TR: Without the Mouse, Round 2. Flexpasses, Lego & a villa *Final Update Oct 14*

[-Hope-]

Plans look great! A good mix of relaxation and activity, with time to really enjoy shopping and eating.

 

[ixmnrs]

Just subbing in...I hope you have a wonderful trip! Our new puppy, Lexi looks just like your Felix. She's a Havanese as well; she's not old enough to accompany us on our trip this summer so she'll be spoiled at home by the in-laws. I'll be following along as we're scheduled to go to Universal this summer for the first time.

 

[old lady]

I need some time off from the mouse and so does the mouse.

 

[coastgirl]

Oooh, ixmnrs, a Havi puppy! Ours is not yet a year, but I'm already thinking "aww, puppy..." when you say that! I'll make sure to get some pics of our little girl in Fl. Everyone tells me it's no issue taking her across the border as long as we have her rabies cert. I'll take notes... She's pretty much stopped growing, and she's only 7.3 lbs, so she should fit handily into the space available under the next row of sets on the plane.

 

[ixmnrs]

She's pretty much stopped growing, and she's only 7.3 lbs, so she should fit handily into the space available under the next row of sets on the plane.

That will be a sight to see! Have a great flight!

 

[coastgirl]

Saturday was brutal. Due to unexpected and unpleasant complications, dh and I ended up getting Zero sleep Friday night. Zer.Oh. I didn't know I could keep going that long. The car came for us at 4:30. It was raining so hard we got soaked getting our luggage out. But have to say, taking a car is the way to go, all other things being equal. (Cost was pretty much a wash, seeing as we're not paying for airport parking.)

We arrived almost 90 minutes before our flight, and it still took every minute to get through. We waiting in lines, and when we weren't waiting, we were running to get to the next line. It was the same thing in Montreal, and I think we must've also walked about 5 km there from domestic to trans-border. In Mtl we had enough time to let the dog out of her kennel to have some water and kibble, but we didn't have any food anywhere. (We didn't have b'fast because we were sure we'd have time at the airport. Nope.) I paid $20 for four bottles of juice/water and a sleeve of potato chips. On the second flt they had food for sale, and with no sleep and no food, I was way too impressed by the add-boiling-water cup of oatmeal. It was warm, sweet, and food. I was happy.

For all the running, everything went well. (Except for the rude, slightly odd guy who really wanted to keep his window seat in the row with my two kids, leaving me to sit across the row. I offered him my aisle seat in the adjacent row but he refused. THe seats were so broken up, the FAs were moving people NOT voluntarily so really little kids could be with a parent.) I expected grief from customs for the dog and/or the kibble in my bag, but she hardly got a glance. She didn't love the whole journey, was trembling in her carrier, and did NOT want to go back in every time we had to take her out for security, but she was a little trooper, and she's happy as a clam now.

Got in MCO at noon, on time. We ended up renting with Alamo, and I had checked in online. Easiest. Rental. Ever. We saw people lined up at the desk in the terminal. We walked by. We saw people milling around the booth in the garage. We walked by. We dithered over what car in the row we liked best, and ended up with a double upgrade to a Camry (booked a compact). Showed our paperwork at the gate, and were off. The car we picked has Iowa plates, and someone asked us if we had driven down from Iowa today--so we have since decided that we will pretend to be Iowans this trip, and confuse anyone who thinks they know what an Iowa accent should sound like! Anyone want to tell me something about Iowa? We are going to google some key facts to help with faking it.

Had planned on Sonic drive through, but the one i had gotten the address for was closed. (And still in their "find a location" database.) Got some other drivethrough and found the house easily enough. It needed a little work, which I was NOT able to take in stride after the day I'd had...found out a few hours later they had just upgraded the AC and there was crud from that blowing everywhere. They should've allowed for an extra clean after that, but not the big deal I thought, and easily remedied. And the AC is fabulous, works great. I was afraid this heat would tax it and we would be lukewarm at best, but it's super, need to pull up the blankets at night! Emerald Island is a very nice neighbourhood. We feel quite safe and comfortable, the neighbours say hi to each other, and it's handy to everything we need.

We had planned to go to Seaworld after we settled in on Saturday, but dh and I were just too tired. OMG, we went to Target to shop, and I was punchy. I was throwing everything into the cart, laughing and talking to the clerks and other customers, we were so tired! We had dinner somewhere...it's all blurry!...and got settled, and went to bed. Oh, that's what we had for supper, something ready to eat from Target, nuked at home.

