You said you wanted to do things differently! A September 2012 TR :) Update 10/12

[disneyhockeymad]

Hi Hello and Welcome, Welcome to Our Show!

So think this through. It had been 1517 days since any of my family had last been to WDW. That's 4 years, 1 month and 25 days. That's a long time. A long, torturous time.

But, on September 6 2012 we finally boarded a plane which would fly us the nine hour 25 minute trip from London Gatwick to Orlando International airport.

Excitement didn't even cut it.

This is the trip report. The "You said you wanted to do something different" report.

I have to confess it has taken me a long time to work up to writing this report. What is it about coming home from WDW that just sends you spiraling into some form of bizarre depression. I couldn't even look at anything Disney related, it made me far too sad!

I am happy to report though that I am slowly getting over it and hopefully with this TR will be able to “heal the wounds”

So without further delay, here we go.

When - 14 days, September 6 to 20th 2012.
Hotel - Lake Buena Vista Resort and Spa.
Who - Me, my parents and my brother.

My name's Laura. I'm a 22-year-old Disney nut (if I didn't write that you'd all be worried right?!) I'm from England a newspaper journalist.

That's me. I adore Tigger, you might not be able to tell. I more or less am about to burst with happiness in this photo. I loved this moment!

My favourite park is Epcot. I love it. We have a special connection. It's the music, the smells, Illuminations, the rides. Everything. I love it.

This is my mum.

She is just as obsessed with disney as I am and absolutely loves planning the trips with me. When we were planning this trip we used to spend hours on the phone, texting and emailing (I don't live at home any more) each other with updates, thoughts and views.

She is absolutely in love with the head honcho himself, the mouse that made it all happen, especially when he is in his sorcerer outfit!

This is my dad,

I think mum and I have converted him to the wonders of a Disney-loving life. How do I know this? Because of this little beauty of a conversation we had during the trip - "you've done it Laura, you've converted me." I nearly cried.

He loves Rafikki, I'm not entirely sure why but he seems to love having his picture with him (although the line was far too long this time).

He's goofy and properly gets into holiday mode, when I get round to making my video of this trip you'll get just what I mean. Something comes over him when we're out there, I don't know what but I love it!

Finally this is my brother Mark. He's 20 so not that much younger than me.

He tries to remain all macho about Disney and act out his "manliness" but really he loves it, and after this trip he has suddenly become obsessed with the DisneyBlog and he keeps telling me everything, it's adorable!

He is very much in love with Beaker from the Muppets. I think it may be the hair colour, and also the fact Mark cracks up at his personality. My brother is a huge jokester so anything he can do to get a laugh he will do. Beaker is the same to an extent!

If you might not have guessed by the title of this TR we wanted to do things a bit differently this time. My dad wanted to explore bits of WDW we hadn't been too before - this included most of the hotels and most of the restaurants. I think it's fair to say when we went before we didn't really know much, we just hit the parks and then any restaurant that took our fancy, this time, we were going to do it right, and I think we did.

So here we go. Sit back, hold on tight and secure all loose items because this report is about to begin!​

 

[disneyhockeymad]

Contents

1. Introductions

2. Getting There!
2a. Getting There! (continued)

3. We're Here!
​

 

[chocolateMinnie]

subscribing - hoping our kids still want to come on holiday with us in a few years :

 

[frankieeyre]

YEAHHHHHHHHHH


So so excited for this!!!!

Literally cannot wait any longer!!!

Dd you go to AoA?! Was it nice?!

 

[marDgreen88]

Joining! Oh my gosh... FOUR YEARS? No.

I didn't go to Disney until I was 21 (not my idea), but now that I've been... I could NOT wait that long. The longest I can go is one year, and that's stretching it. So I definitely sympathize!!! I hope this trip was worth the wait.

 

[luckylady]

WOW two weeks, nice. All the adventures you had I can't wait to read about.

 

[MissPrice]

Joining in

 

[ChelseyBun20]

I AM HERE!!!!!

I had internet troubles last night, else I would of been posting sooner! AHHH, I'm so excited to hear about your trip. I just know It's going to be amazing!
That's brill that your Dad is now converted to a Disney nut haha!

Hurry up and wirte some more missy!

 

[disneyhockeymad]

subscribing - hoping our kids still want to come on holiday with us in a few years :

haha I hope so too, I'll miss not going on holiday with my parents, we have so much fun!

YEAHHHHHHHHHH


So so excited for this!!!!

Literally cannot wait any longer!!!

Dd you go to AoA?! Was it nice?!

Hiiiii! Haha I love your excitement, I'm about to do the next update now just to make your day We did, the theming was amazing but I definitely couldn't stay there!! It was just all a bit too whacky for me. That being said, if I had a kid who adored those movies I would!

