The White's From England Jolly Hols. Day1 The Journey..

colcol

Earning My Ears
Joined
Mar 23, 2000
The White's Jolly Hols. Day1 The Journey..

Cast Members:
DH Colin 42 4th Visit
DW Linda ?? 3rd Visit
DS Andrew 18 2nd Visit
DMIL Jean 78 2nd Visit


The alarm went off at 5am I was in the middle of a dream
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where the house was being flooded, could this be an Omen?
The mini van was picking us up at 7am so we had 2 hrs to have breakfast and get ready.
Andrew finally got up at 6am, didn't want breakfast just a cup of tea, typical teenager!
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The mini van arrived on time and we were soon travelling down the M62 towards Manchester Airport. The M62 wasn't busy so we made good time and arrived at the airport just after 8am.
We checked in at the Airtours Desk, as we were flying Premier Gold we didn't have to queue up. At the check in we were informed that there was a 2hr delay to our flight, we were now due to fly at midday, not a good start!
Good job I had taken my Calm Tablets.
We waited for the airport wheelchair for Jean, then after going through passport control we went for a drink and something to eat.
It's a long way from the departure lounge to the USA departure gate, so if you have any elderly or infirm members in your party it's worthwhile phoning up the tour operator and requesting wheelchair assistance at both airports.
It's a free service and was certainly appreciated by Jean who has arthritis in her knees and would have found the long walk very difficult.
We finally boarded at 1pm and took off at about 1:20, another nice thing about the Premier Gold service is that you get to board first.
I was very impressed with the Premier gold Service the seating was excellent, plenty of width, and for the very first time I had plenty of legroom!
There were free drinks
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and nibbles throughout the flight and the meal, which was pre booked, was very good.
The seat back TV screens were very good, we had free head sets and a choice of three films to watch plus various other TV and Radio channels, Andrew paid £5 for a Nintendo handset and played games for most of the journey.
I even managed to go to grab some sleep,
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which was a first for me on a plane.
We flew on a new Airbus A330. One of the new things about this plane is the toilets. With the Airbus A330, as well as having toilets either end of the plane there is a section in the middle where you go down a flight of steps. This brings you into a waiting area with a bench to sit on, and five more toilets.
One of the highlights of the flight was when we flew over Greenland, it was so clear that you could actually see ice- bergs in the sea. It was at this part of the flight that Linda and Jean went up to the cockpit, Jean wanted to have a go at flying the plane but the pilot politely refused her request.
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As we flew over New York we could make out the Empire State Building and the Statue Of Liberty
We landed at Sanford at approx. 5:30pm their time it was still in the 80's, we soon got rid of our jumpers and fleeces.
It took us about and hour to clear customs and collect our luggage.
One tip: Make sure you fill out the Immigration forms they hand out on the plane correctly, there were a few people who had to fill them out again and go to the back of the queue.
We finally got to our Hotel, The Comfort Inn, Lake Buena Vista at approx. 6:45pm, we got our case's and went to check in.
There were two ladies behind the front desk one seemed very nice the other, well, I think she must have come from the Alcatraz School Of Charm .
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Luckily we got the nice lady.
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We checked in and collected the wheelchair I had hired from Walker Mobility, and went to our rooms.
I had emailed and asked for ones next to one another overlooking the pool.
We got two rooms next to one another ok, but they overlooked the car park.
The rooms looked clean and tidy, as we were all thirsty and hungry we went to the hotel restaurant for something to eat.
There only seemed to be the all you can eat buffet for $9.95 on offer so we all had that.
Big mistake!!…The food was dreadful,
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the beef was ok, but the rest was luke warm, we didn't go up for seconds, well at least the tea and coffee was hot.
Under normal circumstances I would have complained, but we were all shattered and just wanted to unpack and go to bed.
I paid the bill but didn't leave a tip, or so I thought! When I looked at the bill, it had in small print on the bottom that 12.5% was added on for a tip!
We went up to our rooms and started to unpack. No sooner had I opened my case when there was a knock on the door, it was Andrew.
The air conditioning unit in their room was leaking and the carpet was sodden, I reached for my Calm Tablets…
I went straight down to reception to report the fault.
Guess who was behind the desk? Yes that’s right, the wicked witch of the East.
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"Yes what can I do for you?" she growled..
I told her about the problem, she said that she would send the maintenance man up.
No sorry for the trouble or anything…
Well the maintenance man came up and fixed the leak then used a wet and dry vac to mop up the water.
When he had gone the room smelt musty and damp.
I went back down to reception to see about changing rooms.
The wicked witch must have flown off on her broom stick for a break, because the nice lady
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was back on duty.
I explained the problem to her and she fetched the manager.
The manager was very nice and apologised, unfortunately there were no free rooms until tomorrow as he was fully booked, so it looked like we had to put up with it for one night.
In the end we swapped rooms and Linda and I had the damp room.
It meant though that we could only unpack our jim-jams etc and leave everything else packed.
Linda was amazed at how calm I had kept, as normally I would have blown my top, I put it down to my Calm Tablets, and so to bed for a good nights sleep.
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Tomorrow we had unpacking and the Magic kingdom to look forward to.
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[This message was edited by colcol on 11-17-00 at 10:33 AM.]
 
Thanks for all of the tips Colcol. You've written a great report too! You poor thing, having to deal with the wicked witch after getting off a plane for so long. Looking forward to more!

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Good report,well written,I enjoyed reading.Hope you have a great day at Magic Kingdom.
 
Great report Colcol. Can I ask what are the "calm pill's"? I think DH could use some! :D

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DL 1958 - 1973 Many times
WDW 75, 76, 77, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 90

12/75 Ft. Wilderness
12/76 Ft. Wilderness
10/95 Disneyland Hotel
02/97 BWV (Purchased DVC Membership)
09/98 BWV
01/00 BWV
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01/01 BWV
 


Note to myself - order calm pills before next vacation - LOL Thanks for posting!
 

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