Last 2 days in Vegas cont ........ + Orlando

Wednesday was our last day in Vegas so we pretty much all split up and revisited all the placeswe wanted to, plus some new ones, sooooo much to do in this place! After a late night we were late to rise, so headed straight to farewell our tour guide, Mr Wu, ok ok I'll go back to Lee now, he's threatened me that I'm big trouble if that name sticks, but me thinks that could be too late! ;) a nice 1 bedroom suite in planet Hollywood towers he was occupying, we left him just after 11 and stopped off at pinks for hotdogs (breakfast and lunch in one), I wasn't overly fussed, just saying. Then we headed to the last casino on our visiting list, Caesars palace! Wow that place is amazing!!!! (p.s Jen I did post my hangover pic on fb but I don't think it loaded so I'll try again, it's a beauty!) so now Rome is off the visiting list too! Thanks Vegas, lol. From there we headed down to the Mirage, the kids wanted to see the dolphins and the tigers, it was a stinking hot day and the kids were getting antsy so we promised them a trip to the aquarium. Glad I did though, wow we get so close to the dolphins it was amazing!!!! We were talking to them and waving and they would come over to u and either wave back or out their noses up on the bank of their enclosure and just stare at you with those big gorgeous eyes, we ha e some great photos of them! There were 2 babies as well, I wanted to pack them in my suitcase, so so cute. The white lions were just beautiful too, had there of been cubs I woulda tried stealing those too! if it wasn't so hot we would've stayed longer but we were just baking out in the sun, so we went back in and made a quick stop at the frozen yoghurt bar!!!! Yummmmmm pretty much sums up the experience, I tell ya there are some things over here that the yanks really know how to do! Its prettybmuch just a wall of soft serve machines, u get what u want then around the corner is a Mimi sizzler style buffet of lolls and fruits and sauces to add to your yoghurt, then u go to the cashier weigh your tub and pay, it's calculated by the ounce. So nice, we need one in the riff I think :)
Glenn wanted to pay one last visit to the Venetian, our favorite, when we stepped outside of the mirage the heat hit us like a ball of fire and instantly the kids went in to meltdown, poor buggers! So a flying visit to the Venetian was all we managed, by the time we left everyone was aching, lexi had to be carried, so home we went a d straight to the pool! Swimming and beers and then off to the sugar factory for dinner! Another must do if you're coming to Vegas, it's in the Paris hotel as well. Everyone had a meal, kalahni went straight for the dessert, nutella crepes! The meals were delish but omg those crepes were to die for! She only managed to get half eaten, they were too rich, we are talking crepes filled with a nutella sauce then a chocolate sauce over the top, chunks of chocolate and choc rice crisps then cream and ice cream to top it all off! Glenn me and Janet all had a little bit and we still didn't get it finished!!!! A quick stop in the sugar factory lollie shop then off to bed before our big day traveling to Orlando, Goodbye Vegas, we will miss you!!! (p.s kai informs me he'll be back when he's 25, ?????)
Thursday, traveling to Orlando
Up at 5:30, so 5 hrs sleep was had, out the door by 6:30 to checkout and taxi it to the airport. We check in, $100 in excess baggage, one of our bags was 60lb! Oops looks like someone did a bit too much shopping. She tells us we can take some out, 10lb would do it, so here we are in the middle of the airport unpacking all our clothes so we could get our bag out of the bigger bag and even out the weight a little, something I had suggested before we even left the hotel mind u, so that's all sorted phew! Something tells me though I could be coming home with a new suitcase! ;) through security, which was a nightmare, Glenn had the full body screen thing done, kinda like having a standing MRI I guess? I had the kids so I was ushered through the normal one with the kids. The flight to Dallas Fort Worth Texas was pretty uneventful, I had a much needed snooze, though 1 hr didn't quite cut it. We arrive at Texas and omgosh, I though LAX was big, ha it's got nothing on Fort Worth! Holey moley that's a big, no huge, airport!!!! We had to catch the monorail to our connecting flights terminal (they love their monorails over here, Australia need to learn a thing or two) it was 2 terminals away, just massive! We grabbed some lunch then raced to our gate to find we were the last to arrive, whoops never done that before! We taxi out and I said to Janet " are we flyi g or driving to Orlando?" seriously it was that long out to the runway! Then we sit and sit and sit, flights were being diverted due to bad weather in Orlando , GREAT! We take off late then our flight is extended cause we had to go a different way. We arrive on Orlando soil, thank god, some of the flight got a bit hairy! We pick up our rental cars, Janet and Peter had to swap their car cause they couldn't fit theirs and Gerrod and pams bags in lol! So off we go, now we are driving on the opposite side of the road, it's dark and it's raining, and I'm navigating off my iPad! So scary, my heart was in my throat the whole trip, only one u turn required, and I was given an 8/10 score from Peter! We arrived safely, much later than we had anticipated so at 9:30pm we were looking for dinner, thank goodness everything stays open late over here! An Irish pub in our complex was dinner of choice. Did I mention that they upgraded our room? So we nave this huge room with 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms a dining room large lounge a d 2 kitchens????? then handed us a multitude of coupons to make our stay a little cheaper, gee thanks!!!! Woohooo, used our first coupon at dinner, lol. Bed came at 12:30am when I decided to call it quits on my last blog, we had a big day in store the following day so I wanted plenty of sleep! Yeh right, still in struggle city, I was asleep by 12:50 awake again at 3:20 back off by 4:30 then Woken up at 7:30, needless to say I have bloodshot eyes every morning and by afternoon time I'm almost delirious, better than cranky I suppose!
