foxylady
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2006
- Messages
- 314
For those of you who are not familiar with my family, and have not read previous trippies and the pre-trip report, please let me do the introductions:
Myself (Catherine) (41) - loves anything Disney, especially Pooh and Mickey as Sorcerors Apprentice
DH (John) (47) - luckily loves disney as well, and is usually happy to agree with my plans
DS (Stephen) (14) - not too bad as a teenager, but doesn't like rides that go upside-down!
Saturday 22 July 2006 - Day Three - Epcot & Shopping
Had a lie in this morning - got up at 5.30 am. Walked outside to see what the weather was doing to see hot air balloons over the Villa
The plan today was to go to Epcot first thing, and then we were meeting our friends at their villa at 12.30 pm to go shopping at the Florida Mall (see pre-trip report to explain who these friends are).
Had breakfast at Cracker Barrel (another first). I think this was the best breakfast I had in the whole of the two weeks we were there. I really enjoyed it.
Managed to make Epcot for opening, and straight over to Soarin for FP. Decided to go on Living with the Land first, which although we have been on numerous times, I still think you learn something new every time. (I wonder if it will be the same now the narration is recorded! We'll have to try it next year and find out!)
Spotted a hidden mickey.
From there we walked over to the Imagination Pavillion and rode JII with Figment, my favourite purple dragon. I still miss Dreamfinder though and thought the old ride was a whole lot better LOL
.
FP time had arrived and we went back over to Soarin. Entered and started the long walk up to the ride. However, we had success. Managed to get top row in the middle - best seats ever. Love this ride, I think it is now my favourite. The smells, sights, sounds - absolutely love it. I also think it great that everyone applauds at the end.
Back down to earth for a while and walked across to MS. Now we have done this ride before, but wanted to try the green route to see if it was any different. What a waste of time IMHO. DS thought it was rubbish (or words to that effect!! )
This was nothing like as good as the orange route. However the wait for that was now quite long, and FP return was after the time we had to leave the park, so decided to save this for another day.
Test Track was next. DS's favourite ride. Went in the single riders queue, but how come DS & DH always seem to manage to get in the same car! I find this ride OK, but I wouldn't rush to go on it time after time.
Anyway it was now time to leave Epcot and save everything else for another day, as we had to get back to meet our friends at their villa. The friends were: Helen (DS's dance teacher, altho she & I went to school together), John 2 (Helen's husband), Erika (DS's other dance teacher) John 3 (Erika's husband), Jake (Erika & John 3's DS aged 4 months). Also staying at the villa was Walter (John 2's DDad), Pat (John 2's DSis) and John 4 (John 2's DBiL). Are you still with me? Basically there were 4 Johns all in the same room, as my DH is John 1.
John 4 had decided not to come with us, as he was all shopped out, but everyone else piled into their 12 seater, and we followed in our 7 seater. These friends had hired sat nav at the airport and this took us right up the I4 to the Florida Mall. I was using mapman's map and would not have taken this route personally. The I4 was really busy as it was a Saturday lunchtime, and it was also the first day of the tax free shopping week - not a great day to pick to go shopping really.
Eventually arrived at Florida Mall and it was really busy. Managed to find two parking spaces, and again our England flags went in the window. The Mall itself was heaving! Pat & Walter decided to go off and do their own thing and we agreed to meet up at 5.30 pm by the main entrance.
Sketchers was the first port of call. I think every single one of us came out with a pair of shoes. As well as tax free week, they had an offer that if you purchased two pairs of shoes, you got $10 off. I was quite cheeky and asked if we could get $15 off as we were buying 3 pairs of shoes. The answer was yes - so a result!
After this, we really tried to stick together, but it was really difficult, so in the end DH (who does not really like shopping anyway) disappeared (to have a crafty ciggie!). John 3 & Erika disappeared into a jewellery shop as John 3 was buying her an eternity ring after the birth of Jake. So Helen, John 2, Myself and Stephen kept shopping.
Found ourselves in Old Navy (another first for us - never been in this shop before!). DS was in absolute heaven. Came away with 1 denim jacket, 2 shirts, 4 T-shirts for DS and 2 tops for me. Real bargain as well, as I think the whole lot came to about $50. The denim jacket was on sale anyway, but when we got to the till, it came up as $13. (Mind you DH says it should have been on sale as it has holes in it LOL - no fashion sense!)
I then decided to treat myself to some Aveda shampoo and conditioner. Walked into the shop and one of the staff members came up to see if they could be of assistance. After answering various questions about my hair etc, I decided to purchase a large shampoo and conditioner and some scalp treatment (more on this later). Came to $98. DS couldn't believe I had spent so much on hair products. He also wondered whether the staff member who had served us was male or female LOL - teenagers, who'd have 'em!
Had a wander round the rest of the Mall and by this time had lost everyone else so it was just DS & myself. He wanted to look in the Apple shop to see if there any other gadget he could buy for his Ipod. He was looking for something that you could use to get radio played direct to the Ipod, but couldn't decide whether to buy it or not. In the end, he decided not. Mind you, my DS is very good a shopping. He always manages to leave his wallet at home and today was no exception.
By now, time was getting on so went back to the entrance to meet up and go to Ruby Tuesdays for a meal. It seemed to cause quite a problem that we wanted a table for 9 plus 1 baby, but after we moved a few tables around we were fine.
We had eaten here with the same friends last year and the everything was lovely, but this year we were disappointed. The food was lovely, but the service was not good at all. Needless to say we only left the minimum tip!
After we had eaten, we said goodbye to our friends and we headed back down to the Crossroads. Behind TGI Fridays there was Pirates Cove mini-golf, so we played both courses.
