So, where was I?
Single digit dance
And where was I with the plans? Day 3 (Monday) is earmarked for shopping, probably starting at the outlets.
Day 3-6 we will probably visit each of the Universal parks, plus Seaworld. We plan to do most of our shopping in that window, though. Day 5, Wednesday, we have booked Dine with Shamu, so well be spending part of that day at least at Seaworld. We havent seen the new turtle exhibit, and of course the penguin exhibit is new as well.
We have Aquatica in our back pocket for days when we want something fun but not, you know, structured. We will watch the weather and see how our energy level is, and a few hours at Aquatica might be just the ticket on a hot day. Though ds is turning 13 this week, we just hang out together and dont tend to send the kids off by themselves, so most things well do as a group. Usually theres a point where dh or I negotiate a break
I get half an hour in the lounge chair, you take them to X, then well swap and Ill take them to y
Works for us.
Our favourite is the group tube slides. I am not a body slide enthusiast, and my kids will give it a go, but we all really love the tube slides, and especially the multi-person ones. Tassies Twisters (affectionately know at the toilet bowl slide) was sooo much fun last time.
Random pic of ride snipped from google search:
We also really enjoyed the wave pool and the body surfing that comes with it. Roas Rapids is the not-so-lazy river, which is fun, but last time I was too much of a Nervous Nelly to enjoy it fully. The kids are older now, and well suit up with the PFDs and give er. I do recall scrambling to get out at one of the two exit points, and that freaked me out a little, but I know what to expect now. Theres also a more serene lazy river, and floating around on those big tubes is a great way to spend some time. If only they came with spill-proof adult beverage cups!
Some time in there dd and I will have our girls day. Its kind of a tradition that our girls day is lots of shopping and sushi for lunch. I think Ive decided on Florida Mall. Looks like some favourites, some fun stuff, and a sushi restaurant with the whole floating-by-you sushi boats thing. Dh will drop us off and take ds for bbq or something. I want to have most of the serious shopping done by then, so if she sees something special, or a splurge, shell know what she still needs, and what shes willing to spend her savings on.
Day 7, Friday, is the day weve picked to visit Legoland. We will probably do most of the attractions except the real little-kid ones. Ive heard theres a Mindstorms (
Lego programmable robots) class thats very good. There are a number of not-too-crazy roller coasters, including a classic wooden one. I am also interested to see the old Cypress Gardens area, and the miniland. The kids are dying to shop, and I hope they have some unique things there. Dd loves Lego Friends, and I really hope some of the Friends are around for meet and greets. (They are only reliably there on Lego Friends Weekend, in the winter.) From what I have read, its not a wait-45-minutes-for-a-ride kind of place, though we do plan to arrive close to opening and stay all day.
That second week, all the crowd calendars drop crowd levels significantly, because thats when a lot of kids in the region are back in school. So the second week is our big park week. WWoHP over and over. Ollivanders until dd gets picked.
Spend our last cent at the shops of Hogsmeade. Try out the new rides, Despicable Me, and Transformers if we have the patience. I want to try the prix fixe lunch menu at Emerils on Citywalk. We missed a lot last time because we were ride chickens, so this time we plan to try more. NOT those upside down thingies or anything like RRR, but maybe a few more. Disaster sounds fun, my kids love the idea of movie magic, so that will be interesting.
Monday we have a reservation at Ohana for breakfast with Stitch and friends. We have done this meal probably 6 times, and we always love it. We are booked for 10:30 in the morning, and well treat it as brunch. A nice leisurely start to that day, a chance to wander around the Poly and maybe ride the monorail just for old times sake.
Tuesday or Wednesday we have an 8:30 pm ressie at Kona Café. The Poly really is our favourite Disney property. We booked it for a dessert visit, and then we plan to watch Wishes from the Poly beach. That, and Downtown Disney, will give us our Disney fix. Oh, I just thought of something...where can we get a Mickey bar outside the parks? Maybe at Capt Cook's at the Poly, or somewhere in DTD? Gotta have a Mickey bar!
We also want to take our time at Seaworld and enjoy the animal displays. We really liked the park last time, and vowed to spend more time.
And rest, relax, swim, go to Aquatica, shop some more, figure out how to fit everything in the suitcases
Our return flight isnt until 2 pm on Saturday, and we have until 10 to be out of our villa. Not thinking about that part too much, but hopeful that itll be a reasonable schedule and not too rude an awakening. Orlando to Toronto, Toronto to home around 10 pm.