Florida 2013
Friday 7th June
Day 16
It was a beautiful morning with the sun shining, the sunloungers out on the powdery white sand and just a gentle breeze in the palm trees.
We raided the breakfast buffet with gusto, and checked out only just in time to avoid a late charge!
Before the storm (yesterday) this was an ‘URF SHOP’.
We headed back up to Orlando, via a Krispy Kreme shop, and stopped at Gatorland for our last day of holiday.
There was an alligator jumping show, and plenty of things to walk around and look at. We got to feed a couple of tortoises, one of whom was over 100 years old. I really enjoyed that, although Oliver mostly just threw sweet potato in its general direction.
We went on a train through the park and walked through the swamps on wooden walkways above the alligators.
We even saw a real live snake up in the eaves of a shelter.
The children had ice creams, played with goats, splashed in the water playground and generally had as much fun as the heat allowed.
We secretly bought soft toys for them in the shop, changed our clothes for aeroplane in the car park, and drove to the airport.
Our holiday officially ended at Gatorland!
Thursday 6th June
Day 15
It turns out that Andrea, the first tropical storm of the season, hit last night. The rain was almost horizontal, and the wind was smashing into our window hard enough to make the glass shake this morning. We went downstairs for an enormous buffet breakfast, and then came back to the room to look at the weather forecast. It is unlikely that Andrea will turn into a hurricane, but there are tornado warnings in force.
Once the rain ran out we went for a walk on the beach. It was windy. Really, really windy. Enough almost to knock me over. We kept hold of the children and only paddled in the sea.
There were some surfers out, but the beaches mostly had red No Swimming flags. We walked up the pier and let the wind sandblast our skin for a while, and then H and O found a slightly sheltered playground for a bit. After that, we went back to the hotel. Mikey didn’t tell me what the hurricane had done to my hair, he just took a photo.
On the way to find the pool, we walked past a room full of games and a film being shown, so we played in there for a bit. Ollie made up a board game and H did some colouring. After that, we got changed and headed down to the eighth floor (we are on 12) and had a look at the pool.
It was windy here. I have never swum during a tornado, and there was something quite surreal lying on a lounger, gripping hold of clothes and towels, as lilos and beach toys whipped over my head. A water cooler went flying, and I didn’t think it would be long before a heavy metal sunbed took off too. Eventually, they closed the pool.
(This video might not load yet: the hotel internet is worse than at home!)
I had the most amazing steak for supper, and Mikey had lobster. H and O had steak, chicken and free ice cream.
Wednesday 5th June
Day 14
After we’d eaten most of the rest of the food in the house and H and O had watched Madagascar 3 for the eleventh time, and we’d done washing and picked up all the leftover bits, and packed the car and thrown away all the things and done a last, final check again, we got into the car and bought a new suitcase. Then went to Legoland. There were two rides we wanted to go on, and because heavy rain was forecast and all the rides close in the rain, we had to hurry a bit to make sure we did it.
There was a little jeep safari through lifesize lego animals, and then H and O’s opportunity to drive a lego car.
That ride was only for 6-12 year olds, but no one questioned Oliver. However, when they tried to do the 3-5 year old version, H was asked to leave.
It was horribly hot by this stage, and really humid. We left Legoland and went across the road for lunch. One of the old ladies playing cards in the back room gave H and O a colouring book each, and the waitress gave them free cookies, and then we tried to doze all the way to Clearwater, which took an hour and a half. We could see the bright pink hotel from quite a way away, and H was excited about that.
The hotel was big and shiny and I did a recce of the pool and spa while the children had a supper of sweets and Disney on telly. The spa is seriously out of my price range, so I will do something nice when I get back, instead! The pool looked tempting, too.
The kids were ready for bed at about 8, and they were sharing a double bed next to ours. I was in bed before them, exhausted and comfy. We listened to Oliver’s fake snores for a bit, and H’s turning over, before I fell asleep.
Tuesday 4th June
Day 13
The children had the morning to recover (swimming in the rain, mostly)
and then we went to Aquatica again. The floaty-suit rapids, the loo-flush ride, and a children’s water playground that we missed last time got us suitably parked-out. We stopped at Downtown Disney to pick up the t-shirts we made yesterday, and M made the children stop in a sweet shop, and then he bought me my very own little Stitch:
We got home and after losing ignominiously to Oliver at the xbox game, we cooked almost all the food we still had in the fridge. Once the children were in bed M tried to instruct me in the fine art of packing 12 days of additional shopping into two-too-few suitcases, while I threw some things around the room and generally got excited about all the things I’d forgotten we’d bought. Just as the last bag was done, M remembered the eleven extra soft toys the children had bought between them, so we will have to find a new bag in Clearwater tomorrow. We need to be out of the house by eleven, and they’ve asked us not to leave more than two loads of washing for them. We will need to put some towels and bed linen in the machine (which has a lid you can lift up and watch things being washed, if you want to. Not that I do. Not that I’ve been peeking in when no one’s looking. Oh no.) first thing.
