danandjackie
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2003
- Messages
- 440
Day 1
As we are catching the afternoon flight from Manchester we dont have to get up at an extra early time and simply leave the house at 8.30am or so. This is probably too early but the M65, 66 and 60 can throw anything at you at this time of the morning, so the cases are packed in the car, the usual double checks carried out and were off.
I did the online check in last night, charged up every battery I could possibly need (adding one extra camera battery at the last minute), and for those of you who I know have worried, we decided to forsake the potted Beef sandwiches, just in case we caused a dispute over what form of gel, liquid, paste these took..
After parking the car and getting to the terminal we check in quickly at the bag drop section and head to security. Slightly dopey security girl decides I didnt need to have my medication in the clear bag, which considering they are not in the clear bag is an achievement in itself I havent, those are my spare contact lenses. OK she says You dont need those in either .I do mention that they are in liquid so I thought they had to be , and am just about to take them out when the second member of security tells the first they do have to stay in; can we have rules that are workable for these people please. Ladies argue amongst yourselves, just let me through. I think the original guard must now be seeking revenge-for anything- so she decides our clear zip lock bag is too big. It soon occurs to her as she starts to unwrap one of her own bags to give to us that hers is bigger than ours, so she quickly screws her own up saying actually thats ok smiles and waves us through.
Actually all this happened in a minute and we did not queue at all, and once through the liquid check we had no more queues all the way through cabin bagcheck either. So much for the extra time given to security, now I will have to spend it in the most boring terminal ever.(T2) If I have to go in the duty free shop I will really get upset.
Eventually we find a Starbucks where a small mortgage secures a couple of large Lattes , a rather large mince pie for Jackie and a very strange looking cake thing for me whose name defied me then and still does (I chose it on its strange looks). It tasted good though.
Initial excitement at seeing the Virgin 747-400 at the gate just along from Starbucks is suddenly tempered by the realisation that this is the departing earlier flight. Oh well at least I can take some pics of it leaving. Well yes you can but in the wisdom of creating a boring terminal, Manchester made sure that T2 doesnt actually face the runways or anything remotely interesting. You soon get bored of watching pilots walking around the planes testing tyre pressure with a kick and counting that the correct number of engines are still on the plane.
It seems to take a long time until we finally board theVirginia Plain, strange name for a plane sounds like a brand of cigarettes or something. We have the seats we originally booked which I think are the same ones as last time.
Lets have a quick review of proceedings starting with films.
The Queen: completely enjoyed this, some fabulous performances and a cracking script.
The Break Up: predictable but passed the time, worth it for the Tele Savalas joke but other than that I would be hard pressed to find anything else in it I liked. Why does Jennifer Anniston have to play the same role in every single film these days.
Pirates OTC 2: (Once the stewardess got it working) has some fun moments though I have NO idea of the storyline. Possibly due to the first 20mins of the film being accidently overdubbed by Virgin into a mix of static and morse code.
Cars: Gave up. Watching 20mins of cars running around a race track at the beginning does not give you characters Disney, let Pixar go back to making and developing films themselves.
And now ladies and gentlemen The Food..
Pretty poor.. Why cant we have decent food on planes, whats the problem? Why do I have to have an assault course of plastic packages to untangle in order to get at my meal, and by the way, are Virgin the only scheduled operator to serve wine from 99p Tesco basics quality bottles..
Now so far I have not moaned
Jackie met a lovely lady next to her called Joan (Im 80 you know) from Liverpool, so she had someone to keep her mind off all these things..
Joan was on her way to meet her son, who lives in Monterey California. Jackie helped her with the seatbelt, kept her company and showed her how to work the entertainment system. Joan wanted to watch the map. FOR 9 HOURS!
She was slightly worried about security as well so we offered to guide her through the immigration procedure, customs form and collect her suitcases for her and negotiate Orlando Internationals twin suitcase pickup. Her trip was to comprise of a couple of days with her son in Orlando followed by three months in California. Note to self: retire now, take longer holidays.
