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The plans for this holiday started over 12 months ago when I decided I wanted to have a special holiday with my family that we would always remember, so I went over to Ireland to chat to them about this, initially they wanted to go to Australia and do the sites, after a lot of discussion it was agreed that it would be too much with the time that we had available, in the end Disney in Orlando was where we chose.
The next thing to sort out was when did we go, well, what with the girls exams, my son's exams in relation to his apprenticeship as well as his training, the time to make all the necessary arrangements, finally it was agreed early June would be a good time for us all. The family then felt it would be a good idea to invite my friend Anne, who the girls treated as their big sister, so I contacted her and she was quite agreeable, in fact she was quite looking forward to it.
Well, it should now have been all plain sailing, particularly because Debbie and her family had been there many times, has had other friends, so with that wealth of knowledge all we had to do was book it, not quite, we looked at packages, we explored doing independently, we talked about staying at Disney, then what about staying in a house, where did we want to visit, were there other things we should be doing when we went on the trip.
What I decided to do, was to have a read of various books, so when on holiday last year I went through the unofficial guide to Disney from cover to cover, then started to realise the enormity of the task, so at Christmas when I went to visit the family I spent some time trying to sort out which was the best way to do it so we got the most pleasure, that didn't work out quite as I hoped, because how can five people with different agendas agree without a lot of debate.
The next obstacle was that Anne started to have health problems, that needed investigating, which slowed down the whole process, at the time I thought we would have a swift resolution and then get on with the task, so started to look out different types of packages and in the end it seemed the best thing to do, was to rent a house, hire a car, make at Ace Travel flying there, and the purchase of the Disney tickets and any others we required over the Internet, sadly despite all the time we spent, the whole thing became more and more complicated.
Sadly after a period of time we realised that Anne would be unable to come with us, but this did not leave us that much time to sort out all the arrangements, in the end I went to Sue at Ace Travel 2 who I had used in the past to book holidays, she spent a lot of time and effort and finally came up with a package that met all of our needs, that is flights, car hire, accommodation, with a suggestion that we book the Disney tickets and buy any others as and when we required them, at a price that was within my budget.
I forgot to say because my family were not seasoned travellers, I felt it better that we all travel from the same starting point and Dublin seemed to be the best place, so I arranged for a flight from home to Dublin on the way out and the reverse coming back, also because we had left it so late we had a flight change at Gatwick going out and returning, which would obviously make it a much longer journey.
There was all sorts of discussion was all sorts of discussion over the telephone about the arrangements and eventually we had the Visas, passports, vouchers for the accommodation, car and Disney tickets so we were now ready for our trip.
Well I set off to the airport, and the first problem was my baggage was overweight with Ryanair, so that cost £30 before even started, the flight to Dublin was okay and I met with family staying with them overnight, then the next morning at 3.30am we set off to the airport, on arrival we checked in, sadly most places were closed so we just sat round until it was time to board the plane, the trip to Gatwick was uneventful, I had asked for help because of my walking problems when I reached Gatwick, which was provided, the only problem was that it split the group, we should have met at the monorail but unfortunately this did not occur.
It then took approximately an hour to find out where the family had got to and meet up again, this was because they had gone a different route and travelled through security with my boarding card so I was stuck on the wrong side of the barrier, fortunately due to a kind member of staff eventually we met up again and boarded the plane, sadly due to an unpleasant man sat in front of me who reclined his seat with no consideration of me, causing me acute pain in my spine, when I tried to explain all he wanted to do was to have a fight, I decided the best thing to do was to move seat with the help of one of the stewards which solved the matter.
8/6/2009 The flight otherwise was uneventful and eventually we reached Orlando, I forgot to say previously that at the last minute the tour company had changed car hire companies from Alamo to Hertz, unfortunately Hertz did not have an office at the airport so we had to catch a bus to their depot then wait some considerable time before finally being sorted out, well nearly, because when the documentation was finished, I expected some kind person to show us the various controls on the vehicle, this only happened because I found a nice kind person who understood all the electrical controls, my son volunteered to drive, we managed to work out how to use the satellite navigation so off we went to the house.
