Month: July 2023

The Generation Game Tour 2023 – Day Nine Wednesday 24th May

by mkingdon, posted in The Generation Game Tour 2023

After our crazy night of drinking and watching men play with their balls, we understandably had a later start. It was a decadent 9.30 before we were down for breakfast. The weather, which was quickly becoming an obsession, was forecast to be crap but looked OK for now.

We decided to have a sit-down breakfast at Sessions and even made the crazy decision to sit outside. We ordered coffee and juices and looked over the menu before choosing –

Mum – French Toast

Louise – Eggs Benedict

I went all hipster artisanal and had Avo & Eggs on Toast

The weather, seeing that we had plans to be outside today, did this.

We had to drag our table further undercover to finish eating in a dry state. Rather than obsess over the My Disney Experience app, I was now constantly checking the weather one. It looked, to be blunt, shite for the rest of the day.

We finished eating, paid the $90 including tip bill and went back up to our rooms. I’d arranged to pick up our hire car today at 12 and arranged for a Lyft to take me there. After hanging around the room for a bit, watching the weather not get better, I headed down to reception and got picked up by my driver. That sounds more showbiz than it was.

It was a delightfully silent ten-minute drive to Enterprise in, let’s be honest, a less glamorous part of Daytona, but we were getting the idea that aside from a few posh-ish hotels on the beach, much of it was.

Enterprise was a hut in a car park and I waited to be served as the staff undertook daylight robbery of all the customers in front of me. I was not looking forward to this.

I was eventually served and he vaguely pointed at some red car in the far distance, behind the rain-streaked window and asked if that would be OK. It could have been a Ford Kia or a Bentley, the visibility was that bad, and I initially said OK.

As he went to seek out the keys, I wandered up to the window and looked out at a car that was smaller than some things that have left my backside after a heavy meal. I think it was a Matiz.

I informed him that he was taking the piss and having booked an Intermediate vehicle I wanted something I couldn’t fit in my pocket. He inspected his inventory, which was basically him rifling through sets of keys in a drawer and offered me a sizeable Nissan thing. I think it was a Rogue. That was much more like it.

I left Dodge City, still a homeowner, and drove back to the hotel, fairly pleased with the car which turned out to be a lovely drive and certainly roomy enough for the three of us. Bearing in mind the horror show upon arrival at the airport I had extended this booking till the end of the holiday so that we would have two cars to get us back to MCO.

It had been decided that, in light of the rain, we would go to a mall. Super. So I picked up Louise and Mum and headed straight out to Volusia Mall. It was about a ten-minute drive.

Granted this was a wet Wednesday, but the whole place had a definite Walking Dead vibe to it. It was as if there had been an apocalyptic event in the early 2000s and the whole place had been deserted and preserved in that state. The sight of shops such as Lids and Hot Topic kicked off large amounts of nostalgia.

Louise had to undertake her mid-holiday ritual of buying new trainers because whatever shoes she had brought with her, assuring everyone they would be fine, were not, resulting in her wearing flip-flops around the parks and then almost becoming lame.

We stopped in the US arm of JD Sports and gave them their one sale that week. Whilst Louise selected the shoes that would never touch her feet again once back home, I walked the entire length of the mall in search of a wee, only to spot a restroom ten yards the other way when returning to the shop.

We wandered around, unbothered by fellow humans, buying the odd thing here and there. We popped into Hot Topic, mainly for nostalgic vibes, but ended up buying Emily a couple of T-Shirts. (Upon getting home, being the very cool Dad I am, I had indeed chosen/guessed at the perfect band T-shirts).

Mum got some joggers (pants, not athletes) and I got a tub of Cinnamon Pretzel things from Aunt Annie’s. They were awesome.

We left once we’d done a full loop, and I thought I’d take a photo of our new car to share with you all.

Some of the sharper amongst you will have noticed what I did not. That isn’t a Nissan, wasn’t our car and I had been taking photos of some random car.

Once I was next to the relevant car, I captured it.

I’ll be honest, I took a lot of photos like this, half expecting to be hit with a load of damage charges at drop-off from Jessie James and Dick Turpin at Enterprise. It had not been a good trip in relation to the hire car experience.

