DAY 11- TRAMPS LIKE US- apr 12- LOST IN THE WILDERNESS

[Irishrover]

PREVIOUS DAYS CAN BE FOUND HERE

DAY 11 - LOST IN THE WILDERNESS

This morning we all got up rather subdued.

The "Sweet Tomatoes" overload had left Paul in a state of limbo, spending way too long in the bathroom.
The lack of meat had knocked his constitutionals for six, and Georgia and I spent a fair time sitting on the balcony waiting for Pauls "revenge of the salad bowl" to pass.

We got packed up pretty quick and sadly checked out of our lovely home, promising it we will be back (sooner than we should)


This is the number.



For anyone who dosnt mind using stairs (always a good idea when you consume your bodyweight in burgers) its a fantastic room as its right next to the staircase which takes you down to the footpath which leads you to the carpark, or Hollywood Studios. It also had the benefit of a double balcony and double view windows with being on the end of the block. Great room.

OK today was all new to us. Wilderness Lodge!
We really didn't know what to expect as we'd had spoken to people who absolutely LOVED it and some who thought it was dark and needed refurbishment.
Well it very soon became apparent that we would fall into the, first group.

On arrival we were gobsmacked by the huge lobby and all the detailing. Yes its dark , even mores than animal kingdom, but its amazing!


We got checked in really quickly and took some photos of the room before we messed it up. We'd gone for a 1 bedroom again, as we have gotten used to the extra space now <<spoilt brats.



There was a little bit of a funky smell in the room and the biggest spider web on the balcony you've ever seen (didn't see the spider that had made it thankfully) So it DID put me off using the balcony. About 10 mins after we came in Housekeeping manager knocked at the door and asked if everything was ok. I mentioned about the funky smell and the spiders web, and she went out in her nice suit and took a broom and cleaned the balcony. I didn't have the heart to tell her I wouldn't sit there anyway now I knew there was a beastie out there .
I don't know why she came to our room, maybe they had been problems with it previously, but as we were only in it for 2 nights we didn't complain.


Unpacked a little then decided we'd go down and have lunch in the Whispering Canyon.
Another first for us, and I don't know if we were expecting a little too much but we weren't over impressed.
A group of americans were at a table nearby and asked for ketchup in a "hahahaha I know whats gonna happen" kindve way. Well nothing happened.

Secretly I was delighted they didn't do it of course.


I got a lot of straws thrown at me over the course of the meal, which maybe is the new lunchtime "ketchup" I ended up with about 20. I didn't really play along very well, jut kept saying "cheers mate" when picking the straws outve my hair / food /clevage. But Georgia thought it was funny so I suppose there you go.

Food was good not amazing, but when they got the kids up doing the hobby horse race thing, even Georgia wanted to leave. Getting battered by over enthusiastic kids with wood sticks isn't much fun.
Maybe we got a bad day, or maybe we are party poopers, but we didn't go back for the rest of our time in WL .

Today we were going to the Pixar parade , after spending the best part of 10 days within walking distance of it, we now had to get in the car and drive to it.

Well.
It turned out not quite as easy as first thought.
I mustve blinked, or sneezed, or maybe I was plucking a 6 inch white hair offve my face that id just discovered. i don't know.
But when I looked up after leaving wilderness lodge, we were on the way to windermere.

Remembering we've been to disneyworld more times than we've been to our local park, we really should have been able to find hollywood studios.

No.

Paul being Paul just got more and more determined to carry on, using his usual…there'll be a sign soon.
We went past the disney university and lots of nice estates like Banana Bay, Calypso Canyon, Likkle Kiki, all which made us think we knew where we were for a milli second.

Eventually (after about 40mins drive) Paul relented into pulling over to a garage, but not before we'd seen a sign saying
Miami > <Tampa, and not before the car had gone ito its red gas reserve.

