Back when I was planning our trip to Disney, there was a good week or two that I wavered back and forth between two choices: a fifth day at one of the Disney parks (which works out to about $7 extra for each person or something ridiculously cheap like that) or a second day at the Universal Parks (I know I haven’t mentioned Universal to you yet, because that is Day 5 of our trip). On the one hand, $7 extra a day is really cheap and I know we would have all loved to go back to the Magic Kingdom for an extra day. On the other hand, there are two Universal theme parks…we really wanted to go to the one with the Harry Potter section, but didn’t know if we should go to the other one too (the cost is what held me back on this one…a second day at the Universal parks was about $30 more per person) .
Yes! That’s Maddie and Ben… holding hands!!!
I asked a few people who had been to Universal before for advice (thank you Lara, Carol, Tara, and Sue). I spent a lot of time online calculating costs, looking at the rides in the other Universal park, and weighing my options.
Because Day Four of our trip was a Saturday, Undercover Tourist was not very hopeful that any of the parks would be that great for visiting. I mentioned to Dave that maybe we should head to the beach on one of our days and completely give ourselves a break from the parks, but he wanted to make it a park day.
Dead crab. Jack eventually buried him and built a sand church and cemetery around him.
And then Tara at Taradactyl wrote her blogpost about their visit to Cocoa Beach. She even provided the name of a free beach with bathrooms and a playground. I showed Dave what Tara said, but he still wasn’t convinced, until our friends Carol and Dane mentioned that they had also headed to Cocoa Beach on one of their Disney trips. This clinched it!
We slept late on Saturday morning and had a leisurely breakfast. Cocoa Beach was about a 50 minute drive from our hotel. As we neared Florida’s coast, we could see the remains of some Cape Canaveral launch sites, which was pretty cool.
You can see some of the launch pads off in the distance in this photo. I searched but never did find I Dream of Jeannie in a bottle though.
We found our way to the Lori Wilson Beach Park. Since it was a Saturday, and the temps were in the low nineties, the beach was pretty full, but we still had plenty of space around us. We had planned our time at the beach to be for an hour or two. My kids do like the beach, so we knew they’d find something to do. But we ended up staying there for over 4 hours, and when it was time to go, no one really wanted to leave!
The kids mostly alternated between jumping waves and playing in the sand. Dave left at one point and brought back subs for everyone. It was a gorgeous, relaxing day, just the thing we needed to perk us up after three tiring (though fun) days at the Disney parks.
I saw this one on Pinterest…though theirs turned out better!
When we got back to our hotel, we all showered and then headed to Downtown Disney. I have never seen DD as crowded as it was this Saturday night. Dave stood in line for 20 minutes just to get our name in at the T-Rex restaurant and then we waited another hour for our name to be called. While we waited we played in the giant Lego store and shopped in the giant Disney Store. I did a little Easter basket shopping while I was there (shhh!)
Finally, our table was ready at T-Rex. The food here is so-so, really, you are paying for the atmosphere. The last time we ate here we were seated in the main dining area with all the dinosaurs. This is very cool because, besides moving animatronically and roaring every now and then, every 20 minutes a meteor shower strikes and the dinosaurs get very active and noisy. This time, however, we were seated in the Ice Age Room.
I have to admit, I was disappointed at first. We had very few dinosaurs, and everything was blue. In fact, I ordered the Pterodactyl Salad, and couldn’t even really see what was in it. Tomatoes? Cucumbers? Hard boiled egg? Actual pterodactyl? I had no idea.
But then the meteor shower struck. The Ice Age room is a cool (ha! pun!) place to be during the meteor shower because the room explodes in reds and pinks and oranges and rumbles and crashes with loud booms!
Are they mocking me and my excitement?
Then we headed back to the hotel for a movie and bed.
I’m sorry this day lacked much excitement or suspense or laughter at my expense. Maybe in tomorrow’s installment, when we visit the Harry Potter park at Islands of Adventure, I will trip and fall on the Sorting Hat or possibly choke on some Butterbeer. Would that make you people happy?
3 comments:
Yes! I mean no. I mean, whatever the correct answer to that question is, I want to give it.
I'm a little sad that we've booked and paid for our vacation the non-Cocoa Beach route. I'm nervous we're going to be so skitzed out after 7 days of Disney parks that we'll be picking fights not only among ourselves, but also with random people.
Bring on the Butterbeer and Attack Hats!
I'm so glad you liked Cocoa Beach! I want to go back again. And instead of choking on Butter Beer (mmmmmmm. . . Butter Beer!) or messing with the Sorting Hat, I'd like to hear how you thought you were going to simultaneously vomit and pee your pants while on that evil Harry Potter ride. Or maybe that was me?
Oh, and Deb, you don't need 7 days to get into a fight at Disney; you only need 3. On the third day, not only did I get in a fight with John, but I also exchanged a few words with a lady pushing her elderly Mother in a wheelchair. It was a magical time!
I am searching these photos wondering which ones will make the Christmas Card cut. Maybe faces in the sand - prett cool.
Post a Comment