The Mellado's Disney Adventure ReportDates: 6/26-7/5, 1999 (ten day trip) Adventurers:
Copyright 1999-2006 |
Day 2: Sunday, June 27,
1999 BRRRIIIINNNGGGG. 6:00 came bright and early for us with the ring of the telephone. I was excited for the kids to listen to the telephone and get that special wake-up call from Mickey. After the third ring and no movement from the three lumps, I mean kids, I sprang out of bed and shoved, (oops) gently nudged, my son, Nick. "Hey, NICK, answer the telephone!!!!" He sleepily picked up the telephone (I could tell he could hardly contain his excitement) and mumbled, I mean, said, "hello." After a minute, he put the phone back in the cradle and lay back down. "Well, who was that?" (like I didn't know) "Oh, that was just Mickey calling to wake us up." - so much for being thrilled by the mouse. I got the kids up, noting to myself once again, that my daughter Kelly is just not a morning person. But, they did get up. Our plan for today was to leave at 7:30 for Kennedy Space Center. I got the kids in the shower (one at a time, of course), and knocked on the inner door. Dad sleepily opened it, and in my most chipper morning voice (you know, the one that non-morning people absolutely cringe at), I asked if he was almost ready to go. Of course, he wasn't, and I could see my carefully laid out plans for the day slowly crumbling around me. I quickly rethought the situation and kind of switched my Sunday with my Thursday plans - which was to take it easy and have the kids go to a waterpark, while Dad & Lucila resort hopped, etc. Now that we had plenty of time, I stopped rushing the kids, who, by the way, didn't mind the change, and were thrilled to be going to a waterpark. I needed to get milk, so the kids & I went across Parrot Cay Island to Center Towne. Let me describe Parrot Cay Island. The island is very tropical looking, with trees that meet overhead, so it is a cool walk in the hot sunshine. The main trail goes right through the middle of the island, from one bridge to another. There are two side trails on that island that you can follow-you get to them from both ends of the main trail. On one side, the trail looks towards Martinique, the nature trail by Barbados, & Aruba. On this trail are two playgrounds - the bigger one was being refurbished (for the millennium crowds, I'm sure), and the smaller one was flooded out due to the previous night's huge storm. In between these playgrounds is a little grassy area with some picnic tables. There was also a covered picnic table by each of the playgrounds - very picturesque. There are three gates leading from the main middle trail to this side of the island. On the other side of the island is a little trail with caged tropical birds off of it. I think there are 5-6 cages with the birds. Kelly enjoyed squawking (no better way to say it) at them, and having them squawk back at her. I never noticed if they spoke our language. This side of the island looks out towards Trinidad North and Jamaica. The three sections of the island are pretty isolated from each other, and very tropical looking. Usually, there is steel drum music. We heard it for a little while on our first night there, but by this morning the speakers were just making sizzling sounds (perfect if you have a big imagination & you're into the Jurassic Park, things not working mode). On the rest of our vacation, we never did hear the music on the island, and since I'm the only one in our group who reads the boards, no one knew to expect it, so it was okay. Also, off of the main trail is a box with a glass front on a pole. There are a bunch of cocoons in there where butterflies will eventually emerge. It was neat to see that. We got to Center Towne, which is a big building that houses the restaurant - Captain's Tavern, the food court, arcade, and two shops. We entered the building, and I quickly scanned the first shop that I came to - island and Mickey pirate themed gifts, towels, bathing suits, etc. - very nice. To the right of that shop was a general store type shop with more generic WDW merchandise; and towards the back of that shop were the food items, including milk, which is what I was after. I purchased the milk, then the kids & I went to the beverage bar at the food court to fill up their refillable mugs (all of this is indoors, by the way). I didn't get a mug for myself, but shared Nick's & Kelly's (mom's privilege, you know). We headed back to the resort, the boys rushing ahead (as boys do) and Kelly and I slowly savoring the day, and enjoying nature. As you go on the bridge from Old Port Royale (OPR) to Parrot Cay Island (PCI), you'll see a lot of ducks & egrets by the water. There are also machines that take quarters for animal food. Kelly spent a lot of quarters there to feed the ducks, egrets, fish, & turtles. It was cool seeing the soft-shelled turtles come up at the bridge for the food. The fish all like that food, too, so it was neat to see them. Later on in the week, Kelly often fed a mother duck and her six little ducklings - so cute. The ducklings would eat the food (not from her hand), while their mother would look on and waggle her tail every once in