First Time To The World TR

[ChelleFeegan]

Hello All,

Well I did say I was going to do a live (ish) trip report but I failed on that front. I just didn't have time to keep up with it all, not that I am complaining, I love every second of my first time trip, so much so, that I have been pricing up a week in October (not looking likely) but are returning 100% in 2015.

So, sitting here munching on my Goofy Jelly Beans I thought it was time that I started my trip report. I apologise for the lack of food photos', usually by the time we ate, we were so hungry the plates were empty before I had even thought about retrieving my phone.. and that's the other apology, the photos I took were with my iphone, they are not bad but no where near the quality of some on here. The reason; I didn't want to lug around a camera with me, but on my return I NEED to.. there's so much detail to snap and the iphone just doesn't do it justice.

So, a quick introduction...

Howdy, I am Michelle, I am 33 and have been a Disney fan since I could walk and talk. I even wore out my Lady and Tramp video all those years ago. I have been to Disneyland Paris twice, but have always hungered to go to the world (CA has never appealed for some reason).



This is me... these were my favourite sunglasses... The Mummy made me lose them but more of that later.

I met my amazing husband, Andy when I was 18 and we were married when we were 22. I begged, and I pleaded to get married in Disney, but it wasn't to be, maybe I can twist his arm so we can re-new our vows



Then along came out beautiful, and amazing daughter Madison in November of 2005. She loves to dance and sing, loves the colour pink, enjoys trampolining and gymnastics and can watch Disney films for hours on end



Please ignore the somewhat battered Pooh Bear, she can't go anywhere without it and has been her faithful teddy since she was born.

So, this is us.

We were off to the world on the 10th August (amongst other things) for two weeks, staying at the CoCo Keys on International Drive. We had;

14 day Disney Tickets; all six parks, Disney Quest and golf courses plus park hopper function).
14 day 2 park Universal Tickets
Discovery Cove
Seaworld
Aquatica.

I hope you enjoy reading, if you have any questions about things out there please do not hesitate to ask. This is my first ever trip report so.. fingers crossed it is okay

 

[wiigirl]

Following along!

 

[ChelleFeegan]

I shall start my trip report on the 9th August. I was lucky enough to take the entire day off so I could pack (I'd done none... shocking!) do the housework (mum and dad were looking after the cat and I can't bear the thought of there being dust) and get Madison's school uniform. There was also a lunch planned with my beautiful friends.

Finally though, we left Milton Keynes about 5.30, stopped off at the Harvester where we treated my dad, our taxi driver for the evening to dinner and then hit the M25. I’ll admit I was rather nervous about the state of the M25 with it being a Friday (for those of you who aren’t aware of this road, it’s renown for being a car park on a Friday evening) However, my fears were short lived and we arrived to the hotel at 08.30. Check in was painless, all automated. So we trundled up to our room.



It was small, but perfectly suitable with a single bed for Madison and a double for us. I do like Premier Inns; they give you a choice of pillows, and the beds are always comfortable. Once the bags had been dumped (I was already sick of the suitcases) we headed over to the terminal to get our bearings.



North Terminal was like a ghost town, which shocked me as I always viewed it as a very busy terminal.



We worked out what desk we needed to head to, and then returned to the hotel to partake in a view beverages before heading back to our room for 11pm. I didn’t think I’d get much sleep, but surprisingly, I went straight out and didn’t wake up until morning.

 

[hollyrose]

Sounds fun!

 

[ChelleFeegan]

It’s here. The alarm rang at 8am and we all struggled to get out of bed. I had to keep reminding myself and the child that we were going to Florida TODAY.


(she is sooo happy!!)

It all seemed surreal to be honest, after planning for a year when it finally arrived I couldn’t quite bring myself to believe it was happening. We headed over to the airport and checked in about 0900. Everyone was amazingly friendly, which shocked us to be honest. Normally staff at airports we have found to be quite surly; everyone we encountered here had a cheerful disposition. The security guard made a fuss of Madison and made sure her beloved Pooh Bear (a very battered looking baby teddy) had his own passport.



We wandered around for a bit, then settled on Jamie’s for breakfast. Headed down to the gate at 10.30, and was held there for an hour… it does annoy me, if they know the plane is delayed, why put you in the holding area...?



Anyways, we finally took off on the Dreamliner (we were on the Dream Maker) at 12.06. Watched some TV, and then watched Beautiful Creatures (didn’t really capture my attention as I was now far too excited). Watched the promotional videos for Universal and Disney on the IFE, and then whiled the hours playing games.






