We started the day by going to one of Disney World's two water parks, Blizzard Beach. Given my avoidance of things heights-related, we didn't really take advantage of the many water slides that were available there. We did go on "Teamboat Springs", which is a long, gradual slide in a raft that's big enough for about four people, and we spent about a half-hour in largish tubes on "Cross-Country Creek," a meandering river that goes all the way around the park. We didn't spend more than a few hours at the park because we didn't get there until about 11:30 or so, and we planned to leave around 3:30 due to dinner reservations. After doing the above (and spending some time in the wave pool–just like the beach, only better in my opinion), we figured we had done enough there (especially since we're planning to go to Typhoon Lagoon, the other Disney water park, tomorrow), so we left at about 2:30 to go on back to the hotel to get ready for our dinner reservations at 4:45. We left just in time, too: as we were walking out, an announcer came over the intercom and said that the National Weather Service had issued a severe thunderstorm warning for our area! It was raining quite hard by the time the bus got back to our hotel, but it never really got any more severe than that.
Photos: today only, all days
Oh, and I didn't take any photos (gasp!) at the water park, because I didn't even take my camera! We weren't planning to rent a locker, so I just took myself, my room key, some money, and a towel!
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Dinner was at the Polynesian Resort, in a restaurant called Ohana. It was awesome! They prepare one meal, and everyone who comes into the restaurant gets that (although it might change from day to day, I'm not sure). We started out with some fried wontons with three dipping sauces, and a large bowl of salad, then we had shrimp and chicken wings for appetizers, both cooked in a Polynesian sort of way, whatever that means. The entrees were served as in Brazilian barbecue restaurants–guys come around with big metal stakes and cut off portions of meat for you! We had chicken, steak, pork loin, and turkey sausages, all well-seasoned. My personal favorite was the pork loin; it was spectacular! After we were done gorging ourselves on that, we had dessert–bread pudding served a la mode, with bananas foster sauce. That was so good, we debated ordering another one, since everything there is also all-you-can-eat, but decided against it since we didn't want to be miserable for the rest of the evening.
After dinner, at about 6:30pm, we went down to the Magic Kingdom where we planned to watch the parade formerly known as the "Main Street Electrical Parade." Unfortunately, we had to stake out our seats almost as soon as we got there and wait for 90 minutes for the parade to start; people start grabbing seats that early, and we wanted a good view! The parade has apparently been renamed at some point in the 20 years since I've seen it to "SpectroMagic" and they've gotten rid of the neat theme song. Harrumph; I like the old way better! But, the float was just as electrical and fun as before! They dimmed the lights on Main Street so the floats were very visible.
We then stayed to see the fireworks show "Wishes" at 9pm, which we had seen earlier in the week from a vantage point behind the castle, but we really wanted to see it from the front. This really is one of the most beautiful, magical shows I've ever seen. We did capture it on video to share, but I'm not sure it will convey the spine chills that were present in the real show. Everyone that visits Disney should see this show at least once. The fireworks and music were beautiful in their own right, but together they are just phenomenal. I'd see that show again and again.
So, tomorrow, we're hitting several different parks: Typhoon Lagoon in the morning, Epcot in the afternoon to catch a few attractions we've somehow missed up to this point, and the Magic Kingdom in the evening for a special event, "Mickey's Not-so-Scary Halloween Party." It should be a long, but fun, day!
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