Welcome to Day 6 ~ Thursday August 21st and our last full day at the Hard Rock Hotel.
Today was a perfect day
Our wake up call was Spiderman again and we were up and off to the lounge for breakfast.
Today the lounge was atrocious, jam packed full of people and truly an unpleasant place to be. I quickly poured my coffee and Noel's milk while Noel helped herself to a donut - we went back to our room to eat in peace - I have decided I really detest that lounge in the morning.
We were soon on a water taxi headed to Islands of Adventure and we had a couple of 'must do's' on our list.
First of all we had to get to Cat in the Hat - it was closed the other day when we were in Suess Landing and this is a favourite of ours. There is really not Disney Ride I can compare it to, maybe Snow whites scary adventre... you are in a car that spins occasionally and you are travelling through the bizarre story of the cat in the hat and the talking fish... good family fun.
After this we did One Fish Two Fish and then headed into the Lost continent. We decided to skip Poseidons fury and the Sinbad Show but Noel wanted to have her future told at the fortune telling tent. We went there and had a 5 minute reading of tarot cards for 10.00. The fortune teller was having trouble keeping a straight face as Noel tried to shuffle these oversized cards, then she proceeded to tell her she should not be so serious and it was okay to be silly and do cartwheels in the super market. She also told her that she is a born leader (translation: bossy) and that she would make a good actress (translation: drama queen)
At the end of the reading she asked if noel had any questions - Noel asked the fortune teller if she would marry her true love 'Tyler' and was told 'probably not' poor Noel.. she was sad about this, she also asked when she would get married and was told at 24 or 25. As we were leaving the tent Noel whispered to me "That was a big waste of my souvenier money" lol
Next was Duelling Dragons - as you recall the other day we did 'ICE" and now we wanted to try 'FIRE' Front of the line access again was wonderful as we were boarded immediately after walking past the poor saps in the regular line. Just before we were boarded I heard the familiar phrase "excuse me ma'am - we have to measure your daughter" and out came the "Scary stick" this is what noel calls the measuring pole. We held our breath and the fellow gave us the thumbs up and we were off on FIRE.. which was so much fun.
When we were leaving FIRE I had the bright idea to ride ICE and we jumped back in the express line... the lady who swipes the card had one look at us and told us to wait while she went to get the "scary stick" - I told her that we just came off FIRE.. she paid me no mind and again measured poor Noel who again passed.
The line for ICE was taking forever.. and this is hard on two people who are not used to waiting
then I discovered why we were moving so slowly - we were in the line for the FRONT ROW of ICE... woo hoo... when we were almost there it finally dawned on Noel that we were in the 1st row. Just then a fellow came along with yes you guessed it... another "scary stick" and for the 3rd time Noel was measured and passed.
The Front Row on ICE was SO MUCH FUN.... there is a part where you are racing towards FIRE on a collision course and pull away at the last second... the front row is worth waiting for.
After the Duelling dragons we made a quick detour to The Flying Unicorn and then headed into jurassic park.. I love the music in this section and also the stone paths which have fossilized plant prints all through them. The only plan for JP was the River Adventure and we sat in the front row this time and were thoroughly soaked - but it was fun. Noel wanted to ride again so I waited in the child swap area for her - with FOTL access she was on and off again in no time.
In Jurassic park they have a rock wall set up that you can climb for $5.00, noel wanted to try and i was acutally really impressed she made it up about 3/4's of the way and then got "stuck" lol... she couldn't go up... she couldn't come down, she just hung, like a sloth or something for what seemed like such a long time... i could see her legs shaking with muscle strain and suddenly she let go. The guy running it gave her another chance but she was toast, exhausted and couldn't even make it up a little ways Fo the rest of the day she complained her fingers hurt from hanging on the rock wall.
Next was Toon Lagoon and the Bilge Water ride - there was no way I was going on this so i waited in the Child Swap area for Noel to return to me totally soaked. Next was a couple of games in Toon Lagoon where we came away with Bluto, Olive and a little stuffed elephant..
Next was Spiderman - I love this ride and it was in the gift shop at the ride exit that I had an altercation with a rather rude woman... if you can picture this, she was a very large lady with several family members and she/they were standing in the middle of the exit path from spiderman that leads into the gift shop.
She was wearing a great big back pack/purse thing that was slung over her shoulder and I attempted to suck in my gut, turn sideways and slip past her... WRONG, she moved a bit and one of the flaps on her back pack was open with the velcro exposed... it attached itself to my shirt and I was caught... I said "Oh, sorry - I'm caught on your back pack" and she puts her hands on her hips and says loudly "WELL EXCUSE YOU' taken aback, I reached out to detach my shirt from her bag and she starts saying 'Dontchu be messing with my things'
There were so many people around trying to get out of the shop and past the both of us now stopped in the aisle - I had lost sight of Noel who had been in front of me so I started to leave when another member of this family calls out 'yeah, you better leave" I wheeled around and found myself saying "Are you talking to me?" Are you talking to me??" just like a bad scene in old movie..... LOL ... for a second I thought I was going to get beat up
Anyway - that was that, I stared them down and they made their way out of the store and I found Noel who was looking at spiderman key chains and everything was fine.
