Poohshoney
<font color=6666CC>Ya-ya sister!<br><font color=gr
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2001
Carol (40, British) dangerously Disney obsessed.
Roland (35, German) puts up with me somehow.
Mickey our beanie, on his first trip `home´.
Today we were going shopping!!! Now that might not seem exciting to some people (many of whom MAY be male) but we live in a retail desert and I'd been looking forward to it for months. Nevertheless, there was no rush to get going so no alarm clock, a lazy stroll along the lake and drinks on the beach. A very civilised start to the day.
We stopped at Riverside on the way to hand in a room request. This time I asked for a quiet top floor mansion room. Matt, the CM who took it, was the nicest CM we came across and he had some competition, especially at Riverside. I'd read on the boards that you should give a good reason why youre requesting something so I wrote how the trip was a combination of our sixth wedding anniversary and VERY belated honeymoon, which made Matt laugh. (This was quite true as one wedding present had been money for a honeymoon but instead of taking one wed used it as an emergency fund. We finally decided we could cope anyway if an emergency cropped up and blew the lot on WDW! Very good decision). Matt did a lot of tapping on his computer, smiled at us and said it was all taken care of. Great! We resisted the temptation to check the place out and headed for the shops at long last!
I'm a trip-reportaholic and had devoured the ones where people went shopping so I knew all about where to go for the best bargains. We werent sure how long each place would take so we decided to just work our way through the list Belz Outlet, Premier Outlet, Walmart, Florida Mall and anything else we spied along the way.
I enjoyed the drive to Belz it was fun seeing all the places I'd read about. We found the Belz signpost confusing. If you havent been, its a label. We thought it was a sort of arrow and nearly turned off before we got there. We were ever so disappointed with it it was so small. I needed the loo so I asked a lady sweeping up in front of a snack bar if I could use hers. She was a real sweetie not only did she say yes, (it said `defect´ on the door but it wasnt so I think that was deter non-customers like me!), she also explained to the poor confused foreigners that wed only found the annex the real outlets were across the road. And she did it without making us feel stupid and she gave us a map - thankyou nice lady!
Wed thought the annex was quiet but malls 1 & 2 were ghost towns. Spooky!
If I didnt want to live in my wraparound skirt (covering the rash) I needed some lightweight trousers easier said than done. When youre 5´ 2, trousers are often too long and as I'm sewingly as well as vertically challenged, shortening some wasnt an option. The first shop had a delightful assistant who did her best to help but everything was either too short (cropped) and didnt cover the rash or too long. We wandered on. We were also looking for Reebok trainers for me as I was developing some world-class blisters with the trainers (non-Reebok) and shoes I'd been wearing. I'd thought this might happen but hadnt been able to find any Reeboks in my size back home. We worked our way round Mall 2 until we came to the food court where Roland had the worst burrito hes ever had it matched the service. My potato was better but I wouldnt want another one, thankyou very much.
I'd hoped for bargains at the Character Warehouse but it wasnt to be We finished Mall 2 and moved on to the next one. I have to tell you, we were getting fed up by then yes, not just Roland, me as well. We both felt like wed left a magical wonderful world and gone back to the normal dreary one. Shopping had lost its appeal.
The second mall appeared to have pretty much the same shops as the first one why? I found another branch of the clothes shop but this one had more choice. Trying on two pairs of cropped trousers I found that they just reached the top of my ankle socks. They were
lightweight and drawstring, just right for summer but oh dear when I turned round Is this a zeppelin I see before me? Will people think theres been an eclipse? I knew the answer to that age-old question `Does my bum look big in this?´ On the other hand, I was sick of looking and they were extremely comfy. Having made Roland swear not to take any photos of me from behind, me and the plastic headed for the cash desk. The two women there should be given every customer service award going. Not only did they give me a discount I wasnt entitled to (I didnt have the malls discount booklet) they also took a huge interest in all my splodges, offering advice left right and centre. Brilliant!
We drove across the road to Reebok next Roland was sure their own outlet would be cheaper than the Belz shops. It wasnt but it wasnt dearer either so it didnt matter. I found just what I was looking for and then came down to earth with a bump. The cashier completely ignored me. She spoke to Roland but my questions went unanswered and shed definitely heard me. That put the lid on it we were going back to Disney!
By the way, if theres one tip you always read its never go to Disney wearing new shoes. Well I put mine on immediately and only took them off again for bed. Bliss! Not another thing wrong with my feet again. I love Reeboks.
