jenseib

We really enjoyed it. I am so glad we finally made time to see it.

Marlon meets Dory. I thought the sharks were great. The show props and scenery were really great. Back to Dory and Marlon. Crush was also amazing. I really love this next picture for some reason. I have to admit, I was leery going in about songs added to this, but all in all, I enjoyed most of them. Continuing on with more pictures. And as we all know, Nemo escapes and lives happily ever after. It was such an enjoyable show and I don’t know what took us so long to come and see it. It was a winner in our eyes.

Continuing our Safari. Trying for another one of those mirrored shots….didn’t quite work out this time. And then we were done. It was a nice ride. We made our way out and hit the restrooms and then found some entertainment as well. And we were hungry, so we made our way to get lunch. We both like Pizzafari and I know it is a place that Claire will eat at without grumbles so that was our choice today. If you are keeping track…that’s Claire’s 3rd pizza meal in a row. Claire’s came with a salad and mine chips if I remember right and we traded. I was wise and got myself a sandwich though. I swear these are smaller than they used to be. With lunch done, we headed back out into the crowds. And we saw a dance party going on….I have never seen this before at AK, so we stopped briefly and took some pictures. The dance party was pretty much ending when we got there and we headed off once again. We had a fastpass for the Nemo show. Believe it or not…we have never seen this show before. We got in the FP line and sat around and waited to be let in. I noticed Everest had a car stuck. That was the highlight for all of us in line as we waited. It did start moving again after a bit. Soon we were let in and we made our way very close to the front and sat next to the part of the stage that juts out. The show started. I wasn’t sure if we would like it or not. I had heard that some people have issues with the people running the puppets. Never fear, we didn’t have that issue and REALLY enjoyed the show. Of course I took about a zillion pictures. Nemo is captured!!!!

Time for a Safari! It was very busy out there today and many times we had to stop as there were traffic jams. I think this is a truck from the safari trek? I have always wanted to take a picture like this and it just worked out that I saw Claire in the mirror….and she saw me aiming at it and posed. We had a little nosey visitor come our way. And here’s the shot everyone wants….and elephant going poo! This guy was flapping his ears…..so cute. The cheetahs were way in back and I tried to zoom in on them. What??? No lions? Aha! There’s one.

HI!!! Now I have to go back and look at the picture... I never heard that one.

LOL. That's ok. I am so behind myself. Who knew being a Grandmother would take so much time. LOL

March 27, 2014, Day 7, Thursday Today was our last park day. Skip was flying in later today into Sanford so we were going to have to pick up him as well. That meant less time in the parks than we would like, but it is what it is….and Claire was super excited to have her Daddy coming. Today we were going to Animal Kingdom. I figured this would be a good day to go since we usually do not spend a whole day there anyways. I got up and got ready and took some pictures again this morning. I finally walked out on the balcony off our room. Claire was going to have to move over to the pull out sofa bed tonight….she felt that her Dad should sleep there since he hadn’t been with us all week, but I told her he probably wouldn’t agree. This was our closet….I had some shirts in there drip drying. Microwave in the kitchenette. I think this was the fridge….and I must’ve ironed something. I believe this is the dishwasher in the main kitchen area. We used this quite a bit. Once ready we headed out. I think Mom and dad were going to my Aunts house today. She has a place in Florida about an hour or 2 away and my dad likes to visit them when they go to Florida. My aunt and uncle only spend winters in Florida and they actually live only ½ mile from my parents’ house. We saw this gator outside and we took a picture for Skip. We have 2 of these are our farm and it always feels like home when we see one somewhere else. Next stop… Animal Kingdom. Doesn’t look like the crowds have lessened….does it? As we entered AK, we found a photopass photographer outside and stopped for a few. She was new and didn’t know anything about magic shots. We found another one that did and she took a magic shot for us. We asked about the box with Stitch coming out of it. She knew what we were talking about but unfortunately she didn’t have the box to do it. So we headed inside. EXCEPT…..my band once again did not scan. It said I had no park days left. UGH! A manager was called over and I told her today was our last day, she asked how many times we have been to MK…I had to think about it…and then told her..and she said ok. The reason she asked is because the band had a record of everywhere we went and she was making sure it was mine and not someone else’s. She reset the band again…I believe this was reset number 3 now. And we were let in. And found another photopass photographer. Not sure why Claire always looks in a different direction, but she is famous for doing that. She was a little perkier with the magic shot. Except here where she has creepy eyes. With those shots done we went on our way. We had a fastpass for the safari…and that off in the distance….is the fastpass line….YES the FP line was CRAZY LONG! HOLY SHITAKI MUSHROOMS! I think I posted on facebook something on the lines of…..I hate fastpass plus …..at that moment. We still had some time before our window opened so we decided to hit the Pangani trail for a bit to waste some time. We didn’t go too far in and I started worrying about how long the line would take us just to get to the scanning post. We had things timed for the day somewhat and if we ran too late it wouldn’t all work out…well it probably would, but I panicked. So we headed back and got in line. And believe it or not, it went very fast and we actually got to the post about 5 minutes before the open window…we scanned and got the green light and were good to go. Once we got inside it was clear sailing and next to no wait at all. The reason for the backed up line outside…..people don’t know how to scan and people were arriving way too early. That was stopping people up at the scanning post. Those who were too early weren’t going to move till their time opened up….even if it was 10 – 15 minutes later. LOL. And then many people just had issues with it scanning, laying it wrong on the scanner or the wrong side, etc. I am not saying I am perfect either…I was there 5 minutes early…but once you start scanning….like to get in the park….you kind of get the jest of it….that is if your band actually shows you have tickets. Soon we were ready to board our truck. We settled in with our driver. And I tried for an artsy shot. Or 2.

