It's A Small World ~ Pre Trip Report

[BellaSwan]

I am so glad that you all had a great time. I am looking forward to your trip report!!!

 

[ariel2007]

Yay! Happy to see you had such a great time! I was thinking you may have had some rain because Fay left Florida pretty much the day we got there and then headed your way. Can't wait to read all about everything in your great detailed way! I wrote a mini TR on the DVC mousellaneous board if you want to check it out--some cool pics.
Take care! I am planning my next trip already and I know you are too!!

Thanks. Yes we did get rain, but it meant it wasn't too hot like it was on our last few days. Will definitely check out your trip report, hope you had a really good time too

Can't wait to read all about it!!!!!

Looks like a pretty amazing trip......when the lows are all about coming home, you know you've had a good holiday!!!

Thanks, should start posting about it soon.

And yes we were so lucky, no major drama's. The worst bit was right at the beginning when it took us sooooo long to get our car... but that was soon over with

Hey! You've made it home and you had a great time! I'm so glad! I was also wondering if Fay messed up your time down south but it sounds like you all survived. Looking forward to hearing all about the trip!!

Thank you. TBH we never even knew about Fay. I guess it started whilst we were still in the UK and we dont tend to hear about US weather unless there is something really big. We did hear a lot about Gustav (is that what it was called?) and Hannah, but we left before they really hit so don't really know what happened there either. Did they do much damage?

Oh Goodie Goodie! You're back. I'm so glad you had a great trip to the states. I do hope you finish your Disney TR and maybe we'll here more about your Dollywood trip.

Thanks.

My Disney trippie is now finished so go check it out . And I will definitely do a Dollywood trip report, I just have to upload some photos and then I will get started.

I am so glad that you all had a great time. I am looking forward to your trip report!!!

Thanks, shouldn't be long.

 

[lmillercrew]

I just got the email that you posted on your MK TR. So, I'm off to read and see another Disney trip come to an end. But, you have a lot of other trips in the making this year, so I will definately be following along if you post them!

 

[ariel2007]

Our Spooky Disney Celebration

The When, Where, Who, Why?
WHEN: 31st October – 4th November 2008 – 4 nights
WHERE: Disneyland Paris
WHO: Nick and Me; Mum, Dad and Sophie
WHY: For Halloween and to celebrate Nick and My 5 year dating anniversary
CURRENT STATUS: The holiday is booked, some aspects yet to be booked and planned


A Bit of Disneyland Paris History
Some of you may have read about my previous trips to Disneyland Paris before in my Magical WDW Adventure, but for those who haven't, and to refresh the memories of those who have, I will relive with you our Disneyland Paris history in classic fairytale style.....

"Once upon a time there was a beautiful Queen who had 2 little princesses. The Queen liked to treat the 2 little Princesses by showing them magical Disney films and buying them small Disney gifts, starting a little Disney obsession in the smallest princess. Therefore when the magical Euro Disney first opened in 1992 the 2 Princesses begged the wonderful Queen and the boring old King to take them to this magical land of fairies, pirates and wondrous creatures. The Queen and King promised that in 1993 there wish would be granted ~ much to the Princesses delight.

But like in every good fairytale disaster struck and the boring old King left the beautiful Queen and the 2 Princesses, and their dream of visiting the wonderful and magical Euro Disney was left in pieces.

However, True to fairytale tradition a handsome and wonderful Knight came riding in on his beautiful black stallion to save the day. In 1994 The beautiful Queen and wonderful Knight took the 2 Princesses and the Knights young son to the magical World of Dreams, the most magical and wondrous surprise the young children had ever encountered.

Fortunately this was just the beginning of the magical adventures the young Princesses and young Knight would enjoy to this magical place, full of dreams and wishes.

And, of course, They all lived Happily Ever After"

So like the story tells in 1994 my wonderful Mum and step-dad took my older sister, myself and my younger step-brother to Euro Disney as a surprise. They told us some story about going to visit my Step-dad’s brother who worked on a ferry as a chef, except when we got on the ferry began to move. My Mum told us to all bet where we thought were going and the person who came closest would win a pound (talk about big money). Not knowing many places abroad, or perhaps it was my Disney-intuition, I said Paris. The journey down to Paris took a while but as soon as we close and started seeing the signs for Euro Disney I twigged and nudged my sister. When we eventually arrived and drove under the large wooden Davy Crockett Ranch sign, surrounded by trees and empty fields we were most disappointed. What we didn’t know was The Davy Crockett Ranch was a Disney resort. When we finally arrived at the park we were all so excited and couldn’t believe we were finally there, the place we had dreamed about going since it was first announced. My Mum and Step-dad had done such a good job keeping this a secret and were so excited to see our reaction, which of course was sheer amazement. We all instantly fell in love with the place and were so sad when it was time to leave.

