A Very Angelic Christmas

[ANGEL]

Day 9

Christmas Eve- Islands of Adventure & Artists Point

Awake very early, after all it is nearly Christmas and I’m in my ‘excited’ mode!

Even Becky is awake early today, although that’s mainly because she has a dreadful cold poor dear! See, what a horrible Mum I am! I bullied her around yesterday and she really was n’t well.L  Anyway, she says actually although she sounds awful, she feels better now that her cold is ‘out’…thank goodness, it’s rotten being poorly on holiday!

The ‘phone rings as we are watching TV to find the weather channel, and it’s my brother to wish me ‘happy Birthday’ for yesterday…oh well, better late than never!  He tells me it snowed at home!  Seems so strange when we are sitting discussing which shorts we should wear.  Mind you, having just seen film clips of Buffalo, NY with 18 inches of snow, that’s even stranger!  Same country and the weather is so different!  Glad we’re in the hot place!

Vince nips off to Walgreens, the chemist just down the road, very handy, while we get ready (I’m kind today and don’t nag Becky too much).  He comes back with half the chemist, got very confused with so much on offer so he bought the shop, it seems!  What he does get are Tylenol throat lozenges which work like magic, try them if you ever need to!  Also a very large box of tissues, think we’ll be needing them!

Anyway, enough of the boring bits, by 10.15 we have our usual parking space in ‘Jaws’ car park, as far from the park as possibleJ  We were planning to visit KSC today but having heard of all the security restrictions decided to give it a miss, and IoA got the vote instead.  Its our first visit this trip, but won’t be our last! Hope its not too busy, being Xmas Eve etc.

The weather seems to be quite cloudy at the moment although it is warm, and the TV did promise it would get better today, so we’re hopeful.   First stop is the Croissant Moon Bakery for some drinks, pastries and fruit and while we sit munching I notice the sun is definitely on its way through those clouds…looks like we’re in for a lovely day today.

Vince has got us all FPs for Spidey for later on, so our first ride (on a full stomach, hmmmmm) is Dr Doom’s Fearfall.  Becky’s really funny, she’s only ever done Tower of Terror once, won’t do any ‘upside down rides’ BUT will do this one, which personally I think is much scarier than ToT!  I love the theming of this ride, as I remember my brother reading all the Marvel comics when we were kids.  However, that moment that you strap yourself into the seats with the shoulder harness, and wait for that first ‘whoosh’ up to the top of the tower is almost worst than the few seconds of supreme terror as you are left feeling weightless before you are dropped back down!  I always vow not to open my eyes at the top, but I can’t help myself!  This ride gives me such a rush, and although we let out blood curdling screams every time, we really enjoy it….no REALLY!!!!!!

We collect our bags, and stomachs, from the baskets provided and then wobble our way out to Spiderman.  The Marvel characters are all out in force, look there’s the X-Men, and the Green Goblin (great make up), and Dr Doom himself…oh, and the main man….Spidey!  Great tights! (wasn’t looking, honest)  Becky drags me away from Spidey before I can embarrass myself (or rather her) and its time to use our Fast Passes.  So, straight on to the most incredible ride in Orlando…….never sure whether its my favourite, but its most certainly the cleverest!  Part 3-D, or 4-D, are you really dropping off that tall building, is that really Spidey on your car?  Great action for all ages, can’t imagine Not enjoying this ride!

Next its Vince’s turn to ride Hulk a couple of times and this one is way too intense for both Becky and I.  We elect to sit and sun ourselves while indulging in our favourite pastime of people watching.  Get a great pic of Hulk as it skims the water on its screaming way round….WOW!!!  Vince just has to do this twice, and we don’t mind as its really lovely and hot by now, and I’m sure the sun is very good for Becky’s cold….see its just medicinal!  It’s getting much busier in the park now, and we certainly notice the difference to last week in US, but its still not too bad.  I’ve known it worse, especially when we’ve been in the summer months.

Wander through Seuss Landing and love the Xmas decorations here…or should I say ‘Grinchmas’ decorations?  We actually spot the Grinch, he’s going through trash cans, rifling through rubbish, followed by a gaggle of giggling kids….hmmm don’t try THAT at home kids!  Watch the kids playing in the real snow, but alas we are all to old to join them, how sad!  We do have a go on the Cat in the Hat ride, now that was really surreal, made my head ache, and DH said he felt really sick being spun round on that ‘sofa’.  Think it was all the weird pictures and bright colours…but I’m glad we did it.  We normally miss this ‘land’ out as we don’t have young kids, but I must say, at Christmas it all looks wonderful and would have been a shame not to have seen it.  The people from ‘Whoville’ are up on stage singing Christmas songs, while the sun blazes down on them and we fins some shade to stand in, how bizarre!