Sunday got us to two parks--up next. But my dd is begging me to come to the pool, and the computer is not waterproof.

 

[ixmnrs]

Glad you got all settled in. I hate travel days as well; we got tagged in customs last trip and 'reprimanded' because our daughter had candy in her luggage which we didn't declare as food on the form. Good Grief...How was Felix on the flight? Thanks for the update and hope the rest of the trip is more relaxing!

 

[wiigirl]

Following along.

 

[-Hope-]

Wowzer, what a start! Exhausting! Travel days are no fun when well rested, much less when running on empty. My mantra at the airport, in the car, etc. is always, "This is worth it to get where we're going."

I'm glad you made it through the day regardless of lack of sleep and can't wait to read more!

 

[coastgirl]

Ixmnrs, Feliz is doing well. It's a different routine for her, and she's spending time in her crate while we're out, but she doesn't mind the crate so much, and I think she's happier with us than left home boarding somewhere. She chased a gecko by the pool the other day, and she is loving the new things to sniff when we go for walks. I have taken her into the pool in my arms a couple of times, mostly with her hind feet in and not much else. I think before we leave she will be in the pool--she's being shy about it, and scrambled out when I let her go, but she's curious enough that she still hangs around the edge fo the pool. I think she's good for our personal balance...we will only leave her 4-5 hours at a time MAX, so we can't go killing ourselves at the parks. As always, she's good for us.

Welcome, wiigirl. Do you have a trip in the works?

Adding some photos for the first part...

4:30 am. She's ready to go.


We had planned to wear our robes to the airport, but as I said, it was pouring. I decided to make do with just my Ravenclaw tie. Note, blurry pic taken by blurry child of suitably blurry mom.



I have more updating ready, but I'll try to solve the picture problem tomorrow and post the pics and text at the same time.

 

[coastgirl]

Sunday, we didn't get going too quickly. We put on our "family tshirt" that morning, everyone with a personalized to-do list on the front. We made it to Waffle House pretty much at 9:00. I thought it would be slow, but I forgot it was Sunday! We weren't the only ones getting a slow start. But we got a great table in the corner, and a great server named Ell. The shirts were a great conversation starter, and Ell was pleased to see Waffle House on ds' and dh's shirts.



We had a good breakfast. Dh loves Waffle House (after all, he put it on his shirt!), and I like it too.

After Waffle House we made our way to Universal/Islands of Adventure. We didn't get there until after 10, and it was crazy full. And hot. We made our way into the Wizarding World, and grabbed a butter beer at the Hogshead. All the tables had "reserved" signs on them, anyone know what's up with that? I picked one up and moved it so we could sit down with our drinks. It was so neat to be in Hogsmeade. It was crowded but there are so many details to observe. After that we wandered off and decided to line up for Hippogriff. It was posted at 35 minutes but only took about 20. Even in the Hippogriff queue, we noticed so many neat things, like hippogriff kibble. (Sack o' ferrets, anyone?)





Hippogriff was fun, though too short. A nice first ride for us. After that we went to Filch's and did a little shopping. First set of purchases included our house lanyards, and baseball hats (a nice compromise for heat protection, and something my kids would wear). We're not really baseball hat fans, but these are great. It was crowded, and so we decided to head out, but we ran across no line at Dragon Challenge. Now, that's really pretty risky for us. We are not thrill riders. We were bolstering each other all along the queue. Dh was going to hold our new swag, so the three of us got on. The queue there was interesting too, and I'd like to go back when there's less of a rush. We all three screamed our way through, but only dd closed her eyes. We were very pleased with ourselves for doing it! And I think it will break the ice for us to do some of the scarier rides in future.

On the way out we stopped at Honeyduke's, and walked out with a chocolate frog and some Bertie Bott's Beans. We were happy to have visited Hogsmeade, and we made our way back to the car.

