MorningGlory
Space for rent
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2007
- Messages
- 761
Cast
Me. Paul. 34. Chief planner and taxi driver. Scared and excited at the thought of the big coasters.
DS9. Paul (now called junior for the sake of this report). Absolutely bursting at the thought of Disney. As scared as his dad of the coasters but isn't showing it (yet).
Dad. 60 something. Doesn't know how he is going to handle 9 hours without a cigarette!
Brother. John. 45. Possibly the most excited of us all. Definitely looking forward to meeting Mickey.
The day started with a morning at work, which passed by surprisingly quickly. I work with a guy who I get on great with, we enjoy a good laugh at work and it makes it alot more bearable. And so it was that on my last day I was on a promise that we would have a nice easy day of it. And true to form, he delivered. Spent the morning getting more and more excited by my workmate's constant comments and questions about the holiday, when here was me trying to get the head down and work to make the day pass quicker!! Anyway I need not have bothered because before I knew it, I was on the way home. I had a scare when a hose blew up in my face! Thank God for the restrainers on them. We decided enough was enough and called it a day (well, for me anyway).
Got in the house for 12 and got a big massive hug from Junior. We both agreed there and then 'The holiday starts now!!!' A quick visit to the hospital, haircuts all round and a shower and change and before we knew it our friend had turned up to run us to the train station. A short journey later and we were sitting on the 17:40 from Glasgow Central, cracking open a beer and dreading the journey ahead, but excited about what lay in store once it was over.
The journey down to Manchester was in itself uneventful. Junior played his PSP;
And took some photos of the landscape;
We had to change at Lancaster which, with the amount of luggage we had, I thought would be alot of hassle. As it turned out, our 2nd train was from the same platform and, instead of only taking us to Manchester Piccadilly for a connection to the airport, it was actually going to the airport itself, so no more changes! Result!! We arrived in the hotel some time just after 10pm and, after dropping the cases in the room;
we made an assault on the hotel bar. After several pints, I retired to my room and finished off the last couple of Buds that I had brought down on the train, and went to bed around 1:30am, hoping to sleep in the next morning. As it turned out, my dad had woke up early in his room and decided that if he was up early, so would we be. So, around 8m, there was a long, loud rap on the room door. I was not pleased at all I can tell you and vowed not to forget it. I'll get him back at some point in the holiday haha! Anyway, after we had got ready and packed the last few things away, we went for breakfast in the hotel restaurant. We were all really famished by this time, and im happy to report that the breakfast in the Bewley's at Manchester Airport is definitely up to the job. All the usual breakfast items served in a buffet style, it cost £25 for 3 adults and 1 child which I thought was well worth it. After copious amounts of OJ and coffee, and with us all feeling suitably stuffed, we went outside to wait for our mini-bus over to the terminal. The rain was pouring down and it was freezing cold! We all agreed it was a great day to be leaving Blighty!! Despite numerous attempts over the previous 24 hours, I had not been able to book us in online and was worried that we would be met by long check-in queues and that our seats that I hd booked months earlier would have been given to someone else. As it turned out, there was no actual queue to speak of, save for 2 families in front of us. Also, I soon found out why we had been unable to check in online - we had requested special assistance for my dad. So, I was more than happy when the lady doing check-in advised us that our seats had been changed, to row 22 in the small private cabin behind downstairs PE! I actually meant to see if I could change to these same seats the day before, but it wouldnt let me change my seats less than 24 hours before departure so we were really happy to be put here. Another bonus was that we were took through the fast lane to security, and were among the first to board the aircraft! Here she is, Pretty Woman sitting on the tarmac in Manchester.
She had been delayed on her arrival due to bad weather, so we actually pulled away from the gate about 20 minutes late. I was quite impressed by this as we had thought it would have been at least an hour late in leaving. Unfortunately, once on board, I realised that my seat-back TV wasn't working! Not to worry, the plane was less than half full and there were plenty of seats close by where I could go watch a movie if I wanted. As it was, I just sat listening to the Fleetwood Mac album 'Rumours' - an amazing album that I haven't heard for way too long - until after dinner. Dinner itself was passable. Had Chicken Tikka. The chicken was nice, but the rice wasn't up to much. Dad had veggie cottage pie which he really enjoyed, brother had the same as me and devoured his and junior had his kids meal which was great with lots of extra little treats. After dinner and a coffee, I hijacked a row of 4 seats to try to grab some shut-eye. It was actually fairly comfortable and I slept for around 3 hours before waking and making an assault on the green waiver forms (what is some of those questions all about?! - do they think a terrorist or nazi war criminal is going to declare his past on this form??). After only making 2 mistakes (in 4 forms as I filled out all our party's - not too bad) we had everything in order, so I took the time to catch up on some notes and settled down to watch the tv on a screen that was working.