Heres a few pictures:

I'm the little one in the middle

Luckily we got to visit a few times over the next few years, in 1995 we were having a family camping holiday in France when we had to move out of the area for an oncoming hurricane. Where did we go... Disneyland Paris of course.

1995

In 2000 I then got to visit for the day as part of a school trip, it was another great chance to visit this magical place, but I did miss sharing it with my family, especially my baby sister who had not yet been to Disney.

Therefore one of the most memorable trips was for my 16th birthday in 2001 which was to be Sophie's first visit (although I had made sure she had been brought up on Disney films). It was just as amazing to see her reaction to everything as it was to actually be there, and it made it as exciting as it had been that very first time.

2001 - My baby sisters 1st trip to Disney


Fast-forward 5 years...

Its the beginning of September 2006. We have just got back from WDW for our 2nd visit in 2 years. We had had the most amazing time and none of us wanted to leave. We all had major Disney depression and needed something to fill the huge void we all had. We knew we wouldn't be back to WDW for a while, so where would be a suitable alternative... why Disneyland Paris of course. We decided to go back, and then after some thought, decided that New Year would be a great time to visit. We never really did much for New Year so it would be nice to celebrate it in style this year. And this time Nick would be joining us too, luckily after his first trip to Disney with us that summer we had managed to convert him, quite willingly I will add, to a Disney park fanatic too.
We spent 4 nights, 5 days there, staying at the Davy Crockett Ranch for the third time. We had a wonderful time,enjoying the Christmas atmosphere, the special christmas decorations, parades and fireworks,the outdoor ice-skating at the hotel New York and wonderful Tinkerbell dinner show. We also got to visit the new Studio's park and also visited some DLP restaurants, something we had never done on our previous visits. We finally got to eat at the Blue Lagoon restaurant, a restaurant set inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, and somewhere I had been longing to eat at since seeing it on our very first visit.

Its Minnie Mouse

Outside the entrance, in front of the Disneyland Hotel

Main Street in its holiday finest

The ice rink at the hotel New York

The brilliant Tinkerbell dinner show

The new Studios park

 

[ariel2007]

The Disney Park christmas parade

The Christmas show

And New Years eve celebrations

Then for my birthday in 2007 Nick took me to Disneyland Paris to celebrate (our first Disney trip just the two of us). We stayed for 2 nights in Disney’s lovely Newport Bay hotel, staying on the Admiral's Floor. I had a wonderful birthday and Nick spoilt me loads. We ate in some really nice restaurants and rode all the rides and had another great visit.

The Newport Bay hotel

The Disney Village

The Disney Park decorated for its 15th Anniversary, with a special parade

One of my first and most memorable rides

The amazing Tarzan show

The HSM show at the Studio's

Our lovely dinner at The Steakhouse on my birthday

Well now that brings us to now...

How It All Began
We had a free 2 night trip to DLP to use, something that could be used at any time of the year. We thought when we could go, and this was the tricky part. We thought about Easter, but since Nick and I were going to WDW in May we thought it was far too close, as would the May half term be. We had been around christmas and it was too busy and too cold, and the summer holidays were out as we had Mum's birthday trip planned. So we decided on Halloween, again something we rarely celebrated. We all decided this would be a good time to go. We would get to see the park all decorated for Halloween, join in the Halloween celebrations for the first time in years, and it would also be over Nick and my 5 year dating anniversary. This was something we had planned to celebrate anyway so it worked out perfectly. So it was booked... then it was time to plan....

 

[retiredkid]

YAY!!!! HOLY SMOKES!!!!

Just finished one, and the next one has started. Good for you! I'm so jealous.
I'm sure you will all have a blast!!

 

[disneydusted]

Wow!! You are on a roll here with all of your trips and planning! I'll just follow along and pretend I am planning too!
I have to say that it was a surprise to see coats and cold weather gear at a Disney park but Paris does get cold. I'm not very familiar with that park.
So now you'll have your 5th year anniversary to plan surprises for... that will be fun!

 

[ariel2007]

YAY!!!! HOLY SMOKES!!!!

Just finished one, and the next one has started. Good for you! I'm so jealous.
I'm sure you will all have a blast!!

