Daytona Beach

Day Six - Islands of Adventure

Got up around 7:30. Beautiful day today. We had breakfast at the TGI Fridays that's actually part of the hotel. You couldn't order anything except the breakfast buffet. It was pretty good. We decided to take the hotel shuttle over to Islands of Adventure. We were dropped off a lot closer to the main entrance then when we drove over ourselves. The whole parking situation was stupid and expensive ($10.00). We could look across the highway from our room and see where we parked the previous day. We'd ended up at the back of the garage closest to our hotel and then had to walk quite a ways back to the entrance. We could have easily walked there but the hotel concierge had warned us about crossing the highway on foot - even though they had crosswalks and pedestrian signals. Other people were doing it.

It took a long time to get in again because of the fingerprint scanner. As soon as we got into the park, Tommy & Matthew went right to the Hulk rollercoaster. They ended up getting on that twice. Dr.Doom's Fear Fall was next. They liked it but thought it was too short. While they were on that ride, the Marvel Super heros arrived on ATVs. I wanted to shake Captain America's hand but I gave up after a couple of minutes. There was no order to the line and it wasn't worth getting into an argument with an 8-year old or their parents over who was next. All four of us got on the Amazing Adventures of Spiderman. It was pretty cool but those kind of 3-D multimedia rides make me a little nauseated.

Next up was Jurassic Park, which was kind of dissappointing. We didn't get on The River Adventure ride until later so we just watched it and then we split up. Tommy and Matthew went to get on the Dueling Dragons rollercoaster while Natalie and I went to the Jurrasic Park Discovery Center. That was OK. While we waited for the kids, we went into the Alchemy Bar, which looked like something from the Lord of the Rings. It was a nice place and the bartender was really excited about the Democrats taking the House and Senate the day before. We had a couple of Bass Ales then hooked back up with the kids. They were really pissed off. They had waited in line for 30 to 40 minutes when they finally got to the front of the line they shut the rollercoaster down and made everybody leave. We tried to do Poseidon's Fury. The entrance area was really cool but after making our way into the cave we found out that it was a forty-minute wait for a forty-minute ride. We were wondering why so many people were coming back through the line and leaving.

At 3:30 we went to the Eighth Voyage of Sinbad Stunt Show. It was pretty good but we all agreed it would have been much better if the actors had just played it straight instead of making stupid jokes. The high point of the show was the witch bursting into flames. That was pretty intense. After the stunt show, we got on the Cat In The Hat Ride at Seuss Landing. That was cute in a "It's Small World" kind of way. We also stopped at Snookers and Snookers Sweet Candy Cookers for some of the worlds most expensive candy. By this time it was getting close to closing time so it was time to hit the water rides.

First, we got on the Jurrasic Park River Adventure Ride that's very similiar to the Pompei Ride at Williamsburg. You ride a big raft through Jurrasic Park and come down a flume. We only got a little damp on that one. The kids got on that one twice. Dudley Do-Rights Ripsaw Falls was next. It's a flume ride with five people to a log. I thought it was scary. On most flume rides, you go up up, circle around and then come down the flume. On this one, you go up three levels then you come down. We were still only damp but not for long. We argued about getting on the next water ride - Popeye and Bluto's Bilge Rat Barges. I didn't want to get on it because it looked like we would get soaked. I was out-voted. It was a fun river raft type ride but we did get drenched. The sun was going down and the temperature was dropping. We tried to find a sunny spot to warm up in but it was too late. Tommy and Matthew got on the Hulk one last time while Natalies and I tried to dry off a little. I emptied the water out of my shoes and put my wet socks in my pocket. We headed back towards the main entrance. Natalie did a little shopping while Matthew and I got some smoked turkey legs. We found a little corner out of the wind and sat down and ate them. We were all freezing by this point and the shuttle bus wasn't coming until 7:00. There was a little shop near the entrance that had clearance items on sale. Matthew and I bought Spiderman Class Of 1962 sweatshirts and Natalie bought an Islands of Adventure sweatshirt. Tom didn't see anything he liked and insisted he wasn't cold. Me, I would have worn anything to get warm. We got some coffee and cold hot chocolate at Starbucks and wandered around City Walk until it was time to get the shuttle. We almost went on a tour of Orlando. The bus driver thought the bus was empty until I went up and said something to him.

We ate dinner at the Orlando Ale House. I thought we would finally have a decent beer in Florida. No such luck. They had exactly one ale on the menu (Sierra Nevade Pale Ale) and they were out of that. I had the lobster special, which was good and a bargain. I'll have to ask the others if they remember what they ordered. After that, snoozeville.