Eventually reaching Orlando, we were all apprehensive about facing US Immigration. Last off the plane due to my dad's need for a wheelchair (damn, I knew there was a catch to all this front of the queue stuff! lol), we walked down the empty corridors into the.......fairly empty immigration hall!! Picked a line at the right hand side with only 2 families in front, and 10 mins later we were at the desk with a nice, somewhat elderly, Immigration official. All the formalities dealt with (my dad was surprised at the finger scan and photo - im sure I mentioned it...) we proceeded through the strange procedure of baggage claim, customs, then parting with the baggage again. Im glad I had read about this, it could be quite confusing. My dad was getting a bit fed up with things by this point (we had been held for 40 mins on the apron at the airport due to the need to 'remove' a passenger from another Virgin flight about to depart) so going over the monorail to the central hub, he was questioning how long it would take to get our luggage back. Thankfully, no more problems the other side and dad and brother were sent on their way on the Virgin transfers, while me and junior returned to the airport to tackle the large Dollar queue. It wasn't so bad, around half an hour, before I apprehensively approached the Dollar desk. Because I hadn't a credit card for the deposit, I was worried that they were going to flatly refuse to give me a car. This would have put a bit of a dampener on the holiday. The downside of not being able to give a credit card imprint as security is that we were told we would pay a $500 deposit. As it turned out, the guy asked for my credit card, I said I never had one, he said 'no problem, just make sure to return the car with a full tank'! Woohoo, result!
Into the garage, and picked up this beauty!
Ford Mustang convertible. I never did find out how big the engine was, but 20 miles per gallon told me it was big. (the pic is actually from Downtown Disney car park the next day).
Got to the hotel (The Comfort Inn LBV), met up with Dad and decided we would just go out as a family for a meal as we were hungry. The plan was for dad and John to do their thing, and me and Junior to head to Downtown Disney. It was around 8:30 though and I fancied a beer, so we walked down to the Vista shopping area next to the Comfort Inn as we had seen a few restaurants advertised there as we drove past.
By accident we stumbled on Kitty O'Sheas Irish bar, which is nestled between a ticket centre and a supermarket. This is a great little bar, with seating outside and entertainment most nights. It's run by a Scottish girl, Susie, and the barman on the patio bit was Danny, a really nice all-American guy! Me, John and junior had a meal, dad didn't bother. I had the fish & chips, John and junior had the burger and fries. The meals were great for pub food, we never had a bad meal in here the whole 2 weeks, and we had several. Unfortunately, I couldn't be bother carrying round my hunk of a camera so I didnt get any pics. Paul got his meal under the 'kids eat free' card that I had bought beforehand. As it turned out, this was the only time that I used it when we were there. The prices are such that paying for his meals seemed easier than presenting the card, and planning our eating in the available restaurants. If you are willing to do that though, it would definitely be worth it.
The price for mine and John's meal, plus a couple of pitchers of beer and assorted soft drinks was around $35. We were, all at once, introduced to the amazing prices in the US. Me and dad agreed that for the food and drink we got, it was a real bargain!
We retired to the hotel around 12, totally whacked and ready for a good night's sleep.
Tomorrow: IOA and breakfast with Spidey
Day 2, IOA and breakfast with Spidey
Day 3, MGM Studios for Star Wars Weekends
Day 4, Shopping at the Premium Outlets
Day 5, Seaworld and dinner at OHanas
Day 6, Universal Studios and TNA Wrestling
Day 7, An unplanned visit to Magic Kingdom
Day 8, Epcot at last!
Day 9, a quiet day getting lost!
Day 10, baseball and St Pete's Beach!
Day 11, last of the Star Wars weekends at MGM
Day 12, our first time at the Animal Kingdom
Day 13, back to Seaworld for us all
Me. Paul. 34. Chief planner and taxi driver. Scared and excited at the thought of the big coasters.
