Day 7 - The Day We Went To The Space Centre & Almost Ended Up Being Arrested!

[caitlinsmummy]

Welcome to our trip report! I'll start off by introducing the family and a little about the name of the report in case you haven't read the pre-trippie.

We are a family of five and we returned from Orlando in November 2018. In September 2018 Virgin had a MASSIVE sale and I found a bargain for just over £300pp for direct flights, accommodation at Rosen Inn International and transfers for 9 nights! It was too good a deal to pass up so I booked it. I intended to tell everyone at Christmas but needed to tell Mr Grump earlier. We told the kids on Christmas morning and they were over the moon.

Find the Index HERE

Previous day is HERE

So this trip consisted of:

Myself (Kelly) - Chief planner and organiser ... none of the trip would have happened without me

Husband (Chris) - The laid back photographer one ... I guess it wouldn't have happened without him paying for it so I have to give him some recognition there

Caitlin (12) - total drama llama and pre teen one.

Thomas (10) - the cheeky brain box one.

Noah (6) - the cute one. Noah is autistic and struggles with change so holidays are quite often a challenge for him

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Day 7 - The Day We Went To The Space Centre and Almost Ended Up Being Arrested For Driving on Private KSC Property

So the alarm was set for 7am this morning as we were off the the Kennedy Space Centre. I really struggled to get up today, I was in a lot of pain and I just felt so exhausted I dragged myself out of bed and made sure we had everything we needed then woke everyone else up at 7.30am. We all snacked on breakfast in the room of cereal, cheetos, cookies and rice krispie treats ... nice and healthy

We were on the road to KSC by 8am and arrived just after 9am. The journey was pretty plain sailing and the kids actually behaved for a change! no 'she's looking at me' ... 'his elbow's touching me' We parked up and headed to the turnstiles, it didn't seem too busy at all. We were through straight away and decided to head for the bus tour as we'd read the queues for this get really busy.

We ended up waiting in the queue for almost an hour luckily the kids had their notepads and tablets with them so they were kept entertained ... until just before we boarded the bus when Caitlin decided to wind Noah up and kept touching him when he didn't want her to this resulted in a meltdown in the queue with Noah lashing out. I got on the floor with him and stroked his back until he calmed and carried him onto the bus and sat him with me.

We enjoyed the bus journey although Noah was getting pretty restless, it was a long time for him. He did enjoy the fact we had to stop the bus to let a little turtle cross the road though

We arrived at the Apollo Saturn V Centre around 11.20am and went to see a show (sorry I can't remember the name) but it was the original control room from the launch. It was really fascinating and I've no idea how they remember which buttons to press good thing I'm not employed by NASA!

We came out and had a look at some rockets and took some photos. The kids were complaining they were hungry ... anyone else's kid's see a food place and claim they're hungry? No? Just mine then It's EVERY time without fail. In fact Noah did it yesterday we went to a local attraction called the Forbidden Corner ... there was a sign clearly stating you weren't allowed to take picnics in (there's a picnic area outside the attraction) but obviously people do what they want and a big family were sat on a wall having a picnic ... this then set Noah off complaining he was hungry ... no no ... he was STARVING. We ended up with a meltdown as there was nowhere to get food apart from in the cafe at the end. He'd only had his lunch 1 1/2 hours prior and had an apple and banana in the car too! Sorry I got carried away there ... back to the report.

So with the kid's clearly needing food right away we went to the Moon Rock Cafe.

Kennedy Space Centre

We decided to get a few meals to share between us as we weren't overly hungry. We had taken the Space Bus Tour so went to the Moon Rock Cafe. We got the following to share:

Chicken Tender Meal - with French Fries

Bacon Double Cheeseburger Meal - with French Fries

8' Cheese Pizza

1 Diet Coke

All food is prepared and you choose it from it counter. This was ok, nothing special, we all enjoyed what we ate but it was expensive for what it was. Luckily we had drinks in the bag too otherwise it could have been much more expensive. We probably wouldn't eat here again purely based on the price.

