I am currently sitting in the Qantas club in Dallas having just eaten a plate of tender roast lamb. I picked out all of the crunchy bits too! It was very nice, the best red meat I have had for three weeks.
It has been a long day already but we kept busy this morning by going to the Florida Mall after checking our luggage in at the airport. It would be interesting to know what the Americans would think of us leaving our luggage at the airport and while we shopped - I bet it doesn't go well with their security plan.
The flying time from Orlando - Dallas was 2hrs 20 minutes. Not much idea yet of the next flight's flying time, it is somewhere around the 14hr mark I think.
The kids really did do a great job being on the go day after day, which made life easy most (but definitely not all) of the time. Hopefully they will be keen to travel and see the world (and pay for it themselves). Lucy wants to come and work at Disneyworld - what a surprise, Tom wants to see a country where the culture is vastly different from his own, and Zac would like to see Europe (good luck finding something he'd eat there!!).
We hope you have all enjoyed following us around the USA even though trying to add your comments was frustrating we know. Thanks for the comments we got via the blog, email and SMS. The world is a very small place now with all of those effective ways to keep in touch.
Hopefully the pilot is well experienced and we will be home safely in Adelaide around 1pm Monday (it is currently 8.08pm Sat night here.
Love from the travelling Schuies
xxxxx
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Day 21: Magic Kingdom
Lucy........
Magic Kingdom is full of excitement, adventure and thrills. Along with those feeling's there are lots of rides to choose from, we were aiming to go on as many rides as we can, especially Space Mountain, but unfortunately they had a few problems....... Wait let me start from the beginning. We went on the 10:00 shuttle and got into the park at 11:10 after going on a ferry to the entrance. We got on a train to Frontier-land and got fast-pass's for Splash Mountain. We hopped into the stand-by lane for Big Thunder Mountain Railway which was a 60 minute wait through winding pathways to the loading dock where the ride would finally start!.......
Jo........(taking over from Lucy who is busy eating)
Finally the day had come to visit the Magic Kingdom. It turns out that the same day had come for about 95,000 others too! The sky was beautiful and blue, with not a hint of cloud to be seen. This meant that it was the hottest temperature we had had so far, and with some humidity built in it was hard going for us all at times. Standing in long lines wore a bit thin at times, but at least Disney provides lots of entertainment to keep your mind off how much your legs and feet are aching.
We did all of the 'compulsory' rides such as 'It's a Small World' (according to Zac it would make a good set for a horror movie), the Teacups where everyone kept their lunch down, and the Buzz Lightyear shoot-as-many targets as you can ride. Space mountain was to be the big hit but as we got there we were to learn that there were technical difficulties and the ride was temporarily closed. We went away and came back later when we excitedly made it to the front of the LONG line when there were MORE technical difficulties and we were sent away. We went back later but it was a no go. Poor Tom was VERY VERY disappointed (he can't even watch me type this bit), it was the low light of his trip.
Another ride on Thunder Mountain and some quick shopping and we jumped onto the monorail and headed back to the carpark, into a taxi and back to the resort.
Magic Kingdom is full of excitement, adventure and thrills. Along with those feeling's there are lots of rides to choose from, we were aiming to go on as many rides as we can, especially Space Mountain, but unfortunately they had a few problems....... Wait let me start from the beginning. We went on the 10:00 shuttle and got into the park at 11:10 after going on a ferry to the entrance. We got on a train to Frontier-land and got fast-pass's for Splash Mountain. We hopped into the stand-by lane for Big Thunder Mountain Railway which was a 60 minute wait through winding pathways to the loading dock where the ride would finally start!.......
Jo........(taking over from Lucy who is busy eating)
Finally the day had come to visit the Magic Kingdom. It turns out that the same day had come for about 95,000 others too! The sky was beautiful and blue, with not a hint of cloud to be seen. This meant that it was the hottest temperature we had had so far, and with some humidity built in it was hard going for us all at times. Standing in long lines wore a bit thin at times, but at least Disney provides lots of entertainment to keep your mind off how much your legs and feet are aching.
We did all of the 'compulsory' rides such as 'It's a Small World' (according to Zac it would make a good set for a horror movie), the Teacups where everyone kept their lunch down, and the Buzz Lightyear shoot-as-many targets as you can ride. Space mountain was to be the big hit but as we got there we were to learn that there were technical difficulties and the ride was temporarily closed. We went away and came back later when we excitedly made it to the front of the LONG line when there were MORE technical difficulties and we were sent away. We went back later but it was a no go. Poor Tom was VERY VERY disappointed (he can't even watch me type this bit), it was the low light of his trip.
Another ride on Thunder Mountain and some quick shopping and we jumped onto the monorail and headed back to the carpark, into a taxi and back to the resort.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Day 20: Animal Kingdom
Tom...
Back to the parks today with a visit to Disney's Animal Kingdom. This was the one Dad looked forward to the most, but Mum just didn't want to get soaked. After walking through the gates, the first thing we spotted was the gigantic Tree of Life. We decided that the first thing we wanted to do was to see the "It's tough to be a bug" show, with the cast of A Bug's Life. Twas a very exciting show, the 3D effects were great but the main bit was the stingers that came out of the back of the chair and poked you! Everyone freaked out at that bit!
After that we headed towards the ride Mum and Dad had told us about the most; the Kali River Rapids. This ride involved going in a circular raft down Asian rapids, and also involved getting really wet! Mum had told us before that she would be in the unlucky seat and get the most wet, and she was definitely right! We all got wet, but she was soaked as we went to get some lunch.
