wallywolverine
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2001
- Messages
- 5
Feb. 23-28
14 kids (10,11 years old)
10 chaperones
Disney Y.E.S. program
All-Star Sports....Home Run Hotel
Day 2: Wake up at 6am...another beautiful day.
Time for the coffee hike to the food court.
We are on the jungle side of building # 8, with the Grand Slam pool on the other side.
What's another 1/8 of a mile when you walk
all over Disney during the day ??
All is quiet as I make my way down the football
field between the Touchdown hotels. I look over
to my right and notice a family of four ready
to head out. Mom, Dad and two 2-3 year olds.
The kids look like rag dolls in the chairs as
Mom & Dad tie their shoes on. Go get'em !!
Get back to the room and I realize Mickey's
wake-up call is about 10-minutes away. It's too early to figure out how to cancel it so I sit
down with my coffee and wait for his call....
..and start to laugh at myself....I'm a 40-year
old account executive and I'm waiting for a pre-recorded call from a mouse to tell me he's got big things planned for me. Beam me up Mickey !!
Get the kids up and fed and we're off to Discovery Cove and Sea World. First stop is
DCove. This is everyone's first visit and we
are impressed. We are outfitted with wet suits,
snorkels and lockers and we head into the Coral
Reef. Beautiful,colorful exotic fish are everywhere. There are also sting-rays (clipped
stingers) that you can touch or pet. The kids are
loving this and some even get to feed the fish
which causes a frenzy of fish activity right in front of us. Sandy beaches and palm trees surround about 1/2 the reef so you can walk out
and into other areas like Sting-Ray Lagoon,
which is filled with all sizes of rays.
The water is salty and cooler, so we decide to jump into the winding river which encircles the whole area. This water is warm and fresh and goes
through caves and waterfalls. Everyone has a great
time and we head off to lunch before our dolphin
swim at 1pm.
Lunch is an all-you-can eat buffet and is very
good. (It is included with admission, which is about $200 per person....but worth it.)
For the dolphin swim, you first get about 20
minutes of education and instructions about dolphins and how to interact with them. Our group
of 24 is broken up into 3 groups and we wade out into the Dolphin Lagoon to meet "Flipper".
Our dolphin is "Rascal" and he is quite playful.
We get to pet, touch, splash with them and even
try out a few commands. Rascal splashes, jumps,
flips and entertains us with his squeaks and squeals. The kids get to throw him fish and everyone gets a chance for a ride.
Everyone showers,changes and we round up the herd
and catch the D.Cove shuttle to Sea World for the rest of the afternoon.
We break up into groups again and some head off to
the Shamu show.(Amazingly, we find out later that
one of the girls gets selected to come down and
pet Shamu....what a great fish day - dolphins and
whales.)
I am voluteered to take several young-uns on the
water and coaster rides. (Atlantis and Kracken).
The water ride is fun, but the Kracken is wild.
(For Northeners, this ride is better than the Raptor at Cedar Point in Ohio.)
We end up checking out the shops and enjoy a live
music show near the entrance. A girl in our group
runs across some neighbors visiting Florida and
they exchange excited greetings....it really is
a small world.
We head back to All-Sports and I take my daughter
Emily and some friends to the food court for a late dinner. We notice some cheerleaders practicing on the football field , but think nothing of it. We open the door to the food court
and then it hits us......the place is loaded with
CHEERLEADERS !!!.....we talk to some and find out
that they just got out of a competition and are just coming down to get dinner. They are all friendly and well-behaved and everyone has a good time waiting in line. It's almost 8:30pm and the place is jumping. We eat and then kick field goals
at the end of the football field. We are having a
riot until closing time.....security closes down the field about 10:15pm. Just as well, we need to get some rest.
Next up....Day 3 ....MGM, Animation magic and Magic Kingdom...and comedy girl.
14 kids (10,11 years old)
10 chaperones
Disney Y.E.S. program
All-Star Sports....Home Run Hotel
Day 2: Wake up at 6am...another beautiful day.
Time for the coffee hike to the food court.
We are on the jungle side of building # 8, with the Grand Slam pool on the other side.
What's another 1/8 of a mile when you walk
all over Disney during the day ??
All is quiet as I make my way down the football
field between the Touchdown hotels. I look over
to my right and notice a family of four ready
to head out. Mom, Dad and two 2-3 year olds.
The kids look like rag dolls in the chairs as
Mom & Dad tie their shoes on. Go get'em !!
Get back to the room and I realize Mickey's
wake-up call is about 10-minutes away. It's too early to figure out how to cancel it so I sit
down with my coffee and wait for his call....
..and start to laugh at myself....I'm a 40-year
old account executive and I'm waiting for a pre-recorded call from a mouse to tell me he's got big things planned for me. Beam me up Mickey !!
Get the kids up and fed and we're off to Discovery Cove and Sea World. First stop is
DCove. This is everyone's first visit and we
are impressed. We are outfitted with wet suits,
snorkels and lockers and we head into the Coral
Reef. Beautiful,colorful exotic fish are everywhere. There are also sting-rays (clipped
stingers) that you can touch or pet. The kids are
loving this and some even get to feed the fish
which causes a frenzy of fish activity right in front of us. Sandy beaches and palm trees surround about 1/2 the reef so you can walk out
and into other areas like Sting-Ray Lagoon,
which is filled with all sizes of rays.
The water is salty and cooler, so we decide to jump into the winding river which encircles the whole area. This water is warm and fresh and goes
through caves and waterfalls. Everyone has a great
time and we head off to lunch before our dolphin
swim at 1pm.
Lunch is an all-you-can eat buffet and is very
good. (It is included with admission, which is about $200 per person....but worth it.)
For the dolphin swim, you first get about 20
minutes of education and instructions about dolphins and how to interact with them. Our group
of 24 is broken up into 3 groups and we wade out into the Dolphin Lagoon to meet "Flipper".
Our dolphin is "Rascal" and he is quite playful.
We get to pet, touch, splash with them and even
try out a few commands. Rascal splashes, jumps,
flips and entertains us with his squeaks and squeals. The kids get to throw him fish and everyone gets a chance for a ride.
Everyone showers,changes and we round up the herd
and catch the D.Cove shuttle to Sea World for the rest of the afternoon.
We break up into groups again and some head off to
the Shamu show.(Amazingly, we find out later that
one of the girls gets selected to come down and
pet Shamu....what a great fish day - dolphins and
whales.)
I am voluteered to take several young-uns on the
water and coaster rides. (Atlantis and Kracken).
The water ride is fun, but the Kracken is wild.
(For Northeners, this ride is better than the Raptor at Cedar Point in Ohio.)
We end up checking out the shops and enjoy a live
music show near the entrance. A girl in our group
runs across some neighbors visiting Florida and
they exchange excited greetings....it really is
a small world.
We head back to All-Sports and I take my daughter
Emily and some friends to the food court for a late dinner. We notice some cheerleaders practicing on the football field , but think nothing of it. We open the door to the food court
and then it hits us......the place is loaded with
CHEERLEADERS !!!.....we talk to some and find out
that they just got out of a competition and are just coming down to get dinner. They are all friendly and well-behaved and everyone has a good time waiting in line. It's almost 8:30pm and the place is jumping. We eat and then kick field goals
at the end of the football field. We are having a
riot until closing time.....security closes down the field about 10:15pm. Just as well, we need to get some rest.
Next up....Day 3 ....MGM, Animation magic and Magic Kingdom...and comedy girl.
