Florida - Day 8

Today we decided to go back to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. We had one more day in those parks.



And we made the most of it. After getting there and having some parking issues we headed into the park for some more fun. We decided to start in Universal Studios and finish up the things that we didn’t get to yesterday. Montana went on Revenge of the Mummy and said it was so scary.



Then we headed to Men In Black – Alien Attack. Mason went with Montana and enjoyed it so much that he went on it with me. After that we had to head back to Curious George’s Playarea. Montana took Mason on ET and then I went with Mason. And then we headed to Woody Woodpecker’s rollercoaster for one final spin! The boys wanted to play in the water stuff with George so they played for a minute and then we headed over to Islands of Adventure. We started there in Dr. Seuss Land. We grabbed some lunch and then took the boys on Cat in the Hat. It scared Peyton a little bit but he did okay. Then we went on One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. After that it was the Caro-Seuss-al and then the Trolley Ride. Peyton had a pretty good time on the rides. He cried on the fish one but we were mean parents and made him go on it! In between all of those rides, we met Sam I Am, Thing 1, Thing 2, Cat in the Hat, and the Grinch!




Then we headed on over to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter! It was so neat to walk through Hogsmeade after reading the books.



It was so crowded in this part of the park. Montana wanted to ride on the Dragon Challenge and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to or not. So we headed to the exit with our escort…kids and all! And it was uphill the entire way. Montana rode on it and loved it but I decided against it. The wait for this ride was 90 minutes so we figured it was so busy because everybody was waiting for others that were standing in that line. Thanks to our pass, we were in and out in about 10 minutes! Then we decided to head over to the family friendly coaster…except we went the wrong way. We followed the crowds and headed into Hogwarts.



We wandered to the entrance and into the child swap area. I decided to go first with Mason. We got on the ride and I instantly knew this was not the coaster I had originally thought it was. Mason held my hand the entire time. It turns out it was Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. It was quite scary. And it made me a little sick. So then Montana went on it by himself and Mason was a little upset with me…understandably. Next we headed to the family friendly coaster – for real! We went on the Flight of the Hippogriff. Mason went on it four times and loved it so much each time. As we were headed out of Harry Potter, we decided that we needed to try some butterbeer!



Montana got one that was a regular drink and then one that was more like a slushy. The slushy one was so much better than the regular one…and they were delicious! Next we headed into Jurassic Park Land.



We rode on the Jurassic Park River Adventure ride. It was cool. We rode a boat through the ‘park’ and saw dinosaurs and then finished it off with a huge downhill portion that soaked us! It felt really good cause it was so hot and humid. Then we headed to the Pteranadon Flyers. You have to have a child with you to be able to ride it. So Mason and I rode this one and had a blast.



Then we headed back to Toon Lagoon where we ended yesterday. We rode on Ripsaw Falls and again got SOAKED.



Then Montana and Mason headed to Popeye’s Barge Ride and got even more wet…if that is even possible!



We had about 30 minutes left before the park closed so Montana and Mason rode on Spiderman one more time! As they were riding that one, I realized that we still had a free picture to redeem. As I looked closely at the coupon, I realized that we were standing right in front of one of the places to redeem it. So, when Montana and Mason were done, we headed over there. It was one where they take your face and put it on a body. The only requirement is that Peyton had to be in the picture. So we decided to pick one that the three boys could do together. We chose a Star Wars one and it turned out perfectly. After we got the picture, we headed out of the park, returned the stroller, and headed to the car. We made it back to the village in time to hit up the Halloween Party. Montana ordered and waited for our dinner from Katie’s Kitchen while I took the boys around to the candy stations. They ended up with tons of candy. Then we headed back to the villa to eat dinner and crash!



Oh, and our present on the table today was a small lap blanket for Peyton and another game - Learning to...Share Fun Park Game.



What a day! Tomorrow is our last Disney day. I’m kinda sad that it’s coming to an end but we are getting ready to be back home!

Florida - Day 7

I feel like it's been a long day....and it has! It started with church at 9AM this morning. It was about 10 minutes down the road from the village. It was really good and I'm glad we went. And it was still raining...I don't think it stopped all night long. We went back to the village after church, changed our clothes and were getting ready to get some lunch. And then somebody knocked on our door. They were delivering our present for the day. We got CandyLand...the GKTW version.



Then we packed up our bags and headed to lunch. We ate in the Ice Cream Palace and of course we had to eat ice cream when our lunch was gone.




At this point, the rain had stopped for a little bit and then started again. Then we headed over to Universal Studios for a few hours.




The rain stopped for a little bit while we walked to the park. We walked into the park and saw Dora and Diego.



I was digging through the bag looking for autograph books and realized that I had left them at the village. The staff member that was with Dora and Diego said that if we waited a minute, he would contact the team leader and see if she could get us books to use for today since we forgot ours. So we stood around for a little while until she got there. And then she had Montana go and sign something before we got the books. They were official Universal Studios autograph books with pens included! And the boys got them for FREE! Then the team leader took us over to see Shrek.



And then we headed to Shrek 4D while the team leader took the autograph books and got lots of autographs for the boys. We didn't even have to find the characters! Then we headed towards ET...in the rain. We had covered the strollers with our SeaWorld ponchos and then we had our umbrellas as well. So everybody stayed pretty dry. Mason loved ET and wants to go back tomorrow!



Then we went to Woody Woodpeckers Roller Coaster.



After that, we headed into Curious George's play area.





We weren't trying to get wet (it's a water park thing) and the boys were trying to play in the non wet zones. Well, they headed up to the 2nd level to play with the squirt guns when a bucket of water spilled down the roof...and soaked the boys!





Peyton wasn't happy but he survived. Then we headed to Jaws since this park was closing soon. Montana wasn't too impressed.




So I decided not to wait in line and headed to the Simpsons Ride instead. Mason and I went on that and it made me sick to my stomach. We decided to leave the park and head over to Islands of Adventure since they were still open for a couple more hours. We got over there and went to the Marvel Comics area. Montana rode the Hulk coaster while I fed the kids a snack. Then I went on Hulk! It was so crazy and so fun! I think Montana's gonna try to go again tomorrow. Then Montana and Mason went on Spiderman...twice. We headed to Toon Lagoon and Mason and I decided to go on Popeye's boat ride thing. Everybody was wearing their ponchos so we decided to put ours on too! And we sure were glad we did! It was so much fun and when we got done, we were covered in water, despite the fact that we wore our ponchos. And Mason wants to take Montana on that one tomorrow as well. Then we headed back to the car and back to the village. When we got to our villa, we unloaded and ordered pizza for dinner. The boys promptly crashed when their heads hit their pillows! And now I'm gonna sleep so that we can run around Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure tomorrow!