Hello and welcome to my trip report I'm so excited to share this report with you all as it was such a special trip - I literally loved every moment of it and there were quite a few "moments" - I'll explain more on that in a minute.
As the title suggests this was a bonus trip for me booked at just 33 days before travelling - for those of you who don't know me I'm Tracey, hello, I travel to Disney every year in November - always November for my birthday. This trip was suggested by Chris (my husband) and we found a really good deal so we decided to go for it! - further details of how this happened can be found in my pre trip report (but to be honest you won't find much else of any use in the pre trip report as there was pretty much not to update on - I just wanted to tell everyone how happy I was when I booked)
I knew we were booked but in reality things didn't sink in until we arrived and that's where the "moments" in the title come in - I would have a quivering lip, tears in my eyes and then the sunglasses would come from the top of my head over my eyes to cover the tears and there it was a "moment" as Chris would describe it - and a fair few of these happened during this trip. Because this didn't really sink in properly until we arrived there is a lack of photo's for the first part of this report but there will be a lot of photo's after this properly starts as despite being in the world in November there are over 1400 pictures from this trip - oops......
We were in Disney from 12th March to 22nd March - 10 days in the World, Direct flights from the UK and Disney's All Star Sports with park tickets for a total of £2600 a bargain and the reason we went.
so onto the details................
Sunday 11th March
The day before our flight - we woke up and finished packing, it was strange to be packing Mickey ears and shorts in a suitcase, it still felt so unreal and really hadn't sunk in. it was like we were just going through the motions but were watching someone else - it's really hard to describe but you might relate to what I mean?
We normally travel mid week so normally leave work and rush around and then head down to the airport, we took our time, had something to eat and then packed the car and were off.
We were in the car chatting saying that in a few days we'd be on BTMRR but then just kept laughing as if it wasn't real - it honestly felt as if we were going out for the day together or going on an overnight break.
Our journey was pretty quick to Gatwick - we got to the hotel around 4.30pm and lay and rested in our room for an hour.
I watched some of Dancing on Ice - (a TV programme where celebrities learn to Dance on Ice) - Chris finally got fed up of that and went down to the pub next door to the hotel for a beer.
I joined him shortly after for a quick drink and snack and then we both returned to the room for an early night
The bar was far busier than we'd ever seen it but I think that was down to the fact it was Mother's Day.
Monday 12th March
Travel day - for all our Disney trips for the past few years the alarm tune is Shakira "try everything" - the same tune was put on to wake us up this morning and when the alarm did go off we again looked at each other and chuckled almost in disbelief this was actually going to happen.
We got up, showered and then headed for breakfast - in the hotel we stay in you get a free pick up and go breakfast of croissants, bacon rolls, coffee etc.
We packed the car (again) and took the car to the long stay south car park - before we left the cost of staying in the south car park was around £20 cheaper than the north long stay car park and as we were trying to not spend excessively on this holiday we booked the cheap option and decided to take the tram to the North Terminal where the plane was waiting to take us "home"
We arrived to an empty check in - I couldn't check in online (we think due to my brand new passport) so we were grateful for an empty Virgin desk. We headed through security and did a little window shopping and had poached egg on toast for breakfast.
We boarded our plane "pretty woman" and the plane took off with 285 passengers and 16 crew - in November this figures is well over 400 passengers!
I watched a few films on the plane including Coco and really enjoyed it - a great story line and I'm sure that Walt Disney is still living in the after world as I for one often think of him and what he achieved in Disney
We were 6th off the plan but our luggage took ages to arrive - the airport was being updated and there seemed to be fewer luggage belts etc and things hanging over the ceiling as make shift air conditioning units.
We headed out towards the Magical Express - we've never got onto this before and there was a fairly long wait - I'm disappointed that at this stage things still hadn't really sunk in so I didn't take any photo's, that said we didn't get a Magical Express anyway - it was a Mears coach
We arrived at All Star Sports - (for those who know me well will know I've only ever stayed at Riverside, it's my 2nd home and I've spent over 300 nights there but this was a chance to spend 10 additional days at Disney so Riverside was going to have to wait until November) - check in was quick and I have to say all the staff here were so friendly and welcoming - they really do show Disney in a great light
We opted for the no cleaning option and were given $90 - Ice cream money - yay! - those who have read my previous reports will know my thoughts on ice cream - we're more than capable of making our own beds and on keeping things tidy so this was a no brainer for us.
Our room was the furthest away but was still far nearer to the food court etc than any room we've had at Riverside. It didn't seem that far away at all for us. The room was clean, smaller than we're used to but was fine for what we needed.
pm
We literally dumped the bags without even opening them, walked out of the room and went to reception to order a Lyft - it was now 8.34pm (12.34am UK time) but we had shopping to get. We were off to Walmart
Kenneth came to pick us up and we spoke with him about how long we'd been awake but we were going to keep going as we had supplies to get. We joked with him that he might be coming to pick us up if he were lucky!
We picked up water, breakfast bits and chips and ordered another Lyft to take us back to the All stars - would you credit it - Kenneth picked us up and we were back by 10pm
We quickly unpacked and were in bed around 10.30pm after 21 hours awake.
Coming up next our first full day in Disney - and the start of those moments - and a lot of photos!!!!
