Just got back

[JohnnySharp]

Arrived back from our 9th trip with Virgin yesterday morning.

Pouring with rain, traffic jams on the motorway and the exhaust has just 'blown' on my car!

Few things to note - some already mentioned.

Sea World - Journey to Atlantis is closed till mid-june
Magic Kingdom - Winnie the Pooh closed
Festival Bay, Ron Jon's due to open 'within the next 3 weeks'.
Cannot see this area 'taking off' for a while though.
Mall At Millenia, apart from the Quiksilver surf shop, Macy's and Bloomingdales it is a bit too up-market really, to be honest we went to the Mall twice and walked around (and shopped) for a good hour on both occasions during which time most of the shops were empty with about 3 assistants ready to 'pounce'. Walked in one expensive furniture store for a laugh and having barely got inside I could see 2 of them racing towards me - hence the hasty retreat - probably the 1st first they have had through the door all day.
erm, what next - spent a fortune at the 'Oakley' store at the Florida Mall, they also have one at each of the Universal parks.

Weather in the low 90s most of the time, a few degrees above average, too hot my little lad really, hence we had quite a relaxing holiday.

Theme Parks were all pretty quiet and managed to get on everything without any problems.
One or two frustrations, it has always bugged us that not all areas of a park open at the same time, for eg you arrive at Sea World early see the Penguins, Dolphins etc only to find the remainder of the park not yet open.
Shamu's happy harbor was not open till 11:00, I know that we visited off peak so to speak but if the price is the same everything should be open?
On all our visits to a particular park this year - we had the 14 day Universal Flexticket and a 4 day Disney Hopper - there always seemed to be attractions not open or restaurants closed.

We have an Autistic son and tend to arrive at a park first thing, leave for lunch and then re-visit late afternoon.

Now then where can we stay next year.........

 

[WDWfan uk]

Welcome back

What were the highlights of your trip and where did you stay?

 

[pegasusEH]

Hi, and welcome back.

Where did you stay?

How was the flight with Virgin? See you are in Lancashire so I am assuming you flew from Manchester. We are due to go in 10 days and have seen the plane has been very late a few times in the last couple of weeks.

 

[squitty]

Welcome Home Johnny

Sound like you had a great time.

Know what you mean about the Mall of Millenia...
It was spot the open shop at Festival Bay wasnt it?

How did you find the villa location?

 

[JohnnySharp]

We stayed at a villa at Indian Point just off Ponciana Boulevard near the 192.
Found it on the villas2000.com site, for us the location was ideal it was about 5 minutes from the 192, easy access to the likes of Publix Supermarkets, Restaurants and the I4, reckon it took about 15 minutes to Disney and about 20 to Universal.

We have stayed in villas the last 2 trips, with Joshuas Autism it is easier and more beneficial for him, much more room and our own pool - he loves water.
Cumbrian Lakes estate is also in the area, had a look around and also looks to be ideally situated.
Rolling Hills, Indian Creek and Formosa Gardens, we visited these too and all looked very nice, certainly even closer to Disney.
We have never really fully based our trip around the Theme Parks so an extra 5 minutes or so to get there has never bothered us, we had a quick look round some on the US27 though, like Calabay Parc, Santa Cruz - a bit far away for us, off the 192 is ideal.

Festival Bay, yes at the moment it is pretty empty shop wise, not sure why , it took them long enough to build you would have thought more space would have been filled, maybe Ron Jon's would be worth a look we just missed out there really.


Virgin, yes we flew from Manchester, comfortable flight both ways -the flight times were fine we were a bit late departing leaving at 10:50 instead of 10:25, we landed at 14:32 so about 8 and a half hours. Coming back departed on time 18:15, landed 07:02 half an hour early.
We checked a few days before we left and most flights were departing late, I guess it's just down to luck really.
Coming home can be down to the weather and the evening thunderstorms, there is always the chance of a delay there.

