PudseyChancer
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Oct 6, 2007
So, at long last our Florida trip was a reality, with recent XL events we have a lot to be grateful for. A discussion about a long weekend at Disneyland Paris didn't work out as cheap and cheerful as we had hoped, and our thoughts quickly turned to a Florida vacation. Myself, Dave, (hi to my DIS friends on facebook!), a veteran of 3 Florida holidays, my partner Mel, a show-off veteran of 11 Disney holidays, and daughter Charlotte, shaming me with 7 Disney visits, make up the motley crew.
We got an excellent price from Thomas Cook, £1701 for two weeks at AllStar Sports, travelling on the 27th August for two weeks, the park tickets were mostly paid for by incentive vouchers at my work, awarded due to supporting overtime over a busy period, invaluable given that the holiday was devised, booked and paid for in a six period where we normally prefer to book at least 12 months in advance. Both Mel and Charlotte have stayed at most of the Disney resorts previously, but this was the first time I'd stayed onsite, being a big Universal & Seaworld fan I had mixed feelings about it to be honest, all my previous trips had involved staying on i-drive and traveling in to Disney.
We got a good deal for Manchester Airport Travelodge for the night before we flew, paying extra for the breakfast, having finished work the previous Friday we were all ready and packed, I'd managed to pursuade my Dad to give us a lift over the Pennies, and we arrived in Manchester about 8pm and waved goodbye. Was pleasantly surprised with the room, basic, but ticked all the relevent boxes, however when we popped downstairs to the bar I felt it was a little tatty - thought the number of blathered Brits hardly improved the atmosphere, staggering around, trying to remain upright.
We ordered the first of two weeks of American fayre, a burger each for Mel and I, Char had chicken (a prize to whoever spots Char having anything else throughout the holiday!), as is customary for any airport related food, it was awful, both burgers were undercooked, Mel's was positively freezing. On that bombshell, we retired to the room so Char could watch Big Brother, not giving the travel monopoly more than a passing glance, on the way we were informed from the front desk that the breakfast we'd paid for wasn't available for us, as only the contintental breakfast would be ready before 7am, this being the time we were to check in.
Normally this sort of information would be met by a great wailing and gnashing of teeth from myself, being the calm, laid back Yorkshireman that I am, but who cares when you know you'll be in the Floridian sun the following day. I waved goodbye to that extra £15 lost to Travelodge, counting my blessings at limiting their opportunity to kill us all with food poisoning prior to our travel. On the plus side, the vending machine had Oreo cookies in it, thus restoring any lost credability.
It was surprisingly easy to fall asleep, especially as Char had announced that she wouldn't be sleeping on the roll out sofa bed, and at the risk of incurring Mel's wrath before the holiday had even properly started, I did the honourable thing and volunteered for an evening of backache and the sort of comfort normally associated with being couped up in economy for 10 hours.
The girls assured me that the bed was very comfortable, in fact on numerous occasions - but as I said, sometimes you can have too much comfort.
Tomorrow - travel day!
We got an excellent price from Thomas Cook, £1701 for two weeks at AllStar Sports, travelling on the 27th August for two weeks, the park tickets were mostly paid for by incentive vouchers at my work, awarded due to supporting overtime over a busy period, invaluable given that the holiday was devised, booked and paid for in a six period where we normally prefer to book at least 12 months in advance. Both Mel and Charlotte have stayed at most of the Disney resorts previously, but this was the first time I'd stayed onsite, being a big Universal & Seaworld fan I had mixed feelings about it to be honest, all my previous trips had involved staying on i-drive and traveling in to Disney.
We got a good deal for Manchester Airport Travelodge for the night before we flew, paying extra for the breakfast, having finished work the previous Friday we were all ready and packed, I'd managed to pursuade my Dad to give us a lift over the Pennies, and we arrived in Manchester about 8pm and waved goodbye. Was pleasantly surprised with the room, basic, but ticked all the relevent boxes, however when we popped downstairs to the bar I felt it was a little tatty - thought the number of blathered Brits hardly improved the atmosphere, staggering around, trying to remain upright.
We ordered the first of two weeks of American fayre, a burger each for Mel and I, Char had chicken (a prize to whoever spots Char having anything else throughout the holiday!), as is customary for any airport related food, it was awful, both burgers were undercooked, Mel's was positively freezing. On that bombshell, we retired to the room so Char could watch Big Brother, not giving the travel monopoly more than a passing glance, on the way we were informed from the front desk that the breakfast we'd paid for wasn't available for us, as only the contintental breakfast would be ready before 7am, this being the time we were to check in.
Normally this sort of information would be met by a great wailing and gnashing of teeth from myself, being the calm, laid back Yorkshireman that I am, but who cares when you know you'll be in the Floridian sun the following day. I waved goodbye to that extra £15 lost to Travelodge, counting my blessings at limiting their opportunity to kill us all with food poisoning prior to our travel. On the plus side, the vending machine had Oreo cookies in it, thus restoring any lost credability.
It was surprisingly easy to fall asleep, especially as Char had announced that she wouldn't be sleeping on the roll out sofa bed, and at the risk of incurring Mel's wrath before the holiday had even properly started, I did the honourable thing and volunteered for an evening of backache and the sort of comfort normally associated with being couped up in economy for 10 hours.
The girls assured me that the bed was very comfortable, in fact on numerous occasions - but as I said, sometimes you can have too much comfort.
Tomorrow - travel day!
hope there are some pics !