We stopped at a Walgreens on the way back down I-Drive and got some cream for my splodges it worked a treat on my face and I soon looked like a normal human being again. My legs took a little longer as explained in Day 8.
I loved driving down I-Drive and seeing even more things I'd read about. Was that the Ponderosa with the brilliant breakfasts? Wasnt that the hotel with the dirty rooms? Why is Skull Kingdom so much smaller than I thought? How do people put up with Wet & Wild being so loud? It was then that it hit me how glad I was that we were staying on property. Thanks Roland! We had a nice chat about it and decided wed never stay off-site. I liked that conversation. It held the promise of future visits !
We stopped off to buy ourselves our wedding anniversary present to ourselves next tickets to Cirque Du Soleil! Wed seen them in London and been completely blown away. Fingers crossed that they weren't sold out and they werent! The tickets we got (first row of the second tier, just off centre) looked good as well.
Wed meant to do a bit of grocery shopping the day before but my meltdown had scuppered that plan and then a park had seem so much more attractive isnt it always! Today was the day though. I know Goodings is dear but its also convenient we didnt want to waste any more Disney time. We were in and out in no time with a few essentials, including bagels and cream cheese (of course) and a disposable cooler. There was no way we were going to fork out $10+ a day for a dwarf fridge so up till then wed been keeping our milk cool overnight in the ice bucket. Roland refilled the new cooler with bags of ice every morning and evening and it worked a treat. Smiles all round!
Stuffed ourselves silly back at the room then talked about what to do with our unexpected half a day. Now in theory I've seen Fantasmic three times. In reality I hadnt been able to see over peoples heads in California. The glimpses I'd seen had been beautiful but it wouldve been nice to see more! Today would be the day for more - we set off for MGM with hopes high that the time for me to see Fantasmic in full had finally arrived.
We werent as full up this time so we headed straight for the Tower of Terror. The posted wait was only 15 mins but a woman giving us her two spare FPs reduced the wait to nothing. It was our first taste of FP and we were sold on them a pat on the back to whoever came up with the idea. Well we survived! We were on the front seat and the others in our row were beefy young men. That meant the lap bar didnt actually reach me never mind can you float a penny, we floated me! I literally flew. Wow The biggest shock wasnt the ride though it was the photo. Roland never smiles on photos and there he was, beaming away. Weird
We shuddered at the hat again as we went by to get a FP for Little Mermaid. We spent the time till then in One Man and his Dream excellent! 25 minutes in there and we didnt even get as far as the film. Lets hope they make it a permanent exhibition.
The wait for LM was still 15 mins after our FP time so we were all packed into the waiting area like sardines hot, sticky, sweaty sardines. It was horrible. The woman behind us spent the whole 15 mins complaining at her little boy because he was too tired to stand she was so aggressive. I snuck a glimpse to see how old he was (four?) and mummy and her friend saw and started talking aggressively about me and the obvious `problem´ I had. I let them it gave the kid a break, poor little mite. LM was good, far better than I thought it would be. Roland particularly liked the water sprays I adored Ursula. But it took me two days to get `Under the Sea´ out of my head!
The plan when we came out was to go straight to Fantasmic but it wasnt meant to be. It was my fault of course the only day I didnt bring my (Disneyland) poncho, the heavens opened. I told Roland not to worry, I'd read about Florida storms and they were soon over. But it still kept on raining. Then the thunder and lightening started and it rained even harder. So we wandered round the shops. And still it rained. We waited 50 mins before giving in and becoming Disney bananas. And still it poured. We, along with thousands of other bananas, squelched to the bus stops and stood in the horrendous queues and waited for a bus. Have you guessed yet what happened? Yep third time VERY lucky! Room for two standing again! We stood in the bus exit steps with two very nice men trying to hold four strollers they liked me because I leant against one of the strollers, freeing their hands for the other three. When we arrived at CBR, they made everyone else wait so `These nice people can get off the bus first.´ I might not have got my Fantasmic but you couldnt get more Disney magical than that, could you?
It was our last night at CBR and we were very sad to be leaving. The pain was alleviated a little by finding a towel bunny in our room thanks Mousekeeping! The rain had stopped so we left the bananas in our room for one last moonlit stroll along our beach. It really is a beautiful resort.
Next, Day 7 But nobody knows were here!
Roland (35, German) puts up with me somehow.
Mickey our beanie, on his first trip `home´.
Today we were going shopping!!! Now that might not seem exciting to some people (many of whom MAY be male) but we live in a retail desert and I'd been looking forward to it for months. Nevertheless, there was no rush to get going so no alarm clock, a lazy stroll along the lake and drinks on the beach. A very civilised start to the day.
