MsPennieLane
<font color=660099>Self-confessed Disney addict<br
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2003
- Messages
- 904
Wednesday 14th April Day 2
We woke up at 9am, thinking it was 8am but it turns out hubby hasnt changed the clock on his mobile. We get dressed and head to Le Merida for breakfast. The buffet breakfast was included in our package. We werent sure what to expect but were very impressed. You had 3 different types of juice orange, pineapple or peach water, tea, coffee, cereals, loads of fresh fruit, white bread, 6 different pastries including ring doughnuts, fresh jam, 2 different types of ham and cheese, salami and bread rolls phew! We had some pastries and rolls with ham and cheese, very nice. If you fancied an English breakfast instead of the continental it was 4 Euro.
Before heading for the park, we decided to check out Salou so take our lovely car for a ride to use up some of the expensive diesel we had to purchase. Hubby was looking for cheap fags and Id been asked to bring back a bottle of JD for my bro and a bottle of Cointreau for my mum. We parked up and found a couple of supermarkets over the road from each other. One was a bit cheaper than the other for alcohol so we ended up with a litre of JD for £15 and 70cl of cointreau for £9 bargains! We drove round to the beach and found a tobacco shop opposite. Andy bought 3000 fags for 390 euro. They worked out about £18.00 for 200 and Andys selling them for £25 so we make a nice little profit (which incidentally is going into the Christmas in Florida fund). I spotted a pharmacy nearby so went in for some anti-anxiety pills as I hate flying so much. After explaining about my bad nerves, the pharmacist suggests valeriana. We buy some and Im hoping its going to work. No idea whether theyll work yet but Ill let you know after our flight back! We look round for nice restaurants but cant see any apart from little cafes so decide to stay on-site for dinner again that night. We also pass a McDonalds, it looks so out of place among the cheap gift shops.
Back in the car, its onwards to Port Aventura. Hubby decides to be lazy and park in the car park it costs 5.50 euro to park and we really shouldnt have bothered. It took us longer to walk across the vast car park to the entrance than walk from the hotel to the entrance (but at least it wasnt an uphill walk!)
We get to the entrance and were in shock there are so many people queuing for tickets, weve never seen anything like it not even at Disney! We walk towards the actually park turnstiles thinking its going to be ok wrong! You cant even see the gates, there are bodies everywhere and were gobsmacked. The park has already been open an hour and a half!
never seen crowds like it!
We decide its far too busy and decide to go back in the afternoon as it might be less busy. We walk back to the car and the section we parked in is now totally full and theyre opening another section! There are also at least 30 coaches parked up!
We drive back to the hotel and notice that there are cars parked everywhere. Walking by reception, we notice Shrek and Betty Boop so we head in and get our pictures taken.
We decide to head to Tarragona and see whats about. We drive around and cant really see anywhere interesting to stop. The port is very industrial, as is a lot of Salou. Its like they dumped the theme park in the middle of it all. On the way out of Tarragona I spot a sign saying Parc Central and I suggest to hubby that it might be a shopping centre. We find the entrance to the car park and its huge. Parc Central is a 2 tier shopping centre. The top floor is the car park, then there are 2 floors of shops. There is also a car park level in the basement. On the first floor, there is a huge food court area. By this time its nearly 2pm so we decide to stop for lunch. We spot a burger king and laugh. Next door is Pizza Grill. It looks interesting even though the menu outside is all in Spanish but we figure you cant really go wrong with pizza. We go inside and are asked if wed like to see the English menu we mustve looked typically English lol. They have a lovely menu which is very extensive. We decide on a portion of garlic bread to share, Andy has a bolognese and bacon pizza and I opt for the four cheese pizza. Everything is absolutely delish. The garlic bread has mozzarella with lots of oregano. Andys pizza has big chunks of beef and bacon. I adore mine 4 sections of different cheese: emmenthal, blue cheese, parmesan and mozzarella. We decide to pig out when we see the dessert menu. Ive never seen so many different puddings. I opt for profiteroles and hubby has raisin and cheesecake. Both are amazing. With 4 cola lights (yuk!), 1 starter, 2 individual piazzas and 2 desserts its 30Euro very good.