Highlights , Joshua playing in the pool, him laughing as we spun round on 'cat in the hat', him sat in the water fountains fully clothed near 'curious george' playground, the theme parks we visited being fairly quiet, posing in my new sunglasses (the wife thinks I am vain!), speaking to the locals about our trips to Florida and how glad they are that we visit their country,a cool glass of 'bud' in the evening, knowing most of the staff by name at the Publix by the end of our trip!, generally just being there really...maybe next time we will need to vary it a bit, possibly have a drive to Miami or something, not much there for Josh though.

Thanks for the responses..have a great trip Pegasus.

 

[WDWfan uk]

Your highlights made me smile Did you get any pics of Joshua sitting in the fountain in his clothes ?

 

[JohnnySharp]

Shirley, yes we did - not sure how or if you can get them on this site though?

 

[pegasusEH]

Thanks for the reply about the Virgin flight.

Just a couple more questions if you wouldn't mind answering:-

Did you have games on your flight and did you notice the name of the plane?

Also, heard a couple of not so good reports on inflight meals, what did you think?

Sounds as though you have had a fantastic time!

 

[JohnnySharp]

Hi Pegasus,

Yes there were games on the plane , didn't play them but they were certainly available.

Plane names, the one we flew out on was Honey Pie, however, we flew back on a different one Island Lady.
This was the one that we flew on last year also.

I believe both are leased from Air Atlanta although both carry full Virgin colours. To be honest it has been something of a sore point in the past which aircraft they use from Manchester, we always seem to get the older Jumbo's , I noticed that the 2 Gatwick flights were the newer 747-400 planes, one of them being English Rose.

Not that we had any problems like, everything was fine, so it probably doesn't make much difference,

Cheers, have a great time..

 

[JohnnySharp]

oops forgot about the meals.

On our way out we had Steak and Kidney pie, mash potatoes and peas. Plenty to drink, water and orange juice available all the time, a sandwich about an hour and a half before we landed..and an ice cream also.

On our way back the evening meal was Chicken breast with sweetcorn in some sort of sauce, potato wedges, alternatives were a pasta or salmon meal. Breakfast was an apple muffin and a cup of tea.

All main meals are accompanied by a cake, bread roll, drink of water, mint, salad etc with again water/orange juice readily available - no chance of drying out, too busy on the toilet with all this liquid, in fact on the way home(subject change), I had 2 Bud's at the airport and within a couple of hours of the flight had 2 cans of Miller also - no wonder I was up and down to the lav all the time!

To be honest I am a very plain eater and would prefer 'pie and chips' anyday, I have always had the impression that Virgin try and be a bit too fancy with their meals, something that can be difficult at 39,000 feet....
still they receive plenty of awards for them so they must be doing something right, to be honest the S&K pie was pretty good, I just get a bit put off by all these sauces and stuff. Actually I remember now that the kiddies meal on the way out was chicken dinosaurs and potato faces , that sounds better to me than some of the adult meals.
Having only flown with Virgin I have nothing to compare it with, but all in all I think they do pretty well, unless anyone else disagrees?

 

[Scottish_Maleficent]

Hi Johnny

sounds like you had a great time....

we are staying at Cumbrian lakes in a few weeks and was wondering just how far the nearest Publix was?

Ta

Cath

 

[JohnnySharp]

Hi there,

I would say about 3 miles away, maybe a bit less.

As you exit Cumbrian Lakes turn right onto Ponciana Blvd and about a mile away you come to Siesta Lago Drive, turn right here and follow the road down to the end - another 3/4 mile.

Turn left onto the 192 and head for about another mile until you come to Vineland Road or the SR535, turn right and Publix is right there on the right hand side- basically at the junction of Vineland and the 192. Soon as you turn really, you should see it on the right.

I suppose you could go straight down Ponciana Blvd and turn right at the 192 and then left at Vineland.
Think that's it, should know really it felt like I was there everyday..

 

[Scottish_Maleficent]

Thanks Johnny - I know where that Publix is, been in it before I think.

Cath

 

[Hilary]

Glad to hear you had a great trip - your list of highlights really made me smile and remember why we all love it!