Wading in Flip Flops...Day 7 Part 5: What's not to like about....UPDATE 28.2

[Scoobymoons]

It is time...

2 months following our incredible trip to WDW I am finally getting the report underway...

I am seriously hoping that it was worth the wait.

Hopefully, I will regale you with tales of happiness , food , laughter , silliness , family and horror (not really...I just wanted to use that smilie...sorry!)

So....

Let's go....

A quick reminder of the cast of the extravaganza:

Me: Claire (35 - nearly 36...ah well)
DH: Jeremy (29 )
DD: Eloise (4)
Although the picture is from our WDW holiday 2 years ago. There are plenty of fresh photos to come. All in good time.

Our trip was from the 2nd August 2011 - 24th August. We stayed at Wilderness Lodge for the entire stay and would do it again in the blink of an eye.

Three fabulous weeks with the Mouse - amazing!

I have a feeling I'm going to enjoy reminiscing through writing and hope you enjoy it too.



Day 1: "Be careful what you do with that giraffe..."
Day 2 Part 1: What's the difference between a pair of tights and some Flightsocks?!
Day 2 Part 2: From Home to home away from home.
Day 2 Part 3: 'Welcome Home!'
Day 3 Part 1: Thank Goodness for Blue-footed Boooby birds
Day 3 Part 2: Dun Dun Duuuuun...!!
Day 3 Part 3: You Gotta Love Him...xxx
Day 3 Part 4: How to make a small girl very...VERY...happy!
Day 3 Part 4: How to make a small girl very...VERY...happy! Same title...look...
Day 4 Part 1: Run Away!!!!
Day 4 Part 2: Fountain of Youth....
Day 5 Part 1: Imaaaaagiiiinaaaaation.....
Day 5 Part 2: Step away from the ducks...
Day 6 Part 1: The Hat really comes into play!
Day 6 Part 2: Now you see her...now you don't...
REMEMBER ME??!! AN EXPLANATION...
Day 6 Part 3: ...oh...you don't mean that Pooh???
Day 6 Part 4: Jammin!!
Day 7 Part 1: Moving on....
Day 7 Part 2: Future World/Land/Ville
Day 7 Part 3: How many benches are in the UK pavillion? Ask my DD...
Day 7 Part 4: Samy from Nice, you are really Nice!
Day 7 Part 5: What's not to like about food served on a monorail?!!!

 

[jockey]

Cant wait for more

 

[kirstinemma]

Looking forward to more!

 

[Scoobymoons]

Much as being a teacher is really hard work, I do have the luxury of having enough time off to wallow in the joys of preparing for a holiday, and glory be did I enjoy this one! Eloise and I had the whole day to complete last minute packing and tidying of the house (it's amazing how tidying becomes an 'ok' pasttime when a 3 week holiday is so close you can smell it...)

In amongst the general house/packing stuff was a particularly special task: while we were going to be away, Eloise's cousin (mine and Jeremy's niece) Niamh was going to turn 3. Her middle name is Minnie and she is more often called that than Niamh. For a large portion of the morning Eloise and I studiously made a poster saying Happy Birthday Minnie! which was then packed in our luggage, our intention being that on Minnie's birthday we were going to get a photo on our phones of the real Minnie holding the poster to send straight to Niamh Minnie (hope that made sense...)

2.30 came and Jeremy finished work and came home - the trip was getting closer....
We were going to be dropped off at the airport by Jeremy's lovely parents so after they had arrived and we had said a fond farewell to our two cats (Angus and Saffy) we headed off to the airport. Thankfully the journey there was totally uneventful. I should say at this point, we were staying at the Travelodge overnight so that we weren't rushed in the morning. Great idea - really took the pressure off us and it also meant the holiday officially started one day earlier (whoop!). The other huge advantage was being able to use the Twilight check-in service - a real bonus in our eyes as it literally took 10 minutes instead of the 2 hours we had previously experienced on previous trips. We were instructed to take our buggy to oversize luggage where we were met by the most cheerless guy ever - crikey, talk about lack of job satisfaction - methinks he needed a trip to WDW!!! However, we were just mildly amused by the whole thing as, short of a disaster, nothing was going to dampen our holiday spirits.
We had decided to go to Frankie and Benny's for dinner at the airport before heading to the hotel for the evening...that was until we discovered that Frankie and Benny's was airside...oops...plan 1 foiled... We trolled up and down the concourse finding out what was there, passing various members of security and 2 armed police - they would have been scary had one of them not had a gun that was pretty much bigger than him - quite freaky!
We eventually decided to give 'Giraffe' a try - we were initially reluctant as we had previously had a poor experience in a different branch of 'Giraffe' but in we went nevertheless.

