2005 RPR/ WONDER/ AKL (Pictures, 4 videoclip on signature! END OF REPORT!)

[MICKEY'S DREAMERS]

CAST: I (Laura) and DGH (Disney Grumpy Husband)

BACKGROUND

DGH frequent flyers program gifted us two free tickets Milan-Miami that we used for our 2005 vacation.DEPARTURE day:Sunday!!
Plan "A" was to drive to the airport and to park our car there, but two days before departure we were forced to switch to plan "B".
On Friday morning a motorcyclist decided to crash his motorcycle against DGH car. Most likely the motorcyclist was rehearsing as stunt for the new MGM show ...

Seriously speaking,it could have been a big trouble, but THANKS TO GOD ... nobody was injured !!!... not even a scratch!!!! just the motorcycle was "destroyed" and DGH car spent the Summer at the repair centre !!!!


SUNDAY 31st of July

So we switched to plan "B": wake up at 4.00 AM to be ready for an early morning cab ride to the airport. Check-in and security went smoothly, but, when trying to take the first picture of our vacation, the lens of our brand new digital camera jammed up.
The instructions manual suggested to contact the nearest repair centre ... DGH started grumping that it was quite unlikely to find a Nikon repair centre inside an airport !!!!
The camera was still in the warranty period (and should be repaired for free ...) so I took the decision to purchase another digital camera at the Airport Duty Free shop .
I tried to convince DGH that this was a bargain ... but he kept on grumping for a lot of time

Boarding procedures: the time on our watches had to be moved back six hours to compensate the time shift ...oh, no! It's 4 AM again !!!
The flight was smooth as well as the landing.


Now we were ready for US immigration control. A few days before leaving, DGH fixed a major problem on his brand new passport ... He discovered that, by mistake, he was listed as FEMALE on his passport he spent a whole morning grumping at our local police station to have his passport sex fixed

BTW, our new bar-code-optically-readable-passports didn't work at departure from Italy.
The Italian machine failed the reading, so the Customs officer typed the data manually!!! We of course were quite worried about US immigration.
Pixie dust worked once again : passports were read without any problem by the American machine ... BUT then I panicked when I was asked to have my fingerprint taken ... I realized I had put a bandage on that finger to "protect" a small knife wound I had made just before leaving home. ...Anyway I threw the bandage away and got the fingerprint taken. DGH grumped that I HAVE TO remember how that wound was...because, he grumped , next year I will need a similar wound to enter in the US

OK ... now we are in the States and our vacation can officially start. We checked-in at the Miami Airport hotel, a very convenient (not so nice ) hotel INSIDE the airport ... just a few steps after passing throgh the Customs
It had been a VERY long day and we did fall into a sound sleep very early.

Though... we were NOT able to correct the temperature of our room air conditioning , which was chilled and blowing against our beds ... DGH grumped all night long ... while I found a way to protect myself

TO BE CONTINUED

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

Laura

Off to a great start, can't wait for the next installment.

Beckie aw:

 

[AspiringCindy]

Laura, I can't believe it has been a year since we saw each other at WDW! Can't wait to hear about this trip! Hope you don't make us wait too long!
Judie

 

[lzj21428]

Laura, can't wait for the next installment and more pics.

Glad I got to meet you and DGH, although it was brief.

Nina

 

[Mickey's Sister]

How funny Laura!!! It's great to be able to laugh at all the 'little' things that can go wrong. The photo of you sleeping under the hat is priceless. So glad no one was hurt in the accident! Grumpy must be very 'happy' to have so much to grump about, LOL. Can't wait to read the next installment!

Jessica

 

[Ker-Bear]

Looking forward to hearing more about your trip. My DBF is not grumpy but thinks I am a tad Disney crazy. Looking forward to hearing your Grumps attitude towards DCL!

 

[Cyrano]

Laura
glad to hear that only the machines were damaged and not people.

Great first installment. Looking forward to reading more

Reid

 

[diberry]

Thank you so much for that wonderful trip report Laura - it gave me a really good laugh. I'll really look forward to the next installment!!!

 

[jodyb]

Laura!! Fantastic! I'm so excited that you took a WDW trip just weeks before mine! I'll be "using" you for lots of info! I can't wait to read on...

 

[MICKEY'S DREAMERS]

Laura!! Fantastic! I'm so excited that you took a WDW trip just weeks before mine! I'll be "using" you for lots of info! I can't wait to read on...

