He Has No Idea What He's Letting Himself In For! Day 8 - Discovery Cove & A (Terrible) Movie!

[Guest]

Today was a Saturday, and as it was the weekend we had booked our non-swim Discovery Cove day!

Again it was hard work to get Joe up today! After I was ready and Joe was still faffing I went down to the hotel shop as yesterday I had realised that I had bought the wrong size of batteries for the camera in Target. Woops!

I went to the non-food shop first, but couldn't find any batteries. This shop had rows of used books as well, and I had a quick browse and picked up one, having visions of reclining on a lounger at DC reading with a cocktail in my hand. I did wonder where they got all these very definitely 2nd hand books from and decided that they were probably making a nice side line on books people left behind in their rooms! The one I picked up didn't scan, so the assistant disappeared off to ask someone. By this time Joe had joined me and I was really keen to get away. She was gone foreeever. Finally she came back and told me the price was the same as was printed on the back- i.e. the brand new, buy-it-in-Waterstones price! Politely declined that and eventually found batteries at the food kiosk. My forfeit for being so daft in Target was that I paid hotel shop prices for two packets of Duracell. Oh well.

We walked out of the front of the hotel and asked the nearest town car driver how much it would be to get to Discovery Cove. After a muttered consult with his nearby colleagues as to how gullible we looked and what he could get away with, he told us $14, which seemed (and still does seem) steep, but at this point we were severely behind schedule so we hopped in. Our driver spoke to himself under his breath a fair bit. We reckoned we was just having a wee moan about the other drivers on the road though, and I certainly do that too, just not under my breath!

$17 later, we were at the check in desk at DC. It was a bit of a wait for an available check in desk and we got talking to an employee, who was telling us that his neighbour was a Scottish lady and had just gone home for 2 months. He didn't understand AT ALL why a Scottish person would want to go home to see family over Christmas, what with the weather being so bad. Kind of saw his point a little tiny bit as surely you retire to Florida to enjoy winter over there, but the fact she had family over here to visit didn't seem to matter to him, you had moved to the best place on the planet so why would you ever leave?!?

One very unflattering ID (mine) and one very flattering ID (Joe's) later and we were walking round to the photo op. Hoping for a good shot, we moved on and had a nice lady explain the lay of the land to us.

Initiated to the world of Discovery Cove, we hurried in for breakfast! Unfortunately we (Joe) had been such slow coaches in the morning that the hot selections were off and there was just cold options left. We grabbed some fruit and pastries and enjoyed a very rare outdoor breakfast!



After we were finished we wandered right over to the grand reef, then back tracked a bit and grabbed a locker. We went and got fitted, both going for vests. The girl got mine right first time and it fitted well, and was an ego boost as it was a childs size!

We found sun loungers at the reef. It was pretty quiet, I would have said about 40% of the loungers already had peoples snorkel bags and sunblock sachets on. We proceeded to grapple with the animal friendly sunblock for a bit as it was a sunny day and we thought we needed it.


Hmm, photos clearly not in chronological order here!

At this point it was already after 11! We really hadn't been getting our money's worth! I must admit though, going for a dip in the grand reef took a while at first, as it was quite cold! We stood about calf deep, making wimpy noises and comparisons to the North Sea! I like water though and grew up going to the beach and swimming in said North Sea (hardy ) and Joe didn't. He looked at me like I was mad when I just decided to woman up and quickly sank myself in to the neck to get it over with!

After a bit, we were acclimatised, and decided to give the snorkel a go. I had never snorkeled, and had no faith that I wouldn't struggle as I'm not that co-ordinated and the thought of it seemed weird to me- I couldn't think how you managed to keep your tube above the water. I was so pleased, then, to take to it right away! It was so much fun and I found that the vest seemed to be a tiny bit buoyant, so you could relax and slowly kick your way round. The reef was quiet too at this point so we didn't have to avoid too many people.

This was also a momentous day as I saw my husband swim, as opposed to bob about with a float, for the first time in the 11 years I've known him! He finally proved that he could, as I had my doubts! We had the underwater camera, so managed to get some good shots and videos:













We probably spent about half an hour/40 minutes in there, and only covered about half of the reef. At one point a employee came along with a bucket of food and stood right next to where I was. Fish everywhere, I was afraid to move in case I stood on one or kicked one! We were having a hard time with the snorkels, Joe especially, as they kept steaming up.

