Stepharoonie!
<font color=teal>NOTHING is scarier than Wilford B
- Joined
- Oct 3, 2003
- Messages
- 7,378
Hey all!
Well, today's trip was a good one. It was myself and my dd (2, almost 3) at IOA for GRINCHMAS!
Madison is a HUGE Cat in the Hat fan. I made the mistake of buying the 1950's CITH dvd last weekend (that old cartoon that used to play on CBS all of the time), and it's literally ALWAYS playing. I have "calculatous eliminatous" stuck in my head from it.
Anywho, she loves Suess Landing, and I've been promising to take her for awhile. I decided to hold off until Grinchmas, to see if she would like the Grinch.
On the way there (we live about 5 minutes away from the parks), we talked in the car about Cat in the Hat and the Grinch. "Ooh...gonna see Cat Hat and Gwinch??" was the constant babble coming from the back seat. She had not seen the Grinch before, but she KNEW who he was when we got to the parking attendant! I handed them my AP, got my little parking ticket and a brochure, and she spotted the Grinch on the back of the paper. "Look, Mommy!! THE GWINCH!" I was literally amazed that she knew who it was.
So, we took a nice long stroll to IOA from the Spider-Man 2nd level parking garage. Who invented strollers to wobble like a bad grocery cart, anyways?? I kept stepping on the back wheels of her stroller a lot (these aren't made for us tall ones!), so occassionally her stroller would flip back a little in the air. Oops.
Right outside of the Loews Cineplex was a H-U-G-E Cat blowup figure that was waving in the wind. Maddy shrieked with delight and clapped her hands. "Look, Mommy! Cat is silly!" We passed by a ton of carts loaded with Grinch and Cat in the Hat items, and lots of grumpy kids (it was a little after lunchtime, so I think a lot of them were in need of a nap). Finally, FINALLY we got there. CityWalk was actually not that crowded for 1 in the afternoon, which was surprising.
When we got to Suess Landing, it was PACKED. A sign hung off of the Suess Landing sign that said, "Grinchmas". TONS of crazy ornaments and trees were all around. We saw Cat in the Hat and Thing 1 and Thing 2 next to the Cat in the Hat store, taking pictures. We decided to ride Cat in the Hat first, though. We literally waited 5 minutes, and hopped onto the couch. Afterwards, we bought a special Cat in the Hat cup and a camera (duh! forgot mine at home) to get a few pictures.
Cat in the Hat *just* came back out to take pictures, so we were one of the first to be there. A family of 5 was in front of us; there was a rude little boy there. When it was their turn, Cat knelt down and wanted to play ball with him...he bounced a big blue ball at the little boy, and waited for him to bounce it back. The boy looked at the Cat and THREW IT as hard as he could at the Cat's face! Of course, it hit poor Cat dead on, and the parents were very upset. The pulled the little boy away kicking and screaming.
Maddy went up next and gave Cat a big hug and kiss, and said, "I'm sorry Cat! Kiss boo boo?" and gave him a kiss on the eye. Everyone said "awww" He played ball with her for a minute, gave her a high five, another hug, and had their picture taken.
We went to get a Fast Pass for 1 Fish, 2 Fish, and noticed the Summit Plummit. I hate to say this, but unless there is less than a 5 minute wait, I wouldn't do it again. It was pretty lame (even for Maddy...she didn't care for it). You wait in a nice, long line (45 minutes for us), climb up some stairs, sit in a raft, and get pushed down about 30 feet of dirty "ice". I realize what they were trying to do, but the entire length of the "ice" was brown/black and melting in a lot of areas. Our raft stopped well before the end of the slide, since there was hardly any "ice" on it, and the poor attentdant had to jerk the raft off the "ice" before we could get off the raft.
Afterwards, we caught the end of the Who-bilation show and saw the Grinch. All of the characters were out taking pictures with guests. We had 1 or 2 Whos come up to us to say hi, and one of the lead guys danced with Maddy when she started describing the Cat in the Hat ride to them. We went over to wait for the Grinch, in hopes of getting his picture...but the guests were HORRIBLE! It was literally a big swarm of people trying to get his picture, and people were pushing left and right. Right before Maddy finally got up to take a picture, it was time for the Grinch to go. Maddy sat down right there in the middle of the street and starting crying for the Grinch. A few Whos came over, surprised she was crying because she DIDN'T see him. They pointed out the Grinch's Lair to us, and said we could see him in there.
Luckily, she stopped crying, and we went into the line. When we got there, the sign said a 45 minute wait, but it was really about 20 minutes. The only complaint about the Lair were these areas that you weren't "supposed" to touch...buttons that said, "DON'T PUSH!" and ropes that said, "DON'T PULL!"....but you were supposed to. Anytime a guest would pull this one rope right inside the entrance, it would blast out a HUGE cold gust of loud air into your ear...and a lot of the little kids didn't like that. When we got up to the Grinch, poor Maddy was starting to get tired, so she didn't perk up right away...but the Grinch was very nice and knelt down and talked to her about her t-shirt, the Who-bilation show, and the Cat in the Hat. We took our picture and purchased it outside (1 sheet of pictures was $17, $15 for AP holders...we got 2 5X7's on one sheet...a good deal!). When we walked by the entrance to the Lair, the line stretched out to the street...and the sign said 180 minute wait!!
Afterwards, little Maddy started getting really tired, so we rode the carosuel and 1 Fish, 2 Fish....waved to Cat in the Hat on our way out, and headed to the car.
I'm hoping that as it gets cooler, the Plummit will be nicer. That was really my only complaint; it was really too warm for the ice today. I felt bad for the Whos and Grinch in full costume because it was in the 80's when we were there.
