AT LAST! Gemini's (2020 delayed until 2022) Family Florida Holiday report

[Gemini]

My musings about our trip in April 2022

I will be adding to it over the next few days!


DAY 1

Friday April 8th

A tense day, as all 8 of us had to provide proof of a supervised negative lateral flow test, to be uploaded to the Verifly app, in order to fly to the States.
All 3 families chose video supervised calls with DocHQ, and thank goodness we all got negatives results and our certificates. We could finally finish packing and be sure we were going!
We checked in online too and printed our boarding passes.
We printed everything. Insurance documents, ESTAs, NHS Covid travel passes, negative test certificates, flight info, airport express line booking, hotel info, villa details, car hire, etc etc!
Everything which could be printed we printed, as back up. These days all this information is online but you never know.
The only print offs we did use were the boarding passes and Express Line pass at Manchester airport.

OH went to the station at 2.30 to collect the week 1 cat sitters.
DD and GS1 were dropped off at our house by SIL in good time for the taxi at 4.
Then onto collect the other 4, and onto Manchester. The traffic was slow but we didn't care at all.
We were not flying until the next day, and we had all passed our tests!!

We checked in at the Premier Inn at the airport, went to our rooms for a short while then down to dinner at the restaurant there. All very excited!
There were so many horror stories of severe waits at Manchester airport, so despite having the express passes, we still planned to be there more than the usual 3 hours for an international flight the next morning. We said goodnight and arranged to meet up for breakfast the following morning at 6.30..


DAY 2

Saturday 9^th

Travel day, and what a long day it was!!

Down to breakfast early and the taxi came for us just after 7. Our flight was 11 am.
We were driven the short drive to the airport, and when all the bags were taken off my (brand new for this trip) suitcase zip was coming open in the middle!! We managed to fix it but OH was worried that it would open again in transit. No straps or anything else for sale in Departures and the plastic wrapping service has gone. All the staff could suggest was putting it in Oversized Items, as apparently those are treated carefully!
So we checked in OH’s case and went to Oversized for mine.
We worried about this case but in fact it arrived intact and has been fine ever since!

We went to the Express Line, scanned our passes and didn't have to wait long at all. In fact we spent a very long time just siting around on airside and looking around shops. A far cry for the frantic last minute dash to the gate we were expecting!! Better that way, and it made for a very relaxed start to the journey. I'm not sure how those who hadn't bought the passes before they ran out or who arrived later fared.

Take off was delayed due to some problem with baggage loading.
Then at the other end we had lost our slot due to the late take off and the pilot had to wait ages for them to give him a new space to park in. Then when parked there was a problem with attaching the walkway to the door. Honestly you couldn't make it up!
Eventually we were allowed off and joined the long long immigration queue. Always an ordeal but in the end we got though it all.

We hired our mini bus from Alamo via Virgin. We had done Skip the Line, which means you have already filled everything in online so go straight to the car garage to pick up the vehicle, bypassing the wait at the car hire desk upstairs.
But there was no vehicle. No one seemed to know why. We waited and we waited. After a long day and long journey and with 3 children this wasn't what we needed. It was so late we missed the Walmart delivery that I had booked to arrive between 8 and 9.

In the end we did get our vehicle plus satnav and SIL drove us the 45 minutes to our villa.
DD2 quickly made a small 7-11 order to provide us with a few of the basics.

Everyone looked around the villa and the kids tested the pool and hot tub.
Our holiday had begun!

[Gemini]

Week 1

On day one you always wake early due to still being on UK time, and this was no exception. We had a lovely big semicircular bath in our room and I had a bath at 3 am! OH and I were both awake and chatted over a cup of tea. Luckily we did manage an hour or two more sleep, to our surprise.

Magic Kingdom for Day 1. Sunday in the run up to Easter, so we knew it would be very busy, but we wanted to go. All into the Family Bus for our first adventure.
Our plan was to get the ferry boat over the lake, which we did. This gives the most magical view of the castle for first timers. We had no great plan for the day. We wanted to just drink in the atmosphere wander around, let the children see things and hopefully get a couple of rides in too.
As luck would have it we arrived at parade time, so that was exciting. GS1‘s arm looked as though it would drop off waving at the characters! GS2 was very scared by the fire breathing dragon in the parade, which sort of showed how this holiday was going to go with him.
We did manage a couple of rides and enjoyed our first day. Traffic was predictably slow the whole of our time there. When we eventually got back the villa the pool and hot tub were very welcome.

