School Tour

With the school year coming to a close, the 5th graders were getting ready for next year. It shouldn't have felt weird when Owen brought home a packet of information and paperwork all about his new school. It's crazy to think that next school year, all three of our kids will be in a different school. A pretty big milestone that I'm not sure I'm ready for. I can't believe that his elementary days are done. 

One of the items in his packet was a to-do list. First and foremost was a permission slip to go and visit the Middle School. 1 parent was invited to attend with them, and since Ben couldn't get off work, I told Owen I would be going with him. We sat down and looked at the rest of the info in his packet. There were a bunch of information sheets about registering for classes and what was required, but there were also information sheets on the fun extracurricular classes that he could take.

On the day of the field trip, Owen was really excited. It was hard to get him ready for school. Luckily, he made it off to the bus and I crossed my fingers that his excitement wouldn't make him impatient at school. That never ends well.

When it was time, I headed to the school and was surprised that the buses hadn't arrived yet. I waited for a few minutes in the car before getting out. Once I noticed that some other parents were walking up to the door, I did as well. At the door, we were greeted by the principal, and she asked us to come inside and take a seat. When I got inside Gabbi ran up to me. I was a little surprised to see her there and then I remembered the Choir was supposed to sing for the incoming 6th graders. I asked her if she was ready and with a very upset look on her face, she told me that they weren't singing anymore. They didn't have enough time or something of that sort, she wasn't happy about it. 

As we were talking, the bus had finally pulled up and the kids started filing into the cafeteria. They were asked to take a seat at their assigned table (by their teacher). When Owen walked in, Gabbi ran over to see him. I warned her not to embarrass him, but that went straight out of the window. When she reached him, she put her arms around him and gave him a big hug. I gave her a look on her way back to her seat and mouthed "I'm sorry" to Owen. He shrugged his shoulders and sat down. When everyone was seated, they started with the presentation.

The presentation was done by a few of the faculty and student officers. They talked about the different classes they could take, some of the clubs and sports that they could participate in, and finished up with some of the rules and regulations that they'd be expected to follow. When all was said and done, we then got to go on a tour of the building. I could tell that Owen was a little overwhelmed to hear that he'd actually have to be in more than one class. I think that will be his biggest adjustment. Other than that, he seemed pretty excited to be going to a new school.

When the tour was over, we headed back to the cafeteria for any other questions that popped up while touring the building. There weren't any questions which meant that it was now time for the kids to get back on the bus and go back to school. I asked Owen what he thought, and he said that he couldn't wait to go to school here. I smiled and gave him a hug and told him that I'd see him at home. They're all growing up so fast.

Florida day 4

Today we were going to Hollywood Studios. The kids each expressed what rides they wanted to ride while at the park, and we set off for the day. We stopped downstairs to grab breakfast first before heading to the park. When we got to the park, we looked at the wait times for the main rides. The one ride that Owen wanted to ride was temporarily closed. We told him that we'd watch it and try to hop in line when it finally opened.

We decided to head to Sunset Boulevard. The first ride we stopped at was the Rock n' Roll Coaster. The line wasn't too long, and with all the smiles on people's faces as they came out, made it seem like a good choice. Annie didn't join us for the ride, but she told us to go ahead and hop in line. The line itself was quite fun. The bit of the line that was outside wasn't as entertaining as the sections inside the building. They had all sorts of Rock n' Roll history all over the walls. There was even a section where we went into a recording studio and met the band Aerosmith. The kids had no idea who they were but still enjoyed the concept. When it was finally our turn, we got into a limo designed cart and buckled in tight. When the light went green, we were off. The story line was that we were traveling with the band in a hurry to get to their concert. We had to drive fast so they wouldn't be late for their concert. It was fast and so much fun. 

When we got off the ride, the kids ran to Annie to tell her all about it. She smiled as they expressed the speed and the story of the ride. We then walked over to the Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy. We got there just as they shut the door but decided to wait for the next show. The kids played hand games with Annie while we waited. The wait wasn't too bad, and we were lucky enough to be at the front of the line when the doors opened. We went inside and found a seat on the front row and waited for the interactive show to start. When it did, the room started to fill up with smoke and then out of that smoke Lightning McQueen came out. He talked to us a little bit and then took us to driving school. The kids had a blast talking with him and answering his questions. It was a lot of fun. When we came out, the kids had their pictures taken with some of Lightning McQueen's friends.

On our way out of Sunset Boulevard we looked at the wait times again. They had finally opened up the new Star Wars ride and I was bummed to see that the wait was 3 hours. There's no way we were going to wait that long for one ride, so I didn't tell him yet, hoping that the wait time would go down. We continued our walk around the park and decided to stop at the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular. There was quite a line, but there were a lot of seats, and they were just about to open the doors, so we got in line. Once inside we went as close to the front as we could, sadly it was more to one side than I would have liked, but hopefully the seats wouldn't be too bad. 

