Alpha's 2009 TR - Typhoon Lagoon
Alpha
Today was our Typhoon Lagoon day, so we didn't need to get up quite so
early; the park would open at 10:00. Chip and I headed over to
Riverside Mill closer to 7:00. There was a bit more going on than in
the past couple of days. I decided to have a little breakfast in the
food court; our cereal supply back in the room was getting low by now,
and I just felt like having a hot breakfast. I got a Mickey waffle with
sausage, gave most of the sausage to Chip and offered to share the
waffle, but he wasn't interested. He got himself some hot chocolate and
we spent a little quiet time together, letting DH and Dale sleep in.
We eventually headed back to the room and started getting ready for our
water park day! Chip had been looking forward to this day ever since
last year's visit to Blizzard Beach.
The bus got us there just before opening. I decided to look in the
store there for some kind of cord to attach to the glasses case we
bought at Blizzard Beach last year. It's very handy, absolutely water
tight, and holds 2 pairs of glasses, which is perfect for us. However,
it has a carabiner rather than a cord, which I suppose is useful for
someone out there, but we have nothing on our bathing suits to clip it
to. So whenever we head down a water slide, all we can do is wrap a
finger through the carabiner and hold on tight. Anyway, we found out
that the cases they sell to hold your room key or a credit card do have
a cord, but not the glasses cases. The CM went hunting high and low
through the store for something we could get to attach to our case but
came up empty. I felt as though she was really close to just popping a
cord off one of the room key cases and handing it to us, but thought the
better of it. Well, we made do without it. Maybe over the coming year
I'll look for some sort of cord, or at least some better way to secure
it on a water slide.
I was glad to be able to skip the towel rental line, not to mention the
rental fee! Thanks, Rodney!
After the park opened, I stopped a maintenance CM and asked him, where's
a good shady place to set ourselves up for the day? He said he likes a
spot on the north side of the park, near the Snack Shack. So we headed
up that way and found a spot pretty much right next to the Snack Shack.
Plenty of shade, close to bathrooms and refreshments -- a good spot for
us.
We quickly set up camp at two chairs, then decided to head right for
Crush 'n Gusher. I was kind of disappointed to learn that Dale wasn't
tall enough to ride. He and I waited in the pool there while DH and
Chip went on. They gave it a big thumbs-up. Next we headed over to
Gang Plank Falls, the family raft ride, and that was also a huge thumbs-
up; we went on it 3 times in a row. We had PhotoPass pictures from each
ride.
Then we headed for the lazy river. I always find the inner tube things
sort of awkward. They just aren't very comfortable, at least for me.
If I lay on it with my behind in the hole, I feel all scrunched up
inside the hole and really only my behind and feet are in the water. If
there are lots of people in the river, you inevitably get your foot in
someone's face, or they get theirs in yours. If you go feet-first
through the hole, that isn't very comfortable either; either your chest
gets smashed (this is mostly a problem for the ladies) or the inner tube
has a tendency to flip up from the back. So, I love the lazy river
concept but I wish they had something like foam noodles instead of the
inner tubes.
At 11:30 we headed back to camp to have some lunch at the Snack Shack.
DH and I split a barbecue pork sandwich and a chicken wrap, while the
kids both had the hot dog (and Chip ate some of the barbecue pork I
decided not to eat). We also decided to buy the refillable mug. (Total
$41.91) The food was fine but nothing special. The bar code reader at
the drink refill station was out of order, so whenever we wanted a
refill, we had to wait in line at the Snack Shack. It mostly wasn't a
problem, but if they're going to put a bar code on these things, it
would be nice if the bar code readers worked. The nice thing about this
refillable mug is that it's huge; we've used it at Chip's Little League
games since we got back, and it's been very handy.
