I-fer? What in the World is an I-fer? Universal/Legoland/Sea World Feb 2015 Updated 5/26x3! The End!

[Pluto0809]

I'm sorry you didn't have a good experience on Transformers

The Despicable Me line is always so long! Express Pass definitely comes in handy there. Glad you handled this one better. And yay for getting pics with the minions!

I definitely need to put the Makeup Show on my list for the next time I visit Universal!

Cute parade pictures!

It was definitely not a fun experience on Transformers!

I do remember reading that Despicable Me usually has a long line. The theater kind of reminded me of Soarin' except you aren't lifted into the air.

Yes! Go see the Makeup Show next time you visit.

That's a bummer that the 3-D movies caught up with you! At least you weren't disappointed that the attraction broke down.

I've always been curious about the Horror Make-up Show - I think your glowing endorsement pushes it onto the "must-do" list!

I was not having fun with the 3D rides at that point! And yep, I was definitely not disappointed when we stopped for a while!

It is a very good show, I hope it lives up to the hype I just gave it!

That sucks that the 3D caught up to you and that the ride broke down.

Despicable me looks like one thing I would want to do.

The make up show looks like fun.

I was definitely over the 3D stuff at that point! The Despicable Me ride/show was a lot of fun. I did enjoy it although it would have been better if it was the only 3D thing I did that day.

Lovely pictures! I didn't try the Transformers ride, but I did get woozy on the Despicable Me ride.. My brain also had a hard time processing it. Halfway through, I ended up taking the 3D glasses off.

I didn't get woozy on Despicable Me although the Simpson's ride turned my stomach a bit. It's more like I can't understand what's going on during the film. Such a weird feeling.

At first i was really scared for you.. Then i had to laugh! the ride stopped. i probably would have thought the same. "I'm dead. this is what death is"
you poor thing!



HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

your killing me today!

I am NOT a dora fan.. she screams instead of talks.. But to have the tumble monkeys is cool! love your pictures as always and i do love your report.. I thought you had me email! sending now.

It was not a fun feeling and was actually a bit of a relief when the ride stopped!

Just trying to be polite with the "Pooh sized" comment.

I don't think I've ever seen an episode of Dora. But I certainly did enjoy the Monkeys.

I did have your e-mail but I have no recollection as to why I had it? Guess I've just been on too many 3D rides lately and my brain is fried.

 

[Pluto0809]

Finishing Off the Night

As soon as the parade finished we headed out of the park. We did take one more walk through the big store at the front that had stuff from every section of the park but we didn’t buy anything else. We then stopped near the exit to pick up Jim’s stuff from Diagon Alley. As we exited, I took a picture of the entrance since I had failed to do so earlier in the day. We missed the start of Mardi Gras by one day. I was fine with that as I figured the park would be much more crowded once the festival started.



It was still a little too early for dinner so we decided to head back to the room for a break and to drop off our packages. Since we weren’t in any hurry I documented some of the walk.











We stayed in the room for about an hour then headed back to City Walk. Since we couldn’t go back in the park to eat at Finnigan’s like I had planned, Jim suggest we eat at Hard Rock. This was one of our favorite meals from 2012 so I was fine with that decision. The restaurant is probably not for everyone. It’s huge (biggest Hard Rock in the world) and very noisy with loud music. We didn’t see a lot of shenanigans this time but in 2012 we saw Congo lines and even a group of the staff doing the zombie dance from Michael Jackson’s Thriller. The place is definitely lively. We were seated by the main bar just a few tables away from our seat from 2012.







Jim as usual ordered a burger. He lives on burgers the same way I do on chicken. He doesn’t like to eat fries with every meal though so he sometimes subs for a side salad.



He also got this crazy stack of onion rings.



I decided to get a burger too but keep the fries.



The burgers were just as good as we remembered from 2012 and we ate every bite. For dessert, I got a molten chocolate cake with chocolate ice cream, yum!