Food was edible, nothing brilliant but I didn’t expect it to be. The kids meals came in their own container, and were delivered about 20 minutes before. Which is great if your child needs assistance, not so great when mine wolfs hers down in seconds and then when yours is delivered, eyes it somewhat greedily. The airline held a competition for the kids where they had to design their own roller coaster; Madison won so was in her element. She chose the David Walliams book at her prize. Landed and were through immigration within minutes. Very smooth, although I turned my phone on at the luggage collection and was reprimanded.. whoops. Pooh Bears passport got his own Mickey Sticker. Headed outside, and met with the Thomson rep who explained everything that we needed to know, and advised that I wasn’t insured to drive the car. I was rather miffed as I was looking forward to cruising down the I-4, but for a $140 add on we agreed that it would just be Andy as a driver. Alamo didn’t give us too much of a hard sell, tried to tell us that we would be dwarfed on the roads in our compact and should upgrade, but we were very firm and he gave up at that point. Chose a Kia Rio (did go for Ford Focus first of all but the smell of petrol as you opened the door was somewhat concerning).



It was an okay car, nothing to write home about, but it drove and had working air con. Heading down the 417/528 and I managed to get us lost as we hit International Drive. Instead of turning right, and heading up towards Universal, I made Andy turn left, pass Seaworld and the Premium Outlet store. Needless to say we began to bicker, and eventually after stopping at a tourist office and getting a map, we reached our hotel, CoCo Keys at 7pm. We were located in the Tower, which is in the centre of the resort, and has doors opening up to a corridor, not the outside like the rest of the rooms.



Two queen beds, reasonable sized bathroom, large TV and enough outlet plugs for our needs – we were very happy. Headed down to the onsite pizza hut, ordered and took it back to our room where I unpacked everything, organised our lives, ate and then fell into bed at 9pm, and proceeded to pass out.

 

[ChelleFeegan]

We all woke up ridiculous early, which was to be expected. At 6.40, after an hour of trying to return to the land of nod we all gave up and headed to the iHop for breakfast.



Decided that we would head to Epcot for the first park as I reasoned that it would be easier to meet characters, and it was a “green” park according to crowd calendars. On arrival (about 09.30) we popped over to Guest Services, and got our KTTW, and our First Visit Badges. DH was impressed that I knew we could get these. Pays to do your research doesn’t it.



Headed straight to Test Track and got a FP for 11-12, then hot footed it over to Soarin, and queued for 20 minutes. DH found it highly entertaining that we had sat on a plane for 7 hours just to sit down on a ride; but once the ride was over, he was very impressed. Me however, wasn’t. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good ride and we were lucky to be at the top, but I found it off putting that I could see the black curve at the top of the screen. It didn’t spoil it completely, and Madison and Andy were very impressed with the smell of Oranges and the sea (I never smelt the sea, so maybe it was just their senses playing tricks?). We then went on Living with the Land, which was a walk on. Very informative and we loved the hybrid plants Then popped to Character spot and met, Mickey, Pluto and Minnie.







Madison was beaming ear to ear, she couldn’t believe it. And she scratched Pluto behind the ear, and was in hysterics on how he reacted. We then headed over to Mission Space; pausing to revel in the spray from the fountain display got FP’s (wasn’t really necessary though as there was only a 10 minute queue) and then rode Test Track.



I didn’t realise how fast this ride went when it went outside, it stole my breath! We came first on two of the boards, our total score was 199 and the top one of the day was 238. Rode Mission Space: Green straight after which had Madison questioning the entire day, what would have happened if we had moved a muscle mummy, would we have died? Picked up our Agent P F.O.N.E and straight to Mexico where we completed the mission. I can understand why the kids love these; but I felt we were just in people’s way all the time. We rode the Three Amigos, and then wandered outside and began to head around World Showcase, just taking in the sights.







Stopped off to meet Donald, where Madison informed him he was number one and nearly got hugged to death, then met Aladdin and Jasmine, who were very interactive. Had a good five minute conversation with them about the whereabouts of Genie and Abu.





And finally met Mary Poppins; who managed to say superkali… backwards. DH was very impressed as he wanted to catch her out. We were last in the queue; and I have to say the way that the cast members and Mary herself dealt with others was brilliant. Stories of how Uncle Arthur is on the ceiling and she must go and get him down, and that Bert wanted to take a stroll with her… all in character and made us all smile. We then rode Figment, and Seas with Nemo and finished the day with Turtle Talk with Crush. Wow. How amazing is this; Crush’s facial expressions are brilliant… the kids questions were very good and he answered them all perfectly. Headed back to hotel where we took a dip at the on site water park (absolutely murder with locals!) and then grabbed some crisps and drink and retired to the room. Headed out onto I Drive about 7, and had dinner at a Brazillian Restaurant called Café Mineri – it was a buffet, and was just okay. I don’t eat meat (I eat chicken, providing its not on the bone, or sausages), no reason other than I don’t like the texture, and there weren’t many options also the roast potatoes were cold. We were in bed and asleep by 11.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Joining! Wow, what a filled first day at EPCOT and great Character interactions.

I love Turtle Talk and love when kids ask him questions. Best question I am aware of having been asked to him is "When you are out of your shell are you naked or homeless?"