After lunch we took another ride on Gang Plank Falls, and then, because
Dale isn't a strong swimmer, we decided to split up. He can swim a bit,
but we didn't think he was nearly ready to ride the body slides and tube
slides by himself. I took him to Ketchakiddie Creek while DH and Chip
went back to Crush 'n Gusher. Although Ketchakiddie Creek is billed as
being for kids up to 48", it's really ideal mostly for toddlers. At age
6 and 46", Dale is not the prime customer here. Still, he made the most
of it and tried everything at least once. We found last year that this
is an awkward age at the water parks, unless your child happens to be a
precocious swimmer. The kiddie area is a little too kiddie, but most of
everything else is out of their league.
I was getting pretty bored at Ketchakiddie Creek and was beginning to
realize that my sunblock was failing, so I spent most of my time
following him around, finding the bits of shade, and noticing all the
cute little kids around. You also can't help but notice the unusual
bathing suit choices some people make. One dad had his Fruit of the
Looms on underneath his bathing suit, bunched up wedgie-style over the
top. Why, and why? One mom was wearing a thong. I guess there
technically isn't any reason why a mom can't choose a thong just like
any other woman, but the image there at Ketchakiddie Creek was a little
jarring. Hello cheeks!
Anyway, DH and Chip returned and we all decided to get another drink,
reload on sunblock, and do the lazy river again. This time I went
without an inner tube and just floated on my back most of the way. At
one point the river was so clogged up with unused inner tubes that we
pretty much came to a complete halt. DH said it was like being in a big
bowl of Cheerios, or maybe a bowl of big Cheerios. We weren't at a
point to pull any of them out of the river, so we stacked some of them
to make room. Unfortunately, we were scolded by one of the lifeguards
for doing that. I guess too few who exit the river bother to haul their
inner tubes out with them. Still, it would have been nice if someone
who worked there had spent a few moments every now and again grabbing
empty inner tubes out of the water. This second trip around the lazy
river wasn't nearly as much fun as the first time.
Afterward, we decided to hit the wave pool, but along the way Chip
decided he wanted me to ride Crush 'n Gusher with him, so we did that
first. It's a lot of fun, but you really have to be careful to keep
your behind lifted on the ride!
That done, we hit the wave pool. Chip fell in love with body surfing!
We got a PhotoPass guy to take a picture of him while he was riding a
wave. The picture actually came out really good. The downside of the
wave pool is the strong undertow. Three of us got scraped pretty hard
on the bottom of the pool, both of the kids to the point of bleeding.
Unfortunately, Dale's scrape happened just after we said, Okay, we're
done, let's leave. We heard the wave machine's "whoosh" noise and
decided to do just this last one. That's when Dale got all bloody.
Isn't that always the way? He had a great time all day, but that injury
colored his feelings about our time at Typhoon Lagoon.
We left at about 4:00 -- we had stayed for 6 hours!
Not long after we got back from the park, a terrific storm came through.
Though thunder makes the kids a bit unsettled, we stood outside our room
and watched the rain pour down. Then we walked through the breezeway
over to the river-facing part of our building and watched the storm from
that vantage point. It was the kind of heavy rain that makes it appear
as though the area is in the thick of a dense fog.
The rain abated somewhat by the time we were ready to head over to
Boatwright's. We had dining reservations for 6:30 but showed up at
6:00. No problem, plenty of tables. Chip was looking forward to this;
he remembered that he really enjoyed the "meaty macaroni" dish he had
from the kid's menu last year. I hadn't tried it but made a couple of
attempts to replicate it at home, even contacting WDW about the
"recipe", although it might well be right from a can. The person who
responded told us that he didn't know the recipe per se, but he could
tell us that it included ground turkey and mozzarella. Now was Chip's
chance to have the real thing again, and he did really enjoy it. The
problem we're running up against with Chip is that he sometimes has an
adult-sized appetite but a kid's palate. The kids-meal portions are
often too small, and I would say that was the case here too. DH and I
each had the pasta with chicken (they make it with spinach, olives,
shallots, Boursin cheese, and sun-dried tomatoes) -- quite tasty but a
bit rich after our long day in the sun. I don't think I realized how
dehydrated I was. Dale had a kid's meal chicken nuggets. Same as
always. (Total before tip, $53.39)
Our meal didn't last too long; our receipt shows that we paid at 6:36.
