Day 3

The white sandy beaches that surround the inland surf pool mix well with the lush Tropical landscape and the half-wrecked surf shacks that house shops and snack bars. One of the shacks even sold Budweiser whilst the Beach Boys and other cool tunes blasted from speakers around the park. ("This must be just like living in Paradise" - David Lee Roth 1988).
We managed to find five sunbeds to the left of Let's go Slurpin, just under the cover of some palm trees, and as we already had our swimming costumes on, (No thongs Sadly!), we just had to apply the usual lashings of sun cream.
We decided to go straight on Castaway Creek so joined at Sea Horse the landing where there were lots of tyres all piled up. We even managed to get Beth a ring that didn't have a hole in the middle, more like a dinghy than a ring. It was just as well because these things weren't the easiest to get into. Peter even went right over the back of his and ended up underneath the tyre. (He said that he did it on purpose though).
To our surprise the water was quite cold, especially when we went through the cave where the freezing cold waterfalls are. This didn't amuse Beth because the water collected in her 'ring' and she got a wet bum. This was a very relaxing way to start the day and we did a full circuit of the park before getting out. Beth was the only one who remembered where we had got on.
After finding our beds again we decided to hit the Surf Pool. Every few minutes a big jet of water squirted out of the funnel of the stranded Miss Tilly, then a siren would go off to warn of the impending 6-foot wave that swept towards the beach at great speed. This literally knocked you off your feet and was great fun. At first Beth just wanted to stand by the edge and jump over the wave but as her confidence grew we moved into deeper water, up to my waist. I stayed close to Beth and lifted her up when the wave came, as she is a non-swimmer and had her armbands on. This meant that I was usually left sitting on my bottom holding her above my head, or ended up scraping my knees or fingers trying to keep my balance. The floor was really rough and by the time we left the Surf Pool, the tips of my fingers were really sore.

