Heading into the Sunset day 8 - Fantasia Gardens, Raglan Road and HS

[MrsBC]

Weather today very mixed 83d cloudy, sunny, rainy :-)

We had another lazy start today, eating bagels and fruit around the pool while Jack splashed around and we decided where to go. We had no firm plan, so once we were all ready we decided on a game of mini golf to begin the day, and set off for Fantasia Gardens which is my favourite course. Russ and David are very competitive and both felt that the rest of us didn't stand a chance of winning. I'm usually last so didn't care! There were more people there than usual for a morning, probably due to it being included in the Ultimate tickets now, and instead of all 6 of us playing at once we decided to go round in 2 sets of 3 to make the game a bit faster moving. We had a really fun time, and the score sheets showed Helen as the winner with Russ last - there was a big fuss made of people cheating, but we know the truth :-).

After the golf, we drove the short distance to DTD, and headed straight for Ghirardelli where we all enjoyed ice cream cornets and a bit of people watching, before going into the Art of Disney where Jack was to collect a personalised picture that he bought a couple of nights ago, and Helen was exchanging an ornament as she had seen a Minnie bust type ornament to match the Mickey she has at home. While they were doing that, Russ and I were checking out the jewelled sculptures as we collect the Mickey ones, though we're also waiting for an Oswald to be made, and after the sales pitch and a good chat to the lady who was interested in the prices and choices at Arribas DLP, we chose BandLeader Mickey from the signature collection, he's lovely. We asked if we could leave it for collection in a few days time as we didn't want to leave it in the villa, so it was put in the store safe for us.

We walked along to the West Side to the Harley shop were Russ bought a hat and David and Jo got a sign for their new home, and of course everyone sat on the bikes. After a bit more browsing and buying of unnecessary items we were all more than ready for lunch now, so we went along to to see if we could get a walk up at Raglan Road and we were seated straight away. We went straight for main courses and drinks, and everyone chose something different. Jack ate every bit of his Shepherds Pie, and Helen said her Lobster Club sandwich was fab but we all enjoyed it - David paid so I don't know the cost

Time was ticking over, so we headed back to the car to drive to Hollywood Studios for the rest of the day. We soon parked in Stage car park which looked quite full and we didn't really expect to get on many rides but enjoyed a slow walk up towards the hat and turned right for the T of T where to our surprise they got on with a 10 minute wait. I don't like the 2 big rides along Sunset so while they did that I went and got FPs for the Rocknroller coaster for later in the day, but when they came off T of T they decided to queue for R and R too as the line was ok, while I enjoyed a wander round the shops in peace and ate a dipped pretzel $2.99.

After a trip to a galaxy far, far away, next was a family favourite, One Man's Dream where we spent ages looking at everything; Jack loves the history of animation and has hopes of working in that field when he's older; and onto the film - cue tears every time! Then into the Animation Academy where we drew the old man from UP - not very well in my case. Now back across to RnR for their FPs - I find that at HS we tend to do a lot of trekking to and fro across the park - and I went into the sweet shop on Sunset to get us all fudge to eat while we watch the later showing of Fantasmic, none of us were hungry enough for another meal.

Then the heavens opened, a proper Florida downpour which lasted 15 minutes and I finally got a poncho on :-) it flooded the shop doorways and cleared the street of people, so when it stopped everyone rushed out of the shops back into the Fantasmic queue again. We met up, joined the queue which wasn't too long, and with drinks and snacks, managed to get decent seats for one of the best shows in Orlando. When I say decent seats, I wish they would just put a simple backrest on them ( same with the Motors show), then the experience would be even better.

The rain held off for the show and as ever, it was great, we joined the river of people and were soon in the car making our way home, tired but happy. It absolutely poured down again on the way, but it didn't spoil anything at that time of night. The boys had a couple of games of air hockey and pool, while the girls packed overnight bags ready for the next morning before we all went to bed. That sounds about right ;-)