Giant Mice, Aligators and Snakes

Well, that was exhausting!

Sunday meant Kennedy Space Centre Day. It's full of spaceships and things. (sorry, Dan wrote that bit).


As for Disney, I’m glad to say, it appears we may have gotten older, but happily not grown up :-) Still, three days and four nights at Disney was plenty – otherwise the constant cheeryness and everything being perfect may have driven me insane. Besides, Dan was running out of things to moan about ;-) We’re currently driving down towards the Everglades with some very loud Aerosmith on to make up for the almost constant ‘plinky plonky’ music.

We arrived at Disney on Monday night and booked in at the Fort Wilderness Campground, this had the advantage of being ‘on site’ but a fraction of the cost of one of the hotels. We were assigned campsite site 1505… er… ok! This place, like the whole of Disney World was HUGE. There weren’t actually 100 campsites in the 1500 loop, more like 21, but the campsite still was about 700acres. We had a really nice pitch and bearing in mind I’d only booked 4 days earlier we were still pretty much in the middle of everything and near the toilets as I’d requested, impressive. The campsite itself has 2 resturants, a bar, groceries etc, carriage rides, segway tours, tennis courts, basketball courts, big meadows to play in, 2 swimming pools, a beech with hammocks, boat rentals, campfire singalongs, nightly outdoor movies and it’s own stables that offer horse riding. I’m sure I’ve forgotten a lot but you get the idea. Needless to say, everything was clean and our site well equipped, it was even cheaper than other campsites in the area.

Our pitch: (this was the cheapest option)


While we were here we were planning 2 days in the theme parks (four of them) and a day in the water park – Blizzard Beech, simply because water parks are cool! Sunday night involved a bit of strategy planning as to what we really wanted to see. 2 theme parks in one day was probably going to be pushing it. I'll give a quick rundown as I'm sure you don't want to read a step by step account of our day, anyone wanting more info can ask when we get back:

Magic Kingdom – the trademark Disney. More for the kids (so it suited us!). Runaway mine train = classic rollercoaster fun, Monsters Inc Laugh Floor = a set done up like the factory in Monsters Inc with an interactive show with the cartoon - a stroke of genius and my favourite ever entertainment at a theme park. Awesome.
Amazing fireworks in the evening.







Epcot - Educational fun. Nemo adventure was cool (basically an aquarium so I'm bound to like it!). Lots of different 'Countrys' surrounding the lake, the England has a convincing pub that serves PROPER BEER and good fish and chips! lol!



Animal Kingdom - Coooooool! 2 Landies spotted, need I say more?! Excellent 'African Safari', convincingly done with some amazing animals and research taking place. The best water raft donut ride although I was *litterally* dripping when I got off! lol! Could have spent all day there, but had to go too:





MGM - Lots of shows, lots of good shows, One amazing show: Lights, Motors, Action (if only I could get a job there!). Rear wheel drive, motorbiked engined Corsa's are always going to be amusing! Had one kid crying though because they split Herbie in half! lol! Indiana Jones, still entertaining, back lot tour ok - but none of the cartoonists were working when we went :-( Fantasmic Evening show a bit overrated, but some amazing effects.



One for Sam and Max:



Blizzard Beech Water Park - Cool! Based on a freak snowstorm in Florida that's melting it's all 'ski resort' fashioned. Loads for everyone: 1 acre wave pools, lazy river floating thing, lots of flumes. Dan gets a medal for bravery as he did the 120ft almost vertical 'Summit Plummet' flume and got the mother of all wedgies! He recorded 52mph, I saw a 61 whilst waiting at the bottom! Apparently it hurts!

Proof that Dan is undeniably crazy, this is Summit Plummet:


We also went to Downtown Disney one evening to use our $15 voucher at Planet Hollywood for dinner. Lots of shops, including the largest Disney shop in the world (good job Mum wasn't with me!) and a superb Chocolate shop. Nice atmosphere to wander amoungst the bars and things. We had hoped to go to The House of Blues to check out some live music, but it was closed for a private function :-(

Finally, we met a nice English member of staff who told us some interesting Disney Stuff! But, it's not for writing on the blog, it's one for the pub over a nice pint of warm beer ;-)

So, in summary, Disney still do everything just that little bit better than everybody else, their attention to detail is incredible. We enjoyed ourselves but are definatly looking forward to getting into the Everglades National Park tomorrow and then heading down to the Keys to check out the Coral Reef and beautiful beeches. We were all themeparked out at the end of the stay, so I'm waiting 'till the trip back up for Sea World...

...Assuming we survive the night. The campsite we're at: 'Alligators and Snakes Campground' ... mm, interesting name.