The Twelve Days of Swinter: From Castaway 'Key' to a Partridge in a Palm Tree!

[sharonW]

yo rinky, hope things get calmer soon cause I am wishing upon
a star for another update!!!

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

I hear ya! The only reason I am able to get here now is because school is out! During the school year, by the time I MIGHT get the computer, I'm ready for bed!

And hey I'm still working on a TR from last July, I figure if we get clear to the end it will be a bonus!

Well I thought it was taking me forever to finish my TR, but you are about to hit the one year mark! It still has never taken me this long. I really wish I could've finished it before May hit me like a ton of bricks.

yo rinky, hope things get calmer soon cause I am wishing upon
a star for another update!!!

Sharon, I have to tell you that when I read "Yo Rinky", I heard it in the voice of Sylvester Stallone as Rocky! Thanks for the good laugh! I needed it!

Hopefully, there will be an update this week. I really hate that I have gotten so swamped, but I will try to get this thing back on track!

 

[sharonW]

Glad I made ya laugh, we all need those!
Looking forward to a new post and also
anxious to know if another trip is in the
works or the pool won out!!

 

[AvasMommy526]

Okkk I'm subbing in here! I just spent the last week reading your last TR and I loved it! Im reading your PTR now lol! I've got a lot of catching up to do! Just wanted to say you guys seem like a wonderful family and your DD is the sweetest! You must be so proud of all her accomplishments already! Ok back to catching up!

 

[alabamagirl]

I am loving your trip report! We are going on a land and sea adventure next year so this is great to help me with planning! I hope you are able to finish. I knowmhow crazy summer is with kidsmin the house allmday!

 

[sharonW]

ok already, life.....move on over and give Rinky a chance to update her amazing disney adventure!!!!
I need a DIZ fix soon!!!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Hey Rinky! Hope you are well!

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

Glad I made ya laugh, we all need those!
Looking forward to a new post and also
anxious to know if another trip is in the
works or the pool won out!!

You really have no idea how much I need a laugh!

For now, the trip is on and the pool is off but we have until August to decide for sure.

Okkk I'm subbing in here! I just spent the last week reading your last TR and I loved it! Im reading your PTR now lol! I've got a lot of catching up to do! Just wanted to say you guys seem like a wonderful family and your DD is the sweetest! You must be so proud of all her accomplishments already! Ok back to catching up!

Well thank you! That's so nice of you to say! I am VERY proud of my DD. She is the apple of my eye!

I'm glad you've enjoyed the TRs. I'm getting ready to post a new update. Sorry for delay. I hope I'll be more on top of things soon.

I am loving your trip report! We are going on a land and sea adventure next year so this is great to help me with planning! I hope you are able to finish. I knowmhow crazy summer is with kidsmin the house allmday!

Thank you! I am getting ready to post a new update. I really hate that I've been away.

I think you will love the land/sea trip! We really enjoyed the combination of both.

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

ok already, life.....move on over and give Rinky a chance to update her amazing disney adventure!!!!
I need a DIZ fix soon!!!

Coming up!

Oh my goodness! I have been popcorned!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You have reached new lows as a disser when you get popcorned.

Hey Rinky! Hope you are well!

I'm good! I hope all of you are too. I have missed my Dis friends a bunch!! Update coming up!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Rinky is back! Looking forward to more!

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

So did you think I was never coming back? Actually, I was starting to wonder myself. Let’s just say this summer has been ‘challenging’ so far. In addition to being very, very busy, I’ve also had a few curve balls thrown at me.

I know I’ve mentioned that I keep kids after school, but I also keep them full time when they are out on breaks. Well, I got two new girls to keep this summer and it has been a major adjustment. One of them is really giving me a fit and I’m seriously struggling just to keep my sanity in tack most days. She will not eat anything that I cook, she refuses to play outside (she only wants to play video games), and she has decided that MY child is going to be the target of her frustrations! Needless to say, I’m stressed out and exhausted already and there are 8 more weeks of summer left!

Anyway, I know you didn’t come here to read about all my child care drama, but I just wanted you to know that if you could’ve been a fly on my wall for the last month, you would know why I haven’t been around the DIS.

I do have some good news to share though if you don’t mind indulging me for just one minute. I am so proud of my baby girl! She competed for the first time in the State ‘Olympic’ Games this year in gymnastics and won a silver (2nd) and two bronze (3rd) metals!!!! I was blown away! I couldn’t believe she did so well at the state level! She’s only been taking gymnastics for a year so I thought she did outstanding! Here’s my tumble bug …

So proud of her!!! (Sorry the picture looks weird but I had to blur out a lot of names.)

So the question of the day is…. am I going to be allowed to show my face around here after being gone so long? I sure hope so! Lord knows I NEED something fun to distract me from everyday life right now!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the last episode that aired a millenium ago, we had just finished up swimming with…

Ok, maybe they weren’t ‘gigantus’, but they were definitely ‘sharkus’!

We said goodbye to the Shark Reef and got back onto the coolest highway ever!

Lots of hanging, dripping buckets up ahead…

DH thought he was going to paddle around them, but I made sure he couldn’t!

I know I’ve said it over and over, but the hibiscus bushes everywhere are so gorgeous!

Very happy guy!

Very happy girl!

And there was a very happy mom there too, but you won’t see any pictures of her in her bathing suit.

After a bit of cruising, we came upon our ‘exit’. This was the ride I was most looking forward to!

I took some pictures of the view as we walked up the stairs to get to the ride entrance. This is the enormous wave pool!

Sweet smelling Carolina Jasmine! I’m sure they planted that in honor of us!

I loved this view!

So cool!

This was another slide that I can’t recall the name of right now. The park is so well planned out. There is something neat to look at in every direction!

