Trip Report Something happened on the way to Florida

Howdy one and Y'all
I know it's early for a pre-trip but what the heck i have been counting this down since last year.
This time we have decided to forgo our normal May time slot and venture over the pond in October.
The who ?
Me and Mrs Ferret (Matt and Donna)

Why October ?
Well we wanted to meet up with some friends of ours that are there at that time and we have always wanted to go at halloween time but work has always been an issue.
Well this Christmas i surprised Mrs Ferret with the paperwork on christmas day having already okayed the time off with her boss and sorted out the holiday.
Where ?
We are going back to Port Orleans Riverside as we liked the resort last time and the boat to Downtown Disney Springs is an absolute godsend to us.
Here is the rough breakdown of our planned trip so far,
October 15th . Depart our rock for Gatwick
October 16th . Depart Gatwick for the sunshine state, Get hire car,Check in and proceed to Downtown.
October 17th . Universal Studios daytime . MNSSHP nighttime (no dining reservations)
October 18th . Animal Kingdom.
October 19th . MGM studios ( MSDAHAV )
October 20th .Magic Kingdom (Liberty tree tavern lunch)
October 21st .Animal Kingdom (Boma dinner)
October 22nd . Shopping ( Boma Breakfast)
October 23rd . Universal Studios (dinner at Skipper canteen)
October 24th .EPCOT (Teppan Edo )
October 25th .Magic Kingdom ( Crystal palace breakfast)
October 26th .(Raglan road dinner)
October 27th .MGM (Chef Mickeys breakfast)
October 28th .Magic Kingdom ? ( O'hana dinner)
October 29th .Animal Kingdom/EPCOT (Boma breakfast)
October 30th . Depart Florida
October 31st . Arrive at Gatwick and transfer to rockhopper airlines to get home

All the above is subject to change except the flights.

 

[King Racoon 77]

@Mr Ferret 88 you are such a tease with your tr. Can't wait for the blank posts to fill up.

I have taken them out as i wouldnt have filled them properly. Just going to post as i sort things

 

[King Racoon 77]

Monday 16th October.



Florida here we come.



We woke bright and early

and checked out of the hotel.We headed over to the North terminal and straight through security. Donna got selected to play in the body scanner. Apparently I was ok …

We had a browse around duty free and picked up a few last minute essentials and a new pair of flip flops for Donna as her shoes had decided that they hated her feet.

We stopped briefly for a Hazelnut latte and lemon and Poppyseed muffin before heading over into the one lounge for some peace and quiet and to watch @LieutLaww .s plane land.

Our flight was showing as half an hours delay so we relaxed a bit more only to have it change back to on time ( boarding closing in 20 minutes)

One mad dash all the way to the other side of the terminal and all the way down to gate 561 and we were onboard …

We pushed off at 13:20 UK time and headed into the skies.

 

[LieutLaww]

did you see me wave

 

[Tiggertoo56]

Following along & glad to see the blank pages will eventually be filled even if not as you set out to do them. Riverside in October is my idea of heaven! Next year we'll be at POFQ - had a vote & I lost 3 to 1 . Hope you had a good trip.

 

[Songbird76]

Guess this means @figmentfan423 owes you some legos!!

 

[King Racoon 77]

The journey to Florida Part 2.



We settled down for our flight and perused the options on the inflight entertainment and both settled on Cars 3.

About an hour in as we were over Ireland the captain came over the PA.



“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Due to a smell of smoke in the cabin we are going to have to turn around and return to Gatwick”



Cue the cabin all sniffing and looking puzzled as we couldn’t smell anything. Saftey first however and we were soon headed back East and down to over the channel to jettison some fuel to allow us to land.

When we started circling the smell became very apparent in the cabin to everyone. Then we had this message come over the PA.



“MAYDAY MAYDAY this is flight vs16 to Gatwick Tower please clear the runway as we are coming straight in for an emergency landing”



The entire plane went somewhat silent at this point and remained that way until wheels down on the runway. There was a large cheer and round of applause for being back on terra firma.



