Tinkabelle
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2003
- Messages
- 57
Saturday 20th December 2003
Another cold day today, but we braved it long enough to go back to Universal and finish off the rides we hadnt managed the other day. We could tell straight from the walk in that we were in fro a much busier day than last time. We headed straight for the back of the park and went on E.T., back to the Future, Men in Black (I won again!), Jaws and Earthquake, and amazingly, we didnt have to line for anything! We did go single rider on MIB twice which helped. It was a 40 minute line otherwise! We all agreed that wed had enough after these rides, and spent the rest of the afternoon shopping!
W literally shopped til we dropped, and then joined the traffic jams (last shopping Saturday before xmas!) to go for dinner at Sizzler, where we ate ourselves to another standstill!
We enjoyed a relaxing evening in the hot tub before dad and Rob had to leave for the airport to collect Robs Mum and dad who were joining us for xmas week.
Sunday 21st December 2003
Dad had an early start today as he was going on his hot air balloon flight that we booked for him for xmas. Unfortunately, this also meant an early start for me, as we didnt trust dads alarm clock! We also received a wake up phone call from Orange Blossom Balloons.
When dad returned from his balloon flight and champagne buffet breakfast, we were all ready to go out. We took Robs parents to I-Drive to collect their hire car and then we went to Disney Quest while his parents went back to the villa to acclimatise themselves.
Im surprised to be saying this, but I was disappointed with Disney Quest, this was my first time there, and I found the whole operation, slow and miserable and totally un-Disney. Having said that, I am glad I have seen it but I wouldnt rush back. I enjoyed designing and riding my own rollercoaster, and the virtual jungle cruise was great fun! I do feel as though I lost a day somewhere though, as there is no natural light in there at all and it was dark by the time we came out! The best part of the day was the massive piece of Cheescake factory cheesecake I had for lunch!!
For dinner we all went to Ponderosa on the 192, and had an awful dinner. The steaks were all cooked wrong, and half were cold. The extensions room we sat in smelt like a crematorium and the whole thing just put us off going back there this trip!
After dinner we went to celebration to see the lights on the houses. We were there in perfect time to see the final snowfall of the night on Market Street! All very seasonal!
Monday 22nd December 2003
Had a wonderful day today at Epcot! Rob and I had our Epcot Seas Aqua Tour booked for midday, so we all decided to spend the day in the park. We got there around 10a.m. and there were people everywhere! As we walked in the line for Spaceship Earth was growing longer and longer. We split up and agreed to meet again after our swim. Rob and I went with his parents to the Fountain View restaurant to get a drink. We had been to test Track and Mission Space (an impressive sight!) to see if we had time to line, but both lines were 120 minutes standby! So we had to make do with fastpasses for early evening instead!
By the time we had to leave for our tour, the lines had all been so long we had done nothing, so you can imagine how annoyed we were when we were told at Guest Services inside the park, that we were meant to meet outside of the park! I went as directed to Guest Services at the entrance, and complained that we had now used a days entrance for nothing, and he kindly gave us new tickets with all of our days reinstated, so I was happy again!
We met with our tour guide Leslie, and she took us the cast members entrance to the Living Seas attraction. We were shown around behind the scenes, and learned all about how the fish were cared for, and the types of seas creature they have in their main tank. We went to the back stage part of the manatee tank where they were all resting; did you know that each manatee eats the equivalent to 300 Iceburg lettuces a day?! We also saw the dolphin backstage part which was lovely. We were then led into changing rooms where our towels, wetsuits and lockers were waiting.
Once all 8 of us were ready, we were led through the main attraction to get to the aquarium for our swim. It was really weird walking through in your wetsuit, everyone was looking at us and saying things like Cool, scuba divers!! If any of you know the inside of the Living Seas, the big pillar in the middle of the end room at the main tank, is actually a spiral staircase which leads directly up to the top of the tank! Once we were fitted up with all of our equipment, we had a picture taken, and then we were free for 30 minutes!
The swim was wonderful! We saw a green sea turtle, countless gigantic rays and sharks (yes, sharks!), and dozens of varieties of fish. One of the most amusing things I saw though, had to be the tourists that were all waving to us and taking pictures! They obviously thought we were cast members! When we had finished we walked towards the tunnel to go back downstairs, and we walked past the top of the dolphin tank where it was feeding time, this meant we were treated to a private dolphin show! The dolphins were jumping and walking on the water for their food and it was amazing! We walked back down through the public area in our wetsuits and then changed after lovely hot showers!
Our run of good luck kept true to form when Leslie led us out into the main attraction and left us to leave in our own time, bonus, a free days access to Epcot!!! We were armed with our free photo, a T-shirt, a can of soda AND all the money we had paid ($100 each) went to the Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund, so it was all in a good cause too!
