Food, not so glorious food

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A coule of days before we left home we watched one of our favourite Disney movies, Toy Story 3. Just to get us in the mood. One of my favourite parts of the film is the bit where Buzz gets switched into Spanish mode. I really don't know why, but Buzz speaking in Spanish has me rolling around laughing every time. Here at Disney all announcements are made in both English and Spanish. The male voice making the safety announcements on the transportation system sounds just like Buzz. There must be many families taking their holidays here who can't understand why a group of their fellow travellers start giggling every time they are told to keep their arms and legs in the vehicle and hold on to small children!

As we near the end of our trip I realise that one thing I really won't be missing is the food. I gain weight very easily and I'm always quite conscious about what I eat. My holiday mantra is to eat what I want to and indulge in interesting foods but avoid eating things I don't want just for the sake of it. In our travels to Europe I do my best to eat locally produced foods and dishes I'm unable to sample at home. Over here it's mostly a case of trying to avoid sugar. We've mostly self-catered in the evenings but our full days out have left us with little choice but to eat in the parks at lunch time. Walking on average 8 km a day skipping lunch isn't really an option either. I've actually found a couple of interesting salads in my travels but burger avoidance is becoming something of a crusade. Don't get me wrong, I really love a good burger and if you choose your venue there are some great ones out there to be had. Theme parks, however, are more like your generic fast food burger chains only with the dubious addition of an obligatory cheese sauce. I say cheese, it's orange and called cheese but doesn't resemble anything I know as cheese. I haven't tasted it but it really does look revolting. In the supermarkets we have looked for cheese for our own BBQ burgers. The shelves are filled with packets of slice orange cheese and mozzarella. No blocks of cheese in sight.

The other day Claire suggested we have an ice cream. There is a proper ice cream parlour in The Magic Kingdom with 2 varieties of no added sugar flavours in addition to the sugar rush kind so we decided to give it a go. Walking into the shop we were hit by an overwhelming aroma of sugar and cinnamon - the smell of America! The kids, who love all things sweet, were in heaven. I imagine they felt like I would walking into a cheese shop. In spite of the sickly smell the ice cream was actually very god and remarkable value for money considering standard theme park charges.

The other disturbing culinary phenomena in the theme parks is the turkey drumstick. Costing $15 these both look and smell nasty. They're really popular though so I'm clearly in the minority on this one. Claire has taken to distracting my line of sight if she spots a passer by eating one to minimise my episodes of nausea. she's a very thoughtful daughter!

As a family we have collectively developed a syndrome known only to us as " tee shirt envy". This involves obsessively looking at the tee shirts worn by fellow theme park guests and wondering where they got them from. Most are standard walking adverts for whichever park you are in but there are some really clever ones amongst them if you look hard enough. Ben has bought himself one of a T Rex holding a long handled grabber with the slogan "unstoppable". The best one I've seen yet was a lady passing by with "The Sass is strong in this one". I'd love to know where she got that one from.

As I sit by the pool typing this I am struck by the tranquility of the early morning. Today is a relaxed start with a trip to a water park and evening theme park visit planned and so I've had a good few hours to sit and just enjoy the view. The lake is host to many egrets and herons. Who fly by majestically at intervals. The other day we happened to look up to see a Bald Eagle flying overhead. I'm pretty certain that's the first time I've seen one up close outside of captivating. One morning we looked out to see a six foot gator resting on the bank close to our pool area. It was surrounded by 17 turkey vulture. A neighbour told Bill it had caught a large carp and the birds were hoping for cast offs.

At night the air is far from peaceful. The cacophany of sound from the local wildlife is tremendous. We can hear ciccadas and amphibians competing with each other but also what we think must be raccoons, making a sort of clicking noise which echoes all around. It's fabulous and will be much missed come the summer when we sit shivering around our fire pit hoping for a visit from a hedgehog!

On that note, I must go and block up in preparation for the water park. I'd rather not, walking around in swimwear is never an activity I happily enjoy, but the needs of the many and all that...

I leave you with today's word from our sponsor.

Having limited myself to just one ride with an inversion, yes, me upside down, I have wondered what the rest of the Orlando experience is about. Yesterday I got drenched not once , not twice, but three times! I have made several almost vertical descents either on water, on rail, in the dark and by way of very realistic simulators. Apart from being scared ridged on many occasions and being in the largest crowds I've ever seen!

So when seeking a restful and relaxing holiday, look no furthermore!

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