Tuesday, April 12, 2022- Peppa Pig Theme Park

     We were a little too ambitious when we got up this morning.  We were excited and eager to get to what was the centerpiece of this trip- the new Peppa Pig Theme Park.  We left the hotel at 6:00, but probably should have slept in a little bit more.  Luckily, we went to a nearby Denny's for breakfast and it is fortunate for us that the service was very slow there.  It took a very long time for our simple order to come out, and while we were waiting, we saw that Abby wasn't really acting like herself.  She was groggy and coughing and needed to sleep more.  We went back to the hotel room to let her go back to sleep and, in fact, all three of us slept some more.  We've been pushing hard that last couple of days, so it's not surprising that we needed more rest. 

     After our naps we got up a second time and left for the new Peppa Pig Theme Park.  It was a little more than an hour from our hotel.  It is one of three parks at the Legoland parks, which are all on the site of the former Cypress Gardens.   We learned of this new park by watching Tom Corless on WDW News Today, a website and YouTube program.  We jokingly blamed this entire trip on him, because if he hadn't brought our attention to it, we certainly would be in Gettysburg today, blissfully unaware of this park's existence.  But once we learned of it, we eventually made the decision to come to visit it.  Abby loves Peppa Pig right now, and watches her programs almost constantly when we let her.  She watched her on DVD almost all of the way here from New York and for the hour ride in the car this morning.  When her last DVD ended, we were within sight of the park, and Abby was "so excited" to see "Peppa's house."  It was about 11:00 when we arrived.

      We decided to let Abby make (most of) the decisions about where we would go in the park.  She first went left where a statue of Mr. Potato was standing and then turned into Grandma Pig's Garden.  We were actually entering the garden from the rear and so we saw Grandpa Pig first. This area is a cute little play area with a small playground and tunnels through the carrot patch.  On the far side are the girls' treehouse and the boys' fort, along with Madame Gazelle's nature trail, but we didn't head that direction.  Instead, we went past the duck pond where Mommy Pig was having a picnic (the ducks always come when you are having a picnic), and into the tent full of "wobbly" mirrors that make you look a squished or stretched, by "magic", according to what Daddy Pig told Peppa.  Scott quoted the episode where Daddy Pig saw himself all stretched and thin and said that it looked perfectly normal to him

    We went to the first ride of the day- Peppa's Balloon Ride.  Like so many of the things here, these are all drawn from specific episodes, and we have a pretty good knowledge of all of those programs by now.  Miss Rabbit gives the instructions as the balloon ride starts and Peppa sings her "Big Balloon" song as the balloons rise into the air and circle around above the park. 

     There aren't many rides here, actually, and if we were just coming for that sort of thing, it would have been disappointing, especially since the two best reviewed rides had a height requirement that was just a wee bit taller than Abby was.  As a result, she didn't get to ride on Daddy Pig's roller coaster or Grampy Rabbit's Dinosaur Adventure.  She was having fun anyway, and that's what we came for.  Mommy changed her into her swimsuit, and she went to play in "Muddy Puddles," a splash zone where she was allowed to jump even though she wasn't wearing any boots, like Peppa usually requires.  There were slides where there were bigger kids, but she liked playing around the sprinklers and was having a great time there.

     After the splashing was done, we went to Miss Rabbit's Diner for lunch.  It is based on the American diner that they visited in the episodes when they went to Hollywood.  Here we were more disappointed.  There was a long line since it was about noon, but there was only one register open.  When Julie got to order, she found that they were telling people that they were out of most things, like macaroni and cheese and things that a park like this really should be well stocked up on.  We did get some food, but the pizza that Scott got only took up half of the long box that it came in.  Julie and Abby did enjoy some of Peppa's "mud" in the form of a pudding and Oreo treat.  Maybe because the counter service was pretty slow, there were lots of empty tables so we didn't feel we had to rush.

     After lunch we went to Danny Dog's sand pits on "Pirate Island" where Abby could play in the sand by the castle that Peppa and her friends had made.  She also road on Grandad Dog's Pirate Boat ride with Daddy.  We went into the Cinema, and even though the posters on the marquee made it look like Super Potato was playing, they were showing episodes of Peppa Pig inside.  There were lots of beanbag chairs to lounge on and it was cool inside.  Abby made a friend or two as she climbed around the seats and cooled off.  As she relaxed here, Scott went around the park trying to photograph each of the life sized statues of the characters that are scattered throughout the park.  He thinks he got them all, but was disappointed that Tiddles the Tortoise was not up in a tree somewhere.  (Yes, he asked several staff people there if Tiddles was around in one of the trees and they looked at him a little strangely.)

