The Sunshine Bus Tour 2010

[disney-a-holic]

Hello all!!

I am really hoping its ok to post me report here - i am aware it happened a while back but with no plans to return just yet it is always good to re read and remember the magic!!



The Sunshine Bus Tour 2010

I thought it best to introduce ourselves first......

Cast Members



Myself Claire and my DH John

DD1 ~ Hannah

DS ~ Ashley

My lovely boy is amongst these ladies somewhere??????

DD1 ~ Danielle

And our friends...

Nicki

Darren

Ryan

Sam

(Do you realise how hard it is to quickly try and go through the photos and pick out one picture of each of the group …. seriously!!)

The Finer Details

Destination was obviously Orlando, and we were extremely lucky to be staying at Watersong, a gated community near Davenport.
The owners are Carol and Eddie Gilmour,if anyone wants to have a looksie at their amazing home or even better book it up!!!
Its called Mickeys Watersong Villa.

(I will be posting some great pics of all around the villa later on!!
And there are just a few ....)

We were lucky to be able to stay in Florida for 3 whole weeks!!
From the 7th to the 28th October 2010 Flying via Newark with Continental

I was hoping to have a full on commando itinerary arranged, but with having so much going on personally it just never really happened, so I won’t be showing you our plans, as when I did attempt to put some order in to the trip, it all quickly changed.. It was a “go with the flow” vacation, and absolutely worked a treat!!

I will add what we had in mind to do;

MNSSHP
Horror Night at Universal
A one night stay at RPR
Airboat tour with Boggy creek
And ALLLLLLLLLLLL the theme parks and water parks!!!

Introductions, fine details and plans over with let’s move along …………..


ok, so the trippie starts at 3 more sleeps purely as this is when my notes started!!

With 3 sleeps before we travel I had most of the packing sorted, mainly as it was the weekend and I had 3 more days at work left and I had decided that it would need to be organised so I could try and chill in the evenings. The usual last minute things needed chucking in but I was happy enough to have most of this done!!

So I am happy chatting in work to one of my colleagues about what my plans were, and how excited I was, and then BAMMMM my filling falls out my tooth!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was not a happy chick, I hate the dentist on a good day, knowing I needed an injection and treatment was making me freak out totally, but knowing it had to be sorted I called and booked in for the dentist that afternoon, and spent a few hours panicking and sulking at the thought of the whole needle thing!!

So I walk into the the treatment room, and the dentist looks about 12yrs old!!

I knew that there was nothing I could do, this needed sorting so I just sat down, on my hands, opened wide and sang the “Wishes” “Starlight Star bright……… “ Over and over again!!

To be honest this was the best treatment I have ever had done, never felt the little prick, or anything else for that matter, for about 5 hours as I was left looking like I had had a stroke for the rest of the day and evening!!!!
£50 lighter I left relieved it was all sorted!!

Last minute preparation for my holidays was all the hairy things……. you know girls, roots trim and a good old session with the wax pot!
Imagine my horror when my waxing lady cancelled on me!!
I was in total fear of clogging up the pool filter, Carol would not forgive me!!!!
Many texts and face book pleas and I was all re booked, with a bit of minx chucked in as well!!

So an eventful day, and had a restless sleep which brought us to 2 sleeps!!

I was getting my hair done this evening and had ummed and arghed on whether to get it all chopped off, well decision was made to go for it………….and It turned out to be a good decision!!!!
Loved how quick and easy it was to do while we were away!!!
After my hair restyle it was the big de fuzz!!
I swiftly went from having a fullulla to a lulla …………… and the lovely minx!!!!! I now felt I was all preamed and pruned and ready to meet the Seven little men I was desperate to bump into!!!

So the DAY BEFORE crept up on us really quick, The plan, when we had composed ourselves was to have a Chinese with our fellow Disney goers, to start the holiday banter off, and of course squeal and giggle at the adventures we were about to have.We had said Chinese and it was scrummy

After the Chinese, I had the difficult task of saying goodbye to my Mum, she has not been well recently and had some tests to go through while I was away, and i was feeling a little emotional at the thought of not being around for her.
Luckily Carol has it arranged so that I can call home any time I need to and I have free international calls, which was a great peace of mind for me.

And my Mum being like all Mums, she told me to go have a great time and not to worry!!!
This done it was time to sleep in my bed for the last time, as in the morning the fun and adventure starts…………………………………..