Thanks, hopefully we will. I'm so excited about actually doing something for Halloween for once. Sophie didn't even realise it would be over Halloween till I mentioned it when we were on holiday, she got so, so excited as she loves Halloween.

Wow!! You are on a roll here with all of your trips and planning! I'll just follow along and pretend I am planning too!
I have to say that it was a surprise to see coats and cold weather gear at a Disney park but Paris does get cold. I'm not very familiar with that park.
So now you'll have your 5th year anniversary to plan surprises for... that will be fun!

He he, you can help me plan, especially ones that involve coming to the US again, do you know anything about Vegas

Yes it was freezing when we went to Disneyland. There weather is pretty much the same as ours in Paris, maybe just a few degrees warmer. So hats, coats and scarves it was. It wasn't that bad until NYE when it rained too, so we ended up being wet as well as cold... not a good mix
Disneyland Paris is a good park, it will always hold a special place in my heart as it was the first Disney we went too.
However, recently it just isn't as magical as it used to be. It hasn't got the same atmosphere it used to have and everyone is so pushy and rude there. I try not to compare it to WDW as they are pretty different but its hard sometimes .

I don't know if I can pull off any surprises this time. We are only there for a few days and DLP isn't the best for things like that. When we went on my birthday Nick ordered me a cake and they forgot . They were quite good about it and gave us a free dessert and glass of champagne each but it wasn't the cake he ordered. They don't really seem to do anything else so any ideas would be great

 

[manntra]

Man I feel like I am slacking! Well I am thinking about another trip if that counts. Actually Halloween 2009 at Disney of course but with DVC I have to book 11 months out so I am not quite there yet!
I went to Vegas about 4 or 5 years ago. Everything changes there so frequently but it was a great time. I did a split stay starting at Mandalay Bay and then The Mirage. Both were so great and had really cool pools and theming. My niece that I took that time was 16 so we really just ate, swam, and shopped. Perfect!! We did manage a visit to the Grand Canyon too. Well worth it. Also spent a lot of time in the Shoppes at Caesar's Palace eating and shopping. Visited all of the hotels shopping and sneaking around, all of them different and beautiful. Happy planning!

 

[ariel2007]

Man I feel like I am slacking! Well I am thinking about another trip if that counts. Actually Halloween 2009 at Disney of course but with DVC I have to book 11 months out so I am not quite there yet!
I went to Vegas about 4 or 5 years ago. Everything changes there so frequently but it was a great time. I did a split stay starting at Mandalay Bay and then The Mirage. Both were so great and had really cool pools and theming. My niece that I took that time was 16 so we really just ate, swam, and shopped. Perfect!! We did manage a visit to the Grand Canyon too. Well worth it. Also spent a lot of time in the Shoppes at Caesar's Palace eating and shopping. Visited all of the hotels shopping and sneaking around, all of them different and beautiful. Happy planning!

Halloween at WDW, I am so, so jealous. I would love to experience Halloween, Christmas and Thanksgiving there at least once. And of course I HAVE to buy into DVC someday... hopefully soon

Oh someone that has been to Vegas, brilliant . Just eating, swimming and shopping sound great, it sounds like my kind of holiday . We planned to do much the same to be honest, although I think the pool may be a little cold in January. I do plan to watch some of the shows there too, but choosing which ones is going to be the hard part, there is so many I want to see .
Did you drive to the Grand Canyon or do a trip there? It is definitely something I want to do whilst we are there. I can hardly go to Vegas and not go there . I love the look of both the Mirage and Mandalay Bay, lucky you to have stayed at both. I did want to stay at Mandalay Bay for the pool but I think its closed when were there . I do want to a split stay though with so many lovely looking hotels to choose from.
Do you remember any of the places you ate... any good ones

 

[ariel2007]

The Planning

We had taken the first step of our holiday and booked our accommodation at the Davy Crockett Ranch. We had taken some time to choose the time of year we wanted to go, and chosen a time when we knew there would be lots of fun things going on. So the next step was to think about what we really wanted to do, where we really wanted to eat, how long we wanted to spend at each park and find out about the Halloween activities that would be going on, after all that is why we chose that time of year.


Our main planning tools for this holiday will be the following:

* Our knowledge and experience ~ as we have been to DLP many times (this will be my 7th visit), we know the parks, the rides, our accommodation and have ideas of where we want to eat.

* Disneyland Paris website ~ as we have not been to DLP for Halloween this will be our main planning tool in relation to that.

