The best laid plans .were worth it! A great first trip for dd and me! (4/20-28)

[JLR]

At the end of our last installment, we had gotten the lay of the land, checked out the various activites and had our first dolphin encounter.

By then we needed a little break. It had been a long time since we put on those wet suits if you know what I mean! It is no joke to get out of and back into a wet wetsuit!

We were also starving so we had lunch. There were quite a few choices.

I had a chicken dish served with black beans which was pretty good and Madeline had a burger, although really what she had for lunch was an enormous piece of chocolate cake. I took the fresh fruit for dessert.

They had a fun Jamaican band playing on and off throughout the day. The photo of them did not come out very well.

We headed over to the first aid station. I don’t think I’ve mentioned it but I had a big blister on each of my little toes. They sit slightly under the 4th toes so blisters are inevitable for me. I had blister Band-Aids on them, which stick pretty well in water, but sand had gotten into the Band-Aid. I hadn’t brought any extras, because on someone else’s trip report they talked about how well the first aid station here took care of their blisters. Well, that must have been a different attendant. I took off the trashed Band-Aids when I got there. My attendant didn’t even think it was important to rinse the sand off my feet. Then she just wrapped a gauze pad over the outside of my foot and then wrapped a sticky wrap around it to hold it on. It hurt and whole lot more, looked like it might fall right off or not be safe for the dolphins, but she assured me it would last all day.

Wait for it.

It didn’t even last until we got back to our chair. Oh well. My blisters got some fresh air and dermabrasion for the rest of the day. Didn’t ruin my day, but I would recommend everybody bring your own first aid items.

Undaunted, we headed back to the ray pool. We had just missed an educational session in the education cabana, but hoped we’d be able to catch another. It wasn’t feeding time, but the rays were still pretty friendly and there was a photographer there.

With my camera:

The professional’s:

We headed back into the Aviary for a more leisurely exploration. They have laminated identification cards. Sometimes in the gift shop they have copies, but by the time we got there, they were all out. Bummer. That is a souvenir I would have liked to have.

They had some different fruits, so the vegetarian birds were more interested in eating and we had the opportunity to feed some worms to the carnivorous birds as well. I’m glad we’re not too squeamish. Some of the birds even ate the sand off our pool shoes. Apparently they use it for digestion.

These little critters were very friendly.

I won’t put in all the photographs I like. Others with better cameras have done a better job than I. The aviary is amazing, and unbelievably clean.

 

[mousetravel]

I know what you mean about the blisters. You need to buy some "BodyGlide". I have always had terrible blisters on one certain toe to the point where I couldn't hardly walk. My first couple of trips to Disney, the walking was almost unbearable on my toes. So I finally learned about BodyGlide (on the disboards)

And I'm telling you, it was a life saver!!!!! I always use it now, not only for Disney trips, but anytime I will be walking for an extended amount of time. I have not had one blister while on any of our trips since I got some!

 

[JLR]

I know what you mean about the blisters. You need to buy some "BodyGlide". I have always had terrible blisters on one certain toe to the point where I couldn't hardly walk. My first couple of trips to Disney, the walking was almost unbearable on my toes. So I finally learned about BodyGlide (on the disboards)

And I'm telling you, it was a life saver!!!!! I always use it now, not only for Disney trips, but anytime I will be walking for an extended amount of time. I have not had one blister while on any of our trips since I got some!

Thanks for the suggestion - actually I did use the body glide and it worked on the sides of my feet but those 2 little pinky toes, not so much. I am so sorry for all the pointy toed shoes I wore in my misspent youth!

 

[JLR]

It was a bit overcast and windy at this point, so we went into the lazy river to warm up and practice snorkeling. I was still trying to talk Madeline into spending time with me at the “coral” reef. She was really scared of the big rays!

This little fellow was hanging out on the water’s edge.

Some of the life guards acted as if they were guarding Buckingham Palace. Madeline is extremely friendly and so wasn’t sure what to make of them. Others were very friendly. The one in the aviary showed her how to play games with some of the birds. They liked to catch little bits of stems thrown in the air. I had to drag her away from there to go to our enhanced dolphin encounter.

