Halloween, Hawaii and holiday celebrations - THIS SECTION COMPLETED 12/27 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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There are other changes as well.
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Moving on with the current of the years.
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It's time to move on and move forward.
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So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Halloween, Hawaii and holiday celebrations - THIS SECTION COMPLETED 12/27
There is a pre-trip report to this WDW portion of the trip, which also includes live updates from when we were in Disney World. Now it's time to get the actual trip report underway...
Tuesday 29 October – part one: I’m going back to work for a break from this stress!
It was a sickeningly early start to the day for us… 5:20am! The alarm usually goes off slightly after that on a weekday, so in truth, it wasn’t too terrible. We got up, and headed downstairs to watch some more TV from our box, so that it would be as empty as possible before we left. Then there were a few more little things to do, and a few final things to throw in the suitcase, then we could head off to work…
I headed home at 11:30am, so I’d be here at 11:40am to try at dot on 24 hours out for when online check-in opened to see if we could change our seats. It wasn’t hopeful to begin with, as I got two seats offered to me, which were perfect, but when I went to submit them, the system threw me out and then it wouldn’t give me any options for seating. Eventually, while trying to call Virgin Atlantic at the same time to ask them what on earth their website was doing I checked in online, and then the seats opened back up (so I guess I now know what to do for the return journey… ) and I grabbed them. Phew! I could’ve done without that stress, especially as Mark arrived back midway through all this, looking for his wallet, which thankfully he’d left at home (crisis averted! ) and he stood behind me, which stressed me out even more. I said when I got back to work I was coming back for a rest, after a very stressful lunch hour!
When I finally got out of work and headed home, I had a message from Linda from All Ears Net and to cut a long story short, we’re meeting up with her and Deb Wills now on Friday for lunch at Tokyo Dining, as I was able to change our reservation from two to four people. I can’t wait to see them both again, as unbelievably, we haven’t seen them since back in the summer of 2007, more than six years ago now when we were all on the inaugural Med cruise on the Magic. Now we’re going back for another Med cruise on the Magic next summer….
Mark got home an hour or so after me, and we threw the last remaining bits in the suitcases, which looked a bit like this…
… note the one thing the same with all of them? You got it – chocolate! Yes, there was a fair bit coming with us…
Once the extra bits were added in, we checked the weight, and result – two were 14kgs, while the third was 18kgs and as the weight limit is 23kgs, we were doing well.
We set off pretty much at the time I’d anticipated, which meant that we’d be on time for dropping the car off. I did try to get some photos as we drove along, but it being night, it wasn’t easy…
Joining the dreaded M25 – thankfully quite quiet tonight
We had a lovely drive up there, which was a relief, as you just never know with the M25 how long things are going to take. There was still some traffic going the other way, but it was a lot better than earlier, when traffic on that side of the motorway had been taking an hour to get anywhere.
We were at Gatwick at exactly the time I’d anticipated, and the guy from the valet parking was waiting for us.
I really like this company, as they always check the car, and seem very professional. We were inside in just a moment, and soon found our way to the bag drop area for Virgin, although we do already know where we’re going.
There was a minus one for Virgin here, as there was no separate check-in line for Premium Economy customers, which didn’t impress me, although we were told we could use the fast track security tomorrow morning, so I guess that’s plus one, and puts them back on zero again. It’ll be interesting to see how they do on this flight. Certainly no free upgrade, so the next 24 hours and our return flight will be critical to us deciding if we fly with them again…
Bags all dropped off, we headed upstairs to get some dinner, and went to Giraffe, a chain restaurant which we’ve eaten in before, although admittedly not at Gatwick.
I got a glass of Prosecco (which turned into two ) and it was perfect, while Mark got a beer.
For main course, I got the simply grilled salmon with pineapple, mango and roasted red pepper salsa, which sounded lovely. However, when it arrived, I discovered that it also came with chili, which wasn’t advertised on the menu, and it’s something I’m not keen on at all. I also didn’t like the presentation. I’m not usually fussy about this, but the fact that the salmon was on top of the fries meant that the salsa had ended up all over the fries, which wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted to experience it with the salmon, the way I guess the chef had intended it.
Mark had the Piri-Piri chicken, grilled hot-chili and garlic marinated half chicken, skin on fries, crunchy slaw and hot sauce, and according to Mark, the salsa was hot. Now as he can cope with heat in food much better than I can, I dread to think how hot it was.
After that, we both needed dessert, from my point of view to cool my mouth down so I went for the rocky road sundae with chocolate and vanilla ice cream, marshmallows, chocolate brownie, and warm chocolate sauce, and this was just what I needed. My goodness, it was good, although I felt full after putting all that away!
Mark had the banana waffle split, a Belgian waffle topped with roasted banana, vanilla ice cream, chocolate and butterscotch sauce.
Our server was very good and attentive, something I tend to find a bit lacking at airport restaurants, so that was a pleasant change.
