Day 17 - Back once again like a Floriday Master - iFly/McD's/Rainforest

[Man v Disney]

These next couple of days will be a fair bit shorter. As we have now used our Disney tickets and have all been feeling a little tired we have decided to have a proper chill for a couple of days. We have moved our trip to Volcano bay from tomorrow (Saturday) as we have read that it is very busy at a weekend, to Tuesday.

We had very few plans today. After a slower get up we headed out at about 9.45am to get to the iFly Skydive centre on I drive as we had booked this for Josiah as he had not done the Dolphin experience at Discovery Cove.

When we looked at the expected drive time the day before it was about 25 minutes. Well when we looked this morning it was 45 minutes! We knew we would have to push it to get there. The route it took us was up the I4 and there were 3 accidents in the space of 13 miles! Having seen some of the driving I am really not surprised.

Fortunately the traffic was better than expected and we arrived in time after making our slow way up the I4 past many sets of traffic lights. The iFly was easy to find with plenty of free parking around the back.

We checked Josiah in and then found some seats before Josiah had to go and get ready as well as go through quite a thorough safety briefing to make sure that he could make the most of his time in the wind tunnel. Han had to in with him too as he was under 18. There were 7 in the group and the person who was going to look after them, Angel, was very passionate about the Skydive experience.

Josiah looked a little nervous when he went in but massively enjoyed the whole thing. Having seen some of the others first attempts Josiah was really good and needed only a couple of hints. Not that he could have heard them, apparently it was very loud, even with earplugs in. His first go was to get used to it and he did really well, the second time the instructor helped him go up and down the wind tunnel 5 or 6 times. He described it as an amazing experience.

I was very jealous, but as I had done the Dolphins couldn’t really justify doing every treat! For his final go he got to do the experience but wearing a VR headset. He elected to go for a 13,000ft skydive from over Hawaii. The instructor can see what he is looking at through the headset and moved Josiah around to fit in with the experience. He came off this absolutely buzzing!

When he got his certificate at the end the instructor said that he was a natural and told him about the college programs they run in the US where they help to pay for some of the college fees and that Josiah should consider it! He came away planning how exactly he could become a skydive instructor!

We were done by about 12 and were pretty hungry. However, as we were meeting some friends at Rainforest Café in Disney Springs for dinner we knew it would only be a little snack.

The closest place was a McDonalds and as we hadn’t had one yet, it made sense to pop in although generally we don’t like to do McDs when we go abroad. I had a double cheeseburger, Eliana a plain double hamburger, Josiah had the Sausage and Egg biscuit while Han had a kids nuggets happy meal with chocolate milk. We also got an Apple pie and an extra serving of apple slices. This came to a very reasonable $13.70. We all agreed that US McDonalds tastes a lot better. The only downside is that they don’t do Eliana’s favourite, the Chicken Mayo.

We popped into Publix on the way home and topped the car up with another $15 of fuel as we had used quite a bit on the trip to and from Busch Gardens. We got more cold coffee, orange juice and tropical juice. We also picked up some watermelon and Han chose some grapefruit – she was in need of fruit! There were also doughnuts for Eliana.

At the checkout there was also a very good card idea in Publix that we saw. It was a store card that a Parent can load and then a Student can spend. It couldn’t be taken out as cash so meant that the student had to buy food! Great idea.

Driving home from Publix, Eliana decided she wanted Josiah to tap her back and came out with our quote for today “now I know how it feels to be a wooden table” – no idea why but she decided she now has had that experience!

We had some time at home where we chilled in the villa, went in the pool and games room. We also took the chance to start writing up some more of our trip reports as we were a couple of days behind due to our busy schedule.

Around 3.20 we headed out to Disney Springs to meet the Hopkins at Rainforest Café. Those who have read our 2016 trip report will remember that we met up with them at Cracker Barrel last time and had a great evening chatting and catching up so it was lovely to have a re-do again as Han and Jill have a get together every holiday (they work together) back at home.

The drive over was easy and we arrived a little early so took the opportunity to go to the AMC and book our Fork and Screen film on Tuesday night to watch the Lion King, which only Eliana has seen.

Once we had booked the seats we went to headed back over to RC, with a quick look in the Lego Shop ‘for Josiah’. By about 4.10 we were in and being shown to our seats. It was really nice to catch up with the Hopkins. They had had a really good time and were staying in a villa with some friends. They had some good advice about Universal and Volcano Bay, and with us not having been there yet, we were happy to receive it!

Han was using her Landrys card for the first time, so despite a small queue we were seated very quickly and were checked in with by a number of managers throughout our meal.

I went for the BBQ bacon Cheesburger, cooked Medium, with Fries. Han went for Coconut Shrimp. Josiah went for the Chicken Quesadillas as a main and Eliana ordered the kids pasta meal.

Our server, Justin, kept us topped up with drinks and while the food didn’t come out in a hurry it was a good thing as it gave us a chance to chat about our holiday experiences and catch up.

When our food came out, it was really good. My burger was excellent, Josiah polished off his Quesadillas, Han loved her Coconut Shrimp. Eliana wasn’t keen on the sauce on her pasta, they kindly swapped it for the chicken dinosaurs and didn’t charge us for the swap!

Our bill came to around $160 with the Landry’s discount of $25 and including a tip of $18. We didn’t think this was too bad, given that it included the tip too. We took a slow walk back through Disney Springs and said bye to the Hopkins at Lime Garage. We had a little walk round and had a look in Sephora, Superdry and Lacoste. I was impressed with my self discipline as there was a sale in Superdry and I didn’t buy something, that’s a first!

We headed home at this point and chilled for the evening. I watched some baseball, Han read her kindle and the kids played in the pool and watched a couple of the DVD’s in the villa.

Tomorrow – Han and Josiah will go shopping, Eliana and I will do pretty much nothing! Ideal!

[Suzieee]

Hey guys... just caight up on ur last few posts! Glad you've been having a good time! Sad no more disney... excited for you for all the other stuff! Xx