It's Jamerica Kids! August 2014 - Day 14 - The Last Full Day - Pool Time at RPR / IoA / City Walk

[JoJo88]

It’s Jamerica kids, but not as we know it….. August 2014

INDEX

Day 14 – The Last Full Day - Pool Time at RPR / Islands of Adventure / City Walk

Thursday 21st August 2014

“There's not much time left today” – Life is a Highway by Rascal Flatts

I have Frank Sinatra singing in my head as I write this ‘last full day’ report. “Start spreading the news, I’m leaving today... ”. Actually, even though that almost works, it’s not the song. Nope, this is my current soundtrack - “and now, the end is near……”

We were all awake by about 8.45am, the others all heading straight down for breakfast while I stayed put for a while, making the most of the sooooo comfortable for a bit longer until I joined them all at about 9.30am.

We sat with Carole and the rest of her (not at all fictitious) family while we tucked into the usual breakfast fare. We really enjoyed the social aspect of staying in a hotel, having been villa dwellers previously, and the club room especially gave plenty of opportunity for conversation if it’s what you want. Of course, there’s always the risk of striking up conversation with someone, realising you’re not quite on the same wavelength (I’m being polite!) and then not being able to shake them off. For whatever reason, Simon & I both seem to be muppet magnets but on this occasion we were lucky as everyone we met was lovely (and normal! ) 

After bidding farewell to Carole et al – they were checking out and heading off to Disney for a few days, we asked the boys what they wanted to do. Thankfully they both chose the same thing, the pool, and so we gathered up our bits & pieces and made our way downstairs to our usual spot.

It was so quiet and peaceful, being only 10.30 ish, and I took the opportunity to have a wander around with the camera while the others got straight in the water.

I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before, but everything looks so different as you approach the end of your holiday. At the start everything seems so vibrant and fresh, and you’re full of the excitement of what’s to come, whereas strolling round the pool that morning I couldn’t stop the sadness creeping in, and forming a lump in my throat. I suppose the fact that the pool was so still and empty made it all the more poignant, as when we’d arrived it was jumping with people, there was music playing, and there was such a fun atmosphere. If I thought about it hard enough, I could almost hear Mr KISS shouting ‘Connor, Connor’

After giving myself a stern talking to, I managed to shake off the sad feelings as we still had a whole day left to enjoy, as well as knowing, for the first time in all four of our trips, that we were definitely returning next year! Usually it takes until we get home, and the holiday blues have taken hold that I’m able to start really working on Simon…..

I walked over to the beach area as I’d decided to have a go at some arty shots, but a bit like everything I do, the picture I have in my head is never anywhere near the reality (think ‘Nailed It’), but after several attempts I did end up with one photo that I’m quite proud of:

I then wandered back round to the others, and almost started to well up again when I saw that the boys had assumed their usual position on the Royal Bali

They’d thoroughly enjoyed the water play area (predictably) which had helped to cement Royal Pacific as our favourite out of the Universal hotels, and I knew they would miss it as much as me.

It was a seriously hot day, and without any plans we all just enjoyed messing around in the water

Simon took on the hunter-gatherer role and popped upstairs to grab some drinks and snacks, including a PB&J for me, and we just relaxed and soaked up some rays, enjoying the atmosphere as the pool began to fill up as the day went on.

Simon and Adam joined in with a water balloon challenge, which was basically throwing water balloons to each other, then trying to catch them without them bursting. As luck would have it, we’d bought hundreds of water balloons at the start of the summer, and spent hours in the garden chucking them to (and at) one another, so with such stellar training I expected nothing short of a victory.

Triumphantly they returned to the sun loungers armed with vouchers for a free cocktail or ice cream. Stupidly we sent the boys off to get an ice cream each, when really what we should have done was snaffle a couple of free Slippery Nipples and paid for some ice creams. However, my oversight was softened when I remembered we had the Virgin vouchers for a free cocktail so I filed that thought away for later…..

Eventually we called it a day around the pool and headed back up to the room, stopping off for a drink in the club room and taking it in turns in the shower to cool down.

One thing we had noticed throughout our stay, was little bottles of water appearing in our room after the maid had been in. We suspected they were free, but didn’t want to run the risk knowing how much the other bits & pieces in the room cost!

So, without wanting to fall into a $$$ trap, we left the bottles where they were, and found amusement each time we went back to the room trying to spot where the maid had left them. In the end the room looked a bit like a healthier version of an easter egg hunt!
Once we had all freshened up we reconvened in the lounge, taking a pew in our usual seats.

