Although I have been a member on here for some time, I have never done a trip report. In hindsight I wish I had kept some notes, but nevertheless I'll do my best relying on memory. If anyone has any specific questions I would be pleased to try and answer them.
We flew Thomson Premium from Newcastle on Friday 14th May. We arrived at the airport three hours before the flight as advised. Premium has a separate queue (line) but on this occassion we were let down by Thomson. Normally this line moves really quickly as there are a limited number of passengers to be checked in. We were in the queue about 75 mins and the regular line moved much quicker. There was only one person on this check-in desk and we checked in behind 10 golfers who all had to be checked in separately, and the girl had to keep leaving the desk to tag the clubs which did not go on the luggage belt but had to be taken to a special area. After eventually getting checked-in we went to the executive lounge which we only had a short time to enjoy due to the slow check-in. When we boarded I realised our two seats were in the centre ailse. I had booked two window seats on line so I asked a crew member what had happened and was informed that the plane had been changed. This meant that there were only 31 Premium seats instead of the 51 there should have been. I later found out that 20 people had been informed of this by Thomson over two weeks previously and had been refunded for PE on the outgoing flight. I was disgusted that we weren't told until we went to find our seats. Sadly we were sat next to a man who didn't give one jot about the exrtremely bad behaviour of his children who sat in front of us with his wife. The parents of John-Paul should feel ashamed, but I will not go into that any further. The reason we had been so long at check-in was because the other 20 passengers still had their PE tickets and used the PE check-in, but instead of two people to check-us in, Thomson had only provded one, hence the delay. The actual service once on board was very good. We had a pre-take off drink and they came around with drinks as soon as the seat belt signs were off. We took off at 9.15am and we were served our lunch at 11.30am! The choice was chicken or beef. It was OK, nothing special. Drinks were served regularly without having to ask and we also got pre-packed sandwiches etc and ice cream later in the afternoon.
We arrived at Sanford on time and were quickly thought immigration. Our car was booked with Budget (first time with them) and we found them easlly. You come out of the baggage reclaim hall and turn right and they are just a few doors up. It was much less of a walk than getting to Alamo last year. I went in to collect the car and was asked if I wanted to prepay the petrol. I asked how much and it was $43 which was much less than the extra £60 it would have cost me to pay for it on the original booking. We were allocated a Ford Focus located in a small car park quite near. It was more than big enough for two of us and we got two very large holdalls and two pieces of hand luggage in it with no problem. I use a mobility walker and it went in the back of the car without any problem. We set off for the 417 down to Kissimmee to collect our key from Hotelbeds welcome centre. I found this easily as I had looked it up on google and I would suggest anyone else who has to go here does the same as you could easily miss it.
We collected our keys for a townhouse at Club Cortile (knew the subdivision but didn't know exactly which house). Found it without any problem. They had given us a FOUR bed instead of the THREE bed we had booked. As there was only the two of us we could have played musical beds! The house was only about two years old and everything was in good condition except that the carpet had a lot of marks on it and really should have been cleaned before guests went in. The clubhouse and pool were just outside the back of the house, but apart from having a brief look at them we didn't have time to use any of the facilities. To be honest the house was just a base. We dumped our bags and went off to get shopping (breakfast items etc) and as we were tired we got some cooked chicken, cheese, crackers etc and just had a pick at it before going off to bed. Next day I was very stiff from the flight so spent most the day recovering! We did visit the Super Target at the bottom of the road and we had dinner at Applebees. They do a two for $20 which included a starter to share. I had steak and hubby had a chicken dish. As I wasn't driving a had a couple of their special 'Ritas' and hubby had the two for one beer. Check was $48, so quite reasonably. On Sunday we got up early and drove to Boggy Creek for the airboat ride. We had never done this before and it was different. We only saw one gator but we saw lots of different birds and it was a nice change from the theme parks. There is a campground there and we caught the end of a 'POW-WOW'. It was nice to look around and listen to the music. Later that afternoon we went and had a look at Historic Kissimmee (didn't even know this existed). Not a lot to look at, some quaint houses and a very nice courthouse. We wandered round the lake and ate icecream. I wasn't particularly hungry so we popped into CiCi's pizza and I picked at a bit of pizza and salad while he-who-must-be-fed stuffed his face! We had a voucher so it was really cheap, about $12 including sodas.
On Monday we went to Gatorland. We'be been going to Florida since 1992 and had never been here. I was suprised by this park, and I have to say I really enjoyed it. Afterwards we went to the Florida Mall which is only a few minutes away. It was raining when we came out but this soon went off. Ate at Olive Garden which was very nice but very busy.
Tuesday morning we were up and out early and set off for Saint Augustine. Traffic was busy and it took us 2 1/2 hours from Kissimmee (about 125 miles). It was lovely and a refreshing change from what we normally do when in Florida. We visited the Fort ($12) and took the trolley tour ($30) around the historical sites. My husband kept joking that he had teeth older than some of the historical sites we visited, but this is only because our local church was built in 675 AD and he can't get used to hisory that is so 'young'! I decided I didn't want to drive home and we got a room at the Comfort Inn and Suites for $89 plus tax. It was extremely clean and comfortable and included continental breakfast. We drove home the following day and called in to the Premium outlets on our way back. We had dinner at Imperium, a bistro typle place, in Celebration. Used a voucher from Restaurant.com so the bill was only $20! I did take a wrong turn coming out of the restaurant and got myself lost in Celebration while my TomTom was sat laughing at me back in our townhouse.
Thurday we went to Walmart (got some really nice towels) and visited the Flea Market on the 192. This has lost a lot of traders and was basically full of tat, although we did get some 'designer' sunglasses for $10! Also visited the outlet mall at Lake Buena vista as it was only a few minutes away from us. On the evening we went to Arabian Nights dinner show using tickets purchased before we left for £19 each. As the door price is $67 this was good saving. The food is OK, not great, not bad. Salad, followed by a choice of steak, burger, chicken etc and a dessert. We had brownies. They served beer, wine and sodas which were included. The show was much improved from my last visit there and reminded me of our first visit in 1992. As our server realised we were oversees visitors he left us a little card which suggessted a $5 tip per person which I thought was a very reasonable request. The people on our left (not Brits) ignored the card and just left, which I thought was very rude. I didn't buy any of the pictures as we have them from previous occassions. We went back and started to pack as we were moving up to the Royal Pacific resort at Universal for our second week.
The tickets for the airboat ride were £15 each, Gatorland £13 each and Arabian Nights £19 each all purchased from Travel Republic before we travelled. In all cases they were cheaper than purchasing them in the USA.
I will continue this in Part 2 just incase I am being boring!
Regards,
Deaconblue