Wednesday Feb 16th 05
Urgh. Shuffle. Hot. Cold. Shuffle. I didnt sleep at well last night, probably a combination of the late steak and being late into bed. I was a bit daft thinking that 3/4 bottles of beer was a clever idea before bedtime but then again, thats part of being a man! We had decided that today would be a water park day but we didnt play attention to the absolute cardinal rule:
ALWAYS ARRIVE EARLY AT A WATER PARK especially if another Disney WP is closed.
As wed confirmed with a call back to the UK yesterday, Typhoon Lagoon was closed so we had no (Disney) choice but to go to Blizzard Beach. Wed not been there before so didnt know quite what to expect.
Arriving in the Blizzard Beach car park around 10:30am we found it to be rather full. Han Solos I have a bad feeling about this came to mind and I wasnt wrong. There was a large queue to get in, there was a huge queue for the lockers and after a 30 minute fruitless search, we gave up looking for a single free chair or sunbed. There were none. Nothing. Zip. Nada. Our only choice was to go back to the lockers and leave all our stuff there. I cannot put into words how annoying this was. With no chairs or beds to use we had no base camp; no where to leave towels, sun creams, hats or drinks. Everything had to be left in the lockers*. This was utterly frustrating and put a downer on the whole day as we had nowhere to relax if we wanted a sit down it was a case of heading back to the lockers or sitting on the floor. Oh, what joy. Not!
Tip - As well as arriving early, take a minimal amount of belongings into the park. The lockers, even the large ones, dont hold much more than a pair of basketball boots and a couple of towels. Oh, and they cost $9 each to rent. Disney dont charge you to park your car at the water parks they just charge you to secure your belongings instead.
Admittedly, it was our fault as we didnt rush to get there early. I guess logic should dictate that if one Disney water park is closed the other is going to be twice as busy but I didnt put that much thought into it. The first water we tried was the Cross Country Creek, a long, slow (and blommin cold!) tube ride around the park. OK, it is supposed to be Blizzard conditions but for the water to be that cold was a shock! Couldnt believe how many people were in here, it took an age to get tubes for all 5 of us but eventually we had our circular trip.
After the creek we all had a go in the big pool but this doesnt compare to the wave pool at TL that one is much bigger and we soon had enough due to the amount of people in there. We found the exit to the Downhill Double Dipper and Ruth & Emily went off to try and find the start. Danny, Howard and I waited at the bottom. And waited. And waited. And waited. No sign of them coming down
- then they came at us from the way theyd walked. Had one of them chickened out? Nope, they couldnt find the way to the top of the flume! However, they had been on some other slides around the corner.
So off we trundled to find (what a surprise!) mega queues for tubes to ride down these slides. There were three, an open slide for two riders on a double tube, an open slide for single riders and an enclosed slide for singles. Howard, our youngest and not a strong swimmer was unsure about these slides but we talked him into riding the double. Climbing up the stairs though (all 11 flights of em!) I had serious reservations about the sense of riding these! From halfway up the stairs I later realised it was the back of Mt Gushmore we got a great view of the Tree of Life withing Animal Kingdom. It was very easy to spot as it was much higher and a totally different shade of green compared to natural Floridian fauna! Onwards and upwards to the summit, the queue broke into three for the separate slides and at least these moved quite quickly. I went in the enclosed slide and boy its fast! Very enjoyable! Emily and Danny went on their own on the open slide and Ruth took Howard on the doubles. Despite Hs fears, he loved it and wanted to ride again as soon as he came out of the splash pool.
We had another couple of goes on these but 11 flights of stairs phew! thats enough climbing for now. We took a wander around Mt Gushmore on a path that followed that of the Cross Country Creek (although we were walking against the flow of people) and found our way to the base of Team Boat Springs, the family raft ride. Wed done one of these at Typhoon Lagoon and had quite enjoyed it so thought wed give this one a go. How to get to the top? There are two choices either another huge climb or take a cable car to the top of Mt Gushmore. Cable cars and me dont get along. Period. I hate them. I hate tiny cables, I hate the tiny little wheels that connect to the cable. I hate the flimsy tin-foil esque nature of their design. We live about 20 minutes from The Heights of Abraham in Derbyshire. They too have cable cars that Ive ridden once and never will again!
