DAY 3- SUNDAY 24TH MAY
Considering this was the first night in Florida, I don’t sleep too badly, waking up at 5.00am, but then dozing on and off until 7.00am. Tam thinks this might be due to the beds, which are very comfortable indeed.
We have
breakfast of cereal in the room and all have showers and get
ready to go out.
We meet Susan around 8.30am and head off to Epcot. It’s a
beautiful morning for a stroll although the forecast is for heavy
thunderstorms later.
We walk at a leisurely pace as is appropriate for a party containing an 84 year old lady (Grandma) and a lady with a bad knee (Susan).
Grandma and Susan are on the diminutive side and I make the bad mistake of calling them Eldred and Edgar. Susan points out that if I am going to call them pixies, they should be elfin like female pixies rather than a construction worker and evil plotting pixie. If you don’t understand this comment go back and read my pre-trip report. I have a feeling Eldred and Edgar may crop up again during this trip report.
We arrive at the International Gateway around 9.00am and try to change our vouchers into 14 day tickets, but the system is down so they just let us through the turnstiles anyway.
The Flower & Garden Festival is on
We stroll through World Showcase on the way to Soarin’.
Grandma has never done this before so we’re keen to see what
she thinks of it. We grab Fastpasses and then join the standby
queue, which has a 20-minute wait time showing. As we wait we
play the interactive game, which involves leaning one way or the
other to guide a bird along a course. Natural skill comes to the
fore and our team are victorious causing much cheering along with
Grandma leaping on Tam’s shoulders, ripping off her top and
waving it above her head whist shouting ‘Woohoo’.
I made that last bit up by the way.
Soarin’ is
as excellent as ever and we are lucky enough to get the top row,
Grandma certainly enjoys it, but this time keeps her top on.
On to Living With the Land, which is showing a 15-minute wait
time. It’s Memorial Day weekend so we are expecting the
crowds to be quite large. Tam and I both agree that we’ll do
the walking tour here one day.
Over to the Living Seas where we do the Nemo ride, another first for Grandma. We pay our usual visit to see the manatees, such amazingly beautiful creatures.
Back to the Land again for a second ride on Soarin’, again
on the top row.
It’s now time for an early lunch and we get this from the Seasons food court in the Land. Tam and I share the Asian thingy with beef, chicken rice and noodles. Everybody chooses a cake or cookie from the bakery and there’s much swapping so we all get to taste each other’s.
The plan is
then to ride Spaceship Earth, but the wait is 20 minutes, so we
don’t bother. As we pass the wait board it shows 100 minutes
for Soarin’.
Tam and I now go to get our vouchers changed into tickets while
the rest of the party have a mooch around in the Art of Disney
store.
Big flowery things at the Flower & Garden Festival
It’s now a little after 1.00pm and in keeping with the laid back approach to the holiday and the fact that we have to return the hire car to the Dolphin, we take a slow walk back to the Swan. The ladies then head to the pool while Tam and I take back the car. This is an incredibly easy process. We pull up to the front of the Dolphin and the valet parking attendant fills out a small form, gives it to us and takes the car. I’d definitely use Alamo if I wanted a car just to drive from the airport, the Dolphin drop off is so convenient.
We walk back to
the Swan pool, which is very pleasant with many free sunbeds.
I’ve been amazed at the weather because it’s still hot
and relatively cloudless, much different to the forecast.
A couple of
hours are spent relaxing and chatting. Ind and I enjoy some time
rocking to and fro in a hammock, a most pleasant experience.
It’s been pretty hot and still, but within a couple of
minutes the wind gets up and ominous clouds roll in.
We return to the room at 4.40pm to get ready to go out. As we
take showers it starts to rain. Within a few minutes it’s
pouring and visibility is down to a few yards. We watch out the
window as another spectacular display of lightning takes place.
Just before 6.00pm we go down to the lobby where a taxi is called. We pick Susan up from the Yacht Club before driving to the Orlando Ale House. We’d heard a lot about this place, but never been before. It’s actually a lot bigger than I expected and pretty full as there’s a big Orlando Magic game going on.
We decide to
order several different dishes and share them between the lot of
us. Drinks come first and all those old enough to have
Margaritas, not a bad deal at all at $5.95 for a near pint glass
full.
Food includes zinger chicken with fries and cheese, nachos, 20
chicken wings, hush puppies and ribs. A pitcher of beer is also
despatched by me and Tam. The total bill comes to $83! Now
that’s a bargain. If you want a bar style environment with
cheap beer and plentiful food, this is the place to come. You
better be hungry if you order the nachos, it’s a veritable
mountain of food.
Gotta love them big Margarita's
We get a taxi back to Downtown Disney for a wander around. We have a look in the door of the T-Rex restaurant. It doesn’t help that it’s heaving with people, but I don’t think we’ll be rushing to eat here; it’s too similar to the Rainforest Café. The outside of the building is pretty impressive although I can’t help noticing that the huge dinosaur straddling the entrance appears to have ….. how can I put this delicately? ….. one more bony appendage than he should decently have in a Disney environment. Take a close look next time you’re there.
Just call me big boy
As we pass a shop called Pooh Corner it is apparent that Tam has more than enjoyed her Margarita and pitcher of beer. The words ‘sloppy’ and ‘squishy’ are joined together with the word ‘Pooh’ in ways that would give A.A.Milne apoplexy.
A little more
browsing takes place until we catch the bus back to the Swan,
arriving at 10.00pm. India is disgusted at having such an early
night, but it is only our second night and I don’t think the
other ladies are on Florida time yet.
An hour or so later and I’ve caught up with the trip report
and I’m off to bed at 11.00pm.