After day four of our trip, day five was another day to cool off. The whole family spent the day at Typhoon Lagoon. Again, as we are not early risers, we arrived at Typhoon Lagoon about 11:00 a.m. The park was fairly crowded, but not too bad. We were actually able to find a nice shaded area with some lounges near Typhoon Tilly's (a fast food stop).
We all got situated and then it was off to the water. I like Typhoon Lagoon, but, in my opinion, Blizzard Beach is a better park in terms of slides and themeing. There was no rain, lightning, or thunder like we experienced at Blizzard Beach on Monday, so no need to evacuate the water periodically like we had to do at Blizzard Beach.
For those interested, I noticed a few people carying around Typhoon Lagoon mugs with a bar code sticker on the side. Apparently, you can buy (for $9.00) an unlimited refill mug for softdrinks. I saw a couple of self-serve vending areas with electronic fountains that allowed you to scan your bar code and fill the mug up with your favorite soft drink. The technology seems pretty cool, but I am not a soft drink drinker --prefer the "orange juice' (wink, wink). Apparently the mugs are coded for that day only, and you can drink as much as you want.
We spent about 5 hours at Typhoon Lagoon and by that time we all had enough of the sun so it was back to our hotel to get ready for the evening.
We had reservations at 7:00 for the Wispering Canyon at the Wilderness Lodge. Again, my sister and her boyfriend and the kids refused to eat on Disney property and they went to another all-you can-stuff in your face trough on 192 (still don't understand this guy).
My mom and step dad and my partner and I arrived at the lodge and checked in for our priority seating. They told us about a 20 min wait and gave us our pager. We had never been in the lodge, and if you haven't been, it is worth the visit. Like Animal Kingdom Lodge, it is themed great and the grounds in back are beautiful. We only walked around for about 5 mins when our pager rang and our table was ready.
We we first got in the restaurant, I was sure we had made a mistake. The place was noisy and packed with kids (not that I don't like kids, but dinner is kind of like a time-out for me especially after being clobbered with flying kids in the wave pool all day at Typhoon Lagoon).
It took a few minutes to get into the atmosphere here, but after I got used to it, it was fun. Our waiter was great and he talked us into beers over shakes and into getting the all you can eat bar-b-que. The food was great. We all ate way too much (the pulled pork was the best!). And, for about $20.00 a person, it was a great value (I was secretly smirking when I thought about my sister's boyfriend eating on 192 thinking he was getting more for what he was paying for by eating off Disney property).
We were all supposed to hook up after dinner to go to Pleasure Island for the eveining. But when we had finished dinner, my parents said that they were beat and my sister and boyfriend backed out for whatever reason. That was ok with me and my parter because we wanted to have some fun and the family seemed like baggage at this point.
We arrived at PI about 10:00 PM on Thursday evening. There was a pretty long line to get on the island and they were checking everyone's ID's. My parter is 27 and we both look pretty young so we knew to have ours out and ready when we got checked (my partner had lost his Driver's license at Blizzard Beach on Monday and we had been calling the park but it had still not yet been recovered form the river where he thinks he lost it-- the dope had gotten his ID out to get a beer and just stuck it in his trunk's front pocket and got back in the water). Luckily, he had his government ID with him so he was able to get in with a "drinking wristband."
When we walked in, the Comedy Club was just letting people in for a show so we walked right in a got a seat (no wait!). The show was great and lasted about 45 minutes.
If you have ever been to Pleasure Island on a thursday night, you may have noticed that there are a lot of "guys" on the island, especially in Mannequin's. Well, in case you haven't figured it out from my posts, me and my partner are both guys and noticed a lot of "family" on the island. It seems every thursday night is gay night at Mannequin's (not sanctioned by Disney, of couse, but obviously privately supported by management and employees based on the friendly treatment and tolerance). Anyway, we had a great night at the club and met a lot of local people who regularly come to the club on thursdays. We stayed til' about 1:30 to let our drinks wear off and then headed back to our hotel to crash for a few hours before everyone else got us up to go to the Magic Kingdom the next day.
