ujpest doza
14-03-2005, 17:18
The trip started with a drive through the blizzards on the M62 to the Hilton Manchester Airport for an overnight stay. Gave the carvery in the Hilton a miss (£27.95 per person for main course only!) and hopped in a courtesy bus for a look around the airport and a bite to eat there instead.
Saturday began at 0430 for a 0600 last check in, and after some people with visa problems were refused boarding and had their luggage removed we set off a little late. Skyservice plane leased to Mytravel was fine on the way out, no seat back tv's but plenty of leg room and we made good time and landed on schedule. We second off and through immigration in less than 5 minutes, superb! However, after collecting our luggage we waited ages for our car seat to come off the plane and that waited ages at Alamo due to there not being enough staff on duty.
Consequently, from 2nd off the Plane at 1315, we were one of the last out of the Airport complex at 1515!
Thanks to whoever suggested the cafe in the Domestic Bit at Sanford for cartons of milk!:)
Made good time on the Greeneway and checked into our Lovely Town Home at Emerald Island about an hour after leaving the airport. Very impressed, home overlooked the heated pool and as it was not a private pool took away the worry of our toddler falling in without our knowing. Thanks also at this point ot Nostromo for his Sherberth road shortcut tip, although by the end of the second week it seemed the whole world knew about it as it became as busy as the 192[:O]
The weather on arrival was warm and nice, bit cloudy but fine for those just leaving snowier climes.However, at 2AM on the sunday morning the heavens opened and stayed open until late that night. Cats and dogs all day long meant a day at the Mall at Millenia.
The weather was to disrupt our schedule a bit over the next 2 weeks as it became a bit unpredictable.We had 4 days of rain, about 4 hot days, a couple of cool but sunny days and 4 days when it was very nice but took until afternoon to warm up. On the thursday of our first week the mercury never got above 12C (54F) and the predicted late PM rain started at 12:01! The forecasters also predicted an awful day for the tuesday of our second week, with storm force winds and rain followed by a cool but clear wednesday to clear things up.
WRONG!
On that particular tuesday morning it was very windy and the skys were black, but it was very warm. We decided to go shopping and then do a theme park on the wednesday. By 11AM the skys cleared and it was glorious if it a little windy and then rained on the wednesday!
Another note is about the planning guide website link that i posted on here and had Blotted. Seemed to work quite well and the parks we visited on the days the guide did seem reasonably quiet, although the weather may have thrown it out a little. The parks all seemed reasonbly quiet when we visited, with the odd cluster of longer wait times on occaisons, however night times were hectic at restaurants which seemed busier than i have ever seen before.
Bike Week at Daytona seemed to be where the blame for this lies.
Daytona was packed out for Bike Week with Bikers from all across the USA and the UK and beyond. A couple of bikers on our flight (there were many) i spoke to said they were staying in Kissimmee because there was no affordable accomodation available in Daytona and they were just commuting up there along with many many others.
By far and away the quietest parks were agin the Universal Parks.
I walked straight onto The Hulk, The Mummy, Jaws, MiB, Duelling Dragons and my daughter shared Suess Landing with about a dozen other kids. Great 2 parks as well, just don't seem to be anywhere near as popular as Disney.
Made the mistake of going to Seaworld on a 'Bud and BBQ' weekend and that was pretty busy. First time i've been to Seaworld since 1997, so first time i've been on Atlantis.Wasn't that impressive to be honest, think Splash Mountain is better. Too big a queue for Kraken so can't comment.
A Disney theme park summary :-
Magic Kingdom - Enjoye
Saturday began at 0430 for a 0600 last check in, and after some people with visa problems were refused boarding and had their luggage removed we set off a little late. Skyservice plane leased to Mytravel was fine on the way out, no seat back tv's but plenty of leg room and we made good time and landed on schedule. We second off and through immigration in less than 5 minutes, superb! However, after collecting our luggage we waited ages for our car seat to come off the plane and that waited ages at Alamo due to there not being enough staff on duty.
Consequently, from 2nd off the Plane at 1315, we were one of the last out of the Airport complex at 1515!
Thanks to whoever suggested the cafe in the Domestic Bit at Sanford for cartons of milk!:)
Made good time on the Greeneway and checked into our Lovely Town Home at Emerald Island about an hour after leaving the airport. Very impressed, home overlooked the heated pool and as it was not a private pool took away the worry of our toddler falling in without our knowing. Thanks also at this point ot Nostromo for his Sherberth road shortcut tip, although by the end of the second week it seemed the whole world knew about it as it became as busy as the 192[:O]
The weather on arrival was warm and nice, bit cloudy but fine for those just leaving snowier climes.However, at 2AM on the sunday morning the heavens opened and stayed open until late that night. Cats and dogs all day long meant a day at the Mall at Millenia.
The weather was to disrupt our schedule a bit over the next 2 weeks as it became a bit unpredictable.We had 4 days of rain, about 4 hot days, a couple of cool but sunny days and 4 days when it was very nice but took until afternoon to warm up. On the thursday of our first week the mercury never got above 12C (54F) and the predicted late PM rain started at 12:01! The forecasters also predicted an awful day for the tuesday of our second week, with storm force winds and rain followed by a cool but clear wednesday to clear things up.
WRONG!
On that particular tuesday morning it was very windy and the skys were black, but it was very warm. We decided to go shopping and then do a theme park on the wednesday. By 11AM the skys cleared and it was glorious if it a little windy and then rained on the wednesday!
Another note is about the planning guide website link that i posted on here and had Blotted. Seemed to work quite well and the parks we visited on the days the guide did seem reasonably quiet, although the weather may have thrown it out a little. The parks all seemed reasonbly quiet when we visited, with the odd cluster of longer wait times on occaisons, however night times were hectic at restaurants which seemed busier than i have ever seen before.
Bike Week at Daytona seemed to be where the blame for this lies.
Daytona was packed out for Bike Week with Bikers from all across the USA and the UK and beyond. A couple of bikers on our flight (there were many) i spoke to said they were staying in Kissimmee because there was no affordable accomodation available in Daytona and they were just commuting up there along with many many others.
By far and away the quietest parks were agin the Universal Parks.
I walked straight onto The Hulk, The Mummy, Jaws, MiB, Duelling Dragons and my daughter shared Suess Landing with about a dozen other kids. Great 2 parks as well, just don't seem to be anywhere near as popular as Disney.
Made the mistake of going to Seaworld on a 'Bud and BBQ' weekend and that was pretty busy. First time i've been to Seaworld since 1997, so first time i've been on Atlantis.Wasn't that impressive to be honest, think Splash Mountain is better. Too big a queue for Kraken so can't comment.
A Disney theme park summary :-
Magic Kingdom - Enjoye