Belle1962
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 18, 1999
Say "Hello" To The Village Idiot
Our first park was Islands of Adventure. Since we had been there in November with a larger group, we just wanted to walk around and soak up the atmosphere. We, of course, headed towards Suess Landing first. Since we now had Front of the Line access with our hotel keys, we decided to jump on Cat in the Hat. This was one of the rides I didn't get to do in November because my son is traumatized by the Cat. When he was 3 years old I bought him a 4 foot tall stuffed cat in the hat. He refused to sleep if he could see it so it ended up in my closet until it went to Goodwill. We were lined up for the front seat, but when the gates opened the girl beside us (about 10) jumped into the front seat. Her mom started to say something to her but I told her it was ok. I mean, no big deal to DH & myself if we had the back seatit was just dumb luck they put us in the front seat row anyway. DH & I couldn't really remember the Cat in the hat story but as we went through the ride, it came back.
After Cat in the Hat we continued our stroll through the Islands and crossed into The Lost Continent, which is DH's favorite part of the park. We were on a mission to find Merlin. We located him as he was leaving the island for a break so we couldn't really visit with him. I noticed something on the map about a Merlin show thing at 4:30. DH & I decided we would do that. I was explaining to DH about Poseidon going down for refurbishment and he was a bit disappointed. But as we were passing it, we noticed it was open. Turns out, this was the last day for it to be open before it was going down. In November, we thought it was an ok show but not really outstanding and we wanted to try it again. In November, we were at the back of the crowd and since we are both vertically challenged we couldn't always see the action very well. Since we had FOTL, we ended up front row for each segment of the show and we really enjoyed it this time. After Poseidon, we wandered over to the silversmiths to see if their offerings for medallions had changed any since November. In November, DH & DS each got a medallion. Nothing new so we moved on. The mystical water fountain was mysteriously quiet. So we kept walking and eventually found ourselves at Jurassic Parkthe ride. We used our FOTL access again and practically walked onto the ride. Yes, we did get wet. But not as wet as the girls behind usbecause we ducked.
After this we started back towards the Lost Continent and the Merlin show. This show takes place right outside the tavern, under the big oak. As I looked at the stage, I mentioned to my DH how it looked like a kids show. One of the first things Merlin did was to find volunteers to learn the art of magic. He found the cutest little boy and girl and gave them purple apprentice hats. That left only one hat on the table (which DH did not see but I did when Merlin picked up the second apprentice hat). Knowing Merlin's next victim, er umm VOLUNTEER, would need to be an adult I slyly pointed to DH. Merlin caught sight of the ugly stick and immediately selected DH to be his next victim, er umm sorry, VOLUNTEER. Especially since he bought his own magic stick along. Merlin was out of apprentice hats but he had the perfect thing for DH- a court jester hat. Merlin tried working magic with DH but the magic rope just didn't want to perform for DH. It performed perfectly for the apprentices. Throughout the show Merlin would make jokes to/about DH that had the adults laughing. Since the children were welcomed into the magical world they became full fledged apprentices and received crowns to wear the rest of the day. Since DH could never get the magic to work for him, he received a big pin that stated "VILLAGE IDIOT", with strict instructions from Merlin to wear it the rest of the day. Which I am pleased to report DH did. (After all, you don't want Merlin mad at you!!)
Since the park would be open until 10:00 pm tonight, we decided to hop the boat back to the HRH and check out the hotel, pool and nap. We got back to the hotel and walked around through the lobby area, the health club, and other parts of the hotel. We then walked outside and checked out the pool. DH was very impressed with the pool, as he has never seen one with the beach type graduated entry. He stayed at the pool and I went back to the room to nap.
Around 7:00 pm we caught the boat back to IOA. This time, using FOTL access we jumped onto The Hulk 2x, the helmet ride thing next to the Hulk, (DH was really good at spinning us), Dr. Doom (where we met a really nice young man), and Spiderman. Before getting on Spiderman, we were sitting on the curb while DH smoked a cig and the young man from Dr. Doom approached and asked for light. While he & DH smoked we discussed all of the parksIOA & WDW and beaches in FL. I think he was going to head South Beach when he was done in Orlandohe said it sounded fun.
We then walked through Toon Lagoon, not wanting to get wet tonight we decided we would hit Toon Lagoon tomorrow. OkI got lost going around Me Ship the Olive. Twice. I thought it connected to Jurrasic Park but it doesn't. You'd think I learned my lesson right? Stay tuned for tomorrow.
We walked through Jurrasic Park which looks really neat in the dark. The gas flames at the entrance gates are really neat looking at nightcompared with during the day when you can barely see them. We were heading to The Lost Continent so we could check it out at night. When we arrived at The Lost Continent we used our FOTL to ride Dueling Dragons, first Ice, then Fire. We didn't want to wait for the front seat so we rode in the second row. Met a really nice woman & her mom from Boston in line for Ice. She wanted to ride Fire but her mom didn't so she went with us to Fire. We continued to stroll around The Lost Continent which looks really cool in the dark. The castle, poseidon and everything just looks great with the lights on them. We then decided to head out of the park and get some seats on the lawn at CityWalk to watch the fireworks from USF. I HOPE the fireworks at USF looked a lot better from inside the park because from outside they were lousy!!! I can't believe we waited 15 minutes to see them. We should have stayed in the park. Oh well, you never about something until you try it and now we know.
A quick boat ride back to HRH and we stop in at the restaurant downstairs for dinner. We decide to have it sent to the room and split a club sandwich and french fries.
Off to bedfor tomorrow DH gets to change roleshe will become WATER BOY!!!!
