2024.11 Disney, Universal, US Thanksgiving in Florida

2024.11 Disney, Universal, US Thanksgiving in Florida

We had the chance to spend a week in Florida around the US Thanksgiving holiday.  Not only did this give us a chance to visit theme parks, but to visit them with Christmas decorations!  But first to kick off the week, we need to fly there and get to our accommodations for the week.

Air Canada Rouge Toronto to Orlando

We had another early morning flight, all based on the hope that we could make the most of the day once we land in Orlando.  After clearing security and US customs, we dropped by the Plaza Premium lounge (transborder) before the flight.  Even though I didn’t have much to eat, it was before 6am and the place was jammed — so not a lot of pictures of the place.  Overall it’s fairly small and the only seats we could find were in a windowless area.  Didn’t matter as we grabbed something to eat and drink before heading to the plane.

For this flight I selected an exit row so that we wouldn’t be squished in the seats for couple hours to Florida.  From memories of our 2019 flight and seeing how little legroom exists on Air Canada Rouge, I was glad with the extra space.  We arrived at the gate as boarding had already commenced and we quickly joined the line and were soon on board.

Air Canada Rouge 1670
Toronto – Orlando (YYZ-MCO)
Scheduled departure 7:00am
Scheduled arrival: 10:00am
Seats: 18E&F

The interesting part of this emergency exit row on an Airbus A321 is that there is a flight attendant jump seat.

The flight crew did their welcome message around 6:50am, where some luggage would need to be removed due to the passengers not making the flight.  Once that was completed, push back from the gate began at 7:15 and the engines fired up quickly after that.  The flight attendant in the jump seat was Roger.  He was an excellent flight attendant — personable and easy to talk with, and once in the air, was constantly in motion in the cabin assisting with service and checking in with the many families to ensure the children were occupied during the flight.  Our flight was off the ground by 7:30, where we got to watch the sunrise as we climbed up to the cruising altitude.

When the buy on board came by I tried the breakfast sandwich, consisting of turkey, egg and bacon.  She had a cheese and fruit snack box.

Overall the flight was fine, there was some light turbulence somewhere over Georgia, however I just remember that a flight attendant had just past offering water when the plane encountered the turbulence.  Approach into Orlando was straight forward.  With no seat back screens, Rouge does offer a library of entertainment accessible by wifi as well as a map.  It is possible to pay for a wifi connection, however I enjoy not having an internet connection when on flights.

Although low-resolution, the map worked just fine.  We landed at 9:53am, and were parked at a gate and off the plane by 10:05am.  Orlando’s airport has a central terminal and then four satellite buildings where the gates are located.  They are connected by individual monorails.  This is important when departing to know as you need to get on the right monorail.  Arriving is easy.  Monorail takes you to the terminal.  Our luggage arrived quickly, probably about 5 minutes after we arrived at the carousel.  From there, car rental pickup was next.  For this visit, the Florida Turnpike authority now offers the ability to arrange for a temporary account and to use it on any vehicle, like a rental car.  The item was a card that hangs on the rear view mirror, and you get one from a vending machine.  Once you complete a quick link of the rental car to the temporary tag you’re set.  We used the toll roads a few times, where it was seamless and by returning to your online account you can see the usage, almost in real time.  Best of all was to avoid additional administration fees from the rental car company afterwards when they collect and send out the toll bills.

Our first destination was lunch.  Specifically we wanted a place that offered Junior’s Cheesecake.  Something from our January 2023 visit to New York City, we absolutely loved. (We even bought a couple and took them home)

Junior’s Cheesecake

Little Miss took challenge with glee ahead of time.  She had found a restaurant on the north end of Orlando that advertised Junior’s  Cheesecakes as part of their regular menu.  We made the drive up there for lunch and we were not disappointed.

We had found a New York style deli, complete with every New York City professional team apparel on the wall.  In fairness, with a name “Pickles NY Deli”, they lived up to their name.  The food was great, however having an awesome sandwich with 20C weather outside, in November did make me feel that I wasn’t in the original location of the food.  We enjoyed every bite.

Next up, our accommodation for the week.  We were able to secure a timeshare condo for the week.  Located in Kissimmee, it was a short drive to Walt Disney World, and was also close to everything we’d need.  Check-in was in the afternoon, so we had plenty of time before arriving at the condo to stop at some shops and pick up some food — we weren’t going to dine-out every meal on this trip.  After we checked in, our condo was on the 3rd floor, and without an elevator Little Miss foreshadowed “This is going to royally suck after being at a theme park all day and I’m tired.”

From the slideshow below, it was a generously sized three bedroom, two bath space.  It had two balconies, one off the main bedroom, and a second off the living room.  The kitchen was fully stocked, and as a bonus some extra food items from the prior occupants supplemented our groceries.  Somehow I forgot to take pictures of the large bathroom that was off the main bedroom — it had both a large soaker tub, and a large glass shower enclosure.

Now in fairness, this much space for two people was excellent — a thorough improvement over a hotel rooms that are typically the size of any of the bedrooms.  I can understand how timeshares would appeal to families or families who vacation with extended family members.  This setup makes it feel as if you’re still in a home-like environment while on vacation.  With our stuff unpacked, our week of theme parks and activities awaited!

Explore other parts of this trip:

Part 1 – Air Canada Flight Toronto to Orlando (this post!)

Part 2 – Animal Kingdom & Downtown Disney

Part 3 – Magic Kingdom – Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party

Part 4 – Hollywood Studios

Part 5 – Universals, two parks, one day

Part 6 – Flight home