* The internet ~ the restaurant menu pages will help us to chose the restaurants we really want to eat in

And of course, who could forget my beloved BRIT GUIDE TO DISNEYLAND PARIS RESORT

This is my fountain of knowledge. I have read it a few times already but will be reading through it again over the next week or so to make sure I am up to speed with everything and know everything I need to to make this another brilliant holiday

 

[ariel2007]

Daily Plans

Our holiday dates will be Friday 31st October - Tuesday 4th November.
The last few days we have been busy booking various tickets and our plans as of now are as follows:


Thursday 30th Oct:
Mum, Dad and Sophie will be coming up to ours at some point in the day. We will either stay at ours and travel to Dover ferry port early the next morning or we will travel up this evening and spend the night in a nearby hotel.


Friday 31st October ~ Halloween:
Early morning ferry
Arrive in Calais and drive to DLP ~ this is about a 2-3 hour drive
Arrive at the Davy Crockett Ranch where we will drop off luggage and get ready for the evening
Drive to Disneyland and go for tea
Disney's Halloween Party - a ticket only Halloween party in the Disney park from 8pm - 1am


Saturday 1st November ~ Nick and my 5 year dating anniversary:
Breakfast in the cabin
Day at the Disney park
Tea at The Steakhouse in the Disney Village


Sunday 2nd November:
Breakfast in the cabin
Day at the Studio's Park
6.30pm: Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show


Monday 3rd November:
Breakfast in the cabin
9.30am: Paris tour


Tuesday 4th November:
Breakfast in the cabin
Lunch: hopefully we will make it to Hard Rock Cafe in Paris, if not we will go to somewhere in the Disney village
8-9pm: Ferry to Dover, then drive back home

 

[manntra]

I will do some serious digging in my brain and let you know some of the restaurants we ate at....one show you should see is "O" by Cirque de Soleli. I remember you saying you saw the one at Downtown Disney . This one is unbelievable....they are on water, in water, flying above it etc. I sat there with my mouth open like an idiot for the whole time! I will get back to you on the rest...it's finally time to go home!

 

[ariel2007]

Tickets and Dining Reservations

Tickets
Most of you know me enough by now to know that my holidays usually involve not just the parks but shows and tours too. Of course this holiday will be no different and we have booked a few special things to help make it magical. All the things we have booked will be new to all of us so its pretty exciting. We have booked the following:

Friday 31st Oct ~ Halloween: Tickets to the Disneyland Halloween Party
Disneyland Paris have a Halloween Festival from October 4th-November 2nd which feature special parades and shows, mischievous Villains and Frontierland is transformed into Halloweenland.
However, in addition to this the Disney park is having for one night only, a Halloween Party for ticket holders only. The party will include DJ's and special fireworks and face painting for children and will run from 8pm - 1am.
Since we had chosen to go to Disneyland specifically for Halloween we had to get tickets for the party. Hopefully we will all really get into the spirit of things and dress up, so any ideas for costumes would be appreciated


Sunday 2nd Nov ~ Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show
Being a dinner show lover I have wanted to go to Buffalo Bill's for a while now. The first time we went we had forgotten about it until it was too late and Nick and I decided to give it a miss last time as we wanted to go there with the others. So of course when we decided to go back we had to book tickets to go there. The show sounds quite like Dixie Stampede and like it will be a lot of fun.
Here is a run down of the show:

Sitting Bull, Annie Oakley, cowboys, Indians, wagons, buffaloes and Buffalo Bill himself. All the rootin' tootin' thrills of the Wild West while you chow down the heartiest dinner this side of the Pecos.

Over 100 years old, this once most popular attraction in the West, now comes East to Disney Village. Tuck into a hearty cowboy feast, as you cheer on the kings of the Colt, in a fast, furious tribute to the old West, complete with stunt riders, wagons and buffaloes. The only special dinner show in the resort, so book your seats pronto!

Adult menu
Cattleman's chili
Accompanied Trailside bread
***
Mixed grill Kebab with Tex-Mex spices,
Accompanied ¼ corn on the cob and old style potato wedges
***
Warm apple Cobbler with vanilla ice cream
***
with a cup of coffee or tea
Water, Beer or Coca Cola


Children's menu
Roasted leg of chicken, Sausage
Old style potato wedges
***
Ice Cream
***
Water or Coca Cola



Monday 3rd Nov ~ Paris Tour
Now we have been to Disneyland Paris a number of times but have not seen much of Paris itself. Nick and I decided that we would spend 1 night there last year after our 2 nights at Disneyland last Summer to see some of the sights. Now we knew we would be coming back with Mum and that she wanted to do a tour so decided we would just go to the Eiffel Tower and maybe a boat cruise on the Seine if we had time. We did go to the Eiffel Tower and go to the top and also had tea in a French Bistro but we didn't manage to do a boat cruise .