I then pointed out our slight oversight when it came to our free cocktails. I’d had a look at the vouchers back in the room, only to see that they had expired the day before – the day we were supposed to have checked out under our Virgin booking. D’oh!

There’s a chance they might still have been honoured, but we weren’t too worried and so didn’t bother to find out.

The lounge was so peaceful and quiet, the calm before the storm when the food gets put out and the alcohol starts to flow, and we all took time to catch up with things back home, me with emails, the boys with InstaGran (thanks Slow.Jo ), Simon with – well, who knows! Seizing the moment, I quickly emailed my Mum to see if her & my Dad would be up for joining us next year, an affirmative response received faster than you could say ‘book it Danno’!

When the food was put out, the boys helped themselves to some snacks and took a seat in front of one of the TVs which was showing cartoons. They also have a selection of DVDs available at your request – on the day we had checked in Dibber Jo’s little girl had asked for Harry Potter to be put on

We had planned to eat out in City Walk that evening, Margaritaville our first choice, but not until much later, so Simon & I had ourselves a little appetiser

Tonight’s main dish was paella with white fish. Simon decided to give it a go despite neither of us being fans of seafood and he said it was delicious, not fishy at all. Looking at it now I wish I had tried it too as it looked like lovely white flakes of fish, no boney old grey scaley stuff, so who knows, I might have enjoyed it!

Bryan was on duty as always, and helped to keep Simon topped up, as always

We had a chat, telling him we were heading off to Margaritaville that evening. As he’d been so well looked after all week, Simon slipped Bryan a tip, (oo-er missus, ), and Bryan returned the favour by slipping his hand in his top pocket and retrieving a voucher for money off at Margaritaville. Perhaps we should’ve tipped him at the start of the week, but knowing our luck it would have been his last night working

We left the lounge at around 5.30pm, stopping off first for Daniel to change his t-shirt as the boys didn’t want to go out dressed the same, and then calling in at the lobby on the way so that I could enquire about a late check out the following day. I was told to ask again in the morning, but if it wasn’t possible, we could use the showers in the gym to freshen up before leaving for the airport.

We took a leisurely stroll to City Walk, but as none of us were hungry enough for a big meal we popped into Islands of Adventure first.

Hulk was our first port of call, and we decided to all go in together and do child swap that Daniel could see what it was like inside.

First up was me & Adam, before Simon took my place

The Hogan shades are still going strong….

Next up was the Storm Cups – not their real name I know, but you know what I mean!

Daniel started to show signs of having a strop, by saying he didn’t want to go on with just Adam, and Adam didn’t want to go on his own, yet neither me or Simon could face it. Me, simply because it spins, and I get travel sick going through a revolving door, and Simon because he had a belly full of beer. The Hulk was probably about as much as he could bear!

After ‘The Look’, Daniel relented and said he’d go on with Adam, stroppy little so and so

It does make me sad at times that they no longer get on as well as they used to. Daniel used to worship the ground Adam walked on up until the age of around 4/5, but I think once he realised he was his own person, he wanted to carve out his own place in the family rather than just being the little brother. And in response, Adam has had to adjust, but hasn’t quite let go of being able to tell him what to do. I don’t know, I’m probably looking at it too deeply, perhaps they both just want to be the best at everything and resent the other for sometimes winning! I’m sure they’ll come round eventually, and it’s not constant, it just feels like it sometimes

Next up was a quick blast on Spiderman and then we wandered round to Jurassic Park as the boys wanted to have a go at rock climbing and we remembered seeing it there a few days before.

They then had a mess around in the climbing play area before we went to see what the queue was like for Pteranodon Flyers, one of the few Universal rides that doesn’t have an Express Line. The good news was that there was no line at all, the bad news was the ride was closed because there was lightning in the vicinity.

Instead we walked round to WWOHP to see what the wait time was Forbidden Journey. Of course, being in the area, a Butter Beer was compulsory, but as we approached the cart, the TM took one look at Adam and said that he wouldn’t be able to serve him. A little bemused, we got a bit closer, only to be told once again that he wouldn’t be able to serve Adam, but could serve me as long as I didn’t give Adam anything. Eh?! This was certainly a new approach in customer service, not sure it’ll catch on. Eventually the TM gave us a clue as to what he was on about and made reference to Adam’s t-shirt (Spurs), and said that there was only one team in London. Ahhhh, so it was football banter! Well why didn’t you say so in the first place?! We humoured him a little bit by naming as many London clubs as we could think of, deliberately avoiding the Gooners, and then relieved him of a certain frozen beverage, and a bottle of water.

