Last Day in Orlando 2011

Last Day In Orlando...


Today we went to Wonderworks and sprung for the whole package including The Outta Control Magic Comedy Dinner Show. We had been to a Wonderworks with Marchionnes on our trip the the Smokey Mountains two years ago and Trevor still talks about the "upside down" museum. It is a little like the Magic House but mostly for a slightly more mature audience. The kids still found cools things though and a good time was had by all.

The entire structure is supposed to look like it was picked up by a tornado or Bermuda Triangle thing and slammed down into the ground. Trevor was fascinated that there were plants upside down at the top...

The pictures are all out of order but at the end we did this amazing ropes/obstacle course suspended from the ceiling. You have to get all harnessed up and walk around up there. The kids were way braver than I would have been at that age - going on beams and steps and rope ladders with nothing to hold onto way up high above the room. I would have enjoyed it a little more but Trevor was pretty nervous to do some of the things. Ryan was with Drew and she was a trooper...

Our little astronauts. We got to do a 4D movie about being on a runaway roller coaster that was fun and Drew and I had a 3D underwater adventure in a little capsule as well that she really enjoyed.

Headless children...

We got a round of laser tag too. Drew didn't think it was much fun to be shot at but the rest of us enjoyed ourselves. Ryan kicked everyone's butt. However, for the record today I beat the entire family for holding my hand in water the temperature of the North Atlantic when the Titanic sank (40 seconds to Ryan's 9) and I also bested him at a contest where you have to relax your mind to move a ball towards a target. I think relaxing my mind more than Ryan's (or anyone elses' for that matter) is perhaps my greatest accomplishment to date...





We ate lunch at a Mexican place and then headed back to the hotel for a little pool time. There were supposed to be scattered T-storms but we lucked out. The wind was kicking again so we just hung out in the "warm tub" and mommy got a little sun and played with the kiddos.

The Magic Show was hosted by Brian Staron and had all you can eat pizza, salad, and beer - what more can you ask for. Ryan had to go up onstage and surrender a $20 (which he wrote his name on) that the magician eventually made appear in the center of an uncut lemon. Drew just wanted to bring the lemon home. Highlight of the evening is the magician's wife explaining how she's from our area - Dyersburg, Tennessee! Turns out it is a mere 3 hours from St. Louis just out of the bootheel of Missouri and that makes us practically neighbors! It was cute and charming that she thought of it that way - she misses home and felt like we were close enough I guess...

When we came out there was some random man with birds collecting money from people for taking kids pictures with his pets...

That's it from Orlando, we return home tomorrow. Next adventure will be in June....Aruba!

Magic Kingdom Part II

Drew and Ryan settled down for a nap when we got back to the room around 245 and Trevor and I headed for the lobby so he could work on a workbook and I could do the morning blog. At a little after 5 we ate at TGIFridays and then headed back to Magic Kingdom.

Waiting for the monorail

We knew there was a parade starting at 700 and we entered the park just in time to get a seat at the beginning of it - we have had incredible luck today. Here are some pictures from the parade...

After the parade we made our way to Tomorrowland for the Laugh Factory which was funny and they used one of Trevor's jokes (you text them in when you are waiting to go in). It was "What did the chicken say when he laid the square egg - ouch!" After that Trevor wanted to do the Stitch ride but Drew didn't so she and I headed toward Fantasyland and had a great view of the fireworks show but then got caught up in a horrible crowd trying to get across a bridge when it was done. Ryan and Trevor ended up getting over there at exactly the same time and we hit Pirates of the Carribbean and then finished up the evening with Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride. Drew was in exceptionally good spirits thanks to her nap and kept everyone in line for the tram to parking entertained with an adventure in which she was a wicked witch named Rose who battled me and turned me bad and then we battled robots together and eventually "defeated" Daddy (her word, not mine). Trevor was about out of his mind but we kept his brain busy with some math in the car until he fell asleep. We got them tucked in around 1100 tonight.

We have had a spectacular day - I think I'm turning into one of those weird in love with Disney people but it is just such a great vacation for us...

