mandymouse
Bahama Mama Time !!
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2003
- Messages
- 72,440
Trip Report Tues 11th May Sun 29th May 2005
Pre-Departure/Flight/Arrival in Orlando
Cast
Me (age 41) aka Monica from Friends due to tidying obsession and wild hair during high humidity
DH Paul (40) - Driver and rarely seen on the video as hes usually doing the taping
DD Kerry (14) - Tinkerbell fan extraordinaire, fave saying Can we have
something to eat now !!
DD Becky (12) - Only she is allowed to like Stitch and no-one else !!!
Apart from the cruise (which Ill do a daily report for) I will do a report per park/activity
Gatwick
I picked the girls up from school at 3.25pm, they quickly got changed and Paul arrived home from work at 3.40pm by 4.00pm we were on our way
We had a great journey from Nuneaton, straight down the M40 and we were shocked to find the M25 completely clear, we arrived at Gatwick Airport at 6.30pm. We parked in the car park and went straight to the Virgin Twilight Check-in, we had already pre-booked our seats, and as everything was in order we received our boarding cards and were heading out within 20 minutes.
In previous years we have usually arrived mid-afternoon, so we have stayed in the Travellodge and done the Summer Special car parking, but as we werent arriving until the evening I felt that I wanted luxury and ease this time, so after checking in we parked our car at the Parking Express car park opposite the Hilton Hotel (cost approx £130 for 18 nights), we caught the bus back to the terminal and then checked into the Hilton for the night (cost £117 booked through Holiday Extras). Once we checked in and got rid of our overnight things we went back to the terminal for something to eat. There were no arguments here as we all love going to Frankie & Bennys. So after a vegetable cannelloni for me, pizzas for the girls and lasagne for DH, it was time for any eary night. The room was on the same level as the lobby and the room was huge with a double bed and 2 singles.
We didnt sleep well at all, I think we were all far too excited, but we were rudely awakened by one of DDs friends texting her about 6.30am, asking if we were up yet (yes, we are now !!!!!).
So we got changed, DH took overnight stuff back to the car and we hit the terminal about 8.30am. We went straight through departures into a VERY BUSY departure lounge. Once we looked at the TV monitors showing the departure times we realised that there were a few delayed flights and after an hour or so most of the delayed passengers were gone. We had a look around the shops and a quick breakfast at McDonalds. Our flight was called about 10.15am, and they started boarding at 10.35am. As we had 2 rows of 2 seats (62 A & C and 63 A & C), at the back of the plane we were one of the first on. These seats are great and you never feel cramped, you also are near to the toilets and you get your food first. We were away on time (11.15am), we had no turbulence (but we made up for that on the way home but hey thats for another day !!), and the food was pretty good, Becky had a kids meal, Kerry and Paul had Chicken Korma and I had Mushroom Risotto. The films werent brilliant, I only watched Meet the Fockers (quite funny), but then I spent the rest of the flight watching comedy programmes like Little Britain, Only Fools and Horses, My Wife & Kids and 8 Simple Rules.
Arrival
The flight went quite quick, I wasnt keen on the landing as it was chucking it down with rain, but soon we were on the ground, unfortunately being in those comfy seats at the back meant you were last off the plane, so when we hit immigration there were huge lines and waits waiting for us. It took just over an hour to get through immigration, but we had noticed that there were quite a few solo travellers, whereas the lines moved faster with families.
Anyway by the time we are reunited with our suitcases the conveyor belt had stopped and there were only a few cases left. Once we got rid of the cases again we went straight to the Disney Store to buy our Premium Annual Passes, we then collected our cases and car from Dollar, we had an upgrade due to the Virgin Frequent Flyer Club, but we upgraded again to this huge Dodge Durango jeep.
By now it was still raining as we drove to the All Star Sports, we had booked this over a year ago and had got such a good rate for 18 nights (even though we would be on the cruise for 3 days), that we were able to leave some of our stuff in the room while we were on the Disney Wonder.
We were supposed to get 2 free mugs, 2 AMC tickets and a free park photo for staying in a Virgin Flagship Hotel, but for some reason we ended up with 4 mugs, 4 AMC tickets (yippee thats Star Wars sorted) and the photo .
After checking in and even though by now it was belting down with rain (if anyone was in WDW on Christmas Day you will know what I mean) and there was thunder and lightning but there was nothing stopping the mandymouse family from getting to a Park, so we set off for MGM Studios. Once parked it was on with the ponchos, but unfortunately all the fastpasses for RnRc and ToT were gone so we settled for dinner instead pizzas from Pizza Planet for the girls and Chicken Strips for us.
The girls had only been in WDW an hour and out came the purses, they bought T-shirts, a bag and the WDW wristbands in different colours. After a quick shop it was back to the All Stars to sort out the cases for the cruise and we were all asleep by 9.30pm.
Tip We decided that there was no way that we were paying $10 a night for a fridge at the All Stars, so we bought a huge cooler at Wal-Mart for about $20 and filled it every other day with ice from the ice machines (usually just half filling a carrier bag for ease) and as we were on the bottom floor we could just drag it out to empty.
Tip A useful tip that I found on these boards was to make up daily tip envelopes for Mousekeeping, wow the people were so pleased with it and we had loads of soaps and towels daily.
Tip The WDW wristbands make excellent gifts for your kids friends, especially as wristbands seem to be the in thing at the moment and they only cost $3 (we had a few glow in the dark ones, which were fun on Tower of Terror)
BTW The All Star Sports now provide an iron, ironing board and hair dryer in the room
Part 2 soon (when I figure out how to post photos again)
Pre-Departure/Flight/Arrival in Orlando
Cast
Me (age 41) aka Monica from Friends due to tidying obsession and wild hair during high humidity
DH Paul (40) - Driver and rarely seen on the video as hes usually doing the taping
DD Kerry (14) - Tinkerbell fan extraordinaire, fave saying Can we have
something to eat now !!