Next was Dr Doom's Fear Fall, I think thats what it's called? Not my favourite but with FOTL I can afford the 10 minutes it takes out of my day to ride it.
We skipped Storm Force and headed for the HULK... again it was great fun and I could here Noel laughing through the whole ride ~ she has No Fear except the Scary Stick.
By now it was abut 2pm and we were hungry, we walked to the Hard Rock Cafe at Citywalk and used my vouchers. I had steak fajitas and Noel had spaghetti. Lunch was good, sevice fast, nice and cool in there and a good break.
After lunch we walked over to Universal... I had promisd Noel she could play at the curious George water area - it is fun for kids, lots of splashy water things and about every 10 minutes or so the bell clangs and an enormous bucket of water pours off the roof and all the kids waiting below get drenched.
Today was perfect weather for the parks... overcast all day long, nice temperture, not too hot at all... and NO RAIN! (Thank you for your good wishes)
Noel had goosebumps after curious george so I caved in and bought another towel, this time Jurassic Park.. she wrapped it around her and was warm as a pie for the Hollywood Makeup Show which we were able to catch. This is a fun show, but the 'volunteer' they chose was a dud.... no sense of humour - but the hosts worked it to her expense.
At one point the host asked Noel her name and said he was her new babysitter, of course he had a knife in his skull at the time and she was laughing her head off.
We skipped Twister this year and also Earthquake... I wish there was a way to bypass the preshow for Earthquake as the ride is quite good but the preshow is kinda boring. I miss king kong, I know it was a bit lame... but still is classic movie fun.
We we now all done at the parks and agreed t was time to head back to the Hard Rock. We arrived about 5:00pm - today we had cabana 10 again, and a pool party was just starting when we got there.
There were hula hoop contests and loud music, the pool was busy with lots of kids and families a perfect night for swimming.
Noel had a good time in and out of the water and when the sun set it was time for the hot tub which was HOT HOT HOT... About 8:00pm we ordered some pizza and caesar salad in the cabana and watched Cartoon Network. Then some more swimming and tubbing and we were back in the room by 9:30pm.
Turndown service tonight was hard rock fridge magnets, last night was luggage tags (I had forgotten to tell you)
Noel made her obligatory trip to the lounge and returned with fresh baked cookies, chocolate chocolate chip, sugar cookies and white chocolate macadamian... MUCH better then chips ahoy.
Well tomorrow we are checking out and heading for Disney's Beach Club, I will be up early and packing...... until then, Good Night from the Hard Rock.
Today was a perfect day
Our wake up call was Spiderman again and we were up and off to the lounge for breakfast.
Today the lounge was atrocious, jam packed full of people and truly an unpleasant place to be. I quickly poured my coffee and Noel's milk while Noel helped herself to a donut - we went back to our room to eat in peace - I have decided I really detest that lounge in the morning.
We were soon on a water taxi headed to Islands of Adventure and we had a couple of 'must do's' on our list.
First of all we had to get to Cat in the Hat - it was closed the other day when we were in Suess Landing and this is a favourite of ours. There is really not Disney Ride I can compare it to, maybe Snow whites scary adventre... you are in a car that spins occasionally and you are travelling through the bizarre story of the cat in the hat and the talking fish... good family fun.
After this we did One Fish Two Fish and then headed into the Lost continent. We decided to skip Poseidons fury and the Sinbad Show but Noel wanted to have her future told at the fortune telling tent. We went there and had a 5 minute reading of tarot cards for 10.00. The fortune teller was having trouble keeping a straight face as Noel tried to shuffle these oversized cards, then she proceeded to tell her she should not be so serious and it was okay to be silly and do cartwheels in the super market. She also told her that she is a born leader (translation: bossy) and that she would make a good actress (translation: drama queen)
At the end of the reading she asked if noel had any questions - Noel asked the fortune teller if she would marry her true love 'Tyler' and was told 'probably not' poor Noel.. she was sad about this, she also asked when she would get married and was told at 24 or 25. As we were leaving the tent Noel whispered to me "That was a big waste of my souvenier money" lol
Next was Duelling Dragons - as you recall the other day we did 'ICE" and now we wanted to try 'FIRE' Front of the line access again was wonderful as we were boarded immediately after walking past the poor saps in the regular line. Just before we were boarded I heard the familiar phrase "excuse me ma'am - we have to measure your daughter" and out came the "Scary stick" this is what noel calls the measuring pole. We held our breath and the fellow gave us the thumbs up and we were off on FIRE.. which was so much fun.
When we were leaving FIRE I had the bright idea to ride ICE and we jumped back in the express line... the lady who swipes the card had one look at us and told us to wait while she went to get the "scary stick" - I told her that we just came off FIRE.. she paid me no mind and again measured poor Noel who again passed.
