WOW!! It's amazing how easy it is to get sidetracked, but continuing on with the report and food....................
Our next day was the designated I.O.A. day, and we woke up with another forecast of sunny with a high of 88 degrees.
This the one day that we didn't have breakfast in the room, as we had a 9:00am special surprise waiting for the boys at the park. Let me preface by saying that our boys are big superhero fans, and HUGE Spiderman fans. We made the short walk from our room, through City Walk, and to the front gate of I.O.A where we obtained our passes through the automated ticket machine.
No lines + No Wait = One Happy Family!! (a common theme for the rest of the day)
We made our way to the Confisco Grill, where we checked in for our 9:00am reservation. Much to the boys surprise, there was a special greeter:
Naturally, the boys were very excited to meet the "real", live Spider Man in person
, and this was the start of a wonderful 45 minute breakfast that they are still talking about. For those of you that are thinking about this character breakfast, I thought that it was well worth the money. It is set up with reservations, so there were only about 20 tables or so filled when we were there, and Spidey rotates around the tables for personal one-on-one interaction. At one point, he was engaged in conversation with the boys for at least 10 minutes, as they asked him everything under the sun and he was very quick with his responses (even throwing in a few "life lessons" about how to act, treat others, etc). I started to video the conversation, but I had to cut it off after several minutes because the conversation went on......and on.....and on.......!!
The food was buffet style, and they had pretty much everything that you would want for breakfast (yes, those are red pancakes in honor of you-know-who):
Also rotating around the room, were some other favorites and they also interacted with the kids (without talking):
Thing 1 and Thing 2 came around at different times, as they couldn't be in the room at the same time as............:
Once again, a great time was had by all and I highly suggest signing up for this if you have young Spider Man fans. Some may think that it is expensive, but the food was decent and it really made the boys day!
OK. Breakfast was over, now what? Which way do we go - Super Heros or Dr. Seuss? Hmmmm.........better check with the experts:
Super Heros won out, so we followed this path around the park. DW and I took turns on the Hulk, which we both loved. Meanwhile, this was the closest that the boys got to the big green coaster:
Front of the line worked perfectly, as we walked right up to the loading station. Next it was time for Storm, which I passed on since I don't like the whole spinning thing - but it was a hit for the others:
I rode Dr. Doom by myself, and then we all went on Spiderman which is just a fantastic ride. FOTL came in handy once again, all we all loved this ride - even the 4 year old!
The boys also encountered several more of their heros:
and....
Next up was the water rides where the camera, of course, went into the locker. This was were we encountered the favorite ride of the whole trip - Ripsaw falls!! We all were soaked from head to toe after riding just once, and it was such a hit that the boys "forced" us on it 4 times in a row. Once again, because of FOTL we were able to get off and then get right back on - I can't say enough about how great this benefit is!
Since we were already soaked, we went on the Bilge Rafts next which was fun as well. We retrieved our things from the lockers and decided to make our way to Jurrassic Park:
Now our boys are also HUGE dinosaur fans, and they were really looking forward to this ride. Everything was going great until....................the raptors!! They were fine with the actual ride (drop, etc) but the T-Rex surprise at the end left them saying "I am SO not going on that ride again!! Fair enough, I was happy that they decided to experience it at least once.
We then flew the flyers (the one wait of the day) and checked out the playground before moving on to the Flying Unicorn. Since this was the first trip to a real amusement park for the boys, I was curious to see how they would like roller coasters. Thankfully, they both love them!!
The park was busier now, and DW rode Dueling Dragons while I waited with the boys. Even with FOTL she had a small wait, so I decided to ride it at another time as the boys were getting hungry. I voted to eat here:
But DS4 didn't care for the menu, so we moved on and ended up at Circus McGurkus where we had typical park food - burgers and chicken fingers. This was the one place where I neglected to take food pictures (probably because it was nothing special).
We spent quite a bit of time exploring Seuss Land after a late lunch.
The kids enjoyed all of the rides, as well as the playground:
After our trip around I.O.A, it was time to return to the HRH for afternoon fun at the pool. The kids enjoyed many trips down the water slide, while DW and I enjoyed a couple of adult beverages from the pool bar.
Around six, we decided to clean up and then take the water taxi to City Walk for dinner - tonight was Bubba Gumps night! A side note about the water taxi. It was faster to walk, but we enjoyed the option of relaxing on a short boat ride and we used it often during our stay. (what the heck- we were on vacation, in no rush, and it gave those tired little legs a break!)
We really enjoyed the atmosphere at BG's, even if the boys were starting to wear down a bit after a long day (note the glazed over look):
Using the free appetizer coupon that we received the previous day on the bus ride to Sea World, we ordered the Bubba's Dip which was good:
The boys decided on chicken fingers (go figure - way to step "out of the box"! ):
DW went with the Boat Trash (which she really liked):
And I selected the New Orleans Shrimp, which was delicious:
We all enjoyed our meal, and so far our food tour was turning out as I had hoped - great food and no disappointments!!
By this time (around 9:00pm) the kids were ready to crash so we took the water taxi back to the HRH to get ready for Friday.
All in all, another beautiful day in sunny Florida!!
To be continued............
...and i totally agree about eating on vacation!!! i save all year to eat my heart out and do not worry about spending money on food.......(or anything else for that matter!) it IS after all....vacation! 
We've eaten at The Kitchen quite a few times, & it has gotten much better lately. I'm glad you enjoyed it, & the boys got to meet Scooby & Woody. Thanks to your pics, we're now going to have to schedule at day at Sea World to try Sharks Underwater Grill. 
- stripping and staining the deck last weekend, and painting the exterior trim of the house this weekend 
(I'm thinking that its time to kick back and relax on that newly stained deck next weekend 