And that’s where my photos end for the evening. We didn’t do much after dinner, just headed back to the room. About halfway back my good foot started hurting really bad. Guess I need to explain the “good foot” thing to those that are new. About 12 years ago, Jim and I played soccer together. He played goalie and I was on defense. He didn’t trust me to stop an opposing player so he basically ran me over to stop the ball. I came out of it with a badly broken ankle. My foot was pointing the wrong direction and it was pretty darn close to a compound fracture. I did damage to every nerve, ligament and tendon in the ankle and have several screws in there. As a result, I still have a lot of pain and have trouble with everything from my hip down on that side since my ankle is so weak. I’m used to that pain and pretty much ignore it most days. But here I was having a lot of pain in my right foot. Oh boy, I hoped it wasn’t too serious and a nights rest would fix it. Last thing I needed was problems with both feet!

We mostly relaxed that night and packed because we were moving to the new resort the next day. I was originally going to just keep our bags in the car for all day Saturday and check in later in the day. But when I realized we did not have a proper trunk I really did not want our bags sitting in the car where everyone could see them. We decided to head there first in the morning before going to our airboat tour.

Up Next: Wild Willy’s Airboat Tour

 

[missangelalexis]

Pretty pictures of the walk back to your room! Wow I had no idea that Hard Rock was the biggest one in the world. I'm glad your meals were just as good as last time! Oh no your foot I hope it wasn't anything serious!

 

[rteetz]

That walk looks very peaceful.

Your meal looks very good as well. That dessert is definitely something I would get.

 

[missjackiemcg]

I just caught up on the last few installments of your TR. My brain is on low power from the craziness of school this week!! I wanted to comment on something but now I can't even remember what it was!! :-/ Ugh!

In any case, Its kind of disappointing that you can't actually get close to Optimus Prime but at least you got to party with the Minnions Your burgers looked delicious! Looking forward to hearing about your airboat adventure and the next hotel!

 

[Chicago Mo]

pictures are great! i love photo journalism! yeah burgers are great.. BUT OMG that dessert is killer!!! YUM!

 

[xlsm]

Your final dragon fire picture is AWESOME!!

I am a ridiculous HP fan, to the point that I cannot have normal conversations with people about it at all, because I can't keep myself from correcting them when they get something wrong, or pointing out details...and when someone has only seen the movies and not read the books? I can't handle it. I realize it is a problem, so I just don't fly my Harry Potter freak flag very high, LOL!!

We are going for one day in July during our Disney trip...it will be on my youngest son's 10th bday. He is thrilled, and he is my Potter-loving partner in crime.

I am also really, REALLY looking forward to the Springfield area. Can't wait to have a Krusty burger and a Duff beer! And I had no idea there were so many character meets in that area!!

You've got me all jazzed up about it now

Looking forward to the rest of the report!

 

[Pluto0809]

Pretty pictures of the walk back to your room! Wow I had no idea that Hard Rock was the biggest one in the world. I'm glad your meals were just as good as last time! Oh no your foot I hope it wasn't anything serious!

It was a very pretty walk back and forth to the hotel! Those burgers were yummy, I want one now.

That walk looks very peaceful.

Your meal looks very good as well. That dessert is definitely something I would get.

We did enjoy the walk back and forth to the hotel. Our meal was very good. The dessert actually came with vanilla ice cream but I love my chocolate so I substituted.

I just caught up on the last few installments of your TR. My brain is on low power from the craziness of school this week!! I wanted to comment on something but now I can't even remember what it was!! :-/ Ugh!

In any case, Its kind of disappointing that you can't actually get close to Optimus Prime but at least you got to party with the Minnions Your burgers looked delicious! Looking forward to hearing about your airboat adventure and the next hotel!

I do that all the time when I'm trying to get caught up! There is always so much I want to say but I forget it all by the time I get to the end.

Yeah, the meet and greet with the transformers was kind of lame. They even yelled at a little boy that got too close.

The burgers were very delicious!

pictures are great! i love photo journalism! yeah burgers are great.. BUT OMG that dessert is killer!!! YUM!

