Trudy here. Because of the fun day everyone had shopping and taking pictures, we’re breaking this into two parts. This is Part 2 of the last installment of Nanea & Benny’s “Florida Trip” series. If you’ve come into this page first, please go to our home page and read Part 1 first. So, here we go . . . with the end of the story of Benny & Nanea on their “Dream Vacation”! Just click on any photo to enlarge!
I don’t know what to mention next. Oh, yes! The ‘OLU display. Benny spotted it as soon as we stood up from putting Flossie to bed. I hope some of the photos turn out, because you have to see it to believe it. They had an entire wall filled with’Olu souvenirs. And all the way from my really, really Dream Vacation place: the Aulani Resort in Hawaii! It was almost like being there! Souvenirs are as important as fashion accessories. It’s true. My GreatGrampy always said that. Well, he didn’t mention the fashion accessories. I just made that part up. But the BouTiki had it all! Journals (wish I’d bought one), plush bags, clothes, you name it. It was so cheery, and really hard to figure out what to look at first!
“Look, Benny! It says these things came all the way from Aulani! Real Aulani souvenirs!”
“Too big.”
“Already have one.”
“Way too big.”
“Already have one . . . but this one’s cute. Okay. Already have one.”
It was hard to admit, but they just didn’t have the right souvenir for us on their ‘Olu wall. I wonder why they only buy giant-sized things. Oh, well. They had a very nice frame with the most amazing Minnie Mouse figure attached to it. (It might have had Mickey on it, too, but I can’t remember.) We all really wanted to bring it home but had to agree in the end that the small feet and other thin parts sticking off the side probably wouldn’t make it home on the airplane ride. But it was really, really cute. And I could have remembered my Dream Vacation every time I looked at whatever picture we put inside . . .
Benny did the funniest thing. One of the store workers asked him if he wanted his picture taken with the happy “store tiki”. We just stood there staring up at this gigantic statue and wondered how the clerk hadn’t noticed our, um, diminutive stature. But she had. She told Sarah to lift Benny up, because the store wanted a picture of him with the giant mascot. And he loved it! I sure hope the picture comes out all right, because he’ll want to show it to all his friends.
While he was up there, Benny saw this amazing SOUVENIR! He kept saying it was “on a shelf on the other side of the store”. He could hardly get down fast enough (like a fireman sliding down a pole) to show us what he’d seen. And there it was. The most perfect souvenir! A real memory of our Dream Vacation! And it was . . .
“too big” . . .
“No, no, Nanea! That’s just the giant store display! HERE is the real souvenir! And it’s just the right size! Hey, man! It even has a cool button to push which makes the tiki lamps light up. It’s PERFECT for our house!” That was a lot of exclamation points for Benny. But he was right, it was the souvenir we’d been looking for. We had the nice lady wrap it up, very carefully wrap it up, for our trip home. It was fun looking through the rest of the store, but we all knew we’d found the perfect Dream Vacation souvenir.
Auntie and Sarah found their dream souvenir, but it was WAY too big to carry back home. It was a figure like our souvenir (only bigger) made into a lamp. Auntie and her lamps . . .
We’ve been buying and trading pins for quite a while now, so I wasn’t even going to bother looking at the pins they had for sale. But THERE were some I hadn’t seen before. Sarah told me to pick one out as a “pin souvenir”, and you can probably guess which one I chose. If it has Moana on it, you’re right. Ha ha. I guess that makes me as predictable as Auntie with her lamps. Anyway, it’s one of the most amazing pins I’ve ever seen, and I can’t wait to put it on my board back home.
There were so many incredible things to see in the lobby and its store displays! I’m too tired to remember them all, but Sarah took a lot of photos. Let’s hope they turn out!
Oh, but I should mention the most wonderful TAPA, on display just off the main lobby. Auntie took a lot of photos, because she’s promised to make a smaller one for our house. I’ll have to look up more about Tapas when I get back home.
I think I’d better go to bed, because it was a long day. The monorail ride was fun, and Benny and I didn’t want to leave. I don’t think ANYone really wanted to leave, but the trip to GreatGrammy’s was another hour, and Grammy doesn’t like to drive those roads in the dark. It’s good to be back here in our own little guest room at GreatGrammy’s, but I’ll always remember Disney’s Polynesian Resort. And our souvenir shopping. Oh, I’d better go. I hear Flossie clucking. And we have to get a good night’s sleep, because I heard there was a lot more “dream vacation” tomorrow.
Trudy again. There’s more to come from Nanea’s “Dream Vacation” journal, so stay tuned for the rest of the trip in prose and photos. Oh, and by the way, Benny’s working on plans for some serious remodeling. He was in here the other day, telling us all about how going to the Polynesian gave him some great ideas for fixing up their home. Wink wink.