The trip passed surprisingly quickly. Its always that bit over Newfoundland that seems to take for ever, so if you dont look at the map during that part it should go even faster!?
As we approached Orlando and started our descent the light started disappearing quickly. I tried to take a picture of a beautiful sunset but trying to find my camera combined with the sun dipping below the horizon at a startling rate due to the planes descent rate left me with this rather half hearted attempt.
Immigration was a breeze with no wait really, we assisted Joan up to this and she ended up next to us. Our guard was quick, very polite and courteous. Over our shoulder however we could here Joan being given the third degree by a Cathy Bates character in her Stephen King Misery role, any second the sledge hammer was going to come out. 80 year old spinsters are obviously a major risk at the moment.
We got Joan through to her son in arrivals and after saying goodbye, collected our cases and headed to Disneys Magical Express desk. Here we were checked in and given our tickets. After a short wait we boarded the bus and drove to the All Star Music Resort. Tiredness was now starting to hit, not too much of a line for check in. We got a quiet room on the top floor of Rock Inn , a block away from the pool area.. And we got a little surprise we had forgotton about in our tiredness. A few of us from the UK and the US who were all travelling into WDW at different almost overlapping times had arranged a sort of relay gift box. As I checked in the CM said Ah you have a package one sec, eventually he returned with a oversized Mickey Mouse Box full of Goodies from Kevin and Matt in the UK and Susan from Tulsa, Oklahoma, who had all been staying at the Boardwalk the week previously. Inside are some gifts for us and some gifts for the next friends on the relay, Dirk and Jim, from Trenton New Jersey. It will be our job to add gifts for those before us who we missed and also for Dirk and Jim who arrive in a couple of weeks, we can take our things home with us now.
Now to find the room.
After what seems like hours we find it..(I realise we are not getting near when we reach the parking for all star movies
, I think I must have slept through the map instructions the CM gave me) and after ringing mickey for a 6.30 wake up call its time to sleep.
Danny and Jackie
xx
As we are catching the afternoon flight from Manchester we dont have to get up at an extra early time and simply leave the house at 8.30am or so. This is probably too early but the M65, 66 and 60 can throw anything at you at this time of the morning, so the cases are packed in the car, the usual double checks carried out and were off.
I did the online check in last night, charged up every battery I could possibly need (adding one extra camera battery at the last minute), and for those of you who I know have worried, we decided to forsake the potted Beef sandwiches, just in case we caused a dispute over what form of gel, liquid, paste these took..
After parking the car and getting to the terminal we check in quickly at the bag drop section and head to security. Slightly dopey security girl decides I didnt need to have my medication in the clear bag, which considering they are not in the clear bag is an achievement in itself I havent, those are my spare contact lenses. OK she says You dont need those in either .I do mention that they are in liquid so I thought they had to be , and am just about to take them out when the second member of security tells the first they do have to stay in; can we have rules that are workable for these people please. Ladies argue amongst yourselves, just let me through. I think the original guard must now be seeking revenge-for anything- so she decides our clear zip lock bag is too big. It soon occurs to her as she starts to unwrap one of her own bags to give to us that hers is bigger than ours, so she quickly screws her own up saying actually thats ok smiles and waves us through.
Actually all this happened in a minute and we did not queue at all, and once through the liquid check we had no more queues all the way through cabin bagcheck either. So much for the extra time given to security, now I will have to spend it in the most boring terminal ever.(T2) If I have to go in the duty free shop I will really get upset.
Eventually we find a Starbucks where a small mortgage secures a couple of large Lattes , a rather large mince pie for Jackie and a very strange looking cake thing for me whose name defied me then and still does (I chose it on its strange looks). It tasted good though.
Initial excitement at seeing the Virgin 747-400 at the gate just along from Starbucks is suddenly tempered by the realisation that this is the departing earlier flight. Oh well at least I can take some pics of it leaving. Well yes you can but in the wisdom of creating a boring terminal, Manchester made sure that T2 doesnt actually face the runways or anything remotely interesting. You soon get bored of watching pilots walking around the planes testing tyre pressure with a kick and counting that the correct number of engines are still on the plane.
