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| Our cute little travelers |
We decided to head back down to Florida again December of 2015. Macie was 4 and Lincoln 2. Keith loves to travel for his birthday so off we went. This trip we were just doing 3 full days and planned to do Sea World, Animal Kingdom and Universal Studios.
Night 1 we decided to change it up from Rainforest Cafe and went to T-Rex at Disney Springs. It was a very similar atmosphere and menu to rain forest cafe. The kids seemed to enjoy it as much as toddlers can.
Day 1 Universal studios, trying something new. We chose studios over islands of adventure. There was tons for the kids to do. They loved the Curious George water play area. They had fun squirt sprinklers and a big ball room where you could shoot them all over the place. They had the majority of the kids rides in one area so we were able to run straight there and get them all done. This was also where they rode and loved their first roller coaster, Woody Wood Pecker. Since we ran straight to the kids stuff we were basically alone and they rode over and over. We did the Barney show, E.T. ride (scared the kids), Shrek 4d (scared the kids) and a few other things.
I was surprised how much a 2 and 4 year old could do here. Of course if was hard for Keith and I to see some of the big rides knowing the kids were definitely not tall enough, but we decided to see about the rider swap option anyway. Now I don’t know how it’s normally done but I can say for the first time ever having kids worked out in our favor big time! We went to Rockin roller coaster first and asked the lady at the gate if there was anyway we could ride even though we had little kids. She was like sure and got a guy to take us up the back entrance elevator to the top of the coaster. They had a nice air conditioned room for Keith and the kids and the guy walked me right across the bridge and into the front seat. I was like what is happening everyone was looking at me like how the hell did she just get the front car from some special back room while we’ve been waiting hours. I was in shock... and away we went! As soon as I was done I switched and Keith rode while I sat in what seemed like my VIP room with the kids. We were both so stunned we decided to try it one more time with the Mummy Returns. Sure enough same thing! We rode the two biggest rides in maybe 30 minutes it was amazing. I don’t know if the rider swap process hadn’t been figured out yet but hey I wasn’t complaining. After that we caught a big Christmas parade that was done to mimic the Macy’s day parade in New York. It was such a great day exploring this park and having it all done up for Christmas.
I was surprised how much a 2 and 4 year old could do here. Of course if was hard for Keith and I to see some of the big rides knowing the kids were definitely not tall enough, but we decided to see about the rider swap option anyway. Now I don’t know how it’s normally done but I can say for the first time ever having kids worked out in our favor big time! We went to Rockin roller coaster first and asked the lady at the gate if there was anyway we could ride even though we had little kids. She was like sure and got a guy to take us up the back entrance elevator to the top of the coaster. They had a nice air conditioned room for Keith and the kids and the guy walked me right across the bridge and into the front seat. I was like what is happening everyone was looking at me like how the hell did she just get the front car from some special back room while we’ve been waiting hours. I was in shock... and away we went! As soon as I was done I switched and Keith rode while I sat in what seemed like my VIP room with the kids. We were both so stunned we decided to try it one more time with the Mummy Returns. Sure enough same thing! We rode the two biggest rides in maybe 30 minutes it was amazing. I don’t know if the rider swap process hadn’t been figured out yet but hey I wasn’t complaining. After that we caught a big Christmas parade that was done to mimic the Macy’s day parade in New York. It was such a great day exploring this park and having it all done up for Christmas.
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| spray park you never know what's hiding behind each door |
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| ball play area |
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| macys day parade |
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| santa! |
Day 2 sea world. We love this park as stated before in previous blog posts. We did every show except the Christmas dolphin show because the line was sooo long. All the shows were Christmas themed and so fun. They even had decorations around some of the rides as well. Luckily for me to go along with our themed outfits I was able to squeeze the kids into their cute Etsy outfits I had bought the year before. We ended this day with smiles and ice cream.
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| selfies |
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| Christmas is in the air |
Day 3 dead! This day was supposed to be animal kingdom but we were exhausted and we could barely get out of bed. All the walking and pushing two kids in a stroller had caught up to us. The 2 days with no naps and late bed times did not go well come day 3. This day was Keith’s birthday so we still wanted to do something fun, we were on vacation after all. So we decided to do a little swimming at the hotel and take the kids to their first mini golf experience. This went ok I mean come on they are 2 and 4 it was kind of a free for all. We ended the day with dinner on a patio and watched the Steelers before bed. Thankfully the Disney gift cards we had bought from Giant Eagle (gas points) had no expiration date, so we were able to save them for our next adventure.
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| mini golf |
Some big things I learned on this trip.
1. Don’t say it oks when they offer you a handicapped room. This usually means the dead bolt locks are down low aka in kids reach. This is a huge pain because they can then let themselves in and out of the room.
2. A normal size hotel room is impossible to try and get everyone to bed and stay asleep the whole night. The kids end up later the parents end up getting up earlier. I swear by suites!
3. Also with a hotel room you don’t have a kitchen. 3 meals a day out to eat with little kids is hell! They don’t want to sit still and you don’t want to deal with their crap! Suites are great for doing breakfast in the rooms and keeping supplies on hand for packing lunches.
4. Make sure you plan rest days in between too many parks. Kids and parents get exhausted!
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