Next we went to check out Ketchakiddee Creek, the kids bit, to amuse Beth for a while. Here we found water guns spread around a pool with some on top of a Pirate ship, that Beth and Peter enjoyed squirting at me. There was a kid sized tube ride that Beth was made up with because she had to ride by herself. The lifeguard actually told me off for standing in the flume lane with Beth whilst she sat on the ring and said that she had to do it herself. There was also a small slide, which was so small it didn't do much, and lots of waterfalls and mist sprays.
San then decided that she needed the toilet and took Peter to buy some of those groovy, stretchy pool shoes, as they both had sore feet. These were $12.00 and apparently fitted like a glove, only on your feet. Whilst they did this I took Beth to play on the Bay Slides, which looked like great fun and kept her entertained for a good half an hour. When San returned with her shoes, Beth was thoroughly impressed so we went to get her a pair as well. She got snazzy pink ones with Minnie on, $10.00 in Singapore Sals.
Now we all had comfy shoes, I already had my pool shoes on - Ethel Austin's £3.99, so we went to try the Gang Plank Falls family raft ride. We waited for about fifteen minutes and then had to roll our huge raft up several flights of steep steps to get to the top. San had to help Beth up the stairs, as she was still getting used to her new shoes, so Peter and I had to pull, drag and lift this huge 6-foot in diameter raft. After trying several different ways we decided that the Cast Members advice was best and rolled the raft up the steps.
This ride was great but I didn't think we would get so wet as the water sloshed over the sides of the raft, and should we really have gone so high up the walls. Beth loved it too and managed to hold on to the handles with no problems. Her verdict - "Cool, can we do it again?" (I think she watches too much Sabrina).
Next up was Mayday Falls, another raft ride, but done individually although I managed to get a double tube for Beth and me.
By this time we were hungry so we returned to our beds and tucked into our picnic. (Incidentally we didn't use the lockers available, we just left our bags on the sun-beds and didn't have any problems). Our drinks had stayed ice cold in the cooler bag, which we had pinched from San's mum, and we even discovered pizza flavour Pringles, but had to get Beth some original flavoured ones as well.
After dinner, we went to see the shark tank at Shark Reef. We went inside the submarine themed underwater viewing area, and watched as the unsuspecting swimmers kicked their legs. San thought that the tank smelt of fish, so decided she needed the toilet…again! Beth however wanted to go into the tank with the sharks, but as she can't even swim I couldn't really see her snorkelling!
There was an area by the shark tank which was reserved for a "private party" who were having a barbecue, and playing beach volleyball- San thought that she may gatecrash this later (as in DLP!).
We decided to try out the Storm Slides, and after checking out the plunge pool at the bottom, which was about 3 foot deep and had a lifeguard on duty, we climbed the stairs. We asked the CM at the top which slide he would recommend for a first-timer, i.e., Beth; he directed us to the middle one, called the Jib Jammer. I went first so that I could catch Beth at the bottom and as I got half way down the slide went through a pitch-black tunnel! I thought "Oh no…Beth isn't going to like this!" But the screams of delight from behind me soon reassured me, and she plopped out at the end with a big smile on her face, and immediately wanted to do it again!
San had not noticed the green, i.e. "GO" and the red ie"STOP" signals that you had to wait for before pushing yourself off at the top and just 'went'! As we got back to the top to ride again, the CM told her off! I think the next slide was called the Stern Slusher, or the Bottom Scraper according to San! (She could feel every rivet and join in the slide as she went over it, and had to feel the seat of her cossie as she got out of the pool, as she was sure it had worn away!) We only had to wait five or ten minutes each time.
After riding the body slides, we decided to do another circuit of Castaway Creek, which by now was very busy. We had to wait until we had all collected a tube, and once again enjoyed a gentle float around the creek. It wasn't as peaceful as the first time though, when I had actually managed to doze off, as it was now packed with people- some of who were even swimming along!
San needed to go to the toilet, again and decided to go and get changed. So we called it a day, and all headed for the changing rooms.
We left between 2.00pm and 3.00pm, having had a relaxing morning, which included some great slides, some huge waves, and some terrific tottie spotting, (yes, we even saw some thongs!). After getting our hands stamped for re-entry, we returned to our resort and got dinner from Richie's Hut on-site, which is a sort of cook-out barbecue by the pool. After a quick shower, Jaccuzzi or bath, we were ready to continue park hopping!
As we had to be up early the next day to drive to Busch Gardens in Tampa, we had planned to go to Animal Kingdom for the afternoon as the park closes at 7.00pm, so we wouldn't be tempted to stay out late.
We arrived at about 4.00pm just as hoards of tired, sweaty looking people were leaving the park………..great!!

After entering the park, Beth insisted on navigating us using her own map, as she was now learning to use them properly.

We agreed that we would first got to the 4.30pm Tarzan show, so she steered us through the Oasis, past the Tree of Life and into Dinoland, USA. Of course, once she had spotted the Boneyard she had changed her mind about Tarzan. Since the 4.30 appearance was the last Tarzan show of the day we managed to talk her out of the Boneyard, for the time being!
When we got to the Theatre in the Wild the only seats left, where we could sit together, were right at the very back of the arena. Last year when we watched this show we had yet to see the film, this time the show made more sense as we were able to follow which part of the story each scene related to.
Rather than just tell the story of Tarzan, "Tarzan Rocks" is performed in the style of a rock concert, but since we were sat right at the back next to the huge speakers, it was much more obvious to us that the singers were miming, and the crowd participation was actually taped too! Loud screeching monkeys also occasionally deafened us when the mixing desk got it wrong!
Apart from that though, Tarzan Rocks is a show worth seeing. It benefits from the high energy soundtrack that accompanies the high jumping, speed skating monkeys, the aerial gymnastics of Tarzan and Jane, as they glide 30 feet above the audience supported just by straps around their wrists, and the tumbling monkeys who flicked and scratched their way around the stage.
By the time they got to the audience participation segment, I think most of the crowd was too hot to join in! This wasn't surprising as the Theatre in the Wild does not have the benefit of air conditioning, but instead has huge fans along each side which try to cool the on-lookers down. (This doesn't really seem to work - and San complains that those misting fans make her hair fuzzy!!!)
Beth was delighted when Terk, the gorilla who is Tarzan's friend in the movie, made an appearance, and the cast played Trashing the Camp. This is now one of her Favourite Disney tunes. By the time the 30 minute show had ended, we were all sitting in a puddle of sweat, and in desperate need of an ice cream, or at least a "Simba's Paw Print".
After the Tarzan show, we let Beth have a look around the Boneyard because she had found it on her map - and anyway, San needed to go to the toilet! (She is producing a guide for Disney toilets at a later date…perhaps Simon would like to include a chapter about them in his next book?!)
We then headed over to Africa, and Harambe village, for the Kilimanjaro Safari Ride.

