Travels in Orlando Part 4
The Travellers: Me (Sue) - Planner, mine of information and enforcer of time schedules
Jorge - DH & big kid
Rebecca - DD aged 6 and world class chatterbox
The Rookies: Eileen - My Mum. Disabled ECV driver and biggest kid of them all.
John - My Dad - Disney convert.
Pat - Jorges Mum - not into Disney but wants to get a tan.
Day 7 23/02/02
US & Illuminations Cruise
Woke up this morning and its still teeming with rain . But with the great British Dunkirk Spirit we set off to Ponderosa and stuff ourselves silly with their all you care to eat breakfast before US as planned. Seventeen plates of assorted food which can loosely be termed breakfast food along with a couple of gallons of coffee. Full to bursting we head up the I4. By this time the rain is so hard we could have done better with a submarine than a van but we press on undeterred. Once at US we don our lovely yellow ponchos, laughing at the massive queue who didnt think to bring theirs and are being charged $6 each for them - plain ones too! Its surprising how many people have ventured out today. Once inside we make a path straight to ET and join him on a journey to his home world. Then we squelch over to Hitchcock - I have never done this attraction before deeming it too boring but Mum and Dad want to so in we go. I have to say I was quite impressed, especially when Rebecca was picked to take part in the show in front of a blue screen. In her words: I had to hold on to a pole and pretend to scream while the man kicked me with a fake foot that he made himself She was re-enacting a scene from Dial M For Murder. I make a mental note to rent the movie when we get home. She is, of course, a real star and takes her bows modestly from the audience. After Hitchcock we cross the road to save Elroy from Dick Dastardly on Hanna Barbera (twice as theres no queue) By this time the rain has forced us to abandon the day as our sleeves and trousers are soaked to the skin and our ponchos are sticking to our legs. Mums disabled carriage rain hood has leaked through and her teeth are starting to chatter. Early dinner at Outback (for the second time - their Blooming Onions are so delicious) I had the chicken pasta which was fabulous, no dessert though as the Ponderosa breakfast was still in there too! Its happy 2 for 1 hour so we knock back our free margheritas and begin to feel slightly less like drowned rats - for now. The Illuminations cruise is less than two hours away and its raining harder than ever!
Back at the villa we collect as many ponchos as we can find along with a couple of spare blankets (sorry, villa owner) and drive to the Y&B Club. At the main entrance the valet parking attendant assures us that they cancel the cruises if the weather is too bad so Jorge is dispatched inside to check. He comes out 5 mins later to say that we can cancel if we want to but we will loose our $120 plus tax. No Way - wed drown first!!! Armed with the ponchos and blankets we troop over to the marina. If Scott the captain is disappointed that we showed he hides it well when he sees us and ushers us onto our Pontoon Boat. Scott is a really nice guy and we chugg around the lake looking at all the resorts. There are no cruise cancellations that night and all the boats go out as scheduled full of people so at least we arent alone in our watery experience! Scott says they hardly, if ever, get any no-shows as the cruises are so popular. He is also extremely knowledgeable and gives us loads of info on the hotels - did you know that the black square in the middle of the dolphin (or was that the swan?) was put there so they could run the monorail through in the future? Anyway, by the time we reach the bridge (thank merciful god for the cover of the bridge! ! ) we are sitting in pools of water and every time the boat turns Dad gets a neckfull of water off the canopy. Scott moors us up and passes round the very welcome towels. Slightly drier we turn our attention to the lake.....what a show. Its a few years since ive seen it and it has changed alot. The fireworks and music are so beautiful and Mum is yet again reduced to tears. Pat has ventured out with us this evening and even she says it is worth getting soaked for!! High praise indeed! After the finale dies away Scott turns the boat and we venture out into the rainy night. On the way back the wind is against us and there is no escaping the rain as it pelts into our faces. By the time we reach the marina we are all soaking wet and we have to troop, dripping, through the Y&B Club foyer to our car - we certainly raised a few eyebrows!! The valet parking attendant found it quite amusing that I had to sit on a towel in the van on the way home. We had planned to go to DTD for hot chocolate but we are too wet so we head back to the villa with its lovely hot showers and tumble dryer. Everyone agrees though that even in the rain we wouldnt have missed it for the world and it will be one of the highlights of our holiday.