So, with my fear firmly entrenched in concrete, another long stairs climb was started. We got to the top and found this was also the start of Summit Plummet and Slush Gusher. I wouldnt have minded either in my younger days I just dont have the thrill issues that I used to have. My views on this were confirmed by the Team Boat Springs ride I hated it! As Ive mentioned before Im a large chap and this made the boat go down the slide rather, er, fast and was gong a long way up the sides almost vertically at times. I didnt just feel worried for myself; I hated the fact that the people I love most in the world were in here with me and my weight might cause them to be hurt. Needless to say nothing happened but we were at the bottom in double quick time! That was not for me, ever again!
Making our way further around the park we came to Tikes Peak a nice area for the kids to play in. As you can imagine, this place was rammed with people and kids but our kids were loving it. They played on the rope swings, dived into the pools and rode the small slides. It took an age to get them out of this area but at least they were having fun.
The rumblings of the previous night now washed away, hunger began to set in. We made our way back to the main entrance area to get money & t-shirts from our lockers and find somewhere to eat. What a rip off! It cost us $52 for measly pizza / hot dog / chicken strips with fries and drinks. $52 for that and I thought the lockers were a rip off! The five of us had a great 3 course meal the previous night in the Friendlys Restaurant on International Drive in comfortable surroundings for only $9 more. Now I know that Mickey has to make a profit but he doesnt need to fleece us
Tip If you can, save yourself a small fortune by either taking your own food and leaving it in a cool bag in a locker or your car. Failing that, ask one of your party to leave BB and nip to the McDonalds drive thru only 5 mins away and bring back better quality, better value and much cheaper food!
Feeling annoyed at these prices put me in a foul mood. The profit they must make from these food outlets alone would be enough to wipe out a small countrys debt problems. Queue bad mood, for me anyway. The children wanted to play in Tikes Peak so we walked around and let them have another hour in there. Danny & Emily loved the rope slide that dumped them into 8 feet of water with huge splashes. Howard went on the mini slides countless times. Although he was on his own, he was happy enough grabbing a tube and having another go. I think he felt quite independent
The rest of the clan then wanted another go on Team Boat Springs but not for me. Ruth also decided she wanted to ride on the cable cars so she and Howard went off to queue whilst Emily, Danny and myself took the tiring (but safe!) route up the stairs. On the way we had a look at some of the hardy souls that were braving Summit Plummet and I still didnt regret having a go maybe I am getting old? It took an age for Ruth and Howard to reach the top the queue for the cable car was quite long. Saying our goodbyes, I went off back down the stairs to wait for them at the end. When they did come down they took the final bend at serene pace it looked a lot slower than when I been on!
It was after 4pm now and the park was due to close at 5pm so we went back to the main pool where Ruth and the children had a final splash in the waves. At least now the crowds had started to thin down and you could move in this pool. By 16:30 the staff were saying that the park was closing so we all made our way back (the children very reluctantly) to the lockers to get changed.
Our overall view of Blizzard Beach was that it was OK but not as good as Typhoon Lagoon. Having visited both parks now we thought that TL was bigger, had more room and catered for small children better than BB. The discussion in the car as we left the park was based on our belief that BB was aimed more at older, better swimmers whereas TL seemed to have a better mix for everyone.
As it was only just 5pm, we decided to head off to have a look around Downtown Disney to see what this had to offer. The dominating sites as you enter this are Disney Quest, Planet Hollywood and the Cirque du Soleil. Although I love movies Ive never been to a PH restaurant and doubt that I ever will its just never ticked my fancy. As for the Cirque Du Soleil, whilst they performers must be world class and put on a great show the cost is too much for us to justify entry. Disney Quest? Again, from the articles Ive read online and in books it doesnt look like its worth the entrance fee. I might be totally incorrect in this assumption but Im not willing to waste a days entry from our hopper tickets (or pay the admission fee) to find out. Besides, this is Florida and even in February its nice why spend your holiday indoors? Unless of course you're shopping!!
