Traveling Together - Universal Epic

I am not usually a theme park person. I get motion sickness, they are expensive, the lines are long, and until recently, I haven't been able to fit in the seats. That said, I laid down my $1200 for one-day passes for the six of us to go to the new Universal Epic.

Bossy suggested we wait and go after lunch so the lines would be shorter. She had been theme-parking all week, so we took her advice. In fact, Curly and I cooked breakfast for everyone in our group. Pancakes, eggs, hashbrowns, and cereal with various muffins seemed to fill everyone up.

Then we headed out. Bossy was right. The lines were shorter. Some even less than an hour. Baby Doll really wanted to visit the How to Train your Dragon world. I was more interested in Harry Potter.

We went to her choice and we all got on the first ride. It was a little ship that rode through the water while you tried to hit targets with giant squirtguns. It was fun, but in my opinion, not worth the 45-minute wait.

Then we went to the How to Train Your Dragon Show. It was awesome! It reminded me of a short Broadway production. There was even a flying dragon!!

After checking with the group, Baby Doll and I got into another 45-minute line to ride the gliders. They were my favorite ride. If I held really still, it was just like flying and the breeze in my hair felt amazing after the long hot line. Baby Doll was a little disappointed that she couldn’t master the barrel-roll in one visit...

We bought drinks. Checked with the group and then Baby Doll and I got in line for the last ride in that world, the roller coaster. 

Now, I have been on coasters before, but only tame ones and this one was not tame. Thankfully, we had an hour in the line plus a 20-minute delay for me to digest the pbj I had eaten earlier. I think Baby Doll thought I was the one being a baby, but she always wants to go higher and faster.

I survived the ride, although Baby Doll teased me about having my eyes closed the entire time. I was pretty proud of myself.

Finally, Harry Potter World! 

Except it wasn't. It was all about the magical beasts and I haven't seen that movie. We started with the show and then headed directly into the Ministry of Magic. Finally! Stuff I knew!

The ride was pretty awesome, but not as exciting as I was hoping for. I guess they have a different Harry Potter world at each of the 4 Universals in Orlando.

Anyway, time had run out and we left the park right afterward. Dog Walker bought me a beautiful pair of Time-Turner earrings. Like his dad, he is very kind and generous.

I was exhausted and we had to check out of the hotel by 10 on Friday. So it was back at the room getting everything ready to go to the new hotel for one more day.

More tomorrow...

Traveling Together - Daytona by Dog Walker

It was quite a fun day for me, Sport, Scout, and Curly for our first time in Florida. Actually, Curly was in Florida

 last year for the FCCLA National Convention, but he didn’t get to choose where he went. We first had to drop off Mom and Baby Doll at the Convention Center for her volleyball tournament. After an hour drive from there, we visited a nice diner for breakfast in Daytona. Surprisingly, we were the only customers, but the servers were really nice. 

After breakfast, we went to the Daytona international Speedway for a tour. After some technical difficulties with our tickets, we managed to make it for a ten-o'clock tour when we were supposed to be at the ten-thirty tour.

We got to ride on a tram around the stadium and the race track itself. We even got to see what the NASCAR races were like up close.

It was really hot and humid while we were out on the track. There was some part of the tour where we came out of the tram to test out the banked road of the track. It was really steep for us even to climb. But that wasn't the only interesting thing. What was more interesting was seeing how small Victory Lane was, even if it looks bigger from a TV screen.

After that, we went back around to see what it was also like to sit in the audience of the races. It was still really hot, even from white chairs. After that, we rode back to the end of the tour. 

It was really refreshing to be back inside with extreme air conditioning. 

We went our separate ways from the tour group and looked at all the different racers in the museum. We even found a mannequin that looked like Curly's girlfriend.

After touring the gift shop and buying a few souvenirs, we went to pick up Mom and Baby Doll, and Curly offered to buy lunch at B.J.’s Restaurant. It's kind of an Italian restaurant that is never found in Utah, but it was a place that Curly ate at with his football team. There was an interesting dessert there called Pazooki. It's a cookie skillet with two scoops of ice cream on top. It was really satisfying.

I don't know how Baby Doll did in her games that day, but I'm sure she played her best and Mom was always there cheering her on.

Traveling Together - Last Day of the Tournament

Curly joined Baby Doll and me for the last day of the tournament. 

She played well and they won the first match.

Then they lost their second one and suddenly, the tournament was over. Tears and hugs and all after that.

We met up later with our team family for lunch at Ford's Garage. The food was yummy! The decor was fun and different. The bathroom was my favorite.

Ford's Garage was in the middle of the Facory Outlet stores. So after lunch, we decided to look around. I realized this could be a very good place for Curly to buy shoes for his mission. We looked in several stores and we finally found a pair of black ones at Cole Haan.

Can I just say the clouds are amazingly beautiful in Florida?

We made our way back to the condo, changed into our swimming suits and headed for the play area. Some of the kids headed for the water slides while Curly, Sport, and I stopped for a game of mini golf.

Then we all went to the pool.

Ok, not quite all, but most of us.

Then it was back to the room for a late supper of crockpot pork tacos that despite my limited spices were really yummy. Some of us stayed up late and watched Starsky & Hutch.

Tomorrow? Universal Epic!!

Traveling Together - Dezerland Park

So, normally for these huge volleyball tournaments, they assign teams to the am wave (8-2) or the pm wave (3-10). We were assigned to am a week or so before the tournament began.

Unfortunately, we were reassigned to pm wave for Tuesday. 

I had already bought tickets for the 6 of us to hang out at Dezerland Park, so the kids dropped us at the Convention Center and they continued to follow our original plan.

Baby Doll had a great tournament day! She always amazes me with how good she really is!

Before the games, we did a lot of this.

And this...

Don't even get me started talking about how many floods we've cleaned up!!!

The kids graciouly shared about a million pics showing how much fun they had at Dezerland Park...just sharing a few.

Yes! We are having fun without you, Mom...

Aren't we, Sport?