By this time we were all in a little mass hysterical mood. Laughing at how lost we can get, how we'd never seen these roads before yadda yadda. A really old mini bus pulled up along side us at the garage and about 20 people got out, all dressed for church even the little kids in there suits.It was like a scene outve "the colour purple" and sent us into more hysteria, Paul wondering if he had indeed reached the deep south.

Then just as we were gonna pull away, a car zoomed in towards us , parking almost vertically blocking us in totally. Starskey and Hutch style.
That was it we were gonna be heisted, they'd heard the daft irish tourists were lost.But no.

It was this little guy.


Even more confused than us.

It took him 20 mins to work out the pre pay pump.

We were just creased with laughing .



Eventually we got out of the garage and defied death and danger, making our way eventually to HS. What should've been a 5 min ride turned into a 90 min adventure, down roads we didn't know existed.


We got in about 10 mins before the parade started then got hassled to do the flash mob dance. Now Ive never done this before (neither shall i do it again) and Id suggest you don't either unless 1- you don't mind losing your kerbside spot to opportunists, and 2- You have some inner sense of rhythm.
DONT follow the fat guy in front of you or you will no doubt be going right when you should've been going backwards, messing up the whole flow of the thing, and busting a few toes, or having a few of your own busted. I lasted a measly 5 mins.



Georgia of course was an absolute natural at this and had half of the road following her moves… dunno if they were right or not but she got the video cameraman right in front of her for part of the dance.

Then at last, after a bit of shoving back in where our bags had been abandoned on the kerbside, the parade started.

LOTS MORE PHOTOS IN VIDEO HERE



Got back to WL without getting lost, and had a look at the pools. Paul took Georgia swimming where she made some new friends and played for a few hours. Then said she wanted to go to the Kids club because thats where "everyone" was going.
So not being ones to pass up an offer of a child free evening, we dropped her off.

Couldn't think of where to go at first but then decided on downtown disney. The taxi was $20 inc tip from WL, and we like all good irish went to Raglan rd, subsidising the ex pats.

We had a bar meal in here, which at the time was quite delicious. It was a portebello mushroom burger. Really nice, but more about it later. Paul had a lamb shank which he also enjoyed.

The barman was very friendly and ended up pouring us drinks that got stronger and stronger. I really wish they wouldn't do this, they think they're doing a good thing but it messes with my limits and although i like a drink I HATE being hungover.
There was a band playing, well a couple , singing irish songs one of them was spanish for some bizarre reason, but it was all good, (if a little bit naff) fun.

Got a taxi home where we had the most interesting taxi driver EVER, telling us about his brother in prison and how he'd abandoned his kids and got caught up in drugs, obviously by the end of it all we felt we had a new family member and gave him an over generous tip.

By the time we picked georgia up and got back to the room we were all shattered.
BUT. The extra large measures made me poorly all night, coupled with the sodding portobello magic mushroom crazy nightmares, I didn't have a good night after all… and woke up the next morning with the word NOOOOOOOO stamped onto my soul.

VIDEO of DAY 11 -HERE

[Guest]

Love the "getting lost" bit my DH is the same, after eight trips he still couldn't find his backside with both hands.

[First Timer 12]

Am loving your report

[Irishrover]

Originally Posted by stitch99

Love the "getting lost" bit my DH is the same, after eight trips he still couldn't find his backside with both hands.

See more...

Love it, never heard that one

bren

[Juliemack]

I think it's the word 'wilderness' that puts me off stopping there... and most definitely conjures up visions of creepy crawlies etc another eventful day for you all with the unscheduled diversion I hope you were there for 3 weeks as I'm so enjoying your trippie... as always

[anniebee65]

Brilliant! Just Brilliant Bren, I love your reports

[hross42877]

Great read!

[Guest]

awwww loving your reports keep them coming, love the getting lost bit brings back so many memories hope you don't feel too bad in the morning

[scotsprincess]

Great day

[pudge]

Another good read Bren x