The Sunshine,Moonlight,Good Times & Boogie(board) Tour Day12

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Previously on this tour...

Introduction
Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven
Day Eight
Day Nine
Day Ten
Day Eleven

Day Twelve 31st August 2007

It is my birthday today….not today as in when I’m typing this…I mean today on holiday…

Somehow, I seem to have stumbled across a fast forward button from being in my early twenties to being able to see the big 4..0…on the horizon.

It seems that just a few days ago, I was sat in my car in the car park of Bolton hospital speaking to my Mum & Dad on the phone, (car phones back then were plumbed in to the dashboard) telling them we’d had a girl, and to get there asap.

In those days, I had no money, a job I had no passion for, and a feeling life should involve something more than the weekly grind….as that just leads to having more kids I quickly found….and there should also be something more than the nine to five. I was so naïve that I actually thought I would always be able to work just work nine to five too.

But look at me now, I have… no money, a job I have no passion for, and….ah well some things never change. But it is now a lot less than a weekly grind by the way. Such is life.

So as I sit here rambling on about my mid life crisis, with two kids whose childhoods are disappearing quicker than Jim Davison’s fan base, what is my point I hear you ask.

I don’t have a point I’m afraid, just a desire to have many more of the types of days I’m about to experience on this holiday. It is just such a shame that these are the exception and not the rule.

Anyway, enough of my inane, maudlin ramblings…what did we do today?

I am awake first at around 8.30am, and I start to make breakfast. Even on my birthday I am the perfect husband/father.

After ever so gently encouraging the others to wake, and offering them toast, orange juice, coffee and fruit loops, I am quite offended to find my offerings not well received. Having it all in the same bowl saves time and washing up.

So I then wander out onto the balcony to leave them to wash, brush and dress.

We are out of the room by 9.10, and we wander down the Boardwalk towards Epcot. It really is a fantastic thing to be able to walk to the parks.

The place looks nice, and I can’t think of many better places to spend a birthday. Well, some exceptions spring to mind, involving the Girls Aloud dressing room, but at my age that would do me more harm than good I think, and a day at Epcot will last longer for sure!!

We are soon inside the park and of course heading for The Land to secure our Fastpass for Soarin’.

It is 9.30 by the time we get there…

and our FP is for 10.40, which is pretty good going.

Next on the plan is to get to Test Track before the queue gets above four hours and/or it breaks down.

The sign outside says 20 minutes, but we really just walk through the long queue area. They are just clearing the last of yesterday’s queue and we are soon on,

and into one of the briefing rooms.

There now follows a master class in theme park photography. With no consideration for my own safety, the safety of my incredibly expensive £45 camera, or fear of incurring the full legal wrath of the Disney Corporation, I snap away whilst being whisked around Test Track. Watch and learn.

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and for those who have never ridden TT, this is the secret grand finale.

Out into the car showroom, and of course we sit enviously in some lovely cars, cursing the fact that we live in the UK…again.

This car was around £11.65 at current exchange rates. Louise liked it so much she was trying to dismantle it and get it into our case.

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Rebecca jump starts the engine and floors it….

only to be thwarted by the fact it won’t fit through the shop.

Louise decides she really does prefer her four year old Fiesta, and does not want one of these when she gets home.

And I decide to get one of these…

if I save really hard, Rebecca’s great grandkids will be able to buy one of these.

In the shop, we do some present buying. My little nephew George loves cars, so we get him a set of “matchbox” style ones in the shop, and show off by saying very loudly that we’d like our package sent back “TO THE BOARDWALK….WHERE WE ARE STAYING….FOR SEVERAL NIGHTS”.

Rebecca points out that George is actually 23 now….but he’ll get what he’s given and like it.

We need a drink at this point, and a restroom. We find both and sit on a bench enjoying them…well just the drinks as otherwise it would be too messy.

Next on the list is Mission Space. Well, for everyone apart from Emily that is, who says she’ll wait in the shop. Well done for being 12 Emily…it means we feel we can let her do that now without one of us staying with her.

After a twenty minute warning about not talking to anyone and how to take down a grown man with one kick, we feel we can go on the ride.

