HEY MICKEY YOU'RE SO FINE,YOU'RE SO FINE YOU BLOW MY..MONEY. MAY 2019 Day:17 DISCOVERY COVE!

[gjdjud]

HEY MICKEY YOU'RE SO FINE,YOU'RE SO FINE YOU BLOW MY..MONEY. MAY 2019 Day:17 DISCOVERY COVE& HOMECOMIN!

HEY MICKEY YOU'RE SO FINE,YOU'RE SO FINE YOU BLOW MY..MONEY. MAY 2019 Index

Day 17.

So this was the day we were all really looking forward to. It was our Discovery Cove day where we would be having a dolphin swim as well. We had been on our last trip in 2017 and to be honest we didn’t make the most of the day for one reason or another. I think a big factor in that was our failure to get a good sunbed location early in the day and that hindered our enjoyment. That wouldn’t be happening this time as I had secretly booked a cabana! I had managed to keep it a secret and I had my reveal planned for when we arrived!

Looking online, the check-in time seem to be 7:15 am so we left around 6:40 am as I was expecting traffic not to be too bad and this was the case. The only issue was the windscreen kept fogging up really badly. I’ve never known anything like it. It just wouldn’t clear. I don’t know if it was just because it was so early and the low temperature combined with the Aircon in the car but it was really annoying.

We arrived about 7 am and there was definitely already quite a few people around which was surprising. It turns out they had actually opened for check-in at 6:45 am. I don’t know if this was just because it was Memorial Day and everything was opening a little earlier. When we entered I told the girls and Kelly that I wanted them to run off and grab some beds as quick as they could. I told them while they were doing that I would be relaxing in the private cabana that I had secretly got for us. They all seem really pleased especially Kelly as it gave her somewhere definite to relax today.

We checked in which was a fairly easy process and we were given a slightly later dolphin swim time that I had been anticipating. It was 12.30pm. I guess quite a few people had already checked in before us. This actually turned out to be a really good time for us. From here we made our way down to where everything was located and I tried to check in for our cabana first. They told me they weren’t quite ready for us and we should have breakfast first before checking back in afterwards.

So we headed over for breakfast. As it had already been open awhile the queue wasn’t too bad and we got our food fairly quickly.

These aren’t the best photos unfortunately.

Food wise I wasn’t overly impressed when we went in 2017 so I was hoping for an improvement on then. All food and drink is included in the day. Some alcoholic drinks you buy a separate drinks package. That’s not something we did.

Breakfast was ok. Nothing special but it did a job. It’s like a canteen with different selections you can ask for. We noted lots had been pre plated that you could grab as you walked past. There was also fruit, pastries etc.

Not many photos for breakfast I’m afraid.

We were able to check in now for our cabana. When I made the booking I rang up and asked if we could have a cabana overlooking the dolphin swim area and that’s exactly what we got! We were escorted over to the area and it was weird seeing our surname on one of the cabana entrances. I had looked on enviously at other people’s cabanas last time we had visited. To be honest I had had severe reservations about booking this due to the expense. On numerous occasions I really thought about cancelling. I had done the package which included photos and a surprise for Kelly later on and that was the reason I didn’t go through with cancelling it as I wanted those things as well. In the end I was so pleased I didn’t cancel.

This day turned out to be one of the highlights of the holiday and the cabana made it. It was a notch above the one at Aquatica. It lovely and secluded and had plenty of room. It even had big hammock. We had a little chest filled with snacks and a fridge stocked with water and soft drinks. The cabana was fantastic! This was one of the things I felt so happy about on this holiday. All the hard work to get here was for reasons like this. I could see how happy the girls and Kelly were and that made every penny of the cost worth it.

We then went and got our wetsuits. All of us opting for the vest rather than the full on ones. We were a little worried if they’d have vests left but there were loads there when we got there and we were sorted in no time with goggles and snorkels as well. Once we were all sorted we then headed to the Grand Reef as I was really keen on doing some snorkelling. This hasn’t gone great last time with the girls freaking out a little bit when we did it.

Once we arrived we had to wait about 10 minutes for the reef to open as people were feeding the stingrays(a paid extra I'm guessing) but that soon passed quickly.

