Eeyore's Tailfinder
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2006
- Messages
- 1,832
I am feeling the Florida Fever today, so I thought it would be nice to pick this up again and see if I can somehow get it finished before next trip (chance would be a fine thing!) - forgive me, as this is going to be from memory so it might be a tad patchy!!
Oh, and I didn't take any photos today (shocking for me I know!
)
We had planned to do Wet'n'Wild today, but Els wasn't feeling too good as he had thought he had got a bit of sunstroke. We didn't want to chance anything, so we swapped our shopping day with our Wet'n'Wild day and went shopping instead.
We walked down to Sizzler, as we planned on getting our breakfast here. It was quite busy when we went in, but we did get served in no time. The breakfast was good, but I was starting to get sick of breakfast food! We don't eat breakfast much, so I think it was a bit of a shock to the system
We called Yellow Cabs to take us to the new Super Walmart and waited for them over the road in the Holiday Inn. The ride there was uneventful (this will have more meaning later on!) and we got there in no time. We loved this Walmart! It was absolutely huge and I don't think we went around a quarter of it. There is a huge Disney section, where I got a Mickey t-shirt for myself for $5, and Els got a kids POTC one for something like $3.50 - shoppers paradise!! We were here for aaages and we lost each other a couple of times. I bought a box of Lucky Charms, since I remembered them over here, and some of those drinks sachets. I got a Thomas the Tank toy for my cousin, suntan lotion and aftersun, a DS game for me, some sweets and Disney things for my other cousins... Els got some Eyedrops from the chemist section since he suffers bad conjunctivitis and he swears that these are the bestr drops he's ever had, and they were like $3. I don't remember half the stuff we got, but I remember thinking we'd have a huge bill, and then being surprised that it only came to around $100.
We'd definitely come to this Walmart again! It's huge, and it's fun just to go around and look at all the different types of food - does anyone else ever do that abroad?
We didn't want to grab a taxi from outside, as we couldn't be sure it was a legit taxi, so we used the payphone to call Yellow Cabs. And thus the trouble began. We waited around 10mins before he came, checked it was for us, and hopped in the back.
Taxi Man: Where to?
Us: Sheraton Studio City please
TM: Where's that?
Ok fair enough, he didn't know the hotel, but to be fair there are hundreds, possibly thousands of hotels in Orlando and he couldn't be expected to know them all.
TM: Could you give me directions?
Me: (Thinking: I'll tell him it's near Wet'n'Wild) Umm, ok, I guess.
So we head off. I guess alarm bells should have started ringing. I tell him the hotel is on International Drive, just opposite Wet'n'Wild. He doesn't know where this is. Not knowing where a hotel is, I can forgive, but Wet'n'Wild I should think is one of I Drive, or even Orlando's primary attractions! He didn't seem to even know where I Drive was, and given that he didn't speak good English didn't help one bit. Off the top of my head I start thinking of other places. Do you know Prime Outlets? Yes he does! Off we go.
All is well until we reach the intersection and he starts turning off for the I4 - Panicking, we start shouting No and telling him he's going the wrong way. He does an U-Turn (I kid you not) and starts getting mad with us telling him we were the ones who told him to go to Premium Outlets. PRIME!! WE SAID PRIME OUTLETS!!
To cut a long story short, he was getting a bit iffy telling us that we'd told him we'd give him directions and now we didn't know where we were going. What I meant was, I could tell him it was on I Drive and near WW! If I knew the directions I would be driving myself! I told him this is my first time in this country, of course I can't give him directions - he's the taxi driver! He somehow managed to get onto I Drive by cutting up a million cars, and when we saw somewhere I recognised (the holiday inn) I shouted to him, here, this is our hotel right here. He dropped us off at HI and told us, you don't have to give me the fare. By that time I was a bit shaken up and just wanted to get outta there, I just threw him $10 and jumped out which he seemed very grateful about. I don't think he meant to be rude or scary, I think it was his first day and no way should the taxi company have given him the job!! Thus ends our little adventure! I think that was the scariest thing, and the only bad thing we had happen to us.
We walked the rest of the way to the Sheraton - glad to be out of the taxi and able to laugh about it now. We dropped the shopping in the room, and caught the I Trolley up to the Prime (Not Premium!) Outlets.
I wasn't too keen on the layout of this shopping outlet - I know they were in the middle of building, so hopefully it'll be better once it's finished. It seems as if you can't walk around in a circle, we had to keep going back on ourselves. I was really disappointed to find out the Disney Outlet wasn't open yet - wasn't even anything in the shop, it was just walls and floor. Els got a couple of pairs of jeans at one store (rue21 I think), and I got some t-shirts for $5 THIS one to celebrate my new found love of Mac and Cheese, and a simliar one with a Cookie and Milk saying 'Teamwork'... I'm yet to wear either but I thought they were really cute and funny! I got some bargains in the Calvin Klein Store - 3 pairs of CK Girls 'boxers' for $18 and I had printed out some vouchers before I went, which meant I got a gorgeous CK handbag for $40.
I think this place will be good when it's completed. We waited absolutely ages for the I Trolley back, around 40-50mins I would say. Absolutely knackered we happily stopped outside the 7/11 over the road to the hotel to grab a couple of cans of Coke.
We were way too tired to go anywhere too far tonight, so we went to Denny's next door! Just as good as the first time!
Sorry no photos and for the rather boring TR - I promise there will be plenty next report!