Joining! Oh my gosh... FOUR YEARS? No.

I didn't go to Disney until I was 21 (not my idea), but now that I've been... I could NOT wait that long. The longest I can go is one year, and that's stretching it. So I definitely sympathize!!! I hope this trip was worth the wait.

WOW two weeks, nice. All the adventures you had I can't wait to read about.

Hey! It was a horrible length of time. We did split it up slightly by going to Disneyland Paris for a few days over Christmas 2010 but it's just not the same! This trip was definitely worth the wait and now we have lots of excuses to go back as well... although I'm not going to reveal what!

Joining in

I hope you enjoy it!

I AM HERE!!!!!

I had internet troubles last night, else I would of been posting sooner! AHHH, I'm so excited to hear about your trip. I just know It's going to be amazing!
That's brill that your Dad is now converted to a Disney nut haha!

Hurry up and wirte some more missy!

I'm going, I'm going!! It's being written as we speak!! Gotta kill my work hours some how!

Thanks I'm excited to post about it, not as excited as I would be to go back and do it all again but there we go, can't have everything in life now can I?!

 

[disneyhockeymad]

Day 1. Getting There!

So this was it. Today was the day!

The holiday for me had actually started the day before, because of work I live about two and a half hours from my parents and my brother so after counting down the hours in the day (it was the longest working day of my life) I finally bounded out of the office about 5.30pm, packed up the last little bits of my car, put my ipod on Disney music and got going!

When I arrived at home I was greeted by a very overly excited mum and a very stressed dad! I helped mum pack up the last little things (potentially the reason dad was stressed!!), had dinner and then headed to bed. Sleep was unbearable. I could not fall asleep no matter what.

When I eventually did fall asleep I woke up almost instantly around 7am, joined the line for the shower and helped dad pack up the car!

Before long we were leaving for the airport!

When we got there we parked our car and jumped on the bus to take us to the terminal. All of a sudden we all got into holiday mode, nobody could contain their excitement!

Then we followed this sign...

We checked in, dropped our bags off and headed through security in search for breakfast. It's a tradition of ours to eat at Frankie and Benny's before we fly, so we didn't let tradition down!

We all ordered fresh orange juice and mum and I each ordered the porridge with honey and banana, and split a bowl of fresh fruit between us.

Dad and Mark couldn't resist but get the New England Breakfast so they each got one of those.

It was about this time the "are you seriously going to take photos of all of our food" and the "she's at it again" comments started flying at me. Yes I'm going to take photos of everything, including food, and no, I don't care, that's how we dis-ers role!!

It was then that our fun started to begin. I use the word fun lightly. (Bear with me, there is a lot of writing coming up, but it's necessary!)

Our gate opened earlier than we thought so after grabbing a few books and magazines from the shops we rushed through to wait to board.

Or so we thought.

Instead we sat there. And sat there. And sat there. Time started to creep slowly towards our flight time and then ebb on past it. I was not amused. Who in their right mind was keeping me from going to Disney?

Finally they sent round an announcement telling us that there was a technical problem with the plane and they were trying to fix it.

Cue groans from the departure lounge. We were already half an hour late on leaving.

This is when all mayhem broke loose. They would only let people go out to the toilet four, yes FOUR, people at a time. Imagine a room full of around 500 people most of who had been waiting waaay longer than they should have all suddenly decide they want to go to the toilet. It was ridiculous. The line to leave the lounge was at least an hour long. My dad joined it and didn't come back for 45 minutes! I got through half a film in that time!

After about an hour of hearing nothing we were finally told that the plane was un-fixable (I swear in that moment I died a little inside thinking I wasn't going to get to Disney until the next day) but, hooray, they had found us another plane!

We then had to be frog marched over to another departure lounge. We were given these special tickets!

Finally once they had transferred everyone over (mum and I managed to run to the bathroom after we were transferred, took us 2 minutes, ha! to everyone in the other line!) we were boarded and I was seeing this!

We were relieved! And although we were two hours late we managed to regain the excitement

Ooh. I'd just to like to pause for one second. I don't know whether you see it on those pictures but look at this.

Swanky, new, shiny leather head rests. Yeah Virgin! You spoil us so! They were so comfortable too!

Anyways, back from my tangent...

Soon we were in the air (only two and a half hours late - groan) and we were given these exciting menu's telling us what we could eat. I like this method better, I can decide just how hungry I'm going to be that flight!

We were also given our feel good kit, you can never go wrong with a feel good kit. Especially on the way to Disney!

​

 

[disneyhockeymad]

This is a close up of the menu. I chose the chicken for my "main meal" and mum and I just HAD to try the cocktail!

I'm not going to lie, it was nothing special, it was plane food after all but it filled a hole. I hadn't eaten in a good five hours, I was starting to feel slightly ravenous!