We ended our day with a few rides, Rob and his dad lined for test Track which was a 60 minute line. We had arranged to meet an hour later, so Robs mum and I went to ride the 45 minute long Universe of Energy! This meant we got to sit down and pass the time nicely! When we got out, we found that they had been sat waiting for us because Test Track had broken down, so they hadnt even been on it! It was now time for Rob, his dad and I to use our fastpasses for Mission Space! The feeling of weightlessness and G-force was something else, and it was a brilliant realistic ride!
We had a ride on the now no line Spaceship Earth before heading out. A great day!
Tuesday 23rd December 2003
The weather finally got its act together today and warmed up! So we (along with the rest of the visiting population to Orlando!) decided to give Blizzard beach a try. Rob, Sophie and I set off with Robs parents, and Max and Dad agreed to meet us in there later. Typically, as we walked in the sun was blazing down, and as soon as we sat down and got changed, the clouds appeared! Rob and Sophie went off and did the rides while I strolled around taking pictures. Robs dad laid flat out the whole time we were there s he had somehow managed to do his back in on the way. Then dad text Robs mobile to say Max wasnt feeling very well so they werent coming! What a day! We all shared a plate of funnel cake, and then we went to the car park to meet dad and Max to go to Universal for our last day. We had to help Robs dad get into the car (passenger side as he was now unable to drive!), and see them off before we went.
Of course, now that we had left the water park, the sun started blazing down on us again! So, when we got into IOA, we headed straight to Toon Lagoon to do both of the water rides! We went on Popeyes Bilge Rat Barges or whatever its called! We got soaked, Max kept his plaster cast in a carrier bag! We decided while we were wet it was as good a time as any to go on Rocky and Bullwinkles water slide (the name of which escapes me right now), I assured everyone that we had done the wettest ride, and this one would be a walk in the park on a dry day! Oops! We got DRENCHED!!! And, not even on the big drop! Its all the little ones that get you! I couldnt believe it! And of course, the sun was beginning to go down, so we got cold, all of a sudden Im not feelin so popular! Sophie and Max lined single rider stylee for Dr Dooms fearfall, while we all stood and froze in our denim clothes! We then finished our IOA tour with a night time ride on the Hulk! Wow! What a different experience riding in the dark is, it was incredible, and well worth the 30 minute wait! The park looked amazing as we came shooting out of the tunnel and straight into a corkscrew! You got a much clearer idea of when you were upside down or otherwise, cause of the lights moving! A really good end to the day!
Another cold day today, but we braved it long enough to go back to Universal and finish off the rides we hadnt managed the other day. We could tell straight from the walk in that we were in fro a much busier day than last time. We headed straight for the back of the park and went on E.T., back to the Future, Men in Black (I won again!), Jaws and Earthquake, and amazingly, we didnt have to line for anything! We did go single rider on MIB twice which helped. It was a 40 minute line otherwise! We all agreed that wed had enough after these rides, and spent the rest of the afternoon shopping!
W literally shopped til we dropped, and then joined the traffic jams (last shopping Saturday before xmas!) to go for dinner at Sizzler, where we ate ourselves to another standstill!
We enjoyed a relaxing evening in the hot tub before dad and Rob had to leave for the airport to collect Robs Mum and dad who were joining us for xmas week.
Sunday 21st December 2003
Dad had an early start today as he was going on his hot air balloon flight that we booked for him for xmas. Unfortunately, this also meant an early start for me, as we didnt trust dads alarm clock! We also received a wake up phone call from Orange Blossom Balloons.
When dad returned from his balloon flight and champagne buffet breakfast, we were all ready to go out. We took Robs parents to I-Drive to collect their hire car and then we went to Disney Quest while his parents went back to the villa to acclimatise themselves.
Im surprised to be saying this, but I was disappointed with Disney Quest, this was my first time there, and I found the whole operation, slow and miserable and totally un-Disney. Having said that, I am glad I have seen it but I wouldnt rush back. I enjoyed designing and riding my own rollercoaster, and the virtual jungle cruise was great fun! I do feel as though I lost a day somewhere though, as there is no natural light in there at all and it was dark by the time we came out! The best part of the day was the massive piece of Cheescake factory cheesecake I had for lunch!!
For dinner we all went to Ponderosa on the 192, and had an awful dinner. The steaks were all cooked wrong, and half were cold. The extensions room we sat in smelt like a crematorium and the whole thing just put us off going back there this trip!
After dinner we went to celebration to see the lights on the houses. We were there in perfect time to see the final snowfall of the night on Market Street! All very seasonal!