You will be wondering why we had not been to a CVS in some time, so we remedied that next and had a wander up and down a very weird row of shops opposite the baseball ground.

Let’s call them eclectic. And mostly closed.

We drove back to the hotel and the rain was clearing, so we headed down to the pool.

We got about two hours of lying in the sun before heading up to change for dinner around 6.30.

In what research I had found time to do pre-trip, I had identified some eateries we might try and had planned Sloppy Joe’s for this evening. We drove down to the area around the Hilton hotel, where we have stayed previously and parked up in the multi-storey opposite. There’s a walkway over the road, across to the shops and restaurants.

I was expecting a sort of independent version of “TGI Fridays”, but Sloppy Joe’s was a bit more “FFS It’s Monday”. It was empty but so was much of Daytona it seemed and not the most plush eatery you might imagine. Undeterred, although Mum was not too keen on the place, we ordered the obligatory Nachos to start.

The place may not have been much to look at, but the Chilli on those Nachos and on my Sliders was one of the tastiest we have ever had.

Mum had a burger

Louise had Blackened Chicken Fettucine Alfredo.

We felt a little rushed by the staff, no doubt as we were the only ones in and as soon as we were done we saw them all bolt for the exit. The bill was $120 including a 20% tip and we headed back to the car.

We could not do two crazy nights in a row, so instead we watched an episode of Breaking Bad in bed (we were repeat-watching it many years after the first time) and were asleep around 11pm.

Till the next time…..

The Generation Game Tour 2023 – Day Eight Tuesday 23rd May

by mkingdon, posted in The Generation Game Tour 2023

Basking in the relaxing glow of having no My Disney Experience work to do we slept in. Rebecca and Tom had less opportunity to do so of course with the boys in their room, so they were down for breakfast first. They dropped their cases off in our room on their way down, as they were checking out this morning. We arrived in the lobby as they were finishing, and we, as they had done, got some stuff from the Constant Grind coffee shop thing in reception.

I had Granola. That would require another visit to CVS to clear that up. I also had a large muffin but I’m not one to brag. Louise had Granola and a Danish and Mum had a Danish and some toast. That was not the most entertaining food review you’ll read I’ll grant you but they were all fine.

Rain was forecast, but we took it on by going and lying down in expectation of sun. It was a bit blowy and overcast but no sign yet of any moistness.

We all did variations of swimming, relaxing and reading and mid-morning, Dougie succumbed to a nap. The pool was salt water and heated and it felt lovely.

So it was mostly this for the rest of the day to be honest.

At some point, we ordered a light lunch from the wandering waitress which consisted of a Chicken BLT wrap, a Hot Dog and some Mozzarella Sticks shared between me, Mum and Louise. Rebecca, Tom and the boys went for a sit down do at the bar.

Still no rain.

The afternoon unfolded pretty much as the morning did, around the pool not doing a great deal. It was lovely. I do love a full-blown theme park day but I am equally happy doing absolutely nothing. The trick is being able to switch between the two and behave accordingly. If we’re doing a full theme park day, then there’s a requirement to be up early and to be motivated to get around and do stuff. There is no mix-and-match here.

Dougie had another nap mid-afternoon once I had wheeled him around in his stroller for ten minutes and then rocked him to sleep in my arms in the hotel’s reception. Rebecca, Tom and Freddie took it as a chance to leave Dougie with us whilst they went into the sea for a bit.

With Rebecca, Tom and the boys only staying one night at the beach they were now room-less so around 5pm, we took the boys up to our room and bathed them. Rebecca and Tom went to have showers in Mum’s room, narrowly avoiding Mum walking in on Tom whilst he was showering!

We were all ready to go by 6.10 and we had an appointment at the baseball.

It was a short drive to the stadium and we paid $5 to park up.

As we entered, shortly after I had realised that all those tickets I had printed off back home were still sitting in Ryan at the hotel (I was able to scan the versions from my email), one very lovely gent on the gate gave Freddie a baseball, and then he met the mascot. It was a strong start to the evening. We’ve been here a good few times over the years and there is always a warm welcome from everyone working at the stadium.

