Halloween, Hawaii and holiday celebrations - THIS SECTION COMPLETED 12/27 About This Page:

[chezp]

Originally Posted by lauriep

That is a long trek to Gasparillas! I was disappointed in the offerings for veggies there, too, but I didn't even see the pasta option. This was a year or two ago, so maybe it's new.

It could well be. I remember hearing there was very little for veggies in the past...

Hope you got a good sleep that night, although I know you needed to get up very early! Was the bed comfy?

I have to be honest, I don't really recall one way or another. I think that probably means that it was, as if it was uncomfortable, I'm sure I'd remember that.

[Thomhazel]

Originally Posted by chezp

I think it's one of those photos that sums up how someone was feeling at the time.



I'm sorry to hear about the move to Australia, as it means you guys will be on the other side of the world to us, rather than a couple of hours away.

I take it June's a definite for you? Hopefully we'll be back at the Villas at the Grand Californian (if we can get in there... ) in August or September 2015, so it looks like we'll just miss you.

June is when the long school holidays are. There is one in September but it is just two weeks which is a bit tight for flying from Oz to USA. We will always be back in Scotland for January so maybe we can catch up then sometimes

[KMB733]

That was quite a pricey dinner and I feel bad that Mark had to walk all that way carrying it on a tray. Sorry the bath wasn't as relaxing as it should have been. And really freaky that the bath turned itself back on.

[Cam22]

Nice touch to photograph the kitchen provisions. The GF and the villas both look so beautiful lit up at night.

[Roxie2006]

The look on Mark's face was to funny. "It was like, I have to carry this tray all the way back to the room, really"????? That Resort is just beautiful. You know all the utensils and plates would be something I would not ever use. While on vacation I do NO cooking!!!!

[SuperDave]

I'm only done through page 12 as I fell behind this this week but the GFV's look amazing!

Cheryl, I don't know if you have noticed the carpet in the villas here, but when I stayed in Big Pine Key back in 2010, I just couldn't believe, how soft the carpet was! And that was with my shoes on. It was an amazing feeling! The GF is a bit stiffy (perhaps snobby?) as you say as opposed to the villas, but I still loved it!

When you flew from the UK, you have a photo that may be of Ireland. It may be Dublin, but just a guess. There are a lot of inlets in that area and the photos show that.

When flying over the northern U.S., you mentioned the Hudson River. That is only part of NY and not Connecticut, although it's right on CT's border and very close to me! Certainly within 10 miles!

Glad you got to enjoy the great seating on your flight. When I flew to France this year, I purchased the extra legroom seat but not a premium economy seat. I had a window seat but the window was far ahead of me and could not see much out of it. That was fine as most of the flight was cloudy. It was the best choice I made as the leg room was as far as I could stretch, even being in the back of the plane. What a seat I had! No wonder why I was able to sleep for hours.

[ilovedisney247]

I'm glad you loved the GF villas--I stayed in a studio right after they opened and it was amazing! I wish I could buy points there, but that's not in the budget! I've always felt like the GF was a bit too much for me, but I love the Villas! I'm also a big fan of Mizner's--it's the only bar in Orlando that I'm a regular at!

[chezp]

Originally Posted by Thomhazel

June is when the long school holidays are. There is one in September but it is just two weeks which is a bit tight for flying from Oz to USA. We will always be back in Scotland for January so maybe we can catch up then sometimes

That would be good, although obviously January over here is never the greatest for travelling.

I take it the move's pretty much definite now then?

[chezp]

Originally Posted by KMB733

That was quite a pricey dinner and I feel bad that Mark had to walk all that way carrying it on a tray. Sorry the bath wasn't as relaxing as it should have been. And really freaky that the bath turned itself back on.

It was certainly a surreal moment. I'm just glad it didn't do it again and again and again during the night - that would've been a nightmare.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by Cam22

Nice touch to photograph the kitchen provisions. The GF and the villas both look so beautiful lit up at night.

I know from the DVC forum that we often get questions about what comes with the kitchen, so I figured it would be useful information for people.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by Roxie2006

The look on Mark's face was to funny. "It was like, I have to carry this tray all the way back to the room, really"?????

That's exactly how he was feeling.

You know all the utensils and plates would be something I would not ever use. While on vacation I do NO cooking!!!!

Neither do we but it's nice to know what's available...

[chezp]

Originally Posted by SuperDave

When you flew from the UK, you have a photo that may be of Ireland. It may be Dublin, but just a guess. There are a lot of inlets in that area and the photos show that.

Cool - we spent a day in Dublin, but I don't know it well enough to say whether that's where it was or not...

When flying over the northern U.S., you mentioned the Hudson River. That is only part of NY and not Connecticut, although it's right on CT's border and very close to me! Certainly within 10 miles!

I love the way we were flying right over people on our way down to Florida!