We had a look around some of the shops and I bought a few CDs from the Virgin Megastore sale ($10 for new CDs is great value ) before we caught one of the small boats to the other side of the lake. We disembarked near the Rainforest Café and as soon as the kids saw this they wanted to eat there. Mindful of how expensive we knew it would be after visiting the other RFC at Animal Kingdom, we werent too sure. Seeing as were on holiday though we agreed and went to ask if they had any tables. They said theyd have one soon what we didnt realise that this table would be outside on the decking next to the lake. When we enquired about eating inside the wait wouldve been 90 minutes :gulp:.So we agreed to sit outside but the air was getting slightly nippy. The meal we ordered was OK, nothing special, and it just didnt feel the same as sitting inside as we had done at Animal Kingdom. Then came the shock, although I suppose I should be used to it now, over $70 for the 5 of us to have one course each. Then the waitress has the check to ask Would you like your change? after Ruth used a $100 travellers cheque to pay for it. We dont mind tipping someone for good service but were not suddenly going to wave goodbye for the best part of $30 after all theyve done is brought us 5 drinks and 5 plates!
We spent the next couple of hours wandering around the various Disney shops. Ruth managed to buy some presents for people back home. I bought mini versions of Dude Cruch, Squirt and Bruce from finding Nemo these all now sit onto of my computer at work. Sweet. Totally dude.
We grabbed some t-shirts for our kids and other bits and bobs before deciding it was time for bed.
As we walked back around to the car park we passed Pleasure Island which was just kicking off. Lots of young people are coming in wonder if they have a binge drinking problem in a place like this? Danny was impressed that we found the arc lights that you can see from miles away we had look at these shining up into the sky and I foolishly tried to see if I could make a shadow (ala the Bat Signal) with my hands. Warning kids dont try this as those lights are red hot! Stupid I know I wouldnt try and touch a light bulb at home that was on yet I try and touch the front of a blazing light 1000 times more powerful. Homer Simpson beat that!
The 192 West (as has become commonplace this holiday) looked very busy so we carried on the I4 and then came back north on highway 27 to the villa. All I wanted to do was collapse and write down my inane ramblings but we were out of milk and bread. A trip back up H27 was required to the local 24/7 Walgreens. Now I had thought this was just a chemist but how wrong I was they sell just about anything. I spent ages looking at the American sports magazines before actually getting what we needed.
Tomorrow were off to Epcot
Urgh. Shuffle. Hot. Cold. Shuffle. I didnt sleep at well last night, probably a combination of the late steak and being late into bed. I was a bit daft thinking that 3/4 bottles of beer was a clever idea before bedtime but then again, thats part of being a man! We had decided that today would be a water park day but we didnt play attention to the absolute cardinal rule:
ALWAYS ARRIVE EARLY AT A WATER PARK especially if another Disney WP is closed.
As wed confirmed with a call back to the UK yesterday, Typhoon Lagoon was closed so we had no (Disney) choice but to go to Blizzard Beach. Wed not been there before so didnt know quite what to expect.
Arriving in the Blizzard Beach car park around 10:30am we found it to be rather full. Han Solos I have a bad feeling about this came to mind and I wasnt wrong. There was a large queue to get in, there was a huge queue for the lockers and after a 30 minute fruitless search, we gave up looking for a single free chair or sunbed. There were none. Nothing. Zip. Nada. Our only choice was to go back to the lockers and leave all our stuff there. I cannot put into words how annoying this was. With no chairs or beds to use we had no base camp; no where to leave towels, sun creams, hats or drinks. Everything had to be left in the lockers*. This was utterly frustrating and put a downer on the whole day as we had nowhere to relax if we wanted a sit down it was a case of heading back to the lockers or sitting on the floor. Oh, what joy. Not!
Tip - As well as arriving early, take a minimal amount of belongings into the park. The lockers, even the large ones, dont hold much more than a pair of basketball boots and a couple of towels. Oh, and they cost $9 each to rent. Disney dont charge you to park your car at the water parks they just charge you to secure your belongings instead.
Admittedly, it was our fault as we didnt rush to get there early. I guess logic should dictate that if one Disney water park is closed the other is going to be twice as busy but I didnt put that much thought into it. The first water we tried was the Cross Country Creek, a long, slow (and blommin cold!) tube ride around the park. OK, it is supposed to be Blizzard conditions but for the water to be that cold was a shock! Couldnt believe how many people were in here, it took an age to get tubes for all 5 of us but eventually we had our circular trip.
