UK Valerie
TRUST NO-ONE
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2002
Two & Two Kids,please! Day 2 ..Shopping.........!!!
WE woke earlier than planned at around 7.30 a.m. , however the 2 kids were
already up and had located the Nickleodeon channel on the T.V...... The rain
from the previous evening had not stopped and we looked out on to a grey , wet
drizzly Kissimme, not what we had envisaged when planning our holiday.
After a breakfast of cereal and yoghourt ( no-one was really hungry )we made
ready for THE SHOPPING TRIP !! Now before all you men out there accuse me of
being a total wimp there was logic behind this decision . This was the tail-end of
Thanksgiving week and we didn't fancy hitting possible huge holiday crowds at
the parks so we ( in this context "we" means Juliet) decided to visit a shopping
mall , and we had decided on the Florida Mall. Off we drove up the Orange
Blossom Trail with everyone admiring Dad's ability to drive in 3 lanes
simultaneously . No problems finding Florida Mall , a relief after the fiasco of the
previous night's saga. The shops were still closed , it was only 9 a.m.! so we
moseyed around to the Food Court and I organised coffee, juice and croissants
while DW perused the ground-plan of the mall , although paying far too much
attention to ladies shops for my comfort!
We sat there amongst what appeared to be exclusively Brit tourists suffering
from jet-lag, until opening time for shops arrived and DW leapt to her feet, the
coffee must have had a rejuvenating effect on her because the glint in her eye
meant business!!After 10 or so minutes of general wandering around we landed
at the Disney Store...this was a BIG test because the 9-year old cool Emilia had
point blank decided some months previously that she would not , repeat not go
to a Disney park !??! Previous attempts to get her into our local Disney Store at
the MetroCentre had met with total refusal and we envisaged that we were going
to do Florida without seeing Disney. To our bemused surprise she said " O.K., I'll
have a look " and led the way in to the Disney Store. Janice , at this point you
and your fellow DIS'ers must have sent pixie dust!!! Emilia went straight over to
the soft toys , picked up Minnie Mouse and asked if she could keep her! My jaw
hit the ground ! The sight of Emilia hugging Minnie in a Xmas be-decked shop
with carols playing in the background nearly reduced me to tears.....Mind you I
was nearly reduced to tears several times that day when I saw what Juliet was
doing to my credit cards!!
I digress, Emilia was totally captivated and decided on the spot that she wanted
to go to Disney parks astounding yours truly , DW and DS. The lady behind the
counter never got an easier sale for a 4-Day pass.If anything on this holiday was
to show me the magic of Disney this was the defining moment.
Apart from Minnie we bought some little key-rings , Xmas cards and bits & bobs.
Our next stop was Electronic Boutique...we'd heard that gameboy stuff was
cheaper in the U.S. It is ! Emilia had talked about buying Pokemon Gold and
Silver for weeks ...they don't come out in the U.K. 'til Easter so we got them for
her, and her standing in the playground pecking order has risen considerably
since she returned home . At this point Juliet took the kids for a drink ...the plan
was for me to get some Xmas pressies and hide them in the car. I got a
Gameboy and 3 games for Callum, and 2 Texstar computer dogs,the dogs were
an afterthought but were such good value !!!! A couple more Pokemon toys
completed the line-up.
I met up with the family and DW decided it was time for the serious
shopping....my knees went weak at this point , I recognise that look! After lots
of window shopping we went into Guess and finished up with 2 kids jackets , 3
tops and a sweat-shirt. It was now 12'ish so back to the Food Court...I love the
way the different outlets offer free food samples , and judging by the way Juliet
was shopping this was the only way I could eat! She went for salad ( healthy ),
the kids had burgers( no surprises there ) and I had Chinese for my lunch....hey
, it was good enough for supper the night before.
Next up was the Teddy Bear Shop...if you've not been in there it's a MUST !!!
