Just Back, A Quick Summary – Yeah Right!!! **updated with photos**

[mandymouse]

Part One

Hi Everyone

We landed yesterday after a mad/brilliant week in Orlando. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask.

Thurs 23rd Dec. We stopped the night at the Travelodge at Gatwick, we had a wander around the Airport and had tea in Frankie & Benny’s. We booked through Holiday Extras with the airport parking at the Summer Special parking area at the North Terminal, everything worked out fine.

Christmas Eve. Gatwick was absolutely packed (yet a guy on Security said that Boxing Day is their busiest day). We had booked a late deal with Airtours, and were flying with MyTravel. I really missed Virgin twilight check in, and when we finally got checked in we had to take our cases to security to have them checked. Thankfully we use the cable ties to lock our cases, so these were snipped off and replaced after the search. Once through to departures everything was fine. The plane was running only half a hour late, so before long we were onboard and ready to fly.

I really wasn’t sure what to expect with MyTravel, but I was pleasantly surprised to find back-of-the-seat TV monitors and we didn’t feel too cramped. The films outbound were Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, The Day After Tomorrow, Garfield and The Chronicles of Riddick, along with episodes of Friends and Only Fools and Horses. The food was very nice, but there was no choice (unless you had pre-ordered). Due to severe head winds they had to fly straight across the Atlantic and it still took 10 hours. Unfortuately, when we landed, we were told that it was cooler there than it was when we left Gatwick – about 10ºC (sob,sob).

Travelodge Maingate East. Again, I wasn’t sure what to expect, I had read some poor reviews, but I was very happy with this hotel. We were on the 192 opposite the fair at Kissimmee Old Town. The rooms were huge (compared to the All Stars Resorts) and we had a balcony. The rooms could’ve done with a fresh coat of paint, but apart from that I preferred it to the Holiday Inn Nikki Bird that we tried earlier in the year. There were a couple of pools and a Jacuzzi, and the hotel bar was nice with friendly staff.

After check-in, we popped to DownTown Disney to buy our tickets, and to let the girls spend some of their Christmas money. It was really busy, but it was beautifully decorated for Christmas.

Christmas Day. We woke up to find it pouring with rain, but that didn’t deter us, so after opening the few pressies that we had brought with us (as we had our Christmas Day on the Thursday) out came the bright yellow ponchos, and off to Epcot we went for 8am opening. We got a fastpass for Test Track and did Mission:Space twice. As the rain had more or less stopped we headed back to Test Track. Due to technical problems, we had to wait about 20 minutes for it to start up again. When we finally boarded our TT car, the castmember joked about it being a wet ride (we had removed our ponchos by now) – but I have never seen TT run in the rain – so we laughed it off. When we got to the outside loop, we were met by a downpour, it was brilliant, we just all burst out laughing.

After TT we decided to walk around ‘the world’, it was deserted. We had lunch in China, then we popped into Journey Into Your Imagination and BodyWars, then we decided to go to MGM Studios. We did ToT and RnRc, the girls went to Pizza Planet and as we were soaked through, we went back to our hotel and had a couple of drinks in the hotel bar while I wrote all my postcards – wasn’t I good ? NO !! I forgot to post them, so they’ll be in the UK post on Monday – LOL !!

I'll continue my report on this thread, part two is on its way

mandymouse

 

[mandymouse]

Part Two

Boxing Day. Although it had rained the day before, it had been quite warm, but today it was freezing. We saved our tickets and had a ‘Shopping Day’. Wal-Mart had reopened and we bought our usual supplies of Lays and Cookies, and the kids did more spending! We had a late breakfast at the Ponderosa, and then went to Lake Buena Vista Factory Outlet, Premium Outlet and as the traffic on I-Drive was so busy we went to the other Wal-Mart then on to McDonalds at DownTown Disney followed by more shopping.

Rest of the Week. As we are a family that love Epcot and Disney/MGM Studios, these were the parks we spent most of our time at. We did all the big rides, the highlight being the ToT breaking down as it got to the end of the ride, the castmembers had to pull our lift back out of the lift shaft and as we had a good 10 minute wait, they let us go up the normal lift to the head of the line for the next lift, we met loads of characters, ate at Pizza Planet or had those huge Double Cheeseburgers. We also saw the Osborne Family lights, they were really nice, they had the fake snow coming down, but I didn't think that the lights were as good as they were in Residential Street, and they didn't give out any glasses so you could see the angels in the lights. We also love to walk around World Showcase at Epcot having a Bacardi & coke in the U.K. with our incredibly overpriced Cadbury chocolate from the Tea Shoppe, a wine in Germany, chicken strips in The America Adventure and a Chinese meal in (er) China. We met some people who said that they went to Epcot on their last holiday (5 years ago), so didn’t feel the need to return (we were like – WHAT!!)