Friday - Disney World!!!!!!
So thats today, wow I'm finally up to date! We arrived at about 10am I think but by the time we caught the little road train thingy to the ticket office then got the ferry across to magic kingdom we walked in the gates around 10:50 ish just in time to catch the first parade of the day. The kids loved it, we got to dance out in the street with all the characters and dancers, of course I was the only adult out there from our group, party poopers! From there we headed for tomorrow land, monsters Inc laugh floor was the first stop, very funny, made even funnier by the fact that Peter was picked on the whole time, the kids thought that was hilarious! The carousel of progression was next, if u ever have a chance to do that, DON'T! 20mins of my life I'll never get back! Space mountain was next, Glenn Peter kalahni charli and kai did that one, lexi was too small and me too chicken so I took her over to the spaceship ride, we were soon joined by the girls in the line and a very very upset and shaken kai! Glenn said when it took off kai yelled out "daddy!!!!" they had to sit single file so there was nothing Glenn could do, my poor little man :( he was from then on very hesitant on any of the rides, even the little kiddy spaceship one I was lining up for, he kept questioning me all the way till we actually got on it! The car race one was next followed by the tea cups! Janet was so excited, it was closed when they were here 30 yrs ago, so kalahni and I spun the bejeebers out of the cup till we nearly puked, it was so funny!!!! That was in fantasyland, we spent a bit of time here, kai and I rode dumbo (I told u he was hesitant!) Janet and the girls did snow white and the carousel. We then went to mickey 3D cinema, that was brilliant! A must must see!!!!! It's actually more 4D, the picture jumps out that far u jump out of your chair and duck and weave, then (and this is where the 4D part comes in) Donald gets splashed with water, next thing we're getting sprayed with water! Champagne bottle corks pop off, we get wet again and then this sweet smell is released into the cinema , it was just brilliant! We the. Go on a magic carpet ride and the wind is blowing our hair, the 3D was that good u felt like u were flying, so much so that Lexi put her hand over her eyes! Oh if we go back I'll pay that ride a little visit I think! The park is very quiet so it's great, waiting no longer than 15min and most times just 5, super! We caught the big main street parade at 3 then head into libery square. Peter glenn myself kalahni and lexi do the haunted mansion, pretty lame really, thank goodness, we were goung for parents of the year trying to scare both kai and lexi in the one day! Bur she was fine. Glenn kalahni Janet and Peter ride splash mountain, we wander through frontierland and adventureland then head back to castle couture so lexi could do some shopping
princess style! Kai and Glenn headed for pirates of the carribean to do some masculine
shopping! We meet at the LILO and stitch ride for our last hoo rah of the day! Again kai wanted to know the absolute ins and outs of the ride, of course I had no idea except that it was a movie style one again, hmmmm something went wrong somewhere as we left with kai in tears again!!!! I was laughing my head off???? There were some blackout moments and then in true 4D style we got squished with water, then our over head bars got pushed down onto our shoulder (this was all in pitch black by the way) to simulate stitch jumping on our shoulders, then all of a sudden I had cold air blowing on our necks, I screamed and then laughed so hard, so I'm not sure which part got kai???? Lol. Home time I think we've traumatized the children enough for one day! We had done 8 hrs and 17km of walking, I think it was definately home time! Kalahni and charli went with Janet and Peter as they were making a stop at walmart to get some groceries and we had 2 little cherubs who were absolutely exhausted. Well that was the plan, until we missed a turn, chucked a u turn lost Janet and Peter and then drove around for an hr trying to find our way home! Ahhhhhhhhhhh, did I mention it was dark and rainy again and this time we had no iPad for directions!!!!! At 9pm we rock up home, no Janet and Peter, oh ohhh, the. Just as we were getting out of the car they arrived, where have u been? We ask. Walmart says Janet, turns out they followed a car they thought was us and ended up on the right road!!!! Grrrrr, meanwhile Glenn and I are driving around and round in circles! Lol. So another very late dinner and me sitting here at 11:45pm writing this blog! One day I'll get into bed at a reasonable hr I'm sure! Tomorrow we are off to Kennedy Space Centre, so wish us luck getting there and back, we could end up anywhere!!!!
The weather here is is extremely humid with intermittent showers, which just makes it worse! We basically just sweat the whole day, very uncomfortable to say the least. I. Sure we'll get used to it :)
Until my next blog
Cheers
Clair xx