Sunday. The pool heater has been roaring away for the past couple of days, and today we’re going to enjoy it.
This really was a lazy day, and I don’t think there was much to report. Papa John’s provided lunch which we enjoyed poolside. Far too late in the afternoon the girls thought a trip to the Lake Buena Vista Factory Stores was a good idea, with the OshKosh shop being the primary objective. Unfortunately we hadn’t factored in that it is Sunday, so as we pull into the car park all the lights were going out and doors were being locked. Doh! To Kayleigh’s dismay the rest rooms were locked too. A tantrum commences so we bundle into the van, A-Team style, and zip over the road to the Race Track gas station. Now public loos don’t usually get a mention in trip reports, but when the girls get back in the van they enthuse at great length about how great these are – so Top Tip: if you want a loo, Race Track on the 535, you heard it here first! There’s a vote for dinner and Golden Corral wins tonight, although I don’t manage to get my money’s worth having eaten too much Papa John’s earlier today!
Monday has been set aside for an afternoon trip to Titusville, in the hope of us watching a rocket launch. Lift-Off for the Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled for 4.58pm, and its mission is to take supplies and equipment to the International Space Station. We’ve been monitoring the NASA updates on this launch and it all seems to hinge on the weather, so we are quite optimistic about today, as it seems quite calm with a lovely blue sky.
We have a lazy morning, then head to CiCi’s for a bargain buffet lunch. OK, it’s not gourmet food (and if you’ve been following our trip reports you will have come to the conclusion that we seldom do ‘Gourmet’!), but goodness me it’s amazing value. Seven of us had the pizza/pasta/dessert buffet and soft drinks, and with the flick of a coupon from one of the multitude of coupon books we are charged $42. Yes, 25 quid. Beat that McDonalds. I think the games machines are more expensive than lunch in this place!
Suitably nourished for our journey to the coast, we tell Steve, who you may remember is our Aussie sat-nav, to take us to Titusville, which he dutifully does. This trip will be a good test for the Alamo sun pass system, as we certainly clock up a few tolls. It’s an easy drive out to the coast, and we recall our previous trip to Titusville in 2010 to watch a shuttle launch, and the difference in traffic is phenomenal. It only takes about an hour and a bit to reach the US1 Highway which runs North-South along the East Floridian coastline at this point, and we head North looking for, of all things, a McDonalds. This target destination was not a result of insufficient consumption of CiCi’s pizza, but due to a discovery four years ago of a McDonalds’ car park which offered a fantastic view across the water to the Kennedy Space Centre. As we’re cruising up the road we are glancing to our right and every gap in the buildings reveals a promising view across the water, and then we pass a small park with, coincidentally, a McDonalds on the opposite side of the road. We pull across to McD’s and order a few McFlurries, and ask the girl on the counter if she would recommend the park as a suitable spot to watch the launch. She confirms that it’s a very popular viewing point, and tells us it’s called Nicol Park. Taking advantage of the McWiFi, I quickly look it up to read “offers picnicking at picnic shelters with grills, drinking fountain, benches, shoreline fishing, shuttle viewing, and an attractive playground for the kids.” Well, this sounds like a one-stop-shop for a family waiting for a rocket launch.
We saunter back over the highway and on my second attempt we park the van in the Nicol Park car park, having first attempted to drive down a boat launch ramp straight into Indian River! It’s about an hour before lift-off, so we try to find a sheltered spot in which to wait, but any shelter has no view across the river so we choose a bench looking straight out at the Space Centre. There’s plenty of time for the kids to play on the playground, and to take a few photos
To give you some idea what we could see, I’ll zoom in over my right shoulder:
which you may recognise as the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building.
As the clock ticked around towards 5pm there were still only three or four other families looking out towards the Space Centre. I decided to wander over to the next bench to say hello to a gentleman with his daughter. When I asked him if they were waiting for the launch I was alarmed to be told that yes they were, but the countdown on his smartphone app had just jumped from twenty five minutes to seventy something hours. Uh Oh. It was a beautiful calm day, it couldn’t possibly be a problem with the weather. I text my friend back home, as I rightly guess that he is watching on NASA TV, and he quickly replies that there is a helium leak on the rocket (with a witty comment that everyone nearby will now sound like Mickey Mouse) and the launch has been scrubbed until Friday 18th. I send him a squeaky thanks in reply, pass on the news to the other two expectant families, and we glumly clamber back into the van and head back West.
Before everyone in the rear seats falls asleep we do our “where next?” vote, and decide that we’ll give the shops at Lake Buena Vista another shot. Steve knows his way and an hour later we’re back and thankfully the shops are open this time. There’s a very small playground here so Kayleigh charges in and soon makes some friends and they zoom around for ages, whilst I twiddle my thumbs on a bench and everyone else shops. Just a few doors down from the playground is a Reebok/Rockport shop, so when I’m eventually joined by the rest of the family I go solo in search of shoes. I am literally the only customer, so the service is exemplary and I try on a LOT of shoes, settling on two pairs that I like and they have in my size, and noting the name of two other styles that I like but aren’t available to fit me. There always seems to be a “buy one pair get another pair half price” offer at the Reebok shop, and tonight is no exception. The coupon booklet for the mall provides another $10 discount, so I’m quite happy with my little shopping spree.
Despite the service at Denny’s on our previous visit, we all agree that the food was yummy, so we decide to try a different Denny’s tonight, but not before Kayleigh has made use of the Race Track Gas Station rest rooms! I’d like to be able to report that tonight’s trip to Denny’s went much better, but I think there must be a system crash at six consecutive orders as once again six meals arrive together and one follows after several prompts. Miley-Rose looks longingly at the burgers, but has to make do with baby food again.
Still, if they can’t cope with an order for seven meals, we’d have no chance ordering eight.
Only four days of the holiday left, and we’ve got two birthdays to celebrate and two parks yet to visit. I’ll keep typing and hopefully be able to tell you all about it soon.
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Originally Posted by Macka
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