Friday 3rd October
Breakfast by the pool today it is quite warm and forecast to be in the high 80s and high humidity we are heading for I.O.A. this morning. $17 for parking they must be making a fortune judging by the number of cars going in, why does everyone go to the right hand side at the pay gates when the ones on the left are empty?? drove straight to an empty gate paid and straight in.
We are in Spiderman lot which is one of the closest to the bag search area. We have arrived at about 9.40am and the first morning rush has gone so we walk straight in at the ticket gate time for a coffee before we continue. After coffee we go round to Spiderman one of our favourite rides (we don't do the big coasters) the wait says 5mins but we walk straight round and on to the ride.
It is getting hotter today and as we walk round to Popeye & Bluto's barges and Ripsaw falls people are coming off wet through and cannot get dry because of the humidity. We finally arrive at Potter world and after a quick look in the shops we decide to go on the train to Universal as it is near lunch time and we like the sandwiches better there. You enter the station near to the Dragon challenge ride the board said wait time 5 mins and then you walk round and round and down and down and finally go up 3 flights of stairs (or take a lift)just to reach the platform. All this walking takes the 5 mins there is no one on the station platform and we are directed to stand in one of the loading areas. Will not say anything else as not to spoil it for anyone just to say it is better than having to walk from one park to the other[msnsmile2]
You get off the train in the new HP area which I have to say (and this is my opinion) is a bit disappointing for all the waiting for it to be built. The main ride here Escape from Gringots was closed and the cast members outside did not know if was going to open at all that day.
Before lunch we have time to see the Beetle juice Graveyard Review (which we have seen a few times before) it has change quite a lot.
If you have seen it before you may want to see the new version more actors more jokes but the same Beetlejuice [msnsmile] If you get the chance to go try for the 12.30 show there is a guy doing sign language and he is brilliant.
We had lunch at the San Francisco Pastry Co and got chatting to an American family (mum dad and 3 girls)from Michigan. He said they were down for a week and had taken the girls out of school as a treat as they were "straight A students" as he put it. He could not believe it when I said he would have to pay a fine in England for doing that and I thought it was about £100 to £200 per child per week. He was still talking about it with his wife when we left I bet all his friends in Michigan know about it when he gets back.
The heat is getting unbearable so we decide to go on Transformers and then head home. 40min wait time far too long back home it is.
We get back to the villa and the temp gauge by the pool says 102 degrees and it is 3.00pm. We are drained (not as young as we used to be) and decide to stay in tonight and watch a bit of tv and have a drink
Saturday 4th October
Raining when we got up today so no breakfast on the patio. We have decided to go to Winter Park for a couple of hrs they have a farmers market on Saturdays and Sue wants to get some fruit as the supermarket stuff does not have much taste she says. Arrive about 9.30and head to Barnies for a coffee this is quite a nice place. The shops here are mostly quite expensive so I have to keep my credit card locked away.
The farmers market is a bit disappointing there used to be cheese stalls, home made produce stalls and it has nearly all gone.[] There was 2 fruit and veg stalls and a lot of flower stalls. One fruit stall was very busy lots of locals at it and one had no one at it at all guess which one we chose. We got some peaches, plums and tomatoes and we have since eaten them all very nice.
As the weather was picking up we headed back to the villa and sat out after lunch. We have seen may animals and even a gator while sat on the patio over the years but we have never seen a water snake but we saw one today it swam out in the lake and then disappeared near to the bank. What we saw next may upset some people but I was fascinated with it and after all is just nature (as Chris Packam keeps saying )
A small blue heron came on to the lawn from the house next door with a great egret (big white bird) chasing it nothing strange about that but the heron had a large frog in its mouth. They then proceeded to run round the lawn (benny hill style music playing) for about 10 mins with the frog hanging out of the herons mouth. I got one or two pictures but the one below shows the moment when the heron opened its mouth for a second and the frog landed on the floor and hopped off back to the lake with both birds chasing it (I think it got away)
Stayed in villa tonight for tea and watched film, as you may tell we do not go out too much at night as Sue says it is our holiday and we can do what we want now where did I put that bottle [drinkbeer]
G
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Originally Posted by E. Cosgrove
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