Thursday, August 28th
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Now mid-way through the second week of our trip, the kiddos were starting to feel the effects of all the excitement of our vacation and desperately needed to get caught up on some shut-eye. So once Steve and I were up and around, we opted to let the sleeping dogs lie, so to speak, because everyone knows that well rested teens are happy teens
. With another gorgeous morning at our disposal, though, Steve and I opted to go on a short jaunt, just the two of us, to SeaWorld to pick up the CD of our photos from the day prior (with our unlimited parking pass, these kind of little stops were easy to squeeze in). We knew we shouldnt be gone long and would most likely be back before either of them managed to roll themselves out of bed.
We hopped into the van and were off for the short drive to SeaWorld. Since we were in no hurry and enjoyed the opportunity for some alone time, we took the Vineland/I-Drive route versus the I4. Traffic was brisk but we still arrived fairly quickly.
Presenting our parking pass to the gate agent, we were quickly (and not so friendily) informed that our pass was not valid. We told the young man that we had just used it the day prior, so he scanned it again and for the second time, told us it was not valid. We patiently explained it was a 14 day pass, and we had not activated it until the week before at Aquatica, so it could not have expired and there must be another problem. Back and forth, back and forth the discussion went.....its not valid. Well, it should be. Well, it isnt.
Finally, he gives us a short term/taxi parking permit and tells us we will need to go to Guest Services to straighten it out. Steve drives in, parks the van and stays there while I go through bag check, then the ticket turnstiles, then to Guest Services where I waited 15+ minutes for an available person to help. I explain the problem, they go back and forth between 3 different guest relations workers, and eventually decide they cant seem to fix/re-activate/re-issue my PDF pass and give me a business-card style pass to use instead. Apparently the small card was the old style Discovery Cove parking pass but it would eliminate the frustrations for the remainder of our visits to the parks during the balance of our vacation.
Or not
.
Back out we go, round the block, and back to the parking gates. We get the same guy. We hand him both the original PDF pass and the card-style pass (as we were instructed to do by Guest Services) and he says....the parking pass is still expired. I point to the card style one and explain that Guest Services gave us that card to use. He says, those are old and they dont use them anymore. At this point, Steve was really starting to get peeved, so I tell him that it was good enough for Guest Services, so it had better be good enough for him as well. Finally, after pleading our case (and were now a good 45 minutes past our original arrival time and we still havent made it to Adventure Photo), he grudgingly allows us to enter and we mercifully get a parking space
.
So much for the unlimited parking pass being the easy way to go!
At Adventure Photo, there was no line and we had our CD burned very quickly. Unfortunately, despite having explained to the photo clerk that the photos were from the day prior, she didnt change the date on the pictures to reflect the day of the visit, and all of our photos have the wrong date (August 28th versus the 27th) as a result
.
Finally, we had our CD in hand and were on our way.....what was to have taken no time to complete had officially taken almost all morning. Ah well, no worries, as thankfully we had nothing but time at our disposal that day. On the way back to the villa, we took a nice drive around Downtown Disney (and quickly decided that traffic and parking woes in that area would mean we wouldnt bother making a stop there during the balance of our vacation), then headed back to see if the kiddos were up and alive yet.
Not only were they up, they had lunch ready and waiting
(and were wondering where the heck we had gone
). Now on the downside of our holiday, they did a great job at creating a meal from the various items still remaining from our grocery expeditions the week prior.
We spent a lazy, relaxing afternoon together in the Fountains pool. For dinner, we continued enjoying our rest day by ordering take-out from Buffalo Wild Wing. The boys picked up our order from the Crossroads location while us ladies readied the table and tossed some garlic bread in the oven.
We feasted on an assortment of boneless wings, seasoned fries and mozzarella sticks.
Jake was particularly happy about this meal.....Buffalo Wild Wing is one of his favourites. And take-out wings mean left-overs for late-night snacking
. Life is good!
After dinner, we decided it was time to get off our bums and do something outside of the resort for the evening hours. It was a beautiful night....a perfect night for a round of golf....so we embarked on the short journey to Kissimmee en route to:
.
. This year, I have the odd sensation of having MORE time on my hands now that Jake is in college and has his own car. I'm not ferrying him to practices morning and evening, I have no volleyball or basketball games to go watch, and half the time he's not even here for me to cook for him.
.... especially when it holds such a special place in my heart.
I'm in my jammies every night by 8pm.
We couldnt miss out on seeing the penguins today....we just couldnt!
).
It was so busy, we didnt even get to eat dinner before it ended!
, as we too have been there, done that with someone we loved, and its the worst thing in the world. May you and your family find peace in the days to come. I hope it will help knowing that you are in my thoughts and prayers.
From all of us to you and your family.
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