Monday 3rd June
Day 12
Gentle morning of swimming pool, reading, lying in the sun and that sort of thing. After lunch (eggs, ham and tomatoes on toast)we went to a Disney water park called Blizzard Beach, which is done to resemble a ski resort, with fake snow and icicles and ski lifts.
First port of call was a mile-long lazy river float in tubes, under waterfalls and jets of water. The water was pretty cool and the sky was fairly overcast, so it didn’t feel all that oppressive.
It took quite a while to meander round to the beginning again, and after that we found a children’s play pool and slide area for H and O. Harriet was doing her scared thing again, so she resisted the lure of the slowest, most sedate, vaguely sloping slide, and instead played in the water at the bottom. Oliver loved it, but was eager to try out the pool instead.
They climbed over floating icebergs (H was remarkably quick on the uptake after watching Ollie swing from the rope net a few times)
and was sufficiently perked up to try a slightly faster but still sedate mini-slide. Several goes on that, and we were up the big mountain to a family raft ride.
Bouncy, wet, rocking and a bit seasickly, we did it once, but not again. The park was not at all busy, partly because it was a week day, and also it was cloudy and not quite high season yet, so we didn’t have too long to wait for anything. We stopped for an ice cream and pondered the map. M suggested a big, safe slide the other side of the park, and the children were reluctant. We pointed out that they’d done so much more than that at Aquatica (which we also preferred – the layout was simpler, and there was more variety of slides. Having said that, none of us really wanted to do the giant ski-jump or high-speed face-first slides here, so we can’t really compare.) and they traipsed after us. Having realised to our detriment that the floor of the lazy river was incredibly rough, we kept our shoes on all day and it was more fun to take the river round the park than to walk in wet shoes.
We found the Run-Off Rapids, and spent the rest of the afternoon there. 130 steps up, no queues at the top, giant double tubes and a fast, fun and perfect slide for the children. M did it seven times, I managed five, and I was surprised how eager the children were to run up the steps each time.
The park closed at 6, and at 5.45 M and I had had enough. The children would have done it a dozen more times, but we dragged them away to the river for the last drift back to the changing rooms and lockers. We were almost the last people in the river. I had a lovely hot shower (with my swimming top on it was getting almost chilly in the rain) and we got back to the car to administer first aid on grazes and my special flip-top toe that M won’t look at, but I want to draw eyes on.
Off to Downtown Disney, which is the big shopping and restaurant park, for something to eat. H had her heart set on Planet Hollywood, which was a shame because you can get those anywhere, but as M pointed out, everything here would be a chain of some sort. We waited for a table only to find that the 20-minute queue was the line for the table booking and we’d probably have another 45 minutes once inside. Instead we went in search of a good burger.
Supper done, we wandered in the dusk, and found a t-shirt shop that allowed you to print your own. I made a Stitch one. The children decided to spend their pocket money on one too, and by about 8.30 we were done. Off to the Magic Kingdom for the last time.
The fireworks started at 10, and the area in front of Cinderella’s castle was packed tight. In the car park it had almost been pleasantly cool despite the heat from the black tarmac, but in the crowd it was like standing in a sauna. We were all dripping and tired and uncomfortable, but we were only going to do this once, and in the end it was worth it. They started early, at about 9.40, with projected images onto the castle, most of which were pretty spectacular.
Then the fireworks began and combined with the constantly-changing colour of the castle, and Tinkerbell flying from the top tower, it was a properly awesome show. A great way to end our Disney adventure.
The crowds out of the park at 10.30 were heaving and slightly single-minded. I stopped with H for three bottles of icy water, one of which didn’t even leave the shop, I was so thirsty. We queued for the boat back to the car park, which took 30 minutes, but the queue moved steadily, so it didn’t feel too bad. They had three 600-people boats on this evening, and we were back to the car just after 11, and home, with the children in bed just before midnight.
Sunday 2nd June
Day 11
(Happy birthday Rupert!)
Due to H being up a lot in the night, I found myself on the settee wrapped in a sheet at about 7am this morning. Not too sure what happened there… We had a lovely slow day, which means there aren’t many photos. I did go shopping by myself (Mikey let me drive the car!) and after five wrong turns on a 3-mile stretch of very straight road, I found a mall. There was a craft shop. There was a credit card. As I said to M on my return, let’s never speak of this again.
Swimming, reading, watching the lizards lick the humidity off the pool netting, burgers for supper and general lazing it what Sundays should be about. There’s even a thunderstorm outside at the moment. I went to watch it from under the eaves, just like in the olden days, but it’s soooo humid out there I’ve settled for using a window.
Saturday 1st June
Day 10
It was time to try out Aquatica, Seaworld’s water park. Slides and water rides are definitely more my sort of thing than roller coasters, so I was quite excited. I bought a swimming shirt to cover my shoulders because the sunburn is peeling now and I was wearing factor 50 last time we went to a water park and still burned.
The first ride we went on had to be Aquatica’s signature slide which is two tube slides that drop down through a dolphin pool before splashing out. It was a bit scarier than I’d have liked, and the children had to go down individually (Oliver just meets their 48 inches height restriction. I think it’s a shorter 4-foot here than in other places) but they were exhilarated by the time they reached the bottom and met us.
