DAY 11- SUNDAY 25TH MAY 2003
The best nights sleep of the holiday for all of us ends at 9:00 am.
Now, today is the first REAL day of our holiday as it’s our first full day in WDW.
A brief
breakfast in the room and we are out to Stormalong Bay by 10:00.
Amazingly, it is packed already, although the girls manage to
find 4 sunbeds.
The pool itself is so large and convoluted that it never really
seems crowded even with hundreds of people around. This may just
be in comparison to the cruise where you would be hard pushed to
squeeze a Mickey Mouse waffle between the bodies crammed together
in the 5 ½ square feet of water.
The weather is
90 degrees and set to stay that way for the next few days with
isolated thunderstorms.
We haven’t experienced these sort of temperatures for a few
years as we have tended to go in October or November. It’s
not that bad and the thing I am enjoying most is the night time
where you can still wear shorts and fell comfortable. That
strange sensation of walking from an air conditioned room into
the humid Florida night is always a pleasure.
Ind, George and
I try the waterslide for the first time. Not bad!
Poor Georgia is itching to get a double ring and float around the
lazy river, but they are all out. She keeps going back to see if
any are available (you can rent them by the hour) and coming back
disappointed.
Eventually one is returned and she and India can mess about for
an hour before lunch.
We decide to
eat at Beaches ‘n Cream and have a 30 minute wait for a
table. While waiting we chat to 2 couples looking at DVC
literature and tell them how good we think it is. I should be on
commission.
We sit at the counter in Beaches ‘n Cream and Tam and I
split a double burger while India has a hot dog and Georgia the
mini-burger.
You can’t come here without having a sundae and we go for
the Fudge Mud Slide, which is great. We take turns at it and
I’m sure I get the worst of this arrangement. Could be
because I insist on using a spoon instead of just thrusting my
face in it like the other three.
Lunch takes us up to 3:00 pm when we go to the quiet pool at BCV. Even with most of the sunbeds taken it is still not too busy and is a delightful setting. I think that this is nicer than the quiet pool at BWV, although there’s nothing wrong with that one either.
The girls swim
for a while then rest on the sunbeds. India wanders off to look
at the pond and calls me to look at the turtle swimming about. As
we survey the scene out drifts the famous BCV alligator.
He’s probably only about 4 feet long (I know it’s a
‘he’ because he doesn’t look vicious enough to be
female) and drifts towards us then stops. I wonder whether people
have been feeding him as I know this is a dangerous thing to be
doing to an alligator as they lose their fear of humans.
Anyway, he doesn’t need any additional food as the pond is
full of fish and other wildlife. I suppose Disney will move him
the morning someone wakes up to find him in the pool.
Back to the
room with Georgia for her to have a sleep for an hour, then we
all get changed and catch the boat to the MGM Studios, then a bus
to the Animal Kingdom Lodge. This is only the second time
I’ve been here and it’s just as impressive as the
first.
The window at the far end that looks out towards the savannahs is
the most wonderful part of the whole place for me. It’s both
a window out and a window in, especially after dark when the
subtle oranges and yellows highlight this beautiful resort.
We have an 8:10
pm PS for Boma, but only have to wait 10 minutes to be seated.
There is a bewildering array of foodstuffs here, most of which
has an African flavour. The food is good, especially the soups
and prime rib. Although I enjoy it all, I cannot help but feel a
little aggrieved at a $100 bill for a buffet. If I’m paying
that sort of money I prefer quieter surroundings and someone
serving me please.
For a little more we could have eaten at Jiko, a far more
pleasant eating experience in my eyes.
I know this may seem silly after praising the California Grill
for having a ‘buzzing’ atmosphere last night, but it
works there. Maybe if Boma was less full I would have enjoyed it
more. I suppose I’m not really a buffet person. The first
few times you try a buffet you are a bit like a kid in a sweet
shop, so much food that you try to eat yourself sick. These days
I much prefer smaller but more well prepared courses that enable
you to spread the meal over a whole evening.
Another look
around the Lodge and we go to the bus stop intending to get a bus
to the Studios and then walk along the river to the BCV.
A bus pulls in and the driver asks us where we are heading. We
tell him and he says to hop aboard and he’ll drop us off at
the Villas. Now this is definitely the biggest taxi I’ve
ever been in.
When we get
back we have a look around the grounds at night. I’m still
amazed at how peaceful it is. Also it’s teeming with
wildlife. So far, as well as the numerous birds and butterflies,
we have seen an alligator, lots of rabbits, squirrels, lizards,
dragonflies, a frog and a fire breathing dragon.
(I made that last one up, but it sounds good, doesn’t it?)
Back in the room and in bed by 11:30 pm.