We need some sunshine, time for a week away! Day 1

Mon 11th Feb

This morning we woke up around 7.30 (and before that 2ish and 5ish) and got showered etc.

We went to Artists Palate for breakfast where Rob had an omelette and muffin whiIe I had a kids waffle meal plus a cherry danish. We did briefly consider a trip to French Quarter for beignets but couldn’t be bothered.

We sorted out our bags and left them with Bell Services as we were moving to a villa later. We arrived at the MK parking lot to a massive queue which was bizarre but eventually were parked really close to the entrance.

Through bag check and across to the park via the ferry boat as there was one waiting and we hadn’t been on the boat for a while. 

As it had taken a little longer to get to the park we were already into our first FP window which was Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, I really like this ride but will not wait in the standby line. 

We headed into Tomorrowland next as we had a FP for Space Mountain but as we had a little bit of time to spare we got in line for the peoplemover which actually had a line as the park was obviously quite busy.

When it came to use our FP for Space Mountain we actually had to queue to get into the FP line and even with FP we took around 30 min including the actual ride.

We wandered over towards Frontierland as our final FP was for Splash Mountain and by now we were getting hungry so we shared a chicken nugget meal.

Splash Mountain was a quick ride via FP and then we were on our way out of the park. 

We stopped to buy a pin at the emporium and then took the monorail back to the parking lot.

Back to Saratoga Springs to collect our bags and then onto Tuscan Hills for the rest of our trip. We got into our villa, unpacked our bags and headed to Walmart for supplies. Somehow we ended up with a massive bottle of Sunny D amongst other things.

We spent the rest of the evening catching up on our favourite HGTV shows with pizza from DiRomios which is just down the US27.

We need some sunshine, time for a week away! Travel day

Sun 10th Feb

This morning the alarm went off at 0830, although I didn’t sleep brilliantly and we weren’t really in a rush as we had already done bag drop. We got a new mattress at home in Jan and I think hotels are not going to compare well at the moment 

We had a muffin each that we had brought with us and got ready and packed our one bag of hand luggage to take with us and left around 10.

On our way into the terminal we met a Spanish family who were struggling to find their Uber so Rob spoke to the driver and we directed them to the right location.

We were quickly through security and chose Jamie’s kitchen for breakfast. We both had scrambled egg on toast and Rob added some bacon to his. Accompanied by a tiny flat white, tea and a tip we spent about £23.

We did a little bit of window shopping and headed to the gate at 11.30 which as usual seemed to be as far away as possible.

We were in the last boarding group so had to wait in the aisle to get all the way to the back of the aircraft. We had seats 39J and K which don’t recline (I did not know that in advance).

The aircraft was generally quite nice (and had wifi available) and our main meal was a choice of chicken or macaroni cheese. We had one of each and they weren’t bad although I did have to avoid the cauliflower which accompanied the macaroni.

We also got the magnum at about halfway through and there were a couple of water/juice drinks services after the main one.

The flight felt like it took forever but eventually half a sandwich and a small banana bread were served just before landing.

We arrived in Tampa on time and were quickly off the plane. 

We used the machines and got all the way to the end and the printer failed, we were then sent to a second machine where we both got the dreaded x. I suspect it was because of the 2 machines as when we got to the agent he said we were fine and let us straight through.

This took slightly longer than we were hoping but our bags were waiting so we headed to the hire car centre.

We did have to wait a few minutes for them to find our car type and annoyingly they wanted to charge for a second driver - which is normally included on a BA exec club booking so we didn’t bother which meant Rob had to drive. I did check online later and it should have been free but we couldn’t be bothered to go to an Avis desk to fix it during our trip.
We were on our way in the car by about 1840 heading to Saratoga Springs for our first night. The traffic was reasonably busy but it took us about 1hr20 and was a straightforward journey.

We quickly checked in collecting new magicbands (including our annual pass ones) and dropped our bags in the room. 

We were planning on going to the Earl of Sandwich but we were too tired, so we went to Artists Palate instead. I got a turkey and brie sandwich and Rob had a cheese burger pizza which he said was quite good. We had to ask for lids for our drinks as they are now kept behind the counter and I didn’t want to spill them on the walk.

Back to the room for some tv and then bed – we managed to stay awake until almost 10! 

We need some sunshine, time for a week away! Pre travel day

Fri 8th Feb

Today was a normal day at work for me, with loads to do as there was an important meeting to prepare for on the Monday (which my boss was attending…not me!)

Coincidentally we were also having carpet fitted in our cinema room so Rob was working from home to get that sorted. 

I left work at 4 and headed home which always takes ages on a Friday due to Stonehenge. I got home and we sorted food and started some washing and then I still had a little bit of work to finish so I did that before bed. 

Sat 9th Feb

This morning we woke and discovered the fish tank filter had started leaking over night  

We took the dog to kennels as planned and then checked our local pets at home to see if they sold a replacement but unfortunately not as we only have a small store. So, Rob had to go visit our normal fish shop in Wilton while I started cleaning the house and finished off the washing etc (this took around an hour and a half!)

Once Rob got back he swapped the filter over (£88 for a new one) and we had a quick lunch whilst also doing online check in and picking our seats for the flight. 

Once that was done we did the ironing and finished off the cleaning and making the bed for when we got back. 

Then slightly later than planned we packed our bags before Rob’s parents came to collect us at about 3.

It was a straightforward drive to Gatwick and we arrived shortly before 6. We checked into the Hilton and in shocking news had to pay £10 to upgrade to an executive room (our room was free with our points and they normally upgrade us for free!)

We went across to the terminal to do twilight check in, the machines wouldn’t work so we had to queue for check in assistance (after we got our boarding cards we realised this was due to me being selected for extra security) but we dropped our bags off quickly and then went to have dinner at Giraffe. 