I'll finish with some videos but I'm going to bed while they upload because they take forever...

Magic Kingdom Part I

Today we had to get up very early to get ready for Magic Kingdom. Drew had been turned onto the idea of the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique by a certain babysitter of ours (we've almost forgiven you for that slip Ally). I believe that the packages start at $50 for hair and make-up (which includes atrocious glitter in your hair), $55 if you include nails, and $189 for the whole shebang including fancy dress and tiara. I'm not willing to do that with my 4 year old (not to mention you would have to sit for your appointment during park hours - what kind of fun is that!) so I bought a curling iron and some gaudy blue and purple make-up and we picked out special nail polish and decided to do it ourselves and save the money and the time. That meant a 6am wakeup for Mommy so she could get ready and then spend time on Drew. Park opened at 800am this morning so we needed to leave the hotel by 700 to get to Ticket and Transportation Center to board the Monorail.

We left a little late because we had to grab breakfast to go in the lobby and when we got on the Monorail they had to take one out of service and re-route us along the hotel route. We have never been to MK on a Saturday and I was very nervous that the whole morning would be ruined. We missed the opening show at the gate and when we walked in it was like there was no one there! I've never seen the park so empty - it was eerie. We split up with Trevor and I headed to Space Mountain and Ryan and Drew to Fantasyland to ride the Dumbo Ride. Trevor and I got to ride Space Mountain twice with no wait and picked up a FastPass for later. Drew and Ryan rode Dumbo, the carousel, and Snow White and got a picture with Mary Poppins before Trevor and I rejoined. Trevor did get a pic with Stitch and autograph but it is on my phone and not the real camera.

Once in Fantasyland we hit Peter Pan's Flight and Its A Small World - both with very little wait and then Ryan and Trevor did Snow White (Drew was too scared to ride again) and then headed to use the Space Mountain Fastpass. Drew and I did the carousel, ran into her wicked stepsisters and step-mom and rode Whinnie the Pooh.

We met the guys coming off of Space Mountain and headed for Buzz Lightyear - another ride where you get to shoot at stuff while spinning around in a little car. The line doubled within 30 seconds of us getting in it - I felt like we were just ahead of the game hitting all the stuff just right. I am also proud to say that I won this time with 170,000 points to Ryan's 115,000. He is having trouble dealing with that and would have made us ride it again I think if the line hadn't been too long... After that we rode the Tomorrowland Transit Authority and then headed to the Haunted Mansion. Same thing there - line doubled in size right after us.

At this point Drew was asking to go back to the hotel and complaining of being hungry so it was time to split up again with the boys going to Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain Railway (rollercoaster) while we went in search of princesses.


We crossed into Adventureland and saw Jasmine who was just going on break and Ariel who was just going on break and finally wandered around to the Main Princess Viewing area (moved from Fantasyland due to construction). We waited only about 20 minutes and got to see Snow White, Belle, and Cinderella. Drew entertained everyone in line with her retelling of the Cinderella story (with me cast as the Cinderella in rags and she as the Fairy Godmother). When we got to the ball she took over as Cinderella because she was wearing the pretty dress and I got to be the prince. From there we headed right back to Ariel and were second in line to see her and Prince Eric after their break.

After this it was lunchtime and the natives were starting to get a little restless. Thanks to the quiet park for the first hour that we were there, we have done a lot on our list today so we decided to hit the castle show and then head out of the park to rest and come back later. It is getting crazy crowded and kind of hot and it is not worth it.

Here is the mas of humanity behind us. Off to the hotel for some R&R and we'll return after dinner for more fun and adventure...

Seaworld

Here is a little video to start our day...

When we first arrived at the park it was a little deserted. We came armed with a plan like we do at Disney (although generated by yours truly) and were a little underwhelmed. Many things didn't open right away. We did find the opportunity to get up close and personal with some sea lions and even got to feed them. Drew's accuracy rewarded the birds though...

The first show that we saw was Clyde and Seamore Take Pirate Island. It was a really cute show starring some zany humans, two sea lions, an otter and a huge walrus. Drew really enjoyed it and there were some mistakes that made it all the more charming...