A couple of hours at home, some pool time, and then we wanted to head out to Seaworld. It was the last night for Summer Nights, and we headed straight for "Sealions Tonight", which was short, but lots of fun. We got nosebleed seats, but a decent view. Afterwards we started to head to Atlantis. We walked by "Antartica" and the posted wait was only 20 minutes. I know it's new, so that sounded good. We got in line. The wait was not fun, as you move from chamber to chamber in an "ice cave"...there were a couple of REALLY loud little girls near us, and it was hard on my nerves, I will admit. Harder still because the adults didn't seem interested in quieting them. And it echoed and reverberated in the chambers. The ride was kind of cute, and there was a section with some very pretty light effects. But honestly we found it a little lame, and the "wild'version of the expedition...wasn't. You know the tea cup ride at the Magic Kingdom? Dh called Antartica "iced tea cups". The best part was at the end, when we got to visit the real little penguins. THey are funny, and cute, and the staff member we spoke with there was very happy to talk about these adorable creatures.

So we made it through to Atlantis, and dh volunteered to go, as I wasn't loving the idea of getting wet that late. It was a walk on, and they rejoined me before long. We were really tired, and we thought we'd try to find a vantage point for the fireworks, but they started while we were walking, and we didn't really get to see them. Oh well... But still, we enjoyed both our brief visits that day. Seaworld has a great vibe, so much more laid-back. I think it's so many people who are there for the animals. We are looking forward to going back with more time. Thursday we are dining with Shamu, so will spend more time there then.

 

[coastgirl]

I forgot, Sunday we had dinner at Miller's Ale House near the house on Irlo Bronson. More great service from a guy named Bill. (I need to go to the website and give him a recommendation. Great service.) Really good value, and tasty food.

Monday...ok, I haven't kept up, so it's getting blurry already.

We got some shopping in again. Some pooltime. Welcome to my happy place. The kids have been allowed snacks in the pool, which makes them feel like they are really indulged. I get to have a fancy drink in the hot tub. Puppy gets to sniff around and chase geckos.

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We planned to head to Islands of Adventure once the crowds decreased. We got there around 6 I believe, and it was so different from the day before. We were carrying the video camera and dd was psyched to go to Ollivanders. Honestly, she was so darn cute I couldn't imaging her NOT getting picked. We got to the line and the attendant said it would be about 20 minutes so we hopped into line. We only had to wait for one show--we were the last ones admitted to the second show after we got in line.

So we were right inside the door, but when the wandmaker came down the stairs, he fixed dd with his eye right away. She said her knees were shaking the whole time. He asked her her name, and drew her up to the counter!

The spells he asked her to do were lumos and aguamente; her brother had been asked to do lumos and accio when he was picked 2.5 years ago (so they were almost exactly the same age when they each got picked, 10 and a
half.) We were not in a great spot to film it, so it's dark, but we got it. It was also a different actor, and a slightly different patter, so it was really wonderful--the "key" elements from the book and movie, but enough to make her experience unique.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sokg1wUzPB4&feature=youtu.be

She was over the moon, as you might imagine.



The team member who checked us out with dd's wand was great. She commented on our Ravenclaw swag (ds and I), and chatted us up. I know people love the staff at WDW, but the staff at the Wizarding World has always been amazing to us.

We went to the Three Broomsticks to celebrate.



We had the great feast.



The Three Broomsticks wasn't too crowded and the wait was reasonable. But I can't endorse the food. It was bland and not fresh. Could've used some bbq sauce. And my family, for the first time I can recall, didn't finish the corn on the cob. :

After that we wandered around some more. We weren't sure we could fit the wand in a locker, but the wait at FJ was only 20 minutes so we tried the locker, and it fit. We didn't even slow down in line until we hit the greenhouses, and in general, there were lots of parts we would've been happy to see more slowly. LOVE the portrait gallery, would enjoy going more slowly there! Smoothly got on. Dh was moved from his middle seat in the bench to an outside seat (swapped with dd), and he's a big guy, but it surprised me that he didn't fit. We just got started and it jerked to a stop, with us a little sideways, but started up quickly, with Harry throwing the line at us "Sorry about that, those benches are a bit dodgey"...so it was ok! We all enjoyed it, and dd even kept her eyes open. (Last time she only rode once, and kept her eyes closed.)

After that we walked out and popped onto Hippogriff again, with virtually no wait. Then a meander out and a little more shopping. We got four caldron cakes to go, then the kids went into Zonko's next door and picked out a couple of pygmy puffs. By the time they were done browsing, the line to check out was snaking around the store and to the door. We tried to talk them out of it, to come back another time, but they were not to be swayed. We waited a looong time, but when we got to the front, the staff was still quite gracious, and happy to do the naming ceremony, and wish us good evening.



Home, some Deathly Hallows (we tried to watch the whole series start to finish the week before we left, but didn't make it), and bed.

