Another Townhouse, Blizzard Beach and Outlet Mall Shopping in Orlando!

Tuesday, May 13th

Packed up and checked out by 10 am....usually means leaving the key inside and locking the door on your way out.  All the bedding gets thrown in to the washing machine and garbages taken out and then the cleaning company comes in and does the rest.  NICE!

Went straight to Blizzard Beach and Kate asked at Customer Service if she could leave her Balloon there.  They were more than happy to accommodate even when it was a bit strange.  Leaving the balloon in the car would have made it pop.  All our food was kept in coolers with ice and it was okay.  We had tried to eat a lot of the perishables beforehand.
We never took photos on this trip to Blizzard Beach again, as we saved the locker fee and just enjoyed ourselves.  It's even more enjoyable when it's "Free" with the Fun Pass Options.  Favorites were the Lazy River, Double Diaper, Family Raft, Toboggan Runs, and the Tubes.

Dried off by sunbathing ~ most of us fell asleep but didn't burn.  We're getting so relaxed that it doesn't matter where we are, we'll make ourselves right at home.

Checked into 2845 Oakwater Drive...much more room and a little fancier.  The code for the gate and the building was emailed to us ahead of time and voila ~ we're staying another 5 days!
Girls all have their own room, but they think the beds are too hard.  We put some extra blankets down and they slept with a pillow under their hips.

 For more information on the townhouse, etc, check back on Townhouse Rental info on the side bar of this blog.

Oak Water Clubhouse

 We did have a conversation with a woman who cleans townhouses like these and she makes excellent money doing it!  We thought that would be a good job if you lived in Florida.  She has a few employees, but can set her hours, etc.

 A gated community with a clubhouse, pool, etc.  Lots of kids riding bikes around, families.  Some tourists were staying beside us but left before us.  It did have a family feel to the area though.

 I was wondering what this photo was of and then realized ~ it's Jolene sleeping with her knees up and hands above her head.  A new sleeping position since the accident.  This time the added covers over the head is a new thing!  We were so tired that it was not a problem sleeping.

 This kitchen was better stocked with items like a spaghetti strainer, etc.

 We also did't hear any highway traffic.

A garage for your vehicle or for extra storage.

Kate gets her own room and bathroom.

 Kate's bathroom had been "professionally renovated" and everything was just wrong in it.  Very funny.

This is so cool!

Master bedroom closet...you could have a playpen set up in here

This bathroom is bigger than Kate's bedroom!

What bed should I sleep in?

 Now, for some reason cockroaches like bathroom cabinets.  Must be the moisture.  We were warned to take out all garbage each day, etc, but at both townhouses we found 2-5 cockroaches within our stay.  They are big.  They are ugly.  They crunch when you squish them.

Ruth's bedroom with choice of beds

 Ate tortilla pizzas and salad and then went Outlet mall shopping on International Drive.

 We decided to take a drive around and go further along International Drive where there are many shops.  We finally found an outlet mall, but just driving around was fun in itself.  So many things to see if you had more time ... Believe it or Not, restaurants, etc.

 These malls are spectacular and fun because they are outdoors!  We could look up at the stars as we walked along!  We didn't have much time, but we found a few things and had a few fun conversations with others working there or just shopping.

Giant Gummy Bear 

So many flavors, so little time!

Purple roses!

If we weren't leaving Florida in a few days, Gregg would have bought me these roses.  As a silly romantic teenage girl, I had asked God to give me a few signs of who I was to marry ~ one was that he would give me a purple rose.  Within 2 months of knowing Gregg, he left a purple rose on my doorstep of my Brandon apartment.  We rarely see purple roses, maybe 3 times since we got married.
Burton ~ flip flops $16
Hess fuel $61
It's Sugar (candy) $6
Bali and Victoria's Secret bathing suits, etc $ 82

Disney Quest at Disney World ~ A Fun Pass Option

Saturday, May 10th
Slept in ... awww... so hard to sleep in while on vacation and there's things to see!  Girls are off to the townhouse community pool while we prepare food stuffs.

Disney Quest Fun Pass Option tickets

To the pool!

Haven't seen this in Canada!

We did some more internet searching for another townhouse nearby that we can extend our stay another 5 days.  Finally found one in Oak Water, a little bit closer to Disney and they would charge us $320 for the 5 nights!
Then we did a quick grocery shop and ate some burrito corn wraps (corn wraps are gluten free and plentiful down here...as well as 200+ kinds of hot sauce!) and then to check out Disney Downtown.  Disney Quest is within this Downtown Disney area.  Free parking and lots of restaurants and shopping.

Disney Quest is included in your Fun Pass option

Candy making and Sweets Store

Note the Atari shirt to wear while gaming at Disney Quest

We thought often of some brothers and cousins who would be besides themselves 

playing all these games again!

Pac Man!

Downtown Disney has a big theater, restaurants, Circus Solei, Lego store, etc etc.  Live music and entertainment as well.  The boardwalk area would make for some wonderful date nights.

Make your own music was a lot of laughs

Disney Quest is 5 stories of arcade and simulator type rides.

This face says it all!

There are a lot of games that you can play together and were actually fun for all of us!

We're all thinking that we need to come back here and explore more of the area next time.
Kings Supermarket groceries $49.57
30C at 9 pm ~ Jo is thawing out!

Florida ~ townhouse and shopping

Monday May 5th
We had checked into our townhouse by using our code for the gate and the house last night.  They ask you to look around and take photos of anything damaged, etc and let them know.  It all looked pretty good.  A little "used" but very nice and definitely large enough for us.  Location seems to be just what we'd like.

  We slept in until 9: 30 am and then went shopping!   Salvation Army was huge!  All dresses for $6

" We didn't go to Disney yet.  We went to thrift stores and grocery shopping too.  We went to a Salvation Army and it was huge.  I don't think that I have ever seen such a huge thrift store.  We found some nice clothes there.  Oh, I just remembered something!  So Mei and i were walking in the thrift store and we saw a big bin of stuffed animals.  We decided to look around and see what kind of animals they had.  I saw the head of something (maybe a bear?) and it looked homemade.  So I started to pull it out of the pile... it looked SO weird!  It was just a HEAD WITH LEGS!  The fabric was a creepy brownish flowerish pattern too.  We put baggy PJ bottoms on the cat and moved the cat around and it looked like it was floating.  We had a lot of fun with it.  We also found a store and bought a bathing suit for me!"

Quote from Kate when we found a bathing suit for her "Hey guys, we bought a bathing suit and we don't have to go to Fabricland to get something to fix it.  

Or to Wal Mart to find something to wear over it!"

"Mei and I share a room with bunk beds.  I'll start on the bottom double bunk first and Kate has her own room with a queen bed. Mom and Dad have a king size bed.  There are THREE bathrooms!... and a dishwasher!"

We took a day to get prepared for going to Disney and decided our first day would be EPCOT.

Here is the link to the previous blog posts about where we booked our townhouses for our stay.  Click HERE
Food $182.21
Shoes $112.31
Clothes $ 98.28
Bathing Suits/shorts/ swim shoes  $219.24