We met at a cabana again, but there was no educational film this time. We talked about what we would be doing, and made sure everybody had a well fitting mask without snorkel. (Again – dolphin toy) We were paired this time with two dolphins, C.J. and Diego. We got to give more commands. C.J. and Diego were a bit older and could do more than Iggy. We also got to hear the underwater sounds. Then we took some pictures with the two dolphins. We had more opportunity to touch the dolphins and then we had the two foot push. We were all required to wear life vests for this. It is neat, but beware. A lot of pressure is on two small areas of your feet. It did hurt a little bit. I think I may have preferred another tow.

Here are some more photos:

We headed back to the adventure Photo cabana to add these things to our order. If you bought a DVD of the first experience, for $15 you can purchase a video of the second experience. They are no dummies. We had dolphin euphoria at this point so I felt I needed to upgrade the package to include the two dolphin photos. Again, the CD would have been plenty. Oh – the CD has nice shots of the whole DC that you can print and use for your own scrapbook. That is a nice little added value.

After another episode of struggling with the wetsuits (the food and drink is free, but I don’t recommend partaking of much if you are wearing a wetsuit.) we went to warm up in the lazy river and finally spend a bit of time in the “coral” reef.

We then hoped to find a photographer to get a few more mother daughter shots for our CD. We could not find one in the whole park. They tried to call one for us in the aviary, but no one was answering. After quite a long wait, and lots more fun with the birds, we caught one and got these last two shots:

Why were these so necessary? I had neglected to pop the spare battery out of the charger and put it in the pack AGAIN! Bad mommy, bad mommy!

I let Madeline hang out with the rays some more while I went to pay for and pick up our photo packages. This was extremely frustrating. There were too many things in our folders, but we were missing some of our things – most importantly the correct photo CD and the second dolphin swim. The clerk was not very reassuring. It all worked out in the end, but it burned the last 45 minutes of my day at Discovery Cove. I must admit I felt a bit cheated.

We showered and got cleaned up. The changing rooms are very nice, but there are not enough showers for the end of the day rush. Remember, everybody is trying to wriggle out of unfamiliar wetsuits.

We stopped by the gift shop to pick up some souvenirs. Madeline got a dolphin she named Jenny. We picked out t-shirts for the twins and a hat for my Dad. They also had nice inexpensive charms and I bought a turtle for Madeline. We are trying to help her learn to slow down and take her time with her school work. I’m afraid I didn’t exactly model that on this trip! Madeline also wanted the Jenny fluke. The other charm was about $15, so I said OK. Travel rule # 201. Always ask to see the price! It was about $80. It is staying in my jewelry box until she is old enough and responsible enough to take care of her things!

We took a cab home. Clean, quiet, and efficient: Mears cabs are as nice inside as many towncars.

Madeline really had her heart set on doing another Kim Possible adventure. The weather was looking a bit iffy, but we hoped for the best and set out. Madeline intelligently kept her water shoes on, but I put on new blister Band-Aids and my comfortable Keens. (Do you sense the foreshadowing?)

We talked to the agents at the International gateway who promised a mission in the U.K. and we headed down to get fish-n-chips. Madeline had been talking about these for quite some time. The counter service restaurant had a line out the door and it looked like it was going to rain. We ducked in the pub and I made sure it was OK to bring a minor in, which it was, and we ordered fish-n-chips. Unfortunately, you cannot use the dining plan in the pub so it was > $20 for 2 orders of fish and chips and 2 pops! However, we were blessedly sitting down.

What a tired little girl!

Still a bit euphoric despite the photo incident we invited someone else to join our table. They were a nice couple down on a business trip for the husband. Madeline was very chatty. I joked that there is a small fee for the table – having to listen to our chatter. The rain was really gushing down at this point. Lots of other people were heading in to escape the rain. We waited some for the piano lady to come back on and Madeline was all in favor of waiting out the storm so we could complete our Kim Possible Adventure, even though it turned out we were assigned to France and not the U.K.. Finally, I made an executive decision and we pulled up the hoods on our ponchos and headed out. It was freezing! The water was coming down so fast that we had to wade in ankle deep water at spots. My smart daughter was just fine in her aqua shoes. I was fretting about my favorite Keens. We hung our dripping things in the bathroom and got ready for bed. We tucked ourselves in and were asleep by 9 pm. Would we ever make it back to Epcot?

 

[skier_pete]

Hey, while you were sitting in the rain in the UK, we were on the other side of the lagoon keeping dry in the QS restaurant in China! That was quite some downpour...but we've done Disney enough in August and September to be used to it...one thing you don't realize being from the North is how *cold* those showers can be.