After the creek we all had a go in the big pool but this doesnt compare to the wave pool at TL that one is much bigger and we soon had enough due to the amount of people in there. We found the exit to the Downhill Double Dipper and Ruth & Emily went off to try and find the start. Danny, Howard and I waited at the bottom. And waited. And waited. And waited. No sign of them coming down
- then they came at us from the way theyd walked. Had one of them chickened out? Nope, they couldnt find the way to the top of the flume! However, they had been on some other slides around the corner. So off we trundled to find (what a surprise!) mega queues for tubes to ride down these slides. There were three, an open slide for two riders on a double tube, an open slide for single riders and an enclosed slide for singles. Howard, our youngest and not a strong swimmer was unsure about these slides but we talked him into riding the double. Climbing up the stairs though (all 11 flights of em!) I had serious reservations about the sense of riding these! From halfway up the stairs I later realised it was the back of Mt Gushmore we got a great view of the Tree of Life withing Animal Kingdom. It was very easy to spot as it was much higher and a totally different shade of green compared to natural Floridian fauna! Onwards and upwards to the summit, the queue broke into three for the separate slides and at least these moved quite quickly. I went in the enclosed slide and boy its fast! Very enjoyable! Emily and Danny went on their own on the open slide and Ruth took Howard on the doubles. Despite Hs fears, he loved it and wanted to ride again as soon as he came out of the splash pool.
We had another couple of goes on these but 11 flights of stairs phew! thats enough climbing for now. We took a wander around Mt Gushmore on a path that followed that of the Cross Country Creek (although we were walking against the flow of people) and found our way to the base of Team Boat Springs, the family raft ride. Wed done one of these at Typhoon Lagoon and had quite enjoyed it so thought wed give this one a go. How to get to the top? There are two choices either another huge climb or take a cable car to the top of Mt Gushmore. Cable cars and me dont get along. Period. I hate them. I hate tiny cables, I hate the tiny little wheels that connect to the cable. I hate the flimsy tin-foil esque nature of their design. We live about 20 minutes from The Heights of Abraham in Derbyshire. They too have cable cars that Ive ridden once and never will again!
So, with my fear firmly entrenched in concrete, another long stairs climb was started. We got to the top and found this was also the start of Summit Plummet and Slush Gusher. I wouldnt have minded either in my younger days I just dont have the thrill issues that I used to have. My views on this were confirmed by the Team Boat Springs ride I hated it! As Ive mentioned before Im a large chap and this made the boat go down the slide rather, er, fast and was gong a long way up the sides almost vertically at times. I didnt just feel worried for myself; I hated the fact that the people I love most in the world were in here with me and my weight might cause them to be hurt. Needless to say nothing happened but we were at the bottom in double quick time! That was not for me, ever again!
Making our way further around the park we came to Tikes Peak a nice area for the kids to play in. As you can imagine, this place was rammed with people and kids but our kids were loving it. They played on the rope swings, dived into the pools and rode the small slides. It took an age to get them out of this area but at least they were having fun.
The rumblings of the previous night now washed away, hunger began to set in. We made our way back to the main entrance area to get money & t-shirts from our lockers and find somewhere to eat. What a rip off! It cost us $52 for measly pizza / hot dog / chicken strips with fries and drinks. $52 for that and I thought the lockers were a rip off! The five of us had a great 3 course meal the previous night in the Friendlys Restaurant on International Drive in comfortable surroundings for only $9 more. Now I know that Mickey has to make a profit but he doesnt need to fleece us
Tip If you can, save yourself a small fortune by either taking your own food and leaving it in a cool bag in a locker or your car. Failing that, ask one of your party to leave BB and nip to the McDonalds drive thru only 5 mins away and bring back better quality, better value and much cheaper food!
Feeling annoyed at these prices put me in a foul mood. The profit they must make from these food outlets alone would be enough to wipe out a small countrys debt problems. Queue bad mood, for me anyway. The children wanted to play in Tikes Peak so we walked around and let them have another hour in there. Danny & Emily loved the rope slide that dumped them into 8 feet of water with huge splashes. Howard went on the mini slides countless times. Although he was on his own, he was happy enough grabbing a tube and having another go. I think he felt quite independent
The rest of the clan then wanted another go on Team Boat Springs but not for me. Ruth also decided she wanted to ride on the cable cars so she and Howard went off to queue whilst Emily, Danny and myself took the tiring (but safe!) route up the stairs. On the way we had a look at some of the hardy souls that were braving Summit Plummet and I still didnt regret having a go maybe I am getting old? It took an age for Ruth and Howard to reach the top the queue for the cable car was quite long. Saying our goodbyes, I went off back down the stairs to wait for them at the end. When they did come down they took the final bend at serene pace it looked a lot slower than when I been on!
