“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife“. So said Jane Austen in one of her endless tales where women spend an inordinate amount of time playing the spinnet, taking a turn around the gardens, whilst admiring the local squires britches, and succumbing to the vapours.
What Jane didn’t take into account was that in the 21st century there would be men who, whilst only in possession of a moderate income, were not in want of a wife…but who were in want of a good time in WDW. Reader, we are two such men.
Who we are:
Grumpy (me). Above the medium height, (as Jane would have it), 39 years of age. Dashingly handsome with a ready wit (which I appear to have mislaid), a magnificent mane of flowing locks (which flowed away and went down the plughole some years ago) and a relaxed and easy going temperament. (You got a problem with that, son?!). Modest to a fault. (Delusional).
Dopey (he). Of the medium height, also 39 years of age until midway through the holiday when he hits 40. Too many good points to contain within one trip report. (A tad forgetful and known to, perhaps, not listen quite as closely as he might).
Please return your seat to the upright position, stowing any trays and placing noisy, aggravating small children in the overhead lockers.
This is a pre-trip report for one of the most planned, most changed holidays we’ve ever had. The tale starts some 5 years ago when I said that we’d both be 40 this year (MUCH later this year for me. Did I mention that I have a marvellously sculpted jaw line?) and we should do something good. Lets go away for a month, 2 weeks in Florida, a week in NY and a week somewhere else. Then we realised that we couldn’t take that much time off and agreed it would be 2 weeks in Florida. Last year we went round all the resorts and decided that we would stay at the Poly. We looked at pricing earlier this year and gulped and balked (a couple of my fave words there, I also like “bridling visibly and stiffening imperceptibly”) at paying almost £3000 more than our usual holiday. We hemmed and hawed (did I mention my magnificently resonant voice?) and looked at every combination at every hotel (we always stay on site as neither of us drives - WDW is so easy for us), before deciding that we spend so little time in our room (use it for sleeping, watching the Golden Girls and The Nanny and the occasional Lifetime Movie. I‘ve just looked at their website: they have film called “Why I wore Lipstick to my Mastectomy“ in their current schedule. Class. You'd never get that on BBC4
) that we’d stay at the Movies Resort, whilst still taking full advantage of everything the other resorts have to offer.
Reader, we booked it. Virgin were offering the Dining Plan at a moderately cheeky price so we threw wind to the caution and booked that too. A 14 day Ultimate Park Hopper and a 1 day pass for Seaworld.
Now, I am an extremely organised, ordered person. I can cope in practically any situation and don’t get stressed at anything. I can often be heard to say, “It’s not time to worry yet”. (This REALLY annoys Dopey! Try it with your loved ones, it's a hoot), however I do get anxious about going on holiday. I’m fine when we’re there but waiting for the tickets, getting the plane, getting from the airport to the hotel…well let’s just say you don’t want to be near me (out of my control you see...Freud has nothing on me...Clement Freud that is). However once we’ve got there I prefer, to a large extent, to go with the flow. I have to say that I’ve found the planning for the Dining Plan to be annoying. Hands up those of you who know what you’re having for dinner tomorrow. Planning exactly where we’ll be on a day six months hence seems daft, but looks like it‘s going to be a prerequisite for any WDW visitor in the future. Its difficult enough for 2 of us. What it’s like for those of you with children I can only boggle at. If the rumours about advance Fastpasses are true, even more planning will be necessary and even less spontaneity possible. But the meals are booked and, of course, paid for (I am a fan of that!), the tickets have arrived we have our currency (bought some time in advance at a lovely rate). End of rant.
We then decided that we should pop up to New York (so good they named it once) for Dopey’s 40th birthday
. We fly up on the 20th and back to Orlando on the 22nd (his big day is the 21st). We love NY
. We might take in a show: I quite fancy Young Frankenstein (the show I mean, not a random man whose creature (!) is large and unmanageable) as I‘m interested to se what the divinely talented Megan Mullaney is like on stage. (You might know her as Karen in Will and Grace - one of the best performances on TV, hidden beneath those laughs is a brilliant piece of acting who can make a bad line funny and turn a good line so it sparkles like a diamond, what you might not know is she has a fantastic singing voice). But we’ll see what’s on and what we have time to watch.