DD Becky (12) - Only she is allowed to like Stitch and no-one else !!!
Apart from the cruise (which Ill do a daily report for) I will do a report per park/activity
Gatwick
I picked the girls up from school at 3.25pm, they quickly got changed and Paul arrived home from work at 3.40pm by 4.00pm we were on our way
We had a great journey from Nuneaton, straight down the M40 and we were shocked to find the M25 completely clear, we arrived at Gatwick Airport at 6.30pm. We parked in the car park and went straight to the Virgin Twilight Check-in, we had already pre-booked our seats, and as everything was in order we received our boarding cards and were heading out within 20 minutes.
In previous years we have usually arrived mid-afternoon, so we have stayed in the Travellodge and done the Summer Special car parking, but as we werent arriving until the evening I felt that I wanted luxury and ease this time, so after checking in we parked our car at the Parking Express car park opposite the Hilton Hotel (cost approx £130 for 18 nights), we caught the bus back to the terminal and then checked into the Hilton for the night (cost £117 booked through Holiday Extras). Once we checked in and got rid of our overnight things we went back to the terminal for something to eat. There were no arguments here as we all love going to Frankie & Bennys. So after a vegetable cannelloni for me, pizzas for the girls and lasagne for DH, it was time for any eary night. The room was on the same level as the lobby and the room was huge with a double bed and 2 singles.
We didnt sleep well at all, I think we were all far too excited, but we were rudely awakened by one of DDs friends texting her about 6.30am, asking if we were up yet (yes, we are now !!!!!).
So we got changed, DH took overnight stuff back to the car and we hit the terminal about 8.30am. We went straight through departures into a VERY BUSY departure lounge. Once we looked at the TV monitors showing the departure times we realised that there were a few delayed flights and after an hour or so most of the delayed passengers were gone. We had a look around the shops and a quick breakfast at McDonalds. Our flight was called about 10.15am, and they started boarding at 10.35am. As we had 2 rows of 2 seats (62 A & C and 63 A & C), at the back of the plane we were one of the first on. These seats are great and you never feel cramped, you also are near to the toilets and you get your food first. We were away on time (11.15am), we had no turbulence (but we made up for that on the way home but hey thats for another day !!), and the food was pretty good, Becky had a kids meal, Kerry and Paul had Chicken Korma and I had Mushroom Risotto. The films werent brilliant, I only watched Meet the Fockers (quite funny), but then I spent the rest of the flight watching comedy programmes like Little Britain, Only Fools and Horses, My Wife & Kids and 8 Simple Rules.
Arrival
The flight went quite quick, I wasnt keen on the landing as it was chucking it down with rain, but soon we were on the ground, unfortunately being in those comfy seats at the back meant you were last off the plane, so when we hit immigration there were huge lines and waits waiting for us. It took just over an hour to get through immigration, but we had noticed that there were quite a few solo travellers, whereas the lines moved faster with families.
Anyway by the time we are reunited with our suitcases the conveyor belt had stopped and there were only a few cases left. Once we got rid of the cases again we went straight to the Disney Store to buy our Premium Annual Passes, we then collected our cases and car from Dollar, we had an upgrade due to the Virgin Frequent Flyer Club, but we upgraded again to this huge Dodge Durango jeep.
By now it was still raining as we drove to the All Star Sports, we had booked this over a year ago and had got such a good rate for 18 nights (even though we would be on the cruise for 3 days), that we were able to leave some of our stuff in the room while we were on the Disney Wonder.
We were supposed to get 2 free mugs, 2 AMC tickets and a free park photo for staying in a Virgin Flagship Hotel, but for some reason we ended up with 4 mugs, 4 AMC tickets (yippee thats Star Wars sorted) and the photo .
After checking in and even though by now it was belting down with rain (if anyone was in WDW on Christmas Day you will know what I mean) and there was thunder and lightning but there was nothing stopping the mandymouse family from getting to a Park, so we set off for MGM Studios. Once parked it was on with the ponchos, but unfortunately all the fastpasses for RnRc and ToT were gone so we settled for dinner instead pizzas from Pizza Planet for the girls and Chicken Strips for us.
The girls had only been in WDW an hour and out came the purses, they bought T-shirts, a bag and the WDW wristbands in different colours. After a quick shop it was back to the All Stars to sort out the cases for the cruise and we were all asleep by 9.30pm.
Tip We decided that there was no way that we were paying $10 a night for a fridge at the All Stars, so we bought a huge cooler at Wal-Mart for about $20 and filled it every other day with ice from the ice machines (usually just half filling a carrier bag for ease) and as we were on the bottom floor we could just drag it out to empty.
Tip A useful tip that I found on these boards was to make up daily tip envelopes for Mousekeeping, wow the people were so pleased with it and we had loads of soaps and towels daily.
Tip The WDW wristbands make excellent gifts for your kids friends, especially as wristbands seem to be the in thing at the moment and they only cost $3 (we had a few glow in the dark ones, which were fun on Tower of Terror)
BTW The All Star Sports now provide an iron, ironing board and hair dryer in the room
Part 2 soon (when I figure out how to post photos again)
We booked from virgins 2005 brochure. Were staying ASMO for the first week and it says we will get the 2 free mugs, 2 free tickets and a photo. Were your mugs in the room or do get them at checkin?
Am looking forward to more!