We both had burgers and Rob had some onion rings, the food was good and the bill wasn’t too bad considering we were at an airport. Total cost with drinks and tip was £40.

We stopped at Boots to get me some flight socks as I had an argument with a door the previous weekend while doing some DIY and had some bad bruising on my leg.

Back at the hotel we had drinks and snacks in the lounge. Disappointingly there were no cheese and biscuits but Rob had 3 beers so I think we got reasonable value for our £10.

We headed back to the room and watched some tv before bed.

We need some sunshine, time for a week away! Pre trip

After our last trip which was fun (but involved many more compromises than a normal trip) we have been looking for another trip just the two of us. 

We had hoped to make another trip to Delaware in December to see our friends but for several reasons that wasn't possible and so now it is cold and miserable we started looking at trips to Florida 

Over the Christmas break we started looking at flights and the prices for BA into Tampa in February looked really good. We booked a week off and started booking 

We managed to get economy flights and a tahoe or similar for £863 which I was pretty happy with. 

We also managed to get a Dibb villa in our favourite area (Tuscan Hills) and we already have annual passes so that's the main bits sorted.

We used Hilton points to book a night at the Hilton Gatwick for the night before our flight.

We did have one final issue - we needed a night in a hotel on the night we arrive in Florida and were struggling. We really wanted a Disney Springs hotel but they were looking expensive. Our plan was to book the Buena Vista Palace using some more of our Hilton points and then Rob was checking availability at Saratoga Springs and a studio popped up. 

We only had 9 DVC points available so needed to purchase 4 one time only points so he got on the phone to DVC to see if he could reserve it before it got grabbed by someone else.

We got it! 

So, now we can start our trip off on Disney property and hopefully start off with an Earl of Sandwich as has been our tradition 

And I've managed to pick up a fast pass for both Slinky Dog and Flight of Passage 

The rest of the trip will be relaxed but I will try and get a couple of dining reservations but otherwise - bring on some sunshine!

I was quite pleased as I managed to book us places at the DVC Moonlight Magic event at the Magic Kingdom during our trip...we haven't been to one before. I'm hoping the park will be relatively quiet 

I've booked us 2 dinner reservations - Yachtsman Steakhouse and Sanaa and don't plan on making anymore. We have so many favourite places we want to eat that I don't know how we will fit them in.

I am also debating cancelling our fast pass for Flight of Passage  

I picked up a morning FP for one of our days but am now thinking we might try and visit most of the parks in the evenings. I think I will hang on to it and see what the weather is like - if it is a cooler day then it might work out ok.

2 weeks with the family... are we crazy?! Going Home

13 Oct into 14

This morning we woke up about 0830 and as we hadn’t unpacked we just had to put our last few bits and pieces into our bags. 

We used up some of our remaining bread to have toast and coffee for breakfast.

Kev, Sharna, Leona and Charlie went to the Magic Kingdom early to ride Space Mountain (70 min SB) while we stayed in the room for a bit longer (we were repeatedly bothered by housekeeping which was annoying.)

We called down and got Bell Services to collect our many bags before leaving the room just before 1100. I’m pretty sure we returned the second car to the Car Care Centre at this point. 

We headed into the Magic Kingdom (obviously) and met the others and then we did a couple of last rides: Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain using our FP. 

I’m sure there was also some last minute shopping as we left the park, we dropped off the stroller at Bell Services as we had arranged to pass it on to another family via facebook.

We then headed to the marina for Kev, Sharna and the kids to go out on a pontoon boat, then Dad decided to take a Searaycer out. Rob, mum and I stayed to watch them and so we got some snacks (I had a Mickey Bar, Rob had fries) and then Dad reappeared having got soaked by the wake of another boat!

The others got off and we grabbed a few snacks for the kids and then dropped them back at Bay Lake to catch the Magical Express. We got our bags and headed off towards the airport on our own. 

We got there at about 1530, dropped off the car and checked in with Thomas Cook and realised that we had left Rob’s magickeeper on the car keys. He went back to the garage but the car was already gone 

Security was ridiculous - it was so busy that there were signs up saying that you couldn’t enter the line until 2 hours before departure. At this stage the wait was posted as 33-37 mins. 

I got changed into jeans  and we waited for a little bit before going through and the wait had dropped to 22-26 minutes! There were also massive lines for food on the other side  

We got Burger King which was ok but not exactly exciting then waited in departure lounge (the rest turned up when we were at burger king.) Our flight was due to leave at 1840 but delayed till 1920 and we actually departed about 2000. 

The flight was ok, only one meal option which was chicken. I decided to just have the tray without the chicken which was cheese and biscuits, bread roll and some form of cake. 

I watched Solo before trying to sleep which I managed for a few hours although oddly the Premium seats seemed slightly uncomfortable for sleeping in. 

I woke up around breakfast time but didn’t have any – I’m not even sure what they were serving! We landed just after 0830 and for once didn’t have a huge line at passport control! It still took me 2 attempts to get through the electronic gate though. 

The bags took a little longer (although not as long as on the other side) and once we were through we met the taxi driver and took the bags to the car with the rest of the group. 

We knew there was a train due any minute so we speed walked to the station and managed to catch a train which was actually running late and got us to Clapham Junction just after 1000.

As we now had some time until our train we grabbed some drinks (flat white and tea) and breakfast (sausage roll and bacon and cheese puff) while waiting for the train which was 3 mins late at 1025. 

We arrived back at home around 1230, it was of course raining  and we hadn’t brought coats with us. But mum and dad had come down to drive us home (20 min walk) after getting back slightly earlier than us 

We then had a 2 hour nap before collecting our dog from kennels at 4pm. In an effort to avoid jet lag we then watched some tv and had pizza for dinner!