On to a gentle rapids-in-figure of eight ring thingies ride, which the children made us do three times. Under squirty jets and cold waterfalls, past a dolphin viewing gallery and a fish wall.
I was getting a little bit seasick by this time, so we queued up for a giant whirly ‘loo flush’ slide that we’d seen from underneath (because that would help!). We sat in the rings again and were flushed down and round and round. A lot. It was fun. Then H and O found a series of four slides and there was no queue at all.
We took the rings to the top, and slid down. These were seriously fast rides, but the children adored them. I could only manage three goes because I had a headache and was feeling sick. I think it was my turn to get the sunstroke thing. I also felt really cold even though it was so hot and muggy in the sunshine.
The last ride we did was another rapids one, but this was done in buoyancy vests and slung us along fairly deep water, pretty fast. I’d have been content just to drift along, not feeling great, but Oliver didn’t realise he didn’t have to swim. It was like he was running up an escalator, and we all had to race to catch up with him.
We did this one three times too, and then it was time to get out and go and see some penguins.
This is the GoPro video of Aquatica. It might make you seasick too.
We headed across the road (in the car, of course. It would probably have taken an hour to get through all the car parks and the road and the entrance drives and that sort of thing) and stopped briefly in a café in Seaworld for cake and fruit and water (I decided that I needed to force the heatstroke into hyperglycaemic shock) and then we waited in the very hot sun for a lady to come and take us backstage.
We went through the top-secret doors into the back-stage area of seaworld, and then round some buildings. They took us through progressively colder airlocks until we were in the back of the penguin enclosure. They had Hercules, a baby King penguin (about three months old) out for us to stroke. He was gorgeous! Amazingly thick feathers, (maybe four inches of dense, fur-like down) and two very anxious parents the other side of the gate. This was the first time he’d been taken from them, and they were unimpressed with us being there, but it was freezing and noisy and lovely. I really, really enjoyed it.
Once out, we were right opposite the seals and sealions. Everyone knows that sealions are dog mermaids, so we watched them and tried to feed them fish, but the evil egrets kept stealing them either from the bowls or on the way to the water, or, if the sealions weren’t fast enough, from their jaws.
Conscious that the children had only had fruit for lunch, we bought foot-long hotdogs from a stand. H and O finished theirs almost before I did! They’ve been a bit picky about the food because so many things are ridiculously sweet, or overly cheesed or the artificial flavourings don’t taste right, but hotdogs are a surefire winner.
It was almost 4 by then and we’d had a full day in the sun. We were all exhausted, and I was still feeling sick and dizzy. It took ages to get back home because we hit traffic (not literally. Mikey’s only done that once and even then I’m not sure you could call next-door’s car ‘traffic’) and I went to bed, freezing and sweating and freezing again while the children played in the pool. H bought herself an Orca-training Barbie and that swam with her too. Just as the kids were going to think about bed, Shrek came on the telly and because we couldn’t pause or record it (they didn’t believe that in the olden days you had to watch what was on when it was on!) they stayed up pretty late. M and I ate too many snacks and we’ve decided that our only plan for tomorrow is not to plan anything at all.
Friday 31st May
Day 9
We had to wake the children up at 8 this morning. It took three attempts and even then there was no enthusiasm until after breakfast. We wanted to get to Sea World first thing to avoid the queues for Antarctica, and we were there three minutes past nine, the time the parks opened. We rushed through to the ride, and found that even this early the queue was two and a half hours long. There was no way we could wait that long for a ride, so I went to get a map. On the way I asked one of the park people if there was any way we could use a fast pass system for the ride, and he explained that because it had only been open six days they didn’t have anything in place yet. He also said that as of tomorrow, they are doing a special tour where you can actually go behind the scenes and play with the penguins in their enclosure, and if we wanted to we could book a time and bypass all the waiting. We like penguins, so we paid for the tour and booked it for tomorrow afternoon. Then he said that he’d recommend we saw the dolphin show that was just across the way in half an hour, so we did, and got perfect seats.
The dolphin show was a very strange, slightly surreal but totally amazing mixture of dolphins, ladies dressed as birds, divers, parrots,and a vulture.
After that, we stopped by the ray-feeding pool. We all (except Mikey, of course, cos, well, you know) fed them prawns from our hands. They suck the food up like a really powerful toothless hoover. H and O mostly just dropped the food near the rays, but they loved stroking the creatures as they came past. Hard, slippery and slightly evil-looking, they were great fun.
Then we went to see if we could stroke some dolphins. There were too many people, and the dolphins were a bit too far away, but we got to see them. H and O couldn’t really reach, though, so they went to play with the rays again while I queued for the dolphin feeding session in half an hour. Once there, we managed to get right up to the dolphins and stroke them as they came to us for fish.
Dolphins are so much harder than you expect them to be, and really, really cute, especially when they look like they’re trying to plead with you for the biggest fish. An egret flew at me and bit me hard enough on my hand to draw blood (I love a good injury like that) and I actually turned round and shouted at it before I realised that people were watching. I ended up telling it that behaviour like that was very rude, and went back to the feeding.
