So today is the day that all is revealed. Yesterday we went to the Gaylord Palms to the exhibition\u2026\u2026. ICE. It is a walk through series of rooms each with a display of some sort that is carved entirely from ice. It was excellent and we took loads of pics for you which Paul will add to this blog.<\/p>\n
We paid $14 (instead of $20) as we managed to get a discount although parking was $12, which is a rip off, but since they have a captive audience they can get away with it.<\/p>\n
The weather had started to clear by lunchtime, the rain stopped and the wind dropped and it was starting to brighten up. We got to the Gaylord about 2ish.<\/p>\n
We went pretty much straight in through an avenue of lit up Christmas trees. There was then a couple of rooms with short films about what we about to see and the obligatory \u2018elf and safety messages \ud83d\ude42 After this we had to get our parka\u2019s on. They were issued to everyone and came in M, L, XL and XXXXL. I was ever so slightly offended when the server insisted I was large and not medium!! We had our own gloves and several layers on as it was 9 degrees F inside. That\u2019s about minus 13 which believe me was COLD!! Like I said it was great but I definitely came out colder than ever.<\/p>\n
As we went through there were animals, a nativity scene, coloured baubles, candy and a giant ice slide that we both rode! I managed to go down pretty fast with a push from Paul. Paul seemed to come to a halt about \u00be of the way down. There was also a giant Santa who\u2019s knee we sat on for a photo! Since we had to keep taking off our gloves to take the pics our hands got really cold. Some people ahead of us were wearing shorts, their legs must have been freezing.<\/p>\n
The whole thing took about 40 minutes which was enough and it was good to get out into the warm afterwards. We then wandered through the hotel to the atrium where we got complimentary hot coca. There was also a gnome hunt around the atrium and Paul had picked up the book of clues so wanted to find them. It was clues and challenges with nothing much at the end of it but kept us amused for a while. We found about half of them before we gave up.<\/p>\n
We left the Gaylord, getting $2 off the extortionate parking, at about 4pm. We drove straight over to the FL Mall. It was really busy there. We managed to get some more xmas presies and have al most done our shopping now. A few shops have just started to discount stuff, one tried to charge us full price until I brought the discounted label to their attention!! Paul managed to get a work shirt and I got some perfume and a cuddly teddy (one day I\u2019ll grow up but I hope not). In Saks there was a Christmas evening event too. There was a DJ (that\u2019s a disc jockey not a dinner suit but I\u2019m thinking you guessed that!) blasting out trendy music and there was free food and drink on offer. I bought my Jo Malone perfume there and we got given loads of free samples too. We declined the food and drink \u2013 even the Godiva chocolates and champers \u2013 as we had dinner booked at Kobe for half 7 and it was already after 6:30pm.<\/p>\n
We left the Mall and went straight to Kobe. Paul was getting huge withdrawal symptoms from not going there yet this trip! We had booked so sat down pretty much straight away. We were at a table alone for about 5 minutes wondering who was going to join us. Eventually a lot of loud women turned up and milled around for a bit.<\/p>\n
I will say right now, the service was pretty poor as we had a new chef who was slower than ever but the entertainment was first rate and more then made up for it! The women turned out to be \u201ctour moms\u201d with their cheerleading daughters. There is a competition at the weekend to find the national champs.<\/p>\n
They were all very loud, funny and definitely drunk!! Next to us was a 45 year old (yes she told us her age) called Angie. She began by talking politics but that soon degenerated!! The chef turned up with the name badge Ken \u2013 who became affectionately known to all the moms as Kenny! A couple of renditions of \u201cgo, Kenny, go Kenny\u201d with corresponding circular arm movements began the evenings\u2019 entertainment. This was closely followed by \u201coh Kenny you\u2019re so fine, you\u2019re so fine you blow my mind, hey Kenny\u201d to the tune of Hey Mickey if you hadn\u2019t already worked that out. Toni Basil would not have been impressed! All this was at maximum volume level and Kenny looked scared!!! On top of this we had some fine humour such as \u201ceasy on the butter Kenny, I have to wear a thong tomorrow\u201d. Angie even complained at one point that her kids said too often that \u201cmom was drunk again\u201d as she moralised to us about how people shouldn\u2019t drink!!!!! She was crazy, but in a funny way, we were in stitches. She also kept yelling to everyone \u201cthis is Paul and Cindy from England, they\u2019re nice\u201d<\/p>\n
We wanted to go to the Polynesian beach after Kobe to watch the fireworks and had booked the 7:30 table to be able to do so but with Kenny and the moms we didn\u2019t get out of Kobe until 20 past 9 so couldn\u2019t do the fireworks. Oh, yeah, at one point the moms complained to the manager that they were being told they could only share a meal by paying $7 for the privilege as this covered the salad and soup. They were ready to all walk out at one point which held up our dinner all the more. <\/p>\n
We decided to come home and watched TV for a while instead.<\/p>\n
Today it is cold but clear. We were planning Magic Kingdom but Paul has very achy feet so we may not do it for long. At least with the annual passes it doesn\u2019t feel like a waste of a day if we just do a couple of hours.<\/p>\n
Hope you like all the pics\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So today is the day that all is revealed. Yesterday we went to the Gaylord Palms to the exhibition\u2026\u2026. ICE. It is a walk through series of rooms each with a display of some sort that is carved entirely from ice. It was excellent and we took loads of pics for you which Paul will … <\/p>\n