We took our spot on the bleachers and settled in after a stop at the food window. It’s a complex business ordering food for seven people at a window in a noisy baseball park without any knowledge of the menu. I spent ten minutes shouting things at a man on the other side of the counter whilst people shouted things from the menu at me. We managed to get everyone something.

There is a slim chance that Freddie may have just demolished an ice cream just before this photo, as evidenced by the state of his mouth.

As the lights came on, the atmosphere changed and there is always something lovely about being outdoors at night, under the floodlights, in warm weather.

Rain was still forecast but refused to arrive.

During the game, Freddie managed to accumulate three baseballs. I’m not one to boast but one of them could have killed one or more of us as it flew towards us at ridiculous speed. It was only my natural ninja skills that allowed me to instinctively stand up and catch it/knock it away from everyone. Frankly, it did not get the recognition it deserved.

Daytona won by one run as far as we could make out. It was a lovely way to spend the evening but like a lot of things at the moment, it wasn’t quite as fun as the first few times we went. I have no idea if the omission has anything to do with the pandemic or anything specific but a lot of the fun and games between innings were no longer done.

We left at 9.00 and the rain finally came. This was timed perfectly for Tom’s drive back to Orlando. It was important he had the full, dark and rainy experience for his first long drive in the US. They dropped us back at the hotel, we said our goodbyes and they set off for the villa. We insisted they give us three rings when they arrived safely and they did around 10.30.

We retired to the hotel bar for a couple of drinks, watching the rain as we sat on the covered patio. Mum went off to bed. Being the big burly man that I am, it was Baileys for me. To be fair, there had been no dessert with dinner so it felt right.

Relieved that they had made it back to the villa safely, we went to bed around 11pm.

Till the next time…..

The Generation Game Tour 2023 – Day Seven Monday 22nd May 

by mkingdon, posted in The Generation Game Tour 2023

Moving day, after a moving evening last night.

I slept in until a crazy 7.30am, had some breakfast and then started to pack for our move to Daytona. It was nice not to have to worry about Genie+ and LLs at 7am.

Everyone was going to Daytona today, but only me, Louise and Mum would be leaving the villa for good. Rebecca, Tom and the boys would be returning in a couple of days.

So packing the car wasn’t as stressful as it had been at the airport with fewer cases and we were off around 10.30. Annoyingly the weather was forecast to be a bit shit, but we had little choice but to press on with our beach plans as best we could.

It was a painless drive, with the sat nav taking us down the 429, which apparently saved us 8 minutes! About half an hour out from the hotel Freddie needed a poo so a pit stop was required. With no real clue where we were, I had to just come off at the next exit and hope there would be somewhere suitable very quickly as he could not wait very long.

We quickly found a gas station, so whilst Tom took Freddie to be emptied, I filled up with gas and Tom returned with a much happier Freddie and some snacks. Off we went, and as we entered Deltona, the rain came. The skies were depressingly grey and it didn’t seem that there would be much chance of pool time today. With that in mind, we were in no rush to get to the hotel and we stopped off for lunch at an Outback on the outskirts of Daytona.

It wasn’t busy (much like almost all of Daytona, as we would discover) and we were quickly seated and ordering –

Rebecca – Chicken Caesar Salad

Tom – Steak and Chicken

With my beach body in mind, I had the Aussie Cobb Salad

Louise – Bloomin’ Burger

Freddie – Steak from the KId’s menu

Mum – Burger

It was all very nice and the bill was $125.

With the weather still a bit drizzly and grey we undertook the short last leg of the journey to the Hard Rock Hotel at Daytona.

Mum’s room wasn’t ready which was a bit of a pain, so she came up to ours as we started to unpack. After a while, I went for a wander and called in at reception to ask if the room was ready and indeed it was not.

So we all went to explore the surroundings, having a sit by the pool and then walking down to the beach.

To be fair, it was warmer than it looks in that photo.

The braver youngsters had a swim.

and a paddle…

The kids loved it but I felt a bit unsettled due to the lack of room for Mum and the weather not being great. My persecution complex was in full swing, noting how the weather had been hotter than the sun for days and now as we moved into our weather-dependent part of the trip, it was bobbins. Well, not great anyway.

