Florida vacation part 2 - the theme parks

Here's the second installment of Holm-Hansen vacation photos.  Traveling to Florida with a 5-year-old and an 8-year-old pretty much comes with a mandate to visit theme parks. The kids were in charge of planning.  I set them up with some links to various parks, and they carefully reviewed their options and identified their top choices.

The first day was spent at Sea World. I debated this one a bit, caught up in all of the debate about the ethical issues associated with orca captivity and performances. I don't disagree with these concerns, but I also knew how much my kids would enjoy the park and the shows (which I have fond memories of from my younger days). Ultimately, we talked it over as a family, including Devon and Rylee. We talked a bit about the ethics of it, and decided to go but to also dedicate our next monthly "family giving project" to helping an ocean animal conservation or release program.

The kids did really love the park, and got to experience some of the typical fun, such as getting soaked at the orca show. They loved watching some animals they had not previously seen, such as manatees and beluga whales.  The beluga whales were part of an Arctic exhibit that Rylee enjoyed so much she has requested that our vacation next year be to the Arctic. I'm thinking probably not.

The orca show

I'm already trying to figure out how to make these hanging plants for next year

The obligatory photo with the orca topiary

Disney World was on the must-do list for the kids (and for their mom). We spent two days there. The kids loved the rides of course, and it was fun for them to compare Disney World to their experience last summer with Disney Land. Besides the size difference, there were other surprises. Disney Land has retained some old classics that have disappeared from Disney World - such as the Nemo submarine ride and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. The weather was more comfortable in California as well.  For both of our Disney days (and most other days as well), the temperature was in the low 100's. We'd head to the park in the morning, but would leave mid-afternoon to rest and swim. If you ask them now what they liked best about Florida, both kids eagerly focus on Disney World. However, their feelings at the time were summed up in Devon's postcard to Aunt Megan, which said something like "Florida is hot. Disney World is so hot. Love, Devon."

Rylee impressed us with her bravery. She had no fear and gleefully went on any ride she could. She went through the Haunted Mansion, which she was afraid to try last summer. Both kids loved the Thunder Mountain roller coaster and Pirates of the Caribbean. Rylee also decided to try Space Mountain, and ended up going on that twice. I was pretty impressed, given that I was a teenager before I was brave enough to try it!

A highlight for Devon was the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, an interactive comedy show featuring the characters from the Monsters Inc. movies. During the show, animated monsters interacted with a small number of audience members to tell jokes. Devon was surprised (and delighted!) to be one of these audience members. He was the only child picked, and had by the far the longest role in the show. He's usually pretty shy about being the center of attention, but he absolutely loved this experience and it's one of his best memories from the trip.

The obligatory photo of the family in front of the Disney castle

And the obligatory photo with Mickey and Minnie

Devon absolutely refused to sit through the Enchanted Tiki Room show after enduring it last year at Disney Land, but he was willing to pose with one of the tiki sculptures

Aargghh...my Pirates of the Caribbean

It's a bit fuzzy, but this is Devon telling jokes with the animated monster during the Laugh Floor comedy show

We spent one day at Legoland, obviously a Lego-themed park. The park is meant for smaller children, so was a good fit for my Lego-loving children. Scott and I loved it less. Many of the rides were sized to fit only children, so we spent more time waiting around in the hot sun for them to go on rides.  It was a fine day, but I'm not too disappointed that my kids will probably have outgrown this park if we go back to Florida again when they're older.

At the Legoland entrance



Driving a boat in Lego city

And learning to drive cars too...both kids were excited to earn fake Driver's Licenses. We thought they knew we were kidding when we offered to let them drive back to the hotel, but there were some real tears when we made them get out of the driver's seat. They had planned to have Devon steer while Rylee knelt on the ground and pushed the pedals.

Channeling the Stewarts...my children developed an interest on this trip in pretending to run in terror from inanimate objects

Finally, we spent one day each at two other Disney parks, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. We liked Animal Kingdom a lot. Both kids enjoyed the animal focus, seeing a number of interesting animals on display. They also enjoyed stopping at stations throughout the park to earn their "Wilderness Explorer" badges in areas such as animal calling and insects. They also liked the rides in this park a lot, including a big Yeti-themed roller coaster and a raging river rapids ride. Hollywood Studios was pretty fun, too. Some of their favorite California rides were here (Midway Mania and Star Tours), and we got to watch some of the Jedi training.



Gorillas at Animal Kingdom

 

Devon on the Star Wars thingy...Scott would be ashamed that I don't know what it's called

Rylee clutching her new Elsa doll in front of Olaf the snowman, both characters from her current favorite movie, "Frozen"

Hippos spotted during our "African safari" at Animal Kingdom

What Rylee looked like after going on the raging river rapids ride

OK, that's it for big theme parks. There was lots of non-theme park fun as well. Stay tuned for the next installment.  Again, sorry if I'm overdoing it.  :-)