Somewhat of a late post. Just to say that Phoebe managed to stuff two more burgers on the last day leaving the final count at 7!

Penultimate day today. We headed back to Universal at the crack of dawn to do the Harry Potter ride. Queue was about 40 mins so not that bad – by all accounts the week it opened customers were queuing 5 hours to get into that area of the park and another 2 hours to get onto the ride!

Anyway having done a “walking tour” of Hogwarts we get onto the ride, only for me to get yanked back off again as I was too tall for the restraints to fasten securely over my shoulders. Sarah was somewhat bemused to see me being shoved through a back door as she sailed on past, a feeling that was quickly replaced by nausea as the ride was apparently horrible. Even Molly (roller-coaster freak) hated it. Difficult to describe what the ride was like (especially if you didn’t get to go on it) but suffice to say you got turned upside down a few times in a game of Quidditch.

This evening was the culinary highlight of the holiday for me; dinner at the California Grill (15th floor of the Contemporary Resort). Menu posted here. Molly, Sarah and Tom had the Fillet of Beef, Phoebe the Chicken and I had the Lamb. Fantastic! Then we watched the Magic Kingdom fireworks display from the roof before returning for dessert. A lovely meal and finish to the holiday.

Anyway, just booked in online for the flight home. We hope to take-off at 19.30 and get back to Gatwick 08.45. Looking forward to seeing y’all soon.

Phoebe Burger count: 5

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We’re all pretty knackered now and needed a lie in. Surfaced around 9am and wanted a park free day. As it ended up we were out of the hotel for over 8 hours. First some shopping and DisneyQuest. Then lunch at Planet Hollywood.

Ended up having ruck with the waitress. Basically Jack was going to eat off of the adults menu so wanted to use 5 of our Dining Plan tokens for us and then pay for his meal….all well and good. When the bill came the waitress had charged us for the most expensive item ordered (Sarah’s steak) as opposed to Jack’s meal. So I pulled her up on this and she apologised before going off to amend the bill. When she returned she had charged us for Molly’s meal (Philly Cheese-steak and Brownie) rather than Jack’s burger and ice-cream. I asked her pointedly if these were the cheapest items we had ordered as they were not what Jack had eaten. She said yes. I went an got a menu and pointed out that she was ripping me off and went off to speak to the manager. Anyway he was fine and we ended up getting Jack’s meal for nowt. What really grates though is that as a party of 6 we had an 18% tip applied top the bill as standard so the lying cow still got a $25 tip.

We then went to the cinema to see The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Film was good and the seats amazing – loads of legroom and really comfy. If film wasn’t so good I would have dozed off. Finally popped down to Walmart to get Molly another 2 books to see her through until we return.

Altogether a restful day in readiness for a day at Universal tomorrow. Hopefully weather improves as it has rained all day today. Not that hopeful though as hurricane has formed off the East Coast and is heading towards land – expected Thursday. Could be a bumpy take-off!

No pix today I’m afraid.

Phoebe Burger Count: 5

Breakfast today at Beach Club – really good actually …. better than Boma. We then went to Magic Kingdom.

Was hot when we got there. Went on Haunted Mansion and by the time we got out it was drizzling – blazing sunshine to cloud and rain in under 10 mins. We then went over to Big Thunder Mountain as we had fast passes. Was in line for about 5 mins. When the ride started it was a MONSOON. I mean they were closing the ride after we got off. It was like jumping in the deep end of the pool. The pix below don’t do justice to quite how wet we got on the ride. After that we went back to the hotel to get changed.

Due at Boma for dinner shortly. Better put on my expandable waist shorts.

Phoebe Burger Count:  5

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Early start today at Epcot so that we could get onto Test Track and Soarin’. Also had lunch at Le Cellier (Canada) which was nice. It is the most popular restaurant here, quite small, and you need to book reservations 180 days ahead (as soon as they open) if you want an evening slot. Next year it is going to be upgraded to a 2 point location like the California Grill. Not sure it deserves it but may make getting a booking a little easier.

Had planned to go to the cinema this evening to see The Sorcerers Apprentice but massive rainstorm put paid to that (sitting in soggy trousers for 2 hours….no thanks). Went and got a Chinese Takeaway and watched 2 Harry Potter films in the apartment. Only halfway through the second one now, takes about 3 hours as every 10 mins they have 5 mins of adverts.

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Went to Typhoon Lagoon this morning. Good fun on the slides and surf waves. Just as we were about to leave the heavens opened. Wasn’t that big a deal as we were wet anyway but did mean that the changing rooms got busy real quick.

Then we had lunch at Nine Dragons (China – Epcot) – didn’t originally planned to do so but we enjoyed it so much last week that kids were desperate to go back. Tom, Molly and Sarah had the Kung Pao Chicken. Molly had it last time but chef had certainly spiced it up a little more this time around – luckily they were generous with sprite refills.