Giraffe
Entrée 7½ 8
Dessert 8 8
Service 8½ 9
Atmosphere 7½ 8
Value for money 7½ 7½
Average score: 7.90
Once we were done with dinner, we wandered back through the terminal, and across to the Hilton. We checked in straightaway, and it was then I saw that it said on our reservation that we had breakfast booked with this for the morning. Oh well! Heck, we could also get some food at the hotel, then get some more at the airport lounge I guess…
We headed to the room, which was quite a hike, as it was in the new extension to the hotel, but it was a very nice room when we got there.
After watching some TV, we headed to bed. Tomorrow would be a long day.
The weather today was cloudy and dry with temperatures in the mid 50s. The best thing today was the smooth run we had on the motorway up to the airport. The worst thing today was panicking we might not be able to change seats. Today we tried getting our seats when online check-in opened 24 hours out And the result was we got it, but my goodness it was stressful!
Mmmmmm, those desserts look delicious!! Glad you didn't have much traffic on the way there. And I'm so curious to see how the flight goes with Virgin as I know how frustrated you've been with this flight up to this point!!
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Not even one day off to rest before starting the report? You're GOOD! It's just inevitable, I think, to have some stress on departure day. Always something different! Glad you got the seats and hope check-in goes smoothly in the morning. I remember looking at the Giraffe menu when we were meeting up at Heathrow last March and thinking it looked very nice. I do think the presentation of your entree was very odd, and they should have listed chili on the menu.
I really wish I had half your energy. That sounds like a manic last day at home before you left. I'm glad you got your seats sorted out I think that was really lucky I've never seen the seat map change at the last minute before.
I didn't realise you were thinking about changing from VA I must admit their prices have gone a bit mad. Not sure who we will fly with next time as I don't know where we will be flying from. I end to book our seats for our return flight in Feb tomorrow.
Your room at the Hilton is so much nicer than the ones we have as we have the family rooms that are huge but a bit tired.
Hope the jet lag isn't too bad tomorrow as I assume you will be back at work Monday?
Not even one day off to rest before starting the report? You're GOOD!
I did manage to get some instalments written up while we were away...
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It's just inevitable, I think, to have some stress on departure day. Always something different! Glad you got the seats and hope check-in goes smoothly in the morning. I remember looking at the Giraffe menu when we were meeting up at Heathrow last March and thinking it looked very nice. I do think the presentation of your entree was very odd, and they should have listed chili on the menu.
So glad to see this TR underway! You certainly don't waste any time Cheryl as you've only been back in the UK for a number of hours now!
Good to see the drive to Gatwick on the M25 went well. The thing with the salmon was a bit bizarre. It almost looks like they just dumped it on top of the plate! Glad the meal was good. The room at the Hilton looks good!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Salmon served on top of fries? That's not what I would expect either. And you would think that chilis would be an ingredient you would list. But the dessert looked amazing.
Glad Mark didn't lose his wallet...that really would have put a kink in everything.
So glad to see this TR underway! You certainly don't waste any time Cheryl as you've only been back in the UK for a number of hours now!
We actually landed on UK soil exactly 12 hours ago...
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Good to see the drive to Gatwick on the M25 went well. The thing with the salmon was a bit bizarre. It almost looks like they just dumped it on top of the plate!
Salmon served on top of fries? That's not what I would expect either. And you would think that chilis would be an ingredient you would list. But the dessert looked amazing.
Glad Mark didn't lose his wallet...that really would have put a kink in everything.
Great start! Glad you had a trouble free ride to the airport. Dinner looked interesting, although salmon on top of french fries is a little strange. Dessert looked fabulous and made me hungry for ice cream. Your title for you next update does not bode well, I hope you did not oversleep.
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The alarm usually goes off slightly after that on a weekday, so in truth, it wasn’t too terrible. We got up, and headed downstairs to watch some more TV from our box, so that it would be as empty as possible before we left. 
Then there were a few more little things to do, and a few final things to throw in the suitcase, then we could head off to work… 
Eventually, while trying to call Virgin Atlantic at the same time to ask them what on earth their website was doing 
) and he stood behind me, which stressed me out even more. I said when I got back to work I was coming back for a rest, after a very stressful lunch hour! 
I can’t wait to see them both again, as unbelievably, we haven’t seen them since back in the summer of 2007, more than six years ago now 
when we were all on the inaugural Med cruise on the Magic. Now we’re going back for another Med cruise on the Magic next summer…. 
Yes, there was a fair bit coming with us… 
) and it was perfect, while Mark got a beer. 
I also didn’t like the presentation. I’m not usually fussy about this, but the fact that the salmon was on top of the fries meant that the salsa had ended up all over the fries, which wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted to experience it with the salmon, the way I guess the chef had intended it. 
Glad the meal was good. The room at the Hilton looks good! 
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