After dolphins it was a little stroll past sea turtles and manatees,
and a 360-cinema show with 3D glasses, where you stand in a hemisphere and feel really seasick. The scary crabs and sharks made H scream a bit and then laugh, but I think Ollie was crying at the end. All forgotten by the time we were out though. I also saw a German man with the best curly, waxed moustache I’ve ever seen. I would have asked to take a photo, but at the time the only way I could phrase it was that I admired his extraordinary lip hair, and I wasn’t sure that was the impression I wanted to give.
On to hotdogs just as the heavens opened. We waited in the restaurant for a few minutes longer than we technically needed to, and then we arrived early at the Shamu Stadium for the orca show. H and O were very, very excited to be at the front in the ‘soak zone’. There was a long, long buildup and a tribute to all the allied armed forces, and then the killer whales came on to do splashing and jumping. It was really nice, but the children were disappointed that they didn’t get wet, and I thought that it wasn’t really the highlight of the day that it was meant to be. I remember people diving off the orcas when I was little, and more splashing and less saving the planet. But the previous dolphin show more than made up for that.
We wandered back towards the car a bit, and let the children play on a big adventure playground/climbing frame net thing. We lost H for a moment because she went off on her own to play in the climbing nets but a nice park attendant found her for us, and then Oliver played in some fountains until he was totally soaked. Then the children bought more soft toys (orcas today) and we went home. We all splashed in the pool before supper, and the house smells of bacon.
Thursday 30th May
Day 8
We did Disney Hollywood Studios, and didn’t get wet at all! We arrived in the park and the tram driver suggested that if we wanted to do the number one attraction here we should go and queue straight away. There was already a 90 minute wait for the Toy Story ride, so we got fast pass tickets that would let us get on without queuing, but not until 5pm. We wandered round a bit and headed for a special effects tour that didn’t have a long queue, and was interesting, but a lot of it was lost on the children. There were props from lots of films, like Pearl Harbour, and a little display of special effects with fire and water and so on.
TheMuppets 4D (3D glasses and then extra effects like spraying water and mini fireworks) wasn’t too traumatic at all! I really enjoyed it, and I’d like to get to know the muppets more because I don’t really remember them but they had some lovely little throwaway jokes that made me laugh a lot.
We also found Mater and Lightning McQueen, which really pleased H and Ollie. They were happy to look at the cars properly and didn’t mind going on their own because no on e talked to them.
We had a bit of lunch (very heavy on meat and cheese, but we’re on holiday!) and it was just about time to queue for an extreme stunt show. The stadium holds about 6000 people, so they’d advised getting there early for a seat. Once we were in, it started to rain, but we’d chosen a sheltered spot, so it was actually nice to be sitting and cool and out of the storm. We’d read that Lightning McQueen makes an appearance in this show, which was full of really impressive car stunts, and motorbike chases and special effects and explosions, but he didn’t appear. Fortunately we hadn’t mentioned it to the children, so they didn’t know.
It is an unfortunate fact that every shop sells a different variety of things, so if there is something in particular you’re looking for (I’d like a t-shirt with Stitch on it) you have to go into every shop. But the children didn’t mind, and they bought more soft toys to add to the collection. I think we will also have to buy a new suitcase to bring home with us.
H and O played on a sort of adventure playground that was modelled on Honey I Shrunk the Kids for ages, and then we started to get worn out and think about heading home. A few more souvenirs first, and we were at the exit by 4. We didn’t have the energy to wait until 5 for the Toy Story ride, so I gave the fastpass tickets to a family who were just coming it. It will save them hours of queuing.
At home it was back in the pool. I made a passable spaghetti for supper, using salt that I’d stolen from lunch. It’s a weird thing in the house – everything that the previous visitors leave is thrown away at the end of their stay, even loo paper or salt and pepper, so there is nothing at all in the house that can be used. We’ve had to buy all sorts of things that we hadn’t thought of, as the week’s gone on.
Oh, and my sunburn has turned into little blisters now. It’s like my own organic bubblewrap. Mikey doesn’t like it though.
Wednesday 29th May
Day 7
It rained all morning so we took our time getting up. I also gave M an anniversary card with an axolotl on it because everyone knows that 14 years is the neotenic salamander anniversary. For some reason he didn’t get the hint…
It looked a bit brighter as we reached legoland, but the rain soon returned. The children were delighted with the opportunity to wear the cheap plastic ponchos I’d bought for emergencies. I was delighted to be able to look round the lego shop and buy random things, like all of us done as mini lego figures in Christmas baubles. Look out for that Christmas card! I bought things. It rained. We saw amazing, intricate lego sculptures, mini cities, dinosaurs and Star Wars characters. H and I sheltered under Darth Vader’s cloak.
I took soggy, slippery children onto a lego horse carousel.