Butter beer enjoyed, predictable brain freeze not so much, we continued into Hogsmeade. The wait time for Forbidden Journey was 30 minutes so we didn’t bother and checked in on the Mystic Fountain instead.

Sadly he wasn’t talking tonight, so we didn’t hang around for long. The boys are looking forward to seeing it again in August, and plan on taking their Granddad there for a chat, as he doesn’t know what happens, and I won't tell him if you don't

We continued on through Seuss Landings towards the exit. I fancied a go on One Fish Two Fish but it was closed due to inclement weather (even though there was nothing apparent at that time) and so that was that, and without ceremony or looking back, we left Islands of Adventure for the last time that holiday.

We were all starting to feel peckish now and so headed to Margaritaville. We asked how long the wait was for a table and were told there was no wait, despite specifically requesting a table inside. However, when we were shown to our seats, we were put on the deck, so enquired about eating inside and were told there as an hour wait. Left hand, meet right hand, now discuss what you are doing

The boys all went off to wash their hands while I looked over the menu. Simon then came back and said he wasn’t happy about being outside, there was so much more going on indoors and felt that we’d be missing out. However, instead of waiting the hour (we were all getting pretty hungry), we decided to leave and plumped for Nascar Grille instead. We had pretty low expectations, especially as when we got there it was virtually empty. Still, we only really wanted burgers or similar, what could possibly go wrong?

Well, nothing as it happened, we had a really nice meal, and I'm glad we got to try it as it's now gone!

We settled the bill

And then took a stroll around City Walk, looking in a few shops, and trying not to think that this time tomorrow we’d be at the airport

We bought a few souvenirs in Island Market Exports – a Duff beer Christmas Tree decoration, plus some gifts for home and then called into the Universal Mega Store where we purchased some mugs, and the boys contemplated bringing home a minion…..

When we left the shop it had started raining slightly so we decided it was a good time to head back.

We wanted to get the rickshaw but we knew ours odds were slashed the moment we saw two girls teetering along the same route as us both wearing 6inch heels that they could barely walk in. Sure enough, they nabbed the waiting rickshaw and we had to walk back instead, not without noting we wouldn’t be making that same walk for a while….

We got back to the hotel just in time to pick up some desserts from the club room before they closed up for the night. Bryan said he had been waiting for us, we really must tip him early next time, although who knows where we might find him waiting if we do - he might have enjoyed Simon's tip just a bit too much

Back in the room the three of them all got ready for bed while I did a little more packing. Daniel climbed into bed with Simon and promptly fell asleep. It seemed a shame to move him and so I hopped in bed with Adam.

Lights out on this holiday at 11.30pm, gulp! I sooooo wished I could turn the clock back, just a few days at least

Day 15

[The A team]

The last full day is so sad but at least you had this years trip booked up to help you deal with it... and I've got the trip report to look forward to reading! Thanks for sharing your holiday with us, I pick up so many tips from reading your reports.

[mick]

Oh no your fantastic trippie is coming to an end the last day is never a good but you made it a good one

Joan

[DisneyBelle1105]

Muppet Magnets! Haha!

Feeling your last day sadness x

[collybird]

The last day has such a sense of impending doom, but it's so much easier when you know you have the next trip to look forward to!

[Lisa29]

Were they those $250 minions?! I remember seeing them in 2013.

Great last full day. It is a horrible feeling, still wanting to enjoy yourself but being gutted at the thought of going home.

Great to know you have another trip booked this year.x

[Guest]

Awe jo never mind its a horrid feeling that last full day butttt isn't this one coming round sooo fast, sounds like you all had a really good day bet you can't wait to be back there

[Guest]

Aaaah last full day... where's the trip report gone? Didnt realise there was another update before this so just caught up with both. Had to laugh at Simon staying out of Daniel and Adam's 'fight' on the last day, can just picture him, tactically positioned behind a palm tree or something

Great read as usual, look forward to the last day.

[smedley]

Great last day, it really is sad tho

[Ms Finkelstein]

Last full day is always sad, but at least you know you're definately going next year!

Di x