Some Eiffel Tower pictures

View from the top

We wanted to see some more of Paris this time and found that Disney ran a tour that covers all the main sights which seemed perfect. So we have booked tickets to do the Paris tour on the Monday. Here is an overview of the tour:

A magical journey in Paris
Discover the major sites of Paris by coach: Notre-Dame Cathedral, the Opera House (Palais Garnier), Place de la Concorde, the Champs Elysées, and so many others.... take an eye-opening cruise on the River Seine and enjoy the most beautiful panoramic view of Paris from the first floor of the Eiffel Tower.
On board the boat and the coach, commentary in English is available via individual earphones.

It includes a boat cruise on the River Seine which is something I really wanted to do and also a visit to the Eiffel Tower, up to the first floor. We have the option to go to the second or third floor if we want, hopefully I will be able to persuade Mum too... I'm sure after making her do a helicopter ride that convincing her that should be easy.

-----------------

Dining Reservations
As of yet we have not booked any dining reservations but have some ideas of where we would like to eat. Our ideas are as follows, but may be changed after our final discussions this week (or if they don't have availability):

Friday 31st ~ Tea:
Rainforest Cafe (Disney Village) or Lucky Nugget Saloon (Disney park)
Nick and I have eaten at the Rainforest Cafe here before and really enjoyed the food, although the service was pretty bad. The others love Rainforest Cafe so it would be nice to eat there.
The other option is the Lucky Nugget Saloon. This is a Western themed buffet restaurant in Frontierland, featuring chilli, nachos and sausages, some of our favorites.
As you can tell either would be a good option so this will be a tricky choice. We plan to eat at one of them before the Halloween Party so we don't have to worry about getting food and big queues once we are there. We will probably be really hungry too as we wont have eaten since breakfast on the ferry.

Saturday 1st:
Lunch ~ Walts American Restaurant (Disney Park)
Nick and I ate there last time and they do a really good fixed price 2 or 3 course menu. The restaurant is well themed and has a relaxed atmopshere that we think the others will like.
Tea ~ The Steakhouse (Disney Village)
This is pretty much decided and Nick and I ate there last time and absolutely loved it. Its a great place to spend our anniversary dinner.


So this is our initial plans for dining reservations so far. We do get continental breakfast included each morning which we will eat in the cabin before heading out for the day. We also have lunch on Sunday 2nd at the Studio's Park although this will probably be taken at a fast food place due to lack of time at this park. Tea after the Paris tour can either be had at The Davy Crockett Ranch where we are staying, or we could go to the Disney Village. For lunch on the final day before we leave we hope to go to Hard Rock Cafe in Paris. However this depends on whether we can find parking a a reasonable rate nearby. These are our food plans so far, but as I have said nothing has yet been booked so some of the restaurants may change. I will keep you all updated when I know more

 

[ariel2007]

I will do some serious digging in my brain and let you know some of the restaurants we ate at....one show you should see is "O" by Cirque de Soleli. I remember you saying you saw the one at Downtown Disney . This one is unbelievable....they are on water, in water, flying above it etc. I sat there with my mouth open like an idiot for the whole time! I will get back to you on the rest...it's finally time to go home!

Thanks for the help

Yes we definitely plan on seeing a few Cirque Du Soleil's, and funnily we were thinking about "O" and "Ka" as these two have the most appeal to us both and also have the best reviews from our friends. We have seen 4 different shows of theres already and they have all been brilliant. We plan to get tickets for their show in London in January so I might get to see 3 in one month, how lucky is that

 

[retiredkid]

Your plans look fabulous, as always.

You will have to make sure you go on the 1/2 scale model of the eiffel tower when you are in vegas. there is quite a story behind it.

 

[ariel2007]

Cowboys, Chicken and Country Music ~ Pre Holiday Fun
The Day Before the Day Before​

After a brief drama where I managed to lock myself out of the house with no shoes, no phone, having just spent 2 hours cleaning and in desperate need of a shower (not a great idea to do guys ), Mum, Dad and Sophie arrived at our house. I gave Mum her first of many gifts of the holiday, an Animal wash bag complete with miniature toiletries.

