Five Little Ones Take the Adults - Day 7, Islands of Adventure, Shopping and the Cheesecake Factory

[Lisa29]

The previous day can be found HERE

Disclaimer, I have lots of photos!

Tuesday 1 October 2013

I was up with my alarm at 6.35am this morning. Phil and the girls were up not long after. We all got ready, the girls had some cereal and I finished getting the clothes dried in the dryer. We were ready at the car at 7.45am and finally set off just before 8am.

It didn’t take long to get there and we decided to all do valet parking. This is right next to miniature golf course and is just a lift or escalator ride up, bringing you out right near the entrance to City Walk.

Madison and Sydney both liked the one moving walkway we went on

Bubba Gump’s, this is somewhere we have never eaten

We stopped for a few photos

A few people hit up Starbucks and Cinnabon then we made our way to Islands of Adventure, taking more photos along the way

Kaley seems rather concerned about something!

Madison is confused as to which park she is in!

Dan and Marie were doing their usual job of keeping Kaley entertained for us!

She looks so excited and happy.

Madison decided she wanted a go

It is obviously not quite as easy with big kids!

We stopped for more photos on the bridge

And Kaley insisted on Dan having her photo with us

Finally we were at Islands of Adventure

Phil, the girls and I went to the ticket booth to get Madison’s ticket. I had converted my Tesco Club card vouchers to Avios and had used these to ‘buy’ Madison’s ticket. We had a voucher that we just had to exchange for her ticket.

Kaley happily posing, and looking quite cute with her sunglasses on her head!

We went through the turnstiles and were in the park about 8.50am. Madison, Kaley and I went into the first shop as I had pre-ordered the Star Card Photo Connect Package thing and needed to pick up my card. I also paid to have all of the photos printed. This took a few minutes then we met Phil, Mum and Dad outside. Everyone else had gone on ahead to ride Forbidden Journey.

This is one BIG ride

We went via Seuss Land

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[Lisa29]

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I like Seuss Land. It is well themed with plenty to keep kids occupied.

And before long were in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter

I get so excited arriving at this part of the park, hearing the music from the films playing. They did an amazing job with this and I can’t wait to go back and see the expansion

Phil was snapping away as usual

We stopped quickly to pose

Then went to wait outside Forbidden Journey. We waited for quite a while; I am not sure what the wait time was when they went on.

The map seems to have puzzled Madison

Hogwarts

Phil stayed outside with the girls while I went inside to have a look in the shop and wait to have their ride photos added to the Star Card

Dan, Marie, Jamie, Michelle and Sydney finally came off the ride, they had used rider swap so Sydney could go through the queue but not on the ride. I added their pictures to the card

And were given printouts of the photos in the themed wallets. Phil, Ryan, Dan and Marie went off to go on Dragon Challenge (no ride photos on this) and Jamie and Sydney went on Flight of the Hippogriff. We all met up again and walked around to Jurassic Park

We stopped for a posed picture that was added to the Star Card

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[Lisa29]

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My notes say that Phil, Jamie, Dan, Marie and Ryan went on River Adventure but I can’t see Ryan in the ride picture so I must have wrote that wrong!

Not sure why Marie is covering her face, she does love these rides!

I managed to catch them when they came down

Kaley wanted to walk again

Jamie and Sydney went on Pteranodon Flyers while we continued round to

Toon Lagoon. Another area I love the theming of. Phil and Ryan went on Dudley Do Right’s Rip Saw Falls and I managed to catch them on this too

Looking at the ride photo, it looks like they enjoyed it

We went around to Popeye and Bluto’s Bilge Rat Barges. Mum, Phil, Ryan, Marie, Jamie and Sydney all went on and we watched from the bridge near the start

Madison was checking the map again

They came off the ride absolutely soaked

The park was so quiet today, which was such a stark contrast to how busy it had been in Disney. I took a photo of one of the times boards showing how quiet it was

We continued around to Marvel Super Hero Island and took some more pictures

Madison and Kaley wanted some more pictures

This looks like an interesting conversation!

Phil, Ryan, Dan and Marie went on Hulk. As anyone who has been to Islands knows, Hulk is a very loud ride and Madison did not like it near here as she found it too loud, so we moved further back to near Spiderman. I had given Phil the Star Card so he had the photo added

We found a bench in the shade to sit and eat our Earl of Sandwiches which were lovely but again, no photos! Mum ate hers and then went to stand in the sun to try and dry off.

A few of us went on Spiderman (love this ride) before we went round to Seuss Land

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[Lisa29]

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Phil and I took Madison and Kaley on the Caro-Seuss-el which they both really enjoyed

Jamie took Sydney on One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish but my girls didn’t want to go on so we went over to the High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride

Unfortunately, Kaley was not tall enough for this so I just took Madison on. She enjoyed this. Phil was trying to get pictures but was stood in the wrong place both times we went past him!

