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Old 4 Feb 20, 11:35 PM  
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Lisa_Lollipop
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Charlie's First WDW Adventure - Sep/Oct 2019 - Day 8: Kennedy Space Centre and TGI Friday's

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Sunday 6th October

It was an early start with Charlie waking up at 6:30am with no intention of going back to sleep! I got him settled in our bed with some milk and Peppa on the TV so we could snooze for a little longer. It wasn’t long though before we were all up and getting ready for the day. We were off to Kennedy Space Centre today and as it’s a longer drive out we all had some breakfast at the villa before leaving.

By 8:40am we were all set and heading out of the villa (we had aimed for an 8am departure so we were running a little later than planned!). We all loaded into the car and set off on our way. It was a rather uneventful journey with Charlie happily playing with his magnetic drawing board and bucket of dinosaur and Seaworld animals (What else?!)





The journey took just over an hour so by 9:45am we were pulling into the car park after paying the $10 fee (so cheap compared to all the other parks!)



After parking up and unloading everything and everyone from the car we made the short walk down to the entrance. We had turnstile ready tickets this trip so were able to head straight in (on our last trip we had to exchange a voucher at will call… so much easier and quicker this time around!)









On making it through the entrance we spent some time wandering around the rocket garden. It was lovely and quiet so we were able to let Charlie have much more freedom in running around… a nice change from all the other parks where we were always living in fear of him getting lost in the crowds so clung onto him for dear life!











After having a nice stroll around the rocket garden we made our way in the direction of the bus tour as we had decided to get this part of the park done before lunch. On walking over we stopped for some necessary photos in front of the NASA sign (which has changed, last time we came it wasn’t a 3D ball!)





John and I also felt the need to get a photo of us both wearing our NASA t-shirts… we were taking this day very seriously (ok I admit it my t-shirt is from Primark, hardly the most authentic!). We had bought John’s for him earlier in the year on his birthday, it was great that he was getting to wear it in its rightful place!



In this section of the park there were a series of pads on the floor which lit up when you walked over them… Charlie loved this!



We made it over to the entrance to the bus tour and made our way in.





It was in joining the queue that we were told that we weren’t able to take the pushchair with us. I must admit I hadn’t even thought about this having never needing to on any previous trips… I kind of just assumed we would be able to take it and they would just put it in the storage section of the coach. But no, we had to park it up and leave it at this end and were told there were pushchairs that can be used on arriving at the other end.

With the pushchair left behind we headed on through, stopping on the way to have the obligatory group photo taken. The queue wasn’t tool long at this early point in the day so within 10 minutes or so we were boarded onto a coach and setting off.





About 5 minutes into the journey Charlie fell asleep on my lap (it was 11:10am by this point).





On making it over to the Apollo/Saturn V Center Charlie was still sound asleep. I managed to climb off the bus with him staying asleep and on alighting we found that the pushchairs that were available were those awful plastic ones similar to those at Disney… certainly not comfortable enough for a sleeping toddler! I didn’t want to wake him up as he of course needed the sleep so I carried him through sleeping. I was very thankful that there was seating for both the first video and then in the control room. It shows how tired he was as even in the simulation of the launch (which is very loud) he didn’t even flinch!

On leaving the control room we made it into the main exhibition and I parked up over at the Moon Rock Café whilst the others looked around.







After a while the others came to check in on me and we decided to get some drinks and snacks to keep us going until lunch. Charlie at this point was still asleep!



Paul headed into the café with Joan and John and returned with an iced vanilla latte and a salted caramel cookie for me. Joan couldn’t resist a moon cake! They also picked up an 8 finger (!) KitKat for us all to share.







With food and snacks devoured, Charlie was still asleep! (I’m not going to lie, I was totally enjoying the cuddles!)





After him being asleep on me for 2 hours and 15 minutes I had to admit defeat and pass him over to Paul as I was rather desperate for the toilet! I thought he would wake in the manoeuvre… but no, still sleeping!





I made a quick dash to the restrooms and then had a quick wander around on the way back.





After two and a half hours Charlie finally woke up! We hadn’t ever imagined he would sleep that long but he clearly needed it so we were happy he had gotten the opportunity to recharge is batteries! With him now awake we took the opportunity to have a proper look around all together.







The film in the Luna Theater was about to start so we headed inside to watch that. We sat in the very front row as I wanted Charlie to be close enough to see the props that appear along with the film.