Thanks, I love seeing lots of pictures too. That dessert was wonderful!

Your final dragon fire picture is AWESOME!!

I am a ridiculous HP fan, to the point that I cannot have normal conversations with people about it at all, because I can't keep myself from correcting them when they get something wrong, or pointing out details...and when someone has only seen the movies and not read the books? I can't handle it. I realize it is a problem, so I just don't fly my Harry Potter freak flag very high, LOL!!

We are going for one day in July during our Disney trip...it will be on my youngest son's 10th bday. He is thrilled, and he is my Potter-loving partner in crime.

I am also really, REALLY looking forward to the Springfield area. Can't wait to have a Krusty burger and a Duff beer! And I had no idea there were so many character meets in that area!!

You've got me all jazzed up about it now

Looking forward to the rest of the report!

Thanks, I was very happy with that dragon shot.

I'm a pretty crazy fan too but maybe not to your level only because I'm not that good at memorizing every detail. But I have all the books on audio and listen to them at least every other year. And I have all the movies and watch them frequently too.

I hope you have a wonderful time when you go in July!

Well many of the "character meets" in Springfield are just statues but Jim still had to have his picture taken. They do have quite a few actual characters, the whole family minus Maggie and Krusty and Sideshow Bob.

 

[Pluto0809]

Wild Willy’s Airboat Tour Part 1

I’m not really sure what time we were up on Saturday as I didn’t take any notes on this trip but I know it was early. Our Airboat Tour was at 10:15 am and when I had called to confirm, they told me to leave about an hour for travel time in case we hit traffic. Since we were checking in at Coco Key first we had to be up and moving pretty early. Unfortunately my foot was still hurting when I woke up.

Jim ran downstairs to the grab and go while I was getting ready and brought us back some bagels for breakfast.

We discovered that Coco Key was only about 5 minutes from the Hard Rock. I hadn’t really mapped anything out, just wrote down addresses since we were using the GPS on our phones. We found the resort with no problems, checked in and dropped our bags off for them to hold. It was pretty funny but they just had a locked closet for the bags. Still better than leaving them in the car. I took a picture of the lobby while we were there.



And one looking out the door at the pool. The resort had this pool plus a full water park back behind the tall building. Our room ended up being in that tall building but I didn’t know that at the moment.



We were only a few blocks from the crazy, huge McDonald’s on International Drive.



As we were following the directions on the phone, it told us to make a right turn then get onto the I-fer. Jim and I looked at each other totally confused. What the heck is an I-fer? We quickly figured out that the GPS voice meant the I-4 highway but it really sounded like I-fer instead. We got on the I-4 an awful lot over the next few days so this became a running joke the rest of the trip. There was even one time where it pronounced it correctly and we were disappointed.

We were headed to Wild Willy’s Airboat Tours and when I called to confirm, the lady told me to make sure I got off at a certain exit and not the one the GPS told me too. The one the GPS says to get off was Sunpass only and we would have gotten a $100 fine for exiting there. We found the correct exit and listened to the GPS tell us to do a u-turn for a few miles till it decided to give us new directions. Wild Willy’s was kind of out in the middle of nowhere but we had no problem finding it.

We definitely did not need a full hour to get there but maybe if it was a weekday during rush hour it could have been different. We actually arrived at the place 45 minutes early so we relaxed in the car for a bit. I took a few pictures out the window.







Jim has some anxiety issues and seeing the small size of the boats was stressing him out a bit. But he took one of his happy pills and was just fine after that.

About 10 am, we headed inside and checked in for our tour. The airboats hold 6 people and we were joined by a family of four, all adults from New York. I can’t remember the exact town they lived in but it wasn’t too far over the border from Erie, PA where Jim grew up.

The tour takes place on Lake Tohopekaliga, isn’t it beautiful?





