My mom and dad decided they wanted to spend the day at Downtown Disney. I gave them directions for the bus, told them to be back at the room by 3:30, and they were on their way.
It was promising to be another gorgeous day, so Andie and I took the kids to "Stormalong Bay" (SB.) First we thought we'd like to take a ride around Crescent Lake with one of the peddle surreys they rent at BW. It was a lot of fun.
The Surrey with the fringe on the top
On their way to the pool
Nat and I both love water slides - we could hardly tear Nat away from the slide at "Disney's Vero Beach Resort" (DVBR) - so we rode it several times. It's a fun slide, but I have to say the slide at DVBR was better, and I have a feeling that the"Luna Park"slide is better as well. Still, we enjoyed it and the rest of SB was great.
At about noon I picked up a couple of kids meals from the poolside bar for Andie and the kids to eat, and I left for my 1:30 parasailing appointment at "The Contemporary Resort" (Cont.) I took a bus to MK where I would catch a monorail to Cont. I suppose I could have walked to Epcot then taken the monorail to the "Ticket and Transportation Center" (TTC), and then caught another monorail to MK, but I was hoping for a TTC free vacation. Anyway, I was glad because I was talking to the bus driver and mentioned that we were going to "The Hoop-de-doo Musical Revue" (HDD) that evening, and she told me to take the bus to MK then take the boat to "Fort Wilderness". I was planning on driving, but she said that the boat drops you off right next to "Pioneer Hall", the venue for HDD.
I thanked the bus driver for the tip and walked over to board the monorail to Cont. I made good time and arrived at "Sammy Duvall's" - where parasailing is arranged - well ahead of time. I went ahead and did the paperwork while I was waiting. One thing, I realized that I hadn't brought enough cash with me to pay for the parasailing. Also, Andie didn't have a room key. We decided that I should take the room key and pay for the parasailing with that, figuring that Andie could get an extra key from the front desk when she returned to the room later. Well, this turned out to be a good thing, because the Sammy Duvall CM looked at my room key when I gave it to him to pay and said, "Oh, you didn't say you were DVC. You get 25% off." Cool! My bill went from $65 before tax to $48 and change. Not bad.
I waited for the guys who would take me out to finish their lunch break and looked around the Cont pool area. It's a nice pool and the beach is very nice, but the grounds seemed a bit barren. After about 15 minutes my ride showed up and we were off.
They gave me some directions as we sped out to the center of the lake. Once we were in position they strapped me into a harness and unraveled the parachute. I was expecting one of those wing-shaped parachutes that look like a big mattress, but this was a regular parachute. Finally they hooked my up, gunned the boat, and I was off!
Can you believe I'm doing this?
Getting higher...
And higher...
And higher!
The Contemporary
The Magic Kingdom
Looking toward the Wilderness Lodge
MK and the parachute
After about 10 minutes they started reeling me in. Actually the whole experience of coming back to the boat was the most fun part, I thought. Just as I was coming onto the deck a gust of wind blew up and I was blown off the deck. One of the guys grabbed the harness and pulled me back. I assumed that sort of thing happened all the time, but one of the guys later said "We almost lost you in the water there!" I asked how often that happens, and he said about twice a year. He also said that sometimes, if it gets real windy, they purposefully let the rider drop into the water because it's easier to get them that way. Luckily that didn't happen to me.
After we docked I thanked them and left to go back to the hotel. On the monorail ride back to MK I was able to get into the cab. As I boarded the driver asked if was boarding at The Cont. and I said, "Yes". I soon found out that the reason he asked is that they have a new policy with the hotel monorails that you can't board at one hotel, then leave one car and switch to the cab. In other words, you can only get into the cab from your originating hotel stop. It seems they've been having trouble with folks rushing for the cab.
Anyway, I shared the front of the monorail with two ladies from Wisconsin. They told me it was their last day. I asked if they were staying at The Cont and they said no, that they went there to rent water mice. I mentioned that I had been parasailing and asked if they saw me. They said yes, and that they took a picture of me! I knew it had to be me because I was the only one up there in the last hour and a half or so, since the Sammy Duvall guys had just returned from lunch. They asked me my name and where I was from, and when I told them they said they could now label the picture "John from New York taking a parasail ride".
