Day 15
This day was a bit more leisurely proposition as we did not have to be anywhere before lunchtime. We got up at around 9:00 and went over for the Belle Vue Lounge for some breakfast. This time we had brought our refillable mugs so we got coffee in them and had a bottle of Orange Juice each as part of our counter service credit. We both had an Orange, I had a Mickey Blueberry Muffin and Graham had a Danish Pastry. When we finished our breakfast, we went back to the room to pack, which did not take very long. Then we called a Bellman to move our luggage to Old Key West. While we were waiting for him to arrive, I took some more photos of the room. Once our luggage had been collected, we were on our way.
Getting to Epcot that morning was a slightly more complicated proposition. The tours meet by the Guest Services window near the exit to the monorail at the front of the park. As Graham had no ticket, we could not take the boat to International Gateway and walk through the park. So we walked up to the bus stops and took the bus to the Magic Kingdom. This was ridiculous that morning. We did not have to wait long for the bus to arrive. Even though it was a bit later than usual, there were a lot of people getting on the bus at the Boardwalk. Once everybody was on, we went over to the Swan. I thought it would be the same as two days ago that once we left the Swan, we would go straight to the Magic Kingdom especially as by this point, the bus was definitely full. However, we then went on to the Dolphin, the Yacht Club and finally to the Beach Club before going to the Magic Kingdom. Some people got off at the Beach Club to go to the character breakfast at Cape May. This was just as well as they really had packed everybody in like sardines in a tin. At least with some people getting off at the Beach Club, this created a tiny bit of breathing room. I was still glad when we arrived at the Magic Kingdom and could get of the bus.
As we still had plenty of time and we were at the Magic Kingdom anyway, I parked Graham on a bench in the sun with my handbag and quickly went inside to get my spell cards for the day. I had thought the Monday had been busy, but the crowds on Main Street that morning were ridiculous. I could not see any pavement for all the people milling around. I was only too glad to quickly get my cards and leave again. The line at the Fire Station was very short so I was in and out of the Magic Kingdom in about 10 minutes total. Once I had caught up with Graham again, we caught the monorail over to the Transportation and Ticket Center and then on to Epcot. We still got there well ahead of time. We found ourselves somewhere to sit in the sunshine. The WiFi from the park reached to where we were sitting so I could pass the time online.
When people started to gather near the meeting point, we got up and went to join them. Shortly afterwards, we were joined by three cast members. They introduced themselves and checked us off their list. The tour was at full capacity and the cast member I spoke to was quite surprised that I had been able to book this the previous afternoon. When we checked in, we had to select a colour. At this point it was not explained what this was for. One of the cast members explained a bit about the environment we were about to enter and the animals that we would encounter. Apart from countless smaller fish, we would be able to see sharks, sea turtles and various types of stingrays. He explained that the sea turtles are really curious and would probably come to check us out. He also mentioned that the largest ray in the pool, Beaker, was very sociable and was seeking out human contact. We were advised that we were not allowed to touch any animals that we encountered and that we were not allowed to get within a certain distance to the gate that separated the dolphins from the rest of the aquarium. With this out of the way, we then went backstage. He pointed out the filtration plant and explained about filtration at the aquarium.
Once we got inside, we went down a backstage hallway and then we were in the public area of The Seas with Nemo and Friends. He pointed out various areas, talked a bit about the manatees and the dolphins and then showed us where we would be diving shortly. It was then time to say goodbye to the observers who where left with instructions where they could best see the rest of their party. We then went through some other backstage hallways to the locker rooms. I was really impressed. Each locker had one of our names on it and inside we had a towel, a wetsuit, booties and a souvenir drawstring bag in the colour we had chosen earlier. We got changed and left our stuff in the lockers. Near the exit, we were intercepted by a cast member who collected our locker keys and doled out hair ties that were animal safe.
When we were all back, we were split into two groups and each group was lined up in a specific order. We were told to remember which order we were in. We then went upstairs to the classroom where we watched a short video about the animals in the aquarium and about the Disney Conservation Fund. They also explained a bit about the equipment we would be using. We would have enough compressed air to last us the 30 minutes that we would be in the aquarium, but if we were running low before that, we were advised to return to the diver's platform and they would swap it out. I was impressed that 100% of what we had paid would go to the Disney Conservation Fund. We had to sign a waiver and then we were off again.
