We had only been asleep for an hour when Karen & I were startled from our deep sleep by a large siren going off in our room. I woke shouting ‘ What the …?’. It must have only blasted out for a couple of seconds but scared the heck out of us. We think it must have been the smoke alarm in our bedroom but are still not 100% sure, as by the time we put the light on it had stopped. I checked around and there seemed to be no problem we got back in bed and hoped it would not go off again.
After the disturbed night we were grateful for a slow lazy start to the day by the pool. The weather was lovely again. I could get used to this. Karen watched the Strictly results show on iPlayer in the sunshine.
We had some more excitement when both Karen and I saw an animal go running past between the villa and lake. We both questioned what it was when another came past looking at us. The second time Neil saw it as well. It was the first pair of bob cats we have ever seen in the wild. Neil swears they were the elusive Florida Panther but they were too small for that. As the day wore the story was embellished sufficiently that Neil apparently chased away the panthers to save us.
Around 1pm, after having had an early lunch we set out to play the ‘Gator Golf’ mini golf course which was up on International Drive. Good old Groupon again had provided us with less than half price vouchers.
The whole site had seen better days and was next to a construction site hence the reason for advertising on Groupon. We had the course to ourselves apart from the many gators that were basking behind fences surrounding the course. There were many signs confirming that Trespassers would be eaten and asking us to ‘Please feed the gators’.
The course though had been renewed and the putting surface was good and true. The holes were well designed and it was pleasing that if you took the difficult route and hit it through tunnels and tubes then the ball generally ended up straight in the hole. There were a couple of holes with features we had never seen before which were fun.
Neil won in the end by 3 strokes and we took his photo with a non-existent trophy which I think should be a new tradition.
From here we drove the couple of miles to Icon Park. We parked for free on the 4th floor of the multi-story which gave a great view overlooking the construction of the new Epic Universe Park, which got Neil excited as he pointed out to us all the new rides being constructed.
We walked to the Shake Shack in Icon Park and sat and had some frozen chocolate custard. It really is quite delicious. Then I took my ‘stick’ back to the relocated ‘stick’ stall and managed to exchange it again for the nth time. They were very apologetic and sorted me out one that they reckon could have 40 flowers this time next year. I reckon it will remain a stick and I will be returning it again. Karen just rolls her eyes but it amuses me. The one I bought in Hawaii in January was still flourishing when we left home. (* for ‘stick’ read Plumeria)
After wandering around the rest of Icon Park we drove back to the villa and got caught in the rush hour traffic on the 192.
At 6pm, we set off out again for dinner at Sickies Garage on the 192 as Karen had found a 20% off voucher. On the way the radio station we have in the car (Magic 107.7) had had its big Christmas switch on and was now playing only Christmas songs until the day itself. By the time we had arrived, easy going Karen was already complaining about them starting too early. However, it seems today is the official first day of Christmas here as the theme parks started their Christmas features and parties from today with a mere 47 days to go.
We all had burgers at Sickies of one variety or another and there were all really good as was the service.
Our plan after this was to have a walk around the Boardwalk. This was abandoned when they were only allowing hotel guests or those with dining reservations into the car park. The Disney policy on this seems to randomly change and was more annoying as we could see the car park was virtually empty.
Undeterred we went for Plan B and drove to the Coronado Springs Hotel where as we suspected we were able to park without being questioned at the convention centre. We had a lovely walk in the hot evening temperature around the lovely Lake complex.
Then we headed up to the Dahlia Lounge on the 16th floor and admired the magnificent view. Karen & Neil were both convinced we would need to purchase drinks to stand there but I was correct in remembering that most people doing the same like us just blagged it.
We could see into 3 different Disney parks as well as Old Town and other places in Kissimmee. To me it looked like a vast train set model laid out before me.
We stayed for such a while that we realised that we might as well stay longer to see the Epcot firework display again from this free vantage point. The fact that the soundtrack is piped in so we could follow it made it even better. It did look different from this position but still very enjoyable.
It was a short walk back to the car and drive to the villa where we watched the end of a NBA match on TV and then the local news before retiring for the night.