DS9. Paul (now called junior for the sake of this report). Absolutely bursting at the thought of Disney. As scared as his dad of the coasters but isn't showing it (yet).
Dad. 60 something. Doesn't know how he is going to handle 9 hours without a cigarette!
Brother. John. 45. Possibly the most excited of us all. Definitely looking forward to meeting Mickey.
The day started with a morning at work, which passed by surprisingly quickly. I work with a guy who I get on great with, we enjoy a good laugh at work and it makes it alot more bearable. And so it was that on my last day I was on a promise that we would have a nice easy day of it. And true to form, he delivered. Spent the morning getting more and more excited by my workmate's constant comments and questions about the holiday, when here was me trying to get the head down and work to make the day pass quicker!! Anyway I need not have bothered because before I knew it, I was on the way home. I had a scare when a hose blew up in my face! Thank God for the restrainers on them. We decided enough was enough and called it a day (well, for me anyway).
Got in the house for 12 and got a big massive hug from Junior. We both agreed there and then 'The holiday starts now!!!' A quick visit to the hospital, haircuts all round and a shower and change and before we knew it our friend had turned up to run us to the train station. A short journey later and we were sitting on the 17:40 from Glasgow Central, cracking open a beer and dreading the journey ahead, but excited about what lay in store once it was over.
The journey down to Manchester was in itself uneventful. Junior played his PSP;
And took some photos of the landscape;
We had to change at Lancaster which, with the amount of luggage we had, I thought would be alot of hassle. As it turned out, our 2nd train was from the same platform and, instead of only taking us to Manchester Piccadilly for a connection to the airport, it was actually going to the airport itself, so no more changes! Result!! We arrived in the hotel some time just after 10pm and, after dropping the cases in the room;
we made an assault on the hotel bar. After several pints, I retired to my room and finished off the last couple of Buds that I had brought down on the train, and went to bed around 1:30am, hoping to sleep in the next morning. As it turned out, my dad had woke up early in his room and decided that if he was up early, so would we be. So, around 8m, there was a long, loud rap on the room door. I was not pleased at all I can tell you and vowed not to forget it. I'll get him back at some point in the holiday haha! Anyway, after we had got ready and packed the last few things away, we went for breakfast in the hotel restaurant. We were all really famished by this time, and im happy to report that the breakfast in the Bewley's at Manchester Airport is definitely up to the job. All the usual breakfast items served in a buffet style, it cost £25 for 3 adults and 1 child which I thought was well worth it. After copious amounts of OJ and coffee, and with us all feeling suitably stuffed, we went outside to wait for our mini-bus over to the terminal. The rain was pouring down and it was freezing cold! We all agreed it was a great day to be leaving Blighty!! Despite numerous attempts over the previous 24 hours, I had not been able to book us in online and was worried that we would be met by long check-in queues and that our seats that I hd booked months earlier would have been given to someone else. As it turned out, there was no actual queue to speak of, save for 2 families in front of us. Also, I soon found out why we had been unable to check in online - we had requested special assistance for my dad. So, I was more than happy when the lady doing check-in advised us that our seats had been changed, to row 22 in the small private cabin behind downstairs PE! I actually meant to see if I could change to these same seats the day before, but it wouldnt let me change my seats less than 24 hours before departure so we were really happy to be put here. Another bonus was that we were took through the fast lane to security, and were among the first to board the aircraft! Here she is, Pretty Woman sitting on the tarmac in Manchester.
She had been delayed on her arrival due to bad weather, so we actually pulled away from the gate about 20 minutes late. I was quite impressed by this as we had thought it would have been at least an hour late in leaving. Unfortunately, once on board, I realised that my seat-back TV wasn't working! Not to worry, the plane was less than half full and there were plenty of seats close by where I could go watch a movie if I wanted. As it was, I just sat listening to the Fleetwood Mac album 'Rumours' - an amazing album that I haven't heard for way too long - until after dinner. Dinner itself was passable. Had Chicken Tikka. The chicken was nice, but the rice wasn't up to much. Dad had veggie cottage pie which he really enjoyed, brother had the same as me and devoured his and junior had his kids meal which was great with lots of extra little treats. After dinner and a coffee, I hijacked a row of 4 seats to try to grab some shut-eye. It was actually fairly comfortable and I slept for around 3 hours before waking and making an assault on the green waiver forms (what is some of those questions all about?! - do they think a terrorist or nazi war criminal is going to declare his past on this form??). After only making 2 mistakes (in 4 forms as I filled out all our party's - not too bad) we had everything in order, so I took the time to catch up on some notes and settled down to watch the tv on a screen that was working.
