MAYBE A MAY TRIP?? 3 WEEKS SAPPHIRE FALLS 2021

schumigirl

It's a bit of a roodie doodie word for lady parts
Joined
May 15, 2007




Yes......a very warm :welcome:to all who read this little trip report!!! It`s good to have you along...…..

Well, I hadn`t really planned to do this pre trip so soon.....it`s about 56 days till we leave for our overnight before we fly back to our favourite place. But, I have a few hours on my own today and a laptop.....so why not get it started. We certainly never need anything to up our excitement level, but a pre trip is always fun!!!

It`s always a difficult thing to start if truth be known.....so many of you know us so well I always feel a little awkward introducing ourselves again and again....but I guess that`s part of it.......so apologies for the repetitive intro.....all those that know us can certainly feel free to scoot past the intro.......:thumbsup2

This is us...…..

Carole`n`Tom...….definitely a double act that have always been joined at the hip and spend an inordinate amount of time together. And barely have a cross word which is pretty darn amazing.....cross words tend to be over silly things like who takes up most of the bed.....right ladies!!!!! I always say a miracle happens in our bed every night.....no not that……:oops: I miraculously turn into a size 2!!!! Because only someone that`s a size 2 could fit into the space I find myself sleeping in!!! We have a huge bed, but for some reason I sleep on the edge. But, that's about our biggest gripe with each other as Tom claims the same thing too!! Amazingly, I don't see it his way...…..:rolleyes1







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We met 30 years ago in a work situation and a very unromantic place I have to say....but we got together and haven`t looked back. We`ll be married 28 years this year and I think we fly out to Orlando the day after our anniversary.....but that`s for another trip!

Tom has been happily retired for almost 3 years and I kind of retired many years ago, although occasionally will help out friends who need someone in their business, now and again though. Neither of us have any desire to work in any way now. So, we have plenty of time to indulge our passion for Florida and vacations.


Missing from this trip again is the light of our lives, Kyle.





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He only comes with us once a year, and we are so grateful for that still.....how long that`ll last, I have no idea. But we make the most of him when he is with us. He is so easy going, even as a baby and young child he was the same, and thankfully, we had no teen drama which we very much appreciated...... and very much has his father`s kind nature, and my intolerance of certain people ::yes::.....yes, the same folks annoy us both at times! But, I think he has the best of both us. So, we do miss him when he`s not with us as we all love our times together, but he has a ball when we`re gone I`m sure!!!

With Tom being retired now, which was the best decision ever, we have been able to visit more often and stay for longer. We have three trips booked this year. This one, then our usual HHN stay which is 26 nights, then another Christmas trip with Kyle which is 2 weeks this year. But, this one first as it is coming up fairly quickly.

The first thing we always book is the flights. And last year we very happily booked flights for this trip with Thomas Cook. We had the Premium seats we wanted and they were a very good price. Sounds perfect!!!

So, come September last year when we were at RP for our Halloween trip, of course we got the news that TC had gone bust. I remember it so clearly, it had been rumoured of course for a long time, but most of those rumours were concentrating on the package holidays side of the business, which we never have booked, we are always flight only.

But, as it got closer it became apparent that flight only would be affected too. So, we woke up one morning to an email from Kyle to say they had indeed gone bust at midnight the day before. But fortunately for us, we would get home from that trip with another plane and at no extra cost to us. So we had no worries about that or our December trip as those flights were booked with Virgin Atlantic. But, for our May 2020 trip, we were with the now doomed TC.

We knew we wanted to keep the same dates if we could, although we knew there would be no issue changing if we needed to, but the flights do book up fairly quickly, so that afternoon we were in the Club lounge and I was checking flights for the same date and a few days either side......the same date did have a few seats left in Premium but they weren't a two together which we like, but dates either side were only showing single seats available, so we wouldn't be sitting together, which we do like. The flight is part of the fun for us and we do enjoy sitting together. So, I went back to the same date and booked two seats together in a row of 4. Not our first choice but at least it was still Premium.

For the flight home we did manage to get a two sitting together upstairs in the bubble, so we grabbed them! And I think we have no one behind us which is ideal for a full recline when we sleep.

We love the 747!!!!






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We like the Bubble upstairs, although Virgin`s PE is nice wherever you are seated usually. Coming home we`ll be at the back of the upstairs Premium seats with no one behind us, and you do have loads of space.





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I don`t like to mention money, but I will say because obviously with TC going bust, Virgin are now the only carrier to fly direct from Manchester to Orlando, so they could now increase their prices accordingly. We could go from Heathrow, it`s just as easy for us where we live, but we do prefer Manchester, and Virgin are our preferred carrier. So, the prices were a little eye watering. I did glance at Tom again before I pressed book, but Tom being Tom said yep, get them booked! So, we did. I think that`s the most we have ever paid for flights, and I include when the three of us went Premium with Virgin too.

