BONZO
<font color=660066>Has been known to go off topic!
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2001
- Messages
- 2,100
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
TUESDAY 15th May 2001
DWs Birthday -
All awake bright and early again at about 07:00. We all gave DW her cards and some small presents that we had bought with us.
I desperately wanted her to shower slowly or use the bathroom so that I could call up the Goofy birthday message, but no such luck.
Off to Sizzlers for the first time this holiday great value at $20 all in and DDs liked the buffet. There were so many Brits in here, it almost felt like being at home! The buffet breakfasts work really well for our family as we all like different things for breakfast. I prefer bacon, eggs, sausage etc, Alison likes pancakes and syrup, Alexandra has cereal and fruit and Laura eats a tiny bit of whatever she fancies on the day!! We tried other buffets but preferred Sizzlers generally.
Anyway, managed to peel the family away from the buffet in the end and blast off to BB and bag some good poolside beds near Tikes Peak only to discover that Alexandra is too tall (at 52") to do any of the activities here. The height limit is 48". We started panicking a bit as on our last trip 2 years ago she didn't want to do anything else - she was even scared of the lazy river!!
We decided to decamp to the Ski Patrol area and keep our fingers crossed. (As it turns out ,she gets really brave on a lot of the wet rides this holiday which surprises us a lot!!)
Ski Patrol Training Camp area suits Alexandra better and Laura is happy here as well family harmony at last.(Laura is quite small for a 5 year old but can swim quite well - so no need for a life jacket - but I'd recommend one to others).
We all went on Teamboat Springs although Laura spent the entire time screaming with fear all the way down what a shame! but Alexandra loved it! We had our photo taken at the end of the ride and we all managed big cheesy grins (even Laura) so we bought the picture. (Ill try and scan it in to post later).
By now it was getting very busy and full up and longish queues were starting to form.
Laura wanted to try the rope drop thing as it looked like fun. DW had gone off with Alexandra so I had to help her up to hold onto the bar. Whooosh! off she went and somersaulted into the pool Splash! she floundered about a bit and lost her bearings to the steps for a while, the lifeguard jumped in to rescue her! I was VERY impressed by the lifeguards but she had got to the steps before he could reach her. She was fine but I remained a bit red-faced as I was told to get her a life-vest in future. She was ok about the experience and went on the ride again loads more times, even without a life-vest, it was just the somersault bit made her a bit confused as to where the side was. (This is a deep pool, by the way - around 8 feet).
By now its mid-day and its SO HOT and BUSY that we went back to CBR for a afternoon nap after hot dogs and kids meals.(This was the only time the kids had a nap the entire holiday!!)
The maids had set the soft toys up into a circle with a large duck taking charge or storytelling, which again the girls loved. They rush back every day to see what their toys are doing!
We woke up at about 5:40 and got ready to go out for E night! Hooray!
We drove to the Poly to check the DDs into the Neverland club. They had to climb through the nursery window to get in, which impressed them! We left them there playing quite happily while we had a quick wander. The Poly appeared to be very busy and impersonal compared to the village feel of the CBR. The famed poly smell appeared to be butane from the torches which was very strong. So, first impressions of the Poly were not that good, but this did change significantly later.
We took the monorail to MK and queued up to get our wristbands. We had to fight our way through the droves of people leaving MK at this time. I told DW that I had to go to County Hall for something and she was a bit puzzled. I told the CM behind the desk that it was DW's birthday, so she handed over a big birthday badge (Button). She also asked if DW had heard the message from Goofy and promptly dialled up the number and put it on speaker phone so that we could both hear it!
Overall we counted about 10 times that the CMs noticed the Birthday Badge and wished DW a happy birthday!
On Space Mountain the CM spotted the badge and got on the phone to another CM at the exit. This CM directed us back along the babyswap route and back to the front of the line for another ride!
At Alien encounter, the CM spotted the badge and in the preview room, the entire room sang Happy Birthday to DW Sooo funny as just previously she had asked for her name and where she was from. We were shown to special seats and we were worried about what might happen. Nothing actually occurred, but the fear of something additional happening heightened the experience.
Off to Buzz several times, no queues
TTA no queues
Space Mountain twice,5 minute wait
Alien encounter no queues
Haunted Mansion - no queues
Ate at Pecos Bills
Splash mountain twice, no queue
Buzz no queues
Overall, we thought E-ride night was excellent and would do it again like a shot!
Then back to the Poly to pick up the kids at the Neverland Club. The kids enjoyed it but we felt that the staff were not particularly attentive. We didnt mind as DDs had each other to fall back on. Not sure if Id recommend it if you had an only child that wasnt very self-assured. We asked about their activities and the CMs said that they spent the bulk of their time watching TV no change there then! LOL,
and making things with glue & paper etc.
They ate pizza and fries and chocolate mouse from the buffet and snacks later. They came away with arms full of things that they had made with card/paper/ glue etc. TV games and arcade style games were on offer but our DDs are not into that type of stuff, (not yet anyway!)
One of our concerns was the apparent lack of security. The kids weren't electronically tagged in any way and when we went back to pick them up all the doors were open and there was no CM on the desk.(She was inside). There could easily have been an escapee! Again, not a major issue for us as our girls wouldn't dream of going off but some kids might!
Overall, they both enjoyed it and we had some kid-free time on our own.
Arrive back at CBR at 11:20 and the heavens opened! Thunder and lightning everywhere and very dramatic! This went on for about an hour and then we crashed out exhausted.