It was now time for Spaceship Earth. Claire had it all planned out. Remember on our first ride a few days ago I wore my sunglasses and it gave me the look of no eyes in the picture? Claire was convinced she needed to have no eyes as well so we both put our sunglasses on for the picture this time. We sat back and relaxed and I basically didn’t take many pictures this time around since I have so many of Spaceship Earth already. A side note…I saw on facebook that someone had dressed up as this girl for Halloween. LOL!!!! Time for our Future! Once again I had no eyes….but it didn’t work for Claire and she was so disappointed. The 2 of us up on the big screen. Once we were done we decided it was time to find something to eat and maybe then leave and head back to the hotel. We found another photopass photographer and decided to stop. The sun was starting to go down and the temps were dropping so our jackets were back on. I always love how the park looks during flower and garden. I think we went this way to make a potty stop. I also think once we got around Norway we stopped and called Skip. He was flying down the next day and I had to make sure he knew what he was doing. And of course he asks? How do I get to the airport? Um ask your mom or one of your brothers? He was flying from Toledo airport, which is literally 10 minutes from our home. It wasn’t like someone was going out of their way to take him. And I had told him before to make arrangements, but he said I never told him that. Soon it was getting dark. It was now crazy busy in the park and we stopped at a couple of restaurants that typically are not as busy and asked if they had any openings and none did. I was shocked and kind of kicking myself for not making an ADR this day…but then again I never expected to be in Epcot today either. We decided to keep moving and just get something to eat at the Beach Club. Well Claire had an idea….let’s do pick a pearl….Ok, but this is out of your money….which was fine with her. It was busy in there but we paid and got our number and watched and waited. Someone else’s pearl. We got to talking to a Mom and her daughter and the daughter had done it something like 8 plus times this trip. She just loved doing it and was spending all of her spending money right here. I thought that was funny. Finally we were called and Claire picked her oyster. They always do this with so much fanfare and I usually can’t understand a word they say. LOL. We were hoping for a blue one, but no such luck. A girl a few people ahead of us got a gorgeous blue one and Claire was praying hers would be too. But in the end she was still happy. I no longer remember the size, but I think it was 7 something. Claire’s pearl is still in the bag. We have yet to get a necklace cage to put it in. Maybe I should buy one for Xmas for her? After all that fun we headed out and spotted another photopass photographer. We were now getting hungry so we headed out of Epcot over the BC to the Marketplace there to find some dinner. While we browsed the selections I took a picture of the new mugs. We ordered the flatbread pizza to share. Yes, it was our 2nd pizza of the day. And I believe we shared the clam chowder as well. After we finished our food we headed back to the car and made our way back to the Marriott once again. We got ourselves ready for bed once again. I don’t remember, but there might have been a quick swim for Claire before calling it a night. We only had 1 more day at Disney World and that was kind of sad, but our vacation wasn’t over yet….we still had much more fun in store.

Coming up!!! hehe. .thanks. (and I'm one to talk. .haven't even STARTED our Cruise report and been home over a week now!). Tha't ok....It's hard to do everything and of course you have to have the post trip blues for a while too.