Our driver loaded us on the boat and gave us a brief safety talk which consisted of, wear your headphones if it gets too loud and if anyone falls overboard, throw them the orange ring. Yep, that was it! We got underway pretty quickly. It was a beautiful day, still a little on the chilly side but barely a cloud in the sky. You can see a bit of the orange ring in the bottom of this next photo.



We were out on the lake for an hour and saw a ton of wildlife as we went. As you probably have guessed by now, I took a ton of photos. There were ducks and other birds all throughout the ride.







Jim seemed to be having fun.



Oh, here’s a better picture of the orange ring.











It wasn’t long before we spotted some baby alligators. Can you see him in this next picture? Look towards the top right corner.



Here’s a better picture with him in the middle of the shot.



And his friend a few feet away checking us out (middle of the photo again).



We moved a little closer and I was able to get some better shots.







Continued in Next Post

 

[Pluto0809]

Wild Willy’s Airboat Tour Part 2

We moved on to see what else we could find. I think the orange ring is becoming the star of this update.





We spotted this bird sitting on top of a post.



Let’s zoom in a little for a better shot.



A bald eagle! He flew away before we could get any closer.



We spotted a few more alligators.



Those two birds are pretty brave (or maybe just stupid).











I thought it was funny that every one of these posts had a bird on it.



Then we came upon some animals that I would have never guessed we would have seen in a lake, cows.



Our guide said that there was a farm right on the shore and the cows like to get in the water and eat the tender vegetation.











I wasn’t able to get zoomed in enough but if you squint really hard toward the top middle of this next photo, you can see another bald eagle.







We even saw some baby cows on an island.





Even more cows. I was just fascinated that they were out in the lake and took way too many photos.



Continued in Next Post

 

[Pluto0809]

Wild Willy’s Airboat Tour Part 3

More alligator sightings.







We also saw quite a few turtles but they were very quick to duck under the water when the boat got near. This was the only photo I got of one.













We spent some time circling an island looking for more wildlife. We did see a water moccasin but I wasn’t able to get a photo of it.







And then it was already time to head back. I swear we were only out there for about 10 minutes but when I looked at my watch it had definitely been an hour.



We spotted some more birds as we pulled into the dock.





We headed back into the office where we each got to hold a baby alligator.





I think I might have been a little in love with the guy, LOL.





One of our friends from the boat ride offered to take a picture so we could both be in it.



They had T-shirts and other stuff for sale and Jim had spotted some hot sauces. He ended up getting these two (one he opened and used while we were there). And yes those are real alligator claws on them, I was seriously grossed out by those.







Overall we absolutely loved the airboat tour and would do it again in a minute. I was very happy with Wild Willy’s and would recommend them to anyone. Jim, who is not a fan of looking at animals, even had a blast. He said it was better to see them in the wild.

Up Next: A Brief Visit to the Disney Bubble

 

[missangelalexis]

Haha love the explanation of the TR title!

The Airboat tour sounds fun! Glad you never had to use the orange ring I love the pics of you guys holding the baby alligators, very cool!

 

[rteetz]

The boat tour looks like a lot of fun! You took some great pictures as well.

 

[Chicago Mo]

ohhhhh this was fun!!!! thanks for taking us along for it!!! does the barn with the cows lose some cows by the gators floating around?!?! that's crazy!!!

I DID NOT know there are bald eagles in Florida... thought it was too warm for them?!?! LOVE IT!

awwwwww the baby is adorable! how did you hear about this tour? phew! thank goodness you didn't listen to you i-fer 100.00 fine speaking GPS!

 

[MEK]

Love the pictures from the airboat tours. They are really wonderful. We did a similar tour near Cocoa and we saw tons of alligators and cows as well. I just couldn't figure out how the heck the cows got out there and why the alligators could care less. I also loved the way the boat just glided across the vegetation.

 

[MEK]

I have to add that those onion rings look AMAZING!

 

[missjackiemcg]

I love all your alligator pictures!! and how awesome to see a bald eagle! The only one I've ever seen is at our local zoo, which is pretty darn sad!

