BONZO
<font color=660066>Has been known to go off topic!
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2001
WEDNESDAY 23rd May 2001
CINDY¡¦S & SEA WORLD
Cast list: -
Me (Shaun) - Wallet opener, chauffeur and bag carrier
DW (Alison) - Chief planner, navigator and mother
DD # 1 (Alexandra 7) - Cautious, shy and parking lot number guru
DD # 2 (Laura 5) - Daredevil, chatterbox and sleeper
Alarm set for 06:30 am today!!!!!!! -
Except for me, this getting up early lark is getting harder and harder, especially for Laura. However, we manage to entice the girls up as they can wear their princess dresses today!
It must have been about 7.20 when we arrived at TTC and parked up. We approached the gate to access the monorail (there was quite a long line already) and explained to the CM there that we had ressies for Cindy's and we wanted in! The CM said that we didn't need to catch the monorail until 08:00, but the ressie was for 08:20! -
DW steps up, (oh dear I sense trouble!) " 20mins to catch the monorail, tour round all the monorail resorts, get to the gate and all the way up Main Street to the castle ! No way buster! by this time even I was cowering in fear! -
The CM wasn't particularly happy but he gave in and let us pass ! Thinks, I must go on that Assertiveness Course soon! ¡V LOL
We arrived at the MK gates by 07:50 (thereby proving that we DID need to get through the TTC earlier than 8am!). There were quite a few other people there, most seemed to be waiting for their breakfasts (either at Cindy's or Crystal Palace). Just a few minutes to wait and they did the countdown at 08:00am exactly. They had chosen a 4 year old girl from the crowd waiting and she waved a magic wand. Our girls looked on enviously - but it was a good thing one of our 2 wasn't chosen over the other - blood would have been shed, and I wouldn't have felt like cleaning it up!!! -
Right, let us through! we're on a mission! We get through the gates, wow! That view of the castle is always wonderful, but when there's no-one ahead of you!!.we were speechless!! -
Note here: One of the best decisions of the whole holiday was to take the girls princess dresses (both Sleeping Beauty, but slightly different). We had SO many comments¡K"Oh, honey, just look at those cute little girls!!"."Mommy, WHY didn't you bring MY dress!..I want it NOW!!..WAAAHH!!"
We saw at least 2 sets of parents duck out to buy princess dresses on the way up to the castle!
The check-in at the castle was good, although there were a couple of people with no PS trying to get in. Obviously not familiar with this web-site!!
We were sent upstairs with our seating card, and we were lucky enough to be seated in the 'light' half of the castle near the windows. At the back of the room the tables seemed to be quite dark!
The theming was excellent, even down to the CM's in costume who came round with coffee and O.J. We had pre-plated eggs (good), potato's (yummy), sausage and bacon (excellent), stuffed French toast (ok). DDs had pancakes & bacon! no other choice so they didn't eat much! They weren't hungry anyway - too excited!
They also supplied a basket of croissants/breads etc and a plate of fruit - chopped melon, pineapple etc.
Then, the part we were waiting for!!!!..out came the characters: Hooray!
We saw:-
Aladdin (nice hair)
Belle
Pocahontas
Snow White
Cinderella
And Fairy Godmother on the way out.
They all asked the stock question, "where are you from" and after our response gave the stock answer "Oh I know your friend Mary Poppins, John Smith and Wendy".
Also, all the characters remarked on how pretty the girls' dresses were, and said that they were sorry Sleeping Beauty wasn't there today! Girls were almost overawed by it all!
The food was ok, but nothing to rave about, but the atmosphere and character interaction was priceless. The bill came to about $57 and we used our flex features to pay for it.
EXCITING DIS BIT
On the way out we saw the Fairy Grandmother so we joined the queue to get an autograph and photo. After a couple of minutes of waiting, the lady behind us said to DW "Excuse me, are you from the DIS?" - YES!!!!!
At last, someone had noticed our Green Ribbons - It was RATCATSHELL and family. We had a brief chat, feeling really pleased that we'd bought the ribbons!
We weren't planning on stopping at all, (remember we had LOS passes so we hadn't used up a day just to get to the castle!), but we couldn't walk past everything could we? We stopped to go on Peter Pan and then back to the car to go to Sea World. We changed the girls back into normal clothes at the car - I think they'd have got funny looks in those dresses!