We spent half a day in Magic Kingdom, it wasn’t warm enough for Splash Mountain, but we did do Big Thunder Mountain, Buzz Lightyear (twice), and we were one of the first on Stitch’s Great Escape, now we’ve never been on Alien Encounter, so we didn’t know what to expect BUT what was all that about ? I was really looking forward to this but apart from a little blast of air and a squirt of water, that was about it (yet when we left there was a 2 hour wait for it). The highlight for youngest DD was meeting Bullseye, who we hadn’t seen in the parks before. We had our fave cookies and cream ice-cream there too. The Magic Kingdom was always packed and on a couple of occasions was FULL by the afternoon, so when it got too busy we left.

Blizzard Beach. We did use our two pluses on our tickets at Blizzard Beach, but each time the day started a little cool and sunny, but would cloud over by 1ish. Thursday was the best when we went on the Cross Country Creek rubber rings and the Family Raft Ride.

New Years Eve. As with the rest of the week, we were always at the parks for 8am opening, and as we were flying that afternoon, we used our last day at Epcot. We went on M:S twice and TT once, and by 10am, the fast passes were for 6 – 7pm, there was a long line for the past pass returns, and there was a 2 hour wait for TT. It was mad, obviously people were there for the day and were prepared with pack lunches etc. We had our last Chinese meal and the girls ate in the American Adventure. We left around 1pm. I have never seen so many people in there before, but they were still arriving as we left.

We decided to park our car in the airport rather than take it back to Dollar and just as well as we had a 3 hour delay. DH had spotted a shopping mall on our way up to Sanford, so we checked-in and drove off to the mall for a couple of hours. The flight home was uneventful, it took 8 hours, but it didn’t have the individual TV sets. We watched I-Robot, then I fell asleep to Thunderbirds. The food was good again and the flight went quite quickly. When we got home, we found that US security had opened just one of our cases and had left a note inside, that was the first time that had happened to us.

OVERALL – WE HAD A FAB TIME AND CAN’T WAIT TO GO BACK IN MAY.

CHRISTMAS IS BRILLIANT AT WDW (but very busy, be prepared to queue for everything)

Any questions, then please let me know

mandymouse

 

[wils]

Thanks - great to read about your trip

You put me to shame - I'm back 5 weeks and still haven't attempted a report.

Glad you had a great time - what do you have planned for May?

Jo

 

[KayleeUK]

Jo - come on you are next

Mandy Thank you for that. Wow where did you see Bullseye to? We love Epcot too and spend lots of time wondering there.

 

[natalielongstaff]

welome back mandy......loving the reports

 

[mandymouse]

Hi Kaylee

While we were waiting for Buzz, Woody and Jessie at MGM Studios, I asked the castmember about Bullseye, he said we would find him at the Diamond Horseshoe, in Liberty Square/Frontierland. There was a character greetings there of Chip & Dale, Bullseye & Jessie, Woody and Goofy - I didn't even know that the place existed - even after 7 visits

Hi Jo

We're off to WDW for 17 nights, stopping at the All Star Sports and also a 3 night Disney Wonder Cruise - and I can't wait !!!

Thanks for the comments everyone

mandymouse

 

[buster]

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We are going to orlando for the very first time ( we are also not spring chickens ) but I'm starting to get a little nervous.
My 1st question is ' cable ties ' for suitcases, where do I get these from and do they always open your cases, even if you have small padlocks on?
2nd. my huband smokes and I dont want him to be totally miserable for the whole 2 weeks ( his idea of a perfect holiday is lying on a sunlounger with good food and wine being totally relaxed ) so I can't commend him enough for agreeing to this trip!!!!!!

What would be a good plan for the parks for older people and what should'nt
we miss?

