Thanks everyone for your posts.
Keep 'em comin'!
Today we are headed to Blizzard Beach. As we aren't hitting a park we decide to sleep in. Notice that has become a habit here. I guess that's when you know you are getting older...when you don't feel like you have to be the first on at every single park. Or maybe it's just be getting older. Or more senile. I'm sorry, what was I saying?
Anyhooo....we all finally got up around 9am. That is actually early for me.
We ate and headed off to Blizzard Beach. As you all know, we had thoroughly enjoyed Typhoon Lagoon...so we were looking forward to another good day. We got there a little after 10...got our locker to shove everything into, and headed to Teamboat Springs...which IS the worlds longest family raft ride. I don't know who told you guys that the longest one is at Typhoon Lagoon. Whoever that nutty guy was should walk the plank. Well....maybe he will in a few days.
Anyway, this is one not to miss. It was quite fun. Actually the most frustrating part...and the part that didn't make any sense to me was a lack of photopass person at the end of this one. This is a logical picture spot...families...pictures...money....Normally Disney is good at the money thing but I think they missed the boat on this one...er the raft anyway.
The best part was that unlike the family raft ride at TL (Typhoon Lagoon...obviously I'm going to do some comparisons here and I'm tired of writing out Typhoon Lagoon over and over again. It's long, and I'm lazy. So while I do try to help you guys out, particularly Figment who is getting up in age, by writing out the whole thing...wait...what was I talking about?), there was no line (bet you had to go back and read the beginning of that sentence to have that make sense, eh? That's the problem as I continue to digress while writing...wait, where am I. why am I here again?). We love it when there is no lines (maybe I have two personalities fighting for control...muhahahaha).
Then we headed over to the Toboggan racers, the downhill double dipper (which had a longer wait), and the Snow Stormers...the racers and Stormers were fun because you could start out at the same time and race to the bottom. Unlike the Toy Story Ride which just didn't want to work for me (don't believe it when DW tells you I'm lying), I have a distinct advantage here. Yes, beached whales do well in downhill water racing. Not only do I go faster, I go further so I get to have more fun.
Eventually I do need to go on a diet...but I'm an eater. I am. DW will confirm. I tried to go on a diet last week...it lasted a day. My birthday is tomorrow...so maybe after this weekend I'll try again. I can't go on a diet the weekend of my BD (Figment, that is Birthday). Especially since we can't go out to celebrate tomorrow night (Nick's football practice), Friday night (I'm filming the high school football game), or Saturday night (Nick's team always goes out for pizza after the game). So clearly I'll be eating poorly until at least next Monday.
Huh...looking like another section not relevant to all of you. I'm sorry to have put you through that.
Next we headed to Runoff Rapids. There were two places to go down off of this one...you could do the two person way and go in the open slide, or you can do one person and do an enclosed slide. We did the logical thing and did both. Boy, this was a serious workout too, you had to climb..and climb...and climb to get to the top. Carrying your tube of course. The only really good thing, though, was that there were plenty of tubes at the bottom...no waiting for someone to make it down before you headed up like some of other rides.
Another side note. Yeah...I know. I *think* it was on the BB day (Blizzard Beach...keep up!) that the Shuttle was launching for the last time (DW did not write it in her journal, so blame her!
Wait, don't do that...or she will start being like Quiltteddy and threatening to take the first mode of transportation out of here!
). We knew about it, and they were announcing over the loudspeaker that it was coming up. Unfortunately they went from "The Shuttle is launching in 10 minutes" to "The shuttle is taking off" in about 30 seconds. We were not, unfortunately, in a good spot to watch...and we were told that up by the front was the best place to see it. But we were pretty far from there so we ran up the stairs of Runoff Rapids (the ones that kept going and going and going). We got to the top...but we were too late. We then had to listen to the kids blaming us for missing it. Ah kids!
Luckily there were tubes at the top of the ride too (not sure why), so we grabbed some of those and rode down to the bottom.
Next we headed over toward the big Behemoth....Summit Plummet...which I think is the longest drop in the world for water slides. Rather than walking...you can actually take a chairlift. I'm a big fan of that! We learned rather early that rather than wait in the long line and going as a group we would just join the single rider line and get on really fast. Unless you have a young child that can't handle this...I recommend it highly! We got to the top...Nick was the only one willing to do Summit Plummet, DW, Connor and I went on Slush Gusher. Slush Gusher was steep as well, but had two hills. This one was alot of fun....you caught a little bit of air as you went over each hill which was cool.
Nick at the top of Summit Plummet
And at the bottom!
Nick absolutely LOVED Summit Plummet. Loved it. He's a little nutty. I don't know where he got that from.
Next we hit the wave pool. Yes the kids were bugging us to do it...and so we finally said yes. Unfortunately this one was not as good, and probably more like what I expected out of TL. This one just had a bunch of waves going back and forth...finding tubes was next to impossible...so I definitely didn't like this as much...and fell more into the waste of time category.