Next Up: Busch Gardens!
Oh, and I didn't take any photos today (shocking for me I know!
)We had planned to do Wet'n'Wild today, but Els wasn't feeling too good as he had thought he had got a bit of sunstroke. We didn't want to chance anything, so we swapped our shopping day with our Wet'n'Wild day and went shopping instead.
We walked down to Sizzler, as we planned on getting our breakfast here. It was quite busy when we went in, but we did get served in no time. The breakfast was good, but I was starting to get sick of breakfast food! We don't eat breakfast much, so I think it was a bit of a shock to the system
We called Yellow Cabs to take us to the new Super Walmart and waited for them over the road in the Holiday Inn. The ride there was uneventful (this will have more meaning later on!) and we got there in no time. We loved this Walmart! It was absolutely huge and I don't think we went around a quarter of it. There is a huge Disney section, where I got a Mickey t-shirt for myself for $5, and Els got a kids POTC one for something like $3.50 - shoppers paradise!! We were here for aaages and we lost each other a couple of times. I bought a box of Lucky Charms, since I remembered them over here, and some of those drinks sachets. I got a Thomas the Tank toy for my cousin, suntan lotion and aftersun, a DS game for me, some sweets and Disney things for my other cousins... Els got some Eyedrops from the chemist section since he suffers bad conjunctivitis and he swears that these are the bestr drops he's ever had, and they were like $3. I don't remember half the stuff we got, but I remember thinking we'd have a huge bill, and then being surprised that it only came to around $100.
We'd definitely come to this Walmart again! It's huge, and it's fun just to go around and look at all the different types of food - does anyone else ever do that abroad?
We didn't want to grab a taxi from outside, as we couldn't be sure it was a legit taxi, so we used the payphone to call Yellow Cabs. And thus the trouble began. We waited around 10mins before he came, checked it was for us, and hopped in the back.
Taxi Man: Where to?
Us: Sheraton Studio City please
TM: Where's that?
Ok fair enough, he didn't know the hotel, but to be fair there are hundreds, possibly thousands of hotels in Orlando and he couldn't be expected to know them all.
TM: Could you give me directions?
Me: (Thinking: I'll tell him it's near Wet'n'Wild) Umm, ok, I guess.
So we head off. I guess alarm bells should have started ringing. I tell him the hotel is on International Drive, just opposite Wet'n'Wild. He doesn't know where this is. Not knowing where a hotel is, I can forgive, but Wet'n'Wild I should think is one of I Drive, or even Orlando's primary attractions! He didn't seem to even know where I Drive was, and given that he didn't speak good English didn't help one bit. Off the top of my head I start thinking of other places. Do you know Prime Outlets? Yes he does! Off we go.
All is well until we reach the intersection and he starts turning off for the I4 - Panicking, we start shouting No and telling him he's going the wrong way. He does an U-Turn (I kid you not) and starts getting mad with us telling him we were the ones who told him to go to Premium Outlets. PRIME!! WE SAID PRIME OUTLETS!!
To cut a long story short, he was getting a bit iffy telling us that we'd told him we'd give him directions and now we didn't know where we were going. What I meant was, I could tell him it was on I Drive and near WW! If I knew the directions I would be driving myself! I told him this is my first time in this country, of course I can't give him directions - he's the taxi driver! He somehow managed to get onto I Drive by cutting up a million cars, and when we saw somewhere I recognised (the holiday inn) I shouted to him, here, this is our hotel right here. He dropped us off at HI and told us, you don't have to give me the fare. By that time I was a bit shaken up and just wanted to get outta there, I just threw him $10 and jumped out which he seemed very grateful about. I don't think he meant to be rude or scary, I think it was his first day and no way should the taxi company have given him the job!! Thus ends our little adventure! I think that was the scariest thing, and the only bad thing we had happen to us.
We walked the rest of the way to the Sheraton - glad to be out of the taxi and able to laugh about it now. We dropped the shopping in the room, and caught the I Trolley up to the Prime (Not Premium!) Outlets.
I wasn't too keen on the layout of this shopping outlet - I know they were in the middle of building, so hopefully it'll be better once it's finished. It seems as if you can't walk around in a circle, we had to keep going back on ourselves. I was really disappointed to find out the Disney Outlet wasn't open yet - wasn't even anything in the shop, it was just walls and floor. Els got a couple of pairs of jeans at one store (rue21 I think), and I got some t-shirts for $5 THIS one to celebrate my new found love of Mac and Cheese, and a simliar one with a Cookie and Milk saying 'Teamwork'... I'm yet to wear either but I thought they were really cute and funny! I got some bargains in the Calvin Klein Store - 3 pairs of CK Girls 'boxers' for $18 and I had printed out some vouchers before I went, which meant I got a gorgeous CK handbag for $40.
I think this place will be good when it's completed. We waited absolutely ages for the I Trolley back, around 40-50mins I would say. Absolutely knackered we happily stopped outside the 7/11 over the road to the hotel to grab a couple of cans of Coke.
We were way too tired to go anywhere too far tonight, so we went to Denny's next door! Just as good as the first time!
Sorry no photos and for the rather boring TR - I promise there will be plenty next report!
Next Up: Busch Gardens!
I'm 45 minutes from WHOI.
I am off work this week so plan on catching up with your whole trip report!!!
I will try and have more up soon!!
I would love to spend a bit of time there, since Titanic is my specialism 
Bring on the weekend!!