He sat brilliantly throughout the whole show and generally seemed quite interested in what was going on! I’m not sure he understood at all but it was great it kept his attention!

On leaving the theater we headed out the back of the building to the Moon Tree garden, a new area that opened since our last visit in 2016. It was beautiful out there and very quiet so Charlie enjoyed having a good run around! He was full of beans now after that epic nap!















After a good wander around the garden we headed back inside and I stopped to take some photos of Charlie under the rocket that is suspended from the ceiling… you really get the scope of just how big these things are when you see a toddler underneath one!







We had spent far longer over this side of the park than we had planned (blame Charlie and his mammoth nap for that!) so we decided to head back to the coaches to make the journey back over to the main section of the park. On making our way there Charlie was most impressed with the astronaut made from Lego!



The queue for a coach back was much longer than we expected and was painfully slow moving. We managed to keep Charlie occupied with some Veggie Straws which he devoured whilst also happily sharing some with Daddy (and by sharing I mean ramming them into his mouth!)… sharing is caring!







After half an hour we finally made it onto a bus and before long we were alighting back at the other end.





On alighting the bus we stopped to have a look at the photos that were taken on the journey out, and of course Joan and I being a sucker for a photo couldn’t resist so we both decided to buy a set which worked out as $42 for both.





At this point we were all feeling very hungry so a stop for food was much needed! So once we had sorted the photos we headed in the direction of Orbit Café. It’s a pretty standard offering in here so it was a selection burgers, chicken tenders and fries! It was pleasant enough though and filled a hole which was the main thing!





The day was very quickly running away with us so we ate pretty quickly so we could get moving. Our next stop was at the Atlantis exhibit as this is an absolute must-see for us!





On making it up the ramps and to the entrance we found we had just missed a showing so were at the front of the queue for the next one. We watched the clock slowly countdown from 7 minutes but on hitting zero it reset and we ended up waiting another 7 minutes to be let in! It was of course worth the wait though, seeing Atlantis is without a doubt always the highlight of KSC for me. That screen going up and the shuttle being revealed gets me every time!







Whilst the others had a more thorough look around I carried on moving forward with Charlie, stopping at the model of the International Space Station. Having never been here with a child this was a new experience for me so≈I was super eager to get our shoes off and have a crawl through… my eagerness was short-lived though, as soon as we hit the clear plastic tube my knees got the wobbles! Being able to see straight down to the floor below was a little scary I have to say so I made my way through that section as quickly as possible!







On making it out we went to hunt down Paul, Joan and John who were still over by the shuttle.







John and Paul decided they wanted to check out the space station too so both had a crawl through with Charlie… they both seemed to deal with the clear plastic tube much more bravely than I did!







With time ticking away we made our way down the ramp to explore the downstairs section of the exhibit.



It was at this point we hit the blue slide of doom! Now for anyone who hasn’t been to KSC, there are two slides in the exhibit that have always given me the fear and I have always refused to go down. On Rach’s recent trip to KSC she happily went down said slide and ever since has been ridiculing my fear so I had promised I would go down this time. I am not going to dwell on this part of the day too much as hands down it will forever go down as one of the most embarrassing moments of my life… John said he would come down with me and on making it to the top happily flew down with no problem at all. I, on the other hand, got overcome with extreme fear but has already started to slide down so couldn’t back out but instead splayed my arms and legs out in a desperate attempt to slow myself down whilst at the same time yelling (near screaming) “I DON’T LIKE IT!” over and over again. And of course because I was making such a noise everyone was looking at me.

So. Embarrassing.

There is video evidence of this whole debacle but it will not be shared on here, I’m too ashamed! And to add insult, Paul also went down after me happily and also couldn’t see why I was making a huge deal about it! John even went twice!



I’m not sure what it is about slides but they turn me into the biggest wimp! I will happily ride all the coasters in Orlando but a simple kids slide has me wailing like a baby! I even ended up with a nasty friction bun on my arm as a result of my desperate attempts to stop myself going down!

Anyway, lets move on from that nightmare (which I am never going to live down for the rest of my life!). Oh and just to add to the drama Charlie then decided to have a meltdown as he wanted to take his shoes off (he had seen us take ours off to ride the slide and wanted to follow suit!)

At this point Joan and John went off to ride the Shuttle Launch experience. Charlie was too small for this so Paul and I stayed back with him and continued to walk around. There were so many amazing photos and images to look. It really is such an emotive place and makes you appreciate how truly remarkable space travel is.











