We ventured to Florida and my parents for Spring Break again this year. They are definitely bribing us to continue making the drive for every vacation by paying for park tickets. And it's working. The boys are so good in the car though, it's not too horrible. This year we opted for Universal Studios tickets because their prices are more reasonable, and it was something new.
We went to Universal on our first full day in Florida. Unfortunately I've let it take so long to write this post that I'm a little fuzzy about what happened on which day, but will do my best to straighten out between the 2 cameras and multiple cell phones that were taking pictures! We had a much more relaxed pace then we ever have at Disney, we only spent partial days at the parks each time we went. On day one we definitely decided that Universal doesn't come close to Disney World, it doesn't have the magic and it just doesn't follow through on the details like Disney. Also, the fast pass system does not work. at. all. Once we got past all that, we definitely had a great time. They have some fantastic rides and tons of stuff the kids could do. Poor Timmy was afraid to ride anything and poor Tyler was dying to ride everything but was too short to! We did the Islands of Adventure side on our first day. We rode Shrek and then made a turn towards the kids area and ran right into Bumble Bee!
They have a childsize roller coaster that Tyler was tall enough for, thankfully. Timmy and Tyler were both a little nervous to go on it for the first time, but they were super excited after! We rode it a few times in a row! (Per their request, despite what their faces say on the ride!)
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| So upset I didn't catch his whole face, but you can see the smile! He jumped up and down saying how awesome it was! |
We ate at Mo's Tavern in Springfield and it was pretty neat! After we ate Tim bought a monster size donut and put it on the table in front of Timmy and Tyler. Tyler's eyes turned into saucers and I'm pretty sure they both started drooling. Then Timmy asked, "Wait, do I have to share this with Tyler?" It was big enough for all six of us to share!
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| The parks are definitely Dad's happy place! |
The next day we headed back to Universal and finished walking around the same park.
The highlight of the day was the parade, it was Mardi Gras themed. The kids collected so many beads! When we got home we gave them away to all of their classmates and put them in Tyler's goody bags for his birthday, and we still have dozens!
The next day we took it easy, played in the pool, and kept an eye on Chompy.
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| This is Tyler "jumping in"! |
We also met a few other characters and spent some time in Seussland. Tim eventually convinced Timmy to ride the White Water Rapids ride which is Popeye themed. Timmy was so nervous before hand because we were honest that there is a little drop on the ride. They ended up going a few times in a row though, and I think it's still one of Timmy's favorite rides. The boys did not ride Do-Right Falls, but they did think it was cool to sit in the log!
Back to Universal again and we took Tyler in to become a Minion! He's not tall enough to sit in the moving seats, and Timmy wasn't feeling well so he really wasn't in the mood to try any new rides. This actually helped us out with the line though, We took Tyler in to the stationary seating without having to wait at all! The ride is really fun!
The kids loved exploring everything in Seussland! We rode everything at least once!
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| This. This is what I saw constantly, every time we stopped, every time I put him down. Accompanied by his hand reaching up as high as he could reach and a, "Mom. Pick me up." If ignored it would be repeated, whined, or demanded until I gave in! My poor back! That sweet face! |
We were lucky enough to have some old tickets to Disney World so we went to the Magic Kingdom for one day. It was hot and the most crowded we have ever seen one of the parks. That said, with Tim's great planning we were able to do absolutely everything. He said he was going to write a book after this day and he should have! We went straight to Storytime with Belle which we had never done before. Tim, Timmy, and Tyler were all selected to be characters (a Guard, Maurice, and Chip!) It was really fun.
From there we got onto the Little Mermaid, Goofy's Barnstormers, and Tomorrowland Speedway. We only waited 20 minutes at the longest for any of these rides. By the time we got out of each the lines were much longer!
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| Tyler's First time driving! |
Timmy and Tyler were both putting in requests for which rides to do next but were accepting our reasoning that we had fast passes for later, or the lines would stay short, or we'll go there in a little bit, until Tyler spotted Buzz Lightyear. He was NOT going anywhere else until he got to see Buzz!
After collecting my childswap ticket at Space Mountain we came out to find Stitch, the boys other favorite. Tyler even showed Stitch his own stitches!
Next up was the People Mover and Buzz Lightyear ride followed by Mickey's Philharmonic Theater and the Carousel.
Then we took a ride break and went to watch the new parade. We are not usually parade people but it was definitely worth seeing!
We took a food break and by this time the park was just packed. We did the Haunted Mansion with a fastpass and then started going to attractions we usually skip, just to get out of the heat and the crowds! We went to the Hall of Presidents, Country Bear Jamboree, and the Tiki Room! The boys enjoyed all of them, but I think it would have to be similar situations for us to do them again any time soon!
As the sun started to go down the crowds did too. We made a mad dash around the park hitting some more favorites, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, we rode Aladin's Magic Carpets during the fireworks, and then cut back across to Peter Pan, Small World, Winnie the Pooh, Dumbo, and a few more turns through Buzz Lightyear! The boys were both passed out before we were through Main Street!
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| My cell phone tells me there were 9 minutes between these two pictures! |
My parents kept the boys for us while we went and met Shana at Junk 2 Funk and then went on to Stanford to see their house, play with Parker, and go to dinner. They took us to an awesome German restaurant and we enjoyed eating outside in the beautiful weather. After dinner we went across the street to an eclectic bar for a while. We wrapped up the evening back at their house, visiting until after Parker was asleep! It was really great to spend so much time with them!
On our last full day we had more down time and Baba and M+M made an Easter Egg hunt for the boys.
For dinner that evening we went to Mickey's Bar-B-Q and M+M joined us! Timmy was just as amazed by the Lasso Artist as the first time. Goofy was Timmy's favorite of the night (it might have had something to do with his hat selection for the trip.) Dale made a special visit to our table to see M+M! He was very excited when we told him that one of her son's is named Dale.
It was a great trip! We drove home all day on Saturday. Easter morning Timmy and I were the only ones that were able to get up and go to church. Timmy enjoyed going through his Easter basket before we left, and of course we had candy for breakfast! When we got home Tyler and Tim were in better shape, and Tyler enjoyed his Easter Basket goodies too.
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