Three hours ago I arrived back at the hotel with Rachel from Sky Venture Orlando and she hasn’t stopped grinning from ear to ear and head to toe. She says it is the best thing she’s ever done, ever!
Basically she had two two minute rotations of simulated freefall skydiving in a vertical wind tunnel blowing at up to 150 mph. She seemed to take to it very well and was flying all over the tunnel within seconds.
Our final visit to Orlando Magic Kingdom today – rode Big Thunder Mountain twice and Splash Mountain twice – except Rachel who chickened out of Splash Mountain the first time and then really enjoyed it the second time!
Started today with a visit to Magic Kingdom. We managed to finally persuade Ian to ride the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Initially he was scared, but then really enjoyed it. So much so, we had to ride it immediately again. Later in the morning we went to ride Space Mountain, but both kids chickened out, so Julie and I went on it alone – great fun! We also ran into the Gilmores in Tomorrowland.
We went to watch the Monsters Inc., Laugh Floor show again. Very funny. And this time I was picked on by the MC’s (Monster of Ceremonies) camera to dance. I’m not sure who was more surprised, me or the kids, when I actually danced (ish) on screen infront of hundreds of people.
In the afternoon we had a swim and then ate at a Macaroni Grill before going to the Pointe Orlando cinema to watch Wall.e. Rachel was bored and the rest of us really, really enjoyed it.
Walking through Disney’s Magic Kingdom today, Ian announced “If this is the year of a million dreams, where is the execution chamber for Rachel?”
He’s not a very nice little boy!
Quick visit to Animal Kingdom this morning – very hot – went on the Kenya Safari again which the kids enjoyed and headed back to the hotel for a swim.
Quiet day today. Went to the Blizzard Beach water park where the kids really enjoyed the family water ring ride and the wave pool. Then we went to Downtown Disney where the kids bought some gifts for their friends and we had lunch at Planet Hollywood followed by a quiet afternoon at the hotel.
This morning we visited the Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park. We went on these rides:
It’s Tough to be a Bug
Kilimanjaro Safari
Kali River Rapids
Both kids really enjoyed the Safari and want to go back to do it again.
Unfortunately as we got off the River Rapids, the skies opened and we got drenched so we headed back to the hotel for dry clothes.
We then headed to the Florida Mall so Rachel could do some more shopping where we bumped into The Gilmores.
Started today with breakfast at McDonalds (Ian really likes the pancakes!) and then headed to Epcot.
The kids really enjoyed the rides – Spaceship Earth, Mission: SPACE (green); The Seas with Nemo & Friends; and Honey I Shrunk The Audience.
Walked round the World Showcase and had fish and chip at the “Yorkshire County Fish and Ship Shop” before heading back to the hotel for a swim in the evening.
Started the day with breakfast at the local McDonalds (Ian really likes the pancakes) and then did some grocery shopping at the local Publix. Back to the hotel for swim before we headed to Downtown Disney to have a look at the shops (including the biggest Disney shop in the world). We had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe which was better than we expected and the kids really enjoyed it.
Up at 0530 this morning for breakfast at the Manchester airport SAS Raddission and onto a bus for a four hour journey to Glasgow leaving at 0700.
An OK bus full of tired, disappointed tourists.
The big trauma was two hours into the journey – reaslising that I’d left the passports, tickets, currency, etc at the hotel! No holiday.
Anyway, after a very tense couple of hours (calling the hotel, etc) we found the tickets in our suitcase in the bus hold.
Checked onto the Virgin flight, grabbed a coffee and went through security. Flight was about 2/3 full which meant there was a lot of space, so we spread out and relaxed.
Plane arrived in Orlando and we grabbed our car. A red Pontiac G6.
Drove to the hotel (Marriott Grande Vista) to discover our two bedroom hotel room was a three room suite. Very nice, and far bigger than we were expecting – two balconies, kitchen/dinning/lounge, two large bedrooms, jacuzzi, etc.
The only thing missing was a bottle of Alain des Arbre in the fridge!