We wander round the centre to burn off all that food. We find a luggage shop and buy a huge holdall for 20E and I find a great shop with loads of cuddlies. Simpsons, Sesame Street, Disney, you name it. I fall in love with a huge cookie monster but hes 62 Euro. I also see a load of Winnie the Poohs holding different letters of the alphabet so hubby buys me one with an A. I also get a Betty Boop pen for my mum. There are loads of clothes shops here and a huge supermarket downstairs. From here, we head back to Salou via the Reus, miss the Salou turnoff as its not signposted properly, and have to turn around at the end of the motorway. One way to waste fuel I guess. We find our way back and head to our room to chill for 5 minutes before heading to the park. Its 4pm so we figure well have about 4 hours in the park. Big mistake our 5 minute chill out turns into a 3 hour sleepfest and we wake up gone 7pm again oopsie!! So we totally missed out on the parks today but ah well, we figured we still had most of Wednesday to do it all again.
We head back to El Coyote for dinner. We have starters of onion rings and cheese nachos (very oily cheese but nice). I had the BBQ Bacon cheeseburger and hubby had a cheeseburger. They come out with a little pot of coleslaw and chips. The burger is huge and looks homemade. My BBQ sauce is divine. For 2 starters, 2 mains, 2 beers and 2 cola lights its 32Euro. Not bad. We head straight for Bar Maya and drink. Hubby sticks to the local Estella Damm beer for 2.95e a pint and I stick to cola light, apart from one non-alcoholic cocktail I had called a Boo Boos, which was orange juice, pineapple juice and coco milk very yum. After a couple of sessions online its time for bed. Tomorrow our last day including a full day in the parks.
Anz
We woke up at 9am, thinking it was 8am but it turns out hubby hasnt changed the clock on his mobile. We get dressed and head to Le Merida for breakfast. The buffet breakfast was included in our package. We werent sure what to expect but were very impressed. You had 3 different types of juice orange, pineapple or peach water, tea, coffee, cereals, loads of fresh fruit, white bread, 6 different pastries including ring doughnuts, fresh jam, 2 different types of ham and cheese, salami and bread rolls phew! We had some pastries and rolls with ham and cheese, very nice. If you fancied an English breakfast instead of the continental it was 4 Euro.
Before heading for the park, we decided to check out Salou so take our lovely car for a ride to use up some of the expensive diesel we had to purchase. Hubby was looking for cheap fags and Id been asked to bring back a bottle of JD for my bro and a bottle of Cointreau for my mum. We parked up and found a couple of supermarkets over the road from each other. One was a bit cheaper than the other for alcohol so we ended up with a litre of JD for £15 and 70cl of cointreau for £9 bargains! We drove round to the beach and found a tobacco shop opposite. Andy bought 3000 fags for 390 euro. They worked out about £18.00 for 200 and Andys selling them for £25 so we make a nice little profit (which incidentally is going into the Christmas in Florida fund). I spotted a pharmacy nearby so went in for some anti-anxiety pills as I hate flying so much. After explaining about my bad nerves, the pharmacist suggests valeriana. We buy some and Im hoping its going to work. No idea whether theyll work yet but Ill let you know after our flight back! We look round for nice restaurants but cant see any apart from little cafes so decide to stay on-site for dinner again that night. We also pass a McDonalds, it looks so out of place among the cheap gift shops.
Back in the car, its onwards to Port Aventura. Hubby decides to be lazy and park in the car park it costs 5.50 euro to park and we really shouldnt have bothered. It took us longer to walk across the vast car park to the entrance than walk from the hotel to the entrance (but at least it wasnt an uphill walk!)
