavoured water. I have to say though, that the flight did go quite quickly and I managed to grab the window seat for an hour as we flew down the Canadian coast - fantastic views.
Arriving in NY we realised we had an extra hour to kill having miscalculated the time difference, so having collected our bags and moved them to the transit section we encamped ourselves at Ben & Jerrys for ice-creams & smoothies. I was surprised, although I shouldnt really have been, that the food court around us had a ratio or about 2:1, crew members to passengers mmm, in-flight meals eh!
The onward flight to Orlando passed by OK and as the T.Vs on this plane were working, those inclined to do so could enjoy the 2nd Bridget Jones movie. On arrival our bags arrived quickly and we were off to the Alamo car rental. Now, we had had a stroke of luck with the car and I hope you dont mind me telling you the story ..
When we first booked the trip, we thought there would only be the 4 of us going, so we had decided it would be cool to get an SUV (Explorer type car). One night I decided to sort a price out online and checked a few quotes for the 3 weeks we would be staying - £750 to £850 seemed the norm for the duration. I then checked Alamo. Put in the details, entered the Brits Guide code and the price came up £410. Didnt bother checking any others - booked it, printed off the page and printed of the confirmation email. Decided to call them and check the next day as I didnt want any unexpected surprises in Orlando. The nice lady told me that there had been a mistake - it should have been double that, but as Id got the print out, Alamo would honour the price. She emailed me also. Printed it.
Anyway, we spent about ½ an hour at Alamo while they sorted things and shook their collective heads, but sort them they did, and we got out nice - cheap - car for a few days anyway when I have to pay for the upgrade to the mini-van! We were staying at The Fairfield Inn at the Marriott Village (Lake Buena Vista Crossroads) for our first night and were soon there. Whilst I parked up my wife checked in and was told that the had no family rooms left - theyd overbooked - and we were moved to the next hotel, The Courtyard by Marriott. No worries, as this was just as nice and was actually a more expensive option we had originally looked at. Another result! The plan had been to dump the cases and get a meal, but by now we were all dropping off (9.00pm - 2.00am UK time), so our general exhaustion took over and we were all asleep within the hour.
But, we were here!
So whos going? Well, first there is me, Richard - to be referred to as DD from now on. 39, run my own business in the UK and love Disney. Lidia, DW, 43, makes sure I dont bankrupt my business and loves shopping. That passion is shared by DD1, Gabby and DD2, Milly who loves what ever Gabby loves. DD1 is 14, DD2 is 9. Well be in Orlando for 3 weeks and will be joined midway through week one by my father-in-law, 74 (!), mother-in-law, 64ish and brother-in-law, 40 who are travelling up from the Dominican Republic (forgot to mention that my wife is Dominican - we met in New York and were married there a long, long time ago).
OK, on with the trip. Cases were packed and ready to go on Thursday evening (17th March) and we were up and ready to go at 6.00am on Friday. Dad drove us to Birmingham airport for our 10.00am flights with Continental via New York. This was our 4th trip to Orlando since 2003, but the 1st where we had not taken direct flights. We also usually travel from Manchester, but Bham was pleasant enough. Snagged some average breakfast fare at the airport food court, had my final cigarette for a while at the smallest smoking area Ive ever seen and overpaid for a pair of sunglasses at Duty Free as mine were still on the coffee table at home.
I was slightly concerned about flying Continental as Id read a report in one of the Sunday papers a few weeks previous saying that they were the worst of the 6 Transatlantic carriers they tested and to be honest they werent far off the mark. After the safety video and a welcome video starring a very smiley CEO, the T.Vs packed up and stayed packed up for the whole trip to NY. DD2 was none too pleased as they were due to show Mean Girls and I was none too pleased as they should have also shown Cat Woman - awful film, but that cat suit . Food was the usual : chicken or beef; something masquerading as salad; coffee flavoured water. I have to say though, that the flight did go quite quickly and I managed to grab the window seat for an hour as we flew down the Canadian coast - fantastic views.
Arriving in NY we realised we had an extra hour to kill having miscalculated the time difference, so having collected our bags and moved them to the transit section we encamped ourselves at Ben & Jerrys for ice-creams & smoothies. I was surprised, although I shouldnt really have been, that the food court around us had a ratio or about 2:1, crew members to passengers mmm, in-flight meals eh!
The onward flight to Orlando passed by OK and as the T.Vs on this plane were working, those inclined to do so could enjoy the 2nd Bridget Jones movie. On arrival our bags arrived quickly and we were off to the Alamo car rental. Now, we had had a stroke of luck with the car and I hope you dont mind me telling you the story ..
When we first booked the trip, we thought there would only be the 4 of us going, so we had decided it would be cool to get an SUV (Explorer type car). One night I decided to sort a price out online and checked a few quotes for the 3 weeks we would be staying - £750 to £850 seemed the norm for the duration. I then checked Alamo. Put in the details, entered the Brits Guide code and the price came up £410. Didnt bother checking any others - booked it, printed off the page and printed of the confirmation email. Decided to call them and check the next day as I didnt want any unexpected surprises in Orlando. The nice lady told me that there had been a mistake - it should have been double that, but as Id got the print out, Alamo would honour the price. She emailed me also. Printed it.
Anyway, we spent about ½ an hour at Alamo while they sorted things and shook their collective heads, but sort them they did, and we got out nice - cheap - car for a few days anyway when I have to pay for the upgrade to the mini-van! We were staying at The Fairfield Inn at the Marriott Village (Lake Buena Vista Crossroads) for our first night and were soon there. Whilst I parked up my wife checked in and was told that the had no family rooms left - theyd overbooked - and we were moved to the next hotel, The Courtyard by Marriott. No worries, as this was just as nice and was actually a more expensive option we had originally looked at. Another result! The plan had been to dump the cases and get a meal, but by now we were all dropping off (9.00pm - 2.00am UK time), so our general exhaustion took over and we were all asleep within the hour.
But, we were here!
Your report is great.