We went to the Hop on Pop Ice Cream Shop next as I wanted a caramel brownie waffle sundae which I had the last two times we were here. I LOVE this

This was $5.96 including tax. It was weird paying for this rather than just using a snack credit…..!

We went into the All The Books You Can Read shop and the girls sat and read with Dan and Marie

Piper was awake and was her usual happy self

Madison had decided she wanted to go on One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish so went there. Phil took Madison and Kaley on (I didn’t want to get wet by the squirters) and they were on within a couple of minutes. Happy to start with

Still ok as the ride starts

Kaley absolutely distraught!

Neither of the girls liked this one bit. They didn’t like how wet they got with the water squirter bits and the ride is designed that you can’t miss them. In fairness, they were soaked!

You can see that Kaley is still so upset. Madison wasn’t upset but she didn’t like being wet

I took them to the toilets to get changed and they were both a lot better after that. We had a look in some of the shops. We all liked this but not the price tag!

We bought Madison and Kaley a Minion t-shirt each and a Minion figures set for Kaley for her birthday from the big Universal shop. I was able to use my AA card for 10% discount on these.

Port of Entry pictures

We all met up at the entrance at 2.15pm and went back towards the cars, with Madison and Sydney stopping to ‘surf’ on the way

This picture is from earlier, I love how happy Kaley looks

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[Lisa29]

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At some point during the day, Marie bought a Butter beer

We got back to the valet area, paid the $30 for the valet parking at the kiosk and they brought the cars straight over to us. I know this is expensive but it is so convenient and saves so much time. We tipped $3 I think and were soon on our way to Mall at Millennia.

We managed to park easily enough and arranged to meet back at the Cheesecake Factory at 4.30pm for dinner.

We did a fair bit of shopping again! Phil bought Apple TV ($99) that is brilliant and we use it every day, we got an iPod Touch for Madison for Christmas ($299) and Disney Creativity Studio from the Apple store. Phil also bought some clothes from Hollister and American Eagle.

We bought a tub of mini cookies from Mrs. Fields Cookies in the food court ($9.99) then made our way to the Cheesecake Factory.

We were seated quite quickly, all on one long table with a couple of small gaps in between.

Madison had pasta alfredo ($6.95)

Kaley had mini cheeseburger sliders and fries ($6.45)

I had filet mignon with fries and onion rings ($29.95) and a diet coke ($2.95)

And Phil had a buffalo burger ($11.95) plus a diet coke ($2.95)

All of our food was delicious and we really enjoyed it. Including tax, ours was $65.18 plus a tip of $11.02. We also paid for Mum and Dad’s meal, which came to $49.84 including tip so around $130 for 4 adults, 2 kids and drinks, which I don’t think is too bad.

Most of us got cheesecake to take out with us and we were all full from dinner. I had a cookie dough cheesecake which was $7.99 including tax. Unfortunately, this was just ok. I wasn’t overly impressed with it.

We went back to SSR via Walmart where I stocked up on grapes, water, Corona, Pepsi max, Krave and the two most important items, Lucky Charms and s’mores pop tarts!

We put the girls straight to bed when we got back. Phil went down to the Grandstand pool for a swim and I just chilled out reading US Weekly.

Mum and Dad were staying at Bay Lake Tower for the next two nights so Dan and Marie had gone there to watch Wishes from the top of the World Lounge. They got back just after 9.30pm and had taken photos of their room

The view from their balcony

I think this is from the lift area on the 16th floor

And these are from the viewing deck

They both only had their phones so didn’t take many pictures

We were in bed just after 10pm.

Day 8, Typhoon Lagoon, DTD, Cape May Café and the Boardwalk at night is HERE.

[Guest]

AWH loved all the pics , actually can't get over how wet the girls got in suess landing thanks for the heads up . Kaley looked so upset poor thing ...
Great day all the shopping done , can I ask did you get your city mini over there or bring with you .? I have 3 yr old & 5 yr old girls and am thinking of buying one for 3 yr old after seeing how much they are to rent , I figure buying is same price .
Star package sounds cool how much did you pay extra for the prints

[DiddyDan]

We did a lot that day didn't we?! And it was not busy at all at Islands. I still can't believe how wet the girls were and how upset Kaley was, bless her

Another great day! x

[collybird]

Hi Lisa,

Spent this evening catching up on your TR, your girls are such happy little souls and such troupers. You've been so busy every day and they've been little stars.

I noticed in your PTR you said you felt a bit deflated once you were back home because you felt like you'd missed out on a lot but I've been really impressed with how much you've squeezed in so far.

We're thinking of staying at SSR next year as my mum will be joining us. Hoping to book with free dining and room discount like you guys did. Can you remember the cost of your 2-bed? Hope you don't mind me asking!

[Redrach1903]

Another great read!

Love all your photos around IoA, especially Hogsmeade!

Poor Kaley looking so upset after that ride, bless! Sure it was soon forgotten though

Oh how I adore The Cheesecake Factory! YUM!

[TheColes]

Why was that minion so much?