I made the most of the early hour by unpacking (far too tired to do it last night) and catching up with things on Sophie's laptop. I am going to avoid using my phone if I can so I'm communicating with my parents via email. I think it's better as I can send them photos!
The children gradually awoke and as soon as it was light we sat outside with a coffee and watched two hot air balloons glide by. The weather looked a lot better than it did yesterday so that was good! After we'd all showered we had breakfast at a new IHOP next to Highlands Reserve. This is definitely a bonus as we all love the restaurant and I've tried to recreate their Smokehouse Combo at home!
The heat, even at 8am, was quite intense and the sun was shining out of a clear blue sky. Perfect! We had a great breakfast served by Toni from Louisiana and she was very friendly and chatty, saying she loved our accent. Well, we loved hers! Sophie and I had, of course, the Smokehouse Combo while Keith went for eggs and bacon and Mike devoured a plate of chocolate pancakes! He's been having them ever since his first visit, when he was nine!
From IHOP we had to go and register our arrival at the Virgin offices further down Route 27. It didn't take long and after authorising Keith's credit card in case of damages, we went to do some shopping at Publix. Our trolley was soon full of breakfast foods, pizzas for lunch and boring things like loo rolls and laundry products. Hopefully, we won't need to buy things like that for a little while! Oh, and we bought some beer and wine!
Things do seem a little more expensive this time, I have to say. We spent just over $100 on really not that much, considering what we're able to buy at home. Even the wines seemed much more expensive with most bottles over $12 - one of the wines we stocked at the shop was selling for $25!
Back at the villa we unpacked and we were soon in the pool or around it. The weather was glorious - gorgeous blue skies and big fluffy white clouds...a real Florida sky! We spent a couple of hours sunbathing and being entertained by a couple of squirrels who scampered all over the pool netting, their tails wagging furiously! We even saw three huge buzzard-like birds of prey circling above on the thermals. I spent my time cloud-gazing and very relaxing it was too!
Our pool is very private and we have no-one overlooking us at the back, which is lovely.
In the early afternoon we showered again and set off for Universal, using route 27 and the I4. However, after about fifteen minutes we realised we hadn't brought the voucher with us to get our park tickets...we had to turn around, pay two sets of tolls as we'd very briefly driven onto the Florida turnpike and each needed exact change (which was a pain) and go back to the villa! The temperature hovered between 95f and 102f and the sky looked very stormy!
Back on the road again we arrived at Universal and parked right on the very top of one of the multi-storey car parks in the "Cat in the Hat" section. We didn't have to walk far and at the entrance we had to put our bags into an airport scanner. This was very reassuring and security was extremely tight indeed. Getting our tickets was simple and straightforward and we were soon inside and looking forward to some fun!
The park seemed busy but not exceptionally so and we decided to do Shrek first, as we always do! There was a wait of 15 minutes and along the walk we were kept cool by fans and mists of water. Inside the ride itself we were treated to air-conditioning, which was great and very welcome!
After Shrek we rode ET which is always lovely and there was hardly any wait time at all. Up above, the clouds were really gathering. Those little white fluffy ones of earlier in the day had massed into towering masses of dark grey and we knew we were in for some rain soon!
The wait time for the Simpsons ride was 45 minutes but I'm sure we were in much quicker than that. I always love people watching and of course, here there were loads of different nationalities to listen to and observe! We rode with a family of three and the little girl with them was extremely nervous! However, she loved the ride after we'd all reassured her that it wasn't frightening, although this time it seemed a lot more intense! It was fabulous!
When we emerged, the storm had arrived and the rain was unbelievable! We couldn't venture out into it so people coming off the ride were getting mixed up with those waiting to go on...it was all a bit chaotic and the staff were looking a bit panicked!We were herded into a tent like area where some people put on ponchos over their clothes. They were obviously well prepared for the Florida weather! However, within about fifteen minutes the rain had stopped and we were able to make our way to Men in Black and ride that. I did pretty well this time, getting a score of over 40,000, more than the little boy sitting next to me which was good!
By now, we were all getting a bit tired. Our early starts were catching up with us, so after a brief trip to London to see the new Harry Potter attraction we made our way to the Bubba Gump restaurant for dinner. It was 7pm and there was no wait so that was brilliant! In the past we've had an hour's wait for a table!
The restaurant was hectically busy, even so, but we had a good table near some overhead fans and at one point I did feel a bit chilly! Keith had a pint of beer, Sophie asked for a bottle of Corona (and was asked for ID) while Mike and I had lemonades. Mine was strawberry and had chunks of the fruit in the glass. Delicious!
We all opted for different meals - Keith went for the Dumb Luck Shrimp, I had shrimp and veggie skewers served with rice, Mike opted for Shrimp Heaven and Sophie had a Dixie Fishwich. The food was very good and plentiful and the bill came to $126. Our only gripe was the cost of a pint of beer - $9!
It was still light so I was very pleased about that! I always find getting out of Universal and back onto the I4 very difficult and this evening was no exception. However, we managed to find the way and were soon on the very busy interstate. There was some seriously bad driving going on with cars dodging in and out of the traffic like mad things. I never see this kind of driving on the normal roads and I did ask Keith if there was an alternative route to use as I hate the I4 with a vengeance.
It was a huge relief to get back to the villa and sit by the pool with a glass of Clos du Bois Cabernet Sauvignon. I think I deserved it!
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