The Hopping Mad Easter Tour - 2004 - Part 4

[BONZO]

Shaun - 40 something ‘If it’s high fat, high sugar I’ll eat it’
Alison - 30 something 'If it’s not Atkins I won’t eat it’
Alexandra - 10 ‘Can we play mini-golf? Can we? Can we? Can we? Can we?’
Laura - 8 'If I’m tall enough I’ll ride it'


30th March 2004

Alison was up bright and early again this morning at about 06:00 followed by the rest of us in dribs and drabs. After a slow start we head off to the food court at about 07:15 for breakfast.

Alison: Scrambled Egg and Sausage
Me: Adult platter
Alexandra: Waffle, Bacon, Banana and water
Laura: Scrambled Egg, Apple and water

Cost $24

Off plan already as the troops are revolting and want to go to AK instead of MGM, also they want to go in the car and not the bus - ho hum. We parked in Peacock 6 and rode with an unintelligible CM (glad that we know the form by now!).

Upon entry the kids were handed The Kids Discovery Club Guide, which is a large leaflet with things to spot around the park. Trouble is we didn't get anywhere near spotting everything! Yet something else to add to our 'we'll do that next time' list!

Thinking on our feet we sprinted off to Kilamanjaro Safaris but the standby line said 10 mins but the queue was huge, right back to the middle of Harambe village. Grabbed a FP for this and did the Pangani Forest Trail for the first time ever. Don’t you just love those sights and smells. There’s nothing like the rising of bubbles from a Hippos bum in the pool to set you up for the day! - LOL. I overheard a woman say “Are those Monkeys Audioaniamatronic?” to a CM. The answer came back “No Ma’am, all of our animals are real!”
Time was moving on so we grabbed some FP’s for Dinosaur before doing Kilamanjaro Safaris - Hooray! We managed to save Little Red from the poachers again (they don’t learn do they! - LOL) We had a slow wander around AK but as this is the girls’ least favourite park we don’t look around for too long - we never get to spend too much time here, in the interests of family harmony!

Next stop Kali River Rapids and we noticed that many people were soaking wet, we decided to don our fashionable BEANOLAND ponchos! J - good job too as we got a drenching but not that bad as it was very hot today (and felt even hotter in AK as always).

The troops were flagging (and a bit bored) so we headed out of the park and on the way out we bumped into Mandy and Mark holding hands (sweet J)., and stopped for a chat. Nice to hear that they were have a good time and that Mandy’s mum was feeling better although nothing had been decided about the trip back.




Grabbed a McDonalds on the way back to Pop for lunch.

Me: Big Mac meal
Alexandra: 6 Chicken nuggets
Laura: 1/4lb with no cheese
Alison: Grilled chicken salad

Total cost $15


Over lunch we told the girls about our surprise for them - an overnight stay at the Portofino Bay at Universal! We already had a one night stay booked for our last week at Royal Pacific to take advantage of the Front of Line Access, but a few weeks before we left the UK we’d decided that one day in each Universal park wouldn’t be enough - and as luck would have it, some excellent AP rates were released for the Universal hotels for our first week (around $150 per night). So PBH it was!

While the girls played in the Pop Jets I took some pics...



... while Alison packed for our overnight stay and we set off for the Portofino Bay Hotel. This place still has the WOW! Factor - refined and understated quality all the way. We parked in the lower part of the multi storey and boy is it dark down there. Alison said that if she was on her own she wouldn’t be too happy parking and heading up to the lifts alone (not quite the depths of an inner London multi-storey - but you get the idea!)
Headed up to the check-in and had no problems except that the room wouldn’t be ready until about 2:30. We asked for a quiet room and received room 1371 (East wing, 3rd Floor). This room is possibly the biggest I’ve ever been in! The bathroom alone is bigger than Laura’s bedroom at home and it came complete with 3 telephones including one next to the loo! - Why for heavens sake? I felt like asking room service to come and wipe my bum! - LOL

The beds were really high, so much so that I had to vault to get on it! I liked this room and we even have a small balcony with a couple of chairs- ah bliss! Apparently not many rooms have balconies - so we felt really lucky!



As we had time on our hands we walked around a bit and then caught the water taxi over to Universal Studios although the girls just wanted to swim - no, no, you’re coming with us young ladies! Straight over to MIB where I let Alison win with 168,000, me with 140,00, Laura 14,000 and Alexandra with 37,000 - that’s the last time I reveal any tips and hints L

Over to ET - Don’t even ask about the Howard name thing Grrr! (Alison here - I’ll tell the story! Last time it sounded like ET was being sick when he tried to say Shaun’s name so we all persuaded Shaun to use his middle name - which gave the girls fits of giggles - OK and me too! LOL)

Dippin’ Dots for the girls (which they love - although they’re never quite the same in a sachet!) and then over to Nickelodeon where Laura gets chosen to take part in a game (much to Alexandra’s annoyance at not being picked). She did pretty well and we cheered her on like good parents! Finally Alison and I went into Shrek 4D sans kids as we left them to tour the shops. This is truly an excellent show and worth the entrance money alone IMHO. Poor Alison couldn’t hear much due to screaming child next to her - why don’t people take notice of the advisory notice? The child was petrified the entire film - and the parents refused to take her out - she was about 3 I guess.

Met the girls in the shops and headed back to PBH for a swim but the Beach pool was closed so we swam in the Villa Pool instead although it was a bit chilly for Laura (the child has no flesh on her!). Got out about 7pm and wandered back to the room for a nice shower.

We decided that we’d try Sweet Tomatoes for dinner again - we really enjoyed this when we went for dinner there last August.

It was fantastic! Highly recommended! It’s a healthy eating buffet restaurant and amongst copious amounts of salad we also had:


Alison: 2 x bowls of Chilli
Me: Soup and bread, bowl of Chilli - fresh Pineapple
Laura: Pizza and garlic bread
Alexandra: various pasta and bread - Apple cobbler, Blueberry muffin

Loads of drinks and coffee and all for $34 and of course we all felt very virtuous as it is billed as healthy eating!

Back to the room to find that turn-down service had been in and left chocolates on the pillow and left the radio on - neat.

Weather today - hot and sunny - a little cooler in the evening - but still shorts and t-shirt weather!

Plan for tomorrow: - IOA and back to Pop

[Guest]

Man, your reports just keep craking me up

[Clarey]

Excellent reports Shaun and Alison
We did the Pangani Forest Trail last year for the first time and loved it

[Michelle]

Another great report.

Those pic's are a lovely touch...

Looking forward to the next installment.

[Guest]

Great report, great pictures, did LOL at the ET being sick saying Shaun! Sorry!

[Guest]

GREAT STUFF ! The PBH looks and sounds fabulous ..One day !

Cheers

/J

[Mike]

Keep 'em coming, Shaun & Ali! Great pics too! I'm really looking forward to the FOTL at IOA and US this June!

[Tartan Tigger]

Great report Howard and Alison. Sounds like a great day.

[gala]

Good grief, how did you fit so much in? Sounds like a fabulous day though. Those dippin' dots are the bees knees - kids love them as do I . Great report Shaun

Margaret

[jojj]

another good report - its good that you are putting the food and the prices in for food too - gives people a good idea of what to expect.