I must say it was kind of peaceful back there and it was a happy memory for us. We didn’t do anything, but it was neat to see the area and just chill without 5 zillion other people around us. We headed up towards the front. We were going to have to ride Spaceship Earth eventually as Claire just loves it. We spotted Phineas and Ferb topiaries. Our first time seeing those I believe. As we walked towards the front we saw this very cute topiary display that we had missed on our first day here. And today they had a photopass photographer there to take pictures. I told Claire we were stopping and she said she did not want her picture taken….and I told her if she didn’t then we weren’t riding spaceship earth! We got in line….. When it was our turn I told the photographer that I had a resistor with me. He was super nice and tried to make Claire smile….she really was fighting it though. I tried to call out to her encouraging words but it wasn’t working. After that Claire mentioned that we had not been to Club Cool yet. I have known about this place for years but we never ventured in till our last trip and Claire loved trying all the different drinks. Since we were thirsty and the day had gone from cool to kind of hot, this was a good time to stop in. Somebody next to use was telling her child to try different ones and I helped with the encouragement….and said “try the Beverly!” I winked at the mom and she laughed and of course the kid found it disgusting. Then the mom tried it just to see and started gagging. It’s not my favorite, but I don’t think it is so bad as you need to gag. LOL! I can tolerate it at least. Claire found a few she liked and she took several samples of them. Since we were doing slower things and not in any rush, I decided to take Claire on something she has never been on and something that has been years since I have done….. We headed in that direction next. But we made a quick stop so Claire could run through the mist. Let’s move on. And then we approached Epcot’s most exciting ride EVER!!! Ok, I might have just lied a little bit there. Claire has never been on Ellen and it has been many many years for me and it is a good spot to cool off (take a nap) and rest on a crowded day. We did have to wait a little bit before we were let inside. Claire is so excited….OK, she was hamming it up a bit. Finally we were let in and we found a spot. It wasn’t busy at all. It started and soon most of the story came back to me. We went to the tram and I swear I remembered more parts in the dinosaur section. That part was much shorter than I remembered. All in all it was pretty boring and neither of us was impressed with it at all. But it was something Claire had never done and we were not fighting crowds and we had a good rest off our feet. I have to admit I was fighting sleep the whole time and was half tempted to lay across our bench seat as best I could and snooze.

We arrived at Toy Story Mania and I think it was actually a little before the FP was to open on according to the app, but later than my scheduled time. I told the CM that my time had jumped several times today and I am not sure if it is going to let us in. She had no expression at all and told us to scan and see. I suppose she was used to seeing issues with this all day long and tired of people telling her about them. We scanned and it turned green! YAY! We were in! I think we still had a 15-20 minute wait in the FP line but much faster than standby. We had a great time as always. Neither of us are very good at it, but I usually beat Claire and then she complains about it. She would ride this over and over if the line wasn’t so dang long. I really hope when they add the 3rd track, which I have heard will be used exclusively for Fastpasses, that it really makes it much easier to get on in a timely fashion. We decided we had done all we wanted to at DHS and headed towards the front of the park. Stopping for a few photopass pictures along the way. OOPS…I blinked. I love you baby!!!! Magic shot time. We made our way to the parking tram. Again I really hate driving to the parks. I love how the bus drops me off and picks me up much better. Good bye Hollywood Studios…..Little did I know at that moment that I would be back there in Aug. We then headed out to the POC car and programmed Siri to get us to the Magic Kingdom. We headed out and towards the Magic Kingdom…with Siri leading the way. Boy…what a back-up. Slow going to get to the MK. We work our way to the gate and are told there is no parking at MK left and we need to head to Epcot. I had later heard that the park was at full capacity and not letting anyone in, so even if we did go over to Epcot they would’ve not let us in at MK. I wish they just would’ve said that to begin with. If I had taken the monorail over to MK only to be refused I would’ve been quite mad. We decided that since we couldn’t park at MK we would head over towards the Yacht and Beach Club and maybe get a bite to eat and then decide what to do after that. I drove over and entered the YC. When asked what I was planning I told them we were going to Beaches and Cream and then walking around to explore the resorts. He scanned my band and told me that I didn’t have a resort reservation currently showing up…I went to tell him no, we were staying offsite…when he goes “Oh you are one of our annual pass holders, well thank you so much, come on in”. LOL! I wasn’t about to say no for fear he would tell me I couldn’t go in and park. LOL. We did have to park a little ways out, but it wasn’t too bad, and we then headed towards the YC. I was a bit hungry…after all sharing that pizza meal didn’t fill me up. Claire was not and she did not want to go to Beaches and Cream now. I am not sure why as just a few minutes ago she had wanted to. I didn’t feel like arguing though so we decided to head towards Epcot and I would find something to eat there. And it was CROWDED!!!!! Shuffle shuffle shuffle…… We would try to pass people but it was a no go. Claire kept saying they were doing the grow walk. Hunh? What’s the grow walk? Well she explained it perfectly. It’s when you try to pass people or a party of people and they suddenly expand in size and you can no longer get around them. Made perfect since and this whole trip we had been following a lot of Grow Walkers. We also went on to include others in the Grow Walk Category. Those who stop in front of you all of a sudden. Those who stop and turn right around and walk into you. Those with strollers who ram into the back of you. You do NOT want to be a grow walker! Since they have added booths to the Flower and Garden Festival I decided I might try some food from one of those. Claire however decided she needed popcorn. I told her once we got near a popcorn stand I would get her some, but first I was looking for something for me in the meantime. She was pretty close to dying as you can see in the next picture. I thought this was a neat picture of Peter Pan. I got something in the UK booth. I don’t remember what it was but I know the description did not describe it like this and basically I had no clue what I was ordering but it sounded good. I was really surprised when this came out. I have to say taste wise it was just ok, but it did fill an empty spot in my stomach. We moved on and found popcorn in Canada. Of course the line was long and slow, but Claire was willing to wait. A happy girl now. Typically we just walk by Canada and never explore. Today, since it was so crowded, we decided to dive in deeper and take a look around. I don’t think I have ever gone back here before…..or if I have it’s been many many years ago. We really didn’t have a desire to go see the movie so we just stood around and took in the scenery, with me taking pictures and Claire eating her snack. I got her to pose…sort of.