We re-entered the public area. I think some people were not too impressed by being paraded through The Seas with Nemo and Friends while wearing their wetsuits. We are used to wearing wetsuits as we have our own and I was not in the slightest bit bothered about this. We briefly stopped in front of the window where the dolphins were as there was some training session going on and then we headed up the spiral staircase inside the air-conditioning duct to the top of the aquarium. When we we got there, we were welcomed by a group of dive masters. Some would observe us from the platform and some would be in the wanter with us. It suddenly became clear why they had arranged us in a certain order. They had lined up our fins and the rest of the equipment in this order. We were asked to sit down at the edge of the platform. It was actually incredibly easy to put on the gear. It was just like putting on a backpack. I passed on the fins. They quickly explained the pressure gauge and the regulator. We were advised to breath in, put the regulator in and then breath out as this would get rid of any water that was trapped in the regulator. We also got some "Mickey spit" to prevent our masks from fogging up. Once we were all geared up, they asked us to step back and then they called one family at the time forward to have their photo taken. Once the photo was done, you then went into the water. Graham and I were up first and then the moment of truth came.
I have always wanted to learn how to SCUBA dive, but I was a bit nervous of all the equipment. Well, it is incredibly easy to breath through a regulator. The only issue that I had was that my mask let in a bit of water so I had to adjust it every few minutes and let the water out. With hindsight I should have gone back to the platform and asked for a different mask. Still, it did not stop me from enjoying myself. They had told us that the sharks are hanging out in one specific area of the aquarium, which had been named Shark Alley. What they had failed to tell us, was that Shark Alley was right by the platform. So the first thing I saw when I put my face into the water was sharks. They watched me and I watched them, but they stayed right at the bottom of the aquarium. I was absolutely fascinated by them and spent a lot of my time in the water looking at the sharks. I have a bit of a phobia of both sharks and stingrays, but the sharks were not an issue because they kept a respectful distance. What really freaked me out so were the turtles. They are huge when you are in the water with them. One came straight at me. I turned around to make a quick escape and swam almost straight into Beaker, their huge stingray. I am not sure what Beaker made of this, but she gave me some space. Towards the send of our time in the aquarium, after I had watched the divers cleaning for a while, I encountered Beaker again. She turned up right underneath me and followed me. When I slowed down, she did. When I changed direction, so did she and when I swam quicker, she did, too. She stayed far enough underneath me that we never touched, but it was an absolutely amazing experience. It was such a shame that we were not allowed to bring our underwater camera.
Soon it was time to go back to the platform. They asked us to sit down and take the fins off first and hand them to the Dive Masters. I did not need to worry about this as I had not worn any. They then helped us to get out of the rest of the equipment. Once we had been liberated, we stepped onto dry land and were each passed a towel. On the way to the locker rooms, we stopped by the main dolphin area and then by one of the back pools that is used by the dolphins. It was a definite bonus to get to watch them for a bit. Once we got to the locker room, we collected our keys and got showered and changed. We were supposed to leave our wetsuits, booties and towels in separate bins, but we seemed to be a bin short so I took the towel with me thinking that the bin for this may be outside. It was not, but one of the cast members that had been with us throughout took the towel off me. Once a few people were ready, one of the cast members took us upstairs to the classroom, where we found the photo that had been taken and the obligatory survey. This is now done on an iPad. There were also water, coffee and hot chocolate available, but we passed. We were finished very quickly and were escorted back to the public area of The Seas with Nemo and Friends where we were left to our own devices.
This had taken me by surprise. When I did the Dolphin in Depth Tour, we were taken back to our starting point. We had a quick look around. This looked really empty. So I asked Graham that as we were here anyway, if we should just check out what the wait time for the clam mobile ride was. This was one of the things that I had not get around to the previous day. The posted waiting time was 5 minutes, but it was actually a walk on. We did this ride and then headed towards the exit. I wanted to check out what the waiting time for Spaceship Earth was. The posted waiting time was 10 minutes, but the line ended just outside the doors to the loading area so I know that this would be a walk on as well. We decided to do this, too. When we finished the ride, we played a game where you wear 3D glasses and then put together a skeleton. I have always enjoyed this game, but only ever played this by myself. Playing as a team changed the experience. Once we had finished our game, we headed towards the exit. We had some photos taken by a Photopass photographer near the exit and then we went to find the bus.
