adventures by Disney - Day 1

​**Will contain all the details of the Adventure by Disney portion of the day, which will include spoilers.

  Our Adventure by Disney tour starts today but only at 6:30 pm with the Welcome Dinner so we had the day to ourselves.   We had breakfast at the hotel and then did stop by to say hello and meet our guides before we headed out for the day.   Melissa and Lewis were our Adventure guides.  I can’t say enough good things about them.  They were amazing!   
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We had set up a private driver from 9 am to 3 pm.   The only items on our agenda were the London Eye and tea at Fortnum and Mason.   When I worked with the company to set it up, the plan was the London Eye at 9:45 am (the company included the tickets) and then I had made tea reservations at 11:30 am.   When we met the driver, he said the London Eye didn’t open until 10 am so he drove us around a bit and gave us some information about London.    He dropped us off for a 10 minute photo op at Buckingham Palace.

​We headed back to the London Eye and it didn’t seem to be moving so our driver looked up the operating hours.  It had shifted to off season and didn’t start until 11 am.   So we pivoted and headed to Fortnum and Mason.  

Fortnum and Mason has been at their 181 Piccadilly location for over 300 years.  We had tea booked at their Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon.
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But first, we had time to shop.   There was so much! And their Christmas shop was open which was fun to explore.   I LOVE scones and I regret not buying some that day.  

​I also enjoy an afternoon tea, and this certainly did not disappoint.  We each chose our own tea and our menu.  We all did the traditional tea menu except for Sue who chose the “savory” menu option.  Each tower was for two people.  I didn’t love all the finger sandwiches and Chris didn’t try any of them, so he ate the desserts.   The scones were SO good.  

After we were done, I texted the driver to pick us up and we were on our way back to the London Eye.  The company included “Fast Track” tickets, so we didn’t need to wait at all.   The Eye takes about 25 minutes to complete a full circle.   It wasn’t overly exciting but cool to get some nice pictures from the top.

​When we met back up with the driver, we asked if he could drop us off at Harrods and then we would end our time with him there and make our way back to the hotel on our own.   I don’t have any photos from Harrods.  The most impressive area to me was the Food Hall.   So many different prepared food options.  

When we were done, Chris and I wanted to get the full London experience, so we decided to take the tube back to the hotel.   Thanks to Google maps that was pretty easy.  My sisters took a taxi and the tube was definitely faster as London traffic is crazy.

We had a few hours to relax before meeting our Adventures by Disney group in the lobby at 6:30 pm.

As would be the case throughout the trip, everyone in our group was on time.  Melissa and Lewis led us downstairs to a private room for our first official ABD event.  

Seating was open and it was a buffet as far as dinner.   Wine and soft drinks were included, and that would be the case at each group meal.   This was an adult exclusive tour, so no children.   As our greeter had mentioned the day before, we had a total of 32 adults, although for the Welcome Dinner 4 adults had yet to arrive due to flight delays / cancellations.  

Melissa and Lewis went over logistics and general information. Every evening we would get a text message that would remind us of the departure time for the next day, what weather is predicted and anything else that was important to know.  

The schedule for the entire trip is ambitious.   Melissa and Lewis said this is not a vacation, it is an adventure.   They also said it is YOUR adventure.   So, if there was something in the plan that you didn’t want to do, it was totally fine to skip it.  They just needed to know so they could keep track of everyone.   It is also a rain or shine tour.   Everyone takes place despite the weather – which we would experience several times.

 Then one member of each party had to stand to introduce themselves, say where they were from and what they were most looking forward to on the trip.   We had a lot of people that had come as a birthday or anniversary celebration.  We had mainly couples or mother / daughter traveling together.  There was one trio of gentlemen and one woman who was traveling solo (on her 7th ABD!). 
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**Spoiler alert**  We then had a surprise visit from Sherlock Holmes!   He led the group through a series of clues and puzzles to finally discover our first pin of the trip.   He was very funny and did a wonderful job.  

Dinner ended with the announcement that our departure time for the next morning was 7:30 am from the lobby.  Breakfast at the hotel was included and the restaurant would be opening at 6:45 am just for us.   Throughout the trip, you did breakfast at whatever time you liked keeping in mind the departure time for the day.