Here we are again in the Sunshine state.\u00a0 It’s been a while – almost a year in fact.\u00a0 I won’t go into the reasons why as none of them are good so let’s focus on being here.<\/p>\n
We flew out of Manchester on Thursday 26th after a night in the airport Hilton hotel.\u00a0 After a cooked breakfast in the airport and the purchase of some special edition Dior lipgloss (Dior bling!) we boarded and took to our seats – and I mean OUR seats as we had 6A and 6K.\u00a0 Despite some posh old lady wanting Pauls seat (she had 8A but with her dodgy eyesite insisted it was 6A) we settled in and supped the usual complimentary beverages.\u00a0 Though Paul switched to fizzy water not\u00a0champers for some reason.\u00a0 The flight had a couple of bumpy spots at the first drinks service, in the\u00a0 middle and before landing though the captain never switched on the seat belt sign.\u00a0 The food on board was pretty poor so we were glad we’d had our fry up’s beforehand.\u00a0 I did have some very nice butternut squash and sweet potato soup though.<\/p>\n
Duty free purchases were more Dior (their range is called Dior Addict which is sooo appropriate for me) in the form of some plumping lip gloss and a Links friendship bracelet that I’ve been after for a while.<\/p>\n
Films on board included Night at the Museum 2 – which is better that the first in my opinion, Adventureland – which Paul thought was rubbish and Transformers, Rise of the Fallen that Paul also reckoned was rubbish!!<\/p>\n
Before landing we had the usual sandwiches and scones or Brownies.\u00a0 We got to the gate at about 7:45GMT so 2:45EST.\u00a0 We got through Imigration, baggage collection and customs really quickly and within 30 minutes were at the Avis desk getting the hire car……a Ford Focus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!\u00a0 My exclamation marks will be meanigful to any work colleagues who may read this.<\/p>\n
We were both hungry as the sandwiches were not that filling so stopped at TGI’s on the 192 for dinner at about half 4.\u00a0 I had chicken caeser salad and Paul had a Jack Daniels burger.\u00a0 The food was good as ever.\u00a0 We then headed to the house which we both commented that after 3 years still looks in very good nick.<\/p>\n
We unpacked and set about writing our itinerary as we had not done so before we left.\u00a0 Yet again its pretty jam packed with all the fave’s on there but rather than detail it all here you can read what happens\u00a0after each day or so in this blog.<\/p>\n
After watching some TV and printing off some tickets and details we had brought with us we hit the sack about 9pm.<\/p>\n
FRIDAY 27th<\/p>\n
We did consider heading out to the shops at 5am since we would be on UK time and could easily manage this.\u00a0 Today is Black Friday and for anyone who doesn’t know about that then go and google it!\u00a0 It’s the day after Thanks Giving\u00a0 and has the greatest deals and savings that can be found.\u00a0 Pretty much all shops open at 5am with limited numbers on most deals.\u00a0 Best Buy for example had a 46 inch Samsung LED TV, usual price $2699 on offer today at $1599 but only 8 are\u00a0available at each store.\u00a0 All Black Friday deals are today only and most stores have\u00a0things called door busters which again are limited stock sale items.<\/p>\n
We ended up heading out about 8am but of course had to go to Downtown Disney McD’s for our obligatory first day brekky!\u00a0 After this we headed straight to the Florida Mall as the Disney shops were still not open.\u00a0 The car park looked heaving but we managed to get a space just outside the Florida hotel so headed into the Mall that way.\u00a0 There were some\u00a0disappointments in that Sephora have ceased to stock Decleor so I couldn’t get me eye cream and also that the Apple store were limiting the number of customers inside and had a queue outside.\u00a0 Paul did not want to queue so didn’t get his Apple fix.\u00a0 He did lurk outside for a few minutes to get a free wifi fix though!\u00a0 Apple too had some good deals on ipods and macbooks etc.\u00a0 The Mall istelf was busy but not so much so that you couldn’t get around, it certainly seemed better than the car park indicated.\u00a0 There were some bargains to be had and I started my purchases at a very busy but firm favourite, Nine West.\u00a0 I got some great high heeled trouser shoes at an extra 30% of the sale price bringing them to about 50 bucks.\u00a0 After this we went into Yankee candle and spent AGES sniffing loads of candles.\u00a0 I opted to buy tarts (wickless meltable patties) as I have an electric tart burner and they will be much better weight wise in my case than the jar candles.\u00a0 I did get a special edition jar – Mrs Claus’s cookies and after spending over $30 got two more jars for just 10 bucks so still ended up with heavy carriage!\u00a0 Paul looked in the game store as he is considering a DSi.\u00a0 There is a bundle on offer at $170 but he is going to think about it.\u00a0 Macy’s was next\u00a0where I picked up a doorbuster deal on a DKNY jumper at $27.\u00a0 At Aveda we got some shampoo etc and a quick stop at Trade Secret saw me get a manicure kit and a bronze coloured nail vanish.\u00a0 We then went into Dillards where I got my Prescriptives face serum and eye cream and a fab DKNY cream leather handbag that was half price at $125.\u00a0 I got some more bad news at the Prescriptives stand when I was told that the range was being completely discontinued worldwide!!\u00a0 We made our way to the menswear section and Paul decided to do some serious shopping.\u00a0 He got some real bargains – tracky bottoms at 13 bucks (with no cuffed ankles), a RL Polo shirt at $25,\u00a0a RL black cotton sweater at $35 and 2\u00a0Mark Ecko tops at about 30 bucks each.\u00a0 One is a Star Wars T shirt – nice and geeky :-).\u00a0 It was now about 1pm and we were getting peckish so headed back towards the food court.\u00a0 On the way I managed to get the Aldo boots I had been after in the UK but were all sold out.\u00a0 I had to pay full price but at least I got the ones I wanted.<\/p>\n
The food court was manic, this is clearly where all the people were, so we decided to leave and find somewhere else for lunch.\u00a0 The weather outside was really nice.\u00a0 Sunny and warm so we wanted to find somewhere to eat where we could sit outside.\u00a0 We pondered and decided to try Downtown Disney but upon getting to car park it was clear this was a BAD idea.\u00a0 Having followed several cars SLOWLY around for what seemed like an eternity we left – somewhat fractious!!\u00a0 In the end we plumped for McDonalds as it at least had seating outside.<\/p>\n
We headed for home at about 3pm stopping at Super Target on the way.\u00a0 We bought every “Santa’s Treats” votive they had – 13 in all and some milk and kitchen roll.<\/p>\n
We got home about 4pm and have since sat by the pool supping tea and pounding the keyboards on our laptops.\u00a0 So, that brings me to the present moment so I will close for now.\u00a0 We plan on going to Applebees for dinner and then over to watch the Wishes fireworks from the beach at the Polynesian later.\u00a0 It is getting quite chilly so jumpers and coats will be required.\u00a0 I’ll write tomorrow on how we got on but for now it’s farewell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Here we are again in the Sunshine state.\u00a0 It’s been a while – almost a year in fact.\u00a0 I won’t go into the reasons why as none of them are good so let’s focus on being here. We flew out of Manchester on Thursday 26th after a night in the airport Hilton hotel.\u00a0 After a … <\/p>\n