Just home! Highs and lows :)

Highs and lows

Well we have just returned from a wonderful week long trip. We had a blast and took things super easy, lots of rest and napping was done lol

Highs

First up here has gotta be spending 2 nights in the grand floridian villas mid trip this was done off the cuff, we walked in and asked if they had any last Min availability and they did! They actually had 3 nights but we didn't really have the points to spare so we settled with 2 nights. We were given room 1604 which was top floor lake view. It was stunning. Can't wait to stay there for longer in October!!

Having a massage at the senses spa at the grand floridian. The massage itself was amazing, the experience wasn't so much (read lows for that one).

The beautiful sunshine, just can't get enough of that awesome Florida weather.

Spending some one on one time with my lovely hubby, even if he did snore and keep me up every night....

Seeing the festival of fantasy properly, it's so beautiful!! Some of the costumes remind me of the Katy Perry video though for California girls... Anyone else?

Meeting Anna and elsa, they nailed the characters and we really felt like they took time to speak to us rather than just rush us through and go through the motions - there was a lot of talk about chocolate cake

Meeting some great cast members, we gave 2 CM recognitions. 1 from peco's bill and 1 from restaurantosaurous.

Seeing the parasol parade at the grand floridian, even if I did have to drag my butt out of bed to see it lol

The staff in our hotel on international drive, they were always so pleasant and even gave us an upgrade to a suite when we checked in as it was my birthday trip.

Going back in 112 days! Takes the edge off the blues about being back

Lows

Wow the humidity was intense. I've been in June before but I don't remember it being as bad as it was this time, we were having to take mid day naps just to get out of the heat. The afternoon storms weren't too great either, if you go in summer you have to expect them but everything pretty much grinds to a halt which can be a pain in the bum.

Staying on international drive. I think our time for staying there has gone, we used to love it but we really felt a million miles away from disney, it took half an hour each way to disney and sometimes longer with the i4 traffic (which was really bad, one night we spent an hour going 1 junction before turning back and going back to our hotel).

Flying Monarch. It was a means to an end, we knew what we were getting into when we booked, but boy it was baaaad. They squeeze an extra seat per row in compared to other companies like BA and virgin, and let's face it we ain't no small people. We were very lucky and manage to move on our outbound flight to a 3 seat row for the 2 of us, and on the way we just happened to get given 3 seats. There no way we could have both sat next to each other, even my shoulders were wider than the seat, let alone Sy! Food was no choice, well there was - eat this or go without lol. No seatback TVs, movies on loop via overhead tv, you needed to buy special headsets to listen to it though. No online check in so a full flight was being checked in by 2 desks on the way out. Took us 1 hr 45 mins to get checked in. Staff were friendly though.

On the way home some less savoury women (I'm talking gold teeth, full length fur coats and serious attitude problems) were going mad cause they had been asked repeatedly not to drink the alcohol they had bought in duty free as it's against the rules, eventually they then were told they had to surrender it to the cabin crew. well they were kicking off big time, squaring up to the male cabin crew, telling him it was all because he was racist that he was singling them out (nothing to do with the attitude problem or the fact they were breaking the rules repeatedly then!). I actually thought they were going to redirect us at one point as it was starting to get ugly. I think the time could be coming for no alcohol on planes at all. They were on our outbound flight too and a pain In the butt then as well, shouting and swearing down the plane (which obviously was full of kids going to Orlando!).

Getting ill one night in MK, we were right over by BTM so not much further away than you could get really, luckily a really nice CM came to my aid (one I did a recognition for) and found me a wheelchair for Sy to get me out of the park. Grrr to my health!

Not having enough time to do everything, a week is amazing still but really it's not enough time to really enjoy and relax into disney. By the time we are just getting over the jet lag it's time to head back home again! I'd still go again for another week but only if I got a cheap deal like this one, I wouldn't plan such a short trip.

Senses spa, hmmm. Sit back, this might be a long one...
The girl who showed me in didn't make me feel special at all and considering the price of treatments, I kinda want to feel special! Not to mention I was wearing my birthday button. She walked me in so fast I couldn't keep up. Her showing me round consisted of 'here's the bathroom, here's the showers, here's a locker for you, this is how you lock it, it's the same to unlock it' she gave me a 5xl robe and shoes that were too small. I wouldn't have even minded so much but after my treatment I saw a different girl showing someone around, the girl was given a drink, she was asked what size shoes, shown where to get and put her towels and robes, shown into the bathrooms and told what amenities were in there (comb and brushes, I know cause I was listening so I would know myself). She was asked if the robe size would be okay... Just on the whole a totally different experience to what I had. I'm going to feedback this to disney, especially as I had planned to write an article on the experience (I told my therapist this after my treatment anyway and grabbed a few pics of her), but obviously at the moment I don't really have the most favourable opinion on it. I'm still planning to go back in October anyway. I had intended on mentioning it on check out but she was the person checking me out. When I had gone into the spa to book the lady who booked me in told me it was 20% discount for DVC so on check out when I saw the girl write 15% I asked why it wasn't 20% and she said it's not 20%, it's 15%. I did tell her the woman's name who booked me in and that she told me it was 20% and she just kinda looked through me and didn't say anything :-/ I asked if annual pass got 20% in case the booking lady had got it mixed up with that and she didn't even look at me and just said no. I then asked if anyone got 20% as maybe she got the discount confused with another concession (I was feeling uncomfortable by this point as I felt she thought I was lying, she certainly was making me feel like she didn't believe me) and she replied with 'cast'. I tried to laugh and say oh maybe that was it then, she must have thought I looked like I belonged here, I was met with no response. There was never any 'oh really sorry you were told it was 20%, it's actually only 15%' or even 'did you enjoy yourself?'. Just left me with a really bitter taste after spending $150+ (3 times more than I have ever paid for a massage).

Overall our highs wayyyyyy outweighed the lows, and you know us by now, always like to make the best of things anyway

There will of course be a trip report to follow, we also did a bit of vlogging so I'll try and edit a few of those and get them up. I didn't take any notes this trip (7 days is just way too short) so it will be done from memory, pictures and the video clips

112 days to go! Woohoo!