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E. Cosgrove
 United Kingdom
5838 Posts
Joined: 26 Apr 2004
Status: offline |  Posted - 02 Apr 2005 : 10:08:14  
| Well, this was it, our first family holiday for 6 years! My more recent trips to Florida have been more to do with buying the villa, but now we were going to stay there, 11 of us A baptism of fire for our lovely new home.
First let me introduce you to the party - 2 families, the Hobdays and the Cosgroves, hence "The Hobgroves"
The Cosgroves consist of myself, my hubby David, eldest son Nick (23), his girlfriend Nicola (21)- confusing I know, my younger son James (21) and his girlfriend Natalie.
The Hobdays are my sister Helen and her hubby Stuart ( co owners of our villa)their eldest son Jonathon (24) and his fiancee Catherine ( "Kitty" 24), their daughter Sophie (21) was going to join us for just 5 days as this was all the time she could take off work.
Just to make things even more incestuous, Kitty and Nicola are sisters and are both Florida "virgins".
The Hobdays and Nicola all live in Greater Manchester but were travelling with us from Gatwick so came to stay on the evening of Sun 20th, I hade plenty of room to sleep them as James went off to Nats for the night, but bathroom facilities were to be somewhat challenged as I was having 2 new bathrooms installed whilst I was away and the en suite was already out of commission. If we could manage 8 adults in a 4 bed home with one bathroom and the downstairs loo, then 5 beds and 3 baths was going to be a breeze.
We decided to get up at 4.30 and leave by 5.30, normally we would have had an overnight stay at Gatwick, but I was already paying flights and park tickets for 6 people so was trying to keep costs down a bit. I woke naturally at 4.10 after a short fitful sleep, dived in the shower whilst David put the kettle on, then went to wake up Nicola, we had decided she had to be one of the first up as she is so slow!! Something that was going to try our patience severely over the coming days.
At 5.15 we rang James to make sure they were up, they were just about to leave Nats house only 3 mins away and sure enough arrived shortly afterwards.
We could have squeezed into 2 cars but decided to take 3 as we were predicting extra luggage on the return journey
The journey to Gatwick was uneventful and took the predicted 1 1/2 hours, we parked the cars and were ready to check in by 7.30 for our 10.50 flight to Charlotte with US Airways. Our seats had been pre assigned as 2 groups of 5, one at the front of the plane and one near the back, it was too much hastle to start changing so I promised to change seats with Nicola at some point so that she and Nick could sit together.
Following a relatively smooth check in we went off in search of breakfast. Garfunkels provided us all with sustenance and after a quick whizz round duty free we were off to board our flight.
The flight itself was uneventful, the cabin crew were somewhat disinterested, although Helen reported better service in her cabin, the food was bland and spartan, but the entertainment system was excellent, the flight was smooth and on time and more importantly the tickets were very competitively priced!
We arrived at Charlotte on time and after our passage through Immigration we collected our bags, cleared customs and then dumped our luggage again for our connrcting flight, we had been cheked right through to MCO at Gatwick so there was no need to check in again.
We had a couple of hours before our next flight, so bouyed up by the fact that we were at last on US soil, we headed off for Starbucks and my first Mocha frappacino of the hoilday Kitty and Nicola were fascinated by the US accents which here in Charlotte were particularly drawling.
Nat and James went in search of food, and Nick and Jonathon went to the Sports Bar for a pint, funnily enough the only place they were asked for ID all holiday.
Our flight to Orlando was on time and apart from the fact that it was quite bumpy and we were strapped in for half the time there were no real problems.
When we arrived in the baggage claim hall, Helen and the kids went to collect the baggage whilst David, Myself and Stuart went to the rental desk to collect the cars. I was going to be the second driver for one vehicle but Helen could not be persuaded to drive. I should have registered as second driver for both vehicles, but never thought to do this, something I was later going to regret.
Although Stuart had driving directions and Helen had been to the villa during it's construction they wanted to follow us in convoy, it was difficult to see just who was behind us in the dark and it was not until the first toll that we could reassure ourself that we were all together.
Straight down the 417, onto I4 off at juncton 58 and we were almost there.
As we pulled up infront of the villa, the porch light was on and the light sensitive coach lights which David had fitted when we were over in Jan to close on the property, were working It all looked very welcoming.
Helen had not been since the villa was in construction stages and Stuart had not been at all so we insisited they were the first to enter, quickly followed by the kids oooing and ahhhhing at everything.
It was disappointing to find that the builders had not even started to tackle our snagging list and as neither the pool light nor the lanai light were working we were unable to view the pool area in the dark, other that to make out that the kiddie screen was in place and the pool blanket was on. We were also still some items of furniture missing.
The kids were all hungry although the thought of food did not inspire me, so we made a quick trip to BK on the 192 and then they took themselves off to bed. The "grown ups" stayed up, rearranging furniture, and making plans to get everything sorted 100% during our stay.
It was after midnight when we went off to bed and then I lay for ages worrying about the villa and wether we would be able to get all the problems sorted out whilst we were here, eventually I drifted off to sleep ready to face the challenges of villa ownership.
Link to part 2www.orlando-guide.info/forums/topic_19183.asp |
Liz
www.orlandovillas.com/florida-vacation-rental-1599.aspx |
Edited by - E. Cosgrove on 09 Jun 2005 21:15:54 | | Report this post to a moderator |
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Cruella DeVilla
 USA
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Status: offline | Posted - 02 Apr 2005 : 13:50:46
| | You will have to hound them Liz about the snags, 4 months on and three trips we are almost there but that is because we were there banging on their door so to speak. |
CDV
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E. Cosgrove
United Kingdom
5838 Posts
Joined: 26 Apr 2004
Status: offline | Posted - 02 Apr 2005 : 17:54:41
| We bought them at Walmart Karen and they just screw into the bulb fitting then you put an ordinary bulb in afterwards. They come on at dusk and go off when it comes light provided of course you leave your lights switched on. We were pleased to see them working as David had fitted them on the last day we were there and hadn't had chance to test them. They were easy peasy to fit and only cost a few dollars.quote:
Originally posted by Marthas Harbour
Hi Liz - great reading. Can I ask what are light sensitive coach lights and how easy are they to install? I'm assuming something like our outside lights with PIRs?
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Liz
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Cruella DeVilla
USA
10605 Posts
Joined: 18 May 2004
Status: offline | Posted - 02 Apr 2005 : 18:40:57
| So Liz are they on all the time then from dawn til dusk. Is that what you want? Our gargage and porch lights are PIR but they only come on when someone approaches. Both saving on electric and the risk of annoying the neighbours with light shining into their bedrooms at night  |
CDV
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E. Cosgrove
United Kingdom
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Cruella DeVilla
USA
10605 Posts
Joined: 18 May 2004
Status: offline | Posted - 02 Apr 2005 : 19:12:31
| Liz, it's worth it, they are not that expensive, Home Depot and WalMart do them that I have seen. I hated the ones which came with the build so wanted to change them anyway, so we decided on PIRs. Mr CDV fitted our PIR coach and porch lights but he has done electriciany things in the past. We made a lot of contacts with guys who were working on our site and a few dollars often does the trickif you can find some guys next trip as I know Sandy Ridge has a way to go yet.....poor Dom  |
CDV
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E. Cosgrove
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The Hobgrove's hit Orlando! Part 1
