We start off by getting in the pool. We paid for pool heating because we thought it would be cold. It isn’t cold, and the pool water temperature was bath-like.
I try out the patio shower, but that was freezing and I can’t work out how to stop it dripping, so I make a mental note not to try it again.
Since we have no food in the villa, we go out for breakfast. I have my first go at driving in the US. Driving a left-hand drive car, with an automatic gearbox, on the right hand side of the road is just weird. The road position feels wrong, so it takes a conscious effort to not drift across to the right, so that the driver position is as it would be in a right-hand drive car.
We have a huge American style breakfast at an Ihop (which apparently stands for “International House of Pancakes”).
The choice is vast, clearly too much for Pixie:
Server: Would you like white milk or chocolate milk?
Squiggle: White milk. No, wait! Is that just normal milk?
When it arrives, it is basically a heart attack combined with diabetes in edible form. Incredibly yummy, though.
We decide to go shopping at the vast Walmart that we passed last night. We spend some time wandering about the place. Most of the shop seems to be non-food. The actual food selection seems quite narrow and focussed on convenience foods.
The cashier packs the shopping as she goes along, and the process is helped by a kind of plastic bag rotary/carousel.
After Walmarts, we go to Hollywood Studios, which is Disney’s studio park. We have a go on the Great Movie Ride, Muppet Studio Magic,
The youngest is not a thrillseeker and now has a checklist of questions to ask the ride attendants:
Is it fast? Does it go upside down? Does it go up and down?
This led to her declining to go on the Aerosmith Rock-n-Rollercoaster ride. American height restrictions are lower than in the UK and only require a height of 48inches (1.22m) a similar ride in the UK would probably require 1.3m or 1.4m.
Squiggle, on the other hand, is fearless. The Rock-n-Rollercoaster is her first upside down rollercoaster and she is entirely unfazed.
Characters wander around the Disney parks, we bumped into the green soldiers from Toy Story. Tumble wants to have her photo taken with one and he (well, it’s impossible to tell, given the costume) kisses her hands. Tumble is delighted.
We have a Chinese takeaway, but eat in the takeaway itself. We misunderstand the menu somewhat (what the US describe as “chow mein” is UK’s “chop suey”. UK “Chow mein” is “Lo mein” in the US) and the quantities are bigger. Between re-ordering and underestimating quantities, we end up with two meals’ worth.
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