We bought some honey chicken and fried rice for our lunch at the closest shop in the country of Anandapur (Disney's asia), and got on our way to the ride I had been looking forward to the most - Expedition Everest.
We got to this massive ride that included an entire mountain range and buddhist temples just to find that it had been closed because of "technical difficulties". Well, this got everyone's mind working, thinking up horrifying scenarios to explain what they might be! Dad explained that they were just taking a while to get the survivors out.
Decided to come back later, so we went to DinoLand USA, which is a dinosaur themed section of the park. We lined up for 25 mins to go on the Primeval Whirl, which is basically just a dinosaur version of the Crazy Coaster at the Adelaide Show. It spun freely most of the ride, but still Mum didn't get sick.
Then we went to the DINOSAUR, a ride Mum had said was pretty tame. There is NO WAY I would call that ride tame. It was an intense ride, not that it was too fast, but it was so dark and dinosaurs jumped out everywhere! Dad tapped Mum on the shoulder during the dark part of the ride and Mum thought she would die! We all came out laughing at just how freaky the whole thing was, and Dad was the only one that kept his eyes open the whole time.
Next Dad and Lucy went on a spinning dinosaur ride, and Zac and I went to see if Everest was open. It wasn't so we went and got Fastpasses for the rapids again. Dad, Mum and Lucy caught up, and we went on our ride again. Mum got even more soaked this time through, almost losing her hat!
We were all nice and cooled down after that experience, so we walked over to the Africa section of Animal Kingdom, to go on the Kilimanjaro Safari. This was great, and we saw lots of animals (real animals) that we wouldn't see much of in Australia. The ride also took us through a poacher chase, and we saw what a poacher's camp looked like too. The best part of the ride for me was when we saw the elephants. There were around 7 elephants, two of them babies. I had never seen elephants before in real life, so that was good.
We got back from the safari via walking trail that led us past more animals, and then we had some bakery lunch. Zac and I had brownie paws, which were huge, unfinishable chocolate cakes shaped as paws, and Lucy had the biggest rice krispie treat ever! We watched the parade from there too, and I played some epic african drums.
From here we ventured on to Rafiki's Planet Watch, which was just a conservation themed section only accessible by train. The train to get there was unique, as all of the seats faced sideways, looking out onto the rainforest. We only stayed at the Planet watch for a short time, because we were running out of time, but we did see some parrots doing tricks!
Next came the highlight of the entire day (for most of us). We had walked back to Asia and discovered that the Expedition Everest was now up and running again! This got Dad and I very excited, and we had to do it straight away. The others were unsure, so just Dad and I went. It was an awesome rollercoaster, with heaps of backwards parts too, and we came out hyped up, encouraging everyone else to have a go. Lucy was feeling courageous after the dino coaster, so she said she would go (but still looked scared) and Mum finally agreed to go with her too. I sat next to Lucy that time, and she decided to scream a fair bit. When we got off we took a look at the coaster photos that were taken mid-ride, and the man selling them pointed at one photo and said, "Who is this?!" Of course it was Mum, pulling a classic ridiculous face. "That's priceless!" the man said, so we had to buy the photo, and it will probably be going on the fridge or in a frame when we get home!
It was almost closing time, so Lucy and I rode Everest one last time, before we headed home.
We needed an early(ish) bedtime for Magic Kingdom the next day.
Back to the parks today with a visit to Disney's Animal Kingdom. This was the one Dad looked forward to the most, but Mum just didn't want to get soaked. After walking through the gates, the first thing we spotted was the gigantic Tree of Life. We decided that the first thing we wanted to do was to see the "It's tough to be a bug" show, with the cast of A Bug's Life. Twas a very exciting show, the 3D effects were great but the main bit was the stingers that came out of the back of the chair and poked you! Everyone freaked out at that bit!
After that we headed towards the ride Mum and Dad had told us about the most; the Kali River Rapids. This ride involved going in a circular raft down Asian rapids, and also involved getting really wet! Mum had told us before that she would be in the unlucky seat and get the most wet, and she was definitely right! We all got wet, but she was soaked as we went to get some lunch.
We bought some honey chicken and fried rice for our lunch at the closest shop in the country of Anandapur (Disney's asia), and got on our way to the ride I had been looking forward to the most - Expedition Everest.
We got to this massive ride that included an entire mountain range and buddhist temples just to find that it had been closed because of "technical difficulties". Well, this got everyone's mind working, thinking up horrifying scenarios to explain what they might be! Dad explained that they were just taking a while to get the survivors out.
Decided to come back later, so we went to DinoLand USA, which is a dinosaur themed section of the park. We lined up for 25 mins to go on the Primeval Whirl, which is basically just a dinosaur version of the Crazy Coaster at the Adelaide Show. It spun freely most of the ride, but still Mum didn't get sick.
Then we went to the DINOSAUR, a ride Mum had said was pretty tame. There is NO WAY I would call that ride tame. It was an intense ride, not that it was too fast, but it was so dark and dinosaurs jumped out everywhere! Dad tapped Mum on the shoulder during the dark part of the ride and Mum thought she would die! We all came out laughing at just how freaky the whole thing was, and Dad was the only one that kept his eyes open the whole time.