The next day was Animal Kingdom. GS2 is mad about animals so this was the perfect place for him. We all did the safari, which once he was assured no wild animals could eat us alive he enjoyed very much. He did not like the It’s Tough To be a Bug 3D show. In fact DD had to take him out. It is a bit scary and dark in parts (I’ve seen it before but not with kids so had forgotten that fact) a lot of small children were taken out crying during it and others stayed in and cried, poor kids!
We soon learned that GS2 as well as hating any water splashed on him (we knew this) hates anything on a ride or show which may surprise him in any way especially it if may involve water. They are quite fond of getting you with water in the hot Florida theme parks and for the majority it is welcome. GS2 is different however.

The next day was water park day. OH and I had opted to stay at the villa, and DD1 wanted to stay with us. DD and SIL2 took all 3 children. SIL took the older two to do more daring things whilst DD and GS2 did the calmer things (once she had a talk with him about this being a Water Park, so you can’t spend all day trying to avoid getting wet!! ) They all had a good day, as did we three relaxing ladies.


The next two days were full busy ones at Universal Studios and Epcot. Good days and we all enjoyed some great rides. GS2 didn't want to ride anything (They almost forced him onto the ET ride, which he did enjoy in the end) We all got hot and tired. All the walking and standing in the heat was making my knee very painful.
Getting into the hot tub at night was very soothing!

By now it was Good Friday, a day to avoid the parks. OH and SIL played golf in the morning. Apart from that it was villa and relax day. GS2 was delighted - no rides! GS1 and GD had been very keen to visit Target (American supermarket) , so that was fitted in that afternoon for those who wanted to go.


The next day was Kennedy Space Centre. OH and I have been before and preferred to save our dollars and have another villa day. The 3 hour round trip would be too much for GS2 in balance of any enjoyment he would gain from it at his age. He was very happy in the pool with us, and did a lot of drawing in the shade of the villa, and the others could relax and enjoy their day. They all had a very good day, and saw a real live alligator on their way back!

My knee benefited from these 2 days of rest!

[Oma]

Sounds so good Gem
ShameGS2 didn’t get as much enjoyment as he could from it , maybe he is just a little young yet ,
Some children have to be a little older don’t they .

[Gemini]

That's right Oma, another couple of years and he may have enjoyed it a lot more.
It surprised us all, especially SIL.

We made the use of the Child Swap in the queues and me missing some rides to take him to the play areas ( I am very familiar with them all now )

[Daisy]

Gem - given GS2 wasn't keen on most of the rides, I think he did very well to do the ET ride. Unless it's changed the 'entertainment' in the queue involved lots of vegetation and shadows, and when the ride goes up into the dark sky you almost feel as though you're flying.

Oma's right - some children need to be a little older, and like to know what is going to happen. Surprises aren't for everyone. The play areas are a great idea.

The pool and the hot tub sound life savers for relaxation and easing aches and pains.

[Lizzie48]

Gem, is GS2 the same at home with rides etc?

[Gemini]

Lizzie, he has never been on any. You have to remember he was still 3 when the pandemic his so his childhood so far has been different to his sister and his cousin at the same age. So much he couldn't do!

He hates any water apart from pool, bath and hot tub. He will not run under our lawn sprinkler in the summer even though he sister has tried to bribe him many times!

[Daisy]

Gem - soem children just don't like water. My GD1 would sympathise totally with your GS2.

[Lizzie48]

Yes, that will be true Gem, at his age and with being not being able to do "normal" things a child should do. He will have missed out.

[Plantaholic]

All in all it would seem you had fun. I would have been quite happy with GS2, pool and hot tub for me.

[Gemini]

If you had been with us Plant GS would have been happy to stay there every day with you

I will write about our second week and journey home soon.

[Gemini]

WEEK 2

Easter Sunday.
In the morning the children ate some Easter chocolate and played in the pool. We had booked 1pm lunch at The Rainforest Cafe at Disney Springs, for the experience. All enjoyed it and GS2’s fears of possibly being rained on were soon put to rest!
There are lots of shops and other bars and restaurants at Disney Springs. We were going to go to the massive Lego Store, but it had queues. We all agreed there was enough queuing going on during this holiday!!
GD wanted to look in a few clothes shops but was highly shocked by the prices! Fortunately she had bought a couple of things at bargain priced Target already.
We had an ice cream in the shade then headed over to Epcot at around 5pm to hopefully do a couple of rides and see the 9pm fireworks. As we had had a big lunch we planned to enjoy a variety of snacks and drinks from the World Showcase.
The best laid plans as they say. We did get a couple of rides in, but as we came off the Ratatouille ride the heavens opened and it never stopped, so no fireworks. We were literally soaked to the skin walking to the car and drove back through a huge thunder storm with lightening. Although he wasn't keen, GS2 made far less fuss about walking through a storm then seeing all the lightening as we drove than he did at rides!!
We got home very wet. In fact I had to wring out my dress before we got into the car!

