Sunday: Another Hard Day in Orlando

The back entrance of our resort: Disney's Beach Club villas

Ok....so the title of today's blog isn't entirely true----it wasn't another HARD day....in fact it was quite a relaxing day----what it was was another HOT day.  I haven't posted much thus far about the weather here in Orlando...but let me see...how to describe it? Oh yes...it has largely felt like the Earth's molten core is about to bubble up right through the ground at any moment! LOL  Seriously it is HOTTER THAN HADES down here! It's been averaging over 90 for most of the day...and the sun is just beating down like a fiend!  We have had no rain or hurricanes while we were here...so that is good...but I have to be honest....the heat has been a bit insufferable.  Thank heavens we spent most of the day Saturday at  water park (although we were just dripping with sweat at Sea World)!  Sunday we decided, since we'd done all the amusement parking we had hoped, to have a relatively lazy/relaxing day----a nice breakfast, maybe miniature golf, swim time, and dinner with friends.

We started our day later than the past couple.  We've been getting up around 7:00 am so that we can be dressed and ready and at parks the moment the gates open.  Sunday we decided we'd sleep in and didn't get out of bed until a little after 9. (My mother, who is also a late riser, would think that still sounds unconscionably early----but it felt heavenly for us! LOL)  Jason went down to the resort restaurant, Cape May, which has a popular character breakfast buffet to see if there was any chance we could get a table...and we had a wait of only about 30 minutes.  So we got cleaned up and went down.  Here is a pic of Jason at the Ariel/Disney Vacation Club statue right outside our building on the way to the main lobby and restaurant (I just think it's cute):

Breakfast was really good.  We're not huge breakfast eaters, but we knew we were going to skip lunch because we had earlier dinner plans....and who can complain when you're breakfast guests of the Disney characters?!  Here is a little collage of pictures from our breakfast with Donald Duck and Minnie Mouse.

After that, we decided to just go back to the room, get a few things ready and then go play miniature golf.  Lots of people think that if you come to Disney then you must spend all day in amusement parks----and nothing could be farther from the truth!  If you WANT to do that, you certainly could.  The parks are amazing and there's tons to do....but you have lots of other options, too----swimming and activities at your resort, tours, shopping, spas, and fun family activities like miniature golf.  We haven't played mini golf (here or anywhere, actually) in a very long time...so we decided to check out the mini golf course.  Disney has two:  Fantasia Gardens (styled after the movie Fantasia...and we've done that one before years ago) and Winter Summerland (decorated with a Christmas/Santa/Winter theme).  We had never done Winter Summerland and our friend, Hadley, suggested we check it out (actually she mentioned in the comments of our blog post the other night).

So at about noon, we hopped in the car and headed over to the mini golf course.  This was both a good decision and a bad decision---A GOOD decision because the golf courses there are very cute and we had fun.  A BAD decision because we went at noon....the most miserable time of the day to possibly decide to do an outdoor activity like miniature golf.  There are two 18 hole courses there and we soldiered through and played both....but by hole 5 of the first course we were literally SOAKED with sweat.  (More power to those of you who are able to live down here year round....but I was ready to take a bath in a drinking fountain!! LOL).  Another little collage of pictures (I'm learning how to use a program on MacBook that I've had forever but never used called "Comic Life" that allows you to create comic book pages....and I thought it was a fun way to present an assortment of some of our pictures without making the posts too incredibly long).  Don't let the pictures fool you...it may look snowy and winterlike...but the temperature was much more akin to the Sahara!! LOL

Mini golf was fun...but by the end of it, we were ready to cool off and so we went back to the resort.  I think I mentioned early on when we first arrived that the main reasons we chose to stay in this particular resort (because we own two Disney Vacation Club memberships, we really have a lot of different resort options when we come down here) was because Jason hadn't been here before and because they have a great pool.  On a day like Sunday, that pool felt like a manna from heaven, let me tell you!!  The pool is really a lot less a pool and a lot more a "pool complex." (You can see several images of the pool in the inset pictures I put in the collage to the right)  I think it incorporates actually three separate large pools and a kiddie pool, 3 or 4 hot tubs, and a large water slide.  Within the pools there is a lazy river section with a light current that is perfect for floating in, several waterfalls, and a "whirlpool" section with a much faster circular current.  The pool is also unique in that it has a sandy bottom like a real beach....and is themed just beautifully with lots of bridges, foliage and a windmill.  We spent about 2 hours in that pool without even noticing----so relaxing and the pool alone is worth the time, energy & expense to stay in this resort! (We will definitely be back!)

After a nice afternoon/evening swimming, we had to get back up to our room and get showered and changed because we were meeting one of my dearest friends from college, Joann, and her husband out for dinner.  We were extremely close back in school at the University of Rochester (freshman year she lived around the corner on my hall and I spent many a day and night in her room instead of my own----we were reminiscing last night that I frequently ended up falling asleep on the end of her bed! LOL).  After graduation we have stayed in touch on and off but I haven't seen her in years.  She now lives with her husband, who I hadn't met before (and she'd never met Jason either), down here in the Tampa area and we decided to connect again.  We went out  to a restaurant that they suggested in the Orlando area called the Capitale Grill.  It was such a lovely evening----the restaurant was very nice, the food was surprisingly good (I'm not really a steak eater and I don't eat any form of seafood------and it was a steak and seafood place! LOL).  It was so nice to see Joann and her husband, Q (yes, that's what he goes by----I didn't give him that name to protect his identity! LOL), is really an amazing and friendly guy.  We had a great night and it will be very cool since we come to Orlando so frequently that maybe on future trips we can reconnect with them again!

After this very long and trying day (NOT!! LOL), we had to get laundry done and pack for our flight and checking out of the resort (frown)....and then there was just one way to finish a day like that....and here it is:

Enjoying the very large soaker/jaccuzzi garden tub in our villa.

LOL----aren't I a sassy thing?!

OK....well now the first part of our adventure is drawing to a close.  We'll call this past few days in Orlando the "foreward" to the real story.....probably when next I post we will have landed in Barcelona and be preparing to start the next big phase of our journey!!!