Next Dad and Lucy went on a spinning dinosaur ride, and Zac and I went to see if Everest was open. It wasn't so we went and got Fastpasses for the rapids again. Dad, Mum and Lucy caught up, and we went on our ride again. Mum got even more soaked this time through, almost losing her hat!
We were all nice and cooled down after that experience, so we walked over to the Africa section of Animal Kingdom, to go on the Kilimanjaro Safari. This was great, and we saw lots of animals (real animals) that we wouldn't see much of in Australia. The ride also took us through a poacher chase, and we saw what a poacher's camp looked like too. The best part of the ride for me was when we saw the elephants. There were around 7 elephants, two of them babies. I had never seen elephants before in real life, so that was good.
We got back from the safari via walking trail that led us past more animals, and then we had some bakery lunch. Zac and I had brownie paws, which were huge, unfinishable chocolate cakes shaped as paws, and Lucy had the biggest rice krispie treat ever! We watched the parade from there too, and I played some epic african drums.
From here we ventured on to Rafiki's Planet Watch, which was just a conservation themed section only accessible by train. The train to get there was unique, as all of the seats faced sideways, looking out onto the rainforest. We only stayed at the Planet watch for a short time, because we were running out of time, but we did see some parrots doing tricks!
Next came the highlight of the entire day (for most of us). We had walked back to Asia and discovered that the Expedition Everest was now up and running again! This got Dad and I very excited, and we had to do it straight away. The others were unsure, so just Dad and I went. It was an awesome rollercoaster, with heaps of backwards parts too, and we came out hyped up, encouraging everyone else to have a go. Lucy was feeling courageous after the dino coaster, so she said she would go (but still looked scared) and Mum finally agreed to go with her too. I sat next to Lucy that time, and she decided to scream a fair bit. When we got off we took a look at the coaster photos that were taken mid-ride, and the man selling them pointed at one photo and said, "Who is this?!" Of course it was Mum, pulling a classic ridiculous face. "That's priceless!" the man said, so we had to buy the photo, and it will probably be going on the fridge or in a frame when we get home!
It was almost closing time, so Lucy and I rode Everest one last time, before we headed home.
We needed an early(ish) bedtime for Magic Kingdom the next day.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Day 19: By the pool
Today we spent time just swimming or playing pool. The pool area here has within it a basketball area with 5 backboards, mini golf, and a pool table - as well as the three waterslides and water play area. The boys played pool while Lucy, Grant and I swam. The water must be about 33 deg I reckon BUT the water on the slides has just come out of the ice cube tray brrrrrr! Lucy had Grant and I on each of the three slides, one is pretty fast and I ended up landing into the water chute sideways and upside down, much to Lucy's delight.
The big drama at the pool today was an incident where a dad slipped over and hit his head, wiping out all of his memories of the previous few days (Lucy gathered that info after eavesdropping on the lifeguards). You should have seen how many people were in attendance after this happened! A total of 8 resort staff followed by SEVEN emergency services people fussed and wrote notes. He went off in the ambulance and we haven't gathered any new info since, I will have to get Lucy onto it.
Mid afternoon we hit the Premium Outlet Orlando shopping centre. The main purpose of this shopping trip was to buy another piece of luggage to come home with and we managed to find one straight away. Even I enjoy the shopping in the US, the vast majority of clothes and shoes are very inexpensive. Headed into the Vans shop where Tom grabbed a pair for $40 (they are usually $45 full price compared to $90-100 at home). Zac made a purchase of a pair of very luminous soccer boots, they just about hurt your eyes to look at them. Tom bought some shorts and Grant bought some clothes. Lucy and I didn't buy anything! Lucy because she has just about spent all of her money and me because I have seen ONE Esprit shop since we arrived in the USA!!!!!!!
Had dinner in the food court and now back at the resort. The kids are in the pool before we have an earlyish night tonight before heading to Animal Kingdom tomorrow.
Have put only two new photos on today (I know you will all be disappointed). We have now taken 1734 photos, I bet you're glad now that all of those haven't been uploaded!
xx
The big drama at the pool today was an incident where a dad slipped over and hit his head, wiping out all of his memories of the previous few days (Lucy gathered that info after eavesdropping on the lifeguards). You should have seen how many people were in attendance after this happened! A total of 8 resort staff followed by SEVEN emergency services people fussed and wrote notes. He went off in the ambulance and we haven't gathered any new info since, I will have to get Lucy onto it.
Mid afternoon we hit the Premium Outlet Orlando shopping centre. The main purpose of this shopping trip was to buy another piece of luggage to come home with and we managed to find one straight away. Even I enjoy the shopping in the US, the vast majority of clothes and shoes are very inexpensive. Headed into the Vans shop where Tom grabbed a pair for $40 (they are usually $45 full price compared to $90-100 at home). Zac made a purchase of a pair of very luminous soccer boots, they just about hurt your eyes to look at them. Tom bought some shorts and Grant bought some clothes. Lucy and I didn't buy anything! Lucy because she has just about spent all of her money and me because I have seen ONE Esprit shop since we arrived in the USA!!!!!!!
Had dinner in the food court and now back at the resort. The kids are in the pool before we have an earlyish night tonight before heading to Animal Kingdom tomorrow.
Have put only two new photos on today (I know you will all be disappointed). We have now taken 1734 photos, I bet you're glad now that all of those haven't been uploaded!
xx
Day 18: EPCOT
Grant... Walt Disney originally created EPCOT as "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow", but it has since been re-named to "Every Person Comes Out Tired" which seems more fitting.
