The Hopping Mad Easter Tour - 2004 - Part 13

[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'


Thursday 8th April 2004




Alison and I were up bright and early today with the alarm at 7.45 and we got some washing going. After fixing a hearty breakfast for everyone I thought that it was best to try and rouse the troops as they were fast asleep.
C’mon everyone, we need to be at BB early in case it shuts before we get there!

After breakfast we set off and arrived at about 10:00 and it wasn’t as busy as we’d expected as the car park wasn’t even ¾ full! – I guess that yesterday must’ve put a lot of people off. We love this water park - the theming is so clever, we just love all the music playing!

We got into the park quickly and managed to get a really good spot with seats and a picnic bench near to the lazy river with no problems at all. We bought our old TL refillable mug and got a refill bar code for $6. (It was $10 for a new mug and bar code for the day).

First off we took the chairlift to the top via the single rider line. (We always use the single rider line as the main queue is usually very long. We try and work it so the girls get to go with Mums and kids rather than teens).

We re-grouped at the top and went to do Teamboat Springs. Such a good ride! Much better than the family raft ride at Typhoon Lagoon! This was followed quickly by Toboggan Racers where Alison nearly ran out of ride – only joking!, followed by the girls doing various bits in the Ski Patrol Training Camp.

Time for lunch and we had: -
2 x Hot Dogs
1 x Pizza
1 x Caesar salad
Total cost $16

While we were on our way back to the table with our lunch, something wriggled across our path and settled in the bushes…..



By now the wait time for Summit Plummit was showing 75 mins and less than 20mins for all the other main rides. (We were still surprised that it wasn’t busier as it was the day before Good Friday.) Oh well, I guess that I’ll just have wait until next time for a wedgie on Summit Plummit! (Alison here - he’s just chicken!) So we swam in the main pool and went around the lazy river for a while before going on the run off rapids.

We left at about 1pm and headed over to Epcot to meet up with the Hunts at 3pm for the Ice Cream Social.

As we went in we noticed that The Wonders of Life was open so we went in and did Body Wars. Ugh! – Now, I like motion simulator rides but this one really didn’t agree with me at all and poor Laura really quite unwell afterwards – I think that we’ve put her off for good on simulator rides now.

We walked over to The Land to wait for the Hunts but after a bit of a wait they didn’t show up. We decided to go ahead anyway and took our table at about 3:10. The ice cream was delicious and the character intervention was brilliant, even if Mickey got a little grumpy when the pen wasn’t placed in his hand correctly. He was obviously having a bad day!

Fantastic value at $25 for the whole family.






Back to Wonders of Life to see Cranium Command – very funny indeed, not sure how we managed to overlook this before although there are some great 80’s fashions going on in the film. We also took in The Making of Me which bought about a lot of sniggering from the girls.

Last lap was Ellen’s Energy Adventure with Bill Nye the science guy – I wonder what ever happened to Ellen deGeneres? Not seen her on TV for a while.

Ok, so the real last lap was Spaceship Earth for the kids while we had a bit of fun in Innoventions sending e-mails and video clips to all and sundry.

Drove back to the villa and stopped off at Tony Romas for dinner – this place was brilliant!

2 x kids meals (carrots, celery and dip as appetiser), 1 x burger and chips and 1 x ribs and chips
1 x ½ rack rack of Pork ribs with a large salad
1 x Beef ribs, fries and coleslaw
3 x soft drinks
1 x Corona beer
1 x coffee

Total cost $35 – Bargain! The service was first class too – beat a track to this place.

Weather today - generally hot and sunny - although I think there was a brief rain shower while we were in one of the pavilions in Epcot, as the ground was wet when we came out!

Plan for tomorrow – Sea World and Dine with Shamu.



OK - now the bit you’ve all been waiting for! It’s the Hunts’ latest episode of the holiday! It turned out that Jennifer was very poorly just after lunch at Epcot - some sort of sickness bug so the Hunts had to beat a hasty retreat back to their villa, rather than meeting up with us for the Ice Cream Social…..but don’t worry - Bob had already been into the Rose and Crown for a beer

He was standing at the bar waiting to be served with his second drink when the American chap next to him finished his drink, turned to leave but first fished out a few dollars to leave as a tip. “Oh no“, said Bob, “Don’t do that! Nobody ever leaves a tip in England in a bar - you’re wasting your money! The staff in here won’t be expecting a tip.”

Well, the CM working behind the bar overheard him and promptly banned him! After much arguing (and pleading I guess!) they gave in and served him one more drink - but he was on a final warning! And no, I don’t know if he left a tip! LOL

(Afterwards, while Bob was standing there a bit dumbfounded, an American guy turned to him and said, “You know, in the UK I always leave a tip at the bar”. “Why?” said Bob. The reply came “Because when I do this in the UK no one dares touch the money when I go to the restroom and I always manage to keep my space at the bar that way”.

Hmmm….I wonder where the guy was drinking - wasn’t round here! The money would have disappeared!)

[BarryandCaron]

We've really enjoyed reading your trip reports, 1st ones we've ever read too. had a chuckle about Bob!
Looking forward to the next instalment.
Barry

[Guest]

Love the reports, makes me even more excited, not long now, tickets 4 Disney/IoA arrived today, yippeeeeeee!

[Tartan Tigger]

Way to go Bob! Would love to seen the CM's face.

Shaun could we please have warnings when snake pictures are posted, I have terrible phobia and you succeed in scaring the living daylights out of me. Cheers!

[BONZO]

Shaun could we please have warnings when snake pictures are posted, I have terrible phobia and you succeed in scaring the living daylights out of me

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Ooops


(No more snake pics - I promise!)

[Tartan Tigger]

Originally posted by BONZO
Ooops


(No more snake pics - I promise!)

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Thank you

[gala]

We too saw a snake crawl out in front of us at AS Movies - not nice! Sorry T. Tigger-hope that doesnt put you off for your next trip.
Another great report Shaun.

Margaret

[Tartan Tigger]

Originally posted by gala
We too saw a snake crawl out in front of us at AS Movies - not nice! Sorry T. Tigger-hope that doesnt put you off for your next trip.
Another great report Shaun.

Margaret

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It won't, had close encounters at Blizzard Beach before. First one I saw people looking in the bushes and heard them say that one had just went in. I went QUICKLY in the opposite direction.
Second encounter I got to top of the flumes (the flumes where 2 are open and one enclosed). One of the open flumes was closed whilst they waited for someone to remove the snake hanging over it. I went down the enclosed one.

[duchy]

Originally posted by BONZO
The Hopping Mad Easter Tour - 2004

Hmmm….I wonder where the guy was drinking - wasn’t round here! The money would have disappeared!)

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Not around here either. Mind you to say no-one tips in pubs here isn't quite true either. I work pub shifts now and again and it's a rare shift you don't get some tips. Not on the US scale (sadly) though.

duchy

[SimonB]

I read elsewhere that tipping for everything is something you have to get used to when visiting.