Orlando, Ho! (Part IV)

On the day we got kicked off the cruise ship, we scheduled a later flight so we could fit in an airboat tour. We ended up in a rare Florida cold front. When we boarded the ship in Orlando, it was 48 degrees and windy. We froze out on the ship deck. On the day we came back to port, it was 46 degrees and windy. 

After we disembarked, we had to wait a half hour outside in the cold for our shuttle to Hertz to get our rental van. Then when we got there, we had to stand out in the cold for another half hour waiting for the van. We were not impressed at all with Hertz (first and likely last time ever using them) (the van was in pretty rough condition, too. It was beat up, smelled like antifreeze, and made really weird sounds) (the only reason we used Hertz was because they were the only company with a van available). 

After we got our van, we drove to Walmart and attempted to buy some warm clothes. There are not warm clothes in Florida. We had to buy Hot Hands and hunting gloves. Then we got a few extra clothing items so we could layer. Now, I know Florida doesn’t have snow, but you’d think you could at least buy a jacket in January! Not so. 

After our Walmart stop, we headed to our airboat tour. It was still 48 degrees outside, but the sun at least came out. 

The airboat tour was really cool, and I’m so glad we did it, but by golly! It was cold. 

So very cold.

I had a t-shirt, three sweatshirts, and two pairs of pants on. Plus Hot Hands in my pockets (which miraculously worked really well - I’ve never had a set of Hot Hands actually get hot, but those bad boys followed through), and I still froze. I could feel the wind through all of those layers, and it kind of blew my mind. 

Aside from being cold, the airboat tour was amazing. 

The headphones were nice because our tour guide could speak into her mic, and we could hear it. The airboats are really loud, so it was nice to have the headphones to drown out some of the noise. 

There were birds everywhere! Bald eagles, roseate spoonbills, great blue herons, and ibises galore! I wish I could have gotten more photos, but taking photos on a speeding airboat doesn’t work out so well between the rapid airflow that will rip your phone right out of your hands and the motion blur.

We were able to see an alligator in the wild:

Then after the ride, we all got to hold an alligator:

Have I told you how cold it was? 

Because it was dang cold.

I was taken aback by the fact that the alligator felt cold. For some reason I expected it to be warm. I understand that it’s an ectothermic animal, but I guess I’d never thought about whether an alligator would feel warm or cold when I held it, and when it’s cold outside, alligators are going to feel cold.

After the airboat ride we ate lunch at Saucy, which is KFC’s mock up of Raising Cane’s (I’m not sure why KFC feels the need to mimic another restaurant, but what do I know about the chicken tender industry?)

They just opened a few weeks ago, and this is their first location. They have 11 sauces, and none of them really impressed me. The food was fine but nothing to get overly excited about. It really is just a copy cat of Raising Cane’s… where the food is also fine but nothing to get overly excited about. 

From there we headed to the airport and made our journey home. 

And then it was over.

And we were sad. 

And now I need to get another vacation on the calendar pronto because I remembered that I really love vacation.

Orlando, Ho! (Part III)

As previously mentioned, our main objective in going to Florida recently was to go on a cruise with my mom, my step-dad, my brothers, and their families. Prior to the cruise, we went to Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Busch Gardens, and SeaWorld. After those fun adventures, we checked out of our Vrbo and headed to the port to board Royal Caribbean’s Utopia of the Seas. But first we stopped to fill up the gas tank of our rental van, and Nicky took advantage of being 18 and bought a scratch off lottery ticket with which he won $15!

Baby’s first scratch off

Utopia of the Seas

Scotty and I have been on a few cruises, but not since before Nicky was born. Therefore, our kids have never been on one, and a lot of things have changed since our last cruise (for one thing, cell phones weren’t commonplace back then). We were excited for them to get to experience this form of travel.

The kids loved getting drinks from the bar

We cruised from Monday to Friday. Our stops included a day at Coco Cay (an island owned by Royal Caribbean) and a day in Nassau, Bahamas. 

At Coco Cay Scotty and Nicky got passes to the water park. The rest of us just hung out on the beach, and Scotty and Nicky went back and forth to the water park. 