Coming up!!!

Coming up! I have been so busy again and just haven't been able to keep up with this like I had hoped....will do a mega update now

We found a photopass photographer and got a few shots. You may notice I am wearing a jacket. Today was a bit cooler than it had been earlier in our trip, but by the end of the day I had wished I had worn shorts. I like this one of Claire. I asked if she could do any magic shots and she took Claire off to the side. I always love the balloon shot. I took one of Claire posing. We looked her for lunch but the line was long and Claire didn’t see anything to her liking. I keep hearing the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground is going to close for good….but it is still there. Claire wanted pizza….such a shocker…I know. I have never been to Pizza Planet and I couldn’t even picture where is was in my mind and the map wasn’t helping me and I asked a CM…and I was about 10 steps away from it…of course! The line was out the door, but it moved pretty fast and we were soon inside. We decided what we wanted and we planned to share again. We got the pepperoni pizza and a salad. We looked for a seat but it was packed in there so we headed up the steps. There was a boy waiting on the steps, I assume was waiting for his family who maybe were in line?....and he was sitting smack dab in the middle and didn’t want to move so we basically climbed over him. LOL. I started with the salad and Claire dug into the pizza. Claire ended up eating 3 of the pieces of pizza and I got one and she complained about that. She told me the salad should’ve filled me. It didn’t! It used to be that we could easily share meals and be full, but she is getting bigger and I think those days have passed now. While sitting there I was playing with my phone and looking at the app…..the app that was not working. Our Toy Story FP was to open up very soon. I think started looking through my phone pictures and realized I had made a screen shot a few days earlier of all my FP’s and guess what? My TSM FP was for earlier in the day. I KNEW I had planned it earlier. I was raging mad! I had now missed the FP time….though the app showed it as opening soon. We headed out and made our way over to TSM. If they denied me my entrance I was going to raise some holy heck. So from what I can figure, this FP time changed at least 3 possibly FOUR times on its own on the app today. NOT GOOD Disney! We headed out and rushed over to see if they would let us in.

Our tram soon arrived and I tried to take a picture as the doors were lifting open. I took pictures along the way. It has been several years since I have ridden this and I think this was Claire’s first time. Glad we got it in before it closed. And the first “icon” of Hollywood Studios, back when it was MGM. And it is now going to be the icon once again from what I have read. I love seeing this stuff and we whizzed by way to fast to see much. A look over at Lights, Motor, Action, which I believe is going bye bye too. And then we entered Catastrophe Canyon. The last time I rode this it was not working and we got routed around the back and our tour guide was making stuff up as we went along. It was kind of funny, but it felt like I was stuck on the ride for way too long. One thing that was different this time as well….most of this was told to us by an automated voice and not much by a live actual person. Claire was intrigued by all of the happenings. Claire squealed with glee as we got a few drops on us. This did not seem as impressive to me as it did 15 years or so ago. I am glad we rode it one last time, but I am not sad it’s closed. This is the backside of the canyon. Not very pretty is it? They told us how many gallons of water is pumped for that scene, which I no long remember but I do remember it was a lot. And of course they recycle the water over and over. We finished up and exited the ride. I took a shot of LMA as we passed by. I have only seen the show once and I wasn’t a fan. We moved on. Claire was dead set that we would do the drawing class once I told her about it so we headed back that way to see if we could get in. We shuffled our way there. It really was so hard to get anywhere in the parks with the crowds. We found where the class was and was told one was going to start in about 20 minutes or so but it was full, but we could stand in the standby line for now and most likely we could get a spot without a desk. Claire said yes and I figured we better give it a try now. As we stood there the large family in front of us left. YAY! We pretty much were guaranteed to get in now. Then some people from the inside roped off waiting area left and Claire and I were let in. We talked with people as we waited which made the time go faster. We were standing as it was pretty full in there, but actually close to the door as that was the only area for us to be comfortably. One family was telling us that a store at MK had the next generation of Disney Infinity packets. They told us they were hidden behind the current ones so to look further back. Of course that was all Claire could think about now. I told her we would try to get back there, but it was no guarantee on that one. We also saw a family playing a game with their phones. It was basically a version of Headbanz. One person held the phone to their forehead and everyone would give him clues of what the word was and that person would have to guess. Claire and I played silently along. We ended up seeing lots of people playing this for the rest of the trip. What a good idea to help waste the time. Finally it was time to go in and we actually got front and center. Claire was excited and ready! We were drawing Tigger today. We really enjoyed doing this and Claire was watching the instructor like he was God. I think this might be something we have to do every trip now. This is Claire’s finished drawing. I thought she did an EXCELLENT job. And here is mine…I actually forgot to add his whiskers, but I did add them later. When we left we had to browse the gift shop as Claire had lots of money still burning a hole in her pocket. She ended up choosing 2 drawing books and has really enjoyed them and it was a very good purchase. We headed out and took a small break and I took a picture of her with her picture. She also had to look through her new books to see what she wanted to draw first. We moved on. We were getting hungry and went looking for lunch. I was still mad at myself for scheduling the Toy Story FP’s for later than I thought. I had planned to head to MK later today and this was going to make us go even later than planned…Oh well.

