Florida Holiday January 2015

Hi all yes off on our travels again, this time without the Motorhome but flying to Florida for three weeks.

7/1/15. Wednesday, woke early, 5 am and on the road by5:45 but car really thick with ice so had to spend ten minutes defrosting. The roads were really icy so glad we left early.

Arrived at APH parking without incident about 6:40 then smoothly booked in and on the coach arrived at Gatwick North terminal probably about 7:30. After a little learning curve we negotiated the Self Check-in terminals to print our luggage labels and que'd for bag drop off then security arriving actually in Departure at 08:30 after looking at the food selection on offer we decided on a simple bacon buttie and coffee rather than a full breakfast sitting down at 9:00 for a leisurely time watching the world go by then a wander round the shops then it was soon 10:40 and our flight appeared on the board so a walk to the plane a short wait for boarding and we were sitting in our seats getting ourselves sorted for the nine and a half hour flight.

Arrived Orlando at 16:30 local time and speedily through immigration once we were directed to the fast track terminals, then Homeland Security were extremely polite so swiftly passed them. Unfortunately we had to then part with our cases again while we boarded the shuttle train then had to wait nearly an hour for our cases to arrive again.

Picking up the car from AVIS was fairly slick because we had joined their preference program and she gave us a free upgrade (probably because they didn't have the car we ordered) but she didn't manage to give me a smile, just attitude. Then getting the guy at the gate to note scratches and dents on the car was difficult. With him saying we don't count scratches and minor dents. After what I read on the web I really do not believe it. With the que behind us growing he finally relented and gave us a pink sheet stating that the car had many scratches and dents all over. Finally on the road we then had to pull over and wait for our TomTom to get a satelite fix after being moved three thousand miles. Finally with the GPS directing we drove the thirty minutes to our friends house to a great welcome and a meal and a large glass of wine. Then a very good nights sleep after a 23 hour day awake.

THURSDAY 8th January, Rob and Natilee had told us where to go at Disney and have a good look around without tickets, where to park for free and to visit the various hotel attractions and we had a really good day riding the buses and wandering around the shops. We visited Animal Kingdom Lodge which has Zebra, Giraffe and many other African animals wandering around in the grounds. Unfortunately the weather was very cold but we had a great day.

FRIDAY 9th January, went with Rob again to Disney this time entering by the Staff Entrance which obviously the locals all know about so no entrance or parking fee and this time spent most of the day riding the monorail trains into more of the variously themed hotels. The whole site is vast and probably the greatest money making machine on earth but every possible whim of the guests are catered for in a very slick way. Another very enjoyable day getting to know Disney without actually going into any of the attractions yet.