Total was $46.05

After this we had a look in the KSC shop where the boys spent quite a bit of their money! We also bought a new fridge magnet and a chocolate bar each for the kids I was so tempted to get the KSC hoody but I didn't ... so wish I had now

We then headed round the rest of the exhibition

Thomas wanted a pressed penny

I found some freeze dried ice cream but for some reason we didn't get any to try

After this we decided it was time to head back to the main visitor complex so we got the bus back at 1pm.

We also grabbed some dipping dots before we went into the Atlantis show area.

It was so hot and these melted so quickly we enjoyed these although they were a little strange to start with ... not sure what we were expecting to be honest

If you haven't been here theres a big slide that you can go down to get to another exhibition and the kids loved this! I thought Chris had got photos but I can't seem to find them. Noah had a bit of a kick off at the bottom as he didn't want to put his shoes back but Mammy won that one We had a look around again and Noah loved that he could sit on the toilet and wanted a photo

We took more photos then headed out to the rocket garden

There was a talk going on here and we stood and listened for about 5 minutes but it was in the blazing sun and the kids were complaining ... it was 35C so we decided to head to one last show before leaving at 3.50pm.

A fab day and I'd recommend it to anyone, I do think it's a once done type of place though and not somewhere we will return to soon.

Mr Grump wanted to go to a beach as that was the plan for this afternoon, however time was getting on. In the end we decided on Cocoa Beach ... he put it in the Sat Nav and off we went. Just after leaving KSC the Sat Nav told us to take a left ... I told Mr Grump to ignore it as that wasn't the way we came and it looked like a dirt track ... but he followed it ... we went through some big metal gates (obviously they were open ) and headed up this dirt road ... along the way we saw lots of signs saying no trespassing, private property ... we got to the end of the road and it was blocked by a fence. We could see cameras on the fences ... I told Mr Grump if he didn't get out we were gonna get arrested It felt so intimidating all the high fences and cameras ... I half expected a shooting squad to jump out or something

He turned the car around and we headed back out ... maybe next time he should listen to me

We arrived at Cocoa Beach at 4.30pm and it was packed! We couldn't find a space to park anywhere, we were in and out it was total madness ... roads and car parks blocked by cars. In the end Chris drove up and down some streets and managed to find some wasteland where he parked. I didn't trust it being parked there even though there were other cars there so Caitlin and I opted to stay in the car whilst Chris and the boys went for a little walk on the beach.

We were back to Rosen Inn for 5.30pm and I started the dreading packing whilst everyone else had showers, I then had a shower and we got ready to head to Steak N Shake my favourite!

Steak N Shake

Now those of you who read the last report will know I was looking forward to this meal so much! We arrived about 7.40pm and we were seated within about 10 minutes, it was really busy and they were short on staff we were told. Once seated our order was taken after about 10 minutes ... a bit longer than we expected but it wasn't too bad. We ordered the following:

Chris

Single Bacon Cheese Steakburger 'n Fries - $3.99

Cookies and Cream Shake - $3.69

Chris really enjoyed this, he decided not to go for a double as he wasn't overly hungry, plus we'd ordered shakes. Chris enjoyed his shake but he did say it was sickly.

I ordered:

Garlic Double Steak Burger and Fries - $3.99

M&M Milkshake - $3.69

it didn't disappoint. I was so happy to finally get my garlic burger and it was every bit as nice as I remembered it to be ... I even ordered a second to take back to the room with us I really enjoyed the M&M Shake too and I'd definitely choose it again.

Caitlin had:

Double Steakburger with Cheese 'n Fries (minus the cheese) - $3.99plus a Regular Dr Pepper - $1.79 and a Birthday Cake Shake - $2.99

Caitlin enjoyed this and said it was really filling. She gave her fries to Thomas and Noah to share. This actually ended up free as I had sign up burger for a free double cheese steak burger

Thomas had:

Kid's Chicken Fingers and Fries - $3.99Plus a Kid's Diet Coke - $1.19 and Kid's Nutella Shake -$2.79

Thomas really enjoyed these and ate the lot

Noah had:

Kid's Grilled Cheese with Fries - $3.99plus a Kid's Water and a Kid's Strawberry Milkshake - $2.29

He loved his fries but he really didn't like the grilled cheese sandwich again. Not sure why he didn't go for hot dogs actually? But never mind. I've just remembered we did actually order a banana for Noah too but it never came.

