Day 4 of fun - Seaworld

The pre-Sea World plan:

We were going to get up early to arrive at Sea World slightly before 9:00. Then we could spend 4-5 hours in Sea World, and get back to the hotel early. Once we got back to the hotel, we would have time to relax and pack, as Friday is busy. This would be pretty simple, as Jacob and Ally, in the past 3 years, have never both slept in past 7:30.

The pre-Seaworld reality:

Matt wakes up, checks his watch, and thinks it must be broken. It says 8:30, and everyone in the hotel room is still sleeping. He checks again a couple times, then checks a clock in the hotel, which also says 8:30. Sure, Jacob was up until 11:00 the night before, and Ally was too (although she napped), but this type of sleeping in is unprecedented. So, we decided to just get ready, and we would get to Sea World when we could.

Seaworld:

By the time we got everyone fed, dressed, got bags packed, drove to the lot, then took tram in, it was 10:30. After a short walk through the park, we arrived at the amusement park area for kids(Shamu's Happy Harbor) just before 11:00. The surprising thing was, there were no lines at all. The Shamu show stated at 11:00, so no one was at the amusement park. Jacob and Ally went on several rides, many of them multiple times, including a carousel and roller coaster. Jacob probably took 10 rides, while Ally probably only took 6 or so, as Ally decided to spend some time playing in their water play area. Ally was brave enough to try a roller coaster, which was a big step for her in rides. You can see from the pictures, she was excited at times, but a bit nervous at times too. She liked it, but thought it was a bit scary when it tipped sideways. We were only in the amusement park area for an hour, partly since the kids rode everything, and partly since there was a 12:40 show on the other side of the park. This was a show with Elmo, Cookie Monster, Rosita and Abby Caddaby and Grover, and the kids enjoyed it. We expected Zeke to really get excited about Elmo, but he seemed most interested in Grover. We think he has an affection for blue the way Jacob and Ally were obsessed with red.

After the show, we had a (overpriced and not overly tasty) lunch at Sea World before checking out the penguins. It was neat watching them swim around, but after 15 minutes, we were out of the exhibit. Jacob and Ally both decided not to go on the water ride (it had rained some, so the temp was pretty cool), so we headed out.

Overall, we were disappointed in Sea World. The Shamu and Seasame Street shows were good, and so was the fact that the kids got to ride so many rides without waiting in lines. However, the customer service there doesn't seem to helpful, they try to sell things everywhere there (including in the Shamu show, which was very manipulative and overly cheesy even for Mandy), and it just isn't that great of a place. We had fun on our two days there, but we don't think we will ever go back again.

Day 3 of fun - Disneyworld

We had planned that this day of our trip would be all Disneyworld. Our plan was to go back to Hollywood Studios in the AM, then go to Magic Kingdom at night after going back to our apartment for some rest (and cooling off) in the afternoon.

Morning - Disney Hollywood Studios

We arrive at Disney at about 8:30. After taking the tram over, and getting our bag checked, we are in line at 8:45. It does not open until 9:00, but Jacob wants to ride the new Toy Story Mania ride. On Monday night, the ride had a 70 minute line. The line is much shorter first-thing in the AM. We were let in the gates at about 8:50, but everyone was held up behind a rope part-way into the park. With about 5 minutes to go, Disney does a small show prior to letting everyone in, and away we go. Jacob and Mom go to the Toy Story Mania, which only has a 10 minute wait, while Dad, Ally, and Zeke go to the Little Mermaid musical show. (Yes, Ally saw this Monday, but she wanted to see it again.)

After those were over (about 9:30), the kids played in the "Honey I shrunk the kids" play area. Then Mom and Jacob went to the Muppets 3D movie, while Ally, Zeke, and Dad went to the store. Ally and Zeke both liked some things and Ally ended up buying a toy. From there, Jacob, Dad, and Mom went to Star Tours (the star wars show). They have a deal called "baby-swap", where Mom stayed with Ally and Zeke while Dad and Jacob went in first, then Dad stayed with Ally and Zeke while Mom went on the ride. Jacob got to see it twice. (He did not mind.)
From there, we wandered over to see a Playhouse Disney Clubhouse show before heading back to the apartment.

At the apartment - we put Zeke and the kids down for naps at about 1:15. At 2:45, we gave up on Jacob and Ally napping, so Dad took them to the arcade. (Pool was closed because it was raining/thundering.) At 3:45, Zeke was still awake, so we decided to get just get loaded up and head to Magic Kingdom.

