Day 2 – August 22nd/00
Today was going to be an IOA day. Mickey woke us (me!) up at 5:30 am. I got ready, and then woke up the girls. Gary was already awake and in the shower. I had to laugh when I showered. I remembered someone’s trip report (can’t remember who’s) where he said he started the day off with a shower, which left him smelling like fruit loops. I had forgot all about that till I used the Disney body wash. It DOES leave you smelling like fruit loops! I loved it!
While Gary showered, I prepared the kid’s breakfasts (we brought a toaster with us), and then Gary’s and my coffee (we also brought a coffee maker). Gary and I HAVE to have our morning coffee if we are to make it through a day. Yes, sadly we are addicts. But Gary is a very picky addict. He’s sort of addicted to MY coffee, and refuses to drink anyone else’s coffee. Then we had breakfast, and off we went.
USF is much further than I had thought. Actually, everything was much further than I had thought. On the map, it looked like BB was just across the street from us, the Animal Kingdom just around the corner, and MGM not much further. I figured we could just walk to these places. NOT!!! (I know, a lot of you are probably laughing your heads off right about now at me). I was quite overwhelmed by the size of the Disney property.
Anyway, USF was a good 15-20 minute drive away. We got there about 8:00 am, and got in immediately (we had 2-day passes, so had early entry privileges). Parking cost us 7.00 including tax. Upon entry, we were each handed an Express Pass, which entitled us to go to the front of the line of all rides up until 10:00 am. Express passes are good, great, we loved them!
We first went to Marvel Superhero Island and walked on to Spider-Man (awesome!), the Hulk Coaster (also awesome!), & Dr. Doom’s Fearfall. Neither Jess, nor I wanted to do the Fearfall, so we waited for Gary & Krystal (about 10 minutes). I have to give Jessica credit for doing the Hulk Coaster (she is definitely NOT a coaster fan), and she even said she enjoyed it.
We then came back through Port of Entry, over to Seuss Landing. Here we walked on to The Cat In The Hat, Caro-Seuss-El, and finally 1 Fish 2 Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. This was our last Express Pass ride, because it was now 10:00. :o(
Next, we headed over to The Lost Continent, where we got a Fast Track (equivalent of Disney’s Fast Pass) for Poseidon’s Fury, then went over to Duelling Dragons. Jessica was NOT going to go on this ride, so I stayed with her while Gary & Krystal went. We waited about 15 – 20 minutes for them. We did some window-shopping until our time came up for Poseidon’s Fury. Even with Fast Track, it seemed we waited over ˝ an hour to get in. And none of us thought it was really worth the wait.
Our next stop was Jurassic Park. We grabbed FT’s for the River Adventure, and did the Triceratops Encounter. By the time we were done, it was time for our River Adventure. Jessica chickened out at the last minute, so she waited in the Baby Swap area for us. It was so cool, that Krystal & I did it 2 more times (with FT’s). We tried to talk Jess into trying it, but she absolutely would not. (She has a “thing” with wet rides – I have no idea why since she loves swimming).
We were all getting hungry at this point, and besides, it just started pouring rain, so we ducked into Burger Digs for lunch. It was pretty crowded, but we managed to find a table. Lunch ended up costing us 37.30 including tax – what a rip off! This was a counter service restaurant. Prices were actually more extreme than Disney’s, and the food – edible at most.
When we finished eating, we went downstairs where the Discovery Center was, and checked that out. By the time we were all done, and came out, the sun was shining again.
We headed over to Toon Lagoon, where Krystal and I did Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls, and Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges. Lines were about 10-15 minutes each (I guess the rain scared off a lot of people), and we loved both of these rides.
That was about all we really wanted to see at IOA. I bought a T-shirt (16.96 including tax) before we left, and on the way out, we bought our souvenir photo they took in the morning (11.61 including tax).
It was about 6:00, and we stopped at McDonald’s for dinner (20.32 including tax), and then went back to our motel.
The kids went swimming, while I caught up on my notes, and Gary and I reflected on our day, and went over tomorrow’s plans.
I then got the kids and introduced them (big mistake!) to Reel Arcade. We spent some time in there, then went to bed (about 9:00ish), ready for another early morning.
Day 1 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Day 11 HOME
