IT`S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE...COCKTAILS, STEAKS AND CAKES..11 JOLLY HOLIDAY NIGHTS @ RPR-DEC 2019

schumigirl

It's a bit of a roodie doodie word for lady parts
Joined
May 15, 2007
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And a very warm welcome to the fourth Orlando Trip Report of 2019 from Carole-n-Tom......and this time we have our favourite person join us......our son Kyle.....I know many of you remember him from our previous reports, and some have met him from previous visits...….and of course everyone seems to know of his love of chocolate cake...in most forms!!!






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So, the who, the when and the why.....although is there ever really a need to ask why......hey, it`s Orlando......and the Holidays...….

I always struggle how to start these reports at times....so many of you know us so well by now, and introductions seems redundant, but I guess there are plenty who don`t know us yet.....so if you do or don't know us yet, a warm welcome to the Holiday 2019 Trip Report.







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Carole and Tom...….we have been very happily married for over 27 years and are both enjoying the fruits of Tom`s early retirement 2 years ago now......his early retirement meant we could come to our favourite place more often, and we have certainly taken advantage of that over the last couple of years.

In the last two years we have stayed 148 nights, well after the December trip of course, and altogether we have stayed more than 300 nights over the years mostly at Royal Pacific...….latterly we do spend some time at Sapphire Falls too. So, you can see like a lot of people we absolutely adore Royal Pacific, Universal Orlando and Florida in general.

Being a very happy lady and gentleman of leisure we do like to visit here and it is one of our favourite places in the whole wide world...…..and even better when we have the pleasure of our adult son joining us.

Kyle is 25 and works full time in the wonderful world of Finance.....and we are thrilled on occasions he still wants to come with us on vacation.....and as my friends remind me often, that is wonderful...….of course vacationing with parents is normally frowned upon by some....but Orlando seems to be a very acceptable place to still go to with the oldies!!!

The last two Decembers we have visited Royal Pacific, 2017 we stayed a week......not long enough…...2018 we stayed 10 nights...….maybe not quite long enough......so this year we have 11 nights......and later, once flights were booked, we discovered really, we could have stayed two weeks as he had extra vacation days. Doh!!! I think we`ll try for two weeks next December.

After our lovely stay last December, we knew we wanted to experience all that Universal offered for the Holidays.....so we provisionally gave our friend our dates for this year and patiently waited for flights to come out 331 days from our return to the UK. So, we knew we would be staying 11 nights and our hotel of choice was Royal Pacific.








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We did want to fly Virgin, thankfully or that would be another set of TC flights to rebook.....so as soon as they were out in January this year, we managed to get our dates booked with decent Premium seats on both flights.

Our dates are, we fly out on Friday November 29th and fly home on Tuesday December 10th, 11 nights this time.








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Definitely our preferred aircraft...…..yes, it has four engines!!!

I`m not a nervous flyer at all, but four engines, always beats two!! Especially if we fly direct across the Atlantic like we have done a few times......but there is something special about the 747`s, sadly being phased out and being replaced by a so called better aircraft.









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The Jumbo`s just seem to glamorise when air travel was something special and even a little glamorous when they were first built.....of course, now, they just look a little dated at times inside. But, we still like them.

We have seats booked upstairs in the bubble going out, Kyle and I will sit together and Tom will get to sit with someone else, both ways, although we are downstairs on the way back, through choice as we opted to have the last row and one in front as you are practically the first off the plane and can get to passport control before the masses. We were fairly pleased with our choice of seats. And being Premium, we get a lot of luggage allowance...….. :cheer2:

And with Kyle being with us this time again, we have three sets of luggage...…..:cheer2::cheer2:








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When it`s just Tom and I, we often book the front two seats of Premium upstairs, but this time we have booked the last two seats and one in front, of the seats on the left as you`re looking at the picture......the grey seats are all Premium and the curtain separates those seats from Economy, so it is a slightly smaller cabin overall and folks seem to vie to sit up here in either type of seats. Some folks think it`s quieter, and it usually is....but of course, it all depends on who your companions are.

