The updated itinerary:
Saturday, April 23rd – To Buffalo!
· This is Sunshine’s birthday, so we invited her parents to join us for dinner at Chili’s (her favourite) to celebrate her special event. We will give the house a thorough cleaning in the morning, then leave home by early afternoon to begin the 4 hour commute. We are overnight at the Days Hotel, with pool and hot tub time to pass the evening (unless the kids somehow convince us to tour the Walden Galleria….I can see that happening).
Sunday, April 24th – Arrival day.
· We’re up and at ‘em bright and early for our 8 am flight. Breakfast is provided at the Days Hotel so we’ll eat there before taking the shuttle to the airport. Once we land, we’ll pick up the rental vehicle and by Jake’s request, we will have lunch at Friendly’s before checking in to the Vistana. This day is pretty open, so we will fill it in with whatever we feel like….most likely some shopping and pool time (Sunshine is pretty excited to check out all the amenities at the resort). We will have to stop at the Florida Mall at some point during this day to pick up Sunshine’s birthday cake from Carlos’ Bakery. The kiddos want Cici’s Pizza for dinner, so we will indulge them on that too. We are hoping to work in a round of mini golf at Congo River (with some gator feeding, too!) sometime during the course of the day.
Monday, April 25th – either Aquatica or SeaWorld.
· Breakfast will be at the villa. On whichever day we end up at Aquatica, we will rent a cabana and have lunch at the Waterstone Grill. Dinner will be at Golden Corral. If we select SeaWorld for this day, then we will use our all-day dining passes that I have already pre-paid and purchase Quick Queue for the rides.
Tuesday, April 26th – Universal Studios.
· Breakfast will be at the villa and we will endeavour to get to the parks in time for opening (crowd levels aren’t projected to be too high, so we will hopefully avoid buying Express Passes). We have pre-purchased the Universal Quick Service Dining Plan for the first time, so we will give that a try and see how it goes (one entrée + drink for your meal, plus one additional beverage and one snack per person). Dinner will be at Millers Ale House on our way back to the resort.
Wednesday, April 27th – non-park day.
· Everyone gets to sleep in a bit on this day. We have our Disney character brunch at 1900 Park Fare in the late morning, then plan to enjoy some time at the outlet malls afterward. In the evening, we will head to CityWalk for a round of mini golf at Hollywood Drive-In Golf and dinner at Margaritaville.
Thursday, April 28th – Islands of Adventure.
· Again, we will try to get those kiddos up and moving so we can be at the park for opening (trying to get as much riding in before the mid-day crowds arrive…..we’re going with no Express Passes again unless necessary). Breakfast will eaten at the villa. Lunch will be at Confisco’s and dinner is planned for Steak & Shake after we call it a day.
Friday, April 29th – Universal Studios.
· We kick off our morning with the Superstar Character Breakfast at 8:45 am. The balance of the day will be spent hitting up our park favourites between both US & IOA. We do have priority parade viewing at the Studios as part of our character breakfast, so we will be sure to take advantage of that. Lunch will be at Finnegan’s, and dinner will be at TGI Fridays once our feet have officially worn out.
Saturday, April 30th – we’re off to St. Petersburg!
· Plans call for breakfast at Sweet Tomatoes before hitting the highway en route to St. Petersburg. We have our dolphin cruise booked for 12 noon, then will grab a late lunch/early dinner at Ferg’s before heading to Tropicana Field to watch the Toronto Blue Jays take on the Tampa Bay Rays (game time is 6:10 pm). We will snack at the game, but if we’re still feeling peckish afterward, we can grab some fast food along the way back to Orlando or order pizza once we’re back at the resort.
Sunday, May 1st – either SeaWorld or Aquatica (whichever park we DIDN’T do on Monday).
· We check out of the Vistana today and check into the Residence Inn before heading to the parks. If we did Aquatica on Monday, then this will be our SeaWorld day (and vice versa). Quick Queue would be free as resort guests if this turns out to be a SeaWorld day. We’ll rent a cabana if its Aquatica. Steve and I will also be celebrating our anniversary….23 years!
Monday, May 2nd – SeaWorld.
· Breakfast this morning will be enjoyed at the Residence Inn (they have a great hot and cold buffet), then we are off to SeaWorld! We have our Behind the Scenes Tour at 11:15 am, and Dine With Shamu for dinner. Lunch will be either at the new Mama’s Pretzel Kitchen (if we want to be bad) or Manta Soft Serve (if we want to be veeerrrryyyy bad!).
Tuesday, May 3rd – grab the tissues, we’re headed home.
· One last buffet breakfast at the Residence Inn, and we’re off to the airport bright and early. We arrive back in Buffalo around 1 pm, so we will stop for lunch after we land. If the Silo in Lewiston has opened for the season, we would like to stop there for our meal before crossing back into Canada. Then it’s homeward bound … until October.
Somewhere in that finely-tuned itinerary, there will be evening forays to Twistee Treat and Krispy Kreme as the stomach capacity allows. There will also be lots of evening pool and hot tub time in the after-dinner hours.
24 days to departure!! 
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but the secret site is 
- don't anyone believe that I was paid off! 
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When did the couch photos get the axe? Was it announced somewhere and I missed it? Jake (being the Simpsons fan that he is) was actually looking forward to those goofy family pictures!
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