<a href="http://s1140.photobucket.com/albums/n577/Scoobymoons/WDW%202011/?action=view&current=DSCF0534.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n577/Scoobymoons/WDW%202011/DSCF0534.jpg" border="0" alt="2.8.11"></a>

As you can see from the picture, Eloise was given a small plastic giraffe that unintentionally became a weapon until Jeremy said "Be careful what you do with that giraffe." I love comments like that - they definitely come under the heading of 'things you never thought you'd hear in one sentence!'
Anyway we ordered drinks and food (no pictures of this one but there definitely will be later on!)
Me: Coke, Pinot Grigio (large - start as you mean to go on is what I say ), Parmesan Chicken Schnitzel with mash.

Jeremy: Coke, Brooklyn Lager, Cusquena beer, Rodeo Burger and fries

Eloise: Apple Juice, Chicken pasta (Eloise looooves pasta!)
We were very very pleasantly surprised by this meal - it was a really positive start to the holiday.

After that we headed to the Marks and Spencer food shop to purchase 4 beers and a banana... ah yes... a classic combination of food and beverage... Let me just clarify, the beer was for J and I and the banana was for E's breakfast! That done it was off to the hotel.

I failed to mention before that we were moved from the Travelodge due to maintenance issues - this wasn't a problem as it was still an easy commute from the Premier Inn we were transferred to to Gatwick via shuttle bus.
E and I sat in the foyer of the Premier Inn while J went to check in. E gasped: "Wow, I've never seen such a beautiful inn..." - such high standards... (at this point I was thinking of the Wilderness Lodge by the way...)
J had taken a while to get seen and E was clearly becoming impatient:
"There are inns in the Bible. If we can't stay at the Premier Inn, maybe we can stay in the stables..." Bless - out of the mouths of babes and all that!!!

Once we were finally checked in, we headed to our room - it was perfectly fine and probably better than the Travelodge room we had expected.
<a href="http://s1140.photobucket.com/albums/n577/Scoobymoons/WDW%202011/?action=view&current=DSCF0537.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n577/Scoobymoons/WDW%202011/DSCF0537.jpg" border="0" alt="2.8.11"></a>

<a href="http://s1140.photobucket.com/albums/n577/Scoobymoons/WDW%202011/?action=view&current=DSCF0538.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n577/Scoobymoons/WDW%202011/DSCF0538.jpg" border="0" alt="2.8.11"></a>

<a href="http://s1140.beta.photobucket.com/user/Scoobymoons/media/WDW%202011/Pre%20Travel%202-8-11/DSCF0541.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n577/Scoobymoons/WDW%202011/Pre%20Travel%202-8-11/DSCF0541.jpg" border="0" alt="2.8.11 photo DSCF0541.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://s1140.photobucket.com/albums/n577/Scoobymoons/WDW%202011/?action=view&current=DSCF0544.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n577/Scoobymoons/WDW%202011/DSCF0544.jpg" border="0" alt="2.8.11"></a>

<a href="http://s1140.beta.photobucket.com/user/Scoobymoons/media/WDW%202011/Pre%20Travel%202-8-11/DSCF0546.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n577/Scoobymoons/WDW%202011/Pre%20Travel%202-8-11/DSCF0546.jpg" border="0" alt="2.8.11 photo DSCF0546.jpg"/></a>

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As you can tell I had the trip report on my mind at all times -very dedicated...

By the way, if you get bored of reading my drivel, you can always play a quick game of Spot the Beer....
E was being a very excited 4 year old (great fun watching her try to get on to our bed - too short...) but she did fall asleep by 8.30 - not bad really! J and I watched an episode of CSI Miami (we are complete CSI NY addicts but didn't mind being traitors for an hour!) and a Kitchen Nightmares USA before falling asleep by 11 - not bad even if I do say so myself!

Needless to say, we were all terribly excited in anticipation of tomorrow....