awhile. When we came off the bridge from PCI, we saw a little bunny nearby, and more wild fowl beyond on the beach at Jamaica. It was so beautiful and peaceful. I really enjoyed it. A note of warning about the island, though. There are some wooden paths there that are really slippery when wet (which was much of the time we were there). Kelly slipped a couple of times, and fell due to this, so we were more careful when walking on those paths later on. It was getting close to 9:00, so I made plans to take the kids to Typhoon Lagoon, and then come back at 10:00 and get my dad & Borie to drive around the WDW area. I drove the kids to Typhoon Lagoon, where we all used our Hopper Passes for the first time, and I had the kids promptly give them back to me for safe-keeping. WOW What a beautiful place! The winding road from Buena Vista Drive is so pretty. Tropical plants are on both sides, and there are signs on the road to set you up for the theming of the waterpark. On the right-hand side, as you approach the entrance, bus stops are set up for guests returning to their resorts. I did not notice if there were stops for the other parks. We got a parking spot right up close to the entrance. TL is a charming place. The entire park is very picturesque. I took the kids to the lockers, and got a big locker for their towels and other items. It was cloudy, but extremely warm already. Kelly got the job of holding the locker key (which she likes). The first thing they did was take a leisurely ride around the park on tubes in Castaway Creek. I waved bye to them, then walked around the park. There is a trail that rougly parallels the creek around the park. It was such a beautiful walk, and since it was still fairly early, there weren't too many people around. I especially liked the part that went through a little cave. The attention to detail is wonderful. After the kids went around the creek, they then did the shark reef. BJ thought the water was too cold, and Nick couldn't use the snorkels, so Kelly was the only one who actually did it. She liked it so much she did it again - you swim in a tank that looks like a natural pool with fish, including small sharks. The ones who don't go in can go in a 'sunken ship' that has portholes on the sides and watch the fish underwater and the swimmers up on top. It's a very cool spot to watch. I kind of got the feeling of the submarine ride at Disneyland, but these fish were real! There was even a baby hammerhead shark there. This was Kelly's favorite feature at the park. The kids all enjoyed castaway creek, and loved the wave pool. Since, I had told Dad that I would be back at the resort by 10:am, it was time to leave the kids. They had lunch money and the room key, and I made sure they knew what bus to take back in case they wanted to go back to the resort before I picked them up. We agreed to meet at the entrance by 3 pm, if they stayed that long. I went back to the resort, and couldn't find Dad & Lucila, so I went to OPR. They were enjoying breakfast at the food court. It was typical Disney breakfast fare - eggs, potato, sausage, & biscuit. They were ready to go, and we took off to explore. We were amazed at the size of the WDW property. There was a 4-lane road to get to the different theme parks resort areas, and Downtown Disney area. We drove to all the theme parks, just to see how to get there, and see how they were set up. Having the parking paper from our resort, made it extremely simple to drive to any other resort, and all of the theme parks. From what I could see, the All Star resorts looked very nice. We enjoyed the decorations, especially AS Movies, that had cool decorations, like the dalmations and Love Bug. We drove past Blizzard Beach, which was pretty impressive, and Animal Kingdom. We then went to the Disney Marketplace, or Downtown Disney to walk around and have lunch. We checked out the World of Disney, and I got some t-shirts for the kids & me to wear later in the week - same style, different colors. Dad, Lucila, & I then went to the Wolfgang Puck Express for lunch. I had the spicy chicken pizza - yum - it was good. I don't know the prices of any of our meals, because my very generous father paid for all of them. It was very hot, but we ate outside anyway in the covered patio. I really liked Downtown Disney. We made plans to return & window shop some more later on. By now it was time to get the kids at Typhoon Lagoon. As I drove up to the entrance, they came out - great timing! They had a great time there. I laughed at Nick, though, because he exclaimed, "Do you know how expensive food is here!" Lunch for the three kids was more than $19. I'm sure if I had given them $25, they would have spent that. But they had to budget (maybe I should have them buy their own lunch more often). We went back to the resort to freshen up, and then decided to go to Dixie Landings and take the boat over to Downtown Disney. I was very impressed by Dixie Landings. What beautiful landscaping! The check-in area was also beautiful. We walked around the resort, then headed for the boat. By now we could see the clouds starting to come in, and the thunder. By the time we got to