After we got back to the loungers it was 12 o'clock so clearly time for... a cocktail!

We got a mango slush and a pina colada, just to try both, for science. Luckily I liked the mango better and Joe liked the pina colada, we complement each other so well.



After we had finished these and done a bit of people watching at the reef we decided to head back round for lunch. When we got to the main door where it branches off into 2 sides, one side was incredibly busy, but the other side was empty so we used it and got served right away. Not sure why everyone was queuing up at the other side?!

Joe had chicken pasta alfredo which he enjoyed and I went for the pulled pork burger with fries. It was OK but a bit cold and it looked like the pulled pork was being stored in brine or something before serving so it made the bun really soggy and if there's one thing that puts me off it's soggy bread, bleurgh! The corn was lovely but again was plonked on my plate straight from the water/butter/whatever it was being stored in so by the time I was finished my plate was one big puddle. I don't appear to have been inspired to take pictures.

We didn't have pudding, which goes to show how much Joe's pasta had filled him up and how much my plate of soggyness had put me off. While I was finishing off Joe decided to go back to the locker and find a smoking area, but he was gone for ages. I was getting quite irritated at being stuck in the food area waiting and was just in the process of writing him off as fallen in and claimed by a dolphin when he sheepishly came back, having totally lost his bearings and got lost. How you can get lost in a place with no turns like DC boggles my mind. There had also been an incident where he tried to get into locker 90 with our key to locker O6...

As he still hadn't managed to get into the locker we went back over that direction and I sat and sampled the red wine and watched the grand reef while Joe took a smoke break. After Joe's embarrassing incident it was time for mine. Extremely relaxed and about a third through my wine, out of the corner of my eye I saw the biggest wasp I've ever seen coming right for me. The surprise made me let out a little shriek and merrily toss the contents of my wine glass all over the surrounding locale, and myself. My hair, face, legs, the front of my costume (thankfully I had unzipped my vest at this point), a nearby white towel , the lounger and the sand were all liberally doused with the house red. Thankfully I don't think anyone saw! Joe came back just as I had finished cleaning up, keeping a sharp eye for other yellow stripy flying creatures. The man must be a mind reader, as he had another cocktail in his hand for me and all was right with the world. And so concludes my tale of the only wasp we saw in Florida.




Seconds before this wine ended up all over me...

After Joe got back I was keen to escape the scene, so we took a wander over towards the wind away river. We stopped at the parrots and grabbed a couple of pics.



Next we hung out at the otters for a bit. They were in a playful mood and were fun to watch. As we were finished our cocktails by then and were right next to the aviary, we decided to go in and experience it on foot.

Well, we were in there for ages! Joe took a real shine to the birds and was loving feeding them while I went a bit mad with the camera. I also made friends with a few birds. Not as well as an American couple though, who asked us if we'd like to try and tempt a larger bird off the guys shoulder as they wanted to leave but the bird had fallen in love with the man and wasn't for moving! We didn't manage to tempt him away either.







After the birds had had their fill and were ignoring us we left the aviary and found some loungers next to the lazy river. We grabbed two more tumblers of wine and a pretzel (a classy combo if ever there was one), which we shared before going in for a dip. The pretzel was mega mega salty but I enjoyed it.

We found a couple of pool noodles and bobbed round. It was very relaxing and was slower than the one at Blizzard Beach. It didn't have cold waterfalls either!



Once we got back to where we started we got out and enjoyed a bit of relaxation on the loungers, but the sun was right in our eyes at that point and starting to sink towards the horizon so we went back over to the grand reef.

I fancied some more snorkeling but Joe wasn't up for it so I went in by myself and ended up going right round and finding the shark tank, which we hadn't seen at the start of the day. I was sad that I couldn't see Joe to encourage him to come and see too, and I didn't have the camera with me either as the batteries were dead, but still enjoyed going right round the back of the reef. There were lots of places that you could put your feet down, which was good as my mask was steaming up so much it was required!

