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 6 Wednesday
Day at the Seaside.
I knew this was going to be a long day and that wed have to have the clan up and moving talk about making the mountain coming to Mohammed!!! Got the up by 09.30 which was already two hours late in my book, but then I am the grouch of Orlando!
Now remember the post cards that DF was supposed to post? Yes well he hadnt and he got caught by DM (he,he,he) and as its now a matter of life or death (according to the women) they HAVE to be posted before we start out to the Beach!
Pack the truck with the usual four tons of standard essential equipment, plus buckets, spades, surfboards, anti- sand in nasty places cream, etc, etc.
Weve on the way, running West on the I4 but by now weve running late and we are already nearing lunch time and need fuel so we decide to pull in for GAS and a early lunch. Weve never tried Perkins and as all the food options in this fuel stop are untried we plunk for Perkins (cos its got a nice green sign and its on the right side of the road!). We agreed the food is very good, the service is very good and the portions are very good but it is a little more expensive than the other food chains.
OK on the road again and after another hour and a half we come into Tampa and start looking for signs for Clearwater and lets face it youve as much chance of finding a pro-active sign in Florida as you have of finding a golden nugget in your porridge! So its the usual There!, and that lane, that lane try to get in that lane! Well we battle through, find ourselves in an white collar industrial area of Tampa at one point (but theres no sand and they wont let us play in their fountains!!) but we manage to get back on the right road. Now having never been to Clearwater before and as its only half an inch away from Busch Gardens on the map we were surprised to find that the beach is a LONG way from Tampa (or at least the Eastern side of Tampa). Well Im really looking forward to a midnight a dip and sand sandwich by moon light by now.
We find it (feel like Indian Jones by now) pull into a parking space, unpack the truck and do the burning feet run to the nearest empty set of chairs. Camp is set up guards are posted and the kids are dragged into the seawater. I steal the surf board (cos Im the best surfer anyway) and hit the waves, which hit me in return and send me back to the beach along with 15 lbs. of sand in my swimming trucks. I give the board to DS, as its obviously broken. After a few hours of swimming and doing my Bay watch bit me and DF go to find a drinks outlet for the clan and guess what, they sell beer!
Im not much of a beach person (get bored to quick) but you cant have a holiday without a day at the beach, and the kids love it so we tell them. Why is it that the woman all sit in a war party around the site equipment doing their best to keep the sand off themselves and keeping as far away from the water as possible?? Anyway thats all the woman insulted and riled, he,he,he.
Well after half a day on the beach its time to start packing up for the epic journey back so I take Keiran over the shower and changing area to get the sand off him and dress him for the return leg. Keiran is trying to steal Clearwater beach he must be, as hes got about 15 ton of sand down his trucks (and there very small trucks). Its really difficult to wash of the sand, dry and dress a five year old autistic child when the changing room floors are full of wet sand, the door doesnt lock and Keirans doing his best to escape back onto the beach, but I manage it and we re-load the truck with all the goodies plus an additional 5 ton of sand!
Right on the road again, once your out of the towns in Florida the main roads and very straight which little change in the passing scenery, so with the cruise control on its really easy to fall asleep if your tied, so anyone whos not done these runs before please keep this in mind.
We arrive back into Kissimmee at about 20.00 hours and while looking for a place to eat we come across Old Town Kissimmee which weve never visited before so we pull in to have a look round. It looks fun and lively with a couple of places to eat so we park up and go in. We find an Italian Restaurant next to the car park that has wooden veranda area so we settle down and order our food. We cannot remember the name of this restaurant but it was the worst value meal weve ever had in Florida and it was also average to poor quality give it a wide berth. That being said the rest of Old Town Kissimmee was great fun. The kids had a ball on the small rides (weve in the biggest theme park in the world with some of the biggest, fastest, longest rides in the world and the kids want to go on the waltzer???).
Never mind your Disney Pins (thats the rest of the board upset) this is the place for motorbike pins and badges, oh yes.
Well its starting to get late and the sunburn that we must as all caught today is starting to burn so we tiredly make our way back to the villa more than ready to hit the sack every Keiran looks tied!
Its Island of Adventure tomorrow (new to us all and my park choice for this holiday assuming we ever wake up).