Monday 22nd December 2003
Had a wonderful day today at Epcot! Rob and I had our Epcot Seas Aqua Tour booked for midday, so we all decided to spend the day in the park. We got there around 10a.m. and there were people everywhere! As we walked in the line for Spaceship Earth was growing longer and longer. We split up and agreed to meet again after our swim. Rob and I went with his parents to the Fountain View restaurant to get a drink. We had been to test Track and Mission Space (an impressive sight!) to see if we had time to line, but both lines were 120 minutes standby! So we had to make do with fastpasses for early evening instead!
By the time we had to leave for our tour, the lines had all been so long we had done nothing, so you can imagine how annoyed we were when we were told at Guest Services inside the park, that we were meant to meet outside of the park! I went as directed to Guest Services at the entrance, and complained that we had now used a days entrance for nothing, and he kindly gave us new tickets with all of our days reinstated, so I was happy again!
We met with our tour guide Leslie, and she took us the cast members entrance to the Living Seas attraction. We were shown around behind the scenes, and learned all about how the fish were cared for, and the types of seas creature they have in their main tank. We went to the back stage part of the manatee tank where they were all resting; did you know that each manatee eats the equivalent to 300 Iceburg lettuces a day?! We also saw the dolphin backstage part which was lovely. We were then led into changing rooms where our towels, wetsuits and lockers were waiting.
Once all 8 of us were ready, we were led through the main attraction to get to the aquarium for our swim. It was really weird walking through in your wetsuit, everyone was looking at us and saying things like Cool, scuba divers!! If any of you know the inside of the Living Seas, the big pillar in the middle of the end room at the main tank, is actually a spiral staircase which leads directly up to the top of the tank! Once we were fitted up with all of our equipment, we had a picture taken, and then we were free for 30 minutes!
The swim was wonderful! We saw a green sea turtle, countless gigantic rays and sharks (yes, sharks!), and dozens of varieties of fish. One of the most amusing things I saw though, had to be the tourists that were all waving to us and taking pictures! They obviously thought we were cast members! When we had finished we walked towards the tunnel to go back downstairs, and we walked past the top of the dolphin tank where it was feeding time, this meant we were treated to a private dolphin show! The dolphins were jumping and walking on the water for their food and it was amazing! We walked back down through the public area in our wetsuits and then changed after lovely hot showers!
Our run of good luck kept true to form when Leslie led us out into the main attraction and left us to leave in our own time, bonus, a free days access to Epcot!!! We were armed with our free photo, a T-shirt, a can of soda AND all the money we had paid ($100 each) went to the Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund, so it was all in a good cause too!
We ended our day with a few rides, Rob and his dad lined for test Track which was a 60 minute line. We had arranged to meet an hour later, so Robs mum and I went to ride the 45 minute long Universe of Energy! This meant we got to sit down and pass the time nicely! When we got out, we found that they had been sat waiting for us because Test Track had broken down, so they hadnt even been on it! It was now time for Rob, his dad and I to use our fastpasses for Mission Space! The feeling of weightlessness and G-force was something else, and it was a brilliant realistic ride!
We had a ride on the now no line Spaceship Earth before heading out. A great day!
Tuesday 23rd December 2003
The weather finally got its act together today and warmed up! So we (along with the rest of the visiting population to Orlando!) decided to give Blizzard beach a try. Rob, Sophie and I set off with Robs parents, and Max and Dad agreed to meet us in there later. Typically, as we walked in the sun was blazing down, and as soon as we sat down and got changed, the clouds appeared! Rob and Sophie went off and did the rides while I strolled around taking pictures. Robs dad laid flat out the whole time we were there s he had somehow managed to do his back in on the way. Then dad text Robs mobile to say Max wasnt feeling very well so they werent coming! What a day! We all shared a plate of funnel cake, and then we went to the car park to meet dad and Max to go to Universal for our last day. We had to help Robs dad get into the car (passenger side as he was now unable to drive!), and see them off before we went.
Of course, now that we had left the water park, the sun started blazing down on us again! So, when we got into IOA, we headed straight to Toon Lagoon to do both of the water rides! We went on Popeyes Bilge Rat Barges or whatever its called! We got soaked, Max kept his plaster cast in a carrier bag! We decided while we were wet it was as good a time as any to go on Rocky and Bullwinkles water slide (the name of which escapes me right now), I assured everyone that we had done the wettest ride, and this one would be a walk in the park on a dry day! Oops! We got DRENCHED!!! And, not even on the big drop! Its all the little ones that get you! I couldnt believe it! And of course, the sun was beginning to go down, so we got cold, all of a sudden Im not feelin so popular! Sophie and Max lined single rider stylee for Dr Dooms fearfall, while we all stood and froze in our denim clothes! We then finished our IOA tour with a night time ride on the Hulk! Wow! What a different experience riding in the dark is, it was incredible, and well worth the 30 minute wait! The park looked amazing as we came shooting out of the tunnel and straight into a corkscrew! You got a much clearer idea of when you were upside down or otherwise, cause of the lights moving! A really good end to the day!
