3 Kids,My Castle and how many cupcakes?-Day 5 Aquatica

3 Kids, My castle and how many cupcakes?
Day 5
Thursday 13th August
Aquatica

The alarm had to wake us again at 7.30. Who gets up at this time on holiday to go swimming? Well apart from us! We were quite excited to day as we had been waiting to go to Aquatica since it was announced by Seaworld and my parents had been in the May and told us all about it.
We packed our bags and had breakfast before catching the trolley bus at 8.40am.
Jack seems a lot brighter after a good night sleep so hopefully he will be ok and a swim will do him good.
The trolley bus seems to take forever to get but we head straight for Hakuna Lodge to exchange our DC voucher for a ticket. Bags searched we queued for a locker which is $10 for a small with a $5 refund on return of the key.
As we were already ‘swim suited up’ we put our stuff in the locker and go to Whanau Way so we could all ride at the same time. It was very busy but by the time we climbed to the top of the stairs we got straight on. It took a lot less time to get to the bottom than it did for me to climb to the top but we loved it and came off laughing.
The park was heaving by now and we could tell how small it was before we had seen everything as we kept bumping into the same people. We gave up on doing any other rides as the queues were at the bottom of the steps for everything.
We spent quite a lot of time in the Cutback Cove wave pool with the camera in the waterproof bag and went round Roa’s Rapids and Loggerhead Lane loads of times but it just got busier and busier and at times we couldn’t move because there were so many people.

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Although i'm glad we had the waterproof camera case it did have a lens cover that moved and got in the way of some of the shots which was a nuisance.

We took some photos of the Commerson’s Dolphins and decided to cut our losses and leave.

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Jack took ages to get changed and when he finally came out he said his neck was hurting and he wasn’t feeling well again. We had all caught the sun too which didn’t help despite using cream and wearing t- shirts.
We had to sit in the sun for ages waiting for the trolley bus so it was a relief to be in the air conditioning and to be away from the crowded park. We were so disappointed with Aquatica which was such a shame as we had waited so long to go.
We got off the bus at stop 22 and had lunch at Subway. For some reason I have no receipt for any of our Subway visits but I know we all had the meal deal and it came to about $18.

Continued...

When we got back to the hotel Jack took some tablets and we all showered. As he felt better we all decided we would make use of the afternoon and go to the Premium Outlets. I couldn’t believe I was going against the itinerary but I didn’t mind too much as we were going shopping!
As we sat on the bus down to the mall it started raining. It got heavier and heavier and the thunder and lightning started. I love a good Florida storm and we haven’t seen many so it was great sitting on the bus watching it outside! I did feel sorry for my friend from work though who was due to be landing at MCO that afternoon.
It wasn’t quite so funny when we arrived at Premium though as we had to go through the torrential rain to get to the shops. The kids just went for it and left me standing there wondering if I would slip on the wet surface in my Crocs!

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In the end I decided to go for it too, but at a slower pace, and we were soon in and out of the shops hunting for bargains. However we didn’t find any! No trainer bargains, no Croc discounts and hardly any special offers. The kids bought themselves a few t-shirts that were 2 for $20 but I didn’t spend a penny not even in the Disney outlet! All they had was 2008 Christmas and Halloween stuff and I left really deflated.
Jack was feeling low again so we caught the trolley bus back up to I-Drive. It took ¾ hour to get back to the hotel but at least it had stopped raining.
We needed to eat so decided on CiCi’s as it’s quick and I had a discount voucher. They let me take Jack in even though I told them he was unwell and didn’t want to eat and he sat in the corner while Robyn and I ate as quickly as possible.
Our server was really creepy. Well I say server but as it’s self service he only really collected plates.
He reminded me of one of the characters from the horror film ‘The Hills Have Eyes’!
He came to our table and said “Hi my name’s Justin and I’m gonna be your waiter today, how ya’ll doin?” in a real Southern accent and he wouldn’t leave us alone. We still talk about it today and after that night anyone with the name Justin was greeted by us bursting out laughing!
Jack was shivering by now so we left and picked him up some fries from Burger King on the way back to the hotel but he didn’t eat them. We stopped in Walgreens to buy some medicine and I was overwhelmed by the choice of stuff I could get without prescription. We decided on Tylenol for sore throats and were all back and dosed up ready for bed by 10.30pm
Jack had to be better for the next day as we were transferring to Universals Royal Pacific Resort!

Spends
Locker rental - $10 ($5 refunded)
Tylenol - $7.99
Total - $12.99


Food
Subway - $18 (approx)
BK fries - $1.80 inc tax
CiCi’s – 2 x Adult buffet - $11.98
2 x 32oz cokes(free refills) - $4.98
BOGOF discount voucher - $5.99 off
Total – $11.68 inc tax

Grand total - $31.78

Such a shame about Aquatica, Jack and the shopping!

Me and Gavin love Roa's Rapids, they were worth the Aquatica visit alone. Although part of the attraction for me was seeing Gavin all decked up in a life vest (he's not a good swimmer, bless him!)

Loving the reports Teresa :yes: The underwater shots are brilliant.

The underwater camera pictures are great Teresa. Poor Jack

aw what a shame jack was unwell :( the pics are great :)