Dimplenose
Stranger from the outside
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- Apr 2, 2002
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Libbys Trip Day 15 MGM Studios, Virgin Flight to Gatwick
Cast Me 43 in love with Mickey Mouse
DH (of 20 years) 43
DS 14 cynical teenager
DD 11 a stroppy little madam
Location 14 day holiday at Windsor Palms with 1 night trip to Royal Pacific Resort
Date August 11th to 25th 2005
Thursday August 25th
Well, the day I had been dreading has finally arrived. This evening we fly home
. Most of the packing was done last night.
The alarm was set for 7am but Im up long before that (as usual). At 7 I wake everyone up and we breakfast in the villa. (I wish I could find somewhere over here that sells frozen waffles.) After breakfast I set the dishwasher going.
We all get dressed and then pack the last of our things. I find a pile of dirty clothes that Id forgotton to pack last night and somehow manage to fit them into the already full suitcases. We left home with 2 suitcases with an empty holdall packed inside one of them but we are returning with all 3 bursting at the seams. I decide not to use the padlocks going home and use some cable ties that we brought with us instead.
At 8:30am the cleaning company phone to find out when they can have access to the villa. By 9am we are ready to leave. The p/t cruiser weve been driving has a smaller boot than the Neon we had in 2002 and we cant get all of our luggage into it. The holdall ends up on the back seat between the kids. Luckily weve only got to get to the Virgin checkin at DownTown Disney. We all pile into the car, shut the garage door and then put the remote control garage opener in the kitchen. I lock up and put they keys back into the lock box and holding back the tears climb into the car for our last trip out of Windsor Palms.
We find the check in point very easily and there are about 3 families ahead of us. Im surprised to find we still have the seats I requested (2 rows of 2 at the back). Now our bags are gone we are free to make the most of our last day.
We head off to MGM studios and arrive just before 10am. The car park isnt very full but there are long queues to enter the park. The finger scans really seem to be slowing things down today.
We drift to the Indiana Jones shop and end up wandering to Star Tours.
As we past Sci-Fi Dine in we decide to book for lunch and make a reservation for 12:15.
We then try to find a snack, but even though the restaurants are physically open none that we come to are serving yet.
We walk over to the back lot tour and it starts to rain but not heavily and not for long. We do the tour and this time we get an introduction of the water effects (but still very cut down compared to our 2002 visit). We have a very good guide for the tram tour who really hams up the Catastrophe Canyon part.
As we still have some time to wait until lunch we go to Sounds Dangerous just because weve never done it before. This show was an absolute disgrace! The theatre was shabby with broken and worn out seats and the show itself was very weak.
We get to the Sci-Fi dine in (empty a week ago) to find it heaving and are told we may have a 20 minute wait. I think the free dining plan has had some effect. We have a lovely meal, but because it is so busy we get hitch-hikers in the spare seats at the back of our car. This made me feel uncomfortable to have strangers sitting this close. To make matters worse when our waitress found out they worked for Disneyland in California she was rather over awed and stood and talked shop with them rather loudly. If this had been our first visit to this restaurant Im sure we would never consider going back.
After lunch I have a headache so DH and DS pop back to our car to get the ibruprofen out of the hand luggage and DD and I look around the shops before meeting the boys outside Little Mermaid. This show was packed and being first in the row of seats my view was slightly obscured by the scenery not that it mattered as I found myself drifting off to sleep during the show.
Next we go to the Great Movie Ride and for the first time we do not enter through the main doors but through a door to the right. We get the gangster side again (I now think I prefer the cow boy because of the explosion) and we get a different actress a bit better than last weeks but I would still prefer a man in the part.
Its now time to start thinking about finishing in the park. So we all get ice creams before we do some very, very, really, truly last shopping. While Im talking to the cashier I tell her were off to the airport so she offers (more like orders) me to let her change my coins for notes (I have over $7 in loose change).