The DC experience looks like an absolute blast. No doubt we will be doing that someday.I really don't see much DW will like. She is fine at the aviary over in Niagara Falls, except she wants nothing to do with the Lorikeet feeding area where they actually land on you. Basically, she doesn't like being touched by creatures of any sort...I'm thinking DC might just be Daddy / Daughter day.

We've done all the KP missions except UK...to me the best were Germany, Japan, and China in that order. I'd probably put France next, then Norway and Mexico. Supposedly they change by some degree every time you do them...there's something like 12 "missions" in each country, and they only give you about 6 of them each time.

Keep up the good stories!

 

[smithpack]

DC looks like a lot of fun. It also seems like a great way to break up the theme park days. At least from the pictures it seemed relaxing. I love that your camera takes underwater pictures, and I am totally loving the braids. What a great idea.

Can't believe that charm was $80 I hate it when something is too good to be true.

Looking forward to hearing more.

 

[JLR]

Hey, while you were sitting in the rain in the UK, we were on the other side of the lagoon keeping dry in the QS restaurant in China! That was quite some downpour...but we've done Disney enough in August and September to be used to it...one thing you don't realize being from the North is how *cold* those showers can be.

The DC experience looks like an absolute blast. No doubt we will be doing that someday.I really don't see much DW will like. She is fine at the aviary over in Niagara Falls, except she wants nothing to do with the Lorikeet feeding area where they actually land on you. Basically, she doesn't like being touched by creatures of any sort...I'm thinking DC might just be Daddy / Daughter day.

We've done all the KP missions except UK...to me the best were Germany, Japan, and China in that order. I'd probably put France next, then Norway and Mexico. Supposedly they change by some degree every time you do them...there's something like 12 "missions" in each country, and they only give you about 6 of them each time.

Keep up the good stories!

Too funny you were just around the lagoon. Yes - the cold was a bit shocking!

I think you are probably right about it being best to have this be a Daddy and daughter experience if your wife would be uncomfortable the whole day. The birds might land on you even if you are not holding food and it is awfly expensive if ther eis nothing you would personally enjoy. Oh well, I expect she will have many private experiences with your daughter - this can be your thing!

Thanks for the encouragement.

DC looks like a lot of fun. It also seems like a great way to break up the theme park days. At least from the pictures it seemed relaxing. I love that your camera takes underwater pictures, and I am totally loving the braids. What a great idea.

Can't believe that charm was $80 I hate it when something is too good to be true.

Looking forward to hearing more.

It was a wonderful way to break up the week. It was quite relaxing, even if we did not spend any time on our beach chairs. There was no hury, hurry, hurry. That warm tropical river is just fabulous! When your kids all group up a bit - I think you will also have a blast.

I would recommend the braids for any families with little girls! As my daughter has hit the tweens, I cannot bathe her at night and have her hair look anything but dirty in the morning, and a morning shower and hair drying for multiple girls is a time hog! The braids were great! Rinse them out, squeeze out the water, spray on the sunscreen and go! I think when we go as a family, I'll see if I can get all the girls to sport them!

 

[Megan07]

Wow! Sounds like you had a perfect day at DC! I knew you would! I'm also slightly jealous! You got to do the double foot push. That is something they usually only offer to those in the trainer for a day program. Lucky! I've been wanting to do that, but I'm not shelling out that money yet!

I"m Loving it! Keep it up!!

 

[EnchantedPlayroom]

I have LOVED reading this. This is the perfect TR for me, as I am planning on taking my DD (3) all by myself for her first WDW trip this December. I am very much looking forward to it, and even more so after reading your TR. What a wonderful, magical, UNFORGETTABLE trip of a lifetime for you two. I'm sure that neither one of you will ever forget this. I find myself teary eyed at times reading your TR just thinking of the pixie dust in my future with my DD! Thank you so much for reporting so wonderfully.

 

[JLR]

Wow! Sounds like you had a perfect day at DC! I knew you would! I'm also slightly jealous! You got to do the double foot push. That is something they usually only offer to those in the trainer for a day program. Lucky! I've been wanting to do that, but I'm not shelling out that money yet!

I"m Loving it! Keep it up!!

I hope they continue offering this on low census days. It was a bargain at $59. I was glad to get the extra dolphin time. Honestly, though, I thought the dolphin tow was more fun.