We taxied down the runway with a full compliment of blues and twos making sure the plane wasn’t on fire.After getting the all clear we returned to the gate we had taken off from. First class was taken off the plane and firefighters and mechanics came onboard.

There was a lot of planes turned around for the same reason and it was actually smoke in the atmosphere from forest fires in Portugal being blown north by the after effects of hurricane Ophellia.



After about a 2 hour inspection we were given the all clear and the posh people were let back on board. We were re-fuelled and given clearance and sent into the yonder once more.

 

[Pixieish]

The journey to Florida Part 2.



We settled down for our flight and perused the options on the inflight entertainment and both settled on Cars 3.

About an hour in as we were over Ireland the captain came over the PA.



“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Due to a smell of smoke in the cabin we are going to have to turn around and return to Gatwick”



Cue the cabin all sniffing and looking puzzled as we couldn’t smell anything. Saftey first however and we were soon headed back East and down to over the channel to jettison some fuel to allow us to land.

When we started circling the smell became very apparent in the cabin to everyone. Then we had this message come over the PA.



“MAYDAY MAYDAY this is flight vs16 to Gatwick Tower please clear the runway as we are coming straight in for an emergency landing”



The entire plane went somewhat silent at this point and remained that way until wheels down on the runway. There was a large cheer and round of applause for being back on terra firma.



We taxied down the runway with a full compliment of blues and twos making sure the plane wasn’t on fire.After getting the all clear we returned to the gate we had taken off from. First class was taken off the plane and firefighters and mechanics came onboard.
View attachment 246576

There was a lot of planes turned around for the same reason and it was actually smoke in the atmosphere from forest fires in Portugal being blown north by the after effects of hurricane Ophellia.



After about a 2 hour inspection we were given the all clear and the posh people were let back on board. We were re-fuelled and given clearance and sent into the yonder once more.

Thank goodness there was a simple and non-life-threatening explanation!!!

 

[King Racoon 77]

Thank goodness there was a simple and non-life-threatening explanation!!!

And thank goodness we had spare underwear ...

 

[King Racoon 77]

Nearly forgot our Florida songs for this trip.
I will leave it up to you to figure what sort of radio station we had the car programmed to.
This year we had 2 which were on all the time

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Thank goodness your plane wasn't really on fire but that would have been very scary!

 

[Figgy1]

YIKES what did you do to the plane Glad Donna is safe

 

[King Racoon 77]

This was the sun at midday. Taken from my island on the day we were left Gatwick (twice ( so far))

 

[Cesar R M]

The journey to Florida Part 2.



We settled down for our flight and perused the options on the inflight entertainment and both settled on Cars 3.

About an hour in as we were over Ireland the captain came over the PA.



“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Due to a smell of smoke in the cabin we are going to have to turn around and return to Gatwick”



Cue the cabin all sniffing and looking puzzled as we couldn’t smell anything. Saftey first however and we were soon headed back East and down to over the channel to jettison some fuel to allow us to land.

When we started circling the smell became very apparent in the cabin to everyone. Then we had this message come over the PA.



“MAYDAY MAYDAY this is flight vs16 to Gatwick Tower please clear the runway as we are coming straight in for an emergency landing”



The entire plane went somewhat silent at this point and remained that way until wheels down on the runway. There was a large cheer and round of applause for being back on terra firma.



We taxied down the runway with a full compliment of blues and twos making sure the plane wasn’t on fire.After getting the all clear we returned to the gate we had taken off from. First class was taken off the plane and firefighters and mechanics came onboard.
View attachment 246576

There was a lot of planes turned around for the same reason and it was actually smoke in the atmosphere from forest fires in Portugal being blown north by the after effects of hurricane Ophellia.



After about a 2 hour inspection we were given the all clear and the posh people were let back on board. We were re-fuelled and given clearance and sent into the yonder once more.

Wow, from such escare to then being nothing...

better safe than sorry!

 

[Stacey LeDuc]

Yikes the May Day announcement would have me unraveled. Glad it wasn’t the plans.

 

[Bullseye1967]

The journey to Florida Part 2.



We settled down for our flight and perused the options on the inflight entertainment and both settled on Cars 3.

