There goes Florida, part 11 - An anniversary to remember

[Hilary]

There goes Florida, part 11 – An anniversary to remember

Cast
Me – Hilary, 48. Beginning to suffer from trip-planning overload, but looking forward to seeing some new-to-us parts of Florida.
DH – Jeremy, 49. Looking forward to fishing opportunities in the Keys and on the coast, but could do without quite as long in Orlando.
DD1 – Rhian , 19. Looking forward to forgetting university studies for two weeks – anything else will be a bonus.
DD2 – Amy, 15. Looking forward to first trip to IOA , Mission Space and the Hard Rock Hotel, but not looking forward to the prospect of being ill on the flights again.

Wednesday, 14th April – Our 25th wedding anniversary
I’d been so pleased when I’d realised that our trip this Easter would coincide with our 25th anniversary, but I hadn’t imagined that one of us would be ill and the other would be recuperating. I didn’t really have a back-up plan for this!

We’d booked a Priority Seating before we left home for an anniversary meal in the Flying Fish Café at the Boardwalk, but had changed it for the Brown Derby in MGM a few days ago. It wasn’t that we didn’t like the look of the Flying Fish menu, more that we felt we could make better use of our time by eating in the parks, especially since our park-visiting had taken a bit of a turn for the worse due to illness. So, we knew we would be visiting MGM this afternoon and just had to decide where to go this morning.

Jeremy felt he’d benefit from another morning recuperating in the resort, but then Rhian didn’t feel too well and thought she would stay behind as well to be on the safe side. Oh dear, we weren’t holding up too well, and we were all worried that Rhian was coming down with the ‘bug’ now . Amy and I decided to make a quick trip to the Magic Kingdom and set off feeling slightly guilty about being well enough to enjoy ourselves.

When we returned to OKW, Rhian had made a full recovery and was disappointed that she’d decided to stay behind this morning. There’s just no pleasing some people . Jeremy still wasn’t really feeling up to park-pounding, but he felt he was well enough to leave his sick-bed and take a gentle stroll around MGM before our PS at the Brown Derby.

The meal was not our greatest WDW gastronomic experience, not through any fault of the Brown Derby I would add. Jeremy made a brave attempt at some chicken and rice, but couldn’t manage much and neither of the girls really liked their choices very much. I came out best with my tuna (delicious!), but made the mistake of attempting a dessert as well – I should have quit whilst I was ahead! It was a crème brulee too far for someone who was only just recovering her appetite. By the time we’d finished eating, Jeremy wasn’t up to doing much else so he and I sat watching the world go by whilst the girls went on a few rides. Then we left MGM, knowing we wouldn’t be back in the parks this trip, and possibly not for some time. We tried not to dwell on that though.

Not the most romantic of 25th anniversaries, as it turned out, but at least we were in WDW – and I can’t think of anywhere I would rather have been.

Thursday, 15th April
After packing everything up and threatening Rhian that, if she wanted to bring so much luggage, she’d have to carry it, we struggled down the stairs and managed to load everything in the car without too much re-shuffling. I wasn’t sure that the suitcases would ever be the same shape again, but that didn’t seem important when we had a four hour drive to Miami ahead of us.

The trip down to Miami was uneventful (fortunately), but finding the Dollar rental depot to return the car was a bit of an adventure. I had been warned that the signs for Dollar were postage stamp size, and by the time I’d read the Virgin driving instructions for the nineteenth time, I was convinced we’d be still be driving around Miami on our next anniversary. Full marks to Virgin then when we followed their instructions to the letter and found ourselves back at the Dollar depot without any unscheduled diversions.

Once in the car return line, we were unceremoniously bundled out of the car by the Dollar guy so he could check we hadn’t breathed inappropriately over his paintwork or crumpled the upholstery. Then we watched him punch a few readings into his hand-held gizmo and held our breath, waiting for the “That’ll be an extra $800, sir as you appear to have used this vehicle for driving”. Miraculously he remained silent (but still unsmiling) and gave us our printed receipt with a nod and a grunt in the direction of the rental building.

