Wot no Disney - Well just a smidgeon - July 2018 mainly offsite trip report - Day 1

[Rescuer]

Wot no Disney - Well just a smidgeon - July 2018 mainly offsite trip report - Day 1

Tuesday 3rd July 2018 - Return of the Kraken

Index is here

The beds were so comfy, and we had a pretty decent sleep, I was awake just before 5 and ds woke up just before 6. We pottered about for a bit and watched the sunrise.

As much as IHop is my favourite breakfast place, we wanted somewhere walkable so headed up the road to Denny’s for breakfast. There were no complaints from Ds in here about ordering from the kids menu. He had the junior create your own slam with sausage, bacon, hash browns and scrambled egg and devoured the lot. I’m not convinced his was actually any smaller than mine.

Dh had a French toast slam

I had a create your own grand slam with sausage, hash brown, bacon and pancakes (that I had to half with ds). The waitress found it hilarious that I could eat a breakfast without eggs 😂, they are my most hated food!

It was a great start to the day; the food was all good and our server was lovely. We used the eat and play card again for 20% discount on top of this bill so it was $30 including tip, you can’t argue with that price.

The plan for today was SeaWorld, we’d bought the Discovery Cove package with Seaworld and Aquatica. Unfortunately, we just missed an I-Trolley and it was now 8.20. I had hoped to be there for opening so we decided to get an Uber. This cost $8 and took no time at all, we probably beat the I-Trolley.

Straight in and we walked on twice to Atlantis. At this point I was a bad parent, every year ds says he’s going to try bigger rides then changes his mind, which is fine, but he waits till the last minute, so we generally wait until he is likely to change his mind, which never happens and then we miss them too. Kraken was posting a 5-minute wait and it had none of the silly VR nonsense going on, so Dh and I thought why not. After investigating the line we saw it was completely walk on so Ds sat with his phone, he was happy enough and we nipped on.

It was awesome, I hadn’t ridden it in 17 years, and it was still amazing. Ds got a good photo of us waving at him and is thinking of doing it next time (read that as never &#128514.

We bought a refillable mug which was $14.99. We felt it paid for itself as it was filled with icees, blue raspberry, watermelon and pina colada which would have been £4.99 a time and raspberry Coke Zero. It costs $5.99 to reactivate. It was roasting so lots of hydration was needed.

Wandered on and ds changed his mind about Mako too so same again he sat and played on his phone while we each went on, another less than 5-minute wait. I’d never have done this on my own if the lines had been longer than this.

Omg 😮 this was intense! Just a lap bar! But it was great, and it was long. I’m so scared of heights so no looking down for me. In case you are wondering ds is considering this later in the holiday 😂 (spot the theme).

We went to see the sharks and did Wild Artic, which was the roughest ride of the day, Ds loved this, there is no telling him that these rides that he is scared of are way smoother. He will get there eventually. Wild Artic was a welcome break from the heat.

On the way back round, we were feeling a little hungry so went to the pretzel kitchen, the bacon pretzel has now gone so we shared a pepperoni one it was fine but ds and dh really liked it and tucked in in the line to pay so sorry for the missing bites.

We left about 12.30, posing for the obligatory photos in front of the lighthouse. Just realised it looked like DS and I were rocking matching colours.

Still full of energy we got the I-trolley and headed to the Vineland outlets.

It is always a bit of a mixed bag at the outlets, but I felt did well today. Ds generally hates shopping but always comes away with a nice haul. He got some good stuff in Gap, a couple of pairs of the Converse that he really likes wearing and he used his own money to treat himself to a Vans marvel back pack that he had had his eye on for a new school bag. Ds and Dh were successful in Nike and Adidas and got a few sporty things. Dh had been on the lookout for an Orlando City top but didn’t see anything he was happy with. I got myself a Dooney and Bourke in the Disney outlet and a bag in Fossil.

(photo from internet)
I was beyond excited...

We were starving and ate at China Max at the food court. We always find this to be good value and tasty.

This was $37 with 2 large sodas.

As always, we were way longer at the outlets than we had intended to be. We got an uber back to the Rosen, which cost $10.

We had made plans to met up with friends this evening. One of Ds’s classmates was here with his family and they were on their last few days. We went back and forth about plans and finally agreed that they would come to us and we would try Millers for dinner. Being fairly early we didn’t have too long a wait for a table. It was great to catch up and hear all about their holiday so far.

The 35 Shrimp was on offer so 3 of the adults had this.

2 of the boys had chicken tenders from the kid’s menu.

Ds had the kids shrimp platter.

I had the zinger mountain melt which was massive and Ds had some from my plate too.

We also had a pepperoni flatbread as we had a voucher for free flatbread

So much food but we all did well, it was a nice evening and the boys got to catch up and play pool.

A great but very busy first day. We left our friends around 10pm and headed to bed.

27k steps.
Highlights: Ds – Atlantis, Me – Kraken, Dh – Mako

[Ivegottadream]

That sounds like a brilliant day. Although, any day with two new handbags is always good 😂

[Rescuer]

Originally Posted by Ivegottadream

That sounds like a brilliant day. Although, any day with two new handbags is always good 😂

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That’s what makes a great day in my book too. 😂

[Florida1972]

Great day ! I’m now investigating the eat and play card. 20% to off the odd meal here and there sounds good to me. 🙂

[Rescuer]

Originally Posted by Florida1972

Great day ! I’m now investigating the eat and play card. 20% to off the odd meal here and there sounds good to me. 🙂

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Ours was free with our tickets, one of those things that you don't think too much about when you order the tickets but is really handy, especially offsite with no dining plan.

[Taffy1959]

Lovely day we always go shopping and to Seaworld on our first day.
Love the bag too

[disneypars]

A great first day.

[Rescuer]

Originally Posted by Taffy1959

Lovely day we always go shopping and to Seaworld on our first day.
Love the bag too

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Thanks, it is a nice way to acclimatise.

Originally Posted by disneypars

A great first day.

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Thanks, shopping, eating and rollercoasters are all my favourite pastimes

[mick]

A great first day

Joan

[MarionG]

So lovely to read a trip report, I so miss them.
My son was the same as yours about riding coasters. More so if they went upside down. He changed his mind when on a school trip to Chessington World of Adventures when all his friends decided to ride Ramases Revenge. He couldn't loose face so went on with them. From then on he will ride anything.