Happy New Years Spencer Style day 1

[fizz13]

Hi everyone. A big thankyou to anyone that read my pre-trip report and Janet2K, I am honoured that you took time out to visit and reply. Well, we are back after a fun-packed, pixie dust filled, and most exhausting 2 weeks of my life (ok, I have had 3 kids and that is more exhausting, but how quickly we forget). I will try and take this day by day which will be interesting as I forgot to make notes every day, so I will edit as appropriate to add any detail I miss (and there is tons of it, taking up valuable space which I need to use for reality now, how sad...)

I'll start with a brief summary to fill anyone in, who missed the pre-trip report (sorry, really bad at technology and haven't figured out links)

cast list

-me, 26, organiser, loves evrything disney
-James, 27, DH, hates detail and organising, would rather just ride
-Cara, 5 DD, very girly, thrill-seeker
-Dean, 3, DS, total boy, thrill-seeker, prone to temper tantrums
-Charlie, 11mths to 1 (bday while away), happy smiler, no fear
-Alex, 21, BIL, easy going, laid back, disney virgin
-Lyndsay, 22, SIL, same as Alex really, a perfect match, a natural children's person

dates of trip
january 1st to 14th

staying at
Whyndham Palms, just off 192 and 5 minutes away from WDW. Is a beautiful 5 star timeshare owned by my grandparents

pre-bought tickets
-WDW passes, had 2 days left on old passes, plus 5 more days bought, hoppers with plus features
-2 day universal passes
-1 day seaworld passes

(I know, I deserve to be tired!)


Ok, are we sitting comfortably.... Then we'll begin.....in a minute

 

[KayleeUK]

Excellent More trippies.

 

[fizz13]

Ok, I'm back. After a very quiet New Years Eve, where I finished the packing, had 2 glasses of wine to help me sleep, watched Friends and the fireworks and got to sleep at a very reasonable 12:45, I woke up to my alarm at 6am. Funnily enough, it was no bother getting everyone out of bed and ready and FIL was at the door at 6:30am with a minibus. This seemed like a lot of room, but actually was packed to a mensa state to get everyone's baggage in. The run to gatwick was no bother and we found check-in easy enough. At this point, let me tell you that I had tried to do online check-in the day before and after 4 attempts with 4 phonecalls to virgin, I was finally told that of course, i couldn't use this facility because we have an infant in our party. Thankyou virgin for only telling me this on my fourth attempt.

Checkin took about 20 minutes and we headed off to departures as we didn't know how long security would take. It was relatively hassle free and the hunt for food was on. Well, McDonalds it was. Nothing beats hash browns and mcmuffins. We found a camp out spot and took it in turns to wander around while minding the kids (they found a play area and shopping was just not that appealing). I got some duty-free ciggies, which seemed a bargain in £ but when paying in $ came in at $47. they know how to reverse that exchange rate don't they? (Why didn't I pay in £? Well, I forgot to leave any spending money in sterling... Doh!)

The next sale was on but I resisted and I meant to buy a magazine but ran out of time. Oh well, I'd be so busy watching those in-flight movies I wouldn't even notice. We got to the gate as the screen told us it was boarding. I could see a huge throng near our gate...that can't be us, we're boarding...oh yes it is! They had not opened the gate lounge at all and were boarding directly from the line outside the lounge. No way were we waiting for all these people so we found a quiet place to sit further up till it cleared. 45 MINUTES LATER and it was quiet enough to line up with the kids. I know we could have had priority boarding but I for one would not have liked to attempt to keep my kids quiet and still on a plane for that long waiting for everyone else. 91/2 hours is long enough for that thank you.

Finally seated, but where was Charlie's infant chair? We had booked him his own seat so we could have our arms and laps free for the flight and virgin's side of the deal was to provide a car-seat type structure to fit in the plane seat. Oh, I don't think we have one on board, I'll go look....what?! Turns out there were 3 at the back but I think I went a little pale. Anyway, seat installed, seatbelts on and we're off, Yeah!! The children were amazingly well behaved, napped and enjoyed their kids meals which I thought were incredibly well thought out. Sausage, mash and beans, a fromage frais tube thing, sweets and something else. I had a lovely beef in mustard sauce and the others had chicken curry which they said was delish.The kids watched Little Mermaid while I watched Alfie and Without A Paddle.

The last part of the flight really dragged but we eventually landed and proceeded to immigration. I was terrified someone would say something stupid and be carted away but we all got through, although the children had morphed into stroppy, tear-ridden monsters from pure exhaustion. baggage was collected, then given back again. I knew this was coming but caused some anxiety among others until they were reunited with it. Dollar car hire was next, which was fairly pain free as I had gone for gold all-inclusive on a 7 seater minivan. There was no way to force an upgrade there was there? Car located and loaded, we were finally on our way. I think the process took about 1 hr, 45mins for anyone interested in these details.

I had made a booking at Rainforest cafe DTD for tonight, but the kids clearly weren't going to make it, so we headed straight to our hotel. James remembered the directions perfectly and I had my toll-money all ready so this was pain-free. I saw the purple arch for WDW as we came off the I4 and smiled. Picked up the keys and given a folder of info which included room-service. This sounds promising, growled my tummy. The kids were put to bed and food was ordered. Now, I had forgotten about food portions, so between us 4 adults, this is what we had:

24 chicken wings
1 hot dog
Chicken pasta for 2 (which came with a platter sized chicken salad)
Club sandwich

I think we ate about 1/2 and fridged the rest. Accomodation was very impressive as usual with cable tv on a 52" monster, jacuzzi in each bedroom and a balcony. A fully stocked kitchen with dishwasher, washing machine, dryer, fridge, freezer with ice maker (I always wanted one of these, yet never used it on this trip). The kids had their own bathroom next to their own room where they had a queen sized bed each and we had a beautiful open plan bedroom/ bathroom. Lyndsay and Alex had their own apartment next door as my grandparents bought a 3 bedroom lock-off and they had the same facilities as us.

We headed to bed after flicking through 90 channels of adverts (I'm sure there were actual TV programmes, but its like looking for a needle in a haystack!) and prepared for tomorrow, which I had designated for Seaworld to ease us in gently.....

C u soon,
Claire

 

[KayleeUK]

Great trip Claire Out of interest what change do you need for the toll's?

 

[fizz13]

There were 2 tolls. One was 75c and other was $1. We just had a bag of quarters and chucked in the right amount.

 

[KayleeUK]

Thanks Claire - it is our first time driving

 

[MsPennieLane]

A great start to your trip Claire, I'm looking forward to reading more

Anz

 

[Miffy2003]

Great start Claire, can't wait to read your next one

 

[fizz13]

bump

 

[florida sun]

Great report Claire.

Sue

 

[wicket2005]

Thanks for a lovely report.

 

[Minniespal]

Great report ~ Can't wait to read more.