The line for ICE was taking forever.. and this is hard on two people who are not used to waiting
then I discovered why we were moving so slowly - we were in the line for the FRONT ROW of ICE... woo hoo... when we were almost there it finally dawned on Noel that we were in the 1st row. Just then a fellow came along with yes you guessed it... another "scary stick" and for the 3rd time Noel was measured and passed.The Front Row on ICE was SO MUCH FUN.... there is a part where you are racing towards FIRE on a collision course and pull away at the last second... the front row is worth waiting for.
After the Duelling dragons we made a quick detour to The Flying Unicorn and then headed into jurassic park.. I love the music in this section and also the stone paths which have fossilized plant prints all through them. The only plan for JP was the River Adventure and we sat in the front row this time and were thoroughly soaked - but it was fun. Noel wanted to ride again so I waited in the child swap area for her - with FOTL access she was on and off again in no time.
In Jurassic park they have a rock wall set up that you can climb for $5.00, noel wanted to try and i was acutally really impressed she made it up about 3/4's of the way and then got "stuck" lol... she couldn't go up... she couldn't come down, she just hung, like a sloth or something for what seemed like such a long time... i could see her legs shaking with muscle strain and suddenly she let go. The guy running it gave her another chance but she was toast, exhausted and couldn't even make it up a little ways
Fo the rest of the day she complained her fingers hurt from hanging on the rock wall.Next was Toon Lagoon and the Bilge Water ride - there was no way I was going on this so i waited in the Child Swap area for Noel to return to me totally soaked. Next was a couple of games in Toon Lagoon where we came away with Bluto, Olive and a little stuffed elephant..
Next was Spiderman - I love this ride and it was in the gift shop at the ride exit that I had an altercation with a rather rude woman... if you can picture this, she was a very large lady with several family members and she/they were standing in the middle of the exit path from spiderman that leads into the gift shop.
She was wearing a great big back pack/purse thing that was slung over her shoulder and I attempted to suck in my gut, turn sideways and slip past her... WRONG, she moved a bit and one of the flaps on her back pack was open with the velcro exposed... it attached itself to my shirt and I was caught... I said "Oh, sorry - I'm caught on your back pack" and she puts her hands on her hips and says loudly "WELL EXCUSE YOU' taken aback, I reached out to detach my shirt from her bag and she starts saying 'Dontchu be messing with my things'
There were so many people around trying to get out of the shop and past the both of us now stopped in the aisle - I had lost sight of Noel who had been in front of me so I started to leave when another member of this family calls out 'yeah, you better leave" I wheeled around and found myself saying "Are you talking to me?" Are you talking to me??" just like a bad scene in old movie..... LOL ... for a second I thought I was going to get beat up
Anyway - that was that, I stared them down and they made their way out of the store and I found Noel who was looking at spiderman key chains and everything was fine.
Next was Dr Doom's Fear Fall, I think thats what it's called? Not my favourite but with FOTL I can afford the 10 minutes it takes out of my day to ride it.
We skipped Storm Force and headed for the HULK... again it was great fun and I could here Noel laughing through the whole ride ~ she has No Fear except the Scary Stick.
By now it was abut 2pm and we were hungry, we walked to the Hard Rock Cafe at Citywalk and used my vouchers. I had steak fajitas and Noel had spaghetti. Lunch was good, sevice fast, nice and cool in there and a good break.
After lunch we walked over to Universal... I had promisd Noel she could play at the curious George water area - it is fun for kids, lots of splashy water things and about every 10 minutes or so the bell clangs and an enormous bucket of water pours off the roof and all the kids waiting below get drenched.
Today was perfect weather for the parks... overcast all day long, nice temperture, not too hot at all... and NO RAIN! (Thank you for your good wishes)
Noel had goosebumps after curious george so I caved in and bought another towel, this time Jurassic Park.. she wrapped it around her and was warm as a pie for the Hollywood Makeup Show which we were able to catch. This is a fun show, but the 'volunteer' they chose was a dud.... no sense of humour - but the hosts worked it to her expense.
At one point the host asked Noel her name and said he was her new babysitter, of course he had a knife in his skull at the time and she was laughing her head off.
We skipped Twister this year and also Earthquake... I wish there was a way to bypass the preshow for Earthquake as the ride is quite good but the preshow is kinda boring. I miss king kong, I know it was a bit lame... but still is classic movie fun.
We we now all done at the parks and agreed t was time to head back to the Hard Rock. We arrived about 5:00pm - today we had cabana 10 again, and a pool party was just starting when we got there.
There were hula hoop contests and loud music, the pool was busy with lots of kids and families a perfect night for swimming.
Noel had a good time in and out of the water and when the sun set it was time for the hot tub which was HOT HOT HOT... About 8:00pm we ordered some pizza and caesar salad in the cabana and watched Cartoon Network. Then some more swimming and tubbing and we were back in the room by 9:30pm.
Turndown service tonight was hard rock fridge magnets, last night was luggage tags (I had forgotten to tell you)
Noel made her obligatory trip to the lounge and returned with fresh baked cookies, chocolate chocolate chip, sugar cookies and white chocolate macadamian... MUCH better then chips ahoy.
Well tomorrow we are checking out and heading for Disney's Beach Club, I will be up early and packing...... until then, Good Night from the Hard Rock.
