Live report - 3 weeks in Orlando

[irisheyes123]

Have a great trip will be checking this out as I love a live trip report

 

[Elise79]

Have a great trip - hopefully you are safely in Orlando by now

PS Sent you a PM

 

[mandymouse]

Have a great time Reid, I look forward to your updates

 

[taylor91]

Hope you get there safely Looking forward to the updates

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

Joining on for my Disney fix

 

[PJB71]

Hope you arrived safely and looking forward to hearing more

 

[Cyrano]

Sorry for no updates. When we arrived we hit the wall after travelling 19 hours.

The empty seat ended up being beside Diane, Jack and Robyn. Since the Airbus configuration is 2, 4, 2.
Delta flight attendants were very attentive. The troops declared Delta far better than Virgin.
We had a snack and a drink early in the flight. After an hour or so they served the main meal. Choice was vegetarian lasagne or chicken. The chicken, mashed potatoes and roasted peppers was served with feta salad, crackers and cheese. The five of us had the chicken. Sorry no photos but it is just not the same as Wayne's crockery meals in Business Class.
I don't drink alcohol on the flight (maybe a small wine with food) but beer and wine, along with Coca Cola products was freely available.

We arrived in Boston to 15 degrees and pouring rain.

Getting through Immigration and Customs was easy. Delta earned another browny point as they gave full instructions how to go through Immigration and baggage transfer.

The Boston to Orlando flight was an uneventful 2 1/2 hours. Again Delta staff were very nice.

Arrival at MCO was very strange as we just walked straight through arrivals.
Pleased to report despite booking Dollar via 300Hire we walked straight to the garage. Showed the greeter my Express card and was directed to the Thrify desk that Dollar share. 10 minutes later we were driving off in a nice blue Dodge Caravan.

A stop for water at Walmart and then off to Quality Suites.

We were asleep with 5 minutes of our heads hitting the pillow.

Up this morning at 6am. Breakfast was a fair selection. Favourite of the troops was the fresh waffle maker.

EPCOT as one of the best parks for crowds meant it was an easy choice as this is one of our favourite parks. We were at the gates for 8.30 and in the parks not long after this time.
No surprises that Soarin' was the first ride and then we did most of our favourites. Lunch was at sunshine seasons.
We called it a day at 2 and headed back to the hotel.

Rotisserie chicken did supper tonight

We heading into DTD and spend a fair bit of time in Lego store and World of Disney.

Tomorrow we will decide between DHS or AK.

WiFi at the hotel seems stable so I will have a go at uploading some photos to Photobucket from the iPad tomorrow.

 

[jockey]

Glad the travel day went well looking forward to more updates

 

[Linda67]

Loving your live trip report

Have a fantastic time

 

[taylor91]

Sounds like a tiring day... glad to hear you are having a great time though

 

[Pegasus928]

Thanks for the updates Reid - looking forward to more.

 

[wayneg]

Sounds like you are as happy as us with Delta, our fave airline over the past 3 years. Back to Virgin in August

Enjoy DHS or AK

 

[disneyholic family]

welcome to my world Reid!!
(if we're lucky, travel time airport to airport is 19 hours....add on the 4 hours before the flight to get to the airport and 2 hours after the flight to get the luggage, car and get to the hotel and the total goes up to 25 hours )

sounds like delta has won you over...so the question is, is the cheaper price and good service worth the longer travel time......with prices going up as they are, i'm betting more and more people will go the longer more circuitous route to save money....

i can't believe you're there for 3 weeks - i hate you!!!

 

[cannp123165]

Thanks for the updates - sounds like you are having a good time so far.

 

[Cyrano]

Glad everyone is enjoying the updates

Sounds like you are as happy as us with Delta, our fave airline over the past 3 years.

Absolutely Wayne. Delta seats as well as service far better than Virgin IMHO.

welcome to my world Reid!!
(if we're lucky, travel time airport to airport is 19 hours....add on the 4 hours before the flight to get to the airport and 2 hours after the flight to get the luggage, car and get to the hotel and the total goes up to 25 hours )

sounds like delta has won you over...so the question is, is the cheaper price and good service worth the longer travel time......with prices going up as they are, i'm betting more and more people will go the longer more circuitous route to save money....

i can't believe you're there for 3 weeks - i hate you!!!

Blame Diane for the 3 weeks. Though I am not complaining.
With Virgin we still have 2 journeys plus a big layover on the return flight.
I think if the prices were the exact same Delta would still win

We woke up just after 6am. After showering, shaving (that was me, though I think the girls moustaches need a trim ) we headed downstairs for breakfast.

Arrived at DHS for 8.30. There was a good crowd at the gates, which opened 10 minutes later.
After a family discussion we decided to forego Toy Story. Since this eats into time and even with a FP means you are restricted for the rest of the day.

I headed to Tower of Terror and grabbed FP's for the thrill seekers. Then hotfooted it over to Star Tours. Robyn decided to be brave and go on this. Score she and all the rest of us absolutely loved it. The refurb is excellent.
So glad that I had avoided all the YouTube videos. We ended up going straight back on it again. Then grabbed FP for later. We were lucky and managed to get 3 different scenes.

We called it a day at noon and then headed to Florida Mall for lunch and retail therapy for the girls.

We are heading off in a few minutes to DTD.

Should be a busy day tomorrow as MIL/FIL and SIL and family arrive later in the day.

 

[wayneg]

I think if the prices were the exact same Delta would still win

I used to have a £100 rule, if Virgin were within £100 (£300 for 3 of us) I felt Virgin had a superior product that was worth the extra money.
Now I have no rule, its down to cheapest, Delta indirect but immigration is done for a very simple arrival at MCO or TPA plus better service and quality of plane, IFE and food. Hope this changes with the new A330-300.
Trying Virgin again in August after 3 years avoiding them, hope they have improved.

 

[katiec]

Loving your live trippie

Hope you have a fabulous trip

Katie x

 

[Cyrano]

I used to have a £100 rule, if Virgin were within £100 (£300 for 3 of us) I felt Virgin had a superior product that was worth the extra money.
Now I have no rule, its down to cheapest, Delta indirect but immigration is done for a very simple arrival at MCO or TPA plus better service and quality of plane, IFE and food. Hope this changes with the new A330-300.
Trying Virgin again in August after 3 years avoiding them, hope they have improved.

The movie on demand on Delta was more enjoyable than I suspected. Food and stewards/stewardess were superior on Delta.
I think our rule would now be that if Virgin were cheaper by £100 (£500 for 5 of us) then we would go Virgin.

 

[Cyrano]

Firstly forgot to say we bought an inexpensive non contract mobile in Best Buy. Despite the comments about poor customer service the staff were very good.
They activated the mobile and the $15 topup card. Feel really grown up with a USA mobile number. But it is really so that when outlaws arrive we will not be stung for serious bills with our iPhones when we get back home.
Miss the data access, though Diane says that is a good thing as my addiction to email and Internet needs help!

The rain poured like never before when we went to DTD tonight. We were stuck in World of Disney store for 2 hours. Before finally biting the bullet and getting totally soaked.

Tomorrow looks like a MK day unless the weather has other plans

 

[jockey]

Thanks for the updates, hope the weather gets better! Have you considered putting a t mobile sim in your iphone, I used one in my ipad last trip only $1.49 for unlimited 24hr access