It has been a few years since I have last rode this as well. I keep hearing rumors of this being closed, this being changed slightly or this becoming a new ride. I still don’t know what will happen, but I am glad we rode it again. I wish my Mary Poppins pictures came out better. We got the Gangster…and it was a girl and she wasn’t very good. Very hard to understand as well as she was trying to talk like a gangster, but her words were all mushed together. I swear it sounded like she was talking with a mouth full of marbles. Oh dear…what is happening here? We got our guide back! Yay! The Tarzan room cracks me up. He keeps hollering over and over. I have a thing about trying to get shots in the Wizard of Oz room. I’ll get you my pretty! And your little dog too! That was fun. I don’t think Claire remembered much from that ride either, so it was nice for her to do some newer stuff or old stuff that seems new. We decided to head towards the Back Lot Tour as that was also in the plans of being closed (and is now ). Remember the old days when they had people participate in this? Not so anymore. It was just a brief run through of what happens and then we were on our way. I am actually happy about that as this was my least favorite part of the tour. We were moved to the prop room and it was actually quite full. I tried to take pictures as we walked through but I didn’t get many good ones. I believe this was Mary Poppin’s bag. Soon we were lined up for our tram. Rememeber!!!! No Dancing on the tram!

nope just displays....I imagine the costs would be phenominal!

Of course I took pictures of Claire and Minnie with my camera as well. I believe we walked over to One Man’s Dream next and I took a ton of pictures in there as we browsed around. Wouldn’t you just love to have these sets to play with a kid? Doesn’t she look enthused? He doesn’t look so happy either! LOL!!!!! As I kid I would’ve loved to have this castle to play with. New Fantasyland! AWWWW…Look at the little Dumbos. We exited that and went on our way. I took this picture of a line. I have no clue what it was for now, but it looks crowded. Our next fastpass was for the Great Movie Ride and it was time to head there now. I LOVE Gown With the Wind. We got in pretty fast and soon we were on our way to a great movie ride!

We headed over towards Indiana Jones Stunt show when we left and thought about going in as Claire has never seen this show. When we got to the entrance we were told the show was full and they couldn’t let anyone else in. Oh well. I hope it stays for a little while longer so I can take her to it someday. There are many rumors floating that it will be closing. Also in case you haven’t heard, the rumor is Hollywood Studios will be changing its name again….yes again. I think I heard the current one rumored is “Disney Adventure”. I am not sure how I feel about that. We sat down on a ledge and I looked over my app. And surprise surprise, it wasn’t working correctly. It kept giving me info on Animal Kingdom and I kept switching it back over to Hollywood Studios, but every time I would open it again it would be back to AK. I looked over my FP times again. Hmmm. I thought my Toy Story Mania time was earlier the last time I checked. I swear this is 15 minutes or so later than what I saw earlier today. Don’t take a picture of me mom!!! We moved on. And….the hat is leaving. I am not happy about that either. It really is the park icon to me. The Ear water tower was always a joke to me back in the days before the hat. The sea of strollers! We wanted to check things out in the Animation Studio and find out where we could draw a character. Wreck it Ralph and Vanelope were out, again with a long line. I couldn’t find where the animation class was, but we found a queue for something. We decided what the heck, let’s get in line. It was not a fast moving line however. OOOOOH! It’s Minnie Mouse! I swear I never knew she was in here.

