The travellers:
Me (Sue) DH (Jorge) & DD (Rebecca)
2 Parents (DM equipped with electric wheelchair)
2 Sisters, 2 BIL, 6 Nephews & 1 Niece
Day 6 Typhoon Lagoon
Today we have a leisurely breakfast in the villa. DS is more excited about going to Walmart than she was about the themeparks so she is jumping up and down by 9.30am and ushering everyone into the vans. The moans about shopping from the teenagers are silenced by the large bags of swimming gear and the promise that we will be at TL by noon.
This, of course is a lie. Anyone who has been to Walmart will tell you that it takes many hours to do it justice ideally several days!!
Once inside we split up into groups and disappear down the aisles to shop 'till we drop. DS is spotted at various intervals joyously running behind an ever-expanding trolley load of stuff. By 12.30 the non-shoppers have noticed that time is slipping quickly away and start threatening violence unless we leave soon. Bribery in the form of McDonalds keeps them quiet while DS and her shopping are shoehorned into the van.
By the time we get to TL it is 1.30pm and tempers are, to say the least, a little frayed - mainly mine I have to admit. "How will we get everything done?!?!?" We find some sunbeds mercifully quickly thanks to a family who are leaving and DH and the teenage nephews disappear off to do the slides etc. Both DSs and DM settle down with paperbacks and rum punch. This leaves the two girls, BIL (Mike) and myself to jump about in the surf lagoon. The waves seem to go on much longer than I remember: i.e most of the afternoon! A shame for DM as the surf waves are too strong for her to stand in so she can't go swimming. We try to relax for a while on the lazy river but this proves impossible as DD Rebecca insists on sitting on my lap while she wriggles/jumps on and off/talks in a most annoying manner. Next time lady - get your own tube!! After the river we go on all three storm slides and the family raft ride before Rebecca does her usual trick of falling forwards down the steps and grazing the entire length of her leg. She has managed to do this every time we have ever come to TL!! Luckily it looks a lot worse than it is but we take her back to camp to recuperate with the magic healing powers of a Snow Cone. While she is eating Mike and I take the opportunity to snorkel with the fishies. Once we got the hang of the snorkels we both absolutely loved this and went round four times. DN (Michael) joined us for a go but hated it. He swam across the lagoon as quickly as he possibly could without moving his arms or legs and announced that the water tasted foul and the fishies were too close!! Ah well, each to his own
Time caught up with us and the park was closing so we reluctantly headed for the exit. The plan was for dinner at Ponderosa and then an evening at Old Town. So, after stuffing ourselves silly at Ponderosa we head across the 192 to Old town. As its Friday night they have their classic car rally but disappointingly most of the cars seem to be 70s and 80s vintage with for sale signs in the windows. At the rear end of Old Town are a few very expensive fairground rides which we ban the children from before wandering back along the tourist shops, which sell mainly overpriced souvenirs. DH & the Boys contemplate going on the bungee swing thing but it costs $61 each so think better of it and settle for a spin on the go-karts at $6. Still expensive for what they are but they get quite a long ride so are happy. While they are doing this DM slopes off and falls asleep in the van, exhausted. Overall we all feel the Old Town is over rated and aimed mainly at parting us from our tourist dollars as quickly as possible.
Back at the villa we are all in bed by 10pm. Tomorrow is a big day Magic Kingdom & Spectromagic.
Me (Sue) DH (Jorge) & DD (Rebecca)
2 Parents (DM equipped with electric wheelchair)
2 Sisters, 2 BIL, 6 Nephews & 1 Niece
Day 6 Typhoon Lagoon
Today we have a leisurely breakfast in the villa. DS is more excited about going to Walmart than she was about the themeparks so she is jumping up and down by 9.30am and ushering everyone into the vans. The moans about shopping from the teenagers are silenced by the large bags of swimming gear and the promise that we will be at TL by noon.
This, of course is a lie. Anyone who has been to Walmart will tell you that it takes many hours to do it justice ideally several days!!
Once inside we split up into groups and disappear down the aisles to shop 'till we drop. DS is spotted at various intervals joyously running behind an ever-expanding trolley load of stuff. By 12.30 the non-shoppers have noticed that time is slipping quickly away and start threatening violence unless we leave soon. Bribery in the form of McDonalds keeps them quiet while DS and her shopping are shoehorned into the van.
By the time we get to TL it is 1.30pm and tempers are, to say the least, a little frayed - mainly mine I have to admit. "How will we get everything done?!?!?" We find some sunbeds mercifully quickly thanks to a family who are leaving and DH and the teenage nephews disappear off to do the slides etc. Both DSs and DM settle down with paperbacks and rum punch. This leaves the two girls, BIL (Mike) and myself to jump about in the surf lagoon. The waves seem to go on much longer than I remember: i.e most of the afternoon! A shame for DM as the surf waves are too strong for her to stand in so she can't go swimming. We try to relax for a while on the lazy river but this proves impossible as DD Rebecca insists on sitting on my lap while she wriggles/jumps on and off/talks in a most annoying manner. Next time lady - get your own tube!! After the river we go on all three storm slides and the family raft ride before Rebecca does her usual trick of falling forwards down the steps and grazing the entire length of her leg. She has managed to do this every time we have ever come to TL!! Luckily it looks a lot worse than it is but we take her back to camp to recuperate with the magic healing powers of a Snow Cone. While she is eating Mike and I take the opportunity to snorkel with the fishies. Once we got the hang of the snorkels we both absolutely loved this and went round four times. DN (Michael) joined us for a go but hated it. He swam across the lagoon as quickly as he possibly could without moving his arms or legs and announced that the water tasted foul and the fishies were too close!! Ah well, each to his own
Time caught up with us and the park was closing so we reluctantly headed for the exit. The plan was for dinner at Ponderosa and then an evening at Old Town. So, after stuffing ourselves silly at Ponderosa we head across the 192 to Old town. As its Friday night they have their classic car rally but disappointingly most of the cars seem to be 70s and 80s vintage with for sale signs in the windows. At the rear end of Old Town are a few very expensive fairground rides which we ban the children from before wandering back along the tourist shops, which sell mainly overpriced souvenirs. DH & the Boys contemplate going on the bungee swing thing but it costs $61 each so think better of it and settle for a spin on the go-karts at $6. Still expensive for what they are but they get quite a long ride so are happy. While they are doing this DM slopes off and falls asleep in the van, exhausted. Overall we all feel the Old Town is over rated and aimed mainly at parting us from our tourist dollars as quickly as possible.
Back at the villa we are all in bed by 10pm. Tomorrow is a big day Magic Kingdom & Spectromagic.
