My first trip to US and IOA today

[pantherlj]

We got to the parking entrance around 8:30 and there were no cars in line, good sign! Got to ticket booth and again, no line. Yipee!

Headed to Mummy first thing and that was probably the worst mistake of the day. I should have started with Jimmy Neutron but had "read" to keep going to Mummy before the crowds got bad (no crowds all day) . My almost 7 year old didn't really enjoy it and I think it turned her off all rides with "drops" in them for the rest of the day She wasn't scared of the mummy stuff. She thought we went upside down and thought she was going to fall out of her seat. She was brave enough to go on it a second time after I explained that she really didn't go upside down but later in the day at Dudley, she went through the queue and started telling me she just couldn't do it and took the chicken exit with DH. Turns out she said she didn't want to do the drop and feel weightless like she did on Mummy.

Ok - back to the day. Went on Mummy - walk on 2 times in a row. Went to Jaws but it was closed until 10:30. MIB was walk on. Went to Simpsons - not sure if it was working right? Got in queue and was moving really slow so gave up. The girls were getting really hot. Went back to Jaws and it just opened so was walk on. 10 yr got her shoes wet and that ruined the next 2 hours - she was so uncomfortable. Finally realized I should just give her my socks Decided to do easy rides for 6 year old - had fun at Jimmy Neutron and then Shrek. Maybe 10 min wait for both rides. Went to early lunch at Hard Rock - had a great waitress and good meal.

It was really hot today and DD (almost 7 - this Sat!) loves dinos so we headed to IOA to Camp Jurassic after lunch. DH was awesome and walked all the way back to the car for flip flops for all of us since we wanted to do water rides. We had planned on US all day but it was too hot.

Spiderman was only 5 min wait but we were on a dino mission so skipped it (will do in a couple of days). The girls had a blast in camp Jurassic exploring. DH and I enjoyed it as well - the water fights were fun. The caves are neat. We spent a lot of time exploring. Did Jurassic Park river ride. I thought DD would love it - she enjoyed the dinos but again hated the drop. Poor kid. Older DD and DH did it again while we shopped for dino stuff in the gift shop. Off to Dudley (see above - chicken exit). 10 yr old and I loved it.

DD 6 agreed to do Popeye. We went on it and all loved it! We laughed so much. We pulled up to the exit and nobody was in line so I asked if we could just stay in the boat and they agreed. A large group joined us and they were a lot of fun. We got to the exit and again no line so we all asked to stay and they let us. 3 times in a row .... not sure how I got more wet the 3rd time than the first 2 :0

We left after that. Not sure how the girls found the energy to go to the slide at the neighborhood pool (windsor hills) for 1 1/2 hours after dinner!

Overall, great day!

DD 6 best part of the day - going up to the Olive Oil ship to get revenge on the people that squirted her

[Jonny_Duck]

Sounds like you had a great time...Thanks for sharing!

[macraven]

even though it was hot and the kids had moments of fear, sounds like you had a swell time at the park.

i won't be around on saturday but tell dd 7 for me.

[Purseval]

Nothing feels better on a hot Florida day than a ride on the barges. I'm glad it wasn't crowded so you got to ride it multiple times. Our last time there (in July) there was a 90 minute wait so we skipped it and dunked our heads under some of the water streams coming off of the comic book characters.

Just as a warning, if you child was afraid of the Mummy drop she may be absolutely terrified by the Spiderman drop. You may want to check it out yourself first. Again, it isn't an actual drop it just appears to be. One thing you can do if you don't think she can handle it is to have her close her eyes (or cover her eyes with your hand). Since you aren't actually "falling" that may keep her from getting startled.

[fanoforlando]

gah!!! we never get lucky getting on rides so easy! Every time we go it seems like the wait is over 2 hours per ride...


must be unlucky i guess

[DeblovesPoohbear]

I love the Mummy but it scared my 7 yr old son the 1st time he rode it too
He wants to give it another try on our next trip though
I think it was the dark mostly, he hates the dark