Helpfully the owners had given the code we needed to get into the estate and then the house, I forgot to say that the MPV was a marvellous vehicle with air conditioning throughout maintaining 75 degrees when it was 95 outside, plus we later discovered even the seats were air conditioned (what bliss) so we were worried how warm the house would be, we opened the door and inside it was beautiful plus air-conditioned throughout, we went round the house exploring and deciding which rooms each of us would have, we discovered the outside pool and whirlpool, before we settled we decided to go to the local supermarket Wal-Mart for some shopping guided by the satellite navigation. What a surprise there were lots of food that we used over here, I was very brave & bought some Grits thinking they were a form of porridge. Again the heat was tremendous outside, at the supermarket we stocked up on food and returned exhausted and had a relaxing evening at the house,
When had recovered later went to Animal Kingdom to get the tickets, went to motor tax office & obtained disabled badge for car, which was best buy of the holiday at $15, then off to Subway & had a 12 inch one, (what a lot of decisions to make council a sandwich), then back to the pool, what bliss after all the travelling
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9/6/2009 It was Vickis birthday today, so after breakfast and opening her birthday cards we went to Magic Kingdom to celebrate, first thing we found was it was a 20 mile trip, then at the toll booth we had no change and it was unmanned (still waiting to see if get charged) then on to Disney, first we had to pay for the car park, luckily because of the disabled badge we were able to go to the front, then a short walk to either the monorail or ferry, we decided the most exciting was the ferry so quickly boarded, whilst on the boat fireworks went off in the distance and we finally saw Cinderellas Castle.
At long last we were there, sadly not quite so, first we had to go through a baggage check, then we went to get a special badge for Vickis birthday and found out that she was entitled to a special card giving her $65 to spend on Disney products, we went through the barrier and into main square, then finally we hit Main Street where we could see the Palace in the distance, but where are all these people come from LOL, so now the adventure began.
Hang on a minute, what about my scooter, I had to sort that out at $45 per day, but so.JPG)
comfortable & no walking at all
The girls wanted to go on certain rides that were far too hair raising for the rest of us, more sedately we went to the nice air-conditioned shows that were very enjoyable, the next ride the girls wanted to go on broke down for over an hour, so we stood about in the sun waiting for them, it must have been over 90°, eventually the ride worked, the party split up for some time and we had various adventures in the course of the day, oh sorry I forgot to say about the parades, these occurred at regular intervals and were truly amazing with the dancing and singing as well as the marvellous floats, it really was magic & staff often would wish Vicki a happy birthday.
Later we went to Crystal Palace for a meal & met Winnie The Poo, Tigger Eyehoe & Piglet who were happy to have photos taken with the girls, then somehow we got split up again, but saw the illuminated procession, followed by the fireworks over the castle, truly a magic experience, then off home but hang on I have never seen so many people in one place at the same time, I could not believe how Disney managed to deal with us all, even on the monorail that we used to get back to the car, what a relief to have air conditioning
Forgot to say in the parks food & drink was dear, but there were plenty of drinking fountains & we had water bottles that we replenished to avoid dehydration.
10/6/2009 A more relaxing day at the house, spent time in the pool, playing pool & air hockey, later went to Lawlers, tool warehouse, Paul was the happiest I had seen him so far, with all these amazing tools (each to their own)
11/6/2009 Today went to Animal Kingdom, went on safari, saw all sorts of shows, sadly I had by now found they were a good place for me to fall asleep for a while in the scooter seat however good the show was, staff were very good with people with disabilities, later saw more parades, then in the evening another parade & the fireworks (not quite as good as others) then exhausted back to house to relax.
12/6/2009 Had easy morning then off to find shopping outlets,( never found that day), but found Downtown Disney & all the famous shops there so spent time exploring them
13/6/2009 Went to Epcot today, much more spacious & my favourite was Expedition Earth, which if you go you must visit at least once, saw variety of shows, but was to big to visit all, by now we had learnt to pace ourselves & went back to house for a break for a few hours, in the evening there were more fireworks (I thought the most beautiful of those I saw) went for meal at real diner, could not believe the size of the portions & drinks.
14/6/2009 We were all tired out today, so spent easy day at the house watching TV or in the pool, tried to master Li Lo with no success played in the pool & did some sun bathing, felt we all needed this break to restore energy from all the heat & activity
15/6/2009 Today went to MGM Studios, on reflection think for me was most interesting, with the movie backlots, with copies of famous streets, such as that in San Francisco, the back lot tour with exploding sets & hair raising car chases as well as the shows.
