Despite having to use ropes to clamber back up onto the bed after needing to do what older men must do in the night, I slept well. With the clocks going back here overnight I was up in time to see a most glorious sunrise over the lake behind us, give way to deep blue skies with wall-to-wall sunshine.
We were all up early. Neil moaned I had purchased weird 1% milk and instead made do with a banana and cereal bar for breakfast. I think he must be now used to buying full fat straight from a cow called Daisy at home. He never used to be that fussy. The milk was fine for Karen & I to use.
We all agreed to spend a few hours basking by the pool before heading out. Karen watched Strictly on iPlayer whilst Neil listened to the football commentary on 5Live. I read on my kindle.
By 10.45am we were all ready to leave for a walk around Celebration. We arrived as the Farmer Market was in full flow and just as the church near the end of Main Street was ending. Parking was a challenge but eventually we parked by the church as people emptied out.
The Farmer’s Market was full of well-meaning people selling their home-made products. Some were better than others. Several times Karen stopped and showed me something that Ellie may have liked. Karen does love having another ‘girl’ in our immediate family as she has had to put up with only boys stuff for almost 40 years.
It was noticeable that many of the other people walking around had British accents from all over the UK and I heard some stallholders commenting on it. I remember when we thought Celebration was a secret place that only we bothered visiting. I wish the secret had not got out.
Starbucks was very crowded but we found a table. They had sold out of cold drinks that Neil liked so he went back to the car to get himself a bottle of water he had left in there. We sat for a while just enjoying the ambiance.
Then we had a quick walk around the Lake. The Lake looked devoid of any wildlife as apparently a few weeks earlier there had been a ‘leakage’ into it which had seemingly killed off all the fish as they had been found floating dead on the surface. Hopefully it will all soon regenerate.
Back in the car we drove to the local Publix to get Neil some acceptable milk. A £100 bill later we also came out with a trolley full of other things as well including a 12 pack of beer and an oversized bottle of wine for Karen. Neil had selected a 2% milk as apparently the extra 1% made all the difference.
Lunch was had back at the villa followed by more chilled time by the pool.
We had a quick Facetime catch up with Barry and Ellie, but had managed to catch them both just as they were about to sit down for their Roast Dinner which we didn’t want to ruin by keeping them chatting for long.
At 4.45pm we drove to Disney Springs and elected to park in the Lime garage. As it was still the weekend, Disney Springs was still heaving with locals as well as tourists. Our first stop was the ticket centre as we needed to get our paper entrance tickets for the parks we had purchased in advance added to our Disney app. It took them a few minutes for them to organise but was soon sorted.
Wandering around we eventually came to the Disney Store. As ever it was chaotically busy. As ever we marvelled at the cost of everything which didn’t seem to put anyone else other than us from splashing the cash. Karen thought she had found a bargain offer of 2 x T shirts for $25 until I pointed out the sign actually read T Shirts for $25 each when you buy 2.
The Christmas shop was no better. If you wanted an ornament with the year painted on it, they were $49 each. I considered buying one and painting the date on myself but at $29 for each one I realised that even that was a stupid price to pay.
Walking back over the bridge there was confirmation that the ‘stick’ stall has indeed left Disney Springs as there were now tables there instead. This is disappointing as my ‘stick’ had predictably died again and I had brought it with me to be replaced for the nth time. They have relocated to Icon Park and we may have to try and call in there. As a side note I bought myself a ‘stick’ when we were in Hawaii earlier this year and that is flourishing with leaves on the office window at home.
We were all now hungry and headed to Blaze Pizza for our dinner. There was a queue but it moved pretty quickly. Karen found us a table outside and we awaited the pizzas to be brought over to us. Karen & Neil’s turned up in reasonable time. Mine didn’t. Eventually someone came over with half a pizza and said it was mine. I begged to differ as I said my pizza was definitely whole when I watched it being made. A while later the half pizza was returned. Apparently, the other half had caught fire in the oven. It was all a bit shambolic but they offered to make me another which really was the very least they could do. They gave me the unburnt but by now cold half to be going on with. The replacement turned up very quickly. I can confirm that eating 1 ½ Blaze pizzas is more than enough for any man but I could not bear seeing any of it go to waste.
After taking the long way back to the car we drove back to the villa. Karen opened the wine and Neil had a beer whilst we alternated between watching some very bias election coverage from both sides and then some Shark Tank.
Then it was time to get out the grappling hooks and climb up onto the bed for the night. It seemed to have grown taller again in the dark.