After I started to become one big prune I eventually got out and rejoined Joe, where we enjoyed the sunset and watching the last few people in the reef. Bliss It was heading towards closing now and there were very few people left (like only about 6 people in the whole reef), so we noticed that the rays were coming in nearer to the edge and you could see their “wings” coming out of the water like shark fins

At this point it was 5.30pm so we returned our vests and masks and threw some clothes on over our suits. We collected our photo (which will never see the light of day ) and had a nose in the gift shop. By now, the wine and sunshine had maybe gone to our heads a little bit, as we ended up buying this which is now sitting in pride of place next to our telly (disrupting the otherwise tasteful and sophisticated décor of our flat, promise ):



Absolutely hideous (Joe likes it... ) but I remember saying in the shop at the time that we would always remember our lovely day at DC if we had a gaudy souvenir! I also went wild and bought a pen, a figurine for my dolphin loving friend and a ceramic disc that sits in your cars cupholder and absorbs any condensation.

We put our name down for a taxi and had a short wait. As it wasn't a town car, it was a lot cheaper at $9.60 before tip.



We have a tradition of going to the cinema when we're away, so earlier we had planned to go and see Interstellar on IMAX at the cinema in Pointe Orlando. It was at 7pm but by the time we got back to the hotel it was 6.40pm, so we were hugely rushed. Super quick showers later and we rocked up to the cinema with wet hair and no make up on in my case! We obviously hadn't eaten and the cinema offered a tempting array of snacks but as the movie had already started we just grabbed some popcorn (yum but not as good as Seaworld's!) and got in with perhaps only a couple of minutes gone.

The note states that about two thirds of the way through I whispered to Joe that it was the worst movie I've ever seen, and I stand by that. What an atrocity. Disappointing as I usually like the Nolan's work but I really disliked it. Joe thought it was OK until about half way though but then changed his mind and wasn't a fan either.

Two and a half hours of our life that we will never get back later... we decided to have a drink and discuss the movie. The bar across from the cinema was charging a cover as there was live music on and it was Saturday night so we decided instead to retire to the hotel bar as even though we had spent the whole day relaxing we were shattered and not ready to party!

One rum and coke and one bourbon and coke later and we had finished our critique. I went back up to the room and was out like a light but the lack of supper was getting to Joe so he went out for a wander. Think he was just looking for a quick snack at McDonalds or something but on foot from the Rosen Plaza isn't that great for casual dining. He ended up getting a pot of cheesy pasta from the hotel shop for $3 and preparing it in their microwaves. We remembered later he could have got room service.

Last full day tomorrow which was the Kennedy Space Center!

[l33na]

Fab day. We recently watched Interstellar and the family were split on whether they liked it or not. It's great being able to fit into a child's size in the US

[Pussycat Doll]

Great day! I don't do wet bread bread either so I would have hated lunch too! Pussycat

[collybird]

Nice relaxing day, did you feel as though the non-swim was worth the money?

[mick]

Good day

[Guest]

Originally Posted by l33na

Fab day. We recently watched Interstellar and the family were split on whether they liked it or not. It's great being able to fit into a child's size in the US

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Thanks for reading- one of our friends really enjoyed Interstellar, seems to be a divisive one!

Originally Posted by Pussycat Doll

Great day! I don't do wet bread bread either so I would have hated lunch too! Pussycat

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Thanks Wasn't the greatest lunch- I was getting frustrated at always making the wrong choice with my meals at this point!

Originally Posted by collybird

Nice relaxing day, did you feel as though the non-swim was worth the money?

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Thanks for reading, it was very relaxing.

I'll be honest, I'm extremely glad we went and we are going back this year for a non-swim day again (Joe said he'd pay the money for the aviary alone and I'm not going to argue with the man ) but I am in complete denial about how much it cost.

When I'm sitting looking at the price of the non-swim on it's own I know it's going to be hard to justify pushing the button, but to be honest if we didn't do it we would only be buying tickets to SeaWorld and Busch separately, and last year it worked out as not too much extra to have the DC package with SW and BG included, and it meant an extra all inclusive day to enjoy and something to do with a weekend day where the parks would be busier. I think it worked out as £75 extra each which is still a bit ridiculous but easier to get over

Originally Posted by mick

Good day

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Thanks, love your tiny countdown!

[sheluk]

Lovely day - DC is the ultimate relaxing place in Orlando shame about the film!

[Nixx]

Nice relaxing day by the sounds of it, although I am beginning to wonder what we did in Orlando, as the last few days have been full of experiences we didn't get to!