It was finally spring break and our long-awaited trip to Orlando was finally here! We left right after work and school on Friday, grabbing a hot and ready pizza from Little Caesars, gassed up, and hit the road by 5pm. The drive was thankfully uneventful, but it was definitely interesting to pull an all-nighter and take shifts driving through the night. We made great time and stopped just outside of Florida at a Cracker Barrel right at 7am when they opened for a sit-down breakfast.
As we crossed into Florida we stopped at the Welcome Center for some pictures. We also were hoping for a glass of orange juice, but the inside was closed even though the hours showed they were open. Oh well!
We finally arrived at Cabana Bay Beach Resort around 11am. We checked in with a relatively short line, but our room wasn't ready just yet. They gave us temporary key cards to get us into the pool and any other area we'd need a key for. We moved the truck to the long-term parking, changed in a bathroom, and found a spot by the pool.
We got some lunch from the Hideaway Bar (the turkey club was delicious!), some celebratory drinks to have by the pool, and then we got a text that our room was ready. So, we went back to the truck, got all our stuff, and moved into our room. Then, we went back to the pool and blew up our pool tubes. We brought our own from home to save money. I got a four pack for just over $20 and they have an air pump right by the lazy river. Otherwise, one tube was between $8-14 depending on the size you wanted if you bought the ones from Cabana Bay.
We ate dinner at the Bayliner Diner inside Cabana Bay. Scott and I both really enjoyed the build-your-own-salad bar. I got a $10 salad that was huge with chicken and lots of other toppings. The kids had individual pizzas. We ate outside at a table and then went to our room to get settled in for the night. We were exhausted from driving through the night and needed an early bedtime. We were all asleep, lights out by 8pm, but excited about our first park day!
Sunday, our first park day, we did the early morning hour and started at Islands of Adventure. We had breakfast in the room with things we brought from home (cereal, mini muffins, fruit, donut holes, etc.). We took the bus over to City Walk and walked over to Islands of Adventure and even arriving at 7:30am for an 8am opening had a long line. We got in just after 8am and by then the line was long for Hagrid's and it was showing temporarily closed so we opted to get in line for Velocicoaster over in Jurassic Park. That ride was amazing! Scariest ride I've ever been on as far as a coaster goes. Kind of crazy that we started with that ride, but the kids did great!
We ventured over to Hogsmeade and Hagrid's was still closed so we just enjoyed looking at the shops for a bit and then rode Flight of the Hippogriff (a very beginners coaster) and The Forbidden Journey (which was awesome, but made us all a little queasy). And then it was 9am and the park officially opened to everyone.
We mailed some post cards, we drank frozen Butterbeer, and we finally rode Hagrid's with an hour's wait, which isn't too bad. We enjoyed this part of our morning! We moved into Jurassic Park again for lunch and then more rides: Jurassic Park River Adventure, Skull Island: Revenge of Kong and just kept moving around the park counter-clockwise.
We moved into Marvel, which of course Scott and the boys loved. Scott and I rode Hulk, which was pretty intense and jerky. The boys opted to sit that one out. They were more about the arcade and shopping. We ended in Seuss Landing with a carousel ride and a ride on the sky trolley, which was not worth the wait.
We exited the park and walked right over to City Walk to have dinner at Toothsome Chocolate Emporium with our reservation. Dinner was tasty and the kids and I enjoyed sharing some milkshakes at the end of our meal. We took our cups home and enjoyed cooling off in the pool for a bit before another early bedtime.
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