We headed over to the store and browsed a bit. Dale found a fun pin of
the croc from Peter Pan; the jaws open, revealing Captain Hook. We got
him that, plus a bucket of little green aliens from Toy Story.
When we were building our WDW itinerary, we had been thinking of this
day as a bit of a "down day", a day not of marching around a park in the
hot sun but just having a nice time swimming. In reality, it turned
into another day of marching around a park in the hot sun, coupled with
a nice time swimming. Our legs were telling us that we were running
ourselves ragged, and what's up for tomorrow? Two parks and evening
extra magic hours!
Today's Favorites
Me: Gang Plank Falls
DH: Crush n' Gusher/Gang Plank Falls
Chip: Crush n' Gusher and the wave pool
Dale: Ketchakiddie Creek
Patty Winter
In article <Xns9CC7F0F40E1A4...@85.214.113.135>,
Alpha <not...@verizon.net> wrote:
>
> I decided to look in the
>store there for some kind of cord to attach to the glasses case we
>bought at Blizzard Beach last year. It's very handy, absolutely water
>tight, and holds 2 pairs of glasses, which is perfect for us. However,
>it has a carabiner rather than a cord, which I suppose is useful for
>someone out there, but we have nothing on our bathing suits to clip it
>to. So whenever we head down a water slide, all we can do is wrap a
>finger through the carabiner and hold on tight.
How about one of those curlique elastic bracelets usually used for
keys? Could you attach the 'biner to that?
Patty
Alpha
> How about one of those curlique elastic bracelets usually used for
> keys? Could you attach the 'biner to that?
You know, I thought about that because our Photopass thing from Gang Plank
Falls came on one of those. I also thought maybe some kind of velcro wrist
strap.
-- Alpha
Rudeney
>
Sorry this response is so late, but I'm just getting time to catch up on
my TR reading...
> The bus got us there just before opening. I decided to look in the
> store there for some kind of cord to attach to the glasses case we
> bought at Blizzard Beach last year. It's very handy, absolutely water
> tight, and holds 2 pairs of glasses, which is perfect for us. However,
> it has a carabiner rather than a cord, which I suppose is useful for
> someone out there, but we have nothing on our bathing suits to clip it
> to. So whenever we head down a water slide, all we can do is wrap a
> finger through the carabiner and hold on tight. Anyway, we found out
> that the cases they sell to hold your room key or a credit card do have
> a cord, but not the glasses cases. The CM went hunting high and low
> through the store for something we could get to attach to our case but
> came up empty. I felt as though she was really close to just popping a
> cord off one of the room key cases and handing it to us, but thought the
> better of it. Well, we made do without it. Maybe over the coming year
> I'll look for some sort of cord, or at least some better way to secure
> it on a water slide.
I might have just bought the smallest key case and used its cord.
> I was glad to be able to skip the towel rental line, not to mention the
> rental fee! Thanks, Rodney!
You are welcome! I must admit that it wasn't me who originally figured
out this strategy, but I've used it every time.
> We also decided to buy the refillable mug. (Total
> $41.91) The food was fine but nothing special. The bar code reader at
> the drink refill station was out of order, so whenever we wanted a
> refill, we had to wait in line at the Snack Shack. It mostly wasn't a
> problem, but if they're going to put a bar code on these things, it
> would be nice if the bar code readers worked.
If I were in charge, I'd have just set the dispenser to work without a
valid barcode. Of course this means anyone could walk up and get free
drinks, but the cost of that would greatly outweigh the frustration of
extra guests in the snack lines who had paid $40+ for refillable mugs!
> You also can't help but notice the unusual
> bathing suit choices some people make. One dad had his Fruit of the
> Looms on underneath his bathing suit, bunched up wedgie-style over the
> top. Why, and why?
Well, some men's bathing suits are just not very comfortable. Chafing
can be a problem and a good pair of FotL's can make a big difference.
As to why he was wearing them "wedgie style", maybe he just got off a
big slide?
> One mom was wearing a thong. I guess there
> technically isn't any reason why a mom can't choose a thong just like
> any other woman, but the image there at Ketchakiddie Creek was a little
> jarring. Hello cheeks!
