If you book it, they will come! - August 2015 - Day 12 - Pool Hopping at PBH / Longhorns

[JoJo88]

If you book it, they will come August 2015

INDEX

Day 12 – Pool Hopping at PBH / Longhorns

Sunday 16th August 2015

Quite a short report today, you’ll be relieved to hear!

Despite a relatively late night last night (for us), we were still up and about quite early, and at 8.30am we were all enjoying a leisurely breakfast in the club room. The plan for today was a bit of pool hopping, something which is allowed, even encouraged when staying at a Universal hotel, unlike at Disney hotels. However, with such a huge difference between all the different standard Disney hotels, I can see why they don’t allow it.

Last year we had spent a lovely few hours at the pool at Portofino Bay, and so that’s where we decided to go today.

We packed up all our things as though we were going for a day at the beach, grabbing a few bottles of water from the club room on our way, and headed down towards the boat dock.

We arrived at City Walk at around 10am on what was, once again, a beautiful sunny morning, with no trace of the persistent rain from the night before.

There was no sign of the boat to Portofino Bay and so we took a pew and some photos while we waited.

Eventually our ride arrived and we took the leisurely trip along the waterway, passing the Hard Rock Hotel along the way.

Arriving at the Portofino on the water taxi affords such a stunning view of the resort

Yet as stunning as it is, we still couldn’t be persuaded to pay the extra to stay there over the other two main hotels. As I’ve said before, it seems quite disjointed with all the different buildings, but I can imagine it’s quite beautiful at night all lit up.

We followed the signs through to the main pool,

And found a few sun loungers. It didn’t take long for Daniel to make himself comfortable in the water.

Adam joined him but the rest of us decided to catch some rays before taking a dip.

It was fairly quiet in and around the pool, but enough people to give a nice atmosphere. There was music playing but it was very low unless you were right next to the DJ booth, it was very peaceful.

After a short lie down on the very comfortable loungers (they have padded cushions), we all joined the boys in the water, and then typically they left us to go on the slide!

Simon and I then joined them for a few turns, which was good fun, no surprise Grandma & Grandad declined!

One thing I had noticed at the RPR pool, and saw again today was that the lifeguards were constantly walking up and down the edge of the pool, their heads moving back & forth across the area that they were patrolling. And the ones sat in the stations, you could see them carefully monitoring their little patch of pool. I know all lifeguards must do it, but I’ve never noticed it so obviously before, and it’s very reassuring to see them being so vigilant.

After a couple of hours, tummies started to rumble so we had a look at the options on the poolside menu. Daniel went for chicken fingers (how original!) while Adam chose a pizza, which I’m sure came with fries. We also ordered some onion rings, and Grandma and Grandad got some bits too, as well as a couple of drinks and we all shared. It was plenty to fill the gap. I don’t know about you, but our appetites are not so big in the warmer weather, which is a real shame with all the lovely food around!

Once we’d finished, and waited the obligatory 10 minutes or so necessary to ensure we don’t sink or get cramp, or whatever the old wives’ tale is, we all got back in the pool.

We were treated to a little downpour and so took shelter under the umbrellas for a while, but it only lasted about ten minutes before we were back to the arduous task of relaxing in the sun!

Early afternoon and the pool games began. Daniel, detecting the opportunity for a smoothie made his way over to see what the game was. It was a game of ‘Sharks’ apparently, and involved swimming backwards and forwards from one side of the pool to the other trying not to get ‘eaten’.

I’m not sure why, but after a few minutes they took the game inside the cave, maybe to get them more in the shade, or so that the distance they had to swim wasn’t so great. For some reason we didn’t think to go and watch what was going on – we could peer over and see them playing, but couldn’t watch properly. Daniel doesn’t always like us watching him competing in things anyway, so he was quite happy to get on with it on his own, but I was left feeling a little guilty when another Mum came over to us and said that Daniel was swimming like a little fish and doing really well. .

I wasn’t holding out much hope for a freebie drink as despite being very sporty, swimming isn’t one of Daniel’s strongest suits.

However, that’s probably because he’s never had such a rewarding prize before as he soon reappeared with a voucher for a drink or ice cream of his choosing! That’s my boy!