Sadly we take the tram back to Stage 45 with jokes about coming back later this evening to see Fantasmic.
Our drive back to the airport is easy and we only have to concentrate towards the end in order to find the right car park. We report the faulty air conditioning again and get a receipt for $0 (weve driven 511 miles this fortnight).
We go to the terminal building and go upstairs. After we get our bearing we find a seat and take it in turns to look after the hand luggage while we look in Borders for magazines (Im the only one who buys anything I did notice that they stock Passporters). We have a mooch around the shops before heading off to the security checks. DD sets the alarms off with her camera in her pocket. We get the shuttle to our gate area and find some seats (Virgin have 3 flights due out within an hour and the place is very busy). We had planned to get a meal at the airport but we arent hungry enough after our big lunch so I get some coffee and cakes from Starbucks.
Eventually its time to board, being at the back we are seated quite quickly. The pilot sounds just like Des Lynham he even gave out the cricket scores!
The food on the flight was good (it always seems better coming home) but DD only ate the bread rolls. Shes feeling a bit off colour and soon falls asleep.
The flight was a bit bumpy (not violent but persistent like driving on a bumpy road). We head north along the East Coast of America to avoid any ptrouble from Katrina which is just starting to give problems to Southern Florida. DD sleeps all the way, the rest of us doze off and on.
We get to Gatwick on time but are left circling the Sussex coast waiting for permission to land. Des tells us that the weather had been wet and our lawns will have grown 2 feet while weve been away. Once landed, we taxi around the whole of Gatwick airport before arriving at our gate.
While were walking to Passport control DD is sick all over the floor. DH goes to alert staff that a cleaner is needed while I look after DD. We carry on and have to wait at Passport Control they actually seem to be looking at them this year. We then get our bags with no wait and get straight onto a bus for our car park.
Picking up the car was simple I really recommend the Summer Special Parking. We put the luggage in the boot and I get into the passenger seat. I find someones put a steering wheel there! I climb out and get into the other side. Now our holiday is really over.
Libby
Cast Me 43 in love with Mickey Mouse
DH (of 20 years) 43
DS 14 cynical teenager
DD 11 a stroppy little madam
Location 14 day holiday at Windsor Palms with 1 night trip to Royal Pacific Resort
Date August 11th to 25th 2005
Thursday August 25th
Well, the day I had been dreading has finally arrived. This evening we fly home
. Most of the packing was done last night.The alarm was set for 7am but Im up long before that (as usual). At 7 I wake everyone up and we breakfast in the villa. (I wish I could find somewhere over here that sells frozen waffles.) After breakfast I set the dishwasher going.
We all get dressed and then pack the last of our things. I find a pile of dirty clothes that Id forgotton to pack last night and somehow manage to fit them into the already full suitcases. We left home with 2 suitcases with an empty holdall packed inside one of them but we are returning with all 3 bursting at the seams. I decide not to use the padlocks going home and use some cable ties that we brought with us instead.
At 8:30am the cleaning company phone to find out when they can have access to the villa. By 9am we are ready to leave. The p/t cruiser weve been driving has a smaller boot than the Neon we had in 2002 and we cant get all of our luggage into it. The holdall ends up on the back seat between the kids. Luckily weve only got to get to the Virgin checkin at DownTown Disney. We all pile into the car, shut the garage door and then put the remote control garage opener in the kitchen. I lock up and put they keys back into the lock box and holding back the tears climb into the car for our last trip out of Windsor Palms.
We find the check in point very easily and there are about 3 families ahead of us. Im surprised to find we still have the seats I requested (2 rows of 2 at the back). Now our bags are gone we are free to make the most of our last day.
We head off to MGM studios and arrive just before 10am. The car park isnt very full but there are long queues to enter the park. The finger scans really seem to be slowing things down today.
We drift to the Indiana Jones shop and end up wandering to Star Tours.
As we past Sci-Fi Dine in we decide to book for lunch and make a reservation for 12:15.