I was worried taking the kids to the show, I wasn't sure they'd like it or not. They liked the Lightning McQueen, but they grew up with Lightning. They haven't seen Indiana Jones. The show opened with a stunt right off the bat. The boys were hooked, Gabbi not so sure. Then a group of actors came out and said cut. Apparently, this was a stunt show but also an educational show. They showed how stunts were run and how the stunt doubles stay safe and make movie magic. There were definitely lows and highs with the show; the big stunts being the highs. Overall, I think they liked it, and even more so the idea of watching the movie when we got home.

When we got outside the area, we started to walk towards Star Tours. I check the wait again and was surprised to see it temporarily closed again. That made me feel a little bit better. We continued to walk until we got in the line for Star Tours. While we were waiting, I saw something in the distance. It was big, blue, and furry. It was Sully from Monsters Ink. With him was some Toy Soldiers from Toy Story and a few other Pixar characters that we couldn't really see because the line started to move. They must have been walking to or from their visit sites. 

The line had moved enough at that moment that we were now inside the building. I was grateful for that because that meant air conditioning. It was tolerable outside, to a point, but I loved it when the lines went inside buildings to get on the rides. Sadly, that also meant we would be wrapped around numerous times before getting our chance to ride. At least they do one thing really well...make the lines entertaining to stand in so you forget how long you've actually been in line. They had all sorts of gadgets everywhere and even R2-D2 and C3-PO talking about the adventure we were about to go on. We were even given a set of 3D glasses. The kids put them on to see if any of the effects looked better with them on.

We walked into our spaceship and sat down. We were asked to buckle up and listen to some instructions from C3-PO. Then the doors shut, and we were on our way to space. The ride was a bumpy one and took us through space and different locations you see in the movies, all while avoiding capture from Imperial guards. At one point I felt a headache coming on. The combination of the 3D glasses and the jerky movements were definitely the cause. I was happy when they finally opened the doors, and we could get out. We walked around the area for a little bit, taking pictures of some of the structures. They had some pretty cool ones and then the boys were lucky enough to see some Storm troopers come out and greet the crowd.

After we were done, we started to walk towards Toy Story Land. The line for Slinky dog was long. So, in hopes that it would go down, we went to Toy Story Mania. The line wasn't too bad, but they had plenty to look at while we were waiting. I loved all the jumbo-sized toys that were all over. Toys from my childhood that I used to play with. The kids laughed when both Ben and I pointed out things that we actually had while growing up. It was so much fun going down memory lane. The best part was the interactive Mr. Potato Head. The kids got a kick out of him too. When it was finally our turn, the kids happily jumped in the carts and got ready to play. The boys were happy to see that this ride was a game, and both said that they were going to get the high score. It was a blast trying to shoot all the targets and laughing when the cart jerk around and you missed. 

When we walked out of the ride, the fun didn't stop. The trail was littered with jumbo-sized toys. It truly was the best. We walked around the corner and found ourselves close to the line for the Slink Dog Dash. The line was longer than I would have liked, but we decided to go for it. We weren't sure when or if we'd come back, so we went for it. Needless to say, the kids played many different rounds of their "hand game", "I spy with my little eye", and "taking on a trip" games. When it was finally our turn, the kids were so excited. They had watched the carts travel fast past us multiple times. When we got off the ride, we met back up with Ben and Annie. They waited in line with us, but when it was time to get on, they had decided to sit it out. We walked around the rest of Toy Story land and took some pictures.

The Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance was still temporarily closed, but we decided to walk through the Galaxy's Edge anyway. I was surprised to see that the Smuggler's Run was also closed. There really was nothing to do in this land except walk around the shops and food vendors. The shops were very vast. They sold everything from clothes to toys and everything in-between. We also came to the story where everyone was getting their small droid bots and light sabers. We walked inside just to see how much they cost, and I couldn't believe what they were asking for them. I looked at the boys and said no. We walked out of the store and saw Chewy and Rey. We stopped and took a picture before moving on.

We started to walk towards Sunset Boulevard again. The Tower of Terror was closed this morning but was now open. It was quite a walk from one end of the park to the other, but there wasn't anything else we wanted to get in line for. When we finally got to the tower, they had closed it for the day. Whenever needed to be fixed, it didn't stay fixed for long. I was bummed. We started to walk towards the front of the park and came across some of those special photographers and took advantage of our photo package.

When we were done with our pictures, we noticed that the Beauty and the Beast show was about to start. We went inside the outdoor theater and found some pretty decent seats. It was a rendition of the cartoon movie that I grew up watching, just the main parts though. The show was only 30 minutes. The characters, costumes, everything was just so good. I don't think the actors were singing in real life, it sounded like it was pre-recorded, but maybe it was them who did the actual recording. Whatever it was, it was good, and the boys even enjoyed.