After a couple of hours we decided we couldn’t get any wetter, and all the rides were closed, so we went back to the car. We stopped at the exit to pick up our shopping bags and the two people there chatted to us. They loved our accents and said that they could listen to us speak all day. They asked if we’d think they sounded funny if they came to England, and then to our utmost delight, they asked if we said any words differently. Mikey and I both said, “BOTTLE” at the same time, in a perfect Love, Actually moment, and they both tried their best to imitate us. We are, apparently, their new inspiration, and our whole holiday is complete because of that.
On the way home it was my turn to run into Walmart to get as many peanut butter flavoured snacks as I could carry in my arms, and a veritable dozen doughnuts. Once back, we played in the pool and researched anniversary steak options. After a very lazy, humid and sunny afternoon full of salty chocolate and an essential taste of American Dairy Milk (verdict: not bad) we headed out to the Outback Steakhouse. Just outside our front door M found a snake. It was only a tiny southern ringneck, all sleek black and handsome, but he wouldn’t let me keep it.
It absolutely torrentially poured on the way, so much so that we couldn’t see the road any more. We got drenched running from the kerb to the restaurant, but once we were inside it stopped raining. We ate too much food. The lovely waiter gave us free puddings and free drinks and someone, somewhere made me drink a martini that had alcohol in it. Harriet noticed that the waiter was black, and Oliver decided that maybe he could be our uncle. “Don’t be silly,” said H. “No one in our family is American.”
Tuesday 28th May
Day 6
I woke up at 6 to find H standing by the bed, maybe an inch from my face, staring at me. ‘I just wanted to watch you sleep,’ she said. That’s it. My daughter is going to be a serial killer.
Off to Sea World this morning. It was horribly, disgustingly muggy outside. The air was actually tangible and it was hot. We’d been quite lucky since we’ve been here that it’s been relatively dry and while hot, not extreme. But the air conditioning in the car only took until the children had their seatbelts on to cool us down. Everyone was a bit tetchy, but somehow fifty-seven renditions of “The cows on the bus”, and Oliver’s obsessive counting of fire hydrants seemed to calm everything down.
We parked and wandered along to the entrance, and then to the bag check. The lady only gave M’s bag a cursory glance but she pulled out a bag of wetwipes from mine with a stick. ‘And what’s this, ma’am?’ It was only afterwards that I thought a little bag of white stuff could have looked suspicious out of context. Nevermind.
Oliver had left his hat behind and we couldn’t have a whole day without one, so I bought him one (green, with a turtle on it) from a stand. I tried to pay one of the ladies who was stocking the stand but she refused, saying she didn’t work there. There was no one else around. Disney’s customer service has really spoiled me, and I felt a little let down by Sea World already. The other thing I didn’t like was the constant pushing from official photographers wanting to take souvenir photos of us. Anyway, we bought the hat and wandered past flamingoes to see some penguins, because their latest attraction, Antarctica, opened last Friday.
The sign above an archway that said the waiting time was 2.5hours for that. We carried on wandering for a bit and walked through a shark tunnel that was impressive.
We arrived just in time for the Clyde and Seamore take Pirate Island show, which I remember from 25 years ago and also from about 11 years ago with Mikey. It’s only just occurred to me that the sealions today probably aren’t the same ones that performed all those years ago.
Oliver didn’t want to see a show. He thought it would be scary like the bug one yesterday, so he was worried. It was also very, very hot in the sun, and very crowded and we were all sitting, baking while we waited for the show to start. But as soon as the huge sea lions came on and made noises and jumped onto the barriers and acted along with their trainers it was lovely.
Until H started crying and saying her tummy hurt.
I managed to get her out of the stadium just before she was sick everywhere. We got to the shade and I made her drink a bit of water, but I realised it was just a little bit of heat exhaustion and not something more serious. I went to get someone to help me, but four requests and25 minutes passed until someone came along. Mikey and Oliver (who was delighted with the antics of the sea lions) came out just as a helpful man joined us. He explained that the first aid guy would be here in a moment, and we all stood around chatting while H sat on the pavement looking pale and worn out. While I was very annoyed at the delay in getting someone to help us, once they were with us they were brilliant. The lady who came to clear up was helpful and chatty, and the first aid man even brought us a wheelchair that H could use. We decided to go home and sit in the air conditioning for the rest of the day.
While M was getting H into the car I tried the wheel chair. Turns out that they’re not easy things to drive, and don’t have steering wheels. I walked it back to the exit before I damaged anything.
It wasn’t until we were back in the car that H perked up a bit. Eventually both H and Oliver were up and dancing and playing in the pool while M did some more shopping. Like a man. So H is quite mended. However, the constant reminders of ‘don’t run on wet floors’ hit home quite literally with H smashing her knee into the floor on the way out of the pool. She’s not had a great day, poor thing! But M brought home a DVD from his shopping trip so it all ended well. And I discovered the laziest of all foods: peanut butter M&Ms. The flavour of the peanut ones without all that pesky chewing. Tea and chocolate in bed for me!
For the first time since we’ve been here, it rained this evening. For eight whole minutes.