Afternoon - Disney Magic Kingdom

We rode the Walt Disney World Railroad after we arrived to get to Mickey's Toontown Fair. After playing in the playground (named something cute and county fair-ish that I can't remember), we headed into Mickey's house. It is very well done with lots of cute touches, but the main attraction is out back in the Judges' Tent where we finally got to meet Mickey. It was a long and winding line, but moved pretty quickly. Jacob and Ally were amazingly patient and Zeke did pretty well too. When it was finally our turn, Zeke stayed with Mom, but Jacob and Ally asked for autographs and posed for many pictures. They do such a great job keeping the lines moving, but also letting each family have special time with the Mouse!

We tried to meet the princesses, but the line was 75 minutes long. We promised Ally that princesses would be at the top of our agenda on Friday and moved on. Jacob rode the kiddie coaster with Matt (Goofy's Barnstormer), but Ally decided it was too fast. She is her mother's daughter!

Next it was on to Fantasyland and the Mad Tea Party. Matt stayed with Zeke while Ally, Jacob and I spun and spun til we thought we would spin right out of the park! Ally was the patrol woman- she'd yell spin and we'd all spin the wheel as fast as we could, then she'd yell TOO FAST and we'd stop til she was ready again. Fun!

Since we started talking about Disney World, we have told the kids about the Flying Dumbo ride- it was one I knew we could all ride. I'd been warned the lines can be very long, but we didn't have to wait too much. The boys rode in one elephant and the girls in another and a fun time was had by all. It was Ally's highlight of the day until our next stop, which may be the highlight of the trip for her.

We had headed to Fantasyland with hopes of stopping at Ariel's Grotto since we'd skipped the other princesses. When we arrived the line was 60 minutes, so we had thought we'd wait, but it didn't seem that long. Since there is a playground in front of the line, the kids were able to play while we waited in a line that didn't seem to move (we later found out Ariel was on a break then). Eventually, we started moving and Matt took Zeke to wander around a bit while we waited. At last we were able to catch a glimpse of Ariel and she was soooo beautiful and really took time with every child. Ally was absolutely amazed to be sitting next to a real live mermaid. I think it was even more amazing because Ariel spoke!

It was time to find a place to eat and stake out our spot to watch the Spectro Magic Parade. It was late, but the kids were very good waiting. We sat in Liberty Square and strolled Zeke in place to get him to sleep a bit. It was crowded, but the parade was amazing. Jacob's favorite part was seeing Peter Pan and Smee. Ally loved seeing Ariel and Flounder and hearing her say "Look Flounder, look at all those humans!" She is convinced Ariel looked right at her and recognized her.

After the parade, Ally said she didn't want to stay for the fireworks (which were 10 minutes away), but since Zeke was wide awake, we told her she could ride back to the Monorail in his stroller. We gave both Jacob and Ally ear plugs, but Jacob still covered his ears. The fireworks were great, but Ally was in the stroller and actually fell asleep half-way through. After the fireworks we took the monorail back to the parking lot, the tram back to the van, then headed back to the hotel.

Here are some photos:

Day 2 of fun - Seaworld

Tuesday - Seaworld

Tuesday was a half-day of amusement parks, as Matt attended some paper sessions with the conference early in the day. By noon, however, the family was at SeaWorld.

A few notes: Florida in July is hot. Florida in July at noon is hotter, and Florida, in July, at noon, and on the pavement of a large parking lot is almost unbearable.

After a 5-10 minute walk in this heat, everyone was really hot before we even got started. There then was a line to redeem the "buy one day, get the 2nd free" promotion, so it was about 1:00 before we got in and got going.

We walked aimlessly and saw the Shamu stadium. There was a show at 1:30, so we decided to grab seats. Both Jacob and Ally liked the show, although Ally was so excited she decided to take a nap. Overall, it was quite entertaining. It began to rain really hard during the show, so when the show was over, we headed to the next building over to avoid the rain as much as possible. We saw the arctic exhibit, with beluga whales, walrus and a polar bear there. After that, we grabbed a late lunch while seeing a show that including parrots, groundhogs, Kangaroos, and more, and decided just to head back to the hotel (it was about 4:00). Since we have another day there, we will be back Thursday to do rides. We also realized our plan for the other days of going for 3-4 hours in the morning, coming home to cool off and let Zeke nap for 3 hours, then going back in the evening, is a good plan. That is what we will do the next three days.