As it was so late in the day, we were unable to get a Fastpass, so we joined the 35-minute stand-by queue. Whilst we were waiting it started to rain, which for some strange reason encouraged some people to leave the line! But as we already knew that Kilimanjaro Safaris doesn't stop in the rain, we waited and were soon boarding our safari truck.
We even learned some Swahili on the safari, as the driver greeted us at the beginning of our adventure with "Jambo", and at the end thanked us with "Asanti Sana". Beth thought this was great, because Rafiki says it in the Lion King.
The rain we had in the queue had now gone off, but it had really brought the animals out, as it was now much cooler. Apart from the "upside down" trees and the termite mounds, we saw giraffes, Thompson's gazelle (or Tommies, as they are known). We also saw some hippos lazing in the water, with a baby hippo, in the same pool as some crocodiles. Later on we saw a sleeping lion, and a prowling lioness, some pink flamingos, and even a cheetah. We saw warthogs, which prompted Beth to hold her nose in case Pumbaa dropped a stink bomb! Then white rhinos, antelopes, and Beth was impressed with the ducks!!!!!!
When we came across some zebras, San told me that the way to tell the difference between a male and a female is that the female has white stripes on a black background, whereas a male has black stripes on a white background! I was rather more inclined to believe our tour guide though, who told us that no two patterns of zebras' stripes are the same - they are as unique as fingerprints.
On our journey, as we went over the old, rickety bridge, it gave way, and the driver had to "bounce" us out, and put his foot down. I think the puddles left by the earlier rain added to the scene as we sloshed our way to safety.
When we got to the elephant section, we actually saw about five large elephants - and the baby elephant, Little Red. When we joined the chase for the poachers, Beth was quite worried about Little Red, and actually cheered when we caught them and she saw the little elephant in the back of the truck, safe and sound. I didn't have the heart to tell her it was only a model and for the next ten minutes she told us how cruel it was to steal rhino horns and elephants' tusks. She then wanted to know how they were going to put them back on!!! (We told her with glue!)
After the safari, we decided to have a stroll around the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail, where we came face to face with a HUGE daddy gorilla, playing with its baby (Mummy had obviously gone shopping!). Daddy was a very patient babysitter, until the baby started to climb all over him, so he threw the baby away! (Let that be a warning to you, Beth!) This is San's comment! Along the trail we also encountered some gaily-coloured birds, and the underwater hippo viewing area. There was one hippo that kept swimming in front of the glass, whilst tropical fish ate from the bugs on its back!! Beth and Peter thought this bit was quite fun, as every now and then the hippo would do a dump in the water!
As we meandered along the trail, dark clouds were gathering above, so as it was well past park closing, about 7.15pm, we made our way to the exit, stopping only to buy some cookies, and for San to go to the toilet!

Our main criticism about the Animal Kingdom last year, apart from it being too hot, was that we didn't see many animals. In this short visit, however, we had seen more animals than in two full days last year! Altogether a very successful afternoon.

On the way back to the resort, we thought we would have another try in finding Publix - inspired by having been on a safari! By now we were being treated to some amazing lightning and rumbles of thunder, although it did not rain.
We found Publix, which was only about 3 miles West of our resort on the 192, and we stocked up for the next few days. We also met some of Peter's chums from Sunday School in there - and we didn't even know they were going to Florida - how strange! We even managed to find a roast chicken, so San did chicken and chips for tea, as we relaxed on our screened patio, and watched the free lightning display and sipped our Jack Daniel's cocktails and a couple of Buds.
Beth found the Simpsons on the TV, and fell asleep watching them despite the thunder, which accompanied the growing storm outside. Once the storm had passed, we also went to bed, as we knew we were up early the next day.