Also, in love with your Gryffindor sweatshirt

 

[Pluto0809]

Haha love the explanation of the TR title!

The Airboat tour sounds fun! Glad you never had to use the orange ring I love the pics of you guys holding the baby alligators, very cool!

I was pretty sure no one would be able to guess what that title was all about.

The Airboat tour was a total blast, I'm really glad we decided to do one.

The boat tour looks like a lot of fun! You took some great pictures as well.

It was a lot of fun and had a lot of great photo opportunities.

ohhhhh this was fun!!!! thanks for taking us along for it!!! does the barn with the cows lose some cows by the gators floating around?!?! that's crazy!!!

I DID NOT know there are bald eagles in Florida... thought it was too warm for them?!?! LOVE IT!

awwwwww the baby is adorable! how did you hear about this tour? phew! thank goodness you didn't listen to you i-fer 100.00 fine speaking GPS!

Our guide said the gators don't bother the cows at all, guess they are just too big.

I didn't know there were bald eagles either, I was very excited to see some in the wild.

I'm a little old fashioned and really love a good guide book for trip planning so when I was working on this trip, I found one that was called something like "Orlando (or maybe it was Florida): Beyond Disney". It has sections for all the amusement parks other than Disney plus info on I-Drive and other stuff. There was a section on Airboat tours and I picked Wild Willy's from there.

Love the pictures from the airboat tours. They are really wonderful. We did a similar tour near Cocoa and we saw tons of alligators and cows as well. I just couldn't figure out how the heck the cows got out there and why the alligators could care less. I also loved the way the boat just glided across the vegetation.

Our guide told us the cows were too big for a gator to take so they don't bother them. We watched a few of the cows leave and the just walked up the bank and into the trees. It was definitely a cool way to see the lake!

I have to add that those onion rings look AMAZING!

I'm personally not a fan of onion rings but Jim seems to enjoy them!

I love all your alligator pictures!! and how awesome to see a bald eagle! The only one I've ever seen is at our local zoo, which is pretty darn sad!

Also, in love with your Gryffindor sweatshirt

That was the first time I've seen a bald eagle in the wild and it was very cool.

I bought that Gryffindor sweatshirt in 2012 but they still had it for sale when we were there in February.

 

[Pluto0809]

A Brief Visit to the Disney Bubble Part 1

When I planned this trip and I knew we would have a rental car, I really wanted to go to Theme Park Connection (TPC to save me some typing). It’s a store in the Orlando area that does resale of theme park merchandise. I always see the stuff they post on Facebook and really wanted to visit the store. I’m forever on the lookout for Pluto items to add to my collection. My original plan had been to hit up Downtown Disney first for lunch and some shopping but then I found out that TPC was only open till 3 pm. So I flipped the two and decided to head to TPC first.

We were pretty hungry by this time since it was around 11:30. We watched for someplace to eat on the way there but never did see anything other than the standard chain restaurants.

When we made it to TPC, I took a grand total of two pictures. I should have taken some inside, but I was busy shopping.





I have to say I was severely disappointed by the store. While they had a lot of stuff, a majority of it was either broken or dirty. I was really expecting it to be like an antique store but it was more like a junky flea market. That being said, I did still find a few items to bring home.

I got three pins and a magnet.



And also this vintage photo of Pluto.





Jim did look at the pin board but he was getting quite hangry (hungry/angry for those who haven’t heard that term before) and he didn’t want to buy anything. I figured we needed to get some food in him so I checked out and we left. I seriously doubt I will head back to TPC again unless we move to Florida someday (wishful thinking).

It was finally time to spend a few hours back in the Disney bubble. We plugged the address for DTD into the phone and headed out. It wasn’t too long before I saw this sign out the window.







Not the main sign but at least something!

When we got to DTD, they were directing all traffic across the street to this building.





I think that’s the casting building but I’m not sure. We had to cross the main road to get to DTD but as always, Disney does things right. They had a crossing guard at each corner making sure no one tried to cross against the light. You can see one of them in the bottom right of this next photo.



