The No Parks and Recreation Tour 2022 – Day Four

Thursday 22nd September

Being awake at 5.30am again was very useful as we had no plans today. So I was awake nice and early preparing to do nothing much.

We were both up, showered and ready for breakfast by 7.30. We were checking out and moving on today so we packed and then had breakfast in the Club Lounge. We left the room at 10am and took our cases down to Bell Services.

Having tried the quiet pool the other day it would be remiss to stay here without taking advantage of what many call the best pool on property, so we headed to Stormalong Bay.

We soon found a suitable spot with some essential umbrella coverage and settled in, observing some of the wildlife.

I include in that category the folks next to us.

They were a very New York couple, who spoke at volumes audible in space and spent every moment of the day seemingly arguing with each other and then their extended family who joined them, in a voice like Joe Pesci, including the women. Here you can share our joy at watching him cut his toenails for about an hour.

He was rude to staff, his wife and his family and they all had to walk away at some point due to his behaviour.

We managed to relax despite all of that and just enjoy being here, in this fantastic location in glorious weather.

Once we were too hot we spent about an hour in the lazy river, which was very lazy today, as it was broken. So we didn’t move very far or very fast, but I managed to get my rotund belly sunburnt in the process. It was genuinely one of my favourite hours of the trip, just gently bobbing along in the sun.

We got out and dried off before heading for our one less-than-great dining experience of the trip. We grabbed some lunch from Hurrican Hanna’s by the pool. Louise had a Caesar salad and I had a Turkey Sandwich. Both were poor, to be honest, but they filled a hole for now. The gathering ducks by our feet had most of my sandwich.

Back to our beds for more relaxation now. At some point in the afternoon, all this food took its course and I had to retire to the restroom to take care of business. It was more a biblical event than a bodily function and I slowly made my way back to Louise to tell her all about it. As soon as I arrived back I realised I did not have my phone. Yep, twice in two days now.

I dashed, as much as I could in my current state, back to the relevant stall but it was gone. In a panic, I was at reception asking if anyone had handed it in, and starting the filling in of some form when a young chap tapped me on the shoulder and asked if the phone in his hand was mine.

It was. I almost kissed him as well as apologising for the biohazard he must have endured to find it. As I was walking back to Louise, Emily messaged to say some random American guy had called her to say he had a lost phone and she was the last number dialled. How had he opened my phone though? It was all very weird.

Feeling suitably ashamed, old and fearful of losing all my cognitive abilities I had a last lie down by the pool.

At around 3.15 we left the pool, picked up the cases and got them into the car. We were headed for Port Orleans Riverside. Having booked this trip last minute there had not been a lot of choices so I was hoping this was going to be OK.

Louise waited in the car as I went into reception to check in. I was handled by a cast member and her iPad without even having to get to the desk. Map in hand, I returned to the car and attempted to locate our building and room. We were in Magnolia Bend, building 90.

The room was, let’s say, heavily themed.

Louise was not a fan, finding it all a bit much, but the room was of course clean, functional and absolutely fine for our needs. When we sent Emily a photo she informed us that the headboards had firework effects in them. We set those off for a bit, (not a euphemism) not sure whether to laugh or cry.

I then set off in search of some drinks and to orientate myself with the resort. It is very lovely.

Feeling better that I now knew where things were, I wandered back and we rested in the room with our drinks before getting ready to go and eat. We unpacked pretty much everything as we would be here for 5 nights. We had been living out of our cases so far.

Tonight’s choice….

It never feels that this place gets the recognition and love it deserves and again, this evening it was very quiet in there. The bread service is still awesome and I hoovered that up in no time at all. The camera got nowhere near it.

Louise ordered “a pasta thing”….

I had Steak and Potatoes….

The twenty-something waiter saw me taking photos of the food and commented that he hardly ever saw an “old-fashioned” camera like that.

Once I had punched him to the floor, I told him that actually, my camera was the one that all the big vloggers use, actually, and actually, it was very cool, actually.

Both our entrees were excellent and we even found room for some dessert.

Cheesecake for Louise

Chocolate cake for me. I am getting some very up close arty shots tonight….

I finished with a Cappucino and Louise had downed four wines by now. The bill was $150 including a healthy tip. We needed some bottled water for the room so I stopped at a 7-11. Whilst queuing and witnessing all kinds of weird folks come and go, I feared for my life and was very glad to be back in the car and heading back to our Disney bubble.

We were in bed by 10, watching some TV before being overcome by sleep shortly afterwards.

Till the next time…..