Thanksgiving in Florida

The kids had the entire week off from school for Thanksgiving so we were thinking about a trip somewhere warm. When flights to Orlando became available for only 16,000 miles, we couldn't resist the deal! We'd be having Thanksgiving in Orlando!

Day 1: On November 17th, we boarded the plane bound for sunny Orlando!

It was a mid-afternoon flight so by the time we arrived, got our rental car and made our way to the resort, it was nearly 7:00 pm. Everyone was beat and hungry so we unpacked and walked over to a nearby restaurant to grab a bite to eat. Then it was off to bed to rest up for the next day.

Day 2: Our first full day in Florida was spent relaxing at our resort, the Marriott Grande Vista. The layout of our room was perfect - a 2 bedroom, 2 bath with full kitchen, dining area and living room. We were definitely spoiled with all the space as we typically squeeze into a 1 bedroom.  The boys (or "morning birds") stayed in 1 room and us late night owl girls stayed in the other.

Rose sleeping the morning away

The boys woke up early as usual and headed over to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. Then it was back to our room to wait for Sleeping Beauty to awake.

The boys ready and waiting

Everyone was excited to check out the pools. We decided to venture over to the furthest pool on the other side of the resort. 

We had a wonderful time enjoying the warm sun, swimming and playing catch in the pool, and soaking in the hot tub.

Then it was back to our room to clean up and explore the rest of the resort. Everything was decorated for Christmas.  It was so strange to see a Christmas tree with palm trees in 80 degree weather!

Our resort had a small man-made lake where you could rent boats to cruise around on the water. Shane took Owen and Rose for a ride while Cole and I watched from shore. With a max capacity of 2 (or 2 big guys and 1 little girl), Cole was a bit too nervous to go on the boat and I was a bit too nervous to maneuver one myself. Later that night, Owen discovered a sign next to the beach area that said..."Don't feed the alligators"!!!! Yikes! Thankfully no one spotted a gator.

After the boat ride, we hit the arcade where everyone found a fun game to play...

That evening, we headed to the beach area to roast marshmallows and make s'mores - 2 out of 3 kids loved them and asked for seconds.

Day 3 we loaded up the rental car and drove an hour east to beautiful sandy Cocoa Beach.

We found a perfect spot at the beach and rented a couple chairs and an umbrella to relax under. Although there wasn't much relaxing with 3 busy kids. 

Day 4 was spent at Universal Studios per Owen's request. He was pumped to experience the Jurassic Park and King Kong rides. Little did we know that Universal Studios actually has TWO parks and both of the rides he wanted to go on were at the other park. What a bummer! But Owen didn't seem too disappointed. At the end of the day he still said it was "the best day ever!"

Our first stop was the ET ride. Cole and Shane bailed on the ride, but Owen, Rose and I decided to check it out as it was one of the few rides that Rose could go on. I had forgotten just how loud and scary the ride was. Rose was not impressed and closed her eyes throughout most of it.  Poor girl.  After that, we all played in the little kids' areas before Shane and Owen headed off for all the exciting big kid rides. Both Owen and Shane agreed that their favorite ride was the Revenge of the Mummy. Owen even found a video of it on YouTube once we got home so that he could show me just how scary it was.

Cole, Rose and I spent the majority of our time in the little kids play area. It was fun for the first hour, but then got a bit boring (Universal isn't very little kid friendly). I killed some time bribing the kids with unhealthy snacks while we waited for Shane and Owen to finish up.

We were finally ready to call it a day and head back to our resort when we became trapped behind a parade. We watched it go by from afar as Cole was not at all impressed and just wanted to leave. Finally the end was in sight! The grand finale was, of course, Santa Clause! He was waving from the top of a giant sleigh, and Rose exclaimed, "Santa's waving at me!" Pretty sure that made her night as she kept mentioning it over and over again.

Day 5 the rain moved in. It was supposed to rain all day, but luckily it cleared up by the afternoon. We headed over to "The Fun Spot" - a small amusement park with several impressive go-cart tracks.

On site, they have a small Gatorland Exhibit where we could feed the alligators. We even saw a rare white alligator on display.