Now then, we’ve done Poseidon’s Fury before, and to be honest it was utterly terrible, by far the worst thing here! BUT I have heard its been changed and improved so I manage to persuade my moaning family that we should give it another chance, with a FP. Wish we hadn’t bothered though.  I know some people like this, and maybe when its not so busy its better, BUT, we queued for ages (and that was with a FP) in a very dark corridor (don’t do this if you suffer from claustrophobia!) then got shuffle, pushed and pulled from place to place for the finale.  Yes, parts of it are pretty spectacular, the idea behind the attraction is ok….but would I bother again? No way!

Have a peek in the Mythos restaurant and vow to try this one day, but tonight we have our ps for Artist Point at Disney’s Fort Wilderness, so must save our appetites!

Having said that we have to have one of the lovely frozen yoghurts, sold near the Mystic Fountain. Becky & I have a strawberry one (fresh fruit) and Vince has pineapple.  Mmmmm, delicious!  We find our usual spot, perching on the ‘rock’ walls between Poseidon and the Sinbad show where we can watch the fountain spreading its fun and joy to all the kids (and some adults) and Vince goes off to do Duelling Dragons.  I am thoroughly entertained for ages watching the interaction between the fountain and an adorable little boy called Harry (from the UK).  What fun!

Vince returns with 2 FPs so that we can both do DD together.  Yeah right!  I get right up to it, but make the fatal mistake of standing to watch the ride for a while, and its no good, my memories of tears on Montu are just too strong! I chicken out at the last moment, and return very sheepishly to Becky, who shakes her head at me, in a very ‘I told you so’ wayL  Maybe next time!

We just have time to get into the next Sinbad show then and we really enjoy it, its very hammy humour, but some is quite clever, I particularly liked the “I see dead people” bit……..It’s better than the US Wild West Show, I think.

We mooch around the shops and Becky buys several packets of gooey ‘eyeballs’ and ‘bugs’ to take back to her friends (nice!) then we discuss whether we can be bothered to queue for the Unicorn coaster – yes I know its really for little kids, but its quite fast you know!;)  Round to Jurassic Park River Adventure, with a FP and its straight on while Becky sits and waits for us (not a good idea with a cold, we thought)  I manage to get soaked as usual here, why me? Doesn’t seem to matter where I sit either!

Wandered around and tried to decide whether we could face Dr Doom once more before we left but decided my nerves would n’t take another visit just yet!  Time was pressing on and we left the park at 5pm to return to our hotel and get ready for the evening.

I’d decided to book Artist Point for Christmas Eve as we’d only done breakfast there before and I really loved FWL.  I’m really glad I did too.

Anyway, we got changed, and I tried (unsuccessfully) to suggest to Becky that perhaps her ‘Anarchy’ bondage t-shirt might not be such a good idea.  Vince put our bottle of champagne on ice for tonight as we’d decided to drink some tonight as he’d be driving tomorrow.

I tried to find out if Vince and Becky had managed to realise I would quite like a Christmas present to open and at the guilty look on their faces I realised this had not been on the cards!L We therefore made a quick stop at Downtown Disney on the way to the massive Disney shop, where they rushed off on their own……heads will roll!!!!!  I cheered myself up by spending some money, buying a Tinkerbell pin amongst other things.

The Wilderness lodge looked beautiful, all lit up with the massive tree and decorations.  The rocking chairs by the fires beckoned me, but my stomach growled at just that moment so I knew what choice I should make!  We were ushered straight in to our table (carefully tucked away out of sight, are you surprised?;))  This restaurant looks very different at night, and there were several tables with families with older children who looked very smart in suits etc.  However there were plenty of guests more casually dressed, so it was never uncomfortable.

The food was something else, and was some of the best I’ve tasted. The bread rolls we started with were made from molasses, and some from potatoes, and there was some delicious sort of ‘pate’ to accompany them, mmmmmm.  Then I chose the fresh wild salmon…oh wow….wonderful!  Luckily, they had let Becky choose from the kids menu, as there is no way she’d have eaten anything on the adult menu, it was far too ‘exotic’ and rich for her taste (just as well at $30 per main course!!!!)  So she was more than happy with chicken and mashed potatoes, and really enjoyed it.  Then the piece de resistance!  The most beautiful cappuchino crème brulee………as I’m typing this I can almost taste it. Absolutley incredible! Worth every penny…and that’s saying something!  This was the most expensive meal we had all holiday at over $100 for the three of us, but well worth it.  It was a lovely Xmas atmosphere, and felt very ‘grown up’ and ‘posh’ (remember, I’m just an Essex girl;)) and made a complete contrast to the usual meals we’d had.  I recommend it, especially at Christmas.

Took some photos of the tree in the lobby, as we rolled out of the hotel. Then it was home by 10.30, opened the champagne (no ritz crackers and Smirnoff tonight!) and get set for Christmas day!! Whoopee, our first in Orlando!

Night night (hic!)

[Guest]

We spent Christmas Eve at Tenby its lovely to be away for Christmas .
you and spidey tights  .