We also bought one for Adam, but that’s not bad going, two for the price of one

After a swim around, it was time for another game, this time the limbo. Daniel once again joined in but was left severely disgruntled as obviously the smaller children had an unfair advantage, not to mention the amount of cheating going on! Daniel was very careful to make sure he was doing a proper limbo whereas some children were bending forward to walk under the pole. If there’s one thing he’s very big on, it’s justice and fairness!

Anyway, no smoothie this time, and instead we all got ourselves settled in for a game of pool bingo. Basically bingo whilst sat in the pool!

A little girl of about 4 took a shine to Daniel and came over and plonked herself down next to him. They sat playing together, all of us cheering when the little girl got a number. It was very sweet, but sadly not one of us won yet again, sad times!

At around 3pm we’d have enough sun, so gathered up our things and headed back to the boat dock, calling in at City Walk before catching our final ride back to Royal Pacific.

It had been a lovely few hours, and it was during our time in the pool that Simon and I had chatted about how we’d be quite happy to come to Florida and not do any parks at all, even Universal.

I’ve already mentioned, a couple of report days ago, how a seed had been planted, and after having another non-park day in Florida, that seed was now beginning to take root.

We knew we loved Royal Pacific, but that if you took out the need for Express Passes, it would be nice to try the new hotel, Sapphire Falls which looks to be as lovely as RPR. It seemed like the perfect opportunity for us to try a non-park holiday but without compromising on accommodation.

It might just have been a seed back then, but after a few diversions in our plans, here we are now, in Double Digits to our next Florida holiday!

And it is indeed a non-park holiday and includes a five night stay at Sapphire Falls!

A pre-trippy might follow, but I can't promise when, need to finish this bad boy first!

I hope it’s more than an artist’s impression by the time we get there!

Once back at our hotel, we all had showers and then headed to the lounge for a drink. I’ve nothing to say we tried the food that evening, which could be because we were heading to Longhorns and definitely didn’t want to spoil our appetites!

I’m afraid I’m severely lacking in the photo department for evening, but we’re creatures of habit and most of us have exactly the same every visit! Flo's Fillets in various guises for most of us

I do have this photo though – outstanding photography skills as always!

Being this far into the holiday we felt ready to attempt a pud, but only the one to share

Molten Lava Cake….

It was all very good as always and came to $125 + tip.

Our server didn’t need to go to the trouble of doodling upside down bums on our receipt as we are quite good with the tips (where appropriate!) and will probably have left $150 which was just shy of 20%.

We made our way back to RPR, the usual shouts of ‘yellow car’ ringing around the vehicle. Grandad also had his own little game to play, which was finding all the different state number plates. I’d printed a sheet of them off, laminated it and given him some stickers to mark them off – he seemed to enjoy it, and took it a lot more seriously than the boys did last year!

Daniel had his own little joke whenever he saw ‘Virginia’, deliberately pronouncing it wrong, with a coy little snigger. I'm sure you can guess what he was saying... I wanted to take a photo of him stood next to a Virginia plate but he refused, so instead I’ll share with you this photo of him, taken at around 4 years old on holiday in Portugal…..

It's almost the same…… . Please note the ten to two stance, wonder who he gets that from!

It was just gone 7pm by the time we got back to the hotel

We were a bit weary from all the sun during the day, and didn’t want to venture far, so plonked ourselves down in the club room for some down time, catching up on social media, WhatsApp etc.

I was aware that a few fellow Dibbers were due to be checking in around about this date, one of which was also called Jo, (Dazed on the Dibb). She was with her husband and four children, one named Daniel, so that's another Jo & Daniel! Having chatted a little bit online prior to us both leaving, I knew the ages of her children and so when I saw a family arriving who fit the description, I approached ‘Jo’ and asked if she was indeed who I thought she was. Thank goodness she was! One of these days someone is going to look at me like I’m bonkers!

We had a little chat, and after a few minutes my Mum called to get my attention. When I turned to see her, she was talking with someone too. This turned out to be another Dibber who I had chatted to online beforehand, Colette (Col41). She had approached my Mum, thinking she was me (I’ll forgive you Colette! ), and then came over to join me & Jo. We had a lovely catch up on what we had all being doing, comparing our Dibb uniforms of Kipling bags and Skechers

Colette’s teenage children thought it was quite funny their Mum would approach a total stranger, but I’m so glad that she did, and we saw each other quite often in the club room over the next few days.