I think John won, but then he usually does, but the early mornings were beginning to catch up, so we headed back to the villa and bed.
Myself (Catherine) (41) - loves anything Disney, especially Pooh and Mickey as Sorcerors Apprentice
DH (John) (47) - luckily loves disney as well, and is usually happy to agree with my plans
DS (Stephen) (14) - not too bad as a teenager, but doesn't like rides that go upside-down!
Saturday 22 July 2006 - Day Three - Epcot & Shopping
Had a lie in this morning - got up at 5.30 am. Walked outside to see what the weather was doing to see hot air balloons over the Villa
The plan today was to go to Epcot first thing, and then we were meeting our friends at their villa at 12.30 pm to go shopping at the Florida Mall (see pre-trip report to explain who these friends are).
Had breakfast at Cracker Barrel (another first). I think this was the best breakfast I had in the whole of the two weeks we were there. I really enjoyed it.
Managed to make Epcot for opening, and straight over to Soarin for FP. Decided to go on Living with the Land first, which although we have been on numerous times, I still think you learn something new every time. (I wonder if it will be the same now the narration is recorded! We'll have to try it next year and find out!)
Spotted a hidden mickey.
From there we walked over to the Imagination Pavillion and rode JII with Figment, my favourite purple dragon. I still miss Dreamfinder though and thought the old ride was a whole lot better LOL
.FP time had arrived and we went back over to Soarin. Entered and started the long walk up to the ride. However, we had success. Managed to get top row in the middle - best seats ever. Love this ride, I think it is now my favourite. The smells, sights, sounds - absolutely love it. I also think it great that everyone applauds at the end.
Back down to earth for a while and walked across to MS. Now we have done this ride before, but wanted to try the green route to see if it was any different. What a waste of time IMHO. DS thought it was rubbish (or words to that effect!! )
This was nothing like as good as the orange route. However the wait for that was now quite long, and FP return was after the time we had to leave the park, so decided to save this for another day.Test Track was next. DS's favourite ride. Went in the single riders queue, but how come DS & DH always seem to manage to get in the same car! I find this ride OK, but I wouldn't rush to go on it time after time.
Anyway it was now time to leave Epcot and save everything else for another day, as we had to get back to meet our friends at their villa. The friends were: Helen (DS's dance teacher, altho she & I went to school together), John 2 (Helen's husband), Erika (DS's other dance teacher) John 3 (Erika's husband), Jake (Erika & John 3's DS aged 4 months). Also staying at the villa was Walter (John 2's DDad), Pat (John 2's DSis) and John 4 (John 2's DBiL). Are you still with me? Basically there were 4 Johns all in the same room, as my DH is John 1.
John 4 had decided not to come with us, as he was all shopped out, but everyone else piled into their 12 seater, and we followed in our 7 seater. These friends had hired sat nav at the airport and this took us right up the I4 to the Florida Mall. I was using mapman's map and would not have taken this route personally. The I4 was really busy as it was a Saturday lunchtime, and it was also the first day of the tax free shopping week - not a great day to pick to go shopping really.
Eventually arrived at Florida Mall and it was really busy. Managed to find two parking spaces, and again our England flags went in the window. The Mall itself was heaving! Pat & Walter decided to go off and do their own thing and we agreed to meet up at 5.30 pm by the main entrance.
Sketchers was the first port of call. I think every single one of us came out with a pair of shoes. As well as tax free week, they had an offer that if you purchased two pairs of shoes, you got $10 off. I was quite cheeky and asked if we could get $15 off as we were buying 3 pairs of shoes. The answer was yes - so a result!
After this, we really tried to stick together, but it was really difficult, so in the end DH (who does not really like shopping anyway) disappeared (to have a crafty ciggie!). John 3 & Erika disappeared into a jewellery shop as John 3 was buying her an eternity ring after the birth of Jake. So Helen, John 2, Myself and Stephen kept shopping.
Found ourselves in Old Navy (another first for us - never been in this shop before!). DS was in absolute heaven. Came away with 1 denim jacket, 2 shirts, 4 T-shirts for DS and 2 tops for me. Real bargain as well, as I think the whole lot came to about $50. The denim jacket was on sale anyway, but when we got to the till, it came up as $13. (Mind you DH says it should have been on sale as it has holes in it LOL - no fashion sense!)
I then decided to treat myself to some Aveda shampoo and conditioner. Walked into the shop and one of the staff members came up to see if they could be of assistance. After answering various questions about my hair etc, I decided to purchase a large shampoo and conditioner and some scalp treatment (more on this later). Came to $98. DS couldn't believe I had spent so much on hair products. He also wondered whether the staff member who had served us was male or female LOL - teenagers, who'd have 'em!
Had a wander round the rest of the Mall and by this time had lost everyone else so it was just DS & myself. He wanted to look in the Apple shop to see if there any other gadget he could buy for his Ipod. He was looking for something that you could use to get radio played direct to the Ipod, but couldn't decide whether to buy it or not. In the end, he decided not. Mind you, my DS is very good a shopping. He always manages to leave his wallet at home and today was no exception.
By now, time was getting on so went back to the entrance to meet up and go to Ruby Tuesdays for a meal. It seemed to cause quite a problem that we wanted a table for 9 plus 1 baby, but after we moved a few tables around we were fine.
We had eaten here with the same friends last year and the everything was lovely, but this year we were disappointed. The food was lovely, but the service was not good at all. Needless to say we only left the minimum tip!
After we had eaten, we said goodbye to our friends and we headed back down to the Crossroads. Behind TGI Fridays there was Pirates Cove mini-golf, so we played both courses.
I think John won, but then he usually does, but the early mornings were beginning to catch up, so we headed back to the villa and bed.