It's very hot, and I have to say, our strategy of a few hours at the park, mostly in the evening, is working for us. And lots of ice cream.

 

[coastgirl]

Tuesday. What the heck did we do Tuesday? Seaworld maybe? I honestly can't recall. Sorry! I remember we had dinner at Texas Road House, also on Irlo Bronson. Bleah. It started with dd crying. Yeah. We walked in, got seated, and ordered our drinks. Then dd said "Mom, I don't want to stay here". There were taxidermied animals all over the place, mounted deer heads and stuffed armadillos and stuff. She has recently developed an aversion to dead stuff. (And really, who can blame her? It is kind of weird, when you think of it.) We didn't want to up and leave, as our drinks were coming, and we had already eaten most of a basket of rolls. (Fresh rolls with cinnamon butter. Best thing about the place.) I explained to the hostess and she found us a spot with no dead things in dd's line of sight. But she was still upset, though trying gamely to go along for the rest of us. Our server, and I WON'T post a comment to her bosses like I will to Bill's from the previous night, kind of freaked us out. She just had the look of a strung-out junkie. It was weird. She probably has a medical condition or was just getting over the flu or something, but we're not going back. And the food wasn't good, beyond the rolls. I had pulled pork, which was ok, but I don't think any of us finished anything. And that's all I can attribute to Tuesday. I don't know if we went to a park. Lots of pool time. I think we went back to Target and to Publix, and I was a little less crazed. Puppy is liking the nature trail behind the house, though even at 8 am, it's hot, and we can only manage 20 minutes max before she starts panting.



Yesterday, Wednesday, was another slow day. We started with some shopping. Dh and I wanted to knock off the outlets--our first impression was the deals aren't as good as they used to be. Before we move on to the regular retail, we wanted to have some kid-free shopping time each. So dh dropped me and the kids at Universal and took himself to the Premium Outlets Vineland. Ds and I wanted to see the new Percy Jackson movie (we read the books together, and loved them, in some ways more than Harry Potter). The movies are not nearly as good as the Potter movies, the first one had only a passing resemblance to the book. But we still wanted to see "Sea of Monsters", and dd was dragged along. We went to the Cineplex at City Walk for the 12:00 show, and that place was dead. The snack bar was deserted and we had to yell to get someone to come serve us. There were a total of 9 of us in the theatre. The movie was not bad (also not true to the movie, but closer than the first one, and fun for what it was), and we enjoyed it. Then we had to kill time til dh could pick us up, so we walked around looking for lunch. We didn't see anything that inspired us, and ended up at Schwab's in Universal studios. We all enjoyed the Ben and Jerry's, then walked slowly back to the front to meet dh. The park wasn't too crowded--we saw Lucy and Marilyn basically hanging around waiting to be noticed--though the big rides we were interested in (Transformers and Dispicable Me) still had 90 m+ lines.

He dropped me at the outlet mall and took the kids home. I had about 3 hrs to shop, and had little success. Scored a really cute messenger bag for dd's school bag at Columbia store, and got a bunch of stuff at the Hanes store, but other than that, nada. It POURED from about 4:30 to 6, and all the shoppers were getting caught in stores, as the walks are only sporadically covered. So that was kind of a drag. But I can cross that off my list and move on to regular retail now!

We had planned to go back to US, but it was still raining and thundering, so we headed homeward. We let dd pick supper, and she wanted to try a Mexican place in the neighbourhood. It's called Chuy's, and it's a small chain--I think there's only the one in Orlando. It was GREAT. Our server was fab, explained everything, brought us samples of the sauces, took care of us and made us comfortable. And the food was tasty and fresh. I would say, good Tex-Mex.

Dd wanted to eat off the regular menu (she likes spicy) but ds, at 13, wanted the plainer kid's fare. This was his taco plate. At $5, this was a great deal, and he enjoyed it.


This is my combo plate. Yum. THe enchiladas were my fav. We came home with enough left overs that they were appetizers tonight.

Best meal so far, IMO.

Home, walk the dog, watch a little more Deathly Hallows, and bed.

 

[coastgirl]

Helloooo? Anybody out there? Any questions or anything?

 

[macraven]

sorry, late for the party but i heard the echo.........


just watched the youtube of your darling daughter.
it's so precious!

it was wonderful she was chosen.

you did a good job with the video.



don't you hate the rain when on vacation.........
i've been to the parks when it has poured.
don't like it but it is much better doing the darkside in the rain than sitting in my house.

