Time for a short
recap
I feel like I need one, dont you? Here goes
.
We departed Buffalo, NY on Sunday April 19th.
Sunday, April 19th--DTD and Disney Quest
Monday, April 20th--Animal Kingdom
Tuesday, April 21st--Blizzard Beach and Resort Day
Wednesday, April 22--Magic Kingdom
Thursday, April 23rd--Hollywood Studios
Friday, April 24th--Epcot
Whew! That brings us current! We are now on
Day 7 of our vacation,
Saturday April 25th.
Our plan for today:
*Sleep in and hit Typhoon Lagoon at or about park opening (10:00 am)
*enjoy Typhoon lagoon until 1 or 2 pm
*back to POR to change clothes
*head back to Epcot to finish touring Future World
*see Illuminations
Sleeping in was a great idea! We had been out at Epcot until midnight the night before and it felt good to sleep in and not be awakened by an early wake-up call from Stitch!
We got up around 8 or so and began to get ready for the day. We ate a breakfast of cold cereal, pop-tarts, and coffee. Jeff likes to walk to the main building each morning and get our coffee
and I appreciate the coffee delivered to my door!
It was waterpark day and we wanted to look our best! I had been collecting Disney temporary tattoos for the trip, so we all decided to ink up for our day at Typhoon Lagoon!
Here are Jeff, Jonah..... and Isaiahs leg!!
And Jeff and I showing off our new tats! Mine is Boo from Monsters Inc.
With that done, we packed our waterpark bag and headed off to catch the bus. We arrived at Typhoon Lagoon just before rope drop
.
sweet!
We headed to the locker rooms to change and sunscreen before scoping out a spot to park our stuff for the morning. Jeff rented a locker while I sunscreened the boys. (We are from the frozen tundra of upstate NY and our white skin had taken a beating at Blizzard Beach on Tuesday. I wanted to keep that from happening again!)
We headed straight to the Crush and Gusher! We had seen this on the TV at POR and were looking forward to checking this so-called "water roller coaster" out! Isaiah and Dan teamed up and Jonah, Jeff and I went as a threesome. We got some great Photopass pics so Ill just let them do the talking!
Ok
those tubes are NOT easy to exit gracefully!
Im not sure how many times we rode this, but we went up and down MANY times!! It is so
FUN!! At one point, I rode with a little girl who didnt want to go alone. Her grandmother asked if I would ride with her, so I did
.she was really cute and we had a nice conversation. It was fun to ride with a little girl who screamed and giggled like me!!
Once we had our fill of the Crush n Gusher, we decided to go check out the snorkeling attraction. I wasnt sure if Jonah was old enough to do it, but I wanted to find out so we made our way in that direction. I want to say here that Typhoon Lagoon was not nearly as easy to navigate as Blizzard Beach. Its an older park and the signage is not as good or abundant! We finally did find the Shark Reef and there was no age limit!
Woo-Hoo!!! Jeff and I had done this on our honeymoon and I was so excited that the boys could experience it as well!
We got our snorkel gear and headed to the area where we got a short tutorial on how to use it from a Cast Member. Then we went to the edge of the very chilly pool/reef and sat on the edge to wait for instructions. They have groups sit on the edge, enter together, test the gear, then head out before sending the next group. We were instructed to get in the water and drop to our knees. Then we were to put our faces in the water and practice breathing through the snorkel. If all went well
no leaks, etc
we could head out into the reef. We were instructed to keep moving across the reef, not to swim at the fish, and not to stand on the island in the middle. EASY! The boys tested their gear, I made sure they were all set, then I set to checking mine out. The boys were already snorkeling away when I noticed that Jeff was having serious issues with his mask. Every time he tested it, it would leak. Meanwhile the boys are halfway across already! The CM was not all that attentive and Jeff was getting frustrated, so he just decided to deal with the small leak and he set off. We made our way across and were able to get up close and personal with all kinds of beautiful fish, sharks and rays. So COOL!
As we exited the pool on the other side, the boys were waiting for us. Isaiah was upset because he didnt get to see many fish. Apparently Jonah had gotten way ahead of him and he was concerned that Jonah wasnt a strong swimmer. He swam quickly to catch up to him and then just got out! Cute that he was concerned about his brother, but good grief
.there was a lifeguard in the middle of the reef and one at both ends! LOL! Anyway
he wanted to go again, so I said I would do that with him. Jeff was mad about his gear and the other two were not interested in doing it again, so Isaiah and I set off to swim with the sharks again while they showered the salt water off and turned in their gear. It was really a cool thing to be able to do with just Isaiah
we had a good bonding moment!
Next on our agenda was the SURF POOL!! The boys love wave pools
Im not a big fan. I get seasick for one, so the motion of the waves doesnt do me any favors. Second
I hate to be pulled underwater. It scares me silly, and wave pools are notorious for doing just that. But
I had heard this one was a sight to behold, so off we went.
Some pictures I took along the way.
Like usual, the theming is spot on and well done! Im always impressed by the little details!
So
.here it is. The infamous Surf Pool.
Come on now
that looks harmless enough! I wade in and Jeff ,Jonah and I hang out in the not-too-deep water to await the wave. It took forever and I was really ready to just get out when I heard it.
WHOOSH! Ok
now Im scared!
That wall of water hit me and took me under, knocked me around a bit and caused me to lose my sense of direction before spitting me back out. UGH!!! Okay
.I did it
thats enough for me!!! I made my way out while the boys enjoyed the surf. I stayed safely on shore and took pictures!
Its hard to really get a sense of how
HUGE that wave is in the pictures. Look closely and you will see people IN the wave. Its a
big one, I tell you! Very cool, but I prefer to just watch in admiration!
We all rode the Humunga Kowabunga.
Yee-ha!! Even Jonah braved that one! We all got major wedgies, but it was so worth it! Im sure we rode more slides at Typhoon Lagoon, but Im not really sure what they were! Its tough when you dont have your camera to document the memory! Here are a couple pics of Jeff and Jonah hanging out on the beach.
Funny story alert!
Remember that Jeff couldn't get his snorkel gear to work appropriately? He was SO frustrated and it really ruined the experience for him. Well, as we were sitting enjoying the day, he started laughing out loud. I asked what was funny and he said he had just realized why the snorkel and mask wouldn't work. In order for the mask to make a seal and not leak, the CM had said to be sure to push the hair on your forehead back and out of the way. Being bald (love your bald head, honey!), Jeff didn't worry about that. LOL!! BUT..he failed to make the connection between the leaky mask and his moustache! He has a goatee and the hair above his lip was causing the seal to fail and water to come in near his nose!!
Too funny! He was all about blaming the equipment and being mad!
By about 1:45 we were ready to head back to POR. We grabbed nachos and soft pretzels as a quick lunch and made our way to the bus stop.
Next Installment
.back to Epcot!
and then I'll sit and type up the installment....thanks for stopping in! Hope you are having a great day as well! 
the older kids did both water parks when we went in May! the preferred TL over BB. They did not go to the reef; cost extra money and they wanted to go eat at Rainforest (food trumps at that age)
