Day 4 - 7/17 - Thursday
After a quick breakfast in the room, it was back to the parks today. We promised the girls we would come back to the hotel at 1:00 because they still hadn't gone swimming in the pool yet. We actually started to buy some souvenirs today. Thing2 is a huge scooby doo fan so she had been eyeing some stuff she had never seen in New York. Thing1 was thrilled with the midevil (sp?) themed shops and jewelry for sale. By the time we got done it was just about 4:00, so our plan to get back to the hotel at 1:00 had been foiled. We decided to stroll around some more and get an early dinner at the Nascar Cafe. Then I saw the sign in front of the Watering Hole that said Happy Hour. It was fate I decided, so we got the girls some churros and popcorn while the Lt. and I planted ourselves at a shady table with some cold Island Blasts right off the happy hour list. It was interesting to see all the people wait until 4:00 to line up to place their orders. The bartender said that this always happens. About an hour later we left to go Nascar. We got seated right away, but waited about ten minutes before anyone came to get our order. The Lt. and Thing1 got burgers, while I ordered a turkey club. Thing2 ordered the individual pizza off the kids menu. We were disappointed with the food here. It seemed like the burgers were more like the fast food burgers you would get in burger king. Thing1 said her fries were not cooked enough and mushy. When Thing2 got her pizza, she asked where the rest of it was. It was so thin and small...about 5 inches in diameter... that the Lt. asked the waiter to put another in for her...they were $5.99 a piece. My turkey club came without any turkey on it. Sent that one back. Our waiter was no where to be found so we also went without drink refills. I had to ask the hostess to find him so that we could get the check, but even she couldn't find him and forgot about us. Then we did something we almost never do if we can't find the waiter... we got up to leave... surely someone was bound to come over then, right?... nope... we went all the way down to the bar and retail shop and asked to speak to someone in charge. So the guy in charge comes over to us and asks the Lt. if there is something he can help us with. We explain our non waiter/non check dilemma. He left and went upstairs for a few minutes and then came back with the check. That was it...no apology...no explanation...nothing. The Lt. paid and we left. It was such a weird experience, all in all. Maybe it was just us? Needless to say, we didn't go back to eat there again. We headed back to the hotel to swim.
The pool was very nice. There was a special area for kids to play where there were fountains and sprinklers. We went to check it out, but the girls weren't impressed. They just wanted to swim. I personally thought that there were not enough lifeguards for such a large pool... there were 2... especially when the pool is so oddly shaped with lots of little "islands" that obstructed their view. Just one of my observations... I always keep the girls in my sight anyway.
More to come, sorry, I know this one got a bit long.
After a quick breakfast in the room, it was back to the parks today. We promised the girls we would come back to the hotel at 1:00 because they still hadn't gone swimming in the pool yet. We actually started to buy some souvenirs today. Thing2 is a huge scooby doo fan so she had been eyeing some stuff she had never seen in New York. Thing1 was thrilled with the midevil (sp?) themed shops and jewelry for sale. By the time we got done it was just about 4:00, so our plan to get back to the hotel at 1:00 had been foiled. We decided to stroll around some more and get an early dinner at the Nascar Cafe. Then I saw the sign in front of the Watering Hole that said Happy Hour. It was fate I decided, so we got the girls some churros and popcorn while the Lt. and I planted ourselves at a shady table with some cold Island Blasts right off the happy hour list. It was interesting to see all the people wait until 4:00 to line up to place their orders. The bartender said that this always happens. About an hour later we left to go Nascar. We got seated right away, but waited about ten minutes before anyone came to get our order. The Lt. and Thing1 got burgers, while I ordered a turkey club. Thing2 ordered the individual pizza off the kids menu. We were disappointed with the food here. It seemed like the burgers were more like the fast food burgers you would get in burger king. Thing1 said her fries were not cooked enough and mushy. When Thing2 got her pizza, she asked where the rest of it was. It was so thin and small...about 5 inches in diameter... that the Lt. asked the waiter to put another in for her...they were $5.99 a piece. My turkey club came without any turkey on it. Sent that one back. Our waiter was no where to be found so we also went without drink refills. I had to ask the hostess to find him so that we could get the check, but even she couldn't find him and forgot about us. Then we did something we almost never do if we can't find the waiter... we got up to leave... surely someone was bound to come over then, right?... nope... we went all the way down to the bar and retail shop and asked to speak to someone in charge. So the guy in charge comes over to us and asks the Lt. if there is something he can help us with. We explain our non waiter/non check dilemma. He left and went upstairs for a few minutes and then came back with the check. That was it...no apology...no explanation...nothing. The Lt. paid and we left. It was such a weird experience, all in all. Maybe it was just us? Needless to say, we didn't go back to eat there again. We headed back to the hotel to swim.
The pool was very nice. There was a special area for kids to play where there were fountains and sprinklers. We went to check it out, but the girls weren't impressed. They just wanted to swim. I personally thought that there were not enough lifeguards for such a large pool... there were 2... especially when the pool is so oddly shaped with lots of little "islands" that obstructed their view. Just one of my observations... I always keep the girls in my sight anyway.
More to come, sorry, I know this one got a bit long.