We then try to find a snack, but even though the restaurants are physically open none that we come to are serving yet.
We walk over to the back lot tour and it starts to rain but not heavily and not for long. We do the tour and this time we get an introduction of the water effects (but still very cut down compared to our 2002 visit). We have a very good guide for the tram tour who really hams up the Catastrophe Canyon part.
As we still have some time to wait until lunch we go to Sounds Dangerous just because weve never done it before. This show was an absolute disgrace! The theatre was shabby with broken and worn out seats and the show itself was very weak.
We get to the Sci-Fi dine in (empty a week ago) to find it heaving and are told we may have a 20 minute wait. I think the free dining plan has had some effect. We have a lovely meal, but because it is so busy we get hitch-hikers in the spare seats at the back of our car. This made me feel uncomfortable to have strangers sitting this close. To make matters worse when our waitress found out they worked for Disneyland in California she was rather over awed and stood and talked shop with them rather loudly. If this had been our first visit to this restaurant Im sure we would never consider going back.
After lunch I have a headache so DH and DS pop back to our car to get the ibruprofen out of the hand luggage and DD and I look around the shops before meeting the boys outside Little Mermaid. This show was packed and being first in the row of seats my view was slightly obscured by the scenery not that it mattered as I found myself drifting off to sleep during the show.
Next we go to the Great Movie Ride and for the first time we do not enter through the main doors but through a door to the right. We get the gangster side again (I now think I prefer the cow boy because of the explosion) and we get a different actress a bit better than last weeks but I would still prefer a man in the part.
Its now time to start thinking about finishing in the park. So we all get ice creams before we do some very, very, really, truly last shopping. While Im talking to the cashier I tell her were off to the airport so she offers (more like orders) me to let her change my coins for notes (I have over $7 in loose change).
Sadly we take the tram back to Stage 45 with jokes about coming back later this evening to see Fantasmic.
Our drive back to the airport is easy and we only have to concentrate towards the end in order to find the right car park. We report the faulty air conditioning again and get a receipt for $0 (weve driven 511 miles this fortnight).
We go to the terminal building and go upstairs. After we get our bearing we find a seat and take it in turns to look after the hand luggage while we look in Borders for magazines (Im the only one who buys anything I did notice that they stock Passporters). We have a mooch around the shops before heading off to the security checks. DD sets the alarms off with her camera in her pocket. We get the shuttle to our gate area and find some seats (Virgin have 3 flights due out within an hour and the place is very busy). We had planned to get a meal at the airport but we arent hungry enough after our big lunch so I get some coffee and cakes from Starbucks.
Eventually its time to board, being at the back we are seated quite quickly. The pilot sounds just like Des Lynham he even gave out the cricket scores!
The food on the flight was good (it always seems better coming home) but DD only ate the bread rolls. Shes feeling a bit off colour and soon falls asleep.
The flight was a bit bumpy (not violent but persistent like driving on a bumpy road). We head north along the East Coast of America to avoid any ptrouble from Katrina which is just starting to give problems to Southern Florida. DD sleeps all the way, the rest of us doze off and on.
We get to Gatwick on time but are left circling the Sussex coast waiting for permission to land. Des tells us that the weather had been wet and our lawns will have grown 2 feet while weve been away. Once landed, we taxi around the whole of Gatwick airport before arriving at our gate.
While were walking to Passport control DD is sick all over the floor. DH goes to alert staff that a cleaner is needed while I look after DD. We carry on and have to wait at Passport Control they actually seem to be looking at them this year. We then get our bags with no wait and get straight onto a bus for our car park.
Picking up the car was simple I really recommend the Summer Special Parking. We put the luggage in the boot and I get into the passenger seat. I find someones put a steering wheel there! I climb out and get into the other side. Now our holiday is really over.
Libby
Hope she recovered quickly.
- luckily he sorted himself out before we left the car park!
