Holiday
Day 0/Day 1 Travel Day
Day 0 – I finally finished work on Wednesday 17th October. I had decided to book an extra days leave on Thursday so that I could pack and get all my last minute jobs done without the usual panic.
The on-line check in system for Virgin opens up 24 hours before the flight so we went on line to see which aircraft we would get and to try to book our seats. Virgin were refurbishing all their 747 fleet and 5 out of the 6 planes had been refurbished. We were hoping for one of those with the new on demand in flight entertainment. However, he seat configuration for flight VS27 showed that we were on the 1 old style 747!! Just our luck. All the Premium Economy (PE) seats in the bubble had gone so we ended up pre booking seats downstairs.
Off I went to get my manicure and pedicure, pack all the clothes I had planned to take (or so I thought!), and then pick Tasha up from school and drive home singing Disney songs at the top of my voice – yes, I really am that mad!!
Our usual tradition is to go out to a local restaurant, called Oscars, on the night prior to our holidays. It’s a lovely relaxing way to start our trip and really feel ‘in the holiday mood’. We started with sharing a plate of Calamari and a garlic pizza bread. Paul then ate calzone pizza, I had a chicken, avocado and bacon salad and Tasha had a bowl of pasta bolognese – sorry, no photos yet but beware the rest of the trip report will feature lots of foodie photos! We had an early night in preparation for our extra early start the next day.
Day 1 Travel Day – The alarm went off at 4.30am and we left the house around 5.15am en route to Gatwick Airport. We had a great journey round the M25 and arrived at Gatwick around 6.30am for an 11.15am flight. We had booked valet parking so dropped off our car and headed for the Virgin Desk. We thought we should ask if there was any chance of moving seats at check in and we were very lucky that 3 seats in PE became available in the bubble whilst we were checking in!! Woo hoo. We went straight through to security, getting directed to the VIP lane with our PE tickets. There was no queue at all but as usual I got picked out for the random security check – why is it ALWAYS me????
We then headed for the No1 lounge via WH Smith to pick up magazines and a compulsory trip to the Duty Free to pick up Jo Malone perfume for me and Chanel aftershave for Paul. My Barclay’s Bank account gets me free access to airport lounges so the No 1 Lounge is an even better bargain at no cost!
Tasha settled in quickly and Paul went to order hot bacon rolls and coffee all round. The buffet selection included pastries, fruit, yoghurt, bread, cheese and a selection of cereals. After devouring the rolls we decided to get best value from our time there and ordered a beer for Paul and a glass of white wine for me. Paul ate cheese and biscuits with his drink and I settled down to read my magazine. A lovely relaxing start to the day.
Before we knew it, we were being called to board. The un-refurbished Jersey Girl waited at the gate for us I grabbed a pile of free magazines on the way onto the plane. We were directed upstairs to seats 74 H & K and 75 K. There was a bit of a fuss upstairs about people not being sat together and Paul ended up moving into the behind us with extra leg room.
We were offered a glass of champagne before take off then the engines roared into action and off we went. How those things get off the ground with all that weight in them I really can’t understand!!!!
I watched Salmon Fishing in the Yemen and Snow White and the Huntsman whilst Tash watched Madagascar 3 and made a start on her school homework project . We were offered a high tea of cheese and onion finger sandwiches and a cupcake before we started to descend.
Finally we landed ahead of time and were one of the first off the plane which we thought would give us a fast pass through customs. Just over one hour later, we were finally allowed into the Country. We grabbed the bags and headed for the Disney Magical Express for our journey to the Port Orleans Riverside Hotel. By this time we were all feeling very tired. It was around 6pm in the USA – 11pm in the Uk and we had been up since 4.30am.
We were the first to be dropped off and were really impressed with our first impressions of the resort. We were allocated room 2752 in building 27 in the Alligator Bayou section. We had pre booked a preferred location room. The resort is so big and the preferred location rooms guarantee that you will be placed near all the main facilities. The room was spacious and had a lovely ‘deep south’ theming.
By this time were all feeling a bit peckish so we headed for the food court to pick up our refillable mugs and some food.
Paul ate a steak and blue cheese sandwich with hand cooked crisps followed by an apple turnover. Tasha ate chicken noodle soup and a chocolate cupcake (there is a theme starting here which you may pick up as I write more posts!) and I had a chicken ceasar salad followed by red velvet cake. We were all full and exhausted so headed for our lovely big comfy beds at 9.45pm where we fell into a quick and deep sleep looking forward to what we had in store for the next day! . All in all a great travel day. Thanks for reading along so far.
Gill x
Tips: Valet parking at Gatwick is excellent and relatively cheap. The Magical Express is good but if you happen to be the last drop off it could take some time. I may book a cab next time round. Port Orleans Resort is excellent!
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