Orlando – Part 2 | Family Vacation

Disney Hollywood Studios was one of our favorite parks.  It was a little smaller than the rest and seemed more manageable somehow.  We saw some really great shows here.  The Lights, Motors, Action Extreme Stunt show was a stand out.  The stunts were impressive and we saw Lightening McQueen which I thought was super cool as he talked and drove around.  After the show I got my picture taken with Mike and Scully from Monsters Inc.  I don’t know why, but my boys thought it was lame.  I loved meeting the characters, but seemed to be the only one in my family that did.

It wouldn’t be a vacation post from me without a shot of some palm trees!

How cool is this!!!

This was the Indiana Show which was also pretty good.

My hot husband.

The boys went to Beauty and the Beast for me.  It was wonderful and secretly I think they liked it too.

The Animal Kingdom was another park we loved.  This sweet baby elephant we saw during our Safari Ride.  It was pretty awesome seeing the animals without enclosures.

I dragged my family in to see at least one character together and Goofy made it worth it.  He was hilarious.

There were some real stand out shows in the Animal Kingdom too.  “It’s Tough to be a Bug” was our favorite and the “Lion King” production pictured above.

Luke is crazy.  The boys were fascinated by this jumping water fountain in Epcot.  Luke decided he could take it right in the face.  He did this about 6 times until he was soaked!

At home there is no holding my hand anymore (especially my older son), but in Orlando where no one knows us, I got lots of love and attention and I relished it.

You might notice Jack’s cross necklace in the picture above.  We were shopping in Downtown Disney and he decided he wanted a necklace.  He picked out this massive Eagle necklace on a silver chain (I wish I had taken a picture).  It looked like some kind of rapper thing.  I saved him from himself and he settled on this much less ostentatious cross.

After another morning at Epcot doing the ride section of the park we spent the afternoon at the pool.  Epcot had our favourite rides in all of the Disney parks.  If you go check out “Soarin” and “Test Track”.  Soarin takes you on a hang-gliding experience over California.  It is wonderful.  Test Track is all speed and fun and there are some Hidden Mickeys during both rides if you watch closely!  We went back to Epcot a third time just to hit these rides again.

There are two theme parks at Universal.  The first day we went to Island of Adventure because I couldn’t wait to meet Spiderman!!!  However, when the park opened we bee lined for the Harry Potter ride on the advice of friends knowing that it is the headliner attraction at the park.  I’m glad we did because the waits can reach 3-4 hours.  We walked right on the ride and it was just amazing.  I have no idea how they did that, but it was an experience!  After Harry Potter we sought out Spiderman!

For those of you who don’t know, I’m a HUGE Spiderman fan.  I was actually nervous talking to him!  After he talked to me for a few minutes I grabbed the kids for a picture.  The Spiderman ride was our favorite of the day – spectacular!

Later in the day we went back to ride Spiderman again and we ran into Goblin on the street!!  He was very funny and told me how he hates Canada because Wolverine is from Canada.

Dr.Suess Land was so fun and felt so whimsical.

At the end of the day we decided we didn’t care if we got wet so we tried out the River Adventure Ride.  Holy cow it was terrifying!  Near the end of the ride that starts out quite pleasant you are drawn into a black tunnel with a very scary T-Rex roaring at you, then you are plunged down this ridiculous drop into a river where you are then soaked.  It was a blast.  You can see our terrified faces in the second row.

There is a spot to watch the boats come out of the tunnel.  The boys decided to watch from the “splash zone”!

Our final day we spent at the other Universal park.  Lots of first rate shows and a few scary rides!  Our first ride of the day we went on an indoor rollarcoaster in the dark (The Mummy) – way scarier than Space Mountain but at least it was shorter.  My oldest son still hasn’t forgiven me for that ride experience!  The Simpsons ride was ridiculous – I had my eyes closed for most of it.  And pictured above I made them go stand with The Lorax for a shot!

The Fear Factor Show at Universal Studios was awesome.  They even had a lady who volunteered to have scorpions on her face – it was a little crazy!

We had an amazing time and I love the memories we create together on vacation.  This is typical of my boys – Cory making them laugh and Luke constantly wiggling that loose tooth (which finally came out 2 days ago).