The Aussietravellers Adventures continue... Updated - Day 26 - Part 1

[ehsmum]

I didn't enjoy Crystal Palace. I thought that the CMs were quite rude there and the characters were very rushed. Did you get anything when you complained?

Love that popcorn bucket!

 

[kyl]

We couldn't get into Crystal Palace, I think I am glad now that we didn't. We did do the one at disneyland when we got over to the other side though and it was nice. We got heaps of character interaction.

 

[aussietravellers]

I didn't enjoy Crystal Palace. I thought that the CMs were quite rude there and the characters were very rushed. Did you get anything when you complained?

Love that popcorn bucket!

We couldn't get into Crystal Palace, I think I am glad now that we didn't. We did do the one at disneyland when we got over to the other side though and it was nice. We got heaps of character interaction.

Yes Crystal Palace did end up being a little bit of a disappointment. But the food was ok. Just won't rush back next time.


Sorry for the lack of updates. Have been so busy. Will try to post another couple of days over the weekend

 

[kyl]

Hey Aussietravellers,
I have missed you......will you be back on the boards or are you having a disney melt down like me after such a nice trip. It is hard to come back to reality isn't it.

 

[aussietravellers]

Sorry for the delay, I’ve been so busy and have finally got around to updating my TR.

I firstly must apologise to all the males reading this TR today . You may well not find this very exciting as basically most of the TR will be about shopping..... A very important part of one’s trip to the USA.

So today was our girls shopping day, child free, a full day of shopping at Mall at Millenia. This is probably my favourite mall in Orlando. It is not an outlet mall, its a full priced mall, but I still find the prices good. Sometimes the sales and specials combined with coupons at the full priced mall can still mean you get a bargain.

So we went down to Captains Grill for what has become our usual breakfast. We really do love the breakfast here. As we were leaving breakfast I got the sms from our friends to say they were on their way, so we raced back upstairs and cleaned our teeth and were ready to go so went down to the lobby just as our friends were pulling up outside.

Our first stop was Macy’s. We had the kids with us at this stage as we were wanting child things so need them around for trying on etc. This was my most exciting purchase of the day I think, well not the most exciting, but the biggest bargain. I got 4 pairs of shoes for $172, that was two pairs of Ed Hardy shoes (normally $99 each) and two pairs of Coach shoes (both over $100 each). So I was with that purchase. Macy’s was having a sale on shoes and the more you bought the bigger the discount and then I got to use the 10% off coupon.

Anyway I sent the shoes with the others and my friend and I continued on by ourselves on our shopping day. We picked up a coupon book from the concierge and we were excited to find a PF Changs coupon! Lunch venue was decided.

Lettuce Cups - The best!

Now to the shopping... Where do I start......
Shops we went to and our purchases......
Abercrombie Kids - Tshirts, Polos and Jeans.
JCrew - Clothes and shoes
Pottery Barn,
Pottery Barn Kids (LOVE this store) cute Christmas table runner,
Macy’s - clothes, shoes, watches for children
Sunglass Hut - um sunglasses
Mac - Make up,
Tory Burch - shoes
Gucci - iphone cover and handbag
Tiffany & Co - bracelets
Saks - cosmetics
Bloomies - Jeans

Now it may sound ridiculous but we were getting really really tired, shopping is exhausting work, , so we decided after our massive lunch at PF Changs that we needed some afternoon tea. Where better to go than the Cheesecake Factory. Now our problem by this stage was that we had so many shopping bags that we could hardly carry them and very sore feet! I didn’t take any photos, was just too tired and didn’t think of it, but I had the Godiva cheesecake that was SOOOO good. I also got a piece Lindas Fudge Cake (I think it’s called, its a massive cake) to take away.

The others came to pick us up and on the way back we had to stop at Florida Mall. Why you may ask with all of the shopping you had already done. Well both my friend and I had found a telephone at Pottery Barn that we loved, but they only had it in the black and we wanted the silver. So we had to stop at Florida Mall to visit Pottery Barn, yes, to buy two telephones! They came in a huge box.

Here is the phone. I absolutely love it!

We then realised the time and we had to race! We had to get back to WDW to the Polynesian resort for Spirit of Aloha Luau.

The traffic on the way back was absolutely horrendous. We made it but we were late. Everybody was already seated and we missed our arrival photo.

This show/evening was awesome. Now I have been to Hawaii many many times before and have a favourite Luau there... it’s the Luau at the Royal Hawaiian hotel. I have to say that I did not enjoy it as much as that but it was still great and definately something that I would go to again. The food really was not that great! It was ok, but not great! I would not return for the food, but like so many things at Disney, it is all about the atmosphere not the food.