 

[-Hope-]

Sounds like you're off to a good start! How exciting that dd was picked for the wand choosing.

I'm loving your laid back pace. It just seems so relaxing.

 

[coastgirl]

Macraven, you are right, a rainy day on vacation still beats a day at home! We are thankful we have the chance to be here.

Hope, I am starting to feel a little like we aren't PRODUCTIVE enough--then I remember, I'm on vacation, this isn't a project...as long as we have fun together, we're successful!

Thursday.

We decided to check out Aquatica today. We really loved it last time we were here, and were looking forward to going back. We were later than we'd hoped (a theme here...), and it was close to 10 before we pulled up.

We were eager to get a spot with some shade, and found some partially shaded area near Roa's Rapids (the un-lazy river). Our first stop after getting settled was Tassie's Twister, the "toilet bowl" slide we all remembered. It was already lined up. The line said 30 minute wait, but we lined up anyway. It was more like 20, but still a wait. However, it was great! Dd and I circled the "toilet" about 3 times before we went down--which must be why it's a slow line. We saw while we were up there that there were plenty of shaded areas near Loggerhead Lane. When we were done we gathered our stuff and moved. So, that was probably close to 11 on a busy day, and there was still plenty of shade at Loggerhead Lane.

We went to Loggerhead Lane next, on a couple of double tubes. Love this. We floated around and around for a good long time. It was crowded in some areas, and felt a bit like water bumper cars, but everyone was good natured about it. Loggerhead Lane also has a spot where you can see the dolphins in the dolphin plunge pool, and that was neat too. Then we wandered off and tried Wanua Wave. Another tube slide. Much quicker wait than Tassie, and really, really fun. Then we went to Roa's Rapids, put on life vests, and spent a good long time there too. It has an island at one point where it gets really fast, and has a bit of a surf...again, it was great. We also spent some time during our walking with one of the animal interpretation areas.

Aquatica seems to handle crowds well. Even though there seemed to be tons of people, the walkways didn't seem too crowded, and while there were some lines (notably the Dolphin Plunge), areas like the lazy rivers always have room for a few more. And everyone was in a good mood walking around on a hot day with lots of places to play in the water...I'll bet the heat wasn't so well-tolerated at MK or other crowded spots.

After that we packed up and left. We were there for less than 4 hours, but we were all really tired. There's something about a water park that take it out of you. But we had a good morning. We will go back again, hopefully a bit better planned, and get in some more slides. No pics, no water proof camera. I need to look into that, we have so much fun there but no photo record.

So by then it was 1:30, and we were supposed to be at Seaworld for our Dining with Shamu at 4:00. We stopped on the way home at Waffle House for lunch, and I looked up the reservation number on my phone, to make sure I had it. I did...and it was for Wednesday not Thursday.

*%$!!&* ! We had been really looking forward to that (I even made a set of shirts for the occasion!), AND it was prepaid. As dh ordered my lunch I called Seaworld to confirm my screw up. Yes, we had missed our ressie the previous night, when we were dodging the rain and shopping. I admitted it was my screw-up, and threw myself on the mercy of the phone agent--was anything we could do? She put me on hold, and came back a couple of times to ask me questions. (While I'm standing outside the Waffle House, in the grimy heat, listening to my cell service drop in and out--I was terrified I'd lose the call!) She managed to find us another spot NEXT Wednesday, and she moved our ressie. She was great. I have heard great things about customer service at Seaworld, and I certainly experienced it. So, we will go next week. And I won't forget this time.

After that I ate my cold sandwich at Waffle House and we headed home, stopping at Steak and Shake for some celebratory ice cream. Dinner in last night, some more Deathly Hallows (we're only getting about an hour of tv time a night before we crash), and prepping for today's visit to Legoland!

 

[macraven]

that is great you were able to switch the sw lunch to another date!


lucky ducky......

 

[-Hope-]

Yes, I think fun is more important ghan productivity on vacation. In my plans it looks like we're scheduled every minute but that's just because I enjoy planning. When we're actually in the parks I'm much more laid back.

Aquatica sounds fun! My dd and I love water parks- well I mostly love lazy rivers.

I'm so glad you were able to change the ressie. I hate it when I do things like that!

I'm anxious to read about Legoland, I hope you're having fun!