the boat, it had started to sprinkle, and we learned the 5 mile rule - any lightening 5 miles or closer to WDW, and all the water-related stuff gets shut down, including boats down the Sassagoula River. We decided to head to the car and drive to Downtown Disney. By now it was sprinkling a little harder. But, the water was warm and we were on vacation - it felt great. By the time we reached DTD the rain was really coming down. I let everyone off by the World of Disney store. It was just in time, because then it really started coming down, and the lightening & thunder was so close - much closer than 5 miles, for sure! I parked the car & just sat in there and waited. The rain was just coming down so hard. But, I put on my poncho, & made a dash for the MdDonalds. The water was coming down in sheets. I was wearing shorts, and had my Tevas on, and had my poncho, so I really didn't mind. We don't get rains like this in Los Angeles, so, I just chalked it up to part of my vacation experience. Plus, the rain was so nice and warm! The rain let up a little bit - meaning that I could actually see more than two feet in front of me. I decided to make my way to World of Disney (our meeting place). I dashed from store to store, passing through the sea of yellow clad people around me. I felt a brief sense of oneness with these yellow people, all of us on vacation in our Mickey Mouse ponchos. How can you not smile under such circumstances. Soon enough, I reached the immense store, and found my family. While at the store, the kids made their major purchases of our trip. Nick had always wanted a red Mickey Mouse alarm clock, so he got one. Kelly got a similar Pooh clock. BJ bought himself a Mickey sports watch that lights up in the dark - pretty cool. By the time we shopped and made our purchases, the rain had let up considerably to a light shower. We then went to the Boardwalk. We had missed our PS at Spoodles the day before, and so decided to go, even though we didn't have priority seating arrangements for Sunday. It was still sprinkling that warm rain. Driving to the Boardwalk was pretty impressive, especially with the Swan & Dolphin hotel right there. Dad says he doesn't care what anyone says, that doesn't look like a dolphin to him-lol. Dad also made some comment about people who spend money on inconsequential things, then for not wanting to pay a few dollars to the valet, will park way far away and walk forever to get someplace. Well, walking is good for you - even in the rain ;-) We easily found Spoodles. We passed Flying Fish Cafe, which was really busy. It was close to 7:pm, and we had no problem getting into Spoodles for dinner. It was very tastefully decorated, and the food was, as the waitress often said, fabulous. We had calamari for an appetizer, and wouldn't tell Lucila what it was until after she had eaten it & said she liked it. I had scallops for dinner, Dad had the Osubuko (sp?), the boys and Lucila had chicken fingers, and Kelly had the Mickey pasta. The food was delicious for all of us, except for Kelly. Her pasta was really tasteless. I tasted it when she told me she really didn't care for it, and it had literally no flavor, even with extra marinara sauce. Kelly just had some calamari and her shake, which she said was very good. For dessert, the kids had build-your-own-sundaes delivered on artist palettes. They all enjoyed that dessert. Except for Kelly's pasta, everything was so nice at this restaurant. It was a nice way to start our vacation, and I would highly recommend it. The rain had let up considerably, and now we just had light sprinkles. This rain did not bother me, but I was not looking forward to a week's worth of torrential weather. The Boardwalk was lit up, and the glittering lights reflected in the water and the wet ground. It was quite beautiful there. We made our way around towards Jelly Rolls, and noted the dressed-up people going there for a swinging time. We walked past Boardwalk Villas, and I peeked in the pool area. I found Luna Park. There were kids swimming in there, and sliding down the waterslide. I noted that it looked like a carnival - pretty cool. The weather, although wet, was quite warm, and I thought it was perfect swimming weather. By now we could hear fireworks, and I noted that it was around 9 pm. We made it back to the car and drove back to the resort. The kids were begging to go swimming, so I gave them an hour to go swim. They were dressed in no time, and made it to the pool. Dad went to watch over them. I decided to relax in the room and watch the Disney channel. Soon enough, they came back, and got ready for bed. We hung their wet suits. Over the tub was a retractable clothesline. This proved invaluable to us, and was always strung out with the kids' bathing suits on it. The day was a nice relaxing way to start our vacation. I'm glad I made the decision early on not to worry about the itinerary I had prepared. We had a plan to follow, but had the freedom to make changes depending on what was going on at the time. It allowed for a much more relaxed and enjoyable vacation. Day 3 coming up - MGM Studios.
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