The water park didn't open until 10 am, so it was an easy-going morning. we arrived just at opening but were delay a bit at the ticket center while the CM dealt with some guests who apparently had no clue. After grabbing out tickets (with our AP discount, yay!) we entered the park and searched for our little bit of shade.
It was still early enough that we managed to find a great spot in the kiddie area under a large pavilion. We slathered ourselves in sunscreen and we were off! Blizzard Beach has a ski lift that takes riders up to the top of the "mountain" where several of the large water slides are located. We hopped in line for the lift, hoping to go up at least once before the line got too long. here we would ride the family water slide that the whole family could enjoy. Unfortunately, everyone in the park had the same idea.
We had a long, hot, wait to get on the lift and then another long hot wait in the line for the ride. Surely we thought, it would all be worth it once we rode down the slide, right? Well, the one thing we, as parents, didn't factor in, was H's fear of water. Yup, I'll say it now before you all think it, we are horrible, horrible parents. Everything was fine, H had liked the view for the top of the mountain, he felt secure in his life vest, and we had explained what the ride was going to be like. Then we got in the tube. It was one of the huge flat bottomed tubes that seats like six people at a time. Even though you're in this giant contraption, the water still flows easily in through the mesh bottom. The second H's tiny tush felt that water, he wanted nothing to do with it! He clung to my body like a baby spider monkey. Had he been able, he would have bored his fingers through my skin to get a tighter grip. And then, we were off... You could see it in his eye: pure terror. The ride could have not ended soon enough for the poor guy. Every bump and splash was cause for a scream and an even tighter grip. When we finally hit the bottom, H was no longer willing to look at anyone and just buried his head into my chest. Fair enough, no more slides for the big guy!
OK, it was time to change pace for a little while. C's favorite-ist thing at water parks is the lazy river, so we all grabbed tubes and hopped in. Of course, H went straight into baby monkey mode and held on to me for dear life. It wasn't his ideal situation, but I think he managed to relax enough to enjoy it for a little while. We all floated over to the other side of the park and got out of the water. The boys headed back over to the kids area while us girls had a little girl time and rode some big slides. This is when I learned that my daughter truly is a thrill ride junkie. We went down a 2 person tube and she loved it and begged to try the other one. We rode it and she wanted to go on the single rider tube, but I put my big mommy foot down. She seemed too little to do that and besides, it was time to swap out H duty.
When we returned to the kid area, H was happily playing in the water. It was a good set up for him, zero entry, some sprayers and some little alligators to play on. There were some other little slides but he wanted nothing to do with them-don't much blame him. I took this shift with H while C and E went to find some bigger stuff. By the time they had returned, I had managed to coax H into sitting on my lap as we went down a little slide together. After a few times down he trusted me enough that he was willing to go down it all by himself-score 1 for mom!
It was getting later in the day and was soon time for lunch. We went over to the Lottawatta Lodge and grabbed some pretty standard lunch counter fare. The kids were super excited that their meals came inside plastic sand buckets with shovels. I was thrilled to finally get something to drink. You don't realize how thirsty playing in the water with a hot sun makes you!
After lunch, H and I returned to the kiddie area while c and E went to ride the slides on the other side of the park. By this time, H was feeling good and I convinced him to try a little tube slide. Oh boy, once he realized how fun the slide was, he refused to do anything else. i was wearing myself out walking him up to the top then hurrying back down to the bottom to meet him. Thankfully, the CM at the top of the slide saw my predicament and encouraged H to approach her by himself so I only had to walk up half the steps. When E and C came back, H had probably been down the slide 15 times and my feet were in fire!
E saw how much fun H was having so she decided to hang in the little kids area for a while. I took advantage of this and went off to ride a slide by myself. I just rode one so C would have a change to check out the other slides himself. we swapped out again and C went and rode a slide that was set up so several people could "race" each other. He said he beat out everyone to the end "by a LOT!"
That night we had reservations for dinner at Restaurant Marrakesh in Morocco in Epcot that night, so we knew time was getting short for our day at Blizzard Beach. We gathered up all our belongings and made out way to the exit. We quickly went back to the hotel, threw everyone in the shower and got dressed.
We made it to Epcot in record time. I think we had left BB at 3:30 and we were at Epcot by 4:30! After entering the park, C took the kids to the restaurant while I hoofed it over to Test Track for fast passes. Whew, we were all exhausted by the time we met up again. We were ready to sit and relax for a while in air conditioning!
We all really enjoyed our dinners, but dessert was a bit interesting. I ordered some baklava to go since I was so full. The kids both ordered mint chocolate chip ice cream, and C shared what he ordered with me. The best description of it was crispy sheets of pastry soaked in a thin creamy sauce flavored with sweet soap. Yup, soap, somehow, we still managed to polish the entire thing off... Oh, I forgot, while waiting for dessert, there was entertainment, belly dancer.
After dinner, we strolled around the World Showcase. The kids hit up the Kidcot stops we hadn't been to yet and we took it easy. The kids managed to convince us that they NEEDED the diabolo (Chinese yo-yo toy) that we had played with earlier in the week. I managed to convince my husband that I needed one of the multi-colored margaritas I saw in Mexico!
Our fast pass time for Test Track was up so that's where we went next. C took E to ride first and H and I want to see his favorite attraction: the GM cars in TT's exiting area! After riding the first time, E was excited to get to ride it again with me.
We had had a very long day so we decided to make it an early night. So home to the hotel we went!
When we got back to the hotel, the kids weren't quite ready to settle down, but after a snack and some play time, it was lights out!
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