Two First Timers take on the World

[ziggyem]

Hi all

As you can see this is my first post on the DISboards, although I have been stalking them for some time now. Given the enjoyment that I have had and hope to continue to have from other people's trip reports I have decided to give it a go myself.

Let me start by saying that I always forget to take pictures so they will be lacking in this report, I will also try not to bore too many of you to death (that is if anyone wants to take this journey with me.....)

So to the nitty gritty:

WHO: Me (Em) 30 years old and my partner (Jane) 35 years old
WHEN: October 31 2011 to November 6 2011
WHERE: The Beach Club

Both of us have been to Disneyland Paris a few times but we had never experienced the World and thought that it was high time we did, as such back in July 2011, one evening, on a bit of a whim, we decided to book 6 nights in Disney, and before we knew it our reservation was made.

Originally we were booked to stay at the Swan but I later decided that we should have the full Disney experience and therefore tried to switch hotels. I say tried because this proved a rather difficult task for our travel agent (not sure why). In short, however, after several days of phone calls, some very angry words from me and then two free V Room passes later I had changed our reservation to the Beach Club (and felt very much happier with that choice).

Then I found these forums and I started to plan plan plan, ADRs were made, cancelled, remade, re-cancelled, changed, inverted etc, touring plans were cosidered and rejected and finally I had a beautiful print out of what we would be doing for our entire time in Disney - yes I am a crazy and obssessive planner but I think that this really helped us out for our first trip and I am happy to say that we hardly deviated from the plan - I like to think that its a testament to how good the plan was, Jane simply says its because she was too scared to suggest anything else (I did not think I was that bossy!)

Next up...... departure day

 

[ziggyem]

The day had finally arrived - we were heading to Disney!!!

The alarm went off at 6.30 am if I recall, we quickly showered and had a slice of toast and before we knew it our taxi was at the door ready and waiting to take us to the airport. Our flight was only at 11.15 but as it was a Monday morning I thought traffic might be bad and additionally I wanted to make full use of the free V Room passes that Virgin had given us. So at 7.15 we were packed into the taxi and on our way to Gatwick airport.

Despite some nasty traffic we arrived at Gatwick around 8 and proceeded to check in. This went smoothly and there was no queue (ah I love premium economy). So having handed over our cases we headed towards the sign that said security to get through to the departure area and to the V Room! Once through security which was blissfully quick we grabbed some sandwiches and water for the plane - I never eat plane food - whatever it is that they are serving it always smells the same - that is just wrong in my book! Jane also grabbed a few magazines for the flight and then we scampered off to find the Virgin lounge.

The V Room was pretty good, there was a nice array of light bites and drinks as well as magazines and internet access and we whiled away the time quite well - at least that is what we thought. At 10.30 they made the boarding call but literally before we had chance to leave the V Room we were told that the flight had been delayed. Those are not the words you want to hear when you are about to go on holiday Still I suppose at least we were in nice surroundings with free food and drink on tap - and I can assure you the mini muffins were very yummy!

I will not bore you with any more details of our wait in the V Room or boarding etc, suffice it to say that we eventually took off around 1 pm (so almost two hours late - and we did not make up any time in the air ). Normally I would have got all enraged etc but I just tried to relax and remind myself that we were headed to Disney.

The flight itself was uneventful, I watched several films - non of them memorable - I think I watched Bridesmaids, The Hangover Part II and Bad Teacher, I played on my iPad and ate my snacks and then we had arrived.

Once off the plane, we went through immigration - man there was a huge line - which luckily we were at the front of (again I love premium economy) - grabbed our bags, mastered the strange shuttle system that exists at MCO and located the virgin rep who directed us to our coach for transfer. After what seemed like ages sat on the bus (and it was - we maanged to watch half of Ice Age 3 whilst waiting for it to depart despite no one else getting on it) we set off towards Disney. It did not take long to actually get to the World but then we seemed to go around and around in circles, the driver only had four stops: POR, AKL, POP and BC (of course we were last) but it took us over an hour from arrival in Disney until we were off the bus.

By this time I was starving - I had not eaten since about 3 but it was late - 10pm - ok maybe not that late but given the 5 hour time difference it felt late to me, I wanted food but I also wanted to unpack and sleep.

Up next......arriving at the hotel

 

[ziggyem]

So......after a long and gruelling bus journey we eventually pulled in to the Beach Club - we were finally here! I really had no idea what to expect at all but knew I had made the right choice when I walked through the doors, the bright happy lobby (which smelled delicious by the way) just welcomed you in.

I ambled straight up to reception and they checked me in quickly and efficienlt. We were handed our KTTW cards and told that we had a lovely room on the 3rd floor with a good size balcony. Brilliant we said (although at this point I think we both just wanted to sleep). Before we headed to the room I popped to the Beachclub Marketplace looking for something to eat but nothing really tempted me (especially as I knew I would be going to bed soon) so I decided to brave it out and go hungry.