The Travellers: Me (Sue) - Planner, mine of information and enforcer of time schedules
Jorge - DH & big kid
Rebecca - DD aged 6 and world class chatterbox
The Rookies: Eileen - My Mum. Disabled ECV driver and biggest kid of them all.
John - My Dad - Disney convert.
Pat - Jorges Mum - not into Disney but wants to get a tan.
Day 7 23/02/02
US & Illuminations Cruise
Woke up this morning and its still teeming with rain . But with the great British Dunkirk Spirit we set off to Ponderosa and stuff ourselves silly with their all you care to eat breakfast before US as planned. Seventeen plates of assorted food which can loosely be termed breakfast food along with a couple of gallons of coffee. Full to bursting we head up the I4. By this time the rain is so hard we could have done better with a submarine than a van but we press on undeterred. Once at US we don our lovely yellow ponchos, laughing at the massive queue who didnt think to bring theirs and are being charged $6 each for them - plain ones too! Its surprising how many people have ventured out today. Once inside we make a path straight to ET and join him on a journey to his home world. Then we squelch over to Hitchcock - I have never done this attraction before deeming it too boring but Mum and Dad want to so in we go. I have to say I was quite impressed, especially when Rebecca was picked to take part in the show in front of a blue screen. In her words: I had to hold on to a pole and pretend to scream while the man kicked me with a fake foot that he made himself She was re-enacting a scene from Dial M For Murder. I make a mental note to rent the movie when we get home. She is, of course, a real star and takes her bows modestly from the audience. After Hitchcock we cross the road to save Elroy from Dick Dastardly on Hanna Barbera (twice as theres no queue) By this time the rain has forced us to abandon the day as our sleeves and trousers are soaked to the skin and our ponchos are sticking to our legs. Mums disabled carriage rain hood has leaked through and her teeth are starting to chatter. Early dinner at Outback (for the second time - their Blooming Onions are so delicious) I had the chicken pasta which was fabulous, no dessert though as the Ponderosa breakfast was still in there too! Its happy 2 for 1 hour so we knock back our free margheritas and begin to feel slightly less like drowned rats - for now. The Illuminations cruise is less than two hours away and its raining harder than ever!
Back at the villa we collect as many ponchos as we can find along with a couple of spare blankets (sorry, villa owner) and drive to the Y&B Club. At the main entrance the valet parking attendant assures us that they cancel the cruises if the weather is too bad so Jorge is dispatched inside to check. He comes out 5 mins later to say that we can cancel if we want to but we will loose our $120 plus tax. No Way - wed drown first!!! Armed with the ponchos and blankets we troop over to the marina. If Scott the captain is disappointed that we showed he hides it well when he sees us and ushers us onto our Pontoon Boat. Scott is a really nice guy and we chugg around the lake looking at all the resorts. There are no cruise cancellations that night and all the boats go out as scheduled full of people so at least we arent alone in our watery experience! Scott says they hardly, if ever, get any no-shows as the cruises are so popular. He is also extremely knowledgeable and gives us loads of info on the hotels - did you know that the black square in the middle of the dolphin (or was that the swan?) was put there so they could run the monorail through in the future? Anyway, by the time we reach the bridge (thank merciful god for the cover of the bridge! ! ) we are sitting in pools of water and every time the boat turns Dad gets a neckfull of water off the canopy. Scott moors us up and passes round the very welcome towels. Slightly drier we turn our attention to the lake.....what a show. Its a few years since ive seen it and it has changed alot. The fireworks and music are so beautiful and Mum is yet again reduced to tears. Pat has ventured out with us this evening and even she says it is worth getting soaked for!! High praise indeed! After the finale dies away Scott turns the boat and we venture out into the rainy night. On the way back the wind is against us and there is no escaping the rain as it pelts into our faces. By the time we reach the marina we are all soaking wet and we have to troop, dripping, through the Y&B Club foyer to our car - we certainly raised a few eyebrows!! The valet parking attendant found it quite amusing that I had to sit on a towel in the van on the way home. We had planned to go to DTD for hot chocolate but we are too wet so we head back to the villa with its lovely hot showers and tumble dryer. Everyone agrees though that even in the rain we wouldnt have missed it for the world and it will be one of the highlights of our holiday.
