Danauk
<font color=green>I would be sitting on the patio
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2003
- Messages
- 14,597
20th/21st December 2005, The journey: London Gatwick to the Beach Club Villas
The cast:
Me (Karen) mad planner and disaholic
Pete, my husband, hates planning, goes along with what we happen to be doing
Andrew, best friend and Disney mad
Sue, best friend, married to Andrew, also Disney mad but doesnt often admit it (although admits it more these days!)
After a long day at work I got home at 4pm and finished packing. I decided to try the Virgin on line check in which was really easy to do. Now when we get to the airport all we have to do is drop the bags off. I managed to have a bit of a relax but couldnt sleep as I was too excited. As tonight was Petes schools Christmas concert he couldnt get home until 10pm (the head of music cant really miss the main carol concert at the abbey!) Once he is home we tried to get a few hours sleep and managed about 3 before we had to get up at 3am as the car was picking us up to drive us to the airport at 4am (I didnt know that time actually existed until now!) The car was here at 3:55 and we loaded up, said good bye to the cats and rabbits who are being looked after by a friend whilst we are away and set off to pick up Andrew and Sue. We managed to fit all the cases into the car (rather amazingly, it was like a 3D puzzle!) and we were off to London Gatwick. The journey usually takes about 3 ½ hours but we were there in 2! So we went straight to the bag drop off and no one was waiting so we got rid of the cases and set off through customs and security to have breakfast and do a little shopping.
Once we were shopped out we decided to check out the executive lounge which we could get in to thanks to Andrews credit card. The lounge was a great way to start the trip especially as Andrew and I are not the best flyers! It was so relaxing and had free soft drinks and breakfast items. Our flight was on time so we soon headed off to the gate where I met Emily (another disser) and her mum. Em and I knew we were on the same flight and had been chatting for months about our plans so it was nice to finally meet one another. Soon we were boarding the plane, Sue got stopped and searched, this seems to happen every trip, not sure why!! (Andrew says it is because she looks the most least likely person to be up to no good so they think she must be guilty of something!) The flight was long and boring, 9 ½ hours, but quite smooth. I watched a movie, had a Christmas dinner, read my book and finally settled on watching the little map on my TV screen whilst listening to Disney tunes on my ipod (I love watching the map, not sure why!!) We landed at 4pm on time and everyone was in Christmas spirits, the crew played Christmas tunes whilst we were waiting to disembark.
We quickly passed through immigration and headed over to the baggage claim. We had to wait ages as the hold door on the plane had frozen shut and they couldnt get the cases out! Finally we gathered all our cases and headed over to get the hire car. Pete and Andrew went to pick the car up whilst Sue and I sorted the bags. Soon we were loaded up, Sue and I were squashed in the back with a case between us and we were on our way. We managed to get to WDW quite quickly with only one wrong turn! At this point I have to say that Florida maps are awful! We had an up to date map but a lot of the roads we found were not on there. So when Pete told Andrew to take the next right we ended up on a different road to what was marked on the map (an occurrence we would have a lot more of over the next 2 weeks!) We finally pulled up to the gate of the Beach Club and were given a Welcome Home by the guard which was nice. I couldnt believe we were finally here. Andrew and Sue suggested that Pete and I sort out the bags whilst they checked us in. We were staying at the Beach Club Villas using their DVC points and thought we were getting a studio each (we had stayed in a dedicated 2 bedroomed villa last time, but that was way too many points for 2 weeks over Christmas and New Year!) So Sue gave us our key and said they had been given the room opposite us. We wondered through the Beach Club and over to the villas. As we walked through the doors out into the courtyard I was greated by the BCV smell that I remembered from last time, it was good to be back. We walked into the BCV past the most beautiful Christmas tree I have ever seen and carried on down the coridoor. We finally got to our room so I opened the door and walked in. I thought something was wrong straight away, we must have been given the wrong room as this wasnt a studio it was a 2 bedroomed villa (room 168 directly under the villa we had on our last trip!) Then there was a knock on the door and when we opened it Andrew and Sue were stood there with huge grins on their face and were yelling Merry Christmas! It wasnt the wrong room, they had used some of their next years points to book a dedicated 2 bedroomed villa instead of 2 studios!! At this point I have to say I love my best friends!! (although am amazed that they managed to keep this a secret for a year!)
So we checked out the villa, we were on the ground floor with a great view over the canal and quiet pool. We had 3 little patios with 2 chairs and a table on each but best of all we could just walk out of the living room and straight to the pool!! We decided to unpack and then as it had been a long day we ordered room service dinner. As we were waiting for it to arrive Andrew and I went to get our mugs and have a look around the Beach Club Market Place shop. The shop looked good and the drink selection very good, sodas, ice tea, hot tea, coffee and hot chocolate. We soon headed back to the villa where the dinner had arrived and was laid out on the table which looked yummy. As we had been travelling for so long we were quite hungry so we soon ate up. By this point we were quite tired but still excited so we decided to go for a short walk around stormalong bay before heading to bed. Although the room clock said 8:30pm our body clock was still on English time and was telling us it was 1:30am!
Link to trip photos: http://karenmorgan.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album02&page=1
Part 2: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=11035794#post11035794
Part 3: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=11036754#post11036754
Part 4: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=11049271#post11049271
Part 5: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=11059217#post11059217
Part 6: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=11060052#post11060052
Part 7: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=11061000#post11061000
Part 8: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=995380
Part 9: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=11084617#post11084617
Part 10: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=11123862#post11123862
Part 11: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=11135084#post11135084
Part 12: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=11135453#post11135453
Part 13: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=11135895#post11135895
The cast:
Me (Karen) mad planner and disaholic
Pete, my husband, hates planning, goes along with what we happen to be doing
Andrew, best friend and Disney mad
Sue, best friend, married to Andrew, also Disney mad but doesnt often admit it (although admits it more these days!)
