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

[clio]

Great plans, Cheryl. Have a wonderful time.
Liz

[mcc0313]

What amazing plans.....this is going to be such a wonderful trip.....

Glad you are both feeling better.....cannot wait to read your TR...

have a great trip...

[x2qwk2cx]

I am so excited for you!!! Cannot wait to hear ALL about the trip when you get back!

[WDWJAMBA]

I'm hoping Mark and Ted will ham it up while we can just sit quiet, too!

[chezp]

Well, we're now back - as you've probably seen from my various posts elsewhere in this forum and on the boards in general. Work has been underway on my trip report even while we've been away and I'm pleased to present the first couple of installments for your delight....

[chezp]

Friday 7 December – part one: “we’re off to Disney tomorrow”

Imagine the scene if you will. It’s early in the morning and I mean really early, like before the alarm goes off at 5.30am. Don’t ask me why, excitement I guess, but I’m awake already. As the alarm does sound for the first time, the first words out of my mouth are “we’re off to Disney tomorrow”. Me, excited? Never!

Fast forward through the last day of work, where it’s fair to sat that they were amazed by how much I had prepared for them for while I was away (let’s just say Disney is the best motivator!) and it was soon the evening and we were ready to start off on our epic journey of Christmas fun at Walt Disney World.

We ran a few last errands and finally we were ready to go. It was a quick run up to Gatwick Airport, where we would be spending the night. We had booked a package with valet parking for while we were away and dinner that night. Once the car was safely left with the valet, we checked into the Hilton and were offered an upgrade to a room in the new section of the hotel for just £10, instead of the usual £25 they charge, so we went for that. The room was certainly impressive, although it was quite a walk from the reception area.



Our room - isn't the walk in shower neat?

We made that walk and dropped off our hand luggage, then headed over to the terminal to check in our cases with Virgin Atlantic. There was no line at all, just how we like it.


Look how quiet it was!

All checked in, it was back to the Hilton to get our free dinner and what a great free dinner it was too! The voucher we had entitled us to a three course meal at the Garden Restaurant, but it turned out that it was a buffet with things like asparagus, smoked salmon and shrimps for appetiser, a choice of chicken, salmon and beef for main course and a wonderful selection of desserts. I really couldn’t fault any of the food that we had and we had a fair bit of it!

Having said that, when we got the bill, I could see why it was so good. By accident, they bought out the bill before applying our dining vouchers and it came to £63! The buffet was something like £25 each! Once the dining vouchers were applied, the bill only came to £10 for our drinks. Now that’s much better and how great that the package saved us more than £50 on dinner alone.


Digging into the buffet dinner

The lobby at the Gatwick Hilton

By the time we finished eating, it was coming up for 9.00. We headed back to the room, watching a bit of TV and then it was time for bed.

Next: we’re going to be late leaving

[chezp]

Saturday 8 December – part one: we’re going to be late leaving

We didn’t have a bad night’s sleep. The bed was comfortable, although apparently my pillows were much better than Mark’s, he told me this morning. How he knew that, I’m not quite sure…. I suspect he might have borrowed mine in the night!

We were quickly up and on our way into the airport. The Hilton is linked to the south terminal where we were flying from by a walkway and it’s probably about a five minute walk from the lobby to the security checks.


The Christmas tree at Gatwick

Because we were flying Premium Economy, as opposed to just ordinary Economy class, we were able to go through fast track security. That was probably worth the price of Premium Economy alone. There were only about six other people in line with us and even then, it probably took us about 10 minutes to get through. They were very thorough, we had to take off any shoes, including tennis shoes and belts and they tested the small amounts of liquids that I had with me (well within the 100ml limit). It’s good to see them paying such careful attention.

As soon as we were through security, we went to find breakfast and ended up at a place I knew from up north, Est Est Est. Mark had a full English breakfast, while I went for some fresh fruit with yoghurt. It seems to be my staple diet on flight days. For some reason, maybe nerves or excitement, I always seem to have a slightly upset stomach whenever we fly and again, I needed to settle it.

The best thing about eating here, apart from the good food, was the view. It overlooks the runway and it was so much fun to sit there and watch the planes take off and land. It’s also frightening when you realise how little space there is between planes here. It’s certainly a busy airport.




The view from our table

The restaurant

Our food

After finishing our food, we did some shopping and I got either my birthday or Christmas present, I’m not sure which, an i-pod nano, complete with docking station.


The shopping area at the South terminal

Then it was the dreaded wait for our gate to appear and it was soon obvious that there was something very wrong when we were still waiting for that information at 10.55 and our flight was due to depart 20 minutes later. It was clear we were going to be very late leaving and that’s exactly what happened. When we finally got to our gate, we were told there had been a security alert on another Virgin Atlantic flight and that’s why we were delayed. You know it’s bad when they don’t even bother boarding you in order, they just tell you to head for the doors and get on with it. That means they’re desperate to get everyone on the flight as quickly as possible.

Next: I can’t believe I did that!

[Wendyismyname]

Excellent update my friend! glad to see you're back! Very glad that we got to spend a fabulous day together!!
Anxious about the upcomings!!!!

[disneydani]

Glad you are back home safely....can't wait to hear how everything unfolds.
Your pre-fllight hotel looked quite luxurious. Hope your belly settled, security settled down, and you had a smooth flight over!

danielle

[BritDisFan]

Welcome back and great start Cheryl, your shower at the Hilton looks fab . Looking forward to more.

[Nala]

Welcome back. What a lovely room at the airport! I can't wait to read more.

And, I your new sig picture! I'll be looking forward to reading about your trip to Discovery Cove as one day I hope to take Kiara to it.

[KathyL]

I wish that the airport hotels were as lovely as the one you stayed in. The shower looked amazing.

[jpod523]

great updates!! can't wait to hear about the flight!!!!

[bonphil]

I'm SO glad you've started your TR, I've been looking forward to it!

Your room at the hotel looked very nice.

Hope your flight was okay!

[DrDolphin]

Yeah! You've started - your night at the Hilton sounded wonderful - can't wait to read more.