Monday 27th May
Day 5
Several people and books had suggested that a trip to the Animal Kingdom should start as early as possible. After scrubbing the kids in the very short, very deep bath, and having breakfast, we ended up at the park just after 8. We went straight for the safari trip, which took us through fake bumpy roads and rivers and grassland where we saw elephants (to Harriet’s delight),
giraffes (to Oliver’s delight)
and plenty of variations of horned animals too. It was lovely, cool, and the animals were all happy enough to stand around and be photographed without any fences in the way.
We worked out how our FastPass tickets worked, so we booked a rapids ride for after another nature trek, this one through bats,Komodo dragons and on to tigers. I loved the giant flying foxes, and the tigers even had swimming pools to play in, although they weren’t today.
The river ride was like the one at Alton Towers: a large round boat that travels along the river getting people as wet as possible.
I wore my plastic poncho and it really was as much protection as a bin bag with holes in could be. I had wet pants for most of the day! Lots of fun though, so we booked another fast-pass trip on that one and went in search of the Lion King.
Unfortunately my camera card gave up for the afternoon. I had some really lovely pictures of the giant animatronic Simba and the acrobats dressed as monkeys but nothing after about 11am worked. Even my waterproof camera battery ran out today too, and I didn’t have the spare one with me. So only morning pictures, sadly.
Back on the rapids where I got less wet, but it was scarier because this time the raft sent me down backwards so I couldn’t see where we were going. Mikey was totally soaked. The fast-pass meant we didn’t have to queue the suggested 100 minutes, and just bypassed everyone in a manner that I felt a little embarrassed about. I wanted to say sorry, or at least explain that we were allowed to be here, but in the end I didn’t worry. On they way to get food we noticed that the Finding Nemo show was just about to start, so instead of queuing for that we just walked in, and they found us great seats near the front. This was the whole story of Nemo, done with (non-scary) puppets and songs, and was another piece of Disney showmanship. Well worth it.
We had lunch after that in a crowded little restaurant that looked like it would take hours to get through the queues, but the advertised wait of seven minutes to be served was about right. The children were grumpy and hot and soggy and hungry and generally worn out, so we decided to head home again – it was almost three and we’d been in the park for seven hours. On the way out we saw a 3D show advertised, based on A Bug’s Life, so we popped into that, too. I read last night that it was only 8 minutes long, but it was rather claustrophobic waiting underground in the heat for the cinema to open. Harriet had already seen the ‘might be scary for young children’ notice so she was nervous from the start. It was their first experience of 3D, and sadly the special effects of pretend acid/water squirting, the smoke bombs and the spiders dropping from the ceiling weren’t harmless fun, they were pure tears-of-terror-inducing evil, apparently. Two children hysterically screaming while we were stuck in the middle of a dark cinema full of smoke and water spray wasn’t quite what we’d envisaged, but the bit I didn’t like, where the pretend cockroaches and maggots wiggled under our seats, combined with the end of the show brought giggles back again. In fact, once we were walking back to the car, H and O both reflected that it was really funny, but there was just one little scary bit.
Once home the children jumped in the pool and Mikey went shopping for something to go with our very lovely fillet steaks.
Sunday 26th May
Day 4
As promised, it was a very lazy day, and we didn’t even leave the house until about 12. The children played in the pool for ages, and then Oliver perfected his Xbox skills and Harriet read. We went out to the Florida Mall for some lunch and, following the recent success of the children’s first ever shopping trip (to Redditch), a little bit of shopping. The excitement was a bit too much for Ollie.
It was a mall. It was busy. It’s a holiday weekend and there were a lot of people around. We had lunch and then tried the shops. I don’t like shopping (except online) and there wasn’t much that I needed, so we had a perfunctory look round and bought H a few clothes. She was complaining that she was cold (her mother’s daughter) so I had hoped to find a cardigan, but my enthusiasm for it all waned quickly. H didn’t mind. Our next stop was a giant Toys R Us.
This was the first time Harriet and Oliver had been into a toy shop. They had holiday money to spend, and it was burning holes in H’s pocket. The very first thing she saw was a giant fluffy elephant, so that sealed the deal. Oliver, on the other hand, was more discerning, and eventually chose a Cars playset that we actually approved of. H wanted him to buy more things, but he resisted. The box it came in was almost the same size as Oliver, and he proudly struggled to carry it out of the shop.
We ended up in M&Ms World, which was just millions of chocolates all over the place.
I remember the one in Las Vegas being good fun, and the children certainly thought so. We spent almost $50 on chocolate by the time we left…
Home for the kids to play in the pool while M and I stuck stickers on and assembled Oliver’s car track. They were in bed just after 7 this evening, which is the earliest night so far. We’re planning on getting up early (no surprise there) to see the Animal Kingdom tomorrow.
Oh, and I saw a swallow-tail kite over the house earlier. There are lots of birds I don’t recognise here, even the sparrowy-ones, but I’d seen that on the internet while I was trying to identify something else yesterday, so I knew what that was. Mikey’s standard comment is, “Do you think that’s an eagle? It’s got, you know, wings…”
Saturday 25th May
Day 3
We thought we’d have a change of pace today, and seeing as it’s Memorial weekend (with Monday off work too) we’d been warned away from Disney because of the crowds. Instead, we went to the Legoland waterpark. It should have been a 45 minute drive, but M picked a random town for his satnav instead and we got a little waylaid. Fortunately the waterpark didn’t open until 10, so we weren’t too late.
