Universal Studios

We had an awesome time at Universal Studios, there are so many wonderful characters.  Where ever we seemed to go there was a character we liked although Doc from Back to the Future evaded us!  Highlights were The Simpsons Ride which was hilarious and the 3D Terminator ride which was incredible, true 3D - it really came out of the screen!  Ollie was 'freaked out' by it.  Poppy also took us out for dinner at the Hard Rock cafe which was wonderful particularly for Fran and I who disappeared for half an hour to look at all the famous music memorabilia.

Walk around the lake

The villa was in a gated community surrounding a lake and we walked around it a couple of times.  There was a small play area and a jetty to explore.  Tom became a little nervous when he saw that he wasn't allowed to feed the alligators.  Interestingly, they enjoyed playing with the white sand the most.  Missing New Zealand?

Islands of Adventure - Harry Potter World

Nanna and Poppy wanted to buy Alex a wand from Harry Potter World.  We made poor Alex wait awhile before he could have some more time there, he doesn't want to do anything else.  The park was relatively empty but Harry Potter World is seriously busy although the main ride, which is brilliant, was quite quiet.  I cannot imagine what this place would be like in their summer.  I am sure people just sit there all day and soak it all in, Alex would. We promised we would go back one last time.

Back to Disney Hollywood Studios

We arrived at the studios very excited about seeing Toy Story but unfortunately it broke down as we were queueing so not a great start.  However, things were about to get a lot better.  We started with a few of the older rides after the boys refused to dance with High School Musical, like The Great Movie Ride with Alien!  The backlot tour which show how they make movies was fun especially the water pouring through a canyon towards us and a filming of a scene at Pearl Harbour.  Our first real highlight was the Indiana Jones stunt show which was fantastic particularly the plane scene which had lots of explosions!

Return to Downtown Disney

We took an easy day after our marathon yesterday and decided to revisit Downtown Disney.  Nanna was sick so it was a Poppy only day.  We headed to the Lego store early as there was plenty to do there while it was quiet like build cars to race down a track and desing lego structures on computers, we had to drag the boys out in the end.  We cleverly convinced the boys to go and see The Muppets with Poppy so we could do a little a bit of shopping on our own, cheers Poppy!  We took him out for lunch at Planet Hollywood as a thank you and we were all really impressed with the things they had in the restaurent.  Alex was particularly pleased to find a Gremlin as that was our Christmas movie before we left.

Disney Quest

Disney Quest is in Downtown Disney which is full of shops so mummy was quite happy for us to disappear into a building of five levels of games, yippee!  There was amazing things like inflatable rafts on rapids, fighting on pirate ships and riding a magic carpet but the biggest draw was that all the arcade games were free!  What would normally cost us $5 dollars a go was totally free.  Poor old Poppy got stuck with Tom and Ollie who stayed on a game for half an hour continually hitting continue, they loved shooting stuff again and again.  Our most popular challenge was the four player Pac-man which Nanna turned out to be the champ.  Afterwards we were allowed to visit the Lego store which was not only jam packed full of every possible Lego toy possible there were play stations where they could build vehicles to race and this kept them entertained for an hour or so. Poor old Tom, his vehicle fell apart as bounced down the track, he blamed me.

Universal Islands of Adventure

There are many wonderful things in the Islands of Adventure but for Alex there is only one thing to do - Harry Potter world.  To be fair, it was amazing and Alex didn't want to leave which made it very difficult to see anymore of the park.  Every ten minutes - can we go to Harry Potter.  The ride inside Hogwarts was an incredible cominbation of a film and real sets, although it was bit jumpy. That didn't stop Alex going on twice!  The butterbeer was a combinaton of caramel and lemonade which the boys loved and I did not.

Playing with Poppy in the pool, again!

The pool is hugely popular with the boys and Poppy.  In fact, I was a little slow getting out of the car and they were all in the pool by the time I got in the villa!  The pool still feels a bit chilly but they does not stop them playing in there for an hour first thing in the morning and whenever we get back, everyday!

Animal Kingdom Pt2

As well as a lot of thrill rides there are many treks through the jungle and Ollie was particularly interested in the exotic birds.  Tom got drenched, again, on the rapids and we had to buy him a towel to dry him off.  After a long day we treated ourselves to a meal in the 'Rainforest cafe' which was wonderful.

Animal Kingdom

The boys have been teaching Nanna how to play Angry Birds which now means I have no electronic toy to play with anymore.  She more addicted than they are!  We had a strict schedule on our visit to Animal Kingdom as this was our last visit and it was straight to Dinoland.  It was empty so we did a few small rides whilst the boys met Goofy and Pluto.  We then went onto the Nemo musical which was great particularly all the bubbles falling down.  A highlight was definitely 'Everest', I dragged Alex on and it was really scary - whoops!  They had a play area where they could stand on feet and make a very loud dinosaur scream, Tommy spent the whole time jumping on them.

Day Five - Seaworld

We had an awesome day at Seaworld.  The sun was shining and it wasn't too busy. Our first contact was the stingray pool where the boys could get to touch them although Tom said they were slimey and refused to continue.  We swiftly moved onto the dolphins and were amazed by how many there were. We saw two spectacular shows and we got particularly wet in the Shamu show which was fun. although Oli was not impressed and insisted that we change his clothes.  We finished the day in a huge play area with climbing ropes and smaller rides, which was brilliant for the boys. Incidentally, Alex and I did this massive rollercoaster called The Kraken, he called my bluff when I asked him to go on - bugger.