We also found some rocket simulators, Charlie didn’t really understand them at all but he enjoyed pushing all the buttons!









Joan and John returned from their voyage soon after and we made our way out of the Atlantis building. Buy now it was getting very close to park closing so we headed in the direction of the main gift shop as we all wanted to have a wander around there before leaving.





On heading over there Charlie spotted the big water ball and of course ran straight over there… he ended up rather soggy!







We spent a bit of time browsing around the gift shop and came away with a thin hoodie for Paul ($39.99), two shuttle models ($9.99 each – one for Charlie and one for my friends little boy who is space mad), a NASA metallic glass ($9.99), a plastic ‘Charlie’ cup ($10.99), a Christmas decoration ($11.99) and a pen ($2.99). As we had spent over $75 we also got a pink beanie hat for free! (I can confirm said hat has yet to be worn!)







By now the park had closed so we had no choice but to head to the exit. On the way Charlie couldn’t resist another good stomp on those light-up pads!





With the sun setting the Rocket Garden looked just beautiful and was so peaceful as the park had pretty much emptied out at this point!









On making it outside of the turnstiles Charlie found some more light up pads on the floor (we had totally missed these on the way in!)





We made a last stop at the NASA ball from some obligatory photos.







Despite the park closing at 6pm we didn’t make it back to the car until gone 7pm… we really had taken our time getting out! The day really had whizzed by so quickly and it felt like we had barely scratched the surface of all the things there is to see and do. Charlie’s epic nap sure had an impact for sure but even with that aside there really is too much to fit into one day! We always have such a great time at KSC and today had been no exception, it always feel like such a nice change of pace from the other parks and it was great to see Charlie so engaged with it all. If we could just forget all about the blue slide incident I would say it was a perfect day!





We made the drive back to Orlando and decided to stop at the TGI Friday’s at Crossroads to get some dinner. We arrived there at 8:15pm and were able to be sat immediately. I got Charlie settled into a highchair and he set about the serious business of colouring!





We ordered our food and I of course went for the Jack Daniels sesame chicken strips… the only thing to order in TGI Friday! Paul had steak, Joan had the sizzling chicken and John ordered chicken and shrimp pasta. I of course ordered Pasta for Charlie which he loved! We were all very happy with our choices other than John who sadly made the wrong choice with his pasta as wasn’t too keen on it (and as such it seems it didn’t even deserve a photo!)









We asked for the bill and managed to get 15% off using the Eat and Play card that had come through with our Universal tickets that we got from Orlando Attraction Tickets.



We arrived back the villa at 9:45pm and I took Charlie straight up to bed, despite that very long nap earlier in the day he was asleep pretty much instantly!



With Charlie now asleep, Paul and I took the opportunity to run out to the outlets for a very speedy shopping trip! They didn’t close until 11pm so we had just under an hour to play with (those of you that have read my previous reports will know how much we love shopping so this was a very exciting opportunity... and the freedom of being able to just jump in the car without taking a million things with us for Charlie was liberating!).

We arrived at Vineland Outlets at 10:20pm and had a quick dash around. I picked up a t-shirt in Superdry and Paul got a shirt in there plus a couple from Levi too. Not bad going for the short amount of time we had to play with! We were back in the car to leave at 11:10pm and on the way back to the villa made a stop at Walmart to pick up some bottles of water, some cherry coke and some wet wipes.

It was 11:45pm by the time we arrived back to the villa and as expected Charlie hadn’t made a peep the whole time we were gone. I set about getting things ready for the next day… we would be checking into Hard Rock Hotel the following morning so it was going to be a bright and early start with the alarm set for 6am!

Join me for the next instalment which sees us checking into Hard Rock Hotel for the night and having lots of fun in Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure!

Day 9 can be found here

Edited at 06:54 PM.
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Old 5 Feb 20, 07:59 AM  
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sheluk
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You guys are so hardcore (blue slide and see through tube aside ) - carrying around a sleeping toddler for two hours, staying beyond park opening then hitting the shops at 10pm.

Loving the matching NASA tees & Charlie’s rocket top is so cute. Love his little outfit today.

It sounds like there is so much more to KSC than I ever would have thought! What’s with not being able to take the buggy on the bus though!