The food consisted of a salad with fruit.

Chicken, rice and vegetables

And a chocolate volcano thing for dessert....
Here it comes....

I didn’t get to eat this due to a nut allergy so can’t tell you what it was like, but it looked fabulous!

This was the dessert I received. Certainly not as delicious as chocolate, but it was still nice fresh fruit.

Here are some photos from the show.

I didn't get any good shots of the fire guy and I apologise for the blurry shots, I had killed my camera at Ridemakerz and had lots of trouble getting clear shots. The part I killed was the steady shot part of the camera, so when I turn the camera on the image shudders and is not still, so makes if very difficult taking a photo in focus .
Anyway, the fire guy was AMAZING!! Wow, very entertaining. The show is split up into polynesian regions and they do different acts for the different regions.

So after the show it was back to the hotel. Dragging all of that shopping up to the hotel room was a challenge, but we made it. Now there was going to be another challenge, bringing it all home. This is where another piece of luggage was going to need to be purchased, but that’s another story .

 

[aussietravellers]

Hey Aussietravellers,
I have missed you......will you be back on the boards or are you having a disney melt down like me after such a nice trip. It is hard to come back to reality isn't it.

Thanks Kyl It's nice to know I've been missed. Have just been so busy since arriving home and with school breaking up this week, there are all of those end of school year functions and concerts going on at the moment, it's crazy.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Aussietravellers - nice to have you back on the Boards. You were most definitely missed! I was wondering if you were okay and I'm relieved to see that it was just life keeping you on your toes; rather than anything else.

Thanks for the update. You did a bit of shopping and that phone is just .... well ..... retro! I'm sure that if anyone from marketing in that big Telco company of ours is reading this, they will be rushing out to see how many of those Bakerlite phones they have in storage and whether they can start selling them again.!

 

[Jade+3]

Nice to see you back. I too was hoping you were ok, so glad to hear you have just been busy.

Is Mall at Millenia better than Florida Mall? We went to Florida Mall a few times. I didn't know the other Mall existed!

 

[aussietravellers]

Aussietravellers - nice to have you back on the Boards. You were most definitely missed! I was wondering if you were okay and I'm relieved to see that it was just life keeping you on your toes; rather than anything else.

Thanks for the update. You did a bit of shopping and that phone is just .... well ..... retro! I'm sure that if anyone from marketing in that big Telco company of ours is reading this, they will be rushing out to see how many of those Bakerlite phones they have in storage and whether they can start selling them again.!

It's not a great shot of the phone. There is a great shot on the Potterybarn website. It's such a great phone, I LOVE it!

Nice to see you back. I too was hoping you were ok, so glad to hear you have just been busy.

Is Mall at Millenia better than Florida Mall? We went to Florida Mall a few times. I didn't know the other Mall existed!

I'm not sure if it's better. I certainly prefer Mall at Millenia to Florida Mall, but I didn't spend much time at Florida Mall this trip as I didn't like it as much two years ago when we went. There are shops at Mall at Millenia (and restaurants, PF Changs and Cheesecake Factory ) that are not at Florida Mall. Mall at Millenia more of a high end mall than Florida Mall, although I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with the Florida Mall renovation since my visit two years before, it is much better now. It was really very basic a couple of years ago and not that fantastic. But now it has expanded, they have some better shops moving in (and that have moved in) and it was quite a nice mall. But Florida Mall still doesn't have some of the shops that I like to visit and of course those two restaurants that are a must for me on a visit to the USA, so Mall at Millenia would be my first pick if I could only do one (but I do like to visit both).

You really need to look at the shops at both and see which best suits your family.

 

[kyl]

I am so glad you are back Aussietravellers....I missed you and was a little worried if you were alright. Love reading your TR, but more than that happy to see you are back and that life has just been busy for you xx.

 

[Jade+3]

I think we will just have to go to both Malls. I had a look at the website and there are plenty of stores that I love at both. Can't believe there is a Mall I did not know about. I actually prefer Malls to Outlets.

 

[shushh]

Welcome back Aussietravellers! Nice to see you on the boards again. I CANNOT wait to start shopping.

 

[shushh]

Aussietravellers, I meant to ask you earlier but forgot. With the virgin broadband2go, did you buy your $40 credit online from the virgin store or did you buy a top up card elsewhere? I'm only asking because it appears that the virgin online store only takes CC cards with a US billing addres.

 

[aussietravellers]

Aussietravellers, I meant to ask you earlier but forgot. With the virgin broadband2go, did you buy your $40 credit online from the virgin store or did you buy a top up card elsewhere? I'm only asking because it appears that the virgin online store only takes CC cards with a US billing addres.