When we found our room (which was lovely but several miles away from the lifts!) we unpacked very quickly and threw oursleves into the very comfy beds. I did however remember to set the alarm for 7.30 so we could have a nice early start for our first day in the parks.

In all a long day but a great feeling to have arrived and to know that we had 6 days of fun ahead of us!

Up next..... first Disney day

 

[ziggyem]

When I left I had just set my alarm for a nice early start and settled in to bed after a long day of travelling. I in fact slept really well, the beds at the BC are very comfy and the blackout curtains really helped (I am used to be woken up as soon as the rays of light come through my curtains at home).

When the alarm clock went off I originally was tempted to press snooze and roll over but wait, I remembered - I was at Disney - getting up at 7.30 is a joy not a chore! So get up we did, Jane had her shower and got ready and then I followed.

I was absolutely starving - I had not technically eaten since just after lunch time the day before and as such was raring to go and get breakfast. Now came a difficult decision, waste possible park time by having a sit down breakfast or grab a quick bite on the way to our first park. The sensible side of me won (although you will see that later I came to regret this) and Jane and I agreed on a sit down breakfast at the captains Grille, so we wandered on over to a ratty empty restaurant given that it was around 8.15 in the morning. They sent us to our table straightaway and after a brief review of the menu and given my general need for food quickly we both went for the buffet option.

Now I have read that some people find the buffet to be a little lacklustre, while it may not have an absolutely massive selection in my view it was more than adequate and had everything a girl needs - bread, eggs, meat, cereal and pastries – I thought it was all quite tasty. Anyway, I filled up a plate with eggs, sausages and bacon (okay I may have taken a few mini chocolate chip muffins) and headed back to the table. If I recall Jane’s plate looked very similar. Now I keep telling you how hungry I was there is a reason for this which you will find out but save to say that I had a couple more plates of food and ate rather too many mini chocolate chips muffins (theory were so tasty - and I never never have sweet things for breakfast at home). By the end of the meal I felt a little full - ok ok I felt over full - still - I assumed that the feeling would go away as we walked around during the morning.

We paid our bill and headed off in the direction of Epcot - not too far to go from the YC.

Up next....Epcot

 

[ziggyem]

Following on from the very filling breakfast at captains Grille Jane and I walked happily along the walkway from the YC to the International Gateway entrance to Epcot, what a lovely little walk! Once through the ticket barriers – Jane was rather confused about the whole fingerprinting thing (I however knew all about this having read up about everything Disney before coming). We headed past the UK and Canada and moved towards Future World. Our first stop – on the advice of fellow Dis-ers it at to be the Land Pavillion to get fast passes for Soarin, however when we got there the standby line was 5 minutes, no need for a fast pass then – we walked straight on to the ride.

Now I had specifically avoided reading too much about any of the rides (apart from the ones that I knew about from DLP) and I am glad that I had taken this approach. Soarin was a really pleasant surprise, I really enjoyed the ride and may even go so far as to say that it was my favourite ride of the four parks (although you may find that I change my mind on that as I go through this report!) After Soarin I pooped to Sunshine Seasons – I thought you were over full I hear you say – and indeed I was I was only stopping to get a water bottle!

Water bottle in hand we decided to stop at Living With the Land given that an empty boat was approaching as we walked past – this was great two for two on walk ons so far this morning! We enjoyed this ride, it was very informative and Jane likes anything that involves food!

After Living with the Land we moved on to the next pavilion which I think was the Seas – here we just did Nemo – I was actually a little disappointed with this ride, I had thought (and hoped) that it was the same has the Nemo ride in DLP which I love (and there is always a huge queue for) but no such luck, it was a sweet ride and again it was a walk on but I probably would not rush back, Jane’s reaction: “Meh!”

Jane then decided that she wanted tea – now she is a very fussy tea drinker and this was the first of many aborted attempts to find her a cup of tea that she actually liked – well we did not get very far, everywhere we tried had iced tea but not hot tea (remember we are English – iced tea is a foreign concept). After wandering around trying to locate hot tea for a while we gave up (that would become a recurring theme) Instead we headed over to Mission Space – would be go for the green or the orange team. Of course we went for orange – fools! Again we pretty much walked on to this. I have to say I did not like this or rather my stomach did not like this ride, now this may very well be because I had overeaten at breakfast but I did not feel to great after the ride. It did not stop me from grabbing Jane and dragging her along to test track next though, again we literally walked on to this (we were having a great streak). Test track was another good ride – in fact on the whole we were having a pretty damn good morning.

However once test track was over I decided that I should probably head back to the room (we had plans to go to MK in the afternoon) and it was 11 am now and I really was not feeling too good – I blame Mission Space, Jane blames the fact that I have an addiction to chocolate chip muffins. So we slowly wandered back to the hotel, I made it to the room and laid down for a little bit.

Next up….. Magic Kingdom