... Brand New Day

 We started our next day off with another nice breakfast at the courtyard downstairs.  The pigeons are definitely more prevalent now, patrolling the grounds around us and waiting for an errant bit of food to drop down.  Of course, some of the hotel guests are more deliberate with their accidental droppings of spare bits of food, and the scurrying pigeons battle for position to get their share of breakfast too.  

Today's big plan was to go see a movie.  We went to a rather nice theater over at Governor's Crossing, the same area where we stayed last year with our visit.  It was the kind with the seats that kick back and have those foot rests that come up.  And it was a pre-matinee charge because it was 12:20 or something like that, and so it was actually pretty cheap for the three of us to see a movie!

INSERT THEATER PICS HERE

As for the movie itself, it was really good, just as all the Spider-man movies have been.  It was a great mix of action and heartfelt emotional scenes.  It was great to see all the other Marvel characters in the movie too.  All three of us give "Spider-man: Brand New Day" a big thumbs up!

It is a longer movie, and so we got back to the resort after this and spent the rest of the day there, pretty much.  We went to Mellow Mushroom to grab a bite to eat, and literally walked there across the street.  And later on, we drove over to check out a small area where there was a shopping center that had a Black Rifle Coffee Company.  

Maddie picked up a drink there, and I picked up some coffee for later on to try with the others at church.  It has a pirate theme to it, so that helped with the decision of which flavor.  

There was a Braves game on tonight, so yeah, we watched that in the hotel room.  Afterwards, we watched one of our YouTube channels that breaks down Marvel movies a little more in depth, and Maddie and I watched a few episodes of "X-Men '97."  So there was all kinds of Marvel stuff today.

We said our prayers after this, and got some sleep!

... The Island at Pigeon Forge

This morning we woke up a little later, but refreshed and ready for a nice breakfast downstairs at the hotel.  This is always a highlight, a huge buffet with all kinds of food like the items you see above - I made a Santa waffle!  And then I made Lake Santa out of it!

That would be a lot of syrup there.  Anyway, we went to the omelette station there and had some fresh omelettes made, all of which were really delicious of course.  I've been enjoying the spinach and onion omelettes there for a while now.  And of course, it's great to just sit out there in the courtyard where there's the shade... and some begging pigeons.

Afterwards, it was time to visit the Island at Pigeon Forge for the first time.  And this is something new and exciting they have there - dinosaurs!

Now to be clear, we haven't been here before.  But they've just added all these animatronic dinosaurs all over the place, and they all let out an occasional growl here or there, moving just enough to give folks a thrill.  But if I know anything from watching the Jurassic Park movies, I know this is not a good idea.  I mean, life finds a way!

Okay, this is obviously an AI thing - it's amazing this technology though.  I just took the picture I made and here at the hotel had it make the dinosaur come to life there... but we won't do that again.  Here's a more stationary dinosaur, a smaller-sized spinosaurus that's doing a bit of fishing.

 

And here below is Big Foot!  Maddie met Big Foot at the beef jerky store, which was pretty fun.

There were all kinds of different beef jerky, including the version she got, some spicy pickle flavored beef jerky.  And right after this, we walked over to the Build-A-Bear store, which was a lot of fun for Maddie too.

She made a new plush cow friend today - his name is Sourdough!  It's a fun little process making these plush friends, one that sort of reminds me of Babyland General, where there's an actual heart inside each creation, along with wishes birth certificates and the whole bit.  It's fun!

And here's a fun surprise for Camille.  We picked up a plush Toothless (from the movie "How to Train Your Dragon") - it'll be a fun surprise.

After we left there, we made our way towards the ferris wheel - and got attacked by another dinosaur!

Coming out of the bushes was a big dilophosaurus, and if you know anything about them from the movies, they spit out at you.  We weren't paying attention, and Mom got hit with a sudden stream of water that got us cracking up!

Ah, here's another dinosaur, a triceratops - and beyond there is our next destination, the ferris wheel.  And there were more dinosaurs too, greeting us with grunts, growls and the occasional roar.

A shooting gallery!  A little pricy at $5.00 for 18 shots, but it was worth it to see Mom hit the skunk, watching it turn around and spray afterwards.  The big one is the truck, rocking back and forth.  Someone else was with us too, also shooting, so we got to see a little more as well.  I love shooting galleries.

And then it was time for the ferris wheel!  Mom wanted to go during the day time to see the landscape and the mountains and all the scenery.  There wasn't much of a line at all, and we were able to get on quickly, and happily there was air conditioning in the cars - very nice!

Up, up, up we soared.  The view was spectacular, the day crystal clear and the skies very blue.  The air conditioning in the little car kept us nice and cool so that we could fully enjoy this comfortable ride into the sky.

Looking south to the Great Smoky Mountains.  You can see the Comedy Barn to the right, and Alcatraz too!

Look closely and you can see the Inn at Christmas Place.

It was a nice ride.  We went around four times, and everything was very smooth and the views were really nice.  The windows gave us a complete view of the entire Pigeon Forge area - a few mountain ridges obstructed our view towards Dollywood, and another ridge prevented us from seeing the Titanic, but you could see King Kong towards the north, and towards the south of course was the tremendous view of teh Great Smoky Mountains, already with clouds moving over around their crests.

