Our Family Vacation to Kissimmee
Our adventure began as any of our road trips: Daddy was driving, I was side seat driving, and Tyke was backseat driving. We did make it in a record 1 hr and 20 min in one piece.
Check in at Royal Parc Suites was a breeze, got our key and went to check out our "suite". The room was clean and lots of space. Only complaint, the two double beds. We're large people I wont lie. Tyke immediately called her bed and informed us that she wasn't sharing with anyone but her elmo and burt dolls.
After we brought our bags up and a quick change we headed out to visit Old Town. I love this place! When my daughters where small tykes I used to take them there. Long gone is the recording studio where my tykes used to make music videos. There are however many other cool stores and restaurants to explore. Something added over the past few years are the carnival type rides. For $14.00ish dollars we purchased Tyke a bracelet that allowed her unlimited times on the rides. She only went on 3. Terrified she refused to go on anymore. So the bracelet turned out to be a bad deal compared to $2 per ride normal price. Lesson learned. After the rides hubby found a hot sauce shop,he was in paradise. We finished off with a burger and root beer float at Big Kahunas. By the way, if you run out of root beer in your float, don't fret, they have a root beer dispenser for free refills. This was a big hit with the Tyke.
After our adventure at Old Town we where exhausted and decided to turn in early. The hotel has a meet and greet where they provide an open bar (beer,soda, and wine) for an hour each evening. We bypassed this although it was still in full swing as we strolled by (and well into the early morning lol). Sleeping-was not a hit for the hubby and I. We slept laying on our sides in this small bed. Tyke however slept quite well in her bed.
Saturday morning we arose and went to the free hot breakfast buffet at the hotel. Adequately stocked with eggs, bacon, danishes, cereal, and oranges. Plenty to drink also. Enjoyed. After breakfast we decided to take the courtesy bus to the Magic Kingdom. Unfortunately, hubby forgot our Florida resident ticket printouts up in the room. Thankfully, the driver waited as the other guests joked that he had 3 minutes to make it back and was he going to make it...Every one's a comedian.
Magic Kingdom-It took 2 hours by the time we took the bus to Epcot where we had to take a monorail to Magic Kingdom where we had to go in another line and get back on a monorail to get to the actual park and then stand in line to exchange our computer print out for actual tickets. I'm not going to do a full review on Magic Kingdom because I'm confident that almost everyone has been there at least 2x in their life and possibly where there that weekend. Magic Kingdom is great for kids but parents in general do not care for the massive crowds or standing in line 45 min to get on one ride. Not a fan, did it for the Tyke. Enough said.
Returned to room about 7 pm where we changed and decided to have dinner across the street at Logan's Roadhouse. Excellent choice! One of the highlights of the trip. Tyke has a short attention span, she spent most of dinner unshelling peanuts. Didn't say she was ready to go once! Dinner was great too. I had sirloin steak and lobster tail $20 and hubby had a huge rib eye for about $17. Tyke enjoyed a children's popcorn shrimp dinner (and thousands of peanuts). It was a great price and yummy.
After dinner we returned to the room to pack our self back into the double bed like sardines.
Sunday, we returned to the buffet and had another filling breakfast before checking out. A gentleman stopped me in the lobby and asked for our email address to send me a survey of our stay. Haven't received it yet, but our stay was mostly positive with the exceptions of the small beds. Okay, normal sized people probably could have fit "a little" better.
After checking out we headed to Sea World. Hubby and I had gone there a couple years before the Tyke was born and came to live with us. We had a great time back then. This time it was even better with the Tyke! I love Sea World, no huge crowds and entertaining for the tykes and the grownups. Tyke especially liked Shark Attack, where you walk through a tunnel surrounded by sharks. We all enjoyed the dolphin, whale (and for some strange reason-birds) show. It worked! Very nice. We purchased an annual pass on ez pay to complement our Busch Gardens annual passes so we will be back.
Only complaint, a word to the wise to Sea World employees. You know the adage about assuming, not everyone that is disabled is in a wheelchair. I was a little taken back when we sat down in the disabled section at shamu, only because I just could not climb the millions of stairs anymore and was confronted by an employee who said in an elevated voice "shame on you for siting there". I was embarrassed and then hubby pulls up my pant leg in front of the guy showing my leg brace and snaps "she has ms buddy, she IS disabled". Yes, I am but I dont like confrontations so I usually try to sit where there are regular seats but this was our 3rd show and I was getting very weak. I just wish people would not assume that you should "Look" disabled. An apology for embarrassing me in front of people would have been appreciated. He just looked at me and said ..oh. Enough said.
Leaving the park was a task because by that point I was shaking and could barely walk because my legs where giving out. I guess I over did it :(
We had a wonderful vacation, the Tyke said it was a lot of fun which was our goal. We enjoyed Old Town, Logan's Roadhouse, Seaworld, and the hotel immensely.What I learned from this trip? I learned that I am not invincible and will rent a scooter next time, peanuts can be a great deterrent, and that the Magic Kingdom is best enjoyed every 3 or 4 years instead of every year.