We stopped at Riverside on the way to hand in a room request. This time I asked for a quiet top floor mansion room. Matt, the CM who took it, was the nicest CM we came across and he had some competition, especially at Riverside. I'd read on the boards that you should give a good reason why youre requesting something so I wrote how the trip was a combination of our sixth wedding anniversary and VERY belated honeymoon, which made Matt laugh. (This was quite true as one wedding present had been money for a honeymoon but instead of taking one wed used it as an emergency fund. We finally decided we could cope anyway if an emergency cropped up and blew the lot on WDW! Very good decision). Matt did a lot of tapping on his computer, smiled at us and said it was all taken care of. Great! We resisted the temptation to check the place out and headed for the shops at long last!
I'm a trip-reportaholic and had devoured the ones where people went shopping so I knew all about where to go for the best bargains. We werent sure how long each place would take so we decided to just work our way through the list Belz Outlet, Premier Outlet, Walmart, Florida Mall and anything else we spied along the way.
I enjoyed the drive to Belz it was fun seeing all the places I'd read about. We found the Belz signpost confusing. If you havent been, its a label. We thought it was a sort of arrow and nearly turned off before we got there. We were ever so disappointed with it it was so small. I needed the loo so I asked a lady sweeping up in front of a snack bar if I could use hers. She was a real sweetie not only did she say yes, (it said `defect´ on the door but it wasnt so I think that was deter non-customers like me!), she also explained to the poor confused foreigners that wed only found the annex the real outlets were across the road. And she did it without making us feel stupid and she gave us a map - thankyou nice lady!
Wed thought the annex was quiet but malls 1 & 2 were ghost towns. Spooky!
If I didnt want to live in my wraparound skirt (covering the rash) I needed some lightweight trousers easier said than done. When youre 5´ 2, trousers are often too long and as I'm sewingly as well as vertically challenged, shortening some wasnt an option. The first shop had a delightful assistant who did her best to help but everything was either too short (cropped) and didnt cover the rash or too long. We wandered on. We were also looking for Reebok trainers for me as I was developing some world-class blisters with the trainers (non-Reebok) and shoes I'd been wearing. I'd thought this might happen but hadnt been able to find any Reeboks in my size back home. We worked our way round Mall 2 until we came to the food court where Roland had the worst burrito hes ever had it matched the service. My potato was better but I wouldnt want another one, thankyou very much.
I'd hoped for bargains at the Character Warehouse but it wasnt to be We finished Mall 2 and moved on to the next one. I have to tell you, we were getting fed up by then yes, not just Roland, me as well. We both felt like wed left a magical wonderful world and gone back to the normal dreary one. Shopping had lost its appeal.
The second mall appeared to have pretty much the same shops as the first one why? I found another branch of the clothes shop but this one had more choice. Trying on two pairs of cropped trousers I found that they just reached the top of my ankle socks. They were
lightweight and drawstring, just right for summer but oh dear when I turned round Is this a zeppelin I see before me? Will people think theres been an eclipse? I knew the answer to that age-old question `Does my bum look big in this?´ On the other hand, I was sick of looking and they were extremely comfy. Having made Roland swear not to take any photos of me from behind, me and the plastic headed for the cash desk. The two women there should be given every customer service award going. Not only did they give me a discount I wasnt entitled to (I didnt have the malls discount booklet) they also took a huge interest in all my splodges, offering advice left right and centre. Brilliant!
We drove across the road to Reebok next Roland was sure their own outlet would be cheaper than the Belz shops. It wasnt but it wasnt dearer either so it didnt matter. I found just what I was looking for and then came down to earth with a bump. The cashier completely ignored me. She spoke to Roland but my questions went unanswered and shed definitely heard me. That put the lid on it we were going back to Disney!
By the way, if theres one tip you always read its never go to Disney wearing new shoes. Well I put mine on immediately and only took them off again for bed. Bliss! Not another thing wrong with my feet again. I love Reeboks.
We stopped at a Walgreens on the way back down I-Drive and got some cream for my splodges it worked a treat on my face and I soon looked like a normal human being again. My legs took a little longer as explained in Day 8.
I loved driving down I-Drive and seeing even more things I'd read about. Was that the Ponderosa with the brilliant breakfasts? Wasnt that the hotel with the dirty rooms? Why is Skull Kingdom so much smaller than I thought? How do people put up with Wet & Wild being so loud? It was then that it hit me how glad I was that we were staying on property. Thanks Roland! We had a nice chat about it and decided wed never stay off-site. I liked that conversation. It held the promise of future visits !
