malcolm silcock
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 26, 2002
- Messages
- 75
Holiday from May 19th to June 2nd
Staying at Shadow Bay Apartments, Kissimmee.
Players
Orion (Malcolm) 40 year old, Story teller, Grump and Organiser (if things go wrong).
DW (Maria Spanyardo) 34 years old, Saver of holiday money, Proposer of holiday and Organiser (if things go OK).
DS (Ben) 14 years old, six foot tall (going through the spot zone just now), very laid back (in love with Buffy the Vampire Slayer arent we all).
DD (Katie) 12 years old, two foot tall, is going to be an actress or a barmaid, unable to talk so sings everything to you (and anyone else that will listen).
DS (Keiran) 5 years old (Autistic) provider of the most fun and biggest problems.
DM (Elva) 260 years old pixie, thrill freak and recipient of the largest food portions in USA.
DF (Roy) 200 year old water park and water ride expert, talked a good talk about riding thrill rides but total score for the holiday NIL.
Day 3 Blizzard Beach.
Sunday
Up at 07.03 am, Keiran has been jumping around all night and is now asleep!
Still got my Sargent Majors cap on and am ordering everyone around (according to DM) to get us out in time for the park.
Truck is packed up with all the swimming gear and days survival gear and weve off to WalMart for todays bits along with some more film Im using about two reels per day so far.
Down the road (192) to Las Vegas which is Maria and my favourite breakfast venue, its a Ponderosa style buffet breakfast but (IMHO) better. The kids and DF prefer Ponderosa because you can have ice-cream! DM is also moaning that theres no strawberries God shes been here two days and she expects strawberries everyday for breakfast!! Don't know what shell do when we get back to the UK and has to face the Allbran again (LOL).
After filling up for the day we waddle out of Las Vegas and into the truck looking like a band of Telly Tubbies on speed.
Down the 192 towards Disney. Weve not been down this far down the 192 so far and we hit the roadworks sorry road dont works. Its quite a queue and moves verrrry slowly.
I can say with hand on hart that we only ever saw three workmen working on these roads dont works for the whole of our two-week stay. Thats assuming the three men were working and not just stealing the cable, come to think about it they were working up a bit of a sweat so it must have been the latter. We moan when we see all the ballards out on roads with no sight of workmen in the UK, but the American traffic department go one step better they drop big concrete blocks all over the roads then go home. Maybe they were waiting for parts?
Anyway we arrive at Blizzard Beach find the disabled parking and unpack the truck. Its now about 11.00 am and myself and DF join the queue to get the tickets (the Vacation/Park ticket desk part of Wal-Mart does not open on a Sunday must try to remember that for next Saturday) and as usual we chose the queue with the nutter in front. From what we could see and hear this young lady (yes, I am biting my tongue), was trying to get some sort of discount on some of her tickets - because her neighbours friend had got it and she was also living the same area so she should be entitled to this discount, etc, etc, etc (pass me my gun).
Weve in and we set off to find a suitable camp area for the day (yes, I know we should have been here four hours ago if we were to achieve this), we manage to get some seats next to Tikes Peak (TP) area. We had not made it to Blizzard Beach last year (it was closed due to melting problems or something and had change the visit over to Typhoon Lagoon) so it was new to everyone. Being next to TP was great for Keiran, he just loves the water so Maria kitted him out in his Bobbin life vest (he can swim a little) and took him over to a small slide area. I got myself ready and followed on (the other two kids had disappeared already and DM and DF were settling down to relax (and guard the camping equipment and supplies). Just as I got upto the top of TP small mountain Maria was on her way down with Keiran, apparently Keiran had pushed (she was unhurt and stayed on her feet - only a gentle push) a little girl a few times in his excitement, (this is a form of freindship/gesture of hello from an Autistic child, like a form of affection, as they will normally always ignore all other children we do however always watch that it never gets out of hand) anyway her male guardian had said to Maria Youd better watch that kid. Now I have to admit I have a very short fuse were this type of bad manors is concerned and will at every opportunity re-educate the offending person (size dont come into it). Unfortunately for me Maria is aware of this (she is a lot more forgiving and more patient than I am) so she wouldnt point him out to me sorry on my soap box again. Never mind, we moved Keiran to a different part of TPs and let him splash around for a good half-hour. I left the camp area with Keiran and Ben (Katie was still out exploring) to climb up Blizzard mountain to see what rides and shoots were available.
NO - there was no way I was going on that summit plummet shoot a 60 mile a hour water enema was not my idea of fun, so I plunked for the Team Spring family ride. Keiran just LOVED this! It is great fun and goes on for ages (you all get into one of those big rubber rings holds upto about seven people and your sent off down the rapids). Well his face was a picture, so I had to get Maria to join us for a second shot.
Back at camp DM and DF wanted to have a walk around the park (you know its the sort of thing that oldies do) so we swapped over and guarded the supplies. Ben then took Keiran off to the wave pool and when the oldies returned we all went on the lazy river thing - were you float round the park on rings trying to push the wife into the cold water showers and jets great fun.
