The One With No Pretrip And A Better Chance Of Finishing - Day 9 - Volcano Bay & Disney Springs

[clubhouse]

I was awake from about 6am this morning and got up around 6.30 and sat on the balcony for a bit to enjoy the peace and quiet. The plan is Volcano Bay, but we're still not sure how Abbie is. When she bounced through to our bedroom just after 7.30am full of the joys we decided we could go ahead with today's plan.

Breakfast for the grown ups was breakfast muffins that we picked up in Publix. We'd never tried anything like this despite staying in Villas or apartment style hotels like this one.

They were pretty good considering you just zap them in the microwave. I think it was $4.59 for a box of 4, so pretty cheap compared to going out for brekkers. The kids had another top notch breakfast of Lucky Charms.

We all got our swimmers on and plenty of sun cream. I loaded up the bag with towels etc and packed a small cooler with water and we set off. We arrived at the parking garage at about 8.45 and parted with $22 (ouch, that hurts!) and parked up in Spider-Man 153.

We were a bit confused by the setup here as you go through security and bag check here in the car park, then board a bus to Volcano Bay. It seemed pretty efficient and we were on the bus before 9am.

We got into the park quickly and were issues with Tapu Tapu bands.

I think we were a bit too anxious to get a sun bed with a bit of shade as we chose some beds facing the front of the Volcano in the Wave Village. You can see it was quiet to start off with.

In hindsight we should have walked on a bit and nabbed a bed nearer the slides. Hey ho, now we know. We were keen to get our Tapu Tapu bands in a virtual line but when we got to Honu ika Moana which Abbie was attracted to as she is Moana daft, it was a ride now, so we entered the line. There was a bit of a delay as the ride went down but we were on in about 25 minutes. Wow! This was a great ride but pretty scary. The raft felt quite secure mind you. We'd locked phones etc away in a locker so hoots are limited but I did steal this pic

After that we got in the virtual line for Maku Puihi. This was a 40 minute wait so we headed off to find the Fearless River. Having read about this in ScottishNellie's recent report I made sure we all got life jackets that were a good fit. I'm glad I did! The currents in this not so lazy river are quite extreme. We all loved this, I liked the bubbly part the best. We went round 2 or 3 times before going off to explore a bit more. I was looking for the Lazy River but we didn't come across it before our Tapu Tapu told us it was time to ride. I think the Tapu Tapu system is great as I wouldn't have waited in line,I would have buggered off to the sunbeds and left Scott and the kids to it. We tapped in and chose to go down the more intense side. This ride was good too, it I'd say it was scarier as the raft seemed a bit smaller - the hole you are meant to sit in was definitely smaller and I felt more like I was perched on it rather than sitting in it if you know what I mean. Again this is a stolen pic

When we came off this, I wasn't sure I'd be riding any other slides today! But we tapped into Krakatua, a 55 minute wait and went off to explore a bit more. By now the park was very busy and all the walkways were crowded.

The kids had some pool time and I read my book for a bit until it was time to head for Krakatua, the water rollercoaster. When we got to the top of the steps there was a wee girl having a bit of a meltdown about riding. She was with another girl and I think she didn't want to ride with the other party she was put with as she seemed to get over it quickly when put with another group! I managed to get in ok but did wonder if getting out would be possible! OMG this ride is great. More roller coaster than water slide, so right up our alley, we all loved it. Abbie wanted to go again, but that's her response to every ride, except when she was in the front row of Sheikra!

Scott and the kids went off to try some of the body slides and I went to find the lazy river. I found an entrance but was put off by how busy it was and the fact there were no tubes to be had as all the dads were wading upstream to grab multiple tubes as they came free. I went off to find another entrance as there are bound to be lots, right? WRONG! Turns out there are only 2 entrances, but a couple more that are exit only. So I headed back to the start. Eventually after copying the dads I managed to get a tube. I couldn't actually get in said tube, but never mind I had one. Halfway round I managed to get in the middle and pull myself halfway up, when I got to a calm bit I managed to get my legs through. Yay! Correct lazy river posture assumed, I tried to float round and enjoy it. But I didn't. It was too busy and there were too many scooshy, squirty bits. I watched for Scott and the kids as they said they'd meet me there, but didn't see them. I gave it 2 rounds and gave up. I hopped elegantly ( ha ha who am I trying to kid) out of my ring, making sure to give it to someone who looked as hopeless as I had, and found a spot where I could watch everyone going by till I saw the kids or Scott. After 5 minutes or so I spotted Daniel and told him I was heading back to the beds. They weren't far behind me and told me they had done one of the body drops but that Abbie had changed her mind at the top. I don't blame her! A lady who also changed her mind kindly took her back to the bottom to wait. It was about 2pm and we decided we'd had enough. We got into dry things and exited the park, hopped on a bus and headed for the car. Tummies were rumbling now and we chose Dennys for lunch as we were having withdrawal symptoms, as it's usually our first day breakfast and we'd still not managed a visit.

Look how happy they are!

Scott had his usual Moons over My Hammy, I had the Cali Club Sandwich, kids had breakfast for lunch, choc chip pancakes and bacon/sausage.

This was all very yummy and we cleared our plates. We headed back to the hotel and had a bit if pooltime as the weather was great today.

We decided we'd head to Disney Springs tonight and as we'd had a couple of beers at pooltime, we ordered a Lyft.

I was delighted to be getting a wee taste of my happy place, or maybe it was the pool juice?

We might have brought a pool juice with us, it's a tradition dating back to stays in Saratoga Springs, it's a thirsty walk to Downtown Disney!

We had a walk round and a look in a few shops, it was busy but not too bad. The boys needed a restroom, so Abbie and I went to my favourite shop. You can see she is thrilled.

I got a few few bits and pieces including the full size moisturiser that had been included in the birthday gift (so I suppose that marketing totally worked on this sucker) but I was a bit out off by the giant queue to pay, it seems a brazilian school group were buying almost everything in the shop and paying cash! Thankfully one of the assistants came by to take anyone paying by card so Abbie and I jumped the line and paid. Never mind card payment, I might need another mortgage!

We had a look in World of Disney, but were a bit underwhelmed due to the current building work.

We must have gone via Ghiradelli (for the free chocs obvs) as I can see Abbie is eating one here.

Next it was the Lego store for a bit of posing.

We spotted Nessie.

Now it was around 8.30pm and our tummies were rumbling so we headed to Blaze Pizza. The line was long, but it seemed to be moving quickly. We ordered a pepperoni pizza for the kids, I had a Link In, Scott had the White Top and we got 2 drinks. It was all ready in about 10 minutes.

We grabbed a table outside.

We all enjoyed this and we ate it all up. It was pretty good value for money at around $30. After this we were done and ordered a Lyft and walked along to the Marketplace end of the Springs to get it. We only waited a minute or 2 before being picked up. Just as we got home the heavens opened! We were all soaked to the skin just from the car the the door! We got dried off and turned in with plans for Seaworld tomorrow, although not an early start as we are going work our way round the shows.