Our flight arrived in Orlando fairly early on Saturday, but by the time we finally got to pick up our rental car, it was time to locate the condo my parents were renting and have a quick lunch. Afterwards, we plugged the address of the Orlando Welcome Centre into the GPS and headed off to jump through the necessary hoops to get settled into our hotel (to make a long story short - the great deal Robert found ended up having small print, turning it into a bit of a pain). Once we were all checked in, my parents thought they'd leave us to take the kids for the swimming they were begging for (in spite of the rain) and to wander around the area, checking out the discount Disney stores and having some dinner before a very early to bed night. It seemed like a good idea. The kids enjoyed a quick swim. We all showered quickly. We headed to our neighboring souvenir shops. Then, on our way to figure out how to cross the highway in front of our hotel to grab dinner and stop by the grocery store across the street to stock up on bottled water, the skies let loose into a torrential downpour. We hid out under the canopy of some all you can eat Mexican buffet for a bit and then decided to set a bad example for our children and Frogger it across the highway as opposed to walking another km down to the traffic light. Robert carried Danica so I was responsible for Duncan who somehow lost a shoe on his way across, forcing me to head back to pick it up before the traffic started up again.
Before dinner, we ended up in a Bargain Store purchasing a cheap towel so that we could look slightly less drowned rat-like when entering the restaurant. After dinner, we found some dollar ponchos to wear back to the hotel, much to Duncan's dismay. To quote him, "You seriously expect me to wear a garbage can?!".
The following day, after Robert and I spent a couple of hours trying to not buy a timeshare (man they get pushy and lay on the guilt - "Wouldn't it be nice if you could take your parents on a vacation sometimes? "), we headed to Downtown Disney for our first official meeting with the House of the Mouse. Danica tried to buy everything she saw but Duncan spent lots of time checking price tags and calculating how much money he would have left, leaving with only a few souvenir pennies and a small Lego set.
Today, we visited Epcot. Test Track ended up being an all-around favourite, but Soaring was good fun too. After we frightened Danica on the Maelstrom in Norway, she refused to venture onto the Mission: SPACE ride. My mom, Duncan and I opted for the less intense version while Robert and Chris (my brother) risked their lunches on the spinning one; I can't say Robert looked like he would be dying to try it again. We also got photos taken with Donald Duck and Pluto but voted against the 2.5 hour wait to meet Elsa and Anna from Frozen, instead peeking at them from Norway's gift shop.
Lucky for us, the rain and thunderstorms predicted for today only appeared briefly while we were in line for a ride and inside the building already but had subsided prior to our exit. Perhaps the threat kept many people away, however, as the lineups and crowds were not bad at all.
Tomorrow, we check out of our hotel and visit Animal Kingdom. Let's hope the rains hold off for us again! I promise to post photos soon.....
No comments:
Post a Comment