Osborne lights one last time... oh and quite a lot of shopping too! Day 1 and 2

Thursday 17th Dec

This morning we headed down to the lobby to check on our booking; we had booked hotel, car and flight through BA and there was a free breakfast offer which we had forgot to ask about last night. Rob asked at the front desk and after a short wait we were given vouchers for the buffet breakfast for the week. 

So, now we had vouchers we headed to the restaurant to get breakfast. The buffet was pretty big with a nice selection of food including omelettes made to order. We had some hot food and some pastries with orange juice and coffee. We weren’t entirely sure of the cost of breakfast so tipping was interesting - in the end we left $5 and hoped that was enough!

Next up we headed over to Disney Springs as we wanted to get tickets to see the Star Wars movie on Monday - it was already sold out for Thursday, Friday and we had plans for Sat and Sunday so Monday it would have to be…!

We left I4 at exit 67 and took the new ramp straight into the Orange garage, much easier than it had been earlier in the year and we had no problems finding a space (and this was the same for all of our visits this week.)

We tried using the machines to buy our tickets but apparently they can’t cope with international cards so we went to the counter and quickly paid our $33.50.

We had a little wander around the shops and got me some new ears and some lights for our visit to Hollywood Studios. We popped into the Lego shop and Rob decided to buy himself an AT-AT which was on sale…and took up significant space in our luggage on the way home!

We decided to go across to the Premium Outlets on Vineland Avenue, we did our usual lap around the shops, I think Rob got some ties and a few bits in Banana Republic. I was looking for some stuff but decided to check out some other places before deciding.

We dropped our stuff back at the hotel and then decided to get dinner at Johnny Rockets at Pointe, it was quite busy and so took a little while and we were getting quite tired by the end so we headed back to bed once we were done.

Friday 18th Dec

We headed down for our free breakfast again, we decided to have omelettes today and some pastries which was good. 

The forecast for today was overcast with showers so we decided to go to an indoor mall for a little while (you’ll note that the common theme on this trip is shopping!)

We chose Mall at Millenia and took a wander around, and after a while I chose some Disney Vans as part of my Christmas present from Rob’s parents (they had given me a budget for shopping) and I bought a bargain pair for $19.99 as well! 

Rob also got some Vans and some T-shirts and we found a really nice candle and holder for our dining room table. We stopped at Starbucks for a little rest and I got a peppermint mocha which was yummy!

We also checked the wait to meet Santa and it was several hours long…! But it was a pretty amazing grotto. 

Once we were finished we headed back outside and it had brightened up a little bit which was good. We went across to Disney Springs to get an Earl of Sandwich, it was pretty busy due to Star Wars opening but we still found a parking space easily in the garage. 

I had the holiday sandwich and Rob had the Earl’s Club, both were just as good as always.  Once we were done we went back to the hotel and had a lazy evening catching up on some of our favourite HGTV shows.

Osborne lights one last time... oh and quite a lot of shopping too!

So, I'm a crazy lady and decided I needed to see the Osborne lights one last time before they leave Hollywood Studios. 

After much debating (mostly about price) I booked this trip about 2 weeks before we left.

In the end I decided to only buy a 1 day Disney ticket and so as a result we spent quite a lot of our time at the shops...! The first couple of days will be light on photos I'm afraid but there will be many in our Hollywood Studios day :)

Pre-travel (Monday 14th and Tuesday 15th Dec)

So, this was an unexpected trip and required 3 additional days of annual leave from work over my planned Christmas break. As a result (and the fact that work is on the way to the airport) we decided to drop the dog off at kennels on Monday evening and leave for the airport after work on Tuesday.

After we had dropped the dog off we headed home to make dinner and then did some cleaning (we had done most of it over the weekend) and packed our bags. 

Up the next morning for work as usual but it would be a good day in the office as once we were done….we were going to Florida!

We finished at around 4.30 and we headed off towards Gatwick. We stopped for McDonalds at Fleet services and I think we arrived at the long stay car park at around 7.20, we parked the car and got lucky with a bus just after we got there. We used the machines to get our boarding passes and to label our bags before dropping them off with BA. 

We took the shuttle across to the South Terminal and checked in at the Hilton. We decided against going to the lounge for drinks and snacks and watched tv before bed.