Sorry for the delay, have been so busy and just found your message.

I just got one of the $40 cards from Best Buys when I bought the device. They just had a row of cards with certain values hanging near the device and I was going to pick up the $60 one but then they told me they had just bought out $40 unlimited, so I picked up one of those.

Once I added it to my account online, I must have missed a step as I had to call them because it wasn't working and it just took a few minutes on the phone for them to activate something I hadn't done

 

[aussietravellers]

I don't have any photos of this day yet. I bought a disposable waterproof camera for today and I am yet to have the photos developed! Oh it's hard to remember the days before digital cameras

Well after our busy day the day before we were up early to head to Discovery Cove. I was so excited about today as it was the first time I had ever been swimming with Dolphins. Discovery Cove is just near Seaworld and is an all inclusive day. With your admission price (and you can choose the dolphin swim or just regular entry, but I don't know why anybody would go without doing the dolphin swim as it's the highlight), you get lockers, wetsuit, goggles and snorkel (and you keep the snorkel), they take a photo of you when you arrive and you get a copy of that photo included and it also includes food and drinks for the day. That's all food and drinks, towels, toiletries in the toilets and change rooms (even shampoo, conditioner in the showers)! They open at 8am, so they do serve breakfast as well. They only let a small number of people in per day, so it is not very crowded at all and really pleasant crowd wise.

When you arrive it is like pulling up at a resort not a theme park, it is just beautiful. You go inside this big entry foyer and to up to one of the counters and check in. When there they take a photo to give you your id for the day (which is on a lanyard). You can attach your credit card to this as well, so if you wanted to buy any souvenirs or the photo or video package of your dolphin swim then you can just swipe the card. Also if you are around the park during the day and see a photographer, they will scan the card around your neck (like photopass) and the photos can all be added to your cd at the end of the day if you choose to buy it. At check in you are also given your groups time for your dolphin swim and where you are to meet for the swim.

From there we went through the big glass sliding doors where it opened up to the cove. It is just beautiful, you feel like you are on some deserted tropical island. You walk down this divine tropical walkway and near the bottom you are met by a photographer who takes a group photo for you to collect later in the day. We then walked around to the lockers that were closest to where we were to go for our dolphin swim. We went and picked up our wetsuits, goggles and snorkels and headed to the change rooms to get changed. The change rooms are lovely and very clean and it was nice to see that they were kept clean throughout the day. There was a massive pile of towels also in the change rooms for showering later. We put our things in our locker and then headed off to have some breakfast as we had a about 45 minutes until our dolphin swim.

It was a continental breakfast but it was all you care to eat, and there were muffins, fruit, crossiants. I wish I had taken some photos so that I could remember everything on the menu, but it was all quite nice, not the best food I've had but it was ok.

We then headed off to our meeting point for the dolphin swim. There are different coves that you meet in and it was not just our group but quite a number of people and there we were shown a video and had a brief talk about what to expect of our swim and also all about the dolphins there and at seaworld next door. We were then split into three groups and off we went. At the swim there is a photographer and a person videoing the whole thing for each group. We were taken down to the beach and entered the water for our swim. OMG it was FREEZING and the bottom was slippery and rocky. I can't tell you how many times I stubbed my toe and smashed my shin during that swim but it was just the most amazing swim. We had their oldest dolphin and he had much wrinklier skin that the younger ones. We then had a dolphin in training come over to visit. They don't have the younger dolphins for the meets, until they are well trained and this young dolphin was a classic and a big mischevious, he did not always listen to his trainer and got a lot of enjoyment out of splashing us

We all had our photos with the dolphin and then swam out and were taken back to shore. Some of the kids didn't want to go into the deep water so they just had a little go in the shallow water being taken along. It was awesome!!!

To be continued ..... (just heading out for dinner)

 

[PrincessInOz]

I always wondered if the price for Discovery Cove was worth it. EVERYONE raves about it....but still I have this nagging doubt.

Your experience sounds fantastic. I think I might just have to bite the bullet next time we visit and make sure we book ourselves in for a day.

Can't wait to see your photos.

 

[QuirkyButterfly]

I have just finished catching up with your trip. It sounds like you had an amazing time.

I can't wait to go to Discovery Cove, it is one of the things I am looking forward to the most.

It is so terrible that you got sick The thought of getting sick while there is something that I could have nightmares about, nothing I can really do to prevent it though just cross my fingers and hope for the best.

Can't wait to hear more. Thanks for the great report so far.