My opinion on this is that if you got it, flaunt it...but if you got too
much of it, cover it up!
> the river was so clogged up with unused inner tubes that we
> pretty much came to a complete halt. DH said it was like being in a big
> bowl of Cheerios, or maybe a bowl of big Cheerios.
LOL!
> We weren't at a
> point to pull any of them out of the river, so we stacked some of them
> to make room. Unfortunately, we were scolded by one of the lifeguards
> for doing that.
I would have asked to speak to the manager and complained that the
lifeguards were allowing rings to stack up, creating a potentially
dangerous situation.
> That done, we hit the wave pool. Chip fell in love with body surfing!
> We got a PhotoPass guy to take a picture of him while he was riding a
> wave. The picture actually came out really good. The downside of the
> wave pool is the strong undertow. Three of us got scraped pretty hard
> on the bottom of the pool, both of the kids to the point of bleeding.
> Unfortunately, Dale's scrape happened just after we said, Okay, we're
> done, let's leave. We heard the wave machine's "whoosh" noise and
> decided to do just this last one. That's when Dale got all bloody.
> Isn't that always the way? He had a great time all day, but that injury
> colored his feelings about our time at Typhoon Lagoon.
I do wish they could come up with a less rough coating for the bottom of
this wave pool. I was thinking maybe some sort of foam, like they use
in playgrounds. That seems like it might be grippy enough without
causing injuries.
--
- RODNEY
Next WDW Vacation?
Who knows!
Need to know more about RADP (rec.arts.disney.parks)?
Alpha
> Sorry this response is so late, but I'm just getting time to catch up
> on my TR reading...
And as with Amanda, sorry my response to your response is so late. I
got swamped by Christmas planning.
>> We also decided to buy the refillable mug. (Total
>> $41.91) The food was fine but nothing special. The bar code reader
>> at the drink refill station was out of order, so whenever we wanted a
>> refill, we had to wait in line at the Snack Shack. It mostly wasn't
>> a problem, but if they're going to put a bar code on these things, it
>> would be nice if the bar code readers worked.
>
> If I were in charge, I'd have just set the dispenser to work without a
> valid barcode. Of course this means anyone could walk up and get free
> drinks, but the cost of that would greatly outweigh the frustration of
> extra guests in the snack lines who had paid $40+ for refillable mugs!
I wish you had been in charge. :-)
>> You also can't help but notice the unusual
>> bathing suit choices some people make. One dad had his Fruit of the
>> Looms on underneath his bathing suit, bunched up wedgie-style over
>> the top. Why, and why?
>
> Well, some men's bathing suits are just not very comfortable.
A man who's tempted to wear underwear under his bathing suit really
ought to consider finding a more comfortable bathing suit. I mean, a
guy's bathing suit ought to be comfortable. That's one of the benefits
of being a guy, right? You don't have to fuss about the really-cute-
but-way-uncomfortable clothing.
> As to why he was wearing them "wedgie style", maybe he just got off a
> big slide?
At Ketchakiddie Creek?
>> That done, we hit the wave pool. Chip fell in love with body
>> surfing! We got a PhotoPass guy to take a picture of him while he
>> was riding a wave. The picture actually came out really good. The
>> downside of the wave pool is the strong undertow. Three of us got
>> scraped pretty hard on the bottom of the pool, both of the kids to
>> the point of bleeding. Unfortunately, Dale's scrape happened just
>> after we said, Okay, we're done, let's leave. We heard the wave
>> machine's "whoosh" noise and decided to do just this last one.
>> That's when Dale got all bloody. Isn't that always the way? He had
>> a great time all day, but that injury colored his feelings about our
>> time at Typhoon Lagoon.
>
> I do wish they could come up with a less rough coating for the bottom
> of this wave pool. I was thinking maybe some sort of foam, like they
> use in playgrounds. That seems like it might be grippy enough without
> causing injuries.
I don't know what they can do about it, but yeah, the current surface
definitely causes injuries. My older son still has pink spots on the
skin over 3 vertebrae!
-- Alpha