My plan had been to eat at Wolfgang Puck Express but Jim was super hangry by now. Planet Hollywood was the first place we passed and the sign out front said they had immediate seating available. Well you can guess where we headed!



I was fine with this since I had never eaten there and it was on my list of restaurants to try. When we got to the top of the stairs they had a photo op and we stopped to get one. Since we had so few pictures of us together on the trip, I ended up buying the photo when they brought it around to our table.



Jim ended up with a kids menu and crayons. I’m pretty sure he asked for them so he could color.



The inside of the restaurant was pretty cool, it had different levels but was open all the way to the top. Our waiter told us we were welcome to walk around and explore after we ate. We never did though because I was still hurting.





I ordered Chicken Parmesan, hold the cheese which can sometimes make me sick.



Jim got his usual burger and fries.



But he didn’t actually order the fries, he was supposed to get a side salad instead. The waiter quickly brought him a salad once he realized there was a mistake.



My Chicken Parm was delicious and I ate every bite. Jim enjoyed his burger too. I should have had him rank all the different burgers he ate that week. I will definitely go back to Planet Hollywood in the future.

Now that Jim was fed, he was in a much better mood and we headed out to do some shopping in DTD. Still a ton of construction walls.







Several new stores had opened on Pleasure Island that week. There were also some that looked like they were close to opening.







Continued in Next Post

 

[Pluto0809]

A Brief Visit to the Disney Bubble Part 2





We passed by T-Rex. I will eat there someday, it’s on my list.



And made our first stop at the Lego Store.



It was about this time that I realized that something pretty serious was wrong with my foot. I think I knew it already but was in denial. I told Jim I would be outside sitting while he shopped. I found a seat right outside of the store then sent this cell phone picture to my Mom. I also did a little whining to her about my foot.



As all good Mom’s do, she texted me back with loads of sympathy and concern and that made me feel a little bit better.

Jim came out and said he wanted to think about the different Lego sets before he made a purchase so we headed on to the World of Disney. Jim really liked this Yoda hat but didn’t buy it.



Unfortunately with my foot hurting, I wasn’t in the best mood for a lot of shopping. At WOD I only bought one thing, a Pluto costume for my Duffy.



I did want to get a new silver watch but the jewelry counter was packed and I didn’t want to fight that crowd. I was able to use my AP discount one last time as this was the exact day my AP would expire. I was pretty sad about that too. Jim just bought one thing also, a Beaker key chain.



We walked through Arribas Brothers and the Co-op Marketplace. They still did not have the Dooney purse that I wanted and looked for in both October and December. It must be extremely rare. The original price was somewhere around $100 and I’ve seen it selling on Ebay for well over $500.

We spotted the Happy Hound kiosk and went to check it out.



It was pretty disappointing because they just had generic, overpriced stuff you could find at any pet store and nothing Disney.

We headed into the pin store and low and behold, the big pin board was open!



Luckily I had brought some trading pins so we got in line and waited our turn. You can trade for two pins each so we did so. We also each traded for a third one sometime that afternoon. Jim’s trades are on top and mine are on the bottom.



I looked around for the Vinyl trading box. I had read that they were not going to do the trading anymore but was hoping it was just a rumor. It was not a rumor, the trading boxes are officially gone. Instead, I bought a few vinyls and also two mystery pins that were from the dog collection I was working on. I got the Mickey Pirate vinyl because it had a Pluto version and I was hoping to get that one.



And when I opened the pins that night, I got two Ladys. I did need that one but not two of the same one!



And here are the vinyls opened. Funny thing, I already had the Scrooge McDuck/Jiminy Cricket one from the Christmas Carol series and it’s the chaser. So now I have two chasers from that set. I should try to sell it on Ebay since the chasers go for a lot more but I never seem to have the time. And even though I didn’t get the Pluto one I was hoping for, I was happy with the Stitch one.



Jim bought himself a couple of pins.