We stopped off to buy ourselves our wedding anniversary present to ourselves next tickets to Cirque Du Soleil! Wed seen them in London and been completely blown away. Fingers crossed that they weren't sold out and they werent! The tickets we got (first row of the second tier, just off centre) looked good as well.
Wed meant to do a bit of grocery shopping the day before but my meltdown had scuppered that plan and then a park had seem so much more attractive isnt it always! Today was the day though. I know Goodings is dear but its also convenient we didnt want to waste any more Disney time. We were in and out in no time with a few essentials, including bagels and cream cheese (of course) and a disposable cooler. There was no way we were going to fork out $10+ a day for a dwarf fridge so up till then wed been keeping our milk cool overnight in the ice bucket. Roland refilled the new cooler with bags of ice every morning and evening and it worked a treat. Smiles all round!
Stuffed ourselves silly back at the room then talked about what to do with our unexpected half a day. Now in theory I've seen Fantasmic three times. In reality I hadnt been able to see over peoples heads in California. The glimpses I'd seen had been beautiful but it wouldve been nice to see more! Today would be the day for more - we set off for MGM with hopes high that the time for me to see Fantasmic in full had finally arrived.
We werent as full up this time so we headed straight for the Tower of Terror. The posted wait was only 15 mins but a woman giving us her two spare FPs reduced the wait to nothing. It was our first taste of FP and we were sold on them a pat on the back to whoever came up with the idea. Well we survived! We were on the front seat and the others in our row were beefy young men. That meant the lap bar didnt actually reach me never mind can you float a penny, we floated me! I literally flew. Wow The biggest shock wasnt the ride though it was the photo. Roland never smiles on photos and there he was, beaming away. Weird
We shuddered at the hat again as we went by to get a FP for Little Mermaid. We spent the time till then in One Man and his Dream excellent! 25 minutes in there and we didnt even get as far as the film. Lets hope they make it a permanent exhibition.
The wait for LM was still 15 mins after our FP time so we were all packed into the waiting area like sardines hot, sticky, sweaty sardines. It was horrible. The woman behind us spent the whole 15 mins complaining at her little boy because he was too tired to stand she was so aggressive. I snuck a glimpse to see how old he was (four?) and mummy and her friend saw and started talking aggressively about me and the obvious `problem´ I had. I let them it gave the kid a break, poor little mite. LM was good, far better than I thought it would be. Roland particularly liked the water sprays I adored Ursula. But it took me two days to get `Under the Sea´ out of my head!
The plan when we came out was to go straight to Fantasmic but it wasnt meant to be. It was my fault of course the only day I didnt bring my (Disneyland) poncho, the heavens opened. I told Roland not to worry, I'd read about Florida storms and they were soon over. But it still kept on raining. Then the thunder and lightening started and it rained even harder. So we wandered round the shops. And still it rained. We waited 50 mins before giving in and becoming Disney bananas. And still it poured. We, along with thousands of other bananas, squelched to the bus stops and stood in the horrendous queues and waited for a bus. Have you guessed yet what happened? Yep third time VERY lucky! Room for two standing again! We stood in the bus exit steps with two very nice men trying to hold four strollers they liked me because I leant against one of the strollers, freeing their hands for the other three. When we arrived at CBR, they made everyone else wait so `These nice people can get off the bus first.´ I might not have got my Fantasmic but you couldnt get more Disney magical than that, could you?
It was our last night at CBR and we were very sad to be leaving. The pain was alleviated a little by finding a towel bunny in our room thanks Mousekeeping! The rain had stopped so we left the bananas in our room for one last moonlit stroll along our beach. It really is a beautiful resort.
Next, Day 7 But nobody knows were here!
). Darryl, Katie and Sylv were escorted out as they closed this attraction in storms, not that the netting which stops birds flying away did much to protect them
. So, there we were, all huddled under one tiny piece, foot square, of hessian which was part of the attraction. Several other wet people tried to join us but there was no way I was letting my piece of protection be taken over by anyone else. For heavan's sake, we're Brittish and we can deal with rain
But by the end of two hours of torrential rain, thunder like you've never heard, poor DD and MIL were scared witless so we decided to make a run for it. Problem was we weren't quite sure to where because by this time not only were we soaked to the skin, our bags were too and when I pulled the park map out it fell into twenty different pieces.
shone again and off we went.
