3 weeks is not enough! Disney & Universal Sept 2016 – Day 7, Kennedy Space Centre

[sha9]

This is a relatively short one today but plenty photos. We had decided since Dad was coming this year we’d do the Kennedy Space Centre. We’d been before but not for years so a lot had changed. Mum wasn’t coming and had a day at the villa with a boat ride to DS planned.
We left around 8.30am and arrived at 9.45am so it took us over an hour. It was still very quiet at that time of day and a bit of a culture shock compared to the theme parks! We had pre-purchased tickets in the UK from Floridatix so had to exchange the voucher for tickets which didn’t take long.

Dad

We decided to do the bus tour to the Apollo & Saturn V exhibit first. I didn’t realise how long that would take as I hadn’t known that the bus ride was part of the tour. Our driver had worked there for many years and was able to tell us loads about the history and about what some of the launch pads were being used for.

We had a quick look around the exhibit but we were starting to get hungry as the bus takes some time plus there’s a film as you enter the exhibit. It then takes you into a room where you experience a launch from the perspective of launch control.

It was 11.30am by then so we decided just to go for an early lunch. Because it was so early the Moon Rock Café was empty and we were served quickly and got a seat no bother. The dining report for today is here. The food was fine and relatively inexpensive plus there was a varied selection.

We had another look around, this time spending a little more time and had a look in the shop where Marie bought an astronaut Snoopy. Apparently he was an official mascot of NASA back in the day.

We got the bus back to the main area and went straight to the Atlantis exhibit. The way they do this is amazing. I’m not going to spoil it for anyone who wants to visit as I think it’s better if you don’t know what’s coming but anyone who has been will know what I mean. The sheer size of the shuttle is unexpected and fantastic to see.

We tried the shuttle launch experience which like everything at KSC is preceded by a film. It was ok but I felt a bit queasy after it and it was uncomfortable.
After this we went to the IMAX. The films are quite long so we didn’t think we’d want to do both. We chose the one narrated by Patrick Stewart as it seemed to cover a lot of the history and the future plans. There’s a lot of information about the future plans included a look at an asteroid and a visit to Mars so that was all interesting. Since coming home I’ve started to follow NASA on Twitter to keep up to date with it all.
We decided we’d seen what we wanted at that point. There are a lot of films at KSC and we felt the IMAX one had covered quite a lot and if you add in the Atlantis one and the Apollo/Saturn V one we felt happy we’d done everything of interest to us. We had a look around the shop and Marie and I bought a NASA hoody and some reusable shopping bags before heading home.

We had an uneventful drive home and arrived at OKW with some time before our dinner ADR at Olivia’s so we just chilled a bit. Mum had had a nice day relaxing around the villa and doing a bit of shopping at DS. She hadn’t wanted to use dining plan credits in case she accidentally used the wrong kind so ended up paying OOP for a couple of things that would have been snacks. Again it seems ridiculous when I think about how many credits we had left!
We’ve always enjoyed Olivia’s so even though we’d went there on arrival day I kept our ADR for today. We’d now have the dinner menu so it would be slightly different plus we didn’t want to have to travel too far after being out at KSC. It was a lovely meal and we all enjoyed it. Makes me a little sad we’re not staying at OKW next year and I’ve considered including a dinner at Olivia’s just because we like it so much.
We grabbed some coffee from the refill station at Goods and turned in for the night.

[Excitedx4]

Would you recommend KSC? We are still undecided. Our boys will be 6&13?

Looks a good day

[Always_dreaming]

Originally Posted by Excitedx4

Would you recommend KSC? We are still undecided. Our boys will be 6&13?

Looks a good day

See more...

Thanks for the review. I have the same question, as we are undecided. Our girls will be 12 and 9. From your report it doesn't sound like it's going to keep them interested and excited for the day I don't think.

[sha9]

Originally Posted by Excitedx4

Would you recommend KSC? We are still undecided. Our boys will be 6&13?

Looks a good day

See more...

Difficult to say. I think it depends on your boys and how interested they are in space travel. We didn't go with kids so I'm not sure what there is for them to do and most of what we saw was films about the space program and the various spacecraft used over the years. I know my nieces at 5,8 & 11 would have been bored stiff.

[Excitedx4]

Ah thanks for your honest review I think mine will be bored too. I've told my husband he can takes the kids and drop me at universal on the way as I have no interest whatsoever 😂 He's convinced the kids will love it, I reckon they'd prefer a day at universal 🙈