Pluto gave TP a visit and I managed to get a photo of him with Katie (man he/she must have been cooking in that suite it was 93 out there)
we went on a number of the shoots, the wave pool and the ring rides and all in all we had a great day at Blizzard Beach. IMHO its not as good as Typhoon Lagoon which surprised me because it looks the better park on paper (to me anyway).
It had started to get late and we were all tied again so we broke camp, washed, changed and started for home. We had all gotten burnt today (no shaded seating, except Kieran dont know why he got missed) even with the factor 4000 and we weve starting to feel the tightness and burn coming on.
We had to do a shop at Wal-Mart this evening (surprise!) so we wanted a quick meal and we decided to pull in at a Taco Bell, as wed never done one before. Its cheap food and some of its OK theres not a lot else I can say, if you want marks out of ten its in the area of 1 out of 10 and thats just because its cheap.
Back at the apartment and the kids want to go to the pool (all day at a water park and they want the pool) so we left the kids with DM and left DF with a beer and headed back to Wal-Mart. Its Katies birthday on 26.05.00 and Bens birthday on 29.05.00 so we needed to look around on our own. We picked up some bits for the kids and a pair of Pokeman shoes for Keiran. I also picked up a BIG watermelon (my favourite).
Back at the apartment I put away the shopping (while admiring the size of my melons oh, arrr missus) and Maria is unloading some washing seems DF has left a blue pen in his white shirt pocket and while DM and Marias knickers are all blue, the rest of the wash is now blue spotted - his shirt is clean and untouched!!
The toilet in our bedroom is blocked (no it wasnt me, no one else put there hand up to it, so it must have been the Phantom Pupper, but as I cant find a Phantom Plumber so its down to me to fix), Keiran could have put anything down the toilet!?
The women settle down around the table to write the 600 post cards that have been bought today (looks something like a 17th century cottage industry) while we men settle down in front of the TV with a cold one. Kieran does his thing wrecking the apartment and running round. All that hard work writing them cards on our third day, its a pity its going to take us men another 7 or 8 days to get round to posting all these cards.
After two strokes and a fainting session I get the airbed blown up again for Kieran and set up in our room, Keiran's in it for 2 seconds wrecks it and gets into our bed!!
Boy, am I whacked again.
Tomorrow me and DM (Biggles the air midget) are Ballooning and we have a 04.45 wake up time, DF has decided not to come with us (he was going to take some shots of the balloon taking off and bring the truck back) - lazy bones.
Tomorrow Ballooning, Shopping and other things . Snore.
Staying at Shadow Bay Apartments, Kissimmee.
Players
Orion (Malcolm) 40 year old, Story teller, Grump and Organiser (if things go wrong).
DW (Maria Spanyardo) 34 years old, Saver of holiday money, Proposer of holiday and Organiser (if things go OK).
DS (Ben) 14 years old, six foot tall (going through the spot zone just now), very laid back (in love with Buffy the Vampire Slayer arent we all).
DD (Katie) 12 years old, two foot tall, is going to be an actress or a barmaid, unable to talk so sings everything to you (and anyone else that will listen).
DS (Keiran) 5 years old (Autistic) provider of the most fun and biggest problems.
DM (Elva) 260 years old pixie, thrill freak and recipient of the largest food portions in USA.
DF (Roy) 200 year old water park and water ride expert, talked a good talk about riding thrill rides but total score for the holiday NIL.
Day 3 Blizzard Beach.
Sunday
Up at 07.03 am, Keiran has been jumping around all night and is now asleep!
Still got my Sargent Majors cap on and am ordering everyone around (according to DM) to get us out in time for the park.
Truck is packed up with all the swimming gear and days survival gear and weve off to WalMart for todays bits along with some more film Im using about two reels per day so far.
Down the road (192) to Las Vegas which is Maria and my favourite breakfast venue, its a Ponderosa style buffet breakfast but (IMHO) better. The kids and DF prefer Ponderosa because you can have ice-cream! DM is also moaning that theres no strawberries God shes been here two days and she expects strawberries everyday for breakfast!! Don't know what shell do when we get back to the UK and has to face the Allbran again (LOL).
After filling up for the day we waddle out of Las Vegas and into the truck looking like a band of Telly Tubbies on speed.
Down the 192 towards Disney. Weve not been down this far down the 192 so far and we hit the roadworks sorry road dont works. Its quite a queue and moves verrrry slowly.
I can say with hand on hart that we only ever saw three workmen working on these roads dont works for the whole of our two-week stay. Thats assuming the three men were working and not just stealing the cable, come to think about it they were working up a bit of a sweat so it must have been the latter. We moan when we see all the ballards out on roads with no sight of workmen in the UK, but the American traffic department go one step better they drop big concrete blocks all over the roads then go home. Maybe they were waiting for parts?