That's funny. I think the playground is there, but I keep hearing it's going to close, so maybe it has and I hadn't noticed. Indiana Jones is still there but it's rumored to be closing eventually too. They are going to add a lot of new stuff to the park in the next several years.

Day 6, March 26, 2014, Wednesday Today we were heading back to Disney World, Hollywood Studios to be exact. I took a few shots of my morning walk. Claire and I got ready and headed off. My parents were going to go visit some Ohio friends today. They have a Florida home that is actually very near Legoland. I programed Siri and off we went. Claire dozed in the car this morning. The busy week was starting to catch up with her. I pass some signs that direct me to DHS, yet Siri is not telling me to go that way. OK….. Then it tells to turn and I have arrived….oh yes I have arrived all right….in a Cast Member entrance. Um nope, that’s not where I am supposed to be. I turn around and feel like an idiot and head out and find the correct entrance. It was a little chillier this morning so Claire and I were wearing our sweatshirts. We walked up to the tram stop and waited for one to come. A preteen aged boy looks at us. I didn’t think anything of it at first and then he turns to his parents and says “I thought we were in Disney WORLD?” Hahahaha! Claire and I were wearing our Disneyland sweatshirts. I laughed and told him I had just been to Disneyland the month before and we brought our sweatshirts to wear to the World for fun. The tram came (I really hate doing the trams) and then made it to the entrance. I think we arrived around 9:45ish. And yes it was still crowded. I kept wishing each day we would find it empty all of a sudden. I had one thing on my agenda first. Breakfast! The line was quite long and we got in. Once we got inside I realized the holdup was people ordering sandwiches. We don’t want no stinking sandwiches….we want Cupcakes! You could skip ahead to the register, where there were only a few people and ask for your cupcake right there out of the case, so we did and were served very fast then. We went with the chocolate peanut butter one as I have at thing for chocolate and peanut butter together and last time we had this it was very good. We headed over to the outside seating area near the Brown Derby and took a seat and shared it as I went over the app. I checked my FP+ times and made note of it in my brain. I wondered why I made the Toy Story one so late….hmm I swore I made it for earlier so we could head to MK later….oh well. After that we took off wandering around till our first FP was ready. I only watched this show a couple of times, but enjoyed it. Sadly the Wonderland version was on a bad night for me and hard to catch. It has since been canceled….or they just chose not to extend it into more episodes, but one of the main characters is now on Once Upon a Time. Speaking of….. I wanted to get a picture of Claire in here, but these girls were not moving. I guess it was their personal resting area. We have not done Muppet 3D in a long time. I actually think the only time I have taken Claire in there was when she was maybe 3 or 4 and as soon as we left she threw up in a garbage can. Maybe that’s why I haven’t gone back. We decided today would be the day. I think this next picture was another “where in the world are we” that I posted on facebook. Now I haven’t mentioned it much lately, but many people were complaining about the whole “My Disney Experience”. And in a crowded room like this I could hear a lot of people talk about it as we waited. The apps weren’t working right; people did not like the 3 FP restriction and having to schedule them ahead. I think some people are now getting used to it, but it still is a mess in my opinion and needs a lot more work. I still am not a fan of the prescheduled FP’s and it has made a lot of walk on rides now have long waits. Anyways…..I took a few pictures while we waited. I kept watching this ticker. I am not sure what it was as it didn’t actually countdown to when the doors opened, which I thought was what it was doing at first. We enjoyed the show. Claire thought it was pretty funny and I am glad we went and saw it again after so many years. Look who we saw out for a meet and great! Even though we love them, we did not stop as the line was long and we had another destination to get to. Our first fastpass of the day was for Star Tours. Claire just loves this ride. She would ride it over and over if I let her. I tend to get a little motion sick on this though if I ride it over and over, so I try not to. I do however try to take bonine each day to prevent that feeling.