The water was freezing when we got in so be warned! The girls again were a little bit panicky and Evie really didn’t like it at all. It’s a shame but with her limited vision she gets so worried about the rocks and stepping on fish. There is no way she would step on anything fish wise but it’s hard to change her mind. I did a little bit of snorkelling and I was trying to take pictures with my phone that I had in a waterproof case. This didn’t go great unfortunately which was really disappointing but never mind.

Lily was desperate to snorkel as well so Kelly and I were trying to help her. Evie disappointingly sat on watching from the side. In all honesty I could’ve spent ages in there but I felt bad for Evie. So after a little while we headed out to go over towards Serenity Bay and The Wind Away River.

As we are returned I am immediately felt guilty as this is the area where I had lost my wedding ring last time! I was still kind of hoping I’d manage to find it just lying there in the water today but I knew I had more chance of flying to the moon later on that day. We headed into the water and it was far warmer. We grabbed some noodles and made our way on to the Wind Away River. This was fun but it is the hardest work on any lazy river ever! You do have to work a little bit on this one and there are big sudden drops which can be uncomfortable for people that aren’t strong swimmers. We made our way around gradually but I think once was enough for Kelly round here!

A bit of fun swimming around in the pool area near the lazy river.

At various places you get snacks as well throughout the day so we grabbed some here. It was things like peanuts, crisps, rice crispy treats etc. Hot snacks were available as well but changed depending on the time of day. For instance it was salty pretzels until 12 noon and then different types of warm cookies after. Photo fail I’m afraid.

Kelly and the Evie went back to the cabana for a little while. Me and Lily went back to the Grand Reef to do a little bit more snorkelling but Lily found it difficult to do so it wasn’t the greatest of success. We then headed back to the cabana where Kelly told me that she had met the cabana attendant. His name was Jason and he made various appearances throughout the day asking if we needed anything and so on. So after a very relaxing restful enjoyable morning it was now time to head over for our dolphin swim.

We were told to head over to the Starfish cabana to sign in and to get the safety video. Before leaving our cabana we made sure we didn’t have anything with us that would be an issue and it was a hot walk over the sands once again but nowhere near in the scale of Aquatica heat thankfully.

When we checked in we had to sign a few things and waivers. There were already a few people already there before us. A big noisy family came in after us and I was secretly praying we didn’t get in a group with them and thankfully we didn’t. Kelly told one of the Dolphin trainers about Evie and her visual impairment just so they would know. It made Evie feel more comfortable as well. Around about 12.20 they let us down to the dolphin swim area in our groups. We were with another family of four from the US. The first thing that struck us was how cold the water was. We were prepared for it and you will be cold but it was still a bit of a kick in the stomach when we entered. I had booked the elite package for today which included the cabana and photos but also a souvenir buoy. This was supposed to be brought by a dolphin to the selected party member. Again no one knew about this so I whispered to one of the trainers about it and confirmed that it would be sent to Kelly. Of course the girls saw me whispering and wanted to know what was going on and made a big deal of it when I was trying to tell them to stop talking! It was really annoying. I wanted it all to be a big surprise. I told Evie I was just asking about the footing on the floor for her but she wouldn’t let it lie and kept on going on about what I asked the dolphin trainer about.

It was soon time to do our swim and a dolphin was brought over to us. The dolphins name was Capricorn and he was an amazing 55 years old and their longest serving dolphins. Dolphins nowhere near live that long normally in the wild. I was first up from our family to go and I decided to do a deep swim. I was pretty nervous about mucking up and put in my hand somewhere I shouldn’t but thankfully all went well. It’s an amazing experience. The girls had their turns in the shallow water as did Kelly and it was so nice to see how happy the ladies were when doing this. This is exactly why we came.

The other family had there goes as well and the Dolphin did some tricks and fun stuff as well. It really was great. A second Dolphin then came along to replace Capricorn. His name was Finn and he was much younger and a little bit more playful. We posed for family and individual photos with Finn. Dolphin trainers were really good and were asking and answering any questions we might have as well. It was surprising to find out they have a high turnover of staff as it is such a demanding job. Although most people love it it takes its toll.

It was then time for Kelly’s surprise. The dolphin trainer said she needed to volunteer and chose Miss Kelly to come up. She was told to do a gesture and a dolphin came over carrying a buoy. I think Kelly was really surprised by this and made a really nice ending to a dolphin swim. I whispered to the girls that’s what I was trying to keep secret! The only downer on this is I think the other family thought that they got one too and was part of the package but unfortunately it wasn’t!