I have LOVED reading this. This is the perfect TR for me, as I am planning on taking my DD (3) all by myself for her first WDW trip this December. I am very much looking forward to it, and even more so after reading your TR. What a wonderful, magical, UNFORGETTABLE trip of a lifetime for you two. I'm sure that neither one of you will ever forget this. I find myself teary eyed at times reading your TR just thinking of the pixie dust in my future with my DD! Thank you so much for reporting so wonderfully.

The two of you will have a great time. I hope you are going when it is a bit quieter. I also hope she will not be shy of characters. While the two of you will not be ding all the thrill rides we did - I think you will enjoy Dumbo, its a small world, and all the other family friendly rides. Since you won't be doing thrill rides, you can do your character greets in the morning. Be at toon Town for its rope drop (if they still have it in December) and see the fairies first.

Our best character day was at Animal Kingdom. We were there on our last day and saw with minimal waits:

Flik
Terk
Baloo and Louie
Jimminy Cricket
Rafiki
Pocahontas
Chip and Dale
Thumper and Miss Bunny
Meeko

We could also have seen Mickey, Goofy, Donald, and Minnie, but we had already seen them. They also had the Winnie the Pooh characters there that day, but again we'd seen them already.

The beauty of the Mommy and me trip is that you can follow your child's natural rhythms and rest and eat when they need to and go home when they are done. They don't have to be patient for anybody else. As long as you don't push her past her tolerance, you will have a great time! Watch out for dark rides. Teeny flashlights (the keychain kind) have been recommended. You might also consider earplugs for the loud things like fireworks. Only stay for fireworks, though if she has had a good nap. I think fireworks are earlier in December. I'm happy for you!

My two year olds are demanding attention right now - I need to go.

 

[mermaid764]

Your pictures of Discovery Cove have made me want to go there even more. It looked like an awesome day for you guys, just too bad that the weather wouldn't cooperate towards the end. Looking forward your next update

 

[JLR]

Your pictures of Discovery Cove have made me want to go there even more. It looked like an awesome day for you guys, just too bad that the weather wouldn't cooperate towards the end. Looking forward your next update

That's how I felt looking at others' photos before I went! When I'm done with this TR I may add more photos to my DC day posted under the Sea World section.

I think we may have benefitted from being forced to rest in the end. Fortunately, my shoes dried out before we went home!

BTW - we met lots of Canadians at DC and DW! Some even had flown in and out of our airport! (We are about 50 miles from the Canadian border)

Keep saving those pennies. It is definately worthwhile!

 

[JLR]

I'm not up to writing up sea world today, but I thought I'd share some more DC photos. NB, they are not in order.

 

[JLR]

That's it. I can't remember what I've already posted. Sorry if there are any repeats!

 

[gallmcduck]

Your DC updates have been really fun to read and see the photos They are really clear pictures and looks like so much fun. Pity that the rain spoiled the KP mission at epcot, hope you got to go again I'll keep reading to see

Our DS is looking forward to doing KP but I'm not sure how DD1 will get on DD2 is having a day with Gran and Grandad at the pool so we'll have lots of time just to do things that don't involve keeping the baby happy or fitting in nap times. I'm sure we can fit in some shopping if she is not that interested

 

[JLR]

Day 7: Sea World

Yesterday, we ended with a deluge at Epcot after a marvelous day at Discovery Cove. Today, we were going to try to utilize Orlando public transportation, LYNX, to get to Sea World.

I had initially planned to pick up the LYNX at Downtown Disney, but when we arrived at the Disney bus stop the CM told us that busses don’t go to Downtown Disney until later in the day, so we’d have to go to the Transportation and Ticket Center, via the Magic Kingdom. As we were sitting waiting, another bus pulls up and has a conversation with the CM who called us over. Apparently, the driver had to go to DTD – Score! We climbed on the bus, which BTW had pools of water on some of the seats. I imagine a lot of very wet people rode it the night before. He showed us what our stop would be and dropped us off across the street for safety reasons. Our bus showed up about 5 minutes later. The busses are very nice – almost like charter busses, and very clean. It was $2 for me and $1 for Madeline. We arrived at a stop by the Sea World parking lot about 10-15 minutes later. NB: the bus has way more stops than show on the schedule. Be sure to have the driver tell you when to get off. Well, it was about 8:30 am and here we were:

We crossed the parking lot and made it up to here:

We had quite a wait, and it was not like at Disney. People did not start showing up until nearly 9 am. We had asked a question about our DC passes and park maps and a very nice employee chatted us up and gave us tips about feeding the animals.