We booked tickets for Mickeys Not So Scary Halloween Party. Then Dopey realised that they were releasing a Stitch pin (he is an obsessive)
on another evening so we are now going to the party twice. Yesterday we bought costumes. He is a skeleton whilst I am the Grim Reaper. I might adapt mine and put smiley faces on it - the Grin Reaper - geddit! Or we could go the whole hog with blood bags etc. and traumatise tots!
After last years long queues at the airport we’ve decided to use twilight check-in and have booked a hotel for the night before we fly.
I‘ve completed the onerous task of choosing books to read when we’re away. Trouble is I’ve also read all the ones I said I was going to save for the holiday (Clive James “The North Face of Soho”, Linda Smith “I Think the Nurses are Stealing my Clothes“). I now have “The Devil in Amber (A Lucifer Box Novel)” by Mark Gattis, and “A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian” by Marina Lewycka - which isn’t about tractors and isn’t in Ukrainian. I was going to have an Ian McEwan season but realised that I didn’t want to concentrate that much…I’m on holiday! Oooh…wonder if one of the films on the plane will be “Atonement”. I doubt it as it has a very naughty word in it that’s integral to the plot.
What we’re looking forward to:
Not being at work
Being in WDW
Not being at work
MNSSHP
Not being at work
Food
Not being at work
Shopping: In NY I will buy the cast album for the revival of Company as it started my new fave musicals actor: Raul Esparza. An acquired show and indeed Esparza has an acquired taste voice but I really LOVE it. Look here’s some links: Company http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3fWQHUMVjg or how about, Chess http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-m_mP9t-OU
Not being at work
Not having my phone with me
Work not being able to contact me
Having an absolutely supertastic time
Not going to the gym for 2 whole weeks (though with the dining plan I’m going to have to work three times as hard when I come back. Will I go running when I’m in WDW…naaaaaaaaah).
Having a great time
Having a great time
Having a great time
Having a great time
We fly on Thursday…tickets (check), money (check), passports (check). Just time for my OCD to click into place…tickets (check), money (check), passports (check). Just time for my OCD to click into place…tickets (check), money (check), passports (check). Just time for my OCD to click into place…tickets (check), money (check), passports (check). Just time for my OCD to click into place…
What Jane didn’t take into account was that in the 21st century there would be men who, whilst only in possession of a moderate income, were not in want of a wife…but who were in want of a good time in WDW. Reader, we are two such men.
Who we are:
Grumpy (me). Above the medium height, (as Jane would have it), 39 years of age. Dashingly handsome with a ready wit (which I appear to have mislaid), a magnificent mane of flowing locks (which flowed away and went down the plughole some years ago) and a relaxed and easy going temperament. (You got a problem with that, son?!). Modest to a fault. (Delusional).
Dopey (he). Of the medium height, also 39 years of age until midway through the holiday when he hits 40. Too many good points to contain within one trip report. (A tad forgetful and known to, perhaps, not listen quite as closely as he might).
Please return your seat to the upright position, stowing any trays and placing noisy, aggravating small children in the overhead lockers.
This is a pre-trip report for one of the most planned, most changed holidays we’ve ever had. The tale starts some 5 years ago when I said that we’d both be 40 this year (MUCH later this year for me. Did I mention that I have a marvellously sculpted jaw line?) and we should do something good. Lets go away for a month, 2 weeks in Florida, a week in NY and a week somewhere else. Then we realised that we couldn’t take that much time off and agreed it would be 2 weeks in Florida. Last year we went round all the resorts and decided that we would stay at the Poly. We looked at pricing earlier this year and gulped and balked (a couple of my fave words there, I also like “bridling visibly and stiffening imperceptibly”) at paying almost £3000 more than our usual holiday. We hemmed and hawed (did I mention my magnificently resonant voice?) and looked at every combination at every hotel (we always stay on site as neither of us drives - WDW is so easy for us), before deciding that we spend so little time in our room (use it for sleeping, watching the Golden Girls and The Nanny and the occasional Lifetime Movie. I‘ve just looked at their website: they have film called “Why I wore Lipstick to my Mastectomy“ in their current schedule. Class. You'd never get that on BBC4
) that we’d stay at the Movies Resort, whilst still taking full advantage of everything the other resorts have to offer. Reader, we booked it. Virgin were offering the Dining Plan at a moderately cheeky price so we threw wind to the caution and booked that too. A 14 day Ultimate Park Hopper and a 1 day pass for Seaworld.