Next was the TRAVEL DAY ……………………………

 

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Travel Day

7th October 2010

So I left off with going to bed for the last time in my lovely cosy (or what I did class as cosy!! ) bed.

I did share a lovely bottle of wine with DH, and had some lovely texts and well wishes from my friends for a great holiday which was really appreciated.

Also Carol gave me a call to wish us a safe journey, and I absolutely got teary eyed on the phone!
How ridiculous am i??

It had been a long hard year, with as many problems being thrown at me that I was so greatfull to get to the 7th October!!
Boy did I want to get on that plane!
And I had a little moment as Carol had been so fantastic with the whole holiday sometimes every now and then you come across someone special, and Carol is one of these lovely people!
Up until I booked the holiday, a complete stranger, and I was crying down the phone, how silly!!

Any way I was off to my special place, to have some fun with my lovely family, and some great friends, I needed to snap out of it and go make some memories!!

So wide awake at 4:10am I am trying my hardest to disturb the whole house and wake them to share a giggle and a squeeze, as that’s about as much as I could do!!

To my sheer surprise Hannah was up and showering……….. at this time!!!!!
The girl loves her sleep, her bed,what was goin on???

Ohhhh I soon discovered, she has gained a love interest, and he was just by chance passing our house at 6 am to say goodbye!!
Great I had to cope with a love struck hormonal 16 year old for 3 weeks, who assured me she would be fine, and wouldn’t miss him at all!!!

So cases all packed, and awaiting our lifts to Bristol airport, we were ready for the trip!!

And then the excitement came……..

Danielle was so keen to get back to the magic, and to see the villa we had been swooning over the internet for the past year.

So keen was she that I had the back seat as she leaped into the front of the car!!!

The drive lasted 25 mins, and the roads were very quiet…. which I was grateful for!!
At 7am in the morning I was presuming it would be.

I don’t have a fear of travelling or flying but once I am on my way I just want to get there, plus I love the airport part, it is where it all becomes so real!!
As we unloaded the cases and said more goodbyes, we just needed to hope our friends got here ok as this was the meeting point.
And its great now the kids are old enough as they can all take care of their own cases….

We decided to head on into the airport, and wait just inside to find our fellow travellers already in the queue for check in ……… grinning from ear to ear!!
It was great to see them excited; it’s always a worry when you go away with friends, but they were buzzing!!

And Nikki was clutching a packet of Frubes (tubes of yoghurts) and was about 5 families in front of us.
Its clearly not going to be as funny for you guys to read, but Nikki as quiet as she could NOT was offering us her Frubes EVERY 2 mins as she couldn’t bear to throw them out.
We are obviously giggling and trying to act all respectable, found it hilarious as her innocent 6 year old was informing us that they were ok to eat, and they tasted nice!!
Everyone in the queue was looking at us and smiling!!!
The fun was starting, and I was actually de stressing as I awaited to check in ………bring on the good times!!

So our turn came to check in, my name was spelt as Clara instead of Claire and I was a little worried they would not let me go, being strict and all, but no issues!!

As for the weight of the cases, I was keen to see how much room I had for bringing things back.
Well this was a surprise, Hannah has a history of over packing, followed closely be me and Danni.
The boys ALWAYS have loads of allowance left. So we had little bets on between the rest of us ..........
we all seriously messed up!!

Dumb ~ 20.9
Farney ~ 19.9
Me ~ 17.8
Hanwell ~ 15.4
Daniel ~ 14.5

How did this happen???
Anyway all cases gone, and checked in by 8:15am it was time for some breakfast!!

We looked over some of the menus before the fussy ones amongst the group asked if they could just have a Burger King!!
Hey we are on holiday, have what you like!!
The bill came to £12.17, and it was just for the 3 kids, DH went off and came back with a breakfast sandwich from somewhere!

All fed and watered we did a little shopping, as girls do, and grabbed some perfume and juicy tubes!

Poor DH had the joy of trying out Sunglasses with Danni

Once we were done we took a seat in departure lounge and just chilled awaiting our flight. It had a delay of 15mins, which really wasn’t noticed at all.

Danni had tried on this really bright pink lippie, and it really doesn’t show to well in the photos but she was loving it..

As we waited Nikki delved in her handbag and brought out some Fig rolls,, something else she couldn’t bear to just throw away, well I was proper belly laughing, I think we all were.
And she starts offering them around !!
Just chuck them !!!