Back at the hotel, everyone went to the pool to cool off and have fun - and now we are just waiting for pizza to be delivered before getting the kids to bed at a reasonable hour.

The kids decided we will go back to Disney Hollywood Studios tomorrow AM, then go to Magic Kingdom at night.

Here are today's photos:

First days of vacation

Saturday
We had packed the van (Tallulah) Friday night, including an outfit for the kids. Saturday morning, the grown-ups were up by 4:50 AM, showered, and the kids were up at 5:05 AM. The kids just loaded into the van in their jammies, and after getting the last things loaded, we were on the road at 5:30 AM.
For a day of driving that started at 5:30 AM in PA, and then went through MD, VA, NC, SC, before ending in Savanna, GA, the kids did very well. We checked into the hotel at 7:45 PM, and Matt, Jacob, and Ally went for a quick swim. Everyone then went to bed to prepare for Sunday.
Pictures from Saturday:

Sunday:

Nothing too eventful. Swimming in AM. Drive 4.5 hours from Savanna to Orlando. Get Disneyworld and Seaworld tickets (we pre-purchased through a discount broker). Eat during a massive thunderstorm. Etc.

Monday (Day 1 of fun - Disneyworld).

We decided to break this day into two parts - an AM trip to Animal Kingdom, followed by rest, then a PM trip to Disney Hollywood studios.

Animal Kingdom:

We arrived at 9:00, and got in easily. Wow, the employees here know their stuff. They are all well trained, and we never had a "what do we do now" moment. When arriving at a place as big as this, that is surprising.

We started with getting pictures with Lilo and Stitch with the kids. This was followed by a safari trip where we saw Giraffes, Flamingos, Elephants, Lions, etc. Ally's favorite animals were the "pretty birds" (flamingos), Jacob's favorite animals were "all of them", and Zeke's (based on his pointing and babbling) were the giraffes.

After this, we noticed the lines to meet the characters were empty, so we met Donald Duck, Goofy, and Minnie Mouse in a 10-minute stretch. We were then close to the lion king musical show, so we got in line. The wait was about 20 minutes, but we got 2nd row seats and the show was great. Both Jacob and Ally loved it. Zeke, however, cried a lot. Thankfully, it was so loud that when one of us would hold Zeke, the other (separated by Jacob in between) couldn't even hear him crying, so we don't think he disturbed anyone.

After the show, it was time to head back to the hotel to cool off.

Disney Hollywood Studios:

We began our afternoon by seeing Beauty and the Beast, which is a condensed version of the movie. Ally was transfixed immediately and Jacob said it was MUCH better than he expected.

Next, we saw The Magic of Disney Animation. Matt and Jacob headed out right after the movie to hit their first roller coaster of our trip- the Rock n' Roller Coaster featuring Aerosmith. It goes from 0 to 60 mph in 2.8 seconds. They both loved it.

Ally, Zeke and I wandered around a little in the Animation area and then the princess store outside the Little Mermaid show. Needless to say, that may be Ally's favorite store in the whole wide world! I convinced her there may be another princess store in Magic Kingdom, so she decided to wait to buy anything. She did ask me to take a picture of her favorite toys so she would remember.

The highlight for Ally was the "Voyage of the Little Mermaid" show, though the wait was a little long. Again, the show is a condensed version of the movie told with lots of puppetry in black light for the fish etc. Zeke was a little more interested in this show, but still was near tears the whole time. Maybe a more manly show will be less upsetting...

We walked around the park a bit and ended up with pizza and pictures in front of the Muppets fountain. We are going to decide tonight whether to go back to Animal Kingdom, Disney Studios or do a little at Epcot.

Welcome to our family blog and Ally's haircut

Welcome to our family blog

We decided to start a family blog to track out adventures in Disneyworld and after. We will post our adventures here. The two benefits of this are to keep everyone who is interested (both of you) informed of what we are doing, and it will be a log for us to remember fun details of life that sometimes are forgotten years, months, or even days later.

Ally's Haircut

Last week Ally got a haircut. She got over 10 inches cut off her hair, and she sent it into locks of love. We have some before and after pictures. In case you can't tell from the after pictures, Ally really likes her new haircut!