A good time was had by all, though We're going back next weekend, too
Well, today's trip was a good one. It was myself and my dd (2, almost 3) at IOA for GRINCHMAS!
Madison is a HUGE Cat in the Hat fan. I made the mistake of buying the 1950's CITH dvd last weekend (that old cartoon that used to play on CBS all of the time), and it's literally ALWAYS playing. I have "calculatous eliminatous" stuck in my head from it.
Anywho, she loves Suess Landing, and I've been promising to take her for awhile. I decided to hold off until Grinchmas, to see if she would like the Grinch.On the way there (we live about 5 minutes away from the parks), we talked in the car about Cat in the Hat and the Grinch. "Ooh...gonna see Cat Hat and Gwinch??" was the constant babble coming from the back seat.
She had not seen the Grinch before, but she KNEW who he was when we got to the parking attendant! I handed them my AP, got my little parking ticket and a brochure, and she spotted the Grinch on the back of the paper. "Look, Mommy!! THE GWINCH!" I was literally amazed that she knew who it was.So, we took a nice long stroll to IOA from the Spider-Man 2nd level parking garage. Who invented strollers to wobble like a bad grocery cart, anyways?? I kept stepping on the back wheels of her stroller a lot (these aren't made for us tall ones!), so occassionally her stroller would flip back a little in the air. Oops.
Right outside of the Loews Cineplex was a H-U-G-E Cat blowup figure that was waving in the wind. Maddy shrieked with delight and clapped her hands. "Look, Mommy! Cat is silly!" We passed by a ton of carts loaded with Grinch and Cat in the Hat items, and lots of grumpy kids (it was a little after lunchtime, so I think a lot of them were in need of a nap). Finally, FINALLY we got there. CityWalk was actually not that crowded for 1 in the afternoon, which was surprising.
When we got to Suess Landing, it was PACKED. A sign hung off of the Suess Landing sign that said, "Grinchmas". TONS of crazy ornaments and trees were all around. We saw Cat in the Hat and Thing 1 and Thing 2 next to the Cat in the Hat store, taking pictures. We decided to ride Cat in the Hat first, though. We literally waited 5 minutes, and hopped onto the couch. Afterwards, we bought a special Cat in the Hat cup and a camera (duh! forgot mine at home) to get a few pictures.
Cat in the Hat *just* came back out to take pictures, so we were one of the first to be there. A family of 5 was in front of us; there was a rude little boy there. When it was their turn, Cat knelt down and wanted to play ball with him...he bounced a big blue ball at the little boy, and waited for him to bounce it back. The boy looked at the Cat and THREW IT as hard as he could at the Cat's face! Of course, it hit poor Cat dead on, and the parents were very upset. The pulled the little boy away kicking and screaming.
Maddy went up next and gave Cat a big hug and kiss, and said, "I'm sorry Cat! Kiss boo boo?" and gave him a kiss on the eye. Everyone said "awww"
He played ball with her for a minute, gave her a high five, another hug, and had their picture taken.We went to get a Fast Pass for 1 Fish, 2 Fish, and noticed the Summit Plummit. I hate to say this, but unless there is less than a 5 minute wait, I wouldn't do it again. It was pretty lame (even for Maddy...she didn't care for it). You wait in a nice, long line (45 minutes for us), climb up some stairs, sit in a raft, and get pushed down about 30 feet of dirty "ice". I realize what they were trying to do, but the entire length of the "ice" was brown/black and melting in a lot of areas. Our raft stopped well before the end of the slide, since there was hardly any "ice" on it, and the poor attentdant had to jerk the raft off the "ice" before we could get off the raft.
Afterwards, we caught the end of the Who-bilation show and saw the Grinch. All of the characters were out taking pictures with guests. We had 1 or 2 Whos come up to us to say hi, and one of the lead guys danced with Maddy when she started describing the Cat in the Hat ride to them. We went over to wait for the Grinch, in hopes of getting his picture...but the guests were HORRIBLE! It was literally a big swarm of people trying to get his picture, and people were pushing left and right. Right before Maddy finally got up to take a picture, it was time for the Grinch to go. Maddy sat down right there in the middle of the street and starting crying for the Grinch. A few Whos came over, surprised she was crying because she DIDN'T see him. They pointed out the Grinch's Lair to us, and said we could see him in there.
Luckily, she stopped crying, and we went into the line. When we got there, the sign said a 45 minute wait, but it was really about 20 minutes. The only complaint about the Lair were these areas that you weren't "supposed" to touch...buttons that said, "DON'T PUSH!" and ropes that said, "DON'T PULL!"....but you were supposed to. Anytime a guest would pull this one rope right inside the entrance, it would blast out a HUGE cold gust of loud air into your ear...and a lot of the little kids didn't like that. When we got up to the Grinch, poor Maddy was starting to get tired, so she didn't perk up right away...but the Grinch was very nice and knelt down and talked to her about her t-shirt, the Who-bilation show, and the Cat in the Hat. We took our picture and purchased it outside (1 sheet of pictures was $17, $15 for AP holders...we got 2 5X7's on one sheet...a good deal!). When we walked by the entrance to the Lair, the line stretched out to the street...and the sign said 180 minute wait!!
Afterwards, little Maddy started getting really tired, so we rode the carosuel and 1 Fish, 2 Fish....waved to Cat in the Hat on our way out, and headed to the car.
I'm hoping that as it gets cooler, the Plummit will be nicer. That was really my only complaint; it was really too warm for the ice today. I felt bad for the Whos and Grinch in full costume because it was in the 80's when we were there.
A good time was had by all, though
We're going back next weekend, too 
At least until then, I'm sure Steph, herself, will be screaming for them!!! 