Wed 16th Dec

This morning we got up and headed over to North Terminal via the shuttle, once across we headed though security which didn’t take us long at all. We decided to have breakfast at Armadillos again after enjoying our food here last time. 

After eating we had a quick look around the shops and it wasn’t long until our gate was announced.  We boarded mostly on time and eventually took off about 20 mins late, the flight itself was fine although the last couple of hours dragged for me. The food was surprisingly good, the hot choices were: Sausage and mash, chicken curry or a veggie pasta; Rob had the sausage and I had pasta and they weren’t bad at all. 

The sandwiches later on were odd though, we were initially offered egg and tomato (just yuck!) and in the end I think we had checked salad which had way too much tomato in for me.  I continue to be puzzled by the sandwich fillings - I mean who thinks egg is a good choice on a plane? And tomato in both options?!

We actually landed about 20 minutes early in the end, although unfortunately at the same time as the Virgin flight from Manchester. Thankfully we were just ahead and so were off the flight before most of them. 

The line behind us was massive, we were also allowed to use the kiosks and so that speeded things up for us. This time we were told that Rob and I should only complete 1 customs form - I explained that we had been told the exact opposite on our previous trip and the guy looked very puzzled….we’ll see what they say next time!

We collected our bags within about an hour of landing but then had to wait about 20 mins for our car at Avis as Rob had chosen a 7 seater SUV (suburban or similar) and they didn’t have any ready.

The drive to Shingle Creek was easy and we were quickly checked in, although the elevator didn’t want to work so we got a room on a different floor!

We got pizza across the way from NYPD pizza before returning to unpack and then we were off to bed relatively early - I think I lasted until 9pm!

Trip number 12 - Disney World and Cape Coral! Day 14 - Lunch at Sanaa and Home :(

Sat 19th

With check out at 11, we set an alarm for 9.30 but were woken at 9.10 by Rob’s mum calling - apparently they thought we would be awake already!

We got up and sorted our things out, we had a few extra souvenirs to fit into our bags. We left the room at 11 and put our bags in the car. We had a final lunch reservation at Sanaa so we headed down ready for the restaurant to open.

We had the bread service to start and the Rob had his normal choice while I tried the piri piri chicken sandwich. It was good but a bit too much bread…! 

For dessert Rob had the trio as always and I had the chocolate mousse again 

We left around 1 to head back to Tampa, again a relatively easy drive with a little bit of traffic as we got near the airport. We stopped for gas twice along the way (a total of $30) to make sure that we had a full tank before dropping the car back.

Once we handed back the car we checked in and got rid of our bags quickly, we did a little bit of shopping including a Harley Davidson collar for the dog 

Through security and we bought some drinks for the wait, there was a fairly big rain storm while we were waiting but thankfully it didn’t delay the flight.

The flight was not especially exciting, we had a lady sat on the aisle next to us who seemed most unhappy when we asked to get out a couple of times to use the toilet (and we tried to make sure she was awake when we asked)….need to get my aisle seat back next time!

Breakfast was most disappointing, a really cold croissant with jam but no butter and a rock hard (cold) granola bar….not the best breakfast from BA this time.

We landed at around 7.30, as normal passport control was extremely busy so we joined the long e passport gates which made the process a little faster.

Thankfully the bags arrived pretty much just as we did so we headed out and straight on to the shuttle to South terminal.

Our car was waiting at the car park and thankfully it was unharmed by it’s stay in valet parking; we were driving out of the car park at about 8.30 which was nice.

We stopped to get breakfast at Solstice Park on the A303 from McDonalds as we were both quite tired at this point. 

We got back to the house at about 11 and after quick showers we collected the dog from kennels and were all back in the house by 12 

Trip number 12 - Disney World and Cape Coral! Day 13 - Back to Disney for MNSSHP!

Fri 18th

This morning we got up and started packing our bags, we put some of the towels etc on to wash while we were getting ready.

We had our check out visit from the management company and headed out at around 12.

We stopped along the way and got a McDonalds for lunch, the drive was fairly easy (although dull) and we arrived at the Animal Kingdom villas at around 4.

