Thursday, July 12, 2018

We Go To Florida--Day 3 Islands of Adventure

The thrill of being on vacation has worn off enough that Blythe actually slept through the night.  Yah!!  Last night I got an Uber to the grocery store for some breakfast food, so this morning we had cereal, fruit, and yogurt before setting off to Universal again.  We discovered the clock in our room was about five minutes slow, and as a result, we missed the shuttle this morning.  As we were already out the door and ready for the day, we opted to walk to the park.  It only took us about fifteen minutes, it wasn't unbearably hot, and we didn't have to fight crowds to get through security because we ended up by valet parking and no one else was there.  We decided we would walk again tomorrow.

Today we focused on Islands of Adventure, the other Universal park.  Same idea as Universal Studios, but differently themed areas.  Once again, the app helped us keep line waiting to a reasonable amount of time, and we had a full, fun day.  Just like yesterday, the kids were anxious to get to the Harry Potter portion of the park, Hogsmeade.  There are two fun rides here, and we did both.  Well, all together we rode Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, and Blythe and I rode a small coaster called Flight of the Hippogriff.  Blythe was thrilled to be riding it and was super disappointed when the actual ride portion lasted all of a minute.  The kids used their wands for new and different spells, we went into the sweets shop where Brandt bought a chocolate frog which melted very quickly and got all over him and Blythe bought a sugar quill, and we all had butterbeer again.  We listened to more singers, and argued over whether or not there was a wizard actually pictured in the screen or if you, the person looking into it, were meant to be the wizard others should approach with extreme caution.  I never saw anything other than our reflection.  I chuckled that the roofs in Hogsmeade are all covered in snow when the temperature was 95 degrees with 65% humidity.  No real snow ever possible.  But I suppose that's that power of "magic!"

Blythe and I waiting in line for the Flight of the Hippogriff.

Kent making a business call.





Take care!
Do not attempt to use magic against this man!






Just us and several thousand other people hanging around with us.
 


After being in Hogsmeade, we went to Seuss Landing.  Michelle had texted us that Tess' favorite ride was the High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride.  With that sort of endorsement, we had to ride it.  We also hopped on the Caro-Seuss-el and the One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish ride that featured water jets that would spray you indiscriminately.  The whole area was bright and fun and very Seuss-y.


That big green roller coaster in the background is the Incredible Hulk Coaster.
Blythe wanted to go on it desperately.
None of the rest of us were willing, however.  
She kept pleading and pleading, but her pleas fell on deaf ears.
It twists and turns as it goes upside down and none of us could do it.
I told her I would wait in line with her and be at the exit when she got off,
but she didn't want to go alone.
It was one of Blythe's two disappointments about our time in Orlando.










This is Kent, waiting for us in the shade while we rode a fish which was neither red nor blue.




 

  
Blythe took these four pictures of silly things in Seuss Landing.
As you can see, it was bright and fun.

Our next stop was Jurassic Park.  We rode the Jurassic Park River Adventure, a boat ride past veggie-saurs before taking a bad turn and encountering raptors that wanted to eat us.  We only narrowly escaped a giant T-Rex by plunging over a waterfall.  I wish the candid pictures the park captures were less expensive, because I would buy them to include here.  Brandt told me he closed his eyes when we went down because he knew the drop was coming but didn't want to watch the bottom coming at us so quickly.  We only got a little wet, which was a foreshadowing of things to come.  

We sent this picture to cousin Collin.

Waiting to board our river cruise.

I did not take this picture, but it shows the splash at the end of the drop.
We were on the front row of the boat and got wet.

At the end of the river ride.
Not too too wet, but definitely splashed.

There is a super fun "prehistoric playground" called Camp Jurassic in this part of the park, and while Kent and I sat in the shade under a tree and talked, the kids scrambled around on suspended cargo nets and ran up and down stairs and through tunnels.  After some time, they returned to us soaking wet.  We asked what had happened and they told us about an area where you could water fight over kids.  Although they were drenched and dripping, they assured us that they had won the battle.  I'm not sure they could have been wetter, so I'm not sure how much of a victory it actually was.  But they ran around for really a long time and were very content.

Under a shady tree, waiting.
Although shady, it wasn't cool.






Brandt is in focus, but Blythe is not.

Blythe is in focus, but Brandt is not.

This is the spot where the children got so wet.  These dinosaur heads shoot a powerful spray of water that can drench others above them, but those above can shoot back with water cannons.  Everyone got very wet.  But the wet didn't seem to bother Brandt or Blythe as they both kept going back for more.









For lunch, we walked back to Hogsmeade and had lunch at the Three Broomsticks.  There was a waiting line, much like for a ride, and no one was exactly keen on standing around.  But I argued that leaving and walking elsewhere, then waiting for food wherever else we went, would take as long as just waiting, so we did.  And we got to have the fun experience of eating at the Three Broomsticks.