We all got situated and then it was off to the water. I like Typhoon Lagoon, but, in my opinion, Blizzard Beach is a better park in terms of slides and themeing. There was no rain, lightning, or thunder like we experienced at Blizzard Beach on Monday, so no need to evacuate the water periodically like we had to do at Blizzard Beach.
For those interested, I noticed a few people carying around Typhoon Lagoon mugs with a bar code sticker on the side. Apparently, you can buy (for $9.00) an unlimited refill mug for softdrinks. I saw a couple of self-serve vending areas with electronic fountains that allowed you to scan your bar code and fill the mug up with your favorite soft drink. The technology seems pretty cool, but I am not a soft drink drinker --prefer the "orange juice' (wink, wink). Apparently the mugs are coded for that day only, and you can drink as much as you want.
We spent about 5 hours at Typhoon Lagoon and by that time we all had enough of the sun so it was back to our hotel to get ready for the evening.
We had reservations at 7:00 for the Wispering Canyon at the Wilderness Lodge. Again, my sister and her boyfriend and the kids refused to eat on Disney property and they went to another all-you can-stuff in your face trough on 192 (still don't understand this guy).
My mom and step dad and my partner and I arrived at the lodge and checked in for our priority seating. They told us about a 20 min wait and gave us our pager. We had never been in the lodge, and if you haven't been, it is worth the visit. Like Animal Kingdom Lodge, it is themed great and the grounds in back are beautiful. We only walked around for about 5 mins when our pager rang and our table was ready.
We we first got in the restaurant, I was sure we had made a mistake. The place was noisy and packed with kids (not that I don't like kids, but dinner is kind of like a time-out for me especially after being clobbered with flying kids in the wave pool all day at Typhoon Lagoon).
It took a few minutes to get into the atmosphere here, but after I got used to it, it was fun. Our waiter was great and he talked us into beers over shakes and into getting the all you can eat bar-b-que. The food was great. We all ate way too much (the pulled pork was the best!). And, for about $20.00 a person, it was a great value (I was secretly smirking when I thought about my sister's boyfriend eating on 192 thinking he was getting more for what he was paying for by eating off Disney property).
We were all supposed to hook up after dinner to go to Pleasure Island for the eveining. But when we had finished dinner, my parents said that they were beat and my sister and boyfriend backed out for whatever reason. That was ok with me and my parter because we wanted to have some fun and the family seemed like baggage at this point.
We arrived at PI about 10:00 PM on Thursday evening. There was a pretty long line to get on the island and they were checking everyone's ID's. My parter is 27 and we both look pretty young so we knew to have ours out and ready when we got checked (my partner had lost his Driver's license at Blizzard Beach on Monday and we had been calling the park but it had still not yet been recovered form the river where he thinks he lost it-- the dope had gotten his ID out to get a beer and just stuck it in his trunk's front pocket and got back in the water). Luckily, he had his government ID with him so he was able to get in with a "drinking wristband."
When we walked in, the Comedy Club was just letting people in for a show so we walked right in a got a seat (no wait!). The show was great and lasted about 45 minutes.
If you have ever been to Pleasure Island on a thursday night, you may have noticed that there are a lot of "guys" on the island, especially in Mannequin's. Well, in case you haven't figured it out from my posts, me and my partner are both guys and noticed a lot of "family" on the island. It seems every thursday night is gay night at Mannequin's (not sanctioned by Disney, of couse, but obviously privately supported by management and employees based on the friendly treatment and tolerance). Anyway, we had a great night at the club and met a lot of local people who regularly come to the club on thursdays. We stayed til' about 1:30 to let our drinks wear off and then headed back to our hotel to crash for a few hours before everyone else got us up to go to the Magic Kingdom the next day.
!! Looking forward to reading more.