The sand was primo for castles

Showing a hermit crab to the littles

In Nassau we got off the ship for just long enough to walk to the Queen’s Staircase (a two-mile round trip). 

Nicky bought us all fake Pit Vipers for

Christmas, and then he was embarrassed when we all wore them in the Bahamas

Here’s what everyone thought of the cruise:

Nicky thought it was fun, but he was disappointed that there wasn’t anyone his age. He was hoping to meet some people. He wanted to just go, go, go! and was always upset any time one of us wanted to rest. I’ve said it before, but Nicky is like a breed of dog that constantly needs to be walked. He would get mad if we so much as sat down to eat ice cream. He wanted to be entertained and on the move at all times, so he spent a lot of time on his own walking around the ship trying to find things to do. He stayed out late every night when the rest of us were exhausted (and he was mad at us for being exhausted). He loved the shows. Nicky’s favorite thing to eat on the cruise was cheesecake, and there was not enough of it. He loved our assistant waiter, Herold, and asked Herold to surprise him with a drink each night. 

Daisy was also disappointed that there weren’t people her age (boys, really. We were surprised at the lack of teenagers on the cruise). We never really know what to do with Daisy because she’s so moody. She’ll be happy one minute then crying and yelling at everyone the next. We are constantly telling Nicky, “Don’t poke the bear” because the bear will make us all miserable! Suffice it to say, Daisy had moments of pure joy where she was pleasant and fun, and then five minutes later she’d “crash out,” as the kids are saying these days. Daisy’s favorite things to eat on the cruise were Boston cream pie, cream puffs, pizza, pineapple, and chicken cordon bleu.

Zoe shocked us on the cruise. She has always been very clingy on vacations - always holding one of our hands. On the cruise ship, she wanted nothing more than to wander on her own. She begged and begged, and I wouldn’t let her go anywhere alone until she could tell me our room number and how to find our room from anywhere on the ship. I let her try it out on the second day, and she became Miss Independent (this was so unlike her - I am still in shock from it). She found her way all over that ship on her own, and we just had her use her iPad on WiFi to text us. Zoe also surprised us by going on the zip line without hesitation (prior zip lining opportunities were not down with such ease) and by doing to Flow Rider. She did not like Nassau and begged to get back on the ship the entire time we were there. Zoe’s favorite things to eat on the cruise were bacon, chocolate croissants, and soft serve ice cream. 

Balloon animals at breakfast

Zoe loved seeing what the room steward would make out of the towels each day

Zoe rocked the flowrider (another way she surprised us)

We accidentally got caught in a parade that ended in a confetti release (we were just trying to get to the pizza, dang it!)

Eva just wanted to go shopping and spend Grandma’s money the entire time. On vacation all she wants to do is shop, play on an iPad, or go “back to the hotel to swim.” We will be five minutes into a theme park, and she’ll say, “I just want to go back to the hotel to swim.” At the ports, all she could focus on was the crap she wanted to buy. Can I buy sand toys? Can I buy a bucket hat? Can I go look at the gift shops? She was obsessed with finding the ducks that people hide around the ship, so every night at dinner she would say she needed to go to the bathroom, but she really just wanted to look for ducks (because the first one she found was in the bathroom). We let her go to the bathroom 3-4 times each night just to keep her busy. Eva’s favorite things to eat were Caesar salad, taquitos, and a single piece of cheese from the cheese plate on the dessert menu. 

Eva at Coco Cay where she spent Grandma’s money on sand toys and a bucket hat

Eva’s nightly dinner trick

All the kids seemed to really enjoy the cruise, and I don’t think we’d have any trouble trying to convince them to go on another one. 

Cotton candy (which dissolved quickly in the humidity)

Toga night

Scotty in the flowrider

Hot tubbin’

Daisy and pointing to our ship

After the cruise we had one final adventure before we headed home. To be continued…

Orlando, Ho! (Part II)

(If you missed Part I, you can read it here). 

On our vacation we decided to try some new experiences, so we spent a day at Busch Gardens and a day at SeaWorld. 

Busch Gardens

My brother Bubba has been talking up Busch Gardens for years, so we gave it a shot, and Bubba and his wife met us there.

We started off by riding a roller coaster called Iron Gwazi.

I. 

Can’t.

Even.