You start by buying an un-stuffed bear or one of many other toys....you then
choose your stuffing, an assistant does the business !!! Now you choose the
outfit for your creation , take it over to the warm air blow dryer where you can
comb and style it....it just goes on and on , like being in a huge surreal toy
factory.Once you've finished the embarrassing bit happens . The ladies at the till
blow whistles , holler ..the whole lot while announcing your little friend's new
name to the world at 100 decibels. Juliet bought 4 repeat 4 teddies . I cringed in
the corner during this strange happening!!!!
Then as agreed DW went off on her own to do some shopping for an hour! Me
and the kids wandered around , we got DW a present for Xmas ( No , Juliet I
know you'll read this so I'm NOT saying any more !). I got some t-shirts and
shorts from Gap. At this point we saw a dummy on a podium outside Gap...or so
we assumed .It/He started moving his hands slowly .....was it a dummy or not .
It was in fact a real guy but he was very impressive, we discovered there was a
model/dummy outside most of the major shops and spent a happy hour or so
walking up and down and seeing who was best. My personal choice was a young
lady in an evening dress although not necessarily for her ability to stand still......
DW was only 30 minutes later than we'd agreed , this was no big deal but half a
dozen large bags , two of which said Saks were of major concern . Also can you
tell me why any sane person would buy evening shoes on holiday? After coffee
and cokes we headed for home, tired exhausted and in one case quite possibly
bankrupt. The kids went into our pool for the first time ( it was heated!!)while
we decided that due to Emilia's reincarnation as Princess Disney we would hit
Disney/MGM tomorrow , strike while the iron's hot is the phrase I'm looking for !
We'd planned to got to Captain Nemo's for dinner ( only because I'd seen a
spoof of it on The Simpsons ) but we were so shattered that the unanimous
decision was for MacDonalds for kids and KFC for grown-ups. In reality both DW
and myself were still so overwhelmed by Emilia's conversion to all things Disney
that food was secondary, a whole new series of possibilities had opened up for
us .........
Then to bed .........tomorrow was to be our first Disney day ...YAHOOOOOO!!!!
WE woke earlier than planned at around 7.30 a.m. , however the 2 kids were
already up and had located the Nickleodeon channel on the T.V...... The rain
from the previous evening had not stopped and we looked out on to a grey , wet
drizzly Kissimme, not what we had envisaged when planning our holiday.
After a breakfast of cereal and yoghourt ( no-one was really hungry )we made
ready for THE SHOPPING TRIP !! Now before all you men out there accuse me of
being a total wimp there was logic behind this decision . This was the tail-end of
Thanksgiving week and we didn't fancy hitting possible huge holiday crowds at
the parks so we ( in this context "we" means Juliet) decided to visit a shopping
mall , and we had decided on the Florida Mall. Off we drove up the Orange
Blossom Trail with everyone admiring Dad's ability to drive in 3 lanes
simultaneously . No problems finding Florida Mall , a relief after the fiasco of the
previous night's saga. The shops were still closed , it was only 9 a.m.! so we
moseyed around to the Food Court and I organised coffee, juice and croissants
while DW perused the ground-plan of the mall , although paying far too much
attention to ladies shops for my comfort!
We sat there amongst what appeared to be exclusively Brit tourists suffering
from jet-lag, until opening time for shops arrived and DW leapt to her feet, the
coffee must have had a rejuvenating effect on her because the glint in her eye
meant business!!After 10 or so minutes of general wandering around we landed
at the Disney Store...this was a BIG test because the 9-year old cool Emilia had
point blank decided some months previously that she would not , repeat not go
to a Disney park !??! Previous attempts to get her into our local Disney Store at
the MetroCentre had met with total refusal and we envisaged that we were going
to do Florida without seeing Disney. To our bemused surprise she said " O.K., I'll
have a look " and led the way in to the Disney Store. Janice , at this point you
and your fellow DIS'ers must have sent pixie dust!!! Emilia went straight over to
the soft toys , picked up Minnie Mouse and asked if she could keep her! My jaw
hit the ground ! The sight of Emilia hugging Minnie in a Xmas be-decked shop
with carols playing in the background nearly reduced me to tears.....Mind you I
was nearly reduced to tears several times that day when I saw what Juliet was
doing to my credit cards!!