We planned to stay late for the Illuminations light & fireworks show at 9pm, so we headed to the park at 11am. The weather was warm, cloudy and very humid. We took a punt and left the rain ponchos behind, which turned out to be a good call as the sky cleared during the day and it became very hot at times as the sun broke through.
The park was busy when we arrived and we entered through the gates and past the famous Epcot landmark, the big "golf ball". We headed straight for the "Test Track" ride to reserve a time for later in the day, then we wandered over to Mexico to book a time for dinner.
Zac... Inside the big ''golf ball'' there was a ride called 'Spaceship earth' where you sit inside a capsule and are pulled around a track. I was directed to a carriage with Mum (I know, bummer) and we started to go around the ride. About halfway through, the carriages lost power and we were delayed for around 10 minutes. My favourite part of the day was a ride called test track where you have six people in a car and go through the tests that the GM company uses to prove if their car was roadworthy. I was sitting in between Mum and Tom (Again, bummer) and it was annoying when Mum continued to scream as we went around the almost vertical corners and the drops. For dinner, we went on time for our reservation and were given a buzzer to tell us when a table was ready. They told us under 30 minutes but they should have told us under an hour and a half! When we finally got in, we were seated and introduced to our server Jesus!!!! We ordered and when the food was brought out we realised that we may have ordered a little bit much (typical american food) but the food was really nice and we made it to a good spot for the light show. Tommorow we are going to do a little shopping and relax around the pool.
We planned to stay late for the Illuminations light & fireworks show at 9pm, so we headed to the park at 11am. The weather was warm, cloudy and very humid. We took a punt and left the rain ponchos behind, which turned out to be a good call as the sky cleared during the day and it became very hot at times as the sun broke through.
The park was busy when we arrived and we entered through the gates and past the famous Epcot landmark, the big "golf ball". We headed straight for the "Test Track" ride to reserve a time for later in the day, then we wandered over to Mexico to book a time for dinner.
Zac... Inside the big ''golf ball'' there was a ride called 'Spaceship earth' where you sit inside a capsule and are pulled around a track. I was directed to a carriage with Mum (I know, bummer) and we started to go around the ride. About halfway through, the carriages lost power and we were delayed for around 10 minutes. My favourite part of the day was a ride called test track where you have six people in a car and go through the tests that the GM company uses to prove if their car was roadworthy. I was sitting in between Mum and Tom (Again, bummer) and it was annoying when Mum continued to scream as we went around the almost vertical corners and the drops. For dinner, we went on time for our reservation and were given a buzzer to tell us when a table was ready. They told us under 30 minutes but they should have told us under an hour and a half! When we finally got in, we were seated and introduced to our server Jesus!!!! We ordered and when the food was brought out we realised that we may have ordered a little bit much (typical american food) but the food was really nice and we made it to a good spot for the light show. Tommorow we are going to do a little shopping and relax around the pool.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Day 17: Disney's Typhoon Lagoon
I didn't even know what we were going to do today when I woke up, but after checking the weather Mum decided we should go to an extra Disney park - Typhoon Lagoon water park. Yes! I had been talking about how we should go to a water park in Disney for ages, and Mum finally came to her senses.
After getting there, paying our $250 (!) and getting changed we hit the water.
The park was great! It was set up like a tropical island resort that just had a typhoon go through it. The ship on top of a mountain was the first thing Zac and I noticed. Headed over there to find some single slides that reminded us of Magic Mountain, but they quickly got boring, so we tried out a "speed slide". These were much faster than we thought, and we both got off in pain, with our board shorts now turned into speedos! It was then that we agreed Mum and Dad would both have to do these slides.
Then we went looking for the rest of the gang for a family raft slide, and found out that they had just been floating around a creek like the one at Wet 'n Wild while we had done all of the other slides.
Although Lucy refused the first time (memories of being convinced to go on the Tower of Terror the other day) she did go on it later. The family raft was excellent, with bumps in the slide and fake rocks in the slide rapids.
After a lunch of chicken wraps and nachos with plastic cheese, Zac and I headed to the wave pool to check out what Mum and Dad had called the Tsunami wave. And it was huge. This 6ft wave came every 1.5 mins, at it knocked people down like bowling pins. Including Dad!
Mum and Dad eventually got onto that speed slide. Mum now thinks that slide was the inventor of g-strings! Zac and I floated through the creek while this was happening, although Zac couldn't fit properly in a big tube, so he had to use a little kids' one. This was really funny because he could barely stay on the thing, and when he did it again later, Dad just kicked him straight off.
But the highlight was the Crush 'n Gusher, a fairly new place with three slides unlike any slides we had ever been on. It was definitely the first slide I had ever seen that went uphill, and shot the water that way too! These slides were so intense, you started on a conveyor belt!
When Mum convinced Lucy to go on it with her, Mum's toe ended up in Lucy's mouth!! Everyone went on these at one time or another. Zac and I were the first, and got Dad to join us on a three-person. We listened to Dad yell on the way down, but that's better than a toey mouth!
I was amazed with how well Disney had set up their park, with everything looking like an authentic tropical island. They even had a whole mountain and waterfalls they had made. All of the slides went through waterfalls, caves and through old tropical fruit factories.
It was really a great day, and I'm so happy that we got to visit a water park. on our holiday!
