Sea World (Disney World Trip part 6)

February 2017

I really loved our SeaWorld day. There were lots of school groups at the beginning of the day, but they all seemed to leave around 3:00 and then we had the park mostly to ourselves!
We saw a dolphin show...

And an Orca show...

We watched fish and rays and sharks swim.

We fed a few pistachios to a squirrel.

We almost came home with a NEMO toy.

We were also privileged to meet a few of the animals that Tia gets to work with. We are truly so thankful for Tia's willingness to share such a special experience with us!

This is Bumstead and Sturby-- Male Harbor Seals

Don't worry, Tia put us to work!

This is an enormous male walrus (I think his name was Garfield!?!) 

He made some great noises and even gave us kisses. 

We didn't get to meet the famale, Kaboodle. She was next door and we could hear her. 

Tia told us she was sick. Interestingly enough, just a few weeks later SeaWorld announced the birth of their first ever baby walrus born in captivity. 

We were so close!

This is a male Beluga whale named Naluark.

We rode the rides! The fun little carnival style ones, and the BIG roller coasters. 

We really felt like we had the park to ourselves-- even staying on a roller coaster for a few rides in a row because there weren't any people in line behind us.

Epcot! (Disney World Trip part 5)

February 2017

Because Feta LOVES Frozen, and because the rest of my kids don't....
she and I made the most of the Early Hour available at Epcot to visit Anna and Elsa.

The ONLY souvenir she wanted. An Elsa dress (that has since been worn to death!)

Thanks again Uncle Lon and Aunt Liz, and May-May and Jared for souvenir money!!

 The first line, for the Frozen Ever After ride was happy. And twirly. (new dresses do that to you)

Then we got in line to meet the princesses...

we waited...

and waited...

After an hour plus, the goal was in sight!

When her turn came though, she was suddenly shy.

I think she was in awe of it all

Elsa introduced her sister, and as Feta walked over she finally opened up a bit.

 (It helped that Anna was less regal and much more chatty)

For our little monkey, this was definitely the highlight of the whole trip. 

We met up with Dad and the big kids right after this

 (they sort of got to sleep in!) and we pressed onward.

Epcot had SO many other adventures. The kids loved Mission Space and the Test Track.

 We tasted lots of yummy food this day. Mexican tacos, sushi, German sausage (as a bonus we saw Snow White!) and then delightful pastries as we walked back to our bus.

It was a very warm day, and we loved the snacks too!

(not pictured, but we fully loved the frozen lemonade as well!)

We also accidentally found BayMax and the boys were THRILLED.

Not to be forgotten- the Turtle Talk with Crush (where Pencil got to ask a question, and asked, "I don't actually know how fast you breathe." (not technically a question, but that's not important)

After everyone laughed, Crush responded, "I don't either, Dude! But that reminds me, I need to breathe now!"

It was beautiful- and that evening I couldn't help snap a picture of the Epcot Ball. (I think going inside it was my favorite ride of the day!)

Universal Studios Orlando (Disney Trip Part 4)

February 2017

Wednesday we switched gears and visited Universal Studios. My research showed that Wednesday would be the least busy day of the week we were there, and since we were trying to squish in two parks (Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure) for one day this was our plan.

We hired a car to drive us (remember how we got a ride from the airport from Disney? this left us carless- and renting a car at Disney World itself looked to be a headache of time we didn't want to spend.) SO this suburban and driver-- (our chauffeur!)  picked us up at our hotel and dropped us at the front gate with SO little effort. Then repeated in reverse to take us home. Pretty sweet.

We arrived about 20 minutes before the park officially opened. But lucky for us, they opened the gates about 5 minutes later! My boys zipped into the Transformers ride with no line- 2 times in a row!!

Directly thereafter we headed to Diagon Ally. Some of us... no need to mention who.... were excited to see the Harry Potter World!

No one wanted to talk to Stan Shunpike at the Knight Bus so that I could get a picture. So strangers...

It was magical!

We purchased one wand after watching Olivander's shop keepers help a wizard find the right wand.

It was so fun to watch the kids really do magic in the streets. Pencil was professional by the end of our time there!

He even made this mermaid statue squirt water. It almost got a guy wet!

We loved the Gringotts ride and the fire-breathing  DRAGON!

We went through the platform and took the train to Hogsmead. (switching Universal parks...)

And it was just as magical there. (the train ride was quite awesome too. Even if we saw dementors!)

Tia joined us, and we ate lunch at the Three Broomsticks... complete with butterbeer mustaches!

The food was our favorite of the whole trip!

I loved seeing the inside of Hogwarts.... and that ride!!

We may have stopped at the Zonko's/Wizarding Wheezes and HoneyDukes Candy Shops...

The giant lollypops sustained us on the train ride back.

After all the magic, we visited Jurassic Park. The kids loved this ride!

We even helped Tia ride a ride she hadn't been on yet! The Pteranodon Flyers required a smaller rider, so being with kids meant Tia could finally ride! It was very fun, but too short!

Sock met Cyclops (X-Men), and we got very close to a bike group that included Captain America, Spider-Man, Cyclops, Storm, and Phoenix.

 The Back to the Future DeLorean!

We were able to visit lots of other things too.... The Spider-Man and Incredible Hulk Rides, E.T. (Feta loved the babies!) Men-in-Black, and  Doctor Doom's Fearfall.
(we missed seeing the minions and eating a giant Simpsons donuts... but there's always next time!)
I honestly think we would have really done well with another day at Universal. It was far more kid friendly than I expected.