Joolz' final report

[Joolz]

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

[LiesaAnna]

well done that was fab!!!!!!!!!!
i really enjoyed that! glad you had a great time.........until the next time............
yes i was sorry that Discovery cove was disappointing, especially at christmas time, something very special, am thinking of arranging a trip there for a treat for my daughters 17 th birthday in November, if she wants that, hope its better for others!!!!!

[Ray&Sarah]

Sorry to hear that the Discovery Cove day wasn't all you had hoped.

We always seem to hear "You're Welcome" all the time.[msnsmile2]

[KarenScott]

Have enjoyed reading the reports. Shame about Discovery Cove can't wait for youngest daughter to be old enough so that we can go! When you say it was worthwhile complaining, did they reimburse you or?
A phrase that Martha picked up on was coming out of Magic Kingdom after the late night parade on to the monorail a cast member kept on saying "Quickly, Quickly but Safely" and we all now say it!!
[:I]

[MaggieAllan]

Great report...sory about discovery cove

We have our own little jingles as we pass certain places which are repeated every day on every visit, and in the end you give in and all join in. They are boring to others Im sure but a few are..."Danger danger, high voltage, fire in the ho" (Taco Bell), "Wallgreens on a corner, on a corner, really", Aunty Sandra Mermaid ( the mermaid on the 192), etc etc, all sang or in strange accents.

My favourite word though is 'Momentarily'(sp) ...gets me every time and makes me laugh.

[LiesaAnna]

what about the bell ringers? anyone heard them, they ring those ... bells all day!

[Nostromo]

Great report Joolz. I am surprised that you did not like Odyssea show. We thought it was quite good but of course, tastes differ.

But your experience at Discovery Cove must have been a disappointment after spending all that money. Mind you, they are generally very courteous and efficient but you just might have caught them on a bad day. As with most well-organised highbrow events, it only takes a small disruption for the wheels to come off. Hope you have a much better time the next time around at DC.

[jolliffee]

Fantasic report felt like was with you, hurry up and go back so you can write another[msnwink]

[dbrook]

We were also at Discovery Cove on Bosing Day Joolz. How disappointing that it was so cold as it was a fabulous place. We warmed up in the Lazy river, but my poor husband doesn't swim so he was just hanging around all day. There wasn't anywhere inside that he could go to warm up - that in itself was surprising.

I must say I loved the day, but you can't possibly enjoy it the same when it is so cold. The trainers had 3 wetsuits on each (maybe we should have asked to borrow another 2 and our trainer said it was the coldest day he had known in the 3 years he had been there.

With hindsight I would have waited until arriving in Orlando and checked out the weather forecast before booking to make the most out of the day, but I didn't like to risk it in case it got booked up and then I would have had to let the kids down

Would like to go again in summer so I had better start saving for 2006

[caseyd]

I've decided it's a [bad language filtered out] shot at Discovery Cove this time of year. We were in Orlando Dec. 19 through 28th. It was wickedly cold the first few days we were there, wind blowing, bitterly cold, could barely stand walking around outside w/coats, gloves, hats. We were almost dreading the day at Discovery Cove. But on Christmas Eve when we went it to DC it warmed up and was about 60 degrees, just about the same temp in the water as it was outside. We didn't feel cold w/the full wetsuits on. I know it was cold and rainy on the 25th, and even colder the 26th. And then of course, it warmed up to 70 degrees on the 28th! It's so variable, it's just taking a chance to book DC that time of year. We happened to get lucky. I woudl have felt very disappointed also if we had spent that money on a cold miserable day.