 

[coastgirl]

Sorry for the delay...we are home now, and I've got my pictures more or less organized. Will try to finish up before the rest of the details fade.

Friday...Legoland.

(This is probably the longest and most photo-heavy day of the report, because I know a lot of people haven't been here, and it was our first time too. It's definitely a place to take a lot of photos.)

We dithered about whether to put off this day, because they were calling for some rain and thunderstorms, and if they closed things down, we woulnd't get another chance. But the closer we got, the less serious the prospect of storms. It was calling for slightly cooler temps and some cloud cover, so we decided to go for it.

Of course we didn't get off as early as planned, and to make matters worse 10 minutes out we realized I had forgotten my ID and credit card, AND we were at an unmanned toll booth with zero change, so we turned around to pick up the stuff we needed.

The deal with the pup in the house is that she has to be either kenneled or in the garage when we leave her in the house. The garage doesn't have a/c, so we have to leave the door open and somehow bar her in. There's a pressure-mounted baby gate, and we bought a sheet of corrugated plastic as well, to bar the door. Because we knew it would be a long day, we chose the garage for Friday. We set up the baby gate, with the coroplast layered against it and duct-taped into place. Then we put a heavy coffee table in front of it so she couldn't pull it out. Yeah. So we were back at the house in 20 minutes after we set that up--and she was in the foyer wagging her tail when we went back in, as if to say "look! Look how smart I am! I've been out for 10 minutes now!"



So she ended up in the kennel all day.

And we arrived at Legoland around 10:00, a half hour after opening. It was an easy drive from Kissimmee, and easy to find once we knew the general direction. Parking wasn't bad, a bit of a walk in the sun, but not bad. I had purchased tickets on line and had printed tickets that were supposed to be turnstile-scannable. They weren't, and after lining up for the turnstile we were sent to line up for customer service, but the lines weren't that long.

Now I had made a plan based on the Legoland Photos recommendation. http://www.legolandphotos.com/board/thread.php?Thread=5555 And I kept saying to the kids "focus!" ANd my son kept saying "I can't!" and cracking up. He is such a Lego nerd, and he was so excited to see all the cool models. But we made our way fairly directly to the back, to the Knights' Kingdom area and the dragon coaster. There was no line, and it was a fun little coaster to start the day. The kids really enjoyed the models inside the castle, and the coaster was...kind of like Goofy's coaster, or maybe the Hippogriff ride. The other attractions in that area were more geared to kids under 8, so we moved on to the new Chima area.

The new ride in the Chima area is a water ride, 8 to a boat, with 8 crank-powered water guns, to shoot the bad guys and any unsuspecting passers-by in the queue area. The theming was pretty good, I recognized some of the elements from the sets, though ds is not a huge Chima fan, so I know it less well than other themes. The water ride itself was pretty tame, but the shooting and being shot by other people was actually way more fun than you'd figure. It was just--kind of fun, to "play" with strangers that way. Maybe not such a good idea to start the day with a ride that leaves you pretty wet, though--we really didn't know what we were getting ourselves into. Honestly, it was probably my favourite, though. It was just fun.



The new Chima area also had a water playground, with pop-jets. Again, very much geared to under-8's, and that is clearly what the target demographic is. From there we walked over to Coastersaurus, which is an old-fashioned wooden coaster. The line wasn't bad, maybe 10 minutes. The carriages seemed TINY, just fitting my 13 yo ds and I--there was no way he could get his hands in to do up his seat belt. (And we are neither of us slim, but we don't break a combined weight of 300 lbs either.) It was really fun, actually, I think something about it being "real" made it more exciting.



By now what we are noticing most about Legoland is that it is HOT. I was warned that this park seems hotter than you'd expect for the weather. It wasn't that bad on Friday, but LL was *brutal*. It was also our longest day, as a one-shot for the park, so we had an urgency to tick things off our list. We also did a bit more criss-crossing than we needed to, because no one was willing to let Mom sit down and look at a map and make a plan.

We headed for the Imagination Zone to sign up for the Mindstorms classes. We booked around 11 for classes at 12, and there was plenty of space left in most of the day's classes. They had 3 classes, from simple for the younger kids, to advanced for the oldest kids. My ds is a Lego fanatic, but hasn't taken to Mindstorms, so he didn't want to do the hardest level. He and I signed up for the medium level, which was built around "medical" missions. Dh really wanted to get his hands on them too, so signed up for the advanced class with dd, 10, as his ticket in.