Tom
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Day 16: Orlando [WaterWorld]
Grant... Part1: woke this morning (Sunday) to see the rain continuing to fall and learn we'd had FIVE inches since we arrived. Jo has just gone to the front desk to ask what people do around here on rainy days like this! Perhaps we'll visit a shopping mall and cinema today. We need to buy another travel bag anyhow. Our original bags are now all chockers.
...more later...
Jo....Part 2: Once we got organised we went to Downtown Disney, another of Disney's areas designed to entice you into parting company with your money! We could actually see some blue sky between the clouds, the wind was blustery and the air warm and humid - but who cared as long as it wasn't raining!!!!!
Had a late lunch (we are getting better at ordering meals whereby we order only 3 or 4 between us) and then the boys went to the movies to see Hugh Hunk Jackman's new movie called Real Steel (they thought it was really good). Lucy and I hit the souvenir shops. You know the Disney shops really are magical! You go in the only door you can see to what you think is a normal sized shop, and once inside you are amazed at just how enormous the shop really is, and lose count at 1000 of the number of Disney products that are there for you to buy. Nevertheless Lucy and I did pretty well and before you knew it 90 minutes had passed before we left the first shop........
Movie and shopping over we went to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner, an expensive but well worth it exercise. Grant and I both had a steak, the first since leaving home, and for dessert we all shared a dish called a Volcano (the photo will explain). In this cafe the lights dim every half hour and there is 30 sec or so of decent thunder, followed by the animal models 'coming to life'. The whole ceiling is covered in forest vine, we kept telling Grant we could see the (fake) moving snake above him, which had him nervously glancing up fairly regularly. I ran into a friend of mine from gym while there, the first person from home that we have met along the way!
Grant is currently in the resort laundry waiting for the dryer to finish tumbling our sneakers around. They are too wet still for us to be able to wear them tomorrow when we will hopefully go to our next park. The forecast is for a 40% chance of rain, the radar looks ok but we will have to look again in the morning.
Hope all are well and that the Bathurst fans are all happy.
xx
Tom...
Just want to add that when Dad, Zac and I went into the cinema we sat in a back row, but soon realised that Zac couldn't see over the chair in front of him, because they were so big! We moved forward so Zac could see the bottom half of the screen.
...more later...
Jo....Part 2: Once we got organised we went to Downtown Disney, another of Disney's areas designed to entice you into parting company with your money! We could actually see some blue sky between the clouds, the wind was blustery and the air warm and humid - but who cared as long as it wasn't raining!!!!!
Had a late lunch (we are getting better at ordering meals whereby we order only 3 or 4 between us) and then the boys went to the movies to see Hugh Hunk Jackman's new movie called Real Steel (they thought it was really good). Lucy and I hit the souvenir shops. You know the Disney shops really are magical! You go in the only door you can see to what you think is a normal sized shop, and once inside you are amazed at just how enormous the shop really is, and lose count at 1000 of the number of Disney products that are there for you to buy. Nevertheless Lucy and I did pretty well and before you knew it 90 minutes had passed before we left the first shop........
Movie and shopping over we went to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner, an expensive but well worth it exercise. Grant and I both had a steak, the first since leaving home, and for dessert we all shared a dish called a Volcano (the photo will explain). In this cafe the lights dim every half hour and there is 30 sec or so of decent thunder, followed by the animal models 'coming to life'. The whole ceiling is covered in forest vine, we kept telling Grant we could see the (fake) moving snake above him, which had him nervously glancing up fairly regularly. I ran into a friend of mine from gym while there, the first person from home that we have met along the way!
Grant is currently in the resort laundry waiting for the dryer to finish tumbling our sneakers around. They are too wet still for us to be able to wear them tomorrow when we will hopefully go to our next park. The forecast is for a 40% chance of rain, the radar looks ok but we will have to look again in the morning.
Hope all are well and that the Bathurst fans are all happy.
xx
Tom...
Just want to add that when Dad, Zac and I went into the cinema we sat in a back row, but soon realised that Zac couldn't see over the chair in front of him, because they were so big! We moved forward so Zac could see the bottom half of the screen.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Day 15: Disney's Hollywood Studios
Grant... We'd booked breakky at the Character Cafe at the Nickelodeon Resort for 8am. What a peaceful start to the day... NOT!! Lots of little kids, all screaming, some in excitement, some in fear, as the Nick characters wandered the room posing for photos with kids. Jo got a photo with Dora the Explorer especially for Harriett. After we escaped the cafe, we trundled to the shuttle bus en-route to Disney's Hollywood Studios.
Now there's good news and bad news... Good news first: we didn't spend much money at the park. Bad news: it rained continuously and we resorted to trudging around the park, along with everyone else, draped in Disney ponchos ($8 each!!). We did manage to visit all the main attractions, including a new Star Wars simulator ride, but we did miss the Aerosmith Rockin' Rollercoaster.
We started on the Tower of Terror ride (where the lift rises and falls a few floors in the dark) and Lucy got a bit scared but recovered quickly. She was very brave. When we went on the Star Wars flight simulator, Tom & I came out feeling a little nauseas. It was still fun, but not as much as we'd hoped 'cause of the rain. We got home mid afternoon and were relieved to get out of our wet clothes.
We've had 2-1/2 inches so far, it's still raining now and there's more to come overnight and tomorrow. The forecast is for it to improve slowly through the week so we'll be happy waiting it out.
Grant.
