The cheeky not so bargain trip! Part 8

Day 9
So today we have to go home :( We had originally planned breakfast at the Grand Floridian Cafe but we decided last night that we weren’t that keen on the idea and so I had cancelled.

We decided instead to stay in bed as late as possible then we finished packing our things and got ready to leave. We had got hooked on some DIY/house sale tv show and so we were in the room right until check out time as we were watching an episode while we got ready!

We called bell services and they collected our bags, we took a quick look in Gasparillas and considered getting some lunch but in the end decided to head to Downtown Disney to visit our favourite quick serve – Earl of Sandwich :)

Yummy sandwiches eaten and we did a last bit of shopping. Rob picked up some armour for his new motorbike jacket and I got some fab new coasters for the coffee table in the living room :)

Back across to the Grand Floridian to collect our bags and we started off towards Sanford. Unfortunately we had discovered that the flight was already slightly late due to the late arrival of the incoming aircraft.

We stopped along the way at a Target to pick up some peanut butter m&ms, laffy taffy and of course some bounce bars for the tumble dryer.

We dropped off the hire car and checked in and because there was little to do we headed through security. We quickly exhausted the three (or was it four) shops so took a seat in the departure lounge and prepared to wait.

My new very colourful dress :)

We later grabbed a bite to eat in the bar/restaurant. I’m pretty sure that Rob had a burger and I had chicken tenders, the food was ok for an airport.

Then the weather arrived.....the plane had managed to land and drop off the incoming passengers just before a mega thunderstorm arrived. The rain was especially spectacular and the lightning was stunning! Unfortunately though it pretty much stopped all activity including unloading of the luggage.

We had to wait until the storm had moved across before they could unload and then load everything onto the aircraft. We did consider ourselves slightly lucky though as there appeared to have been a Thomas Cook flight that boarded just as the storm started – and they were still sat on the tarmac when it stopped! It was at least a couple of hours that they must have sat on that plane!

We got on board and took off reasonably quickly – the flight home was not as good as the way out. For a night flight we had a cabin crew that seemed sooooo noisy – they were chatting very loudly at times making it very difficult to sleep.

We had been allocated 2 of the three seats in the front row (in premium economy) and the legroom was not as good as other rows. The crew also kept bashing my seat (accidentally I’m sure) with the trolley as they did meal service and drinks etc.

We eventually landed at Gatwick and it took forever for every stage of the unloading process – first they couldn’t find an air bridge driver, passport control had a massive line (we used the e-gates) and then the bags took an age to be delivered.

After landing around 2 and a half hours late it then took us about 2 hours to leave the terminal to get back to the car. We had bought sandwiches in M&S on our way past which we ate in the car as by now we were mega hungry.

By now it was around midday which was a terrible time to head home on a Friday. We took the motorway back to around Andover (via the A303) and then took some local routes to avoid the Friday afternoon traffic jams on the A303.

We eventually collected the dog from the kennel at about 4pm and promptly had a quick 2 hour nap as we were exhausted. We managed to drag ourselves out of bed to eat and then go to bed properly at around 10pm....we have at least found that this arrangement helps minimise the jet lag!


A link to all my photos: http://s300.photobucket.com/user/Lizzim_photo/library/Florida%20June%202014?sort=2&page=1

The cheeky not so bargain trip! Part 7

Day 8

Our final move of the trip :( Today we were checking out of the Animal Kingdom Villas and moving across to THE GRAND FLORIDIAN!!!!!

This was a belated birthday treat for me and I was really looking forward to it. We pulled up at the front of the resort and were greeted by name by the cast members. Bell services took our bags and the valet looked after our car whilst we were walked to the front desk by an ipad enabled cast member :)

We were quickly checked in and an email notification was set up for when our room became available. We parked the car and then took the monorail across to the Magic Kingdom.

 

We had a FP booked for lunch at Be Our Guest between 12.15 and 12.45 so we took a little walk around beforehand, the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train was experiencing some technical difficulties – we saw them trying to get people out of the carriages as the ride appeared to have stopped on the way around.

Our FP for Be Our Guest worked fine and we lined up to order our food. We successfully ordered 2 turkey baguettes, and a cupcake each. I had the Master’s cupcake and Rob the triple chocolate. Having already eaten dinner here on 2 of our previous trips we decided to sit in the Rose Gallery so that we had experienced all 3 rooms!

