Will we ever move house trip - Day 1

5th June

As is typical we woke a few times in the night but made it to 8ish before we got up.

Due to our Hilton gold membership we had free breakfast vouchers included in our stay (which was an unexpected bonus) so we headed down about 0930, we didn’t book a table in advance and were seated after only a couple of minutes.

Rob had the American breakfast which costs $10 extra on a Sunday and $7 extra the rest of the week. I had the continental breakfast including toast, pastries etc and coffee and juice was included.

I didn’t realise until we arrived but it is actually a character breakfast on weekends and so we had visits from Goofy, Pluto and Minnie during our meal. We actually had a pretty good interaction too as both Minnie and Goofy sneaked up on Rob. I managed to get a photo of Minnie as she surprised him!

We weren’t sure about how much to tip so in the end we gave $6, the total cost inc tip and tax was $16.65. This was an absolute bargain as we had a similar breakfast last year at the Four Seasons which cost around $100!

Today we were planning a shopping day so we headed across to the Premium outlets at Vineland Road. I got a couple of new Kipling bags plus a lovely dress from Ann Taylor and some shorts from Banana Republic. Rob got a variety of things which I am sure included a shirt and some shorts.

We headed back to drop off our shopping and were going to take a trip to Disney Springs but the clouds looked dark so we stayed in.

We had pizza for dinner at NYPD pizza (cost $27 inc tip) whilst considering a possible change of plans for tomorrow if tropical storm Colin arrives.

Will we ever move house trip....pre-travel and actual travel day!

3rd June

So last night we discovered that our dog had a sore eye so first thing this morning we called and made an appointment to see the vet. Thankfully when we got there it was nothing serious but he would need eye drops which have to be put in 3/4 times a day for a week, luckily the kennels are happy to treat him while we are away.

As a result, we are slightly behind in our preparations. We clean most of the house before dropping the dog at the kennels (giving him some drops on arrival to show them.)

Next we had lunch and popped to the supermarket to buy ribena and dark chocolate digestives for our friends in Delaware as they are apparently really difficult to get and expensive!

After we headed home to iron our clothes, finish cleaning and oh do this thing calkled packing!

We had originally hoped to catch the 1450 train but our adjusted timings meant we actually got the 1650 instead. We got to Clapham Junction around 1840 and managed to get on a Gatwick train in about 5 minutes although the platform was extremely busy (it was a Friday evening).

We arrived at the airport around 1930 and headed straight over to North terminal to do bag drop.

As usual it was quiet at check in and once we had printed our bag labels we dropped off our bags and off we went!

We were in the Hilton checking in around 2010 and in the executive lounge getting drinks and snacks just in time for the 2030 cut off :) Our room was paid using points so we got good value with our cheese and biscuits and Rob’s beer!

After lounging for a bit we headed back to the room and off to bed.

4th June

This morning we had our alarm set for 0730, we got up and ready and checked out around 0900.

We were quickly through security and into Armadillos for breakfast. Rob had an omelette and I had pancakes. While we were eating ee got a text from Rob’s Dad to tell us that our flight was delayed.

After breakfast we wandered around the shops before boarding started around 1100. Not sure when we actually left but I'd guess around an hour late.

Onto the flight, I had a guy sat next to me who was sniffing a lot throughout the flight :( I was just hoping that it was allergies and not contagious.

We had pretzels and drinks as normal followed by the hot meal. The choices were cottage pie, chicken korma and cheese pasta.

Between us we had pasta and the cottage pie and both were fine, not fine dining but perfectly edible. I’m sure there was another drink serving and then we had chicken salad sandwiches just before landing. I was slightly disappointed by the choices of movies and tv shows as they were slightly limited.

Once we landed immigration and customs took forever...we were in the holding room before the main queue. Took almost 3 hours from landing to leaving the airport in our car :( I am now seriously considering the global entry scheme for future trips.

We got to the Buena Vista Palace and once we had checked in we walked across to the Earl of Sandwich. 

We had 2 Earls Clubs and Rob had his first bottle of bud which was apparently very welcome after our airport experience.

We were quite tired so headed back to the hotel and we were in bed by 2130.