One more trash sculpture. I found more flamingos….and you know me and flamingos….lots of pictures. Some were just relaxing while others were having a fit. And they had some beautiful flowers in the area too. We moved on in search of a snack. Sea World has put in some charging stations too. Oh…I want to see the sharks! We went into the shark area. The tunnel in here was also used in Jaws 3. I purposely went in there because I had thought it was, and later I found out I was correct. Hi Dory. Help! My daughter has been eaten. Love the tunnel. That was pretty darn cool and I was able to check something off my want to do list! We headed back outside…..looks like an escapee. We looked through a few shops. I was trying to find a 50th anniversary magnet, but I never did fine one. I had Claire take this picture for Katmark (Kathy) on Dis. And while we’re in the spirit of things she tried on another. More pretty flowers. Sea Worlds pick a pearl is a little different than Disney’s and pretty darn cool. I decided on a funnel cake. Claire said she didn’t want that, but of course she did end up helping me eat it. We stood in the longest line for it too. Well the line wasn’t really long, just slow servers. Claire went with chips. I see we have a drink there too. We must’ve not gotten our mug refilled??? Hmmm. Maybe they couldn’t do it there, but I know we did refill it a few times that day. After tackling Manta, Claire wanted to see how the line for Kraken was. Kraken is called a floorless coaster, which I guess means you are on top of the track but up a bit higher so your feet dangle. This is the locker area for Manta. There is a charge to use them though. We checked Kraken and the wait was pretty long….I think an hour. (which I found odd since Manta was still pretty much walk on) We also stopped and took a look at the penguin wait and that too was still really long. So we worked our way back up front and decided to look through some more shops. We shopped around a bit. I know I bought some sort of magnet, but I don’t think I got myself anything else…and I am sure Claire picked one or two items out, but I no longer remember what. We then headed out to the car. We drove the short distance back to the Marriott Grand Vista and took a walk around the pool area before heading back to our room. It’s always a thrill to be the one to open the door. We headed in and got cleaned up and decided where to go for dinner. Well if you know me, there is always one choice I have for offsite eats….The Cheesecake Factory. Dad decided he would stay behind and watch TV, so I drove Mom and Claire over. There was quite a wait. I know at one time we were sitting near one of the doors and it had cooled down quite a bit and it was quite cold there. Mom was having a fit as she saw people going in who came in after us. She had me go up and ask how soon. Let’s just say I have this issue every time we go to a Cheesecake Factory. It’s like they want to torture me. They tell me soon and then we get called. It’s like they forget about us every single time we go. Finally we got seated and made our orders. We LOVE the bread there. Claire got her usual pizza. Mom got some different types of tacos. And I got the crusted chicken parmesan. It was all delicious. We had plenty of left overs and dad had an assortment to choose from when we got back. I no longer remember our conversations that night, but I know we had some good laughs about something. Of course we couldn’t leave without taking dessert with us. I think Claire got one too, but I don’t have a picture. I believe when we got back I took Claire for a quick swim before calling it a night. And then we lay in bed watching TV till we fell asleep.

I am in the official flying idiot club! I was surprised she didn't enjoy watching them more too. I think if we had done the dolphin feeding she would've enjoyed that more. I don't remember why we didn't do it this time. I did it alone last time while she went off with my parents. I think maybe this time the times didn't line up when we looked into it? And of course she was in dare devil mode that day and she was more worried about Manta for a long time...and proved me wrong.

We ran into Mom and Dad randomly then. I told them we were going to go see Shamu. Dad wanted to come, but Mom wanted to shop. Dad was worried about leaving Mom alone, but I told him she could handle herself. This makes me think of Jaws 3 the movie. A lot of scenes were done in this lagoon, though it looked much different back then. If you ever get a chance, there is a guy on Youtube who has these great videos where he goes to places movies and tv shows were filmed and he shows how they are now verses then. His name is adamthewoo. Across the way it used to be a stadium for the water ski show…now over there you will find Shamu Stadium. (I can’t remember if the seating is still over there or not anymore and I don’t seem to have a picture) Well not exactly across in the picture…but across the lagoon and to the left I believe of the picture….. There was a long line to get into the area to go see Shamu and the other whales….or I guess I could say all the Shamus. I really don’t know all their names and they all look like a Shamu to me. I saw these cute popcorn holders and I really regret not getting one now. As we waited, Claire told me she had to go to the bathroom. I knew it was a little ways away to get to one so I did as any good parent would…I told her to hold it as I wasn’t getting out of line. Soon the line moved and we were all let in to observe the whales swimming. It was hard to see at times over the people. Some of my shots are through a glass window and some are over people’s heads. I could watch them for hours….however, Claire could not as she had to pee. So we made our way towards the exit… …only to find an underwater viewing area, and again I told her to hold it. AWWWWW!!!! There is a baby. Claire was griping and complaining so we moved on. I know she enjoyed the whales, but the call of nature was stronger. I guess I took a few random pictures on the way out. Claire, if you stop here for a picture, I promise we’ll go to the bathrooms next. We then quickly made it over to the closest bathrooms for Claire and she was a happy girl once again. We just decided to explore over here as we haven’t been over in this area before. We were getting a bit hungry, and I can’t remember if this was still open or not, but I think Mom wanted to go eat later with us, so we didn’t go in to check it out. We just roamed the gardens near it. I found Nemo. These sculptures were made out of trash found in the ocean.