This day was a Sunday, on weekends Kids Eat Free at SnS so this dramatically helped reduce the bill too So for 4 adult meals (my garlic burger meal to take away) 2 kids meals, and 4 drinks, 3 cookies and a banana ...

Total was $36.46 including tip, minus 1 double steakburger and 2 kids meals. Definitely one of our favourite quick service meals and still cheaper than McDonalds on our first evening which was over $40 and no tip!

I had a Groupon Voucher for Wonderworks. I remember doing this when I came in 2003 and I really enjoyed it, sadly before we left for this trip I'd read lots of reviews about how run down it was and how half the experiences didn't work so I wasn't expecting much from it. We parked at Pointe Orlando and arrive at 9.15pm. There was a man outside with a talking parrot which this kids thought was fab.

We really enjoyed it in here. There were no attractions that were closed or down. The kids also loved it too

It was in here I went on the scales to see if I'd put on any weight (it gave you your weigh on Earth, the moon and Mars) and I realised I'd only put just short of 3lb on in the last weeks (I'd stopped SW a few days before we left) so I was absolutely over the moon, given what we'd eaten!

We left here at 10.55pm and were back in the hotel by 11.10pm. We were all straight to bed after another fab day x

[Rabel]

A great day despite the slight detour. Thanks for posting

[summersun]

great day x

[caitlinsmummy]

Originally Posted by Rabel

A great day despite the slight detour. Thanks for posting

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Thanks for reading x

Originally Posted by summersun

great day x

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Thanks for reading X

[Goldia]

It sounds like you had a fab day. We've still never been to KSC! I love your description of the kids in the back of the car on the way there. My too are similar with "he's on my side" I'm glad the journey there was good though, even if Caitlin made up for it once they'd arrived.

[caitlinsmummy]

Originally Posted by Goldia

It sounds like you had a fab day. We've still never been to KSC! I love your description of the kids in the back of the car on the way there. My too are similar with "he's on my side" I'm glad the journey there was good though, even if Caitlin made up for it once they'd arrived.

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I'm glad it's not just ours

You really must try KSC, I think you would all really enjoy it X

[collybird]

The story about getting lost is absolutely something that would happen to us, I'd be terrified haha. Once we got lost in the dark here at home near an open prison, I locked all the doors and was clinging onto the seat for dear life.

We've never been to KSC, OH would love it but I think I'd be bored.

[tory79]

I can’t believe how much you managed in a day with young kids in tow! Amazing!

The freeze dried ice cream is surprisingly tasty!

[caitlinsmummy]

Originally Posted by collybird

The story about getting lost is absolutely something that would happen to us, I'd be terrified haha. Once we got lost in the dark here at home near an open prison, I locked all the doors and was clinging onto the seat for dear life.

We've never been to KSC, OH would love it but I think I'd be bored.

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I wasn't surprised to be fair ... this holiday hadn't exactly be plain sailing now had it I can laugh now.

Oh my word I'd have been petrified, I hate even driving past the prisons round here. Just round the corner from Uni is Franklands Prison which houses Peter Sutcliffe and Ian Huntley! We see the prison officers in the pub when we go for lunch and even that panics me

I honestly think you should give it a try. It's quite interesting seeing what the rockets are like and where they launch from etc. I do think it's a once done it's done though xx

Originally Posted by tory79

I can’t believe how much you managed in a day with young kids in tow! Amazing!

The freeze dried ice cream is surprisingly tasty!

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I must admit the kids were fab and they coped so well! We're hoping for a much more relaxed time next time, lots of pool time and chilling out.

Damn I wish we'd got it now! X

[jothp]

It's not just your children. Mine are hungry whenever they see somewhere selling food, whenever they think there are good treats in the cupboard, whenever we go out and I pack snacks in the bag ...

DH loves the space center. I thought that having been twice we'd be able to skip it on our next trip but apparently not! How funny that your DH took a wrong turn on the way out. On one of our afternoon arrivals at Epcot my DH somehow managed to park the car in the CM car park!

Wonderworks looks like good fun.