We had to walk all the way through Legoland to get to the waterpark. I only had my little waterproof camera with me today, so we didn’t stop and take photos of all the amazing Lego creations, and we only looked at things briefly as we went past. But we were in eventually, and had a quick stop at the shop to get H and O swimming t-shirts (H got a bit burnt on her shoulders yesterday) before throwing ourselves into the water.
Our first ride was ‘build a raft’ where you sit in clear rings and collect giant lego bricks from the water as it pushes you round with quite a strong current.
We went round a couple of times, and then found the giant climbing frame/slides and ladders pool, and spent ages jumping and splashing and generally getting wet.
I had melted suncream in my eyes and was almost blind for the first hour in the park, but after a play in the wave pool it had all washed out.
After lunch (hotdogs) we went on the bigger slides on rubber rings, which the kids loved as much as we did. M also tried a stupidly steep one that I had been tempted to have a go on until I saw it close up. And then it was back to do it all over again before an ice cream and home.
I got quite badly burnt today and have a veritable Austrian flag over my shoulders, so on H’s request we’re having a quiet day tomorrow with “swimming pool, naps and lie-ins” apparently!
This is a little video of today.
Friday 24th May
Day 2
H woke up with a sore throat at 4.30, and was awake properly from 6. M took her to the pharmacy to get calpol and throat spray while I waited for Oliver to get up at about 8.30. We had breakfast and then headed out again to the Magic Kingdom. The queues were larger this morning, but it still didn’t take too long to get to the main entrance. We stopped at ‘City Hall’ to exchange our tickets for scannable ones, and to check to see if Oliver’s cap from yesterday had been handed in.
We went straight to the racing cars that had been such a hit yesterday.
Then Oliver bought himself the same puppy that Harriet did yesterday (mostly on H’s prompting), and we went out to ‘Tomorrow Land’ which is a section of the Magic Kingdom where I was hoping to bump into Stitch! There were a few rides that, given the trauma of yesterday, we decided to give a miss, but we did find a gentle-seeming monorail that travelled above the park. This had sections of complete darkness, though, so mild peril occurred.
Then we wandered over to see Ariel from The Little Mermaid and sailed in clamshell boats under the sea. Nothing psychologically damaging there.. I still am amazed at the attention to detail all over the place, to the horse-shoe and cart tracks in the concrete to the seashells and glitter in the walls of the rides, and tiny things that you could miss in a hundred visits.
After Ariel it was over to the splashy circus train to cool down,
and then the steam train to Frontier Land to try getting the children onto a log flume, my favourite type of ride.
Before that, we took a raft to Tom Sawyer’s Island and played in a treehouse and along bumpy barrel bridges.
There were butterflies everywhere, and little birds darting around, and the cool of the woods was very pleasant.
We took the little raft back to try the Splash Mountain ride, only to discover that there was a 90-minute wait in the queue, or a 2-hour wait for a fast-pass ride. We decided to forego that for now (maybe make a journey back another day) and walk back to the entrance.
There were egrets all over the place, wherever people were eating.
We stopped at lost property to see if anyone had found Oliver’s hat (no) and eventually got home to the pool.
The children are a little overwhelmed by it all, and have been hit quite hard by the heat. I think today they would have been happiest staying at home by the pool!
Thursday 23rd May
Day 1
It seemed that everyone was awake at 5am except me. M told the children they had to stay in bed until I got up, which didn’t seem that fair, so we all got up and considered the day. H was desperate to try the pool, but it was dark and foggy out and we haven’t worked out all the light switches yet.
I also accidentally set off the pool alarm by trying one too many doors, so instead we decided to get some breakfast. The fog was so thick and the condensation formed almost immediately on the outside of the car so it was very difficult to see much of anything for about half an hour, by which time we’d decided to eat at the first place that seemed open. By 7 we were in a diner called Bob Evans (slogan: “You won’t go hungry here!”) that had a decent number of cars outside, and had plates of eggs, bacon (oh, American bacon, the food of the Gods) and hash browns. The children tried French toast with cinnamon (yes) and pancakes with chocolate chips (no) and neither commented on the cream with the bacon. M had biscuits which were a soft, slightly savoury sort of bread that to my mind should have been an iced bun. Then we went to Walmart to stock up on essentials.
Walmart took longer than I was expecting because the sheer number of ingredients in everyday food upset me. I know I’m not really like other people, but is it too much to expect a loaf of brown bread not to have anchovy in it? And when the list of things added to the ham would make a biochemist blush (and I almost did) it makes me not want to buy it. However, we got crisps and some cheerios (H and O love them, and we’re on holiday) and a gallon of milk and a watermelon. And some more crisps. And some peanut butter chocolatey things that were all for me.
Once we were back home the children dived into the pool. I joined them for a bit, and then sat in the 9am sunshine and read for a while. This is my favourite picture taken with my little underwater camera:
It was all rather nice. By 10am we decided to do a little more with the day, so we went to find a helicopter.
