The Hopping Mad Easter Tour - 2004 - Part 10

[BONZO]

The Hopping Mad Easter Tour - 2004

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'


Monday 5th April 2004



We decided not to set the alarm today as we thought that some of the mini commando’s needed some R and R. Not to mention the fact that we had an exciting evening planned (which is our best ever ‘bad parenting’ moment!) Alison though was awake just after 08:00 and the rest of us woke naturally just before 09:00.
Showered, dressed and over to Sizzlers on the 192 for "old time’s sake" at the girls request and it’s heaving with Brits! Had a bit of a chuckle as a number of people who were going back for seconds with dirty plates! – Shock! Horror! (Well I’m sure we did that on our first trip too!)

We didn’t hang about for long and drove straight to Downtown Disney for souvenirs, pins, and bits and bobs for Jules, Heather and Anita as requested. You people think we have time for shopping on our itinerary? - LOL (Alison here - well Shaun sat outside while I took the girls in the shops!)

Took this pic in World of Disney shop:



Shopping completed, or as much as time permitted as I don’t "do shops" and over to Disney Quest. We started off on the virtual raft ride and moved onto other areas including the Astroblaster which had a mind of it’s own. Then, we moved onto the Namco area and re-lived some mis-spent youth on Galaxians, Galaga, Dig-Dug, Tron, Donkey Kong etc. It’s good to see that some of the old techniques still work well

We did the animation class to learn how to draw Goofy:




And




Alison logged on at the Cheesecake factory and caught up with some mail messages while the girls had a snack. So far today the girls have been a bit lacklustre but it’s not surprising really given the events of the last couple of days.
Drove back to CSR for a swim at the Dig Site and to take things easy for the rest of the day.

We decided to get a cheapie dinner and decided on Burger King along the 192
2 x Chicken Sandwich meals
1 x Double burger big kids meal
1 x Low carb Whopper (Burger and salad in a bowl)

Total cost $18

Well, I guess we’d better own up to what we had planned for the evening then. It’s become a tradition for Alison and I to have an evening out each holiday - always an E-Ride night, and we check the girls into a kids club on site at Disney which they’ve always enjoyed. The trouble this year is that there were NO E RIDE NIGHTS! Oh no! Never mind we thought - we’ll just have a nice meal out somewhere instead……then a brainwave struck! Why not try Pleasure Island instead?

Well after some discussion - we decided yes, we’d go to Pleasure Island.

So, back in February Alison rang up Disney to book the girls into the Neverland Club or somewhere like that on site at Disney. But Alexandra overheard the telephone conversation and said that she really didn’t want to go to a kids club again - she felt too old for it now. Hmmm….what should we do then? Alison came up with an idea which we ran past the girls - and they were quite keen so we decided to go for it. We decided to book a totally unknown babysitter through a company called Fairy Godmothers! They would come to the room and look after the girls while we went out! Apparently their sitters are all trained in first aid etc and are all Mothers or Grandmothers themselves (hey, we can justify our decision!)

Well, how about that for being bad parents then? Leave your two daughters with a complete stranger in a foreign country!

So after Burger King we drove back to hotel to wait for our Fairy Godmother to arrive and on the way we had bets as to how old she would be what she would be like. All ages varied between 45 and 65, with 3 of us guessing Grandmother and 1 a mother. . I had visions of her being like "Matron" from Carry on Doctor but how wrong could I be?

As we drove into the car park at CSR the sitter had already arrived and was waiting outside our room. Julianne turned out to be a blonde 18 year old! I told the others that they should have an evening out while I chaperoned Julianne but my pleas fell on deaf ground! – LOL

We chatted for a while and briefed her on our rules i.e. none, and set off for Pleasure Island.

This felt somewhat "naughty" doing this but I soon got over it, after all the girls were now old enough and independent enough to know right from wrong etc. Anyway, PI was brilliant, this was our first trip there for 15 years and we were going to enjoy ourselves. We decided that we would visit every club for at least a short while - just to get a taster, although we thought we’d spend a bit longer in the Comedy Warehouse and the Adventurers Club.


West End Stage – Kabang were on stage playing, not too well, a number of "standards" that had at least 4 people tapping their feet! Becky! – we need you here! Anyway, we got straight in the line for the first show of the night in…

Comedy Warehouse – We really enjoyed this - a good laugh! Great stand up fun in the form of "Whose line is it anyway?" We didn’t put our hands up so no humiliation here! Unlike the….

Adventures Club – Kungaloosh! – oh this is brilliant! adventurersclub/id17.htm
Into the Mask Room where Alison gets singled out to wake the masks. Unfortunately I didn’t have the camera with me - so no chance to embarrass her by posting photos here! After the mask room we headed into the Treasure Room, for more odd events and finally into the Library for the main ‘show’. We also had drinks here - Alison went for the signature Kungaloosh cocktail (sort of a strawberry dacquiri - a frozen concoction made with rum, blackberry brandy liqueur, orange and strawberry juices. Apparently it was delicious! It was great fun in the Adventurers club - brought all the memories flooding back from 1989 when we were last here! Would we have any memories of…..


