I woke up around 4.15 am and left in the taxi for 5.15 am.Got to Manchester Airport for 5.45 however, check in desk did not open until 7.30. So we started a queue at the side near the check in desk and two of us went and got Starbucks. Now, at around 6.45 it got a little hectic. Most people for the flight joined our queue, but a few decided to stand right in the middle in the way, blocking the entrance to security.
By 7.00 am it was chaos, people pushing in, not caring that there was a bit queue already. At 7.15 am we moved forward ready to start checking in, however, the check in people for Awr Lingus didn’t know what was happening as the flight before us were still checking in. They opened the desk at 7.40 and we were the third group to check in. It took 5 mins and the lady at the desk was lovely.
Now it was time to head through security. We were a little worried as we had seen all the bad press at Manchester Airport. It was busy but not awful and we cleared security in 15 mins. We headed up to the lounge we had booked and had breakfast and a few drinks☺️ It’s 5pm somewhere right? After we ate 4 of us went shopping and got some food for the flight as we were anxious about the lunch choices.
At 10.15 we headed over to the gate where there were 40-50 people sitting waiting. At 10.25 they opened the gate to business class customers and those families with small children. They got through these customers very quickly and by 10.45 we were queuing to get through the gate. One person in our party was pulled over for extra tests (of course it was kiran😂) but he quickly followed us to the plane. There wasn’t a long wait to get to our seats and we were lucky enough that there were two empty seats in front of us that one of our party moved to once we had taken off.
We were all ready to depart at 11.00 but due to the delays at check in, not all of the suitcases were on the plane.
At 11.30 the pilot told us we were ready to go. I’m a very nervous flyer but this was one of the smoothest flights I had ever been on!! The food was amazing and there was only a little bit of turbulence around 3.5 hours in!! Cannot fault Aer Lingus at all!!! The crew were so lovely and did everything they could to make the flight enjoyable.
We landed at 3.45pm US time which was the time we were meant to land which was great. As soon as the seat belt light went on everyone bounced out of their seats and got their bags. We moved off the plane 5 mins later and MCO airport was great! People guisonf you to where you need to be. Jumped on the monorail to the main terminal and cleared customs in 10 mins as our flight was the only one there. Suitcases were already coming out! We didn’t have to wait long and at around 4.30pm went to get our hire car.
This was a little longer wait and the heat was getting to us a little at this point. But we got the car and by 5.00pm we left for The Grove Resort and Waterpark. It was a little confusing at first driving the American way but our great driver Mrs Petra managed to figure it out. We arrived at the Hotel at 6.00pm after a detour due to a closed road and check in was quite smooth. We went up to our nice cold room and unpacked. Would highly recommend this hotel if not wanting to stay in the park hotels. Great staff, very clean and big apartments. Only downside is that it’s like a maze. There are so many corridors and lifts, it gets a little confusing.
It was around 7.30 now after unpavking and chatting so we went for a walk around the outside of the hotel to find the water park and pools. We heard a little thunder and it got a little windy but no proper storms or rain. We we’re going to then go out and get food but we were exhausted and I’m not a fan of storms so was worried we would get stuck in one. The hotel has a mini supermarket with an area where they make pizzas and burgers. We got a pizza and a few burgers and wow! I can’t wait to eat all this food over here😂 we ate and went to bed as by this point it would have been 2.00am in the UK and we had been up for 22 hours!!!
Becca Dawson 