I will start this trip report with the lead up to leaving to help set the scene and give you some idea of my frame of mind.
Cast Member DD (Vince), DD (Jo-Ann 5 years old), Friends (Juliet, Russell and their DD Bethany 5 years old) and me (Caroline)
I left work early on the Friday so that I could spend the afternoon packing the cases and finishing off all my tidying. After 15 minutes I still had not got out of the car park, there have been some road works close to where I work for the last few months and today they were causing major traffic problems. Fortunately my DH was at home so I set of walking home and he drove to meet me about 1 mile away from work. So rather than getting home in 20 minutes it ended up taking 1 hour. I was not in the best mood.
I had asked my DH to pick up some things from the shops but he not done this, so rather than starting the packing we ended up going to the shops. SO by the time we got home it was time to collect my DD from school. Then we had tea etc .
It was therefore about 5.30pm by the time I finally started packing. It was at this point that my DH decided that he did not like the cases we had and wanted a new hard-shell medium sized expandable case. So on Saturday morning he set off to but this new case, leaving my DD at home with me. To help keep her busy I put her in the bath to play, while I piled the clothes and everything else we were taking on to the beds. I went downstairs to get some things from the kitchen and as walked towards the room I heard dripping water. I walked into the kitchen to see water dripping through the ceiling. I ran back upstairs to find out that my DD had been playing waterslides in the bath and the water had been slopping over the top of the bath and was now dripping into the kitchen. Just what I needed!!
I therefore had to clean up this and leave the packing and preparation. This meant that instead of being ready and relaxing by lunch time Saturday I was still rushing around at 3.00pm. We had planned to set out for Ashford at about 3.00pm but we did leave until 4.20pm and instead of being relaxed I was much stressed.
Fortunately, the traffic on the way to Ashford was light and we had no problem finding the Travelodge, just off the Junction 9 of the M20. The room is your standard Travelodge room with 1 double bed and 1 sofa-bed with a pull-out bed. The room is supposed to sleep 4 but if you do use the pull-out bed then you will have no floor space in the room. Because we booked on-line we only paid £26 for this room so if there had been 4 of us I would have actually booked 2 rooms.
We ate in the nearby leisure park; there is a Burger King, a Pizza Hut, a KFC and a Frankie and Bennys. All were quite busy as it was a Saturday night but we choose Frankie and Bennys and had an enjoyable meal. I was finally beginning to relax.
We went back to the room, DH fell asleep immediately but my DD could not get to sleep. She said the sofa bed was too hard. I woke my DH and got him to swap with her (she did not want to sleep with Daddy), he went straight back to sleep but DD still would not. At 2.00am she finally dropped off the sleep at this point my DH started snoring very loudly which then kept me awake for the next 1 ½ hours until. The alarms were set for 7.30am, I therefore had about 4 hours sleep.
Got up, got ready, packed the car and then had breakfast. We had tried the route to the station the night before and worked out although the signposts direct you back onto the M20 to leave at Junction 10 this take much longer than going straight over the roundabout at Junction 9 and then following the signs to Stations. As we did this journey on a Sunday morning I can not comment on whether this would still be the best route during the week.
Arrived at the station at 9.35am, with plenty of time to spare, or so we thought. We found the Departures and were faced with a very long queue. It then took us 45 minutes to get through the Baggage Check and Passports. I dont know if one of the scanners was broken but only one was being used, resulting in this really long wait. The process was also slowed down because everyone had to remove all of their coats and put them through the scanner. By the time we reached the other side the train was just about to arrive. If anyone had arrived the recommended 30 minutes before departure they could well still have been stuck in the security queue.
The train arrived on time, we found our seats with no problem got my DD and her friend settled with colouring books, DS Lites, DVD Player etc .. The CM came along and booked us into our hotel, presented us with our hotel packs containing our park tickets and Fast Passes. We only had two cases to check in to the Express Luggage Service but I asked for 3 labels as I had an idea that we might have an extra bag to check when we returned.
Train arrived at DLRP and we eagerly rushed from the train. We stored any items we had used on the train but did not need for the park in our cases and then took them up to the Express Luggage. This is right at the top of the station near to Departures. We handed over the cases and were given the bottom sections of the luggage labels.
Finally I was nearly at DLRP, cases were stored, park tickets were in my hand, Fast Passes in my bag and surely I could relax now, nothing more could happen?