Day 2: What's the difference between a pair of tights and some Flightsocks?!

 

[Scoobymoons]

Cant wait for more

Looking forward to more!

Thanks for joining in! Excited about writing.

 

[darthtatty]

fab start
cant wait to hear more.xx

 

[VailaTigger]

Oooo!

Looking forward to reading more!

Been waiting for this trippy!

 

[Scoobymoons]

It is shocking how long I've been away from the DIS

I'd really enjoyed writing my pre trip report and then the first couple of installments of the report proper. I also wrote the next installment, but as I came to post it the whole thing was lost...gutted....

Unfortunately life then caught up with me in the style of large (purely in terms of ridiculous situations at work) and it's only just now that I'm feeling able to breathe again.

Soooo.... sorry for disappearing and fingers crossed I can keep it going this time. Here goes....

 

[jen_uk]

Great start, looking forward to reading more

 

[Scoobymoons]

So...
Day 1 is over and we move on to flight day - the actual day we are going to arrive in the land of Mickey de Mouse (as Pete might say on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse...apologies to anyone who is not the parent of a four year old...)

As previously mentioned, we all got to sleep at a fairly civilised time on the previous night (goodness only knows how...) so I was fully expecting a silly 'o' clock wake up but even that wasn't bad. I slept longest (what's new? ) and was woken by a handsome prince gently kissing me... oh no...wrong story... I was actually woken by the Bob the Builder theme tune...great...just great.... Turns out that DD and DH had been awake for a little while too excited to sleep - well who can blame them!

So DD had a banana (bought the previous night along with the beer...remember?) and fruit juice while DH had a shower. We then got ourselves organised to leave for the shuttle bus to the airport -
Now...DH and I are walking medical disasters...me due to my delightful bout of cancer and him because he had to have open heart surgery aged 13 (we're hoping that our two gene pools might cancel each other out so that DD is all hunky dory...)...so anyway, to cut a long story short, we have to wear flight socks. Now, I am very careful about this sort of thing and don't leave things to chance so I had ensured I had packed two pairs of flight socks in our overnight bags. It was only when DH was putting his on that I realised my error. I looked across and thought...'hmmm....flight socks with a gusset...that's unusual...yes, definitely not what we had before...that'll be because they're actually my winter tights...ahhhh'
DH had realised at this point and was highly amused. Decided that our best course of action would be to buy some new ones at the airport.
We checked out of the Premier Inn at about ten past nine and literally got straight onto a shuttle bus - as you can imagine the anticipation was immense - I sometimes think that the build up to a holiday can be just as exciting as the holiday itself.

Arriving at the South terminal, we headed straight to Boots to buy new flight socks and then on to security. Thankfully this was straightforward and without incident. I am always somewhat nervous about security - not because I have any reason to be you understand, but because of a previous incident. I was travelling up to Newcastle (where my family are from - yes I am a bona fide Geordie) and flying is the quickest and often cheapest option. Well, on the X-Ray it showed up that my bag contained something very sharp and metal - cue for security to haul through my entire bag - I was panicking as I could not for the life of me think of what it could be and the security woman was working her way through my bag. As you can imagine, all sorts of things were going through my mind...did I leave my baggage unattended at any point?...have I accidentally left nail scissors in my toiletries?...what happens to DD is I'm arrested?....that sort of thing. Anyway, that was when it hit me...of course...I knew exactly what it was! I then spent an embarrased couple minutes explaining to the still-searching security woman that the object in question was, in fact, a Mickey head bottle stopper that I was taking up to my brother and his partner as a gift from my last holiday (in 2009 - we don't see them enough ) ...ah that explained it all...at least I thought it did...of course she still insisted on finding the thing to prove my innocence...but she couldn't. No...she spent another 5 minutes trying to root the bottle stopper out but could she find it...could she heck. In the end she asked me to find it! Now call me a cynic but SURELY in her training there would have been the 'How to find and remove a suspicious item from a customer's bag' section. SURELY?! And I'm pretty sure the solution would not have been 'Ask the customer to do it for you'...And this wasn't even hidden! She'd have had a field day if anything came through her X-Ray where someone had actually made a bit of effort in item concealment...

Anyway I digress...
Back to the trip... actually it might be worth warning you at this point that I may digress at times...just a tiny bit...I like a good tangent....