I enjoyed not dealing with money at Disney, so we had decided to do the all day dining, but you have to buy that inside the park. The gift shop outside was open and we bought some postcards and some spray on sunscreen – yeah! Remember we had those bone white parts in our hair that needed to be protected!

The weather was not great, and so there were not many people there when the park opened. When we went in we took care of the all-day dining and went in search of breakfast. There was one restaurant that offered breakfast on the all day dining plan. Oops – after hunting it down, it was closed for renovation and none of the other open places participated in the dining deal. So we just had a huge waste of time for nothing (that was a Sea World theme for us). We could get something at 10 am. We strolled back toward the things we wanted to do that morning: dolphin feeding and Manta. We stopped by here:

To see the baby dolphins with their moms. I wish their enclosure was larger.

Then we headed over to Manta

This is the seat you can try out before heading on line. We then put everything in storage lockers. Bring lots of quarters if you like the thrill rides. We ended up after the third time just keeping most of our stuff in the lockers for the rest of the day. I was glad I had deep pockets! Oh, another tip – double and triple check make sure your kid gives you everything she wants kept in the locker before you lock it!

Manta is a fun ride! The queue has some really great aquariums. I took some pictures on a later ride that I will post later. Sea World, however, is not as clean as Disney. There is a gum receptacle that looked like it hadn’t been cleaned out in a week and it was 9:20 in the morning!
Icky! Anyway, after cruising the non-existent line we were ready to board. Madeline needed a little boost to get in the seat. Soon we were securely strapped in. Then they swing you up so you are prone. It is surprisingly comfortable. Madeline did great! She is learning to be fearless! After flipping and zooming we were done but we would be back.

We headed out. They had guards so I couldn’t redneck our ride photo. I refuse to pay $20 for a ride photo.

I think we rode Kraken next. It was fun – but nothing to write home about and we did not return today.

Next up, dolphin feeding. The dolphin feeding and stingrays are right next to each other. You can pay $10 to feed the stingrays, sea lions and sharks. That is a $5 saving over paying for each individually. They give you a card and punch out the holes. The dolphin feeding is $7 per tray. You’d think that we’d have had enough dolphin yesterday, but we were game for some more.

You can see the sun is coming out.

Alright, I need to get back to work.

 

[JLR]

The stingray feeding area is right outside the dolphin area. We had bought our tickets, so we had our cards punched and took our fish. The birds in the area are wise to this and are assertive about stealing fish from the humans. We stacked our trays so there was only one target, right in front of Madeline. At first the stingrays seemed to ignore the fish, but we got to pet them. They are so cool feeling!

Then they realized we had something to offer

They were splashing like crazy and Madeline got soaked!

The birds were pretty, even if we had to be careful of them.

Now it was time, we could finally get Madeline some breakfast! As we were making our way back in to the center of the park we came across this little parade of flamingos:

A little farther along, we came across this trainer and parrot.

Finally we made it down and got our brunch. You exchange your receipt for a wrist band. Don’t forget to ask for the lid and straw for the kids’ meal at the register. You don’t get them with the drink.

Next up, Clyde and Seamore!
This is a cute performance and IMHO not to be missed!

Sadly, we got there late and were seated in the sun and not in the splash zone so it was time for Journey to Atlantis. At this time of day, it was essentially a walk-on.

It was OK and we had plans to go back later in the day.
I guess I glutted this with photos. I’ve been trying not to have too many per installment.

 

[mousetravel]

Great updates! I wish I had known about the punch cards for the fish. We just fed the dolphins. Yeah, those stingrays were real "splashy" when we were petting them, but it was cute though!!

 

[smithpack]

Wow, I never knew sting rays could get so aggressive for food. I guess I get the same way though, when I am hungry. I love, love, love that Clyde and Seamore show. It has been about 5 years since we have been to seaworld, but I still remember that show. It was my favorite part. I like all the pictures!!

 

[JLR]

Great updates! I wish I had known about the punch cards for the fish. We just fed the dolphins. Yeah, those stingrays were real "splashy" when we were petting them, but it was cute though!!

I agreed, it was fun and I am not very germ phobic. We just foamed and moved on.

Wow, I never knew sting rays could get so aggressive for food. I guess I get the same way though, when I am hungry. I love, love, love that Clyde and Seamore show. It has been about 5 years since we have been to seaworld, but I still remember that show. It was my favorite part. I like all the pictures!!

The rays were surprising, but fun. I agree and C& S. How are you feeling?