It was after 4pm now and the park was due to close at 5pm so we went back to the main pool where Ruth and the children had a final splash in the waves. At least now the crowds had started to thin down and you could move in this pool. By 16:30 the staff were saying that the park was closing so we all made our way back (the children very reluctantly) to the lockers to get changed.
Our overall view of Blizzard Beach was that it was OK but not as good as Typhoon Lagoon. Having visited both parks now we thought that TL was bigger, had more room and catered for small children better than BB. The discussion in the car as we left the park was based on our belief that BB was aimed more at older, better swimmers whereas TL seemed to have a better mix for everyone.
As it was only just 5pm, we decided to head off to have a look around Downtown Disney to see what this had to offer. The dominating sites as you enter this are Disney Quest, Planet Hollywood and the Cirque du Soleil. Although I love movies Ive never been to a PH restaurant and doubt that I ever will its just never ticked my fancy. As for the Cirque Du Soleil, whilst they performers must be world class and put on a great show the cost is too much for us to justify entry. Disney Quest? Again, from the articles Ive read online and in books it doesnt look like its worth the entrance fee. I might be totally incorrect in this assumption but Im not willing to waste a days entry from our hopper tickets (or pay the admission fee) to find out. Besides, this is Florida and even in February its nice why spend your holiday indoors? Unless of course you're shopping!!
We had a look around some of the shops and I bought a few CDs from the Virgin Megastore sale ($10 for new CDs is great value
) before we caught one of the small boats to the other side of the lake. We disembarked near the Rainforest Café and as soon as the kids saw this they wanted to eat there. Mindful of how expensive we knew it would be after visiting the other RFC at Animal Kingdom, we werent too sure. Seeing as were on holiday though we agreed and went to ask if they had any tables. They said theyd have one soon what we didnt realise that this table would be outside on the decking next to the lake. When we enquired about eating inside the wait wouldve been 90 minutes :gulp:.So we agreed to sit outside but the air was getting slightly nippy. The meal we ordered was OK, nothing special, and it just didnt feel the same as sitting inside as we had done at Animal Kingdom. Then came the shock, although I suppose I should be used to it now, over $70 for the 5 of us to have one course each. Then the waitress has the check to ask Would you like your change? after Ruth used a $100 travellers cheque to pay for it. We dont mind tipping someone for good service but were not suddenly going to wave goodbye for the best part of $30 after all theyve done is brought us 5 drinks and 5 plates!We spent the next couple of hours wandering around the various Disney shops. Ruth managed to buy some presents for people back home. I bought mini versions of Dude Cruch, Squirt and Bruce from finding Nemo these all now sit onto of my computer at work. Sweet. Totally dude.
We grabbed some t-shirts for our kids and other bits and bobs before deciding it was time for bed.As we walked back around to the car park we passed Pleasure Island which was just kicking off. Lots of young people are coming in wonder if they have a binge drinking problem in a place like this? Danny was impressed that we found the arc lights that you can see from miles away we had look at these shining up into the sky and I foolishly tried to see if I could make a shadow (ala the Bat Signal) with my hands. Warning kids dont try this as those lights are red hot! Stupid I know I wouldnt try and touch a light bulb at home that was on yet I try and touch the front of a blazing light 1000 times more powerful. Homer Simpson beat that!
The 192 West (as has become commonplace this holiday) looked very busy so we carried on the I4 and then came back north on highway 27 to the villa. All I wanted to do was collapse and write down my inane ramblings but we were out of milk and bread. A trip back up H27 was required to the local 24/7 Walgreens. Now I had thought this was just a chemist but how wrong I was they sell just about anything. I spent ages looking at the American sports magazines before actually getting what we needed.
Tomorrow were off to Epcot
I wasn't too fond of Blizzard Beach, altho I adored the lazy river and went on it many times but we went in January and it was empty. Hubby tried Summit Plummit and gave himself a wedgie 
Every time we've gone to Florida, Typhoon Lagoon has been shut but in October, it should hopefully be open and we'll try it. Looking forward to your next posting.
Noone else was stupid enough!!!