In an attempt to get into the swing of things I got a round of cocktails from the bar and a beer for me and we sat in the blustery but not cold conditions by the pool. Is it me or are all US bartenders a bit surly? They seem to look at me as if I am something unwelcome they discovered on their shoe and react with disdain at anything I order. Maybe the accent suggests they aren’t going to get tipped?

The rain came again so we retreated to our rooms (Mum’s now being ready) and rested for a bit before dinner. I had vague plans for us to head out somewhere to eat but the weather was crap, with torrential rain happening as we looked out of the front doors of the lobby and the kids were tired, so we opted to eat in the hotel instead. We were immediately seated in the Sessions restaurant and served by the excellent Fabian.

Freddie had Corn Dog

Tom started with Chicken Wings

Me and Mum shared Onion Rings

Louise and Rebecca both had blurry Mozzarella Sticks

I had Pasta for my Entree…

Tom. Mum and Rebecca all had the burger.

Louise, a Caesar salad

A very nice meal, if not spectacular. The bill was $285.

The kids needed bed immediately so they said goodnight and Louise, Mum and I stayed and settled up and were then not far behind them, getting to bed at a very Rock n Roll 9.30.

Till the next time……

The Generation Game Tour 2023 – Day Six Sunday 21st May 

by mkingdon, posted in The Generation Game Tour 2023

When first-timers ask for advice on going to Florida, those of us who have been a few times will offer many different tips, but I think the most common recommendation I see given is, don’t try to do it all, and take some rest days. This was, is and always will be good advice.

These holidays can be tiring. The long-haul flight, the heat and the walking are a lot. It’s understandable that first-timers want to book everything, do every park and fill every day, but down that road, unhappiness lies.

This is all just a preamble to justify us having another rest morning. Yes, we were tired but we also wanted to make it all the way to the fireworks tonight as it would be the last day in the parks for Me, Louise and Mum this trip and for Mum maybe ever.

Sadly I missed the 7am virtual queue window due to actually getting some sleep and waking at 7.15. How foolish of me to do so when on holiday and Disney is absolutely correct to enforce a pre-7am wake-up on your holidays. Whilst others played in the pool there was an episode in our bathroom that was more biblical event than ablution. I felt both worse and better for it in equal measure.

After pool time, thoughts turned to it being food time and we opted for a good old-fashioned Dennys breakfast. This place has been a staple of our visits since I first went in 1980. We trusted Google Maps to guide us to one and we ended up at Lake Magic.

Being a Sunday it was busy and we waited about fifteen minutes for a table. Other smaller parties were seated more quickly.

I had a Grand Slamwich.

Louise had a South West Eggs Benedict

Tenders for Freddie

Rebecca, Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

Tom had a Crepe, which was brave in a public restroom.

Mum had a French Toast Slam. You can see I just told her off for thinking about touching her food before I had taken the photo.

Our server was delightful. So with a very good tip all that was $137. It was now 1pm and we were off to Magic Kingdom. I had to amend the first LL I had made earlier as we were behind schedule!

We parked in Scar 423 and got a tram in. We were lucky enough to get on a tram that was pretty full and therefore was just about to depart. However, we sat there for ten minutes (there is zero exaggeration in that number) as a guest couldn’t collapse their stroller and despite endless requests from the Cast Member at the back of the tram, would not stop trying and move away behind the yellow line. Finally, he managed it and everyone was so happy for him, honest.

Rebecca delayed us further with a wee at the TTC.

We monorailed…

and made it into Magic Kingdom.

On our way up Main Street, we took advantage of Photopass, which we hardly ever do. I was mindful that this may be Mum’s last time at MK and wanted to record the moment despite all of our aversions to being photographed.

We won’t be doing that again in a hurry.

Our first LL was Small World and we caught the end of a show as we passed the castle.

As we made our way to the ride, I spotted some work underway around the castle so felt the need to capture it.

Our first ride of the day happened…

Next, we headed to Big Thunder for the LL I had booked whilst everyone else wasn’t having to worry about stuff like that. It was a hot walk and we broke it up by watching some of the passing parade.

Freddie, Tom, Rebecca and I rode Big Thunder.

Look, after all these years I need to try and find new things to take photos of ok?

It was now time for our no-expense spared ride on Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Louise and I watched Dougie whilst everyone else rode. Tom’s pose was intentional, Mum’s not so much.

