This will be my final blog. It’s Wednesday evening and we have pretty much packed everything and are watching real life stories on TV. We watched a whole load earlier too. It’s like those real life stories in women’s mags but played out and narrated. Tacky but addictive viewing!
Before I go back to Tuesday, here’s a few things I have forgotten along the way:
- The annoying guy behind me on the plane.
Since his footstool was attached to my seat each time he wanted it down and just let it fall it made my whole seat shake. It was so bad it shook Paul’s seat too. Paul then watched him and apparently he lifted his legs about a foot above the stool and then dropped them down. The constant thuds shook me so hard they actually made me jump and even woke me up. - Paul dropping his iPad in the bath.
Literally, glug glug to the bottom! It came out still working and has been absolutely fine since. A great advert for Apple. - The standard of Florida driving.
The standard of driving has been worse than ever, atrocious. - Rubber necking
We have seen a few shunts and cars pulled over by the police but we were shocked at just how much people slowed down to really take a look. It was more than just being cautious it was seriously having a good old stare at what was going on.
So, back to Tuesday and we went to MGM, sorry, Disney’s Hollywood Studios. After another late start (our evenings and mornings are getting later which is gonna make the jet lag hell when we get home) we got to the park at about 1:30pm. We wanted to go to the 2pm American Idol experience but when we got there it was not on. It seems that they are struggling to contestants these days and we think that’s why a show got cancelled. Instead we headed over to Indiana Jones. We got decent middle seats and Paul took some pics. The ‘plant’ extra was really good. His head spin as he passed out was awesome. As we came out it was obviously totally lost on one kid who asked; “daddy, did that lady really hit the man?” Dad answers “no, they were just acting”. Kid still not getting it asks; “so, how come he passed out then?” Dad told him to come along.
It was a really nice warm day so we wandered around. We went in a few stores and I posed with the singing in the rain street lamp, although the rain still doesn’t work. Toy Story was still getting over 60 minute queues and we decided to skip Lights, Motors, Action but did get pics taken with Lightning McQueen and Mater. At one point there was even a 25-minute queue for the great movie ride but it seemed to lighten up later and we even got the front cart which was the cowboy action, we have always had the gangster in the past.
We did get to see and American Idol show at 4pm. The 3 singers were all very mediocre it has to be said. Despite recent finalists getting the Disney golden ticket it seems to have lost its appeal. I must admit, we don’t watch it anymore and haven’t done for about 3 seasons now. After this we queued for the new Captain Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean experience. It is a walk through in the pavilion where Narnia used to be. Everyone who had checked in on four square had slated it but Paul thinks they all expected too much, it’s not a ride after all. It does have some good special effects and is worth seeing. They take groups in every 15 minutes so you can end up waiting 30 minutes if there are a few people but it didn’t feel too long.
It was now getting on for about 6 so we were in time to watch Fantasmic however…. the black clouds were rolling in and it started to rain. We figured that it may well get cancelled so decided to leave. We thought that we’d have dinner and if the weather was good then we’d go and watch Holiday Wishes from the Polynesian beach.
Dinner was at Longhorn and was really good. Paul was not very hungry as he’d eaten a huge funnel cake with cinnamon sugar in the park. We shared a loaded baked potato soup (with cheese and bacon – which is really yummy BTW) then shared a salad. I then had the Flo’s filet and Paul had Wild West shrimp. This was meant to be an appetizer but was a huge long plate piled with shrimp. They were coated in spicy breadcrumbs and had chilli peppers with them but Paul reckoned they were quite bland. We used our $25 credit that Paul had from June and we got a visit from the Manager. He actually remembered Paul and the incident and thanked us for going back. Lucky really since the incident was in June and the voucher said valid for 90 days!
After a quick stop for some essentials (toilet roll, coke and grape jelly!!!) we made our way to the Polynesian. We parked ok and went in. We looked around the shops and then went out to the beach. It was a warm evening and we sat out on sun beds. The holiday wishes are the 360 ones so the beach view is one of the best to see it all and it was pretty amazing. We then came straight home afterwards.
This morning (Wednesday) we were up about 10am. I have a sore throat and a cough and Paul has not slept too well recently. We sat out on the veranda and the sun felt really warm. We ended up going out about 1pm but it had gone really cloudy, overcast and chilly. We stopped at McDonalds (Osceola Parkway) for lunch before going to the new Art of Animation resort. The weather had gone quite grim and the wind made it really cold. We still wandered through and got pics of all the characters in each of the themed areas. All were open now; Nemo, Cars, Lion King and Little Mermaid. Since we both felt a bit rough and tired we came home about 4pm (and watched the real life stories movies) and rested for a while. We headed out again about 6pm and had decided on Chilli’s for dinner. Neither of us were hugely hungry and fancied more of the loaded baked potato soup so we had a bowl each followed by some chicken fajita’s to share. The food came up sizzling but sadly with no plates or cutlery so our server went off to get it. After about 5 minutes she still hadn’t returned so we got a little tetchy. She didn’t even really apologise (jeez I sound like Lewis now) so we left no tip. She innocently asked if we wanted change when we paid the check which amused Paul as there was no change to be had.
We checked in for our flight whilst at dinner. There were no better seats; in fact the entire cabin was full so it looks like a packed flight. We have two aisle seats next to each other so will have to put our private divider screens up but that’s ok. After dinner we thought we’d do a final fireworks on the beach so once more went over to the Polynesian. It was still cool so we headed out right before they started and came straight back afterwards. It was normal Wishes and the music was really hard to hear but still good to watch.
We’re now supping tea and watching Family Guy whilst perusing our photos from the last 2 weeks. Hope you’re enjoyed it almost as much as we have…. 8 weeks ‘til next time and counting…..