 

 

We took our seats – there was a short wait and then our food arrived (courtesy of the magicbands), it made a nice change to have real cutlery and proper plates.

 

 

For those of you out there (like me) who dislike onion and tomato a warning – they featured in my baguette although there was no mention of them when ordering! Luckily Rob noticed them and I was able to remove them!

Our first FP was a little later and so we went for a ride on the Liberty Square Riverboat before grabbing a drink in the Diamond Horseshoe as it was super warm today.

At 1450 we used a FP for Splash Mountain before heading back to the GF to find our room.

We stopped at bell services to ask for our bags to be dropped off and they kindly offered to give us a ride to our room on a golf cart. I picked us up a couple of drinks and then the bell man gave us a short tour of the resort as we headed across to the room.

We were on the ground floor in Sago Cay – we took a rest for a while and I popped across to refill my drink (the new drinks have limited refills like the souvenir mugs).

 

 

We had some more FP booked so we took the boat back across to the Magic Kingdom.

Our first ride was Space Mountain which was fab as always, we had arrived near the end of our timeslot and so up next shortly after was the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train! Thankfully it was back running after the earlier problems, we had a short wait and off we went. I know quite a few people have apparently been disappointed by this ride as it wasn’t ‘thrilling’ enough but I have no idea why they thought it would be...!

 

 

The ride fits perfectly in New Fantasyland – it feels fast and is super smooth – perfect for a small person coaster and as a mega Disney fan I loved all the detail that they have put into the ride and surroundings. I don’t normally wear my glasses on rides (too afraid of losing them) but I kept them on and it was worth it :)

Now I wouldn’t wait 2 hours for the ride (but then I wouldn’t wait 2 hours for any ride!) but I was still impressed by the new addition.

So, we had used our first 3 FP and now to see what else we could get on our last day. We headed to the kiosk near Mickey’s Philharmagic and I had a look at what was available.

I selected Pirates of the Caribbean and I think the return time was in around 45 minutes later, we happened to be passing it’s a small world and the wait was only 10 minutes so we got in line. We stopped on the way round and so Rob got an extra dose of the soundtrack :)

We carried on across to Pirates and the standby wait was still around 40 minutes so I was glad of the FP. We headed towards Liberty Square through the gap near Adventureland and stopped at the kiosk to try for another FP. There was a shockingly ridiculous line but mainly because there were only 3 or 4 terminals available.

Our next FP selection was Haunted Mansion again for a little while later. We were getting hungry so we popped into Pinocchio Village Haus for some food. We both decided on pepperoni flatbreads, fries and Rob decided he needed a chocolate cake as well!

Once we had eaten we went across to the Haunted Mansion for our next ride which is a favourite of mine. I love the Halloween parties because of the Haunted Mansion portion of the parade!

We visited another FP kiosk (I think it must have been the one by Philharmagic again) and managed to get a FP for Buzz Lightyear almost immediately. We decided to pop across there and ride before Wishes (we must have been somewhere between 9 and 10).

Buzz was delayed slightly whilst we were in the line and I was worried we might miss Wishes! Thankfully it got going again but unfortunately I lost to Rob yet again....!

We got out of the ride with about 5 minutes to spare before Wishes so we ended up watching from near the Rose Garden. We had a slightly obstructed view due to a tree but we would have had a perfect view of Tink. It was threatening thunder for most of the evening (although it stayed dry) and as a result Tink stayed in the castle!

Wishes was amazing as normal but I do prefer watching from Bay Lake Tower (either from the lounge or a balcony) as it just gets so crowded in the park!

The park was open until 1am this evening but Rob was feeling a little tired so we decided to leave after the fireworks. We stopped at Starbucks to grab a drink on the way down Main Street and when we got to the end the wait to meet Tinkerbell was only 10 minutes so Rob waited outside whilst I nipped in to see her.

Quick photo with Tink (who I had been trying to meet for ages but she always had a long line in her old location) and we headed out of the park.

 

We decided to take the boat as the resort monorail takes ages to get back to the Grand Floridian. Unfortunately as we had left at peak time we had to wait for 2 boats to pick up before we were able to get on the third...! In hindsight we should have stayed in the park a little longer before attempting to get across the lagoon.