I didn’t look at it before getting on. I just went, and oh my heck! It was amazing, but also, I have no idea what I experienced out there. It was so trippy. 

Busch Gardens had some great roller coasters. Sadly a lot were closed, but the ones we were able to ride were awesome. 

Busch Gardens has a kangaroo encounter as well as some other fun animal exhibits.

We got a meal plan that lets you get food every 90 minutes (including chick-fil-a!) You can’t bring in any food, and with their food prices, they basically force you into the meal plan. 

I laughed so hard when I got this salad that is priced on the menu at $7.95. It was like three bites of lettuce and four wet croutons. It was bad. So very bad!

The meal plan makes it nice because then you can have bad food do-overs (there is some really bad food, but Chick-fil-A helps) (still closed Sundays, FYI).

We liked Busch Gardens, but we were only able to endure it because we purchased the Quick Queue passes. They are way understaffed, and you can definitely tell. 

Meanwhile, back at the Vrbo…

When we got back to the house that night, we got our routine Walmart+ delivery (I placed an order everyday for whatever we needed or wanted and had it delivered around the time we arrived back at the house). Then the kids played in the pool, and Zoe started screaming for Scotty because she saw a raccoon on the roof. It was stuck up there and trying to use the lanai screen to climb back down. Zoe was absolutely terrified and raising hell over that stupid raccoon. Scotty and Nicky tried to guide it with the pool net, but it just ran off to the other side of the roof. Then it would come back to the same corner over and over again to try and get down. Zoe would scream every time. This went on for over an hour until we finally got Zoe to stay quiet long enough for the raccoon to climb headfirst down the drain pipe. It was quite an ordeal.

SeaWorld

We’ve been to SeaWorld in San Diego, but not since Nicky was a toddler. Maybe. We don’t remember if Daisy has been. Zoe and Eva definitely have not been, and Zoe has been obsessed with penguins since she was little, so we’ve always wanted to take her. 

Penguins

We purchased our Busch Gardens and SeaWorld tickets as a package, so we had Quick Queue passes and the meal plan for both parks. 

It was rainy, so crowds were mild. They ended up having to shut down the rides for an hour for a single lightning strike, but we are no strangers to theme parks in the rain, so we were prepared with ponchos and patience. 

The rides at SeaWorld were so fun! We particularly loved Manta, Cheetah Hunt, and Mako. But, like Busch Gardens, they were way understaffed (even more so than Busch Gardens), which occasionally resulted in chaos in the lines. I don’t handle line disorder well. 

In addition to rides, we watched the dolphin show and the sea lion show. 

We ended our night in Sesame Street Land, which is just adorable! None of my kids ever liked Sesame Street, and I’ve always been sad about that. 

Look at those four yahoos! They don’t even know. They just don’t even know.

SeaWorld closed at 7:00, so we were able to get back to the house early and work on laundry and packing. But this night… oh, this night… Scotty’s food finally caught up to him, and he spent hours in the bathroom fighting from both ends while I paced around the house going, “Please don’t be contagious! Please don’t be contagious!”

(It was not contagious. We now conclude it was definitely a food issue. Scotty had been eating low sugar/lo carb for a few months prior to this trip, and then he went hog wild. It didn’t help that he’d sat in the hot tub for an hour letting four days of theme park food cook inside him, either). 

To be continued…

Orlando, Ho!

We just got back from an epic family vacation. We spent five(ish) days in Orlando and then hopped on a cruise ship for five more days. Part of the trip was just our family, and part of it included my parents and brothers (and their families). I’ll probably have a few vacation posts to share over the next lil while, so bear with me. These posts are a treasure for me personally to look back on, and I’m always glad to have written them. Feel free to read them or skip them. 

Orlando Bound

We began our trip early on a Wednesday morning. We left from the Salt Lake airport where Eva’s bag was confiscated due to her sneaking in a bottle of body spray despite us telling her not to add anything to her bag. They had to take her body spray away, and she was very upset! 

Luckily we ran into Lupe - our friend and neighbor who also happens to be Eva’s primary (Sunday school) teacher and a “red coat” for Delta. She brought Eva a bag of pity treats to make her happy. 