But, there was a little bit of good news on that front. Because we always pay for flights with our CC, we got a full refund on what we paid for the TC flights. We put the claim in about 5 days after we came home in October and we were very lucky, our card company paid us the refund within a week or so. So, we kind of think of that as a little bit of a discount on Virgin`s prices. We were lucky as some didn't get any money back at all if they hadn`t paid that way.

It was nice to get them booked though. Our hotel was already booked, but will come to that later.

So fast forward to mid December when we got home from our Christmas trip.


First thing we did was book the folks we use for our car service. On the drive home she didn`t have her diary with her for 2020, so told us to call when we felt a little more human after the jetlag had gone to arrange it. They also fill up quickly and as they are only a relatively small firm with only the two drivers, we wanted to make sure we could book them, otherwise it`ll be the train again. But they had the dates free, so that was one job out of the way.

Tom went online next and looked to book us into the Marriott at Manchester Airport again.





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This hotel is still relatively new to us as it was only due to Hurricane Dorian and the flight changes where we couldn't get the Radisson booked for the new dates we needed, we ended up here, and we did like it a lot. It`s funny how you find somewhere purely by accident and end up preferring it where you`ve stayed for years!

This will be our third stay with them and I did hope we could get the Executive Lounge booked again. The Lounge is a nice little retreat and it is lovely, and any time we were in it, it wasn't overly busy. So we were quite confident of being able to book it for this trip. And we did. And compared to the Radisson it is a complete bargain. The Radisson for a similar room with Executive Lounge access is just over three times the price we are paying for this hotel. And we can`t honestly fault this place.

The rooms are a decent size, and they have very comfortable beds....although we very rarely sleep much anyway, excitement kicks in there!!!






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They have a very lovely bar area in the restaurant and this is usually the way we celebrate the start of our trip....with a bottle of bubbly!!!












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We usually sit there for most of the afternoon just relaxing and sipping the bubbly. At Christmas we had a lovely lunch as we arrived in nice time for food, and I think we`ll do that again this trip as their lunch offerings were very nice.

The Lounge offers beer and wine from 5.30pm and food which we do like to have a little taste of, but prefer to eat later in the French restaurant onsite. From what we have seen the food does look good and is replenished regularly......beer and wine are just help yourself as usual.

I like this lounge. Although the Radisson kind of wins with the view of planes taking off (if you like that sort of thing) this place is much cosier and has a warmer feel.






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Raymond Blanc`s Brasserie Blanc is the other side of the bar, and we have eaten there both time we have stayed, so a little closer to the this trip, we`ll get a table booked for there in the evening.






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So, that's the start of my newest Pre Trip Report...…..

We are so looking forward to this trip, as always of course......we already have a couple of meets planned......and one is even taking us back on real Disney property...….











Will tell all about that on another post...…..::yes::

Please enjoy this one, if you`ve read the previous ones or know me quite well as a lot of you do, you know I tend to ramble on just a little :hyper2:......but I hope anyone reading it, enjoys it 🥰 and look forward to any chatter along the way...…...

Next chapter up soon...….:wave2:
 
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Yahoo! I've been missing this 😊

We were in Orlando in February and had a great time, and we'll be back again in June. Looking forward to a relaxing summer week celebrating our son's High School graduation and our 23rd wedding anniversary. Can't wait to follow along!
 


It’s about time! I’ve been going through @schumigirl trip report withdrawal!

And another :welcome: to JaxDad…...I did wonder this wasn't a little early as it`s around 8 weeks till we go........then I thought....heck it`s ONLY 8 weeks!!!!

Hope we can manage a meet again so you`re in this one too.....St Augustine is definitely in the plans again.......glad to see you here...
 
Yahoo! I've been missing this 😊

We were in Orlando in February and had a great time, and we'll be back again in June. Looking forward to a relaxing summer week celebrating our son's High School graduation and our 23rd wedding anniversary. Can't wait to follow along!

YAY....... :welcome: Andrea......it`s so good to see you!!!

Glad February was such a good trip!! And you have some fabulous times ahead.....and a trip for a graduation and anniversary too...that is extra special!!!

Glad you`re joining in for this one too......:wave2:
 
It’s All Happening! Squee!! So excited to come along on another installment of the Exciting Adventures of Carole & Tom 🥰

Woohoo.....another Squee..…….🙃

:welcome: along Maria.......oh I hope it is exciting.....lol.....

But, glad to see you here all the same, look forward to your lovely comments along the way.......:wave2:
 
Wow, great timing on catching up on trip reports. Count me in.

:welcome: cam757...…..

Yep, that is good timing...….:thumbsup2

Glad to see you here, and yep, look forward to seeing you follow along with this May trip......I think I just realised today how close it is!!!

Enjoy......:wave2:
 

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