Day 3 Gatorland and my 50th Birthday

Day 4 IOA 15th September

Well today we had decided to go to Islands of Adventure so as usual we all got up and had our breakfast, while we were getting things ready there was a knock on our door so Steve went to answer it and guess what it was our suitcase, oh yes they had managed to get hold of the people that mistook ours for theirs and exchanged them and then dropped it off at ours. Now while we were really pleased we did think as to what would have happened if we had already gone out. They took all our details and phone number to contact us but they didn't bother, anyway enough of that, suitcase returned and now safely upstairs in the bedroom. Everyone ready and heading out of the door.
Well it was an interesting journey as we were following the Sat Nav (now going back to the sales person at the airport he told us this was the best Sat Nav at present) yeah right it had us going to the staff entrance and looking at the queue in front of us we were not the only ones following a Sat Nav, needless to say the man on the gate thought it funny but show us all the proper route to follow.
We finally arrived at the car park and luckily enough we were right at the end of the row so then made our way to the entrance, Gary was really looking forward to today as he knew he would get to see Harry Potter.



Well it has to be done doesn't it!

Anyway we walk through City walk and headed for the first ride,



this one is one of my favourites at this park and that is The Hulk. Ben, Stacey and I decided we were going to ride this but then I had a shock as Steve said he wanted to go on, now Steve never goes on fast rides with me but I was really pleased, we went to queue up and only had about a 10 minute wait and then on the ride we went,

you can just about see us, we are in the 3rd row just about to go into the dome thing. Once off we met up with the others where we had a very upset grand-daughter

now all the way through our holiday Hannah wanted to try every ride however she was just that little bit too small for this one and as you can see she wasn't happy.
We then made our way around the park looking for a certain ride,


since we were last here in 2009 things had changed a bit but we finally found it and went to queue, unfortunately Chloe was too small for this one so another upset child but she went and waited with grandad. While we were waiting the attendant asked how many there were in our group when we told them 8 they showed us through to a shorter queue. Once we had all got on the ride we set off. Can any of you guess what ride we are on? Put it this way we got really soaked.


Continue Below...

Attached Thumbnails

         

         

 

Yep hopefully you have guessed it, it was Popeye, this is such a great ride and really does cool you down. We finally got off of the ride and made our way back over to Steve where we all tried to dry ourselves off a bit.


We then again went walking round when we got to the Dudley Do-right's Ripsaw Falls Ben, Stacey, Louise, Gary, Hannah, Aiden and I all decided to go on it, well we were still wet so why not. We decided to do Girls verses Boys, we went different ways and needless to say the boys got out before us.

Once we got off the ride we decided to have a toilet break and after a while decided to head towards Jurassic Park now Ben, Stacey, Hannah and I wanted to go on this and Aiden at first wanted to go on it so he queued up with us, it was then he realised that Louise wasn't going on it and along came another mood, he just stood there with us and wouldn't move or tell us what he wanted to do, well that was until I had had enough and took him by the arm and marched him over to his mum and then I went back and joined the queue with the others. I do like this ride although it didn't seem to be as long as usual but it was good watching Hannah's face when all the alarms went off she really did think something had gone wrong and when we got off she wanted to go again but we said we had better go and find the others.
When we got back to the others they asked why Aiden had been brought back to them as he had said he didn't know and that is when I explain I wasn't having him going in a mood because he couldn't get his own way. We then made our way to a pizza snack area and have to say it was just what we all needed. After being refreshed we carried on walking around taking a few pictures on the way.




Lorna does like to photo bomb photo's lol.

until we finally got to here.



Well Gary was over the moon, he didn't know where to look first, Ben and Stacey went and got some butter beer and we all had a little taste. Have to say it was okay but I couldn't drink a whole glass a sip was fine. By now my knees were starting to ache so I said to the others to go on some rides and we would find somewhere in the shade to wait for them, with this everyone except Steve, Lorna Chloe and I went off to try some rides. After what seemed like an hour and a half they returned back and said they had only been on a couple of rides because the queue's were really long.


Sorry Photo overload continue below...

Attached Thumbnails

         

         

   

Ben wanted to go on The Dragon Challenge and must admit so did I so the others started walking around to Seuss Land while Ben, Stacey and I went on this ride, have to admit it was so much better in 2006 when it was the Dragon duel. Anyway we then walked over to Seuss land and finally caught up with everyone, Chloe was having a great time as she could finally go on some rides. I decided to sit on one of the small walls which had an umbrella for shade however this didn't last long but it didn't matter really as the kids wanted to go on 'One fish, Two fish, Red fish, Blue fish.



They had a great time we then decided to go on one last ride before heading out of the park, as we were walking to the ride Louise said I had something stuck to the back of my T-shirt, well when we took a look it turned out to be chewing gum which I wasn't too happy about, however we carried on towards the ride which was 'The Cat in a Hat' Ben, Stacey, Lorna and Steve stayed outside while we went on the ride and the kids all seemed to like it. When we got off I had another looked at my T-shirt and then we noticed that Steve had some on his T-shirt as well, it was then we noticed it was on the back of my backpack so then couldn't carry it properly, anyway we headed out of the park through City walk and out to the entrance where we had another toilet break and luckily enough Steve had brought us both a new T-shirt so we both went and changed into them.

Once in the Beast we headed off back to the Villa but had already decided that we were going to try the new restaurant which had been built since the last time we were here.
It is called Steak and Shake and is almost opposite Medieval Times. We were very quickly seated and an old lady came to take our order, have to say the wait was ages, we were given our shakes first and have too say they were fantastic, they tasted really great. Have to say while we were waiting we had a really good laugh as Ben had noticed some hot peppers on the table he then decided to say who wants to try one of these peppers, with this Aiden said 'I will' so he gave him one and Aiden then put it in his mouth, he started to chew it and then all of a sudden realised it was really very hot and you could tell by his face it was too hot for him with this we told him to spit it out into a napkin after that Ben decided he would give one a go, well he then realised just how hot they really were and had to put an ice cube in his mouth to try and cool it down and then Steve gave Aiden an ice cube as well which he said helped it to cool down. Now I am really sorry but it was just so funny even now when we talk about it we start laughing. Finally our burgers arrived and we all tucked into them, have to say they were nothing to write home about, they were nice but that is about it like I said it was the shakes that made the meal.
After we had finished it was over to Wal-Mart to get some milk and bits and bobs and then it was back to the Villa. The kids all got ready for bed but Louise and I decided we were going to have a dip in the pool, now by the time we got home it was dark but it was so nice to go in the pool without the kids splashing about. After about three quarters of an hour we got out and both had showers I then put some washing on and then went downstairs for a cup of tea and a chill watching the TV.
We were all pretty tired so were all in bed by 11pm.

These are some of the pictures that we took before we went out this morning, they are some of the wildlife.





Day 5 Hollywood Studio

Attached Thumbnails

         

       

Great day, lovely photos, can't see any of the photos in your last post though. Pussycat

Thank-you they seem to be there for me but I will try and see what is wrong.

Have reloaded them hope you can see them now.

Poor Hannah, so very brave wanting to give everything a go, just another excuse to go back once again once she's tall enough

Yeah Louise has already started saving and has set a year, 2020 its 6 years away but with 4 kids and only a part time job think she has got a fair amount to save this time. But I know she will do it and when they do go back they will all be tall enough. lol