8 Trax – "caters for guests that like disco music, and want to remain living in the 1970's. Even the club staff have to wear polyester clothing". With Rick Astley belting out "Never gonna give you up" this is THE place to be! On the other hand most of the tunes appeared to be from the early 80’s and later. It was very cheesy here - but we felt right at home! Wanted to stay for longer but felt compelled to move on to…..

Mannequins – HUGE revolving dance floor, lighting rig and sound system. Surprisingly not many people but we stayed for a while and had a drink before reminiscing in the…

Rock n Roll Beach Club – "sigh" – this used to be roller-skate rink when we were here in the late 80’s. Many laughs were had (mainly by Alison at my expense!) Then over to…

Motion – This was playing some "kickin’ tunes", mainly RnB etc quite a popular club - so we stayed and people watched for a while before going to….

The BET soundstage is located in the old Neon Armadillo building. I didn’t get this at all. Eminem was playing on the video wall and 50 cent playing over the sound system. However I did notice two young ladies playing out some "bump and grind" on the stage for whatever reason.Alison dragged me off to…

Pleasure Island Jazz Company From the Fast Show – "Mmmm, nice" – a tiny little stage and about 5 people sitting sipping wine. Oh well, I suppose it’s intimate. Nothing happening at all! And we finished up in….

Wild Horse Saloon – Sorry, but renditions of "Coal miners Daughter" or "Duelling Banjo’s" or even "Country Bear Jamboree" just leaves me stone cold. We stepped inside the door to say we’d visited, but that was all! Perhaps we caught this on a bad night or we left too early, not really sure.

By now it was about 11pm and we could see the $$ disappearing fast into the babysitters pocket so we decided to make a move. We drove back to the room to see how the babysitter had got on with the girls (or vice versa). Alison said that she was a bit nervous at this point - Would we find the girls missing - and we’d be on the news next week saying our girls had been kidnapped? Actually no - we got back to the room to find Laura fast asleep and Alexandra teaching Julianne how to play Brag and Pontoon! LOL (That’s my girl!)

They’d been fine apparently - Julianne had taken them swimming (we’d said that was OK in advance) and then over to buy some sweets (candy) at the shop in El Centro (we’d also agreed this in advance) before heading back to the room for games and TV before bed. Julianne was very sweet and said that she’d like any children she has in the future brought up in England as she always finds English children so polite and well behaved! LOL

We paid the bill ($60) and waved her off. It wasn’t a cheap evening (cheaper than the kids club though!) but as a treat for us it was well worth it.

Off to bed about 11.45ish.

Weather today - hot and sunny, around the mid 80’s.

Plan for tomorrow Magic Kingdom - we’re trying for an early start….and a wonderful evening meal!

[Guest]

Hey well done Shaun.

Ready for another good read.

How many more parts can I look forward to.

[BONZO]

Originally posted by falcon46
How many more parts can I look forward to.

See more...

About another 11 or 12 I think! Haven't typed them all up yet!

[Guest]

Shaun and Alison - Thanks for the great trip reports. I'm really enjoying reading them. Thanks again for getting my brooch. Glad you enjoyed The Adventurer's Club. Rick and I spent the whole evening in there, last time we went, as each show in The Library is different.

Can't wait for part 11.

Heather

[Mike]

as I don’t "do shops"

See more...

... a man after my own heart!

Great report... thanks for the detail about PI, as this will be new to me for this year!

Our brats (sorry, darling children) rebelled at the suggestion of a babysitter last time... I'll get them to read the report and suggest it again for next year!

Looking forward to the rest!

Mike

[Michelle]

Those Goofy drawings look brilliant, I am so pleased I didnt take a pic of when I tried to draw Mickey It was of course the pen thingy's fault it didnt work properly

Great report

[Guest]

Really enjoying the trip reports, check each day to see if the new one is up. Loved the detail on Pleasure Island. Thanks.

[BONZO]

Don't worry - still on target to post 1 per day each evening until I've done - keep 'em peeled

[Claire44]

Really enjoying these reports and well done for making time for an evening out together, I am sure the girls enjoyed their evening with the babysitter just as much as you enjoyed pleasure island.

[Guest]

I have to agree with the other comments

Never read anybodies trip reports before - yours is the first (I'm addicted lol) cant wait for the next fix

Very informative too - as we've only holidayed in florida once before, and lastly... I'm making the most of my young & VERY selfish stage (no children) all that money I could be spending... because believe me I do 'DO' shopping thankfully Chris is with me in our 'VERY' selfish thoughts at this stage