I got off the monorail at MK and headed back to BW. I hadn't really had any lunch and was hungry, but I also knew that we would be eating an early supper, so I didn't want to eat too much. So I did the reasonable thing. I went to Boardwalk Sweets for ice cream. I had a scoop of rocky road (I haven't had that in years), and walked along the boardwalk enjoying it.
I got home about 3:30. My parents were back from Downtown Disney as well. They said they had a terrific time and especially enjoyed the "Lego Store". They bought coffee mugs from the "Lego Store" for me and Andie with our names on them, as well as cute little Winnie-the-Pooh necklaces for the kids. Nat's had "Natalie" written on it and Charlotte's had a "C" - they didn't have "Charlotte". Andie told me that she waited in line at guest services for 15 minutes in order to get a key to the room. It seems the guest in front of her was asking all kinds of questions and getting very detailed directions. But then she saw my parents in the lobby as they returned and went back to the room with them.
We all got ready to go and headed out for "The Hoop-de-doo Musical Revue" (every time I mentioned the name of this show to someone in my party I would follow it up with "I know, it's a stupid name, but I hear it's a lot of fun!") We took the bus driver's suggestion and took the bus to MK and the boat to "Fort Wilderness" (FW.) FW is a really neat looking place - very wooded and peaceful looking. We found "Pioneer Hall" (PH) with no problem, but once we got there it wasn't at all clear what we were supposed to do. There are no signs to speak of. Finally I realized that we were supposed to go to the ticket office first, so I did that. Andie took the kids to a souvenir stand and got a toy cowgirl Minnie with a horse for Nat and a little tom-tom drum for Charlie.
After getting the tickets there was still some confusion as to where we should go - exacerbated by the fact that we had wheelchairs with us. Once person told us to go one way, another told us to go another way. Eventually we were lead in, but apparently we weren't lead to where we were supposed to have our picture taken or something. It's kind of a shame because we very likely would have bought the picture - but no big deal. Once inside PH we were told that our table was upstairs. We told the hostess that was OK - my parents could easily get out of the chairs and go upstairs - but she moved us to a downstairs table anyway.
For those of you who haven't been to HDD, here are some more positive votes. We absolutely loved it. The show is corny and fun, the food - consisting of fried chicken, ribs, corn on the cob, salad, bread and strawberry shortcake for dessert - was plentiful and very good. And at about $45 per adult I have to say that it's one of the better deals at WDW. Make your reservations plenty in advance and go. You'll be glad.
Hoop-de-doo Revue
Charlotte getting into the rhythm
Nat spinning her napkin
And Charlotte spinning hers
Playing the washboard
I was hoping to go to "Pleasure Island", but we were both a bit too tired for that, so we decided to stay on the boardwalk. We wanted to get a drink and enjoy it on the boardwalk, but I wasn't sure where to go. Andie sat on a bench while I went in search of alcohol to go. First I went to "Big River Grill". The waiter told me to try "Atlantic Dance Hall". I went there and they said that, not only do they not have a bar with drinks to go, but also I would have to pay to get in. The guy at the dance hall said that they served drinks to go at "ESPN Club" - all the way at the other end of the boardwalk. Deja Vu. I went to ESPN and was finally in luck. I got 2 frozen margaritas to go. We sat on a bench on the boardwalk and enjoyed our drinks in the warm night air. The boardwalk is really a pleasant place on a warm night.
We got back around 11:00 and found Nat awake. It seems that she had been reading her "WDW for Kids by Kids" book and got scared when she read that drop on TZToT was 13 stories. So, in other words, the ride didn't scare her until she read a description of it in her book 2 nights later! We comforted her, got her back to sleep, and we were in bed about 11:30. All in all, I think we all had as much if not more fun on the "non park" day than any other day. It would have been nice to have more time for activities outside of the parks.