DAY 6 - SUNDAY 22ND OCTOBER
After last nights strenuous activities (if you call dancing and drinking strenuous) we all decide to have a quieter day as we are going to the DIS Meet in Raglan Road this evening.
I get up around
8.00am to find Deb, Matt and Tam downstairs having breakfast.
Shortly after me, Tam and the girls leave to go shopping at
Walmart for a few things. ‘A few things’ leaves us $109
lighter. Admittedly much of this is due to replenishing the
dwindling alcohol stocks.
Our shopping trips usually follow a similar pattern. I start out
in a resigned state of mind as we trudge around supposedly
getting the bits and pieces we have come for before slowly
lapsing into mild annoyance as we get sidetracked into areas that
were never meant to be investigated by parochial Brits. I mean,
who knew we required tyres for a monster truck? Mild annoyance
now turns into low level fuming as we flit from one aisle to the
next like a humming bird on speed. I usually end in full-scale
supermarket rage as we approach the checkout and India decides
she would rather like a book to read. Hello? Why were you not off
looking at books while your mother discovered the delights of
haemorrhoid preparations in aisle 372? She doesn’t need
them, but they might be on sale.
Another hour of pain complete we drive back up the 192 to I4 and
then Reunion. At least this puts me in a better mood listening to
96.5 Classic Rock with double headers by AC/DC and Queen.
Back at the villa Deb and Matt have already left for lunch in the Clubhouse so we get changed into our swimming things and head for the Reunion water park. This is a lovely place with lush vegetation, swimming pools, a lazy river, water slide, children’s play area and even a climbing wall. I guess its nearest Disney equivalent would be Stormalong Bay except Reunion water park is much quieter.
The girls struggle to hide their enthusiasm at the prospect of a few hours at the water park.
We have lunch
and drinks brought to our sunbeds by the roving waiters and then
have a float around the lazy river. A couple of goes down the
water slide are followed by some trip reporting and relaxation
time. It’s another record high of 92°F today, but a cold
front is expected tomorrow to plunge temperatures to a positively
Arctic 75°F.
I think we all enjoy some time doing nothing but relaxing in the
beautiful Florida sun. The water park at Reunion is lovely, quiet
and spacious with plenty of shade.
On returning to
the villa we all shower and the taxi arrives to take us to
Pleasure Island. It costs $30 including tip, which seems very
reasonable for the 6 of us.
We walk down through PL towards Raglan Road and I’m
disappointed to see lots of ugly fences sectioning off many
areas, as there is a lot of refurbishment going on. Many of the
exteriors of the buildings are starting to look a little shabby
and a lot needs to be done here if Disney is not going to lose
out to Citywalk in a big way.
We enter Raglan
Road and immediately meet Jules (Saratogagirl) and Ian. At the
bar are Claire (Fizz13), her children and her grandfather along
with Sara (Dream of Disney) and children, Joh (Wilma Bride), Gary
and the children (Bill and Ted) and Nathan Rose and his wife.
Vernon joins us soon after we are seated. Mark and Sue also poke
there heads in briefly as they are eating later with friends.
We are all shown into a little annex to order our meals. My first
impressions of Raglan Road is that it is much bigger than I had
expected.
The food that
Tam and I have is quite good, but I wouldn’t rave about it.
The starter is a smokie something or other, which is a sort of
thick, creamy fish soup. This is very nice indeed. The main
course is Kevin’s Bacon. Now, see this is a play on words as
it is a pork dish and the chefs name is Kevin, but what makes it
really clever is that he named the whole thing after me as Bacon
is my middle name. I believe there is some actor chappy with a
similar claim too.
This is ok, but it’s not really hot enough. Tam has the
bread pudding for dessert, which she says is very nice.
The women of Orlando are in for a treat tonight! Or is that a laugh?
Much chatting
goes on with some of us in the early stages of our holidays while
other poor souls are soon to depart. (Disney that is, not this
mortal coil).
Young Dean (Claire’s son) is dressed like Peter Pan and
takes a particular shine to Matt. For some reason he decides it
is fun to head butt Matt in the chest repeatedly. Claire makes
him stop much to my disappointment as I was enjoying the
spectacle.
Jules, Tam and Deb seemed to enjoy the wine!
The place livens up considerably as the evening wears on although we can only hear the singer on stage from our corner of the room. I think it would be fun to come here and sit at the bar to enjoy the entertainment.
After the meal we say farewell to Sara, Nathan and Vernon. I didn’t really get to speak to Nathan for which I apologise. Many thanks to Claire for doing a sterling job organising the meet.
On to the Adventurers Club for the rest of us. Our first visit is to the Mask Room where Tam is chosen to wake up one of the masks by tickling it with a frond. Now that’s entertaining.
1937 eh? I think I remember the opening night.
Matt gets
picked on continually during the evening partly due to his
colourful Disney Hawaiian shirt I suspect.
Kungaloosh’s are taken into the library for the Balderdash
Cup competition. All is going well until we stand to sing the
Adventurers Club anthem at which point Tam manages to knock her
large and sticky Kungaloosh onto the floor.
In the second show in the library she is throwing her arms around
excitedly and spills my beer all over me! Now, it’s one
thing spilling your own drink, but another entirely spilling
mine.
The comedy gets
better as the evening wears on. Either that or we get merrier. At
one show Matt is sat with India and Georgia on a bench by the
side of the stage and gets picked on by Samantha Sterling again.
‘Matthew, darling, are those yours?’
His reply of ‘Good lord, no!’ is accurate if a little
ungallant. She then asks how we all know each other and I tell
her we met on the internet. Sounds of knowing disapproval emanate
from the audience before I point out that it was through a Disney
web site (the DIS).
We stay at the Adventurers Club until the very last show at midnight. I have thoroughly enjoyed myself. I think it is better to make a full evening of it at the Club as you get to know the characters better and they interact with you more. At one point I was doubled up laughing at the Colonel, he’s my hero.
Dashed fine show old boy!
We leave and walk back to get a taxi. Jules and Ian walk with us and reveal that they have had a problem with frogs at Saratoga Springs and they are both frightened of them, much to our amusement.
Back at the villa a few games of pool round things off nicely – current score me 20, Matt 17. Bed at 2.00am.