Anyway we arrive at Blizzard Beach find the disabled parking and unpack the truck. Its now about 11.00 am and myself and DF join the queue to get the tickets (the Vacation/Park ticket desk part of Wal-Mart does not open on a Sunday must try to remember that for next Saturday) and as usual we chose the queue with the nutter in front. From what we could see and hear this young lady (yes, I am biting my tongue), was trying to get some sort of discount on some of her tickets - because her neighbours friend had got it and she was also living the same area so she should be entitled to this discount, etc, etc, etc (pass me my gun).
Weve in and we set off to find a suitable camp area for the day (yes, I know we should have been here four hours ago if we were to achieve this), we manage to get some seats next to Tikes Peak (TP) area. We had not made it to Blizzard Beach last year (it was closed due to melting problems or something and had change the visit over to Typhoon Lagoon) so it was new to everyone. Being next to TP was great for Keiran, he just loves the water so Maria kitted him out in his Bobbin life vest (he can swim a little) and took him over to a small slide area. I got myself ready and followed on (the other two kids had disappeared already and DM and DF were settling down to relax (and guard the camping equipment and supplies). Just as I got upto the top of TP small mountain Maria was on her way down with Keiran, apparently Keiran had pushed (she was unhurt and stayed on her feet - only a gentle push) a little girl a few times in his excitement, (this is a form of freindship/gesture of hello from an Autistic child, like a form of affection, as they will normally always ignore all other children we do however always watch that it never gets out of hand) anyway her male guardian had said to Maria Youd better watch that kid. Now I have to admit I have a very short fuse were this type of bad manors is concerned and will at every opportunity re-educate the offending person (size dont come into it). Unfortunately for me Maria is aware of this (she is a lot more forgiving and more patient than I am) so she wouldnt point him out to me sorry on my soap box again. Never mind, we moved Keiran to a different part of TPs and let him splash around for a good half-hour. I left the camp area with Keiran and Ben (Katie was still out exploring) to climb up Blizzard mountain to see what rides and shoots were available.
NO - there was no way I was going on that summit plummet shoot a 60 mile a hour water enema was not my idea of fun, so I plunked for the Team Spring family ride. Keiran just LOVED this! It is great fun and goes on for ages (you all get into one of those big rubber rings holds upto about seven people and your sent off down the rapids). Well his face was a picture, so I had to get Maria to join us for a second shot.
Back at camp DM and DF wanted to have a walk around the park (you know its the sort of thing that oldies do) so we swapped over and guarded the supplies. Ben then took Keiran off to the wave pool and when the oldies returned we all went on the lazy river thing - were you float round the park on rings trying to push the wife into the cold water showers and jets great fun.
Pluto gave TP a visit and I managed to get a photo of him with Katie (man he/she must have been cooking in that suite it was 93 out there)
we went on a number of the shoots, the wave pool and the ring rides and all in all we had a great day at Blizzard Beach. IMHO its not as good as Typhoon Lagoon which surprised me because it looks the better park on paper (to me anyway).
It had started to get late and we were all tied again so we broke camp, washed, changed and started for home. We had all gotten burnt today (no shaded seating, except Kieran dont know why he got missed) even with the factor 4000 and we weve starting to feel the tightness and burn coming on.
We had to do a shop at Wal-Mart this evening (surprise!) so we wanted a quick meal and we decided to pull in at a Taco Bell, as wed never done one before. Its cheap food and some of its OK theres not a lot else I can say, if you want marks out of ten its in the area of 1 out of 10 and thats just because its cheap.
Back at the apartment and the kids want to go to the pool (all day at a water park and they want the pool) so we left the kids with DM and left DF with a beer and headed back to Wal-Mart. Its Katies birthday on 26.05.00 and Bens birthday on 29.05.00 so we needed to look around on our own. We picked up some bits for the kids and a pair of Pokeman shoes for Keiran. I also picked up a BIG watermelon (my favourite).
Back at the apartment I put away the shopping (while admiring the size of my melons oh, arrr missus) and Maria is unloading some washing seems DF has left a blue pen in his white shirt pocket and while DM and Marias knickers are all blue, the rest of the wash is now blue spotted - his shirt is clean and untouched!!
The toilet in our bedroom is blocked (no it wasnt me, no one else put there hand up to it, so it must have been the Phantom Pupper, but as I cant find a Phantom Plumber so its down to me to fix), Keiran could have put anything down the toilet!?
The women settle down around the table to write the 600 post cards that have been bought today (looks something like a 17th century cottage industry) while we men settle down in front of the TV with a cold one. Kieran does his thing wrecking the apartment and running round. All that hard work writing them cards on our third day, its a pity its going to take us men another 7 or 8 days to get round to posting all these cards.
After two strokes and a fainting session I get the airbed blown up again for Kieran and set up in our room, Keiran's in it for 2 seconds wrecks it and gets into our bed!!
Boy, am I whacked again.
Tomorrow me and DM (Biggles the air midget) are Ballooning and we have a 04.45 wake up time, DF has decided not to come with us (he was going to take some shots of the balloon taking off and bring the truck back) - lazy bones.
Tomorrow Ballooning, Shopping and other things . Snore.
Krissy
