We’ve been taking it easy for a couple of days ahead of the days when our Disney tickets will be active. It will be busier then. We have 14 Day Disney Magic tickets which are special UK tickets that basically give you unlimited access to everything – all 4 theme parks, 2 water parks, plus unlimited golf at Disney Oak Trails course, Memory Maker photography and crazy golf if we wanted that. It’s 14 days for the price of 7 (still A LOT of money although we got Black Friday discounts too. We start tomorrow.
So, Sunday we had a lovely day in our resort at Marriott Grande Vista, when my almost-nephew Mike and his lovely wife Laura and their two beautiful children came for the day. We were really glad that our paths crossed here this week. We caught up, watched the children swim like otters in one of the big pools whilst simultaneously watching Despicable Me on the huge screen there. Well…. they were….. we were just chillaxing.
We’ve been eating in, and have had a couple of small visits to Publix after our big shop in Walmart. Last night we had a huge rack of pork ribs. Couldn’t eat them all so having them again tonight.
Yesterday was a lovely hot sunny day so we spent it at Disney Blizzard Beach water park using an old ticket from about 2010 when you still could buy tickets that didn’t expire. At this time of year there is only 1 water park open. The other one, Typhoon Lagoon, is actually our favourite although they have very similar attractions. The theming at the two water parks is outstanding. You don’t see a big ugly load of tubes or slides or anything like that. They are all concealed within theming or within the beautiful landscaping created around the water.
The theme of Blizzard Beach is that a freak ice age happened in Florida and a ski resort was built. However, the climate then reverted to normal sub tropical, all the snow and ice melted leaving a ski themed water park complete with alpine chair lift, toboggan runs etc. We arrived at opening which was 10am and got loungers right on the beach edge of the massive central pool. It was very quiet all morning with quite a number of Brits around us. It’s half term at home of course.
We’ve been coming here as a family for over 30 years and we have many fond memories of the water parks. We used to be a lot braver and go on all the big slides. Bob even once went on the Summit Plummet one which is a high speed, almost vertical 12 storey drop which you do lying on your back, sliding feet down…. He lost his trunks momentarily at the end and he said his back lost contact with the slide several times. He has never done it again and after watching him, I didn’t do it at all!!! But most of them are just tremendous watery fun.
We really like the Lazy River which is a massive snake shaped pool that wraps around the whole park with a current running through it. I suppose it is about 10 foot wide and 1.4m deep. You grab one of the various large inflatable rings or chairs and just drift around. Along the way there are little squirts of cold water, you go through a long cave etc but mainly it’s just a wonderfully relaxing way to spend 20 minutes or as long as you like. You can get on and off at various “landings”or just stay on and go round and round. We went on it several times.
We also very much like the Family Raft ride where you sit in a big round raft and go down a wide twisting chute like a river with rapids which ends in a pool. That’s a lot of fun. There are lots and lots of different ways to slide and jump and swim in the pools and slides for all ages. We had a really good day – stayed till after 4pm and then headed back.
Today was a bit cloudy so swimming wasn’t so attractive. We went to Top Golf in the morning and Bob practised his shots for an hour or so. Golf, Party Venue, Sports Bar & Restaurant | Topgolf Orlando What an amazing place! It measures your angle of swing in all different ways, you can even play a virtual round. I just watched of course. On Tuesdays it is half price so a good deal.
After that we went to the Premium Outlet Mall on Vineland Road.Welcome To Orlando Vineland Premium Outlets® – A Shopping Center In Orlando, FL – A Simon Property Bob wanted to get some new t shirts and we managed to get 2 in the Saks Fifth Avenue outlet and an amazing bargain one in J Crew which was only $5.. Had a good shop fuddle around there. It’s a good mall.
Orlando really is a lot of fun whatever your age.