We soon boarded and got settled for our flight to Newark, which was taking off at 10:30.

Please note Hannah in her lovely glasses here at Bristol airport, as it’s the last time we saw them!!!

 

[disney-a-holic]

The flight was great, as far as flights go; we are not really nervous flyers, so no issues at all for us.

Not long after takeoff we were offered Pretzels with a drink, and I settled down for some movie watching, and I quite liked the choices we had.
I think I managed to watch
Twilight (the latest one)
Toy Story 3
Cyrus
and The Grown Ups.

We enjoyed the flight …….. and obviously didn’t get cabin fever and be stupid at all!!


The food we had was Chicken and Pasta

And I always enjoy the plane food
Freaky I know!!

We all did a bit of seat hopping, and me and Nikki managed to have a catch up, and we discovered we had the same toes!!

Great taste!!
And she told me that the captain had asked if Sam had wanted to go into the cockpit!!
But he said No!!!
I was gutted, I’d love to have my kids go and have a look, though since our return, I’m not sure if Pilots are still allowed to offer this to passengers??

I remember sitting on the plane and it suddenly hitting me, I was on my way to Florida!!
I had a giggle and a smile, and I was hoping to be seeing my lovely friend Carreen in front of the castle tomorrow, we had talked about it for so many months, and the time was finally here!!

We also had a snack meal of a roll and crisps, was quite nice, and we all enjoyed it!!

Well me and Danni did!!

I absolutely chilled right out on the first leg of the journey, admired my family, as Hanna got chatting to a lovely lady on her way to New York for a weekend of shopping, Danni politely asked if the person behind her minded if she reclined her seat, and Ashley happily sat playing games, giving me the occasional appreciative smile, that knowing one that he was extremely thankfull to be having another holiday in Florida!!

As we started the decline into Newark, we were all in awe of the Manhatten skyline …………. it was fantastic……
We tried so hard to get a good picture

As we landed and got a better look, Ashley told me that it had absolutely made his day!!!
Loved it that he loved it so much!!!!
We had talks about actually visiting New York one day, fingers crossed eh!!

And so we went through immigration, fairly straight forward, and the officers were much friendlier than they are at Sanford airport!!

We had to collect our cases, then drop them back off pretty quickly for the next flight, no weighing just pick up and drop off!!

No pictures as I was informed to put my camera away!!

I only wanted to take a picture of the first American flag I had seen!!

The wait time in Newark went really quick , we grabbed a few drinks and shared them, they were $2.69 each,and we soon were boarding and making our way to Orlando …. a first for me as I had never flown into there before!!

This flight also went well, no seat back entertainment, so my lovely boy drew me the flight path ..

We were all feeling a little tired, and someone said I had a sleep on this flight, I am pretty sure I didn’t,

We had another snack of a roll, with some baby carrots, again I liked them!!

Some loved the carrots more than others ………..

Landed, and cases collected, we awaited the car hire company to come fetch us………..
I was very confident that everything I had arranged and booked was extremely trustworthy, it had all been strongly recommended so I had every faith!!!
So when Peter and his wife were not there holding my name (which I am secretly gutted about as I would have felt extremely important to find someone holding my name up in the baggage collection area)
I wasnt at all concerned.

The rest of the adults however kept asking,

” Do you have his number?”
“Did you call him?”

I just stalled them, as I knew I would not have been left there, and from nowhere, Peter and his wife (forgotten her name just now) came running out the lift!!
With a lovely welcoming smile, they greeted us and apologised for the delay, shook hands with the men, and as I introduced myself, they made me feel like an old friend returning as we had emailed over the last few months to arrange and confirm the booking.
I strongly recommend using CAR ON THE DRIVE as they were fantastic, and the service they offer is superb for anyone certainly those staying in villas.
They collect you from the airport, with ALLL your luggage, and drive you to your destination, paperwork is completed, and you are left with your hire car for the duration of your stay, on your departure day they collect you and ALLLLL your luggage and extra HAND luggage and drop you back off at the airport!!
It worked fantastic for us especially as when we arrive it is usually dark and it removed the pressure from my husband to have to locate the villa and get used to driving in the states when you have spent the whole day travelling!!!
Peter arrived with 2 cars, one to seat all of us, the other to transport our luggage, and so all loaded we headed to Watersong …………………………………….

And so our journey to get to Florida is over, and the joy of arriving at the VILLA next ………….