Joolz
10-01-2005, 02:40
Wednesday 22nd
Had a late start Started out to head up to Kelly park – beautiful sunshiny day- so decided not to miss the sunshine by sitting in the car. After having lunch in sizzler we went to Blizzard beach instead. Shopped in Mercado ( a bit of a dump we thought! ) and then went on to Race Rock where we had a reasonable meal and fab atmosphere! We had their exploding onion for starters – it was enormous and for main we had ribs- also enormous- no room for desert. We all had a go on the coin machines and took the photos of the kids standing inside the truck wheels.
Thursday 23rd
Kids had a lazy morning … (1 did GCSE essay and the other played on the playstation 2 provided by villa owner. I went to Walmart to do the Christmas shopping. Enjoyed the time to myself browsing the bargains. Had lunch at the villa and then went to seaworld. We had a great time- enjoying the peace of the park again – had more cocktails in the bar and saw the odyssea [show- which in our opinion was not worthwhile- it was more like a school production than a theme park event- we certainly would not bother with that again] We enjoyed the Wild artic simulated helicopter ride and sampled the beer! We took advantage of the pizza buffet which was good value. As we headed home sprinkles of artificial snow fell.
Friday 24th Christmas Eve:
Went driving over to the other side of Orlando as very upset ‘Kevin’ discovered that the Warhammer order hadn’t come in…. argh!! Tried to avoid it but couldn’t imagine him ever smiling again!!! So we discovered Sci Fi City!! It was miles away – and on Xmas eve!!! We made it but due to the – “buy one get one free” offer they had sold out of the thing he wanted!!! Would you believe it .. after a while he was satisfied with a few smaller “ buy one get one free” items. Phew!
We then went to see the Queen of the universe shrine but got stuck in the car park at the mall next door for 50 minutes! The day was really going well…..not! Then we escaped the car park traffic and donned our gloves and hats for Gaylords ICE Exhibition – WOW that was fabulous – I’ll post some photos.. following on from that we headed for our free hot choccie and saw the free Christmas play – which was sweet- Then it was time for dinner at Villa de Flora – OHHH WOW the food was spectacular – we all adored the coconut shrimp! We then explored the hotel – stopping to look at the swamp area, the crocs, the Harley Davidson shop, the snakes (Yuk!) !! …before we headed off to celebration. We were going to check out the times of the horse and carriage rides for Christmas day – we discovered that they wouldn’t be running so we hired one there and then… taking a short trot around celebration – admiring the lights ..wrapped in warm blankets---it was delightful.
Saturday 25th Xmas Day and our daughter’s 15th Birthday.
It was raining!
We open prezzies all squeezed onto the King size bed- with about 4 inches more room than at home it was a slight luxury – but I still fell out when they all squashed into the middle. I claimed “present wrappers immunity” from sitting at the other end of the bed and had a short moment of comfort before setting out the smoothies and chocolate birthday cake for brekky!! We rang home and sang happy Christmas & happy birthday ( brother in law’s birthday also on Xmas day !!)
Still raining- Then we went to Celebration Hotel which exceed VdF’s food… the steam boat of beef was enormous and the shrimps ….well… ‘kevin’ was delighted (see photos) the desert selection was vast and there was a live pianist- we had a glass of champagne included and they bought our daughter a small birthday cake with a sparkler and candle. Still wet so decided to sit in the bar which shortly took on the atmosphere of an airport lounge – so we went home – got very wet going to car- We played Disney trivia game for an hour – only the kids knew the answers then we headed back to Celebration cinema to see the Lemony Snikkett film. (Didn’t like the snakes in the film much – but it was enjoyed by all.) We waited for the artificial s
Had a late start Started out to head up to Kelly park – beautiful sunshiny day- so decided not to miss the sunshine by sitting in the car. After having lunch in sizzler we went to Blizzard beach instead. Shopped in Mercado ( a bit of a dump we thought! ) and then went on to Race Rock where we had a reasonable meal and fab atmosphere! We had their exploding onion for starters – it was enormous and for main we had ribs- also enormous- no room for desert. We all had a go on the coin machines and took the photos of the kids standing inside the truck wheels.
Thursday 23rd
Kids had a lazy morning … (1 did GCSE essay and the other played on the playstation 2 provided by villa owner. I went to Walmart to do the Christmas shopping. Enjoyed the time to myself browsing the bargains. Had lunch at the villa and then went to seaworld. We had a great time- enjoying the peace of the park again – had more cocktails in the bar and saw the odyssea [show- which in our opinion was not worthwhile- it was more like a school production than a theme park event- we certainly would not bother with that again] We enjoyed the Wild artic simulated helicopter ride and sampled the beer! We took advantage of the pizza buffet which was good value. As we headed home sprinkles of artificial snow fell.
Friday 24th Christmas Eve:
Went driving over to the other side of Orlando as very upset ‘Kevin’ discovered that the Warhammer order hadn’t come in…. argh!! Tried to avoid it but couldn’t imagine him ever smiling again!!! So we discovered Sci Fi City!! It was miles away – and on Xmas eve!!! We made it but due to the – “buy one get one free” offer they had sold out of the thing he wanted!!! Would you believe it .. after a while he was satisfied with a few smaller “ buy one get one free” items. Phew!
We then went to see the Queen of the universe shrine but got stuck in the car park at the mall next door for 50 minutes! The day was really going well…..not! Then we escaped the car park traffic and donned our gloves and hats for Gaylords ICE Exhibition – WOW that was fabulous – I’ll post some photos.. following on from that we headed for our free hot choccie and saw the free Christmas play – which was sweet- Then it was time for dinner at Villa de Flora – OHHH WOW the food was spectacular – we all adored the coconut shrimp! We then explored the hotel – stopping to look at the swamp area, the crocs, the Harley Davidson shop, the snakes (Yuk!) !! …before we headed off to celebration. We were going to check out the times of the horse and carriage rides for Christmas day – we discovered that they wouldn’t be running so we hired one there and then… taking a short trot around celebration – admiring the lights ..wrapped in warm blankets---it was delightful.
Saturday 25th Xmas Day and our daughter’s 15th Birthday.
It was raining!
We open prezzies all squeezed onto the King size bed- with about 4 inches more room than at home it was a slight luxury – but I still fell out when they all squashed into the middle. I claimed “present wrappers immunity” from sitting at the other end of the bed and had a short moment of comfort before setting out the smoothies and chocolate birthday cake for brekky!! We rang home and sang happy Christmas & happy birthday ( brother in law’s birthday also on Xmas day !!)
Still raining- Then we went to Celebration Hotel which exceed VdF’s food… the steam boat of beef was enormous and the shrimps ….well… ‘kevin’ was delighted (see photos) the desert selection was vast and there was a live pianist- we had a glass of champagne included and they bought our daughter a small birthday cake with a sparkler and candle. Still wet so decided to sit in the bar which shortly took on the atmosphere of an airport lounge – so we went home – got very wet going to car- We played Disney trivia game for an hour – only the kids knew the answers then we headed back to Celebration cinema to see the Lemony Snikkett film. (Didn’t like the snakes in the film much – but it was enjoyed by all.) We waited for the artificial s