So after our uneventual security experience we headed up to the VRoom. I don't know if I mentioned this before (forgive me if I have) but I cheekily requested this for free when we booked the holiday - I think it's normally £30 or so per person but I figured I'd ask on the offchance...and we got it
The VRoom is great and I have to say that even if we hadn't got it free we would have contemplated paying anyway. We also got it free on our last trip (I think it had just opened and they were doing special offers) but didn't make the most of it. Being more knowledgeable this time, we were able to utilise it fully!
The VRoom is basically an area which is reserved for guests and has loads of comforts that you aren't normally afforded in a normal airport lounge.

<a href="http://s1140.photobucket.com/albums/n577/Scoobymoons/WDW%202011/?action=view&current=DSCF0548.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n577/Scoobymoons/WDW%202011/DSCF0548.jpg" border="0" alt="3.8.11, V Room"></a>

It is really close to the runways - DD loved this - watching planes taking off and landing. And there is masses of free food and drink. We chose to have a sausage sandwich and a breakfast with sausage, bacon scrambled egg and tomato to share between the three of us.

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As you can see, DH and DD enjoyed their breakfasts!

There were lots of other options though: other hot options, cereal, toast, yoghurt, fresh fruit, croissants, doughnuts, juices, smoothies, coffee, tea...

Along with tangents, you will also notice a distinct bias towards all things food. Sorry

Once we had eaten we took shifts at wandering around (only so we didn't lose our seats )

<a href="http://s1140.photobucket.com/albums/n577/Scoobymoons/WDW%202011/?action=view&current=DSCF0552.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n577/Scoobymoons/WDW%202011/DSCF0552.jpg" border="0" alt="3.8.11, V Room"></a>

There was lots of comfy seating; telescopes (for really up close and personal viewing of the planes); a small soft play; a Trunki design competition; computers with free internet; foosball...very relaxing and away from the madness of the usual lounges.

We were very pleased we'd asked about the VRoom and would recommend it wholeheartedly

 

[stephensmum]

So glad you're carrying on with the trippie, Claire. V Room looks good.

 

[strawberry blonde]

Glad you've started again. Looking forward to more

 

[Tammy Stringer]

Great to see you have started again - love your style of writing

Tammy

 

[mandymouse]

Great start to your trippy, I look forward to reading some more

 

[Scoobymoons]

Great start, looking forward to reading more

Thankyou!

So glad you're carrying on with the trippie, Claire. V Room looks good.

Thanks! I'm pleased too - just glad my notes were pretty comprehensive! That and the fact that I remember the trip as if it was yesterday V Room was great - really relaxing - passes the time nicely!

Glad you've started again. Looking forward to more

More very soon. Thanks for reading.

Great to see you have started again - love your style of writing

Tammy

You're very kind and I'm pleased you're enjoying it.

Great start to your trippy, I look forward to reading some more

Thanks. Here's hoping it gets going this time

 

[Scoobymoons]

We eventually left the VRoom and headed to flight VS015 which we boarded quickly and got ourselves settled. Lovehearts were handed round...presumably because they were to aid in anti-earpopping during take off - not just because the cabin crew were feeling amorous... Well, they just about lasted long enough - I think DD was on her last one by the time the plane actually took off!

DD settled down happily to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse - we soon realised she had no concept of the etiquette associated with wearing headphones as she yelled 'Oh Toodles!' at the top of her voice. I think DH and I simultaneously clapped our hands over her mouth much to her surprise

I tried to watch Lincoln Lawyer but couldn't hear it so gave up relatively quickly. Drinks came round at which point DD had apple juice and water, DH had Pepsi and I had a G&T (yum - I love these on a plane...well I love them anywhere strictly speaking, but on a plane they are particularly pokey!!) - we also had some sour cream and chive pretzels. So, what with DD watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and DH watching a combination of Top Gear and football goals (woo!) I was at a loose end so I decided to put some work in learning a script (I'm a bit of an am dram fiend and was beginning rehearsals for a play as soon as we got back from hols.)

Eventually dinner came round for DD:
Pasta and cheese with bolognese; mini loaf of bread; orange juice; apple slices and grapes; Peter Rabbit organics peach and apricot puree and a bag of Haribo sweets...not bad!!!

