Nineteen nights of MouseFest, Disney and Christmas - THREAD 1 - UPDATED 1/11 About This Page:

[simbarel]

Virgin Atlantic is so glamorous, and those look like genuine smiles aboard. Hope you make it to Spoodles!

[angiek1024]

Great update! Premium Economy looks wonderful!! Mark's meal looks very yummy. I have never had food on an airline that looked like that!

I am really hoping you made it to Spoodles!!!

[mcc0313]

Great update....sorry though that you had to wait so long for takeoff. However, the extra benefits of your seats looked pretty good...lots of leg room and the meals did look really good (even for plane food...lol)

So now I will go to sleep wondering...did you make Spoodles???

[chezp]

Saturday 8 December – part three: are we going to make it to Spoodles in time for dinner?

Some of the views during the flight:



We think this was a jet of some sort, it was moving so quickly

In Canada or the very northeast corner of America somewhere we think

And finally, coming into land:



We think the big building in the distance could be the Kennedy Space Center?


We finally landed just after 5.00, more than an hour and a quarter behind schedule. As soon as we were clear of immigration and customs (fortunately this time, as Premium Economy passengers, we were one of the first off the plane, so we only waited a few minutes), I contacted Sue to let her know that we had finally arrived. That was when the problems started…

As we had done previously, Mark went to pick up the rental car and I went to get the suitcases (Orlando’s stupid system of making international passengers pick up their luggage twice is very annoying!) The first two arrived quickly enough, but there was just no sign of the third. Mark came back with the details of the rental car and I told him to go and get it and I would catch him up. After all, it couldn’t take much longer, could it?

Well it did – another 15 minutes in total. At that point, I really thought that we would never make the second Spoodles ADR, especially when I finally got to the rental car area, only to find that there had been a problem with the first car Mark had picked up and now he was having to get another one. Could this get much worse? At that point, it didn’t feel like it. I was so glad when we finally got our car and were off.

Once we got going, we were soon on Disney property and checking in at the BoardWalk.


The sign we all love to see!

We were given our room immediately and went to drop the luggage off there before dinner. As we walked to the room, we both commented that the décor was much nicer than we had expected, a good combination of pastel blues and greens. Not what we had expected at all, I don’t know why.

When we got into the room, perhaps it was just me, but it felt a bit bigger than the studios at the Beach Club Villas, obviously nowhere near as big as Old Key West, but again another pleasant surprise.

And then there was the view. We had paid for a BoardWalk / preferred view, so I was anxious to see what we had got and it was lovely. The BoardWalk Christmas tree was right in front of us and off to the right, we could see the lobby area with the BoardWalk to the left of us and ahead of us, the BoardWalk Inn, with Epcot behind. To our left was the lake with our beloved Beach Club behind it (oh and we could see the Yacht Club as well!). We had a superb view of everything in this area. It was just perfect.








We didn’t have long to enjoy it though, the cell phone went off and it was Sue and Steve asking where we were. We told them that we’d be down in the lobby in the next couple of minutes. We raced down there and I don’t think I’ve ever had such a big hug in my life from Sue! I was so pleased to see them both. There really had been points today that I thought we would never make it in time for dinner with them and everyone else.

Next: Steve gives a medical lesson…

[BritDisFan]

Oh my goodness Cheryl, when I read that your third suitcase hadn't turned up I had visions of it being out in the rain back at Gatwick! Thank goodness everything was ok in the end, your room at the Boardwalk looks lovely.

Looking forward to more.

[Lemap760]

I'm very jealous of all the leg room you had. It makes me think twice about booking Air Tran again.

[Colexis Mom]

Wow, what a rough start in the airport Glad you finally made it to the Boardwalk And what a great room and view you have Can't wait to hear all about the hijinks at dinner

[beths3]

Great start to your trip. I would love to spend 19 days in Disney.

[statelady01]

The villas looked lovely! More please!

[MickeyMAC]

Great update, your room and the view are both great. Glad you made it through "everything" at MCO.

[cherylf]

I just caught up on your report. I'm so glad you made it for your dinner. It can be so frustrating to have a shaky start to a trip.

[DrDolphin]

Glad to hear you made it to WDW - even with all the bumps along the way.

[Grammy Grumpy]

Just caught up Cheryl, great TR. Sorry about your delay problems but so glad all the luggage showed up and you got to your happy place. Wish we'd had more time to spend with you and Marc, but looking forward to seeing how your trip turned out.

[nursemom]

I am really enjoying your report so far! My 7 year old son just walked in and asked "Who is that lady on the plane?". I think he thought it was a family member he did not recognize! It was hard for him to understand why I am so interested in reading a "stranger's" trip! Cannot wait for more!!!

[GoofyMom]

Oh Cheryl, please, please hurry up and get to Steve's medical lesson. I'm already having fits of laughter remembering it and his method of drinking sangria!