     We checked the height requirements again at Grampy Rabbit's Dinosaur Adventure, and sadly decided that we wouldn't try it because Abby was just under the 34 inch minimum.  Perhaps if she had worn her boots she would have made it.  Anyway, we went to Mr. Potato's Showtime Arena, where Peppa herself performs and has meet and greets.  There were large beanbags in the shade and Julie and Abby settled down on one to wait for the next show.  Meanwhile, Scott snuck away to ride Daddy Pig's Roller Coaster alone.  When he came back, the short show was almost over, but Abby was up with all the other kids as Peppa and a cohost led the audience in a round of "musical statues."  Abby wasn't that good at standing still when the music stopped, but nobody seemed to care.  Peppa certainly wasn't as strict as she was in the original tv episode.

    Abby was looking like she had gotten a little sun and was certainly getting tired since she hadn't napped since this morning.   We took Abby into Peppa's house, which was actually part of the queue area for Daddy Pig's roller coaster.   Just as we had done with her older sisters, we saved the souvenir store at the park for last.  It is called "Mr. Fox's Shop" which is supposed to have everything, but it didn't have any merchandise with Pedro Pony on it (which was what Emma hoped we would bring her).  However, Abby picked out a toy of the family's red car that came with a Peppa and a Mommy Pig figure.  The Easter Bunny might have noticed a few more things in Mr. Fox's shop that Abby would like, so she might see some more things from here soon.   However, it was getting very hot (the car thermometer said it was 91 degrees) and since it was going on 3:00, we had been there for almost four hours.   We decided to leave and head back towards the hotel.   Abby was asleep before we left the parking lot.

    It may sound like we didn't like the Peppa Pig Theme Park, and we were disappointed with certain parts of it to be sure.  But we didn't come for us.  Abby seemed to have a good time, and that's really what mattered.  We may not ever come again because when we do make it back to Florida, she will almost certainly have moved on to other interests and Peppa will be "for babies" by then.  We're glad we came when we did.

    We stopped at a nearby Walmart for a few things, but needed to start thinking about dinner soon.  Julie had come up with an interesting suggestion earlier.  We are planning on going to Disney World tomorrow to "hotel hop" and visit various resorts.  She wanted to go to Disney's Wilderness Lodge sometime tomorrow, but when we were looking a the connections it had with Disney transportation, we weren't sure how it would work.  We decided to go there tonight instead.  We made a dinner reservation at the Whispering Canyon Cafe at the lodge, and headed there for dinner.  The Wilderness Lodge is patterned after lodges like the ones we saw at Yellowstone and has a very large, beautiful and rustic lobby area.  It is made out of large logs and has lots of intricate details carved in, including several totem poles.  The area is decorated with Western and Native American motifs and is quite cool.

    We didn't know that "Whispering Canyon" was an ironic name when we made the reservations.  It turns out to be a very noisy, raucous place.   Several of the cast members asked us if we had eaten there before and they all said "Oh!" when we replied that we hadn't.  Our waitress said it's kind of like a show, and it really was.  When Julie had to ask for a knife to spread the honey butter on our cornbread, the waitress returned with a knife and fork that were literally a yard long and said that was all they had left.  A group of kids had somehow gotten hoodwinked into being the ketchup delivery crew and when some table asked for ketchup, they were forced to carry what seemed like a couple of dozen ketchup bottles to the table that wanted it, and they had to do that quite a few times.  (When a table near us had the bottles brought to them, we asked them if we could just borrow one of theirs so we didn't have to have the attention on us again.)  Julie got a house salad and Scott got nachos made with pulled pork.  Abby got macaroni and cheese, grapes and French fries, but didn't eat much.  She was too busy and wiggly because she had gotten her second wind.

     We explored the gift shop and then went out back where a "geyser" erupts periodically.  We went to the boat launch where we were going to get on a boat to circle around the lake to other resorts, but someone told us that boat wasn't running.  We didn't want to get on the crowded Magic Kingdom boat, so we decided to call it a day and went back to our own crappy little motel on International Drive.  After seeing the Disney hotel, it didn't look like much, but we keep telling ourselves that we wanted something cheap.  That's what we've got.