It seems to take a long time until we finally board theVirginia Plain, strange name for a plane sounds like a brand of cigarettes or something. We have the seats we originally booked which I think are the same ones as last time.
Lets have a quick review of proceedings starting with films.
The Queen: completely enjoyed this, some fabulous performances and a cracking script.
The Break Up: predictable but passed the time, worth it for the Tele Savalas joke but other than that I would be hard pressed to find anything else in it I liked. Why does Jennifer Anniston have to play the same role in every single film these days.
Pirates OTC 2: (Once the stewardess got it working) has some fun moments though I have NO idea of the storyline. Possibly due to the first 20mins of the film being accidently overdubbed by Virgin into a mix of static and morse code.
Cars: Gave up. Watching 20mins of cars running around a race track at the beginning does not give you characters Disney, let Pixar go back to making and developing films themselves.
And now ladies and gentlemen The Food..
Pretty poor.. Why cant we have decent food on planes, whats the problem? Why do I have to have an assault course of plastic packages to untangle in order to get at my meal, and by the way, are Virgin the only scheduled operator to serve wine from 99p Tesco basics quality bottles..
Now so far I have not moaned
Jackie met a lovely lady next to her called Joan (Im 80 you know) from Liverpool, so she had someone to keep her mind off all these things..
Joan was on her way to meet her son, who lives in Monterey California. Jackie helped her with the seatbelt, kept her company and showed her how to work the entertainment system. Joan wanted to watch the map. FOR 9 HOURS!
She was slightly worried about security as well so we offered to guide her through the immigration procedure, customs form and collect her suitcases for her and negotiate Orlando Internationals twin suitcase pickup. Her trip was to comprise of a couple of days with her son in Orlando followed by three months in California. Note to self: retire now, take longer holidays.
The trip passed surprisingly quickly. Its always that bit over Newfoundland that seems to take for ever, so if you dont look at the map during that part it should go even faster!?
As we approached Orlando and started our descent the light started disappearing quickly. I tried to take a picture of a beautiful sunset but trying to find my camera combined with the sun dipping below the horizon at a startling rate due to the planes descent rate left me with this rather half hearted attempt.
Immigration was a breeze with no wait really, we assisted Joan up to this and she ended up next to us. Our guard was quick, very polite and courteous. Over our shoulder however we could here Joan being given the third degree by a Cathy Bates character in her Stephen King Misery role, any second the sledge hammer was going to come out. 80 year old spinsters are obviously a major risk at the moment.
We got Joan through to her son in arrivals and after saying goodbye, collected our cases and headed to Disneys Magical Express desk. Here we were checked in and given our tickets. After a short wait we boarded the bus and drove to the All Star Music Resort. Tiredness was now starting to hit, not too much of a line for check in. We got a quiet room on the top floor of Rock Inn , a block away from the pool area.. And we got a little surprise we had forgotton about in our tiredness. A few of us from the UK and the US who were all travelling into WDW at different almost overlapping times had arranged a sort of relay gift box. As I checked in the CM said Ah you have a package one sec, eventually he returned with a oversized Mickey Mouse Box full of Goodies from Kevin and Matt in the UK and Susan from Tulsa, Oklahoma, who had all been staying at the Boardwalk the week previously. Inside are some gifts for us and some gifts for the next friends on the relay, Dirk and Jim, from Trenton New Jersey. It will be our job to add gifts for those before us who we missed and also for Dirk and Jim who arrive in a couple of weeks, we can take our things home with us now.
Now to find the room.
After what seems like hours we find it..(I realise we are not getting near when we reach the parking for all star movies
, I think I must have slept through the map instructions the CM gave me) and after ringing mickey for a 6.30 wake up call its time to sleep.Danny and Jackie
xx
Looking forward to reading more 
