ToffPrincess
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2017
I didn’t sleep all night. I remember this happening to me when I was a child and excitement brewed away in my stomach making me almost shakey with happiness. While I set about making breakfast and throwing the perishable items in the trash I notice I feel like I have had a full 12 hours sleep. I wander if it will catch up with me on the plane?We have a 1.30pm flight from Gatwick so naturally booked the taxi to Gatwick for 9.30am. DH keeps bringing up the time we flew to Croatia with the dog and I made us turn up to the airport 5 hours before the flight ‘just in case.’ I keep telling him that as it’s an international flight so we need to be there 3 hours in advance not 2. If he mentions it one more time...
DS is beyond excited. I don’t think after the immense countdown & prep he can fully believe that today is finally the day. He keeps reciting the mantra we taught him.. ‘lots of people on the plane, we don’t cry, we don’t scream and we don’t shout.’ He’s a good boy and a mature 3 year old but 3 is 3 none the less.
We have four suitcases and 3 small bits of hand luggage between us. I don’t really care as I won’t be carrying any of it. Even before my stomach surgery I was never really a manual labourer. As we are loaded into the taxi I feel a little out of my comfort zone, I didn’t call myself Toff Princess for nothing. I have removed my super long talons and have a sensible, short child friendly manicure. Most of my daily jewellery is in the safe and I have a simple gold band in place of my usual wedding ring set up. Almost all my bracelets have been taken off. I want to be hands on and have fun without destroying something or impaling my son. I’m wearing lounge/track pants and I don’t have a designer handbag. Ok I lie.. I’m using my most bashed up Birkin. (You can take the Toff out of Chelsea but not the Chelsea out of the Toff!) Getting into the taxi I do have this brief moment where I think, ‘am I still capable of having fun or has the OCD sterilizing parent, list-maker, Disney planning freak in me taken over my body? Will I be able to relax?’ Then I hear DS say, ‘Mummy we going Disney’ and it’s all ok. I feel like an excited kid again. Doors close and we were off to Gatwick which honestly feels like the longest drive EVER. 1 hour 10 minutes.
2ish- Just after take-off
We payed to use some sort of lounge which was ok. Just ok. Clean toilets. The food and drink selection is abysmal. We have a cup of tea and a brownie and watch a few planes take off and before the bacon sandwiches we order arrive the ‘go to gate’ sign pops up for our flight which is bizzare as we have over a hour till our flight. I tell DH who accuses me of being ‘nervous’ and tells me to ‘calm down, I can feel the tension.’ Just before I give him some tension to feel the sign changes again but to boarding. Literally a hour 15 min before our flight. DH realises it’s not me being OCD and an actual notification. Off we go to the gate without the sandwiches and it’s really not long until we board. Now I see why they recommend turning up 3 hours early for international flights.17.31- 4 hours into the flight
Premium Economy is nice and I actually don’t feel squashed or anything. It’s ok legroom for someone of my height (5ft 10) but not so comfortable for DH at 6ft 3. I don’t eat plane food usually but as I had no breakfast I had a few mouthfuls of rice with curry sauce and a bread roll. Seems nice to me!DS hasn’t made a peep. He’s playing with Play Doh and cars on his table. DH however who is a lousy flyer at the best of times seems to be having some sort of panic attack because there was a small tremble and he didn’t quite hear an announcement. I find it hard to fly with him because his nerves take over and then he makes it a total show where he sighs loudly the whole flight and finds a way to interrupt whatever I’m watching. I was not originally sat near DH & DS but as misfortune would have it, a family was broken up and asked to switch seats with me and now I am near enough to DH that he can irritate me every 2.5 seconds. I keep shooting them filthy looks. We are about 4 hours in and he has made me switch seats with him 3x. I may kill him. He took my ipad when I was in the middle of an episode of Dracula to start watching the series and then chucked it back after 15 minutes. I’d strangle him with my headphones but they are wireless. I know I should be sympathetic as he is scared of flying but bad fliers of the narcissistic variety ruin the trip for everyone else in the group. It is also my holiday and my flight. My son requires a 100th of the attention he does and now that I have had to switch seats again.. I will update this post and feign I am asleep just to avoid him.
UPDATE- GRAND FLORIDIAN
The flight was a disaster with DH. His back is totally shot (nothing to do with my suitcases I swear) but DS good as gold. We had a long line at immigration but the guy checking our passports asking if I was ‘a model or actress or someone famous’ made my day so I didn’t care! Car picked us to go the Grand Floridian Resort and before we knew it we were there.22 years later it is just as I remembered it. I had goosebumps all over. They open your car door for you and escort you in to the building while they deal with your luggage. SUPER fast check in the team are just so very nice and polite. It was painless.. maybe 2 minutes long? Magic bands handed out and it was time to go to our outer building theme park room! Amazing service getting us and our suitcases to the room with golf cart and DSs pack and play ready. We got two Queen beds which actually works well for us this trip as it’s not like we came here for romance. Seriously comfy beds and lovely rooms. I am so impressed it is even nicer than I remember it 22 years ago.. just maybe ever so slightly less ‘victorian’ which after all is the theme. The only niggle.. the pack and play arrives without bedding. Luckily I had ordered a gift for DS which included a customised blanket so one of our pillows and that and I made it up quite nicely but can’t help but think for the amount you pay per night there should be bedding like there is in every single hotel in Europe.
1900Park Fare at the Grand Floridian
8.55pm Park Fare dinner. What can I say? I cried 3x. I have never in my life seen my son so happy. He didn’t know where to look or what to do with himself. The mice from Cindarella were there as well as Cindarella herself and Prince Charming and by chance he had watched Cindarella on the plane. It made his year!! They made the rounds very well and he waited so very patiently and when it looked like DS was about to drop off on the table I asked our server to pls make sure the Mouse got to us. She made sure BOTH did.Food was actually pretty good for a buffet. Much more choice than I was expecting. I had read some pretty bad reviews on these forums. I ate a killer ravioli with cheese sauce and an amazing cocktail that helped keep me awake for the rest of dinner. Payed with a tap of the magic band and a signature and it was that simple. Just as magical as I remember as a child but I think it may be in a different location.
Off we trecked to our room to watch the fireworks. DS mid-way through said to us he was tired and by the end of the fireworks he was fast asleep. And with that it’s lights out for us. Tomorrow we have an early start at the Magic Kingdom!!
Day 1 HERE
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JK !