The cheeky not so bargain trip! Part 6

Day 7

This morning we were paying a short visit to the Animal Kingdom – not because we don’t enjoy the park but due to our short visit we had to lose some park time from somewhere.

We didn’t get breakfast so we stopped and got a muffin and some yoghurt at Pizzafari before our FP on the safari. We ended up in our own row on the ride which made it easy to get photos on either side....I probably overdid the photos even though we have been here loads of times!

 

 

I did originally have a FP for Dinosaur but attempted to change it to a character meet with Mickey and Minnie but annoyingly it changed the time on me again :( This really made me wary about changing FP in the park especially if you are limited to certain times! 

 

So instead we popped into Flights of Wonder – we’ve seen the show a few times now but there is generally something different in each one.

Finally we took a quick spin on Expedition Everest before making our way out of the park. Up next shopping......!

We headed across to Premium Outlets and hit some of our favourites (Banana Republic, US Polo Association) and some newer choices (DKNY). We spent a reasonable amount of money but I got some new summer dresses and some jeans and Rob got some new trousers and shirts for much less than at home.

Disappointingly I didn’t find any bargains at the character warehouse (last time I got some fab jeans for $9.99!) :( We had a quick snack of pizza in the food court at some point on the way round.

We had an early dinner booked at Saana so we took all our shopping back and got showered and ready. We walked the million mile trip to the lobby and down to the restaurant.

We ordered the bread service and were upset to discover that the Spicy Durban chicken has been removed and replaced by a chicken vindaloo. We both still tried it with the butter chicken – it was good but we prefer the old version.

Time for dessert and Rob was eagerly awaiting his trio but shocking turn of events.....they have removed the chai cream and replaced it! The trio is now chocolate cake, banana cheesecake and the seasonal kulfi.

Our server went to see if any chai cream was available (apparently it is possible to order it with 48 hours notice) but no deal :( They did supply a complimentary serving of their new chai flavoured tapioca dessert – which did taste similar but is not the same. We both had a trio to cheer us up after the chai cream tragedy.

Finally we drove across to the TTC and took the express monorail to the Magic Kingdom. We then walked to Bay Lake Tower to watch the fireworks at the Top of the World lounge (it was faster than the resort monorail). A familiar face was manning the desk and as we greeted them by name we weren’t even asked for our DVC cards before being sent to the elevator :)

 

We got a drink just before the fireworks started and enjoyed the relative peace of the deck – it is such a contrast to the chaos that we tend to experience in the park when watching them!

The cheeky not so bargain trip! Part 5

Day 6

This morning we were headed to Epcot, not exactly sure what time we arrived but I know it was around 10am as that was when I had our first FP+ booked.

Somehow I got confused and mixed up the order of our FP so we walked across to Mission Space (including the line to get a blue Mickey) before realising that we should have been at Spaceship Earth! So we doubled back and skipped the 30 minute line that had formed :) About the only time that a FP seems worthwhile on this ride!

Then we killed time until our Mission Space window opened by taking the tour of the Vision House in Innoventions.

Back to Mission Space for our actual FP time! I’m sure this ride seemed less intense than the last time we rode it....we remember stuggling to press the buttons but we didn’t have any problems this time around.

We had skipped breakfast so we went over to the Land to find some food before Soarin’. We both had a sandwich which was pretty good – we always struggle to find food here as although we like the sound of some of the meals they all have odd combinations!

Onto Soarin’ which was fab as normal – I asked to wait for the front row and the cast member kindly agreed. As this was going to be my only ride of the trip I wanted to avoid the dangling feet :) When we got off Living with the Land had a posted 10 minute wait so we went for a quick trip – I’m pretty sure we didn’t actually wait that long!

We left the Land and decided to visit the fishes. Quick ride on Nemo which was showing a 15 minute wait but again wasn’t actually that long.  The dolphins were hiding out again today but we saw quite a few turtles and fishies.

Before heading to the World Showcase we stopped at a kiosk to see what was available for a 4^th FP. As expected there was no availability for Test Track so I picked Maelstrom for just before we wanted to leave the park (around 4pm).

 

 

We started off around the world and quickly hopped onto the boat ride in Mexico, I looked at the Donald line but it was already quite long and he wasn’t even there at the time!

