Today was our designated day to spend at the Mandalay beach and pool area. It’s rather an awesome collection of pools, including a wave pool, a lazy river, and a number of lagoons. We had VIP access which allowed us entry 15 minutes before everyone else (in theory, in practice it was more like 7 minutes) – time enough to grab a good pair of loungers and get comfy!
We got a nice spot at the front of the beach by the wave pool. I was somewhat amused to discover that the “beach” is entirely covered in loungers! Still it is nicer to put feet into sand when you stand up bare foot rather than concrete I guess! First up we had to apply our P20 (it was only 7:45am and we had been in a bit of a rush to get out the room, down 60 floors, and to the beach!) and then go and buy hats as we’d both left ours in the car! :( But that was easy enough and we were soon in the wave pool, splashing about :)
The waves don’t come very frequently, and there seem to be a whole bunch of rules which aren’t explained except by the lifeguards blowing whistles and shouting at people :( It was a little odd! But once we knew how to behave it was all okay ;) The waves were fun and we splashed about a lot :)
Then we went over to the lazy river and had fun floating round in the current :) Chris soon decided he wanted a tube to float around in so we went and bought a nice bright orange ring which I decorated with my standard kitty picture to make it ours :)
We tried out one of the lagoons but the water seemed very cold, even after a bit of splashing… so we jumped out of that and into the nearby spa which was all warm and bubbly :) At this point we realised we had only eaten snack foods and were hungry, so went and bought some chicken tenders and fries to eat by the pool :)
Once food was eaten we lay back in the sun for a bit and went “Mmmmmm, warm!” Then I realised we were too warm and turning pink and there was a quick retreat back to the safety of the hotel!
The major problem with Mandalay Bay’s pool area would be the total lack of shade. 4 hours in direct sunlight is crazy behaviour, no matter how magical my sunscreen! So we both have slightly pink shoulders (mine moreso!) It seems mad not to provide shade, or free drinking water, when they clearly want us out there! I realise they like to charge for umbrellas and cabanas, but they were crazy prices and really shade is rather important :(
Still, we had an awesome room to return to :) Happily got in the express elevators and returned to our huge suite to test out the jacuzzi :D Then the shower :) Then lazed around in the provided bathrobes and slippers for a while not doing a lot ;)
After discovering my camera was putting a nasty dark splodge on blue skies, even after cleaning the lens, I was encouraged to look at getting a new camera. A few hours later (after some research and shopping around) I seem to have a new Nikon Coolpix S6100 in my possession :) It’s a little larger than my super compact Fuji, but it has so many fab features that I shall forgive it a slight increase in size ;) It has a touchscreen which is the most exciting new thing :) I’m still learning how to use it, so photos are feeling a bit clumsy, but I’ll get there :D
After camera shopping we headed over to Rio for some food in the little chinese there…
Then it was time to see Penn & Teller :D I used to watch them on TV when I was little, and it was amazing to see them live! The show was great :) One thing I had seen before, but the rest was new :)
I have a new tshirt, and we got our ticket signed and photos with both of them! :D
I was very impressed that they both hung around signing things and having photos taken until everyone had left. There was no rush, they were happy to chat, it was great :)