Eventually reaching Orlando, we were all apprehensive about facing US Immigration. Last off the plane due to my dad's need for a wheelchair (damn, I knew there was a catch to all this front of the queue stuff! lol), we walked down the empty corridors into the.......fairly empty immigration hall!! Picked a line at the right hand side with only 2 families in front, and 10 mins later we were at the desk with a nice, somewhat elderly, Immigration official. All the formalities dealt with (my dad was surprised at the finger scan and photo - im sure I mentioned it...) we proceeded through the strange procedure of baggage claim, customs, then parting with the baggage again. Im glad I had read about this, it could be quite confusing. My dad was getting a bit fed up with things by this point (we had been held for 40 mins on the apron at the airport due to the need to 'remove' a passenger from another Virgin flight about to depart) so going over the monorail to the central hub, he was questioning how long it would take to get our luggage back. Thankfully, no more problems the other side and dad and brother were sent on their way on the Virgin transfers, while me and junior returned to the airport to tackle the large Dollar queue. It wasn't so bad, around half an hour, before I apprehensively approached the Dollar desk. Because I hadn't a credit card for the deposit, I was worried that they were going to flatly refuse to give me a car. This would have put a bit of a dampener on the holiday. The downside of not being able to give a credit card imprint as security is that we were told we would pay a $500 deposit. As it turned out, the guy asked for my credit card, I said I never had one, he said 'no problem, just make sure to return the car with a full tank'! Woohoo, result!
Into the garage, and picked up this beauty!
Ford Mustang convertible. I never did find out how big the engine was, but 20 miles per gallon told me it was big. (the pic is actually from Downtown Disney car park the next day).
Got to the hotel (The Comfort Inn LBV), met up with Dad and decided we would just go out as a family for a meal as we were hungry. The plan was for dad and John to do their thing, and me and Junior to head to Downtown Disney. It was around 8:30 though and I fancied a beer, so we walked down to the Vista shopping area next to the Comfort Inn as we had seen a few restaurants advertised there as we drove past.
By accident we stumbled on Kitty O'Sheas Irish bar, which is nestled between a ticket centre and a supermarket. This is a great little bar, with seating outside and entertainment most nights. It's run by a Scottish girl, Susie, and the barman on the patio bit was Danny, a really nice all-American guy! Me, John and junior had a meal, dad didn't bother. I had the fish & chips, John and junior had the burger and fries. The meals were great for pub food, we never had a bad meal in here the whole 2 weeks, and we had several. Unfortunately, I couldn't be bother carrying round my hunk of a camera so I didnt get any pics. Paul got his meal under the 'kids eat free' card that I had bought beforehand. As it turned out, this was the only time that I used it when we were there. The prices are such that paying for his meals seemed easier than presenting the card, and planning our eating in the available restaurants. If you are willing to do that though, it would definitely be worth it.
The price for mine and John's meal, plus a couple of pitchers of beer and assorted soft drinks was around $35. We were, all at once, introduced to the amazing prices in the US. Me and dad agreed that for the food and drink we got, it was a real bargain!
We retired to the hotel around 12, totally whacked and ready for a good night's sleep.
Tomorrow: IOA and breakfast with Spidey
Day 2, IOA and breakfast with Spidey
Day 3, MGM Studios for Star Wars Weekends
Day 4, Shopping at the Premium Outlets
Day 5, Seaworld and dinner at OHanas
Day 6, Universal Studios and TNA Wrestling
Day 7, An unplanned visit to Magic Kingdom
Day 8, Epcot at last!
Day 9, a quiet day getting lost!
Day 10, baseball and St Pete's Beach!
Day 11, last of the Star Wars weekends at MGM
Day 12, our first time at the Animal Kingdom
Day 13, back to Seaworld for us all
glad you all arrived safely with no hassles. 
I knew it must have been a big engine, it swallowed fuel like nobody's business.
).