Glad you had another lovely day xx
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Old 8 Feb 20, 07:21 PM  
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vics18
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What an epic day!
Kennedy looks so good, hoping to get out there one day as we've never done it!
Oh the blue slide Lisa that's so funny. I really think you should post the video!
Quite agree about the Jack Daniels chicken strips, they're dreamy!
Speed outlet shopping there, I'm impressed! Haha x
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Old 9 Feb 20, 09:16 PM  
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Floridafour
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Great day 🙂
Been to Florida so many times but never been to KSC, it has got to go on my list for our next visit. Thanks for posting 🙂
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Old 13 Feb 20, 04:00 PM  
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HelenJNT
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Clearly Charlie is all about the seas and not remotely into outer space! What an epic nap!

I’m sorry but your re-telling the Blue Slide of Doom (BSoD) story was nearly as funny as the video. Crying here.

I like reading about KSC days as I don’t think we’ll ever get round to going there but I really enjoyed reading about all the stuff you got up to. So many great photos too.

Feeling a little disappointed about the lack of McDonalds milkshakes though – when you said you were going for a late night dash round the outlets together I was sure it would happen! Alas no, it was wet wipes and cherry coke!
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Old 15 Feb 20, 04:28 PM  
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AgentOso
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Love KSC and agree that it always feels like you can fill the day but not see everything. Our son is also a Charlie so we have the same cup !
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Old 16 Feb 20, 11:59 PM  
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Lisa_Lollipop
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Originally Posted by sheluk View Post
You guys are so hardcore (blue slide and see through tube aside ) - carrying around a sleeping toddler for two hours, staying beyond park opening then hitting the shops at 10pm.

Loving the matching NASA tees & Charlie’s rocket top is so cute. Love his little outfit today.

It sounds like there is so much more to KSC than I ever would have thought! What’s with not being able to take the buggy on the bus though!

Glad you had another lovely day xx
Haha I had Popeye arms by the end of this holiday... carrying that boy around is a total workout!

I bought Charlie's rocket t-shirt about a year before this trip as loved it so much when I saw it in Next so bought it big with the intention for him to wear on this day... nothing like forward planning eh?!

Originally Posted by vics18 View Post
What an epic day!
Kennedy looks so good, hoping to get out there one day as we've never done it!
Oh the blue slide Lisa that's so funny. I really think you should post the video!
Quite agree about the Jack Daniels chicken strips, they're dreamy!
Speed outlet shopping there, I'm impressed! Haha x
Honestly, that video is the most embarrassing thing ever! I have shared with Rach, Helen and Michelle though so I feel it's only fair you get to laugh at how pathetic I am too!
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Old 17 Feb 20, 12:03 AM  
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Lisa_Lollipop
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Originally Posted by Floridafour View Post
Great day 🙂
Been to Florida so many times but never been to KSC, it has got to go on my list for our next visit. Thanks for posting 🙂
I definitely recommend, it's such a great day out and a lovely change of pace after the madness of Disney and Universal! We always have the best time when we visit!

Originally Posted by HelenJNT View Post
Clearly Charlie is all about the seas and not remotely into outer space! What an epic nap!

I’m sorry but your re-telling the Blue Slide of Doom (BSoD) story was nearly as funny as the video. Crying here.

I like reading about KSC days as I don’t think we’ll ever get round to going there but I really enjoyed reading about all the stuff you got up to. So many great photos too.

Feeling a little disappointed about the lack of McDonalds milkshakes though – when you said you were going for a late night dash round the outlets together I was sure it would happen! Alas no, it was wet wipes and cherry coke!
Haha please don't take Charlie's epic nap as a sign of this being a dull day! When he was awake he was loving it I promise

That damn BSoD, I am never going to live it down. Oh and thanks for the gif... just what I needed, more video evidence!

I am totally distraught at the lack of McDonalds milkshakes on this trip... now you have said that I cannot believe we didn't take the opportunity to get one on this evening... I am ashamed of us!

Originally Posted by AgentOso View Post
Love KSC and agree that it always feels like you can fill the day but not see everything. Our son is also a Charlie so we have the same cup !
Oh love that, its a great name (is your Charlie as cheeky as ours?!)
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Old 17 Feb 20, 12:33 AM  
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sarahc
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I’m with you on the fear of slides! I too can do any coaster but give me a slide and I turn to jelly!😬😳🤣
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Old 17 Feb 20, 02:16 PM  
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Oh love that, its a great name (is your Charlie as cheeky as ours?!)[/QUOTE]

I'm sure he is although he's a bit older (9 now but still loves his KSC cup)!
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