As the title suggests this was a bonus trip for me booked at just 33 days before travelling - for those of you who don't know me I'm Tracey, hello, I travel to Disney every year in November - always November for my birthday. This trip was suggested by Chris (my husband) and we found a really good deal so we decided to go for it! - further details of how this happened can be found in my pre trip report (but to be honest you won't find much else of any use in the pre trip report as there was pretty much not to update on - I just wanted to tell everyone how happy I was when I booked)
I knew we were booked but in reality things didn't sink in until we arrived and that's where the "moments" in the title come in - I would have a quivering lip, tears in my eyes and then the sunglasses would come from the top of my head over my eyes to cover the tears and there it was a "moment" as Chris would describe it - and a fair few of these happened during this trip. Because this didn't really sink in properly until we arrived there is a lack of photo's for the first part of this report but there will be a lot of photo's after this properly starts as despite being in the world in November there are over 1400 pictures from this trip - oops......
We were in Disney from 12th March to 22nd March - 10 days in the World, Direct flights from the UK and Disney's All Star Sports with park tickets for a total of £2600 a bargain and the reason we went.
so onto the details................
Sunday 11th March
The day before our flight - we woke up and finished packing, it was strange to be packing Mickey ears and shorts in a suitcase, it still felt so unreal and really hadn't sunk in. it was like we were just going through the motions but were watching someone else - it's really hard to describe but you might relate to what I mean?
We normally travel mid week so normally leave work and rush around and then head down to the airport, we took our time, had something to eat and then packed the car and were off.
We were in the car chatting saying that in a few days we'd be on BTMRR but then just kept laughing as if it wasn't real - it honestly felt as if we were going out for the day together or going on an overnight break.
Our journey was pretty quick to Gatwick - we got to the hotel around 4.30pm and lay and rested in our room for an hour.
I watched some of Dancing on Ice - (a TV programme where celebrities learn to Dance on Ice) - Chris finally got fed up of that and went down to the pub next door to the hotel for a beer.
I joined him shortly after for a quick drink and snack and then we both returned to the room for an early night
The bar was far busier than we'd ever seen it but I think that was down to the fact it was Mother's Day.
Monday 12th March
Travel day - for all our Disney trips for the past few years the alarm tune is Shakira "try everything" - the same tune was put on to wake us up this morning and when the alarm did go off we again looked at each other and chuckled almost in disbelief this was actually going to happen.
We got up, showered and then headed for breakfast - in the hotel we stay in you get a free pick up and go breakfast of croissants, bacon rolls, coffee etc.
We packed the car (again) and took the car to the long stay south car park - before we left the cost of staying in the south car park was around £20 cheaper than the north long stay car park and as we were trying to not spend excessively on this holiday we booked the cheap option and decided to take the tram to the North Terminal where the plane was waiting to take us "home"
We arrived to an empty check in - I couldn't check in online (we think due to my brand new passport) so we were grateful for an empty Virgin desk. We headed through security and did a little window shopping and had poached egg on toast for breakfast.
We boarded our plane "pretty woman" and the plane took off with 285 passengers and 16 crew - in November this figures is well over 400 passengers!
I watched a few films on the plane including Coco and really enjoyed it - a great story line and I'm sure that Walt Disney is still living in the after world as I for one often think of him and what he achieved in Disney
We were 6th off the plan but our luggage took ages to arrive - the airport was being updated and there seemed to be fewer luggage belts etc and things hanging over the ceiling as make shift air conditioning units.
We headed out towards the Magical Express - we've never got onto this before and there was a fairly long wait - I'm disappointed that at this stage things still hadn't really sunk in so I didn't take any photo's, that said we didn't get a Magical Express anyway - it was a Mears coach
We arrived at All Star Sports - (for those who know me well will know I've only ever stayed at Riverside, it's my 2nd home and I've spent over 300 nights there but this was a chance to spend 10 additional days at Disney so Riverside was going to have to wait until November) - check in was quick and I have to say all the staff here were so friendly and welcoming - they really do show Disney in a great light
We opted for the no cleaning option and were given $90 - Ice cream money - yay! - those who have read my previous reports will know my thoughts on ice cream - we're more than capable of making our own beds and on keeping things tidy so this was a no brainer for us.
Our room was the furthest away but was still far nearer to the food court etc than any room we've had at Riverside. It didn't seem that far away at all for us. The room was clean, smaller than we're used to but was fine for what we needed.
pm
We literally dumped the bags without even opening them, walked out of the room and went to reception to order a Lyft - it was now 8.34pm (12.34am UK time) but we had shopping to get. We were off to Walmart
Kenneth came to pick us up and we spoke with him about how long we'd been awake but we were going to keep going as we had supplies to get. We joked with him that he might be coming to pick us up if he were lucky!
We picked up water, breakfast bits and chips and ordered another Lyft to take us back to the All stars - would you credit it - Kenneth picked us up and we were back by 10pm
We quickly unpacked and were in bed around 10.30pm after 21 hours awake.
Coming up next our first full day in Disney - and the start of those moments - and a lot of photos!!!!
this was the face I got. Looks like you had another fantastic day and am looking forward (sadly) to the remainder of your report.