Day 16: Mermaid Swimming and Hollywood Studios

Another early start today as we had a mermaid swimming lesson booked for the girls as an extra birthday treat for Polly. We saw it when it was announced, but the only detail was that you got to learn to swim with a mermaid tail. Still, we thought the girls would enjoy it whatever so booked straight away. It was quite hard finding an available date to fit in with our plans (which you may have noticed are rather full!) but we managed to book a session at The Art of Animation for today. Complete with new ridiculous Ariel-based two-piece swimsuits courtesy of AliExpress we arrived at the pool. It was the furthest pool from the lobby (of course) and Winnie insisted on stopping at every single prop/ character we passed for a photo, so the walk took a while longer than it should, but we were still there in plenty of time for our 7.45 check in.

We had another birthday treat for Polly. My mum and dad had made a last-minute decision to fly out, and although they aren’t staying in the same hotel as us, they had made their way to the pool to surprise the girls. They were sat with their backs to us, and the girls walked right past before realising who they were. They were so happy, and Polly said her birthday wish had come true! The look on their faces on the photos says it all (I know they’re a bit out of focus, but I love the emotion!)

We then got ready for the lesson which consisted of a test swim to see who needed life vests, followed by the children being given their tails. My two struggled to pull them up and spent most of the lesson with builders’ bum! There were two teachers to 8 children. The children were taught how to do a basic stroke in their tails, before learning skills such as swimming through hoops and diving down to collect gems. They each got plenty of turns and lots of time with the instructor. Our two really enjoyed it and said they’d recommend it. The cost was $50 each and they had a full hour in the water. It’s for ages 4 and up although I’d say Polly was one of the older children on today’s session. However, because the instructor differentiated the activities for each person, I think older children could definitely have fun doing this too (one of the mums was in the water with a tail on during our session. And before you ask, no, it wasn’t me!!) It is run by an external company though, so don’t expect full on Disney in terms of characters.

We then decided to grab some breakfast in the food court (even though Steve forgot to pack the girls’ pants when I asked him to put them in, so they had to keep their soggy bottoms on! Paul Hollywood wouldn’t have been impressed!) We set off back on the fairly length walk, once again with Winnie stopping at every prop for another picture, and arrived at the food hall around 9.30am Now we have never stayed in a value resort (mainly because free dining outweighs the savings) and I don’t know if it’s the same in all value properties, but the food court here is immense! There are about 6 different serving stations to collect a variety of food and drinks from and there was an incredible amount of choice. However, it was incredibly busy with people rushing here, there and everywhere! Not particularly relaxing, that’s for sure. As we went to pay, we double checked we were ok with our substitutions and the server replied;
‘You are giving Mickey enough of your money. Have whatever you want! ‘
Possibly not the delivery Walt dreamed off, but I loved his honesty!

After breakfast my parents went back to their hotel and we went for some much-needed rest time around the pool. We ended up staying a few hours as the girls made a friend and also played some of the organised games (until some of the children started cheating. They don’t like rules being broken!)
After the pool we went to Hollywood Studios as Polly’s birthday Boxing Day request was to ride Slinky Dog in the dark. However, with my Rip-Van-Winkle clan I knew we’d never end up going if we waited until later, so I booked tea at Hollywood & Vine and we decided to just do a few shows, eat and chill until our fastpass time at 8.15pm.

We had a long wait for the bus. Steve had a power nap again and the girls entertained themselves playing charades, although Winnie’s choice of a song she’d made up herself there is a bit. Turns out it wasn’t even a song, it was the album title (‘Winnie’s Back in the House’) and the track list currently consists of:
Hello California
Oh Help
Hello California 2
Hello California 3
Steve asked if there was a ‘Hello California 4’ (after waking up from his snooze!) but Winnie just looked at him as if this was the most ridiculous suggestion in the world and said ‘of course not Daddy. That would be silly!’
We arrived at the park and it was crazy hot. I always find it harder doing park afternoons than mornings as you don’t have that time to acclimatise as it warms up. We decided to head straight for The Muppets 3-d show (it’s a tradition) but decided to let Steve have a break and go to the Tap House. Pretty sure he got the better end of the deal there as I had to constantly stop the girls inadvertently hitting the people in front every time they tried to reach for the 3-d items!

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Our meal reservation was next. I know a lot of people don’t like Hollywood & Vine, and compared to some of the non-character sit down meals the food is a lower standard but as far as character buffers go we always find plenty enough food of a good quality to ear (although the children’s mac cheese was rather solid tonight!!!) Plus, our character interaction is always great (especially Donald and Goofy).

We were in there around 90 minutes because a storm hit and as we had nowhere to get to, we thought we’d wait it out. Once it slowed, we walked to Voyage of the Little Mermaid which the girls love. It’s a really cute show but it annoys me that the colours are now so faded on the animated bits. I wish they’d just brighten them up a little. I also always giggle when Max the dog comes out. Imagine putting that down as previous employment on your CV. I always picture him and Sweetums from the Muppets sitting in a bar together, drinking away their sorrows of a life that could have been, Bad-Santa style!
We were now ready to head to Toy Story Land but the mini stickler for detail that is Winnie wanted to be dressed appropriately (Polly couldn’t have cared less but went along with her sister!). We had the outfits in the bag (it really is a Sport Billy rucksack with pretty much everything in there! I think Steve is considering having another child just so we can go back to having a pushchair to hang it on. His poor back!) A bit of a ‘Tonight Matthew, we’re going to be Woody & Bo-Peep’ Stars in their Eyes moment, and they emerged from the toilets in their Toy Story regalia.

Everyone was tired by this time, but we headed towards Toy Story Land. We’d promised Winnie a Bo-Peep toy she’d seen but it was sold out. Winnie understandably got a bit upset as she’d been really hoping for it, but a quick search of Amazon and we got it ordered so it will be at home when we get back. Crisis averted! I did tell her that she could have something else from the park to make up for her disappointment though (words I regretted the linens they’d left my lips! Not more shopping with Winnie!!!) We met Woody and Bo Peep as it was still light, then as soon as darkness hit jumped on Slinky Dog (which was good timing as it has been briefly closed for a storm).

We’d considered staying for one of the night time shows but even though we had fast passes for Fantasmic (from the H&V meal package) and there was only 15 minutes to go, Polly said she couldn’t make it.

Winnie, on the other hand was full of beans for her shopping trip so Steve went to the bus with Polly and I got the mini-shopaholic! We headed to the one main toy shop and I have her a 5-minute limit and amazingly she chose something straight away, one of the aliens from Toy Story that she named Pizza! Result! Ok, when we got to the front of the queue, she did have a wobble and ask if she could have one more check around the shop (meaning we had to move to the back of the queue!) but all in all, not too painful.
Steve text to say they were still waiting for a bus, so we legged it to the bus stop (with Winnie being stopped by a CM who asked for her Bo-Peep Autograph on the way. It’s really cute when they do this although not so much so when you’re running for a bus! Still, she loved it!

We got to the bus stop just as it arrived and we’re back in the room by 9.30pm. The girls quickly put some DNA into Pizza the alien (I have no idea but couldn’t face asking at that time of night!) so he could join their other toys, and everyone went straight to sleep (me included, hence the delay in the blog writing!)
Another great day in this wonderful place.