We arrived at Sea World about 10:00 but it's SO HOT AGAIN! - (100% humidity + 91C already) -
Now, I'm a bit grumpy as I've left my sunglasses somewhere, presumed lost, suncream and squeeze-breezes also left in the car. (Note from Alison: So what's new? He's been grumpy all holiday, he always leaves something in the car, and regularly loses sunglasses about once a month!)
Straight to Shamu show - very good and the girls really liked it as we remembered to sit well away from the splash zone this time. (Last time, 2 years ago, the girls were mentally scarred after they were drenched by ice cold saltwater 2 days into the holiday - they didn't trust us for ages!!)
Then we went into Shamu's happy harbour for the girls to play, which also gave us a chance to sit down and grab a couple of drinks. ( Again we think, WHY did we come in May - it's SO hot!)
Ok, let's chill out a bit (literally!) and go onto Wild Arctic - it just cuts me up to see those poor bored polar bears in captivity pacing up and down. However we cool down a bit!
Off the soapbox and over past Stingray lagoon to pat them. Weird feeling - a bit like suede!
Then off to feed the dolphins at Dolphin Cove. $4 for 4 small fish - now that really is a sprat to catch a mackerel - LOL
Surprisingly, DD's loved it - last time they wouldn't even touch a dead fish much less than stroke a dolphin as they fed it!
We moseyed over to Atlantis and discovered only a 10 minute line!! Wow! We rode that - Robinrs - we're not saying how we managed it this time! - LOL (actually we baby-swapped - honest - a 'good parent' mark this time!). The ride was BRILLIANT!
By now IT'S SOOOO HOT AND I'M V GRUMPY!!!!
We leave and stop off for lunch via Subway, because we're fed up with fries! This makes a welcome change.
To save the detail, we did all of the usual stuff in Wet n Wild - Alexandra now going as far as the rope at the end of the wave pool - even with the waves going - and diving through the waves!!!! Scares us!
We left Wet n Wild after doing the typically British thing of completely ignoring the changing rooms and getting changed on the side of the pool! - LOL
Laura had the choice for dinner tonight - surprise, surprise¡K.Pizza Hut! Well we all like it, I suppose!
Off to the supermarket for essential supplies¡K.beer, nuts, beer, crisps..more beer! -
Back to CBR and the girls could not find their toys anywhere!
They looked and looked and eventually found them in the shower! - we all burst out laughing! -
Early night for us all. -
Tomorrow: Epcot and World Showcase
CINDY¡¦S & SEA WORLD
Cast list: -
Me (Shaun) - Wallet opener, chauffeur and bag carrier
DW (Alison) - Chief planner, navigator and mother
DD # 1 (Alexandra 7) - Cautious, shy and parking lot number guru
DD # 2 (Laura 5) - Daredevil, chatterbox and sleeper
Alarm set for 06:30 am today!!!!!!! -
Except for me, this getting up early lark is getting harder and harder, especially for Laura. However, we manage to entice the girls up as they can wear their princess dresses today!
It must have been about 7.20 when we arrived at TTC and parked up. We approached the gate to access the monorail (there was quite a long line already) and explained to the CM there that we had ressies for Cindy's and we wanted in! The CM said that we didn't need to catch the monorail until 08:00, but the ressie was for 08:20! -
DW steps up, (oh dear I sense trouble!) " 20mins to catch the monorail, tour round all the monorail resorts, get to the gate and all the way up Main Street to the castle ! No way buster! by this time even I was cowering in fear! -
The CM wasn't particularly happy but he gave in and let us pass ! Thinks, I must go on that Assertiveness Course soon! ¡V LOL
We arrived at the MK gates by 07:50 (thereby proving that we DID need to get through the TTC earlier than 8am!). There were quite a few other people there, most seemed to be waiting for their breakfasts (either at Cindy's or Crystal Palace). Just a few minutes to wait and they did the countdown at 08:00am exactly. They had chosen a 4 year old girl from the crowd waiting and she waved a magic wand. Our girls looked on enviously - but it was a good thing one of our 2 wasn't chosen over the other - blood would have been shed, and I wouldn't have felt like cleaning it up!!! -
Right, let us through! we're on a mission! We get through the gates, wow! That view of the castle is always wonderful, but when there's no-one ahead of you!!.we were speechless!! -
Note here: One of the best decisions of the whole holiday was to take the girls princess dresses (both Sleeping Beauty, but slightly different). We had SO many comments¡K"Oh, honey, just look at those cute little girls!!"."Mommy, WHY didn't you bring MY dress!..I want it NOW!!..WAAAHH!!"
We saw at least 2 sets of parents duck out to buy princess dresses on the way up to the castle!