Then DH and I were given 3 options for our meal: sausage and mash; fish pie or mac and cheese. DH had the fish pie and I had mac and cheese (my last decent mac and cheese for three weeks - I really can't abide the mac and cheese in WDW - it's all wrong - gloopy incandescent stuff that looks like it should be served in a cafeteria in Sellafield - bleargh!) Anyway, the mains were served with a Greek salad; mini loaf with butter; Uglies chocolate mousse; cup of water, coffee, Pepsi (DH) and a white wine (me.)

Now, I know that aeroplane food is not of the highest standard: it hasn't exactly been prepared with heart and soul. However, there is something I just kind of like about it - it has the symbolism of a fantastic time about to start. It marks the start of a holiday when you don't have to cook or clean and can just relax and have a whale of a time - now that's going to make anything taste good!!! My only gripe about the dinner on the way out was that the guy in front of me had his chair reclined all the way through the flight. This gave the impression of a) my food being on my lap and b) the bloke being on top of my food on my lap - NOT GOOD!

DD had hilarious hair during the flight - shame I didn't get a photo - she was severely affected by the static electricity. She's always had this problem - when she was a baby I'd take her in a trolley through Marks and Spencers (a veritable palace of static) and her hair would literally stand on end - literally. So much so people would stop in their tracks just to laugh...maybe I should have charged some sort of ticket price...hmmm...a missed opportunity....

The flight was generally fine (other than leany back man...grrrr) - DD slept for a short while, did a million stickers and then watched 'Tangled' (possibly my favourite Disney film) on our portable DVD player (an amazing purchase - worth every single penny.) Drinks were served sporadically and there was a random ice cream bar moment which DD missed as she was sleeping - ah well, you know what they say...you snooze, you lose...!
Afternoon tea was delightful..well it was ok...I feel that afternoon tea ought to be 'delightful': DD had cream cheese and strawberry jam sandwiches (one of each...not both flavours in each sandwich - tasty!!!), a bag of mini Cheddars and a box of raisins.
DH and I had: tuna mayo & egg and cress sarnies and a cookie. I hd water and DH had coffee.

Once we had exited the plane we shot through customs - so much better organised than in the UK (despite the family in front of us trying their utmost to take as long as they could.) Bag collection was ok but we nearly forgot the buggy - in the UK we don't use one but knew we'd need one with all the walking during a 3 week trip. We then encountered the totally mad situation of having to transfer the bags across to the main terminal - weird - collect bags from luggage carousel, carry 10 metres, give to another person, collect from a different carousel...odd. While our bags were on their new adventure we caught the shuttle across to the main terminal. Once there, 2 of our bags appeared really quickly but then we had to wait an absolute age for the third...typical!

While we were waiting we had our first reminder of why service in the USA surpasses the vast majority of service in the UK. A porter appeared and helped us move all our luggage; he pushed the bag trolley over to the car rental garage (while we were all experiencing the wall of heat that you encounter once you leave the deceptive air conditioned airport!); he picked up a child's car seat (while DH went over to the car desk); he scouted out the cars to find the one with the lowest mileage; he helped us get all our bags into the car (the ULTIMATE game of Tetris ); he then gave us a map and spent a few minutes recommending particular tourist spots. FAB! I know we tipped him, but when you've been travelling for way too long and you're tired, a cheerful, helpful face who goes over and above their duty can be just perfect!

Then we made the drive from the airport to Wilderness Lodge following a very weavy car (tourists methinks!) - just so exciting, especially when you start seeing signs and the arch!

We finally parked before hoiking our luggage up to the main entrance. And there it was...home away from home!!

<a href="http://s1140.beta.photobucket.com/user/Scoobymoons/media/WDW%202011/Arrival%203-8-11/WildernessLodge.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n577/Scoobymoons/WDW%202011/Arrival%203-8-11/WildernessLodge.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo WildernessLodge.jpg"/></a>

 

[stephensmum]

Wilderness Lodge looks beautiful. Can't wait to read all about it.

 

[princess_ariel_85]

Joining in!

It's been a good read so far, you and your family are so cute

Wilderness Lodge looks fab!

x

 

[strawberry blonde]

More please Can't wait for the next part

 

[Tinkerbell1989]

Looking forward to reading more
xx