We translated this to mean that couldn’t find any reason to charge us for anything else (although we never believe that until the credit card bill comes through at home) and shuffled off to find the waiting area for the airport shuttle. Why are car rental places so daunting? Why do we always feel that we’re about to be, or have already been, ripped off by everyone involved in the rental process? It’s just one of those things we come to expect now, but wouldn’t holidays be so much more pleasant without the car rental aggro? Hey ho.

The shuttle bus back to the airport was a delight compared to the fiasco when we arrived two weeks ago. The driver was pleasant, helped everyone load their luggage, checked we were all heading for the right terminal and was generally an all-round Mr Nice Guy. He won’t last long in that job.

Once within the vicinity of the Virgin check-in desks we paused to look around for somewhere to get a drink as we were a lot earlier than we’d anticipated and thought we’d have to kill quite a bit of time before check-in. No sooner had the trolley wheels ground to a halt than Mr Virgin-man came to take a look at our tickets.
“Please go ahead and check-in, sir”
Stunned, we wound our way through the empty queuing trail and straight up to Mrs Virgin-lady's desk.
“How many in your party, Ma’m?” smiled Mrs V.
To cut a long story short(er), we were checked-in in record time, not getting our pre-allocated seats (no surprise there then ), but managing to get two bulk-head seats with two across the aisle subject to any ‘unexpected’ babies being checked-in. We never did work out how a baby could be that ‘unexpected’ that no-one would have realised it might make an appearance, but we kept a careful eye out for any small babies accompanied by surprised-looking parents .

In fact, check-in was so speedy that it wasn’t until our luggage was disappearing along the conveyor into the depths of baggage-handling that I remembered I hadn’t ‘locked’ them with the plastic ties. It’s something I usually do when we’re in the check-in queue, once we’re sure there’s nothing else we need to put in the hold luggage. Oh well, too late now.

Apparently there were no unexpected little bundles of joy on our flight, so Jeremy and Rhian were able to keep their bulkhead seats. Then the girl sitting next to Jeremy asked whether she could swap with Amy, as Amy was sitting next to her sister, so I was the only one of us who didn’t have extra leg-room (but I’ve got short legs anyway – no comment, thank you).

Back in Heathrow we stopped off at our seventh and final check-in at the Comfort Inn for a few hours’ sleep. It seemed an extravagant few hours at £50, but we find it’s the only way to cope with the drive back home after a long flight, and feel it’s money well spent from a safety point of view.



Now that we’ve been home for a while, and rosy after-glow of the trip has well and truly been extinguished by the normal routine, I’ve tried to review the whole experience objectively.

I’m glad we visited all the places we did, and I didn’t find packing/unpacking and switching resorts too much hassle, but I think I might enjoy a more relaxed trip next time! I’m not sure I’d be bothered about going to Miami or Naples again, but I would like to see more of the Keys one day. Staying on-site at Universal was 100% worthwhile for the front-of-line access and I’m sure we’ll do that again in the future, maybe trying a different hotel.

In conclusion we had a great holiday, despite our time in WDW not being the best we’ve had. In fact, looking back on those few days it doesn’t really feel as though we spent any time in the parks at all. If this had been the only time we’d ever spend in WDW I would feel really cheated but, having been so many times before and hoping that we’ll go many times again, I’m just slightly disappointed that we couldn’t celebrate our anniversary under better circumstances. But if that’s the only disappointment, it can’t have been too bad, can it?

… and I’m determined we’ll make up for it next time !

(Sorry it's taken me so long to get around to finishing these reports but, if you're still reading them, thanks for your patience!)

 

[KayleeUK]

At last Only Joking.

Thank you for sharing your trip with us.

 

[Miffy2003]

Great reports Hilary

I really enjoyed them. I was at your descriptions of Miami airport and the staff there!!

Have you decided on next year yet??

Karen

 

[Hilary]

Originally posted by Miffy2003
Have you decided on next year yet??

Not really! We're most or less agreed that Florida won't be on the agenda for next year but still haven't come up with an alternative that appeals to the whole family. Maybe that's the problem - finding something to suit everyone!

 

[JohnW]

I was worried that the ending was so bad you weren't going to post..............or that I was just incapable of finding the last report

I enjoyed them, thanks.