Jody, feel free to ask as many questions as you like !!
I'll be more than happy to try to give you a good answer !!!! I always love to talk about WDW ... or DP !!!!!!!!!

Also I learned soooooooo many things from your trip reports last year before we had gone to Sequoia lodge !!!
I' d love if I can be of some help to you !
Have you got to visit the "Food and vine festival "at Epcot ?

A KISS to Liav !!!


Laura

 

[MICKEY'S DREAMERS]

We decided to rent a Hertz car to reach Orlando.
Hertz has an office just inside Royal Pacific Resort ( where we were going to stay !) so drop off should have been very convenient.
We booked (through Internet) a full size car. A large trunk was needed to “hide” all the luggage “required” for our three weeks vacation, especially when we were resting at a plaza station on the Florida Turnpike or while shopping at a grocery.

This was the car that Hertz gave us!

Not exactly the car we had in mind! For sure the Explorer has a large luggage capacity … but there was no way to hide our stuff !
DGH started to drive grumping, but, immediately, a “OIL CHANGE REQUIRED” alarm lighted up!
DGH grumped back to the Hertz counter to exchange the car … but unfortunately no more BIG cars were available … so for the same price we got …

a convertible Mustang!
Very nice sports car, but not very convenient for all our luggage !!!!!!!!!!!
DGH was considering to send me by train to Orlando ...while he was driving our luggage there… but at the end we succeeded in filling up the car … leaving nothing behind … including me !

While driving to Orlando we entered in a heavy thunderstorm; there was no visibility at all !!!!!!!!!!
I asked DGH :
“Can you see the road?”
… his answer was
“I don’t see anything, but I know that the Florida Turnpike goes always straight !”
I preferred to be silent and did not ask any more questions !!!!!!!!!!!

Before reaching our destination, USO , we stopped at Festival Bay mall - where we purchased a couple of hats ( I adore their straw-hats with extra large brims !!! )and tie-shirts at local Ron Jon shop: DGH likes to participate in the annual Ron Jon contest “Wear a Ron Jon Tie-shirt in an exotic contest” … and Italy should be quite exotic for a Florida - shop
Maybe you will want to check Ron Jon site at the end of October … maybe DGH will be one of the winners

Royal Pacific Resort was just a few miles away.
A very efficient valet-boy picked up the roaring Mustang, saying he was going to take care of our car drop off at the local Hertz office for us.
From that very moment DGH grumped all our staying long !! He was worried that we should have paid, in addition to the tip to the valet boy,
1) six days of valet parking
AND
2) six days of Hertz rental


I was REALLY tired by now…………..
but it was not time for check-in yet. We got an amazing discount as Annual Passholder … so we needed to “become AP holder” before checking in !!!!!!!!!!
So, while I was resting in the BEAUTIFUL well- air conditioned lobby of the hotel …

… DGH walked (grumping under the hot Florida sun) towards IoA to get his AP.

Check-in was smooth, our rate didn’t qualify for Loews program, but we had in any case a very large room at the 7th floor with a nice view.
Tired for the long trip and still jet-lagged we grabbed some food at Jake’s and went to sleep.

TO BE CONTINUED

 

[diberry]

As always a very entertaining and funny report. I love the Mustang!! Your poor hubby - he doesn't look at all grumpy in those WONDERFUL photos you sent via Photopass!!!!! Love the Grumpy T-shirt!!! Funnily enough we have some very similar photos from California with Tinkerbell etc!!!
Looking forward to reading more!!

 

[Mickey's Sister]

We decided to rent a Hertz car to reach Orlando.
Hertz has an office just inside Royal Pacific Resort ( where we were going to stay !) so drop off should have been very convenient.
We booked (through Internet) a full size car. A large trunk was needed to “hide” all the luggage “required” for our three weeks vacation, especially when we were resting at a plaza station on the Florida Turnpike or while shopping at a grocery.

This was the car that Hertz gave us!

Not exactly the car we had in mind! For sure the Explorer has a large luggage capacity … but there was no way to hide our stuff !
DGH started to drive grumping, but, immediately, a “OIL CHANGE REQUIRED” alarm lighted up!
DGH grumped back to the Hertz counter to exchange the car … but unfortunately no more BIG cars were available … so for the same price we got …

a convertible Mustang!
Very nice sports car, but not very convenient for all our luggage !!!!!!!!!!!
DGH was considering to send me by train to Orlando ...while he was driving our luggage there… but at the end we succeeded in filling up the car … leaving nothing behind … including me !