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 6 Wednesday
Day at the Seaside.
I knew this was going to be a long day and that wed have to have the clan up and moving talk about making the mountain coming to Mohammed!!! Got the up by 09.30 which was already two hours late in my book, but then I am the grouch of Orlando!
Now remember the post cards that DF was supposed to post? Yes well he hadnt and he got caught by DM (he,he,he) and as its now a matter of life or death (according to the women) they HAVE to be posted before we start out to the Beach!
Pack the truck with the usual four tons of standard essential equipment, plus buckets, spades, surfboards, anti- sand in nasty places cream, etc, etc.
Weve on the way, running West on the I4 but by now weve running late and we are already nearing lunch time and need fuel so we decide to pull in for GAS and a early lunch. Weve never tried Perkins and as all the food options in this fuel stop are untried we plunk for Perkins (cos its got a nice green sign and its on the right side of the road!). We agreed the food is very good, the service is very good and the portions are very good but it is a little more expensive than the other food chains.
OK on the road again and after another hour and a half we come into Tampa and start looking for signs for Clearwater and lets face it youve as much chance of finding a pro-active sign in Florida as you have of finding a golden nugget in your porridge! So its the usual There!, and that lane, that lane try to get in that lane! Well we battle through, find ourselves in an white collar industrial area of Tampa at one point (but theres no sand and they wont let us play in their fountains!!) but we manage to get back on the right road. Now having never been to Clearwater before and as its only half an inch away from Busch Gardens on the map we were surprised to find that the beach is a LONG way from Tampa (or at least the Eastern side of Tampa). Well Im really looking forward to a midnight a dip and sand sandwich by moon light by now.
We find it (feel like Indian Jones by now) pull into a parking space, unpack the truck and do the burning feet run to the nearest empty set of chairs. Camp is set up guards are posted and the kids are dragged into the seawater. I steal the surf board (cos Im the best surfer anyway) and hit the waves, which hit me in return and send me back to the beach along with 15 lbs. of sand in my swimming trucks. I give the board to DS, as its obviously broken. After a few hours of swimming and doing my Bay watch bit me and DF go to find a drinks outlet for the clan and guess what, they sell beer!
Im not much of a beach person (get bored to quick) but you cant have a holiday without a day at the beach, and the kids love it so we tell them. Why is it that the woman all sit in a war party around the site equipment doing their best to keep the sand off themselves and keeping as far away from the water as possible?? Anyway thats all the woman insulted and riled, he,he,he.
Well after half a day on the beach its time to start packing up for the epic journey back so I take Keiran over the shower and changing area to get the sand off him and dress him for the return leg. Keiran is trying to steal Clearwater beach he must be, as hes got about 15 ton of sand down his trucks (and there very small trucks). Its really difficult to wash of the sand, dry and dress a five year old autistic child when the changing room floors are full of wet sand, the door doesnt lock and Keirans doing his best to escape back onto the beach, but I manage it and we re-load the truck with all the goodies plus an additional 5 ton of sand!
Right on the road again, once your out of the towns in Florida the main roads and very straight which little change in the passing scenery, so with the cruise control on its really easy to fall asleep if your tied, so anyone whos not done these runs before please keep this in mind.
We arrive back into Kissimmee at about 20.00 hours and while looking for a place to eat we come across Old Town Kissimmee which weve never visited before so we pull in to have a look round. It looks fun and lively with a couple of places to eat so we park up and go in. We find an Italian Restaurant next to the car park that has wooden veranda area so we settle down and order our food. We cannot remember the name of this restaurant but it was the worst value meal weve ever had in Florida and it was also average to poor quality give it a wide berth. That being said the rest of Old Town Kissimmee was great fun. The kids had a ball on the small rides (weve in the biggest theme park in the world with some of the biggest, fastest, longest rides in the world and the kids want to go on the waltzer???).
Never mind your Disney Pins (thats the rest of the board upset) this is the place for motorbike pins and badges, oh yes.
Well its starting to get late and the sunburn that we must as all caught today is starting to burn so we tiredly make our way back to the villa more than ready to hit the sack every Keiran looks tied!
Its Island of Adventure tomorrow (new to us all and my park choice for this holiday assuming we ever wake up).