I ate lunch while watching "The Lucky One" - it's based on a Nicholas Sparks book and has Zac Efron in it. It was good, I liked it a lot. I think I also flicked through a variety of Two Broke Girls before watching Sherlock Holmes 2 as well.

I did have NINE hours to kill!

They then brought us ice cream which was a caramel icecream covered in chocolate, it wasn't half bad. Plus apparently it was "skinny" and given all the food I planned to eat in WDW, I was grateful for the healthy headstart!!

I watched a lot of TV after that, How I Met Your Mother, Cougar Town, and some more Two Broke Girls.

Then I was seeing this beauty

To be continued... ​

 

[flyergrad09]

Hello! I'm joining in as well.

I like that at Frankie & Benny's they say on the menu that they can bring you your check when you order in case you're in a hurry. I always worry that I'll miss my boarding time if I go to a sit down restaurant at an airport!

That's a bummer that your flight was delayed so much, but when that happens to me, I always look at it as a good thing that they discovered whatever was broken BEFORE takeoff.

I've never flown on Virgin Airlines, but wow, talk about swanky! Those headrests look so comfy! And you actually got a meal on the plane! I mean, considering how long of a flight you had, it would be cruel to not have food. I can't even think of the last time I was on a flight that offered more than a bag of pretzels.

I can't wait to read more!

 

[marDgreen88]

Oh man, that wait sounds awful! Planes can be so stressful, but thank goodness you didn't have to fly in a broken plane!

 

[ChelseyBun20]

That's rubbish about the planes.. but at least you got there safe!! That's the main thing! That Virgin plane looks lush, we haven't flown with them in years because every time we did we were always delayed . However, I've looked at prices for them for next year.. Think I nearly had a heart attack . Why is everything so expensive?!

I'm jealous of how healthy you were at Breakfast in the Airport - Why can't I be like this?! I just love food far too much lol!

 

[Skeleton Jack]

I wish my flights were that awesome! Id even be happy with food! On board for this report!

 

[catchmeifyoucan]

Can't wait to hear about your trip! I'm excited already!

 

[disneyhockeymad]

Hello! I'm joining in as well.

I like that at Frankie & Benny's they say on the menu that they can bring you your check when you order in case you're in a hurry. I always worry that I'll miss my boarding time if I go to a sit down restaurant at an airport!

That's a bummer that your flight was delayed so much, but when that happens to me, I always look at it as a good thing that they discovered whatever was broken BEFORE takeoff.

I've never flown on Virgin Airlines, but wow, talk about swanky! Those headrests look so comfy! And you actually got a meal on the plane! I mean, considering how long of a flight you had, it would be cruel to not have food. I can't even think of the last time I was on a flight that offered more than a bag of pretzels.

I can't wait to read more!

Haha yeah it makes things so much easier, we didn’t have to worry about missing our flight at all! We did leave plenty of time though, for international flights we have to be there 3 hours before, so we have to kill the time some how!

I know, I would have much rather that they discovered it before then when we were flying, nightmare!

Haha it was really swanky, they’ve upgraded their planes a lot since the last time I flew with them. The food wasn’t too bad, much better than a bag of pretzels!! I much preferred the food they gave us just before we landed though, that’ll be in my next instalment!

I’m glad you’re enjoying it!

Oh man, that wait sounds awful! Planes can be so stressful, but thank goodness you didn't have to fly in a broken plane!

Agreed! I’m glad they discovered it before we flew! I just wish it was at the Orlando end, I would have happily staying in Orlando for an extra 2 hours before flying back to London! I hated that it cut into our traditional DTD time!

That's rubbish about the planes.. but at least you got there safe!! That's the main thing! That Virgin plane looks lush, we haven't flown with them in years because every time we did we were always delayed . However, I've looked at prices for them for next year.. Think I nearly had a heart attack . Why is everything so expensive?!

I'm jealous of how healthy you were at Breakfast in the Airport - Why can't I be like this?! I just love food far too much lol!

Yeah true, I’m glad we were safe! I know, we’re not flying with Virgin again, it was only because we booked the holiday through Virgin holidays and we had no choice, our flight home was a whole other drama!

Yay for you having flights now soooo exciting!

Haha, well I’m not a cooked breakfast fan so I have no choice but to be healthy! Plus I absolutely adore pineapple and there was pineapple in that fruit salad, I couldn't say no!

I wish my flights were that awesome! Id even be happy with food! On board for this report!

Haha I’m not going to lie, it was pretty good, although I’ve had better on other Virgin flights! Glad you’re on board

Can't wait to hear about your trip! I'm excited already!

Thanks I can’t wait to tell you all about it! I hope you enjoy it!