Brandt had roast chicken, potatoes, corn on the cob.

Kent and Blythe had fish and chips, while I had shepherd's pie.
And we all had butterbeer, of course.


Having fortified ourselves with food and feeling ready to continue, we passed Skull Island: Reign of Kong (I couldn't get anyone interested in coming face-to-face with King Kong), and headed to Toon Lagoon and Popeye and Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges.  Here's where the water got serious.  As we waited in line, there was an announcement about the need to keep shirts and shoes on during the ride, as well as the statement, "You will get wet on this ride."  This was an understatement.  As we came up to the area to get on to the raft, there were people wringing out their clothing.  I wasn't sure we really wanted to do it, but the kids were convinced so Kent and I were game.  

We did get wet.  In fact, we got soaked.  Every part of us was wet.  Water swooshed up from below and poured down from above, shot at from the sides and was sprayed from cannons above.  Our clothes were plastered to us as we step off.  It wasn't cold water and it certainly wasn't chilly in any way outside, but the fully dressed-fully soaked experience wasn't super comfortable.  We told the kids we would not be doing that ride again the next day.  But it was fun and we laughed and laughed through the whole thing.  There was a spot where people can spray you with cannons from above, and that spot comes right after a spot where water cascades like a waterfall onto the raft.  Blythe and I went directly under the waterfall, taking the full brunt.  Being shot by others immediately afterwards felt like adding insult to injury.  


You can't really tell in this picture, but we could have wrung our clothes out and filled a bucket.  As soon as we got off the boat, we headed up to the shooting spot to insult other barge riders.  We spent far longer shooting people than our ride took, and I must say, it was tremendously satisfying in a somewhat sadistic way.

Here's a picture I took of the barge being dumped on.
Blythe and I were under that cascade.










Here's a boatload of our "victims" below.
We tried to shoot those that looked the driest.

It was at Toon Lagoon that Blythe had her second disappointment.  She and I both wanted to go on Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls, a flume ride that would get you wet for sure.  Sadly, Brandt and Kent were completely unwilling to do it, and the wait was almost an hour, so we didn't go.  I was also disappointed, but a 60 minute was just too much.  Maybe tomorrow.


We finished up our day at Islands of Adventure at Marvel Super Hero Island.  While we did not do the Incredible Hulk Coaster, nor Doctor Doom's Fearfall (AWWWWW!!!), we did a 3D Spider-Man ride.  We walked through the Daily Bugle as we waited in line, then swung through the air trying to avoid Doc Ock before experiencing a simulated 400 foot fall.  All very exciting!!  We also saw Captain America and a couple of other Marvel characters ride through the street on three-wheeled motorcycles and Blythe got to have her picture taken with Storm and Hawk.  Brandt was in line to get a picture with Captain America, but after waiting a few minutes without looking super excited, I asked Brandt if he really wanted to get a picture.  He said no, so we didn't.  We finished up our "riding" with a whirl in the Storm Force Accelatron, a super hero version of the Tea Cups at Disneyland.  Kent sat on the side while Brandt and Blythe and I spun around and around.  

It's a very large portrait of J. Jonah Jameson at the beginning of the Spider-Man ride.


Blythe, trying to convince us to take her on the Hulk coaster.
Too bad! So sad! Not happening!

Two members of the Fantastic Four

That's a fairly short Captain America riding in on a motor bike.




Storm, Blythe, and Hawk.
I'll put my money on the short one in pink.

 Kent took pictures while we spun around.




All of these funny vehicles were at the entrance to the park, and both children had to have their individual pictures on all of them.









Not a vehicle, but still funny.


Blythe wanted to get a Cinnabon on the way out of the park, and I wanted to get a Voodoo donut.  Blythe didn't know about the Voodoo donuts, so she compromised and agreed to a donut today if we could get a Cinnabon tomorrow.  There were so many donut choices, but in the end, everyone found something they really liked.  It was a tasty treat that allowed us to put off dinner a bit so we could swim after we got back to the hotel.



Clockwise from upper left: Dirt (with Oreos), Butterfingering,
Oh Captain, My Captain, and Old Dirty B***ard (Oreo and peanut butter)

A Brandt selfie with Oreo cookie on his cheek.

Kent is taking his donut eating very seriously.

Blythe surfing.  

We did, indeed, swim after we walked back to the hotel.  Kent even came and swam.  It felt so good after a long day in the sun, walking and walking.  We did a bit more walking to dinner, but not far.  The equivalent of two blocks away, there was a Golden Corral, and while we don't love eating there regularly, it is a buffet so everyone can find something they like.  The children even ate some vegetables, which was a good thing after three days without consuming much that was green.  It was another good day.


Blythe got a hold of the water proof camera and took thirteen pictures of Brandt at the hot tub.
This is the only one worth keeping.
There was quite a bit of video, but not much of that was worth keeping either.

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