Now, I am an extremely organised, ordered person. I can cope in practically any situation and don’t get stressed at anything. I can often be heard to say, “It’s not time to worry yet”. (This REALLY annoys Dopey! Try it with your loved ones, it's a hoot), however I do get anxious about going on holiday. I’m fine when we’re there but waiting for the tickets, getting the plane, getting from the airport to the hotel…well let’s just say you don’t want to be near me (out of my control you see...Freud has nothing on me...Clement Freud that is). However once we’ve got there I prefer, to a large extent, to go with the flow. I have to say that I’ve found the planning for the Dining Plan to be annoying. Hands up those of you who know what you’re having for dinner tomorrow. Planning exactly where we’ll be on a day six months hence seems daft, but looks like it‘s going to be a prerequisite for any WDW visitor in the future. Its difficult enough for 2 of us. What it’s like for those of you with children I can only boggle at. If the rumours about advance Fastpasses are true, even more planning will be necessary and even less spontaneity possible. But the meals are booked and, of course, paid for (I am a fan of that!), the tickets have arrived we have our currency (bought some time in advance at a lovely rate). End of rant.
We then decided that we should pop up to New York (so good they named it once) for Dopey’s 40th birthday
. We fly up on the 20th and back to Orlando on the 22nd (his big day is the 21st). We love NY . We might take in a show: I quite fancy Young Frankenstein (the show I mean, not a random man whose creature (!) is large and unmanageable) as I‘m interested to se what the divinely talented Megan Mullaney is like on stage. (You might know her as Karen in Will and Grace - one of the best performances on TV, hidden beneath those laughs is a brilliant piece of acting who can make a bad line funny and turn a good line so it sparkles like a diamond, what you might not know is she has a fantastic singing voice). But we’ll see what’s on and what we have time to watch.We booked tickets for Mickeys Not So Scary Halloween Party. Then Dopey realised that they were releasing a Stitch pin (he is an obsessive)
on another evening so we are now going to the party twice. Yesterday we bought costumes. He is a skeleton whilst I am the Grim Reaper. I might adapt mine and put smiley faces on it - the Grin Reaper - geddit! Or we could go the whole hog with blood bags etc. and traumatise tots!After last years long queues at the airport we’ve decided to use twilight check-in and have booked a hotel for the night before we fly.
I‘ve completed the onerous task of choosing books to read when we’re away. Trouble is I’ve also read all the ones I said I was going to save for the holiday (Clive James “The North Face of Soho”, Linda Smith “I Think the Nurses are Stealing my Clothes“). I now have “The Devil in Amber (A Lucifer Box Novel)” by Mark Gattis, and “A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian” by Marina Lewycka - which isn’t about tractors and isn’t in Ukrainian. I was going to have an Ian McEwan season but realised that I didn’t want to concentrate that much…I’m on holiday! Oooh…wonder if one of the films on the plane will be “Atonement”. I doubt it as it has a very naughty word in it that’s integral to the plot.
What we’re looking forward to:
Not being at work
Being in WDW
Not being at work
MNSSHP
Not being at work
Food
Not being at work
Shopping: In NY I will buy the cast album for the revival of Company as it started my new fave musicals actor: Raul Esparza. An acquired show and indeed Esparza has an acquired taste voice but I really LOVE it. Look here’s some links: Company http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3fWQHUMVjg or how about, Chess http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-m_mP9t-OU
Not being at work
Not having my phone with me
Work not being able to contact me
Having an absolutely supertastic time
Not going to the gym for 2 whole weeks (though with the dining plan I’m going to have to work three times as hard when I come back. Will I go running when I’m in WDW…naaaaaaaaah).
Having a great time
Having a great time
Having a great time
Having a great time
We fly on Thursday…tickets (check), money (check), passports (check). Just time for my OCD to click into place…tickets (check), money (check), passports (check). Just time for my OCD to click into place…tickets (check), money (check), passports (check). Just time for my OCD to click into place…tickets (check), money (check), passports (check). Just time for my OCD to click into place…
We are also off to WDW, but leave on Wednesday 