Glad you got to enjoy the great seating on your flight. When I flew to France this year, I purchased the extra legroom seat but not a premium economy seat. I had a window seat but the window was far ahead of me and could not see much out of it. That was fine as most of the flight was cloudy. It was the best choice I made as the leg room was as far as I could stretch, even being in the back of the plane. What a seat I had! No wonder why I was able to sleep for hours.

The trouble is once you've flown that way, you never go back to Economy again, so it's an expensive thing to get used to.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by ilovedisney247

I'm glad you loved the GF villas--I stayed in a studio right after they opened and it was amazing! I wish I could buy points there, but that's not in the budget!

Sadly I don't think it is for us either.

I've always felt like the GF was a bit too much for me, but I love the Villas!

I like the way that Disney have managed to convert those of us who aren't keen on the Grand Floridian into fans of the villas. That's impressive.

[chezp]

Thursday 31 October – part one: heading out for our balloon ride…

I woke up at 2:15am, because my shoulders and neck were so sore. I sometimes get this, and when I do, I just need painkillers and some Sudafed, as it seems to be related to my sinuses, and then I’m usually fine, so I got up, found the first aid kit (thank goodness we opened up the cases last night, as that made life a lot easier for me! ), took what I needed, and headed back to bed.

Eventually, around 4:15am, I was half awake, and my shoulders were hurting again, albeit nowhere near as bad as before, so I thought I’d get up, as I didn’t want to make them worse, and heck the alarm was set for 5:00am anyway. Not bad for the first morning in the States…

When Mark got up, I made a cup of tea for us, and we had a shower. I have to say, amazing as the shower looks, it’s not that powerful, which surprised, and to a certain extent, disappointed me a bit.

We set off around 5:30am, and I got some more photos of the villas, both inside…


One of the pictures in the hallway

The laundry room


… and then outside. First, the view from our room:



Then outside the Villas:


The barbecue area by the spa


We were at the balloon meeting point at the Radisson on the 192 by 5:50am, and we weren’t the first ones there, bearing in mind the meeting time was 6:15am. We filled out our waivers, and then waited. We were told the weather looked good, and once everyone was there, we were off out to our vehicles. We were told it would be about a 25 minute drive, and we were going south, as the helium balloon they’d sent up indicated that the winds would take us north.

I was fascinated by the fact that both the balloon pilots were from the UK. Mick, who ended up taking the other group (with all the kids in – result! ) was from Stoke-on-Trent, which I knew very well, as my parents live about 20 miles from there, and the other guy Glenn, who was to be our pilot was also British, although we didn’t find out where he was from.

We made it to our field, and straight away, they took the basket off the back of our truck. Each truck went out with different bits, and we had the small basket. We were later to learn that the big basket on the back of one of the other trucks is the biggest in the US and holds up to 24 people.



We were given the option of getting out, but I decided to stay put, as I knew I’d be standing in the balloon, and with my chronic fatigue, I didn’t want to over-do it. Mark got out, and we were told it would be a couple of minutes, as they were just checking on a patch of rain behind us. Glenn seemed fairly confident that they’d settle what they were doing quickly, then we’d be on our way, but the time moved on and on and on.

We stopped at 7:04am, and by the time we got to 7:20am, I knew it wasn’t a good time. Sure enough, it wasn’t, as shortly after that, the first of the rain came. It wasn’t too hard, but it certainly wasn’t a good sign. A few minutes later, the rain came down much heavier, and Mark stepped back into the minivan. We all sighed then, as I think we all knew that this just wasn’t going to happen today.

They dragged out the agony for a bit longer, maybe another five minutes, before Glenn came to tell us what we all already knew – there’d be no balloon ride today. Apparently the rain we’d felt was part of a big black cloud, which we could see behind us, and it stretched all the way across to the coast, and was moving in the direction our balloon ride would take us. Disappointed as we all were, we all agreed that it was much better not to be going up if it was going to rain.

The guys put the basket back on the trailer, and we set off back to where we’d started from.



Well, I guess at least we got another step closer – this time, they actually got the basket off the trailer, which is better than the last time, but so much for third time lucky.

We got our vouchers back, and were told they were good for any time. We did think about trying again tomorrow, but I really wanted to see IllumiNations tonight, and didn’t fancy another early start again in the morning. I figured we needed time to recharge our batteries. We’ll see whether we feel like doing it when we get back from Hawaii, and if not, then we can talk to them about whether the vouchers will be good for December next year.

I texted Angie to let her know, as obviously that would change our plans for the day. We’d now head back to the Grand Floridian Villas for a while, then go over to the Beach Club Villas, and check in, before heading over to Epcot. We agreed a time to meet, and I said I’d let her know our updated Fastpass times, as I wanted to re-look at them in the light of this morning’s events, and I’d let her know what we got when we got back.



Next: are those trees moving down the road?

[disneydani]

Aww...you guys were so close to realizing your balloon ride....guess third time just wasn't the charm.

Love all the beautiful GF Villa photos; so glad you were able to work in a stay there to kick off your vacation.

Danielle