A slower day

I think that that fairy must have been on leave today because things didn't work out all that well.  We were going to go to Hollywood Studios but I suggested to the kids that we go back to Magic Kingdom and see the things we hadn't yet seen there and then spend the afternoon at the Blizzard Beach water park and then get an early night.  I think the flight and the hectic couple of days has caught up on us.  So off we headed to the Magic Kingdom again. 

Here's Luke on the bus with a little sucker that he bought.  It was really funny when he started to eat it because he wasn't too sure if it had plastic on it or not.  Couldn't have been very tasty!

 Luke was on form and made a couple of very funny comments. One of the attractions here is to book a meal where you can eat with a Disney character. Luke said, "Why would somebody want to spend $40 on a meal with somebody who can't eat and can't talk?" Then, later on, we saw a 30 min queue of kids waiting to get an autograph from Tinkerbell. Luke's comment was, "Why would somebody want to wait in a 30 min queue just to get a signature from some phony fairy?" It was very funny.

[mmm - thinking about it now... perhaps this is why our fairy left us!! Everything was going just fine until that comment.]

The 2 areas that we hadn't seen yet (Frontier Land and Adventure Land) weren't as hyped as the rest and the rides etc were quite tame.  We did see quite a funny automated show where a room full of birds, flowers and wood carvings sprang to life and sang some songs.  We saved the best for last but when we finally got to Splash Mountain, it was closed due to technical difficulty.  Then we headed for the bus to take us to Blizzard Beach and it turned out that there wasn't a bus directly from the theme parks to the water parks, so we had to walk (some more) to the closest resort to pick up a bus.  When we got to the bus stop, we found out that Blizzard Beach was closed due to a technical difficulty (lots of technical difficulties happening).  The wind was starting to really pick up and I started thinking about tornados.  The concierge advised us that the weather forecast was bad for the day and we should perhaps go back to our original plan and go to Disney Hollywood Studios.  So off we headed on a bus that stopped off at 3 hotels along the way.

We got to HS and I wasn't prepared at all for what we needed to do and see.  We went to 2 of the big rides to get a fast pass and the wait was 2 hours.  The kids were getting a bit slow so we had some lunch (another revolting meal it has to be said).  After lunch we headed off to Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.  It was really funny to see Luke's transformation pre-lunch and then in the queue for a thrill ride.  He was so excited and animated! 

The ride was brilliant - the best one that I've ever been on.  The kids are still debating the best.  Basically, you go up a very innocent elevator in a building and the electricity goes off so the lift plummets.  It really takes your stomach away and I didn't know whether to laugh, vomit or scream.  I'd really like to see the design of how the ride works.  I think that if the facade of the building wasn't there, you'd see 10 or so lift boxes going around the circuit again and again and I guess that there were probably 2 or 3 circuits (to handle all the crowds).  Difficult to explain in words.  Brilliant.

 

When we came out of the tower, it was bucketing with rain.  We waited it out a bit but then put on our rain coats and headed to the Beauty and the Beast show.  It was in an amphitheatre with a roof but it was open on all sides so the rain was still coming in.  The show started but was stopped after about 3 minutes because of the inclement weather - by then it was thundering. 

Then we headed off to find something else to do (as I said - I wasn't organised with a plan).  We got quite lost and the map got wet and fell apart.  Ali said that she'd had enough and wanted to shloomph in the hotel for the rest of the afternoon.  I tried to push her on a bit so we went to the "Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow".  While we were waiting, the rain was still bucketing down and there were a couple of holes in the awning with lovely fresh rain water gushing down.  The water here is terrible and the purified bottle water (no spring water available) is pricey so I asked Ali to go and fill up the water bottle which she did.  We drank the water (with those funny Americans staring at us in disbelief - how can anybody drink rain water!!) then Luke went to fill it up again.  He was advised by 3 people that we shouldn't drink the water because there's algae on the awning!!  The show wasn't very good at all.  The kids thought it was hysterical when we came out of the show and I said, in a French accent, "Out of all the rides that we have done, that one scores a zero." 

Ali got her way and we headed back to the hotel to relax and catch our breath a little.  I took advantage of the time to do a load of washing and did some people watching - fascinating people.  Ali and I discovered the build-a-salad option in the fast food restaurant.  So we built one salad for $10 and it was so big that it could have fed all 3 of us.  When we got back to the room with the salad, Luke was already asleep.  Best food so far!  As I type this now, Ali's fallen asleep on my bed and it's only shortly after 8pm.  So an early one for all of us - I'm looking forward to a really good night of sleep.  We've got a solid plan to tackle HS again in the morning and will hopefully get to a water park in the afternoon (weather permitting).

The only single criticism of Disney World is that they really could be more healthy and environmentally friendly.  When we have finished with lunch in the park, we just tip the entire tray's contents into the bin.  In the hotel room, the plates, cups, cutlery and glasses are all disposable and replenished each day by housekeeping.  I keep on thinking about this poster: