UK Valerie
TRUST NO-ONE
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2002
Two & Two Kids , please ! Day 1 The Journey Starts
Here!!
Background Info!
Mike 40 ....ish
Juliet 21 ...an age my DW has been comfortable with for 15 years now!
Emilia 9 ....quiet, but a demon for thrill rides
Callum 7 ....NOT quiet !
After 3 years of villa hols. in Portugal I decided...sorry WE decided... that the
kids were the right age to appreciate Florida ...and handle a long flight. Plans
started being made in January 2000, we decided to go fly-drive and book a villa
...the prospect of 2 weeks in a hotel room with 2 kids did NOT appeal to me .At
this point I have to say that without the help of Janice and many others in the
Dis group and Simon's brilliant book we would not have had the right info. to
enjoy this holiday as much as we did ...a big THANK YOU !!!
Anyway on to business......we were booked to fly out from Newcastle Airport on
Saturday 25-11-00 at 12.20p.m. I packed for me and Callum , easy job ! Bag
full of t-shirts and shorts in 2 minutes on Thursday night.....the girls seemed to
be packing continuously for the preceding 4 days !
We were taken to the airport by a good friend , since we'd pre-booked the seats
we arrived an hour before the flight, checked in and I bought the coffees and
coke while DW decided to buy enough magazines to qualify for excess baggage!
The flight with Britannia was uneventful with one major change to our usual
experience of flying ...my DD suffers very badly from ear problems on
airplanes....however after tips from the DisUK board we took a supply of Karvol
and Earplanes ..the little plug-type things you put in your ears before taking off
and landing.Well, this was a raging success...No problems at all!!!! This was a
first and Emilia was so pleased , the poor darling expects pain the second we
take off and she looked very apprehensive, even though the prospect of 2 pieces
of plastic in her ear was a bit "uncool".We also did the Karvol and hot water
bit......and for the first time in her life she enjoyed the whole journey!!!
On arriving at Orlando Int.we went through the rigmarole I had been warned to
expect with the double baggage handling but it was fairly painless .The only
funny bit was the Customs people who kept sending folk to the back of the
queue for not completing the visa waiver forms out correctly, it was like being
back at school, luckily we were ok!
Picked up our car at Dollar, no hassle at all. Then out onto a dark rainy night in
Orlando to drive on strange roads with directions that quickly made no sense at
all...during the next 45 minutes my children very nearly learned some new
adjectives!
Eventually found our villa at Kissimmee, did the boring unpacking bit ...4
seconds for the boys ...a while longer for the girls(!)
Had a cup of tea ,hey we're British... while the kids fought over who was having
which bedroom. By now it was was 8.30 Florida time ...we'd turned our watches
back on the plane ..another tip from DisUK..
Take-away time !! Chinese for us and MacDonalds for the kids ..no surprises
there!! Callum just about ran down the batteries on the T.V.remote control
flicking through 50 + channels continuously...luckily for him he recognises an
evil look from his dad and stopped to inspect the dent in his thumb " remote
control syndrome ! "
We decided retiring to bed for some well-deserved sleep might be a good idea
since it was now after 10 p.m. DW was excited by the prospect of my rash
promise that we would spend our first full day,Sunday, shopping.....she'd
decided after studying various reports on the board that the Florida Mall was to
our first port of call on this holiday, while I considered the wisdom of this
move,oh if only I knew.......To be Continued
Mike
Here!!
Background Info!
Mike 40 ....ish
Juliet 21 ...an age my DW has been comfortable with for 15 years now!
Emilia 9 ....quiet, but a demon for thrill rides
Callum 7 ....NOT quiet !
After 3 years of villa hols. in Portugal I decided...sorry WE decided... that the
kids were the right age to appreciate Florida ...and handle a long flight. Plans
started being made in January 2000, we decided to go fly-drive and book a villa
...the prospect of 2 weeks in a hotel room with 2 kids did NOT appeal to me .At
this point I have to say that without the help of Janice and many others in the
Dis group and Simon's brilliant book we would not have had the right info. to
enjoy this holiday as much as we did ...a big THANK YOU !!!
Anyway on to business......we were booked to fly out from Newcastle Airport on
Saturday 25-11-00 at 12.20p.m. I packed for me and Callum , easy job ! Bag
full of t-shirts and shorts in 2 minutes on Thursday night.....the girls seemed to
be packing continuously for the preceding 4 days !
We were taken to the airport by a good friend , since we'd pre-booked the seats
we arrived an hour before the flight, checked in and I bought the coffees and
coke while DW decided to buy enough magazines to qualify for excess baggage!
The flight with Britannia was uneventful with one major change to our usual
experience of flying ...my DD suffers very badly from ear problems on
airplanes....however after tips from the DisUK board we took a supply of Karvol
and Earplanes ..the little plug-type things you put in your ears before taking off
and landing.Well, this was a raging success...No problems at all!!!! This was a
first and Emilia was so pleased , the poor darling expects pain the second we
take off and she looked very apprehensive, even though the prospect of 2 pieces
of plastic in her ear was a bit "uncool".We also did the Karvol and hot water
bit......and for the first time in her life she enjoyed the whole journey!!!
On arriving at Orlando Int.we went through the rigmarole I had been warned to
expect with the double baggage handling but it was fairly painless .The only
funny bit was the Customs people who kept sending folk to the back of the
queue for not completing the visa waiver forms out correctly, it was like being
back at school, luckily we were ok!
Picked up our car at Dollar, no hassle at all. Then out onto a dark rainy night in
Orlando to drive on strange roads with directions that quickly made no sense at
all...during the next 45 minutes my children very nearly learned some new
adjectives!
Eventually found our villa at Kissimmee, did the boring unpacking bit ...4
seconds for the boys ...a while longer for the girls(!)
Had a cup of tea ,hey we're British... while the kids fought over who was having
which bedroom. By now it was was 8.30 Florida time ...we'd turned our watches
back on the plane ..another tip from DisUK..
Take-away time !! Chinese for us and MacDonalds for the kids ..no surprises
there!! Callum just about ran down the batteries on the T.V.remote control
flicking through 50 + channels continuously...luckily for him he recognises an
evil look from his dad and stopped to inspect the dent in his thumb " remote
control syndrome ! "
We decided retiring to bed for some well-deserved sleep might be a good idea
since it was now after 10 p.m. DW was excited by the prospect of my rash
promise that we would spend our first full day,Sunday, shopping.....she'd
decided after studying various reports on the board that the Florida Mall was to
our first port of call on this holiday, while I considered the wisdom of this
move,oh if only I knew.......To be Continued
Mike
