A Mi11ion Dreams = 2018 - Day 16 - When a Blizzard Beach idea goes wrong!

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Welcome back, you made it - I hoped you would

Strange day today and possibly a lesson in being more planned than you ever thought you had been in the past


If you missed Day 15 it is just a click here away


If you are reading for the first time - hope you can join us from the beginning and the whole index is here.

As requested - here is the link to everything that has been typed in previous trips and some photos that show the boys growing older in the blink of an eye - just click here to read, see and get some handy tips from things we have experienced in the past


Welcome to Day 16

Friday 10th August 2018


Now, when your notes for an entire day run to 15 words it is time to worry!
Shoddy, I hear you cry! Shocking I hear myself thinking!
How did that happen? I ask trying to write a trip report day that now is over 1000 words long! Phew!

Well thankfully it was a day when you remember everything that happened with great clarity as I am still kicking myself for not checking the weather!

When heading for a water park all usual note making means hit the deck.

The normal camera stays in the Villa, no phones for obvious reasons and suddenly your morning is unrecorded.

The underwater camera proved of no use with quality photos like these and those that followed after too

We headed to Blizzard Beach with the intention of a great day in the sun and on the slides, on opening we were pleasantly surprised by the lack of a queue and headed in, paid for a locker and then found the chairlift was not in operation, “due to the breeze” – had they something similar in Scarborough, it would never operate due to that little sea breeze that you get on the East Coast - this was not even a whisper of wind in our experience!

We had simply followed our instinct this morning, and as a result made an error we probably would have been all over in the past.

Sunny morning with cloud, yet a quiet water park?

We never bothered looking at the weather forecast!

We rode loads of the rides and were totally aware that everywhere we looked there were no photopass photographers anywhere, always a bad sign.

And as we stood in the queue for Summit Plummet, having walked up that flippin’ hill once again we were met with the news that there was a storm incoming and the rides were closing.

We had been in the park for less than two hours and having taken advice from CM’s it looked as if it was going to be a long afternoon.

We decided to cut our losses and got changed and then made for the exit, not before a quick check of Disney protocol and having paid for a locker just a matter of 120 minutes ago, I felt the question was worth asking about my $15 locker rental.


They were very quick to respond and refunded without hesitation – which was impressive , especially as if we would have to pay for parking if we headed into a park instead.

It was just midday, when we exited and could feel the clouds gathering and the atmosphere closing in too.

Still kicking ourselves from such a basic start of day error, it perhaps showed what happens when you freestyle totally offplan! It did also show that any waterpark will be quiet if you are prepared to go hell for leather at as many rides as possible as soon as possible.


We returned the villa for a shower, a freshen up and change of clothing – we had only our swimming gear with us , all in the hope of a full water park day – our tails very firmly between our legs.

In order to muster the mood and need of everyone, food was the answer!

We hit IHoP on the 27 for some food at a time that would mess up the evening food option for us! We were hungry after climbing all those steps at Blizzard Beach though.

Great service and we enjoyed our meals, there was nothing left at the end.

Bill paid and time moving on, we were also aware which direction the weather was going, having missed the Blizzard Beach storm we were in ‘The zone’ it becomes so localised and this weather front had taken a long time to move from BB towards the US27. We headed to Walmart for shelter and just a mooch around.



That mooch around ended up costing $146.49!
With Advil ( for Grandad) , a swing trainer (Josh golf thing) and loads more included.

What you don’t spend on a Disney day you find a way to spend at Walmart!

Looking at the receipt shows just how it all adds up, it is all those little things, I’m sure!

We headed up the US27 to JC Penney after my sneaky shirt purchase a few days ago, but nobody found anything.

By this time the weather was clearing and my ‘secret‘ little back road to the villa from Posner Park made me seem like a local – no queue on the I4 for us! This is a really good route that exits Posner Park in the totally opposite end of the car park from the 27. Nearly two miles longer but we kept moving at a good pace from car park to the villa, around 15+ minutes saved given the time of day, I think there was just one set of traffic lights too!

It meanders through a couple of local communities, with nothing but a few homes and a church. It led back to Lake Wilson Preserve on a route that the Sat Nav had no answer nor indeed route!



Pool time, Baseball on the TV and just having fun, until the discovery of Robin, he started as a Kermit until reminded just how small he was. Must have been a Muppet baby at the very least!

Indoor, minute frog and problem solving time to ensure safe release into the wild. Joe was brilliant and possibly the most keen to see it removed from outside his room, we think it came in with the swimming stuff left to dry outside, it certainly did not want to be in the air conditioning in the house. Glad we had the opportunity to set it free.



Tea / dinner involved beer, snacks and a couple of sandwiches, after IHoP we needed nothing more.

The sandwiches did not make the photos though!

The Boys had the same only without the beer option, they simply enjoyed more of the fizzy stuff that 0% sugar that seemed to be over loading the fridge in far too many flavours – time to move it across I think!

A great pool night and as the night wore on, work intervened and I was left as the sole awake person , trying to complete some work and trying to find a solution to something that I possibly needed an answer from the UK.

Sleep needed and lets see what tomorrow brings!

Day 17 is a click here away