About an hour in as we were over Ireland the captain came over the PA.



“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Due to a smell of smoke in the cabin we are going to have to turn around and return to Gatwick”



Cue the cabin all sniffing and looking puzzled as we couldn’t smell anything. Saftey first however and we were soon headed back East and down to over the channel to jettison some fuel to allow us to land.

When we started circling the smell became very apparent in the cabin to everyone. Then we had this message come over the PA.



“MAYDAY MAYDAY this is flight vs16 to Gatwick Tower please clear the runway as we are coming straight in for an emergency landing”



The entire plane went somewhat silent at this point and remained that way until wheels down on the runway. There was a large cheer and round of applause for being back on terra firma.



We taxied down the runway with a full compliment of blues and twos making sure the plane wasn’t on fire.After getting the all clear we returned to the gate we had taken off from. First class was taken off the plane and firefighters and mechanics came onboard.
View attachment 246576

There was a lot of planes turned around for the same reason and it was actually smoke in the atmosphere from forest fires in Portugal being blown north by the after effects of hurricane Ophellia.



After about a 2 hour inspection we were given the all clear and the posh people were let back on board. We were re-fuelled and given clearance and sent into the yonder once more.

Glad it wasn't the plane. I would be freaking out.

 

[amjt660]

Following along

Max

 

[MinnieM123]

Glad to hear you all made the landing safely, and it turned out nothing was wrong with the plane.

On to happier stories--I'm excited to read about the rest of your vacation!

 

[Gurt]

I am a terrible flyer that message would have had me in serious meltdown glad it wasn't the plane.

 

[93boomer]

OK so this trip report is going to go a little sideways and be part report and part impressions of Disney. This is mostly due to someone not taking notes past the time we arrived in Florida and just enjoying the holiday.



So to the off.



Sunday 15th October

We left our little island Gatwick bound.We boarded our flight through Door-E (a good luck sign perhaps),
View attachment 246530
It was a quiet flight and we soon touched down. The inflight magazine had an advert for trips to Pandora ! We checked into a dayroom at the Yotel .
View attachment 246533 and left the bags there whilst we went to find out where we were going to check in later as Virgin had moved terminals since we booked the holiday.

After a short monorail ride,
View attachment 246534
we found ourselves in the North terminal and discovered what we needed very easily.

We hopped back on the monorail to the south terminal and went and had lunch at Girraffe (a Texan bbq brisket burger each with fries and a Pepsi)
View attachment 246532
. Then a coffee at Cafe Nero
View attachment 246527
.With that taken care of we collected our suitcases and headed over to our hotel for the night, The Bloc.View attachment 246531

We checked in and scoped out the room before heading (with bags) back to the north terminal to check in for tomorrows flight. Once that was done we headed back to our room to relax.

Nice room!!!

 

[93boomer]

The journey to Florida Part 2.



We settled down for our flight and perused the options on the inflight entertainment and both settled on Cars 3.

About an hour in as we were over Ireland the captain came over the PA.



“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Due to a smell of smoke in the cabin we are going to have to turn around and return to Gatwick”



Cue the cabin all sniffing and looking puzzled as we couldn’t smell anything. Saftey first however and we were soon headed back East and down to over the channel to jettison some fuel to allow us to land.

When we started circling the smell became very apparent in the cabin to everyone. Then we had this message come over the PA.



“MAYDAY MAYDAY this is flight vs16 to Gatwick Tower please clear the runway as we are coming straight in for an emergency landing”



The entire plane went somewhat silent at this point and remained that way until wheels down on the runway. There was a large cheer and round of applause for being back on terra firma.



We taxied down the runway with a full compliment of blues and twos making sure the plane wasn’t on fire.After getting the all clear we returned to the gate we had taken off from. First class was taken off the plane and firefighters and mechanics came onboard.
View attachment 246576

There was a lot of planes turned around for the same reason and it was actually smoke in the atmosphere from forest fires in Portugal being blown north by the after effects of hurricane Ophellia.



After about a 2 hour inspection we were given the all clear and the posh people were let back on board. We were re-fuelled and given clearance and sent into the yonder once more.