As you wind along in the ride queues, you walk over or under other rides and get to see what they are like.

We finally made it to the top of Gangplank Falls and were ready for our whitewater rafting ride!

Continued in next post

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

It seems like you can see all of Disney World from up there! We saw the balloon at DTD and I would’ve taken more pictures but before we knew it, it was our turn.

This ride is great for families because everyone can ride together and it is nice and mild for the ride chickens like me!

It’s like Kali River Rapids at AK except you are GUARANTEED to get soaked (and that’s a good thing!).

Very fun ride, but I wish it lasted longer. It seemed like it was over before we really got started.

We headed back down to ground level and took another look at the wave pool. This is the calm before the storm!

We found these small slides right at the entrance to the wave pool and DD decided to give them a whirl.

We really wanted to try that wave pool out. It looked awesome, but a bit scary too. We thought we better just dip our toes in first and make sure we could handle it. It seemed way more intense than other wave pools we’ve been in.

It only took one roll of the waves for us to figure out that we shouldn’t venture out too far. We are all good swimmers, but the force of that water was unreal! To me, it was much worse than the ocean because when (notice I didn’t say ‘if’) a wave knocks you down, you’re going to get a face full of concrete! We played it safe and hung around in the lagoon area.

DD would stand and watch the wave coming, thinking she would brave it, then chicken out when it got too close!

Here it comessssss!

Ruuuunnnnnn!!!

‘Wave running’ will really wear a girl out! It was time to sniff out some lunch.

DH said this was his kind of ‘board room’!

We found a hot dog cart nearby and DH and DD decided that sounded good to them.

What is it about water activities that makes you absolutely ravenous!? She gobbled up that hot dog like it was a steak!

And my cave man found his club!

The man LOVES a turkey leg so he was thrilled to find them on the menu. I’ve tasted them and know they are good, but I just can’t bring myself to eat one in public. They just aren’t very lady-like. And besides, I’ve never seen a turkey with legs that big, and I am convinced it’s actually ostrich meat!

I decided to pass on the dogs and ostrich legs and go in search of something else.

Continued in next post

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

I meandered around and ended up at Leaning Palms.

I ordered the burger, fries and cheesecake.

It was just ok. The burger was pretty dry, but the fries and cheesecake were good. (We were able to use CS credits for all our food.) Overall, it was a good lunch and we felt refreshed and ready to hit some more slides!

Up next: More water park fun!

 

[SoonerGirl]

Yay I'm so excited to see you posting again!!

First of all, congratulations to your DD on her accomplishment, that is awesome!

Secondly, I have to tell you that because of you I have cancelled our plans to do the Wild Africa Trek and we are going to Typhoon Lagoon instead! The pictures you posted today just solidified it for me even more I have a question though, I read somewhere that for something like $40 you can reserve two lounge chairs with an umbrella and it also comes with towels. Do you think something like that would be worth it? I really just want a place to dump our stuff where it won't get messed with, know what I mean?

 

[mickeystoontown]

Your pictures made me smile 'cause I can tell ya'll were having such a good time. I have to agree that the theming and the sights at Typhoon are great! You've just confirmed our need that we must go back next trip.

I don't blame you one bit for sticking to the shallow waters of the wave pool. Those waves come at you so fast and hard! I'd be right there by your daughter running away!

Oh and I almost forgot, pass along my congrats to your baby girl on her gynmastics wins!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

YAY an update!!!


I'm so sorry things aren't getting any better with your daycare kids. How did VBS go?

Congrats to your DD!! That is so great!


Awesome update. It looks so beautiful there. I like how you can see other attractions while getting to your destination.

As you know, we have never been to a WDW waterpark. But one of my DH's co-workers was at one of them a few years back and him and his wife were sitting on chairs not too far from the end of the wave pool and he said a wave came so hard that it knocked them both off their chairs and his wife skidded across the pavement and ended up having to buy a new swimsuit.

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

Rinky is back! Looking forward to more!

I hope I'm back. I'm taking it one day at a time.

I've got to get caught up on your TR. I need about 100 hours in a day though.

Yay I'm so excited to see you posting again!!

First of all, congratulations to your DD on her accomplishment, that is awesome!

Secondly, I have to tell you that because of you I have cancelled our plans to do the Wild Africa Trek and we are going to Typhoon Lagoon instead! The pictures you posted today just solidified it for me even more I have a question though, I read somewhere that for something like $40 you can reserve two lounge chairs with an umbrella and it also comes with towels. Do you think something like that would be worth it? I really just want a place to dump our stuff where it won't get messed with, know what I mean?

Thank you! I was soooo shocked and super proud!

As for the chair rental.... I think it would depend on the time of year. I noticed your ticker said your trip is 2 months away. Is that when you are going to TL? If so, it might be worth it in August or over Labor Day week. We definitely did not need anything like that in Oct/Nov though. The park was very empty and we had no problem finding a chair to leave our stuff on.

Also consider that you probably won't be doing much lounging on your first trip to TL. The hours are much shorter than at other parks and you'll probably want to do everything you can since you haven't been there before. So less time and all new attractions = little lounging time. But that's just my perspective. If you think it will be crowded or you plan to go on the weekend when the locals are out, it might be a good idea.

 

[sjs314]

Welcome back to the land of DIS! So sorry to hear your summer of watching the girls has started off on a sour note. Hopefully thing will get better perhaps the new girl is just testing you and will soon settle in.

Tell your DD Congratulations on winning the medals! I could not be happier for her if she was my own. Way to Go!

I use to spend my entire time on a tube in the lazy river at TL.

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Congratulations to your daughter! She looks so proud!

What a great afternoon at Typhoon Lagoon. I would love to take my kiddos there someday. Your camera was waterproof, right? I love how you were able to get such great, action shots!