When the show ended, we walked out of the theater and started to make our way towards the gate. The kids were done, they had done all that they wanted. I was surprised, but okay with it. Once we were back at the car, we still had many hours of the day to have some fun. We decided to go to Disney Springs. It's basically a giant mall all owned by Disney. They had all sorts of stores, a theater, restaurants galore, etc. We walked past a really cool looking restaurant that looked like it would be a blast to eat at. We went up to the desk and found out that it was a 3 hour wait for those that didn't have a reservation. Hearing that, we kept walking. We went into their main Disney store, grabbed some keychain souvenirs, and then headed back to the car. We grabbed a bite to eat on our way to the hotel for the night.

Owen wanted this picture taken a few days ago. Now that we had time and he was actually thinking about it, we stopped before joining everyone else in the room.

Florida day 3

Today we were venturing into the Animal Kingdom. We heard many things about the Avatar portion of Animal Kingdom and how it's the first place you want to hit when getting inside the park. That was the plan. After having breakfast and getting ready, we made our way to the park. When we got there, we stopped and had a few pictures taken while waiting for the line to go down. I didn't want to waste our picture package. 

Once we got through the gates, we grabbed a map to see where we needed to go. It wasn't far from the front gate, so we started to head in that direction. We again stopped at some of the picture spots before heading to the much-anticipated ride. One of them was in line with the great tree of life. It was huge and at the center of the park. I had heard Taycina talk about it and how magnificent it was, and she wasn't wrong.

After we were done with the pictures we continued to head to Pandora. They had 2 rides, a shopping area, and 2 dining facilities. We were only interested in the main ride, Avatar Flight of Passage. When we got there the line was pretty long. That didn't stop us from getting in line. The wait was currently 90 minutes when we made it to the back of the line. The line wasn't too bad. The weather was nice, and it wasn't too hot yet and there was plenty to see. They had the entire section of the park decorated like you were actually in Pandora. It was amazing. All the little details. The kids pointed out many things that they saw in the movie and I will admit, it was all pretty impressive; that was just the outside.

Once we got inside it was just as impressive. We walked through the forest at night and saw all these amazing plants and creatures, glowing in vibrant colors. As the line moved, we made our way closer to the front and we found ourselves in the lab. They had all sorts of items seen throughout the movie. It was pretty cool to see the lengths they were willing to go to make this as real as possible. Disney really does go all out for their parks. Once we were at the front of the line, they had us go into a room for some instruction. We each stood on a dot on the floor and faced a screen on the wall. The video went through the process of linking with a Banshee. It again was pretty impressive. Once we were all linked with an Avatar and Banshee, we went into the flying room. We sat down on our "Banshee" and waited for the lap belts to engage. It was more than a lap belt; a bar came up and was placed on the small of the back to make sure we "wouldn't fall off." Then the ride got going. Instantly we could feel the breeze, smell the plants in the air and we could see Pandora as if we were there in real life. It was so cool. Then the Banshee took off and we were flying all over Pandora. It truly was the coolest ride I had ever been on, and it was totally worth the wait.

After leaving Pandora we walked towards Africa. We wanted to go on the Safari ride. We made one stop at the theater to catch A Celebration of Festival of the Lion King. It was a 30-minute short musical touching on the most important parts of the movie. The costumes and animatronics were amazing. It wasn't as cool as the Broadway version I saw while in high school, but this was pretty good. 

After the show, we continued towards Africa. We walked around and found a booth that sold drinks. It was getting hotter, so we grabbed some drinks to cool us off while we waited for the next ride. I was surprised how long the line was for the Safari, but that's what the kids wanted to do, so we waited. The drinks helped while we waited. Luckily, they also had some fans going to help move the breeze around. When it was finally our turn, we loaded up on a 16-passenger truck/bus and took a seat. The drive took us through their African Savannah. They had several animals all in a large free-range area. It was cool to see that they could roam wherever they wanted; at least those that could get along without hunting another. It was a lot of fun.

When we got off the Safari, we weren't sure what we wanted to do next. We had only done 3 things, but we weren't sure we wanted to stay much longer. We decided to walk through the center of the park, Discovery Island, and would see as much as we could until we hit the gates to head to the parking lot. We stopped at a few of the animal habitats as well as being able to see Rafiki and Timon cruising down the Discovery River. We also made a few stops at the shopping areas since Gabbi and William found what they wanted for their souvenir. 

When we made it to the gate, we all agreed that we were done and ready to head back to the hotel. We did run into one more picture taker, so we utilized his services. Back in the car, we headed back to the hotel. We grabbed some food and had a nice relaxing evening watching Avatar.