October 18 Its Meant To Be A Cheapie - Day 4

[clubhouse]

We all had a good nights sleep but Scott was awake at dark o clock since he'd nodded off so early! He watched some Netflix on his iPad to kill a bit of time. We were up and organised by 7.30 and hit the club lounge for a bit of breakfast. It was pretty busy when we got there but it soon emptied out and we got a table. It was cereal, bagels and donuts all round.

We grabbed some water and Diet Coke for the park bag and we headed off. We believed Daniel when he said it was early entry at Islands of Adventure. He was wrong.

As usual we picked the wrong queue and it took ages to get in even when the park opened at 9am. We headed straight to Hulk via the lockers. It didn't seems as jerky as yesterday and we even managed thumbs up, yay for us!

Next up was Dr Dooms Fear Falls. I didn't bother this time. You can see the weather is still great, not a cloud in the sky.

Once they got off we paid a visit to Spider-Man.

Daniel and Scott managed spidey hands, Abbie and I were oblivious to where the ride photo is on this one. Then we went to meet the man himself... I really am trying to get my moneys worth out of this photopass deal!

Spidey had surprisingly good chat and kept the kids amused even though they are really getting too big for this. Daniel was keen to go over to the Raptor experience again after he and I met Blue in the summer. I'm not going to lie I was a bit terrified so I was definitely not getting involved. I'd be the photographer this time! As we got closer Daniel decided he wasn't doing it either... even though it was his idea to come here grrrrr!

Abbie seemed pretty confident to start off with... that soon changed!

Turns out only Scott was willing to get close to Blue this time. The handlers patter was good but not as good as the guy we had in the summer.

There were tears afterwards. She cheered up by the time we got round to Hogwarts for the Forbidden Journey. Another crappy photo. I really do think they hate this ride.

After this Scott and I decided to be mean and insist we all ride the Hippogryf.

When we got off Abbie wanted a butterbeer so we headed into Hogsmeade to get one.

Despite only Abbie liking butterbeer (we all prefer Le Fou's Brew) we all seemed to get brain freeze. We decided to walk round to Poseidon's Fury since we had given up on this in the summer when it went tech.

It was only 11am and we'd already done loads! Poseidon's Fury was good, I'd forgotten how cheesy it was. The kids liked it but didn't think the water tunnel was real. We spent almost an hour in here between waiting for the show to start and it ending.

We were just about done for the day but before leaving the park we had to do the water rides (it's the law). We had a disagreement about the quickest way to Dudley Dorights Ripsaw Falls so we split up. Daniel and I went one way, Scott and Abbie went the other (via Hogsmeade).

We both stopped for photos on the way.

Scott and Abbie seemed to get a bit lost as we were waiting for them at Dudley Doright for ages!

We all managed the thumbs up and we all got completely drenched. Only one thing for it... over to the Bilge Barges!

We reached full saturation. So we decided to go for it again... why not eh? Daniel wimped out of the second ride. Boarding took longer then it should as there was a couple on our boat faffing about with their plastic macs and taking off their trainers, pah! They obviously thought we were mentalists as we looked liked we'd been in a bath with all our clothes on and were going for more. I was quite happy when they still got wet mwah hahahaha hahahaha. Totally soaked we decided it was home time.

The Marvel Superheros were out so we stopped for a chat and a few damp photos.

We strolled along to Hard Rock.

We popped into the club lounge for a couple cans of juice and some crisps. I managed to get some photos to show you the size of it.

A bit dark but this is the fridge with all the soft drinks.

I thought the lounge would have been a bit more luxurious- it was pretty basic and not really comfortable - maybe that's on purpose so you don't spent too long there?

We decided to head to the pool/beach bar for a bit of lunch since we weren't planning on going out for dinner.

We ordered nachos and a chilli dog to share - I'm glad we didn't order more as it was massive! Of course we also ordered drinks... it would be rude not to, wouldn't it? I got a Lithium Sunset this time, Scott got one of the local beers.

The kids got iced water pah hahahaha cos it's good for them, I'm saving $ for cocktails and we have lots of juice in the room.

They were delighted.

Sorry food pics are pretty rubbish - we were all starving so they were taken in haste.

Then we enjoyed pool time for the next few hours.

I even managed to try out the slide!

Of course there had to be another Tiki cocktail - the hurricane - yum!

They have loads of cabanas and none of them were occupied - they looked pretty comfy though.

We headed back to the room to get changed for the evening snacks and drinks. We had a couple of glasses of wine but to be honest we weren't enjoying it and we left it. The snacks were satay skewers, mini corn dogs and a cheese selection.

There was also crudities and coleslaw. It wasn't as good a selection as the night before. The lounge was rammed and we couldn't get a seat so were perched at one of the high tables. Not really interested in the drinks offering (I think we must have been ill or something - hindsight tells me it was tiredness) we went back to the room to chill out. When it got dark Daniel decided he fancied the pool movie - Ironman 3, so he and Scott went down to the pool.

Abbie was chilling with her new ET cuddly (which she'd talked her dad into buying on the way home) and didn't want to go so I stayed with her... she really wanted to go to the Lounge as she knew they were serving churros!

At 8.30pm we trundled along and she got her churros.

We got a hot chocolate too and picked up some cookies and churros for Scott and Daniel too.

Another busy day and we are all knackered! We were all out for the count by 10pm. We need to be up earlyish tomorrow as we are checking out to move to our last accommodation but want to make the
most of our last day of express passes.

Thanks for reading along - apologies for the break in posting - I've no idea how all the live posters manage it! I will try to get the report finished off over the next week or so. It helps with the post holiday blues!

[app]

New Photo Added by clubhouse - 25 Oct 18 10:06 PM.

[Rescuer]

Another great day. I love the Hard Rock❤️
Your report is great and really detailed. I only do a live food report and I find that hard enough to keep up to date and there is nowhere near the same detail or content in that as you have put in.
Hope the rest of your trip has been amazing.

[mick]

Another good day you did look a bit wet after the water rides


Joan

[clubhouse]

Originally Posted by mick

Another good day you did look a bit wet after the water rides


Joan

See more...

The rule is if you see a dry bit you need to ride again

[Cinderella]

That’s what we do in the afternoon - Nachos and cocktails at the pool👍

[Jake71]

A really fab day.

[Floridaagogo]

Great day.The nachos at the hard rock pool are fantastic x

[dibdobber]

really good report! thanks v much for taking the time