A little light shopping after the ferris wheel - we stopped at the Patriotic Peddler where we got ourselves a Christmas ornament with the ferris wheel on it.  And then Maddie spotted the duck store.

Live-streaming back with Ansley, a duck fanatic back at home...

We have a friend at work - Ansley - who is slightly obsessed with ducks, so we actually sort of live-streamed our experience in the store, scanning from one duck to the next so that Ansley and Camille could see all the ducks.  We wound up getting them a few as well, of course!

Parrot Mountain had a few visitors here

There were a few places where there were parrot visitors, ambassadors from Parrot Mountain!  Mom got to visit with them all, a few cages here and there, plus a storefront further along where you could pose for photos with parrots, although we've done that quite a bit in the past.  There were other birds too, but these were the kind you want to be extremely careful around.

This was a sweet Quetzalcoatlus mommy feeding her youngsters.  Probably feeding them some random children from an amusement park ride nearby too, as this dinosaur is pretty scary!  

Key lime and Dole Whip!

Yes, we were passing by this place and took one look at it and knew there was no resistance.  Maddie loves key lime pie, but the nice surprise was the Dole Whip that was there as well.  We sat together under one of the umbrellas and had ourselves a light snack.  The Dole Whip helped cool us off - the heat was getting to be a little strong here by this point, but we were mostly indoors where there were air conditioned shops.  While we were eating our dessert items, we were right next to... THE THUNDERDOME!

Two men enter.  One man leaves!

So I hear "Thunder Dome," and I think of Tina Turner and Mad Max, because that's my generation.  And perhaps there's a bit of tongue-in-cheek with this name.  But there's nothing formidable about this Thunder Dome, because it's just a bunch of those bungee cords and trampolines for kids.  Perhaps it's Thunder Dome Jr., preparing this next generation for the combat in a dystopian post-apocalypse world!

Steampunk time!

And next was "Sky Fly," an amusement park ride that was pretty much a copy of "Soarin" from EPCOT, but with a massive steampunk theme.  And given that it was a steampunk theme, it was already a given that we were going to try it out.  It was pretty fun!

Here's Mom and Maddie riding along with me, our feet dangling below as we look at this large curved screen that takes up all of our vision.  As we race along there's wind in our faces, and occasionally mist or a small splash as a nearby whale breaches the water and makes a plunge, or a kayaker drops off the side of a small waterfall.  

And then we make our way back to the landing area, right there in the heart of teh Villages.

It was a pretty cool ride, all three of us enjoying it.  Also a longer ride too.  We didn't do too bad with nausea or dizziness, although that bit at the end going through the race track started to get to us at the end.  On the whole though, it was just a nice pleasant tour through America, including Mount Rushmore and other destinations.

We returned to the gift shop at the end, and of course there were top hats and goggles for sale, along with some other small bits of steampunkery.  I picked up a t-shirt here, because steampunk.  

We spent some more time walking along different shops after this, pretty much on our way out of the area.  

Weird sodas!  Maddie got pickle flavored soda!

One place was a general store where we saw all kinds of interesting items - somewhat like the general store there is in Dahlonega.  We each got a flavored soda here.  Mom got a bottle of Unicorn Yack, and Maddie got some carbonated pickle soda - which actually tasted like carbonated pickle soda.  And I got a bottle of cherry cola with a vintage fantastic design:

Next came the Pepper Palace, which isn't for Mom and I, but Maddie loves hot sauce, and there was an opportunity to try different hot sauces, so Maddie was all in.  In the end, we picked up one that featured a big of garlic and spice and flavor that Maddie liked.

Trying hot sauces!

Parrot Mountain store

Ah, one more stop before leaving - it was a Parrot Mountain store.  This was somewhat of an embassy of Parrot Mountain, a little outreach from the actual location further up the road.  There were all kinds of items for sale here, including lots with parrots on it.  And there were places where you can pose for pictures with parrots too, but of course we've done that before.

The girls had a good time shopping.  We got home after our visit to the Island, and it's not too far of a drive at all.  We rested back at the hotel for a bit, and then the huge storm hit us.  Super loud lightning strikes and just an immense downpour.  We timed that just right.

After a bit, we went to Texas Roadhouse where Mom and Maddie had a great meal - me not so much, as there was a mistake with the cooking.  I didn't have to pay though, so there's that.  

INSERT PHOTOS OF POOL HERE

We got back to the resort and took advantage of the pool there, and the small lazy river - and also the jacuzzi with the waterfall that's called "Gumdrop Grotto."  It's all Christmas-themed here.  

INSERT PHOTOS OF FIRE PIT HERE

Afterwards, we went over to the fire pit area to dry off somewhat.  The temperature was cooler outside after the rains came through, and the fire felt nice.

There was a Braves game on tonight, so we had to watch that.  The team won again, defeating the Marlins 4-2.  We read a little after that, and then said our prayers - and then it was time for some sleep.  These mattresses are nice.