Fun fact: Lupe is my bestie Christie’s sister, so I had to send Christie a selfie proclaiming that we were hanging out without her!

We also met up with my friend Laurel who was headed to Tampa for work. By sheer coincidence, our flights left within 20 minutes of each other on the same day from the same terminal. 

All went well with our flight, and we arrived in Orlando without incident. We picked up our rental van, and we got a good laugh at the rows and rows of vans to choose from that were our exact van from home! 

Orlando airport 

Tram ride at the Orlando airport

White Chrysler Pacifica, anyone?

We found a silver one tucked away, so we opted for that one to have some variety in our journey, then we drove to Cici’s pizza. Nicky and Scotty are obsessed with Cici’s, and they’d been looking forward to it for months. We don’t have them in Utah. 

Nicky at Cici’s

The crust plate

(I normally love the crust, but Cici’s crust is definitely reject crust)

After Cici’s we went to Disney Springs and let the kids pick some merch from the World of Disney store, and we walked around for a while and listened to some live music. 

Funhouse mirror in the candy shop

Disney Springs

We checked into our Vrbo and had two Walmart deliveries (I did a pre-order before we left on vacation, and then found myself needing some more snacks, so I did a 90 minutes express order, and I am simply NOT hating Walmart+ at all). 

Our house had a pool and hot tub so the kids played in the water til late at night. 

Magic Kingdom

The main purpose of our trip was a cruise, but we figured we couldn’t go to Orlando and not hit Disney World! On Thursday we went to Magic Kingdom. 

The crowds were tolerable. The weather was great (it was nice to go to Florida in January - I was actually able to do my hair some days). 

All aboard the People Mover

Best table in Gaston’s tavern

In front of the Beast’s castle

Rapunzel’s tower

We had a couple of new experiences at Magic Kingdom. We got to ride Tiana’s Bayou Adventure for the first time:

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure

We rode Tron for the first (and second) time:

I’ve never seen Tron, but the ride was really cool. 

We also had a meal at Liberty Hall Tavern. It was all-you-can-eat table service. They had a green salad that tasted so amazing (you know when your body is like GIVE ME A VEGETABLE! And then you do? And your body is like THANK YOU? That’s how the salad was). There was also pot roast, pork, turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing, and bread. Plus dessert, of course. And whatever you want more of, they will bring you!

It was good - and perfect for our family as we are not “character” people. Even our kids have never cared for interacting with Disney characters much, so “character dining” is actually really awkward for us. This was a nice substitute. 

Overall we had a great day at Magic Kingdom, and we were there from open to close. 

EPCOT

On Friday we went to EPCOT. It was busier than Magic Kingdom and we had warmer weather, but it was still tolerable since we had some Lightning Lane reservations (insert rant about how much I hate LL and what it has done to the Disney experience). 

Some highlights: 

We rode Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind twice (we had to pay for one ride and do virtual queue for the other - this ride is so high in demand that there is no standby line). It is such a good ride. I get weepy on it because it’s that good.

At EPCOT we ate a ton. Here is Scotty going over his intricate food plan in the line for Frozen:

We ate and ate and ate…

Tacos

Shakes

Pastries

Different tacos and different pastries

Some kind of loaded burger and mega fries

Fish and chips

We also had crepes (they were gross) and breakfast croissants. Scotty was OUT. OF. CONTROL and wanted to taste all the things.

While we were waiting for our first round of tacos, Daisy got pooped on by a bird. She didn’t handle it well.

Daisy = not okay

We explored the new Moana walk-through exhibit. It was really cute.

At the end of the night we decided to ride Frozen one last time. Right before we got on the ride, an elderly woman got injured while trying to get out of her boat (we don’t actually know what happened, we just know she couldn’t get out of the boat), and they had to stop the ride and bring in EMTs. They tried a few different times in a few different ways to hoist her out without success. We watched all of this unfold for about half an hour before they evacuated the line queue. 

Front row seat to a medical evacuation

If we’d been in line five minutes sooner, we could have been stuck on the ride listening to the same ten seconds of “Let it Go” on repeat without any idea what was going on outside! Imagine!

Our Disney World section of the trip was short and sweet, but we loved it! We opted for just two days and two parks so we could do some other things in Orlando. 

To be continued…