We then did a little shopping at the outlet mall – bad idea, it was mobbed with locals. This evening, we had family movie night back at the hotel.

Big news of the day though was that Tom parted with $40 to buy his Mad Hatter hat. Proudly striding through Epcot doffing his hat to everyone he passed – hilarious!

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Up bright and early to get to Islands of Adventure. Got there before opening but residents at Universal Hotels get in early so park was already pretty busy. Headed straight over to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter which has only been open for a few weeks. It was MANIC! They had queues to get into the shops, let alone onto the rides. They even had a queue to get into that area of the park itself! The brand new ride had a 60 minute wait when we arrived so we skipped that and was glad to do so as the wait time quickly moved to 90 mins. We were able to get onto one of the major roller-coasters (Duelling Dragons) quite easily. Just Molly, Tom and I went on it as we thought that Jack was too short.

Was already hitting 95F by 10am but we pressed on determined to get in as many rides as we could before the heat finally wore us down. Did pretty well finishing of with a soaking on Jurassic Park River Adventure. Check out the pix of the kids in their Dr Seuss “Cat In The Hat” t-shirts!

This evening we went for dinner at Sanaa (in our hotel). African Food with an Indian influence. Whilst waiting we wandered around the back of the hotel and took oodles of animal pix (see below). Anyway, dinner was lovely. Sarah had Beef Short Ribs, Molly and Phoebe Tandoori Chicken, Tom Red Chicken Curry and I had Salmon, Scallops and Prawns in a curry broth. Better still the desserts were divine. I thought it would be a good evening when offered a beer called Blue Moon!

Phoebe Burger count : Still at 4!

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Have now hit the halfway mark of the holiday. Decided to have a park-free day.

Started with breakfast at Boma and then went to International Drive to play golf and hit the cheesey-gift-shops. Really should have played golf at another time. As the saying goes “mad dogs and Englishmen” …. it was a chore to get through 18 holes of mini-golf. No wonder we were the only pillocks playing. Seriously sweaty stuff, Sarah looked as if she’d jumped into a water hazard. Even Jack was hot and he’s not one to complain of the heat; everything else just not the heat.

We then went to Disney village where the ladies went shopping and the boys went into DisneyQuest to play video games. We then met up for a stupidly large ice-cream sundae at Ghiradelli’s.

This evening Sarah and I went to Jiko’s – the signature dining restaurant at AKL. Sad to report that we were very disappointed. Only 7 things on the menu – none of which came with potato! Sarah had the roasted loin of lamb (with Tomato salad); I had the pork tenderloin (with some stuff called sadza which was flavoured with Goats cheese – not noted on menu and I HATE goats cheese). Still, could have been worse, could have had the kids with us moaning and sulking all dinner.

Islands of Adventure tomorrow so early start required.

Phoebe Burger count:  4

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Man was it hot today! We went to Animal Kingdom today – daft on two counts. Firstly, it is the hottest of the parks having fewer indoor attractions and a lack of through breeze due to the vegetation. Secondly it was Magic Hour for Disney hotel guests where the park opens an hour earlier. We got there at a leisurely 11am by which time the place was mobbed. If it wasn’t for some guy leaving the park giving us three fast passes for Dinosaur (thanks stranger!) we would have done nothing.

After a hour or so we turned round and came back to the hotel and sizzled in the pool until Jack and Tom were slightly crispy.

This evening we went to Epcot as we had reservations at Tokyo Dining. Was OK, but concensus of opinion was that Nine Dragons was probably 2 points better on a 10 point scale. On the upside I had 3 pints (first time ever in a park) including an Oktoberfest in Germany (Prost!)

Phoebe Burger Count: 4

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Jack’s a big boy now! The most awesome roller-coaster, Rockit, at Universal held no fears for our intrepid adventurer, even as we made our way up the vertical launch pad. Check out the pix…..mental!

Also managed to get Phoebe and Sarah onto The Mummy (another roller-coaster) which is also pretty cool. Men In Black remains great fun; Back to the Future has been turned into The Simpsons. I was a little sceptical, being a fan of the original, but it was very good.

We got there around 9am and stayed until 4.30pm – totally shattered as it was really hot and humid today (93F but felt like 106F). So suffice to say we didn’t look great for the family photo at Hard Rock – particularly me with a perfect representation of the back-pack “sweated” into my shirt. Needless to say we didn’t buy it!

Dinner was good though. Sarah had NY Strip, Tom Fajitas (his fave), Molly Salmon, me Prawn Linguine, and Phoebe……her 4th burger of the holiday.

Back at the hotel the boys and I went for a swim, along with a crafty cocktail for yours truly.

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