It was just after 11, wed only been here 30 minutes but we were exhausted and some pretty dark clouds were on there way so we headed into Landscape of flavours to try and grab some lunch, except we were too early!
Disaster, since this was on my to do list but never mind, to be honest we werent that hungry yet so it was probably for the best. Instead we took a little look around the shop and headed out to the bus stop for Downtown Disney.
It was chaos! I had no idea that resort bus stops got this busy, not in low season anyway! Lots of young families everywhere, so many I was very worried we wouldnt get on the first bus. I got even more worried when a bus hadnt arrived for 40 minutes!
A bus arrived and the queue was now really big, but a quick assessment of the queue in front and I thought wed just make it
.
But then a prime example of my number one Disney transport PET HATE ARRIVED
A
scooter, but not just any scooter, this one was trailed by a HUGE family unit, and they drove right to the front of the queue. Grrrrrr
Scooters are a pet hate of mine, I appreciate people need them and some have a genuine reason for having one but in America, in certain sections of society, they seem to be viewed as a luxury for fat lazy people, and obviously a fabulous queue jumping tool at bus stops, they should queue like everyone else! The rest of the family were perfectly mobile and quite honestly I thought some of the families who had coped with screaming kids in the queue for 40 minutes deserved to get on first! To make matters worse she parked it up onboard, got off, and needed a full bench all to herself, her family and both butt cheeks filled half a bloomin bus!
sorry rant over, I was really annoyed by now, especially since wed been waiting 40 minutes before they waltzed up. ANYWAY
.
Luckily this particular bus driver wasnt the health and safety conscious driver I had feared, nooo he was a pack em in and pile em high kinda guy and so it was because of this that I found myself stood, sandwiched between buggys, screaming babies and sweaty bodies on our way to downtown Disney Joy. I dont think AOA is the resort for us.
In what seemed like an AGE we finally made it back to Downtown Disney and thankfully the dark clouds had moved on.
Having missed out on blizzard beach (to be honest I think we were both rather thankful but didnt want to be the one to say so) we decided to head back to the room and change into our costumes (much prefer this word to swimwear, it sounds far more exciting!) and then grab some lunch.
Having missed out on a lunch from my list we decided to tick off a different one and so we grabbed our refillable mugs, determined to use them at least once, and walked towards Artists Palette. On the way I indulged Adam in his florida obsession
taking photos of lizards! Seriously every other picture I downloaded on our return was a lizard. Here are the best ones from the walk to lunch (no really, there were more, and these were the BEST ones!)
See, arent you glad I shared those
We had a nosy at the main pool on the way, it was really nice I can see why people like to stay in the springs area.
The counter service area is smaller than I was excepting but there was a lovely selection on offer. I went for the smoked turkey sandwich with chips
and strawberries for dessert
and Adam had a pepperoni flatbread
and a fruit cup
We both picked up bottle drinks and refilled out mugs for now so we could save the bottles for later.
I love that you get these brought to your table.
Overall this was a lovely meal, my strawberries were sooo good and definitely my favourite.
We finished off and decided on a walk to the paddock pool near our room for our swim, since this had only opened recently and we were intrigued.
It being a chilly gloomy day the pool was in no way busy, the entertainment looked rather board with the turn out. I left Adam huddled under towels with a hot chocolate in his refillable mug and made for the pool.
This was my first pool experience since my weight loss so I was glad of the lack of audience. In my mind I would whip off my clothes and stride confidently in my bikini to the pool ah la Baywatch
. In reality I undressed under a towel and made a mad dash for the deep end, holding onto stray wobbly bits as I went, theres a lot to be said for body confidence whatever your size, I clearly dont have much of it when semi clothed!
The water was warmer than the air, I think that says a lot about how cold it really was, but I was determined! Sure enough once in the pool the rain started, it was rather heavy really but being a nutter I stayed put, at least I was warm! I tried to convince Adam to join me but he wasnt for moving, his confidence is worse than mine and hes wearing less so he stayed huddled under his towels
chicken!
The paddock pool was very small and VERY shallow. It does have a big ish slide and a kiddie splash area next to it, but as a couple I think wed have been better in the main pool or walking to the smaller one at congress park, nevermind, next time ;P
The entertainment were trying in vain to provide some to the few families mad enough to still be around. We had arrived halfway through a three way battle between the families. One grandma was convinced she was going to win each and every blow up world prize for her grandson no matter the personal cost! Although during a round of name that Disney tune when she tried to convince everyone the music being played was the theme music from harry potter (that well known Disney franchise) I did start to question if anyone else was actually listening
. It was star wars
.and she still won!
After a while even I was cold so in the next lull in the rain I got out, grabbed a hot chocolate of my own and went to join Adam under his SUN umbrella while I dried off.
It was now 2.30 and as tonight was a special night on which I would be getting my glam on and Adam would be upgrading his best t-shirt not only to an actual shirt but to a full on suit, I knew Id need a few hours to get ready so we made a hasty retreat back to the room.
As it happened I fell asleep in my bubble bath and so ended up with only an hour to get ready! Usually this is fine but in florida my hair doesnt behave itself so I would have loved more time. In the end I ended up with what Adam calls my Bella hair, in his rose tinted hubby glasses he describes hair something like this
where as my hot and flustered reflection actually reassembles something like this :/
Still we both emerged relatively presentable after some last minute taming!
I was also wearing my Hurrah Ive lost a stone dress so despite being late I had Adam take a photo on the balcony as proof.
Wanting to get a shot BEFORE I eat a meal several courses long!
We made our way to the congress park bus stop, deciding to risk the monorails again.
The quietness on the bus was in stark contrast to our bus trips so far today, I love how quiet the resort is, it makes for very relaxing bus trips and we soon arrived at magic kingdom, to SUN so the shades went on for the short walk to the monorail station.
I urge anyone dining at Victoria and Alberts to do this. Nothing stands out more in a theme park than a man in a suit and shades. Watching peoples faces was hilarious. It was obvious they thought Adam was somebody. People were looking at us and doing a double take. Looking searchingly at Adam, then at me, then back at Adam. You could see the cogs whirring away as they frantically tried to place him
gig: Im so going to dress like this just to walk around MK next visit
gig:
We made it to the Grand Floridian without any mishaps, monorail breakdowns or papazazzi scrums. We were in fact 20 minutes early for once and so we took some nice photos from the balcony
With 5 minutes to go we headed towards the door, me with my best youve never met be before face
but the door didnt open, I rattled it a little more, in a ladylike manner of course, nothing
. Then the same lady from yesterday unlocked the door and informed us we were a little early, and could wait in the bar for 10 minutes, oops!
Embarrassed we shuffled off to sit on one of the balcony couches since the bar looked a little full.
It was while sitting here that we spotted a lady of Disney legend
Miss Lynn
I felt bad taking a photo so heres one I found online
Shes a rather famous lady who sits around GF listening to the music and talking to guests, shes not a cast member obviously, just a lonely lady. I read a thread about her on another forum a while back saying she used to come with her husband all the time until he died, and now shes just lonely and confused, its rather sad but at least shes in a happy place
its her trolley full on teddies that freaked me out!
Anyway I digress!