There is a little kiosk near Fun Finds that has all stuff for left handed people. Jim is left handed so we stopped for him to look. He ended up buying a left handed mug.



See the little hole in the top of the mug? If you pick it up right handed, you will get a bit of a nasty surprise. Jim really just liked it because of the hazard symbol.



We stopped next in Goofy’s Candy Kitchen. I really wanted a Disney cupcake for later that night. The CM wrapped it up for me but by the time I got around to eating it that night, it was pretty squished. But luckily for you, I got the same valentine’s one a year before and I do have a picture of that one.



We also walked through the Art Store and the Christmas store. I did see a Christmas Stitch stuffie in the Christmas store but when I picked him up, Jim just looked and me and said “No”. Not sure why I listened to him but I put the stuffie back. I really regretted that decision and am hoping he is still there whenever I make it back again.

We made one last stop in Once Upon a Toy because I wanted to look at the Precious Moments dolls. I really want a Pluto version but as far as I know they haven’t made one yet. Jim checked out the Star Wars stuff. He saw this book but decided to see if he could find it cheaper online. I took a picture so he would remember but I don’t think he ever did buy it.



We headed back towards the car after that. Jim is not much of a shopper and I was pretty much done thanks to my foot. By this point I could barely walk on it. We stopped back in at the Lego store and Jim bought just one set. He wanted to save his money for Legoland the next day.



We also went a little bit past Planet Hollywood so we could stop in at D-Street. I love this store because of all the vinyls and Jim likes to look at the Star Wars stuff. We did not find one thing to buy. Jim did see a t-shirt he liked but not in his size. We asked at the desk about other sizes in the back and got one of the most annoying CMs ever. Not that he was mean or rude or anything but we could not get away from him. I made the mistake of voicing my disappointment that vinyl trading had stopped and ended up getting a 15 minute lecture about why Disney needs to constantly change stuff. It had something to do with Walt always wanting to do new stuff but I zoned out after the first minute or so. I could not get a word in with the guy. And all this was going on while there were customers waiting to check out. We finally got away from him and headed out of the store and back to the car.

I had gotten a message on my phone while we were on the airboat letting us know our room was ready at Coco Key. We stopped back in the lobby, picked up our bags and found out where our room was. We drove around and found a parking spot near our room and headed in.











Definitely not as plush as the Hard Rock but the room was comfortable and clean. Not bad for the price we paid. For three nights at Coco Key, plus our Sea World tickets and All-You-Can Eat Dining, we paid $400.

I did not take any more pictures the rest of the night. We got to the room about 4:30 and just hung out for a few hours. I had originally planned on walking to either a mini golf course or the Titanic experience on International Drive. Both were only few blocks from our resort but I really felt like I needed to rest my foot. Jim didn’t mind, he watched some TV and worked while I read. About 6 pm I started to bug Jim about dinner but he kept saying he wasn’t as hungry. Our resort had a sit down restaurant, a counter service area and a grab and go. About 7:30 I was getting quite hangry myself and said I was going to go to the counter service and get something because I didn’t want to eat just my cupcake for dinner. He decided to come with me but when we got there, everything but the grab and go was closed. No idea why as everything was supposed to be open till 9 pm. We went into the grab and go but other than cereal it was all junk food. I ended up getting a container of Cheerios and some milk.

As soon as we got back to the room, Jim decided he was hungry so he started looking on the internet for somewhere to go. He decided he just wanted to go to Publix (grocery store) and get a sub and some stuff for breakfast. So we drove there and I hobbled along behind him while we shopped. We ended up buying way more than we should have because we were hungry. Beside the sub for dinner, I got bananas and bagels for breakfast, a half-gallon of milk, a six pack of coke zero and some fishy crackers. Jim got some chips, a case of Tab, which is pretty much the only soda he will drink other than Coke, and some bottled water. We ended up leaving some of it in the room when we left but it was still probably cheaper than eating breakfast out each morning.

We made it back to the room, ate our subs for dinner and called it a night sometime around 10 pm.

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