Morning 3, and another race through the Cabana Bay corridors…one good thing about our room being a mile away from the lobby is the number of steps we rack up before breakfast; little pre brekkie calorie deficit. Dale the snail, aka Grayson comes in second to a far superior Dean…Terrance the Terrapin (she’s named herself…poor form Jordan) brings up the rear…Alaska? Well she just does her own thing; you do you little Loo.
Holy hell…wait a minute…what is the bright thing in the sky? What is this warmth? Here…in Florida? Just as we’d began to get accustomed to Welsh weather in the sunshine state, the bloody sun decided to show its shiny little face and throw us into turmoil. Ah no, and I’d just bought a load a hoodies…fortunately I held off on the umbrella purchase and our ponchos were on their last legs following Jordan’s need for user instructions to donning said poncho. It’s a plastic bag with 4 holes Jordan, not quite rocket science…that would be the ponchos available at the Kennedy Space Centre.
Let’s get a wiggle on…it’s 9am already; my family would be so disappointed I’m not up and out before the sun…tell the truth, I’m a little disappointed in myself; I blame my upcoming middle age and lack of discernible sleep pattern. I’m so tired, but sleep is for the weak, and the plane home…
Voodoo again for Breakfast…thank god we got in our pre brekkie gains and earned the calorie intake…the morning walk to City Walk is taking its toll and poor Gray is getting vicarious aches and pains in a mark of solidarity to me and Jo despite spending the whole walk in the stroller. Thanks Grayson…the slight irony that if he had walked then Jordan would be less achy on account of less stroller weight may be lost on him. “I want to one with the Willy”…umm, should we be worried? Mind you, I think I’d be more concerned if he wanted the ‘one with a pretzel knife in its abdomen’…I’d expect it from Alaska. Ahh, I’ve learned my lesson; wasted dough yesterday, so I’ll just eat leftovers for breakfast…leftovers? What leftovers?…buggers manage to scarf the lot today barring a sliver of a Voodoo dolls leg. Gastric Steve even managed 2 nuts and didn’t so much as let me sniff one.
Lesson learned, belly empty, Dean sad.
Apparently Alaska has now become obsessed with having another doughnut picture, and has for some reason become an amateur photographer. “Daddy…say ‘I’m a little doughnut’”…not sure if she was trying to humiliate me in front of the masses gathered to watch the fashion shoot of the most up and coming photographer in the business (or maybe they just wanted a pic in the chair), but damn it, trust the process…I was a little doughnut. Long story short; I’ve now signed a contract to be the new face of Voodoo Doughnuts with Alaska as store photographer…they are paying us in doughnuts; this is a win.
Park hopping today…main goal; the Wizarding World; everything else is bonus points. Start off at USF, and instantly try to Jeanne Claw(d) (that seems like a joke that may only work in my head…it’s staying in though) our way into the Vicious 6. Alaska is so confident of her inherent evil that she doesn’t need a real blaster; so everyone welcome ‘Disaster Alaska’, the newest member. Me and Jo hit top 30 again, and I manage a stint in the top 10…poor Gray, nowhere near; chill out Gray, tears don’t exist in the Vicious 6…that’s a big ‘No No’.
Kids and Jo move on to chill in the sun for a bit (well Jo chills, the kids dance like beads will begin raining from the heavens if they believe enough…kids, that only happens at 6pm). I manage one last hoorah on Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit that nearly rip ride rocked my head off my shoulders. Damn this was a rough ride, made worse by my inability to be accompanied by The Muppets on my journey (there’s a secret song list…if you know you know). This is why people want you dead RRR…a lack of Muppets; Disney knows the score. RIP…I’ll be sad to see it go.
Sunbathing and new hats…woohoo; did I mention the sun had made an appearance…we’re all really happy to see it.
Come on then, Di-genelly (cheers Harry) awaits. Love this part of the Wizarding World, bloody brilliant, even if it does have the inferior ride there (yeah I said it, you know I’m right). Such an immersive area complete with aggressive fire breathing Dragon vault guards…how I imagine Americans see Welsh banks. Hmmm, kinda makes sense, short people and Dragons…is Diagon Alley set in a Welsh branch of Gringotts?
Gringotts it is then…time to take my Poly Juice and raid Harry’s Vault for all is coinage…great success, the Quibbler is calling it the greatest magical heist since Potter and his mates raided Bellatrix’s vault and snuffed out Sirius in the process. Honestly, don’t get the hype over this ride…great immersive line through the bank to see some of Jordan’s relatives; come to think of it, if Goblins are so good with money, how come Jordan never seems to have any?? Some good pre ride elements, but the ride itself…well, what’s the Wizarding Word for underwhelming? Ah yes…it’s pretty ‘Weasley’ (nice one Lucious).
Harnessing the Welsh version of parcel tongue, we manage to escape Gringotts on the back of a Dragon…cheers bud, now stay on top of the bank and randomly breath fire every 10 minutes or so like a good little Dragon.