Around this time I got a text to tell me that an ECV had become available for Mum. So that Louise and I could ride, Tom “volunteered” to walk back to the entrance to pick it up. As you can see he had a whale of a time riding it back.

Space Mountain now for those brave enough to ride it. I got allocated the back seat in the rocket and noticed a considerable difference in comfort levels compared to the front. It was almost tolerable. As we exited I made a LL for Buzz. Today, all the Genie+ LLs were pretty much available for “now”. The park wasn’t that busy and maybe Genie+ could have been avoided, but again, this was a last-day situation so maximising our ride activity was good. Before we went onto Buzz, the boys met him.

That took a while and by the time they were done, I had to change the LL for the ride, but again, it was immediately available. I rode with Freddie and somehow he got 112,000.

Next, we wandered over to Jungle Cruise. I had booked this LL at 8am this morning. If ever a ride’s popularity was inexplicable. I guess it’s more the slow loading of this one that causes the wait times. Tom didn’t ride, instead, he took Dougie off for a walk to get him to sleep.

We don’t ride this one very often so I did chuckle at the jokes a fair bit.

Another immediate LL for Pirates was secured.

Louise stayed off with the now-sleeping Douigie.

Having no ADR booked for dinner and wanting to stay in the park for fireworks I scanned the app for options. Pickings were slim and we ended up with The Liberty Tree Tavern. It has been many decades since we dined there and expectations were not that high.

We did Philharmagic first. I sat out with Dougie.

Upon arriving at the restaurant we were seated as soon as those weak bladdered amongst us had restroomed.

Freddie took up the camera.

It was a set menu which saved us from choosing and meant the food arrived quickly. It was a salad and bread to start then a Thanksgiving dinner. We ended with Ooey Gooey pudding and the whole thing was a lot better than we had expected. We all really enjoyed it.

The bill was an “on-site, theme park eatery” level of $312.

We left and made our way down to Main Street, stopping off in the Christmas Shop.

We took up our usual spot here…

Happily Ever After started at 9.20.

All I will say is that there were lots of tears by the end of it. This was a special place for my Dad and everyone was affected by watching the fireworks and especially the music of course. I miss him.

We left via the normal monorail and caught a tram back to the car. It was a quiet drive home.

Till the next time….

The Generation Game Tour 2023 – Day Five Saturday 20th May 

by mkingdon, posted in The Generation Game Tour 2023

We were still waking early. Tom and Freddie were in the pool again at 6.30 making good use of the various inflatables we bought last night. Tiredness is just a state of mind, so I was up and ready to go and do a twelve-hour park day, but I could sense others feeling it a bit.

I suggested we abandon the plan for today, no matter the many hours I had spent pre-trip putting it all together. Ultimately, the consensus was that we would do half a day at Animal Kingdom and spend the morning recharging the batteries.

I went onto the app and got a LL for Flights Of Passage for late afternoon and booked us Genie+ to lessen the impact of our late arrival. We were rested, ready and out by 11.30. After a brief drive, via Sherberth Road and that dodgy U-Turn to the car park and we left the car in Butterfly 119 and were delighted to take our first tram of the holiday.

Tom had to walk it to the park as Dougie had fallen asleep and Tom didn’t want to take him out of the stroller to collapse it for the tram. He got there first.

At this late hour, there were no ECVs left for Mum but Freddie got a stroller again. We went on the wait list but were never contacted today.

We watched Divine for a little while…

before making our way in.

I had secured us Everest as our first LL whilst back at the villa and had booked Mum on too so she had little choice but to ride. Rebecca, Tom, Freddie and Mum rode first whilst Louise and I watched a sleeping Dougie.

Mum’s face upon their return suggested she was in no rush to do it again, but Freddie and Tom joined the standby which was only about twenty minutes whilst Louise and I rode via LL. We were front row baby.

One of the best rides on property and always a good way to start your day no matter what time you get to the park. You can’t beat a good old shot of adrenaline to wash away the lingering jet lag and theme park-induced weariness.

Dougie had woken up by now. As you can perhaps spot, it was incredibly hot.

Having got a grand total of one ride under our belts, clearly, it was time to eat. To be fair we had all eaten breakfast at some stupid early hour.