We had some lunch and then we got my laptop out and looked at Dollywood, choosing the rides and shows we really wanted to do and the things we wanted to see. We then had a look at a few other things I had found to show them and by the time we had finished we were so excited. Nick came home early from work and we got our traditional pre-holiday Chinese takeaway for tea, complete with a bottle of wine, or two. After finishing a few important things like putting maps onto the TomTom and downloading a few last songs onto the Ipod it was time for bed, and man was I excited, after all tomorrow was the start of our holiday



The Day Before ~ The Start of our Holiday

We were up at 9am, the boys went into town and Mum and I got ready and double checked the packing (and Sophie watched Hannah Montana). When the boys got back we loaded up the boot and then Mum and Dad loaded the roof rack whilst I got some pizza ready for lunch. Nick had to go back into town as his stupid bank wouldn’t authorise such a big payment for Travelex so he had to go and get all the money out of his account, I really don’t understand banks sometimes . When he got back we all had lunch and then it was time for online check in. We managed to get some good seats although there weren’t many left. Once we had printed out our boarding passes we finished tidying the house, double checked we had all the important documents and then said goodbye to our little pussycats .

The journey to London Gatwick took about 90 minutes. We hit a bit of traffic on the M25 and the ariel kept banging on the roof so we had to stop to fix that, but with the help of some haribo and a bit of Dolly Parton on the stereo we were soon arriving at the long term car park we had booked. We quickly unloaded the car and then jumped on the transfer bus and headed to the South Terminal.
Once there we headed over to the Gatwick Hilton which was attached to the airport. Sophie and Mum were so excited about staying there and Dad still thought we were staying in a Travelodge about 10 miles away. When he saw we were entering the Hilton he was most excited, the look of excitement on his face was such a picture. We checked in pretty quickly and then we were off to our rooms, they had a family room in the main building and Nick and I had a deluxe room in the newer wing. We dropped off our bags to our room which was very nice, and the same as last time, and then walked over to meet them in their room. Their room was huge with a big area when you walk in with a fridge, tea and coffee area and lots of storage space, a huge main are with a double bed on one side, two singles on the other and then a desk and table and chairs in the middle and then another area with the bathroom and more storage space. They loved it and Mum wanted to live in it forever, it was quite nice.

And their million toiletries

Sophie made Mum go to ice machine with her whilst I set up her gift bag and some champagne and glasses and Thorton chocolates for her on the table. When she saw it she was so surprised, she loved it. I had put stickers on the bag naming lots of the places we were going to visit and things we were going to do and inside I had put a £15 Franky and Bennies voucher, £10 Starbucks voucher, a travel journal, a magazine, some pens, chewing gum and peardrops, she loved it all.

We put the champagne on ice and then went down to the lobby bar where I brought everyone a cocktail. The bar is very nice with big comfy chairs around the center of the lobby surrounded by the balconies of each floor.

Mum ordered a Mai Tai, Nick had a Mojito, I had a Long Island Iced Tea and Dad had a Sex on the Beach, which he was too embarrassed to ask for, it was so funny watching him blush. We sat and chatted for a while, Sophie and Dad took pictures from above, it was really nice and relaxing after weeks of running at full pace and knowing that we were finally at the start of our holiday.

We then walked across to the main terminal which took a few minutes and went up to Franky and Bennies for tea.

We were seated but it took quite a while to get served as it was pretty busy. We got a bottle of Fetzer Rose to share and played Sophie’s card game whilst we waited for the food, we were having great fun already.

Mum and Dad looking perhaps a bit too serious for a child's card game

Dad got Tomato soup to start and Nick and I got Mama’s cheesebake which was neopolitan sauce and mozzarella with ciabatta bread which we shared with the others. For mains Mum and Paul shared the spaghetti and meatballs and the New York chicken, Nick had BBQ lasagne, I had the New York chicken and Sophie had the childrens BBQ chicken, it was all very good. We got some more drinks and Mum ate Sophie’s chocolate icecream and then we paid the bill and had a look around a few shops. We brought a few things from Accessorise, Nick got a coffee from Costa and then we walked back to the Hilton. We all went back to Mums room and had some champagne and chatted about the holiday again, as you can tell, we were slightly excited . Eventually at 11pm we called it a night and Nick and I went back to our room after a lovely evening. We watched a re-run of the Olympic Opening Ceremony for a bit, sorted out our things for the morning and then went to bed dreaming of our holiday tomorrow, after all tomorrow was the start of our holiday... again

 

[BellaSwan]

OH MY that was an update!!!!! Your plans for Paris look awesome. I have always wanted to go there. *Sigh* Maybe one day, I will really enjoy reading about your trip. I am so glad that you all had a good time in TN. I can't wait to read more about it.