We checked in and headed to our room, we didn't bother unpacking as we were only here for 1 night, so we got changed and ready to head over to the Magic Kingdom.

We arrived a little later than I had originally planned, about 5.30 we got our wristbands and our candy bags then went to get a couple of rides in.

First up was Space Mountain (we just made our FP window) followed by Splash Mountain. We were planning on riding Big Thunder but it was down for a while.

So, we used our last FP at Haunted Mansion before buying our pumpkin lights for the party 

We got dinner just before the party officially started at Columbia Harbour House, I think we both had chicken nuggets and fish.

We headed down towards Storybook Circus as I was hoping to get a photo with Minnie or the ducks but they had a very long line which I wasn't willing to stand in.

Instead we started collecting candy and headed into Tomorrowland for a ride on the Peoplemover and Buzz Lightyear. 

We collected more candy and I managed to get my photo taken with Lotso 

We headed into the hub to see if there was space available in the normal Wishes FP area for the fireworks. 

There was and so we sat and listened to the Hocus Pocus show whilst we waited. 

I suddenly remembered that we had forgotten to do online check in for our flight the next day!

We managed to get seats together but didn’t get our preferred aisle seat which was disappointing!

We ended up with a great view for Celebrate the Magic and Hallowishes - pretty much everyone in our section stayed seated and it felt much more relaxed and spacious than normal.

We then started across to Frontierland for the second parade, I realised that I had completely forgotten to get any of the special event pins….not doing well today!

We found a spot for the parade near the arcade area which was nice as we had a barrier in front of us so we could stand with no-one in front. The parade was brilliant as always (it’s my favourite) but it was definitely shorter than previous years and there was no dog in the parade 

We collected some more candy on the way out of the park (the change to timings meant that there wasn’t as much time left afterwards) and I luckily managed to get another copy of the map in the shop just outside the entrance as they had already restocked with normal maps.

We walked straight on to the ferryboat which was quite busy and walked back to our car. We arrived back at the Animal Kingdom Villas at around 1am!

Trip number 12 - Disney World and Cape Coral! Days 10, 11 and 12

Tues 15th

This morning we got up slightly later and had some more toast for breakfast 

We took another look at the maps and considered going out on the boat but rain was forecast again (and it looked likely to happen). 

We decided to go out for a little while, we got some soft serve ice cream at a place nearby called ice sssscreamin’

We found a shopping mall a few miles away so decided to go and take a look. It was much smaller than any of the malls in the Orlando area but I guess that is to be expected.

It started raining whilst we were inside! We got a bite to eat at Burger King and I got a coffee from Starbucks 

We started on our way back to the villa but found some more shops so we stopped to take a look around.

There were only about 4 stores actually open which was weird but we did manage to find a bargain iPad case in Brookstone. 

We stopped and got some more snacks in Publix on our way back, before having a lazy evening with fried chicken and McDonald’s fries!

Wed 16th

Last boat day and again we had a late start; there was again a threat of storms so we decided not to go out again. 

We didn’t have much luck with the boat which was a shame…but we will try again another time!

Thankfully it was the right decision not to go out - there was a massive storm which meant we lost power for a couple of hours in the afternoon!

The boat was due to be collected at 4pm, but Bob (the boat guy) called to say he would pop back to pick it up the next day due to the rain.

We decided to try another local place for dinner - Ciao pizza. This place was very odd, the tables were sooooo close together that it literally felt like you were eating with the people either side.

Rob had pizza and I had a pasta dish, it wasn’t as good as Maria’s but it was still quite nice. 

We stopped to get a coffee at Starbucks on the way back.

Thurs 17th

This morning we got up earlier as Bob was coming to collect the boat at 8.30. He arrived and we explained our bad luck with weather had meant that we hadn’t really used the boat. 

It was still raining fairly steadily this morning and was very grey so we had a lazy morning at the villa.

The rain stopped early in the afternoon so we decided to take a drive out to Sanibel lighthouse and Captiva Island.

It was warm and very humid, we did have some light rain but it was generally quite dry and bright. 

We headed back to the villa for some pool time, stopping to fill up our gas guzzler (not really!) with another $20 of gas!

We had dinner at Ford’s garage again which was good and then headed back to the villa to put more washing on!