The check-in at the castle was good, although there were a couple of people with no PS trying to get in. Obviously not familiar with this web-site!!
We were sent upstairs with our seating card, and we were lucky enough to be seated in the 'light' half of the castle near the windows. At the back of the room the tables seemed to be quite dark!
The theming was excellent, even down to the CM's in costume who came round with coffee and O.J. We had pre-plated eggs (good), potato's (yummy), sausage and bacon (excellent), stuffed French toast (ok). DDs had pancakes & bacon! no other choice so they didn't eat much! They weren't hungry anyway - too excited!
They also supplied a basket of croissants/breads etc and a plate of fruit - chopped melon, pineapple etc.
Then, the part we were waiting for!!!!..out came the characters: Hooray!
We saw:-
Aladdin (nice hair)
Belle
Pocahontas
Snow White
Cinderella
And Fairy Godmother on the way out.
They all asked the stock question, "where are you from" and after our response gave the stock answer "Oh I know your friend Mary Poppins, John Smith and Wendy".
Also, all the characters remarked on how pretty the girls' dresses were, and said that they were sorry Sleeping Beauty wasn't there today! Girls were almost overawed by it all!
The food was ok, but nothing to rave about, but the atmosphere and character interaction was priceless. The bill came to about $57 and we used our flex features to pay for it.
EXCITING DIS BIT
On the way out we saw the Fairy Grandmother so we joined the queue to get an autograph and photo. After a couple of minutes of waiting, the lady behind us said to DW "Excuse me, are you from the DIS?" - YES!!!!!
At last, someone had noticed our Green Ribbons - It was RATCATSHELL and family. We had a brief chat, feeling really pleased that we'd bought the ribbons!
We weren't planning on stopping at all, (remember we had LOS passes so we hadn't used up a day just to get to the castle!), but we couldn't walk past everything could we? We stopped to go on Peter Pan and then back to the car to go to Sea World. We changed the girls back into normal clothes at the car - I think they'd have got funny looks in those dresses!
We arrived at Sea World about 10:00 but it's SO HOT AGAIN! - (100% humidity + 91C already) -
Now, I'm a bit grumpy as I've left my sunglasses somewhere, presumed lost, suncream and squeeze-breezes also left in the car. (Note from Alison: So what's new? He's been grumpy all holiday, he always leaves something in the car, and regularly loses sunglasses about once a month!)
Straight to Shamu show - very good and the girls really liked it as we remembered to sit well away from the splash zone this time. (Last time, 2 years ago, the girls were mentally scarred after they were drenched by ice cold saltwater 2 days into the holiday - they didn't trust us for ages!!)
Then we went into Shamu's happy harbour for the girls to play, which also gave us a chance to sit down and grab a couple of drinks. ( Again we think, WHY did we come in May - it's SO hot!)
Ok, let's chill out a bit (literally!) and go onto Wild Arctic - it just cuts me up to see those poor bored polar bears in captivity pacing up and down. However we cool down a bit!
Off the soapbox and over past Stingray lagoon to pat them. Weird feeling - a bit like suede!
Then off to feed the dolphins at Dolphin Cove. $4 for 4 small fish - now that really is a sprat to catch a mackerel - LOL
Surprisingly, DD's loved it - last time they wouldn't even touch a dead fish much less than stroke a dolphin as they fed it!
We moseyed over to Atlantis and discovered only a 10 minute line!! Wow! We rode that - Robinrs - we're not saying how we managed it this time! - LOL (actually we baby-swapped - honest - a 'good parent' mark this time!). The ride was BRILLIANT!
By now IT'S SOOOO HOT AND I'M V GRUMPY!!!!
We leave and stop off for lunch via Subway, because we're fed up with fries! This makes a welcome change.
To save the detail, we did all of the usual stuff in Wet n Wild - Alexandra now going as far as the rope at the end of the wave pool - even with the waves going - and diving through the waves!!!! Scares us!
We left Wet n Wild after doing the typically British thing of completely ignoring the changing rooms and getting changed on the side of the pool! - LOL
Laura had the choice for dinner tonight - surprise, surprise¡K.Pizza Hut! Well we all like it, I suppose!
Off to the supermarket for essential supplies¡K.beer, nuts, beer, crisps..more beer! -
Back to CBR and the girls could not find their toys anywhere!
They looked and looked and eventually found them in the shower! - we all burst out laughing! -
Early night for us all. -
Tomorrow: Epcot and World Showcase