We had a very long day at the second Universal park on Monday. Not a bank holiday in the States so we didn't have to avoid the parks. We had good day and did a lot of rides but the heat at Disney Springs then hurrying back through all the rain on Sunday night, followed by this long day had really made my knee swollen and painful.

The following day OH and I decided to have a day off . I wanted to rest my knee and OH had had enough of queuing. The others went to Hollywood Studios. A half day was planned there later in the holidays so we would get to go. GS2 was of course very keen to stay with us, so he did. I put ice on my knee on and off during the day and evening and this really helped with the swelling.

The next day was our second at Magic Kingdom, and a wonderful day it was
We all enjoyed the day, did almost everything we wanted and saw the evening fireworks which were spectacular.

We had really looked forward to the next day, doing both Universal parks concentrating on all the Harry Potter stuff. Sadly it was disappointing as the queues were horrendous, so we didn't do most of the things we had planned. The Harry Potter land is spread across both Universal Parks and we planned to do them, taking the Hogwarts Express between the parks. We did do Hogwarts Express (with over an hour queuing) but the other HP ride queues were so long no one but SIL wanted to do them. He queued in the single rider lane and did a couple of them As with every day on our holiday, there were good bits, but it was a bit disappointing. We got home and enjoyed the pool.

The next day was our last in the parks. Animal Kingdom in the morning, park hopping to Hollywood Studios in the afternoon. I didn't want to go to AK again but as we had missed the full day at HS I would like to have gone there.
In the end everyone but DD2 and SIL stayed at the villa. Even the children had had enough theme parks, and a full day in the pool appealed to them all. There were big rides at both parks that DD and SIL were keen to do no matter how long the queues.
DD and SIL did have a lovely day and did rides they may not have been able to queue for with the children with them.

And then it was Saturday, our last day!
Luckily no one was booked into the villa until Monday so the owner told us we could leave as late we liked. This was great as the regular check out time was 10am
We all had breakfast and last swims, then the children stayed in the pool whilst we packed , stripped the beds, put the towels in the wash and tidied up.
Lunch was a buffet of all our left overs!
Off to the airport, dropping off the bus on the way.

The overnight flight was uneventful and we landed on time. All the children slept but I don't think any of the adults did.
We were very happy that we had our taxi driver there to drive us all home. OH and I went to bed and set the alarm for three hours later as we do after overnight transatlantic flights.

All in all we had a wonderful holiday, which we waited for for so long. We all felt so happy and grateful that we managed it in the end.
A holiday with family, especially children is different to one without.
This was what we wanted, which meant to fit in with school we had to go at one of the busiest times there, Easter. All the 2020 and 2021 delayed holidaymakers were there too. We knew this, and considering all of that we managed a lot in the parks.
To have all that time together was wonderful, and what I had wanted so much.
Lovely happy memories to treasure. I know how lucky I am
Next time we holiday together will be a more relaxing option, a villa in Spain or Portugal, or UK cottage.

I would still like to think we may do the Florida family thing again one day. I am a glutton for punishment

[Daisy]

Gem - it was a "magical" holiday, and you will always treasure the memories, but hopefully time will draw a veil over all the queuing.

Those long queues must be difficult with children. We've been to Florida several times, but never with children or grandchildren. We took our sons to DisneyLand in Anaheim, California as part of a 3-week holiday when they were in their teens. Back in those days queuing didn't seem to be a problem. We've certainly done our share in Florida, but it sounds much busier now. I hope your poor knee has recovered.

I have to ask - are you already planning your next holiday adventure?

[Lizzie48]

Gem. you must have more patience than I have to stand in the queue's, I would be long gone! You did have a great holiday though, making memories!

[Gemini]

Daisy, OH and I have just booked 10 days in Majorca at the end of August
Back in 2020 we promised ourselves a break at our favourite hotel in Majorca once the pandemic was over. Of course it dragged on and on.....
Then there was our delayed family holiday to take. Anyway, we are booked for August-September.

I would love another family group holiday one day.

Lizzie, the queues are hard. If OH and I have another visit on our own one day we would choose a much less busy time, probably November. We won't return to the States as long as this testing before flying is in place though.