The bus stop for Old Key West is now in the area where the charter buses go from so it was a bit of a hike to get there. Still, once we were there, we did not have to wait long until our bus came. We decided to get off at the Peninsular Road bus stop and walk over to Hospitality House. Check in was a smooth process. However, there was a bit of a disappointment. I always put a request for Old Turtle Pond Road on our reservation. When the cast member who checked us in marked on the map where our room was, it was on Miller's Road. Apparently the request had not been transmitted. He offered to check if they could change it, but as we had a relatively early dinner reservation at Downtown Disney that day, we decided to just run with it. With the check in all done, we headed over to the Bell Stand to see if our luggage had arrived from the Boardwalk. It took a little bit of finding, but it had arrived. One of the Bell Men took us and our luggage over to the room. The location was pretty nice. We were relatively close to the bus stop and the pool. We put our stuff in the room and quickly freshened up. I took some photos of the room and then we headed out to get the bus back to the Hospitality House.
Our plan was to take the boat over to Downtown Disney. As the restaurant that we had a reservation at was at Pleasure Island and the boats from Old Key West go to the Pleasure Island dock, this was perfect. We had to wait a little while for the boat. Twice we though the boat was coming, but the first time it was a boat that you can rent and the second time it was the patrol boat. The third boat was the boat for Downtown Disney. We have always liked the boat trip and there were plenty of birds along the river bank. Even though we had a bit of a wait for the boat, we still got to Downtown Disney well ahead of schedule. They had some very unusual Christmas decorations at Pleasure Island and Graham asked if I wanted to take some photos, but at this stage I was just concerned about getting some food as we had not eaten since breakfast. I figured we would be back. However, in the end this was the only time we were at Downtown Disney after dark and in daylight they were nothing special.
As we were both hungry, we decided to head over to Portobello to see if they could seat us early. We had ashore wait, but they did manage to fit us in ahead of time. Graham had an Italian beer and I had an Italian Peach Cream Soda and we both had some water. Graham went with Meatball Sliders, which were Beef and Veal, Chicken and Spicy Pork Meatballs in some really nice Tomato Rolls with Tomato Basil Sauce followed by Chicken Farfalle with Snow Peas, Asparagus, Tomatoes and Parmigiano Cream Sauce. I had the Wood Roasted Portobello Mushroom with Gorgonzola, Polenta, Rosemary Sauce. I had heard that this was even better than my beloved Portobello Mushroom and Polenta dish at Palo, but this was not even in the same ballpark. It was not unpleasant, but it was nowhere near as good as the Palo version. My main course however wowed me. I had the Rigatoni Calabrese with Italian sausage, Mushrooms, Tomatoes, Olives and Escarole. It was a very simple dish, but so full of flavour. For dessert, I had planned to try the Biramisu, but I was too full. So I went with the Cappuccino Gelato instead, which was delicious. Graham went with the white chocolate custard caramelized with a crispy candy glaze. We both enjoyed our desserts.
After dinner, we headed over to Downtown Disney Marketplace. We still had some snack credits to use up and decided to do so at Goofy's Candy Company. On the way, I stopped by at Ghirardelli's to see if they still had the Peanut Butter Squares, but unfortunately they have been discontinued. We went to Goofy's Candy Company where Graham got some Maple Syrup Fudge and I got some Peanut Butter Fudge and a Chocolate-covered Strawberry. We then decided that we had enough for one day and headed to the bus stops. This is now much better organised than it used to be and we did not have to wait long for a bus either. When we got back to the room, we switched on the TV and had the Orange Wine that Graham had brought back from Downtown Orlando. Unfortunately it did not agree with Graham and made him quite ill later in the night. For the time being though we got ready for bed and then settled down for the night.