We also ran into this guy outside, and ds loved it. I think it's Stormer (Hero Factory), and ds' shirt has a Hero Factory logo--that's his fav current theme.



There was also a "build" area for Hero Factory (and a bunch of other build areas)--ds really enjoyed that; for a Lego freak, the chance to play with unlimited pieces is going to be very attractive.

Couldn't help stopping in Miniland, as we kept criss-crossing it. Great stuff, from the Vegas theme, Kennedy Space Centre (my fav) and Star Wars (everyone else's fav). The Star Wars scenes were often animated, with
moving parts and puffs of battle smoke, which was cool. The big figures--Darth Maul and Vader and R2D2--are static builds, not characters. They were fabulous.









The Mindstorms class was kind of cool and I'm glad we did it. We were led by an older guy, probably otherwise retired, who was very keen on what he was doing. There were only two kids, one about 10 who "knew it all" and had a bunch of Mindstorms at home. He was a good kid, but it wasn't new for him. I thought the tutorial was very accessible, and ds had success with it, and thought it was cool.



Dd didn't enjoy it as much I think, because it was harder, and Daddy wanted to do it more than she did. But she was glad she did it, too.

At that point I believe we tried to get lunch. The pizza and pasta place had been recommended, and it seemed like a good deal. But when we got there at 1, it was full and there was a wait for inside seating. We decided we didn't want to wait, and we went off. I think this is when we did some more Miniland stuff. We came back about 20 minutes later and the line up was *worse* . They still had seating outside, we were hungry, hot and grumpy, so we were willing to give "shaded tables" a try. There was plenty of seating outside, and it was cooler on the terrace in the shade. Lunch was $12 13+ and $9 12 and under. It was ok. Basic kind of salad bar. The pizza crust was somewhat better than the average buffet pizza, but the toppings were kind of boring and uninspired. Lots of cheese. Pasta was two kinds of tomato sauce with meat and two kinds of noodles. I think our favourite part was the free drink refills--we were HOT and THIRSTY.

Lunch accomplished, I think that's when we headed over to the Lost Kingdom area. There's a dark ride/shoot em up with a vaguely pharonic theme. That area also has the Beetle Bounce, and I believe a play area. And a camel.





For my 10 and 13 yo, there was a lot of stuff that was skippable. We still filled the day, but the playground areas and a lot of the kiddie rides were not of interest. I would say if your kids are 3-8, they'd have a blast all day.

Next we wanted to try the driving school. There was a line up for that, something we didn't encounter often. Again, it was YOUNG. (This isn't the "junior" driving school, but the "regular" driving school.) 13 is the
cut off. And my 13 yo looked ridiculous.





I wanted to do it because I'd heard they got a driver's licence out of it, and I thought that would make a cool souvie, but the photo ID cost $13, and I'm cheap, remember!), so my two got the little printed piece of cardboard with a fill in the blank. I think they still enjoyed it, though maybe not as much as the littler ones!

I think we went to Cypress Gardens next. I wish we hadn't been so hot and exhausted. It was a real little jewel.



Sadly, we were the only ones there. I'm glad Legoland preserved what it did, but honestly, other than a sense of obligation, there's nothing in the business model that would prompt them to keep it open.

After that we planned to do the movie theatre, but when we got there, something had just started and we weren't waiting an hour for the next show. So, we stopped at Granny's Apple Fries, and ended up enjoying the beverages most. (Did I mention it was HOT??) The apple fries were good, but we were too tired to enjoy them I think.

Finally, we let the kids shop. Really, I think that's why ds most wanted to go--he's a covetous little collector! We peeked into some of the shops as we went about, but we told them we'd shop at the end of the day. The "last chance" bargain shop didn't really have much that rated a bargain, though we did get some fun keychains there. (Dumbledore--we don't have him as a minifig!) Dd liked the Lego Friends shop, and it had a good range of products, though the product line is small. A few cutesy t-shirts and small souvies in addition to the Friends stuff. The prices are standard, no discount but maybe a few promotions. Ds got a "master builder" set at The Factory Shop that I hadn't seen elsewhere, and my boys both enjoyed the pick-a-brick, which is different from the one at DTD. You could tell a lot of the staff are fans, a lot of sweet geeky young men--my boy could totally be happy working there in 5-10 years.

It was a long, hot day. We were very glad to get into our car, crank up the AC and head home.