Sea World

It was Friday and we had been going at a good pace for a week, needless to say, feet were tired, faces a bit sun burnt, body's a bit restless, energy a bit spent, and patience hard to find at times. This day turned out to be a comedy of errors! We had a slow start, all needed a little extra sleep. After one very expensive McDonald's breakfast (no dollar menu in Orlando) delivered to the room by Gent, we were off to Sea World. Once in Sea World, extra energy was still hard to find and everyone was a bit irritable, it was a hot day, and lines seemed to be very long. The Adults commented that we were not in Disney anymore. We did some stingray petting and bought refillable(?) drink mugs to help with the heat. We caught two shows this day, the first was a whale and dolphin show that was nice and then the Big Spectacular Shamu Show called "Believe". We all left as partial believers, as it was not that great. The Killer Whales were neat but the show was lacking. The best part was watching Cort get into the Shamu Hand Cheer, it was silly!!! =) We left the park early this day to get a good start on Saturday. We stopped by Bennigan's for dinner on the way back to the hotel as we were all very hungry. Pulling into the Parking lot the Armada began to smell like burnt rubber and as I got out to inspect the car, noticed smoke coming from the hood. We went in and sat down, but I was no longer hungry. All I could think about was being eight hours from home on a Friday night with a broken down car. I thought it might be a belt to the air-conditioning, and halfway through the meal I decided to drive it around the parking lot to see how serious the problem may be. Much to my relief, the smell and smoke were gone and never returned! Some prayers are answered very quick! The meal from then on was great and the kids all had balloon animals made by a storytelling Florida local (Know the number one choking hazard for kids? Balloons, would your kids like one?). Austin got a bear, Livy a pink kitty, Brenner a Florida gator, Cayden a motorcycle and Mia a butterfly that turned back into a caterpillar before the end of the night. Back at the room the Mommies and little ones headed for bed, and the Daddy's and the boys headed for the Pool for a night time swim. The kids truly loved the pool!

Disney Studios

Thursday in Disney Studios- This day we got up early to get ready for Disney Studios and also to change hotels. As the dinning plan was part of the hotel reservation, we did not want it for the days we were going to be at sea world, so we moved from Pop Century to Disney's All Star Movie Resort. It was fun to have a new and different room, although the beds did not get any softer or bigger, they were not very comfortable throughout the trip, but other than that, Disney Hotels are great! They where great with keeping track of our bags, the grounds were immaculate and fun, and the kids loved the nice pool areas. We said good bye to the Bowling Pins, Big Play dough Cans and "BIG" Wheels of Pop, and Hello to Herby the Love Bug, Sorcerer Mickey and Giant Movie Click Boards. Disney Studios was a fun surprise, of all the parks, this one was the least anticipated but turned out to be really fun! Once again the kids found a playground but this time it was "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" themed and very fun. It was as if they were as small as bugs playing in giant blades of grass, with slides and hiding areas and a giant Spider Web in one corner, a giant garden hose squirted water and Brenner once again got very wet! That boy and water are magnets, much to Daddy's frustration at times (His shoes seemed to be wet most of the trip). We had Wraps and Hot dogs for lunch at the Back Lot Catering Co. and headed for the "Stunt Spectacular", a fast pace fire and action filled stunt show that all enjoyed. The look on the boy's faces said it all, they loved it! Mia's turn was next with "The Beauty and the Beast Musical", She was dancing and singing in Mommy's lap, while Brenner looked at the floor and plugged his ears because he thought it was a Girl Thing, he lost out because it was very neat. Before the day was done we had been on the movie sets of Indiana Jones, The Little Mermaid, Star Wars, and the adults went on the Tower of Terror, Brenner decided to sit this one out- Chicken, Bock, Bock, Bock!!! To use up our daily "snack" we got two huge pretzels and two frozen lemonades. Fantasmic was the nighttime entertainment and it was truly "Fantasmic"!!! It was raining again by that time and we all had rain ponchos on in attempts to stay dry, but the rain could not put a damper on the show. The boys liked when the Giant Dragon shot fire from his mouth into the lake and the lake erupted in a gulf of flames, the Girls loved the floating Princess Boats and everyone liked it when Sorcerer Mickey and his dream prevailed in the end. Really a great show! We ran after the show to go get dinner at Down Town Disney and ended up making a show of our own. After sitting down at a very fancy floating seafood restaurant and Cort and I all ready to order up a $45 plate of King Crab, Mandy found out it was not on the meal plan (an embarrassing oops on Gent's part!). We all got up and headed for the door and that was the end of the show! We ended up across the bay at Captain Jacks Seafood, and yes they took the last night of our meal plan, whew! After a ferry ride back to the car, the Mommy's and Kido's left with grand intentions of coming back to Down Town Disney for more much needed shopping, after all- we did pass a Giant Disney Store, a Lego Store and a Disney Christmas Shop. On the way to the room the kids all loved to push the buttons to the elevator, and each had to have their equal turn. "whose turn is it this time?" Oh, oh, it's mine they would all say! Maybe we should have stayed home and just found a random elevator somewhere and pushed the buttons for a week, we could have saved some money! =Þ The boy's also loved to try and race the adults to the room by taking the stairs as the adults took the elevator, trust the kids to find the "Free fun" in Orlando!!!