Thursday Morning, June 30th.
(I had to put that there just to remind me where I was. Looks like it's been awhile since my last update.) Anyway, we packed up the Mazda Doom Buggy, headed toward Disney World, and...passed all 4 major Theme Parks. Our destination today was Typhoon Lagoon, and was to be our first encounter with a Disney Water Park. (Spoiler alert: It won't be our last!)
We arrived before park opening, because based on everything I've read these parks get
packed on hot summer days. Our first surprise: Free Parking!
This is where I need to start apologizing. It's now been over 4 months since our day here, and my memory is a bit hazy. So I'm basically going to have to make stuff up as I go along. I'm sure Bambi will make corrections along the way.
We stowed most of our stuff in a locker, then grabbed a few beach chairs on the edge of a sandy island to put the rest of our stuff.
They didn't have much in terms of characters, but Bambi did spot Lilo
I'm pretty sure we headed back to the Storm Slides and did a few of those before the kids split off with Grandma & Grandpa to play in the kids area while Bambi and I did the Shark Reef. Disney supplies you with snorkel, mask and a life vest, and lets you snorkel over a lagoon filed with a sunken ship, lots of colorful fish....
...and, oh yeah, sharks...
You can go at your own pace, but I think it took us about 4 or 5 minutes. All that time, I only got one shark bite.
And he didn't even taste that good.
Since the line was still quite short and our kids were in the semi-capable care of their grandparents, we decided to do it again. We were out of the water just long enough to get feeling back in our extremities before jumping in again. Several of the warnings they give you include: Swim only with your arms (so you don't kick other swimmers) don't stand on the island in the middle (it's slippery) and watch out for ice bergs (they hurt when you hit them). Yeah, the water is a bit chilly.
After our second shark encounter (my advice: bring your own tarter sauce. They don't supply any in the Shark Reef), we decided to take advantage of the fact that the kids were most likely under adult supervision and go ride Crush N Gusher. Disney happily stations PhotoPass Photographers at the bottom of the slides to catch your bathing suit-clad self attempt to flop out of the double tubes. I've included one there that is hopefully not to offensive to our younger readers.
Although you can see from our expressions that it was a great ride. The "water coaster" aspect is quite a thrill - being shot
uphill on a water ride is tons of fun!
You all make make fun of my puns, but Disney does it too!
We caught up the kids and grandparents and spent some time in the wave pool. Now, must wave pools I've been in send gentle, rolling waves for about 10 minutes, then stop for a while. At Typhoon Lagoon, every 90 seconds for 1/2 and hour, you get one wave. But boy what a wave it is! Here's a video of Madison "body surfing." You'd think she would get tired of that, but you would be wrong.
Video Link
They claim the waves are only 6 feet, but trust me, when you're in the pool and see that wall of water coming at you - it looks like it's about 15 or 20! What a ride!
Eventually they shut the big waves down for 30 minutes so more people can enjoy the smaller, gentle waves. We took the opportunity to float along the lazy river.
But eventually we succumbed to the need for something faster and headed up to Gangplank Falls - the family whitewater tube ride.
After a full morning of sliding down Keelhaul Fall, Mayday Falls, and the Storm Slides (and going
UP all the stairs to these rides) we headed over to Typhoon Tilly's for lunch. Getting into the spirit of the the water park, I ordered the fish. The coolest part was each kid's meal was served in a beach pail, complete with with shovel. The kids would put these to use later, but first, we all decided to try out the Shark Reef.
(Grandma wasn't going to go, but that didn't stop her from getting her finger in the picture)
Getting into the water wasn't too much of a problem, nor was walking up the the edge. However, that's where Madison drew the line.
Evan was a little more adventurous and swam out with me, but he did need some encouragement.
From there, it was back to the slides!
And another loop around the Castaway Creek
Around early afternoon, the predictable Florida weather did exactly what it was predicted to do - rain. Hard. Like downpour hard. Like monsoon hard. Like...oh, what's the word I'm looking for? Oh, yeah,
Typhoon Hard! (Get it? We're at Typhoon Lagoon! And a typhoon blew threw! Come on, did you expect anything less from me?)
We took shelter in one of the stores - along with everyone else in the park it seemed. We waited about 20 minutes or so, but then decided to call it a day. I'm glad we made it there so early - there were hardly any lines and we were able to get on all of the rides we wanted to do at least once. I made a run for the locker, gathered up our stuff and we headed out.
Let me take a few minutes to go back to what I said about this not being our last visit to a Disney Water park. Sadly, it was our last visit on this trip, but it certainly won't be our last ever. We are fortunate enough to live less than 3 hours from Wisconsin Dells - they bill themselves as "The Water Park Capitol of the World®". And they have a lot of them, including Noah's Ark - "America's Largest Water Park®" But what Wisconsin Dells offers in quantity, Disney far surpasses them in quality.
The park was amazing. Where the lines to the slides at most parks are just endless flights of stairs, Typhoon Lagoon has wandering paths up the "mountain", filled with lush vegetation, bridges, and all sorts of little theming that only Disney can come up with.
So will we come back? Without a doubt. Would I recommend a day at at Disney water park to others? Indubitably. But get there early. And don't forget your sunscreen.
Ok, back to the trip....
We scampered to the van in the pouring rain and hopped in, still soaked and wearing our swimsuits. We headed over to the back of Downtown Disney Parking lot behind Circ Du Soleil. Bambi, her mom, and the kids decided to change in the van while her dad and I grabbed some umbrellas, crossed the foot bridge and headed into the locker room of the Lake Buena Vista Golf Couse. And what did we find? Stacks of neatly folded towels, hair driers, basically all the stuff you would want to get dried up and changed.
We were a bit hungry, so we drove over to Port Orleans French Quarter for another new treat - beignets! Ever since we saw The Princess and the Frog, we've been wanting to try them. We walked into the food court, ordered up a batch, and sat down to give them a try.
How were they? Well, it wasn't long before we realized we had to go back for another order.
I mean, really, it's fried dough covered in sugar. What's not to love?
We still had time to kill before our dinner ADR, so the kids wandered POFQ a little bit
We then did a little shopping, where both kids got some beads. One of the cast members then took their necklaces, did a little magic, and viola - added some stars!
Up Next: Dinner with Mickey, Minnie and ...
a fiddle?
Great Epcot day (minus the rain) I'm glad a simple pair of flip flops qualifies as entertainment for Evan. 
Nope didn't get to see much. 