Now there's good news and bad news... Good news first: we didn't spend much money at the park. Bad news: it rained continuously and we resorted to trudging around the park, along with everyone else, draped in Disney ponchos ($8 each!!). We did manage to visit all the main attractions, including a new Star Wars simulator ride, but we did miss the Aerosmith Rockin' Rollercoaster.
We started on the Tower of Terror ride (where the lift rises and falls a few floors in the dark) and Lucy got a bit scared but recovered quickly. She was very brave. When we went on the Star Wars flight simulator, Tom & I came out feeling a little nauseas. It was still fun, but not as much as we'd hoped 'cause of the rain. We got home mid afternoon and were relieved to get out of our wet clothes.
We've had 2-1/2 inches so far, it's still raining now and there's more to come overnight and tomorrow. The forecast is for it to improve slowly through the week so we'll be happy waiting it out.
Grant.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Day 14: New York - Orlando
Back again........
Landed safely in Orlando after a 2 hour flight plus 30 minutes of taxi-ing to the runway to take off from LaGuardia!!! Apparently this taxi-ing time is always factored into your travel time. Lucy and Zac were disappointed with their window seats as they both had a whopping jet engine mounted outside of them, so there wasn't a view at all!
Late nights/early mornings/lots of walking is catching up on all of us, everyone had a sleep on the plane which made the trip quicker.
After landing and catching the flash monorail shuttle from the arrival gates to the main terminal to collect our luggage (all three bags attracted HEAVY tags on them), we found a nice taxi driver to bring us to the Nikelodeon Family Suites. The freeway made it a smooth drive, the gardens and lawns a lush and green, and there were plenty of Disney signs around to keep the kids excited.
The resort is huge and geared up for families. We took a walk to check out where things are and found the food court where we all made different selections and sat in the communal tables and chairs wondering why there was a line of people just over the way. Well. We soon found out when our eardrums were pierced by the high pitched squeals of many young kids when Spongebob Squarepants and Partick (I didn't even know who that was) entered the room. Zac was trying so hard to keep a cool persona but was really bursting out of his skin with excitement that Spongebob was only 10m away. We encouraged him to go over for a photo, and I thought he was going to, but ultimately thought it wasn't a cool thing to do. Maybe tomorrow though as we have booked a character breakfast before going to our first Disney park. No idea what a character breakfast involves but can imagine what it will cost!
The boys are currently in the pool (it is 9.38pm) as it has just reopened after being closed for a couple of hours due to lightening being around. The humidity is 93% and it is drizzling rain which will hopefully disappear by morning. No photos to send tonight, but I'm sure there will be many tomorrow.
Love to everyone.
Jo
xx
Landed safely in Orlando after a 2 hour flight plus 30 minutes of taxi-ing to the runway to take off from LaGuardia!!! Apparently this taxi-ing time is always factored into your travel time. Lucy and Zac were disappointed with their window seats as they both had a whopping jet engine mounted outside of them, so there wasn't a view at all!
Late nights/early mornings/lots of walking is catching up on all of us, everyone had a sleep on the plane which made the trip quicker.
After landing and catching the flash monorail shuttle from the arrival gates to the main terminal to collect our luggage (all three bags attracted HEAVY tags on them), we found a nice taxi driver to bring us to the Nikelodeon Family Suites. The freeway made it a smooth drive, the gardens and lawns a lush and green, and there were plenty of Disney signs around to keep the kids excited.
The resort is huge and geared up for families. We took a walk to check out where things are and found the food court where we all made different selections and sat in the communal tables and chairs wondering why there was a line of people just over the way. Well. We soon found out when our eardrums were pierced by the high pitched squeals of many young kids when Spongebob Squarepants and Partick (I didn't even know who that was) entered the room. Zac was trying so hard to keep a cool persona but was really bursting out of his skin with excitement that Spongebob was only 10m away. We encouraged him to go over for a photo, and I thought he was going to, but ultimately thought it wasn't a cool thing to do. Maybe tomorrow though as we have booked a character breakfast before going to our first Disney park. No idea what a character breakfast involves but can imagine what it will cost!
The boys are currently in the pool (it is 9.38pm) as it has just reopened after being closed for a couple of hours due to lightening being around. The humidity is 93% and it is drizzling rain which will hopefully disappear by morning. No photos to send tonight, but I'm sure there will be many tomorrow.
Love to everyone.
Jo
xx
Day 13: last full day in the Big Apple
[posted from airport waiting for flight NY to Orlando]
Grant… Big sleep in after a midnight lights-out last night. Girls up and ready first and they disappeared to Times Sq (again!) to do over the shops. Us boys were a little slower, but we eventually got moving and found some pancakes for brunch at 11:45am. Us boys caught the subway back to Lower Manhattan to visit a music/electronics/computers/gadgets/hi-fi megastore, kinda-like JB HiFi. Tome bought a drum book and I got an additional charger for our collection of phones.
We met the girls back in Times Square and we revisited some shops looking at clothes but didn’t buy much. Bit of a lazy late afternoon, chilling in the apartment after some long, busy days. I went out and got McDonalds for tea and we ended the evening laying on our beds playing a family trivia game.
Bags are packed; only thing planned for tomorrow is to organize additional internet data, then head off to the airport around 11am for our afternoon flight to Orlando, Florida. Weather down there is a bit scary; hot and humid. Thongs weather!
By Jo........
