The Power Family come to America

When are we going to the Lego Shop Mum?

starring me, Kathy (37) as 'Mean Mummy', Phill (37) as 'The Man with the Credit Card' and Martin (8) and Ryan (6) as 'Poor Deprived Children'

The boys dived out of bed and immediately remembered the mysterious packages they'd been given at check-in. Joyously ripping them open I think they were a little disappointed to discover that they contained Crest Battery Powered Toothbrushes. They were however in exceedingly cool shapes, a racing car and a mobile phone so, after a minor scuffle over who got which one, they were off the to bathroom to clean their teeth.

Once everyone was up and dressed we headed down to the restaurant in search of the promised Free Breakfast Buffet. The boys promptly discovered a previously undiscovered passion for cream cheese and ate their way through every bread item on the menu all slathered with cheese. The grown-ups were a little more restrained but we still staggered from the table feeling that we could do with a quiet snooze to sleep off all the food.

After doing all the boring unpacking stuff and discovering that the drawers and cupboards were woefully inadequate for all our clothes, we set off exploring.

Given the navigational skills I've shown so far it probably won't surprise anyone that our journey was somewhat erratic and definitely hilarious, however we did manage to find all four Disney Parks despite my best efforts! I got rather tearful driving in the park gates much to the amusement of my family. By this time Phill was getting used to the car and the road layout and no longer needed my help, so we found the Polynesian Resort, where we had a 5.30 PS for dinner, quickly and easily. He then found his way equally easily to Down Town Disney to quieten the kids, who had been bleating about going to the Lego Shop for the past hour. Why, oh why did I let them read all about Disney World before we left. Ignorance being bliss and all that :)

In truth the Lego Shop was everything they had hoped and they raced around looking at everything. The play area was extremely crowded and within seconds I'd lost Ryan. Even though I was sure that he wouldn't have left the play area or shop, it was kind of scary when we'd still not found him after 10 minutes. Eventually he turned up, he'd been behind the huge window display, clearly visible if I'd thought to look through the windows. Doh!

At this point things began to unravel. The kids wanted to buy everything in the shop but we persuaded them that one small item each would be more sensible as we'd got three weeks to get through. Martin picked out a Lego Racer track and Ryan wanted a character from a show called Galidor. It's not on TV back home so I know nothing about it but it's some kind of kids sci-fi show. All the toys were half price so they were quite reasonable and of course Ryan couldn't decide which one to get. He then proceeded to have the mother of all temper tantrums and had to be carried screaming out of the shop. They tried this technique again in Once Upon a Toy when they were told that they didn't have enough money for something and that Daddy certainly wasn't paying with his Credit Card. In very short order they found themselves sitting on the wall outside thinking hard about how to behave in shops.

Once everyone had calmed down we grabbed a couple of frozen cokes and wandered around for a bit just looking at everything. Pretty soon it was time to head for 'Ohana for our first taste of Disney Dining.

The sun was just starting to set as we got to the Polynesian Resort and they had braziers lit outside. It was my first look at a Disney Hotel and I was awed by the details of the themeing. I wandered around the lobby for a little bit, goggling like an idiot while Phill checked in with the restaurant. He was given a pager but just as he got back to us it went off. We were greeted by our 'cousin' and shown the food being flame grilled and then seated. We had a pretty good view of the volcano and the castle so the kids were happy. I had some kind of cocktail with fruit on a stick and an umbrella so I was happy too. I didn't like the sweet bread very much but the kids loved it and ate mine too. Then they brought the starters which were yummy and then meat, meat and more meat!

Ryan liked the rice but found the meats a little bit too chewy. Phill found the shrimp too spicy but Martin loved them and quickly gobbled up his and his Dad's. I loved everything and made a complete pig of myself. The kids had a riot with the coconut racing and hula hoop competition and then sat awed as the castle began to change colour. Extra thanks to the couple who let the kids come and peer out of the window right next to them and listened to Ryan chatting on for ages.

The only thing that would lure them back was the pineapple and toffee sauce, which we all loved, and they nibbled on this while watching the castle change colour and then the fireworks. I got all teary again but I'm putting it down to jet lag.

In a fit of utter greediness we decided to have desserts and coffee. I don't remember what mine was called but it had a biscuit base, chocolate ganache and nuts and was utterly decadent. Phill had the Lemon Creme Brulee which was also fantastic. Notice that I tried both :) The kids had the snow-cone in the plastic pail which looked fantastic. I don't think they actually liked the taste though. It was flavoured with a syrup that tasted a lot like the Gatorade Fruit Punch we tried later in the holiday and totally loathed. Despite this they tried their best to eat it but we ended up taking it back to the hotel and pouring it down the sink in the morning.

We chatted for a while to a nice family from New York at the next table who were headed for home the next morning. Before we left they gave us tickets for front of line at Test Track as they'd not had chance to use them. Such a sweet thing to do. We thanked them and wished them a safe journey and headed back to the hotel and our beds.

Part 1 - Part 2