Our first park was Islands of Adventure. Since we had been there in November with a larger group, we just wanted to walk around and soak up the atmosphere. We, of course, headed towards Suess Landing first. Since we now had Front of the Line access with our hotel keys, we decided to jump on Cat in the Hat. This was one of the rides I didn't get to do in November because my son is traumatized by the Cat. When he was 3 years old I bought him a 4 foot tall stuffed cat in the hat. He refused to sleep if he could see it so it ended up in my closet until it went to Goodwill. We were lined up for the front seat, but when the gates opened the girl beside us (about 10) jumped into the front seat. Her mom started to say something to her but I told her it was ok. I mean, no big deal to DH & myself if we had the back seatit was just dumb luck they put us in the front seat row anyway. DH & I couldn't really remember the Cat in the hat story but as we went through the ride, it came back.
After Cat in the Hat we continued our stroll through the Islands and crossed into The Lost Continent, which is DH's favorite part of the park. We were on a mission to find Merlin. We located him as he was leaving the island for a break so we couldn't really visit with him. I noticed something on the map about a Merlin show thing at 4:30. DH & I decided we would do that. I was explaining to DH about Poseidon going down for refurbishment and he was a bit disappointed. But as we were passing it, we noticed it was open. Turns out, this was the last day for it to be open before it was going down. In November, we thought it was an ok show but not really outstanding and we wanted to try it again. In November, we were at the back of the crowd and since we are both vertically challenged we couldn't always see the action very well. Since we had FOTL, we ended up front row for each segment of the show and we really enjoyed it this time. After Poseidon, we wandered over to the silversmiths to see if their offerings for medallions had changed any since November. In November, DH & DS each got a medallion. Nothing new so we moved on. The mystical water fountain was mysteriously quiet. So we kept walking and eventually found ourselves at Jurassic Parkthe ride. We used our FOTL access again and practically walked onto the ride. Yes, we did get wet. But not as wet as the girls behind usbecause we ducked.
After this we started back towards the Lost Continent and the Merlin show. This show takes place right outside the tavern, under the big oak. As I looked at the stage, I mentioned to my DH how it looked like a kids show. One of the first things Merlin did was to find volunteers to learn the art of magic. He found the cutest little boy and girl and gave them purple apprentice hats. That left only one hat on the table (which DH did not see but I did when Merlin picked up the second apprentice hat). Knowing Merlin's next victim, er umm VOLUNTEER, would need to be an adult I slyly pointed to DH. Merlin caught sight of the ugly stick and immediately selected DH to be his next victim, er umm sorry, VOLUNTEER. Especially since he bought his own magic stick along. Merlin was out of apprentice hats but he had the perfect thing for DH- a court jester hat. Merlin tried working magic with DH but the magic rope just didn't want to perform for DH. It performed perfectly for the apprentices. Throughout the show Merlin would make jokes to/about DH that had the adults laughing. Since the children were welcomed into the magical world they became full fledged apprentices and received crowns to wear the rest of the day. Since DH could never get the magic to work for him, he received a big pin that stated "VILLAGE IDIOT", with strict instructions from Merlin to wear it the rest of the day. Which I am pleased to report DH did. (After all, you don't want Merlin mad at you!!)
Since the park would be open until 10:00 pm tonight, we decided to hop the boat back to the HRH and check out the hotel, pool and nap. We got back to the hotel and walked around through the lobby area, the health club, and other parts of the hotel. We then walked outside and checked out the pool. DH was very impressed with the pool, as he has never seen one with the beach type graduated entry. He stayed at the pool and I went back to the room to nap.
Around 7:00 pm we caught the boat back to IOA. This time, using FOTL access we jumped onto The Hulk 2x, the helmet ride thing next to the Hulk, (DH was really good at spinning us), Dr. Doom (where we met a really nice young man), and Spiderman. Before getting on Spiderman, we were sitting on the curb while DH smoked a cig and the young man from Dr. Doom approached and asked for light. While he & DH smoked we discussed all of the parksIOA & WDW and beaches in FL. I think he was going to head South Beach when he was done in Orlandohe said it sounded fun.
We then walked through Toon Lagoon, not wanting to get wet tonight we decided we would hit Toon Lagoon tomorrow. OkI got lost going around Me Ship the Olive. Twice. I thought it connected to Jurrasic Park but it doesn't. You'd think I learned my lesson right? Stay tuned for tomorrow.
We walked through Jurrasic Park which looks really neat in the dark. The gas flames at the entrance gates are really neat looking at nightcompared with during the day when you can barely see them. We were heading to The Lost Continent so we could check it out at night. When we arrived at The Lost Continent we used our FOTL to ride Dueling Dragons, first Ice, then Fire. We didn't want to wait for the front seat so we rode in the second row. Met a really nice woman & her mom from Boston in line for Ice. She wanted to ride Fire but her mom didn't so she went with us to Fire. We continued to stroll around The Lost Continent which looks really cool in the dark. The castle, poseidon and everything just looks great with the lights on them. We then decided to head out of the park and get some seats on the lawn at CityWalk to watch the fireworks from USF. I HOPE the fireworks at USF looked a lot better from inside the park because from outside they were lousy!!! I can't believe we waited 15 minutes to see them. We should have stayed in the park. Oh well, you never about something until you try it and now we know.
A quick boat ride back to HRH and we stop in at the restaurant downstairs for dinner. We decide to have it sent to the room and split a club sandwich and french fries.
Off to bedfor tomorrow DH gets to change roleshe will become WATER BOY!!!!