We all loved it and would highly recommend doing it if you get the chance to. When we got out the water our cabana attendant Jason was standing there waiting for us with towels and a couple of other things including a tote bag which came as part of the elite package. We kind of felt a little bit like royalty having someone there waiting with towels! The other family looked at us thinking who the hell were these people!We made our way back to the Starfish cabana with Jason and he took us in to select our photos which came with the elite package. We spent a little time selecting them and Jason said he would bring them over to us later in the day. We thanked our trainers for such a brilliant time. Overall a fantastic experience!

So we were now pretty hungry so headed over straight away for some lunch around about 1:15 pm? It wasn’t to busy queue wise and I found it personally much better than last time. The was a wide variety of food including kids choices as well and some nice desserts. I’ve a few photos of what we had.

So we certainly didn’t go hungry!

For the rest of the day after lunch was basically swimming around and rest! We switched between the two.

Kelly got a surprise when she spotted a raccoon in our cabana!

I did take Lily back over to the Grand Reef to try a bit more snorkelling. We headed over to where the sharks were. This was separated by glass. It was pretty cool but I had a bit of a photo fail. The waterproof case was good for my phone but it didn’t like the water for photos though.

I wish I could report more happened for the rest of the day but it was a pretty chilled out afternoon. Discovery Cove closed at 5pm. We went and got showered and dressed and were sorted about 4.30pm. We were waiting for Jason to appear with our photos. He came along about 4.45pm but thought I’d already got the photos. We walked over with him to collect them. All the photos came with the elite package. I’ve downloaded some and we have prints somewhere but 7 weeks on from this day we still aren’t home(building issues at home) so I’ve no idea which ones we have! We thanked Jason for everything and I left him a tip. We then made our way out of the park.

Overall we had a brilliant day and we all enjoyed it far more than we did in 2017 and turned out to be one of the biggest highlights of the holiday. I do think the cabana helped with this though. Very doubtful we will do this again due to the expense but for this trip the cost was worth it It may be something we revisit one day. I was really pleased that I managed to keep the cabana and the buoy for Kelly a surprise.

From here we headed directly to Disney Springs. This would be our last chance to visit this holiday. I was a little worried about it being stupidly busy as it was Memorial Day but we got parked fine in the Lime parking garage.

We had a little walk around not looking at anything in particular just popping in and out of various shops. Evie bought some make up in Origin.

Lily wanted to get her picture with her new hero Katniss Everdeen's outfit at Planet Hollywood.

Just general browsing.

We made our way over to our dinner location for the evening. Kelly had wanted to find some more time for some shopping at Disney Springs as there were a few bits she and the girls wanted to get. Being as cunning as a fox like I am, I saw this as the perfect opportunity to get to Homecomin. This has always been somewhere I wanted to go. It wasn't considered when we were onsite with the ddp as I wasn't sure the girls would like it. So I set the Touring Plans reservation finder to work. My luck came in and a 7.30pm reservation came up a couple of days before. So hat in hand, head bowed I said to Kelly about going when we were in between shops Call me Fantastic Mr Fox.

We arrived about 15 minutes early but were seated within minutes.

Our server was nice but a little taken aback when I said I knew nothing about the chef Art Smith. I was tempted to ask him if he knew who Tony Tobin was but thought better of it.

We resisted the urge to get appertisers even though I desperatley wanted the Thigh High Chicken Biscuits.

The girls chose from the kids menu and as per my suggestion went for the fried chicken tenders as I raved about the chicken. Of course they didn't like it! If it had been cheap muck they'd have loved it. Lily had mac and cheese and Evie fries with hers.

Kelly went for Addie Mae's Chicken & Dumpling Soup
Simple, delicious, and filled with house-made dumplings, chicken, and veggies. Just like Momma used to make. The server described it like the inside of a chicken pie. Kelly asked for hers without peas. The photo makes it looks very dull but she absolutley loved it.

I consider myself a fried chicken conniseur so there was only one choice for me Art's Famous Fried Chicken Buttermilk-brined for 24 hours then perfectly fried and served with creamy mashed potatoes, a cheddar drop biscuit and love. I really enjoyed this. Really juicy moist chicken. I loved the mash as well and the sausage gravy. My only thing was that I couldn't finish it I was too full.

