Fred and Wilma and the girls came too - Day 4

[wilma-bride]

Day 4 – Take That Look Off Your Face - Thursday 12th October

Cast:

Me – Joh, 33 – Looking forward to meeting a yeti
DH – Gary, 39 – Also looking forward to a yeti encounter
DD1 – Sian, 13 – Spending money STILL burning a hole in her pocket!
DD2 – Rea, 12 – wants to ride Primeval Whirl (there's no accounting for taste!)

Firstly, apologies for the delay in posting these trippies – hopefully, I’ll now be able to finish them before our next trip in 5 weeks.

Secondly, unfortunately, today’s song title really was very apt. Suffice to say, I won’t be using this song title again in the reports though.

Today’s park of choice was Animal Kingdom. We had two main aims here – to ride Expedition Everest, which hadn’t been open last time we visited AK, and to see Festival of the Lion King. Gary and I were both excited about riding EE and we had high hopes of persuading DD2 to ride too - given that the ride doesn’t go upside down, we figured it might be a tame enough rollercoaster for her.

We had booked the shuttle for 8:05, which turned out to be a taxi again and arrived shortly after 8:20. With 40 minutes to go until the park opened, we decided to have breakfast at the Rainforest Café, somewhere I had always wanted to try. RFC opened at 8:30 and, even without a reservation, we were seated shortly afterwards. Gary, Sian and I decided to try the Tonga Toast and Rea opted for waffle with fresh fruit and bacon. Although the place was pretty empty, it took a while for the food to come but when it did, the portions were HUGE!





It looked really lovely and I couldn’t wait to get stuck in. The first mouthful was OK but I soon realised that it was not what I’d expected. From previous descriptions, I was expecting thick French toast with some kind of banana flavour or filling. In reality, it was more like a soggy bread and butter pudding – I really didn’t like it at all. Nor did DD1 and DH wasn’t much more fond of it. DD2 had made a great choice with her waffle, though, and I managed to convince her that her poor, starving Mum needed a couple of bites. To be honest, I was quite disappointed with the RFC. It was VERY loud and the noise was constant. A great idea and fantastic setting but I can’t see us rushing back. We settled the bill ($60 inc tip) and left, through the back exit, through the turnstile and into AK.

By this time, it was nearly 9:30 and I must admit to having a ‘commando’ moment as I frogmarched the others towards Everest, mumbling about all Fast Passes being gone. I needn’t have worried at all. We arrived at EE and were able to obtain FPs with a return time of 10:15-11:15. Even better, the standby line was showing a wait time of 10 minutes so we decided to join the line too. We told DD2 to get in line with us, explaining that she didn’t have to ride if she didn’t want to. Unfortunately, her sulky face and general attitude made it quite clear that she had no intention of getting on the ride. I tried to reason with her and, eventually, resorted to bribery but to no avail. In truth, I wasn’t really bothered about her not riding but the crossed arms, general body language and thundery looks were beginning to get on my nerves. On top of that, neither of the girls were showing the slightest bit of interest in the fantastic theming in the queueing area and, I’m afraid to say, I lost my temper. I growled to DD2 that if she couldn’t be civil and take an interest, then she could get out of my sight and wait outside. Relieved, probably, to have been let off the hook, she headed back out of the queuing area. That particular episode over, we reached the front and boarded the ride. My excitement returned and I braced myself for my first encounter with the yeti. It was great – not one of my favourites but still a great ride with fantastic theming. Exiting, we ignored the still-sulking-almost-teenager hanging around in the shop and joined the line again. Second time around was just as good and feeling a lot calmer and more cheerful, we exited the ride, collected DD2 and headed to Dinoland.

On the way round, I tried to explain to Rea that I felt her enjoyment of the holday would be marred by not trying new things and that she might regret it later when it was too late but my reasoning fell on deaf ears.

Arriving at Dinoland and remembering that Rea had expressed a desire to ride Primeval Hurl, sorry, Whirl , we headed there first. Although I hated this ride, I was determined to show DD2 that I was prepared to ride it anyway. We walked straight on and, to be honest, it wasn’t as bad as I remembered. Both girls seemed to enjoy it, though, and Rea promptly declared it one of her favourites (amusing, we thought, as she’d only been on 3 rides so far!) We headed off to ride Dinosaur, although the sulky faces were back as Rea was convinced that it was a rollercoaster and we were trying to trick her onto it and Sian’s spending money was burning a huge hole in her pocket and she wanted to look in some shops. Explaining to Sian that we had all day, not to mention another 12 days of the holiday, we entered the ride. Another walk on (if you don’t count the film show bit), we were soon on the ride. Rea was gripping the lap bar for dear life, despite having not actually gone anywhere yet! DH and I both enjoyed it, as usual, but the girls both hated it and the ride photo was hilarious. Rea was bent over almost double and Sian was cuddling her. Poor things – I almost (only almost) felt sorry for them. OK, lesson learned, this ride is not a favourite.

Walking back through Dinoland, we debated where to go next. I asked the girls what they would like to do and was met with shrugs and faces that could turn milk sour. Right, enough was enough. Explaining to them both that they were spoiling the holiday for us with their sulky looks and general lack of enthusiasm, I told them that if they didn’t buck up their ideas, they would be spending a lot of time in the hotel room. I then stalked off to the nearest smoking area to sulk myself. DH soon joined me and, as usual, I was worrying by then as to whether I had over-reacted. He assured me I hadn’t and said that both girls had gone to the toilet to ‘sort themselves out’. They emerged a little while later, looking a little more contrite and less sulky (only just). Meanwhile, DH and I had decided that we would just do what we wanted to do today and they could tag along, as it was obvious they weren’t really enjoying themselves.