You do get extra stowage space with the seats upstairs, so you don't need to keep getting up to get your hand luggage down if you want something. And the space is quite large, so we tend to put things in we think we`ll need for convenience.

I usually sit by the window, but I think I know a certain young man who will decide he might want the window seat...….


Although on our first flight to Orlando way back in 2007, I seem to have ended with the window seat.....not sure I ever got it again though......lol......

He looks so young there!!!!! (don`t we all)


And the Bubble seats are very different now, it used to be all Premium upstairs...….but all aircraft were refurbed and now have a mix upstairs which we do like as the newer seats are more comfortable.







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Usually the night before, we have always stayed at the Radisson for our overnight stay to wherever we were flying from...….and that all changed in September, when we had to change nights due to the Hurricane affecting our flight. We had to change days, so they had no vacancies for the new date, so we tried the Marriott around a 10 minute cab drive from the airport, and we were so glad we did.

It was a lovely hotel, and we were surprised just how much we did like it. So, as soon as we were home from the September trip, we booked two rooms, both Executive Club Access rooms for around half of what we were playing for a family room at the Radisson. I know I`m awful for not usually considering costs....oops.....but this made an awful lot of sense, even to me. The rooms were immaculately clean and quite large, and we were more than a little impressed with their Executive Lounge and the restaurants attached to the hotel.









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The one we ate in last trip, we have booked for our night there next week, Brasserie Blanc which we loved, and the fact they serve very nice steaks went down well with Kyle as he does love a good steak. And the bar area for our afternoon sparkly is lovely too.






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Car rental had been booked months before, maybe around June. I have no clue what Tom has booked, I think it`s just a regular type of SUV and again direct from Alamo. We won`t be doing much driving around this time, but still like the SUV style. No Maserati this time!

Little details I had taken care of during the year, like renewing Kyle`s ESTA without that we don`t get into the USA. You renew it every two years and it`s something like $14 each, so nothing really.


He doesn't have Global Entry, and as he will only be visiting once a year, it`s not really worth it for him.…...we`ll just go through the regular line with him, or maybe we`ll just go ahead and he can line up on his own. We`ll see.

I`m sure I`ll post some of our plans in the next few posts, but for now......we are just over a week away from leaving. We have our car service coming to pick us up on the Thursday morning to drive us up to Manchester Airport for the overnight. They are coming back for us too on the 11th. It`s so much easier getting door to door.

To say we are excited is an understatement. Kyle finishes work next Monday evening, so has the Tuesday and Wednesday off which is lovely, but of course meant we could have had two weeks if we`d known. But, our planned 11 nights is going to be excellent.

Although Tom and I see a lot of Kyle there`s nothing quite like spending special vacation time together....he`s busy with work and his social life, but we treasure our time together always, he`s the best company and so much fun and best of all loves to spend time with us too when he can..…..and (schmaltzy alert ahead :o) that's the best part of this trip....is spending time together, it`s worth so much more than anything.








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I promise not to be too sentimental with this trip......well, I`ll try!!!!

Will be updating our tentative plans in several posts before we leave next week...….I do hope you enjoy reading along with our Holiday trip back to our favourite place...…..it`s always so good to read your comments along the way.....:wave2:




















 
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WOOT ....!!!!


Another great trip report start from our Schumi

And a big :welcome: to you mac......always love a good WOOT!!!

I`m glad you made it here again, and as always hope you enjoy this one too......will get a few updates in before we go......look forward to you reading along with this one too......:wave2:
 


I was looking out for this!!!!!
YES :yay:

Yay.......:welcome: along Lori........


Yep, had to get it started before we leave......and I had a spare afternoon.......so........why not!

And you get to be in this one too!!!