 

[ariel2007]

Cowboys, Chicken and Country Music​

Day 1 ~ Flying on a Jet Plane...to Atlanta. And then on to Chattanooga (Choo Choo baby)​

We were up at 7.15am, got showered and dressed and then went over to Mum’s room. We took over some champagne and orange juice so we could all start the day in style which they loved.

We went down to the Garden Restaurant for our buffet breakfast which was included with our rooms. The buffet was really good and they had a really good selection of food, there was a section with smoked salmon, cold meats and cheese and fruit, one with pastries, cereals and juices and then a section with all the cooked food. We were brought fresh orange juice and coffee to the table and helped ourselves to the buffet, it was all really good.

After breakfast we went back to the room to finish our packing and then all met up in the lobby. We walked to the South Terminal and then caught the monorail to the North Terminal where our flight was from.

A couple pictures of our frequent flyer (I love these, although the second ones not the best quality)

We went and found the BA check-in desks and checked all our luggage in which took about 15 minutes. We then headed through security, where I got stopped. I had chucked a bottle opener in my bag at the last minute and stupidly forgot to move it in to my suitcase, I did feel rather stupid but the man was very nice about it .
Once through Nick and I picked up our dollars from Travelex and then had a look around the duty free shops. I got myself some Lacoste Touch of Pink perfume and a YSL Touche Eclait and got Mum one too as well as a Clinique eyeliner and an Elizabeth Arden beauty set.

Once that was done we didn’t have long to wait before walking down to our boarding gate, which was, for once, surprisingly close. This time it was Mum’s turn to get searched but after that we were boarding within about 5 minutes. We were seated in 34 A-E, about 9 rows from the back. Sophie, Nick and I sat in the window seats and Mum and Dad sat just across in the middle seats as Mum doesn’t like to be near the window was she doesn’t really like flying. We had to wait for a while before we took off, Sophie and I filled the time by taking some funny pictures and eating nearly a whole bag of haribo.

Messing about with the camera

Eventually we took off about 10 minutes late, Sophie loved taking off and we watched out the window as we flew over England and into the clouds.

Pretty soon into the journey we were served drinks and some pretzels. They had a couple of good films on including Kung Fu Panda, Made of Honor and Drilbit Taylor but my eyes were too tired to watch anything and Nick couldn’t get any sound out of his. He did tell the flight attendant who told someone else who tried several times to get it fixed but with no luck. He apologized several times and said he would pass on the concerns to customer services and offered him some champagne; they were very good about it. Dinner was served soon after and there was a choice of salmon or sausage and mash, which Nick, Sophie and I had. It came with a salad (which was really weird), a mini Twix, chocolate profiteroles, a bread roll, a bottle of water and some wine.

After dinner I tried to sleep but couldn’t get comfy, Nick, dad and Sophie were all playing on their DS’s which kept them amused. At 1.15pm Atlanta time we were given some juice. Sophie and I watched out the window as we flew over Canada, there was lots and lots of water but we wanted to see Whales, he he.
About an hour before we landed we were served little boxes containing very yummy lemon and black pepper chicken sandwiches, a chocolate brownie, melon, water and tea or coffee.

After that we filled in our immigration forms and then it was time to land.

Our first sightings of Atlanta

We landed at 4.25pm, the landing was very smooth but unfortunately it was raining as we came down, I swear it is always raining when we land. We managed to get off the plane fairly quickly but then had to wait ages to get through immigration. Then we had to collect our luggage, only to drop if off again. We started walking towards baggage reclaim only to find that there was a monorail going there after we had already walked 2 stops. We got onto the monorail and got to baggage reclaim but nothing had started coming through yet.

Excited to finally be there

Mum and I went over to the Thrifty car hire desk to pick up our car, there were only 3 people in front of us but there was only 1 girl on the desk so we ended up waiting about 45 minutes. When we eventually got to the front the girl sorted our car pretty quickly, great that was easily sorted, or so we thought. Mum had been told by the person she booked the car through, another company, that we could add Nick to the insurance so he could just drive on certain days. However the woman told us that we would have to go back to the airport every time we wanted to take him off or add him on which obviously wasn’t possible as we were going out of state. Then she gave us directions to get the shuttle to the car hire place. Now when Mum had booked the car she had also asked about whether the car hire was onsite so we wouldn’t have to travel elsewhere to get it. The man that booked it had told her it was offsite but there was no problem getting it delivered to the airport to meet us. When we had joined this queue today initially the woman had told us we could get the shuttle straight over to the office to check in but we had said about being told we could pick it up here and she said ok that’s fine, but now she was saying we had to go over on the shuttle and get it, ahhhhhhhhhhhh. She could see we were slightly annoyed with all the mix ups so she phoned ahead to make sure our car was ready and told us when we got there not to join the queue but to go to the front of the office and that it would be waiting. So 2 hours after we had got off the plane we were on the shuttle to pick up our car...