I digress, Emilia was totally captivated and decided on the spot that she wanted
to go to Disney parks astounding yours truly , DW and DS. The lady behind the
counter never got an easier sale for a 4-Day pass.If anything on this holiday was
to show me the magic of Disney this was the defining moment.
Apart from Minnie we bought some little key-rings , Xmas cards and bits & bobs.
Our next stop was Electronic Boutique...we'd heard that gameboy stuff was
cheaper in the U.S. It is ! Emilia had talked about buying Pokemon Gold and
Silver for weeks ...they don't come out in the U.K. 'til Easter so we got them for
her, and her standing in the playground pecking order has risen considerably
since she returned home . At this point Juliet took the kids for a drink ...the plan
was for me to get some Xmas pressies and hide them in the car. I got a
Gameboy and 3 games for Callum, and 2 Texstar computer dogs,the dogs were
an afterthought but were such good value !!!! A couple more Pokemon toys
completed the line-up.
I met up with the family and DW decided it was time for the serious
shopping....my knees went weak at this point , I recognise that look! After lots
of window shopping we went into Guess and finished up with 2 kids jackets , 3
tops and a sweat-shirt. It was now 12'ish so back to the Food Court...I love the
way the different outlets offer free food samples , and judging by the way Juliet
was shopping this was the only way I could eat! She went for salad ( healthy ),
the kids had burgers( no surprises there ) and I had Chinese for my lunch....hey
, it was good enough for supper the night before.
Next up was the Teddy Bear Shop...if you've not been in there it's a MUST !!!
You start by buying an un-stuffed bear or one of many other toys....you then
choose your stuffing, an assistant does the business !!! Now you choose the
outfit for your creation , take it over to the warm air blow dryer where you can
comb and style it....it just goes on and on , like being in a huge surreal toy
factory.Once you've finished the embarrassing bit happens . The ladies at the till
blow whistles , holler ..the whole lot while announcing your little friend's new
name to the world at 100 decibels. Juliet bought 4 repeat 4 teddies . I cringed in
the corner during this strange happening!!!!
Then as agreed DW went off on her own to do some shopping for an hour! Me
and the kids wandered around , we got DW a present for Xmas ( No , Juliet I
know you'll read this so I'm NOT saying any more !). I got some t-shirts and
shorts from Gap. At this point we saw a dummy on a podium outside Gap...or so
we assumed .It/He started moving his hands slowly .....was it a dummy or not .
It was in fact a real guy but he was very impressive, we discovered there was a
model/dummy outside most of the major shops and spent a happy hour or so
walking up and down and seeing who was best. My personal choice was a young
lady in an evening dress although not necessarily for her ability to stand still......
DW was only 30 minutes later than we'd agreed , this was no big deal but half a
dozen large bags , two of which said Saks were of major concern . Also can you
tell me why any sane person would buy evening shoes on holiday? After coffee
and cokes we headed for home, tired exhausted and in one case quite possibly
bankrupt. The kids went into our pool for the first time ( it was heated!!)while
we decided that due to Emilia's reincarnation as Princess Disney we would hit
Disney/MGM tomorrow , strike while the iron's hot is the phrase I'm looking for !
We'd planned to got to Captain Nemo's for dinner ( only because I'd seen a
spoof of it on The Simpsons ) but we were so shattered that the unanimous
decision was for MacDonalds for kids and KFC for grown-ups. In reality both DW
and myself were still so overwhelmed by Emilia's conversion to all things Disney
that food was secondary, a whole new series of possibilities had opened up for
us .........
Then to bed .........tomorrow was to be our first Disney day ...YAHOOOOOO!!!!
