Catherine, Andrew and Chris - Friday 20 September

As the boys had a late night we moved our plans around and decided that we’d do Typhoon Lagoon this morning and then get some lunch/dinner at Disney Springs afterwards.

This was our first time visiting for everyone and our first proper water park (Discovery Cove didn’t have any thrill slides & doesn’t really count itself as a water park).  The boys already had admission included with their Disney ticket but Catherine needed to buy a 1-day ticket to get access.

Surprisingly though, even if you don’t have a water  parks annual pass Disney will still give you a Florida resident discount on the 1-day entry which means 20% off the standard price – winner!

Typhoon Lagoon’s central feature is a large pool that sets off a large wave at regular intervals.  First of all, we came across some of the racing slides (Humbunga Kowabunga) which we decided to have a go on.  These are enclosed slides so you can’t judge where you are until the very end.  We then tried out the slightly tamer Storm Slides which are open to the air in parts and a bit more sedate.  We then decided to lounge about on the lazy river & get our bearings as to what else was around for us to try.  This meant several hilarious attempts at launching ourselves onto the rubber rings so that we could travel around the river in the most comfortable fashion.

As we made our way around we noticed the Miss Adventure Falls which is a group raft ride and thought that we’d try this next.  It proved to be a good move as we went on it twice back to back.  It’s a really fun ride and you don’t get dunked underwater at the end.  We then tried a few round on Crush n Gusher, described as a water roller coaster you can attempt mostly in pairs but there is 1 run out of the 3 that you can do solo.  Each route is different & some are more intense than others.

We then decided it was time to have a splash about in the wave pool.  A great experience but you have to expect to get dunked underwater when the big waves hit you!  The boys swam out to the nearest point to the wave machine and enjoyed getting bumped about as the first waves took them.

Then it was time for a snack and something that we’ve wanted to try since the holiday started – a large Disney pretzel.  Not at all like the crunchy snack ones that you get at parties, these are soft, doughy & slightly salty.  They also come with a cheese dipping sauce and aren’t badly priced for the size of them.  After this and a quick pit-stop for reapplying sun cream we were back in the water.

For the afternoon’s activities we first tried out the Mayday & Keelhaul Falls rides.  These are solo raft rides with Mayday Falls being the more intense (read as Catherine really liked the Keelhaul Falls ride but found Mayday a bit juddery!).  We also tried the Gangplank Falls which is another group raft ride but we didn’t enjoy it as much as the other slides (it was a bit too short compared to the others).  This then meant that we’d done everything once so focused the rest of our time re-doing the slides we’d enjoyed most (including a few more trips on Crush n Gusher and Miss Adventure Falls).  By now it was getting on for 3pm so we got changed and drove over to Disney Springs for a very late lunch.

When we visited on Tuesday we had looked in the shop at House of Blues & also perused the menu.  It looked good so we decided to come back & try the food today.  It didn’t disappoint with good BBQ food offerings.  Our server was really attentive and we didn’t have to wait long to get our order.  We then had a quick trip into the shop where Catherine & one of the ladies on the tills bonded over how amazing Primark were for Disney t-shirts.

Our final plan for today had been kept under wraps as it was a surprise for Chris.  We took him to Player 1 arcade bar (near Disney Springs) for an evening playing arcade & computer games with a bit of beer (for the boys) mixed in.  It was a nice change from the theme parks (thanks for the recommendation Chris D) and the group favourite had to be Guitar Hero!  We ended up having a lovely chat with a local guy who had lived everywhere from Tennessee to Ohio to Florida to Ohio and then back to Florida.  He’d never left the US but had visited 37 states due to his work fitting new systems at various Cracker Barrel restaurants throughout the country.

Then it was back home & off to bed ready for another full day on Saturday at Kennedy Space Center.