Sadly my tour was coming to an end. I talked with Lucy a bit and she had called for the shuttle to come and pick me back up. I think I was there just over an hour. The place is fabulous. I learned so much about it too. And if I had not already had plans for the rest of the week I would’ve booked a day there in a heartbeat. It is just like a little piece of paradise there. I said goodbye to Lucy and got on the shuttle back to Sea World. Back at Sea World I messaged my mom to let her know I was back….silence. I just started walking randomly nowhere till I heard back from her. I took this picture for my friend Cass as she hates turkey legs. Mom finally messaged me back that they were at the Blue Horizon show. I know a lot of people love this show, but I saw it once and it’s just not my thing. I think mainly because I thought it was a dolphin and whale show, but they had a lot of swimmers and acrobats in it and being it wasn’t what I expected I just didn’t care for it. I thought the story was strange too. I found a spot outside one of the exits and sat and waited. And waited and waited and waited. I saw the place clear out and I texted mom who didn’t answer. Finally she responded that they were over by the turtles. Ok, why didn’t they look for me when they exited…or at least text me. So I pulled out my trusty map and headed towards the turtles. I had to pass the dolphins on my way over. I also found an underwater viewing area that I had not realized was there. I also found my family. We took a look at the manatees who were much more boring than the ones at Epcot. And then we looked at the turtles, who were just so darn cute. Claire and I departed. We stopped near the dolphins again as I saw a feeding going on and I wanted to take pictures. Trying for an artsy shot. The dolphins were so cute and kept jumping over the little waves. I took a zillion pictures and Claire was bored out of her mind and let me know it. Since Claire was so bored, we moved on. Claire kept bugging me to ride Manta. I kept telling her no. She still kept up the whining about wanting to ride it….so I said…OK, you want to ride, let’s do it right now and get it done with. My thinking was this was going to scare the pants off of her, but at least she couldn’t go home blaming me for not letting her ride it. So we went and found the lockers and put our bags and stuff in there. We got in line and there was basically no line at all for it. Well that tells me that only idiots ride this and the park didn’t have enough idiots attending today. LOL! We got up to the individual queues and watched the people in front of us board. At this point I just thought it was a regular hanging from the track coaster. Then I see them clap everyone’s legs in place and tilt everyone down so they are facing the ground. HOLY CRAP! This is one of those flying coasters. I didn’t back out, but I was not too excited. I asked her if she still wanted to go on it and she said yes. So we were next. We jumped up into our seats and pulled our bars tight over our heads and got our legs clamped in and tilted….and I just started screaming right there. I am sure a few not so family friendly words might have popped out of my mouth. Claire was laughing hysterically about it all. And then we were off! I hate heights. I don’t mind the coasters….when they are smooth…but I can’t stand seeing how high we are going and this time I am facing the ground. One thing goes wrong and I am plummeting to the ground face first. I mostly kept my eyes shut and peeked every so often. And oh yes, I was still screaming. Claire was still laughing too. And then we dove down…..head first! I stopped screaming because it got lost in my throat. Claire was squealing in delight. Who is this kid and where is my sweet lovable little girl? When we did the loops, my body would slam back against the seat and then forward and down again. Not too bad, but I could feel the movement and that was really weird. Finally it was over and Claire LOVED it. I couldn’t believe it. I had wanted to scare her and now she was begging to ride it again. And we did. It was walk on this time and we got right back on. This time I didn’t get the bar pulled as close to me as I should have. The thing about a big curvy body and roller coaster bars are that they don’t form around you so well and if you don’t get it tight you will have a little space. This time I felt the loops a lot more and was really slamming around. My shins hurt and my shoulders hurt. And of course I still screamed the whole time. Again, Claire loved it and wanted to ride it again. I wasn’t sure, but I agreed to one more time. And yet again there was no wait and we got right on. This time was better than time 2, but I was still sore from that ride. Claire begged to ride it again and I told her I just couldn’t do it again but if she wanted to I would walk her through the line and wait for her at the exit. She did think about it for a bit, but she was too nervous to go by herself, so we headed back to the locker and got our things. I will now say I am one of those idiots that rode that ride. It was actually fun and if I could be blind folded because of the height and if it was smoother, I would probably have no issues riding it again. And I am sure whenever we go back she is going to rope me into it again. So we were done with that exciting part of the day and we headed off. I wanted to see Shamu. There was not a show currently going on during our stay as I think they were redoing the big tank, but there was an area to go and watch the whales. As we headed in that direction we found the baby dolphins. I took a lot of pictures, but I couldn’t tell if these were truly babies, moms ready to have a dolphin or just smaller dolphins. Some did look bigger than others in there. All my pictures pretty much came out the same. And on we went again. And we saw Cookie Monster and Elmo walk by. They were in a rush to get backstage though. Elmo was too fast for me to get a picture, but Cookie stopped and gave some love to some random person.