16/6/2009 Today party split some wanted to rest & the others to go to Space Kennedy, hang on someone had forgotten to mention it was 75 mile trip each way, umm, I enjoyed the trip but was totally exhausted due to no scooter, again fell asleep in show, others felt would of liked to spend much more time there, on the way back saw real alligator at side of the road, luckily was only small young one LOL.JPG)
17/6/2009 Today was a totally different experience, at long last we went to the shopping malls, the one we visited had 160 shops, we visited most, sadly I could not see anything I wanted, LOL, also had a look at tool/ DIY places, , but no photography shops at all, nor book or electronic ones for me to enjoy myself in, the air con in them was great but so hot outside, I had my first real beef burger in one of the food places. Later we returned to the house & spent the rest of the day playing in the pool.
18/6/2009 Today it was Seaworld we visited, the highlight was seeing the Shamu show, with him & the others, showing off with their trainers, it was one of the highlights of the whole holiday for me, but why did so many off the audience want to get soaked by the waves created, girls found ride they really liked but then the rain started, so they were unable to go on, we waited for a while but no luck so, off to another shopping mall & more shopping, Son found pair of steel toe capped boots which he bought ( hope they fit) then later returned & saw more & grand daughters went on one of the scariest rides I have ever seen in my life. Finally we stayed to watch the fireworks, which were totally spectacular.
19/6/2009 Today was my birthday, previously we had agreed that we would have a relaxing day followed by a meal out followed by a visit to Magic Kingdom for the evening lights & fireworks, well that what happened and truly was lovely to be with the family in a relaxed setting, went for nice meal out finished with carrot cake but unfortunately nobody else likes it so was forced to eat it all on my own LOL.
20/6/2009 Today it was sad we decided to sort the house out ready for leaving the following day, then spent some time in the pool again, later back to Epcot yet again for the evening celebrations.
21/6/2009 Today left for home, had to leave car, think son would of taken it home if he could, went through security & all those other things at the airport, flight was overnight, sadly D.I.L had similar problem to me with person reclining the seat causing her problems, at London, no problems this time, but all exhausted. Final leg of trip for family to Dublin, everyone went off to sleep for hours, sadly I couldent until night time.
22/6/2009 Last little section for me to travel back home, was uneventful, then had to sort out washing & shopping, catch up on correspondence, it seems almost a dream had happened for the last two weeks.
Well what are the things I remember
The intense heat, the parades, the crowds, the fireworks, to much fast food, Shamu, the fun with the family, the pool, the size of the parks, the expressions on grandchildren’s faces when they met the characters at Crystal Palace, so, so many more things it would take pages to write in detail, but above all a fantastic holiday with my family, hopefully that none of us will ever forget.+(2).JPG)
The next thing to sort out was when did we go, well, what with the girls exams, my son's exams in relation to his apprenticeship as well as his training, the time to make all the necessary arrangements, finally it was agreed early June would be a good time for us all. The family then felt it would be a good idea to invite my friend Anne, who the girls treated as their big sister, so I contacted her and she was quite agreeable, in fact she was quite looking forward to it.
Well, it should now have been all plain sailing, particularly because Debbie and her family had been there many times, has had other friends, so with that wealth of knowledge all we had to do was book it, not quite, we looked at packages, we explored doing independently, we talked about staying at Disney, then what about staying in a house, where did we want to visit, were there other things we should be doing when we went on the trip.
What I decided to do, was to have a read of various books, so when on holiday last year I went through the unofficial guide to Disney from cover to cover, then started to realise the enormity of the task, so at Christmas when I went to visit the family I spent some time trying to sort out which was the best way to do it so we got the most pleasure, that didn't work out quite as I hoped, because how can five people with different agendas agree without a lot of debate.
The next obstacle was that Anne started to have health problems, that needed investigating, which slowed down the whole process, at the time I thought we would have a swift resolution and then get on with the task, so started to look out different types of packages and in the end it seemed the best thing to do, was to rent a house, hire a car, make at Ace Travel flying there, and the purchase of the Disney tickets and any others we required over the Internet, sadly despite all the time we spent, the whole thing became more and more complicated.
Sadly after a period of time we realised that Anne would be unable to come with us, but this did not leave us that much time to sort out all the arrangements, in the end I went to Sue at Ace Travel 2 who I had used in the past to book holidays, she spent a lot of time and effort and finally came up with a package that met all of our needs, that is flights, car hire, accommodation, with a suggestion that we book the Disney tickets and buy any others as and when we required them, at a price that was within my budget.
I forgot to say because my family were not seasoned travellers, I felt it better that we all travel from the same starting point and Dublin seemed to be the best place, so I arranged for a flight from home to Dublin on the way out and the reverse coming back, also because we had left it so late we had a flight change at Gatwick going out and returning, which would obviously make it a much longer journey.
