Rachel - 42 Loves all things Disney and Florida shopping
Kevin - 41 Loves Disney as much, but not shopping
Lauren - 17 Still loves Disney as she is not paying and loves shopping as much as her mother!
We flew with Virgin Atlantic and our holiday was booked with Disneyworld direct.
We stayed at Mercure hotel at Gatwick the night before so that we could do twighlight check in, which we do everytime, as it then chills us out and means the holiday starts the day before.
I have to say that the Mercure has gone down in its standards since we last stayed there, but it was cheap with 15 days parking so it was acceptable. In future though I think we will always stay at either the Hilton or Sofitel.
When we checked in our cases the night before we then went to M&S and got some nibbles and drinks to take back to the hotel.
24th August and we got up early for our 11.15 flight and ordered a taxi to take us to the airport. This was in fact cheaper than all 3 of us getting on the transfer bus. The taxi cost £5 whereas the transfer is £3 each, taxi is also quicker
We went through departures and did the usual of going round the shops and then had a bite to eat before going to the gates. I bought a Dior lipstick which was a lot cheaper than in the usual shops, so I was happy with that.
I think the flight was about 15 minutes later than departure time but as soon as you are on the plane you forget all about that as you know you are going to DISNEY!!!!!!!!
The flight went really quickly, which was quite surprising. I watched 2 films, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past and Monsters vs Aliens. The dinner was quite nice but the sandwiches later on were disgusting. I have to say that I think Virgin's food has gone down hill - we were not overly impressed with it. The air hostesses were very good though. I ordered Lauren a Links of London necklace from Virgin duty free a week before the flight as it gave an additional £10 off it and it was going to be a surprise for her. She loved it when it arrived and 3 air hostesses were interested to see what she had in the package. In fact Lauren has worn it ever since and loves it - so Mum did something right for once!
On arrival at the airport we decided to take our cases after receiving them from the conveyor belt. I have to say we will do this again as it saved us a lot of time and we were at the car rental before anyone else.
We were soon on our way in our SUV, although gold colour was a bit yuck! We were soon at Animal Kingdom Lodge and decided to do valet parking as we were tired and trying to get used to the heat! We walked in and were whisked upstairs to concierge as I had upgraded a few months back. It was lovely as they took our cases and we just went up to the lounge and helped ourselves to nibbles and drinks. It is really relaxing in concierge. They went through our itinery and gave us our room keys and we went down to our room. We were in 4221 Arusha Savanna room and it was lovely. It is a really good area to see the animals. We also were greated on our arrival with a mickey mouse ears towel animal.
We decided that we were still hungry and went down to Mara to get a counter service meal each after about half an hour in the room. Lauren and I had a chicken caeser salad and Kevin had a sandwich, we all had a cake each and a soda
. I have to say that Orange soda is really orange in America. It tastes the same as at home but just looks like it will make you go hypo more
When we went back we found they had turned down the beds and had left chocolates and a little African note. I love turndown.
I will try and add photos as I cant remember how to do it
http:/<a href="http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y134/JTLOVER/?action=view¤t=P1000435.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y134/JTLOVER/P1000435.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>/
http://http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y134/JTLOVER/P1000219.jpg
http://http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y134/JTLOVER/P1000221.jpg
http://http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y134/JTLOVER/P1000210.jpg
http://http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y134/JTLOVER/P1000177.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y134/JTLOVER/P1000071.jpg
Next day..................... a date with the Mouse House
Kevin - 41 Loves Disney as much, but not shopping
Lauren - 17 Still loves Disney as she is not paying and loves shopping as much as her mother!
We flew with Virgin Atlantic and our holiday was booked with Disneyworld direct.
We stayed at Mercure hotel at Gatwick the night before so that we could do twighlight check in, which we do everytime, as it then chills us out and means the holiday starts the day before.
I have to say that the Mercure has gone down in its standards since we last stayed there, but it was cheap with 15 days parking so it was acceptable. In future though I think we will always stay at either the Hilton or Sofitel.
When we checked in our cases the night before we then went to M&S and got some nibbles and drinks to take back to the hotel.
24th August and we got up early for our 11.15 flight and ordered a taxi to take us to the airport. This was in fact cheaper than all 3 of us getting on the transfer bus. The taxi cost £5 whereas the transfer is £3 each, taxi is also quicker
We went through departures and did the usual of going round the shops and then had a bite to eat before going to the gates. I bought a Dior lipstick which was a lot cheaper than in the usual shops, so I was happy with that.
I think the flight was about 15 minutes later than departure time but as soon as you are on the plane you forget all about that as you know you are going to DISNEY!!!!!!!!
The flight went really quickly, which was quite surprising. I watched 2 films, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past and Monsters vs Aliens. The dinner was quite nice but the sandwiches later on were disgusting. I have to say that I think Virgin's food has gone down hill - we were not overly impressed with it. The air hostesses were very good though. I ordered Lauren a Links of London necklace from Virgin duty free a week before the flight as it gave an additional £10 off it and it was going to be a surprise for her. She loved it when it arrived and 3 air hostesses were interested to see what she had in the package. In fact Lauren has worn it ever since and loves it - so Mum did something right for once!
On arrival at the airport we decided to take our cases after receiving them from the conveyor belt. I have to say we will do this again as it saved us a lot of time and we were at the car rental before anyone else.
We were soon on our way in our SUV, although gold colour was a bit yuck! We were soon at Animal Kingdom Lodge and decided to do valet parking as we were tired and trying to get used to the heat! We walked in and were whisked upstairs to concierge as I had upgraded a few months back. It was lovely as they took our cases and we just went up to the lounge and helped ourselves to nibbles and drinks. It is really relaxing in concierge. They went through our itinery and gave us our room keys and we went down to our room. We were in 4221 Arusha Savanna room and it was lovely. It is a really good area to see the animals. We also were greated on our arrival with a mickey mouse ears towel animal.
We decided that we were still hungry and went down to Mara to get a counter service meal each after about half an hour in the room. Lauren and I had a chicken caeser salad and Kevin had a sandwich, we all had a cake each and a soda
. I have to say that Orange soda is really orange in America. It tastes the same as at home but just looks like it will make you go hypo moreWhen we went back we found they had turned down the beds and had left chocolates and a little African note. I love turndown.
I will try and add photos as I cant remember how to do it
http:/<a href="http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y134/JTLOVER/?action=view¤t=P1000435.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y134/JTLOVER/P1000435.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>/
http://http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y134/JTLOVER/P1000219.jpg
http://http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y134/JTLOVER/P1000221.jpg
http://http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y134/JTLOVER/P1000210.jpg
http://http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y134/JTLOVER/P1000177.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y134/JTLOVER/P1000071.jpg
Next day..................... a date with the Mouse House