Tomorrow: EPCOT
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
TUESDAY 15th May 2001
DWs Birthday -
All awake bright and early again at about 07:00. We all gave DW her cards and some small presents that we had bought with us.
I desperately wanted her to shower slowly or use the bathroom so that I could call up the Goofy birthday message, but no such luck.
Off to Sizzlers for the first time this holiday great value at $20 all in and DDs liked the buffet. There were so many Brits in here, it almost felt like being at home! The buffet breakfasts work really well for our family as we all like different things for breakfast. I prefer bacon, eggs, sausage etc, Alison likes pancakes and syrup, Alexandra has cereal and fruit and Laura eats a tiny bit of whatever she fancies on the day!! We tried other buffets but preferred Sizzlers generally.
Anyway, managed to peel the family away from the buffet in the end and blast off to BB and bag some good poolside beds near Tikes Peak only to discover that Alexandra is too tall (at 52") to do any of the activities here. The height limit is 48". We started panicking a bit as on our last trip 2 years ago she didn't want to do anything else - she was even scared of the lazy river!!
We decided to decamp to the Ski Patrol area and keep our fingers crossed. (As it turns out ,she gets really brave on a lot of the wet rides this holiday which surprises us a lot!!)
Ski Patrol Training Camp area suits Alexandra better and Laura is happy here as well family harmony at last.(Laura is quite small for a 5 year old but can swim quite well - so no need for a life jacket - but I'd recommend one to others).
We all went on Teamboat Springs although Laura spent the entire time screaming with fear all the way down what a shame! but Alexandra loved it! We had our photo taken at the end of the ride and we all managed big cheesy grins (even Laura) so we bought the picture. (Ill try and scan it in to post later).
By now it was getting very busy and full up and longish queues were starting to form.
Laura wanted to try the rope drop thing as it looked like fun. DW had gone off with Alexandra so I had to help her up to hold onto the bar. Whooosh! off she went and somersaulted into the pool Splash! she floundered about a bit and lost her bearings to the steps for a while, the lifeguard jumped in to rescue her! I was VERY impressed by the lifeguards but she had got to the steps before he could reach her. She was fine but I remained a bit red-faced as I was told to get her a life-vest in future. She was ok about the experience and went on the ride again loads more times, even without a life-vest, it was just the somersault bit made her a bit confused as to where the side was. (This is a deep pool, by the way - around 8 feet).
By now its mid-day and its SO HOT and BUSY that we went back to CBR for a afternoon nap after hot dogs and kids meals.(This was the only time the kids had a nap the entire holiday!!)
The maids had set the soft toys up into a circle with a large duck taking charge or storytelling, which again the girls loved. They rush back every day to see what their toys are doing!
We woke up at about 5:40 and got ready to go out for E night! Hooray!
We drove to the Poly to check the DDs into the Neverland club. They had to climb through the nursery window to get in, which impressed them! We left them there playing quite happily while we had a quick wander. The Poly appeared to be very busy and impersonal compared to the village feel of the CBR. The famed poly smell appeared to be butane from the torches which was very strong. So, first impressions of the Poly were not that good, but this did change significantly later.
We took the monorail to MK and queued up to get our wristbands. We had to fight our way through the droves of people leaving MK at this time. I told DW that I had to go to County Hall for something and she was a bit puzzled. I told the CM behind the desk that it was DW's birthday, so she handed over a big birthday badge (Button). She also asked if DW had heard the message from Goofy and promptly dialled up the number and put it on speaker phone so that we could both hear it!
Overall we counted about 10 times that the CMs noticed the Birthday Badge and wished DW a happy birthday!
On Space Mountain the CM spotted the badge and got on the phone to another CM at the exit. This CM directed us back along the babyswap route and back to the front of the line for another ride!
At Alien encounter, the CM spotted the badge and in the preview room, the entire room sang Happy Birthday to DW Sooo funny as just previously she had asked for her name and where she was from. We were shown to special seats and we were worried about what might happen. Nothing actually occurred, but the fear of something additional happening heightened the experience.
Off to Buzz several times, no queues
TTA no queues
Space Mountain twice,5 minute wait
Alien encounter no queues
Haunted Mansion - no queues
Ate at Pecos Bills
Splash mountain twice, no queue
Buzz no queues
Overall, we thought E-ride night was excellent and would do it again like a shot!
Then back to the Poly to pick up the kids at the Neverland Club. The kids enjoyed it but we felt that the staff were not particularly attentive. We didnt mind as DDs had each other to fall back on. Not sure if Id recommend it if you had an only child that wasnt very self-assured. We asked about their activities and the CMs said that they spent the bulk of their time watching TV no change there then! LOL,
and making things with glue & paper etc.
They ate pizza and fries and chocolate mouse from the buffet and snacks later. They came away with arms full of things that they had made with card/paper/ glue etc. TV games and arcade style games were on offer but our DDs are not into that type of stuff, (not yet anyway!)
One of our concerns was the apparent lack of security. The kids weren't electronically tagged in any way and when we went back to pick them up all the doors were open and there was no CM on the desk.(She was inside). There could easily have been an escapee! Again, not a major issue for us as our girls wouldn't dream of going off but some kids might!
Overall, they both enjoyed it and we had some kid-free time on our own.
Arrive back at CBR at 11:20 and the heavens opened! Thunder and lightning everywhere and very dramatic! This went on for about an hour and then we crashed out exhausted.
Tomorrow: EPCOT