We had planned to get some soft serve ice cream at the outpost but they have stopped selling it and now do frozen yoghurt :( Luckily we found our favourites at the US pavilion.

We decided to watch the American Adventure for the first time – bit odd that they still include Lance Armstrong despite his history.

I experienced an annoying issue with the My Disney Experience app at this point – I thought I would see if there was any chance of swapping our FP for Test Track and surprisingly it offered me them! BUT it didn’t tell me that it was at a different time to my existing slot! So, I lost Maelstrom and couldn’t do Test Track as it clashed with our dinner reservation.

We continued around the world but had to speed up a little as it started raining. We got back to the UK and I hoped to meet Pooh and Tigger but I got there just as they closed the line :(

I did manage to switch my FP for one to the Character Spot so we headed there before leaving. As it had been raining we found Chip and Dale meeting inside in the corridor which was nice.

 

Then I headed into the Character Spot to meet Mickey, Goofy and Minnie.

We headed back to the room to get ready for dinner – we were off to the Yachtsman tonight. We drove across and parked up, we were a little early so we sat on some chairs off the lobby for a few minutes before checking in.

We had a table overlooking Stormalong Bay.

 

I had the filet mignon and Rob had the new York strip which he decided needed a side order of chorizo and peppers.

 

Afterward I had the chocolate peanut cake and Rob had a sundae – these were both yummy!

 

 

I had to finish Rob’s for him cos he was too full after his steak and chorizo...!

The cheeky not so bargain trip! Part 4

We had a relaxed start this morning, we got up late and packed our bags and left the Doubletree. We were moving across to the Animal Kingdom Villas – we had a Savannah view booked at Kidani.

We arrived at the villas and were surprisingly not approached by anyone to help with bags etc. I took them in whilst Rob went to park the car, bags were checked in and then I waited for Rob to do actual check-in. As expected our room was not yet available so we collected our MagicBands and headed off to Hollywood Studios.

 

 

We had reservations for lunch at Sci-Fi but before that I wanted to meet Mike and Sulley so we headed over to their meet ‘n’ greet near the backlot tour.

Rob sat on a bench and I got in a reasonably long line – it took about 20 minutes during which Rob was invaded by a tour group who seemed intent on getting him to leave his seat – he stayed put ;)

 

 

 

 

Now for lunch at Sci Fi – we checked in and had to wait a few minutes to be seated. We had eaten here before and quite enjoyed it and so we were back :) I had the turkey sandwich and fries and Rob had the picnic burger – no pics cos it was too dark. No complaints about the food here it was yummy :) I then had a candy bar dessert (soooooo much chocolate) and Rob had a sundae.
 

Second time around we still enjoyed it and I’d probably go back again as it makes a nice break during the day.

We then did a few rides – we had FP for Star Tours up first. It had around a 30 minute wait at this point so not too bad a use of FP. Darth Vader was meeting the Jedi children inside as it had been raining.

Next up we had Toy Story – I chose this rather than Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster as I thought I had a better chance of getting a 4^th FP for RnR...

Rob beat me yet again :( I just cannot win at these games!

We had a short break so I got a frozen lemonade before we got our 3^rd ride of the day – Tower of Terror! This is a fab ride – and Rob got chastised by the cast member for scanning his magicband too soon – she told me to try and keep him under control :)

Across to the FP kiosk to see if I could get that 4^th FP for RnR and surprisingly we had several time choices available – we chose 7.40 – 8.40 so that we had time to pop back to AKV.

Off back to the hotel and we stopped by the front desk to find our room number (the text notification never seems to work). We were in 7764 which was in Pumbaa and about a million miles from the lobby.

We got our bags brought to the room, unpacked and took a little break.

 

After a while we popped back to Hollywood Studios to ride RnR – great fun!

We decided to skip Fantasmic and watch Illuminations instead so we took the Friendship boat across to Epcot.

We found a spot to watch just on the bridge between the UK and France which was quite nice.

Unfortunately the globe malfunctioned and aside from a few random flashes of light there was nothing happening – very odd to see this black blob in the middle of the fireworks. The fireworks were still amazing though. 

Took the friendship boat back to Hollywood Studios to collect the car, we stopped at Hess to grab some drinks and snacks.

We got 2 big waters, 4 cokes and 2 vitamin waters plus crisps and chocolate for around $16.....quite the bargain on Disney property!