There was all sorts of discussion was all sorts of discussion over the telephone about the arrangements and eventually we had the Visas, passports, vouchers for the accommodation, car and Disney tickets so we were now ready for our trip.
Well I set off to the airport, and the first problem was my baggage was overweight with Ryanair, so that cost £30 before even started, the flight to Dublin was okay and I met with family staying with them overnight, then the next morning at 3.30am we set off to the airport, on arrival we checked in, sadly most places were closed so we just sat round until it was time to board the plane, the trip to Gatwick was uneventful, I had asked for help because of my walking problems when I reached Gatwick, which was provided, the only problem was that it split the group, we should have met at the monorail but unfortunately this did not occur.
It then took approximately an hour to find out where the family had got to and meet up again, this was because they had gone a different route and travelled through security with my boarding card so I was stuck on the wrong side of the barrier, fortunately due to a kind member of staff eventually we met up again and boarded the plane, sadly due to an unpleasant man sat in front of me who reclined his seat with no consideration of me, causing me acute pain in my spine, when I tried to explain all he wanted to do was to have a fight, I decided the best thing to do was to move seat with the help of one of the stewards which solved the matter.
8/6/2009 The flight otherwise was uneventful and eventually we reached Orlando, I forgot to say previously that at the last minute the tour company had changed car hire companies from Alamo to Hertz, unfortunately Hertz did not have an office at the airport so we had to catch a bus to their depot then wait some considerable time before finally being sorted out, well nearly, because when the documentation was finished, I expected some kind person to show us the various controls on the vehicle, this only happened because I found a nice kind person who understood all the electrical controls, my son volunteered to drive, we managed to work out how to use the satellite navigation so off we went to the house.
Helpfully the owners had given the code we needed to get into the estate and then the house, I forgot to say that the MPV was a marvellous vehicle with air conditioning throughout maintaining 75 degrees when it was 95 outside, plus we later discovered even the seats were air conditioned (what bliss) so we were worried how warm the house would be, we opened the door and inside it was beautiful plus air-conditioned throughout, we went round the house exploring and deciding which rooms each of us would have, we discovered the outside pool and whirlpool, before we settled we decided to go to the local supermarket Wal-Mart for some shopping guided by the satellite navigation. What a surprise there were lots of food that we used over here, I was very brave & bought some Grits thinking they were a form of porridge. Again the heat was tremendous outside, at the supermarket we stocked up on food and returned exhausted and had a relaxing evening at the house,
When had recovered later went to Animal Kingdom to get the tickets, went to motor tax office & obtained disabled badge for car, which was best buy of the holiday at $15, then off to Subway & had a 12 inch one, (what a lot of decisions to make council a sandwich), then back to the pool, what bliss after all the travelling
.JPG)
9/6/2009 It was Vickis birthday today, so after breakfast and opening her birthday cards we went to Magic Kingdom to celebrate, first thing we found was it was a 20 mile trip, then at the toll booth we had no change and it was unmanned (still waiting to see if get charged) then on to Disney, first we had to pay for the car park, luckily because of the disabled badge we were able to go to the front, then a short walk to either the monorail or ferry, we decided the most exciting was the ferry so quickly boarded, whilst on the boat fireworks went off in the distance and we finally saw Cinderellas Castle.At long last we were there, sadly not quite so, first we had to go through a baggage check, then we went to get a special badge for Vickis birthday and found out that she was entitled to a special card giving her $65 to spend on Disney products, we went through the barrier and into main square, then finally we hit Main Street where we could see the Palace in the distance, but where are all these people come from LOL, so now the adventure began.
Hang on a minute, what about my scooter, I had to sort that out at $45 per day, but so
.JPG)
comfortable & no walking at allThe girls wanted to go on certain rides that were far too hair raising for the rest of us, more sedately we went to the nice air-conditioned shows that were very enjoyable, the next ride the girls wanted to go on broke down for over an hour, so we stood about in the sun waiting for them, it must have been over 90°, eventually the ride worked, the party split up for some time and we had various adventures in the course of the day, oh sorry I forgot to say about the parades, these occurred at regular intervals and were truly amazing with the dancing and singing as well as the marvellous floats, it really was magic & staff often would wish Vicki a happy birthday.
Later we went to Crystal Palace for a meal & met Winnie The Poo, Tigger Eyehoe & Piglet who were happy to have photos taken with the girls, then somehow we got split up again, but saw the illuminated procession, followed by the fireworks over the castle, truly a magic experience, then off home but hang on I have never seen so many people in one place at the same time, I could not believe how Disney managed to deal with us all, even on the monorail that we used to get back to the car, what a relief to have air conditioning
Forgot to say in the parks food & drink was dear, but there were plenty of drinking fountains & we had water bottles that we replenished to avoid dehydration.