The CM asks us if we would like the spinning or non-spinning version, the words “non-spinning” stay forever halfway down my tongue as Louise quickly says “spinning”.

We snap the in queue scenery….

That is already making me feel queasy!!

The anticipation grows as we wait

Once in the briefing room, Gary Sinese’s hair causes us great hilarity as ever….

and we have our usual discussion about it being a wig or not.

The ride itself is a mix of a great thrill and a great risk of re-visiting my breakfast. We meet Emily in the shop, and start the journey across to Soarin’ now to use our FPs. I enjoy my breakfast for a second time, but it tasted better first time around.

As we smugly hand in our fastpasses we marvel at the willingness of people to wait over an hour for any ride, especially when there are still fastpasses available for later in the day. We literally walk straight on, and Louise is delighted to find that we are on the lowest row. She has a mortal fear of heights and on our first time on this ride almost broke the arm of the bloke next to her…and it wasn’t me.

I have to say that the ride is ruined slightly when you can see people’s feet dangling down into your line of vision and I prefer to be on the first/highest row.

As we leave the land, we decide to try the new Nemo ride, and I “entertain” my family with witty word plays based on the watery theme of our upcoming ride. I was rather proud of my repertoire…so much so that I wrote most of them down in my notes it seems, so you must suffer them too.

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I told the girls that this ride had my “seal” of approval

Look, you can see Nemo outside as we app “roach” the ride

As we enter the queue I tell them to make sure no-one can “mussel” in to the line in front of us.

I tell the kids to look out for the many “crushed asians” on this ride

And that this ride is most “current” addition to Epcot.

When I’m told to stop, I tell the kids not to be “shellfish”, and to just enjoy the ride as we had not “tide” it before

This went on for about twenty minutes as we queued for the ride, and Louise is ever so gently reaching the end of her tether…..I tell her she must “Ne Mo” patience.

Ho hum…it kept me amused anyway.

The ride itself is OK, but firmly aimed at the young. I don’t want to make “anemone” of anyone by slagging this ride off…but it was slightly disappointing to be honest.

Exiting the ride we spot a diver about to get into the tank thing, and we watch the presentation there for a few minutes.

We are “tank full” to have caught this for the first time, but we leave now as our desire for food conquers our interest in scuba diving. I hate to be a damp “squid”, but I drag everyone away drawn by the lure of burger and chips…..which we soon find at the Electric Umbrella.

I take a picture on the way, which shows some impending cloud cover…

It is 12.30 now and this is some kind of record for us. I don’t think we have ever eaten lunch in the PM at Epcot. It is a proud moment indeed, and a good morning’s work, to have the main headliners done by now.

We all have a burger, Rebecca gets BBQ sauce all down her top, which is a regular occurrence for her. Most of her wardrobe has a dirty mark in more or less the same spot. Mucky pup.

After lunch we are drawn into Mousegear by its tractor beam….why they have farm equipment here I don’t know, but we cannot escape it.

We browse every single item in the shop, and the girls build a Mr. Potato Head each.

Having taken pictures of them there is absolutely no need to purchase them and we move on, to some silly hat wearing instead.

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As we leave Mousegear, we start to take some photos near the fountains

When a kindly gent appears and offers to take us all together, as long as we return the favour for him with his camera. Why he wanted a photo of us on his camera I don’t know, but we obliged nonetheless, leaving with him a slightly puzzled look on his face.

Still, our photo turned out nice.

Now, where were we? Ah yes on our way to Journey Into Imagination.

As usual, the CMs are kindly sat around waiting for us to turn up, as they were last year, and the year before….and once we are seated the ride leaves for what is I suspect its first outing of the day.

We restroom, and as I inevitably sit outside waiting for those who wee slower than me, I start to feel the first drops of rain. We therefore go into Honey I shrunk the Audience, and after an eternity in the “pre show” bit, we finally get seated.

As we exit, the rain has arrived, and it is torrential.