Took Lucy to Zara on the corner of 42nd & 5th at Times Square (yes we were really there, even though Zac commented that we just THOUGHT we were there, given the long walk of the night before), the one that DOES have clothing for kids! Got her a pair of jeans ($30!!) and a shirt. Strolled over to Gap after that, it is a bit like Pumpkin Patch in the kids dept, but didn't make any purchases there.
As we walked past Toys r us we got completely sucked in by the sight of the ferris wheel giving people rides INSIDE the shop to go in and have a look. There were lots and lots of toys and new products to see, and lots of staff demonstrating the new products. Lucy had her fingernail decorated like an American flag and promptly purchased a kit to decorate her nails herself.
Got an ice cream and sat out on the red steps to watch the crowd moving through Times Square, and to watch the ever changing neon signs. The queue for discounted theatre tickets for the evening shows was enormous and we were glad not to be standing in it. There was plenty of entertainment for those waiting, with some people dressed in character for Priscilla, Queen of the Desert & Chicago prancing around.
Walked back to the hotel as Grant said and just chilled out in the hotel room for the evening.
Just about time to board the plane for Orlando to visit "The Happiest Place On Earth".......can't wait.
xx
By Jo........
Took Lucy to Zara on the corner of 42nd & 5th at Times Square (yes we were really there, even though Zac commented that we just THOUGHT we were there, given the long walk of the night before), the one that DOES have clothing for kids! Got her a pair of jeans ($30!!) and a shirt. Strolled over to Gap after that, it is a bit like Pumpkin Patch in the kids dept, but didn't make any purchases there.
As we walked past Toys r us we got completely sucked in by the sight of the ferris wheel giving people rides INSIDE the shop to go in and have a look. There were lots and lots of toys and new products to see, and lots of staff demonstrating the new products. Lucy had her fingernail decorated like an American flag and promptly purchased a kit to decorate her nails herself.
Got an ice cream and sat out on the red steps to watch the crowd moving through Times Square, and to watch the ever changing neon signs. The queue for discounted theatre tickets for the evening shows was enormous and we were glad not to be standing in it. There was plenty of entertainment for those waiting, with some people dressed in character for Priscilla, Queen of the Desert & Chicago prancing around.
Walked back to the hotel as Grant said and just chilled out in the hotel room for the evening.
Just about time to board the plane for Orlando to visit "The Happiest Place On Earth".......can't wait.
xx
Day 12: New York City
[posted from La Gaurdia airport waiting to fly to Orlando. Sorry for delay; too busy and ran out of interweb data allowance]
Grant… Today started with a walk to Times Square to collect the Mary Poppins tickets from the New Amsterdam Theater. Then we jumped on the subway again heading for lower Manhattan and the World Trade Center site. There were a million people around the WTC site and stacks of construction activity, with temporary fences, trucks, cordoned-off areas etc. We learned that one reason for the big crowds was that the NY Mayor was scheduled to arrive to make some public announcement about WTC site museum or something.
Anyhow, from what we could see, there are two new buildings being built at the site, and the largest is draped with a super-size-me sized American flag.
The Americans had, quite rightly, erected a pizza bar at the ground zero site and we lined up to sample their fine fare. Jo reckons it was the best cheese pizza she’d ever had and promptly lined up for a second slice. After downing the pizza, we walked off to find Wall St so we could take the compulsory Wall St Stock Exchange Building photo. Some of the (already very narrow) roads in the neighbourhood were cordoned-off by the police to restrict crowd numbers because of a protest that had been happening in the area for the past few weeks. Jo chatted up a young policeman and got the low-down on his work hours and roster system.
We walked off in the direction of the Staten Island Ferry terminal and, after a few wrong turns, arrived in the fancy new terminal and promptly boarded the next ferry with about a thousand other people, mostly tourists like us. The ride was quick, efficient and smooth, passing by the Statue of Liberty close enough for a good look. After arriving on Staten Island, we found there wasn’t much to do so we grabbed a snack while waiting for the next ferry back.
Back on Manhattan Island, we rode the subway a short trip to the East Village where we found the Orpheum Theater where the STOMP show was playing (you know… the one with the guys stomping their feet and banging garbage bin lids to make music). Jo managed to swap her wrongly-ordered August tickets for tickets for that nights’ show, so we were organized for the evening: girls to Mary Poppins in Times Square& boys to STOMP in the lower East Village.
We had dinner together at Ruby Tuesdays where everyone found something yummy to eat and the service was great, albeit a bit pricey. After dinner, we split to our shows.
STOMP was a magnificent, fun performance from very talented New York cast. The STOMP crew had performed 5000 shows at that theater over the past 20yrs or so, and had been honoured by the renaming of a section of the street to STOMP St.
After the show, us boys sent a message to the girls, to check earlier plans to meet at Grand Central Station. The girls replied that they had started the 15min walk back to the hotel and would meet us there. No worries. Us boys walked to a subway station, waited for a train, caught it back to Midtown, found a toilet, found a shop for drinks and then we got a second message from the girls, some 40min after the first, asking us which street the hotel was! They’d been wandering the dark streets; not lost of course, but let’s say “with an elevated level of positional uncertainty”. All turned out okay and after a couple of phone calls for directional assistance, the girls and us ended up back at the hotel together.
It was a late night, and we got to bed at midnight, after Tom had written the previous days’ blog entry. Hence apologies again that this blog post is late. Also compounded by the fact we ran out of internet data late today and this post will need to wait ‘till we get to connect again.from Lucy......