Lunch time; my lack of breakfast had me pretty hungry now and ready to dig in to some spicy as hell chicken and a Chinese duck pasty. Pretty delicious to be fair (this food and beverage card is really getting a hammering). Grayson even manages to overcome his hatred for Duck…mainly because he thought it was chicken though. Ooops, did we not tell you Gray? Little bugger loves it now.
Crikey is that the time? Best catch the train…The Hogwarts Express is such a fun way to park hop; though it’s made difficult if travelling with muggles…Jordan really struggles to get through platform 9 3/4 today; she literally crashed into the illusion wall over and over again…I think in the end the platform opted against a further battering from an angry valleys girl. “Well done Harry…he saved us”…yep, well technically the dementors were only on the train due to Harry…but yeah Alaska, you worship false idols and troublemakers.
Quick frozen Butterbeer (the second best version)…not the fizzy p*ss tasting version; delicious, then to Olivanders to watch a wand ceremony go awry as the ‘chosen one’ doesn’t seem to quite comprehend what some crazy bloke plying her with wands was trying accomplish. He’s trying to coerce your family into spending over the odds for a stick, the man needs to earn a living. The kids then choose their own (of course Alaskas is black and very ‘Death Eater Chic’ and Grayson’s more subtle, less threatening wand). Don’t stop him marching me around Hogsmeade threatening with it though. Bloody kids been doing a few spells and already turned Death Eater. Thank god he hasn’t honed is magic skills fully yet…I’d have been Avada Kedavra’d by now. He loves me really… I hope 🙄. Some great pictures of some wizard duels in front of Hogwarts…of course me and Jo got in on the action; well after the betting had ceased on the Grayson/Alaska duel. I would have chucked a tenner on Alaska, but having watched Grayson threaten me through Hogsmeade, my money was on him (Alaska was still practicing the Cruciatus).
Duels complete, and we head to Jurassic Park to ride the winner of ‘Best coaster in the world’ as voted for by me and Jordan, in a poll consisting of…me and Jordan. Velocicoaster; the most incredible ride in Florida. Now I know long time readers will all be thinking…wait, would Jordan completely screw you over again and leave you waiting in the child swap area whilst she took her time queuing for the front row?? Nah of course not, she wouldn’t leave us waiting all this ti…wait what? Yes…yes she did. An hour later (note this may be a huge exaggeration), Jordan rejoins; her joy, my rage…selfish bugger. Realistically I’m probably the fool for believing she’d not want to leave us waiting bored out of our minds.
3 Fletchers filled with a special kind of disgust for Jordan (ok ok I’m super bitter about this), we head to watch Alaska beg for anything that will cost me money…”I just want something”. I. I bet you do…would be nice if what you wanted wasn’t any old thing you managed to pass by though.
Talking a 4 year old down from what I would describe as a tantrum a T-Rex would be afraid of, we finally decide to try out the Pteranadon Flyers. Recently reopened and ready to strike fear into my heart as I watch Alaska being flung through the skies of Camp Jurassic with a seatbelt to hold her in. Wish I could have taken in the sights a bit more, but all I could do was spend the whole time contingency planning for disaster.
Exit the ride and straight into the worlds best play area; again as voted by myself and Jordan. Alaska, intent of getting lost takes the opportunity to leg it through the play area and cause raptor style havoc whilst pretending to look for Jo and Gray…Clever Girl (please tell me you got that reference??!).
Kong for Grayson to get more Dino clientele next (long time readers will get it). Damn, don’t think I’ve ever been through the HHN Kong edition before. The line was terrifying…thank god they took the scare actor away, clean up on aisle Kong…a full grown man has defecated everywhere. Seriously…terrifying. Briefly…Join the expedition, all goes wrong, Gray jumps a mile, Kong saves us, and Alaska roots for the villains…pretty standard. At least Grayson has given up his practice this year…those naughty naughty dinosaurs had it coming.
All that Dino murder had worked up my appetite so we headed to Seuss Landing for a little snacky snack, and an adventure through the ‘If I ran the zoo’ play area. Jordan meanwhile went on an adventure of her own back to hunt for Alaskas new hat that she had strategically lost in an effort to get rid of Jordan for a few minutes. Cheers Alaska…that’ll teach her for making us wait earlier.
Snacks and Sneetches as we fill up on sugar and head to the High in the Sky Trolley Train ride to explore all the weirdness of Seuss Landing and have some pretty badass views over the whole of IOA.
Then, it was time to enter the realms of the wizarding folk once more for a Hagrid at nighttime ride. The superior rollercoaster at night, this was incredible….even if Grayson was so knackered he could barely walk. Poor thing even sacrificed the bike for me…thanks kid, your mother wouldn’t have done that…surprised she didn’t try to wait for front row again.
Park has been closed almost an hour…IOA at night hits so differently, it’s incredible and so picturesque. Headed out, worked off the calories on the walk home whilst the kids pass out in the stroller. Food at Bayliner again before an earlyish night…Volcano Bay tomorrow.
Great day :)
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