As the weather was scheduled to be gorgeous again today we decided to change our fluid schedule and go to Blizzard Beach this morning. We have really enjoyed the May weather so far, as it hasn’t been as humid as July or August. So far we have also avoided the daily storms. I like the fact that it doesn’t seem like you are in an oven all the time.
The villa’s location meant we are only 10 minutes or less from Blizzard Beach so we were soon in the car park on the front row.
We actually had some difficulty entering the park with our tickets. Over the years we have accumulated a pile of tickets with old days left on them. Before we arrived I checked twice with Disney and received in writing confirmation from them which ticket had which days left on them. Unfortunately nowadays tickets are also assigned to an individual which is where the confusion arose. It also seems that Disney has 2 different ticket databases. The people in the ticket office access one and the gate people another. The confusion meant I ended up having to buy one additional ticket but that was soon sorted.
By 10am we were ready at the ‘rope drop’ for official opening and soon found some sun beds and chairs to base ourselves. Just before we left the villa, Neil had mysteriously asked me if I wanted my birthday present early as he thought it would be useful today (early hint for anyone reading that my birthday is actually in 2 days time). After consulting my own Google (Karen), I decided to say Yes. Very cleverly and thoughtfully he had bought me a portable bag-safe. I had never heard of such things and it is really great. It is like a small rucksack. It is ‘slash proof’ and is lockable and you secure it to any item with a very thick wire. It meant we could all take our phones/wallets etc with us to the Water Park and leave them secured to the sun bed whilst we off and had some fun. It will be useful in Hotels in future as one of the most insecure places you can leave valuables is in the in room safe.
Our first ride (and we were first people of the day to get to it) was the Family Raft ride. This was great fun and even Karen enjoyed it without claiming that Neil & I were trying to deliberately drown her.
Neil & I then did some toboggan type rides. As ever Neil turned them into races. He won the first one, I think simply because he had a false start!. The second was much fairer as we had the equivalent to starting stalls which dropped at the same time. I beat him by 1/100 second. I may have mentioned it once or twice for the rest of the day. I think I may even make myself a certificate….
The water park was still relatively empty by this point.
We did a couple of other slides before I met up again with Karen and we floated happily all around the Lazy River. Actually Karen floated all around, I had to walk the first part as there were so few people that there hadn’t been enough tubes brought out at that point.
Back at our ‘base’ for the day we had our picnic lunch whilst we waited for Neil who was off enjoying himself on what he called the ‘adult’ slides.
We then had some time bobbing around in the large pool before deciding we had had enough for the day and packed our things together. On the way back we called in Publix for some fresh provisions.
By now we had the full heat of the day and so we all chilled by the pool, although I had to keep retreating inside to cool down.
In the evening we went to Target for a quick buzz round before eating in Buffalo Wild Wings. This was Neil’s choice for food. It was surprisingly better than I recalled. The number of HD very large TV screens showing different sports that surround you is ridiculous and is definitely his type of place.
We then drove to have a wander around the Boardwalk. We now park at Fantasia golf to do so, as Disney charge $25 for parking at the Boardwalk hotel. The walk is no further so we don’t mind.
I love the feel of the Boardwalk. It is a lovely place to mooch around for an evening walk. We always try and time it to be able to watch the Epcot fireworks from the bridge. We timed it perfectly and as ever they were great to watch. I love the warm breeze blowing over the water as we do so.
After this we returned back to the Villa.