Cast Member DD (Vince), DD (Jo-Ann 5 years old), Friends (Juliet, Russell and their DD Bethany 5 years old) and me (Caroline)
I left work early on the Friday so that I could spend the afternoon packing the cases and finishing off all my tidying. After 15 minutes I still had not got out of the car park, there have been some road works close to where I work for the last few months and today they were causing major traffic problems. Fortunately my DH was at home so I set of walking home and he drove to meet me about 1 mile away from work. So rather than getting home in 20 minutes it ended up taking 1 hour. I was not in the best mood.
I had asked my DH to pick up some things from the shops but he not done this, so rather than starting the packing we ended up going to the shops. SO by the time we got home it was time to collect my DD from school. Then we had tea etc .
It was therefore about 5.30pm by the time I finally started packing. It was at this point that my DH decided that he did not like the cases we had and wanted a new hard-shell medium sized expandable case. So on Saturday morning he set off to but this new case, leaving my DD at home with me. To help keep her busy I put her in the bath to play, while I piled the clothes and everything else we were taking on to the beds. I went downstairs to get some things from the kitchen and as walked towards the room I heard dripping water. I walked into the kitchen to see water dripping through the ceiling. I ran back upstairs to find out that my DD had been playing waterslides in the bath and the water had been slopping over the top of the bath and was now dripping into the kitchen. Just what I needed!!
I therefore had to clean up this and leave the packing and preparation. This meant that instead of being ready and relaxing by lunch time Saturday I was still rushing around at 3.00pm. We had planned to set out for Ashford at about 3.00pm but we did leave until 4.20pm and instead of being relaxed I was much stressed.
Fortunately, the traffic on the way to Ashford was light and we had no problem finding the Travelodge, just off the Junction 9 of the M20. The room is your standard Travelodge room with 1 double bed and 1 sofa-bed with a pull-out bed. The room is supposed to sleep 4 but if you do use the pull-out bed then you will have no floor space in the room. Because we booked on-line we only paid £26 for this room so if there had been 4 of us I would have actually booked 2 rooms.
We ate in the nearby leisure park; there is a Burger King, a Pizza Hut, a KFC and a Frankie and Bennys. All were quite busy as it was a Saturday night but we choose Frankie and Bennys and had an enjoyable meal. I was finally beginning to relax.
We went back to the room, DH fell asleep immediately but my DD could not get to sleep. She said the sofa bed was too hard. I woke my DH and got him to swap with her (she did not want to sleep with Daddy), he went straight back to sleep but DD still would not. At 2.00am she finally dropped off the sleep at this point my DH started snoring very loudly which then kept me awake for the next 1 ½ hours until. The alarms were set for 7.30am, I therefore had about 4 hours sleep.
Got up, got ready, packed the car and then had breakfast. We had tried the route to the station the night before and worked out although the signposts direct you back onto the M20 to leave at Junction 10 this take much longer than going straight over the roundabout at Junction 9 and then following the signs to Stations. As we did this journey on a Sunday morning I can not comment on whether this would still be the best route during the week.
Arrived at the station at 9.35am, with plenty of time to spare, or so we thought. We found the Departures and were faced with a very long queue. It then took us 45 minutes to get through the Baggage Check and Passports. I dont know if one of the scanners was broken but only one was being used, resulting in this really long wait. The process was also slowed down because everyone had to remove all of their coats and put them through the scanner. By the time we reached the other side the train was just about to arrive. If anyone had arrived the recommended 30 minutes before departure they could well still have been stuck in the security queue.
The train arrived on time, we found our seats with no problem got my DD and her friend settled with colouring books, DS Lites, DVD Player etc .. The CM came along and booked us into our hotel, presented us with our hotel packs containing our park tickets and Fast Passes. We only had two cases to check in to the Express Luggage Service but I asked for 3 labels as I had an idea that we might have an extra bag to check when we returned.
Train arrived at DLRP and we eagerly rushed from the train. We stored any items we had used on the train but did not need for the park in our cases and then took them up to the Express Luggage. This is right at the top of the station near to Departures. We handed over the cases and were given the bottom sections of the luggage labels.
Finally I was nearly at DLRP, cases were stored, park tickets were in my hand, Fast Passes in my bag and surely I could relax now, nothing more could happen?