While driving to Orlando we entered in a heavy thunderstorm; there was no visibility at all !!!!!!!!!!
I asked DGH :
“Can you see the road?”
… his answer was
“I don’t see anything, but I know that the Florida Turnpike goes always straight !”
I preferred to be silent and did not ask any more questions !!!!!!!!!!!

Before reaching our destination, USO , we stopped at Festival Bay mall - where we purchased a couple of hats ( I adore their straw-hats with extra large brims !!! )and tie-shirts at local Ron Jon shop: DGH likes to participate in the annual Ron Jon contest “Wear a Ron Jon Tie-shirt in an exotic contest” … and Italy should be quite exotic for a Florida - shop
Maybe you will want to check Ron Jon site at the end of October … maybe DGH will be one of the winners

Royal Pacific Resort was just a few miles away.
A very efficient valet-boy picked up the roaring Mustang, saying he was going to take care of our car drop off at the local Hertz office for us.
From that very moment DGH grumped all our staying long !! He was worried that we should have paid, in addition to the tip to the valet boy,
1) six days of valet parking
AND
2) six days of Hertz rental


I was REALLY tired by now…………..
but it was not time for check-in yet. We got an amazing discount as Annual Passholder … so we needed to “become AP holder” before checking in !!!!!!!!!! J
So, while I was resting in the BEAUTIFUL well- air conditioned lobby of the hotel …

… DGH walked (grumping under the hot Florida sun) towards IoA to get his AP.

Check-in was smooth, our rate didn’t qualify for Loews program, but we had in any case a very large room at the 7th floor with a nice view.
Tired for the long trip and still jet-lagged we grabbed some food at Jake’s and went to sleep.

TO BE CONTINUED

How funny Laura! What a great sense of humor you have! I can't wait for the next installment!

Jessica

 

[MICKEY'S DREAMERS]

I'm glad you all like our report !!!

We actually do have a lot of fun ...... remembering and writing in the evenings, when DGH comes home from work !!!



Sharing our memories with friends makes them even more precious to us !!!!


We'll try and type some more during the weekend !!!

Laura

DIANA : I could not find part 2 of your report ...

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

Laura

Another great report...I would have loved the Explorer, but you know why...

Can't wait until you and Grump post more.

I will say you look good standing next to the TANG.

Beckie aw:

 

[Mickey's Sister]

Laura

Another great report...I would have loved the Explorer, but you know why...

Can't wait until you and Grump post more.

I will say you look good standing next to the TANG.

Beckie aw:

Yes you do Laura - very chic!!!

Jessica

 

[MICKEY'S DREAMERS]

We spent a few days at Royal Pacific Resort, a very nicely themed hotel, which looks like a Polynesian resort.

A fountain in the central garden of the hotel

The lobby

Our room

The pool

We asked for their nice turndown service every evening: when coming back to the room you find soft lights and sweet music … AND they use to leave a small Polynesian gift on your pillows !!! Lovely end of nice days !!!
Here we have got a shell magnet !!

They gave us an excellent rate for Annual Pass Holders. DGH’s AP moreover entitled us also for LOT of discounts in food and merchandise almost everywhere in the USO / IoA area ! (I purchased in advance, through Internet, a very convenient ticket with 5 days admission for the price of 2 days).

We wandered in the two parks, making a few of the “softest” rides (we don’t like roller coasters or similar “hard” stuff) and enjoying the sights and the little “cozy” details .
The scariest ride we tried was Jurassic Park river adventure … DGH had to lie to convince me to ride (“just a small drop…”) ….

The ride was nice …

But I was completely soaked after the ride … AND THIS TIME I GRUMPED for a lot of time !!!!

To relax me, DGH tried some new looks …

To be continued

 

[diberry]

Great pictures as always Laura. I LOVE Marco's wonderful parrot and donkey hats!!!! Did you go on Popeye and Bluto's Bilgerat Barges? Now that's really wet!!!! Looking forward to the next part!!!

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

I LOVE Marco's wonderful parrot and donkey hats!!!!

Oh the shame of it all...Diana that parrot is WOODY WOODPECKER.

Marco does look good...
Beckie aw:

 

[MICKEY'S DREAMERS]

Marco does look good

what about this girl?

grump!