As we made our inevitable journey to the Yak and Yeti quick service, I booked us onto the Safari at 1.25. We undertook some effort, moving once, to secure a table in the shade. The heat today was incredible.

Rather than list out what we all had, it looked like this and cost $115.

Look, more salads!

We walked straight over to our Safari booking now, worked out the overly complex system for stroller parking and made it to the front in a few minutes. There was then some delay that we couldn’t fathom but nothing moved for a good ten minutes.

Freddie demonstrated the expected levels of patience for a five-year-old.

We waited so long that Mum had to make an exit for a loo visit that would wait no longer. Eventually, we were on.

Louise and I had a row to ourselves, which was handy as the family in front of us had some serious body odour issues going on so I slid to the other end of the row.

I of course took my usual array of magnificent photos. I shall let you marvel at them mostly uninterrupted by words.

Which one is called Neal?

The heat kept many animals hidden as expected at this time of day.

But these Rhinos were being very familiar.

There was no camera zoom involved here.

Obviously, the truck stopped with them being so close, which is why you are getting endless Rhino photos.

As we left the ride and picked up the stroller, restrooms, drinks, ice cream and shade were needed.

I had planned to get us into It’s Tough To Be A Bug before the next Lion King show, but with all our restrooming and snacking there was no time.

We had LL so we got pretty decent seats. Spot the member of our group who had a nap.

Dougie had clearly seen the standard of my safari photography and wanted no part of it.

I somehow resisted the urge to video the show. I have done so countless times, but the quality is so high I feel it is a waste not to. You were spared a Facebook live.

Freddie hadn’t been sold on the idea of watching a show before we went in, as it was not a “fast ride” but he loved it, clapping along and singing.

I’d secured a LL for the Navi River ride just before our FOP one so we just had a little time to kill before both of those. Not that we were hot and tired today, but we stopped for another drink and a sit-down.

We all had one of those fancy Slush things, with Louise opting for the one with alcohol.

Despite what it looks like, Freddie didn’t have the one with alcohol!

He was obsessed with the poppable things on top.

Off we went to ride the river. Everybody rode.

The Russell Brand animatronic at the end needs work.

Finally, it was time for Flights Of Passage and Freddie was excited.

We were on within about ten minutes, or at least into all the pre-ride pre-amble. It was great as ever, but Freddie’s 3D glasses kept slipping off so Louise and I, on either side of him, spent a good deal of time putting them back on and trying to hold them in place for him. They could do with different-sized ones for smaller flyers.

It was 6.20 now and we needed to head out of the park and head over to our booking at the Cheesecake Factory. Booking ahead is almost always wise as the wait without a booking was horrible.

First, the bread service. I am a big fan of bread. I just felt it important to let you know. Any restaurant that starts my meal with warm bread and butter is going to have to do a lot wrong after that for me not to return.

Louise and I of course shared the Nachos as our Entree. In recent trips, we have declared the Nachos here the best ever. Tonight’s were not. They were still very, very good and were cleared without any struggle but we hoped this was an one-off blip and when (if!) we ever return to Florida we shall of course give them the chance to redeem themselves.

Tom had Steak Tacos.

Mum had a Turkey Sandwich.

Rebecca, a salad. It only had 2,000 calories in it according to the menu.

Freddie had Spaghetti and Meatballs and Dougie, some Pasta.

Tom had two milkshakes, but to be fair that was because Dougie had most of the first. Dougie then proceeded to entertain the tables around us by smiling and waving at everybody for a bit. Chocolate milkshakes have that effect on most people.

We forced ourselves to order cheesecakes and not that it gave us a complex or anything, but the waiter sounded amazed when we said they were to eat now and not to take home.

I think my safari photos were better!

With wines for Louise, the bill was $300 with a good tip.

Dangerously full, we ambled out to the car and I struggled to operate it without regularly sighing and telling everyone how full I was. Forget your turning water into wine. The biggest miracle on God’s earth is performed by fat gets like me, by being hungry again by the next morning, despite fearing and hoping for imminent death to put me out of the misery of my gluttony.

We were in bed by 10. CVS called to make sure we were OK and I reassured them that we would no doubt see them very soon.

Till the next time…..