That decided, we headed back to EE to ride with our FPs – we also got some more so we could ride again before we left. We then decided to head over to Festival of the Lion King, calling in at the Tree of Life on the way to see It’s Tough to be a Bug. This turned out to be another mistake. DD1 absolutely freaked out when she saw the tarantula on the screen, started screaming then took her 3D glasses off and refused to put them back on. Unfortunately, this ruined our enjoyment of it – and probably the enjoyment of several people around us – apologies if you were there that day . Finally, it was over and we headed off to see Festival of the Lion King. This show was fantastic – I could have stayed and watched it all day. Sian really enjoyed it and still now declares it her favourite thing at Animal Kingdom. We didn’t really do much more after that, just wandered around.



The weather was turning really miserable, with rain showers every few minutes. We saw Baloo and went off to have pictures taken and then we went back to Expedition Everest for a final ride with our FPs. After this DD2 asked if we could go back on Primeval Whirl so off we went back to Dinoland. Of course, with it now being well after 1 0'clock, there was a 45 minute wait. I couldn't believe we waited so long for such a terrible ride. Sian and Rea now said they would like to see more characters so we went to find Winnie the Pooh and friends. They went off to join the line while I found a phone to call home and book the shuttle for our return. I went to join the girls to tell them we were leaving at 3:15, only to be met with ‘Oh Mum, do we have to go, we’re having a good time’. I couldn’t believe it, we had really done nothing for about 2 hours except wander aimlessly and all of a sudden they were having a good time – teenagers eh!

Having decided that the line was moving too slowly, the girls declared they could see Winnie the Pooh and the others at Magic Kingdom next week so they opted to spend some time looking in the shops instead. We headed towards the exit, where the girls wandered around and Gary and I sat outside. The sun had finally shown its face and it was turning into quite a nice day – it seemed a shame to be leaving. I couldn’t believe that we hadn’t done the safari or Kali River Rapids (one of my faves but far too cold and wet to ride earlier in the day) and we decided we would come back and try for a better day at AK if we had time later in the holiday. Suffice to say, we never did make it back and I still feel bad that the girls missed out on so much of what AK has to offer. I forgot to mention as well that we had seen DeVine on our travels and she was fantastic – so clever. DD2 couldn’t even make out what everyone was looking at to start with.

Back at the hotel, we wandered round to check out the pool which looked good. The girls wanted to swim but it was still quite cold so I told them they’d be better waiting for a warmer day. We returned to the room, showered and changed and headed out for an early dinner as we were all starving.

Uno Chicago was the restaurant of choice tonight – Gary and I have had a few meals there before and, apart from a dippy server last year, have always found it really enjoyable. We ordered drinks to start (diet cokes all round). Gary chose the baby back ribs.



DD2 ordered the BBQ pork sticks (like mini ribs) and DD1 and I both opted for flatbreads (cheese for me and chicken for Sian) with a side order of fries. The food was, as always, delicious. One of the reasons we hadn’t overdone it on the entrees was because we wanted dessert (we’re normally too full!). 3 Uno Deep Dish Sundaes (warm chocolate chip cookie topped with ice cream and chocolate sauce) and 1 Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup. The server did point out that the desserts were quite big and asked if we wanted to share but we said no. Big mistake!!! I think me and Sian managed half of our sundaes and Rea managed ¾ before declaring she was full. DH, however, polished off all of his peanut butter cup and some of my dessert too.

We paid the check ($59.13) and left $11 tip. Very reasonable and a thoroughly enjoyable meal. We walked a little way down I-Drive, but we were all stuffed so caught the next I-Ride trolley back to the hotel. Same routine as yesterday – quick wash, PJs on and watching telly in bed before lights out. All in all, not a great day but hopefully things will look up tomorrow.

Today's budget - $250
Total spend today - $198.49
Under budget - $51.51

[ely3857]

Hope the kids start enjoying it soon!



Jodie

[tony64]

Hi Joh
Thought I was reading one of my reports for a minute. Sulky teenagers and lots of pictures of food speaking of which, any pictues of the deserts???????
Hope the weather and the KEVIN attitude both got brighter.
Disappionted about the Tonga Toast as I was looking forward to trying that next trip as I thought, like you, that it would be a bit like french toast.

[wilma-bride]

Originally Posted by tony64

speaking of which, any pictues of the deserts???????

Tony, sadly not - I must have forgotten my camera that night as I had to filch that picture from Sian.

[Strommie]

Great report Joh, but sorry to hear Sian and Rea weren't enjoying themselves too much

[Minniespal]

Ribs look yummy.

[Cyrano]

Hope thinks get better with the troops.
Glad that you have restarted your reports. Keep them coming

[natalielongstaff]

the food looks yummy

[arieljasmine]

Thanks for carrying on with your reports, Joh. The Uno Chicago food sounds lovely.

ArielJasmine

[Merylj]

When I see the piccies of the food, I know I`ll be returning soon!
AK is also our park of choice for a meltdown

[florida sun]

Great piccies Joh

[mark&sue]

I was wondering where the rest of your reports were. Well worth the wait. You write so well, I feel like I was there with you (well we do meet up later!)
You really had me laughing of your description of tough to be a bug. Glad you enjoyed the meal at the uno place. We liked that one too.


Susan