See, ponchos etc

We stand under the covered exit, and watch the lightning and listen to the thunder for a bit. After ten minutes or so, it has almost stopped, and we set off back to the Boardwalk, via Canada. A bloody long walk that!!

and the UK. We did browse a couple of shops, and felt the need for some real non US chocolate, as my normal calorie intake had dipped below 10,000 per day.

Hmm, chocolate.

We chat with a CM from Nottingham for a few minutes about how he misses home, and proper tea, and other stuff. I slap him around the face a couple of times, remind him where he is, how crap the UK is, and he apologises.

As we wander out of Epcot we have a look in the World Traveller shop at International Gateway and then as we make our way back along the Boardwalk….

the boards that you walk on are lethal. Louise does a little “dancing on ice” a couple of times, but we make it back to the hotel in one piece.

The afternoon passes in a blur of Hannah Montana and Zak and Cody, and as we are booked in at the Yachtsman Steakhouse at 7.30, Louise only has around three hours to get ready. It’s going to be a close call.

By some miracle we are out of the room by 7 and we get the boat across the water to the Y&BC.

We check in and are seated within five minutes. Our server is Oscar, who is anything but a grouch.

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I treat myself to some sort of banana martini….

and we all settle in for a lovely meal.

Emily looks a little less than with it…

but soon perks up when the food comes.

We have –

Me - Shrimp Cocktail/New York Strip Steak/Three Stone Fruit thingy

Louise – Caesar Salad (for a change)/Filet Mignon/Gooey Chocolate Cake

Emily – Chicken Noodle Soup/Fillet Mignon/Gooey Chocolate Cake

Rebecca – Caesar Salad/Fillet Mignon/Kids Jigsaw dessert thing

I pine for the days when the kids ordered a cheeseburger off the kids menu, and brace myself for the bill later.

My steak

The Fillet Mignon

The wife

The chocolate cake

The three stone fruit thing

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The kids jigsaw dessert thing

The birthday boy

So we eat for the next little while

and there is a lot of food…which starts to take its toll.

but we love every mouthful.

Oscar (our server) is very chatty, and spotting that we are English, starts to engage me with talk of the Premiership. He of course is not American…he is South American and we have a fairly decent discussion about the relative merits of certain players. He finds out which team I support and he tells me they are the best team, ever in the world. I suspect he says that to all the boys.

He takes some piccies of us.

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and then joins the girls for one

The bill is enormous as expected, but I care not. It has been a truly wonderful meal, and it is my birthday, and if I want to spend half of what Louise spends at the hairdressers on a meal for four I will do!!

We leave around 9ish…my stomach joins us about ten minutes later, as I drag it along the floor behind me. I am a tad full.

We let the girls play air hockey for half an hour in the arcade and then slowly wander back around to the Boardwalk, as that “long” walk will burn up the couple of extra calories we may have taken on board.

I am struggling to stay awake as we take the lift up to our floor, but the girls have gone beyond tired, and are hyper. As soon as the lift doors open, they dash out and sprint the length of our corridor, waking everyone up, and then collapse at our door.

We left them there to sleep till the morning.

Happy Birthday me. What a great day despite becoming even older.



Day Thirteen is Here

 

[TotallyAngelic]

What an amazing way to spend your birthday!

 

[KayleeUK]

A great way to spend your birthday

 

[Beth__WDW23/6/02]

A great birthday

 

[Minniespal]

A lovely way to spend your birthday Craig

 

[Tammy Stringer]

Glad you enjoyed your birthday Craig

Tammy

 

[mandymouse]

Once in the briefing room, Gary Sinese’s hair causes us great hilarity as ever….

and we have our usual discussion about it being a wig or not.

As if someone would deliberately have a wig made to look like that

Glad you had a great birthday Craig

Mandy

 

[Tartan Tigger]

Glad you had such a lovely birthday Craig.

 

[florida sun]

Sounds like a wonderful birthday Craig

 

[mark&sue]

Sounds like a great birthday meal to finish off a fab day


susan

 

[SusanEllen]

Many happy returns of the day!

 

[arieljasmine]

Fantastic birthday. I loved your Test Track pictures, especially the last one!

Laur's