Glad you’re here........:wave2:
 
Liking how you’ve decorated the place, especially the little touch of purple lol

Kyle is 25 and works full time in the wonderful world of Finance.....and we are thrilled on occasions he still wants to come with us on vacation.....and as my friends remind me often, that is wonderful...….of course vacationing with parents is normally frowned upon by some....but Orlando seems to be a very acceptable place to still go to with the oldies!!!

Let them frown all they want, the smart kids realize traveling with ma & pa has untold benefits :)
 
I love the photo of you and Kyle from when he was younger. Such wonderful memories!!
This was DD and I a while back in Las Vegas if I remember correctly.
She'd kill me if she knew I was posting this! During those awkward teen times, lol!
I was a few pounds lighter and a few hair colors darker....

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Liking how you’ve decorated the place, especially the little touch of purple lol



Let them frown all they want, the smart kids realize traveling with ma & pa has untold benefits :)

:welcome: along Keisha...….glad you made it over to this one!!!

You know I loves my purple!!!

Yep, smart kids indeed...….::yes:: Wouldn't have it any other way...….it is a treat indeed to have them still travel with us!
 
I love the photo of you and Kyle from when he was younger. Such wonderful memories!!
This was DD and I a while back in Las Vegas if I remember correctly.
She'd kill me if she knew I was posting this! During those awkward teen times, lol!
I was a few pounds lighter and a few hair colors darker....

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Oh Lori, What a lovely picture......I wouldn't have recognised you!! And DD!!! She is so like you!!!!

You look so different a few shades darker...….no worries, I won`t tell her you posted it........lol....

I know, time flies doesn't it…...they grow up so quickly!!! I was celebrating my 40th birthday on the first trip, weirdly that seems like only yesterday...….sadly the mirror says different..... :rotfl:
 
Woohoo! I am 7 pages behind in the other TR, but so excited to be along for this one! Your TRs are the BEST! :lovestruc

Maria :upsidedow

:welcome: Maria...…..

lol.....7 pages isn't too bad..…..but I am SO happy you made it over here....it`s always lovely to see you post!!!

And thank you....I will take all and any compliments with a smile...….:hug: and absolutely hope you enjoy this one too!!!! :wave2:
 
LOVE the picture of you and little Kyle! Can't wait to read along. I'm an official "Carole trip report addict!" 😂
 
Sounds like another wonderful vacation you have planned and all the more special with Kyle along for the ride.

Looking forward to this trip report, too, Carole - hope you have a lovely time! I'll be thinking about you and your family - so excited for you!
 
LOVE the picture of you and little Kyle! Can't wait to read along. I'm an official "Carole trip report addict!" 😂

You made me laugh out loud there......:rotfl:

:welcome: along Andrea...….

I adore all the early pictures we took, and just showed him that one as it has been a while since he`s seen it.....he just shook his head and laughed......think he felt old!!!!

I do hope you enjoy it too Andrea.....can you believe it`s almost two years since we said hello that night in the Studios!!!
 
Sounds like another wonderful vacation you have planned and all the more special with Kyle along for the ride.

Looking forward to this trip report, too, Carole - hope you have a lovely time! I'll be thinking about you and your family - so excited for you!

:welcome: to you too April...….

It is fabulous to have him along for this one.......and it`s so close now!!! I know you shouldn't wish your days away, but I wish it was next Thursday.........no patience should have been my middle name!!!

Thank you, you`re so kind......we`ll certainly try our best to have a wonderful trip.......:wave2:
 
You made me laugh out loud there......:rotfl:

:welcome: along Andrea...….

I adore all the early pictures we took, and just showed him that one as it has been a while since he`s seen it.....he just shook his head and laughed......think he felt old!!!!

I do hope you enjoy it too Andrea.....can you believe it`s almost two years since we said hello that night in the Studios!!!

I can't believe it's been that long! I so enjoyed seeing you both that night! I'm desperate for a little holiday getaway, but I don't think it's in the cards for this year. I'll just have to enjoy yours vicariously.❤
 

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