Day 7 October 2017
We don't get up until 7.45 am today. We'll have to be careful, we're coming dangerously close to relaxing.
We're off to Typhoon Lagoon and walk to the Old Key West bus stop after breakfast in the villa.
You used to be able to catch a bus directly to Typhoon Lagoon from the resorts, but nowadays you have to get a bus to Disney Springs and then change. Not many things get worse at WDW, but this is one of them. We still arrive in time for opening at 10.00 am and set out to find somewhere to base ourselves. We come across a shaded area close to the now defunct Shark Reef, but this has 6 sunbeds and a couple are doing their best to use all 6 beds to get the cabana-like area to themselves. They look aggrieved when Tam and I use two of the sunbeds. The girls and Charlie find somewhere nearby.
We ride the new Miss
Adventure Falls raft ride first. It's a nice addition to Typhoon
Lagoon as it's quite a long ride and you sit in the raft as it is
conveyed up to the top, much nicer than walking up. You can only
have 4 in a raft, so Tam and I ride on our own before being
joined by India for a second go.
At this point I have to apologise for the lack of photos. I've
been let down by the staff again. If you want to see anything of
our time at Typhoon Lagoon you'll have to look at the video at
the bottom of the page. At least one of us takes our
responsibilities as a trip documenter seriously.
Over the next few hours we ride the Crush n' Gusher tubes and
have a pleasant float on Castaway Creek lazy river. Charlie likes
to try all the thrill rides, so he goes on Humunga Kowabunga. The
rest of us give it a miss given India's experience of it last
time she was here. Let's just say that copious amounts of water
ended up where they were never meant to end up.
Lunch is at Leaning
Palms where Tam and I split the chicken tenders and a chicken
Caesar salad. After this we ride Gangplank Falls raft ride, which
is now rather short compared with Miss Adventure Falls and they
even expect me to carry up my own raft! The cheek of it.
We manage to fit in 30 minutes or so relaxing in the sun before
it's time to head back to Old Key West via Disney Springs. It
really is a pain in the neck having to change buses, especially
as Typhoon Lagoon is so close to Old Key West anyway. We arrive
back at 2.30 pm and have an hour to shower and change before we
leave for Disney's Hollywood Studios.
The bus gets us there efficiently and Tam, me and Georgia head for the new Baseline Tap bar while Charlie and India ride the Tower of Terror.
Tam and I share a flight of beers. This place is a nice addition to the Studios - not a place to get really excited about, but a pleasant enough area to stop for a drink.
I can't
say I'm a great fan of these posed photos, but when in Rome ....
Charlie certainly got into the spirit of things.
Somewhere along the way we pass these guys ....
We use a
Fastpass for Toy Story Mania next and Georgia is triumphant.
Everyone except me does Star Tours next. As I've got older I find
that I have less tolerance for anything that might make me feel
ill from motion sickness, so I tend to give them a miss as I've
done most of them many times before.
We pass Voyage of the Little Mermaid just as it's about to start,
so we pop in before it's time to head off to the Star Wars
Dessert Party.
This is a
party for an hour or so before the Star Wars projection show and
there are one or two savoury snacks and many desserts of various
sorts. The other big advantage of this party is that it includes
alcoholic beverages. Woohoo!
It's held in the Launch Bay and we arrive at 6.30 pm to pick up
our passes. We have a look around the various exhibits before we
are allowed into the party just after 6.45 pm. There are not many
places to sit, but there are lots of high top tables and we grab
one close to the bar (obviously). They have most drinks including
beer, wine and a few spirits and cocktails, most of which are far
too sweet, but the Lightspeed Margarita is pretty good. Tam
reckons the bread pudding is the best thing.
There are a couple of Stormtroopers wandering around and Charlie
says 'This is really good hummus' to one of them as he passes.
'That's affirmative, Sir' is the reply, which tickles Charlie
enormously. Tam shows off her general Star Wars ignorance at this
point by asking 'Are Stormtroopers good or bad'?
We go at it pretty hard and the table is a real mess by the time
we've finished. The margaritas have been the most popular, but
I've gone for a medley of these, Chardonnay and beer.
Crikey, that barman works fast.
At the start ....
Towards the end.
Just after
8.00 pm we are called out to walk to the reserved viewing area
for Star Wars: Galactic Nights. We are each given a Tie Fighter
popcorn holder. These things are huge, but being both drunk and
stupid, we all take one. British Airways are going to love us on
the flight home. We are allowed to take a drink out with us, so
we all have a beer. One guy we see has taken things to the limit
and is carrying 4 drinks with him. That's a bit too greedy.
The viewing area is in a really good position and there is plenty
of room. We arrive just in time for the short projection show
featuring some of the great movies of all time.
The Star Wars show is excellent. Charlie really enjoys it as he's a big fan. The dessert party is certainly not cheap - I think it cost nearly £300 for the 5 of us, but we agree it's been well worth it and a great experience.
We look quite sober as we leave the park. Just goes to show that the camera can lie.
We get the
bus back to Old Key West arriving at 10.00 pm. We all sit on the
balcony with a beer and chat whilst merrily waving at the boats
that pass.
Bed at 11.00 pm. Early again, a full day having fun and a few
drinks will do that to you.
Day 7 video