After a long day at work I got home at 4pm and finished packing. I decided to try the Virgin on line check in which was really easy to do. Now when we get to the airport all we have to do is drop the bags off. I managed to have a bit of a relax but couldnt sleep as I was too excited. As tonight was Petes schools Christmas concert he couldnt get home until 10pm (the head of music cant really miss the main carol concert at the abbey!) Once he is home we tried to get a few hours sleep and managed about 3 before we had to get up at 3am as the car was picking us up to drive us to the airport at 4am (I didnt know that time actually existed until now!) The car was here at 3:55 and we loaded up, said good bye to the cats and rabbits who are being looked after by a friend whilst we are away and set off to pick up Andrew and Sue. We managed to fit all the cases into the car (rather amazingly, it was like a 3D puzzle!) and we were off to London Gatwick. The journey usually takes about 3 ½ hours but we were there in 2! So we went straight to the bag drop off and no one was waiting so we got rid of the cases and set off through customs and security to have breakfast and do a little shopping.
Once we were shopped out we decided to check out the executive lounge which we could get in to thanks to Andrews credit card. The lounge was a great way to start the trip especially as Andrew and I are not the best flyers! It was so relaxing and had free soft drinks and breakfast items. Our flight was on time so we soon headed off to the gate where I met Emily (another disser) and her mum. Em and I knew we were on the same flight and had been chatting for months about our plans so it was nice to finally meet one another. Soon we were boarding the plane, Sue got stopped and searched, this seems to happen every trip, not sure why!! (Andrew says it is because she looks the most least likely person to be up to no good so they think she must be guilty of something!) The flight was long and boring, 9 ½ hours, but quite smooth. I watched a movie, had a Christmas dinner, read my book and finally settled on watching the little map on my TV screen whilst listening to Disney tunes on my ipod (I love watching the map, not sure why!!) We landed at 4pm on time and everyone was in Christmas spirits, the crew played Christmas tunes whilst we were waiting to disembark.
We quickly passed through immigration and headed over to the baggage claim. We had to wait ages as the hold door on the plane had frozen shut and they couldnt get the cases out! Finally we gathered all our cases and headed over to get the hire car. Pete and Andrew went to pick the car up whilst Sue and I sorted the bags. Soon we were loaded up, Sue and I were squashed in the back with a case between us and we were on our way. We managed to get to WDW quite quickly with only one wrong turn! At this point I have to say that Florida maps are awful! We had an up to date map but a lot of the roads we found were not on there. So when Pete told Andrew to take the next right we ended up on a different road to what was marked on the map (an occurrence we would have a lot more of over the next 2 weeks!) We finally pulled up to the gate of the Beach Club and were given a Welcome Home by the guard which was nice. I couldnt believe we were finally here. Andrew and Sue suggested that Pete and I sort out the bags whilst they checked us in. We were staying at the Beach Club Villas using their DVC points and thought we were getting a studio each (we had stayed in a dedicated 2 bedroomed villa last time, but that was way too many points for 2 weeks over Christmas and New Year!) So Sue gave us our key and said they had been given the room opposite us. We wondered through the Beach Club and over to the villas. As we walked through the doors out into the courtyard I was greated by the BCV smell that I remembered from last time, it was good to be back. We walked into the BCV past the most beautiful Christmas tree I have ever seen and carried on down the coridoor. We finally got to our room so I opened the door and walked in. I thought something was wrong straight away, we must have been given the wrong room as this wasnt a studio it was a 2 bedroomed villa (room 168 directly under the villa we had on our last trip!) Then there was a knock on the door and when we opened it Andrew and Sue were stood there with huge grins on their face and were yelling Merry Christmas! It wasnt the wrong room, they had used some of their next years points to book a dedicated 2 bedroomed villa instead of 2 studios!! At this point I have to say I love my best friends!! (although am amazed that they managed to keep this a secret for a year!)
So we checked out the villa, we were on the ground floor with a great view over the canal and quiet pool. We had 3 little patios with 2 chairs and a table on each but best of all we could just walk out of the living room and straight to the pool!! We decided to unpack and then as it had been a long day we ordered room service dinner. As we were waiting for it to arrive Andrew and I went to get our mugs and have a look around the Beach Club Market Place shop. The shop looked good and the drink selection very good, sodas, ice tea, hot tea, coffee and hot chocolate. We soon headed back to the villa where the dinner had arrived and was laid out on the table which looked yummy. As we had been travelling for so long we were quite hungry so we soon ate up. By this point we were quite tired but still excited so we decided to go for a short walk around stormalong bay before heading to bed. Although the room clock said 8:30pm our body clock was still on English time and was telling us it was 1:30am!
Link to trip photos: http://karenmorgan.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album02&page=1
Part 2: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=11035794#post11035794
Part 3: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=11036754#post11036754
Part 4: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=11049271#post11049271
Part 5: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=11059217#post11059217
Part 6: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=11060052#post11060052
Part 7: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=11061000#post11061000
Part 8: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=995380
Part 9: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=11084617#post11084617
Part 10: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=11123862#post11123862
Part 11: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=11135084#post11135084
Part 12: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=11135453#post11135453
Part 13: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=11135895#post11135895
