In 2012 Vicky and I went to Florida to visit Micky Mouse. 2012 is a long time ago so we decided it was time to go again. All the rest of the family were invited to come, and all the rest of the family declined. Music to our ears as Vicky and I can be up and out in 10mins (so can Kathy and Chris in all fairness), whereas Ian, Alex and Einar, not so much. This holiday would be a forced march, no prisoners taken, no time for lazing in bed, all stragglers left behind. We are better off alone.
As soon as Kathy and Einar had left after Trin and Scott’s wedding I stripped the bed and got my case out. For a week or two I did the ‘in again out again’ shuffle, before doing a full pack on the Tuesday before departure. Things were getting exciting.
Sadly I had another day to work, and I had to collect Chris from Manchester airport on his return from Korea. But eventually Friday arrived and Ian dropped me off at Rotherham station for my train to Donny.
I had attempted to book in on line the allotted 24hrs before, which worked fine for me, but worryingly would not process Vicky at all. ‘Visit the desk at the airport!’ The app screamed at me. Just 24hrs to worry about it then
The train to London was delayed around 15 minutes, but no worries as I had a first class seat waiting for me. As soon as I got on, I was plied with food and drink, and in no time we were arriving at Kings Cross.
My plan was to head to Paddington station and then take the Elizabeth line to Heathrow. As soon as I entered King’s Cross underground station however, the man on the tannoy told us that the Elizabeth Line was experiencing major delays!! Drat! Never mind, I had the expensive Heathrow express to fall back on. I managed easily with my case as there are lifts everywhere and was soon arriving in Paddington. Guess what? The Elizabeth Line was running smoothly so I hopped on and hopped off at Heathrow terminal two. It was quite a hike from the tube station to the Hilton Garden Inn, the hotel where we were staying for the night, but once again it was fine with the case as the ground was very smooth. I had checked in online and requested a digital key, so I bypassed the long queue at reception, Jumped in the lift, and opened my door all using my phone.
Super expensive drinks
Vicky arrived soon after so we both went up to the rooftop bar to spend a small fortune of Ian’s money on a brandy and a cocktail. It had a nice ambience to be fair, with good views of the planes coming in for landing in the dark. You could see their lights all stacked up one behind the other. Then it was time for bed, but not before setting the alarm for 4.25.
Just like the SAS I have begun waking up before my alarm. By 4.35 we were both packed and ready for departure (you think you could do this Ian, Einar, or Alex!?). We retraced our steps from yesterday along the many corridors, up and down lifts, and travelators before arriving at Terminal 3, the one Virgin fly out of. ‘We have to visit the desk’ I told a Nice Virgin lady. ‘Just try the self check in’ she said. We tried the self check in. The self check in said yes, on you go. All that worry for nothing. After that we dropped our bags off to a very nice lady (19 for mine and a measly 13 for Vicky’s) and proceeded to security. I was straight through, despite a niggling worry that my metal tooth would set off the detectors. It didn’t, but Vicky’s bag was sent down the naughty lane. We had to wait for two huge bags before hers to be searched. The problem in both cases were the large numbers of shoes both ladies had in their hand luggage. Vicky’s transgression was even more bizarre. Her book was somehow problematic. After giving it a thorough examination the security guy waved it through.
We headed straight to Cafe Nero for coffee and a light breakfast. The percentage of Disney ears amongst passengers was high. A quick shop for a new iPhone charger (despite trying it mine was faulty) and then we were being called to gate 16.
Sadly, even though school is back, there were a lot of children on the flight to Disneyland. Happily, they were all well behaved.
Section 5 (or steerage) was soon being called and I passed seamlessly through the boarding gate. Vicky, however, was called for another additional security check. Her phone, iPad, and whole body, were swabbed. Presumably for drugs. She has that look about her. After she was released we hurried to board our plane, Joan Jet, and took our seats. It was absolutely rammed, but thankfully not took many kids in the very back. We left Heathrow bang on time and were soon offered a drink and snack. We spent a fun hour playing TopTrumps, the Motorway Services edition, then they plied us with food and drink. Next we had a little nap, then a film, then more food, then landing. We easily navigated Orlando airport before ordering a Lyft, similar to an Uber. Mitch arrived in the promised five minutes then whisked us off to Port Orleans French Quarter. A Cast Member (Disney speak) checked us in and we arrived at room 3232 shortly after. It’s lovely, really close to everything with two huge beds.
And some nice beds
Soon after we settled in, and collected our free refillable mugs, the heavens opened. It poured down. Luckily we were in the room and could watch from the balcony. Oh how we laughed at everyone running.
Our plan was to get the boat to Disney Springs to buy our Magic Bands, essential for opening doors, paying for stuff, and waving in the air at party’s, but the storm had scuppered that. Boats dont run if there is lightning in the area. Plan B was the bus. Eventually we squeezed on one, everyone else having the same idea. As we alighted at Disney Springs the heavens opened again. No matter, we had brollies. Our feet got a bit wet though.
Exhausted, we took another bus back and got a coffee in our refillable mugs. Time for bed, and you can’t beat watching a fabulous sunset while you doze off.
I know this post has been very wordy but I wanted to give you all a feel of this holiday we have been planning for so long. It will be a forced march though, not much time for blogging, so I propose to post mainly photos and tiny snippets of excitement from now on. We have a photopass as one of our perks, where we can download photos taken by professional photographers at the parks, and the ride photos you usually have to buy, so the standard of my photos will shoot up.
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