Day 6: Blizzard Beach, Sanaa and Animal Kingdom (again!)

I really didn’t feel up to doing Universal today. I always find it much harder to navigate than Disney. I’m not as on the ball as usual due to the variety of tablets I’m taking, and the though if relying on Steve (aka the man who goes the wrong way even when he’s using SatNav…every time!) to guide us didn’t fill me with confidence,  so we thought we’d leave it for another day. We also have another very early start tomorrow (huge shock for us, I know!) so thought a more laid back  toning would work well. Steve took the girls for some breakfast at The Mara whilst I finished getting sorted. We then got the bus to Blizzard Beach and arrived just in time for park opening at 10am. The girls spent the journey singing ‘M-Y-C-A because they apparently have it on at their school disco, and practising ‘smizing’ a’la Tyra Banks on America’s Next Top Model as they say it will look better on their next passport photo. They do come up with some things!!  

On the way in we were greeted by the loveliest cast member who proceeded to spend 5 minutes telling us about every ride/ food option available, bless him!! We didn’t have the heart to tell him that we’d been loads of times before so did the incredibly English thing of looking surprised/ interested at his wealth of facts whilst nodding politely! Even Polly has the fake ‘really?’ look nailed! 

Now in the past our Blizzard Beach days have basically consisted of a visit to Ski Patrol Training Camp (the little area for age 5-ish children and above), a stint in the pool and a swim around the lazy river (because who wants to actually relax at a water park?!) However, this time Polly had decided she wanted to do the family raft ride and the slides where you go down on your tummies on mats for the first time. Winnie didn’t seem keen but she can’t stand anyone having anything/ doing anything that she doesn’t have/ can’t do, so she went for it as well. They both loved both rides and did them multiple times. So much for the relaxing day! The 3 million steps we had to climb each time made a park day seem like a breeze! Also, you don’t get snow blindness at the parks! Think I’ve squinted so much that I’ll have wrinkle tan-lines!! After the slides the girls played in the children’s area. They love the icebergs you walk across and the zip line (although after somersaulting off last year Polly is over-cautious now and jumps off pretty much as soon as she gets on!!) They then went off to the lazy river and I sat down for 10 minutes as I was flagging and forgot to bring more tablets. As I was sat I messaged my olds, who then proceeded to send me random numbers! I thought it was some cryptic message but turns out they were at a pub ordering food and forgot which table they were sat at! Not sure how I’d know when I’m in Florida! You can see where I get it from now!! 

We left Blizzard Beach around 1pm after having the mandatory mini-doughnuts (if you get these and you’re on the dining plan  you’re better off buying in 6s as that way they  are a snack credit). The bus took forever to arrive and we were all a bit hot and flustered by the time it finally got there. I really hate going back to the resorts on the buses when you have no idea how long you’ll be waiting for one.

We initially had a Sanaa dinner booked at 5pm, but this morning I decided to amend it to earlier as I knew we’d be hungry after the water park, so we headed straight there after getting changed for our 2.55pm reservation. I’ve amended so many of our reservations whilst we’ve been here and it’s always easy. I think it’s great to plan in advance, but equally good to be flexible enough to accept that changes will happen. Anyway, a quick change and short internal bus ride and we were at Sanaa. The food here is always great. The bread service (not included in the dining plan) is delicious, and there’s a huge selection of accompanying pickles.

We all really enjoyed our food (it’s absolutely delicious despite the unappealing colours that Winnie created with her dessert…I think the two photos of the girls with their puddings pretty much sums them up to perfection!)  but were completely stuffed afterwards and felt like going for a lie down.

However, Polly was desperate to go to Animal Kingdom to use our second Flight of Passage fastpass of the holiday. I said I’d take her (she was so excited and gave us the name ‘Team Worry’ because we apparently both worry about silly things). Winnie said she didn’t think she wanted to go but wasn’t sure. What then ensued was 20 minutes of Winnie switching between saying she wanted to stay with Steve to saying she wanted to be with Polly. It was incredibly frustrating but she genuinely struggles terribly with decisions. In the end, she decided to stay at the hotel, only to change her mind and jump on the bus when she was waving us off (Steve got on too, just in case you were picturing him standing all alone at the bus stop wiping a tear from his eye like a poor, lost child!!) 

We got to Animal Kingdom 45 minutes early for our fastpass, so the girls picked up Wilderness Explorer booklets. You basically earn Wilderness Explorer badges (stickers) at various points around the park, and it can be done over any period of time. We then headed to the boneyard. By the time we got there we were all absolutely melting. My sweat’s sweat was sweating! I was actually considering making really loud comments implying I’d been on the rapids to pretend I was actually just water-wet rather than sweat-wet, but the beetroot faces would have given me away! 

We headed to the archeological dig site which is basically a huge area of grit covered bones that the children can dig to reveal, following which you spend the next two hours extracting said grit from various crevices, some of which you weren’t even aware existed! It’s fun! Once un-gritted we set off for our Flight of Passage fastness. On the way we saw a man who looked just like  Santa Claus Winnie said he must have been on his holidays at Disney. She literally stood gawping at him! He must have known why, as he was wearing red from head to toe. Steve then went to the toilet (again!) and the girls asked if they could buy him a Lotso hat as he’d apparently said he wanted one. Now I’m not entirely sure he said it, and if he did that he actually meant it, but they said they really wanted to get it to say thank you for everything he does for them, so he’s now the owner of a bright pink teddy bear hat! 

We got to Flight of Passage and were on within 10 minutes. It was so much better this time (last time I didn’t get any of the external effects!) and I didn’t feel sick at all (although I have to close my eyes on the bumpy bits!) Winnie said it was the best ride ever because it made her bum and bobbies tickle, and Polly wants to live in Avatar world! We were going to find some butter popcorn as we’ve been promising Polly some since we arrived, but a storm was looming, and knowing Winnie’s reaction to lightning we decided to hot foot it back to the bus. We didn’t quite realise how fast we’d have to run to catch the bus that we could see in the Animal Kingdom Lodge bay from afar, but despite Polly getting stitch and Winnie’s feet dropping off (allegedly) it was worth the sprint as we were back and tucked up in bed by 7 (the girls that is…not us! Steve might have a late night and stay up until 8!!)

A very early start as Steve has a surf lesson at Typhoon Lagoon at 6.45am and we are being the doting family that go along to cheer him on!! 

See you all real soon!