We had to do two sets of flights, as there was only room for three passengers at a time. Oliver went first with M. Apparently he didn’t say a single word during the whole flight, but sat in stunned amazement:
And then it was my turn with H.
It was only a five-minute flight and the pilot took us over Seaworld (where we could see the orcas in Shamu Stadium) and the dolphins in Discovery Cove. There were lakes everywhere, and you could see how spread out everything was.
On our return we were talked into buying the souvenir photos even though I was happy enough with my own, and then we had lunch over the road at Denny’s. We tried to talk the children into a round of mini-golf, but they were having none of it. Instead, we made an unscheduled visit to the Magic Kingdom.
From the car park we took a tram, and then a boat. H saw Cinderella’s Castle from the distance and actually stopped in her tracks, speechless. Finally she whispered that she’d seen it on the beginning of films but didn’t know it was actually real. Perfect.
I was surprised by the lack of crowds today, but the heat was oppressive. We’d arrived just in time for a parade, and we’d been told by everyone not to miss that. First, though, H saw Marie, the kitten from The Aristocats (me neither) signing autographs, so we waited for a chance to say hello. Once it was her turn, Harriet balked, so I went with her and Marie was so sweet and kind with her. It was lovely.
On our way to find a place in the shade to watch the crowd, H spotted Snow White. I went to take a photo, and she noticed Oliver and greeted him with, “Hello, little Prince.” Oliver froze and then darted behind M’s legs in terror. Harriet got a hug from the princess instead.
Once we were safely in the shade on Main Street, the children sat on the pavement to wait while I went to find ice creams. I got back just in time with ice cream dripping everywhere and the parade started.
It really was a spectacular performance. Wave after wave of floats and dancers and characters all passed by, waving and dancing and looking happy and sweltering at the same time. Oliver missed most of it by sitting with his back to the parade and drinking melted ice cream out of a cup and his shorts.
When one of the characters tried to shake Ollie’s had he looked terrified and moved his ice cream out of the way instead. I was surprisingly excited to see my favourite character, Stitch, in the parade, and carried on waving to everyone like a loon.
We wandered down Main Street and up to Cinderella’s castle.
We saw some racing cars and waited to try our first ride.
Just as we got to the front of the queue it closed due to impending lightning, so we moved to a splashy place where Dumbo’s train squirted and sprayed anyone who stood nearby.
Sufficiently soaked, we went on what looked like a harmless little children’s rollercoaster. Sadly, it ended up with two children in tears and a lost hat. So to make up for it, we went back to the racing cars, queued again, and drove round the track with H and O both subdued and rather wary of anything that moved.
Harriet had been desperate to buy a Marie soft toy, but at the shop she changed her mind and bought a 101 Dalmatian puppy, which was probably one of the highlights of the day! A last splash in the water spray and we took the steam train back to the beginning, and a monorail to the tram, which took us to the car.
Once home, the children’s clothes were on the floor before we’d made it through the front door, and they were in the pool for a well-deserved hour while M went out for emergency beer. A snacky supper of overly salty things, and the children were in bed by 8.
Wednesday 22nd May
Day 0
A rather uneventful drive to the airport. It took about two and a half hours. We queued for a moment or two, dropped the bags off and then wandered through Gatwick to find the BA lounge.
Which was the highlight of the journey. Free sandwiches, salads, soup and bread, an entire bar of spirits, two counters of wine and champagne, and even a room with CBeebies for the children. That bit of the day wasn’t long enough. We arrived at the gate just in time, and found our seats.
I had one of the two bulkhead seats, with decent legroom and a snoring, coughing but sleeping American against the window, and M had the children in the row directly behind – his seat didn’t have one in front of it, so he could stretch out.
In the nine hours we only saw the cabin crew three times, but it wasn’t an uncomfortable flight. The children watched films and Oliver played on the floor a lot, but they were really good even if they didn’t sleep. We landed, Oliver tried out the reclining bed in Club World (it does lie all the way down) and then we wandered through to immigration. Having been warned of three-hour queues I was quite surprised that we were done in less than an hour, even though there were only three officers on duty out of 24 windows. Our man joked with Oliver and then had a little bit of political rant about gun control and how you don’t hear about as many murders in countries where everyone can have guns, but seeing as I was under strict instructions not to antagonise anyone until we were through immigration, I agreed with everything he said cos he was the one with the gun.
We found our bags and some trolleys and then immediately had to unload the trolleys to take eight bags, two car seats and two very tired children up the escalators. Avis took ages and ages to get round to seeing us, but they gave us a Dodge Grand Caravan because it was more fun for the children (and me), so I forgave them.
By this time the children were in some sort of weird delirium world of angry moons and cars with eyes, but we found the house, turned all the lights on, chose rooms, taught the children X-Box games and pool, and got them to bed with minimum fuss. I followed shortly afterwards, at about 9.30.
(Edit: best comment of the day goes to H, when she saw the paper strip over the loo: “Mummy, they’ve put a barrier round the loo so that girls can’t have a wee!”)