Mary Poppins was the fourth musical/show that I have seen in my whole life and if I had to all the ones that I have seen it would be like this: Wicked, Cirque Du Soleil> Zakana, Mary Poppins then Cinderella on ice. Mary Poppins was good it was very alive with the dancing and the singing. The show was a lot different to the movie and they didn't have all of the parts in the right order and they added parts in that weren't even in the movie, but that only made it more exiting because I have seen the movie and if it was like the movie then I would know what would come next but they changed it and it was partly new for me, For mum she had no idea that it was changed and just went along with it thinking that it was in the movie. Mary Poppins was a good show and if I had to recommend a musical or a play to people in Australia one of the suggestions would definately be Mary Poppins.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Day 11: New York
Early rise on our second day in NYC, around 10am I think. After a quick brekky of peanut butter toast and cereal, we got on our way. Mum had planned a massive walk for us and my feet were hurting just thinking about it. For some healthy walking energy we decided to get ourselves some Dunkin' Donuts, which were alright, but didn't compare to Krispy Kreme.
Our first stop was Top of the Rock (Top of the Rockefeller building), a great view up 70 floors high. Mum and Dad were talking about a ball that drops on New Year's Eve, but I had no idea what they were talking about. Saw Central Park and the Empire State building from up there too, and on the way down, Mum waited in line to get our tickets for Cirque De Soleil later that evening.
Kept walking, split up to Zac and Lucy's highlights of the day (well, at the time anyway). Mum took Lucy to Zara as Dad, Zac and I toured Niketown to look for new sneakers. This ended with Zac deciding not to get sneakers, and Lucy discovered Zara didn't sell kids' clothes!
We then ventured on toward Central Park, although we were stopped by our spotting of the temporary Apple store (they're rebuilding). This underground room was crawling with people, there was barely room to breathe!! Zac brightened up a bit and made a new life goal to get an iPhone, much to Dad's disappointment.
I should explain this next part:
In San Francisco, at the end of our our bike ride us kids all wanted some churros (straight line cinnamon donuts) from a nearby stall. However Dad said we didn't have time, and that there would be churros all over America. He followed this up with "if we don't see any more churros, I will give you $100."
I was getting hopeful, after not seeing any since that day but just past the Apple store, we saw them. Oh well, I still got a churro!
Next we began walking through Central Park towards the Museum of Natural History. After getting some tickets at the museum, we entered, seeing the dinosaur from Night at the Museum, but realizing it was soooo much bigger in the movie! We looked through a few exhibits that were very well presented, and that I found fascinating, but Zac just thought that is feet hurt.
Afterwards we headed out for our first subway ride back to Times Square. It was only after looking at the map that we realized we had walked about fifty blocks from our hotel! We rode the subway back to Times Square, in daylight this time, and grabbed some salad for tea before walking AGAIN to Cirque De Soleil. Once we had got to our seats way up in the second mezzanine, we looked out at the massive theatre we were in. So big, in fact, that Dad was getting vertigo, and Lucy dropped her ticket over the edge!
The show was amazing, our first Cirque De Soleil ever (except for Mum and Dad).
We finally got to bed after 11pm, the first of many late nights to come - that's why this blog is a day late. Can't wait for days to come, but that's all for now.
Tom
Our first stop was Top of the Rock (Top of the Rockefeller building), a great view up 70 floors high. Mum and Dad were talking about a ball that drops on New Year's Eve, but I had no idea what they were talking about. Saw Central Park and the Empire State building from up there too, and on the way down, Mum waited in line to get our tickets for Cirque De Soleil later that evening.
Kept walking, split up to Zac and Lucy's highlights of the day (well, at the time anyway). Mum took Lucy to Zara as Dad, Zac and I toured Niketown to look for new sneakers. This ended with Zac deciding not to get sneakers, and Lucy discovered Zara didn't sell kids' clothes!
We then ventured on toward Central Park, although we were stopped by our spotting of the temporary Apple store (they're rebuilding). This underground room was crawling with people, there was barely room to breathe!! Zac brightened up a bit and made a new life goal to get an iPhone, much to Dad's disappointment.
I should explain this next part:
In San Francisco, at the end of our our bike ride us kids all wanted some churros (straight line cinnamon donuts) from a nearby stall. However Dad said we didn't have time, and that there would be churros all over America. He followed this up with "if we don't see any more churros, I will give you $100."
I was getting hopeful, after not seeing any since that day but just past the Apple store, we saw them. Oh well, I still got a churro!
Next we began walking through Central Park towards the Museum of Natural History. After getting some tickets at the museum, we entered, seeing the dinosaur from Night at the Museum, but realizing it was soooo much bigger in the movie! We looked through a few exhibits that were very well presented, and that I found fascinating, but Zac just thought that is feet hurt.
Afterwards we headed out for our first subway ride back to Times Square. It was only after looking at the map that we realized we had walked about fifty blocks from our hotel! We rode the subway back to Times Square, in daylight this time, and grabbed some salad for tea before walking AGAIN to Cirque De Soleil. Once we had got to our seats way up in the second mezzanine, we looked out at the massive theatre we were in. So big, in fact, that Dad was getting vertigo, and Lucy dropped her ticket over the edge!
The show was amazing, our first Cirque De Soleil ever (except for Mum and Dad).
We finally got to bed after 11pm, the first of many late nights to come - that's why this blog is a day late. Can't wait for days to come, but that's all for now.
Tom
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