It’s fun to see familiar faces, and it was an absolute pleasure to meet you and your families, Colette & Jo!

It goes without saying that the cards came out, the end result a rather embarrassing one for me….

With the club room closing at 9.30pm, we headed back to our rooms for some TV before our journey to the land of nod…..

[Helen0705]

Another brilliant day with lots of relaxing pool time .
Love the photo of Daniel at the shop in Portugal - totally our sense of humour too ! Xx

[The A team]

Lovely relaxing day 🏊🏼 I like the idea of Florida with no parks, the price of a holiday like that can often be as cheap as Europe with better weather, don't know if I could manage it without the parks, especially being so close. You've had plenty of practice with no Disney for the last few trips though and you can always get tickets there if the lure of rides is too much 😉

[COL41]

Yeah I'm famous!
Recognised all of you from your previous reports just wasn't quite sure which one was Jo! My kids reckon there should be a special "Dibber" handshake or similar. Personally, I reckon the Kipling bags and Sketchers say it all really.

[Col&Ali]

A lovely relaxing day Jo. Reminded me a bit of your time in the little cottage by the coast last year but better IYKWIM - good old fashioned quality family time Are Mum and Dad coming with you this year? Is it no Disney either? How much has that saved you? I'm tempted!

[sheluk]

What a fabulously relaxing day - sounds like heaven. And that countdown eek! Xx

[JoJo88]

Originally Posted by Helen0705

Another brilliant day with lots of relaxing pool time .
Love the photo of Daniel at the shop in Portugal - totally our sense of humour too ! Xx

See more...

Poor kid was oblivious x

Originally Posted by The A team

Lovely relaxing day 🏊🏼 I like the idea of Florida with no parks, the price of a holiday like that can often be as cheap as Europe with better weather, don't know if I could manage it without the parks, especially being so close. You've had plenty of practice with no Disney for the last few trips though and you can always get tickets there if the lure of rides is too much 😉

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It was cheaper for us to go to Florida this year than rent a villa in Spain for a week! And we get two weeks too! Simon is the one saying he will miss the parks, but Adam would rather wait until there is new stuff to see/ride etc. I'm going to miss the frozen butterbeer but I'm going to wait by gates and beg someone to bring one back to me

You are right though, if we change our minds, we can buy on the gates

Originally Posted by COL41

Yeah I'm famous!
Recognised all of you from your previous reports just wasn't quite sure which one was Jo! My kids reckon there should be a special "Dibber" handshake or similar. Personally, I reckon the Kipling bags and Sketchers say it all really.

See more...

Hello!

Us Dibbers aren't hard to spot, are we?! I really did enjoy meeting you, I'm sure we could've spent a good few hours putting the world to rights if it wasn't for embarrassing our kids, you know, with us being strangers and all that x

[JoJo88]

Originally Posted by Col&Ali

A lovely relaxing day Jo. Reminded me a bit of your time in the little cottage by the coast last year but better IYKWIM - good old fashioned quality family time Are Mum and Dad coming with you this year? Is it no Disney either? How much has that saved you? I'm tempted!

See more...

Awww, we had a lovely time in that cottage, apart from the bites!

Yep, Mum & Dad are coming along too, and no Disney this time either.

We've saved a lot of money this year - we priced up a villa in Spain for a week and it was sooooo expensive. For Florida we got a great deal on a flydrive, the villa is a bargain, and Sapphire Falls is £600 for the 5 nights. Park tickets really bump up the price too, so saving loads of money there. All in, for the four of us, it's around £3.5k, which is unbelievable really! Obviously there's spending money on top, and sharing the cost of the villa with parents is a saving. I honestly didn't think we'd be going this year, so I'm really chuffed that we are! xx

Originally Posted by sheluk

What a fabulously relaxing day - sounds like heaven. And that countdown eek! Xx

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I know! Eeeeeek! x

[Hrm27]

Another wonderful read. Thank you for sharing xx

[helenlovesdestr]

Another lovely day. You're so lucky to be going again this year. A non park holiday is something we would def consider for the future. Please do a pre- trippy & report if you can as I love reading them!