daveyoghurt
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2004
The benefit of staying at the Radisson and avoiding having to get up at silly o'clock in the morning was lost on us as we all awoke at 5am! 
We killed time and checked in at around 6.30am and got the seats that I had pre-booked online - then it was the annual search through the duty-free shops for something to help the flight pass a little quicker. Decided against a PSP as I suspected they might be a little cheaper over the ocean.
Got to our gate to see we were flying on 'Jersey Girl', as a fan of all of Kevin Smith's films, (Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, etc, etc), I resisted the urge to spray paint 'Starring Ben Affleck' on the side of the plane, though I do regret the missed opportunity.
Our flight with Virgin was perfect, on time and the service was first class which included some great deals on booze so we bought two bottles of Virgin Vodka to help us through the holiday - I also filled in all the waiver forms, etc. The only issue was the people in the row in front of us, they finished their meal and reclined their seats spilling Karens wine over both of us - I think that some people assume it's only them on the plane - their apology was grudgingly accepted by me, but Karen was traumatised by witnessing alcohol being spilt at close quarters and remained stunned for the rest of the journey.
Arrival at MCO and the task of safely negotiating Homeland Security - made all the more unbearable by being able to see our suitcases going round in round tantalisingly close in the next room, they must have been some of the first off the plane - a daveyoghurt first as most groundstaff seem to enjoy leaving my suitcase till last on all previous trips. We joined one of the four queues and waited. And waited. And waited. For an hour. We had made the schoolboy error of joining the queue to Office Jon Woolf
- he seemed to want to get to know everyone personally in the queue, despite sending countless people back for incorrect forms it took an eternity for us to get through and once we'd put up with his wisecracks and gained entry, there were only two other couples from Virgin left to collect their luggage, and they were behind us in the queue! We dashed round to our coach pickup where the coach driver amde some sarky comment that upset Karen (who at this point was almost ready to kill for a cigarette!) about us keeping everyone waiting - like we wanted to queue for an hour?!!! Our guilt for the rest of the coach wasn't helped by our hotel being the first drop-off!
Check-in wasn't much better at the Sheraton, they couldn't find our booking despute me giving them our voucher from Virgin, and 30 mins later we were still waiting at the desk - he eventually informed me that for messing us around we had been upgraded to a Tower room - I took the keys and pointed out on the voucher that we had already paid for a Tower room anyway!
Our room at the Sheratow was superb, looking out up i-drive and both clean and spacious, the Sheraton Sleeper beds were awesome and we had all on not to just collapse and go straight to sleep! We did some unpacking and had a wander round the resort which was really impressive and decided to nip over to Bennigans for something to eat. We tucked into steak quesadillas and Karen had a steak and shrimp combo, Matt took on a spaghetti bolognaise and lost - the first of many times this would happen! Washed down with Coors light and frozen citrus twist margharitas, we reflected on our hectic day and considered that we got off lightly and that the holiday could only get better than this!
On the way back to our hotel we picked up some Coors and some orange and grapefruit juice for the vodka and retired to out room, watching the first of many Law and Order episodes before falling asleep.
Next - The Magic Kingdom?
We killed time and checked in at around 6.30am and got the seats that I had pre-booked online - then it was the annual search through the duty-free shops for something to help the flight pass a little quicker. Decided against a PSP as I suspected they might be a little cheaper over the ocean.Got to our gate to see we were flying on 'Jersey Girl', as a fan of all of Kevin Smith's films, (Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, etc, etc), I resisted the urge to spray paint 'Starring Ben Affleck' on the side of the plane, though I do regret the missed opportunity.
Our flight with Virgin was perfect, on time and the service was first class which included some great deals on booze so we bought two bottles of Virgin Vodka to help us through the holiday - I also filled in all the waiver forms, etc. The only issue was the people in the row in front of us, they finished their meal and reclined their seats spilling Karens wine over both of us - I think that some people assume it's only them on the plane - their apology was grudgingly accepted by me, but Karen was traumatised by witnessing alcohol being spilt at close quarters and remained stunned for the rest of the journey.
Arrival at MCO and the task of safely negotiating Homeland Security - made all the more unbearable by being able to see our suitcases going round in round tantalisingly close in the next room, they must have been some of the first off the plane - a daveyoghurt first as most groundstaff seem to enjoy leaving my suitcase till last on all previous trips. We joined one of the four queues and waited. And waited. And waited. For an hour. We had made the schoolboy error of joining the queue to Office Jon Woolf
- he seemed to want to get to know everyone personally in the queue, despite sending countless people back for incorrect forms it took an eternity for us to get through and once we'd put up with his wisecracks and gained entry, there were only two other couples from Virgin left to collect their luggage, and they were behind us in the queue! We dashed round to our coach pickup where the coach driver amde some sarky comment that upset Karen (who at this point was almost ready to kill for a cigarette!) about us keeping everyone waiting - like we wanted to queue for an hour?!!! Our guilt for the rest of the coach wasn't helped by our hotel being the first drop-off!Check-in wasn't much better at the Sheraton, they couldn't find our booking despute me giving them our voucher from Virgin, and 30 mins later we were still waiting at the desk - he eventually informed me that for messing us around we had been upgraded to a Tower room - I took the keys and pointed out on the voucher that we had already paid for a Tower room anyway!
Our room at the Sheratow was superb, looking out up i-drive and both clean and spacious, the Sheraton Sleeper beds were awesome and we had all on not to just collapse and go straight to sleep! We did some unpacking and had a wander round the resort which was really impressive and decided to nip over to Bennigans for something to eat. We tucked into steak quesadillas and Karen had a steak and shrimp combo, Matt took on a spaghetti bolognaise and lost - the first of many times this would happen! Washed down with Coors light and frozen citrus twist margharitas, we reflected on our hectic day and considered that we got off lightly and that the holiday could only get better than this!
On the way back to our hotel we picked up some Coors and some orange and grapefruit juice for the vodka and retired to out room, watching the first of many Law and Order episodes before falling asleep.
Next - The Magic Kingdom?
wouldn't be too happy about waiting around though for your room!! glad you got it sorted though and by all accounts it sounds like it was worth it 
