Well today is a very warm one as was yeterday. The weather is getting better and better each day, although that is set to end about Thursday when it will rain and get colder again. It’s Monday morning and as work emails fly into both mine and Paul’s mailboxes we sit in the sun by the pool and couldn’t care less!! Paul has actually been in for a swim – the water is nice and warm.
Yesterday I left you as we headed out to Downtown Disney. It was after 11 when we went out and very warm, enough to wear shorts and t-shirts. We parked outside Cirque du Soleil and picked up our tickets for Thursday from the box office. We also took a look around the shop. They have some fab things, especially the venetian masks, but they are really pricey. I had my photo taken wearing one instead of purchasing!
We wandered down to the balloon as this was the first thing we wanted to do. There was a fairly big queue but we decided to go for it. The original estimate was 30 minutes but it was actually an hour. Good job it was a nice day really! It took a while as the loads had been reduced to 10 passengers since there was some wind. After weatching it go up and down endless times it was finally our turn. Paul had been in it before in his previous trip so at least knew he had no problem with the height. Our ascent was smooth enough and after 2.5 minutes we were at 400 feet. The views accross Disney were excellent being a clear day and you can see all the parks. The only thing you can’t see is Cinderalla’s castle as it is hidden behind the Contempory Resort hotel. No one was allowed to walk around, we had to stay in our positions but we manged to get a good view ok. After 5 minutes we began our descent. We were told we would sway quite a lot and it could be bumpy but it felt fine. We had seen from the ground the balloon sway a lot and figured it must feel a bit scary but it actually feels much less severe when in it than when observing it! We landed absolutely fine.
We got off and decided to walk around to Market place to go in the Disney store. We walked through Pleasure Island and as we went past the Irish pub we both smelt the chips and said we really fancied some. So, we took a quick pit stop, sitting outside in the sun drinking root beer and munching on a bowl of chips. I took the opportunity to give mum a quick call too.
After the unplanned pit stop (it was not on our strict itinerary but we coped – just about :-)) we continued over to marketplace. We made a quick stop in the lego shop to see how the new technoloigy works; you hold a box to a camera and screen and it shows you holding the box with a virtual image of what can be made from the bits inside – very neat really! We then went into the Disney store which was quite busy. The bibidy bobidy boutique was a popular as ever with little girls coming out all made up with scraped back sparkly hair (I so want to do it!). Paul bought some key rings and I bought a Tinkerbell notebook.
After this we decided to get a water taxi back to the other side so made our way to the dock area. It was only a couple of minutes wait before we boarded the boat. We got off by the House of Blues and headed back to the car. We had thought about doing the Diana exhibition but decided to give it a miss. We headed into the Yacht club hotel as I wanted to look in the shop there. We were slightly interrogated by the Security Guard who wanted to know what we were visiting so we lied and said we were hiring a boat! In the shop I got some Tinkerbell Christmas cards and a silver Cinderalla’s coach charm from a new designer range. We were only there about 20 minutes so if the guard saw us leave then he would have thought we had a really short boat ride, that or he thought his last hour on duty went real quick!!
After the Yacht club we headed to the Animal Kingdom Lodge. It has been extended with a new area called Kidani Village that has not only rooms but a reserve area with animals that you can view and even feed. We managed to get past security this time with a story about wanting to check out the restaurant and parked up. (There are so many things you can do at Disney for free that Paul should write a book but the problem is that if everyone knows they will be swamped and may be taken away so we are keeping them to ourselves!) We made our way to the reserve viewing area. It is an outside platform with wooden rocking chairs overlooking a grassy reserve area with trees. The Ranger was just driving around putting food out so our timing was great. We saw all the Giraffes come for feeding and wathced them graze. Their food was placed on the ground so they had to really bend to reach it. They even have to spread their front legs to get down as their knees don’t bend properly. One clever Gafflee figured that if he took a branch from the feeding pile and walked over to a palm tree he could wedge the branch he was eating in the palm tree fronds (the old brances that have been cut off in previous seasons on the tree trunk). Very ingenious I thought and figured he was a very bright Gafflee until he took his second branch to another tree that was not a Palm and hence had a straight, smotth trunk. We watched him as he tried to hook his branch several times and each time it just fell to the floor. There were other animals in the reserve too; we saw emu, zebra, antelope and wilderbeast. It was nice and warm in the sun and we sat there for some time watching them.
We eventaully headed home about 5pm and as it was still warm sat out back. Paul took a dip in the pool and I dangled my feet in. We had a cuppa and watched some TV and decided to go out to eat about 7pm. Longhorn was on the itinerary and as it was Sunday we thought it could be busy so tried to call ahead. For some reason the phone was not connecting so in the end we had to just go. When we got there it was not that busy at all so we reckon the Thanksgiving weekenders must all have headed home – we hope so and that we we have a quiet week ahead!
We both had the 7oz filet and it was really succulent. Service was a little too quick though as mains arrived before we had finished our salads. The food was good and we supped root beer to accompany it. After we finished we decided to go into Target to get some washing powder and some more bagals. Being able to shop at 8 or 9pm on a Sunday, or whenever you feel you need something really, is one of the great things about this place and what sucks about the UK!
We came home earlier than previous nights with no fireworks and got in about 9pm. We were tired so it was nice to relax.