 

[disneyhockeymad]

2. We're Here!


So when I left off I was seeing this

That meant we weren’t far off, which meant I was closer to WDW than I was to home – and that was absolutely fine by me!

As our menu predicted being this close meant that we were in line for yet more food. Greatly appreciated I will tell you, I was starving! Flights always make me so hungry!

Our hostesses came around handing us these brown boxes

On opening them, they contained these amazing goodies,

A cheese and red onion sandwich which I was absolutely in love with, it was so so tasty, I could have eaten so many of them – although then my breath would have seriously smelt!!

We also got a celebratory British cupcake which also tasted amazing. This meal was by far my favourite, I would have been happy to have this for lunch and dinner.

After that came the tea or coffee. I opted for coffee. By this time it was around 11pm UK time and I seriously needed a pick-me up! I am a little ashamed to admit I was slightly fascinated by the cup, it had ‘slurp’ written on it in every different language.

By this time I was bored. There are only so many hours I can sit still for, and 7 hours was pushing it.

I started to explore the plane and looked out the windows at the back, Dad came with me because he was just as bored and we discovered that we could see some Caribbean islands.

After possibly the longest hours of my life this flicked up on my screen and the captain put a PA out to tell us it was time to land.

I swear the Hallelujah chorus was playing in my head for the second time that day!

Unfortunately from here on in I lack all photos between landing and arriving at the hotel. It wasn’t that interesting if I’m honest, but I’ll try and elaborate!

We walked through arrivals, negotiated the RIDICULOUSLY long line at immigration, grabbed our luggage and made our way to the Alamo car rentals desk outside in the parking garage.

I love it when you walk outside at MCO, it’s almost as if a wave of heat just hits you and knocks you for six. It was 7pm and I was dying of heat, as much as I complained I loved it. The weather in the UK was the worst we’ve had all summer for decades so I appreciated sweating, I didn’t care, I loved it!

We picked up our paper work and walked up the rows of cars to choose ours. I voted immediately for a blue car, but understandably my dad went for the “gun metal” Toyota next to it because he drives a Toyota at home.

Once we crammed our stuff in we negotiated our way out, a little tentively at first given that dad hadn’t driven an automatic car for the last four years!

But we made it, we were out of the airport and on our way! Woohoo!

Then we got lost. And not just a little bit lost. Dramatically lost. We had no idea where we were. The signs we had been following suddenly disappeared, dad missed and exit and we found ourselves on a road, in the dark, going somewhere!

Mum and I frantically scrolled through a map and managed to navigate dad back to the hotel, but not before we lost yet another hour. It was 10pm by the time we finally got to our home for the next 2 weeks.

We were staying at the Lake Buena Vista Village Resort and Spa, a hotel that essentially has apartments. We loved it the last time we stayed, it was absolutely ideal.

When we booked the hotel we requested the same room as we had last time we stayed. From that room we saw all the WDW fireworks, it was incredible. However in the 4 years the hotel have clocked on to this and are now charging extra for that view so we were demoted to a pool view.

Not that I’m complaining, it was amazing! (The pictures of the view will be up in my next instalment!)

When we walked in we were greeted with this:

Mark and Mum unpacked and collapsed into bed, too tired to go anywhere but Dad and I quickly popped to Walmart to grab supplies for the morning, we were too excited to sleep. We debated heading down to DTD as we always normally do but we decided to get some sleep in preparation for our first park tomorrow.

I could not wait!

To be continued…. ​

 

[ChelseyBun20]

Immigration is a pain isn't it at MCO. That's a plus of flying indirect, we get to do it at the Airport we stopover at instead of MCO.
Glad you found your way to your hotel in the end - my Dad would get lost all the time, this is why we don't hire a car .

OMG!!! Your apartment thingy is AMAZING, it's gorgeous!!! If I ever stay offsite again, I will defo be looking at there!

I'm so excited to hear about your 1st park day.. I bet I know how excited you were missy!!

 

[frankieeyre]

So firstly WOOPEEE

But secondly, how did I miss two updates?! Uni takes my disney life away BOOOO!!
But now for a round up of three updates!!!

We go to Frankie and Bennys at the airport also!! Its just so yuummmyyy!! That porridge looks so good, definitely trying that next time!!!

Thats SO annoying about your plane!! Of all the timesyou want to get somewhere ASAP, it has to be Disney the plane would be dodgy! So glad you got another one though! Phew!!

Hello virgin updates! Those headrests look so nice and comfy!

I am not really a fan of plane food but that meal doesn't sound too bad!! The sandwich and the cupcake sounds better though!! Cupcake looks delicious!

WOOHOO for landing!! So exciting! SO many people get lost from the Airport, im so surprised they haven't done something about the signs!!

Love the swan towels! The bathroom looks sososo nice also! That bathtub is HUGE!

Excited to see you first park update!!! AHHHH!