Rose and Cole were so excited to see some of their favorite rides that they could actually go on (at Universal Studios they were too small or the rides were too scary). We rode ride after ride as there were very few people and no waiting in lines. We simply walked right on whichever ride we wanted! We all had a great time.

On Day 6 we decided to try out another theme park - the Animal Kingdom. We had taken the boys 6 years ago and remembered it being a fun time. But this time around, the park was jam packed full of people everywhere you turned. The lines to do anything - from going on the rides, to grabbing a bite to eat, to even using the bathroom - were excruciatingly long. And to top it off, the temperature had creeped back up (our boys do not do well in heat!) 

Luckily we did manage to have a few enjoyable moments. Owen's top priority was locating Sue, a replica of an actual t-rex that was found in South Dakota. It is the most complete t-rex skeleton that has ever been found. Shane and Rose decided to wait in line to ride the Triceratops Spin while the rest of us went in search of Sue.

Owen and Sue

Before leaving Dinoland, the kids ran around in the Boneyard play area to burn off some energy before we ventured back out into the crowd...

Our next stop was the Maharajah Jungle Trek. It was a lovely walk looking at various animals from Asia.

Owen snacking on the walk

Rose trying to get a bird to come to her.

After the trek, things took a turn for the worse as the kids were beyond hungry and the wait in the "fast food" line ended up being 45 minutes. Once we finally finished eating, we jetted over to the Kali River Rapids ride as I thought the rider height requirement was 36" so we'd all be able to go. It's a water ride, so we checked the backpack that contained my camera and phone into a nearby locker. Turns out the height requirement is 38" and Rose wasn't tall enough to ride. So in a split second decision, the boys and I continued down the path to get in line for the ride and Rose and Shane went in the opposite direction with the goal of meeting at the "big tree" after the ride. 

Well, the 60 minute anticipated wait for the ride turned out to only be about 30 minutes so we headed on over to the big tree in the center of the park to meet up with the rest of our group, but Shane and Rose were no where to be seen. I started to worry that perhaps they were at the other side of the tree (a tree is round after all!) so the boys and I walked around and still couldn't find them. Since I didn't have my phone on me, we were in quite the pickle. 

We ended up finding a nice lady that worked at the park who then brought us over to a co-worker who had a phone that I could use. Of course Shane didn't end up answering, but he eventually got the message and found us. Turns out Rose and Shane were having a blast playing in water, meeting Russel from the movie "Up" and watching a 3D film called "It's Tough to be a Bug!" They even took a few photos in front of the tree - exactly where we had been looking for them!

After the excitement, we decided to stick together (and my phone never left my side!) Next on the agenda was the African Safari. The kids were surprisingly patient during the 60 minute wait to go on the ride.

Waiting in line

Still waiting in line

Finally on the Safari!

Owen watching the sun set from the safari

The sun was setting as we finished the safari so we dashed off for our final destination - Pandora.  There were 2 rides there that we were hoping to go on, but once we finally located them the wait times were over 2 hours long - no way were we waiting that long. So instead we took a quick family photo and headed on our way out of the park, grabbing some ice cream treats before leaving.

Day 7 - On Thanksgiving, we spent the entire day at the resort. In the morning, Shane and Cole headed to the lake to take a ride on a boat while the rest of us relaxed in the room.

Then we got "dressed up" or as dressed up as we could with our limited wardrobe options and strolled down to the club house restaurant at our resort for Thanksgiving lunch. It was quite the spread.

After lunch, it was time to hit the pools. Rose took full advantage of the kiddie pool while the boys played in the big pool. She had the entire kiddie pool all to herself.

Eventually it was time to warm up as the day was a bit chilly for swimming. We all met up in the hot tub for a final soak before walking back to the room to dry off.

That evening, we sat outside enjoying the beautiful night. We sipped away on some yummy blended drinks at the beach area. 

It took only a few minutes before Rose was completely covered in sand. She loves digging in sand just like a puppy!

We played a few more games at the arcade and then enjoyed our last meal by the pool.

Day 8 came WAY too early with a 4:30 am wake up call. The car was packed and the kids loaded up as we bid farewell to our resort and drove off to catch our 7:30 am flight home. Until next time Orlando!