So good you get two photos

No desserts as they looked huge and would have been a waste as we were paying oop.

Overall a really enjoyable meal for the adults. The kids not so much.

From here the destination was World Of Disney for one good proper last look around. I went off to try and find something for Lily. For some reason and this was quite odd BB Wolfe quick service location was the only place that sold a limited edition Thanos Gauntlet Sipper. Not to be confused with the mugs that could be bought in the Marvel Shop.

Google photo.

I headed over to see if they had any. I asked and the lady laughed and said they sold out after about an hour of stocking them last month. Oh well!

I made my way back to find the others in the massive World Of Disney Store.

Luckily they’d only moved about three foot from the door I saw them go in even though I’d trekked over to BB Wolfe. We spent a fair amount of time in here. Kelly bought fridge magnets and jewellery, a thing to put hot pans on in the shape of Mickey Pants. She also bought the girls some jewellery. Evie bought a Mickey Ice cream bar cushion.

We then headed over to the Marketplace Co-op and had a good look in there. I think Kelly could have spent a fortune for bits and pieces for our new kitchen! They bought some arty postcards though.

We then decided to call it a day and said goodbye to Disney Springs. I was quite harsh on it for our last trip in 2017 as I felt it’s become far too exclusive and expensive but I felt it was a more enjoyable few times that we visited this trip. Again we will back here for definite in the future.

We made our way back to the car after a fantastic day. I was really pleased it had gone according to plan.

Tomorrow: Universal and Texas Roadhouse.

Thanks for reading

George

[4fromsuffolk]

What a lovely day you all had. Cabana sounded fab.

[walt4it]

What a busy day - amazing range of food at Discovery Cove and at The Springs, not surprised you couldn't finish it all!
Hope you had fun with the Buoy from Discvery Cove and the insistence that it is a
"boo-ey" when spoken by Americans
Looks like the Cabana experience was a great one

[Flower2603]

Thank you for this, really enjoying it. Homcomin' is on our list next year, can't wait to try that chicken!

[GezzasGem]

That fried chicken looks lush! What a fab day you had at Discovery Cove- have never done this but if we opt to do so in the future I may have to look into that elite package! 😂 glad you all had such a lovely experience 👍

[gjdjud]

Originally Posted by 4fromsuffolk

What a lovely day you all had. Cabana sounded fab.

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It really was Thanks for reading

Originally Posted by walt4it

What a busy day - amazing range of food at Discovery Cove and at The Springs, not surprised you couldn't finish it all!
Hope you had fun with the Buoy from Discvery Cove and the insistence that it is a
"boo-ey" when spoken by Americans
Looks like the Cabana experience was a great one

See more...

I initially asked about the “boy” I had ordered for my wife. She looked at me very oddly

Originally Posted by Flower2603

Thank you for this, really enjoying it. Homcomin' is on our list next year, can't wait to try that chicken!

See more...

The chicken was amazing

Originally Posted by GezzasGem

That fried chicken looks lush! What a fab day you had at Discovery Cove- have never done this but if we opt to do so in the future I may have to look into that elite package! 😂 glad you all had such a lovely experience 👍

See more...

It’s an expensive extra but we loved the day so it was worth it

[ronnieroobs]

Another lovely day. We've never been but it looks amazing.

[Animagus]

Sounds like a wonderful day. The cabana did look nice, I must admit. I’m not such a fan of the water, so somewhere to relax sounds very tempting. I’m really excited for our DC trip next year as we’ve never been.

[collybird]

We always have that problem with the windscreen in the car in the mornings and we’ve never worked out how to stop it.

The cabana looks like it was worth it as a treat.

A lovely day followed by a lovely evening.

[gjdjud]

Originally Posted by ronnieroobs

Another lovely day. We've never been but it looks amazing.

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Definitely worth a visit.

Originally Posted by Animagus

Sounds like a wonderful day. The cabana did look nice, I must admit. I’m not such a fan of the water, so somewhere to relax sounds very tempting. I’m really excited for our DC trip next year as we’ve never been.

See more...

It made the difference for us but unfortunately it adds a fair amount to the cost.

Originally Posted by collybird

We always have that problem with the windscreen in the car in the mornings and we’ve never worked out how to stop it.

The cabana looks like it was worth it as a treat.

A lovely day followed by a lovely evening.

See more...

Definitely one of our best days and one of our most memorable