Hey guys, its been a hot second since this last post. Sorry about that. We've been pretty non-stop, back-to-back, action-packed busy.
Day 6 was a pretty long-haul day of driving. We woke up early, packed, and were on the road by 8:30 a.m. What? Out of bed before 10?? It hurt. It really did.
We hopped on I-10 out of NOLA and jumped onto I-90 shortly after. This route added an extra hour to our trip, but we wanted a nice coastal drive. Disappointingly, it rained the entire time we were on I-90 all the way to Biloxi. Kaylea was wanting to get out and have lunch on one of the white, sandy beaches, but that wasn't really an option. We did get to see all of the spectacular beach-front houses with their giant grandiose staircases and thick Victorian columns (Aaron loves columns). We stopped at a Starbucks for a late breakfast, and then again at a Panera for a late lunch. Nothing too interesting. At Panera we had a good long chat about postmortem cryogenics and designer babies. We made it to our hotel in Orlando around 8:30, after which we did laundry like the adults we pretend to be.
Our hotel was really neato. Its 1950's and 60's themed, which we figured out is really just an excuse to not have to update anything. The alarm clocks are wind up and the room phones have antennas. But it also has a bowling alley, Starbucks, a few different restaurants and bars, and a couple of pools, hot tubs, and beaches. Its also right next to the new water park Universal is building, so our room had a view of a towering volcano and small lake. We periodically liked to watch the construction and tests.
On Day 7, we made it to the park right as it opened. We b-lined straight for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, where we spent over 4 hours waiting in lines, riding rides, eating food, and looking at a whole lot of souvenir crap. It was awesome crap though. For a little bit of money, you could by a magical wand that interacts with different parts of the wizarding world. For instance, a flick of your wand could make rain come down onto a magical floating umbrella. Kaylea relived her emotional childhood connection to Harry Potter for a good amount of the day before one of the rides gave her motion sickness. The heat was getting to both of us, so Aaron suggested we head back to the hotel to cool off. It was a pretty rough trip back, taking almost an hour to walk over a mile through the massive crowds, past both the ticket gates and security checks, and down to the shuttles. We ended up napping for a few hours.
We finally got back out of the room around 6:30. By the time we hit the park, the air was nice and cool and people were exiting in droves. It was the perfect time to be at the park. Except, we accidentally entered the wrong park, which closes at 8. Our plan was to quickly hop the Harry Potter train that takes people between the parks, get to the side that stays open until 9, and hang out for a few hours. Well of course the storm blew in as we were getting in line for the train. By the time we switched parks, it was already 8 and pouring down rain. We decided to buy panchos at 10 bucks a pop instead of waiting out the storm in the fake Kings Cross station. We ran giggling through the rain to the mummy ride, but it had just shut down. So we ran to the Race through New York ride. We made it all the way to the ride's final entrance when attendants informed everyone this ride was also shutting down. At this point, it was 8:30. The park would be closing soon, it was dark, and still raining. We made the trek back to the shuttles and on to hour hotel.
Kaylea tried using some spa stuff she brought, but none of it worked well and she ended up having to wash her face a couple times to get the "peel off" mask off of her skin. After that, we hit the sack.
Day 8 started out with some breakfast in our hotel's dining area. It's like a giant cafeteria. While we were getting our food, Kaylea spotted a child who was crying/screaming. He was either 6 or 7. He seemed to be on his own and he was screaming for his mom, who was standing on the other side of the cafeteria. Kaylea tried to help by pointing out his mother to him, but he didn't really acknowledge her. He just continued to scream as he walked back to his mother. It was obvious that he wasn't lost, he was just throwing a fit. The screaming did not stop for the entirety of our breakfast. There were no words, only wails. Non stop. All breakfast. At one point he ran about 30 yards away from his parents. It was a "chase me chase me" move. His parents weren't biting. He stopped in the middle of the walkway and just kept screaming. A woman was walking by with her breakfast, and as a normal human being she was concerned. She knelt down to ask him if he was okay, and he just screamed louder into her face. We saw the whole thing go down. In retrospect, we should have warned her, but it happened pretty fast.
We spent much of day 8 in the park checking out the things that we missed on day 7. We went on some pretty cool rides, but there was a lot of standing in lines, and our personal space was invaded multiple times by people of all ages. You'd have your hand on a rail, and a small child behind you would jump up on the rail and sit on your hand. The grand mother in front of you would be recording her grandaughter on her phone for 45 minutes. Of course she would have to start taking steps backwards in order to get a good shot.
It got so bad that Aaron started "accidentally" hitting people who were too close with his backpack. He might have performed a stretching routine or two as well. If someone caught an elbow to the head well... that would have been a shame.
All that said, the rides were a lot of fun. It's amazing how much technology and engineering go into these things. The rides with the 3D glasses did an great job of making you feel like you were falling even though they were barley moving you. We did a few wet rides, which we weren't totally prepared for. Kaylea had to buy new shorts because hers got too wet to walk in. Between lunch and dinner and rides, we were in the park for about 8 hours. We ended the night in our hotel hot tub, pool, and lazy river. Good times were had by all.
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