The second show that we saw was called Pets Ahoy and it was a really cute show of dogs, cats, pigs, birds, and rats - all rescued from shelters (well maybe not the rat). The animals did amazing things and the kids really had a good time. It was an indoors show and we didn't get any pictures...

Getting ready to feed the sharks...

We got to explore the manatee area just before the next show...

Drew is already asking to go back to the hotel but we promise her just one more show and then we can go to Shamu's Happy Harbor kids area. The Blue Horizons show was the best one of the day. It was a dramatic tale with a beautiful girl, bad guys, acrobatics and diving, dolphins, birds, and a false killer whale - the big black guy you see in the photo below...

Much to Drew's happiness we wandered over to Shamu's Happy Harbor - the area with kiddie rides such as Jazzy Jellies, Ocean Commotion, and Swishy Fishies - rides just her size. She enjoyed riding them and wouldn't even venture on the tame kiddie roller coaster, Shamu Express. There was this enormous climbing and slide structure in the center and we let the kids go at it. Drew had taken off her bracelet that has our phone number on it because it was bothering her and we didn't give them very detailed instructions but sent them up and waited at the bottom for her. Ryan wandered off to get adult beverages and I tried to keep an eye on the kids. About every 5-7 minutes I would get in a panic because I couldn't find them and then I would spot one and relax a little and look for the other. A little bit after Ryan got back with the beer, I realized that the 4 year old girl who I thought was Drew on the right side of the structure was in fact not Drew and that I hadn't really seen her for a good bit. Trevor came down and I asked him if he had seen her and sent him up to look for her to no avail. So, since I am smaller and more agile than Ryan, I went up to find her. Huge structure of nets and tunnels and I'm wearing sandals and a top that allows you to see all the way to my belly button when I'm on my hands and knees - sorry everyone. I went all the way up and all the way to the other side and no sign of Drew and now it is raining. Frantic call to Ryan while I wonder if I'll ever see baby girl again (and remembering that I jokingly told her earlier in the day that she needed to stay close to us so that we didn't lose her because I had invested a lot of time and energy into her for the last 4 years). I stayed on top, afraid to come down, and finally Ryan called me to say that he had found her looking for us over by a ride. She had a found an adult to help her look for her Daddy in the orange shirt and she was pretty distraught. She was scared we would be mad but I was so happy she wasn't being sodomized in some bathroom somewhere I was beside myself. I think she may need therapy after this trip...

Riding the carousel - Drew is on one of those hideous Anglerfish that live deep in the ocean and have a protruding light off their forehead that you saw in Finding Nemo...

Waiting to see Shamu with souvenirs and snack - yes those are hot pretzels shaped like Orca whales and Ryan is drinking a $6 aluminum bottle of Bud Light Lime...

Our last show of the day was "Believe" at Shamu theater. We almost decided to skip it because people had remarked all day that the Orca show just wasn't the same since the tragedy that happened here last February when the trainer was killed. However, I felt you couldn't really see Seaworld unless you saw Shamu. It was a decent show and there was even a baby who was born in October that played around a bit.

For dinner we ate at Shark's Underwater Grill which is a restaurant in a tank. They say to show up at 1000 am to make reservations, which we did, but I think the restaurant is losing its popularity. We had very expensive, ordinary food but it was fun.

Seaworld was a little disappointing for the grown ups after all that Disney has to offer. They give you a second day free with admission and we had toyed with the idea of coming back here on Sunday but I don't think we will. We saw all but one of the shows and some of the other exhibits are on par with what you see at St. Louis Zoo - stingrays and penguins and such. The kids enjoyed themselves and we made it home in time for 800 bedtime. Tomorrow is Magic Kingdom and Drew is getting her hair curled and wearing make-up for her special princess day. The park opens at 800am so we have an early morning ahead of us. We've never done Magic Kingdom in one day so wish us luck! No idea what is on tap for Sunday but we'll figure it out...

Here is a closing video...