...When we got there however there was no car waiting and no-one around to ask :nonono:. Mum and Dad joined the queue inside but it was double the size of the one we had already been in and people were saying they had already been there 30 minutes, by this point we were pretty annoyed. I went and found a girl outside who said she would find someone, which she did about 15 minutes later. When the manager finally came out he saw to another woman first even after we said we had been told the car would be waiting and then when he finally got to us he spent about 15 minutes looking at his computer, phoning people and making us sign the same forms we had already signed. Eventually we got a 7 seater minivan, like we had booked, but it was pretty dirty still even though it was now 2 hours after we had put down to pick it up.
We always seem to have problems with our car hire; it’s so frustrating after a long plane ride to have all these problems. Especially as we still had a 3 hour drive ahead of us and it was already gone 7pm.

It took Dad a bit of time to adjust to the car and then we were off, pretty slowly to begin. We only drove through the suburbs of Atlanta so we didn’t really get to see much of it but the rest of the journey was pretty straight forward, Sophie and I just sat in the back and watched a DVD on our new portable DVD player. About 9.30pm we finally arrived in Chattanooga, it looked so much bigger than we expected as we drove through and saw all the lights of the city. We found the Sheraton Read House pretty easily thanks to sat nav and valet parked the car. We checked in straight away, the man on check in was very friendly and had a really cool Southern accent. He gave us some history of the hotel and told us all about Moon Pies, which he gave us a box of.

The beautiful lobby

Some other areas of the hotel

We then went to our rooms which were on the sixth floor, the Starwood Preferred Guest floor. The rooms were next to each other which was handy, they were very big and very nice, they had 2 big beds, a couple of comfy chairs, and area with a coffee maker with Starbuck’s coffee and take-out cups, a big desk with a huge leather desk chair, a massive flat screen LCD TV and a really nice bathroom with lots of nice toiletries.

Not the best picture but it shows the room

After we had checked out our rooms and dropped our luggage off us headed out for tea. Nick and I stopped at reception en-route to ask about breakfast vouchers and champagne and cheese plate we were suppose to get as part of the package we had booked, the man was very nice and told us he would sort it out for us and gave us 5 breakfast vouchers (instead of 4 which was good). We walked down the road, where our hotel was it was very quiet but soon we came to the main restaurant area about 6 blocks down which was much busier. There was a Chili’s, a Sticky Fingers, a TGI’s and more. We had planned to eat at the Big River Grille and Brewing Works; it seemed quite busy and was buzzing outside.

Continued Below...

 

[ariel2007]

We were told there was a 15 minute wait for a table, we were all tired but decided to stay so we could have a nice first meal. We were seated in about 15 minutes and ordered pretty quickly. Nick and I ordered cocktails, a mojito for him and pomegranate margarita for me which was delicious, and Mum and Paul had a beer each which had been brewed on the premises.

It was only now I realised that it was the same chain as the restaurant they had on the Boardwalk at Disney, I knew they had one in Orlando but thought it was on I-Drive. Our meals didn’t take that long; we all had appetizers as our mains apart from Nick. Paul had the soup which was chilli with a side of fries, Mum had the cheese, spinach and jalapeno dip with tortillas, I had the nachos and Nick had the BBQ bacon cheeseburger. It was all really good, Mum’s dip was so, so good and my nacho’s were huge and loaded with 2 different cheeses, jalapeno’s, black beans, tomatoes, spring and red onions and chicken. Sophie just picked at ours as she was so tired.

After a lovely first meal in America we paid the bill and walked back up to the hotel. It was still quite hot outside, it made us realise we were really here .

When we got back to our room we had a lovely tray waiting with an ice-bucket and a bottle of champagne in, 2 glasses and a big plate with cheese, grapes, strawberries and crackers on, it was lovely.

They had only delivered the one though to our room so we took it in to Mum and Dad’s room. Mum loved it. We sat on the bed in our Sheraton dressing gowns and nibbled at the cheese and fruit and discussed our plans for tomorrow. I gave them a piece of paper which had the confirmation for our river boat cruise on which was a surprise for the three of them, they were very excited, well Sophie was fast asleep but she was when she found out. It was then time for bed after a very long and tiring day