We get to the entrance and were in shock there are so many people queuing for tickets, weve never seen anything like it not even at Disney! We walk towards the actually park turnstiles thinking its going to be ok wrong! You cant even see the gates, there are bodies everywhere and were gobsmacked. The park has already been open an hour and a half!
never seen crowds like it!
We decide its far too busy and decide to go back in the afternoon as it might be less busy. We walk back to the car and the section we parked in is now totally full and theyre opening another section! There are also at least 30 coaches parked up!
We drive back to the hotel and notice that there are cars parked everywhere. Walking by reception, we notice Shrek and Betty Boop so we head in and get our pictures taken.
We decide to head to Tarragona and see whats about. We drive around and cant really see anywhere interesting to stop. The port is very industrial, as is a lot of Salou. Its like they dumped the theme park in the middle of it all. On the way out of Tarragona I spot a sign saying Parc Central and I suggest to hubby that it might be a shopping centre. We find the entrance to the car park and its huge. Parc Central is a 2 tier shopping centre. The top floor is the car park, then there are 2 floors of shops. There is also a car park level in the basement. On the first floor, there is a huge food court area. By this time its nearly 2pm so we decide to stop for lunch. We spot a burger king and laugh. Next door is Pizza Grill. It looks interesting even though the menu outside is all in Spanish but we figure you cant really go wrong with pizza. We go inside and are asked if wed like to see the English menu we mustve looked typically English lol. They have a lovely menu which is very extensive. We decide on a portion of garlic bread to share, Andy has a bolognese and bacon pizza and I opt for the four cheese pizza. Everything is absolutely delish. The garlic bread has mozzarella with lots of oregano. Andys pizza has big chunks of beef and bacon. I adore mine 4 sections of different cheese: emmenthal, blue cheese, parmesan and mozzarella. We decide to pig out when we see the dessert menu. Ive never seen so many different puddings. I opt for profiteroles and hubby has raisin and cheesecake. Both are amazing. With 4 cola lights (yuk!), 1 starter, 2 individual piazzas and 2 desserts its 30Euro very good.
We wander round the centre to burn off all that food. We find a luggage shop and buy a huge holdall for 20E and I find a great shop with loads of cuddlies. Simpsons, Sesame Street, Disney, you name it. I fall in love with a huge cookie monster but hes 62 Euro. I also see a load of Winnie the Poohs holding different letters of the alphabet so hubby buys me one with an A. I also get a Betty Boop pen for my mum. There are loads of clothes shops here and a huge supermarket downstairs. From here, we head back to Salou via the Reus, miss the Salou turnoff as its not signposted properly, and have to turn around at the end of the motorway. One way to waste fuel I guess. We find our way back and head to our room to chill for 5 minutes before heading to the park. Its 4pm so we figure well have about 4 hours in the park. Big mistake our 5 minute chill out turns into a 3 hour sleepfest and we wake up gone 7pm again oopsie!! So we totally missed out on the parks today but ah well, we figured we still had most of Wednesday to do it all again.
We head back to El Coyote for dinner. We have starters of onion rings and cheese nachos (very oily cheese but nice). I had the BBQ Bacon cheeseburger and hubby had a cheeseburger. They come out with a little pot of coleslaw and chips. The burger is huge and looks homemade. My BBQ sauce is divine. For 2 starters, 2 mains, 2 beers and 2 cola lights its 32Euro. Not bad. We head straight for Bar Maya and drink. Hubby sticks to the local Estella Damm beer for 2.95e a pint and I stick to cola light, apart from one non-alcoholic cocktail I had called a Boo Boos, which was orange juice, pineapple juice and coco milk very yum. After a couple of sessions online its time for bed. Tomorrow our last day including a full day in the parks.
Anz
El Paso has a walkway and it's still not far too walk but Port Aventura has an entrance into the park so you avoid the entrance which is pretty cool 