Thanks for reading this, by the way we fly on the 15th of January from Gatwick

 

[mandymouse]

Hi buster

I bought a pack of about 100 cable ties from Wilkinsons for about 80p. This is the first time our cases have been opened in the US, so it is easier for them to snip off a cable tie than try to break open a lock. I always keep a pair of nail clippers in the front pocket of my case too (as you can't have them in your hand luggage)

We're not smokers but I know that all the theme parks there have designated smoking areas

If I were you I would start a thread on the UK Trip Planning Forum, where hopefully you will get a bit more advice

mandymouse

 

[KayleeUK]

On the look out for Bullseye this year then

Hi Buster Welcome to the DIS As Mandy said post all the questions you want on the trip planning forum

 

[florida sun]

Hi Mandy
Welcome back, glad you had a great time, loved your trip reports.

I do have a couple of questions for you but first can I say thanks very much for my prizes from the quiz, they were great.

Can you tell me what Airport you flew into and what was the wait time like to get through security and passport control, I know that since we were last there in August that the system has changed, can you tell me what it involves now? We are going back in August, will we have to make any amenndments to our passports or get visas, both Vicki and I have the purple passports.

Thanks

Sue

 

[mandymouse]

Hi Sue

I'm pleased that you liked your prizes

We flew into Sanford airport, as this airport is a lot smaller than Orlando International, going through Passport Control/Immigration was a breeze, there was only our flight to check, so we were seen within 20 minutes. This was the first time that we had our picture and fingerprint scanned, but again this only took a few minutes

As far as the passports are concerned, if you have the up-to-date red machine readable passports, then you don't need a visa, as you can still fill in the green waiver forms that are stapled into your passport

I hope this helps

mandymouse

 

[florida sun]

Thanks Mandy
Thats what I was hoping you would say. We too are flying into Sanford as we did last August, but there must have been about 6 flights landing at the same time and it took us nearly 2 hours to get through. I thought as they have to take your photo and fingerprints now that it might take even longer.

Thanks for the info

Sue

 

[WDWfan uk]

... another Epcot fan here!! Can never get enough of this park ! Sounds like you particularly like TT !!

Good to hear you did not let the rain spoil anything for you Thank you for the report!

 

[buster]

Hi mandy,

thanks for the quick reply, the only thing I'm finding now is that everything I should be doing at home now has gone by the board as I'm spending most of my afternoons off reading all the threads here and looking at every disney site possible - doesn't time fly when your having fun!!

only 11 days to go - getting really excited now

buster

 

[shellbell]

Hiya mandy

Your week away sounded fantastic I'm glad you DH and the girls enjoyed your christmas over there


Would you go again at that time of year

Michelle

 

[mandymouse]

To be honest Michelle, the ONLY thing that would put me off from going to WDW is the heat - and thats all. So even with the crowds and the cost, I'd still go back at Christmas

mandymouse

 

[Miffy2003]

Great report Mandy!

Can't believe we could have met up and didn't! Did you feel like a celeb at Blizzard Beach? When we went there were only about 5 other families there (literally) and we felt almost like the park had opened just for us Mind you being Brits we are hardy when it comes to water parks and weather

Thank you very much for the postcard which was a lovely surprise!

 

[mandymouse]

Here are some photos from our holiday - at long last I hear you cry

So here we are at Epcot in our highly fashionable yellow ponchos on Christmas Day, it may be raining but we had a great day.

Sorry that it wasn't worth the wait, but now you know what I look like, this is me and Pluto, Pluto has the reindeer antlers (just in case you weren't sure)

Here are my little darlings with Bullseye and Jessie, we were thrilled to see Bullseye as we had never seen him at a character greeting before

Youngest DD bought these Stitch ears, and when she got fed up of wearing them I offered to, it took people eyes away from the HUGE spot I had on my chin - LOL

Cor what a pair of Monsters !!! and Mike and Sully look cool too

If you've ever watched the Disney TV channels in the hotels, you will know what the ever 'annoying' Krissa says 'I see London..... I see France.... You know the rest....' yes here are me and DH on the bridge between the UK and France.

Again this was taken between the UK and France, we do look a dodgy family -don't we ???

Here we are awaiting our instructions at Mission:Space, I think youngest DD has been taken over by a certain alien again

Here is me being eaten by a shark, but don't worry, no sharks we harmed in the making of this picture.

So thats it for now, it has taken me the best part of 3 hours to figure it out, so I hope it works

mandymouse

 

[MsPennieLane]

Wonderful photos Thanks for sharing them!

Anz