But we did get a picture.
Note I am wearing my swim shirt so none of you get blinded. It is a DIS requirement.
After that we headed to the lazy river. Why, you ask, is the lazy river not a waste of time while the wave pool is? I'm glad you asked. There is an easy simple answer to that question...and it is in the name of what it is. *lazy* river. I am nothing if not lazy. So this is right up my alley! Kick back...float along...get harassed by your 9 year old (well, he was still 8, but almost there!). And there is a photopass person in the water!
Aren't we cute???
After we made it around once Nick convinced us to go and try Summit Plummet. DW and Connor were not really interested...DW is afraid of heights...so the thought of doing this made her queasy. We headed over to the chairlift and jumped in line. The way we did this was I'd go first so that we had an adult at each end (oh, we were doing the single rider thing again...you probably needed to know that!). So I got on...Then a couple chairs later Nick got on and then Connor. We all made it to the top...and waited...and waited...and waited and suddenly there were no people coming up. We waited some more...and then finally DW arrived. Apparently after we all got on they decided to shut the lift down because there was lightning in the area. Something about a big metal chairlift that apparently some people worry about electricity in the air.
DW stated her case...saying that her whole family had gone up...and could they at least let us know...so then they let her on as the final rider. Apparently a few other folks tried that route too, but DW was the only one that convinced them that it was necessary!
We all got in the long time for Summit Plummet. Which is great because you get lots and lots of time to think about what the heck you are about to do...and you climb higher...and higher. To be honest I was a little freaked out by it. But of course I was careful not to show it...must be strong for 8 year old! We kept seeing lightning in the distance and DW was hopeful! A CM came walking down and she even asked....but no such luck. It starts getting really windy at the top too. Finally it was time for us to go. Nick led the way...followed by DW. It's a bit freaky...you see them and then they just drop over the edge.
DW at the top. Holy crap, this is the first time I've looked closely at these pictures. DW's face is priceless!
DW at the bottom
Connor was next...I kept expecting him to back out. The photopass guy even made a comment about how it was a little guy. But he crossed his arms and away he went.
Connor at the top...see how small he is??
Connor at the bottom...he barely made it out of the slide he stopped so far back!
By this point my heart is pounding...obviously I'm going to do this...but DW will tell you I'm not a big fan of drops. I don't have issues with height...but rides that just drop straight down aren't my favorite things (well, except TOT...that rocks). I'm also not a big fan of log rides...I mean...no seat belts. That can't be safe! So here I am...straight drop...and no seat belt.
Deep breath, cross my arms...up goes the safety bar and away I go! Whoa! What a rush! It was really, really fun. The only part I don't like about it is that you actually move faster than the water coming down...and it starts to hurt. My buns felt like I had a 30 minute buns of steel workout. Maybe that's a way to get in shape. Huh...I'll have to think about that...
Here I am at the top...
and at the bottom...you can read my expression...what the...where am I? who am I?
At this point we decided to leave and go get something for lunch. It was about 1:30 or so. As we were walking toward out locker the sky opened up and absolutely brought the cats and dogs (and probably some birds) down on top of us. It was crazy. We grabbed out stuff, turned in our key and made the dash for the car. Whew! That was crazy. We picked up a gourmet lunch at McDonalds and headed back to the timeshare to eat.
We didn't have any plans for the rest of the day...but we *did* need to get a cooler to bring my beer onto the ship...woohoo! So we left the kids behind and headed to target to get a cooler. Once we got back we hung out for a while and headed to get dinner at Steak N Shake. But we also needed to get the kids' hair cut. I mapped out one of the chain haircut places...and headed there. When we arrived it was a 45 minute wait. Uh...no. So we headed the general direction of SNS (ha! did you get that one. Steak N Shake!). Then I saw a barber shop. Perfect for them since all they get is buzz cuts...so we pulled in. This seemed like a great idea...and then we walked in. This wasn't your grandpa's barber shop. It was a hip-hop barber shop. But we were already there...and so what the heck. They were just getting buzz cuts anyway, right? So they took them both and did the deed...and they did a great job...except they did some crazy trimming....I just don't know how to explain it.
This is a picture from the next day...but you can kinda see what I mean
Their sideburns were pointy...stuff like that. It looked very clean...but they looked like hip hop kids.
So off to Steak N Shake...I love that place. Dinner and then back to the villa to pack. Saturday we were checking out and headed over to prepare for the cruise...but we did have one more day at the parks...which would it be??
Next up: Day 7: the happiest place on earth? and what the...why are all these people here???
However, I think you may get one sooner, rather than later...I think he is done with the football videos from this weekend, so he can spend some time doing his most important job...this TR
AK 
while you 
and get another update done! 