10/6/2009 A more relaxing day at the house, spent time in the pool, playing pool & air hockey, later went to Lawlers, tool warehouse, Paul was the happiest I had seen him so far, with all these amazing tools (each to their own)
11/6/2009 Today went to Animal Kingdom, went on safari, saw all sorts of shows, sadly I had by now found they were a good place for me to fall asleep for a while in the scooter seat however good the show was, staff were very good with people with disabilities, later saw more parades, then in the evening another parade & the fireworks (not quite as good as others) then exhausted back to house to relax.
12/6/2009 Had easy morning then off to find shopping outlets,( never found that day), but found Downtown Disney & all the famous shops there so spent time exploring them
13/6/2009 Went to Epcot today, much more spacious & my favourite was Expedition Earth, which if you go you must visit at least once, saw variety of shows, but was to big to visit all, by now we had learnt to pace ourselves & went back to house for a break for a few hours, in the evening there were more fireworks (I thought the most beautiful of those I saw) went for meal at real diner, could not believe the size of the portions & drinks.
14/6/2009 We were all tired out today, so spent easy day at the house watching TV or in the pool, tried to master Li Lo with no success played in the pool & did some sun bathing, felt we all needed this break to restore energy from all the heat & activity
15/6/2009 Today went to MGM Studios, on reflection think for me was most interesting, with the movie backlots, with copies of famous streets, such as that in San Francisco, the back lot tour with exploding sets & hair raising car chases as well as the shows.
16/6/2009 Today party split some wanted to rest & the others to go to Space Kennedy, hang on someone had forgotten to mention it was 75 mile trip each way, umm, I enjoyed the trip but was totally exhausted due to no scooter, again fell asleep in show, others felt would of liked to spend much more time there, on the way back saw real alligator at side of the road, luckily was only small young one LOL
.JPG)
17/6/2009 Today was a totally different experience, at long last we went to the shopping malls, the one we visited had 160 shops, we visited most, sadly I could not see anything I wanted, LOL, also had a look at tool/ DIY places, , but no photography shops at all, nor book or electronic ones for me to enjoy myself in, the air con in them was great but so hot outside, I had my first real beef burger in one of the food places. Later we returned to the house & spent the rest of the day playing in the pool.
18/6/2009 Today it was Seaworld we visited, the highlight was seeing the Shamu show, with him & the others, showing off with their trainers, it was one of the highlights of the whole holiday for me, but why did so many off the audience want to get soaked by the waves created, girls found ride they really liked but then the rain started, so they were unable to go on, we waited for a while but no luck so, off to another shopping mall & more shopping, Son found pair of steel toe capped boots which he bought ( hope they fit) then later returned & saw more & grand daughters went on one of the scariest rides I have ever seen in my life. Finally we stayed to watch the fireworks, which were totally spectacular.
19/6/2009 Today was my birthday, previously we had agreed that we would have a relaxing day followed by a meal out followed by a visit to Magic Kingdom for the evening lights & fireworks, well that what happened and truly was lovely to be with the family in a relaxed setting, went for nice meal out finished with carrot cake but unfortunately nobody else likes it so was forced to eat it all on my own LOL.
20/6/2009 Today it was sad we decided to sort the house out ready for leaving the following day, then spent some time in the pool again, later back to Epcot yet again for the evening celebrations.
21/6/2009 Today left for home, had to leave car, think son would of taken it home if he could, went through security & all those other things at the airport, flight was overnight, sadly D.I.L had similar problem to me with person reclining the seat causing her problems, at London, no problems this time, but all exhausted. Final leg of trip for family to Dublin, everyone went off to sleep for hours, sadly I couldent until night time.
22/6/2009 Last little section for me to travel back home, was uneventful, then had to sort out washing & shopping, catch up on correspondence, it seems almost a dream had happened for the last two weeks.
Well what are the things I remember
The intense heat, the parades, the crowds, the fireworks, to much fast food, Shamu, the fun with the family, the pool, the size of the parks, the expressions on grandchildren’s faces when they met the characters at Crystal Palace, so, so many more things it would take pages to write in detail, but above all a fantastic holiday with my family, hopefully that none of us will ever forget.
+(2).JPG)
I hope you have enjoyed the read & that maybe if you have not been will consider going & becoming a child if only for a short time, with experiances you will never forget
